Wow. That IS The Best Word Cloud Ever

August 1st, 2011

To be honest, I have found the whole "word cloud" phenomena to somewhat perplexing. Perhaps I am getting old. I do, on occasion, find them amusing and entertaining. It was not until today, however, that I found one that was both hysterical and heart wrenching. Jon Cohen writes over at WaPo:

"Americans give overwhelmingly negative reviews to the fierce budget debate that has transfixed Washington over the past few weeks, and large numbers now think less favorably about the country’s political leaders, according to a new poll by the Washington Post and the Pew Research Center.

Asked for single-word characterizations of the budget negotiations, the top words in the poll — conducted in the days before an apparent deal was struck — were “ridiculous,” “disgusting” and “stupid.” Overall, nearly three-quarters of Americans offered a negative word; just 2 percent had anything nice to say."

Here it is...

The Onion Covers The Debt Deal

August 1st, 2011

And they do so splendidly:

"WASHINGTON—Following Sunday’s pathetic excuse for an agreement on raising the government’s borrowing limit, Democrats and Republicans took time to celebrate the meager, ineffective deal, calling it “a testament to the not-so-great things that can happen in Washington when both parties barely come together and agree to not really accomplish anything.” “It took months of phone calls, negotiations, and meetings, but finally we created a pretty sad version of a framework that, we’re happy to say, none of us is really proud of, and that doesn’t really do much to solve our country’s fiscal problems at all,” said House Speaker John Boehner, who gave a cheerful thumbs up and added that the sorry piece of legislation was expected to pass both houses of Congress with a really pitiful display of bipartisan support. “Once again, Democrats and Republicans have demonstrated why our mangled, fractured, barely functioning democracy is the greatest in the world.” At press time, members of both parties were trying to explain to their supporters how the budget agreement could in any possible way be construed as a victory for them."

Reid Calls Out The GOP Leadership

July 30th, 2011

"While the Republican leader is holding meaningless press conferences, his members are reaching out to me and other members, as I've just indicated. They're coming forward with thoughtful ideas to try to move the process forward. I welcome their ideas and ask all members to continue these discussions."

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

Worth 1,000 Words

July 28th, 2011

Says it all.

Copyright ©2011 Bennet Chattanooga Time Free Press

I Really Hate To Agree With Sowell, But...

July 27th, 2011

Although I generally find Thomas Sowell to be a backward thinker, however bright he may be, he has added his voice to the growing chorus which is calling for the elimination of the debt ceiling altogether. Welcome to the party Mr. Sowell.

He writes:

"However the current debt-ceiling crisis turns out, the current economic turmoil in financial markets around the world should cause some serious thoughts about the long run, and about the whole idea of a national-debt ceiling.

Some people may have been shocked when the credit-rating firm Moody’s recently suggested that the debt-ceiling law be repealed, in order to avoid fiscal crises which can throw world financial markets into turmoil that can injure countries around the world.

Anyone who wants to show that Moody’s is wrong should be prepared to show the actual benefits of the debt ceiling, not its goals or hopes. That will not be easy, if possible at all."

In spite of the fact that Mr. sowell goes on to take some plainly partisan shots at his usual targets, such as calling the United Nations "dangerous" and ludicrously blaming the current administration for the debt without mentioning certain inconvenient facts about its predecessor, the core of his argument, that proponents of the debt ceiling should be forced to explain just what the heck it's good for, is spot on.

From its inception as a device meant to appease the isolationists seeking to hamstring President Wilson and to limit the entry of the U.S. into World War One, this parliamentary procedure was specifically intended to cause gridlock. Indeed, as Elvin Lim wrote, the ongoing drama in the beltway has exposed the debt limit as a tool which has allowed our nation to become "the only country in the world that that has the luxury of creating an economic crisis when there isn’t one."

We need to abolish it as soon as is possible. Then, we might get back to business of government.

Oops...

July 23rd, 2011
by F. Grey Parker

Well. Yesterday sure was an interesting day. First, we were all subjected to the worst speaker of the U.S. House in living memory refusing to take the President's phone calls. Debt limit crisis? "Phooey," said commander booze-tan. Second, we endured the spectacle of Mr. Waterworks holding a damage control press conference. It was a train wreck in which he utterly failed to explain himself.

Quote Of The Day - Here and Now Edition

July 6th, 2011

"This country now possesses the strongest credit in the world. The full consequence of a default–or even the serious prospect of default–by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate." 
--Ronald Reagan

Ezra Klein On Obama's Debt Ceiling Pronouncements

July 6th, 2011

Klein writes:
"President Obama's debt-ceiling remarks were interesting for two reasons: what he said, and what he didn't say.

What he said is that we're not doing a short-term deal. "I’ve heard reports that there may be some in Congress who want to do just enough to make sure that America avoids defaulting on our debt in the short term, but then wants to kick the can down the road when it comes to solving the larger problem of our deficit," the president. "I don’t share that view."

If you take the president at his word, that's something of a scary comment. Washington's working definition for "solving the larger problem of our deficit" is $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10-12 years, including substantial taxes and changes to Medicare and Medicaid. There's no way Republicans and Democrats are going to agree on a package like that by late-July. Nor is one needed by late-July. What's needed by late-July is an increase in the debt ceiling. We need, in Austan Goolsbee's piquant terms, to avoid "the first default in history caused purely by insanity."

Indeed. Avoiding a permanent and devastating (not to mention potentially world wide) economic disaster does not qualify as "kicking the can."

What's The Worst That Could Happen? ctd...

July 6th, 2011

As the Republicans continue to hold our nation's creditworthiness hostage to their ageneda, an increasing number of observers are advocating the "14th Amendment solution." Among them, Katrina Vanden Heuvel who wrote for WaPo:

"President Obama may find that there is only one course left to avoid a global economic calamity: Invoke Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which says that “the validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.” This constitutional option is one that the president alone may exercise.

What's The Worst That Could Happen?

June 29th, 2011

Let's say that debt limit deadline arrives and there has been no "agreement."

TPM reports:
"According to one of the most influential economists in federal policy making, the next four weeks will make the difference between a slow glide toward economic recovery, and a severe tumble into a new recession.

Moody's chief economist, and former McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi 
is forecasting GDP growth of 4 percent by the end of the year and into next. But in response to a question from TPM, he told reporters at a breakfast meeting hosted by the Christian Science Monitor that his forecast would be "blown out of the water," if Congress fails to "reasonably gracefully" raise the national borrowing limit."

Sounds pretty bad. But hey, what does he know? Zandi is only one of the most respected conservative economists in America. His analyses don't mean diddly to RNC Chairman Reince Preibus who had some interesting things to say about a default yesterday morning while talking to Joe Scarborough.