The petabytes of information that would compose the voluminous tomes of Things Ben Carson Doesn’t Know A Damn Thing About now includes an updated entry on the debt ceiling in this interview with Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal.
Ryssdal: All right, so let’s talk about debt then and the budget. As you know, Treasury Secretary Lew has come out in the last couple of days and said, “We’re gonna run out of money, we’re gonna run out of borrowing authority, on the fifth of November.” Should the Congress then and the president not raise the debt limit? Should we default on our debt?
Carson: Let me put it this way: if I were the president, I would not sign an increased budget. Absolutely would not do it. They would have to find a place to cut.
Ryssdal: To be clear, it’s increasing the debt limit, not the budget, but I want to make sure I understand you. You’d let the United States default rather than raise the debt limit.
Carson: No, I would provide the kind of leadership that says, “Get on the stick guys, and stop messing around, and cut where you need to cut, because we’re not raising any spending limits, period.”
Ryssdal: I’m gonna try one more time, sir. This is debt that’s already obligated. Would you not favor increasing the debt limit to pay the debts already incurred?
Carson: What I’m saying is what we have to do is restructure the way that we create debt. I mean if we continue along this, where does it stop? It never stops. You’re always gonna ask the same question every year. And we’re just gonna keep going down that pathway. That’s one of the things I think that the people are tired of.
Ryssdal: I’m really trying not to be circular here, Dr. Carson, but if you’re not gonna raise the debt limit and you’re not gonna give specifics on what you’re gonna cut, then how are we going to know what you are going to do as president of the United States?
Carson: OK, let me try to explain it in a different way. If, in fact, we have a number of different areas that are contributing to the increasing expenditures and the continued expenditures that are putting us further and further into the hole. You’re familiar I’m sure with the concept of the fiscal gap.
Ryssdal: Why don’t you explain that a little bit, though.
Carson: OK, well, the fiscal gap is all of the unfunded liabilities that the government owes. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, all the departmental programs, all the agency and sub-agency programs extending into the future, which is a lot of money, versus the amount of revenue that we expect to collect from taxes and other revenue sources. Now if we’re being fiscally responsible, those numbers should be fairly close together. If we’re not, a gap begins to occur. We bring that forward to modern day today’s dollars, and that’s the fiscal gap, which sits at over $200 trillion and is continuing to grow. Now the only reason that we can sustain that kind of debt is because of our artificial ability to print money, to create what we think is wealth, but it is not wealth, because it’s based upon our faith and credit. You know, we decoupled it from the domestic gold standard in 1933, and from the international gold standard in 1971, and since that time, it’s not based on anything. Why would we be continuing to do that?
Oh good, in addition to knowing jack squat about foreign policy, criminal justice issues, the workings of the US Constitution, and basic civics, ol Doc McNothins here has no idea how modern macroeconomics works either, because we owe a bajillion zillion trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities because America’s GDP is just going to go to zero tomorrow and how can we pay for Medicare in 2065 because argle bargle collapse of all fiat currency GOLD WEED END THE FED.
Meanwhile, Ben’s over here reading Louie Gohmert’s bookmarked posts on Zero Hedge and going “You know, we don’t really need to pay for budget debts we’ve incurred because I’ll just magically cut waste so we don’t need to ever raise the debt ceiling.”
That seems like it’ll work. Can’t wait until he overtakes Trump on which cartoon idiot is winning the beauty contest.
gussie
“Now the only reason that we can sustain that kind of debt is because of our artificial ability to print money.”
Sovereign nations, how do they work?
Baud
We’re all Sarah Palin now.
schrodinger's cat
These people and their supporters are scary clowns. I don’t find them amusing at all.
SP
If they believe the quadrillion dollar number, how can they think anything they do do the budget matters? It’s only, what, 14 trillion?
schrodinger's cat
@gussie: So does drugged Ben want to go to barter system now?
I also don’t understand this fixation with gold that all these crazy cranks seem to have.
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
The “Campaign to Make W. Look Like a Decent President” rolls on.
BGinCHI
You know what has “intrinsic value”?
Nothing.
Value is relative and created within a particular context.
There is no economy, period, without this.
But let’s be totally clear: who benefits if the POTUS is a fucking idiot? Easy answer: those who have power and money. Gosh, even the kind of money that is just “printed” gives you this kind of sway.
Baud
Which I plan to destroy by defaulting on our debts, thus proving that it’s not real wealth.
BGinCHI
@Baud: You mean when you are President?
Germy Shoemangler
@BGinCHI:
They don’t care if he is a blithering ignorant fool as long as he cuts their taxes and “eases their regulatory burden” and beyond that if he accidentally kills mice he keeps as pets by squeezing them too hard, and then cries about it during the state of the union address… well, it just gives them another excuse to say Government Stupid, Business Smart.
MomSense
@schrodinger’s cat:
I agree. This is not funny. They are fools.
Punchy
Pretty sure that to ~96.2% of his supporters, this is a feature, not a bug.
magurakurin
@BGinCHI: wait? Baud wants to be president? I thought I was supporting his bid for Generalismo and I was eagerly awaiting for his first day in office when he dissolves the Congress. Just president? how droll. Think big.
Baud
@BGinCHI:
I was taking on Carson’s persona there.
I will pay all of our debts with platinum coins. I’ll do this even if Congress raises the debt ceiling. Because trillion dollar coins would be pretty cool.
MattF
Q: So, Doctor– where, exactly, is the brain located?
A: The brain is located in the area of the head, which is inserted into an orifice above the legs.
Oatler.
Reminds me of the “30 Rock” episode where Jack Donaghy kept trying to promote a conservative candidate (John Slattery) despite the candidate’s looniness.
Baud
@Germy Shoemangler:
Even so-called populist Trump has a tax plan that slashes taxes for the rich.
It’s who they are.
magurakurin
@MomSense: What really will cook your noodle is if you fully take in the fact that one of those jokers is most definitely going to get to be the nominee and be on the ballot next November. And they are going to get 48% of the vote. 10’s of millions of people are actually going to vote for one of these assholes. Now, that’s, frickin scary.
gussie
@schrodinger’s cat: I suspect that assigning value to printed currency which isn’t inherent in the actual paper offends them. Currency comes from gold like morals come from God.
They’re essentialists, if that means what I think. Gold IS valuable, you see. Nothing arbitrary about it. Everyone know that. Jesus IS god. By definition. Fiat money is financial idolatry and Muslims can be president as long as they’re Christian.
