I just got an email that John Mayall is coming to town. I won't be able to go, but wanted to share this gem of him and Albert King I found surfing around.[video:https://youtu.be/nbnQXT48fSw width:450 height:350]

Have a good weekend.

Mark Blyth: "Austerity - The History of a Dangerous Idea"

Private debt was rechristened as government debt while those responsible for generating it walked away scot free, placing the blame on the state, and the burden on the taxpayer.

That burden now takes the form of a global turn to austerity, the policy of reducing domestic wages and prices to restore competitiveness and balance the budget. The problem, according to political economist Mark Blyth, is that austerity is a very dangerous idea. First of all, it doesn't work. As the past four years and countless historical examples from the last 100 years show, while it makes sense for any one state to try and cut its way to growth, it simply cannot work when all states try it simultaneously: all we do is shrink the economy. In the worst case, austerity policies worsened the Great Depression and created the conditions for seizures of power by the forces responsible for the Second World War: the Nazis and the Japanese military establishment. As Blyth amply demonstrates, the arguments for austerity are tenuous and the evidence thin. Rather than expanding growth and opportunity, the repeated revival of this dead economic idea has almost always led to low growth along with increases in wealth and income inequality. Austerity demolishes the conventional wisdom, marshaling an army of facts to demand that we recognize austerity for what it is, and what it costs us.

There is no link because I heard Thom Hartmann say it on his radio show today that he can't go to gos (he said the correct URL) the past couple days, at least not now. He can't stand what he reads there.

Previously on the show Thom kind of lost it, rightfully so, on a caller today who just wanted to rant about Bernie and not publicizing his tax returns, blah, blah, blah, and why doesn't Thom call Bernie out on this or that.

Thom didn't appreciate that caller's point of view and pointed out he, Thom, has tried not to trash either candidate, and if he wanted to do so, he could have talked about Hillary and her involvement in Libya and Syria and Honduras...

Thom doesn't usually lose his cool a lot, but he really did with this caller. I think he kind of regretted it later, but really, he shouldn't hold stuff like that in.

May all you Bluesters have a great weekend.

Special shout out to my old friend Johnny, the Conqueroo.

David Dayen's article on Bernie and California today in TNR, he links to here...

https://newrepublic.com/article/133945/bernie-sanders-already-won-califo...

didn't have a chance to look through to see if anyone noted it, so FYI if ya didn't know it...

don't have even a Tweet to offer up, this evening. But, wanted to stop by and say thanks for this evening's excellent musical edition of EB!

Hope you and Ms Shikspack are having an enjoyable time. I'm thinking that you may have mentioned visiting federal or state parks--should make for some nice photos.

Foul weather--storms and flooding--delayed our road trip (temporarily). Ordered out for pizza and salad. Pizza's stone cold, which I can fix, but I'd better get to the salad before it wilts!

Barbara Boxer's on XM Radio right now, talking about her 'service' in the Senate, and her new book. What a piece of work!

Hey, have a nice evening, Everyone!

Mollie

In Loving Memory Of Sweet Kaya, SOSD Rescue