tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post3422205563026494952..comments2023-12-20T04:18:41.617-06:00Comments on The Hunting of the Snark: A Little KleinSusan of Texashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00076915322771385454noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-44084818029517912792010-11-27T22:30:14.069-06:002010-11-27T22:30:14.069-06:00P.S. Clever post title, BTW.P.S. Clever post title, BTW.freq flagnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-4097617127027219002010-11-27T22:24:29.581-06:002010-11-27T22:24:29.581-06:00Belvoir...
In this case, taking disastrous nonsen...Belvoir...<br /><br /><i>In this case, taking disastrous nonsense seriously, in a major publication. Things that anyone with sense could see was crap from a mile away. </i><br /><br />Ah yes, the "no one could have predicted" defense never gets old. And they never fail to use it.freq flagnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-5856380639557093172010-11-27T16:18:22.743-06:002010-11-27T16:18:22.743-06:00Liberal social policies did raise people out of po...Liberal social policies did raise people out of poverty. LBJ's great society cut the poverty rate nearly in half. (Sorry, no longer have the cite handy.) That social programs don't benefit the poor is another lie the right keeps repeating to make it a "reality."<br /><br />RugosaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-37508032528810126542010-11-27T10:50:17.408-06:002010-11-27T10:50:17.408-06:00"I missed the biggest problem of all, though,..."I missed the biggest problem of all, though, <em>because — like most Americans — I was raised in good times.</em> Markets could tank. Retirement savings could be wiped out. The function of Social Security was — like food stamps — to provide a floor. It needed to be recession-proof."<br /><br />Uh, Klein was born in 1946. So he came of age around 1964, and his first experience paying attention to the stock market should roughly correspond to--well, let <a href="http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/Warren-Buffett-interview.html" rel="nofollow">Warren Buffet tell the tale</a>:<br /><br />Dow Jones Industrial Average<br />Dec. 31, 1964: 874.12<br />Dec. 31, 1981: 875.00<br /><br />Even if you're ignoring that the DJIA is calculated based on full reinvestment of all dividends (meaning the tax on that money has to come from elsewhere if you're claiming the full gain), a gain of just about 0.1%--yes, 1/10th of 1 percent--over 17 years isn't going to beat Treasuries, let alone inflation.<br /><br />This is where Joe Klein wants retirement monies to be put--the "good times" place that lost BADLY to inflation from the time he was 18 to the time he was 35.<br /><br />And, yes, Chile's privatization of its retirement fund was a complete failure and scandal--it's one of the <em>reasons</em> the "alternative" investments are now so limited. No one who spent any time looking at the data--or talking with Chileans--would think anything else unless they were already independently wealthy. (As a side note, that the only years during which Chile <em>under</em>performed the rest of the area are those during which Pinochet was in charge is also A Secret.)Ken Houghtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01440837287933536370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-83702137122552791122010-11-27T03:04:21.391-06:002010-11-27T03:04:21.391-06:00Dogs with blood-soaked jowls getting caught on cam...Dogs with blood-soaked jowls getting caught on camera gnawing on Joe Klein's viscera.@dogsdoingthingshttp://www.twitter.com/dogsdoingthingsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-53698986376561937882010-11-27T00:54:39.942-06:002010-11-27T00:54:39.942-06:00You also have to love the lordly way he presents h...You also have to love the lordly way he presents his great admission of Wrongness. Like he's doing us a favor. Stooping to our level, he can occasionally be fallible too. In this case, taking disastrous nonsense seriously, in a major publication. Things that anyone with sense could see was crap from a mile away. <br /><br />No, Klein thinks he's being gracious here to admit one error, he's condescending to us rabble. Awful, awful person.Belvoirnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-58401935486307656842010-11-26T17:00:07.830-06:002010-11-26T17:00:07.830-06:00Fan. Tastic. Klein's article was just ghastl...Fan. Tastic. Klein's article was just ghastly. And ha, I remember Aimai's famous cookout throw-down. Atta girl! And great job here, Susan. A vey satisfying read, Klein's hackdom and obliviousness is insufferable, even when he's making sort-of faux mea culpa noises.Belvoirnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-447850499373342752010-11-26T16:51:53.418-06:002010-11-26T16:51:53.418-06:00The really awful thing is that I can easily imagin...The really awful thing is that I can easily imagine Klein and many, many other False Equivalence pundits excusing and explaining Hitler's policies during WWII.<br /><br />"Well, of course Auschwitz is going too far, but the lefty-Jews are pretty extreme too, you know! There always hrowing rocks and calling the NAZIs rude names!"Kathyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03176801494652946278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2222630007427380394.post-40073932021024487562010-11-26T16:49:23.555-06:002010-11-26T16:49:23.555-06:00Oh Susan, thanks for the memories! Is it unfair o...Oh Susan, thanks for the memories! Is it unfair of me to point out that if Klein is 64 he's hanging on, at this point, hoping to make it to Medicare before he loses whatever insurance coverage he gets through work? The prospect of needing SS and Medicare, like a hanging, greatly concentrates one's mind. (Also, btw, wasn't Chile's privatization of its retirement funds a huge public scandal and failure?).<br /><br />aimaiAimaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03763135029063170794noreply@blogger.com