Who Is IOZ?: My, Opie, Uh...

Friday, August 26, 2011

My, Opie, Uh...

Dear Matt,

Fuck you.

Love,
IOZ

75 comments:

Leonard said...: He meant the biggest venal sin.; 10:13 AM
IOZ said...: WHEN I THINK ABOUT YOO-oo I. TOUCH. MY. SELF.; 10:21 AM
Ethan said...: Now now, he didn't say "are," he said "may be"...; 10:35 AM
mp said...: i don't know why you find him so outrageous.; 10:38 AM
Anonymous said...: Focus on Wonky Minutiae While Peace-Prize Winner Wars on World May Be Matty Woodchuck's Biggest Sin; 10:55 AM
Karl Franz Ochstradt said...: "nomination oversights"...

Get the readers of Fatt Piglazyass to believe it's all about nominations, bro! The nominations will correct every problem faced by Americans in 2011. They will, our man Fatt will bet a case of Hidden Ranch Dressing (but only one case, he'll eat the other 30) on it!

Pass the pork rinds, Fatt!; 11:17 AM
Professor Coldheart said...: What’s striking if you follow the link is that Obama didn’t even send Smith’s name to the Senate until November 12, 2010—basically two years after the election. The fact that the FHFA Director, though not the most important person in the universe, had an important role to play in managing the economic crisis seems to me to have been perfectly foreseeable.

The English language becomes so beautifully pliable in Yglesias's mouth. It's like watching someone tie a cherry stem with their tongue, only he ties it into a Moebius strip. A tortured metaphor, and I apologize, but I don't know how else to describe Yglesias depicting an outcome as "perfectly foreseeable" less than "two years after the election," and not blogging about it for three. Anyone could have foreseen it, as evidenced by the fact that I'm only documenting it in hindsight. Watch him post on Monday about the need to have already shored up disaster relief in light of the wreckage caused by Irene on Sunday.; 11:29 AM
George Jones said...: Meaning is such a burden on language. Yglesias is actually liberating us.; 11:43 AM
Myles said...: Hey IOZ, the fact that Fed has pursued too tight a monetary policy in all likelihood has caused more deaths in the Third World than all the civilian casualties from American wars in the last decade combined. Matt is right on this.; 11:57 AM
Happy Jack said...: Death shmeath.

Let's talk congestion pricing!; 11:57 AM
WardenLipton said...: Myles, I think you might be a little unclear on monetary policy, "the Third World", what has caused the deaths there, what Yglesias's column is about, when Obama became prez, and some other stuff.; 12:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey Myles, your definition of tight monetary policy is a little fuzzy. The only the Fed could be any looser with their monetary policy is if they started accepting expired pizza coupons from the Pennysaver as collateral at the overnight window. Monetizing MBS, ABS, toxic debt, buying S&P futures, direct cash injection to banks worldwide, loans to foreign central banks, oh my! The balance sheet of the Fed has never been higher.; 12:25 PM
IOZ said...: Ben Bernanke kinda looks like a stuffed crust pizza that fell onto the dogs bed. 5-SECOND RULE Y'ALL!; 12:30 PM
Myles said...: Hey Myles, your definition of tight monetary policy is a little fuzzy. The only the Fed could be any looser with their monetary policy is if they started accepting expired pizza coupons from the Pennysaver as collateral at the overnight window.

Quantitative easing and unconventional monetary policy can function below the lower zero bound. What w e need is a negative interest rate. We can get there by unconventional policy.; 12:44 PM
Myles said...: And let's not forget that what triggered the ascent of Hitler was an economic crisis.

Talk about drones all you want, but in the end what counts is the economics. Wealthy and advanced societies will gradually become less barbarous, while poor and backward societies will become more so. This is human nature; material conditions determine morality.; 12:51 PM
George Jones said...: Wealthy and advanced societies will gradually become less barbarous

Is this your homework Larry? Have you ever heard of Vietnam?; 12:57 PM
Myles said...: Is this your homework Larry? Have you ever heard of Vietnam?

