I read the news today oh, boy

Here are two items juxtaposed in today's Google News.



Got that? We need to keep tax breaks for our biggest and most profitable corporations (tax breaks that were instituted to encourage drilling and exploration long ago, when energy prices were low). But Tom Coburn is quitting the already silly "Gang of Six" because they won't cut spending on regular Americans enough. It's insane to cut domestic spending when unemployment is 9%. Unemployment will surely rise even more, perhaps putting us back into a double-dip recession (or worse).

Doesn't anyone care? (Video posted by M. Bouffant)


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Paul Krugman Attacks Applebee's Salad Bar

At the beginning of last week, the commentariat was in raptures over the Serious, Courageous, Game-Changing Ryan plan. But now that the plan has been exposed as the cruel nonsense it is, what we’re hearing a lot about is the need for more civility in the discourse. President Obama did a bad thing by calling cruel nonsense cruel nonsense; he hurt Republican feelings, and how can we have a deal when the GOP is feeling insulted? What we need is personal outreach; let’s do lunch!
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So what is there to talk about?

What's all this about lunch, now?

*** SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED ***




P.S. What's my point, other than that David Brooks is a very silly person who gets a paycheck for no good reason? I need your recommendations, that's what. I've heard that if one gets enough recommendations, one wins a free set of china, or some such.

Note: Do not recommend Dr. Dick's comment. Although it's a perfectly fine comment (perhaps even a genius comment if I had been the one to post it), Dr. Dick has more china than one can shake a stick at.

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Checking in with Krgthulu

Seeing as the paywall goes up in about 1 1/2 hours, I figured I'd click on over to see what Paul Krugman is up to. (Given that this is probably the only NYT link I'll be clicking, I'm not sure that I'll ever have a paywall issue, anyway.)


Anyways, Paul K. sounds like he's just about had it with Bush's Third Term (or perhaps I'm projecting?):

But the way I see it, Obama adopted Republican framing of the budget debate — including the rhetoric about how families are tightening their belts so the government should too — as early as the 2010 State of the Union, back when Democrats had 59 Senate seats and control of the House.
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So, can we now count on Obama, at least, not to preemptively surrender to the right by proposing Social Security cuts — cuts that we know will be a starting point, not an end to the discussion?

No, we can’t.

UPDATE: General Electric is expected to ask its nearly 15,000 unionized employees in the United States to make major concessions.

Last week, the New York Times reported that, despite making $14.2 billion in profits, General Electric, the largest corporation in the United States, paid zero U.S. taxes in 2010 and actually received tax credits of $3.2 billion dollars. The article noted that GE’s tax avoidance team is comprised of "former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress."

After not paying any taxes and making huge profits, ThinkProgress has learned that General Electric is expected to ask its nearly 15,000 unionized employees in the United States to make major concessions.

Pictured Below: Obama with Job Czar Jeffrey Immelt

Perhaps if you gave Jeffrey Immelt and company another billion dollars, they'd hire some people from this country, Barry? (I'm kidding, please don't take this suggestion!)
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One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other Things

Paul Krugman asks: "So why are we talking about a Social Security crisis?"

Which of these things is not like the other things?

1) Bush tax cuts
2) Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
3) Deregulation
4) Social Security

Social Security is not a major contributor to our national debt of $14 trillion.

Social Security does not put money directly into the pockets of our society's wealthiest members.

So why are we talking about cutting this fourth thing, Social Security? It's simply more class warfare on behalf of the plutocrats. The people concern trolling about Social Security now have proven over the last few decades that they don't give a damn about the national debt or the accumulated annual deficits and interest on same that created it.

I'm ashamed of the President I voted for in 2008, he's on the wrong side of too many issues. We need a Democratic party that's an alternative to the Republican party, not its enabler.

Thers has a similar post. We can all see it.

But our national political parties, their sycophants in the media and on K-Street, and most importantly, the owners of all three groups are determined that the truth neither be seen, nor talked about.

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Letter to the NY Times - Vitriol in Politics

Dear Mr. Brisbane (E-mail: public@nytimes.com)

I am writing to draw your attention to an article in the N.Y. Times on Saturday, "Bloodshed Puts New Focus on Vitriol in Politics" by Carl Hulse and Kate Zernike.

The authors make the statement, "Not since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 has an event generated as much attention as to whether extremism, antigovernment sentiment and even simple political passion at both ends of the ideological spectrum have created a climate promoting violence."

This is an example of false equivalence. There is one end of the ideological spectrum that has made a fetish of guns and "2nd Amendment solutions" to political disputes, and that end is represented by the G.O.P. The authors mention Sarah Palin's target map, and the Tea Party disruptions at health care Towns Halls in 2009.

There are many more examples the authors could have used. For instance, on November 29, 2010, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, circulated a PowerPoint presentation to his colleagues in which he compared the Obama administration to the Nazi regime in Germany and likened himself to Gen. George Patton, bragging, "Put anything in my scope and I will shoot it."

Where are the examples of this sort of rhetoric coming from the left? As Paul Krugman wrote yesterday, "Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P."

When you blame everyone, you hold no one accountable. The G.O.P. has gone too far, and they ought to be called to account for their violent rhetoric.
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Eleventy-dimensional Chess

Freeze Frame



As seen at the International Haus of Pancakes Fish:


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Economic Advice from Caribou Spice

I watched the whole thing so you don't have to. Eek! Inflation! Baby formula prices going up, and Mooselini knows baby formula, you betcha!


For a dose of reality, try Dr. K.

Update: Disinflation Continues (Note 1st and 4th comments.)
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