46 thoughts on “Deja Vu. Oder, “Haben Sie einen Professor zu melden?”

  1. Macroduck

    First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

    —Attributed to Martin Niemöller

    1. GREGORY BOTT

      That isn’t what was said. The Nazis thought they were the rightful socialist heir of the Victorian and Fabian.

      1. Macroduck

        “Said”? Said by whom, pray tell?

        This is pure Bott-ism. Doesn’t even reach the level of man-splaining, ’cause there’s no ‘splaining.

  2. Macroduck

    In discussing the prospect of continuing climate change, Bruce Hall has recently written:

    “After all, we all came out of Africa, right? And somehow survived the Ice Age.”

    The last ice age, as far as can be known, killed off roughly 60% of Europe’s human population:

    “The simulated population size declined from about 330,000 people at 30 ky (thousand years) ago to a minimum of 130,000 people at 23 ky ago.”

    Other regions had their own ghastly death tolls. This is Brucey’s example of why we should stop worrying about climate change and let ‘er rip! Wow, Brucey. Kinda like saying letting a bunch of oldies die was the right approach to Covid, so the rest of us could keep going to bars.

    This is why I pestered y’all with my 7th-grade Aristotle essay in an earlier comment. Brucey is in a roll right now, making in intellectual blunder after another, all so he doesn’t have to change a single silly belief in his head. That, says Aristotle, is the road to a lack of virtue. Our goal should be to gain virtue, which means gaining in wisdom and reason. Practicing irrationality makes one worse with every effort.

    1. pgl

      Yea I bothered to read some of Bruce’s old blog posts. He has been a dumb troll for a long long time.

    2. Bruce Hall

      Macro, joined the cult, eh?
      https://www.thefp.com/p/climate-activism-has-a-cult-problem?

      Here are some worthwhile links at the intersection of climate and economics (see how I used that woke term?)
      https://judithcurry.com/2023/01/04/academics-and-the-grid-part-i-i-dont-think-that-study-means-what-you-think-it-means/
      https://judithcurry.com/2023/01/09/academics-and-the-grid-part-ii-are-they-studying-the-right-things/
      https://judithcurry.com/2023/01/15/academics-and-the-grid-part-3-visionaries-and-problem-solvers/
      https://judithcurry.com/2023/01/20/rapid-technological-innovation-not-harmful-renewables-policy-key-to-lighting-our-energy-future/

      Yes, I happen to like where Dr. Curry goes with her thinking. It is rational and scientific and makes sense both socially and economically.
      Common sense is not so common. — Voltaire

      1. pgl

        Wasting our time with other nutjobs I see. Judith Curry is the climate change version of Judy Shelton.

        I saw your quoting of Voltaire, which I bet he finds highly insulting since you have NO sense. None at all.

      2. pgl

        Zion Lights seems like a nice person:

        ‘I have two children. And I believe deeply in fixing climate change and saving our planet—I’ve dedicated my life to that cause. But in no universe do I believe that terrifying people with images of rape and cigarette burnings will do anything other than paralyze exactly the people we want to activate.’

        OK – there may be a few nutjobs in the climate change debate but that does not justify the nutjobs like you on the other side. What’s your point here – that there may be a couple of crazies on one side means science deniers nutjobs like you are in the right? I bet if Ms. Lights read your incessant garbage – she would want to make sure her 2 children never had a damn thing with you.

      3. pgl

        BTW Brucie – you have been ducking your stupid comment about the debt/GDP ratio. Lots of honest and useful comments which utterly blows up your BS and of course the little lying boy decides to duck this one moving onto spewing more dishonest climate change BS.

        We all have noticed your little hit and run tactics. But dude – that has trashed what little credibility you may ever have had. Stop being the weasel you are and address the critics of your BS for the first time in your little lying life.

        Common sense – snicker.

      4. Macroduck

        Brucey, Brucey, Brucey…

        Assuming your “I found one person who agrees with me” scholar has a point, running around accusing everyone who shows any concern over climate change of being a member of a cult is simple-minded. Which is what Aristotle and I ate trying to talk you out of.

        Scholarship is not something to sling from a barstool. It’s not meant to be used as a security blanket. If you refuse to make proper use of scholarship, why are you wasting your time, and ours, with it?

        1. pgl

          This woman does not agree with Bruce. Now if Brucie actually read this weird account, he would notice that this woman is for addressing climate change but she does not like extreme nutjobs. And of course Brucie is an extreme nutjob.

          Brucie is all about the gotcha but he is so dumb that his own link if properly read would turn on him.

        1. pgl

          Exactly. But Brucie thinks that if Michigan is colder than Florida – none of the rest of the globe really matters. Yea he is that dumb.

