I’m in the middle of a lot of (paid) work, so posting has been minimal. It may remain that way for a while. Plus, I find I have little to say I haven’t already said. However, a couple random thoughts:
1) the Budget. 100 million new stimulus, some tax cuts. Not awful. But like most of Obama’s initiatives, half-assed and won’t do the job.
2) the Teabagger “contract with America” makes two things clear. First, they want to repeal the 20th century, and second, they want corporate interests to take them for everything they have.
Mandos
Congratulations on getting paid work. Hope you’re having fun. In re budget, the administration is either lowballing (highballing) its forecast on unemployment, or it is signaling that it is giving up on re-election in 2012.
BDBlue
I suppose it’s too much to hope for the latter.
zot23
Obama’s motto should be, “Doing Awful, Slower” as that’s really what they are compared to King Bush.
The teabaggers? God help us all if they get someone in the WH.
xam
Plus, I find I have little to say I haven’t already said.
Isn’t that the way? Congrats on getting work.
But like most of Obama’s initiatives, half-assed and won’t do the job.
But technically correct. In some sense. We have boosted asset prices and since the rich own everything that fixes the economy. (I swear to God, that was the argument I saw.) We have to wait twenty years to fix everything so we can do something.
or it is signaling that it is giving up on re-election in 2012.
They’re improvising. Everything is OK, resume your duties, it’ll all be fine in the end. They’re committed to the path of George HW Bush, and whether that’ll make Obama the black Hoover, or the saviour of the Democrats from the ravings of the ‘rampaging new left/naderites/hippies’ is your call. He could, of course, split the diff. I think he’s basically irrelevant at this point.
First, they want to repeal the 20th century, and second, they want corporate interests to take them for everything they have.
They always want to repeal the 20th century. The interesting thing is whether or not the R’s can corral the revolt and narrow the thing down to just the equivalent of the Prop. 13, or what.
xam
[‘Or whether it breaks out and becomes something more.’]
tjfxh
1) the Budget. 100 million new stimulus, some tax cuts. Not awful. But like most of Obama’s initiatives, half-assed and won’t do the job.
The original estimate was a government contribution of 1.5 T. Christine Romer, I believe, put the low figure at 1.2 T. O went with .8 T ,and U6 was 17.3 in Dec. The rest of the this years budget and the proposal for next year aren’t enough to close the output gap and bring unemployment down significantly. The Dems are seriously in jeopardy of losing the House in ’10, and if they do, the GOP will tie them up completely and win the presidency and Senate in ’12. Nice work, folks. And they don’t even seem to see it coming. Time for a new crop. The good news is that a lot of them will retire when they are no longer in the majority, and the GOP will completely blow things up, burying Reaganism and setting the stage for a new FDR — or Hitler. This is still salvageable, but not under the freeze that O is proposing. Is it stupidity or insanity? You decide.
Bill Mitchell on the cost of unemployment
2) the Teabagger “contract with America” makes two things clear. First, they want to repeal the 20th century, and second, they want corporate interests to take them for everything they have.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people. Time to go underground or abroad to avoid the fall out.
Ian Welsh
I had work before, I just have (too much) right now. 🙂 However, money is good, etc..
tjfxh
Zot23: The teabaggers? God help us all if they get someone in the WH.
Wall Street won’t permit it. Look for someone like Jeb Bush to come out of the wings, if O starts to look weak. (Turns out that Scott Brown was backed by the Street in the MA election.) The GOP will do what it always does, pander to the base in the campaign and then government in the interests of the ruling elite.
Jeff W
tjfxh: Wall Street won’t permit it.
Exactly. Someone who’s sort of a loose cannon—like Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin—will be shunted aside for a Jeb Bush type.
Cujo359
tjfxh:
Pretty much like the Democrats, except for who is being pandered to.
Lex
It may somehow be grammatically correct, but “contract from America” doesn’t even make any goddamned sense.
BDBlue
I find the teabag stuff very interesting. Not the corporate, top-down astroturfing part (which is where the contract comes from). But the general anger and unhappiness with the GOP elite, which – like anger from the left at the Dem elite – is totally deserved. The question is whether having created this faux populist movement, the corporate GOPers can control it. I’m not entirely convinced they can.
Mandos
That last sentence scares me. For me the highest priority is staving off that reckoning for as long as possible.
Lex
Oh for sure, BDBlue, i have no doubt that the Right has created a monster it will lose control of at some point.
The anger on both sides is justifiable and right. The question is how to bridge the two poles of partisan politics in America? If it can be done, a great engine might come to life. Unfortunately, it won’t be as easy as bridging a starter motor with a screwdriver, but it could be just as dangerous.
Mandos
With emphasis on the “dangerous” part.
Ian Welsh
Can’t remember who, but someone once noted that the Democrats had ‘sold out to a slightly less scary selection of special interests than Republicans’.
Lex
Yes, emphasis on the dangerous part. As the sticker on the tractor clearly warns, beyond the loose electricity, it might be in gear when the engine comes to life and run my ass over.
max
tjfxh: Look for someone like Jeb Bush to come out of the wings, if O starts to look weak.
Rick Perry. No, Yes, I mean Rick Perry. He’s running. He’s going to get past Kay Bailey (dammit) because she’s got Debra Medina on her back. He keeps coming out on top in these three or four-way elections. Like the guy says: BRRRR.
max
[‘I wish they could’ve maintained the suspense about the outcome for another year or two at least.’]