Where's the Outrage?

I never liked that old story of the Engine That Could. There are some things that the power of positive thinking simply won’t fix. Several weeks ago, I was sort of hopeful that some sort of deal would be made. The deal might be crappy, yes, but at least the economy wouldn’t implode. With each day, as reasonable and downright awful deals have all ended up in file 13, I’m getting less and less hopeful that our dysfunctional Congress can do anything that really helps the American people. So I went from I think they can to I think they are morons. I think that they are morons.

Rumors of a new, new deal have been circling since this morning.

From TPM:

The deal works like this:

It guarantees the debt limit will be hiked by $2.4 trillion. Immediately upon enactment of the plan, the Treasury will be granted $400 billion of new borrowing authority, after which President Obama will be allowed to extend the debt limit by $500 billion, subject to a vote of disapproval by Congress.

That initial $900 billion will be paired with $900 billion of discretionary spending cuts, first identified in a weeks-old bipartisan working group led by Vice President Joe Biden, which will be spread out over 10 years.

Obama will later be able to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, again subject to a vote of disapproval by Congress.

That will be paired with the formation of a Congressional committee tasked with reducing deficits by a minimum of $1.2 trillion. That reduction can come from spending cuts, tax increases or a mixture thereof.

If the committee fails to reach $1.2 trillion, it will trigger an automatic across the board spending cut, half from domestic spending, half from defense spending, of $1.5 trillion. The domestic cuts come from Medicare providers, but Medicaid and Social Security would be exempted. The enforcement mechanism carves out programs that help the poor and veterans as well.

If the committee finds $1.5 trillion or more in savings, the enforcement mechanism would not be triggered. That’s because Republicans are insisting on a dollar-for-dollar match between deficit reduction and new borrowing authority, and $900 billion plus $1.5 trillion add up to $2.4 trillion.

However, if the committee finds somewhere between $1.2 and $1.5 trillion in savings, the balance will be made up by the corresponding percentage of the enforcement mechanism’s cuts, still in a one-to-one ratio.

I’m not sure how this is much different than what we have seen before. I just don’t understand how even thinking about cuts to the social safety net helps the American people. Do you?

Tags: Budget, Congress, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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Warren Buffet talking with the President

AMENDMENT XIV
Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Section 4.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

So this is it. Congress has played around for weeks. We (well, it is really just some of us) have elected upset, single-minded, thoughtless Americans to Congress. That is our fault. We are now in deep trouble because some of us thought that the Tea Party loved America and that they really would work for us and not for themselves. We were wrong. The good news is that we have a President who can work for us. The time is now for the President to stand up for the American people and take action. Today, he must direct the Secretary of the Treasury to pay all of our debts. He must use the authority in the 14th Amendment. There is no alternative. It is the President’s job to protect us against enemies – foreign and domestic. Now, we are facing enemies domestic. We are facing an economic disaster. We don’t need to sign any petitions. We need to call the White House or Congress. It is time for the President to act.

Today, MSM is reporting that the President is talking with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. Why? We have talked and talked this thing to death. There isn’t a calculus that hasn’t been tried. Anything that can pass the House, can’t or won’t pass the Senate. This is clear. Boehner put together the “best” Republican option. It was shot down by the Senate in record time. Harry Reid put together an awful Democratic option which should have never gotten out of the Senate and the Tea Party wouldn’t even go for that.

It is time for President Barack Obama to save the country from the Tea Party. He must use the authority in the 14th Amendment.

Tags: Budget, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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I’m running out of the house right now. So -

From Political Animal:

* If the Boehner plan wouldn’t preserve the AAA credit rating of the United States, why is anyone even talking about it as a possibility? Shouldn’t that be an automatic deal-breaker?

* Bill O’Reilly, who I can only assume is concerned about his investment portfolio, lashed out at the Republican Party base yesterday in a fascinating tirade: “The only thing that can save Barack Obama at this point is craziness on the right…. It’s not only going to hurt the Republican Party, which has already been hurt, but it’s going to save President Obama who they hate…. The irony is, the people who dislike President Obama the most … are helping him the most. You’ve got to stop this hateful rhetoric.”

