Month: July 2011
Debt Ceiling Default Is a ‘Chosen Crisis’ Created by the Radical Tea Partyists
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Rachel Maddow on MSNBC Wednesday night:
MADDOW: It’s worth remembering this is a crisis created by Congress. Option A for dealing with raising the debt ceiling has always been, hey, let’s raise the debt ceiling. Congress did it seven times under George W. Bush. I said five times the other night, forgive me, it was seven. Eighteen times under Ronald Reagan, 17 times since the 1960s, and 130 Republicans in Congress right now voted happily throughout the George W. Bush era to raise the debt ceiling without so much as a peep. This time however for some reason, no. This year they have decided for political reasons that they are just not going to do it.
That’s the whole crisis here. That’s the origin of the crisis, that’s where it comes from, and Option A for solving this crisis has always been let’s not choose to have this crisis. This is a chosen crisis. Let’s choose not to have it. That has always been Option A.
GOP Tax Boss Grover Norquist: Allowing Bush Tax Cuts to Expire ‘Not Technically a Tax Increase’
Washington Post, via Jonathan Chait:
[According] to [Grover] Norquist’s interpretation of the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, lawmakers have the technical leeway to bring in as much as $4 trillion in new tax revenue — the cost of extending President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for another decade — without being accused of breaking their promise. “Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase,” Mr. Norquist told us. So it doesn’t violate the pledge? “We wouldn’t hold it that way,” he said.
Chait responds: “It’s pretty strange, isn’t it? Apparently Norquist interprets his pledge in some ultra-literal way that precludes it, in the case, from fulfilling its primary purpose. On the other hand, a plan to pass a one-dollar tax hike while cutting federal spending in half would violate the pledge.”
Off Her Meds
If Bachmann should win (for argument’s sake),
The fate of the free world would be at stake.
What would happen if we
Were facing World War Three,
And she was out of commission with a headache?
Buffet Chides Congress’ Immaturity
That’s a level of immaturity that I don’t believe even this Congress is up to.
— Warren Buffet, quoted by NBC News, predicting Congress will not allow the United States to default on its debt after this “little fight in our sandbox.”
80% of Americans Dissatisfied with Federal Government
80%
Of Americans say they’re dissatisfied or even angry with the way the federal government is working, up 11 points in a single month. It last was this high in 1992, during the economic downturn that cost President George H.W. Bush a second term, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. But unlike 1992, the opposition party is taking more heat than the president. While President Obama has fallen under 40% approval for his handling of the economy, congressional Republicans do even worse at 28% approval. On handling the deficit, it’s a weak 38% approval for Obama, but a weaker 27% for the GOP. And on handling taxes, Obama has 45% approval, the GOP is at 31%.
Fire the Bums!
If we don’t get this fixed, all of us — all of us — ought to get fired.
— Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), in an interview with ABC News, on the ongoing debt negotiations.
Most LGBT Adults Choose Brands that Support LGBT Causes
74%
Of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender U.S. adults are likely to consider brands that support nonprofits and/or causes that are important to them as an LGBT person, according to results of a June 2011 Harris Poll. This figure has risen 19% since 2007, when 62% of LGBT adults indicated this likelihood.
Reagan Claimed Default ‘Threatens Those Who Rely on Social Security, Veterans Benefits’ – Was He Lying, Too?
The House Democratic Caucus found this audio from Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1987:
REAGAN: Congress consistently brings the Government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the Federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility – two things that set us apart from much of the world.
Reagan’s claim that defaulting on the debt ceiling “threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits” is noteworthy because after Pres. Obama made a similar assertion, tea party Republicans in Congress accused him of lying.
Rep. Joe Walsh, a hyped-up freshman tea bagger from Illinois, rushed out a amateurishly produced video in which he said, “Pres. Obama, quit lying. You know darn well that if Aug. 2 comes and goes, there is plenty of money to pay off our debt and cover all of our Social Security obligations.”
So, just to connect the dots, Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., has inadvertently also accused Reagan, the patron saint of tea baggery, of lying, too.
Publisher Embargoes Galleys of McGinnis Book on Palin Due to ‘Explosive Content’
Crown Publishing, currently the strongest division of Random House, Inc., has made yet another decision with which I agree.
They have decided not to send out pre-publication galleys of THE ROGUE to review outlets and mass media.
They’ve printed only seventy-five galleys and are keeping them locked in a safe in their offices in New York.
I myself have received only one copy.
A very few magazine editors and executive producers of national TV shows will be shown a redacted version, but only after they sign stringent, legally binding, non-disclosure agreements.
Very seldom does a publisher decide to embargo a book in this fashion.
