That’s the title of a recently published book by Dana Milbank about the Republican agenda over the last quarter century. Duh! I’ve been referring to destruction as an ideological agenda for eighteen years on this blog. So, Mr. Milbank would seem to be a bit slow. Indeed, I’d argue that the destructive national agenda came into its own with the First Gulf War and the “liberation” of household assets for “the market.” If women were not going to be returned to the household to provide unpaid labor and work for wages like the men who initiated the industrial era, then households might as well be converted into status symbols. Now we have a housing and homeless crisis because few are left to manage households.
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Category Archives: Notes from the Household
IUDs in use
The insertion of intrauterine devices (IUDs) to prevent the implantation of fertilized ova in women has had a rocky history in the U.S. and I am not sure how to address an issue with which I have had some fifty-five years of experience. A summary article from the Kaiser Foundation indicates, at a minimum, that that is unusual. It seems to be generally assumed that the device is removed and/or replaced every five or ten years.
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Two Trillion for the basics
It’s a start. How long will it take to turn the money into labor and useful things? The banks managed to distribute $42 Billion in nine months into other accounts.
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On Nixon and the gold standard
I missed this article when it was published in 2011 and the notion that an action can simply be reversed is obviously wrong. While I have long thought the significance of Nixon’s action was overlooked (even by Nixon himself), it was the response that caused the errors, including the initial imposition of price restraints.
Now, fifty years later, the country is ironically awash in currency which is not being spent because the hoarders do not have the capacity to spend in a timely fashion. The infrastructure of investment has been destroyed in the interest of speculation. Reality has been replaced by ideas and ideas are simply not productive. Wishful thinking does not put dinner on the table.
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Snow Stories
HOUSTON
We have not had a freeze in years. Tonight calls for 9 with snow. Wow. Scary. Shopped for rest of week. Wrapped pipes filled tub downstairs. Lots of drinking water. Made gumbo and chuck roast. Lots of veggies and chicken pieces for chicken soup. Baking our favorite cake and berries in freezer for quick cobbler.
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Household Economics
Just want to note that while the Fed started collecting data on household savings, the EU only started in 1999.
Now the U.S. Senate is reluctant to distribute pandemic relief because household savings have grown to 20%.
Amy Barrett, as seen from the household
Who runs Amy Barrett’s household? Her husband and his aunt. So she can go traipsing off to lecture and give speeches—just as if she were judging flower shows or quilting contests.
Republicans have only one interest. Status.
Milo’s Communications
Learning during the pandemic.
The Gallery
An experiment in combining two images with some adjustment of the color. First try.
Capitol Hill wants to undo Dodd/Frank. Duh!
The financial class is convinced their woes are the result of rules that make their wheeling and dealing accountable to supervisors. They refuse to accept that the problem lies in the fact that they are dealing in worthless stuff and the effort to create artificial value by rationing the distribution of dollars is bound to fail.
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