tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post8948289625200586751..comments2024-02-23T01:30:06.101-08:00Comments on Early Warning: Interesting Blog on the Constitutional OptionStuart Stanifordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07182839827506265860noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-23157487358564130412011-07-26T07:40:49.368-07:002011-07-26T07:40:49.368-07:00Just pick when you want to default, now, or after ...Just pick when you want to default, now, or after the debt limit is increased ad infinitum and the country is drowning in interest payments.JS123https://www.blogger.com/profile/11448253975439749555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-74763452701182539242011-07-25T18:40:03.054-07:002011-07-25T18:40:03.054-07:00Good post, and interesting days for sure.
re &quo...Good post, and interesting days for sure.<br /><br />re "this is an entirely novel risk to civilization"; <br />Stuart, in your post Singularity > Climate Change > Peak Oil > Financial Crisis, you explain the risks to civilization that you are concerned with. You've already got the Financial Crisis, but the irrationality of the debate is perhaps another issue again.<br /><br />The 2003 documentary "The Corporation" argues that if corporations were regarded as human, many would be diagnosed as psychopaths due to acts that are harmful to the rest of society or even themselves. Similarly, it seems to me that Societies often harbor attitudes and commit acts that are self-destructive or harmful to humanity in general. <br /><br />This debt ceiling fiasco is such an act of course. It is pretty easy to argue that the US political system (amongst others) is irrational, and I think that many would go further and argue that the US as a society is not rational. (Mercymercyme's comment on your US survival post comes to mind.. http://earlywarn.blogspot.com/2011/07/us-survival-statistics.html)<br /><br />The Irrationality of Society could be regarded as a condition that leads to the risks you are concerned with, but I wonder if it would be useful to categorize it as a risk in itself. It could be an interesting lens to view seemingly unrelated events, in the same way that under the lens of the Singularity, issues such as unemployment trends and Moore's law are related in ways that may not be obvious to (say) the average economist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-3642500015706087002011-07-25T05:51:41.254-07:002011-07-25T05:51:41.254-07:00Stephen: It appears so. There are a bunch of tech...Stephen: It appears so. There are a bunch of technicalities that make it more complex than it might appear but there is a loophole that would allow this. See http://balkin.blogspot.com/2011/07/obamas-top-secret-plan-to-solve-debt.htmlStuart Stanifordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07182839827506265860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-68623321351229743832011-07-25T05:24:39.170-07:002011-07-25T05:24:39.170-07:00Would one way to honor both the debt ceiling and p...Would one way to honor both the debt ceiling and payment obligations be to simply "print" money?Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02291622298961270279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-46355174911602701182011-07-24T18:53:25.273-07:002011-07-24T18:53:25.273-07:00Today's Republicans already hate the Fourteen...Today's Republicans already hate the Fourteenth Amendment, which yesterday's Republicans wrote and ratified, for the "birthright citizenship" clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Now today's Republicans have another reason to hate the Fourteenth Amendment because of the public debt clause. This is one more example of how 21st Century Republicans reject their past. They are now the party of Jefferson Davis, not Abraham Lincoln.Pinku-Senseihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16247618351725715844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-34963051921665631442011-07-24T03:15:06.548-07:002011-07-24T03:15:06.548-07:00King of the road!
I read the text you linked to. ...King of the road!<br /><br />I read the text you linked to. As a Swede my knowledge of US-debate obviously is somewhat limited. That said I cannot help to get some thoughts about it.<br /><br />It seems reasonable that media, e.g the likes of (the mentioned) Limbaugh and Levin has had a great influence here. But to me it also would seem that they and their likes are acting as (willing) tools for the wealthy and big capital which has such a large influence on which issues receive attention in your country. Anyone that argues that any redistribution of wealth through taxes (the government) is evil will have an immensely greater chance of getting a platform in media, thinktanks and what not; than those arguing the opposite. (And by the way they by promoting the interests of the wealthy they have a good chance of being able to join their ranks) <br /><br />Now it would seem that also leaders of large corporations (big capital) consider that this has gone (a bit) too far. But, even if they do they have limited power to stop it now. <br /><br />As a Swede I would designate this as the (proverbial) dragon-seed which they (big capital) now maybe do not want to reap. Unluckily it is not only those sowing the seeds that will have to do the reaping. To a much larger extent the reaping will fall on others.Derweinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03605260263789101123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-42658356934604781092011-07-23T15:42:49.921-07:002011-07-23T15:42:49.921-07:00Thanks for a very interesting take on this. Thanks...Thanks for a very interesting take on this. Thanks for your blog in general, it's in my blog roll and is almost always interesting and though provoking.<br /><br />It's amazing to me that this kind of brinksmanship can take place. Why it's happing is, in part anyway, lucidly explained in a post by Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/07/conservative-fantasies-about-debt-and-default/242282/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.King of the Roadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06841601144107400103noreply@blogger.com