New Publishing Hit “Wool” is Reshaping the Industry – Maybe

And Here’s How Fox News Played a Role in the Genesis of the Book

The publishing world is agog, really agog over the deal that the author of the  self published e-book Hugh Howey has received from Simon and Shuster.  Mr. Howey published his book on Amazon and went to make more than a million bucks.  He sold the rights to Simon and Shuster, but only the rights for the print edition.

When "Wool" hits bookstores next Tuesday, publishing industry insiders will be watching the experiment closely. Simon & Schuster will release a $15 paperback and a $26 hardcover simultaneously, competing directly against Mr. Howey's digital edition, which costs $5.99.

Now this Forum will leave the analysis of the business aspects of this to others, it may be a one-off, or it may be a real change in publishing.  However here is what caught our eye, the really important thing which is how Mr. Howey got the idea for the book.

Mr. Howey says he was watching cable news one day when he came up with the idea of a future where people get all of their information from a single, unreliable screen.

C'mon People - If they Can Get It So Can You

Wow, there are a lot of cable news networks.  Anybody want to try and guess which cable news network that was?  Anybody?  C’mon, it’s not that hard a question, The Dismal Political Economist has four cats and three of them figured it out.

Republicans Want to Do a “Grand Bargain” on Fiscal Matter – A Bargain That Gives Them 100% of What They Want, The Rest of Us, Zero

Which is the Very Republican Definition of a Bargain

In order to get Republicans on board for a program to reduce the deficit by raising taxes and cutting spending, President Obama has offered to address the high spending growth programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  This would be part of a bargain with Republicans who would give a little on their issues, namely taxes.  And lo and behold Speaker John Boehner has endorsed the bargain.

the speaker offered some hope that the budget process – which begins this week with the expected passage by the House of a spending measure, or “continuing resolution,” to keep the government open for the rest of the year — could still end in a comprehensive agreement that lowers the deficit, overhauls the tax code and undoes at least some of the automatic spending cuts.

Okay, since nobody trusts Republicans, what’s the catch?  Oh this.

House Republican leaders are adamant that they want no changes to the tax code – including closing loopholes that both sides agree are wasteful.

Yep that sounds like Republicans alright.

Paul Ryan Has Now Released His Fiscal Plan – And Here’s The Only Thing Anyone Needs to Know About It

“It’s a Joke, Son, It’s a Joke”

Okay, so now the fantasy land of Republican fiscal policy is full front and center.  Paul Ryan has released his so-called balanced budget plan.  There will be more than enough comment from serious people who will dissect the plan and expose it for what it is, a sham political document with no basis in reality.

But if anyone wants to know in a single thought how intellectually dishonest the plan is, here is just two excerpts.  The first is the plans attitude towards taxes.

Solutions

• Simplify the tax code to make it fairer to American families and businesses.

• Reduce the amount of time and resources necessary to comply with tax laws.

• Substantially lower tax rates for individuals, with a goal of achieving a top individual rate of 25 percent.

• Consolidate the current seven individual-income-tax brackets into two brackets with a

first bracket of 10 percent.

• Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax.

• Reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent.

• Transition the tax code to a more competitive system of international taxation.

Yes that is correct, a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans.

And here is the plan’s recommendation for Social Security.

Social Security in brief

• Require the President to submit a plan to shore up the Social Security Trust Fund.

• Require Congress to submit a plan of its own.

Yes, this Forum would present more, but it is impossible to write when one is laughing this hard.

Even Before Rep. Paul Ryan’s Balanced Budget Plan is Release It is Being Attacked as Dishonest

That’s Just Not Right – Even If it is Right

The recent GOP VP nominee, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, is going to release a federal budget plan that promises to balance the budget in 10 years.  He is required to do so, his last plan took about 30 years to do that job, and so his colleagues said he had to come up with one that balanced it in 10 years.

But even before the plan is released, based on historical precedent and the inherent dishonesty in Mr. Ryan critics are attacking the plan.  For example there is this.

It’s very simple: every story about the Ryan budget should highlight the breathtaking dishonesty on display here. It’s a major story in American politics over the last four years, and anyone reporting on the budget should do whatever it takes to make it clear exactly what’s going on.

See, this is just plain wrong.  Everyone should wait until the budget is released to attack its dishonesty, its fraud, it bogus assumptions and its lack of specificity.  Just because everyone knows that is what is coming is no reason to jump the gun here.  It’s not like there won’t be plenty of opportunity, and a couple of good laughs along the way.

Besides maybe the plan will be a credible, well thought out one.  (Sorry, that's just too much wine with dinner talking.)

