Month: June 2011

In a Decent World

jeffmiller:

Let me see if understand this:  You originally posted a quote that suggested we’re living in a conservative dream-world in which government has shrunk over the past two years, and that this has caused economic stagnation.  Now you’re arguing that things have gotten better these last two years because of Democrat policies.  I don’t think there’s a consistency here, but I have to tip my hat to the partisan dexterity.  

In, as Yglesias likes to say, a “decent world,” we’d all agree that (1) a job loss chart can’t tell the whole story of the economy, (2) the job loss chart doesn’t reflect the number of people who have given up and dropped out of the labor market, and (3) throwing red and blue colors on a chart doesn’t mean you’ve shown causation. 

Nope. I’m pretty clearly pining for a world in which the media questions conservative desires and their likely outcomes based on real world observations. How’s austerity working out in the UK? How’s government-based job loss affecting our larger economy, re: the jobs chart? Why do you think more job loss at the hands of state and local cutbacks will magically create jobs when, in fact, more people will be out of work and have no money to spend in the broader economy? That sort of thing.

I’m also saying that in a world with larger implementation of “Democrat policies” that the jobs graph would look better than it does. That’s not “partisan dexterity,” it’s cold reality. Government funded jobs are jobs. Period. People are employed to do something and receive a paycheck. That money feeds back into the larger economy. As the private economic situation improves, those government backed jobs can begin to taper. It’s no coincidence that the steepest climb in that chart is also the period of highest government stimulus and the graph flattens as the stimulus ends.
Predictably, we’re also seeing exactly this model play out in the auto industry. Government directly funds US auto companies. Those companies and their suppliers remain in business. People are employed. Conditions improve. Companies repay government and go their merry way. And but also: no Serious People seem to notice. Ever.

Far from it. The conservatives and their media enablers act as if none of this has transpired. Cuts today, cuts tomorrow, cuts forever! Couple that with some high income tax breaks and a ban on abortions and the country would start to grow again! Huzzah!

In a Decent World

jeffmiller:

lemkin:

“…in a decent world, conservatives would be forced to acknowledge that these are the [employment] results they claim to want. The private sector’s not being held back by the grasping arm of big government. Government is shrinking. And the shrinking of the government sector isn’t leading to any kind of private sector explosion. It’s simply offsetting meager private sector growth. Indeed, I’d say it’s holding it back. Fewer state and local government layoffs would mean more customers for private businesses and even stronger growth on the private side.”

— **Matt Yglesias**, pining for a decent world. That sort of attention to detail would require the media to leave critical questions about Weiner’s penis on the cutting room floor. I don’t think *anyone* wants to live in an America that’s like that.

What’s sad about this is that Yglesias knows he’s being disingenuous.  He knows the the size of government isn’t measured by the number of people it employs.  He knows that federal spending has increased substantially during Obama’s presidency.  He knows that federal contractors are counted in the private sector employment numbers.  He knows that there are more, not fewer, regulations now than there were two years ago.  He knows that there are more, not fewer, laws on the books now than there were two years ago.  

Democrats had control of this country for two years, and things are terrible.  I understand it’s the job of the political hack to spin this as a Republican failure, but it isn’t one.  In a decent world, Yglesias would acknowledge this.

Indeed, our troubles began on Jan 19, 2009 and haven’t improved a whit since. Goddamned Democrat monsters:

…in a decent world, conservatives would be forced to acknowledge that these are the [employment] results they claim to want. The private sector’s not being held back by the grasping arm of big government. Government is shrinking. And the shrinking of the government sector isn’t leading to any kind of private sector explosion. It’s simply offsetting meager private sector growth. Indeed, I’d say it’s holding it back. Fewer state and local government layoffs would mean more customers for private businesses and even stronger growth on the private side.

Matt Yglesias, pining for a decent world. That sort of attention to detail would require the media to leave critical questions about Weiner’s penis on the cutting room floor. I don’t think anyone wants to live in an America that’s like that.

2.96

Emphasis added:

…if even 1/50 of the austerity-induced decline in current output flows through to reduce the economy’s productive potential, that austerity today worsens the debt burden.

This is an unusual result: it applies only to a country with a substantial fiscal multiplier that can fund its debt at very low interest rates. But we are a country with a substantial fiscal multiplier that can fund it’s debt at very low interest rates…

Indeed we are. But no one seems interested in noticing. We can borrow against a 10-year Treasury at a 2.96% yield. The money behind that rate is clearly not concerned with either deficits or the capability of the United States to meet the debt incurred by their purchase yesterday or all the days before that. As Jared Bernstein notes, the current “budget math” still strongly favors a jobs target and not a deficit target.

