Capitalism for Breakfast

Matt Welch | September 25, 2008

I'll be on Wisconsin Public Radio for the next hour, talking bailouts.

UPDATE: Wow. Small sample size and all that, but I just took nearily a dozen calls on Wisconsin Public Radio and not a single one was anything but hostile to the bailout, nor did anyone balk at my crazy sky-isn't-falling talk in favor of deregulation and letting markets function. One guy complained that Bob Barr won't be at the debates, another worried about Federal Reserve overreach, a woman compared the rush-to-legislation with the PATRIOT Act, and another guy shrugged off his $10,000 investment in Lehman Brothers with an I-shouldn't-be-bailed-out rap. Interesting.  

Comments

|9.25.08 @ 8:43AM|#

Hmm, the "tips" email address has vanished, so I'll post this here:

Holy smokes, Bush Admin/DOJ does something agreeable.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/bush-administra.html?cid=132107654

The Bush administration is opposing sweeping legislation granting it the ability to prosecute civil cases of copyright infringement.

The legislation, backed by Hollywood, labor unions and manufacturers, sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, 14-4, on Sept. 11.

In a letter (.pdf) to Sens. Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter, who were among the sponsors of the legislation, the Justice Department wrote Tuesday it "strongly" opposes expanding its powers. Doing so, the letter said, could undermine the department's prosecution of criminal cases and transform it into an office "serving as pro bono lawyers for private copyright holders."

The Justice Department said the private sector should remain responsible for enforcing its copyrights in federal civil lawsuits.

"Civil copyright enforcement has always been the responsibility and prerogative of private copyright holders, and U.S. law already provides them with effective legal tools to protect their rights," the Justice Department and Commerce Department wrote.

The government agencies wrote that the proposal "could result in Department
of Justice prosecutors serving as pro bono lawyers for private copyright holders regardless of their resources. In effect, taxpayer-supported department lawyers would pursue lawsuits for copyright holders, with monetary recovery going to industry."

|9.25.08 @ 9:22AM|#

Matt -
Maybe next time you can give us a link that actually links us to a live broadcast of you talking, eh? I tried to listen to live Wisconsin Public Radio in their online links, and it was nothing but a mix of streams to news feed and classical sites. I listened to the newsfeed stream for a while before giving up and realizing that either you weren't live, or what I was listening to wasn't live, or I wasn't listening to the right stream.

|9.25.08 @ 9:22AM|#

Wisconsin Public Radio Listeners overwhelmingly oppose a bailout...there is hope after all.

This actually isnt surprising. I have to suppress my own conventional liberal populist instincts often enough, but this is an example when the rich folks really ought to get it stuck to them.

Let the markets work, say the Wisconsinites. Now we need to convince them to let it work in other cases too.

Lefiti|9.25.08 @ 9:47AM|#

"...nor did anyone balk at my crazy sky-isn't-falling talk in favor of deregulation and letting markets function."

Wow! Well, that proves it. Our fundamentalist faith in the market is intact. Heresy is on the run. Praise the Lord! (Donate now!)

|9.25.08 @ 9:48AM|#

(punches Lefiti in the junk)

Wildcard, bitches! Yee haw!!!

Zac|9.25.08 @ 9:55AM|#

I love WPR! It is difficult to find what you are looking for online though... Do they podcast their shows? If so, could you find a link?

Elemenope|9.25.08 @ 9:57AM|#

(punches Lefiti in the junk)

Wildcard, bitches! Yee haw!!!

Bailout? I'll Rochambeau you for it!

- What's that?

Well, we kick each other in the nuts, and whoever falls down first loses. I'll go first. [Kicks Lefiti in nuts]

- Ahhhrgh! [Falls to floor]

I win!

EJM|9.25.08 @ 9:59AM|#

Reinmoose, I don't know if this would've helped, but Matt would've been on "The Ideas Network" (specifically, Joy Cardin's show), not the "NPR News and Classical Network". (WPR's programming split is different from that of most other regional public-radio station groups that operate split networks, which instead tend to carry the main NPR news shows ["Morning Edition", etc.] on the same stations that feature talk programs.)

That said, the audio of Matt's interview may now be archived online (or will be soon).

|9.25.08 @ 10:00AM|#

Wildcard, bitches! Yee haw!!!

Long live It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia!

|9.25.08 @ 10:07AM|#

I think I saw a survey reporting 93% of US citizens oppose the bailouts. It's making my heart all warm, and Goddess knows I need it because here in People's Socialist Sovietic Republic of France the result of such a survey would certainly be the opposite.

|9.25.08 @ 10:11AM|#

Long live It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia!

