Jane Smiley's Blog, page 3

Other Economists in the Room

Well, I read every word of Paul Krugman's article about the failure of Economics as a discipline and of economists as a group, and I don't disagree with any of it, but he is missing out on some big issues that also need to be discussed and understood before we actually know what is going on in our world.

English majors understand human nature better than economists do. If, as Krugman said, "homo economicus" is perfectly rational, where did the folks who came up with this simplistic idea go to...

Retreat and Surrender

Make no mistake about it, health care reform and the public option are the turning point for Obama and this country. Today's New York Times is reporting that factions in the White House are arguing about what compromises they will make in order to get health care reform passed. They did not have to have this argument. If Obama had organized his cohorts and gone on the offensive and stayed on the offensive from the beginning, he would be winning this battle, not losing it. That he did not do s...

What's the Big Deal?

I understand that while I was uploading old photos onto Facebook, some joker was on All Things Considered, going on about how we can't afford to take the time or the money to investigate tortures committed by the Bush administration. Have to move on, I suppose. This is like deciding that it isn't worth while to find out why little Dickie hung the neighbor's cat by its ears from the clothesline, or why little Donny shot out the neighbor's windows with his twenty-two, because it's more importan...

What Now?

It's pretty evident that Obama is caught between rock and a hard place, but the trap is one he made for himself, and those of us on the left who hoped that he would not make this trap now have to ask ourselves some very difficult questions. The first of these is this -- if we step up to the plate and support him now with both our money and our feet, what will we get in return? If the last six months are any indication, the answer is, "Nothing." I have to admit that I've watched the administr...

Dick Cheney is Crazy. Really.

In 2002, my partner was driving his new van down a busy, but two lane, road near our house. He was slowly passing a major accident that crossed both lanes of the road, and it so happened that one of the tow trucks, which was going too fast, ran into the accident, was bounced off the vehicle it hit, and deflected toward my partner's van. It landed on the van. If my partner had been going any more slowly, the tow truck might have landed on him, but it didn't. The van was seriously damaged, but ...

Joe Biden Asked Me For Money Today

Every week or so, Joe Biden sends me an email and tells me how expensive the transition is, and asks me to contribute yet again. This morning, after I gasped at the ridiculous choice of homophobe and anti-choice activist Rick Warren to give the invocation at the Inaugural, there was Joe again, holding out his hand. In his note to me, Joe didn't seem at all perturbed by his new alliance with a man who rejects and condemns everything I stand for. Joe just wanted my money.

I handed the Obama camp...

Take That

I have to admit that from time to time during the Bush years, I have watched my fellow Americans support all kinds of cruelty and insanity, from the bombing of Baghdad and Fallujah to the ignoring of Hurricane Katrina to the torturing of taxi drivers in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to the gutting of all meaningful action on global warming, and I have thrown up my hands and said, "So, take what you deserve and like it! Sow the wind if you want, reap the whirlwind, and welcome." From time to time ...