John Lanchester, writing recently in the London Review of Books, on the deep dissonance that exists about recent financial crises:
In the world of money, people are privately outraged by the general unwillingness of electorates to accept the blame for the state they are in. But the general public, it turns out, had very little understanding of the economic mechanisms which were, without their knowing it, ruling their lives. They didn’t vote for the system, and no one explained the system to them, and in any case the rule is that while things are on the way up, no one votes for Cassandra, so no one in public life plays the Cassandra role.
No, he’s not referring specifically to the United States.
For as much as they sing her praises, today’s Republicans would never tolerate Margaret Thatcher’s tax policies — or Ronald Reagan’s either for that matter.
The special election Tuesday to replace Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) in the CA-36 has turned into a much closer race than initially expected, with a real chance for a Republican pickup.
TPM Reader KH gets in on the Paul Ryan pinot noir action: Read More
Our pinot noir coverage is a bete noire for TPM Reader GT: Read More
White House meeting wraps up. No deal on raising the debt ceiling yet. Reports are another meeting will take place at the White House Monday.
The Sunday evening meeting between President Obama and congressional leadership on a debt deal is underway. For what it’s worth, this meeting was already scheduled when Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) declared Saturday evening that he was withdrawing from talks to achieve a grand bargain on debt reduction.
So a congressman, a hedge fund manager and an economist walk into a bar …
Sounds like a good set-up for a joke, but that was the line-up last week at a Capitol Hill bistro. Not the kind of thing that would get much notice until the trio ordered a couple of $350 bottles of pinot noir.
As we reported Friday, the congressman was Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). Now we’ve IDed the other two: a University of Chicago economist and the hedge fund manager who endowed the economist’s professorship. But it’s not just any hedge fund manager. Susan Crabtree reports.