State of the Discussion

The posts in play...

David Brooks in Laodicea
(39)
+
The Schadenfreude Express
(60)
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Giving Away the Store
(53)
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The comments...

Marty
+ russell, GftNC, thanks? Turns out I'm pretty good at it. Other than one day to do my taxes I haven't logged on to a [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ At the moment, Bolton is merely a private citizen, who will have to impoverish himself to defend against charges that will eventually be dropped. Powell [. . .]
Snarki, child of Loki
+ For Bolton, the Fibbies were searching for "classified documents". If they find a grocery list, they'll just hand it to Trump and he'll "classify it with [. . .]
nous
+ It's an outrage and a travesty, and it's happening to a person whose misfortune I read with great satisfaction. I hope that this outrage is [. . .]
Hartmut
+ I assume the 'mortgage fraud' charges are already being prepared, that's the newest shtick (and stick). Once they get bored of that, it will probably [. . .]
wj
+ The thing is, Powell is merely not doing something that Trump wants done. Whereas Bolton has been actively slamming Trump on social media. [. . .]
wj
+ these structures often evolved and were negotiated among people, rather than being carefully designed and well-recorded. Being nice to (not just junior) administrative staff is [. . .]
liberal japonicus
+ Connected (ever so slightly) to the discussion about being "polite and considerate to the lower level administrative/service people" https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/the-bitter-lesson-versus-the-garbage One of my favorite academic papers about organizations [. . .]
GftNC
+ Yes, I agree with Cain's Third Law (any further ones welcome), and with wj, russell and Marty. Treating people of every degree as people, [. . .]
Cheez Whiz
+ I spent 30 years in Operations at a software company in San Jose (Manufacturing Software Engineering, a job title with an odd history). It was [. . .]
russell
+ Showing a basic respect for people, no matter their station in life, is a pretty good path to take through life. Costs nothing, builds [. . .]
wj
+ Always be polite and considerate to the lower level administrative/service people. It costs you nothing and can make someone's day. As Marty suggests, it can have [. . .]
Marty
+ "Always be polite and considerate to the lower level administrative/service people. It costs you nothing and can make someone's day." Being nice to lower level admin [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Quite right. What are the other Cain's Laws? "Always be polite and considerate to the lower level administrative/service people. It costs you nothing and can make [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Quite right. What are the other Cain's Laws? I suppose I should have written them down :^) They cover a wide range of topics, eg, "To [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Since this is the recent open thread... Mostly for wj, who purports to be an eventual user of what is currently a piece of toy software [. . .]
GftNC
+ How high the floor and how to deliver it are open for discussion; anyone who argues against a floor is arguing for the pitchforks and [. . .]
hairshirthedonist
+ Absolutist free-market ideology and anti-government rhetoric have poisoned the minds of too many. Ronald Reagan's trickle-down economics and his "nine most terrifying words" got [. . .]
Hartmut
+ I distinctly remember GOP complaints (not just the WH imbecile*) that any insurance that is not a net win for the person insured is a [. . .]
liberal japonicus
+ Interesting stuff. Thanks for the oblique correction on Revelation specifically, I'll try to take that on board. I've ranted about libertarian shortsightedness in various comments, as [. . .]
hairshirthedonist

Hungry people don't stay hungry for long - RATM

Michael Cain
+ We can afford, as a country, to simply give every person enough food to live on. Hayek, writing in either the 1920s or 30s, said the [. . .]
wj
+ Required disability insurance for seamen, too. But not farmers, or artisans, or merchants, or anyone else. I'm sure a general public interest can be construed in [. . .]
nous
+ Means testing requires an administrative state and the collection of a lot of very gameable data. I'm pretty sure it would cost less to mail [. . .]
russell
+ My personal take on what we typically call "welfare" programs - food stamps, Medicaid, etc. - is that they are best thought of as insurance. Everybody [. . .]
wj
+ The tariff thing is idiotic. Not because tariffs are always or inevitably bad, but because they are being applied to correct a problem (trade imbalance) [. . .]
wj
+ If you are going to give out food stamps, make sure that you cut some for Jeff Bezos. That's actually not a bad idea. We [. . .]
russell
+ How the "general welfare" clause's interpretation has changed since the Constitution was written It's interesting to consider the philosophical differences between, for example, Hamilton and Madison. [. . .]
Tony P.
+ "Academics are supposed to discover and promote counterintuitive, nonobvious ideas." There's an old trope among (non-academic) lawyers that lawyering amounts to trying to prove that your [. . .]
GftNC
+ Well, I suppose it all comes down again to the concept of purity. It would be great if everyone saw and agreed with the [. . .]
CharlesWT
+ How the "general welfare" clause's interpretation has changed since the Constitution was written, and the impacts those changes have had on the country. Evolution of "General [. . .]
CharlesWT
+ How the interpretation of the "general welfare" clause has changed since the Constitution was written, and how those changes have impacted the country. Evolution of "General [. . .]
nous
+ To piggy back on JanieM's criticism there: It has obviously not occurred to him -- or if it has, he declines to believe it -- [. . .]
JanieM
+ And as to this passage that lj quoted: The power to spend money for the "general welfare" is a power to spend for purposes that [. . .]
JanieM

Okay, I'll see what I can do about the archive link. Ugh.
(Fixed, I think.)

JanieM
+ Russell is a far better man than I in thinking that David Brooks is “nice.” But then again, when I was in my early teens, [. . .]
russell
+ There's a lot to unpack in this post, it goes in so many directions. Or maybe more accurately, affords so many points of entry [. . .]
russell
+ This may actually be the salient point. Could be. The kinds of grant money that are likely to be at risk are funds that we currently use, [. . .]
wj
+ The town is likely to lose several million dollars in state money This may actually be the salient point. Here, it isn't a matter of [. . .]
russell
+ Roid Rage Yeah, I'll be glad to be done with the steroid. It's like pushing the magic "asshole" button. Haven't followed today's goings on in any [. . .]
GftNC
+ Maybe you're having a (perfectly understandable) inflammatory reaction to the state of the nation, too. This. Also, I have known several near and dear who [. . .]
nous
+ Michael - Given the title of the linked piece -- "The Humanities as Service Departments: Facing the Budget Logic" -- the author never got to [. . .]
russell
+ They went nowhere because the Town Council basically said "We don't have funds to pay the fines for non-compliance." In my case, the no-comply locals [. . .]
russell
+ They went nowhere because the Town Council basically said "We don't have funds to pay the fines for non-compliance." In my case, the no-comply locals [. . .]
Michael Cain
+ Re the link in nous's 3:12... I'm on the author's side, mostly. So I'll get my initial childish response out of the way: if you're going [. . .]
wj
+ A number of communities affected by the law refused to comply. There were some minor rumblings here like that. They went nowhere because the [. . .]
wj
+ Maybe you're having a (perfectly understandable) inflammatory reaction to the state of the nation, too. I figure that's a factor in my long (for [. . .]