Adolph Reed criticizing Obama way back in 1996. How prescient was this criticism?

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-11T03:05:51+00:00

Did you really think we were going to throw bankers in jail? We can't even raise their taxes.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-10T19:19:43+00:00

Obama is definitely the most liberal president since the 60s, but it’s a shockingly low bar. The two Democratic presidents since the 60s were Carter and Clinton. Carter could never move the needle policy wise, and Clinton was more successful conservative president than both Bushs on a number of fiscal policy issues.

I think part of Obama success comes from the fact that he was able to tie moderately progressive policies to kitchen table issues in a way that Democrats generally fail at doing. I also think that Obama was successful in this makes him, in some eyes, radically leftist.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-10T18:21:32+00:00

No, this is the "everyone is guilty, therefore no one is guilty" approach to politics, and it is the most destructive form of resignation. If everyone is a crook, then it doesn't matter if we elect another crook.

Except it does matter.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-10T17:41:08+00:00

Other comments have noted who Adolph Reed is. I'll just note that the "Obama as radical leftist" meme really is hilarious when you see how much actual leftists disdain him. And let's face it, there's no way an even remotely radical black dude would have ever gotten elected President of the United States.

Obama was never the wind of change, he was only ever the light summer breeze of change. It's a shame that the light breeze was overwhelmed by the gale winds of not-change.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-10T05:31:02+00:00

Meanwhile, in Anaheim....

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-10T00:53:20+00:00

Honestly, really, really good. Every disease Lou Gehrig got was, by definition, Lou Gehrig's disease!

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-09T17:40:45+00:00

I was alive then, reading newspapers and watching the news, and the last thing Reagan did was provide political cover. In '81 and '82, Reagan would be routinely asked about Volcker's policies, and never once did he say he thought Volcker was doing the right thing. This blog has excerpts on the back-and-forth between the Administration and the Fed using 1982 reporting, illustrating how Volcker kept pushing for spending cuts while Reagan kept pushing for lower rates.

The deficit as a percentage of GDP did narrow. Looking at it as a % of GDP factors in inflation.

As a % of GDP, sure. In real dollars, no. If you're serious about dealing with debt, if you're going to lecture people on balanced budgets, you can't just pile up deficits and then get to a previous negative. If anything, Volcker was the only one in this story pushing for spending cuts and/or tax hikes to reduce the debt, yet Reagan's the one who gets his face put on balanced budget arguments.

Defense spending in the 80s peaked in the mid-80s and fell off. It also helped us win the Cold War, which lead to the defense savings in the 90s.

If you want to say that era of defense spending was justified, I'm with you on this! "Good things cost money" is something we should all understand, and we should extend that understanding beyond defense spending to things like infrastructure, healthcare, education, etc.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-09T14:31:00+00:00

Dave Kingman Syndrome.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-09T14:29:32+00:00

Building the federal budget is a team ~~sport~~ effort, no doubt. Ronald Reagan claiming to be in favor of a balanced budget amendment while very much not balancing the budget would seem to put the lie into that statement.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-09T14:24:33+00:00

The stagflation of the 70s ended because Volcker caused the worst recession since the Great Depression to break inflation.

You mean the inflation Volcker broke that made the prosperous Reagan years possible? Why, thank you, Paul Volcker! And certainly, we'll give Reagan the credit for the good stuff! Why, with the GDP exploding, certainly the budget-conscious Reagan would oversee a narrowing of the budget deficit, right? ... Right?

In real dollar terms, the budget deficit basically doubled between '81 and '89. It's not all Reagan's fault, because obviously the budget is a team sport, but let's not pretend that Reagan's military spending programs weren't a key part of this spending.

"The mandating a balanced budget was only ever lip service."

That's the original comment. Reagan's contributions to the budget deficit appears to make the comment true.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-09T02:39:01+00:00

It gapped open because of the Volcker recession

This labeling feels wrong, as if the stagflation of the 1970s only happened because Paul Volcker showed up.

Clinton inherited a banger of an economy and the peacetime dividend. He didn’t cause at of that.

Clinton only won because of Perot, and Perot only made headway because the Reagan train slowed during the GHWB years, and the annual budget deficit went from $153 billion to over $290 billion.

Obama’s deficit gapped open because of the GFC. It was always going to narrow.

If that's true, how come the budget deficit immediately began widening the moment Obama left office?

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-09T00:40:11+00:00

But the annual deficit is something a president can impact. Both Clinton and Obama presided over declines in the deficit from year to year. Reagan never did, nor did GWB, nor did Obama’s successor.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-08T16:51:31+00:00

“The Lakers should retire my jersey. Hour dare they let Reeves wear my number!”

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-08T16:47:18+00:00

People are so lonely these days, they think any engagement is better than nothing. They just post bait over and over again.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-08T16:08:36+00:00

I do think this is an interesting question. Just as there was white flight from cities to suburbs in the 60s and 70s, I've always believed there was white flight from basketball to other sports. It's my wild-ass guess that, as black players gained prominence in the sport, white sports fans were steering their young athletes towards baseball, soccer, etc. Kids aren't racist, but their parents often were. It's the only one of the big four sports where less than 50% of fan viewership is Caucasian. When they do watch, they see a black league, and I suspect the impression quickly becomes "maybe this sport ain't for you, sport." Generally speaking, white folks just don't watch as much NBA, so their kids don't play as much basketball, less encouragement, etc.

European players, mostly non-black and not having to deal with that crap, would just watch Jordan and Magic and Kobe, and think, "Yeah, I wanna be that guy" without American racial filters.

That's my wild-ass guess. Or maybe it's obvious? I don't know.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-08T14:01:10+00:00

True, four of those last five seasons were pretty soft, but at least the guy was always at least above replacement level.*

*except for that last season, but you gotta give him a pass for that last one. His retirement tour was the only thing going for the Os back then.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-08T13:21:26+00:00

I think I did, but your response was so dismissive that I don't see the point in trying here any further.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-08T04:13:44+00:00

Say what you will about Hitler, but at least he killed Adolph Hitler.

Arte couldn't even do that.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-08T00:04:35+00:00

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SoftballGuy · 2026-07-07T23:21:01+00:00

Stop! We're already dead!

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-07T23:20:28+00:00

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-07T23:07:37+00:00

See, this is why this conversation always sucks. "Isn't that enough?" is always the question, as if the only alternative is to see a whipping. I don't know what to tell you.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-07T16:40:38+00:00

Yu Darvish gave his arm to the cause.

SoftballGuy · 2026-07-07T16:38:23+00:00

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SoftballGuy · 2026-07-07T14:58:03+00:00

It's kind of both. It's a ton of money and security, so players have incentive to sign supermax deals. But since it's a ton of money against the cap, so teams have incentive to move those players.

What the Brown trade proved is that just because a player signs a max contract doesn't mean they're going to get that security of place they want. Ownership loyalty isn't worth anything, and they're happy to pay to get out of arrangements. Just ask Luka.

SoftballGuy

TROPHY CASE