* I’m actually rather impressed this keeps happening: “Telephone circuits into the House of Representatives were once again near capacity on Friday after President Obama called on Americans to keep up their calls to Congress.”

* Moody’s weighs in again: “The United States’ triple-A credit rating is likely to be affirmed by Moody’s with a negative outlook, the ratings agency said on Friday, signaling that a downgrade would not come immediately, but possibly in the medium term.”

* This week, before today, investors were pulling $9 billion a day out of money-market funds, fearing congressional Republicans would simply refuse to raise the debt ceiling.

* If it would help the process along, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would gladly bring the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Senate floor for a vote. He knows full well it wouldn’t come close to getting a two-thirds majority.

* Revelations from the Murdoch media hacking scandal aren’t quite done yet. News of the World hacked the phone of a mother to a murdered 8-year-old girl, too.

* Why won’t President Obama pursue the “Constitutional Option”? Brad Plumer explores the issue in a thoughtful item.

* Are there some more fanciful ideas for gimmicks that could resolve the crisis? Sure there are.

* Congressional Republicans have a bold new idea: force the U.S. military to accept dirty fuels the Pentagon doesn’t want. The GOP really is getting worse with each passing day.

* Bruce Bartlett, a former policy adviser to Reagan and H.W. Bush, on the GOP: “I think a good chunk of the Republican caucus is either stupid, crazy, ignorant or craven cowards.”

* House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) intends to pursue a new White House investigation because it would be “good theater.” Congress was so much more tolerable when grown-ups were in charge.

* This is probably the wrong emotional reaction, but I’m starting to feel kind of sorry for Peggy Noonan. The quality of her columns has become so awful, and the sophistication of her political analysis has become so pedantic, it’s almost as if Noonan has outsourced her career to an intern sent over by College Republicans. Maybe it’s time to consider retirement, Peggy?

Tags: Budget, Domestic Issues by ecthompson md
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Great segment from Jon Stewart. Is this right? Did we tell 9/11 rescuers that we would pay for all of their illnesses except for cancer? Really? That’s so wrong, I can’t even begin to tell you.

Tags: The Daily Show by ecthompson md
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This really isn’t that hard. There’s a reason that Americans feel frustrated. They’re working harder and making less. This didn’t happen by accident. A number of policies were put in place which made it easier for business (big business) to squeeze the middle class.

First, eliminate the debt ceiling. If Congress does not want to spend money then they should not authorize the money to be spent. It is that simple. We do not need a debt ceiling. It serves no practical purpose. From a political standpoint it’s a hot potato that’s only grown hotter over the last several months.

Secondly, appropriate billions of dollars for state and local governments. The government must stop laying off workers if we are going to turn this economy around. Now, let’s understand each other. This is not going to be done during this reactionary Congress. The House will never pass such a bill. They’re more likely to worsen our economic woes by cutting federal, state and local workers. Over the last six months, state and local governments shed somewhere around half a million jobs. This is one reason that the economy continues to be sluggish. Let’s turn this around. I’m not saying hire people that are going to do nothing. Instead, I want government to do the jobs they were doing before.

Thirdly, allow the Bush tax cuts to disappear.

These three things will go a long way to fixing America. There are a lot of other things that we need to do and I’ll be continuing this series over the next several weeks/months. I’m sure that you have some ideas about what needs to be fixed. Send me your thoughts.

Tags: Congress, Economy by ecthompson md
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It isn’t that hard. You simply count who is with you and who isn’t. It was clear from the moment that Speaker John Boehner dreamed up his grand plan that he didn’t have the Republican votes, yet he pretended that all was okay. Alas, now the arm twisting begins.

Vote count by The Hill.

From HuffPo:

House GOP leadership announced abruptly on Thursday evening that they were suspending a vote on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt ceiling proposal, signaling in the process that the GOP lacked the votes to pass the package.

The news came just minutes before party leadership was set to hold a 5:30 p.m. vote on the proposal, which would cut roughly $915 billion in spending over the next ten years but only raise the debt ceiling through the end of the calendar year.