New episodes tonight! I can't wait!

|9.25.08 @ 10:13AM|#

I have a friend who doesn't have cable, and I DVR them on Media Center and let him stream them via Orb. It's just that important.

|9.25.08 @ 10:17AM|#

It's just that important.

Indeed. I haven't been this excited about a show's new episodes since Strangers With Candy.

"Cannibalism? Racism? Dude, that's not for us...those decisions are better left to the suits in Washington. We're just here to eat a guy."

|9.25.08 @ 10:28AM|#

It is nice to see such a large majority aware that bernanke and Paulson are trying to steal money from the public to subsidiz Warren Buffet, Goldman Sachs and other rich friends. However, it seems like it is too late, congress doesn't care what we think at all anymore. Our only chance was to smash the CPD or bullrush an outside candidate into one of the two puppet party nominations. We failed at that and the one candidate who was tellign the truth about this stuff was smeared as being a racist.

|9.25.08 @ 10:32AM|#

Sunny in philly is pretty good...the forced teabagging and other stuff last week was pretty wierd though...funny, in a what the fuck are they doing sort of way...but better than any other sitcom right now.

Brian Defferding|9.25.08 @ 10:33AM|#

Ah crap, if I knew ahead of time this Wisconsinite would have called in.

Oh yes, and one other thing - wildcard, bitches!

|9.25.08 @ 10:36AM|#

the forced teabagging and other stuff last week was pretty wierd

Gorilla mask, dude!

"After I got back from Vietnam I got in trouble with some cops in Oregon. It was a bloodbath!"

"Dude, that's Rambo!"

|9.25.08 @ 10:48AM|#

I wouldn't get too excited. Much of the bail-out opposition has more to do with Bush being for it than anything else. Particularly anything as "crazy" as belief in free markets. Also, a certain percentage of leftist are always going to salivate at the thought of a bunch of "fat cats" losing their shirts. They will oppose it because they want the free market to fail, not work.

Really, if Bush started a highly visible campaign to create awareness around the issue of adults having sex with 16 year olds, NPR would host any number of experts who would explain the biological ignorance of this position, and NPR listeners would eat it up. Maybe "NPR Believers" is a better term for the liberal flock than "NPR listeners". I'm sure I'm not the only one that tunes in to NPR to be amused (not that there isn't some really good material on NPR, if you can stomach the rest)

LarryA|9.25.08 @ 11:01AM|#

Particularly anything as "crazy" as belief in free markets.

Bingo. Most of my "public radio" friends are against the bailout because it helps corporations, instead of just paying off all the mortgages so poor downtrodden "real people" won't lose their homes.

I ran into one earlier in the week who thought you shouldn't have to have a mortgage to own a home, that everyone has a right to a home and the government should provide them.

|9.25.08 @ 11:13AM|#

I live in Madison; I heard you for 20 minuets.

I can't speak for everyone in the state, but I will say this... A lot of people in Wisconsin are of Dutch, Polish, and German ancestry. We simply mistrust issues we know little about. We are skeptical. Wisconsinites tend to be very "mind your own business and keep to yourself" when it comes to our world view. A lot of people don't take huge risks here and we don't expect other people to take huge risks for us. Of course we knew/know this $700 billion Wall St. bailout will benefit no one except Wall St. insiders and their redistributing proxies in Washington DC.

Yea there is Madison and it's so called "progressivism." These days progressivism is just left/liberal code for inner city democratic socialism. I could cite several Madison centric examples of money being taken from tax payers and spent on nefarious "public projects" that would make a libertarian cringe (they made me cringe), but I won't bother.

Actually, a lot of the liberals in Madison were heavily in favor of giving away money through the government to so called "disadvantaged" people (who had crap credit records) so they could acquire homes via "social programs" centered around 0 private collateral credit schemes. Many rational Wisconsinites knew these government loan programs wouldn't be paid back. Of course, that's when those of us who called the liberals out on their stupid ideas were called what we are always called, "racists." Then again, a lot of these liberals are east coat transplants, not real deal Wisconsinites.

Joy Cardin loves the Reason crew. Libertarians get a voice here because they offer rational voices and point out a lot of what's questionable about main stream political discourse.

economist|9.25.08 @ 11:22AM|#

Lefiti,
What did I tell you about whacking off on the keyboard? You're gonna break your computer if you whack off anymore on it.

economist|9.25.08 @ 11:26AM|#

Wisconsin,
Please, don't give me that shit about Wisconsinites being "mind your own business" small government types. Farmers there have their hands in the subsidy pot as deep as any other midwestern state, state taxes there are well above the national average, and the state government certainly does not have a "skeptical" view towards regulation.