The Entitlement Gene Runs Deep in the Romney Family – Brother Scott May Run for the Senate

Why – Because He is Entitled to a Senate Seat, He’s a Romney

When Mitt Romney talked about the people who felt they were entitled, he knew of what he spoke.  Four months after the November election no one can remember a single reason why Mitt Romney was running for President.  The only rationale explanation for his candidacy, he was a very rich man who wanted the ultimate rich man’s toy, the Presidency, and because he was a rich man, he was entitled to it.

Mitt Romney's brother Scott eyeing Senate bid in Michigan

Scott Romney, brother of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, cheers during the roll call for nomination of president of the United States at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 28, 2012, during the Republican National Convention. / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTYIMAGES

Now we have Mitt’s brother considering whether or not to run for the open Senate seat in Michigan.

Scott Romney, the older brother of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, is "interested and seriously looking at" a run for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, a friend of the Romney family tells CBS News.

Now it is tempting to say that Scott Romney has absolutely no qualifications or experience that would qualify his candidacy, although there are these  items on his resume.

Scott Romney has been a presence in Michigan politics for more than a decade. He sought but narrowly lost the Republican nomination for Michigan attorney general in 1998, and between 2001 and 2009 he was a member of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees. He also served as a Michigan delegate at Mitt Romney's 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

Ok, those are not light qualifications, those are zero qualifications.  So why does Scott Romney consider himself Senate material.  The conclusion here, Scott is entitled to the Senate seat because he is the brother of a man who is entitled to the Presidency.  That makes Scott Romney maybe the most self-entitled person ever.

British Prime Minister David Cameron Lies About the Policy of Austerity His Government Imposed

Because Lying is About the Only Way He Can Explain Things

The Conservative Party’s austerity program in Britain has produced pretty bad results.  Paul Krugman, who is almost always right almost all of the time has a simple chart that shows how Britain compares with the U. S., a nation that fought off conservative policy to implement austerity.

So in order to defend his policy, the British Prime Minister has falsely claimed that the independent British budget agency has said that the Conservative policy is not at fault.  First he claimed that the policy was not the cause of Britain’s economic woes.

Mr Cameron claimed this week that the coalition’s deficit reduction plan was not responsible for the flatlining economy, blaming instead the financial crisis, a 60 per cent rise in oil prices and eurozone problems.

And then he claimed vindication from the independent budget agency.  The agency struck back.

But the prime minister’s claim that the Office for Budget Responsibility endorsed his view brought a stinging letter from Robert Chote, the fiscal watchdog’s chairman, who said all OBR forecasts concluded that “tax increases and spending cuts reduce economic growth in the short term”.

The OBR’s letter comes after Andrew Dilnot, chief statistician, wrote to Number 10 last month about Mr Cameron’s false claim in a party political broadcast that Britain’s debts had fallen since the coalition took office.

The problem of course is that economics cannot be spun, it is a pretty good science, it is based on numbers and data and the Keynesian analysis, upon which all modern non-partisan analysis is based works.  But Mr. Cameron and the Conservatives cannot ever admit that they were wrong, in fact, they will need to double down just to preserve their dignity.  And preserving their dignity is far more important than intellectual honesty or preventing millions from suffering.

NCAA Refuses to Let Athletes Like Joel Bauman Use Their Own Names in Promotions – If So They Become Ineligible

Why Hasn’t This Been Ruled Unconstitutional?

A college wrestler is no longer eligible to compete in college wrestling.  His crime, he recorded a rap song and sells it for 99 cents.  His real crime, according to the NCAA which governs college athletics, he was making money off of his name recognition from being a college athlete.

Emily Dunker/The Minnesota Daily

Joel Bauman's most recent song video can be downloaded for 99 cents on iTunes, a problem for the N.C.A.A.

Because Bauman performed under his own name and identified himself as a Minnesota wrestler, the N.C.A.A. ruled him ineligible for the remainder of the season. J. T. Bruett, Minnesota’s compliance director, said Bauman violated an N.C.A.A. bylaw prohibiting student-athletes from using their name, image or status as an athlete to promote the sale of a commercial product.

Now we all understand the good intentions of the NCAA here.  They want to prevent the buying of college athletes by fans and boosters who would pay the athletes for endorsements, indirectly paying them for their athletic prowess.

But good intentions do not allow an organization to remove the basic Constitutional rights of an individual.  To forbid an athlete from using their name in promotions entirely is surely a violation of the Constitution, the only question being why hasn’t someone pursued this in the courts, and if they have, why haven’t they won?

