Must Read Of The Day

From self-described "centrist liberal" Mark Lilla,

Unlike the crybabies at MSNBC and Harper’s Magazine, we never bought into the campaign’s hollow “hope and change” rhetoric, so aren’t crushed that, well, life got in the way. At most we hoped for a sensible health care program to end the scandal of America’s uninsured, and were relieved that Obama proposed no other grand schemes of Nixonian scale. We liked him for his political liberalism and instinctual conservatism. And we still like him.

It's yet another riff on the fever dreams of the current "conservatives". Don't let the references to Hegel and Maimonides throw you off. The piece is as humorous as it is cutting and incisive.

The Maker Revolution

A blogger, a professor and a labor statistician walk into a bar - no, this is not the opening to the worst joke in the world - and ponder what is going on in the economy.

When the fever sweat of politics is wiped away and the rheumy eyes are cleared, serious people have known for some time that something serious is going on with our economy. And the scary thing is  very smart people aren't sure why.

That chart up there is all the recessions since 1948. There is an undeniable trend of slower and slower recovery. 

The two big economic booms of the past 150 years, manufacturing and the internet, seem to be petering out and we face the frightening question of, what's next?


These large questions occasionally filters down to the street where those three guys in that terrible joke opener sit on a Saturday, drinking a beer, wondering exactly what's going to fix this.

Chris Anderson of The Guardian may have the answer to how we avoid the possibility of becoming a "nation of bankers, burger flippers and tour guides".

And then there is the first generation of 3D printers. These take "geometries" on screen (3D objects that are created with the same sorts of tools that Hollywood uses to make computer generated movies and turn them into objects that you can pick up and use.

Anderson's column is much broader than the wonderment of things that act like the replicators on Star Trek. His thesis is innovations which powered the internet revolution (and in many ways fueled the service economy explosion) have reached the stage where they can be applied to manufacturing. And the possibility of putting manufacturing directly in the hands of entrepreneurs allowing them to not only dream, but actually create, is truly exciting and it is not too strong to say, could ultimately save the entire economy.

We've had an Industrial Revolution and an Internet Revolution. Get ready for the Maker Revolution.

Oh Lord. Someone's About To Make It Much Worse

Since the infamous video of candidate Mitt Romney was broadcast across the internet, only the softheads failed to realize it was probably recorded by someone hired to work the party. Based on some pretty obvious clues, it may have been the bartender. And the deputy dogs are tracking him or her down.

Leder of course isn't pleased, and Goldman reports, "He is in the process of narrowing down the suspects and is contemplating contacting law enforcement."

Leder is the high powered donor who hosted the party.

Bad enough people immediately began blaming "the help".

Think what you will about the act possibly being illegal, does a campaign who's candidate recently said nearly half the population "believe that they are victims" want to deal with the image of a $10 an hour food service industry work being frog marched off to jail?

Quote For The Day

From Conor Friedersdorf at the Atlantic,

In fact, this "47 percent" incident reflects a larger pattern in Campaign 2012. The base of the conservative movement develops a message that plays well internally, and inexplicably thinks it'll be persuasive to the general electorate if only it is trumpeted widely; Mitt Romney slavishly conducts himself as the base wishes; and then the talking points turn out to be as unpopular with swing voters as you'd expect.

I watched my twitter feed with bemusement yesterday as once again the "experts" were shocked a Republican would say these things. I always think, do they not read the same blogs I do? Do they never listen to talk radio? Because if they did, they would realize in the right wing base, the 47% meme is more than a casual throwaway statement; it is mantra.

And as Conor correctly points out, not only are these beliefs more than talking points, to the segment who are currently steering the Republican party, they are gospel (I hear it daily, have made monetary wagers on it and spent a couple of hours last Saturday having someone question my sanity when I posited his fervently desired outcome might not happen).

And like any true believers, the folks who absorb these sermons believe they will work! And that may be the craziest thing of all.