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tishaLA

(14,176 posts)
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 12:36 PM Oct 2012

Krugman: Democratic Derangement Syndrome

<...> Today’s full-scale freakout over a decent jobs report is a sight to behold. Spare me the false equivalence: yes, you occasionally find people on the left claiming that the numbers have been faked or the truth hidden, but not leading figures in the media and major-league plutocrats. (Next time people try to portray Jack Welch as an icon of success, a man we should listen to, remember this moment) <...>

For the record, it’s ridiculous to imagine that the Obama administration could arrange (on short notice, no less) to cook the jobs numbers. The sheer logistics would be impossible, plus these are civil servants who have to live under both parties. I guess there’s a bit of continuity here with the inflation truthers, a group that similarly includes people who unaccountably continue to be treated as respectable.

The thing is, although such antics are funny in a way, they’re also menacing. By attacking anyone who presents awkward facts, the right exerts an intimidating effect. It won’t get the BLS to retract today’s jobs report, but it might bully news organizations into avoiding objective economic analysis, and maybe even into blurring their reporting right now.

So this is crazy and stupid; but it’s also scary. NY Times

30 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Krugman: Democratic Derangement Syndrome (Original Post) tishaLA Oct 2012 OP
It's so easy to say that Mitt is sociopathic, but I dunno... joycejnr Oct 2012 #1
Romney is a soulless vulture jsr Oct 2012 #2
Whoa, wait just a minute there. You need to take that back. Ikonoklast Oct 2012 #10
Not just you. Dead eyes, as if he has no soul. landolfi Oct 2012 #3
He has no soul...... Swede Atlanta Oct 2012 #14
He has no soul...... AlbertCat Oct 2012 #28
first clue is: he never ever smiles with his eyes. Javaman Oct 2012 #15
I bet $10,000 that... JackN415 Oct 2012 #27
Conspiracy theories by tin foil hat aficionados abound... Agnosticsherbet Oct 2012 #4
I don't think it is beyond reasonableness to opine that Romney is sociopathic. Ask Seamus. Ask the WinkyDink Oct 2012 #9
Romney appears to be a pathological liar...but that isn't what the OP is talking about... Agnosticsherbet Oct 2012 #11
I don't think the Jobs report from the BLS is accurate fasttense Oct 2012 #29
Information for the jobs (unemployment) report... Agnosticsherbet Oct 2012 #30
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Oct 2012 #5
When the President is reelected, I hope Krugman joins his cabinet. n/t porphyrian Oct 2012 #6
me too libodem Oct 2012 #19
Intimidation is what they want. Jennicut Oct 2012 #7
Right winger politicians can only survive through intimidation of Tennessee Gal Oct 2012 #8
Here is what you are dealing with Vietnameravet Oct 2012 #12
More believable theory is that the billionaires are conspiring to raise Gas Prices with fires etc. Bernardo de La Paz Oct 2012 #13
I'm confused... Grins Oct 2012 #16
Listening to the news on BBC America this morning, redqueen Oct 2012 #17
And this is exactly how we can lose. Every Dem in a media position needs to confront them fearnobush Oct 2012 #20
Well, I'll go further than that. BellaKos Oct 2012 #22
I'm on the same page you are. Tigress DEM Oct 2012 #24
Kick! n/t ProSense Oct 2012 #18
Exactly what I was thinking. BellaKos Oct 2012 #21
If you can't beat them, join them. Get Granny a gun -- so she can vote. Tigress DEM Oct 2012 #25
but, but, the job rate HAS to be faked, wrong or, or Robme was... was ... lying. an that CAN'T BE. Tigress DEM Oct 2012 #23
This is just another example of GOP projection. Because they use every crooked devised method possi judesedit Oct 2012 #26

joycejnr

(326 posts)
1. It's so easy to say that Mitt is sociopathic, but I dunno...
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 12:38 PM
Oct 2012

...when you watch him on tv smiling, and reach over to cover his mouth - the eyes look so cold, so deadly.

Or is it just me?

Ikonoklast

(23,973 posts)
10. Whoa, wait just a minute there. You need to take that back.
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 01:07 PM
Oct 2012

Never compare a slimy Republican reptile like Romney to a vulture. Vultures are efficient members of their ecological niche.

Especially when stripping the carcass of a dead Elephant!




