On Fareed Zakaria GPS today Kenyesian Economics was the subject and the CNN panel lead by Elliot Spitzer took Ann Coulter to school.
Normally, Ann Coulter only appears where Conservatives can totally control the message. This is what I call the right wing sound proof echo chamber. Nothing new ever gets in, and you only hear what the Right Wing wants you to hear. This is how propaganda works, with message controlling. This is also why Right Wing commentators and politicians often sound like complete and total jackasses to those of us who see the lying for what it is. When reality doesn't jive with their narratives they have to change reality since they refuse to change their narratives, so no matter what torture works, tax cuts, spending cuts, deregulation and privatization are the only answers EVER no matter whether the economy is up OR down, and if history says that Paul Revere didn't warn the redcoats or that Thomas Jefferson stood for Seperation of Church and State then fuck it, Republicans are perfectly happy inventing a new version of history for themselves before they will ever change their failed ideology. In my honest and non expert opinion, this is how a fucking psychopath operates.
Now, you know that moment when someone says something so absurd the whole crowd laughs in their face? That moment, if there was a studio audience, would have happened 20 seconds into this clip when Ann Coulter attempted to say that cutting taxes lead to a great economy in the 1920's. One of the guests on the panel, Chrystia Freeland, responded to this in a 'LOL SRSLY?' kind of tone.
Watch as school goes into session
Ann Coulter: "We've run this experiment different times in this country, over and over and over again, and every time nothing is done, there is no Keynesian spending, the economy recovers like that and we have a boom. It did in the 20's, it did in the 80's, and every time . . .
Chrystia Freeland: "It did in the 20's?"
Ann Coulter: "FDR and Obama jumps in . . . "
Fareed Zakaria: "As I recall, a massive increase in defense spending. . ."
(crosstalk)
Ann Coulter: "And massive . . ."
Fareed Zakaria: "Tax cuts."
Ann Coulter: "Cuts in taxes brought more revenue in."
Fareed Zakaria: "Which are Keynesian. Keynes was in favor of taxation. He never made a particular distinction between government spending and taxes. His point was you need demand in the economy."
Ann Coulter: "Right, but. . . "
Fareed Zakaria: "You need to stimulate demand."
Ann Coulter: "No. No. No. Ronald Reagan winning the cold war was not part of his Keynesian approach to the economy."
(laughter)
Fareed Zakaria: "Tax cuts are a Keynesian approach."
Elliot Spitzer: "Your story would be nice if it were true, but it's not. The reality is, if you look at the economics, and you look at what the impact is of both credit to marginal rates, government spending, the incentives you create for job creation, Keynes has been right at every turn. In terms of understanding, if you actually sat down with or either were a business person making capital allocation decisions, hiring, you'd understand the way you look at is your return. Right now there is a demand crisis of enormous volume. That's why we need to create demand in this economy so we can generate things that we can buy."
Ann Coulter: "And Obama's been following your policies and that is why we have a crisis."
Elliot Spitzer: "The executives are sitting on two trillion dollars of capital. The key to getting that capital back into the economy, to hire people, is demand for the products we made. There is not a whole lot of ambiguity about that."
According to Wingnut Dogma, Obama is the cause of every disaster we face. And things that happened in the 1920's is proof of how awesome the economy can get if we just drown the government in a bathtub. Never mind that other thing that happened in the 20's though.
Yup, that's where the ideologists on the right are taking us, back to the good ole days of the 1920's, when poverty and taxes didn't exist and the decade ended, not in the total failure of small government ideology, but in evil commie takeovers of teh government. Suck that, you hippies! I can just invent my own ending!
More rant below the fold
Because we all know the end of the Republican Presidency of Herbert Hoover, much like the end of the Republican Presidency of George W. Bush is a period of time that the modern GOP and it's supporters are convinced that their ideas were awesome. The end of the 1920's, like the end of 2007-2008, is not proof of the total failure of GOP no tax no regulation privatization anti spending policies to a Republican. Nope, Hoover wasn't the problem, and FDR and Kenyesian economics made things worse, just the same way you can't blame Bush and his policies but you can sure as hell blame socialism and the liberal President. Republicans, insulated in their sound proof right wing media echo chamber, live in a fantasy world equivalent to the happy place Jim Carrey goes to in Dumb and Dumber when the big bully Seabass of reality shows up to destroy their blissful willful ignorance.
