Word Choice

  "Great Strides" does not describe "little baby steps". Except in editorial rooms, of course. --ml

Vagrant Thought as I Read Krugman's Column

  We are confidently assured, by just about every authority figure entitled to opine on the political scene, that there are two great parties in the US. 

One says no. 

The other strains mightily to produce a gnat. 

A gnat, moreover, which was made by our bespoke policy establishment, to fit the other party which didn't want the suit. (Mixing metaphors is a lot of fun.)

Great? I have other uses for the word.

-ml

Marketing as Stand Up

Seen on a toilet carton: "The Global Performance Toilet." 
What were the copy writers thinking? 
Did no one of the many who approved the copy think of the implications?
What blind dedication.
No sense of humor whatsoever. 
--ml

Succinct Summation

The best capsule review I've seen:

Looking Back


My marker for Obama was whether he'd get a health care bill with a public option. He didn't. A year ago passage of some sort of health care reform seemed inevitable, and not a tremendous challenge. Only a year of dithering and bipartisaning and gangs of wankers and pre-compromising and, frankly, failure to put forward something simple and popular jeopardized it.

The bill's more good than bad, but it isn't what we should have gotten. It isn't what we voted for.

 Thanks, Duncan.
--ml

But, Then ...

Conventional wisdom, as often happens, proved inapt in the particular situation.
--ml

Ponder #7310

Re: Krugman, 3/7/10:
Consumer Protection is too important to multi-task.
--ml