“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Bill Moyers and Michael Winship: On Memorial Day Weekend, America Reckons with Torture
Facing the truth is hard to do, especially the truth about ourselves. So Americans have been sorely pressed to come to terms with the fact that after 9/11 our government began to torture people, and did so in defiance of domestic and international law. Most of us haven’t come to terms with what that meant, or means today, but we must reckon with torture, the torture done in our name, allegedly for our safety.
It’s no secret such cruelty occurred; it’s just the truth we’d rather not think about. But Memorial Day is a good time to make the effort. Because if we really want to honor the Americans in uniform who gave their lives fighting for their country, we’ll redouble our efforts to make sure we’re worthy of their sacrifice; we’ll renew our commitment to the rule of law, for the rule of law is essential to any civilization worth dying for.
After 9/11, our government turned to torture, seeking information about the terrorists who committed the atrocity and others who might follow after them. Senior officials ordered the torture of men at military bases and detention facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq, in secret CIA prisons set up across the globe, and in other countries – including Libya and Egypt – where abusive regimes were asked to do Washington’s dirty work.
William K. Black: Romney Messes Up, Tells the Truth About Austerity
Mitt Romney has periodic breakdowns when asked questions about the economy because he sometimes forgets the need to lie. He forgets that he is supposed to treat austerity as the epitome of economic wisdom. When he responds quickly to questions about austerity he slips into default mode and speaks the truth — adopting austerity during the recovery from a Great Recession would (as in Europe) throw the nation back into recession or depression. The latest example is his May 23, 2012 interview with Mark Halperin in Time magazine. [..]
Romney explains that austerity, during the recovery from a Great Recession, would cause catastrophic damage to our nation. The problem, of course, is that the Republican congressional leadership is committed to imposing austerity on the nation and Speaker Boehner has just threatened that Republicans will block the renewal of the debt ceiling in order to extort Democrats to agree to austerity — severe cuts to social programs. Romney knows this could “throw us into recession or depression” and says he would never follow such a policy.
More and more people are calling for Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, to resign from the Board of the New York Federal Reserve.
His latest scandal, combined with Dimon’s hypocrisy and relentless self-promotion, make him an obvious target. But Dimon isn’t alone. Bankers dominate the Fed at the regional and national levels, and most of the other outside seats are held by executives from large corporations. (Remember Herman Cain?)
Should Dimon resign? They all should.
Alan Grayson: Dumb Rich People
In 2008, the New York Times reported that since 1929, $10,000 invested in the stock market under Democratic Presidents (over 40 years) had become $300,671. Meanwhile, $10,000 invested in the stock market under Republican Presidents (over 35 years) had become only $11,733.
Well, at least the affluent caste didn’t lose money during Republican regimes, right? Wrong. The value of the dollar dropped by 92 percent during that period. So in real value, $10,000 invested in the stock market under Republican presidents actually became just $955. And 46 cents. In economic terms, roughly the same effect as some foreign enemy blowing up 90 percent of our factories, warehouses, farms, malls, office buildings, apartment buildings, and every other productive asset.
Poor rich people. All the money gone. Those darned Republicans.
New York Times Editorial: Nuclear Power After Fukushima
The resignation of Gregory Jaczko, the embattled chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, means the country is losing a strong advocate for public safety who was always willing to challenge the nuclear industry and its political backers in Congress.
The White House’s choice to replace him, Allison Macfarlane, has strong credentials as an expert on nuclear waste and weapons. She will need to be as independent and aggressive as Dr. Jaczko. Both industry and her fellow commissioners will have to be pushed to implement necessary improvements highlighted by the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
Jared Bernstein: Private Equity Firms: What Are They Good For?
I’ve very much enjoyed the recent debate over Bain Capital and the role of such private equity firms in the economy, not for partisan reasons, but because it’s far too rare that we step back and ask about the societal costs and benefits of opaque mechanisms like PE.
I mean, if I showed you a barber shop, a school, a car factory, an accounting firm — you’d quickly get what they were doing here. But PE is different, and absent explanation, it’s easy to get stuck on one end of the “vampire/vulture-to-capitalism’s-savior” continuum. In that regard, here’s one of the more nuanced, and thus worth reading, pieces about private equity and its role in the larger economy.
Note, for-the-record, that I’m not talking here about this week’s debating point as to whether PE experience is relevant to the job of president — the main point I and others have tried to bring to that debate is: whatever the merits and demerits of private equity, job creation is not part of the mix. If profitability meant laying off workers, that’s what the PE firm would do, and vice versa.
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