Comments on: The Challenges of Messaging: Political Economy Version

By: Misaki

Misaki — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 20:08:15 +0000

>or disbelieve evolution

http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx

PRINCETON, NJ — Forty-six percent of Americans believe in the creationist view that God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. The prevalence of this creationist view of the origin of humans is essentially unchanged from 30 years ago, when Gallup first asked the question. About a third of Americans believe that humans evolved, but with God’s guidance; 15% say humans evolved, but that God had no part in the process.

By: Misaki

Misaki — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 19:07:59 +0000

>We had what amounted to little hurricane here in Northern VA the other night, and I started feeling relief not when it was over, but when the worst of it was clearly past

For many people, the “worst” is when they run out of savings, not when unemployment reaches a peak.

By: Misaki

Misaki — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 19:04:42 +0000

>A journalist asked me the other day why we did health care at all when the economy was in such bad shape. There’s the obvious “walk and chew gum” answer, but the fact is that health care in the United States is just so damn inefficient, and economists hate that.

Every other developed country controls health costs with caps on prices or government subsidy rates. The ACA does nothing to offer a market-based solution to controlling prices.

By: Misaki

Misaki — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 19:02:07 +0000

>So how do you sell stimulus? Break it down. Polls were consistent on this point: the “stimulus” polled poorly; preserving teachers’ jobs, repairing our infrastructure, and tax cuts (which comprised a third of the thing) polled very well.

This is no different from how people want a reduction of the deficit but there is no strong support for reducing any major category of spending.

Wasteful spending happens. It is not the public’s responsibility to know where it takes place, only that it does.

By: Misaki

Misaki — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 18:58:52 +0000

>–they’re good for society and the economy but not in ways that are at all obvious; in fact, in some cases—like the Recovery Act—the make something bad (a deep recession) less bad. They don’t make it all better.

“We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us!”

By: Misaki

Misaki — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 18:56:53 +0000

>–they’re inherently complex in that they deal with systems with many moving parts (compared to, say, college tuition assistance);

“Wicked” problems: http://peerreviewedbymyneurons.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/fear-mongering-is-not-a-part-of-constructive-political-discourse/

By: Rima Regas

Rima Regas — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 23:57:42 +0000

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:28:52 +0000

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:28:27 +0000

I think that the problem is that the Progressive movement, as a whole, has drunken the Washington Consensus Kool-Aid.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:27:41 +0000

I actually think that you could do a lot of good explaining why the White House did the “summer of recovery” bull.

I believe strongly that the psychological explanation is correct — that they were in deep denial that lousy policy produces lousy results.

So when will the White House stop being a semi-competent reactive head of state, and start being a leader toward better things? Is this a function of Obama’s belief that he himself is just so awesome that there doesn’t need to be any shared vision?