Congressional aides were scrambling to figure out just when the vote would be rescheduled for — the House for now will consider eight smaller measures first — but a spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that a vote on Boehner’s proposal would still take place on Thursday night.

Whether that is enough time for the Speaker to convince a few more Republicans to support him is unclear. Informal whip counts had 25 Republicans and the full Democratic caucus opposing the measure, which would put it short of the 216 votes needed for passage. (more…)

Update: Great comment on NYT –

An asteroid is headed toward earth, the Tea Party says it won’t have an impact and we don’t need to do anything. The Democrats and Republicans are arguing over what color to paint the rocket that will be used blow up the asteroid before it hits us. The asteroid is getting closer and closer…

Update II: Watch the Video:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From WaPo:

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters shortly before 10:30 p.m. that there would be no vote Thursday night on the bill, which would increase the federal debt limit in two stages in exchange for major spending cuts.

The vote had been scheduled for around 6 p.m. Thursday, but as that hour neared, GOP leaders realized they didn’t have the 217 votes needed to send the measure on to the Senate.

So the House suddenly took up a series of non-controversial measures, leaving befuddled lawmakers debating whether to rename a post office in Hawaii before finally going into recess for an indefinite time. (more…)

So, after all is said and done, we are back where we were last week, two weeks ago, a month ago. After Eric Cantor and John Boehner positioned themselves as the men with the plan, they never had the votes. In my opinion, we are to blame. We, the American people, who voted for some politicians who were long on bluster and short on real ideas to move the country forward, are to blame. We voted in knuckleheads who didn’t understand the difference between campaign rhetoric and truly governing the country. We wanted jobs and instead we got worthless Republican rhetoric. Many Americans thought they were voting to preserve Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, in essence the American safety net, when in fact they were voting for intransigence. It seems to me that the only reasonable response by President Obama is to enact the 14th amendment. For the good of the country he has to personally direct the Secretary of the Treasury to raise the debt limit. For over a month, it was clear to me that this is where we were headed. We have no more time for posturing and rhetoric. It is time to act.

Watch the video:

Tags: Budget, House of Representatives by ecthompson md
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I’m sorry that I haven’t been posting as much as usual. The trauma business is overwhelming right now. Maybe if they raise the debt ceiling folks would stop falling off their motorcycles… I can always hope!

From Steve:

• House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has spent two straight days rallying support from his own caucus for a budget proposal that will then die in the Senate. By nearly all accounts, he’ll get to 217.
• Counter-terrorism: “U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al-Qaeda to the brink of collapse.”
• Two more years: “The Senate on Wednesday unanimously confirmed Robert Mueller to a second term as FBI director.”
• Good news for medical researchers: “A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit that sought to block the funding of human embryonic stem cell research. The ruling follows an April appeals court decision that lifted an injunction on such funding that had been imposed in the same lawsuit.”
• Good move on energy: “The Obama administration and major auto manufacturers have reached a deal to raise fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks between 2017 and 2025, resolving a contentious negotiation over how to cut vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions.”
• Tea Partiers held a DC rally today in opposition to Boehner’s right-wing budget proposal. Turnout was abysmal — reporters outnumbered activists (again).
• The Chicago Sun-Times believes Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) “is what’s wrong with Washington.” That seems more than fair.
• The Endangered Species Act lives to see another day, thanks to House Dems.
• I really do love the Civil Rights Division of Obama’s Justice Department.
• Congressional Republicans want to overturn an Obama administration moratorium on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon.
• Get the antacids [ed note: maybe Pepcid would be better] ready now: “Looking beyond the horizon of the current insoluble legislative meltdown, a nervous Democrat pointed me yesterday to the next one: Most of the gas tax is set to expire on September 30.”
• A South Carolina Tea Party leader, who’d accused President Obama of peddling a fake birth certificate, has been arrested on charges of selling pirated versions of Microsoft software, Photoshop, and the Rosetta Stone language programs.
• And Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) believes that if we lower the debt ceiling, it will “create jobs.” Some people really don’t belong in public office; Paul Broun is one of them.