Have you ever heard of burning people at the stake, crucifixion, drawing and quartering, the breaking wheel, flaying, and numerous other methods by which the past was orders of magnitude than the present?

And if you are talking quantity, try where entire cities and nations were put to the sword routinely and entire peoples sold into slavery. We have My Lai and Hiroshima in the modern age; in the ancient world they had My Lai every week of the expeditionary season.; 1:07 PM
Karl Franz Ochstradt said...: Talk about drones all you want, but in the end what counts is the economics.

Krugman!

...what? It's "Myles"?

Getouttahere!; 1:10 PM
George Jones said...: What you are noting is a constant, not an increase or decrease. You have a prejudice, not an argument.

But whatever, quantitative easing is possible beyond the zero, etc. People forget the brain is the biggest erogenous zone.; 1:15 PM
Ethan said...: Myles, you have your causality backwards.

burning people at the stake, crucifixion, drawing and quartering, the breaking wheel, flaying don't just "happen" as a result of poverty; they are methods used by the powerful to enforce poverty.; 1:20 PM
Discount Barbour Outerwear said...: We have become less Barbourous!; 1:26 PM
Myles said...: burning people at the stake, crucifixion, drawing and quartering, the breaking wheel, flaying don't just "happen" as a result of poverty; they are methods used by the powerful to enforce poverty.

Bullshit. They happen because the material conditions were Hobbesian, and thus methods of rule were Hobbesian just like the other ordinary interactions in society. In a wealthy and prosperous society the material conditions are not Hobbesian, and thus nor are methods of rule.

Thus it refutes the central conceit of anarchists: that somehow it makes no difference. The difference between people getting burnt at the stake then and not now is not any difference in power; it's a difference of material conditions. Blaming the powerful for somehow being more uniquely barbarous 500 years ago tthan now doesn't cut it.; 1:27 PM
mp said...: by hobbesian, are you meaning they are in the state of nature or not?; 1:31 PM
Myles said...: (And let's note that just looking at insurrectionaries and revolters, even they were much more barbarous in the past than in the present. Compare Egypt and Tunisia with Russia of 1920 or Spain of 1935 (hey, Spanish republican did do all the things to priests and nuns of which they were accused). And now compare with same the peasant uprisings in the aftermath of the Black Death. Compare with the Spartacist uprising.

Just claiming it's just the fault of the somehow unique moral horribleness of the powerful is a bullshit non-answer. Everybody was barbarous back then; the elite and the non-elite, the powerful and the weak.); 1:32 PM
IOZ said...: IT IS A MATERIAL FACT THAT MORE WITCHES WERE BURNED AT THE STAKE THAN JEWS IN THE OVENS! MATERIALITY DEFINES MORALITY NOOB. QED.; 1:33 PM
demize! said...: The barbarity is more technocratic. I dont see a linear progression towards altruism. The barbarity creates and enforces economic policy. Im reading a bit on Ponerology, and one of the theses is that all major hierarchies are controlled by psyxhopaths. This is so because a) they possess the inate ability to rise to levels of cobtrol be cause of their lack of morality. b) are drawn to positions where other animals are objects to be manipulated at their whim. c) are scumbags...; 1:34 PM
George Jones said...: A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.; 1:38 PM
Myles said...: IT IS A MATERIAL FACT THAT MORE WITCHES WERE BURNED AT THE STAKE THAN JEWS IN THE OVENS! MATERIALITY DEFINES MORALITY NOOB. QED.

Actually, as a proportion of world population of the time, it is entirely a probable proposition that greater numbers of people were killed in barbarous ways (especially genocide) in the ancient world than were murdered in the 20th century by genocide and war.

We don't even have to go that far back. Just take Timurlane.; 1:39 PM
George Jones said...: I already have Timurlane. Give me someone else.; 1:42 PM
Professor Coldheart said...: Guys, Myles is trolling us. It's an epic troll job, but no one sincerely believes the things "Myles" believes in the way that "Myles" believes them for the reasons that "Myles" believes them.