Felonius Monk
@Baud: Would those platinum coins be known as “Megabauds”?
BGinCHI
@Germy Shoemangler: Exactly. But of course it’s worse than that. We need government to provide a barrier against the ravages of capitalism (so to speak). In the system we have, government’s role, among other things of course, is to ensure that there is a system that protects the things that the nation holds sacred.
At least this is how we who are not crazy understand the world to work.
The nutjobs see government as the enemy of unabashed freedom. But all that will get the less powerful is bashed.
Baud
@magurakurin:
No, what’s scary is the number of people who should know better but will find an excuse not to vote for the Democratic nominee.
BGinCHI
@Baud: This is why I’m wearing my Baud t-shirt and buying a megaphone.
You are full of ideas of quality.
Jack the Second
@gussie: I think KrugMan would tentatively agree with that statement. It’s what separates the UK, US, Japan, etc from Spain and Greece.
The scariest word in that sentence is “now”. It’s like people saying, “But the only reason people don’t die from splinters is antibiotics”, as if that was a problem.
Baud
@Felonius Monk:
I already use that term to describe … um… something else.
magurakurin
@Baud: that’s just plain sad. I’m pretty sure though that Sanders will tell everyone to support Clinton in the end. Only the ones who were never actually going to vote anyway will stay home or vote third party. It’ll probably be a wash….I hope.
David Koch
Remember the wingnut who want to repeal ACA and instead make it possible to pay doctor bills with chickens.
Patrick
Carson is against the Iran deal. So he is in favor either of an expensive war or at the very least increased military expenses to deal with a Iran in a possible military conflict.
He is so typical of the hypocritical right-winger. They are “against” government debt, but in favor of expensive military spending which would dwarf any savings they claim they are in favor of.
David Koch
¿Jeb? isn’t good at this
Germy Shoemangler
@BGinCHI:
I had a lady co-worker who hated Obama from day one. She always repeated stuff she heard from Rush Limbaugh. Her husband was a big influence on her thinking as well. He HATED paying New York taxes. One day she announced they were moving to South Carolina. She said her husband told her taxes were cheaper, and there were less pesky regulations to interfere with his job as a contractor.
We didn’t stay in touch, so I find myself wondering how they’re doing down there right now. CBS news this morning said something about S. Carolina spending as little as possible on their dams, much less than N. Carolina.
I also had a neighbor who hated New York. Complained about taxes and regulations. He also moved down south a few years ago. I assume he’s happier.
debbie
@schrodinger’s cat:
Because the Founders say so, that’s why!
BobS
Every time I read or hear Carson’s most recent statement (like this one, apparently from his rigorous study of the Tea Party Economics Primer), my doubts about his purported neurosurgical skill ratchet up just a little bit more. On the other hand, he seems perfectly qualified to play Chance if and when Being There is redone.
Ryan
Just… wow. And to think that there are perhaps 80 million people in the US with a similar view and understanding.
Patrick
@David Koch:
A friend recently had surgery where they removed an appendix. The bill came in at $44,000. Most of it of course will be written off with the arrangement with the insurance company. But still; in a world without any regulation or insurance, ie where we pay our hospitals with chickens, $44,000 would amount to a hell of a lot of chickens. Do these idiots ever connect with the REAL world?
schrodinger's cat
@gussie: Winguut fascination with gold rivals that of Indian mamis (aunts) who always want to know how much the piece of jewelry you are wearing weighs. They also want to know your caste.
My answer to the gold question: its fake
My answer to the caste question: Bhangi (untouchable sweeper caste)
They never believe me but that stops their interrogation cold.
Baud
@magurakurin:
We obviously do better in presidential years. But I’m not happy with all the disillusionment talk among Democrats after 7 years of the best President of our lifetimes. We should be angry at the GOP, but I don’t see it yet.
Redshift
A friend of mine who knew someone who had Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (aka mad cow) seriously wonders if Carson has it. She says that his apparent inability to understand how inappropriate the things he’s saying are, and his lack of affect, are very similar to what she observed when the person she knew was in the intermediate stage. And since Carson was doing brain surgery before they knew how to protect against it, it’s plausible he could have been infected.
Lihtox
Kudos to Ryssdal for pressing him on the issue.
BobS
@magurakurin: Yes and no. Many in that 48% vote Republican simply because it’s their ‘team’, the same way people root for the Tigers, the Yankees, etc. They self-identify as Republicans (or conservatives) even though their views on many social and economic issues would put them on the other side of the political divide.
Mark B.
It’s kind of funny that all of the people who are near the top in the Republican primaries have absolutely no experience in governing. But then again, the Republicans have shown time and again that they have no interest in governing, so it’s probably appropriate.
WereBear
And to think we once mocked countries with “decidedly eccentric” leaders. Nixon was a brazen paranoid with all kinds of issues, but he kept it under wraps, dammit!
—
And on a side note, you Juicers have been marvy donators to my Way of Cats blog. Thanks to all of you. For the kitties.
Punchy
@Patrick: What’s really absurd is that a few drug cocktails, some simple incisions, an extremely routine and rote process to remove a simple-to-find organ, and some sutures could possibly cost the same as a brand new luxury car.
I’d love to see the line item breakdown of how they justify $44K for something as routine as removing a bum appendix. I’m sure it includes triple-digit fees for each Tylenol and quadruple-digit fees per staple.
MattF
@BobS: Social cohesion certainly plays a big role. Also, loyalty may not be specifically to the Republican party– it may be to a Church or to an individual (e.g., Limbaugh or Beck).
Gin & Tonic
@Patrick: My son, an athletic person under the age of 30, personally knows two people, also athletic men under the age of 30, who had significant athletic injuries and as a result ended up declaring personal bankruptcy (pre-ACA.) That’s a significant burden on your life for a long time afterward.
MomSense
@magurakurin:
It is frickin scary! I really try not to talk about it on this blog, any blogs for that matter, because I am still pretty burned by my 2014 elections calls. I do not have happy feelings about 2016 but am more than willing to admit it may be because of my experience in 2014.
shell
Love that. What a nice way of saying ‘Am I talking to a brick wall?’
And sweet Jesus.. Not the Gold Standard again.
MattF
@shell: I suppose I’m missing something, but what value is shiny-yellow-metal going to have if civilization goes away?