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson md
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Really, really busy at work. It is trauma season. Here’s today’s roundup from Steve Benen:

• If Speaker Boehner’s budget bill were to somehow reach the White House, President Obama would veto it.

• That probably won’t matter, since the Boehner bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today, can’t pass the Senate. (If it fails to pass the House tomorrow, this is a moot point.)
• Dems will try to ensure the Boehner bill doesn’t manage to pass thanks to support from a few Blue Dogs: “House Democratic leaders will be whipping votes against a GOP plan to raise the debt limit and slash federal spending, the office of Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the minority whip, said Tuesday.”
• Still trying to clean up the Republicans’ FAA fiasco: “Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee filed legislation Tuesday that would fund the Federal Aviation Administration without cutting grants for rural air service, which has produced the hold up that led to FAA workers being furloughed.”
• A downgrade in U.S. debt would automatically add $100 billion to the deficit that Republicans pretend to care about.
• Making it harder for those without jobs to get a job: “Hundreds of job opening listings posted on Monster.com and other jobs sites explicitly state that people who are unemployed would be less attractive applicants, with some telling the long-term unemployed to not even bother with applying.”
• In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) is forcing voters to get ID in order to participate in an election and making it harder to get ID.
• On a related note, Katrina Vanden Heuvel takes a closer look at the GOP’s “state-by-state crusade to disenfranchise voters.”
• Pat Buchanan apparently thinks alleged mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has some worthwhile ideas. How Buchanan remains a pundit in good standing baffles me.
• Senate Republicans refused to allow a vote on Goodwin Liu’s judicial nomination. Gov. Jerry Brown (D), however, wants him on the California Supreme Court.
• The Wealth Gap: “The wealth gap between whites and minorities has risen to a historic high, according to new census data analyzed by the Pew Research Center, as the collapse of housing prices more severely affected the net worth of African American and Hispanic households.”
• Boehner said President Obama blew up the Grand Bargain talks by moving the goalposts. Even Republican sources admit the Speaker’s lying.
• Kaplan Inc. sure does get sued a lot.If this were fiction, I’d consider it too far-fetched. Alas, it’s real: “A revenge plot so intricate, the prosecutors were pawns.”
• Remember when House Republicans vowed to the nation, “We will fight efforts to use a national crisis for political gain”? It was in the 2010 “Pledge to America” platform. In fairness, I suppose I should note they never promised they wouldn’t create a national crisis for political gain, so maybe this doesn’t count as a straight-up broken promise.

Tags: Budget, Congress, Education, Media, Obama administration, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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There was a cartoon that I used to watch with my grandson called Courage the Cowardly Dog. The cartoon was mildly amusing but one of the lead characters would always say, “Stupid dog.” It was usually when the lead character didn’t realize the dog was trying to save him from some peril. For some reason, I’m reminded of this by the stalemate in Congress. I feel like saying, “Stupid debate!” One side is arguing based on ideology. They have no intention of telling the American people that it doesn’t matter what the numbers say, that they want the government to spend less. It doesn’t matter that the government is spending less than we did five years ago or 10 years ago on Medicare or Medicaid – even Social Security. None of that matters. All they want is less spending and less government. If the government defaults, who cares? That is the attitude of the Republicans. When you hate government, it doesn’t matter if the government defaults. From your standpoint that is still a good thing. The American people don’t understand this particular debate. Even Republicans, mainstream Republicans, don’t understand this particular stance. Republicans have couched their argument in the veil of “fiscal responsibility.” This the only reason that some Americans will agree with them. Everybody wants fiscal responsibility. Everybody wants the government to spend their money in a thoughtful, prudent manner. Let’s be clear. Thoughtful, prudent spending is not what Republicans are talking about. What Republicans really want is to dismantle government.

