National expert to discuss the resurgent right wing, tonight in Helena

Economic anxieties (0.00 / 0)

are the driver. Here's why:  http://www.politico.com/news/s...

===============
...Obama has spent more money on new programs in nine months than Bill Clinton did in eight years, pushing the annual deficit to $1.4 trillion. This leaves little room for big spending initiatives...

The big question for Obama - and the country - is whether the sudden concern about deficits will be more rhetoric than reality once his first State of the Union address concludes.

All presidents promise deficit reduction - and almost always fall short. There is good reason to be skeptical of this White House, too, on its commitment.  
=================

Meanwhile unemployment is +10% and appears to be growing.  

---

by: Craig Moore @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 18:47:29 PM UTC

Why don't you run Politico's numbers (0.00 / 0)

through one of your fact checking sites, Craig before you offer them up as gospel?

And why don't you compare Obama's numbers to Bush, with his pet projects, the Iraq war coming in at well over a trillion dollars (probably 2 trillion before we're out) of new, TARP and its $800b gift to Wall Street, Medicare Part D's $750b gift to PHARMA, unfunded tax cuts for the rich worth $2.5b, blah, blah, blah... Remember, Clinton balanced the budget, and Bush broke it.

I add up Bush's unfunded "new programs" to well over $6 trillion dollars. Which, gee, is about the amount that Bush added to our national debt, and still contributing. Before we condemn Obama's spending, let's undo the damage that Bush wreaked on our country. Stop the wars, let the tax cuts expire, get our money back from Wall Street, reform health care and Medicare.

And economic anxieties are "a" driver, not "the" driver to right wing extremism. And those economic anxieties should be directed at those who started the economic mess--Bush & Co and his republican cronies--not those who are trying to clean it up. But right wing racism, classism and bigotry all are becoming more overt as the more moderate elements of the republican party fail to recognize and condemn it, just as you do, craig, when you call me a racist for pointing out the elephant in your room.

And furthermore, Clinton did not have the Great Recession and banking system collapse to deal with. You want to argue Keynisian economic theory as it applies to making up the output gap and preventing "Depression" and rewrite the history of the Great one, then fine, make that argument. But don't disguise Obama's spending as "new programs" when most of it is one-time spending intended to prop up a failed economy you guys, Bush, Republicans & Co left us.

---

by: JC @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 20:04:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Agree, but... (0.00 / 0)

The deficit is a big concern - as is the falling dollar and rising unemployment. It will be an important issue of policy that will certainly drive election results in 2010 and 2012.

Surely, though, the rise in membership and activity of skin heads, the KKK, and NeoNazi organizations cannot be written off as a reaction to the economic policy decisions of this administration.  See -

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com...

http://www.ocprogressive.com/d...

http://www.splcenter.org/intel...

No, this is a sinister ideology that is threatened by a perceived shift in power and fear of reparations by an emerging ruling class not their own. While it is a minority - I like to think a tiny minority - it is a serious threat to the stability and prosperity of our nation.


ars longa - vita brevis

---

by: NorthernFlicker @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 20:16:06 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Those who think the falling dollar is a bad thing (0.00 / 0)

need to read Krugman's recent article about it.

"The truth is that the falling dollar is good news. For one thing, it’s mainly the result of rising confidence: the dollar rose at the height of the financial crisis as panicked investors sought safe haven in America, and it’s falling again now that the fear is subsiding. And a lower dollar is good for U.S. exporters, helping us make the transition away from huge trade deficits to a more sustainable international position. "

---

by: JC @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 20:21:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

JC, you are a lemming (0.00 / 0)

Krugman has been wrong many times.  Did you catch his Mea Culpa in the NYT about the whole profession?

In this environment the falling dollar is exporting our national debt to those countries that hold our currency. With China leading the way, there is a real effort to dump the dollar as the defining currency as we give no indication of amending our spendthrift ways.

---

by: Craig Moore @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 20:48:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I think the lemmings are the ones (0.00 / 0)

whom Bush led off the cliff starting in '01, and the Reaganites before him.

---

by: JC @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 21:03:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

...and the followers of the conservative's (0.00 / 0)

Tea Bagger Party.

---

by: JC @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 21:07:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ohm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (0.00 / 0)

---

by: Craig Moore @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 21:14:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Flicker (0.00 / 0)

Fringe groups come and go. Don't make the mistake by conflating them with ordinary people on the Right that are upset and have taken to expressing it in various venues.  It is the economy.  According to Gallup 57% of Americans say economic conditions are worsening.  http://www.gallup.com/poll/110...  

---

by: Craig Moore @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 20:30:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Don't confuse your subsets, Craig. (0.00 / 0)

Just because someone thinks the economy is our biggest problem on a poll doesn't mean they don't think it's caused by darkies and jews.

---

by: Rob Kailey @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 22:21:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I guess I don't (0.00 / 0)

hang out with people that think that way, but are very concerned about the economy.  

---

by: Craig Moore @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 22:37:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That's not the problem. (0.00 / 0)

The problem, Craig, is that you used a poll that didn't ask about the topic of the post ("fringe" groups) as a means to discredit the point of the speaker.  That's misdirection, and will rarely work.

---

by: Rob Kailey @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 23:23:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The problem (0.00 / 0)

is the reflexive knee-jerk to conflate fringees with the vast majority of others and define the whole as if it were the fringe.  Makes for hearty rhetoric and whiskey talk but has little value in reality.

---

by: Craig Moore @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 23:29:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Did you attend? (0.00 / 0)

 

The problem   (0.00 / 0)
is the reflexive knee-jerk to conflate fringees with the vast majority of others and define the whole as if it were the fringe.

How do you know that's what's been done?  Claims with no evidence, Craig.  Weak sauce.

---

by: Rob Kailey @ Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 23:58:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No need to look any (0.00 / 0)

further than many comments here.  

---

by: Craig Moore @ Sat Nov 14, 2009 at 00:18:51 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Craig (0.00 / 0)

The growth among radical Right fringe membership and activities is a concern. Those merely expressing their views about policy by engaging in the debate or by demonstrating is part of the healthy debate in a democracy. I haven't any misconceptions of conflation between these two groups. In fact, I was careful to state that the fringe was a tiny minority.  

But when you said that the economic issues are the driver - I think that statement ignores what is really driving the fringe. And, it is the radicals that we are talking about here.    

ars longa - vita brevis

---

by: NorthernFlicker @ Sat Nov 14, 2009 at 07:18:00 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Brilliant distractions. (0.00 / 0)

Authoritarian right-wing politics adopted the same tactics to run Pres. Carter's public image into the ground and open the door for Reaganomics.  Since then the CIA, Pentagon and now a host of "private" contractors have kept a firm grip on national political power.  God's great gift to the right, 9/11, boosted fear levels sufficient to revive rapid state-authoritarian expansion.  Obama's attempt to reverse this trend is either being kept very quiet, or is nonexistent.  The civilian economy exists on what's left over after "defense," and so-called homeland security.  Ever hear of a CBO report on the defense budget? This self-perpetuating state power extorts bloated appropriations from Congress and the White House. Who, or what's, really behind the anthrax attacks? Guns or butter?  Since Reagan, it's been guns ablazin'. The "populist" right-wingers of today never, never include authoritarian state institutions when sniping against Big Government. They have a perpetual war for everything -- and with that comes perpetual funding. When libertarians of all stripes unite, we might begin to experience a reversal of authoritarian power and the disenfranchisement it breeds.

---

by: steve kelly @ Sat Nov 14, 2009 at 17:48:33 PM UTC