October 16, 2008

Mickey and Bob could do MSM conventional wisdom if they wanted to.



And they kind of want to, so watch the whole thing, recorded right after the debate last night.

(And no, I did not set the clip up intentionally to make that the still. It's Bloggingheads, and that's Mickey's head, for better or worse, and he's responsible for his own lighting.)

13 comments:

Brian Doyle said...

and that's Mickey's head, for better or worse, and he's responsible for his own lighting.

Heh.

I look forward to this installment, but let's not pretend Mickey is physically capable of uttering pro-Democrat CW (or pro-Democrat counter-CW for that matter).

Janis Gore said...

You could tag this post for your "bodily fluids" category, Ms. Althouse.

I'd be much relieved to see a hand come onto the screen with a handkerchief in it for Mr. Kaus.

Rich B said...

Isn't that guy on the left from Two and a Half Men? Or did I oversleep and it's 2015 and it's in reruns?

walter neff said...

That's Niles Crane, Frazier Cranes fey little brother.

walter neff said...

I would call him o'fey but that would be racist.

Sprezzatura said...

These two made Althouse & Cox seem like financial geniuses when the economic mess was discussed. Not that Althouse & Cox possessed any deep knowledge, but these two were much worse.

Why do folks know so little about our economic system? Folks regurgitate a few pieces of the puzzle, but they don't have a comprehensive understanding of the big picture. After they've regurgitated their points, they're incapable of connecting to and incorporating the concepts of their chit chat mate. Bizarre.

It's not like you need to be solving the differential equations that underpin many complicated financial instruments (although being able to do so would contribute to geeky bragging points.) But, folks should be able to string together a five minute narrative that correctly identifies how our economic and financial systems work. Such a narrative should identify and weigh the relative importance and influence of different aspects of our system.

Far from a comprehensive understanding, it seems that many folks don't even understand simple concepts such as "reserve requirements" and "balance sheets." If folks did understand these concepts they'd know why equity injections are more effective than buying troubled assets.

And, derivatives and over the counter products are not necessarily complicated concepts. Conceptually, they're fairly easy to describe, even though the underlying mathematics can be very complicated. Even without an understanding of high level math I think folks should be able to grasp the problems of 1) limited counter-party transparency, 2) limited or nonexistent capital/equity requirements for many institutions (or affiliates), and 3) the potential for speculation to eclipse the supposed purpose of some financial instruments (i.e. Wall Street gambling can effect Main Street.)

And, surely folks understand "leverage."

Let's take a little time out our busy lives so we can arrive at a basic big-picture understanding of our economic and financial systems.

Ann Althouse said...

I think Bob Wright looks like Buster Keaton.

Ann Althouse said...

Mickey Kaus looks like Elliott Gould.

Christy said...

I love the way Wright goes on and on about how Obama looks confident and presidential and then accuses Palin of encouraging her supporters of feeling and not thinking. Does Wright not realize that responding to appearance has nothing to do with reason?

Brian Doyle said...

Everyone is stupid but 1JPB

Anonymous said...

Mickey Kaus looks like Elliott Gould.

Mickey reminds me of Russian chess grandmaster Mikhail Tal.

My Heritage Celebrity Face Recognition rates Philip Roth as the closest Mickey.

Ann Althouse = Molly Ringwald, Nicole Richie, Nastassja Kinski or J.M. Coetzee, Andrew Carnegie, Jimi Hendrix, Natalie İmbruglia depending on the photo.

And some people thought the blogger software was f**ed up.

reader_iam said...

I may pee. I just ran a picture of my son through that face recognition thingy, and it came up with Demi Moore, Scarlett Johannson, Maria Sharapova and Christopher Uckermann, among others. Now the results may partly be due to my son's pulling a face in the selected picture in imitation of a bust at the Rodin Museum in Philly, but still.

LOL.

reader_iam said...

Hey, I have a niece who resembles Greta Garbo, Sandra Bullock and Sonia Gandhi! Cool.