Blog Archive: February, 2011

Believe it or not, the appearance of Donald Trump at CPAC was not the most surreal moment of my first day at the conference. That came later, but not by much.

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There were three of us on Warren Olney’s "To the Point" public radio program, one of the more enlightened shows on NPR. But the program, addressing the coming debate on spending cuts, quickly descended into Beltway babble.

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No, I'm not jumping ship or anything like that. I'm just at CPAC looking for something, anything about how conservatives plan to create jobs. Let's just say I'm still looking.

Today, I'm attending (and covering) the Conservative Political Action Conference (a.k.a CPAC) for the first time, and so far it's been interesting. I have to admit, I don't spend an awful lot of time hanging out with conservatives. I've spend a lot of time reading what they've written, but not so much listening to what they have to say.

Here's what I've heard about jobs.

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Yesterday, House Republican leaders tried to tamp down a conservative revolt within the caucus, explaining that to support deeper cuts than initially proposed would mean destroying jobs. NYT reported: more »

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The country has been waiting for the promised action on jobs and unemployment since the new Congress came in. Nothing yet. We've had the show-vote on health care, we've had abortion, we've had silly conservative fluff bill after sily conservative fluff bill, but nothing at all on the important issue: JOBS!

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Slasher-Movie Economics

A vicious, savage, axe-wielding killer stalks the political landscape, yearning to draw blood, slash victims, and amputate limbs. That's not my description of austerity economics - that's how its fans talk about it.

"Austerity" is defined as "the trait of great self-denial (especially refraining from worldly pleasures)." Austerity economics, on the other hand, is the practice of denying others things that they need while at the same time ensuring your own continued privilege and comfort. This practice is usually accompanied by a round of self-congratulation for showing such courage and discipline. Its usually sinister spell has seduced Republicans into aiding and abetting felons with budget cuts that would make them de facto accomplices to a thousand crimes. And what the president's about to do will literally send chills down a million spines.

Anne Applebaum nearly worked herself into a case of the vapors when Austerians got elected in Great Britain, when she palpitatingly repeated the phrases used by journalists there to describe the new government's budget. The new British leaders, said journalists, were "axe-wielders" who were inflicting "vicious," "savage," and "swingeing (sic) cuts." (Is that what "bangers and mash" really means?)

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Much could be done to help state budgets and reduce unemployment. None of them will happen.

Business Week reports that President Obama is considering seeking aid for state unemployment insurance programs burdened by debt because of high unemployment rates. At the margin, no complaints here about the idea, but it’s fairly limited in scope and may not make that much of a difference.

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