Mike J
Why would you base the growth rate of the American economy on the productivity of South African gold miners?
shell
@schrodinger’s cat: Maybe they watched Goldfinger one too many times.
Brendanyc
@schrodinger’s cat: yes, i have to stop laughing at this stuff–these people are a stone’s throw away from running the largest economy on earth. oh, and it’s my country, too.
really not so funny if it doesn’t stop soon.
Matt McIrvin
@schrodinger’s cat:
If you ask them they just tell you to read the complete works of Murray Rothbard and it will all become clear.
They tend to be super-paranoid about inflation; they describe it as the destruction of wealth and say no economy can run on wealth destruction, only on production. They insist that fiat currency is an invitation to a hyperinflation catastrophe (Zimbabwe often gets a mention), and seem to like gold in part because they think the labor involved in mining it somehow makes it real; it’s a kind of production process. Or, at least, that’s the most I can make of it.
Felonius Monk
@BobS:
Others have their doubts also:
Baud
@MattF:
The lords of the fiefdoms will continue to value it as a symbol of their divine right.
Roger Moore
@MattF:
It will make a nice decoration on your skull for whomever is using it as a drinking vessel.
C.V. Danes
Perhaps someone should explain to this nimrod in simple terms how debt leverage decreases in a growing economy.
MattF
@Matt McIrvin: I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but why base the definition of value in an economic system on the value of a specific commodity? I just don’t get that.
RK
Remember that with a strong Christian faith comes humility.
Bobby Thomson
In fairness, more than half of elected Republicans and more than 75% of political reporters don’t understand it, either. Probably fewer than 10% of the general population. Most people know fuck all about this sort of thing and Carson is no exception.
Jeffro
@Baud: people at my meeting are wondering why I snorted just now…
catclub
There will be a House hearing on the VW diesel scandal. I wonder if they will ask the VW President his salary?
SFAW
@MomSense:
It is difficult not to despair.
Cervantes
@BGinCHI:
We’ve run that experiment, at least twice in recent years. We know the answer.
schrodinger's cat
@Matt McIrvin: So its just another shibboleth that defines the Republican cult.
Baud
@Bobby Thomson:
Carson is an exception because he’s a top contender for a presidential nomination. He needs to know things most of the public does not.
SFAW
@Brendanyc:
Not to worry. With them in charge, we’ll be #2 in no time at all. (Not that we’re not already getting there, of course.)
Patrick
@catclub:
And come up with a chart that a six-year old could figure out is bogus.
Just One More Canuck
@Felonius Monk: bitbauds
catclub
@Matt McIrvin:
The Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 failed, and Germany recovered pretty well over the next few years. In 1933, unemployment in Germany was about 47% – and bad things happened. Nonetheless, they worry about inflation.
Note that in Spain and Greece, unemployment has been around 25% and so far no revolution. The effect of a welfare state.
Baud
@Just One More Canuck:
I like that. Alternatively, baudcoins.
Matt McIrvin
@MattF: The dude I knew who went on about this also had that fatalistic cyclic conception of society you sometimes hear from libertarians, in which tyrannies evolve into democracies which inevitably collapse when “the people discover they can vote themselves the treasury”, resulting in anarchy which becomes tyranny again. He seemed to think that not using gold as currency was part of the inevitable collapse mechanism.
Part of it, I think, is some idea that using a commodity as the basis of a currency untethers it from government control, and they don’t like there to be government control. Though they also tend to think that fractional-reserve banking is evil, and forcing all banks to have gold bullion on hand to cover all deposits would involve much more government control.
I don’t know, I’ve never been able to make sense of it myself.
Mark B.
@Matt McIrvin: Having currency based on a more or less limited commodity is a theoretical hedge against hyperinflation, since the government or banks can’t arbitrarily flood the market with currency. But that argument works as well with digital currency like Bitcoin which has a limited supply as it does with gold. It’s no accident that they call creating new Bitcoins to be mining. And I’m not a fan of crypto currency, I’m just pointing out the similarity.
Bobby Thomson
@Baud: you know the difference between a positive/descriptive statement and a normative/prescriptive one, right? As a voter, that’s important to me.
cmorenc
For all his advanced degrees in becoming a neurosurgeon, Dr. Carson’s channeling Sarah Palin in giving word-salad answers that, to the extent they are intelligible, express world-class stupidity and ignorance.
At least Jeb! is merely corrupt and of mediocre mind, and would at least bring competent crooks aboard his government who understand that keeping the money skim off of society going for rich folks depends on not actually breaking government, merely co-opting it and shucking off the parts they can’t profitably skim off of.
Cervantes
@Patrick:
Or one very big one.
What?
SFAW
@catclub:
Doubtful. But they WILL determine that there were e-mails, relating to the whole plan, on Hillary’s e-mail server.
And, in a rational world, the previous sentence would be considered a little nutso. But with Gowdy, Issa, Chaffetz, and the rest of the RWTMs running the show, not any more.
Skippy-san
I listened to that interview. It would have made a hell of a drinking game. Carson answered no questions and in fact contradicted himself twice. ( PS Lean Six Sigma is used by the government and he should know this). Basically it was buzzword bingo. Every time Carson says a wingnut platitude, take a drink. By the end of the interview you will be naked, face down on the floor.
benw
@Cervantes:
Almost every American – on each side of the political divide – believes this to be true.
Mike J
@catclub: If I could question him, I would bring up the $120,000 fine VW paid in the 70s for installing testing defeat devices on cars. $120,000 was obviously far, far, far too low to make an impact on them. How many tens of billions should the fine be to make them think we’re actually serious?
CONGRATULATIONS!
Disasterpiece Theater.
Poopyman
@Jeffro:
Give ’em a dirty look and say it’s because they woke you out of a sound sleep. That always works for me.
I’m getting tired of reminding people (irl) that half the population is of below average intelligence. And that usually comes up when they’re wondering why someone would vote for Candidate X. Why is it that the mouth-breathers are always so motivated to vote, and thoughtful people less so? I know, it’s a question as old as the Republic, but there’s gotta be a way.
Matt McIrvin
@Mark B.: Bitcoin was definitely the creation of people with similar sympathies. The way they made sure the total store is finite and the bitcoins get harder and harder to “mine” was, I think, a very deliberate attempt to make it something like gold.
Cervantes
@Baud:
Would you say you are disillusioned by it?
