How this blog (waste of time? opinion rag without paper?) got started...

Unemployed dissertation writer that I am, I read a lot of blogs on politics and then, (when the economy and my future as an educator at the post-secondary level went in the tank) finance. I'd read something stupid and post a comment about it-- see here, for instance.

What set me off most was this post from Andrew Sullivan. Irritated by his misunderstanding of the issue (see the great bronte capital for an explanation of this misunderstanding), I fired off a snarky email...

Dear Mr. Sullivan,

I am a long term reader of your blog and admire you for your independent stances on numerous issues. However, when you use a term such as "zombie banks" to describe the current situation (with its connotations to Japanese banking and its "lost decade"), you misunderstand the nature of these Japanese problems and of the problems here in the United States. They are not at all alike.

Granted you are parroting your talking points from public intellectuals who are similarly misstating and I could explain this to you more clearly, but I think it ridiculous that someone who is paid to "blog" on these issues should be receiving free explanations. Instead I would point out that the fact that you continually misunderstand these economic issues should serve as a reminder of the old saw, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."

The capital lesson of intellectual responsibility...

Impolitic and snarky, yes, but it gets to my fundamental point... I don't have a particular axe to grind other than thinking most of the punditocracy is a waste. There is way too much information out there for you to have a valid opinion on everything...

Though I'm going to try-- since as is often attributed to Mark Twain (though I think Robert K. Mueller actually said it):

Those who think they know it all are very annoying to those of us who do.

No, really, my goal is to treat issues as in depth as possible and try to point out certain short cuts in people's thinking that ignore the multitude of factors involved in particular issues or over or under-emphasize those factors... I should make clear that I am not an econ. or quant guy, public policy specialist, etc. merely what we would call an over-informed citizen with too much time on his hands...