On the upside, kids in Wisconsin can drink with parental permission, so it at least balances out somewhat.

Richard Upton Pickman|9.25.08 @ 11:29AM|#

bigbigslacker: I'm not real sure what your problem is, other than you apparently don't like NPR. To be fair, it has some of the better news programming available, but that is neither here nor there.

Since you are posting at reason and you seem to favor "free markets" I'm not sure why your panties are in a bunch because "leftists" are happy someone will lose their shirt. You are upset that they agree with you for the wrong reasons?

And besides, the free market can "fail", that's what the "free" part designates; freedom to succeed or to fail. Not freedom to be fixed by the government when things look bad..

economist|9.25.08 @ 11:30AM|#

LMNOP,
I think that an alternate spelling is "Roshambo".

Roshambo is also a great way to determine rights of ownership.

God knows you can't leave it old-fashioned ideas about "property rights".

economist|9.25.08 @ 11:32AM|#

RUP,
I think bigbigslacker is pointing out that if many of these people complaining about the bailout had their way, there would still be a bailout, just a more egalitarian bailout.
And it could possibly be even worse.

EJM|9.25.08 @ 11:33AM|#

A lot of people in Wisconsin are of Dutch, Polish, and German ancestry.

Uff da, you left out the Norskes (Norwegians).

(Not surprisingly, Wikipedia has a good section on the state's demographics.)

Richard Upton Pickman |9.25.08 @ 11:41AM|#

economist: Fair enough. Perhaps I didn't pick that up in slacker's argument.

Brian Defferding|9.25.08 @ 11:45AM|#

economist,

You're absolutely right about Wisconsin's subsidies, that's for sure, and it's probably one of the reasons why this state always winds up going blue every four years. And thanks to our craptastic governor Doyle (who will be vying for the Attorney General spot if Obama wins in November, now that Edwards is out of the equation), cigarette taxes are up and many of the state's fees rose 20-25%. We're a pretty progressively liberal state; I have a love-hate relationship with it.

|9.25.08 @ 12:43PM|#

economist: Fair enough. Perhaps I didn't pick that up in slacker's argument. - Richard

Only because it was poorly made...

|9.25.08 @ 1:26PM|#

Most of my "public radio" friends are against the bailout because it helps corporations, instead of just paying off all the mortgages so poor downtrodden "real people" won't lose their homes.

So, does this mean I get a free house, too, or is it only people living in houses they can't afford?

|9.25.08 @ 1:28PM|#

And thanks to our craptastic governor Doyle (who will be vying for the Attorney General spot if Obama wins in November, now that Edwards is out of the equation)

Wisconsin is one of the few states without shall-issue concealed carry, following his veto of the bill, what, last year?

I hadn't thought about him as AG. [shudder]

Kraorh|9.25.08 @ 1:46PM|#

RC Dean, that's right. Doyle is arguably one of the most corrupt, or at least, intellectually dishonest politicians around today. His speeches on the concealed carry ban have been pure demagoguery, this "oh, my!" attitude of "Oh, my, when I just think of university kids pulling guns on each other, or parents shooting each other at hockey games or shopping malls, it's just so obvious that this would such a dangerous thing to do." The fact that this has never happened in any of the 45 states that have some version of this law on the books doesn't phase him.

The thing is, for all of Barack Obama's recent talk of saying he "supports the 2nd Amendment," there's nothing he could do to illustrate his true colors better than by appointing Doyle as his AG.

Russ 2000|9.25.08 @ 5:02PM|#

I ran into one earlier in the week who thought you shouldn't have to have a mortgage to own a home, that everyone has a right to a home and the government should provide them.

The logical response to that is "Robert Taylor Homes".

LarryA|9.25.08 @ 10:22PM|#

Wisconsin is one of the few states without shall-issue concealed carry, following his veto of the bill, what, last year?

Actually, he's vetoed concealed carry at least twice, if not three times.

The fact that this has never happened in any of the 45 states that have some version of this law on the books doesn't phase him.

The fact that this has never happened in any of the 45 48 states that have some version of this law on the books doesn't phase him.

There are 37 states with shall-issue licenses, 2 states (Alaska, Vermont) that don't require a license to carry, 9 states that have a discretionary (discriminatory) carry law, and 2 (Wisconsin, Illinois) that have no concealed carry.

Here's a really interesting "spread of concealed carry" graphic.