Just One More Canuck
@Baud: I’ll be your Treasury Secretary, or your ambassador to Monaco
catclub
Gibberish on top of gibberish. No idea that the economy can grow. And grow faster than the liabilities.
Baud
@Cervantes:
Yes!
Baud
@Just One More Canuck:
How about both? My economic plan involves roulette and craps.
catclub
@Cervantes: Some chicken, … some neck.
Belafon
@Baud: And when the stock market finds out just how much of its wealth is based on the “full faith and credit” Carson will be in a world of trouble.
Mark B.
@catclub: Here’s the story (1978 TV miniseries penned by Alex Haley)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmx1lGLKNFA
JPL
@Felonius Monk: That’s not a problem. The repubs want to rid us of the availability to sue doctors.
MomSense
@SFAW:
Plus I feel responsible for the human beings I have brought into the world and their generation who are looking to adults to do the right thing.
MattF
@Matt McIrvin: It’s one of those long lines of reasoning in which each individual statement is nonsense, but people believe that the argument makes sense ‘as a whole’.
Baud
@MomSense:
That’s just momsense.
MomSense
@Baud:
And how much self delusion and nerve do you need to think you can run a country like the USA when you don’t know how basic things work?
Iowa Old Lady
Despite being ignorant, Carson is not going to be president. He’s not even going to be the R nominee. At the moment, they are just playing games.
Baud
@MomSense:
Take it from me, quite a lot.
Cervantes
@Just One More Canuck:
I’ll be your long-haired lover from Liverpool, you’ll be my sunshine lady from LA.
Belafon
@Baud:
As if being angry at the GOP is reason for Democrats to vote.
I’m being sarcastic, but a lot of Democrats say that with a straight face.
GregB
Carson is a neo-wingnut convert just like Glenn Beck. The only difference is Glenn Beck was a coke snorting disc jockey most of his life who never followed politics and Carson was a surgeon who likely spent most of his time studying medicine.
Carson’s latest foot in mouth is stating that he was held up but convinced the gunman to point his weapon at someone else.
Thus betraying his previously most stupid comment of the day when he said people being held by a gunman should rush the shooter.
SFAW
@Poopyman:
And yet they’re the ones that the Rethugs DON’T try to prevent from voting.
I always find it ironic, in a sick sort of way, that the wingnut pundits talk how about certain peoples should not be allowed to vote, because they’re part of Group X, and therefore cannot make intelligent choices when it comes to voting. The irony, of course, is that there have been a few studies showing that the red states wind up near the bottom of the education continuum. And, although being better-educated is not a guarantee of being able to think critically, I would think there’s a relatively high positive correlation.
I’m sure the Rethugs will work on disenfranchising them any day now.
Belafon
Ben Carson: I got held up once at Popeye’s — but I told the gunman to rob an employee, instead
MattF
@GregB: It’s like, “I used to be a liberal, but then I had a head injury.”
Cervantes
@GregB:
@Belafon:
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Felonius Monk
@Baud:
That does it. You’ve got my vote, no matter what.
mak
@Redshift: I’ve been trying to figure out who Carson’s affect reminds me of, and I think this is it: Damon Wayans as Anton the Homeless Person from Living Color.
Felonius Monk
@MattF: It makes one wonder if he practiced brain surgery on himself.
MomSense
@Felonius Monk:
My vote, too!
Disclaimer: Baud did promise me I could chair National Endowment for the Arts. Don’t tell anyone but I plan to bring the sexy back.
Felonius Monk
@MomSense: Sounds good to me. I guess I’ll vote twice then.
SFAW
@Belafon:
Who the fuck are you to trash me if I think a Dem candidate does not support – nay PUSH for – every single policy point I want, and therefore doesn’t deserve my vote?
I’ll show you! Where’s my Mumia sweatshirt?
JPL
This was the last question…
Ryssdal: Not that I’m implying that you necessarily need it, but who do you get your economic advice from? Who are your advisers on your campaign staff?
Carson: Well, I have a number of economic advisers. Tom Rustici is the primary one but we have a number of very, very excellent people.
SFAW
@MomSense:
Actually, m’dear, I think what he probably said was something along the lines of his own “National Endowment.” Sorry to burst your bubble.
Amir Khalid
@JPL:
Do I detect a whiff of sarcasm?
SFAW
@JPL:
Carson neglected to mention Milo Minderbinder as his Chief Economist.
Cervantes
Via @SFAW:
We don’t live there?
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Wow, you can smell it all the way over there? Damn, you’re good.
SFAW
@Cervantes:
Too many people think we do.
benw
@Baud:
Dude, save a zinger like that for the debates!
@JPL:
Carson’s got advisors like Trump’s got black friends!
JPL
Carson wants to go back to the time when all those nice people built our country. Next time maybe he’ll explain why the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire was a good thing. Child labor kept the urchins off the street, too.
Ryssdal: Last thing, sir, and then I’ll let you go. I appreciate your time. A lot of what we have talked about today is very large in scope. But the economy, as it works in reality, is person-by-person, as I’m sure you can appreciate. So my question to you is, what do you think the economy feels like today, to the average participant in it, making $53,000 — the median salary — trying to get by, car payments, home payments, the whole deal. What does it feel like to that person out there?
Carson: I think it feels very, very frightening. And you know, that’s what I was talking about when I’m talking about the regulations and how they hit that person. And talking about the fact that they cannot seem to grow their money, and they see this income gap widening, and they’re feeling that they’re being left behind. And I think we need to readjust our policies and aim them, once again at the middle class. Recognizing that that’s how this nation quickly reached the pinnacle in the beginning. We emphasized education. And we had people who, quite frankly, were very wealthy. You know, the Europeans, they looked over here and they saw the Rockefellers, and the Vanderbilts, and the Fords, and the Kelloggs, and the Carnegies, and the Mellons, and they said you can’t run a country like that. You’ve gotta have an overarching government that receives all the funding and equity that redistributes it, so we actually inspired socialism. But all of those people that I just mentioned, they didn’t just hoard money and pass it down from generation to generation, they built the infrastructure of our country. They build the transcontinental railroads and seaports and textile mills and factories that enabled the development of the most powerful and dynamic middle class the world has ever seen, which rapidly propelled us to the pinnacle. That’s what we have to start thinking about once again.
JPL
@Skippy-san: I just read the interview and I’m sickened that the media is promoting him as a serious candidate.
Cervantes
Via @JPL:
Tom Rustici? Crikey.
