Blog Archive: December, 2010

Right-wing billionaire Pete Peterson continues to use the Washington Post as an outlet for deceptive anti-tax and anti-government propaganda. His "Fiscal Times" is a factory for churning out James Frey-like mendacity, which the Post then deceptively packages and distributes as "journalism." For those of you who have forgotten, James Frey's deception, in his book A Million Little Pieces, was to pose as a former drug addict who got clean through the force of his own unaided will.

The Washington Post, on the other hand, poses as a newspaper.

The latest Peterson production, "Analysis examines what it's like to be a 'rich' family in America," is a grab-bag of misinformation and fiscal ignorance. This "analysis" was written by the latest Frey from Peterson's shop, someone named Karen Hube, and it's based on two phony premises: First, that "President Obama and others have repeatedly used (that level of income) to define what it means to be 'rich' in America today," and second, that it's a hardship to get by on $250,000 a year. more »

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We had bailouts and bonuses for Wall Street but letdowns and layoffs for Main Street. We had a deficit commission but no jobs commission. We have tax cuts for the rich and budget cuts for the rest of We, the People. And this week the President is having a "summit" with the heads of giant corporations. more »

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The tax cut pact the Obama administration announced last week has angered a good many Americans. But the pact's lavish generosity toward America's rich should not have given anyone a surprise.

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Yesterday I wrote that the President may have sacrificed his long-term vision on trade and economic/industrial policy to day-to-day concerns and politics. The tax-cut deal is another indicator that a big-picture vision has been sacrificed. more »

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Here's something the administration may want to take to heart: Trust is a lot like money. If you spend more than you earn, it could be gone when you need it the most. more »

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Kevin Drum wrote an interesting post about the Democrats' dilemma in dealing with a hardcore opposition that literally doesn't care if their policies cause human suffering. (Indeed, they actually promote it, only they call it "tough love".)Democrats are always in the position of having to choose between some specific thing that will alleviate some suffering (however temporarily) in exchange for some heinous Galtian thievery and they end up taking the short term relief because they believe they have the responsibility to help people in the best way they can. Unfortunately, when dealing with nihilists, you end up creating more and more circumstances where such deals with the devil are necessary.

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Last week, the Federal Reserve was finally forced by law to release some (not all) of the details of its back-door bailout of the global financial system. The Fed data focuses on the emergency lending programs initiated in 2007/2008, but it also includes data for the Fed’s more recent purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). more »

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On the menu this morning:

• MORNING MESSAGE: 99ers Meet Compassionless Conservatism
• "Open Revolt" Threatens Tax Cut Deal
• No Movement After WH-Deficit Commission Meeting
• Obama Signals Tax Reform Tops 2011 Agenda
• AFL-CIO, Steelworkers Oppose Korea Deal
• Wisconsin and Ohio Officially Lose High-Speed Rail Funds
• EPA Backs Off

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It has been said before — recently, even — but it bears saying again and again, as any truth does. Conservatives have finally, and completely, abandoned compassion. Progressives spent much of the previous decade declaring the "compassionate conservatism" of the Bush era a cruel joke. Policy gestures in that vein were seldom backed with the money to make them work. And there there was Bush administration's cruel habit of praising successful programs only to have his administration recommend devastating cuts to the same programs — often as the president's praise was still ringing in the air.

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Democrats in the House of Representatives today opted not to settle for the deal on tax cuts handed to them by President Obama and congressional Republicans, and that opens the door for us to fight to fix its worst features. more »

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