Awe-inspiring Landscapes

Via the Big Picture:


Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

It is recommended that it be viewed full screen.

History May Not Repeat Itself...

But it rhymes.  As attributed to Mark Twain.  Via the naked capitalism links, Joe Nocera reviews the 1940 book on the Great Depression, "Since Yesterday," by Frederick Lewis Allen, and notices that much of the writing could describe the situation we face.  The whole column is a must-read, but I thought I'd highlight this part on the 1937 mini-Depression:

What dominates “Since Yesterday” — as it must dominate any history of the Great Depression — is the government’s responses to the crisis. Herbert Hoover was “leery of any direct governmental offensive against the Depression,” writes Allen. “So he stood aside and waited for the healing process to assert itself, as according to the hallowed principles of laissez-faire economics it should.” Sticking to his convictions, Hoover allowed the country to sink deeper and deeper into Depression, becoming in the process one of its victims — “along with the traditional economic theories of which he was the obstinate and tragic spokesman.”
Then came Roosevelt, untethered to any economic theory and willing to try anything to get people back to work. Allen describes the alphabet soup of agencies he created, the deficits he generated, the regulations he enacted. The economy, which bottomed out in 1932, steadied and then began to grow until, by 1937, it appeared that the Great Depression had ended.
Allen then takes us through the terrible days of late 1937, when the economy collapsed again. “Roosevelt’s Depression,” businessmen called it, blaming it on a business tax they particularly loathed. In fact, Allen makes the convincing case that the real problem was that Roosevelt had tried to do something business wanted: balance the budget. Shrinking government spending dried up demand. And not until the following spring, when he reversed course and decided to “go in for heavy spending again,” did conditions begin to improve.
The tragedy of Washington today, as the supercommittee begins its task of finding $1.2 trillion in cuts, is that nobody seems to remember the lessons of “Since Yesterday” — and most other books about the Great Depression.

Reminds me of what Republicans might call "Obama's Recession."  It is hard for me to see many times in the 20th and 21st century when the Republican party has been correct about anything.  Even the solutions provided in the late 70's and early 80's were tremendously flawed, and have brought us to the point we are at.  The Democrats have gotten a lot wrong, but they've often been more right than the Republicans, and most of their unforced errors have been made because of ridiculous Republican attacks, the most costly being the 30 years of foreign policy disaster in the wake of the Democrats "losing China."  But I digress.  The Republicans were wrong in the 30's, and they are wrong now.

News of the Obvious Headline of the Day

From the Washington Post:

Cain’s ‘9-9-9’ tax plan hits poor, helps wealthy, experts say

No shit, Sherlock.  If the wealthy are currently paying 17-25% of their income in taxes, and it is cut to 9%, and a 9% sales tax is added in, and the whole thing is revenue neutral, who the hell else is going to pay more, but the poor and middle class.  I am always stunned by the number of average folks who advocate for a flat tax.  They seem to think that somehow they will pay less under such a system, but it is not mathematically possible for that to be the case.  I guess they think that the wealthy take advantage of loopholes which they can't, so a single-bracket system will magically make the wealthy pay more.  I tell them that isn't the case, and the poor and middle class will end up paying more.  That doesn't deter them.  People are drawn to simplistic systems, and if there is one thing Herman Cain represents, it is being simplistic.

Also at the Washington Post, via Mark Thoma, the cost of the Bush tax cuts:

If Republicans have proven anything, it's that the rubes are mathematically-challenged suckers.  That's a trillion, folks:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is trying to win hearts and minds in the Palmetto State right where it counts — with food.
At a luncheon in Spartanburg Thursday, his wife, Anita, a former nurse, said she loves South Carolina: "Ham and grits, I'm that kinda girl. I think I could live here, too."
And she took some jabs at President Obama's record.
"Our debt is more than $14 trillion and climbing," she said. "I had to look up what a trillion was."

Please, people, don't vote for a Republican, unless you intend to be taken advantage of.  Corporations are allowing voters their choice of idiots in the primaries.  Afterwards, you'll want to take a shower.

Trophy Games This Weekend

Illinois and Ohio State play for the Illibuck Trophy.

