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Peter Kobs's definitions

Pixel Envy

1. Envy of another person's higher-resolution camera or flat-panel display screen.

2. The sudden realization that 8 Megapixels no longer cuts it in the digital photography world.
"Daryl has a bad case of Pixel Envy ever since his girlfriend got that new 10 MP Nikon SLR. He may never recover."
by Peter Kobs September 4, 2009
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Supreme Stupidity

1. An act of extreme stupidity by the U.S. Supreme Court.

2. An attempt to undermine democracy or destroy human rights through judicial fiat.

3. What happens when a bunch of clueless lawyers pretend to be God.

Notable examples include:

-- The recent (2010) decision to allow unlimited corporate and interest group contributions to U.S. political campaigns.

-- The Buck vs. Bell ruling that permitted forced sterilization of the mentall ill. Justice Holmes said at the time: “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

-- The Dred Scott case that invalidated restrictions on slavery, while mandating that all African-Americans be treated as "property" in the eyes of the law.

-- Plessy v. Ferguson, which formally legalized segregation, Jim Crow laws and minority disenfranchisement throughout the nation.
The highest court in the land committed another act of Supreme Stupidity in January 2010 when it opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate cash in the election process. Can you say "plutocracy?" Sure you can!
by Peter Kobs February 18, 2010
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Zombie Company

1. A technically bankrupt company that is kept alive with large infusions of government money for the sake of "stability" in the U.S. financial system. 2. A large financial company with negative net worth that continues to operate, despite having no clear path to solvency. 3. The UnDead of Wall Street.
"AIG is the premier example of a zombie company -- kept alive only by $120 billion in federal bailout money. Apparently, it's considered too large to fail."
by Peter Kobs March 9, 2009
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Spillonomics

1. A scientific way to calculate the true costs of massive oil spills, such as the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Spillonomics was conceived shortly after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Sadly, it has become a major growth industry in the last 21 years.

Unlike other methods favored by the petroleum industry, Spillonomics takes into account both short-term clean-up costs AND long-term costs related to marine ecosystems, tourism, fishing, coastal employment, real estate values and water quality.

2. Dick Cheney's latest nightmare.
I'm majoring in Spillonomics. My uncle at Halliburton is livid. Serves him right!
by Peter Kobs June 1, 2010
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Muddle Class

1. A new name for the American middle class as people try to survive the current economic crisis by "muddling through" with less money and less security.
2. The growing spirit of economic fatalism in mainstream America.
Everyone on our street is struggling to pay the bills. We're the new Muddle Class!
by Peter Kobs April 1, 2009
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Overton Window

1. A political theory invented by arch-conservative Joseph Overton, VP of the anti-tax Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan. (Overton died in 2003 when his ultra-light airplane crashed.)

2. The name of a poorly-written novel by right-wing talk show host Glen Beck. Published in early 2010, the book is a cautionary tale about leftist radicals taking over the government through incremental change.

In theory, the Overton Window represents the boundaries of "acceptable" public policy and discourse -- what a politician can support without seeming too "extreme." Opposing forces try to broaden this window (or shift it to one side) to make formerly "radical" ideas seem more "mainstream."

Overton's theory has a decidedly pro-business, anti-regulation slant. Something is either "more free" or "less free" in his view. He never mentions "more just" or "more fair" or "more practical." In fact, the entire theory tailor made for paranoid people and right-wing lunatics who think Obama is a totalitarian Marxist dictator bent on world domination.
The Overton Window is yet another idiotic theory masquerading as a "breakthrough" in political understanding. Its leading proponent is Glen Beck of Fox News...'nuf said.
by Peter Kobs July 20, 2010
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Neocapitalism

1. A new form of capitalism that emphasizes government intervention in the economy to rescue and restructure large companies that are deemed "too big to fail" because of the systemic risk they pose to the nation.

2. The opposite of Marxism, which anticipates the collapse of the entire capitalist system and the seizure of all "means of production" -- healthy companies included.

3. An economic system that prevents large, poorly managed companies from destroying the entire country.
Obama has been called a "socialist," but history will show he's really a clever student of "Neocapitalism."
by Peter Kobs May 25, 2009
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