The Daily Cannibal

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 10:43 PM PDT

It obtains that all these darn recessions and stuff that make people unhappy could have been stopped in their tracks by something just so stunningly simple and obvious that — sheesh! — we all ought to be really ashamed of ourselves for not thinking of it sooner.

But that’s why we have Paul Krugman, America’s leading economic humorist. Why this guy isn’t in the White House I can’t figure. Obama is probably penciling him in right now for Secretary of the Treasury in his next term, and if he isn’t, well, then, we should all sign a petition to demand it.

You see, Krugman picked up on a recent report from those overpaid criminals over at JP Morgan that estimates the new iPhone will add between a quarter point and a half point to GDP in the fourth quarter this year. Get it yet? No?

Okay, another hint: new products like the iPhone add to economic growth because people are constantly spending money to replace obsolete or broken gear. But we don’t always produce enough obsolescence or break enough stuff. So we don’t spend enough all the time to keep the economy growing all the time. That’s why we have recessions. Not enough demand.

Well, what can we do about that? Anyone? Do I see a hand up back there?

Right! From Professor Krugman himself:,

Why suffer through years of depressed output and high unemployment while waiting for enough obsolescence to accumulate? Why not have the government step in and spend more, say on education and infrastructure, to help the economy through its rough patch? Don't say that the government can't add to total spending, or that government spending can't create jobs. If you believe that the iPhone 5 can give the economy a lift, you’ve already conceded both that the total amount of spending in the economy isn’t a fixed number and that more spending is what we need. And there's no reason this spending has to be private.

Breathtaking! We just need the government to keep spending enough — on cool things we all need like “education and infrastructure,” and throw in a little green energy and high-speed rail — and we can have a constant growth rate as high as we like it. Why settle for 4%? Why not 8%? Or 12%?

After all, it’s not costing American consumers anything. The government is doing the spending, not them.

I’m glad we all have this straight now, and we can put Americans back to work, get the housing market moving again and start paying attention to the things that really matter instead of fussing all the time about the economy.

Thank you, Professor Krugman. You deserve another Nobel Prize. Maybe two — because if it were up to me, I’d give you one in Chemistry, for proving that alchemy really does work, and that all you need is an economist to turn lead into gold.

Save Yourself,Tony.

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 05:28 PM PDT

Dear Mr. Ortega:

For years now, you have been defending your company, Village Voice Media, for operating backpage.com, by far the nation’s largest online trafficker in child prostitution. You have excused this abomination with the lamest of arguments, all of which we have cited here for two years now.

You now face an ever-increasing tide of outrage and protest. Advertisers are dropping out in geometric progression. Your own publication, the Village Voice, as now virtually a shell, with few employees remaining and facing almost certain extinction. You yourself are vilified (and justifiably so) for acting as the chief apologist for this revolting empire that Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey, your bosses at Village Voice Media, have built on the bodies of children and the revenues of pimps.

Do you really have no regret for any of this? Do you want a future where your name is inextricably linked with this horror?

You are already in the crosshairs of several blogs and websites dedicated to ending this traffic. The newest of these is about to go live today. Its name:

TonyOrtega.xxx

That’s right. We told you. It’s a compendium of every article published on the web and in the media about backpage’s sorry business, and your defenses of it.

So — what can you do?

Quit.

That’s right. It’s not too late. You can still salvage some modicum of decency. All it takes is for you to say “You know what? I was wrong. This has to stop. And it stops for me right here. I quit.”

Otherwise, what will you tell your grandchildren? Your friends? Your loved ones? That, when it came time to make a choice, you stood squarely on the side of people who buy their dinner with money wrung from the bleeding bodies of schoolchildren?

Come on. You can do it.

For the sake of all those kids in virtual slavery, whose lives are daily degraded, who are beaten, battered and broken, quit.

For the sake of parents who go to bed every night in dreadful fear, quit.

For the sake of all those who try each day to bring an end to this monstrous shame, quit.

And, if not for these reasons, then, for your own sake — out of informed self-interest, out of practical necessity, recognize the complete futility of trying to maintain any veneer of self-respect or facade of decency in the face of the crimes you daily defend — quit.

And if you do, these pages will hail your decision, and congratulate you on your courage. It may be late in the day, but you need to act fast, because this vile edifice will not stand much longer. Quit while you can. Quit while you still have a chance. But mostly, just quit.

Siliguri Page

Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Daily Cannibal

The Daily Cannibal

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