Don't let me stop you from having fun, though.; 1:44 PM
IOZ said...: Timurlane? He wrote some catch tunes, but his acting sucks.; 1:45 PM
Leonard Hatred said...: He hasn't got a leg to stand on! Arf arf.; 1:47 PM
Ethan said...: Blaming the powerful for somehow being more uniquely barbarous 500 years ago tthan now doesn't cut it.

I didn't do that. All that shit you're talking about still goes on, just nicely out of your line of sight.

If you have time in between Freakonomics books, try out something by Silvia Federici.; 1:49 PM
Paul Alexander said...: IOZ, you got the wrong guy. Timurlane is the guy who produced all of Aaliyah's hits. And look at where that got her! BARBARIOUS PLANE CRASH!; 1:56 PM
Myles said...: All that shit you're talking about still goes on, just nicely out of your line of sight.

It happens in the Third World, and the Third World is more materially medieval than the West. Which proves nicely that again it's the material conditions that are determinative.; 1:57 PM
Paul Alexander said...: Although hundreds of millions of people died in war and genocide and whatever other gnarly (in the positive surfer sense of the word) in the 20th century, from a percentage aspect it wasn't nearly as vicious a world as when the Ooga and Booga lost their first born baby due to vicious economics. THAT WAS 25% OF THE ENTIRE HUMAN POPULATION!!!; 1:59 PM
Paul Alexander said...: Someone needs to air drop some economics books over Sudan and Somalia. But it's a Catch-22 because they can't read, so it's like why doesn't someone just wipe that part of the world out?; 2:00 PM
IOZ said...: Hardly Dude, a new 'vette? The kid's still got, oh, 96 to 97 thousand, depending on the options. Wait in the car, Donny.; 2:03 PM
IOZ said...: I KEEP TELLING YOU IT'S THE FOUNDATION'S MONEY!; 2:09 PM
George Jones said...: Prisons in the First World, on the other hand, are immaterially medieval. Also, stew is often made from flavor leopards, and quondam rings square gourds.; 2:10 PM
Ethan said...: Hahaha, it happens where people are poor, therefore it happens because poor people are immoral.; 2:20 PM
demize! said...: IN UR CAVEZ SNATCHING UR BABEEZ11! Moloch.; 2:26 PM
Anonymous said...: This is our concern, dude.; 2:28 PM
IOZ said...: It's already the 10th.; 2:31 PM
President Gas said...: And let's not forget that what triggered the ascent of Hitler was an economic crisis.

Fuck me, I forgot.

Listen (or uptake and reassert, whatever): there is always and ever will be an economic crisis. Declaring that now, not yesterday, we have an economic crisis is like saying, Oh, shit, I look fat in this. And then you begin to fucking clean everything to make yourself feel less fat.

(By the way, your use of the word "triggered" in the above passage will be the thing that sends you to hell.); 2:32 PM
Christopher M. said...: Rich countries murder and torture more than poor countries by several orders of magnitude, but they do so more efficiently, and with shinier weapons. Civilization means when I kill you and rape your family, I do it with a touch-screen interface!; 2:33 PM
George Jones said...: Far out.; 2:34 PM
Professor Coldheart said...: Am I the ONLY ONE who gives a SHIT about the rules?; 2:38 PM
demize! said...: "flavor leopards" ZOMG I lol'd irl asap.; 2:39 PM
IOZ said...: I don't wanna be a hard-on about this. . .; 2:40 PM
Paul Alexander said...: Poor people are fuel for the civilized world. They are our most precious resource. I hope they never discover Paul Krugman.; 2:40 PM
Paul Alexander said...: I haven't had a real hard-on since I saw that Donna Shalala and Janet Reno sex tape. It made me barf on my dick!; 2:43 PM
demize! said...: SOYLENT GREEN IS PEEPULLLL.....; 2:46 PM
George Jones said...: pope shit in the woods?; 2:46 PM
IOZ said...: Sometimes you eat the bar.; 2:52 PM
George Jones said...: He's a good man. And thorough.

