The Heretik

Freedom Rider: Bush Goes Out a Winner (by Margaret Kimberley at the Black Agenda Report)
Bush is leaving office in the popularity basement, but his checklist of accomplishments is full. Bush has "succeeded in radically changing nearly every facet of government, and always with the help of the Democratic Party." Even when at his nadir in the polls, Bush managed to transfer $700 billion dollars into the pockets of his high-roller banking friends. He has implicated so many Democrats in torture, the party has little choice but to give him and themselves immunity. "It is hard to see how Bush can be considered a failure when the so-called opposition aided him every step of the way."
And that's why I'm so skeptical of calls for bipartisanship. What we’ve seen is really unipartisanship--always leaning toward the Republican side.—Caro

Quote of the Day (Political Wire)
"I do not work for Barack Obama. I work with him." -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), in an interview with The Hill, asserting his believe in "three separate but equal branches of government."
NOW Reid figures out the separation of powers. He gave Bush every blurring of that separation that Bush ever asked for.—Caro

But the failures of the Bush administration give us the opportunity to completely re-evaluate what we believe in and how we want to live.
Doubts Make Consumers More Willing To Reevaluate Brands, Study Finds (Science Daily)
Most consumers crave a clear understanding of brand images, making them more receptive to new marketing messages if anything clouds their vision of companies or products, according to a new study by a University of Illinois marketing expert… [T]he findings are good news for companies seeking to retool the image of seemingly ingrained brands “The message is that people don’t just form brand opinions and stick with them,” said [Sharon] Shavitt, a professor of business administration. “Instead, they’re constantly monitoring their sense of understanding. They may in fact be swinging between doubt and closure more often than we think.”

The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Unleash a New Prosperity (by Matt Miller)
In The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, Matt Miller offers a unique blend of insights from history, psychology, and economics to illuminate where today's destructive conventional wisdom came from and how it holds our country back. He also introduces us to a new way of thinking—what he calls "tomorrow's destined ideas"—that can reinvigorate our economy, our politics, and our day-to-day lives. These destined ideas may seem counterintuitive now, but they will coalesce in the coming years in ways that will transform America.

Tomorrow's Destined Ideas
Only Government Can Save Business
Only Business Can Save Liberalism
Only Higher Taxes Can Save the Economy (and the Planet)
Only the (Lower) Upper Class Can Save Us from Inequality
Only Better Living Can Save Sagging Paychecks
Only a Dose of "Nationalization" Can Save Local Schools
Only Lessons from Abroad Can Save American Ideals
Purchase the book on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. Click the title of this excerpt, above, for contact information to interview the author or other Center for American Progress on this issue.—Caro

Early Family [Economic Adversity] Has Lasting Effects On Teens, Young Adults (Science Daily)
The country's economic crisis could have lasting effects on children from families that fall into poverty, according to a new paper… [Researchers] found that early socioeconomic adversity experienced by children contributes to poor mental health by the time they become teens -- disrupting their successful transition into adulthood by endangering their social, academic and occupational attainment as young adults.
And on into adulthood and senior age, as I can tell you from personal experience. This research shows even more reason why conservative ideology should be on the chopping block. It brings about misery for most of the human race.—Caro

Free Market Myth (by Dean Baker)
In the context of a too-big-to-fail principle, the removal of restrictions on leverage (investment banks were allowed to leverage their capital at a ratio of forty-to-one compared to just ten-to-one for commercial banks) and the relaxation of other prudential regulation (the nominal value of credit default swaps, a new class of derivative instruments, grew to more than $70 trillion in a nearly unregulated market) essentially gave the banks a license to wager with taxpayers’ money. Banks did exactly what economic theory predicts. They took huge risks, leveraging themselves to the hilt with questionable assets, knowing that they would gain as long as the housing bubble held up. And the banks did so with willing accomplices among pension funds, hedge funds, and other investors because these investors knew that the government would rescue them if things went badly.

Deregulation can be a principled position held by true believers in a free market. But Wall Streeters all wanted one-sided regulation that provided them with an enormous government security blanket without any costs or conditions.
That’s exactly what happened with the savings and loans in the 80s. How many times to we have to learn this lesson?—Caro

Pence Challenges Americans To ‘Check’ His Facts: Guess What? He’s Got Them Wrong (Think Progress)
Appearing on CSPAN’s Washington Journal [Tuesday] morning, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), the third ranking Republican in the House, repeatedly claimed that the solution to the economic crisis was to “do what Ronald Reagan did” and implement “across-the-board permanent marginal tax reductions.” Towards the end of his interview, however, a caller challenged Pence’s idea, saying that deficits exploded under Reagan, forcing the first President Bush to raise taxes. Pence replied that the caller was right that Reagan “saw deficits and the national debt grow,” but claimed it was the fault of spending in Congress because Reagan’s tax cuts “resulted in more than a doubling of the revenues.” Pence then asked viewers to “check me on this”.
Click through to watch the video. Krugman gave us the real story in 2004.—Caro

The Risks in Obama's Ambitions (by Michael Gerson, a conservative)
[P]redominantly publicly run health care is an ideological red line for Republicans. In other instances where the middle class has become dependent on government for its health care -- witness Britain -- the conservative case for individual responsibility and limited government has been fundamentally undermined. People hold tightly to the security of their benefits even when treated by a health system with surly incompetence. Not even the most compassionate conservative is going to accept government control of 16 percent of the economy… [T]he deepest values of American conservatism will be at stake.
The “deepest values of American conservatism”, imposed on us by a 40-plus-year, billion-dollar propaganda campaign from a few wealthy right-wing families, have given us a completely upside down world. It’s time that those “values” be put at stake (put to the stake?), and examined, rather than being blindly followed.—Caro

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com