The original neo-conservatives knew how wrong they had been in their youth, and re-learned their politics after forty. Unlike their forbears, today’s neo-cons never have had a self-critical moment. Today’s guardians of the sacred flame of the sacred conservative flame are to the manure born.... They are mediocre ideologues incapable of learning from past failures, clinging to their careers because they are unsuited for honest work. Trump may not know much but he is capable of learning. That can’t be said for his detractors. —David P. Goldman, writing as "Spengler" in "Trump lacks experience but his detractors lack common sense"

Goldman is one of the few members of the conservative commentariat who have not repudiated Donald Trump's grotesqueness, instead preferring to bring down his considerable wrath upon his fellow commentators.

Of all those commentators I have always found "Spengler" to be the most fun to read, not because of his perspicacity (after all, who can still contend that the Donald is capable of learning) but for his fulminating wit. Then there's the supercilious tone reminiscent of the late William Buckley, who might very well have used the word "epigonoi" as Goldman managed to do in this article.

Labels: commentators, conservatives, Donald Trump, neocons, politics, Quote of the Day, Republican politicians, Spengler

Inflation is a redistributive mechanism in favour of the few that can protect living standards, against the large majority who cannot. —Tim Ash, emerging markets chief of the Royal Bank of Scotland, as quoted in "China's credit bubble on borrowed time as inflation bites"

Mr. Ash, of course, was applying this insight to China. But it applies to any country you like—the U.S. for instance.

I point this out so that you may better understand why Ben Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve bank, which sets U.S. monetary policy, is so afraid of deflation.  As he said in his famous speech of 2002,

I am confident that the Fed would take whatever means necessary to prevent significant deflation in the United States and, moreover, that the U.S. central bank, in cooperation with other parts of the government as needed, has sufficient policy instruments to ensure that any deflation that might occur would be both mild and brief.

Of course in 2002 Bernanke also thought that "the chance of significant deflation in the United States in the foreseeable future is extremely small." He has revised his opinion lately. In October he opined,

... in effect, inflation is running at rates that are too low relative to the levels that the [Open Market] Committee judges to be most consistent with the Federal Reserve's dual mandate in the longer run. In particular, at current rates of inflation, ... the risk of deflation is higher than desirable. Given that monetary policy works with a lag, the more relevant question is whether this situation is forecast to continue. In light of the recent decline in inflation, the degree of slack in the economy, and the relative stability of inflation expectations, it is reasonable to forecast that underlying inflation ... will be less than the mandate-consistent inflation rate for some time.

I also mention the redistributing effect of inflation so that you will have a reply ready the next time you hear about "socialist redistribution schemes" from your right-wing pals. 

Incomes are constantly being redistributed in all economies, and a significant portion of that redistribution has nothing to do with "hard work" or individual merit of any sort.  So the political question is not whether redistribution should be allowed—in fact it cannot be prevented. The political question is "from whom" and "to whom."

Related posts
"First" of the Day: Fall of the CPI (12/19/08)
"First" of the Day: Fall in consumer prices (11/20/08)

Labels: economics, income redistribution, inflation, Quote of the Day

Tonight the ruling class knows. They have... they've seen it now. There's a people's revolution!

Select from below:

1. Karl Marx
2. Vladimir Lenin
3. Leon Trotsky
4. Carl Paladino
5. Noam Chomsky

If you selected Carl Paladino, the newly elected Republican candidate for Governor of New York, you are ahead of your time.

Related posts
The Second American Revolution goes nuclear (5/16/05)
Truth of the Day: On social change (2/28/08)
A note on Obama (2/15/10)
A domestic suicide attack (2/18/10)

Labels: humor, New York state, politicians, politics, Quote of the Day, quotes, Republican politicians, Tea Party