Concern troll on Yves Smith's Naked Capitalism blog defends Walker

Concern troll on Yves Smith's Naked Capitalism blog defends Walker

East Coast Guy says:

February 23, 2011 at 10:32 pm

Yves:

I have been reading your site for about six months. I have appreciated the articles and the discourse in the comments.

This is the first time I have commented. I wish that I had posted some previous comments for the many things that we agree on. (Bank fraud and the Wall St bailout would be high on the list.)

On this issue, I just cannot see it as you do. Here are my questions for you.

1) How can you justify supporting the Wisconsin senators (D) walking out on their job? Is this really how you want politics to be conducted? If I refuse to do my job because I don’t like the policies that management is proposing, I’d be fired. Why shouldn’t that be true for the AWOL senators?

2) Who was it that said “Elections have consequences?” Gov. Walker campaigned and said that he was going to do exactly what he is trying to do now. Isn’t this what democracy is all about? If you don’t like the results, get out and vote different next time.

3) I believe it is still illegal to record a phone conversation without informing the other party that you are doing so. Is this the kind of behavior we want to encourage? How will you feel when somebody breaks into your house and videotapes you (eating dinner, reading a book, I don’t care what you are doing). I think you would be outraged and rightfully so.

FWIW, I have been an employee for a state agency in a right-to-work state for the last three years. Prior to that, I ran a successful small business for eight years. Prior to that I worked for a non-profit agency for five years (a name everyone would know instantly).

Thanks again for many previous posts. I just can’t swallow this one.

Yves Smith says:

February 24, 2011 at 1:30 am

If you don’t understand that the Kochs are the establishment, you are not paying attention. They are major derivatives players and very long standing clients of Goldman, BTW.


This is the struggle of our age, and if you think your interests are aligned with those of Walker and the Kochs, I can’t help you. This is the top 1%, their companies and their operatives against the rest of us. You may not like the look of some of your allies, but if we don’t hang together, we lose.


Denying a quorum is a legitimate legislative tactic and hardly unusual. The fact that Walker was willing to sic state troops on them and forced them to leave the state is the unusual part here. The Democrats are serving their constituents by denying that quorum. This is not “not working.” That’s the spin Walker’s crowd has put on it and you have bought their PR.


The Republican fight to win. The left either has to learn to respond in similar style or lose. You may not like how ugly the results are, but they did not throw the first punch in this fight.
Re that call, police engage routinely in much more aggressive versions of that tactic, WITHOUT court orders, and it’s not considered entrapment. Amex has employees make calls under assumed names as I described earlier in the thread. Wisconsin may have tighter laws than most states, but you’d need to know where the call was made from. And it went through a switchboard or a secretary which provided a second level of screening. It’s hard to say Walker was abused. Most powerful people don’t just call a governor, particularly in the middle of a crisis. They have their secretary schedule a call.


And you are free to leave. As Barry Ritholtz says of his readers, “Embrace the churn!"


http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/02/the-beasts-david-koch-speaks-to-wisconsin-governor-walker.html