 

Swede Atlanta

(3,596 posts)
14. He has no soul......
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 02:24 PM
Oct 2012

You look into his eyes and observe his gutless shit-eating grin and know he is evil. He has absolutely no compassion for anyone because he has never been denied anything. He has never wanted for anything, except for more and more money and more power.

There are two kinds of wealthy people....people who are greedy and heartless such as the Walton family (of the Wal-Mart corporation) who deny workers sick pay on their first sick day, the likes of most on Wall Street and those in the boardrooms of the soulless corporations around the world. They ware all about money and power and more of it. Mittens belongs to that crowd.

Then you have those who, regardless of how they got their wealth, are magnanimous, generous and genuinely empathize with others. Leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt (who was one trust busting Republican), FDR, JFK, etc. exemplify that type of person.

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
28. He has no soul......
Sun Oct 7, 2012, 01:07 PM
Oct 2012

No one does. That's a religious myth.

What Rmoney doesn't have is integrity or ethics.

Javaman

(62,394 posts)
15. first clue is: he never ever smiles with his eyes.
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 03:03 PM
Oct 2012

he gives the dead fish smile or the smile of a snake about to bite you.

 

JackN415

(924 posts)
27. I bet $10,000 that...
Sat Oct 6, 2012, 07:32 PM
Oct 2012

he will be found a psychopath if he is willing to take the psychological test or subjects himself of professional psychiatric evaluation.

 

WinkyDink

(51,311 posts)
9. I don't think it is beyond reasonableness to opine that Romney is sociopathic. Ask Seamus. Ask the
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 01:04 PM
Oct 2012

47%. Ask those destroyed by Bain. Ask the PBS employees to whom he GLEEFULLY said, on TV, that he would ELIMINATE THEIR PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT, even as one very real employee sat right in front of him.

If you DON'T think that marks a sociopath, perhaps you can describe what would.

Agnosticsherbet

(11,619 posts)
11. Romney appears to be a pathological liar...but that isn't what the OP is talking about...
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 01:19 PM
Oct 2012

and in one line I did not completely explain myself.

Krugman is talking about how the right attacks good job numbers like rabid junkyard dogs. Good job numbers destroy their attempted narrative. Places like "The American Spectator" and "Shadow Government Statistics" insanely try to show how there is a giant conspiracy to hide the truth.

 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
29. I don't think the Jobs report from the BLS is accurate
Mon Oct 8, 2012, 07:48 AM
Oct 2012

and it hasn't been accurate since Raygun said he wanted to count all the military as employed on the BLS.

Clinton excluded areas of extreme poverty from the jobs survey

And the bushes played with it so much that they couldn't see the crash coming until it was inevitable even though people were being laid off left and right.

Obama has NOT corrected the sins of the past and he's done some strange things with the total civilian labor force numbers.

So, I truly believe the unemployment numbers are NOT an accurate indicator of how many people are unemployed in the US.

That said, Obama is no better and no worse than previous presidents in manipulating the numbers.

Romney is just ignoring all the manipulation by his own party and is dumping it on Obama.

Agnosticsherbet

(11,619 posts)
30. Information for the jobs (unemployment) report...
Mon Oct 8, 2012, 11:41 AM
Oct 2012

Is obtained by sending out census workers out to survey 160,000 households in the U.S. No one is left out, because it is a survey not an actual head count. (This information can be found on a Us.gov site. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.tn.htm)

What you wrote above is a urban myth. It is just not how they get those numbers.

This is a better link to the medhods used to get the employment report.

http://www.bls.gov/cps/

Jennicut

(25,415 posts)
7. Intimidation is what they want.
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 01:00 PM
Oct 2012

Especially with the MSM on the major networks, CNN and CNBC.

I think those on MSNBC are much less afraid.

The CNBC people nearly laughed at this proposition by Jack Welch too.

Tennessee Gal

(6,160 posts)
8. Right winger politicians can only survive through intimidation of
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 01:03 PM
Oct 2012

voters and the media.

It is sickening the lengths they will go to for power and control.

Party over country every time.

 

Vietnameravet

(1,085 posts)
12. Here is what you are dealing with
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 02:04 PM
Oct 2012

We're dealing with fantasy world dwellers who cannot accept the reality of the Obama presidency

We're dealing with fiction writers who spin what ever it takes to keep their readers enthralled


We're dealing with those that would tear down the house in order to rule over the ruins. and to them truth is just an option and lies are perfectly acceptable.