Michigan and Michigan State play for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, not to be confused with Paul Bunyan's Axe:

and my personal favorite for the week, Cincinnati and Louisville play for the Keg of Nails:

Also, I somehow failed to mention the Golden Hat when I talked about Oklahoma and Texas last weekend.  My apologies, because that is such a Texas-type trophy:

Update: I forgot to mention Carleton vs. St. Olaf for the Goat Trophy and the Cereal Bowl Trophy.  And Missouri and Iowa State play for the Telephone Trophy.

U.S. Manufacturing

Forbes, via The Big Picture:

Take That, Bank of America

Dayton Daily News:

An Urbana bank says it will pay you to use its debit card.

The Peoples Savings Bank of Urbana says, starting in November, it will credit customers $5 each month for each account with a debit card.

President Brice Kadel said the two-branch bank launched the program to show its opposition to debit-card fees charged by large institutions. Last month, Bank of America announced plans to levy a $5 monthly fee on customers who use their debit cards.

Kadel said customers have asked whether Peoples Savings planned to impose debit-card fees.

“Paying our customers to use our debit cards is the kind of symbolic gesture that eliminates their fears,” Kadel said.

Peoples will credit $5 to each account that uses one or more signature-based debit card transactions during the statement period. Customers also can earn the credit in December and January.

After Jan. 31, the bank still won’t charge for point-of-sale transactions using debit cards.

I just don't understand how the big banks can claim that it costs them more than 20 cents per debit card transaction.  Computer costs can't be that great.  I assume they were just screwing retailers, and now that that is limited, they're screwing customers.  I'm glad to see a small bank make the point that the big guys are crooks.

103 Years

October 14, 1908:

The Cubs win the World Series, hopefully for the last time:



Attendance at Bennett Park in Detroit for Game 5: 6,210.

Why The Tea Party Can't Win The Republican Nomination

Conor Friedersdorf:

But the actual tea party isn't savvy. It overestimates its clout within the GOP, fails to appreciate the many obstacles to winning a general election, let alone implementing its agenda, and is therefore careless and immature in choosing its champions. It elevates polarizing figures of questionable competence like Sarah Palin because doing so is cathartic. It backed Michele Bachmann despite her thin resume, erratic behavior in interviews, and the fact that she cares most about advancing a socially conservative agenda, not a small-government agenda. Its erstwhile favorite, Rick Perry, doesn't even subscribe to what ought to be a core tea party tenet: that the government shouldn't subsidize particular firms, picking winners and losers. Perry is a right-wing corporatist. And Herman Cain, the front-runner of the week? He has zero governing experience, acknowledges that he knows next to nothing about foreign policy, flip flops on matters of tremendous consequence, and touts a flawed economic plan, 9-9-9, that could never pass.

I'll go with that they like idiots and assholes, and they don't have the money to buy the nomination like the establishment Republicans and the corporations do.  The establishment and the corporations don't hate the current system, because they benefit the most from it.  They'll allow the loons to push the Overton window further right, because it benefits them, but when the Tea Party tries to cut them off from the government trough, the Tea Party gets the boot.  It's pretty simple, the Tea Party is there to give the Republicans the majority, at least in non-presidential year elections.  They may get some idiot congressment in there, but come the next election, that candidate isn't going to get any corporate money if they don't play ball.  The establishment is playing a dangerous game, but they can get away with it in Presidential elections, because those elections cost so much, and the candidate has to win votes in the suburbs, not just in rural districts which love to hear the Tea Party garbage.  The corporations and the establishment hold the power in national elections, and nobody should believe otherwise.  The Tea Party will fall into line when Romney is nominated, just watch.

Not Extremely Productive

Yesterday wasn't the best day.  I broke an electical plug on the combine when I forgot to unhook it from the corn header.  That took over an hour to put back together, after I did it wrong the first time.  I also backed the back tire of the combine into the ladder on the back of the semi trailer, bending the ladder significantly.  Luckily, nothing further was damaged, and we were able to combine about 30 acres of beans.  Hopefully I can avoid further damages until the season is over.

This Job Deserves High Wages

Via the Awl, Capital New York includes an ironworker's photo from One World Trade Center: