Displaying 1,501 To 1,530 Of 2,270 Comments The Debt Ceiling Crisis Thread Ad, when have voters EVER developed amnesia? 🙂 » Posted By funksands On July 14, 2011 @ 9:35 pm Ad, the CBO stated just a few weeks ago, that Congress need do nothing to start reducing the debt: 1. Let the AFCA implement (as you mentioned above) These are agreements and plans that are already, baked, cooled and half-eaten. The only way Congress could screw it up is to act. » Posted By funksands On July 14, 2011 @ 9:29 pm I feel weird saying this, but this move by McConnell is pretty shrewd. It has its risks for both sides, but is pretty canny. 1. Defer the debt ceiling decision to Obama, which releases Congress from the need to act. 2. Politically the GOP gets cover and can blame the President for raising the debt ceiling 3. They can then introduce big spending cuts, which they promised to do. 4. Which the President will veto 5. Which they cannot override due to lack of numbers. So the GOP gets to look thrifty to their base, while not really accomplishing anything, and being responsible for nothing, but it also keeps the nation from defaulting. It also ultimately means the end of the debt ceiling, which was a dumb idea to begin with. Everyone “wins” with this plan. The only problem is the GOP ends up getting to look better than they should in the end. Unfortunately, it sounds like the kind of deal Obama would take if allowed. Glad I’m not President. » Posted By funksands On July 14, 2011 @ 9:19 pm Did you know that we are the only country in the world with a debt ceiling? » Posted By funksands On July 14, 2011 @ 9:12 pm Ad, I agree completely. And if Congress sues (their only real option, as they’ll secretly be relieved that the President took the ball out of their hands), I don’t envision the Supreme Court even for a moment considered ruling against the executive authority in this situation. » Posted By funksands On July 14, 2011 @ 9:11 pm Cher, I think there are two things at play in the hysteria around the Medicare and SS “rumor” and “offers”. First, cuts, tweaks and changes to Medicare and Social Security have occurred by my rough count about 30 times in the last 50 years. It isn’t unusual. What is unusual is that for the first time, the informed public (not the general public) is hyper-aware that the conversations are even taking place. Lawrence O’Donnell had a great piece on this tonight on his show, reflecting back on 1993 and the Medicare cuts that took place then; saying “where were the ‘protectors’ of Medicare then? None of them said a word when the some of the biggest cuts to Medicare ever took place. In 1993 I suspect that that information and negotiations were not nearly as widely covered nor broadly scrutinized as they are now. Also, Lawerence we are on the back end of the worst economic decline since the Great Depression, and 18 more years into the great Reagan heist of wages from the middle class. The middle class and lower middle class are desperate now, and any conversation about our anti-poverty programs fills them with dread. In 1993 I suspect far more Americans felt secure about their jobs and their future prospects than they do now. All of this adds to the impression that I get of DC being hermetically sealed behind a wall of noise, lobbyists, and special interests from the rest of the country. » Posted By funksands On July 14, 2011 @ 9:08 pm In Freytag v. CommissionÂer (1991), the Supreme Court held that the president has “the power to veto encroachinÂg laws . . . or to disregard them when they are unconstituÂtional.” This seems to indicate that the President can ignore law when it is found to violate the ConstitutiÂon, even if it is Congress’ prerogativÂe to enforce the ConstitutiÂon. If Congress fails in its authority, does the President step in? I am debating this because I myself am not clear if he has the authority or not. I suspect he will pay the nation’s bills anyway. » Posted By funksands On July 14, 2011 @ 6:20 pm Cher, I agree with the first few points that Ezra makes, but disagree with the last. Deficit reduction is nearly meaningless. DEBT reduction is important long-term, but simply isn’t right now. Deficits are driven primarily by economic conditions and trade imbalance, not by taxation or spending. Taking money out of the economy, no matter where it comes from is foolish during the odd economic time we are going through. The rest of the world is willing to loan us however much money we want at 1%. They won’t forever, but right now they will. We should be taking that money and doing an extreme home makeover on the entire nation, making it a real “shining city on the hill” and not just some fevered Reagan opium dream. Instead, we are clipping coupons and acting timid. You know, the things that made our country great. The deficit and debt fable has become SO ingrained however, that it is now part of the bedrock of the long-term strategy of our nation. Saying otherwise risks professional ridicule and scorn, and at the least marginalization. » Posted By funksands On July 14, 2011 @ 11:53 am The SS COLA issue is one that bears watching very closely. Right now it is linked to core inflation which strips out food and energy prices, as they are too volatile to include. The fed has been busily trying to stimulate real inflation for the last two years (fear of deflation) while trying to keep core inflation low. If I not wrong 🙂 the COLA can be manipulated in a way to show savings to the program and therefore savings to the budget without actually changing anything structurally to the program itself. Like the budget negotiations earlier in the year, I see a GOP “win” on SS being in reality a math tweak that ultimately nets them nothing. » Posted By funksands On July 11, 2011 @ 10:39 am I was born in DC, God help me. I’m not sure what that means, but apparently its not good. » Posted By funksands On July 11, 2011 @ 8:36 am Weekend Music Thread – Got Change? Should We Fight Back – Parlotones [img]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3hO1J7DKV0[/img] » Posted By funksands On July 9, 2011 @ 2:43 pm All The News That’s Fit to Pit No means testing. This opens a whole can of worms that we DO NOT WANT to open. Right now you get back what you put in. Period. SS is not broke, it is not broken. » Posted By funksands On July 7, 2011 @ 8:54 pm MoveOn: Obama.Keyser Soze? [img]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbqkL2pZR6c&feature=fvsr[/img] » Posted By funksands On July 7, 2011 @ 8:52 pm Ad, I really tried to read your article, but it was too long and didn’t have enough “sizzle”. For your next post I have three recommendations: 1) Tell me who wins sooner. Cut to the chase. Everyone loves a winner. 2) Make it shorter, I can’t pay attention long enough to read more than a few sentences 3) ….Well I can’t remember #3, but just start with the first two and I’ll check back in with you after I finish watching “Wipeout”. Its Honeymooners v. Widowers this week!!! » Posted By funksands On July 7, 2011 @ 2:40 pm Cher, deciding not live on the knife’s edge of mania is a wise choice. However, you also become a less valuable consumer for large coporate political interests, so there is a down side. » Posted By funksands On July 7, 2011 @ 12:38 pm Oh my…. » Posted By funksands On July 6, 2011 @ 4:14 pm The following comes from a group of economists that I respect. They are employees of an investment firm, but I have found over the years that their takes on the trends in our economy have been pretty solid. I can’t share the link, but I hope they are right. It could be just what the President ordered. “The debate appears to be over and we say “hasta la vista, soft patch.” It’s over. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any more tepid data over the next few months. Real GDP growth in Q2 is going to be weak – and the pessimists will moan and cry about it for months. But more timely reports have already turned for the better. Japan’s industrial output is snapping back from that country’s disasters. And so is production in the US. After falling from a red-hot 61.4 in February to a still positive 53.5 in May, the ISM Manufacturing index rebounded to 55.3 in June – a level above every single forecast by the 77 economists who tried to predict this indicator (us included). No wonder the stock market surged more than 6% last week. Other data have also rebounded. Shipments of “core” capital goods, which exclude defense and aircraft, were up 1.4% in May and up at a nearly 15% annual rate in the past three months. In addition, housing starts increased 3.5% in May while building permits rose 8.2%. Permits are now 4.6% higher than a year ago. With the exception of late 2009 and early 2010, when that sector got a temporary boost from the homebuyer tax credit, this is the first time since early 2006 that permits have beaten year-ago levels. The big report this week will be on employment for June, to be released early Friday morning. Private sector payrolls only expanded 83,000 in May. But, given the drop in unemployment claims, we think the job market re-accelerated in June.” » Posted By funksands On July 5, 2011 @ 12:08 pm Cher, the debt ceiling is a dead issue to me. Obama won’t let Congress not pay our bills. He could instruct the Treasury to pay our debts anyway with “Obamabonds” and there isn’t a damn thing the Congress could do except sue. That will put it into the Supreme’s lap, and they have shown no inclination to do anything other than default to the President’s idea of executive power. Another argument that I am finding increasingly persuasive is around the 14th Amendment, with a twist. The debt ceiling, like the War Powers Act is just a law. It is overriden by the Constitution. Should Obama choose to ignore the law, he will in theory be following the Constitution. Very interesting. I simply don’t think Obama is super-stressed about the debt ceiling because he has no intention of letting the nation not pay it’s bills. » Posted By funksands On July 5, 2011 @ 11:43 am What? No Payday? Heresy!! » Posted By funksands On August 31, 2011 @ 9:24 pm Good article by Dean Baker (a fav of mine) The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive Plus he lets you download the whole book for free! 🙂 » Posted By funksands On August 31, 2011 @ 9:20 pm NOW Donald Trump is interested….. » Posted By funksands On August 31, 2011 @ 2:08 pm Ad, posted over there: Speaking of disasters.Â… A.O.L has retained the firm ALLEN & CO to explore a sale of the company including a sale of _HPost for $27M. Yikes! Call F.E.M.A » Posted By funksands On August 31, 2011 @ 2:06 pm Corporate profits are now at 12.9% of total National GDP. That is the highest EVER recorded since this began to be measured back in 1947. Time to give these guys a tax cut. » Posted By funksands On August 31, 2011 @ 9:27 am Uh……. » Posted By funksands On August 30, 2011 @ 10:43 pm Couldn’t agree more. » Posted By funksands On August 30, 2011 @ 10:43 pm It was really weird. » Posted By funksands On August 30, 2011 @ 6:51 pm KQ, my bad. The statement about jobs was not what I was referring to. It was my surprise at a “progressive” radio host calling Franken the worst Senator ever and bemoaning the barriers to another mega-corp swallowing its competition. It was unsettling. » Posted By funksands On August 30, 2011 @ 6:49 pm I re-watched Rosemary’s Baby not that long ago. I’d forgotten what a creepy movie that was. » Posted By funksands On August 30, 2011 @ 6:45 pm My top 5 regardless of origin: 1. Audition (seriously I think I may have sustained permanent damage from this one) 2. The Exorcist 3. The Shining 4. Let The Right One In 5. Jaws » Posted By funksands On August 30, 2011 @ 6:44 pm Heard on the Ed radio show today: “Al Franken is the worst Senator ever. He’s even against the ATT / Tmobile merger which would create 20,000 new jobs that could be union jobs.” I’m paraphrasing, but WTF? » Posted By funksands On August 30, 2011 @ 6:39 pmComments Posted By funksands
2. Let ALL the Bush tax cuts expire (which I am for)
3. Let the 1997 Medicare cuts to physicians and for-profit hospitals fully implement (deferred at least once)
«« Back To Stats Page
Home Stats