Well, it had to happen one day. Bob Herbert has finally driven one of his readers certifiably insane. We can only thank the Gods it wasn't one of us.
On a site subtitled "Grasping Reality With Both Hands", Brad deLong takes Herbert to task for a particularly asshatted op-ed in which The Hyperventilating One (in a virtuoso display of Anecdotal Science surpassing even the NY Times' elevated standard) urges the readership please to disregard the fact that none of the traditional economic measures fits the official definition, because Dahlinks... it sure "feels like" we're in a recession!
If it looks like a recession and feels like a recession....
... well then dagnabbit, align your chakras and break out the the Midol drip! Who needs annoying data, definitions or econometrics when you've got feeeeeeeelings, people!
While Mr. Bernanke and others are waiting for the official diagnosis (a decline in the gross domestic product for two successive quarters), the disease is spreading and has been spreading for some time...
Mr. Bernanke must be smarting from the sting of being publicly schooled by Dr. Bob Herbert (PhD Emotional Economics). But DeLong, the big brute, gives Herbert's rampant dumbassery bloody short shrift...
...The problem is not that middle America's incomes have been falling since 2000: the problem is that middle America's spending has been rising rapidly while incomes have not.
...and then catches Herbert in a real whopper:
[T]he most popular measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, does not include the cost of energy or food, “the two most significant aspects of the increased cost of living for the American people.
Yes, it does.
How has the New York Times managed to pick Bob Herbert out of the 75 million
liberal adults in America? It is a mystery.
But he is about to get his comeuppance. DeLong has yet to reckon with the intrepid anne in his comments section. The anneslaught begins with an oddly prescient comment:
I adore Bob Herbert, and am shocked that anyone would think to so denigrate his work and efforts. I have no reasonable words to describe how upset I am with such an attack by Brad DeLong.
Shame, shame, shame.
[Bob Herbert wants to claim that the word "recession" means something other
than it does: don't expect me to be happy with this. Bob Herbert wants to claim
that the CPI does not include food and energy costs: don't expect me to be happy with this. Bob Herbert wants to claim that statistics showing that inflation rates have been
low are "flimflam": don't expect me to be happy with this.
He [Ed. note: the antecedent is unclear, however we believe the Incandescent Anne meant Mr. DeLong] should care enough about accuracy to do better.]
Posted by: anne November 10th, 2007
Rude pig! How dare he question Bob Herbert of The New York Times? Of course people are spending more! Why... they have to drive clear across town to get to the nearest Whole Paycheck Foods!
Food matters, and high priced decent foods are a problem for poorer Americans.
Try finding a Whole Foods store in poorer neighborhoods, and affording it in any
case.... Posted by anne November 10th, 5:50 pm
Not to mention a Starbucks with a competent barrista! Ah, the plague of American poverty! Undaunted, anne soon goes on to make what may prove to be her strongest argument - a veritable of flurry and fugue of Bob-bits in several movements, crescendoing into a full-blown Herbertian Overture that soon prompts her beleaguered fellow commenters to sue for clemency:
Bob Herbert is an idiot.
Posted by: Howielooks like it's gonna be the complete works of Bob H until we say uncle.
Posted by: Colin Danby November 10th 2 4:43 pm
But anne is not to be swayed by the quotidian dictates of logic, facts, or even the piteous whimpers of her fellow travellers in the reality based community. By the end of the discussion, having finally managed, in a Herculean feat of effort, to exceed the word count of an average VC post, she has achieved Shangri-La and is settling back to smoke a celebratory cigarette and wallow in the dubious delights of a MoDope column; a disgustingly orgiastic revel the details of which we shall not reveal on these family-friendly pages:
There is never a time when Bob Herbert is not writing what is socially useful, but understanding this takes the perspective of those most needy in America. Suggesting that Herbert is not being socially useful is disgraceful. I am shocked and angered and saddened.
Posted by: anne
Translation: "It's a poor thang. You filthy Chinese-toy-loving minions of the richest 1% couldn't possibly understand!!!" It is left to a fellow reader to deliver the valediction as the curtain falls:
We can only nod in silent agreement and hope there is nothing more absurd in heaven and earth than the prospect of Bob Herbert lecturing us about the U.S. economy.Thank you, Anne.
One might wonder whether Herbert is as bad as Brad DeLong suggests, but by
posting so many of his columns in one place, you have really helped to answer
the question.He's much worse.
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