August 13 -- The Candidates' Debate

Off Times Square is supposed to be fixed, but it was supposed to be fixed more than half-a-dozen times before this, so there are no guarantees. So I'm cross-posting here on Reality Chex Annex. Please try to post on Off Times Square first, and if you can't, post your comment here on Reality Chex Annex and I'll try to copy it in Off Times Square.

Make sure to copy the content of your comment in case of a posting failure.

Charles Blow: "... all the [Republican presidential] candidates ... confirm[ed] that they felt so strongly about not raising taxes that they would all walk away from a hypothetical deficit-reduction deal that was as extreme as 10 parts spending cuts to one part tax increases.... No person who would take such a stance is fit to be president of the United States or any developed country. Good governance in a democratic society is about the art of the deal, not fiats and dictum. You want leaders who stand up for principles but not in the way of progress." ...

... Kurt Andersen in the New York Times: "Keeping track of which politician has signed which pledge is head-spinning. These pledges make the politicians more like robots, built to respond in simple, unchanging ways."

Backup Reading:

Don Peck writes a long essay in The Atlantic that I'm excerpting here for the highlighted stat: In 2005, Citigroup analysts wrote that "America was composed of two distinct groups: the rich and the rest. And for the purposes of investment decisions, the second group didn’t matter; tracking its spending habits or worrying over its savings rate was a waste of time. All the action in the American economy was at the top: the richest 1 percent of households earned as much each year as the bottom 60 percent put together; they possessed as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent [emphasis added]; and with each passing year, a greater share of the nation’s treasure was flowing through their hands and into their pockets. It was this segment of the population, almost exclusively, that held the key to future growth and future returns. The analysts ... had coined a term for this state of affairs: plutonomy.... Income inequality usually shrinks during a recession, but in the Great Recession, it didn’t. From 2007 to 2009, the most-recent years for which data are available, it widened a little."

Corporations are people, my friend. -- Mitt Romney ...

... Paul Krugman: "... the corporate profits tax isn’t a tax on these organizations. It’s a tax on these organizations’ profits — the share of their income that does NOT go to workers and suppliers. Now, stockholders are people too — but they are, on average, quite rich people, who are doing very well as most Americans suffer."

The Commentariat -- August 12

Okay, it now appears that my entire site is down. By accident, I was able to get Reality Chex up once, but I probably won't be able to do so again, perhaps for 24 hours or more. So it may be that everything happens on Reality Chex Annex. This is getting to be more than I can handle. ...

     ... Update: RealityChex.com is back in business but I'm still working on Off Times Square. I have learned the identity of an individual who was responsible for taking down the site last night. He apparently was looking for information about where I live. Because he was aware information available publicly was not up-to-date, I believe he may have stalked my neighborhood and may pose a threat to my safety. I have contacted the local police in the city where he resides.

In the wee hours this morning I reproduced -- as best I could -- the Commentariat here. I've since added extensively to the Commentariat on the Reality Chex site. As RealityChex.com seems to be working reliably now, I've taken down this abbreviated version. Thanks for your patience, everyone.

August 12 -- Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman: "what happens when influential people exploit a crisis instead of doing something about solving it."

Write on this or something else.

August 11 -- What Next?

A few commenters, myself included, have suggested that the American economy is such that protests -- perhaps violent protests -- can't be long in coming. We're not the only ones:

Lessons from London. Profs. Richard Sennett & Saskia Sassen, in a New York Times op-ed: "The American right today is obsessed with cutting government spending. In many ways, [British PM David] Cameron’s austerity program is the Tea Party’s dream come true. But Britain is now grappling with the consequences of those cuts, which have led to the neglect and exclusion of many vulnerable, disaffected young people who are acting out violently and irresponsibly — driven by rage rather than an explicit political agenda.... The two countries today are alike in their extremes of inequality, and in the desire of many politicians to solve economic and social ills by reducing the power of the state."

What do you think? Write on this or something else.

To return to the Commentariat, click here.

August 10 -- Maureen Dowd

MoDo lets Obama have it today: "The president has been ... spectacularly unable to fill the leadership void in Washington... His inability to grab a microphone and spontaneously assuage Americans’ fears is strange.... He long ago should have gone out into the country to talk to Americans in person and come up with a concrete plan.... His withholding and reactive nature has made him seem strangely irrelevant in Washington, trapped by his own temperament. He doesn’t lead, and he doesn’t understand why we don’t feel led."

Write on this or something else.

To get back to Reality Chex' main page, go to

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August 10 -- Poor People

Below (when I get it completed) is a re-post of a thread Karl Thompson started way last week when Off Times Square was operational for comments. Thompson's premise, as I recall it, was "poor people in the U.S. don't have it so bad." Included are/will be Thompson's original comment plus those written in rebuttal & support, in the order received (more or less).

Feel free to make additional comments.

To get back to Reality Chex' main page, go to

http://www.realitychex.com/

Sorry for the mess.