Carolina NFL Team Reportedly Made $100 million Over the Last Two Years – Wants Huge Public Subsidy to Improve Football Stadium

Team Disputes Report – Says It Made only $65 million Pre-Tax Cash Flow - AAH Poor Babies

In North Carolina the Republicans have taken over control of the state and are busy slashing unemployment benefits and denying Medicaid coverage to low income people, coverage paid for by the Federal government.  But one area where spending is requested is not receiving an angry rejection.

Bank of America Stadium, which opened in 1996, was mostly funded by majority owner Jerry Richardson and fans who bought Permanent Seat Licenses.

In January, the team asked the Charlotte City Council for $125 million to help pay for stadium renovations, which would include new escalators, video boards and improvements to clubs and suites. The city was also asked to contribute roughly $19 million over 15 years to help pay for stadium maintenance and traffic control.

The team has asked the state to contribute $62.5 million.

The report that the team made $100 million in net income is disputed by the welfare queen wannabees.

The Panthers, in a statement issued Thursday night, said the team’s profitability is much lower. 

The team said its cash flow – before taxes – for those two seasons was $66.5 million.

The team said the figures are an “isolated snapshot ... during an unusual time as the NFL lockout loomed.”

Okay, these were not normal times.  Usually the team probably made a lot more money.  Of course that should not disqualify the team from getting public welfare, and now that North Carolina is cutting benefits for the low income, for the unemployed and for everyone else who is not an NFL team owner the state should have plenty of funds to give away to multi-millionaires, or as they are know in regular parlance, Friends of Romney.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez Shows Republicans the Wrong Way to Attract Hispanic Voters

Just Because You Are Hispanic Does Not Mean You Are Not Anti-Hispanic

Today’s lesson is going to be on driver’s licenses.  For reasons beyond comprehension, anti-immigrant Conservatives believe that denying driver’s licenses to those in this country illegally is good policy.  Apparently in their fantasy world, millions of Asian and Hispanic men and women are just dying (sometimes literally) to get into the United States so that they can get a driver’s license and drive around the country, maybe go to the In and Out Drive In.

New Mexico has in the past enacted a law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain a valid driver’s license.  This is proper policy, because with a valid permit these individuals are much more likely to drive responsibly, to have insurance and to comply with motor vehicle rules.  A Conservative who fights this policy is just a person who has not yet been in an accident with an illegal immigrant who does not have a license or insurance.

Gov. Martinez - Gosh She Doesn't Look Like a Mean and Vindictive Person Who Wants to Jail People
for Driving While Hispanic

In New Mexico now the Governor is an Hispanic, and apparently she is making her major cause a change in the law that would deny licenses to illegal immigrants.

While she has promoted economic recovery as one of her major goals, Ms. Martinez has almost single-handedly fought for repealing the driver’s license law. And all along she has refused to entertain any deals.

Since this is idiotic policy, policy that not only harms those it is directed at but also harms society as a whole, one can only assume that Ms. Martinez is playing to the only political base that entertains idiotic policy as a norm, that is, conservative Republicans.  And while Republicans are placing this Governor and the Nevada Governor out front in their recruitment of Hispanic voters,

It comes at a perfect time for the governor, who is about to travel the country as an envoy of the Republican Party, recruiting Latinos to run for office or, at the very least, to give the party a second chance. (Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada has also been drafted for the same role.)

it will turn out that Hispanic voters are going to be smart enough to see what is going on, and that just because one has a Hispanic background that does not mean he or she is working in the best interests of the Hispanic community.  In this case Ms. Martinez is working in the best interests of only one member of that community, Ms. Martinez. 

In Britain the UKIP Party is Like a Nightmare Version of Republicans

And That Will Keep Everyone Awake

Lurking in the background in Britain is a political party that lurks in all nations where the governing forces create fear, hostility and austerity on the population.  The rise of intolerant totalitarianism occurs in particular when economic conditions deteriorate for the working families.  In Britain this is what is happening now.

A recent special election for a seat in Parliament produced a second place finish for the heretofore little regarded UKIP Party.  Here is a description of what those people are all about.

If Ukip had a name that truly reflected its priorities, it might be called the UK Immigrationphobe Party. Ostensibly the anti-EU party, an obsession with immigration and exit from Europe as a means to close Britain's doors is its prevailing motive. The word immigration runs through its policy statements like red lettering in seaside rock, and its proposed five-year ban on entries to the UK is the message it rams home on every doorstep.

