03
Aug
2018
Norm MacDonald Tells the Moth Joke
I heard Bill Burr mention this–in the context of saying that many comedians act like they don’t care if people like them, but NM is the real deal–and I had to look it up.
I heard Bill Burr mention this–in the context of saying that many comedians act like they don’t care if people like them, but NM is the real deal–and I had to look it up.
Not that this has anything to do with anything, but Norm MacDonald’s brother Neil is a long-time sanctimonious imperious know-it-all statist major news correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Company. I spent about 7 seconds looking for something he said and the very first thing concerned monetary policy. He explains how serious adults must view the important role of central banks:
The super-low interest rates the bank has sanctioned for the past decade have encouraged heavy borrowing and spending by young people, while simultaneously wrecking the retirement planning of elderly Canadians, who suddenly found themselves lucky to collect a return of even one per cent on their life savings. The policy amounted to a forced transfer of wealth from one generation to another.
Poloz has another power, too, although he hasn’t used it: the power to print money. His counterparts in the United States, Great Britain and the European Union have done just that in the years since the great meltdown of 2008, creating trillions of dollars out of thin air.
The central bankers effectively then lent it to their governments by buying treasury bonds on the secondary market, which had the further effect of forcing private money into riskier investments, driving stock markets to their current extreme-bubble highs.
And all of this was done without any voter consultation.
A strange system, perhaps, in a democracy, but ultimately necessary. Basically, control and regulation of the money supply is far too important a matter to be left to politicians. (Imagine giving an elected official, focused entirely on his or her political future, the power to print any amount to spend on re-election goodies? Or the ability to lower voters’ mortgage payments whenever politically convenient?)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/the-bank-of-canada-wields-enormous-power-yet-decisions-are-made-in-relative-secrecy-neil-macdonald-1.4682521
In Detroit, we’ve gotten CBC over-the-air since it was first broadcast in the 50s and most Michigan cable companies have carried it far and wide since the 70s.
Love Norm MacDonald. His talk show appearances are awesome, and his special Me Doing Standup is an unheralded classic.
If you unfamiliar and really want to see him bring some heat, check out him hosting the ESPYs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mhUIIhcTb8
Have you noticed that Bill Burr tends to have really good takes when it comes to post-modern critique and social issues? His sets tend to be over the top on things like men’s rights etc., since his niche is kind of selling that “white men are the real victims” hyperbole. But on radio shows and his podcast he almost sounds like he has transformed Jordan Peterson’s lectures into a comedy bit, but I know that’s probably not the case. I really think he’s just a solid thinker. This is a good example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpLaSC8UzBw&t=1108s
Norm Macdonald has a really good new(ish) Netflix special called Hitler’s Dog, Gossip & Trickery.