From TP:

RATINGS AGENCY SOURCE: BOEHNER PLAN WOULD LEAD TO DOWNGRADE OF U.S. DEBT, REID PLAN WOULD PRESERVE AAA RATING | Today on CNN, Erin Burnett reported that she spoke with an investor who talked directly with the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. According to the Standard & Poor’s source, John Boehner’s debt plan would probably still lead to a downgrade of U.S. debt by the ratings agencies, raising interest rates for all Americans. Harry Reid’s plan, however, would preserve America’s AAA credit rating. Watch it:

Finally, it is important to note that John Boehner does not even have the support of his own party. The speaker the house has spent an enormous amount of time trying to convince the American people that he has a reasonable approach but his own party doesn’t believe him. Again, the Republican Party is not about reasonable approaches. Today’s Republican Party is about dismantling government. Once we understand who was standing with the American people and who wants to dismantle government this whole debate comes in the focus- Stupid debate!

From WaPo:

The challenge facing any plan for reducing the debt was underscored when a new Republican proposal to raise the ceiling on federal borrowing was met Monday with misgivings by some conservatives and skepticism by many GOP freshmen. That called into question whether Boehner (R-Ohio) could even get his own caucus to back his approach.

As Boehner tried to rally support for his two-step plan to cut $3 trillion in spending, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) offered a strikingly similar proposal for increasing the debt limit before the Aug. 2 deadline. The two leaders, however, remained bitterly divided over Boehner’s demand to hold another vote next year to further expand the government’s borrowing authority.

Tags: Budget, Congress, Obama administration, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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Something that Senator Patrick Leahy said in this speech I found very intriguing. He said that President Clinton’s budget from 2000, the last year that we had a balanced budget, passed the Senate without a single Republican vote. I found that interesting. Bill Clinton had just turned in the third balanced budget in a row. We were paying down the deficit, which is what these Republicans swear they want. Yet, Republicans opposed a balanced budget 10 years ago. Why? Could it be that they’re really not interested in a balanced budget at all? Could it be that they’re interested in dismantling Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid much more than they are interested in a balanced budget?

I don’t think that anyone should be surprised that there was no progress over the weekend. Representative John Boehner has decided to put together his own proposal. I think that it is clear no matter what he puts together it will not pass the Senate. On the other hand, Senator Harry Reid is putting together his own proposal. I don’t think that his proposal passed the House. I look for President Obama sometime in the middle of the week to pull out the 14th amendment and order the treasury secretary to raise the debt ceiling. Look for Republicans to absolutely and completely melt down when that happens.

Tags: Budget, Congress, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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This is from my internet buddy Steve Benen. It is brilliant.

I don’t think it’s online anymore, but Matt Taibbi had a fantastic cover story for Rolling Stone in October 2006 about the Republican-led Congress, shortly before Democrats won both chambers.

“These were the years,” Taibbi wrote, “when the U.S. parliament became a historical punch line, a political obscenity on par with the court of Nero or Caligula — a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable.”

The article included one of my favorite all-time quotes: Jonathan Turley told Taibbi, “The 109th Congress is so bad that it makes you wonder if democracy is a failed experiment.”

It seemed literally impossible at the time, but five years later, we appear to have found a Congress that’s even worse. Norm Ornstein, a respected congressional scholar, argued this week, “Americans have complained for years that their government is broken. This time they’re right.”

Dana Carvey had a character during his years on Saturday Night Live who was a crotchety old man complaining about how much better everything was “in my day,” the imagined halcyon times of his past. After almost 42 years immersed in the politics of Congress, I have to check myself regularly to avoid falling into the same trap. When I came to Washington in 1969, for example, the city was riven with division and antagonism over the Vietnam War, which segued into the impeachment of a president, followed by many other difficult and contentious moments.

In this case, though, Carvey’s old man would be right: The hard reality is that for all their rancor, those times were more functional, or at least considerably less dysfunctional, than what we face with Congress today.

Ornstein wrote this last week, before Congress set itself on a path to crash the American economy on purpose.

His piece is well worth reading, and shines an important light on structural impediments that prevent the legislative branch from functioning as it should.