That is far from all. It is deeply sceptical of global warming, wants to abolish inheritance tax, employers' National Insurance contributions, aims to partially reverse the recent hunting and smoking bans, and would increase defence spending by some 40 per cent. It is, in thought if not yet in personnel, the extreme right-wing of the Conservative Party in exile; a party run in the main by self-made businessmen with an agenda to match. And it has a record of defections, internecine squabbles and acrimony, plus scandals that have led two of its former MEPs to jail.

And of course we have the traditional ultra conservative homophobia and bigotry in full force.

Ukip's deputy leader, Paul Nuttall, uses his blog to vent his spleen against political correctness. In one post, he supported the Bristol hoteliers who faced court action after refusing to let a gay couple sleep in the same bed, and the football pundits Andy Gray and Richard Keys, sacked by Sky over their "sexist" remarks about a female referee's assistant. He wrote: "Firstly, Christian hoteliers Peter and Rosemary Bull lost a court case in Bristol, which was brought by two homosexual men who took exception because the couple refused to allow them to sleep in the same bed. What a complete joke. Aren't people allowed to live by their religious beliefs in the country any more? … Gray was partaking in something we call 'banter' in football circles … It's not as if he said it live on air, but, then again, so what if he had?"

To his great credit Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister David Cameron has (so far) rejected moving his party in the direction of UKIP, but his base is not quite as firm.  But if the current Conservative dominated government continues its program of injecting misery on the populace in the name of economic progress then the politics of hatred and bigotry may yet takes its place in Britain.  Thank you Conservative economic policy, if it happens they could not have done it without you.

Ross Douthat Exemplifies the Useful Idiots That Think Sen. Rand Paul (R, Ky) has Substance

The Only Substance That Matters in Republican Circles – Vicious Opposition to President Obama

The world was treated(?) to a real filibuster recently by Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul. Based on the adulation from many, but not all, in the party one would have thought Sen. Paul had actually done something of substance.  Instead all he did was foment for about 13 hours against the Obama Administration.  But that is enough to convince the clueless, in this case people like NYT columnist Ross Douthat that there was substance. 

Mr. Douthat - Looking Confused

Officially, Paul’s filibuster was devoted to a specific question of executive power — whether there are any limits on the president’s authority to declare American citizens enemy combatants and deal out death to them. But anyone who listened (and listened, and listened) to his remarks, and put them in the context of his recent speeches and votes and bridge-building, recognized that he was after something bigger: a reorientation of conservative foreign policy thinking away from hair-trigger hawkishness and absolute deference to executive power.

Mr. Paul’s issue was the poor way in which the Administration described its policy on using drones to kill people in America.  The Administration clarified things, changed nothing and yet people like Mr. Paul declared a great victory.

The admiration for Mr. Paul had nothing to do with the policy, a fact which hawks like John McCain realized when they condemned Mr. Paul.  It had everything to do with an attack on Mr. Obama.  Republicans have now abandoned any pretense of going after the President on policy grounds, they just want unbridled attacks on Mr. Obama’s persona. 

It is not that Mr. Douthat cannot see what is going on,

And he’s exploited partisan incentives to bring his fellow Republicans around to his ideas, deliberately picking battles — from the Libya intervention to drone warfare — where a more restrained foreign policy vision doubles as a critique of the Obama White House.

He’s just happy to have a Republican, any Republican going on the attack.  Because Mr. Paul accomplished nothing except brandish his own Presidential ambitions, something Mr. Douthat no doubt missed.

New Senator from Texas, Republican Ted ‘Joe McCarty’ Cruz Charges There are Subversives at Harvard Law

And Not Just Any Subversives, Communists Who Want to Overthrow the U. S. Government

As the Republican Party struggled to get back into mainstream American politics, working against them are the Crazies.  Crazies are those Conservatives who are so separated from reality that their irrational ravings simply generate scorn and indifference.  Leading the Crazies at this time is newly elected Senator Ted Cruz.

The current issue for Mr. Cruz is a report in the New Yorker that Mr. Cruz thinks that the great enemy of the United States is the Harvard Law School faculty.

Cruz, the New Yorker reported, said in a 2010 speech that President Barack Obama “would have made a perfect president of Harvard Law School” because “there were fewer declared Republicans in the faculty when we were there than Communists! There was one Republican. But there were 12 who would say they were Marxists who believed in the Communists overthrowing the United States government.” Cruz attended Harvard Law after Obama.

Now a normal, sane and rational pol would just leave this be, hoping that no one noticed, which given the state of political reporting in the nation is probably what would have happened.  But no, Mr. Cruz has to respond and go even further in providing evidence that he is a nutcase.

