Barth's picture

    Skin in the Game

     

    The Liberal Mob's picture

    Where Do We Go From Here?

    The title asks a question, so here is a picture of The Question.

     

    The last few weeks have, with good reason, worried liberals and others.  Once again, we have seen the only political party that even attempts to speak for any of our concerns fail horribly.  The debt ceiling debate was an inherently winnable policy fight on a number of different grounds.  While the ultimate deal (as we noted in its aftermath) is better than we could expect considering how badly the Democratic leadership failed, it still amounts to a loss in terms of the debate.  It legitimizes Republican bad economics.  It legitimizes "austerity".  None of this is particularly good.

    Given all that, it's worth taking a moment to figure out how the Democratic Party can recover strategically from this sort of a failure.  It's a good question.  Fortunately, there are answers.

    Breathe

    The debt- limit   "deal" was/is much ado about  nothing. (just a little phrase I thought up, do you like it?) The only tangible result is, there's a new limit in place and it will be increased again before next year's election without the requirement for yet another rain dance.

    None of the items agreed are laws, just vague expressions of intention which bind nobody. And if they are at some point embodied in legislation , the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. What any US Congress votes to do  can be voted to undo by the next Congress.

    The American Dream Movement

    I mentioned this the other day, as a possible constructive outlet for disapproval of decisions being made in Washington.

    Have any here made contact with this group?  Participated in any of its activities?  Have insights or additional information about it to share?  

    Here are a few links:

    Here's their website: http://www.rebuildthedream.com/

    Presidential Politics in the Wake of the Debt Ceiling Fiasco

    The most reasonable conclusion I and many others can reach in the wake of the debt ceiling fiasco, and more generally the events since last November, is that our President wants and means to pursue an austerity economic policy at this time.
     
    He obtained Speaker Boehner's support for a grand bargain that would have been more contractionary, very possibly leading to more job loss and weaker economic growt
    The Liberal Mob's picture

    I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire: Part 1

    It is not uncommon to hear Americans complain about the United Nations (UN) and the participation of the U.S. within it. These critics, very often, simply don’t get it.  They don’t understand the reasons why the UN was created and what the goals of the institution are, and it is vital to understand those reasons in order to understand the United Nations.

    Stimulating the Rich: How many jobs will they need to create to keep their tax cut?

    A Million. By Christmas. And then they should keep going, for a total of 1.5 Million Jobs by June of next year. Otherwise their tax cut is toast.

    Here's how I got this number. I saw a report that the private sector added 114,000 jobs last month, which was actually better than the 100,000 expected. Rich people can do better than this--so let's tell them that if they want to keep their tax cut, they need to create 200,000 private sector jobs a month for a total of 1 Million jobs by Christmas. Then they get to slow down a bit and reach 1.5 Million by June of next year.

    Richard Day's picture

    THE GUARDIANS

    File:Plato-raphael.jpg

    PLATONIC OR MORONIC?

    Why, that all those mercenary individuals, whom the many call Sophists and whom they deem to be their adversaries, do, in fact, teach nothing but the opinion of the many, that is to say, the opinions of their assemblies; and this is their wisdom.

    http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.7.vi.html

    We now have legislation that has been passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the Prez so that my SS check for $674.00 will be duly deposited in my free checking account.

    The entire piece of legislation is much more complicated than I could ever surmise or relate. Others who would merely imitate Icarus are not at a loss for words so why should my opinion matter anyway?

    My interest revolves around this Super Committee!

    MrSmith1's picture

    Time to E.A.T. P.E.A.S.

    I think it's time to start the Progressive counter-movement to the Tea-party.  

    I offer a name for the new movement: E.A.T. P.E.A.S. which stands for Eliminate All Tea-party Politicians and Policies, Escaping Awful Scenarios.  

    If that's too long a title, we could just go with E.A.T.Ps - Eliminating All Tea-party Politicians and Policies.  

    Stimulate the Rich: Sign the Job Creator Tax Pledge Now!

    Watching the whole debate about whether the rich (now known as Job Creators 'cause we can't call 'em RICH anymore) should pay more or less in taxes has got me thinking. And I think that maybe we've done our Job Creators a bit of a disservice.

    Rich people are like German Shepherds--they're smart, they're high-strung, and if you don't give them stuff to think about and do, they'll spend all their time chewing on the furniture and biting the wrong people. Or getting a really weird color tan. Why, it's almost cruel to lower Rich People's taxes, like George Bush did, without giving them a way to justify themselves by living up to their reputation as Job Creators. It takes away their pride--they may not know it, but the Rich have sunk into a well of complacency that would put any Welfare Queen to shame. Surely, a rich person's mind is a terrible thing to waste.

    Barth's picture

    I don't like Mondays either, particularly this one

    Wake up. Read Krugman. He's right, of course. The baby Conservative sharing the page with him even agrees, and writes a column which seems to have it about right, too. Small world.

    Michael Maiello's picture

    It's Not About The Right and The Left

    I just watched Claire McCaskill make a ridiculous statement on "Meet The Press," where she accused the "extremes" on the right and left of dominating the current economic debate and called for new and louder moderate voices of compromise.

