THIS IS a classic. Where’s Paul Ryan? Disappeared! Oh, but it’s all on his choosing… or maybe not. He’s very busy behind the scenes, which in politics doesn’t mean much if you’re not getting good publicity. From Politico’s Jonathan Martin: He seems to have fallen entirely off the radar of early state Republicans. Democrats bring [...]
Tag Archives | austerity
Congressional Progressive Caucus Unveil “Back to Work” Budget *Updated*
WHILE EVERYONE is listening to the squealing talking heads on morning cable, none of whom know much about what a real budget looks like that doesn’t channel the disastrous notion of austerity, House progressives showed the Democratic party, the White House, and everyone else in Washington, how it’s done. You can read the Progressive Congressional [...]
Obama, the Grand Bargainer in Chief, Paul Ryan as His Foil
“We’re not gonna balance the budget in ten years because if you look at what Paul Ryan does to balance the budget, it means that you have to voucher-ize Medicare, you have to slash deeply into programs like Medicaid, you’ve essentially got to — either tax — middle class families a lot higher than you [...]
Paul Ryan Austerity a Good Target for Democrats
Second, health care. Our budget repeals the president’s health-care law and replaces it with patient-centered reforms. It also protects and strengthens Medicare. I want Medicare to be there for my kids—just as it’s there for my mom today. But Medicare is going broke. Under our proposal, those in or near retirement will see no changes, [...]
It’s Great to Be A Corporation in The Golden Age of Profits
THE GRAPH above says it all and there’s more where it came from over at The Atlantic, in a post by Derek Thompson. Here are two things that are true about the economy today. (1) The Dow Jones industrial average is poised to set a new record as corporate profits stretch to all-time highs. (2) [...]
Austerity and Income Inequality in Portugal, Switzerland and the USA
Portugal’s Streets Flooded With Message: ‘Austerity Kills’. Swiss Overwhelmingly Vote to Curb Executive Pay. Meanwhile, in USA! USA!, Electeds play sequential and contrived Grand Bargain / Fiscal Cliff / Super Sequestration games and much of the Electorate yawns. Much, but not all. First, about the citizen actions in Portugal: Over 40 cities across Portugal on [...]
Is Sequester a Good Thing?
Ian Welsh offers this short, to the point, analysis: The Sequester is a Good Thing … because it’s about time people understood what government does. This was agreed to by both parties, there are other options Obama could use to get out of it, he has chosen not to. This is bipartisan, and Americans need [...]
Obama is Suddenly the “Puppet Master” of the Press
The results are transformational. With more technology, and fewer resources at many media companies, the balance of power between the White House and press has tipped unmistakably toward the government. This is an arguably dangerous development, and one that the Obama White House — fluent in digital media and no fan of the mainstream press [...]
Austerity 2013
…after this week’s fiscal cliff deal, the United States is now on pace to engage in about as much fiscal consolidation in 2013 as many European nations have been doing in recent years — and more than countries like Britain and Spain. – U.S. now on pace for European levels of austerity in 2013 FROM [...]
The ‘Fix the Debt’ Coalition of the Very Wealthy: The Rest of Us Need to Pay Attention
The Fix the Debt coalition is gaining more attention, no doubt in large part because its members are being very vocal and public. They are not shy about making known their interpretation and solutions of what ails the economy. And of course, another neat crisis – replete with “fiscal cliff” and “doomsday” gamemanship – is [...]
Austerity, Imposed From the Top To Bottom: The ‘Fix the Debt’ Spin
Some information and analysis follows, as we continue considering the DC created “fiscal cliff” (for example, see Fiscal Cliff & Shared Sacrifice: If You Build It, They Will Come), the debt/deficit, austerity, shared sacrifice, and all the other spins, going on for decades, on why the tiny number of people at the very top deserve [...]
Top Story — Sen. Patty Murray: If No Revenue from Republicans, Let Tax Cuts Expire, Start Over in 2013
“If the Republicans can’t see their way to significant additional revenues targeted toward the people who are best off and targeted toward passive income and other things like that, then we’re better off going over the cliff and readdressing this with a better Congress in January,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said. “And we would have [...]
Estimated 8000 Protest Austerity in Dublin: ‘Come Back St. Patrick. It’s Still Full of Snakes’
The quote in the headline is from a sign held by one of the thousands who participated in an “anti-austerity” march in Dublin on Friday. Follow the link to The Journal article that provides details and some great photos. The demonstration, organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, is protesting cutbacks ahead of the [...]
AFSCME, the National Education Association, and SEIU Target Democrats in “Jobs Not Cuts” Ads
THERE’S A campaign not so quietly growing in volume, with Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh the loudest, that has Republicans having a hissy fit over Obama’s proposed tax increases for the wealthiest. Rush is using the Santa Claus line, a take off on O’Reilly’s people want stuff belch, but both are focused on making people [...]
Fiscal Cliff & Shared Sacrifice: If You Build It, They Will Come
These were all built by and for those who will profit from them; our job is to come to accept what we’re told about them: deficit reduction; fiscal cliff; shared sacrifice; entitlements; Grand Bargain; austerity; disemployment (Lambert Strether’s excellent term); privatization; too big to fail. That’s just a partial list, of course. Feel free to [...]
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