The reason the economy sucks for the lower 98% of Americans is that we have no fucking jobs. There aren't enough jobs available, so there isn't enough income and disposable income available, and income inequality has gotten so drastically bad, wages increases have been stagnant against rising prices for sooo long, the special interests have been robbing us for sooo long we have nothing left. There is no more manufacturing industry in this country to support the working class, we shipped those jobs overseas, and we are busy shipping more jobs overseas while corporations enjoy record profits and the lowest tax rates in generations. Working class people can't buy stuff because more and more of our money is going to booming gas prices and health insurance costs and banks that speculate and drive up the prices of food, gas and everything else, and the Republican answer, as always, is to blame taxes and spending and give every advantage possible to the richest among us in the disproved beliefs that wealth will eventually trickle down and low taxes will somehow increase revenue instead of creating massive deficits. Demand is the problem, and creating that demand by putting money into the hands of consumers is the only way to fix the economy for the average working class American. Cutting vital services is not the answer. Cutting taxes for the rich again as they hoard their wealth in an economic siege against the
working class is not the answer, and yes, defense spending actually does count as spending. But not if you live in your own magical land of make believe where Reagan is John Wayne and FDR was a bad guy.
This is the lizard brain of Sarah Palin on full display when she invents her own history on the spot. She honestly believes it. She doublethinked herself into it being true, and her duckspeak answer is her attempt to vocalize her doublethinking process in a way that you will understand. This is why Jon Kyl looks like an idiot to the rest of us when he says lies and then says that what he said wasn't intended to be taken as a "factual statement." To a modern Conservative today, the real truth is 'Fuck you, socialist, Planned Parenthood DOES spend 98% of it's funds on abortions!' our facts don't match theirs, and thus, must be false. God forbid a Republican who wishes to be taken seriously by the rabid misinformation driven base deviates from the narrative and recognizes the true reality of where things stand, the GOP base LOVES the lies and the narrative, if you admit that an individual mandate is an effective way of providing health care to the public your career is pretty much over if you don't change your history to match what the GOP base wants to believe. Mitt Romney can not rewrite his history. He is screwed. Rewriting history on the fly is integral to being a modern conservative. How can you possibly be against the Civil Rights Act, Medicare, Social Security, Health Care Reform, Wall Street Reform AND Health Care for 9/11 First Responders and for tax cuts for the rich, war and torture, without realizing you're a bit of a Dick? Well, if you are a Conservative, you never have to be wrong again, because being on the wrong side of history doesn't fit in with GOP ideology. To understand the modern Conservative propaganda consumer, you must realize it is always the fault of The Government, Lazy Poor People, Welfare Queens, Illegal Immigrants, Muslim Terrorists, Feminists, Gay people, Women seeking Abortions, taxes, spending, regulations and Liberals. And Black People. They just don't say that last part out loud in public anymore.
If you want the perfect microcosm of the GOP war on reality, all you have to do is look at when Newt Gingrich ended his Presidential aspirations and temporarily excommunicated himself from the inner circle of Republican 'serious people' for saying that the Paul Ryan reverse Robin Hood budget was "Right Wing Social Engineering", Then, in a move that stunned balls out liars and sane people everywhere, Newt told the world that anybody who directly quotes video of what Newt Gingrich said, as he said it, is lying to you. Just like Rick James on The Dave Chappelle show, there is this moment where they can tell you something that they would never do, and then admit to doing it, but then just as quickly dismiss it. I never did that. Why would I stomp my feet on their -rights- couch? Yeah, I remember that time I stomped my feet on their -rights- couch. So what?
Conservatives can say whatever they want, then forget (Example A. John McCain) a moment later. They make their own history up as they go, because at the bottom of everything the GOP and Conservatives stand for is nothing more than a subservience to the unfettered free trade style of governance and economics that was dreamed up by Milton Friedman, glorified by Ayn Rand and then totally collapsed after 30 years of experimentation under George W. Bush. The only thing Conservatives stand for is a jumble of policies that solely exist to transfer massive amounts of wealth from the public sector to the private sector, it all comes down to a massive transfer of wealth from the poor and working class to the very, very rich, and any rights that must be stripped from citizens, consumers and workers will be stripped, anything that can be torn down, privatized and have their prices driven up for the sake of profit will be privatized, love will be hated and hate will be glorified, social justice will be damned and justice in society will be damned. To be a Republican, to be a Conservative begins with the denial of those facts. Republicans are masters of doublethink who speak in duckspeak. Up is Up AND Down, and it only counts if you are a Republican, unless it doesn't count because you are a Republican. So suck on that, hippy, cause I will just invent my own reality. USA! USA! USA!
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Peace and love to one and all