Senator Joe McCarthy Ted Cruz -

His spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told The Blaze website that the “substantive point” in Cruz’s charge, made in a speech in 2010, was “was absolutely correct.”

She went on to explain that “the Harvard Law School faculty included numerous self-described proponents of ‘critical legal studies’—a school of thought explicitly derived from Marxism—and they far outnumbered Republicans.”

Hm, who could we get to refute this?  Maybe Charles Fried, a former Solicitor General for President Reagan.

Among those who have taken issue with Cruz’s castigation of the Harvard Law School faculty are his former law professor, Charles Fried, who is a well-known Republican and former Solicitor General to Ronald Reagan. In his 2010 speech, Cruz had said there was only “one” Republican on the faculty, but his former professor, Fried, told The New Yorker there were at least four, including himself. 

But like his long disgraced model Joe McCarthy, Mr. Cruz is not really interested in accuracy or facts.  After all, facts are the sworn enemy of people like Mr. Cruz, and therefore cannot be trusted.

As for the rest of us, keep it up Ted.  Nothing we could say or do will be more effective at exposing you than what you say and do yourself. And watch out for those 'critical legal studies', that's just a cover for North Korean Communists that will tickle you in your sleep and do other horrendous things to you.

Law Schools Running Out of Applicants and Jobs for Graduates – Will Open Non-Profit Law Firms

Well, Non- Profit Firms That Charge $125.00 An Hour

Who do these people think they are, plumbers?

The attitude of most Americans towards lawyers in a combination of admiration and disgust.  The admiration primarily comes as a result of the fictional portrayal of lawyers in the entertainment media, men and women dedicated to justice, and who, for some reason, never present a bill.  In the real world the emotion is generally disgust, for reason too obvious to merit mention.

The legal profession is approaching somewhat of a crisis, namely too many lawyers and too high a price for a legal education.  So some schools are dealing with the problem by sponsoring community law firms, non-profit firms where recent law school graduates work under the supervision of an experienced lawyer to bring legal services to the community, particularly that part of the community that may not be able to afford legal representation.

A dozen law schools, including City University of New York and Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, have set up incubators to train future solo practitioners in their first year out of school, offering office space and mentors. Pace Law School in White Plains opened what it calls a community law practice last fall with four graduates serving the region.

“You can’t just hang out a shingle and expect clients to show up in droves,” said Jennifer C. Friedman, executive director of the Pace Community Law Practice. “We want to provide our graduates with the tools of success while serving low- and moderate-income clients.”

Of course, benevolence and lawyers only goes so far.  At Arizona State

Laura Segall for The New York Times

Douglas J. Sylvester, dean of the law school at Arizona State University. His school is setting up a nonprofit law firm this summer for some of its graduates.

The plan is to have four to five groups of lawyers each overseen by a full-time, salaried supervising lawyer serving a range of clients. The firm will do legal work for other parts of the university, including its high-tech innovation center. The aim is to charge $125 an hour in an area where the going hourly rate is $250. The school also says it wants to reach out to veterans, Hispanics and American Indians whose legal needs are not well met.

Let’s see, at $125.00 an hour that about $250,000 a year for the annual cost of the attorney.  Let’s see, the salaries for the attorneys in these programs will be very low, maybe $50,000 to $75,000.  Let’s see, how much does that leave for overhead?  Oh, a lot.

The reaction from Veterans, Hispanics and American Indians, "thanks, we still can't afford your legal services but at least what we cannot afford costs a lot less".

Republicans Crushed and Saddened by February Employment News – Drop in Jobless Said to Push Many in the GOP Towards Clinical Depression

Party Plans to Counteract Prosperity by Pushing Massive Cuts in Government Spending

After a lackluster fourth quarter the employment numbers in February showed a huge improvement, and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since the ill fated George W. Bush administration.

The American economy created jobs at a faster pace in February, adding 236,000 positions, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The unemployment rate was 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008, compared with 7.9 percent in January. Economists had been expecting the economy to add 165,000 jobs in February, with no movement in the rate.

Conservative Republicans expressed horror at the news.  “This just can’t be” said one GOP spokesperson on the verge of tears.  “We raised taxes on the wealthy, you know, the job creators and that has to have been devastating for them and the economy.  Every millionaire we know swore that he or she would fire a bunch of people if their taxes were raised.  Surely they weren’t lying to us, were they?”

Suicide prevention squads were readied for the soon to be CPAC meetings where Conservatives had been expected to heavily criticize the Obama Administration for policies that were destroying jobs.  “All of our work is now destroyed” said a sullen CPAC organizer, “just because the U. S. economy is adding jobs and helping people who are unemployed.”

Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford Are All Signed Up for the New Star Wars Movie

With Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin All Waiting to Be in the Show

Disney has acquired the rights to the Star Wars movie franchise, and is wasting no time getting ready to start filming anew.  And here is the wonderful announcement of who will be in the picture.

___________________________

George Lucas Says Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and 

Harrison Ford Are in the ‘Final Stages of Negotiation’

8 hours ago | Vulture | See recent Vulture news »

It feels like a day doesn't go by without some quote, rumor, or speculation that Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford will return for the next set of Star Wars movies. Earlier this week, Fisher said "yes," only to have her publicist say it was just a joke. But now the latest word comes from arguably the most reliable source: George Lucas. In Bloomberg Businessweek, in a long piece about Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, the man himself let this slip: “We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison — or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation." He quickly realized his misstep: “Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them.” Then, trying to cover up: “I won’t say whether the negotiations were successful or not.” Nice try, George. There's »

_________________________________________

And while plot details are highly secret, The Dismal Political Economist has managed to ferret out these details.

1. Hans and Princess Leia will battle the Empire for their receipt of full Social Security benefits.

2. The Death Star will be reborn as The Death Panel Star, and will destroy planets by rationing medical care, just as predicted by Republicans 3,450 years ago in the past when Obamacare was passed.

3. Dick Cheney’s body will be brought out of deep hibernation and the former Vice President will play Darth Vader.  To do the role properly the producers will need Dick to mellow out some.

4. Chewbacca will not be in the latest version.  After Conservatives ended the protection for endangered species the NRA sponsored a contest to see who could kill off all of the hairy beasts.  The prize for doing so was a miniature Death Star capable of destroying only small planets.  Justice Scalia had earlier written the Supreme Court decision that confirmed that the 2^nd Amendment guaranteed Americans the right to own a Death Star.

5. Casting directors turned down Rush Limbaugh for the role of Jabba the Hut, citing the fact that Mr. Limbaugh was unqualified to play someone who just sat around and bloviated.  The casting directors were apparently from another universe.

6. The robots in the Star Wars movies will be replaced by out of work Americans, who it is said will work for less money than robots as long as health care benefits were provided.  Mitt Romney said this was just another example of the 47% who are takers and living off the hard work of others. Mr. Romney later disclosed that he had participated in a private equity deal to buyout the company that made R2D2 and 3CPO.

7. Financing for the films is expected to come from the same group of billionaires who successfully lobbied Congress to pass a law treating all income from Star Wars movies as capital gains.  They cited national security as the rationale for the special tax treatment.  The lost revenue was expected to be made up by the new Federal sales tax on food.

Martha Stewart on Trial Again – But This Time She Seems to Be Enjoying Herself

Grudging Admiration For a Not Very Admirable Person

About nine years ago Martha Stewart went to live in a federal prison because she was caught lying about a stock transaction to federal prosecutors.  The reason she went to prison is what might be called the Celebrity Criminal Syndrome.  This refers to the fact that famous people are much more like to go to jail for committing a crime the rest of us would only be fined for because prosecutors and judges like to use celebrities to set an example.  It is one very good reason why celebrities should not engage in any questionable activity, they are highly vulnerable.

Pool photo by David Handschuh

Martha Stewart during her testimony in New York State Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday.

Ms. Stewart is now in court on a different manner.  She has (or has not, that is what the trial is about) a contract for exclusivity with Macy’s and she is now selling her products at J. C. Penney.  This may or may not be a contract violation, who knows or who cares.  But it is interesting to see how Ms. Stewart is handling herself in court.  The conclusion here, pretty well.

Ms. Stewart, who never testified in her insider trading trial, seemed at ease on the stand. She presented cool, crisp testimony meant to support her attempt to sell her home merchandise not just throughMacy’s, with which she has an exclusive contract in some categories, but also through its rival J. C. Penney.

And no its not just that she is appearing as a competent witness, it is that she is able to be relaxed about her past legal problems, is not defensive and indeed sounds like a real, decent person.

She touched briefly on her time in prison. In 2003, Ms. Stewart was indicted on charges of securities fraud and obstruction of justice having to do with insider trading of shares in the drug maker ImClone. A trial followed in 2004, and in October of that year, she went to prison for a five-month term.

“I had a terrible time personally, and that could have taken down the company; it did not. It could’ve taken down the brand; it did not,” Ms. Stewart said on Tuesday. “But I must tell you that rebuilding is a lot harder than building.”

That sounds about the right way to deal with the issue, and a little humor is not bad either.