We absolutely cannot allow these people to win..




Bernardo de La Paz

(48,608 posts)
13. More believable theory is that the billionaires are conspiring to raise Gas Prices with fires etc.
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 02:13 PM
Oct 2012

... if you want to have conspiracy theories, that one is more easily hidden. Have an operative or two set off a fire at an oil refinery, etc.

However, I don't think either conspiracy theory has any merit. The BLS one is ludicrous.

Grins

(7,111 posts)
16. I'm confused...
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 03:20 PM
Oct 2012

Are the "Jobs Truthers" the same as the "Polling Truthers"; or are we talkin' about a whole new breed of cat?

fearnobush

(3,960 posts)
20. And this is exactly how we can lose. Every Dem in a media position needs to confront them
Sat Oct 6, 2012, 02:46 AM
Oct 2012

Live and on air.

BellaKos

(318 posts)
22. Well, I'll go further than that.
Sat Oct 6, 2012, 08:33 AM
Oct 2012

I say that the media is to blame for W's malfeasance which has caused the death and maiming of thousands of people in Iraq. And I say that Rupert Murdoch is a danger to this country.

It's not just a matter of the very, very few "liberals" in the media calling this $hit out; it's a matter of integrity in all of the media. Until something is done about the lies and distortions vomited out on the public each and every day, people will continue to be fooled and abused. And the Right Wing will continue to operate within the narrow perspective of their Fantasy Land.

Tigress DEM

(7,887 posts)
24. I'm on the same page you are.
Sat Oct 6, 2012, 09:28 AM
Oct 2012

Hillary has made an excellent Secretary of State, but because she took money from Murdoch, I got spooked and wasn't able to trust her so Obama got my vote.

Have not trusted the 4th Estate much, but DO see improvement.

It was all the stations trying to mimic FAUX to get the ratings back in 2008 and NONE of them even touching the truth. Then they threw a pinch of the truth in so they could appease their right wing viewers and get a few props from the left. Now they are acting like they are fair and balanced once more, but it's still broken.

BellaKos

(318 posts)
21. Exactly what I was thinking.
Sat Oct 6, 2012, 08:22 AM
Oct 2012

First, it was global warming -- which I could half-way understand since the notion of a global warming hoax was a concerted campaign financed by the oil companies.
Then, Truthers. Okay, maybe understandable since the real deficit in this country is scientific illiteracy.
Birthers. Well, they have "Oil-ly Olay" as a spokesperson. At least, she's not a figment of imagination; she's alive.

But lately? The Polls are made-up?
And now, the delusion that the BLS is a corrupt facet of the Obama campaign is made-up and brought to national attention within a few hours!

These are dangerous delusions. We're talking about a cult-mentality that has infected a large segment of the public.
And guess what else? They have guns and they think that "liberals" are out to destroy the country. Yes, this is scary.

Tigress DEM

(7,887 posts)
23. but, but, the job rate HAS to be faked, wrong or, or Robme was... was ... lying. an that CAN'T BE.
Sat Oct 6, 2012, 09:23 AM
Oct 2012



Now that we've gotten THAT out of our system.


judesedit

(4,434 posts)
26. This is just another example of GOP projection. Because they use every crooked devised method possi
Sat Oct 6, 2012, 02:05 PM
Oct 2012

ble to fool the people and steal elections, they try to get the focus off of themselves and onto some bogus similar crap they blame on someone else. Just like they arranged Rob-me's hanky wipe to cover the fact he had a cheat sheet. It's almost elementary. Anyone with brains knows you do the obvious to hide what you're really doing if you want to fool people. I would love a magician's take on that video. Obama didn't cook anything. He's for the American people and takes shit about it every day of his life. The Illuminati are failing at their world dominance plan and they don't like it. No 1%ers are going to rule us. Go Occupiers! You are helping to expose these creeps all over the world by unifying. You give the whistleblowers cover. I like that. Truth and justice will prevail. Now....stop buying the products of these evil-doers (thanks Bush). You can find the companies and products owned by the Koch brothers online for a start. Good Lord, please, please, keep that righteous wind at Obama's back.

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