Ed Cone’s comments about the confrontation between Dave Winer and someone who found himself called upon about his laughing at something Dave said.
if I’d been in the room, maybe I could have asked Stan, wow, you find Dave’s comment that the economy is bad to be so wrong that you are laughing at it — could this be a moment to step back from your strong views and Dave’s strong views to look for things on this very specific subject on which we can all agree? What are some numbers that back up your claim that the economy is doing great, Stan? Can Dave agree on those numbers? On what those numbers mean? But that’s not the way it went, and that’s a shame.
I was there , too. Over on the guy’s (Stan is his name) blog, I commented to him on what I saw, and how much of what he put in his post seemed to back up that Dave correctly sensed his unspoken contempt. Today he posts his defense of his “The economy is in fantastic shape”, and “leaves it” with a quote from a former “Reagan economist”. That’s supposed to be a “nuff said” defense?
Some of Stan’s economic argument, which he basically “leaves” with Larry Kudlow, the Bush administration’s favorite “expert witness”:
First, I want to point out that what I found ridiculous was Dave Winer’s assertion that we all agree that the economy is bad. Given how strong the economy is, his assertion that it is bad seems pretty silly. However, it is ten times more ridiculous to assert that everyone agrees it is bad.
Bottom line — we have enjoyed record-setting productivity gains which are the engine that drives increases in the standard of living. We have low unemployment, low inflation, and low interest rates while enjoying huge growth in personal incomes. China and Europe have been buying as much of our debt and equities as they can in order to save enough to be able to pay the massive retirement costs of their aging populations (this is the reason for the trade deficit). They buy American assets because they view the US as having the strongest economy in the world.
Hope that helps explain why everyone doesn’t agree that the economy is bad.
Oh, BOTTOM LINE. Well, then. If it’s “Bottom line”. Right there I can see you studied economics.
“Given how strong the economy is,” OK, so if you want to defend your view with , well, your view, and that works for you, then have at it Stan. So “given how strong it is” how can you argue? I can see how that makes sense.
“Leaving it” with Larry Ludlow seems something like “leaving” a debate about the Bible to Jerry Falwell. We’d be sure to get the straight, non-partisan scoop there.
NO mention of those “troublesome figures” like record deficit, record low dollar value, skyrocketing cost of healthcare, growing gap between rich and poor (which conservatives simply dismiss as irrelevant).
Ed’s questions for Stan he “defers” to a partisan hack (which of course, is how both sides describe any who seek to provide refuting evidence.) Thing is, apart from the politically aligned economists, I don’t hear any saying the economy is looking good.
Ludlow’s “positive signs” are also sickeningly elitist:
Core private growth in the U.S. is actually over 5 percent in the past year. Today’s personal income report shows another big gain. Year-on-year, wages and salaries are rising nearly 6 percent. Entrepreneurial proprietors’ income is up 9 percent. And the core inflation rate is only 1.7 percent. Meanwhile, profits are rising at 19 percent in the first quarter, compared to a consensus estimate of only 10 percent.
Profits drive business. And business drives the economy. Which, by the way, is strong, not weak, with historically low interest rates.
“Private growth” is not the American economy. When they are being aided by government tax breaks that funnel money from others lower on the scale of people important to those such as Ludlow, I do not see this as a positive sign, but a political opportunists dream (for the corporations and the candidates they support)