    The left has had no voice in this debate whatsoever.  Claire McCaskill doesn't speak for the left. President Obama barely allows himself to speak to the left, much less for it.  Bernie Sanders is not even a loud voice in the economic debate.

    The oval office needs a new dog.

    Letter to President Obama.

    Sir, we have both come by "rescue" dogs recently. Yours is a Portuguese Water Dog and mine is a Chesapeake Bay Dog. I love dogs and nothing against your dog Bo but anyone can see your dog is a foreigner. The Chesapeake Bay dog was developed in America, not a socialist country which bankrupted itself.

    "Nearly half of Americans don't pay taxes?" - Why that should make us mad!

    No doubt many of us have heard by now that nearly half of all Americans pay no taxes. Now, of course, an easy response to that is to correct that statement by pointing out that all Americans pay taxes, but that still leaves the statement that nearly half of all Americans pay no federal income taxes as being true.

    Barth's picture

    Consequences and the Truth About Them

    You can't say you weren't warned. It was repeated over and over again: just because there is no presidential election, does not mean that it is not as important to vote in 2010 as it was in 2008. The bleat in this space went this way:

    We are at a very difficult point in our history. The moment we are in always seems more significant than those of the past, and I suspect this election, or this crossroads may not be as much a moment of decision as it seems today, but, as Rachel explained perfectly the other day, we almost seem to have lost the will to do anything but hunker down, tell each other why we don't trust one another and whimper about our broken political system. This is not the time to put one's head in the sand, or to complain about things we wish the President had done, but did not. Dreaming about third parties, or making ours more liberal, has no place as we approach this election.
    coatesd's picture

    Washington Woes and the Problem of the Parrot

    In the famous Monty Python parrot sketch, Michael Palin’s understandable outrage at being sold a Norwegian Blue that was actually “stone dead” as he put it, does not get him a new bird. What it does get him – from the John Cleese character who originally sold it to him – is a barrage of obfuscating re-specifications of the bird’s condition. No matter that the bird by this point “has passed on….is no more…has ceased to be” – is, in fact, “AN EX-PARROT;” and no matter that its current capacity to stay upright is entirely due to the foresight shown by John Cleese in nailing it to its perch. The new owner is simply told that the bird, far from being dead, is “resting,” “stunned,”  “prefers kipping on its back,” and – my favorite – “pining for the fjords.”

    The sketch works, of course, only because both Palin and Cleese had access to a thesaurus. The humor comes from the play on words. Well, a thesaurus is working overtime in Washington D.C. right now, though its use is making nobody laugh. There is obfuscation aplenty, and it is thickening: which is why I recommend “pining for the fjords” to any of you who, like me, are growing increasingly outraged by our mainstream media’s inability to “tell it as it is.”

    FurudeRikaChama's picture

    Are Copyright infringement claims getting out of hand?

    I think we all know what a copyright is. According to the freedictionary, a copyright is "the legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, distributor, to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work."

    Richard Day's picture

    HACKERS

     

    Well if at first you don't succeed, get out of the mother f%$#^ing kitchen
                                        Pointy Williams-Thick_as_Thieves_(1998_film)

    The big news is Wikileaks. But to me, the real question is:

    WHAT THE HELL IS REAL?

    What is virtual and what is real?

    stillidealistic's picture

    How Do We Avoid The "Backfire Effect?"

    I would venture to guess that for most of us, blogging gives us an opportunity to get our thoughts out there and, hopefully, get a few people to see the wisdom of our words. I know I hope to make an impact, and so and I comment here and there, put up a blog or two, pass along my "wisdom" on my Facebook page, write to many politicians on a regular basis, phone some, and try to work politics into personal conversations whenever I can.

    I'm beginning to wonder if it is all in vain, after reading an article titled:

     

    jollyroger's picture

    We interrupt this revolution for a brief (80yr) message from FDR--Now back to our originally scheduled programming

    DISCLAIMER: Casting about during a cash short period, I volunteered ($450) to have a PET scan as a control for an experiment involving serotonin receptor efficiency as it varies with depressive susceptibility.  Turns out that I am pathologically optimistic (150% of normal number of receptors).

    I share this bit of personal data so you will know that my analyses are profoundly tainted by the same sort of strategic defects that led Napoleon to invade Russia and Alexander to try and conquer Afghanistan.

    cmaukonen's picture

    How to wite gud

    Some thoughts.

    acanuck's picture

    HOME, HOME ON LAGRANGE: EARTH FINDS ITS TRUE COMPANION?

    Meanwhile, in non-debtpocalypse news, I read today that a Canadian-led team of astronomers has discovered Earth's "First Asteroid Companion," the as-yet-unnamed 2010 TK7.

    Fascinating -- except that the headline is totally wrong. None of the articles I scanned today mention it, but we've known about another "asteroid companion" for nearly a quarter-century. It's called Cruithne (pronounced KROOeee-nyuh), and it orbits the sun in a somewhat more elliptical version of Earth's path.

    The Decider's picture

    Time for a retrospective look back at what happened previously

     

    Actually, things are going so crazy right now that I just thought you guys would like a pic of me in my old unfiirm when I was ready to fight in Vietnam as a fighter pilot. Laura says it's real handsome and reminds her of that actor guy named Farell.

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