Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Libertarian Nuz

Tyler Cowan has written a review of Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-first Century in Foreign Affairs.  He does not provide a disclaimer that he has been employed for his entire career as an agent of the plutocrats Piketty is talking about.  Knowing that, it's not surprising that he writes a highly critical review.  Ethics, anybody?

Racist Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been fined $2.5 million, is banned from the NBA and may be forced to sell the team.  If government  did something like this, libertarians would be screaming their heads off.  But because it is a private violation of his liberty to be a racist asshole, this unprecedented punitive action in a corporate kangaroo court must be OK!  The "constitution" of the NBA has set up the commissioner to be judge, jury, and executioner with the effect of a binding arbitration decision that is enforceable in court.  The most surprising thing about it all is that it is happening to a rich white man.

Libertarian racist Cliven Bundy and his domestic terrorist "militia" have gone so far that they've lost the support of Fox, the Tea Party and pretty much everybody who has two neurons to rub together.  I can understand Obama's desire to avoid another Waco siege.  Gone are the days when Washington could crush the Whiskey rebellion with impunity.  It will just be a matter of outwaiting them: they certainly won't maintain their numbers over the winter.  And of course, it would be interesting to see how well their line holds as their identities are established and they are threatened with charges of sedition.

Sunday, April 06, 2014

Koch's Anger Translator

Koch's Anger Translator
Charles Koch wrote a ludicrous screed in the Wall Street Journal, a stand on dignity to excuse decades of plutocratic meddling in politics. A pseudonymous commenter "Mr." served as Anger Translator at Noahpinion.