Somehow, Washington has lost any sense of what’s at stake — of the reality that we may well be falling into an economic abyss, and that if we do, it will be very hard to get out again.
It’s hard to exaggerate how much economic trouble we’re in. The crisis began with housing, but the implosion of the Bush-era housing bubble has set economic dominoes falling not just in the United States, but around the world.
I think the Village
has every sense of what's at stake: The lifestyle to which they have become accustomed -- which depends on the cuts ("campaign contributions", "consulting fees") they extract from the revenues of the various parasites who extract fees from us ("rents"). Their concern is to keep the parasites firmly in place, feasting on us, so that they, in their turn, may feast on the parasites. That's certainly true for the two big issues of the day, health care and shelter; they're propping up the health insurance companies, and their business model of collecting fees while denying care, and they're propping up the banksters, with their business model of collecting the last penny from unsustainable mortgages so they don't have to open their books, meanwhile getting the taxpayers to pay their corpulent salaries.
What "we"?
The Village -- with a few honorable exceptions, all marginalized -- doesn't have anyone's interests in mind but its own. What "we"?
If there were a "we," the original TARP bill would never have given $700 billion to the banksters with no transparency and no accountability. The Democrats wrote and passed that bill -- the very same Democrats leading the party today: Obama, Reid, Pelosi. And they don't know how to write legislation that can be enforced to achieve its stated objectives? Pull the other one -- it's got bells on. It was looting, pure and simple.
What "we"?
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Krugman's tone
Krugman uses scary words sparingly. That he is doing so now suggests to me that he senses a very real and deep urgency on the matter. That is frightening.
Only tyrants rig elections.
Which is why
I'm currently not holding Obama's Fear Factor against him. This shit is scary, and the MoFo Repubs are fucking shit up.
I don't really think Obama's stimulus will work, but I hope it is a jumping off point, especially if Obama is learning TYCTR*!!
*That You Can't Trust Republicans.
He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
- Sir William Drummond
We should be scared
I don't hold his fearmongering against him, well, wouldn't if the bill wasn't likely going to fail (as per Krugman). He doesn't needs 60 votes and only an idiot would take the filibuster threat seriously. Clinton passed a budget with zero GOP votes and things worked swimmingly without 'em. hell, he even shut down government to prevent the GOP from passing some really bad economic stuff.
What bothers me is the lameness of the bill and having an almost completely one sided compromise. I'd be *less* upset about, say, cutting the contraceptives if he removed some of the tax cuts and put the money into, say, childcare or health care. The Dems should have *really really* loaded this bill with pork and used a trimming of the fat, so to speak, to negotiate. But nope. Idiocy. Plain and simple.
Only tyrants rig elections.
That is their vision
They're not incompetent. This is the outcome they desire. They are Lucy. We are Charlie Brown.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Yes, the Village wants economic disaster
They did it to us in Argentina in 2001 and now they're set to take out the United States. This idea that the corporate Village
and the GOP is just simply stupid, like the belief that Democrats are just too wimpy to stand up to the right, is a myth. They know what they're doing and they don't give a fuck. The two political parties are bought and paid for.
And they can be totally shameless because they never pay the consequences for their actions. If anything, they're rewarded for it. Even if some of them suffer some objective financial loss, relatively speaking, they'll be more powerful than ever since the rest of us will be wiped out.
Re: "cutting the contraceptives": Note how the Repubs have won
the language/framing war. Instead of calling the funding as it was designated, for family planning, even we fall into the Repub trap of calling it contraception funding. Actually, it was more money to the states for, iirc, Medicaid, and it permitted use for family planning.
So, beginning with whining about the -- gasp! contracpetion! oh, the sex implied! snigger, giggle -- funidng for condoms or whatever example they used to riducule family planning, the Repubs then moved on to getting rid of additional health insurance assistance to people laid off, then removed temporary access to Medicaid. Win for them. Loss for regular people needing help. Loss for Dems. Loss for Obama (in the sense that more and more of his supporters are seeing him willing to throw groups under the bus).
The Repubs masterfully used Obama's need for bipartisanship to paint not the Dems, but Obama as well, as weak and feckless. I've seen this movies far too often....
Kill this monstrosity and start over -- with clear input from Obama so he can't try to just float above it all like some Macy's balloon character.( I'm using that image to create the image of all the ropes and guide wires controlling Obama's moves.)
Your overall point is well stated and well taken.
According to this latest TPM post,
So Much For a Vote Today
Looks like Harry Reid is telling negotiators on the stimulus bill that if they're going to cut the size of the spending provisions, then they should reduce some of the tax cuts in the bill, too.
--David Kurtz
Let's see the republicans scream about that.
If I were Obama, I wld get a realistic bill drawn up, using the
Cassandra economists' advice, ensuring monies to state and local governments, monies to enhance healthcare, monies for mass transit and green infrastructure (and ongoing costs of mass transit)...I'm leaving some stuff out, but you get the picture. Good lib/prog programs which will put people to work and enable them to withstand the harsh times already here for some and coming for many.
'
Just ditch the Repub poison pill additions, meaning all their discredited tax cut crap.
Just Do It. Tell the Senate that as the bill stands, you will not sign it and demand something more rational.
Well, clearly, I am not Obama...nor is he likely to note our bloggy advice goodness. Sigh.
Then, pounds head on desk.