I adore these “taxation is slavery” people. With a straight face they will tell you that our Founders considered all forms of taxation to be slavery, and how much they hated it therefore.
SFAW
@JPL:
Wow. What a fucking moron. Or a fucking loon. Or both.
Cervantes
Via @JPL:
That’s the median household income. It’s not “the median salary.”
Baud
@Cervantes:
Hatred of taxation is obviously why they replaced the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution.
Peale
@Cervantes: Well to be fair, if they knew one thing well, it was coming up for justifications for slavery in a supposedly democratic republic.
Cervantes
@SFAW:
And you’re pretty sure we don’t, I take it.
SatanicPanic
@Belafon: “When confronted with a gun I threw a minimum wage worker under the bus. Nevertheless, if I am not in the room, I will call you a chump for not banding together and rushing a gunman. I am Ben Carson and I approve this message.”
SFAW
@Cervantes:
Correct.
JPL
@Cervantes: Thanks, I didn’t catch that point.
MomSense
@SFAW:
Behave!
pseudonymous in nc
Carson is a good reminder that brain surgeons are basically major-league car mechanics and you wouldn’t want the person who fixes your Subaru to be president.
Btw, is anyone going to show up to Carson’s events with a paintball rifle (or a dozen eggs and a catapult) to test Mr Surgery’s hypothesis?
Mike in NC
@JPL: Sleepy Ben has binders full of advisors.
Felonius Monk
@Baud: Are you by any chance running on a “No Tacks” platform?
/Vote for Baud. Vote Early – Vote Often – Vote Everywhere.
Sherparick
Unfortunately, this makes him no different than a majority of House Republicans, Republican Senators, the majority of Republican Senators, and, unfortunately a significant number of Democratic congress creatures and policy makers, as well as significant number of economic and business elite who put all these people in office with their contributions.
gelfling545
@Germy Shoemangler: Who said it when Romney was running? That they don’t need a genius, just someone who can hold a pen?
Grumpy Code Monkey
@BobS:
By the accounts I’ve heard, he is truly gifted in his particular field. If we had the need and the means, I would not object to him working on me or anyone in my family, religion and politics be damned.
But being a gifted neurosurgeon means dick-all when it comes to governing a large, diverse, and increasingly insane nation. It’s an entirely different skill set which he simply doesn’t appear to possess.
Shit, Carly and Trump at least have management experience.
Cervantes
@pseudonymous in nc:
Hope not.
gelfling545
When did the median become the same as the mean?
Mandalay
@Patrick:
And it costs $44,000 because that is what the market will bear – the “free market” at work.
Carson says that he would like to run government like a business, but there is no justification for that. Unlike corporations, governments are inherently about the self-interest of others, not themselves.Concepts like maximizing profits, shareholder return, speculative ventures, profits and bonuses just don’t make any sense when it comes to running government, but the silly notion persists.
Running government like a business is as absurd and meaningless as a pilot flying a plane like a neurosurgeon.
Tommy
@MomSense: My dad likes guns. It would never go his mind to think it stop to shorter. Dad is a badass mother fucker. He jokes at us. I dso not know a single person that doesn’t like guns and where we can’t get all of then via the State.
nominus
Carson just exhibits a peculiar kind of arrogance often found in intelligent people; he has knowledge and skills for something in particular that few people have. After years of practicing said skill, he makes the false logical conclusion that he must be uniquely skilled/intelligent in everything: why else is he so successful? Clearly he must know a lot about everything. People come to this false conclusion all the time, which explains why so many people fall for his stupidity and continue to think that he’s an intelligent man.
He’s not especially brilliant, he’s just very skilled at one thing in particular that he doesn’t even practice any longer.
amk
@JPL:
LOL. Nicely done, reporter.
Iowa Old Lady
@gelfling545: You would not believe how many English graduate students I’ve tried to explain that to. I usually make the point by saying that if Bill Gates was in the room, the mean income would get a lot higher, but they still would be broke.
JPL
@Mandalay: Maybe he means he is going to run the government like Enron.
Cervantes
@gelfling545:
That number is the median household income.
Mean (or average) household income is in the vicinity of $70K, skewed upwards by off-the-chart numbers at the high end of the distribution.
catclub
@gelfling545: I think it was Grover Norquist. It might have been somebody in the Viguerie mold. (Is Viguerie still alive?)
ThresherK (GPad)
@Lihtox: Especially from Risdall. I would like more of that from him.
I mean, is Marketplace ever confused with left-wing economists, or “shaking things up (in a different way than CNBC/FBN)”?
Elie
@Baud:
Who knew that Sarah Palin would become the model for ALL Republican candidates? I never would have thought that, but there it is. Listening to and watching Carson is to know that there is quantum stupidity. That your brain can simultaneously have an IQ of 10 and 160. How do the neurons do that? Are there specific sectors for the stupid? He would be an interesting science experiment. They should set him up for a Pet scan to see what regions of his brain get more active when he talks about how rushing a gunman is wise or when he is talking about the debt ceiling. Does it all come from one single area?
As I have said many times, this guy is a megalomaniac sociopath. He scares me more than Trump.
MattF
@Cervantes: Google says that the median wage per person is $26,695.
SFAW
@MomSense:
Yes, mom.
SFAW
@Elie:
Will the Pet scan show us that he raises weevils or earwigs in his braims?
Bill Arnold
@ThresherK (GPad):
I listen to it many days on my commute, and seriously, Kai Ryssdal often appears to allow a closeted populist, left of center viewpoint to influence his questions. Also, he did (maybe is still doing) a road-trip-by-plane with James Fallows.
schrodinger's cat
@Elie: I have to agree. The man is totally unhinged and cray cray.
Trump seems to be governed mainly by self interest. Hence Carson is more scary.
Josie
The little bit of Morning Joe I saw today showed a focus group in either Iowa or New Hampshire in which all eleven participants would vote for Carson because he is a soft spoken “nice Christian gentleman.” They also agreed with his stance on Muslims. I wanted to throw up. Even Joe was a little taken aback by their attitude.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Redshift: That’s a good point; he really does seem to demonstrate some cognitive, er, issues. The argument against her idea is that CJD is so rare. Although I did work with a man whose ex had it, and he spent a lot of time with her in her final months.
catclub
@MattF:
There are still a lot of complicated things to work out from this.