But from where I sit, Ornstein goes a little too easy on congressional Republicans. Congress is still capable of functioning as an institution. Indeed, over 2009 and 2010, we saw our share of frustrating legislative disputes, but an enormous amount of successful policymaking was completed. Had the Senate been able to operate by majority rule — the way it used to — the 111th Congress would have been even more impressive.

The problem with the 112th isn’t a structural impediment; it’s the result of a radicalized Republican Party that has no use for compromise, evidence, or reason. We have a congressional GOP abandoning all institutional norms, pushing extremist policies, rejecting their own ideas if they enjoy Democratic support, and engaging in tactics that were once thought unthinkable from policymakers who put the nation’s needs first.

Is this the “Worst. Congress. Ever.” as the headline on Ornstein’s piece argues? After six months on the job, that seems extremely likely. Indeed, if this Congress deliberately causes a global economic catastrophe, the competition for the worst Congress ever will end quite quickly.

But the public needs to understand that Congress, at an institutional level, doesn’t bear all of the blame. The stark raving mad Republican Party does.

Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, Trent Lott, Bill Frist … who wouldn’t trade the current crop to get those guys back? I’d do it in a heartbeat.

To borrow from Turley, I’ve never been more inclined to wonder if our democracy is a failed experiment than I am now.

Tags: Budget, Congress by ecthompson md
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I posted this about three years ago. I really needed something fun to jump start a Friday night that was making me more and more depressed. The knuckleheads in Washington are on my last nerve. There’s a bomb explosion in Norway. And some guy breaks into a summer camp and shoots and kills at least 80. In Norway!! Damn it. A sink hole in Florida is swallowing up buildings. Is that covered by your insurance? (I never really understood sinkholes.) A nurse has been arrested in connection with three deaths. Yep, I need a really fun tune like this.

I have liked Harry Connick, Jr. ever since I first heard him about 15 years ago. Although he is well-known, he hasn’t really had a big hit. This tune, “Whisper Your Name,” did get some air play. The video was filmed in New Orleans, of course. It makes me want to go back and visit.

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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I’m tired of war. I’m tired of secret prisons. I’m tired of renditions. I’m tired of my government acting like the bad guys and not the good guys.

From the Nation:

The CIA presence in Mogadishu is part of Washington’s intensifying counterterrorism focus on Somalia, which includes targeted strikes by US Special Operations forces, drone attacks and expanded surveillance operations. The US agents “are here full time,” a senior Somali intelligence official told me. At times, he said, there are as many as thirty of them in Mogadishu, but he stressed that those working with the Somali NSA do not conduct operations; rather, they advise and train Somali agents. “In this environment, it’s very tricky. They want to help us, but the situation is not allowing them to do [it] however they want. They are not in control of the politics, they are not in control of the security,” he adds. “They are not controlling the environment like Afghanistan and Iraq. In Somalia, the situation is fluid, the situation is changing, personalities changing.”

Tags: Security, Terrorism by ecthompson md
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Well no, there seems to be something in the air. It is a craziness that has infected Washington. For some reason, Speaker John Boehner believes that we have a spending problem. The problem isn’t that our tax revenues are ridiculously low. That’s not the problem. The problem is spending, according to Boehner. Watch the video as he stomps off:

It is time for Americans to recognize what we are watching. We are not either watching a negotiation between Democrats and Republicans or we are watching some sort of complicated economic equation between liberals and conservatives. The data is clear. We do not have a spending problem.

We have a revenue problem.

The data is clear.

In 2001, President Bill Clinton and the Democrats handed President George W. Bush and the Republicans a budget surplus. We were paying down the deficit. We started two wars which were not paid for. Not one Republican has stood up and said that this was irresponsible and that we should cut the Pentagon budget in order to make up for the spending. That would make sense, wouldn’t it? The Bush administration then turned around and gave huge tax cuts to the rich. I have no problem with giving tax cuts to the rich. If we have a surplus of money and the tax cuts are not going to cut into the surplus then great. Unfortunately, the tax cuts killed the surplus. They are continuing to do damage today. The Bush administration sold the American people on the fantasy that tax cuts pay for themselves. These tax cuts have not. Finally, the economic downturn has decreased revenue and therefore increased the  deficit.

