Stark Ravings

This Week's Column: How Men Caused the Financial Meltdown

Steven Stark — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:35:00 GMT

Read it here.

Ted Van Dyk On How the GOP May Be Coming Back

Steven Stark — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:21:00 GMT

Democratic wise man Ted Van Dyk sees possible storm clouds ahead for the Democrats.

This Week's Column: Is Specter's Party Switch the Beginning of A Centrist Political Movement?

Steven Stark — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:41:00 GMT

Read it here.

Chrysler's Sweetheart Deal: Part 2

Steven Stark — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:38:00 GMT

Remember the "loan" the government gave Chrysler? Turns out, it wasn't a loan at all. It was bailout money and wlll never be repaid. So, once again, the public was misled.

Chrysler's Sweetheart Deal

Steven Stark — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:30:00 GMT

The press is playing up the deal to save Chrysler as an example of tough bargaining by the government. As Mickey Kaus shows (and we predicted), it's nothing of the sort. Once again the strategy is clear: The administration talks tough, but essentially gives in and hopes no one notices.

At some point, the voters are going to notice whether or not Obama's economic programs are actually working and how much money actually went out of their pockets into someone else's. And when they do, watch out. As well as the administration is doing in some other areas, its economic policies continue to be a disaster. And if they don't work, nothing else matters.

How the Obama Administration's Ties to the Wall Street Crowd May Yet Derail Everything

Steven Stark — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:13:00 GMT

Another warning, this time from a conservative, Jim Pinkerton. If the economy doesn't recover, the populists will be out in force.

This Week's Column: The First 100 Days and the Jury is Still Out

Steven Stark — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:17:00 GMT

The state of the Obama presidency at 100 days.

With Spector's Switch to Dems, GOP Stares Into the Abyss

Steven Stark — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:23:00 GMT

This is the kind of thing that happens to a self-destructive party -- it loses its ability to filibuster the Senate when an old respected moderate like Pennsylvania's Arlen Spector decides to switch parties. It was partially an act of political survival, of course, a kind of Joe Lieberman in reverse. Spector is up in 2010 and and there was no way he was going to win a GOP primary. It's actually not all that clear he can win a Democratic one either but either way, the Dems win.

The GOP is going to continue to wander in the wilderness until the fall elections in 2010. Then we'll see. But right now they could use a credible national spokesman who isn't Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, or Newt Gingrich. And they don't have one.

Barack Obama: Corporate Welfare King

Steven Stark — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:55:00 GMT

As Tom Edsall over at the Huffington Post aptly points out, one of the more absurd charges against the Obama administration comes from the right-wing, which accuses him of destroying American business. On the contrary, this president, unfortunately, is the biggest friend the banks and corporate America have ever had -- if giving them hundreds of billions counts for anything. And ti does.

This Week's Column: Why the Drive For Gay Marriage Worked and How It Changed America

Steven Stark — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:56:00 GMT

Read it here.

Has Obama Overeached?

Steven Stark — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:27:00 GMT

That's the conclusion of Democratic insider Ted Van Dyk. And he's a supporter.

An Insightful Analysis and Prediction on the Future of Newspapers From Reader Gregg Warren

Steven Stark — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:52:00 GMT

I read your comments in the essay "Man Bites Newspaper."
I just see something different. Here in Wisconsin local newspapers have
been bought out by large media corporations like Gannett which are now
failing. I've seen any number of fair quality papers going to dust
because they have become trivialized rags used to push insert
advertising. It's a formula. Hire young inexperienced journalism
majors, cover local news of no controversy or content, throw in an insert negotiated with a big-box mega chain one-size-fits-all (of your 30 "local" newspapers). The product is junk.

Think hopeful. Thirty years ago there were a handful of major breweries
left in the US. Now how many breweries are there? Quality and
competition have improved, drastically in some cases.

I see a whole lot of small weekly papers of some real quality springing
up here and there. We have a great weekly, sprung from the ashes of the
staff of experienced journalists turned out to pasture by the bean
counters at Gannett. Our daily is nearly dead. The weekly is gaining on them slowly but surely, gaining one advertiser at a time, more subscribers every week. Consider it may be change not death.

As Predicted, the Automakers Will Get Another Loan

Steven Stark — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:32:00 GMT

We predicted several weeks ago that the Obama administration's threat to put the automakers into bankruptcy was all for political show. It looks like we were right.

Another Reason to Hate the Yankees: Just Like AIG And All The Rest, They Bilked The Taxpayer Big Time

Steven Stark — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:31:00 GMT

We've been writing all along about how the financial crisis was going to bite sports and how the Yankees would be fan Target Number 1, at least in the anger department. More confirmation today from Tom Edsall, over at the Huffington Post. The average fan is now completely priced out of attending major league sports. And the backlash is just beginning.

Is Texas Governor Rick Perry Nuts?

Steven Stark — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:18:00 GMT

One would think so. Yesterday he seemed to countenance talk of Texas seceding from the union because of the Obama administration's plans for more government involvement in the economy and higher taxes.

One can certainly be a critic of the new administration. But it's this kind of talk that will take the GOP straight down the road to oblivion. There is a tendency in American history for parties that have lost a painful election to go way to the fringe next time -- it's what happened in 1936 with Alf Landon against FDR for example. We could see the same thing beginning to happen here. If so, the GOP candidate of the moment will be Sarah Palin -- who appeals to the base and will lose in November 2012 in a huge landslide.

Give Obama credit for this: He has the good fortune to have a loony opposition at the moment.