1. Does it assume everyone works? What fraction are in the wage-earning category? Children? Seniors?
2. What about non-wage income?
I was pretty sure that median household income is $53k, and I had assumed that was about 2 people per household.
Is that what this $26.6k comes from?
Belafon
@Elie: I think there’s a competition between what Ben knows and what he thinks he knows. On the one hand, he’s where he is in part because of welfare. On the other hand, as @nominus notes, he’s got the failing that because he’s good as a neurosurgeon, he thinks he can be good at anything. There are some places where that’s true – being smart ought to make you a good problem solver – but at the same time the knowledge required to be president is easily on the scale of a doctor if not a neurosurgeon, and you have to be willing to learn it, which Carson obviously doesn’t want to.
trollhattan
@Skippy-san:
And dead. Carson will thence harvest your beautiful pickled brain to admire it as something he’ll never have, himself.
Belafon
@Belafon: To expand the first point: He can’t say out loud that he got there because of welfare, so he has to say a bunch of stupid shit to distract his audience.
catclub
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Dying from a failed parachute is rare, but much more common among parachutists.
I would bet that brain surgeons are MUCH more likely than most to touch brain matter of other people.
Cervantes
@MattF:
That sounds about right. (My previous comments were about household earnings.)
Corner Stone
@Tommy:
It looks like Dr. Carson may be needed after all.
jibeaux
@Germy Shoemangler: they’re bloody all here. Whoever keeps taking out ads in the Jersey Daily saying that the Carolinas are the promised land, I wish they’d fuckin stop.
catclub
@ThresherK (GPad):
Yes.
There are people who think Fox news is too much of a liberal media outlet. They only trust the Blaze and Newsmax.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Skippy-san:
MattF
@catclub: The two figures are consistent, but I would hope that the per-person number and the per-household number are computed independently. Or show me a proof that you can compute it either way.
Brachiator
@BGinCHI:
Trump, Carson and Fiorina represent an attempt by conservative true believers to push the GOP further to the right, but the prospect of a Carson presidency has got to scare the money men. They may pander to religious fundamentalism, but they would be devastated by a return to the gold standard, or by a federal government whose funding was dependent on tithing.
Paul in KY
@BGinCHI: Agree. If you are on an island made of gold & you have no food to eat & no way to make/grow it, how much worth does gold have?
Villago Delenda Est
Ben Carson is an idiot outside his very narrow specialized field.
Iowa Old Lady
While we’re talking about R politicians, Matt Bevin apparently called for drug testing both Medicaid and Medicare recipients. Did it at an AARP event.
http://www.kentucky.com/2015/10/07/4076169_matt-bevins-proposal-to-drug-test.html?rh=1
Elie
@schrodinger’s cat:
The media are just getting around to interviewing and engaging him in more detailed conversations. You aint seen nothing yet. Like most super narcissistic sociopaths, he has “mind blindness”. He really can’t see how others see and hear him and he has very little empathy, so I predict he has some real doozies coming up soon. As for his being a successful neurosurgeon while being at the same time profoundly stupid, there are what they call “savants” — people who are extraordinarily gifted in one area but may actually be quite impaired in other areas of functioning. Yep, get ready for some breath taking statements from this one.
jibeaux
Changing the subject a bit, it seems like the anti-Muslim stuff is on an upswing lately, with the ammosexual types staking out mosques, under some sort of misapprehension that they pose more danger than one of these misogynist MRA types. This is a serious question : do you think W should be encouraged to speak on this? I have about 2 things to say about W, but he really was not bad on American Muslims at all. Sure, he diverted it to a whole nother country, but he really was pretty good at telling people not to generalize about Islam. I dunno, just a thought I’ve had lately. I like him quiet, don’t get me wrong.
Brachiator
Oh,well. At least Rupert Murdoch loves Carson, thinks he would be a peachy “real black” president.
Cervantes
@MattF:
No, the number you mentioned is not exactly a “per person number” (or a per capita number); it’s a per wage-earner number generated by the Social Security Administration.
To be specific, the number you mentioned is from 2011, when about 151 million of us earned something, the median value of “something” being your aforementioned $26,695.
@catclub:
(1) No; and (2) Counted as best as SSA can do it.
No.
schrodinger's cat
@Villago Delenda Est: Does he still work as neurosurgeon though, since he started moonlighting as the craziest GOP candidate? Skills left unused get rusty.
JPL
@Iowa Old Lady: What particular drugs are going to be tested? The current crop of Republicans appear to be made up of the I got mine, fu crowd.
Iowa Old Lady
You start testing Grammy and Gramps, and the list of drugs will be longer than your arm.
SiubhanDuinne
@gelfling545:
@catclub:
Yeah, that was Grover. Here’s the relevant clip.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6wYYX0mZsQA
Corner Stone
@Iowa Old Lady:
That’s, uh…interesting?
With the variety of Rx meds most medicare recipients take I wonder how you’d screen out positives?
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: Can you translate the comment, I did not understand a word of that block quote.
Archon
Don’t get me wrong, nowadays I have as much in common with conservatives as I do with some sentient beings on the other side of the milky way but I genuinely don’t understand how anyone could listen to Ben Carson and think he can and should be President of the United States. The only thing I could think of is he’s simply a black man bashing the President and liberals and that has a particular appeal to Republicans. But if that’s the case can’t they find a blackman a little less, you know, crazy?
Frankensteinbeck
@BGinCHI:
Absolutely not. The rich do not benefit from a debt default. They lose horribly, just like everyone else. The Chamber of Commerce had a fit at the big default showdown.
Anyone, rich or poor, who supports a debt default can be motivated by only one of two things: They are so head-up-their-ass ignorant of economics that they can see through their own mouth, or they are so consumed with hate that they will shoot themselves in the head if they’re pretty sure it will kill the guy behind them. Any rich person who supports a default puts hate and crazy way ahead of greed.
Amir Khalid
@schrodinger’s cat:
He is typically described as a retired paediatric* neurosurgeon. I suppose that means he no longer keeps his medical licence current.
*British spelling forever!
catclub
@Cervantes: Thanks!
Elie
@Brachiator:
What I think is most scary to the money men is that there was always a tacit agreement that when it came to certain things like finance, the Repub crazies would know when to say the right things. Unfortunately for them and us, however, they are in a new era and these folks have big egos along with their tiny brains. They are not that easily controlled anymore. Obama derangement syndrome has eaten away what brains existed in the Republican Party. Whatever Obama represented to them is existential and has triggered a mass Republican immune response (like an auto-immune disease) and that is destroying them. There truly is no easy way for them to fix themselves without a replacement transfusion of normal brains, and that won’t happen before the election.
