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 [...]
Tag Archives | entitlements
AARP Survey: No Last-Minute Lame Duck Deals on Social Security and Medicare
THE AARP November survey delivers facts that few who study the subject would find surprising. The respondents included 34% Democrats, 33% Republicans, 24% Independents, 7% none of the above, along with some obstinate stragglers. Here’s a snippet: Survey Findings No Last-Minute Deals on Medicare and Social Security: The majority of 50+ adults (70%), across [...]
President Obama Meets the Press on Petraeus, Benghazi, and “Fiscal Cliff”
NO MATTER where the press conference goes, the resignation of DCIA Petraeus will be primary. But at least Obama was able to design that Petraeus will testify tomorrow behind closed doors, before the press conference. The first presser President Obama has had since being reelected, the issue following Petraeus is Benghazi. The “fiscal cliff” will [...]
Obama to Progressives: “Campaign Isn’t Over”
Obama “wasn’t talking about what was on or off the table” and didn’t discuss specifics in terms of Social Security, one participant said. [The Hill] THE REPORTS out of the meeting with progressive leaders and unions revealed a couple of things. President Obama told the group at the White House that he won’t budge on [...]
Top Story — Obama’s 2011 Grand Bargain Detailed in Documents Obtained by Bob Woodward
“He is, in his gut, a fiscal conservative. There is a Blue Dog Streak in him.” – David Plouffe in The Price of Politics, by Bob Woodward IF YOU haven’t read Bob Woodward’s latest book, The Price of Politics, you may not appreciate the documents below fully. We’re about to see Obama’s “excessive pragmatism,” as [...]
Christian Science Monitor: Republicans, Democrats Dance around the ‘Fiscal Cliff’
Republicans, Democrats dance around the 'fiscal cliff' (via The Christian Science Monitor) Republicans and Democrats peered over the “fiscal cliff” this week and allowed as how they might be able to get along after all – avoiding the automatic tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts due to hit January 1, rattling the economy if Congress [...]
Bill Kristol Goes All In on Taxing the Wealthiest
SO WE now hear from the vanquished. From Huffington Post, reporting on Sunday: “It won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It really won’t, I don’t think. I don’t really understand why Republicans don’t take Obama’s offer.” “Really? The Republican Party is going [...]
Ronald Reagan: “Social Security has Nothing to do with the Deficit” [Video]
FOR ALL those people who worship at the feet of Ronald Reagan. As grand bargain fever whips up, keeping Social Security out of the mix should be a priority, something Senator Bernie Sanders and others have been preaching for a long time. The numbers are on the side of Democrats and progressives. From Democracy Corp: [...]
News Desk — Sen. Schumer: Social Security Should Not Be Part of Grand Bargain
Schumer says Social Security should not be part of the grand bargain…can be considered on the side — Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) November 8, 2012 A REPORT from Sam Stein via Twitter lays it out from Senator Schumer. There’s a lot of pressure from many quarters, with people going to hold Democrats to this and make [...]
Top Story: Obama’s Winnings and the Unreasonable Liberal
“If you want to pull the party, the major party that is closest to the way you’re thinking to what you’re thinking, you must, you must show them that you’re capable of not voting for them. If you don’t show them you’re capable of not voting for them they don’t have to listen to you, [...]
Paul Ryan Sees Himself as the Next Dick Cheney, While Trying to Avoid the Sarah Palin Curse
DELUSIONS OF Darth Vader dance in Paul Ryan’s head. The New York Times tells quite a different story from the recent AP item that dripped of desperation of what to do after a Mitt Romney loss. That is why some of Ryan’s biggest boosters are considering whether it wouldn’t be better for Ryan to resign [...]
Obama’s Grand Bargain is Not a “Betrayal,” It’s What He Believes In
“It is safe to say many groups are very concerned that a grand bargain will be foisted on the Congress that goes against what Democratic candidates promised on the campaign trail,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future. “And it is clear the president is considering making the grand bargain that he [...]
Photo of the Day: The President Doing his Job (and what Mitt Romney would do) **Updated**
“Gov. Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions. As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities, and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most. This includes help from [...]
Top Story — Move to Stop Obama’s Bad Lame Duck Entitlement Deal has Already Begun
But President Obama has consistently refused to rise to the defense of social security. In fact, in the first debate, he explicitly took the issue off the table, telling the American people that there is not much difference between his position on social security and Romney’s. – Why even President Obama won’t champion social security, [...]
Debates Over, Republican Noise Tries to Drown Out Reality [Videos]
THE RACE is tied. Ohio still looking like the Democratic firewall, thanks to Mitt Romney, a state he has to win, but Obama needs, too. The notion that Sen. Harry Reid would let Nevada slip to Romney is laughable, when you think of scenarios to 270. So now that the debates are over, perhaps people [...]
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