The Worst Economic Policies Of 2011

The Article: The 10 Craziest Economic Policies of 2011 by Travis Waldron, Tanya Somanader and Pat Garofalo at Think Progress.

The Text:The economy continued to struggle through 2011, with persistently high unemployment, a foreclosure crisis that kept on burning, and banks behaving badly in a whole host of ways. And there were plenty of ideas from economists, lawmakers, and pundits about what to do about it. But some ideas were, shall we say, more…unique than others.

Here are ThinkProgress’ nominations, in no particular order, for the ten craziest economic ideas of the last twelve months. Think we missed a good one? Let us know in the comments below:

Florida State Rep. Proposes Ending Ban On Dwarf Tossing To Create Jobs: In October, Florida state Rep. Ritch Workman (R) filed a bill to end the state’s ban on dwarf tossing — the practice of “launching little people for the amusement of an audience.” Workman may not condone throwing little people across his lawn, but he introduced the bill because he wanted to remove a “Big Brother law” that would create jobs: “Well, there is nothing immoral or illegal about that activity,” Workman said. “All we really did by passing that law was take away some employment from some little people.”

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Obama Does It All

The First Snow

First Snow by Emancipator off of Soon It Will Be Cold Enough.

Occupy Wall Street’s Asshole Problem

The Article: Occupy’s Asshole Problem: Flashbacks from an Old Hippie by Sara Fellow, Senior Fellow for Campaign for America’s Future.

The Text: I wish I could say that the problems that the Occupy movement is having with infiltrators and agitators are new. But they’re not. In fact, they’re problems that the Old Hippies who survived the 60s and 70s remember acutely, and with considerable pain.

As a veteran of those days — with the scars to prove it — watching the OWS organizers struggle with drummers, druggies, sexual harassers, racists, and anarchists brings me back to a few lessons we had to learn the hard way back in the day, always after putting up with way too much over-the-top behavior from people we didn’t think we were allowed to say “no” to. It’s heartening to watch the Occupiers begin to work out solutions to what I can only indelicately call “the asshole problem.” In the hope of speeding that learning process along, here are a few glimmers from my own personal flashbacks — things that it’s high time somebody said right out loud.

1. Let’s be clear: It is absolutely OK to insist on behavior norms. #Occupy may be a DIY movement — but it also stands for very specific ideas and principles. Central among these is: We are here to reassert the common good. And we have a LOT of work to do. Being open and accepting does not mean that we’re obligated to accept behavior that damages our ability to achieve our goals. It also means that we have a perfect right to insist that people sharing our spaces either act in ways that further those goals, or go somewhere else until they’re able to meet that standard.

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Occupy John Wall Street: A 2012 NBA Season Preview

It’s not fair. This should be the most cherry of holiday seasons for Kris Humphries. A morality play on the hard court. That if you worked hard, if you were patient, life would be grand.

Kris Humphries did his time. He paid his dues riding the pine in the NBA hinterlands. One year in Utah. Three in Toronto. He did not complain when Dallas dealt him to New Jersey. He kept grinding. He found his post-game. He found true love. By season’s end, Kris Humphries was a double-double juggernaut on the court who went home to Kim Kardashian off it.

The Nets lavished him with an $8 million deal. E! feted him with a splashy $20 million wedding. And all was right in the world.

For 72 days.

Kim filed for divorce. Maybe he couldn’t take the paparazzi glare. Or maybe she couldn’t live in Minnesota. But ten weeks later, she wanted the divorce. And she wanted to keep that $2 million engagement ring, too.

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