With a lawyer for her company, Eric Seiler, Ms. Stewart was more relaxed.

Mr. Seiler, trying to indicate how Ms. Stewart split her day between the publishing and merchandising divisions of her company, asked her, “How do you do your time?”

“I did my time,” she replied, as the courtroom broke into laughter.

So while The Dismal Political Economist does now own any Martha Stewart products, and does not intend to own any, and while we think her arrogance that led to her incarceration was fairly disgusting, it is hard not to admire her resolve and determination.    Unless of course the court rules that indeed she did break her contract with Macy’s, in which case we will go back to thinking of her as a grubby opportunist.  The DPE does not like people who violate contracts.

Michael Goldfarb, Another Unscrupulous Right Wing Attack Dog Emerges

Is There Just No End to These People?

[Editor's Note:  This Forum was first attracted to this story when it mistakenly read that the name of Mr. Goldfarb's online magazine.  We thought it was 'Free Bacon' instead of its rightful name, 'Free Beacon'.  We apologize for any confusion this may have created.]

The dominance in the media of Conservative attack artists is well known, but every time one thinks their growth has stopped another hate monger comes out of the wood work and onto the stage.  The latest is a person named Michael Goldfarb, whose innuendo and unsupported attacks of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has thrust him into the limelight.

Now this Forum not only has no problem with heated debate, it actually encourages it.  But for heated debate to be constructive it must have some integrity, participants cannot just go around making things up or engaging in scurrilous tactics.  But that apparently is much of what Mr. Goldfarb does.

 

At 11:42 a.m. on Feb. 14, a conservative online magazine called The Washington Free Beacon posted a dispatch about a speech Chuck Hagel gave in 2007 in which it said he called the State Department “an adjunct to the Israeli foreign minister’s office.”

Wow, that’s pretty serious stuff.  There must be an unimpeachable source for this.

The report was based on “contemporaneous” notes an attendee posted online.

Well, maybe not.  But this McCarthyism is important and has an impact.  For example South Carolina Lindsey Graham, a Senator endangered by a potential primary opponent and needing to make an ‘attack dog’ name for himself took the unsubstantiated report and ran full speed with it.

An hour later on the floor of the United States Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina urgently cited that statement as another reason to delay Mr. Hagel’s nomination as defense secretary.

Mr. Hagel denied saying it, and no recording has surfaced.

As for Mr. Goldfarb, he is a product of the typical cowardly anonymous funding by Conservatives.

At 32, Mr. Goldfarb is a founder of The Free Beacon, which is gaining prominence as a conservative clarion; a onetime presidential campaign aide to Senator John McCain, who provided critical support for the filibuster; and the strategist for the Emergency Committee for Israel, an anonymously financed group that advertises against President Obama and Congressional Democrats as insufficiently supportive of Israel. On top of that, he is a partner at Orion Strategies, a consulting firm whose clients have included the national governments of Taiwan and Georgia.

And yes, like most in his profession he uses his political positions to make a buck.

Often working with money from major Republican donors, most of whom have preferred anonymity, Mr. Goldfarb has been in the middle of nearly every major partisan dispute of Mr. Obama’s presidency — over Iran, Israel, terrorism policy and now Mr. Hagel and guns. For a time, Mr. Goldfarb worked as a communications strategist to the leading bêtes noires of liberals, the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

And engaging in questionable practices, well that’s just a normal part of the program.  And when he is attacked, like most Conservative blowhards he just responds in a personal manner rather than refuting the charges.

The liberal writer Lee Fang got a taste when he wrote an article for The Nation linking work that Orion has done for Taiwan to articles in The Free Beacon voicing criticism of the Obama administration for blocking a sale to Taiwan of F-16 jets.

Mr. Goldfarb denied any connection between his work at Orion and the articles, saying he did not personally handle Taiwan’s account or write the articles.

But The Free Beacon responded viscerally, with a report featuring pictures of Mr. Fang — who formerly wrote for the anonymously financed liberal blog ThinkProgress that frequently attacks the Kochs — shirtless and blowing a thick cloud of smoke. The headline read: “High Times at The Nation.”

Anyway, welcome to prominence Mr. Goldfarb, and let us know when you actually gain some integrity and can support your positions with reason, logic and data.  Everyone wants that type of person in the debate.  Oh and here's a bit of information for Mr. Goldfarb.  Being featured like you have been in the New York Times is not helpful to you, the way that people like you will be rejected is by publicizing your activities.