allrighti'mfuckingouttahere. Happy Fridaze!; 2:55 PM
mistah charley, ph.d. said...: http://tinyurl.com/3g4c6qx; 3:20 PM
Jack Crow said...: Miles: "Thus it refutes the central conceit of anarchists: that somehow it makes no difference. The difference between people getting burnt at the stake then and not now is not any difference in power; it's a difference of material conditions. Blaming the powerful for somehow being more uniquely barbarous 500 years ago tthan now doesn't cut it."

Our highly advanced and materially improved society still burns 'em at the stake. Now, the royal We just does it to the witches and peasants slowly, stretching it out over twenty years in six by nine foot cells, calling it the "necessary" prosecution of the War on Drugs.

Burning at the stake was quite merciful, by comparison. That would only last a day, at its very worst...; 3:24 PM
Earl Butz said...: The ruling class only wants three things: tight monetary policy, loose regulation, and a warm place to shit.; 3:35 PM
fish said...: And let's not forget that what triggered the ascent of Hitler

I think Sgt. Schultz's accent is hilarious.; 3:36 PM
Happy Jack said...: If you kids don't stop fooling around, I swear, I'm gonna Pareto Optimalize your asses!; 4:30 PM
Rowan said...: I'm gonna sit here and drink my coffee.; 5:05 PM
Anatole David said...: Yglesias needs to hone his Homiletics. How can a Sin of Omission be greater than one of Commission? Defrock and strolls out of barbarous 13th Century Paris.

Thank God we live in civilized times. If only the Third World would modernize like the glorious West. I Pads and X Boxes macht frei. Material(Spinoza or Leibniz) conditions(Kantianized Marxism--Formalism) have never been better(Liberalism Wants to Embrace the World with its Cumbrous and Explosive Largesse)! Their truculence is punished by famine and fire from the sky. LIBERALISM UBER ALLES! Cruise Missiles are the preferred Deus ex machina. "Free" Trade arbitrages labor value down to nothing! Slaves of the World Untie your shoes and walk barefoot like Political Economists. Accept the boons of Civilization!

Myles is only an smidge away from Malthus' pulpitary pap on the immorality of the poor and their overbreeding. It threatens, no, it places a burned on Rulers. They are SO BUSY trying to educate and refine the morals of the poor. I think everyone can feel Myles' pain.; 5:25 PM
Karl Franz Ochstradt said...: ...Malthus' pulpitary pap on the immorality of the poor and their overbreeding.

trollin' trollin' trollin'
keep them lie-themes rollin'
drive it like it's stolen!

This take on Malthus reminds me of the freepers who deny global climate change on the basis that Al Gore is associated with it.

So carrying capacity is irrelevant, huh? Let me put you on an island which grows only enough edible biotics for 2 people to eat them year-round.

A year later I'll add 100 people to the island, with no increase in biotic edibles.

Yeah, that little test is all about me dissing the poor and their rabbit-like fucking. Sure.

What a false pedant!; 5:32 PM
Justin said...: Bullshit. They happen because the material conditions were Hobbesian, and thus methods of rule were Hobbesian just like the other ordinary interactions in society. In a wealthy and prosperous society the material conditions are not Hobbesian, and thus nor are methods of rule.

Besides, flaying, burning at the stake, for uh, domestic, you know, within the city - that's not legal either.

Myles, I think the peanuts in the gallery would love to hear your ideas on material progression. Wealthy societies... heh. You think witch burning and the inquisition happened because of a lack of LCD tvs?; 6:38 PM
Anonymous said...: That's just stress talking, man.; 7:04 PM
Anatole David said...: @Karl Franz

"Carrying Capacity" is immaterial when wealthy elites horde an overwhelming majority of resources and wield overwhelming force on a Global Scale. Malthus was a Parson who wept over the Burdens rulers may face because of the growing numbers of poor. His suggestion was for the poor to breed less so the elites could maintain their splendor.