None of these concepts is all that difficult. I use no fancy math. There were no smoke and mirrors. All of this information is easily obtainable. So, we must recognize that there is something else going on. This is not an argument over spending. This is an argument over whether we will let Republicans kill programs that they hate. It is that simple. WE must recognize what is truly going on.

Update: Erza Klein has a great summary of what’s going on with this debt ceiling impasse.

What it is: The debt ceiling is a legal cap on the amount of money the Treasury can borrow to fund existing government functions. It essentially authorizes the Treasury to borrow the money necessary to pay the bills incurred by the federal government.

Where it came from: Before 1917, Congress authorized the Treasury to issue bonds for specific purposes. But that meant approving every bond separately. To fund World War I, Congress decided to give the Treasury more latitude by instituting caps on how much it could borrow through each type of bond, rather than forcing it to get every new bond approved separately. In 1939, this was changed so that most bonds were bound by the same limit, effectively creating the general debt ceiling we have today. (more…)

Tags: Budget, House of Representatives by ecthompson md
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The space shuttle has landed for the last time. Great mission. Great story.

Tags: NASA by ecthompson md
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• John Brennan, President Obama’s terrorism advisor, said something really stupid about no collateral damage from predator drones. For some reason, Glenn Greenwald has taken him seriously. Anything that includes man has to include some amount of error. We are not perfect. I don’t care how diligent we are at looking at photos and reviewing intelligence. We can still make errors. Just today, as I was walking out of the Biltmore estate a very nice gentleman offered my condolences since “my wife fell.” Nope, my wife did not fall. (I was actually walking with my mother, but no biggie). We make mistakes all the time. This is one reason why we should be out of the war business.
• If anybody really thought that Bruce Ivins was the mastermind behind the anthrax deaths, I have some oceanfront property to sell you. The case was just too neat. Investigators found this weird guy who was clearly awkward around women and for some reason that made him not just the suspect but the prime suspect in the multiple anthrax deaths which took place in 2002. They never had a good motive which tied everything together. As a matter fact, I really didn’t have enough evidence to tie everything together. It looks like the Department of Justice has decided that the evidence looks kind of shaky also.

• I’m really tired of extremism being wrapped in a nice pretty package and sold to the American people as mainstream. Deciding to default on America’s debt is extremism. Deciding not to negotiate to balance the budget is extremism. I understand that the President has decided to embrace the Draconian ideas of the Gang of Six or Gang of Seven in the Senate. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security represent a pact that we’ve made with ourselves. This is not a treaty that we’ve made with Russia or China or some other foreign nation. Instead, this is a promise that we’ve made to the American people. It is a promise that was made to ourselves. If you want to figure out some way to make these programs more efficient and therefore cost less, I’m all for that. On the other hand, if you’re going to be cutting benefits that go to seniors and the disabled, I’m strongly against that. As a matter fact, as an American, I believe that we should keep our promises. Dismantling these programs is anti-American.
• Representative Allen West said some very childish and inflammatory things about Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. He says that he’s apologized. Right now I want to say something about adult behavior, but I’ll keep that to myself.
• Maxine Waters is in big trouble.
• I know that Senators Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are working on some sort of compromise measure that will lower the debt by $3.7 trillion over 10 years and will also raise the debt ceiling. I have little hope that such a broad compromise will come out of such a divided Congress. Top Republicans are running away from this plan as fast as their little legs can carry them.
• If you need a generalized update on what’s going on in the Rupert Murdoch/News Corp. scandal you can find a brief update and a small blurb on who’s who – when – who did what right here.

Tags: Budget, Economy, Media, Obama administration, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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Some in the Tea Party and some GOP hardliners would like you to believe that Ronald Reagan never raised taxes. They would like you to believe that the magnificent economy that created millions of jobs under Ronald Reagan was because of his brilliant tax cuts. As usual, the real story is far more complex.

Legislated Tax Changes by Ronald Reagan as of 1988 (h/t Bruce Bartlett)

so here’s the other side of the coin.

