Ezra Klein, from the NY Times today, linked to at WashPost online.
Here's a good one to share with all your Tea Party/GOP BFFs and acquaintances railing about "Obama's deficits", letting them know you don't recall hearing them say anything about the debt when Bush was in office and the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress.
Total bullshit. Uh, Karl, you might want to try reading the US Constitution. You see, only members of Congress have a vote on federal legislative proposals, of which raising the debt-ceiling is one. But then again, Karl, you know this. Your Republican Congress did it repeatedly, with no fuss, no shrill cries for urgent deficit-reduction, when Bush--you know, the Administration responsible for turning an annual surplus into a sea of red ink, with far less justification than now--was in the Oval Office.
If the debt limit is raised again and a default is avoided, the Aaa rating would likely be confirmed. Moody's did note the outlook assigned at that time to the government bond rating would very likely be changed to negative at the conclusion of the review unless "substantial and credible agreement is achieved on a budget that includes long-term deficit reduction."
By former Fed Vice-Chair Alan Blinder in WSJ online.
Subheading of article reads: Immediate government spending cuts would only make things worse. A new jobs tax cut for companies repatriating their profits could help.
I've gotten the impression a number of folks at dag like this show a lot. My wife and I got into it a few months ago and are getting caught up.
If you have a favorite scene, an "aha" moment the show has triggered for you, or just some observations you'd like to share about the show, it's success, and what that says if anything about part of our culture, please feel free to share. Also if you don't like the show or know people who don't like it, I would find it interesting to hear why.
Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle. Conference is put on by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, two provocateurs who made waves a few years back with their treatise "The Death of Environmentalism" and a subsequent book critiquing the environmental movement. They run a small Oakland think tank, the Breakthrough Institute.
Guy Molyneux, a partner and senior vice president at Peter Hart Associates in DC, a progressive and Democratic party polling outfit, writing in the current issue of The American Prospect.
I thought this, by Bill Simmons, was one of the best basketball columns I've ever read. Wonderful stuff, beautifully written, sharp, witty perceptions, A bit lengthy but entirely worth the read for me.
Others who didn't give credit to Obama in remarks about Bin Laden's death were Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania — although Huckabee did mention the president’s name.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, ex-Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty included some gratitude to Obama in their statements.
With all of the other, more immediate concerns so many Americans are struggling with now, I fear that the kinds of questions Ravitch is raising in this piece will be greeted, if they are noticed, with a collective shrug of the shoulders. I think Ravitch and others who share these concerns somehow need to find a voice that speaks to and connects with parents, not just intellectuals and some policymakers. I think the questions she is raising are very important. But pieces such as this one do not resonate with me primarily in my role as a parent. And that's a problem for anyone who feels a
