They used to make televisions there, no?

I’m afraid I don’t understand John Judis’s latest foray into economic nationalism:
Can’t Japanese, South Korean, and German firms (with the Chinese also readying an industry) supply cars to American consumers? First, of course, it’s a matter of several million jobs ranging from auto workers to suppliers to the myriad of small businesses that cater to [...]

Latvia Free Speech Blogging

I’ve belatedly realized that discussing the Latvian free speech crisis in the context of a post on democracy promotion misses the forest for the trees. And while I don’t want to inflate the severity of the issue, throwing an economic pessimist in jail for speaking truth to power fundamentally undermines the principle of free, unfettered [...]

Leverage

Progressives spend a lot of time talking about the need to use our newfound corporate leverage (courtesy of the various bailout rescue packages we’re handing out) to jump-start broader reform. The auto industry, for example, is now a prime target for mandatory “greening.” Well, maybe. I say we use the Citi bailout to stop corporations [...]

Department of Bad Analogies

The government is really good at running the military-industrial complex, so there’s no reason not to enter into a similar arrangement with the auto industry, right? Here’s Steven Coll:
Another fallacy of the current debate, often a theme of op-ed essays from the right, but an argument not limited to conservatives, is the notion that the [...]

Slippery Slopes

I understand the distinction Megan McArdle is trying to draw here, and I think her larger point is basically sound – the financial services sector is more important to our economy than the auto industry. That said, I also think this argument exposes another unintended consequence of the bailout. Politically speaking, it’s extremely difficult to [...]

Honorable Intentions

Having witnessed several noble debacles, I’ve come to believe that principled ideologues have some obligation to outline how their preferred policy choices would function in a real-world setting. It would have been nice, for example, to have had a robust national debate on the merits of occupying Iraq before we started lobbing smart bombs through [...]

Back

Posting will be light while I recover from an extremely long weekend. In the interim, check out this extremely depressing article on Indian call centers and the financial crisis:
GURGAON, India – With her flowing, hot-pink Indian suit, jangly silver bangles and perky voice, Bhumika Chaturvedi, 24, doesn’t fit the stereotype of a thuggish, heard-it-all-before debt [...]

Dystopian Dream Girl

I meant to flag this a few days ago, but Michael Lind penned a few truly disturbing predictions for TNR in the wake of the bailout (emphases mine):
In democracies, temporary spending programs tend to become permanent, so the “normal” government share of GDP in the U.S. may rise to 35 or even 40 percent. This [...]

Worthy Links

Christopher Hayes on the shifting free-trade consensus among economists.
Roderick Long explains why small is beautiful. And by the way, everything this guy writes about economics is well-worth reading.
Rod Dreher notes the permanent deployment of a brigade combat team to the United States. According to the Army Times article he links to, the brigade is training [...]

Better Policy-Making Through Punditry

At Culture 11, Peter Suderman helpfully summarizes my own worries about opposition to the bailout:
On the other hand, I’m also bothered by the dogmatism of many of the bailout’s opponents. Few of them, it seems, have much in the way of specialized technical or economic expertise (though there are exceptions). They speak primarily in terms [...]

More Reasons to Consider Binge Drinking

From the Washington Post, a Gitmo prosecutor quits over withheld evidence (Yes, you read that correctly – even the prosecutors think the game is rigged):
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Sept. 25 — A military prosecutor involved in war crimes cases here has quit his position, citing ethical concerns about his office’s failure to turn over exculpatory material [...]

McCrisis

McCain and Obama are evidently locked in a monumental pissing contest battle of political wits over the appropriate response to our mounting economic crisis. McCain wants to call off Friday’s debate and suspend campaigning to formulate a bi-partisan recovery plan. Obama begs to differ. Unlike, say, Ezra Klein, I don’t think either candidate can claim [...]