Graphics // Current TV

Olde Tyme Gamer: Boob-Tality!

Kip uses his avatar to distract Bobby.

TonyDiGerolamo
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3 months ago
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3 comments

Greenpeace Pits David Against Earth Eating Goliaths

[ Whether you love or hate the world environmental organization Greenpeace, they... more

remanns
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3 months ago
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10 comments

art, is - SWEET <3 STATION

[ About Us - ] Uhm,......."them",....I just post here,....at c u r r e n... more

remanns
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4 months ago
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13 comments

New iPad Graphics Chip 20x Boosted

Once you call for iPad, it becomes an lengthiness of you. That’s the idea behind... more

johncarby
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5 months ago
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KING KIRBY ~left his mark

Jack "King" Kirby was co creator and generator of generations of... more

remanns
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7 months ago
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Awesome Minimalist Movie Posters (40 pics)

Awesome Minimalist Movie Posters (40 pics)... more

neham
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8 months ago
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“The Duality of Symbols”

When you see a symbol, you almost instantly understand something fundamental and... more

mab001
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9 months ago
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SUPER LISTS ! ( uhm,.....and some sex-change involved . . .)

3 POWERFUL OPINION POSTS ! 1 ) Who's Your Favorite Supervillain? LINK - - -... more

remanns
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9 months ago
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The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling

It's this one, from yesterday's New York Times. Click for a more detailed view, though it's pretty clear as is.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/jamesfallows/assets_c/2011/07/24editorial_graph2-popup-58477.php

It's based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its significance is not partisan (who's "to blame" for the deficit) but intellectual. It demonstrates the utter incoherence of being very concerned about a structural federal deficit but ruling out of consideration the policy that was largest single contributor to that deficit, namely the Bush-era tax cuts.

An additional significance of the chart: it identifies policy changes, the things over which Congress and Administration have some control, as opposed to largely external shocks -- like the repercussions of the 9/11 attacks or the deep worldwide recession following the 2008 financial crisis. Those external events make a big difference in the deficit, and they are the major reason why deficits have increased faster in absolute terms during Obama's first two years that during the last two under Bush. (In a recession, tax revenues plunge, and government spending goes up - partly because of automatic programs like unemployment insurance, and partly in a deliberate attempt to keep the recession from getting worse.) If you want, you could even put the spending for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in this category: those were policy choices, but right or wrong they came in response to an external shock.

The point is that governments can respond to but not control external shocks. That's why we call them "shocks." Governments can control their policies. And the policy that did the most to magnify future deficits is the Bush-era tax cuts. You could argue that the stimulative effect of those cuts is worth it ("deficits don't matter" etc). But you cannot logically argue that we absolutely must reduce deficits, but that we absolutely must also preserve every penny of those tax cuts. Which I believe precisely describes the House Republican position.

After the jump, from a previous "The Chart That Should..." positing, an illustration of the respective roles of external shock and deliberate policy change in creating the deficit.

http://t.co/KErphYUIt's this one, from yesterday's New York Times. Click for a more detailed... more