Comments Posted By Aaron
Displaying 1 To 10 Of 60 Comments
WHY CONSERVATIVES SHOULD EMBRACE FINANCIAL REGULATION
Kevin Brown:
I would only say your diagonosis of the problem is overly simplistic
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The point is the big institutions like governemnt and banks and investement banks srewed the poochKevin, you're accusing Rick of oversimplifying the situation but being overly simplistic in your own comment. Yes, the banks were a large part of the problem, but what can you expect? The bankers are greedy, but that's their job. They want to be free to make money with no government intervention, and who can blame them? Government regulations are a pain no matter what industry you're in.
You're completely ignoring the two important questions:
1. Would more/smarter financial regulation have prevented the crash?
2. Will more/smarter financial regulation prevent these situations in the future?As Rick has made it clear, the answer to both of these is "yes." Right now Republican leadership is completely ignoring this issue. Politically, they can't admit that the predominantly Democratic point -- that more regulation is necessary -- is correct. And also politically, they can't admit that government intervention in the private sector is good under any circumstance.
The more Republicans refuse to participate in this dialog, the more they'll be left out of the conversation. Whatever happens with regulation, it's going to be a deal between Democrats and bankers. It's going to stupid and dirty, but hopefully there will be something constructive hidden in the muck.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 17.02.2010 @ 20:59
B.Poster:
Communism has not been defeated.It's true that the USSR and communist China were not defeated in a WWII-style military victory. But communism is most definitely dead. Both countries have abandoned communism in all but name. The only reason they have any power at all now is because they embraced private enterprise to a massive degree. When I first visited China in 1991 they were taking to capitalism like fish to water. Both countries are major world powers and possible threats to the US, but that threat doesn't have anything to do with communism.
Go to a left-wing rally and you might find a couple communists. Go to a Tea Party rally and you might find a couple Neo-Nazis. That only means that while communism and fascism are dead, idiocy is alive and well. The only significant role of communism these days is that of a political boogeyman.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 12.02.2010 @ 16:39
I think this is definitely as step in the right direction, and it's good (and rare) to see a conservative actually being conservative. However I'm not sure we'll see any positive movement toward eliminating the national debt until either a) we find ourselves in a 90's-like economic boom, or b) the public starts to see the importance of doing so. Maybe it can be described in terms of how much of our money we spend on paying off the interest. What is it now, maybe $3000 a year per person on average?
Comment Posted By Aaron On 12.02.2010 @ 14:15
SARAH PALIN AND THE ASPIRATIONAL POLITICS OF RESENTMENT
Actually Palin's crib notes are a pretty good summation of conservative fiscal policy: cut taxes, mention but do nothing to decrease spending, and crow about how fiscally responsible you are while the national debt skyrockets.
Kirk's Principles are not an accurate statement of how conservatives actually are, but they're a great statement of how conservatives like to think of themselves.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 10.02.2010 @ 16:46
Looking at my own attitudes over the last decade, I think the polling results are evidence of a kind of impotent rage that is due to the Republicans' loss of control over the government. Prior to 2006 I wouldn't say that I was a left-wing nutjob but I definitely gave the nutjobs a more sympathetic ear. It's easier to believe the worst when you feel like a majority of the country is populated by morally corrupt subhumans. If Obama's approval rating drops substantially or if Republicans gain control of Congress, I think the extreme attitudes will soften somewhat.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 3.02.2010 @ 13:54
OBAMA'S STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION ON SPACE POLICY
I think this is a great move. The budding commercial space industry has a growing momentum that no government-owned space program is going to be able to compete with. At some point someone is going to be able to make money going to the moon, and until then I'm not sure I see much reason to go there.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 1.02.2010 @ 13:39
CONSERVATIVE 'HERO' - CONSERVATIVE DOPE
I wonder if he'll meet any real pimps in prison.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 26.01.2010 @ 17:19
Even your piece about not having anything to write about is more interesting than a lot of the stuff out there. Get well.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 29.12.2009 @ 13:48
I originally got here via Salon's Blogwatch feature which has been unfortunately discontinued. It displayed the best blog postings of the day (at least in the writer's opinion) on the right and the left. Now I generally get here "manually." Although I use google reader, the articles generally don't post there until several hours after they are posted on your website. Also, HTML links aren't currently displaying in google reader. If links and indented quotes aren't displayed, I definitely prefer the website. My beef with the website is that the color scheme is such that it's impossible for me to pretend that I'm not screwing around when I should be working.
I also occasionally use the unix "wget" and "html2text" programs to view the site, but it's not pretty...
Comment Posted By Aaron On 10.12.2009 @ 11:18
PALIN MAINSTREAMS THE BIRTHERS
Great post and awesomely hilarious comments over at PJM. Kind of like blasting a hornets nest with a shotgun. Thank you for that.
Comment Posted By Aaron On 4.12.2009 @ 13:37