Mandalay
@nominus:
This. Similarly, I’m sure Trump, Bush and Fiorina all sincerely believe that the families they were born into have had nothing to do with their success, and they made it solely on merit. But that doesn’t mean that they have a clue about being president, no matter how successful and intelligent they may appear.
We need more interviewers asking presidential candidates questions that are not hard, but will reveal those who are unacceptably ignorant, as Ryssdal did to Carson on the debt limit. Ask the presidential candidates to briefly talk about the Occupied Territories, the Fed, solar power, Jim Crow, bonds or cloture.
No opinions, just a few facts.
Wait for the deafening silences, and subsequent outrage over “gotcha” questions which revealed those who don’t have a clue.
Paul in KY
@catclub: An emergency recall needs to be ordered ASAP. I would like Pres. Obama to issue an order forcing VW to get those cars in pronto & get them fixed. Pegged to massive fines everyday they are not fixed.
Those fucking cheater cars are all out there polluting right now!
Corner Stone
@Belafon:
I’m not sure the word “required” is entirely accurate there.
Paul in KY
@Mike J: 100 billion should convince them.
Josie
@Archon: See my comment at #152. It would seem, unfortunately, that there are voters who are as stupid and uninformed as he is.
Belafon
@Corner Stone: I meant to imply “required to be a good president.”
skerry
@Corner Stone: Word salad for lunch today?
Felonius Monk
@catclub:
Was he ever alive? He always looked like a walking cadaver to me.
Mike J
@Amir Khalid:
Where’s your ligature? Pædiatric.
sacrablue
OT: NBC is reporting that McCarthy is dropping out of race for speaker.
Trentrunner
Wait: McCarthy has taken himself out of Speaker’s race.
And Boehner has postponed the Speaker’s election.
Dems in disarray!
Punchy
If being a doctor is adequate prep to be Prez, maybe we should nomimate Dre? Instead of a debate, we could have an M.C. competition. He’d wax them. He’d Beats off the GOP nommy easily.
Face
@sacrablue: this is great news for John McCain.
Baud
@sacrablue:
@Trentrunner:
Uh oh.
sacrablue
@Face: They could elect him as speaker!
PsiFighter37
McCarthy out.
Why not just elect Pelosi as speaker with a plurality? At least she got shit done.
dmsilev
@sacrablue: Lord of the Flies, here we come.
Mandalay
Mr. Dumbass has reconsidered his position….
Corner Stone
@Trentrunner:
“Facing the relentless intransigence of Pelosi and the House Dems, Speaker Boehner has no choice but delay the vote.”
/anypundit
JPL
@Trentrunner: Sen. Cruz could be the new nominee.
I blame Obama
dmsilev
@PsiFighter37: That’d be hilarious. Rules are, though, that the Speaker needs to get 218 votes on the floor. So, you do need an absolute majority.
If things get sufficiently cluster-fucked, I could imagine a “unity” candidate of someone like Steny Hoyer getting all of the D votes plus a couple dozen Rs. Of course, those couple dozen Rs would immediately draw about 50 primary challengers _each_, so maybe not.
Maybe we’re stuck with Weeping John.
D58826
@Mandalay: Beat me to it. This isn’t going to end well. I do have a simple solution. Since the GOP is convinced that Obama is a tyrant who wants to declare martial law and rule as the first Kenyan Muslim Caliph, well he should do so. At least the GOP can say they were right about one thing in the past 30 years. (snark)
Gin & Tonic
@dmsilev: But didn’t John of Orange announce that he was resigning from Congress, not just the speakership? Doesn’t that trigger some procedure for a special election? Is he on a path where he can’t back up?
Paul in KY
@nominus: Probably on to something there..
Corner Stone
I can only hope this leads to umpteen more profile buffing pieces by Politico et al on exactly how awesome and powerful and proud of themselves all the members of the Freedom Caucus really, really are.
dmsilev
OK, so with McCarthy deciding that he’s not competent to lead Clown Central, what are the options? The other two candidates were Crazy and Crazier (or possibly Crazier and Crazierier); do we get a new candidate from the “Sufficiently Repressed Crazy that the Media Can Portray Them As Moderate” caucus (e.g. Paul Ryan or someone like that)? Does Weeping John decide to stay on?
bystander
McCarthy must be p/o’d. This is great. Issa was just on and even has to understand what a mess the repubs are.
dmsilev
@Gin & Tonic: He hasn’t resigned _yet_, just said that he was planning to at the end of the month. He can always take a good stiff drink and announce that given the cluster-fuck, staying on is the best thing for the GOP and for the House. The hell of it is, he’d probably be correct.
benw
@Punchy:
Ice Cube for head speechwriter, ’cause he wrote most of Dre’s N.W.A. lyrics. Also, N.W.A. getting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nom!
D58826
Just got back from the supermarket. Not a box of popcorn left in the store. Folks must be planning ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cervantes
@Paul in KY:
In the US alone (with 500K affected cars out of 11M globally), VW’s cunning plan has “secretly” added about 46,000 tons of (relevant) emissions into the atmosphere since late 2008. The resulting death toll from these hitherto unknown emissions has been estimated, very roughly, to be something in the range of 40 (MIT estimate) to 100 (NYT calculation). Divide these numbers by 7 (years) to see that the annual toll is in the range of 5-15 deaths, approximately.
To put this in perspective, consider that California, which has the worst air quality in the US, sees about 7200 deaths annually caused by air pollution (CARB calculation).
None of which is to say that VW — and whoever made these decisions — should go unpunished.
D58826
This really really is not good. Darth Vadar endorsed McCarthy this morning as a strong leader. If Chaney can’t rally the crazies then we are in the place on the medieval maps that said ‘beyond here be dragons’.
bemused
@Mandalay:
Can we be sure McCarthy actually said he was dropping out of the race? From listening to the clips of his mangled and incomprehensible speaking style on Rachel Maddow, trying to figure out what the guy is trying to communicate is like listening to a toddler just learning how to put a sentence together.
Brachiator
Speaking of Echo and the Moneymen, here is where they Kochs are currently throwing their money. Surprise! Fiorina is now in the ring.