Source: Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1990 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989), p. 4-4.

Tags: Economy, Taxes by ecthompson md
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Emptywheel is live blogging. NY Times is live blogging. The Washington Post is live blogging.

From Emptywheel:

I’m livetweeting the Murdoch hearings–follow along @emptywheel.

The highlights thus far are:

MP Watson kept refusing to let James Murdoch answer questions for his father. At one point, Watson said, “Your father is responsible for corporate governance and it’s revealing how little he knows.” The only question Watson asked James–which he didn’t really answer–was “I’d like you to tell me whether you told your father” about one of the settlements.

In a key exchange, Watson asked Rupert, “Mr. Murdoch, at what point did you find out criminality was endemic at NotW?” Rupert answered, “Endemic is a very wide word.”

In other exchanges, Rupert was stumped. On at least two occasions, he took more than 10 seconds to answer a question.

Another MP made a big deal about Rupert going through the back door of the Prime Minister’s residence. Rupert explained, “I was asked. I just did what I was told.” At one point, James tried to interrupt to explain the special politics of Murdoch going through the back door. Then finally, Rupert said (this is not quite a direct quote), I went through Mr. Brown’s back door many times.

Then he asked the big question:

Mr. Murdoch: Do you accept that ultimately you are responsible for this whole fiasco? Rupert: No.

Tags: Media by ecthompson md
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• Well, it is nice to see the big man under the microscope. Murdoch gave the time-honored excuse that he knows nothing. The excuse sounded much better coming from Schultz.

• A lot of conservatives would like us to believe that Ronald Reagan did nothing besides cut taxes. This is not true. This is not even close to being true. Reagan raised taxes just after his big tax cut. It was the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982.
• WE really don’t pay that much in taxes. That’s the problem. Yes, there are some individuals that are overtaxed. I think that small businesses making between $50,000 and $500,000 have too much paperwork and tax stuff to keep up with. They can’t easily hire some dude to keep up with all of the taxes and regulations that they are forced to comply with. This is completely different for big business.

We are the blue line near Mexico and Chile.

• Austerity will not work by itself. It simply will not. The IMF has written a paper explaining why austerity will not work.
• Mitt’s big donors don’t have endless wealth.
• The fight for Wisconsin is really getting under way. This is one of the most important election cycles in the last 20 years.
• It is Obama’s duty to prevent an economic meltdown. He has to use every tool in his toolbox, including the 14th amendment. Bill Clinton agrees.
• One of Tiger Woods’ mistresses has reportedly returned $10 million in hush money. Seriously. She had been given enough money to keep her and her family secure for the rest of her life, but she returned the money. Money isn’t everything, but in this economy where jobs are here today and gone tomorrow you can’t or shouldn’t simply assume that you can make it on your own. I wish her luck. I suspect that there is a book deal and a reality show on the horizon.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Media by ecthompson md
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• Newt Gingrich is spent over $800,000 on a website. That’s an awful lot of money for JavaScript.
• Today Nelson Mandela turned 93. What an amazing man.
• Conservatives would have us believe that government spending was a concept that Barack Obama developed, perfected and has implemented against the American people. The truth paints a far different picture. Please note when spending really took off… mid-80′s and again in the 00′s. Who’s responsible for this kind of crazy spending? Obama?

• The News Corp. scandal continues to grow. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any bigger – a whistleblower is found dead. That’s more than a little bit suspicious. Testimony before Parliament begins tomorrow. Even the Prime Minister is affected. The big question is has News Corp. tapped and hacked phones here in the United States.
• A balanced budget amendment is stupid policy.
• Eugene Robinson goes after Herman Cain. It’s about time. Cain’s bigotry is unacceptable.
• Existing home sales fell in June.
• Even though Republicans have come up with some really goofy policies, you have to admit they do come up with clever names for their goofy policies. Cut, Cap and balance is cute and clever and, as usual, bad policy.
• Marcy Wheeler, one of my favorite bloggers, has moved from FDL to her own web site. I wish her well.

Tags: Economy, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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