You're probably going to hear a bunch from the mighty Wurlitzer about how "Robert Byrd is just as bad as Trent Lott because he said white nigger on TV!!!!" in the upcoming weeks. Oddly enough, I think this was a typical example of an ex-racist trying to make amends.

Here's the actual exchange: Snow asks Byrd about the state of race relations in the United States. Byrd's response:

"They are much, much better than they've ever been in my lifetime," Byrd said. "I think we talk about race too much. I think those problems are largely behind us...I just think we talk so much about it that we help to create somewhat of an illusion. I think we try to have good will. My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that."

"There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time; I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."

Now, how does the second paragraph relate to the first? On casual inspection, it doesn't. Remember something you often hear from ex-racists, though; that "nigger just means a bad black person." Why, that's what they meant all those times they used it! It becomes, in their mind, a derogatory term for bad members of a race like "white trash," instead of the all-encompassing term for a race that it actually is. Of course, they're wrong, but they don't know that.

Now why would Byrd talk about white niggers in this context? Well, under the assumption that its just a reference to bad members of a black race, the use of the phrase "white nigger" is a backhanded attempt to point out that being a bad person is independent of race.

There you go: Byrd was being incredibly clumsy and insensitive, but I guess he's trying. This is all lifted from a Justin Driver's article about reactionary black comedy in TNR, more or less.

Yes, he still hasn't really figured out what's going on, but he's an anachronism in the Democratic party, unlike the goddamn Senate majority leader.
- posted by Jason @ 12:09 AM

 
Seeing The Forest has dug up the Silliest Right Wing Think Tank Article Ever, from our good friends at the Heritage Foundation. The question: why should corporations be able to reincorporate outside the United States to dodge taxes? The answer:

Corporate Expatriation Protects American Jobs

- posted by Jason @ 2:15 AM

 
A remark over in Brad Delong's comments got me thinking. The marginal tax rates poor workers suffer due to the phaseouts of the EITC, food stamps, and the like are truly horrible; about 50% in some cases, and it's a real problem. What to do?

Well, a high marginal rate is a problem of any phaseout program. So why not just give the benefits to everyone? EITC, food stamps, child nutrition, and so on, all of which were created with the explicit intention of improving the welfare of poor children, should be rolled into a universal per-child grant from the government, capped at 2 eligible kids per worker. Oh, and we need to make sure to roll enough money for child care in there, too. Possibly an immigration-related fix, too, not sure about it.

Would anyone actually oppose this? The change in spending wouldn't be much, it's "family-friendly," and even has the nice side effect of fending off a Japanese-style population bust.
- posted by Jason @ 3:08 PM

 
Everything I've seen so far on the appointing of Henry Kissinger to lead the 9/11 investigation has focused on that nasty little "war criminal" angle, instead of the extremely good tactical reasoning behind it.

If it's done honestly, the investigation is going to sully just about everyone in power. However, if they just bury the whole thing, it'll make only the people doing the investigation look bad. Who better to take the heat than the one man in Washington whose reputation can't get any worse?
- posted by Jason @ 9:05 PM

 
I stumbled across an extremely interesting paper today implying that China's economic numbers are completely made up. For example, from 1997 to 2000 GDP supposedly went up by 24.7%, while energy consumption dropped 12.8%.

Here's the hilarious nut graf:

Official performance measures for recent years imply that China’s economy has entered an unprecedented interlude that combines high-speed growth with declining energy use, falling prices, minimal employment growth, widespread excess supply, rampant overcapacity, low expectations, and large-scale pump-priming.

- posted by Jason @ 6:41 PM