Somebody better provide Right to Rise with a fainting couch, cause the Koch boys are clearly hedging their bets. Jeb! ain’t Mr Inevitable anymore.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/carly-fiorina-added-koch-brothers-short-list/story?id=34321962
Carson is loved by a lot of religious fundamentalists, but this does not translate into financial support from the heavy hitters. However, he is getting a fair amount of grass roots support from the conservative masses.
Corner Stone
@Punchy:
And motherfuckers act like they forgot about Dre.
Brachiator
@bemused:
He is out!
Clearly not crazy enough.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rep-kevin-mccarthy-drops-house-speaker-race/story?id=34344098
Cervantes
@dmsilev:
No question about it.
Tripod
@Archon:
Junior O’Daniel: We could hire our own midget, even shorter than his.
Pappy O’Daniel: Wouldn’t we look like a bunch of Johnny-come-latelies, bragging on our own midget, doesn’t matter how stumpy.
Elie
Just to jump back onto Carson for a minute: to prove my point that he will continue to say ever more outlandish things because he doesn’t have empathy, Carson just related that he had a gun stuck in his ribs at a Popeye in Baltimore and told the guy calmly (ha ha), that he had the wrong guy — that he needed the guy behind the counter! So now, instead of charging the gun man, he siks him onto the poor schlub behind the counter! LOL! Just keep him talking, folks, keep him talking…
NorthLeft12
I find it interesting and telling that Mr. Carson places so little value on faith.
Downpuppy
@Cervantes: To take it a little farther, the median income of 1 person employed full time is just under $40,000. The $27,000 is median earnings for an employed person, which includes part timers and part year workers.
If Ryssdal can’t keep this straight, well, at least he’s better than Carson.
bemused
@Brachiator:
Well, I am thankful I won’t have to listen to a guy that makes my head hurt worse than Sarah Palin’s gibberish did but the alternatives are also terrible, horrible, no good.
Jay C
@gussie:
Do you, or anyone here, think that the average “Ben Carson voter” either knows or cares about the principles of sovereign-nation macroeconomics?
We might ( rightly) mock the notion that the financial management of the largest national economy on the planet can (or should be) reduced to the simplicities of kitchen-table family budgeting; but the big problem with simple explanations for complex issues is that being simple, just about anyone can understand them. Wrongly in many/most cases: especially where economics is concerned – but that’s another issue…
Amir Khalid
It might be relevant that Böhner was planning to endorse Kevin McCarthy. Perhaps McCarthy feared what Böhner’s endorsement might do to his chances.
Perhaps with this Republican House caucus, the Speaker’s chair has become a poisoned chalice.
D58826
huffington
Unless he crazy caucus get’s their choice or a veto over anything that a new speaker proposes, this is going to be a long and bloody process. Unless Boehner cuts a deal with Nancy and the D’s plus enough senior/safe seat/retiring GOP members provide the needed 218. Of course the crazies will immediately start to plot a coup against the new speaker. For the same reason it makes no sense for Boehner to stay. He has cut his own balls off (insert joke here) as far as any power that he would have
Keith G
While I would totally bliss out if Carson were the nominee, in point of fact he will not be. Thus, I really don’t care what he knows or what he doesn’t know.
I believe that the voters, or maybe I should say the possible voters, who support him like him because of the very broken down, simplistic views of the world that he comforts them with.
Mike in NC
@jibeaux: Majority of our neighbors fled NY and NJ due to taxes (especially property taxes) and harsh weather. The southern racism is just the cherry on top.
catclub
Tom Delay for Speaker. You heard it here first.
ruemara
@Baud:
Actually, it’s another regressive tax plan. The media has been spinning it as progressive. That being said, Carson is an idiot.
Paul in KY
@Cervantes: What an evil and stupid decision they made. How would they think that not one of these cars would ever be tested for emissions while being driven?! It’s not rocket science to fix up a rig that can do that.
Paul in KY
@Keith G: I work with one of them. Nice guy, but a religious whacko (IMO) and his wife appears to be even wackier (from a religious perspective, she has that hair).
Peale
@Brachiator: The Koch’s have never backed Bush. This is not news. Their entire rise to make a serious attempt to take ownership and control of the party in the past 8 years has come because the Bush clan lost control. I don’t see them wanted to have to deal with Bushes.
Brachiator
@Peale:
The news story said that Jeb! was among the candidates on the group’s watch list to potentially receive donations. Technically, this does not say that the group is currently funneling money to him.
And some candidates have been summoned to make an appearance before Koch controlled groups, and other candidates have not been given the nod of approval.
Walker had earlier been given a pat on the head, before he dropped out.
SiubhanDuinne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I had a colleague about 27 years ago who had Creutzfeldt-Jakob. I didn’t see her after she was diagnosed, but others who did reported big, and fast-onset, changes in affect, communications, personality, etc.
schrodinger's cat
Deleted wrong thread!
Uncle Cosmo
@Baud: Baudies. And you keep them in a baudyhouse. Or a baudybag. A bank robbery would be an Invasion of the Baudy Snatchers. I could go on…
Just One More Canuck
@Cervantes: i’m not sure that would work for either of us
Uncle Cosmo
@pseudonymous in nc:
Bangalore! I would have gone for gourmet butcher–good at figuring out how to get that bit of gristle out of the meat without turning it into hackfleisch but not competent at cooking–but our judges will accept that. (They roll ’em big too.)
Hob
@Redshift: Even in the ’70s and ’80s, brain surgeons knew better than to operate with bare hands, or to touch the instruments with their bare hands, or to eat scraps from their work. The risk of CJD infection in surgery is for the patient (due to inadequately sterilized tools), not the doctor.
Also, having worked with a lot of surgeons (both neuro and other kinds), I can safely say that Carson’s flat affect and verbal inappropriateness are well within the normal range.
Uncle Cosmo
@nominus:
Actually there are three groups in which this attitude is concentrated: clinical MDs, engineers, and plutocrats. Of the three, only the engineers ever do any thinking that is at all creative, or even synthetic. The MDs got through med school on uppers & rote memorization, & intern year on uppers alone.
mclaren
Marvelous! Let’s start with the U.S. military budget.
Cervantes
@Just One More Canuck:
Pessimist!
Lurking Canadian
@JPL: probably nobody’s reading anymore, but holy shit that is some weapons grade ignorance right there. He’s like one of those “stupid things found in high school essays” jokes, where “Martin Luther King nailed 99 bulls to the door of the church”.