Last night, starting hour 2. More Stirling than me, though as I was sick last night, I was even more straightforward than usual. A lot of talk about political and cultural dysfunction.
Last night, starting hour 2. More Stirling than me, though as I was sick last night, I was even more straightforward than usual. A lot of talk about political and cultural dysfunction.
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Petro
🙂
chicago dyke
sorry, man. i totally overslept. hope you feel better soon.
Ian Welsh
Eh, nothing you haven’t heard before CD.
Petro, I don’t recall that. Who said it?
DupinTM
Fantastic radio!
I like the unspoken vibe from when you were talking about how, if one doesn’t hit the elite where it hurts, they won’t lift a finger. I didn’t realize you were sick, but maybe that tone bled through when I realized what you were speaking of – the Greece rioting.
I do wish that Stirling had discussed a bit more of the global monetary fallout. I thought he’d head towards more QE2 stopping stuff, but I assume in what was a nice gesture towards you he kept bringing up Canadian politics. Marshall Auerback just wrote an interesting piece about Germany’s holding hostage, essentially, of the Eurozone for their benefit, and I was hoping something along those lines’d be brought up.
Petro
@Ian:
I couldn’t tell, but is was the very last thing that was said, probably off-mike.
Petro
Oh – and it was fascinating. Your grasp of Canadian politics is pretty amazing (including your past writings, of course.)
Compound F
Stirling, Ian and Stoneleigh need to get together in one room. When y’all get together into one room, I’ll be listening.
Please. I thank you all for your honesty.
BDBlue
Fantastic. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the labor movement’s potential to essentially destroy the Democratic Party. We are in an existential crisis for labor and breaking with the Democrats, who are busting unions almost as much as the GOP, is its only hope. The question is whether its leadership is so corrupt, it’s willing to oversee the destruction of their own organizations.
Michael
” The question is whether its leadership is so corrupt, it’s willing to oversee the destruction of their own organizations.”
You’ve really hit the nail on the head there. As one of you brought up, (can’t remember if it was Sterling or Ian) politics these days is really just the first step to securing a more lucrative career in the private sector, hence the willingness for democrats to sell out their own base time and again. Since they only need them to get elected after that they can pursue the policies of the ruling elites in america with no thought to their own reelection secure in the knowledge that, even if they lose, the ruling class will take care of it’s own with a nice post-political career as a lobbyist or with a lucrative position in a think tank somewhere.
I’m inclined to think the situation is similar in the labor movement, with those in positions of power today already looking to make a deal for a comfortable retirement with some section of the american ruling class. The push for charter schools among some sections of what used to be progressive stalwarts (see al sharpton) is I think part of this trend.
Pepe
Now, Ian, you (or Stirling) needs to go onto blogtalkradio with Jay Ackroyd, who just can’t seem to grok the concept that the New Democrats aren’t allies.
Rinse. Repeat.
Ian Welsh
Jay Ackroyd was the host.
Petro
I’ve got a few comments out there on the toobz that I wish didn’t exist. Cheers, Pepe.
rumor
“Stirling, Ian and Stoneleigh need to get together in one room. When y’all get together into one room, I’ll be listening.”
Seconded. Would add Numerian as well. I would pay good money to hear this. I would pay better money to hear this on a regular basis.
Pepe
I listened to this episode http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking/2011/05/27/virtually-speaking-a-to-z
and nearly tore my hair out.
Ian Welsh
There are some older episodes with me and Stirling, or Stirling and I alone with Jay, if you need your red meat (iron!)
lambert strether
Awesome hour of radio, even for a hardened old fascist like me.
anon2525
The sound quality wasn’t as bad as the last time when the volume levels between the two people was ridiculously imbalanced. I hope that Virtually Speaking is working to improve the sound quality. It would be nice if they were to offer the podcast in ‘ogg’ format (FAQ about Ogg Vorbis), which provides higher sound quality at a lower bandwidth (and smaller files).
anon2525
Ian Welsh makes the comment in the V.S. program that even if the u.s. Congress were to vote to stop funding various military invasions and occupations, the u.s. president would/could simply ignore that vote and declare that “national security” required that he continue what he was doing and therefore congress could not stop him (this was also observed back during the bush/cheney interregnum, or should I say, “regnum”?).
From Ian Welsh’s mouth to Paul Craig Robert’s ear:*
As Congress has abandoned its powers over war, how can Congress hold on to its powers over spending? It cannot. Indeed, an impasse between the political parties over the debt ceiling would be welcomed by the executive branch as more proof that Congress is incapable of doing its part in governing and, therefore, the task has of necessity passed to the executive branch, which already does most of it.
If the President can declare on his own authority, without statutory basis and in defiance of the US Constitution, that he can assassinate US citizens who he considers to be a threat to national security, he certainly can declare that default is a threat to national security and that it is within his powers as commander-in-chief to ignore the debt ceiling.
Indeed, the executive branch would jump at the chance. Then it could reshape the budget to its own pleasing without having to consult Congress on spending any more than the executive branch consults Congress on war.
* link to PCR’s article