    1. Menzie Chinn Post author

      JohnH: I don’t recall Lynne Cheney (wife of Dick Cheney) being particularly lauded by Democrats. Liz Cheney has garnered some plaudits from Democrats for working with them on the 1/6 committee, but I don’t think she set up ACTA.

      1. pgl

        When the US adopted floating exchange rates, I recall certain crazed gold bugs calling Nixon and even Milton Friedman left wing socialists. I suspect JohnH was one of those critics.

      2. JohnH

        You are correct that Lynne Cheney was a founder of ACTA. Given Liz Cheney’s family history and track record, I see little reason to believe that she would have acted any differently than her mother.
        https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/lynne-cheney-43670.php

        Cheney has also worked in tandem with Democrats not just on Trump but also on other issues, particularly in the area foreign policy: “Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee teamed up with Republicans this week to pass an amendment co-sponsored by Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney–daughter of notorious “war on terror” architect Dick Cheney–that prohibits Congress from spending money to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan without first meeting a series of vague conditions that critics said appear designed to prevent withdrawal.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/03/why-are-house-democrats-siding-liz-cheney-prolong-endless-war-afghanistan

        So far Turning Point does not seem to have targeted professors who question the US’ endless wars, though I doubt that any of the esteemed commenters here would be affected even if they did.

        1. pgl

          “Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee teamed up with Republicans this week to pass an amendment co-sponsored by Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney–daughter of notorious “war on terror” architect Dick Cheney–that prohibits Congress from spending money to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan without first meeting a series of vague conditions that critics said appear designed to prevent withdrawal.”

          First we are condemned for pulling out too fast and now we are condemned for wanting to stay longer. Dude – we withdrew. Cheney lost. And you still whine? Get a clue which way is up. Damn!

    2. Macroduck

      Remarkable! You name Joe McCarthy (Republicans) and Lynne Cheney (Republican), link to an article which names Dick Cheney (Republican), name an organization which self-affiliates with conservative causes, confuse the mother (Republican) with the daughter (Republican), and somehow this amounts to a condemnation of Democrats?

      You get more comical by the day, Little Johnny.

      1. pgl

        ;In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched the “China Initiative” for the purported purpose of combating Chinese economic espionage. Under the “China Initiative”, the federal government has essentially stated that all Asian American and immigrant scientists and researchers with any relationships to people in China are suspects.;

        2018 – the Trump DOJ. But leave it to JohnH to blame Biden or Obama.

  3. Macroduck

    While we’re all making an effort to save Bruce Hall from his own intellectual flaws, here’s an example of what can happen if you don’t check the data before shooting your mouth off. Brucey wrote:

    “No, I wasn’t arguing that there was no seasonality. My point that it was relatively minor except for a couple of sector…”

    Here’s the picture of CPI, seasonally adjusted vs non-seasonally adjusted, on a quarterly basis:

    https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=Z4CP

    The latest difference in the quarterly annualized pace of inflation, between the SA and NSA versions, was 1.4%. One reading is above the Fed’s inflation target. The other is below the Fed’s inflation target. Ease? Tighten? I guess it doesn’t matter. Just like, to Brucey, the last Ice Age killing off most of the human population didn’t matter. With such small stakes, who needs to count?

  4. Ivan

    Dejavu all over again. But this time we have the internet.

    As always with the right wing; freedom is something they want for themselves but will not tolerate that “others” should have.

  5. Macroduck

    Adjustment to climate change is inevitable. A survey of such adjustments over the past 5000 years finds a pattern. Small communities with diverse local sources of food have adapted to climate change better than urban dwellers heavily dependent on agriculture. The world is more heavily urbanized and more dependent on agriculture now than at any time in the past. Oh, well:

    https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/how-did-past-societies-handle-the-impacts-of-climate-change/151714/

    1. Macroduck

      By the way, cultural collapse is a thing. The Sea People. Rome. Native American cultures. West African cultures. Mesopotamia. Good thing to avoid.

    2. CoRev

      MD, any article that starts with: “In another age of global warming,…” is going to be a total waste.

      Name an age when the climate did not change. Better still define what is meant by Climate Change.

      I’ll wait.

      1. Macroduck

        How like you relying on childish debating tricks. You want to know what climate change is? Read up on it. Or you can demand that others jump through some dumb hoop and pretend you’ve scored some kind of smarty-pants points.

        How like you to reduce a serious problem to labels. There is an extensive literature on climate change, and you reduce discussion to two words.

        1. CoRev

          MD, love the word salad and use of debating tricks, but those definitions are the core of the arguments.

          Failing to define them is such a weak and laughable response to show failure of your logic. I especially loved the failure to answer the simplest question: “Name an age when the climate did not change?” Of course this can not be answered without defining Climate Change.