This is very simple stuff. How many ways do you have to prove that cuts today worsen our long-term fiscal situation before somebody with a D after their name starts talking about this in a compelling, no-nonsense fashion? We can borrow, cheaply, and those dollars (when pumped into the economy) would hasten the closing of our current output gap. This would simultaneously a) obviate the need for further borrowing, b) close the revenue shortfalls of Great Recession, and c) coupled with a do-nothing legislative approach relative to the Bush tax cuts would almost entirely close the existing budget deficits within a few years.

But, by all means, let’s go on pretending that deep, punitive cuts to the social safety net and eliminating access to abortions are the only Serious Person positions possible given the current situation.

2.96

Who has egg on their face if there is a sovereign debt crisis, House Republicans or the president?

A “Senior GOP Lawmaker,” making explicit the GOP’s intention to shitcan the sovereign debt of the United States in the hopes of short-term political gain. Make no mistake, they plan to default. They think it’s a good idea. It’s the only way they can imagine winning the White House in 2012; they’re sure as hell not going to get there on the back of their brilliant “end Medicare, give proceeds to the rich” gambit. Default is the plan, was the plan, will always be the plan.
And, no, they haven’t considered whether it will be worth winning executive leadership of a country utterly crippled by a combination of existing debts and the inability to borrow on the global markets (such as they will even exist after default) for eternal wars and deep tax cuts for the wealthiest. They’re not big thinkers in the GOP. In fact, they are actively and openly against thinking about anything. So that’s just the sort of governance we’re going to get from President Bachman, elected in a landslide post default and post economic apocalypse.
Source: politico.com

The governor does not reimburse for security and travel. The use of air travel has been extremely limited and appropriate.

Kevin Roberts, spokesman for Chris Christie, responding to this clear misuse of a federally funded helicopter to fly Christie to his son’s little league game.
Again: we’re supposed to be happy that he didn’t take the car to another, smaller helicopter that could then deposit him directly adjacent to his seat. Really, the only sensible way I see for him to claw his way out of this kerfuffle is through deep cuts to Medicaid and infrastructure investments concomitant with a hefty tax cut for the super-rich. It’s the Serious Thing to do.

Paul Cryan

Paul Ryan, at the GOP meetup with Obama: Mr. President, the demagoguery only stops if the Leaders stop it. [GOP attendees give standing ovation]
Paul Ryan, immediately BEFORE said meeting: it’s Obamacare itself that ends Medicare as we know it. Obamacare takes half a trillion dollars from Medicare — not to make it more solvent but to spend on this other government program, Obamacare. And then it creates this 15 panel board of unelected, unaccountable, bureaucrats starting next year to price control and ration Medicare for current seniors.
Paul Ryan on Morning Joe: The president and his party have decided to shamelessly distort and demagogue Medicare
Paul Ryan, 2009: [the ACA will] take coverage away from seniors, […] raise premiums for families, [… and] cost us nearly 5.5 million jobs. [… It’s] a government takeover of healthcare [that will] lead to rationing [and a] European social welfare state.
Lemkin: Paul Ryan, serial liar and ruthless demagogue. And considered the Serious Adult of the GOP. A real policy wonk, that one…

To the ChristieChopper!

Turns out getting Chris Christie to little league games is a National Security Issue:

Gov. Chris Christie arrived at his son’s baseball game this afternoon aboard a State Police helicopter […] the 55-foot long helicopter buzzed over trees in left field, circled the outfield and landed in an adjacent football field. Christie disembarked from the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about a 100 yards to the baseball field.

I guess we should be happy the car didn’t take him to another, smaller chopper that could land on the dugout or somesuch.

As for the chopper, it’s one of two $12.5 million helicopters purchased for the state police. The intention was to use them for “homeland security duties and transporting critically injured patients.”

GOP: trusted on the economy and National Security. Who among us doesn’t rest assured that the GOP is always taking the common sense line on spending and the appropriate limits of government. Thank FSM that folks like Christie are out there on the ramparts, Defending Freedom with Our Tax Dollars.

Keep in mind, this is the guy the GOP Commentariat are begging to get into 2012. Need more helicopter fuel? Chris Christie suggests we cut Medicaid or dump infrastructure projects. These are, after all, the only reasonable, Serious Person approaches to funding the truly important things in life.

To the ChristieChopper!

I’m not for profiling people on the color of their skin, or on their religion, but I would take into account where they’ve been traveling and perhaps, you might have to indirectly take into account whether or not they’ve been going to radical political speeches by religious leaders. It wouldn’t be that they are Islamic. But if someone is attending speeches from someone who is promoting the violent overthrow of our government, that’s really an offense that we should be going after — they should be deported or put in prison.

Rand Paul, detailing the long-held libertarian philosophy of arbitrarily limiting speech by jailing those who might have paid attention to such forbidden speech or otherwise come into contact with any kind of inconvenient political speech.
Breathtaking.
Source: thinkprogress.org