Random Links

Here's some stuff I agree with and don't have anything to add to:

• ONE Campaign poll of Iowa caucus goers shows that people think we should be doing more to fight developing world poverty.
• The National Security Network rounds up the considerable evidence that the alleged drop in violence in Iraq isn't actually happening.
• Sam Boyd is appropriate skeptical of designer accessory makers' claims that buying counterfeit bags and wallets is causing terrorism.
• Brad DeLong on late 19th century shipping trends.
• Moira Whelan is puzzled as Iyad Allawi picks up the endorsement of the exiled leadership of the Iraqi Baath Party.

Have fun!

Comments

The National Security Network rounds up the considerable evidence that the alleged drop in violence in Iraq isn't actually happening.

There is not a single sentence in the National Security Network that provides any evidence that the relevant claim - that violence in Baghdad has decreased since the beginning of the surge (which is a security plan for Baghdad, not other areas of Iraq) - is not occurring.

Maybe Megan just didn't read the release very carefully.

Posted by Al | August 30, 2007 7:02 PM

Er, not Megan, Matthew. Sorry!

Posted by Al | August 30, 2007 7:06 PM

Oh why don't you just SFTFU Al?

You now what the haggling by the Bush administration and tools like yourself with the GAO and indeed the whole progress in Iraq "debate" reminds me of? The ridiculous and mendacious five year plan policy in the the GDR. There were bureaucrats who knew what was actually going on in the economy, and it was always pretended that an open, fair and self-critical discussion of the economic achievements was desired by the regime so that progress can be made. Yet every time the numbers didn't fit, every time an expert was unwise enough to offer a realistic assessment and every time a worker was pointing at the glaring inefficiencies of the production process, the whole weight of the regime was thrown behind suppressing such information and instead producing yet another fairy-tale report documenting the unerring march towards a socialist paradise. Sure, there was always room for improvement, but those who dared to question the accepted wisdom that basically everything was on the right track in the good hands of the regime in its infinite wisdom, were disruptive, counter-revolutionary elements and impediments to progress. Currently Bush is pretty close to Honecker's state of derangement when he was merrily celebrating the 40th birthday of the GDR.

Posted by novakant | August 30, 2007 9:17 PM

Funny, but I recall in the 80s that leading economists like Galbraith, Samuelson, et al
described the Soviet economy as exceptionally large and effective; Galbraith even toyed with the idea of convergence; that we would rush to emulate it. I recall even young scholars like Walter Russell Mead in Mortal Splendor in 1987
predicted an economic collapse followed by labor
militancy and extreme social upheaval. Who adheres to Honecker/Breshnev model; not thr right.

Posted by narciso | August 30, 2007 10:40 PM

Academics say all sorts of silly things. It gets dangerous, however, when the government starts to persistently ignore basic realities, because they are the people able to actually, you know, do stuff, as opposed to academics.

Posted by novakant | August 31, 2007 4:55 AM