So your Robinsonade(Robinson Crusoe) "on an island" etc. nonsense mimics classical political economists like Smith, Ricardo, and even Malthus etc "There was a time when milk and honey flowed plenteously and there was an appropriate amount of people.." Man naturally inhabited resource rich regions, etc... Ah and then inequality came because of TOO MANY PEOPLE.....

Poverty and resource scarcity is a result of iniquitous distribution. Resource scarcity comes from violent Market interventions. Famine and poverty are a product of economic warfare. States do not exist. They are facades for Capital. Western Intervention and destabilization in Horn of Africa for decades is largely responsible for the frequency of Famines in that region. Refugees don't make good farmers. Masses of people migrating destroys the soil.

Back to this imaginary Island: I refuse to be your polemical Friday when you can't even own up to being a Robinson.; 7:21 PM
Anatole David said...: @Karl

I support AGW. Of course industrial pollution and consumption of carbon based fuel destroys environment and changes climate. The Niger River Delta stands as enduring proof. amongst other areas--Coal Mining areas in Appalachia, Caspian Sea basin, etc etc; 7:27 PM
Enron said...: Obviously he's never heard of Vietnam.; 8:17 PM
Jack Crow said...: Shiny, Anatole:

Poverty and resource scarcity is a result of iniquitous distribution. Resource scarcity comes from violent Market interventions. Famine and poverty are a product of economic warfare. States do not exist. They are facades for Capital. Western Intervention and destabilization in Horn of Africa for decades is largely responsible for the frequency of Famines in that region. Refugees don't make good farmers. Masses of people migrating destroys the soil.; 8:49 PM
antonello said...: "We shall be remembered in history as the most cruel, and therefore the most unwise, generation of men that ever yet troubled the earth: - the most cruel in proportion to their sensibility, - the most unwise in proportion to their science. No people, understanding pain, ever inflicted so much: no people, understanding facts, ever acted on them so little." - John Ruskin; 2:41 AM
Anonymous said...: George Jones said...
I already have Timurlane. Give me someone else.

Okay. How about Prince Albert
or do you have him in the can already?; 7:55 AM
Karl Franz Ochstradt said...: Pity, Davey of Anatole. You dodged my example and mocked me, rather than showing how my example didn't work.

Pity.

At least you got Confidence Racketeer Jackie Crowbar to compliment you. BULLY!; 6:36 PM
Anatole David said...: @Karl

Your example was a hypothetical, a much cherished trope in Classical Economist literature. I do understand your point about resource scarcity--I make the point that such scarcity is not, a priori, natural but artificial...I appreciate most of your comments and don't understand how you could construe my humor at the expense of the reactionary Parson Malthus as trolling. Again, tropes about individuals on hypothetical islands is hackneyed--And forces a point already imbued in the question "ducked"---This duck don't(sic) swim in polluted ponds.

Another point: When Myles posited "Material Conditions" as a determining factor in humanity he formalized Marxist theory---i.e. he Kantianized Marx---by categorizing Material Conditions he made them static and beyond human ability to interact and change such conditions--

Another point: I do not believe States are constructed to improve material conditions for everyone. Many here(not conspirators) would probably argue states were created to enshrine and secure iniquitous distributions of resources and wealth via force.

I have no beef with you. I do have beef with a comment that starts with an ad hominem and then posits an Galapago-Edenic hypothetical as a damning question.

I enjoyed the doggerel on trolling and remain

Your Humble Marsyas,

Davey Anatrole; 7:52 PM
Anonymous said...: @myles
the fact that Fed has pursued too tight a monetary policy in all likelihood has caused more deaths in the Third World than all the civilian casualties from American wars in the last decade combined

That is the problem - the ability of the Feds or whomever to create such a mess to begin with.

How exactly are the state-enemies defined and what are the tools employed to solve the problem are trivial details.; 3:51 PM

Friday, August 26, 2011

My, Opie, Uh...

75 comments:

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