The Crowbar

Huffington Post blogger and thedailybanter.com editor Ben Cohen has a very low opinion of Libertarians. In his March 24th blog post entitled Libertarian Madness, Cohen is quite upset at British Zoologist Matt Ridley for claiming that African governments are, at best, poor managers of economic development for their respective countries.

Libertarians wield an unusual type of intellect, mostly born out of borderline autistic personality traits, enormous self confidence and a complete lack of connection to reality.

And he thinks that Reason journalist Ronald Bailey is an idiot:

The interviewer from Reason, Ronald Bailey contributed his own idiocy to the discussion…

Why Cohen thinks it is acceptable to treat another person thusly and still claim the moral high ground remains a mystery . Ad hominem there, Mr. Cohen.

Robert Kuttner at American Prospect has ten “radical” progressive “remedies” that America “needs.” Unshockingly, Kuttner fails to mention exactly what he wants to remedy. I suppose it’s capitalism, freedom, and personal responsibility? Here they are:

1. Use Direct Government Loans to Refinance Mortgages
2. Put Insolvent Banks into Government Receivership
3. Nationalize the Federal Reserve
4. Pass a Tobin Tax
5. Put Tax and Regulatory Havens out of Business
6. Enact a Carbon Tax
7. Pass Comprehensive Pre-Kindergarten and High-Quality Child Care
8. Guarantee Workers the Right to Join a Union
9. Provide Health Insurance For All
10. Use Very Large-Scale Public Works

Allow me to translate:

1. Spend & More Government Control
2. More Government Control
3. More Government Control
4. Tax & More Government Control
5. Tax & More Government Control
6. Tax & More Government Control
7. Spend & More Government Control
8. Destroy Basic Rights
9. Spend &  More Government Control
10. Spend & More Government Control

Oh, boy, I can’t wait.