Arkansas Gov. Beebe Vetoes Unconstitutional Abortion Rights Restriction Bill

Republicans Vow to Override – They Just Don’t Care About that Constitution Thing

[Update:  The Republicans in Arkansas have over-ridden the Governor's veto on this clearly Un-Constitutional law.  Apparently they feel the Constitution applies as the supreme law of the land only when it suit their purposes.  Typical.]

Republicans say that they love and respect the Constitution.  Some even carry copies around with them, pulling it out at all times to quote it when it supports something they want to do.  But few of them understand that respecting the Constitution means accepting it when it supports things they don’t want to do.  That concept is apparently just too restrictive for them.

In Arkansas the Republican dominated legislature passed a bill restricting abortion rights past 12 weeks of pregnancy.  The Governor vetoed the bill, on these highly questionable (to Republicans) grounds.

“Because it would impose a ban on a woman’s right to choose an elective, nontherapeutic abortion well before viability, Senate Bill 134 blatantly contradicts the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court,” Beebe said in his veto letter. “When I was sworn in as governor I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend both the Arkansas Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. I take that oath seriously.”

Well everyone can see how “Love the Constitution” Republicans would hate something like that. 

Advise and Help Clients Break the Tax Laws – No Problem for Ernst and Young

 Just Pay a Fine and Promise, Really Promise Not to Do It Again

If one subscribes to the philosophy that justice is defined in part as equal treatment under the law, then the United States  has not been a just country for a long time.  For example, here is what happens when a large international accounting firm gets caught aiding and abetting tax evasion.

E&Y entered into a non-prosecution agreement (the “NPA”) with the United States, in which the company agreed to pay $123 million to the United States and acknowledged a detailed Statement of Facts in which it admitted the wrongful conduct of certain partners and employees.

Gosh, what did they do?

Ernst & Young LLP (“E&Y”) has admitted wrongful conduct by certain E&Y partners and employees in connection with the firm’s participation, from 1999 to 2004, in four tax shelters that were used by approximately 200 E&Y clients in an effort to defer, reduce, or eliminate tax liabilities of more than $2 billion.

Yes, they helped clients cheat the Federal government out of more than $2 billion, collected enormous fees for that service and now pay a fine of about 6% of the amount of tax cheating.  And unlike regular criminals, they get to enter into a non-prosecution agreement, where they won’t be taken to court for their crimes or convicted in a plea bargain.

But there is also this.

E&Y also agreed to certain permanent restrictions and controls on its tax practice, including a prohibition against planning, promoting or recommending any “listed transaction.” A "listed transaction" is a transaction that is the same as, or substantially similar to, one that the IRS has determined to be a tax avoidance transaction.

Yes, everyone is reading that correctly.  E & Y agreed, under duress no doubt not to help clients cheat on their taxes in the future using transaction structures the IRS has determined to be tax evasion.  In other words, the government agreed not to prosecute so long as E & Y obeyed the law going forward, which is something we thought everyone was supposed to do anyway. 

Think about what justice means the next time you read how Justice Scalia and the Conservatives on the Supreme Court rule a person must be given the death penalty even though his incompetent court appointed attorney fell asleep at the trial.  And if anyone is ever charged with a serious crime like helping defraud the government of billions, just ask for a Non Prosecution Agreement.  They have them all printed up and ready to go, assuming you are of course a large wealthy organization or individual.

Thanks to Paul Caron's wonderful  Tax Prof Blog.

Great News in Spain – Only 60,000 More Unemployed in February

Grasping for Vindication of a Failed Policy

Like Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Italy, Spain instituted an anti-Keynesian austerity program with the idea that what Paul Krugman calls the “Confidence Fairy” would visit and bestow jobs and investments on economies that cut spending and raised taxes.  The results, as anyone who has paid the slightest attention knows, have been a disaster, although not for the officials implementing the policy but for the tens of millions of unemployed whose lives are ruined.

The programs have been such a failure that in order to find even the slightest bit of good news we have this report from Spain.

The number of registered unemployed in Spain rose beyond the 5m mark for the first time, but the relatively modest month-on-month increase raised fresh hopes that the country’s economic crisis may be starting to recede.

That’s right, the increase in the unemployed is slowing down.  Notice this is not saying the unemployed number are going down,

According to labour ministry data, almost 60,000 more people registered as unemployed in February than in the previous month, an increase of 1.2 per cent.

but that the increases are slowing.  Wow, what a success story.

And yes, even those numbers are suspect.

The registered unemployment data issued by the labour ministry differs from the more closely-watched labour market survey published by the national statistics office, which puts the number of unemployed at close to 6m and the jobless rate at above 26 per cent.

Again, to quote Mr. Krugman, “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”