          Blind belief has no place in science, which is based upon skeptical questioning of findings. Blind belief is indicative of religious followers. Just look at Old Bark, bark’s comment.

          1. pgl

            those definitions are the core of the arguments?

            Utter BS – yea it is the core of your misrepresentations. But it is not the core of the issues properly framed.

          2. CoRev

            Ole Bark, bark strikes again with another meaningless and Pavlovian response, “those definitions are the core of the arguments?
            Utter BS – yea it is the core of your misrepresentations. But it is not the core of the issues properly framed.”

            Frame the argument(s) without defining those terms.

            I’ll wait.

          3. pgl

            “Blind belief has no place in science”

            The claim you do science is about the biggest lie you ever told. You do nutjobs who have been discredited as if you nutjobs were reliable experts. But do troll on as you are in competition with Bruce Hall for troll of the century.

          4. CoRev

            Ole Bark, bark, thought so! You can/will not define the terms nor (re)frame the arguments without them?

            Other than Pavlovian trolling did you have a point?

            Showing your lack of and use of existing brain cells is persistent.

  6. pgl

    One for the grownups only who are interested in credit spreads (yea maybe I have lost everyone except Macroduck and Moses) but after listening to some babbling on intercompany financing from the bores at PwC (I’ll spare you the utter nonsense from these clowns) I decided to see if some major player has recently taken out a sizeable amount of corporate debt and up popped a $5.5 billion set of corporate bond offerings from Apple.

    Let’s take their $1.75 billion issuance with a yield just under 4%, which was a 20-year bond issued on 8/20/2022. OK the 20 year government bond rate was just under 0.5% which made sense to me if Apple’s credit rating were AA+.

    Now this is where this gets a bit interesting for credit rating nerds. S&P is saying the credit rating should be AA+ but the sharpies at Moody’s had upgraded them to AAA. Nothing new but the Fitch people are all alarmed at Moody’s claiming that a credit rating of AA or less should be given to Apple. WTF? Is Elon Musk trying to take over Apple too? That could explain why Fitch is up in arms!

    1. Moses Herzog

      You greatly flatter me, but I’ll greedily grasp and clutch onto the flattery. I think this is your subtextual point and I am telling you nothing you (or Macroduck) did not already know for quite awhile now:
      “Ratings are paid for by the issuers. There is a conflict of interest: Issuers could, and do, ‘buy’ high ratings from willing sellers, the rating agencies”

      I lifted that sentence verbatim from a Minnesota Law School paper, but I’d prefer not to reference the paper because it’s a rather generic sentence AND I strongly disagree with the overall findings of the paper. My thought is, ratings agencies do NEARLY as crappy of a job rating corporate bonds now as they did rating subprime just before and during the 2006–2008 period. i.e. Ratings agencies are shopping for business. Like a municipal government construction contract awarded with no competitive bids, low-bid, low quality gauging of debt risk (good ol’ buddy system) wins the business.

      I used to have months-long (years) long blog comment battle royales (similar to my continual clashes with Professor Rosser) with a commenter named “Bond Lassie” who as much as admitted she worked at one of those ratings agencies and insisted ratings agencies had no connecction to the problem. In my opinion it was and is a disingenuous LIE.

      1. pgl

        Related:

        https://seekingalpha.com/article/4571993-credit-suisse-a-contrarian-buy

        Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) has a depressed valuation that already reflects most of its fundamental issues, providing an opportunity for long-term (contrarian) investors to buy a deep value play that I think can perform quite well over the next three to five years.

        Background
        As I’ve covered in a previous article, Credit Suisse has faced a rough period in recent months, due to some fundamental issues that led to weak investor sentiment towards the bank. This is reflected both in its low share price and valuation, as well as its credit spreads that are near all-time highs.

        As can be seen in the next graph, Credit Suisse’s five-year credit default swaps currently trade at more than 300 basis points (bps), a higher spread than compared to the period during the global financial crisis of 2008-09, and also compared to the European debt crisis of 2012-13.

        My understanding is that Qatar is buying up CS stock.

  7. Moses Herzog

    Reading about Candace Owens on the Turning Point website. I’m curious what Candace Owens thinks the Nazis did to the Jewish Ghetto police, once they were no longer seen as useful to Nazi’s “cause”?? It’s sad to see a relatively intelligent woman waste her intelligence in such a fashion.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Ghetto_Police

    Does Candace think that Omarosa is proud of her MAGA legacy when she visits Black neighborhoods??—if she indeed visits them at all?? Last I heard Omarosa wasn’t being received “affectionately” by her own peer group. Is Omarosa going to volunteer to do a phone drive for Ron DeSantis’ 2024 campaign??—or is half a lifetime of pure shame not enough for her at this point??

Comments are closed.