Archive for July, 2011
Ring the Bells and Sound the Sackbuts or Something! We Have A Deal on a Deal! Probably!
Here we go…again. It looks like the debt ceiling circus may actually be at the end of the endgame. The President trudged to the microphone tonight and announced a debt ceiling deal with the Republicans. He also mumbled some stuff about evil rich people, but we’re pretty much ignoring that as reflex at this point. [...]
You Keep Using the Word “Austerity”. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.
Back in the early days of the debt ceiling circus, before it became a maze of twisty little deal offers, all alike, the left-wing site Talking Points Memo was all atwitter. The entire debate — not just a couple early conservative suggestions, but the whole thing — was the beginning of a new dark age, [...]
Clearing the Browser Tabs - The Fog of the Moral Equivalent of War Sunday Edition
As I wrote yesterday, we seem to be in the endgame portion of the partisan debt ceiling circus. It’s entirely possible that the whole deal will be finished some time tomorrow and all the made-up talk of crisis will fade until the next time there’s some need for a few partisan points. We’ll see. You’ll [...]
Don’t Get Excited, but We Could Have an Agreement Here (Corrected and Updated)
Here we go. ABC News is reporting tonight that Republicans have worked out a deal with the White House on a tentative debt ceiling agreement. The bullet points are: Debt ceiling increase of up to $2.8 trillion Spending cuts of roughly $1 trillion Special committee to recommend cuts of $1.8 trillion (or whatever it takes [...]
Ezra Klein Has A Magic Solution to the Debt Ceiling “Crisis”, but the Politics Make Him Sad.
You may think you have plumbed the depths of idiocy in the debt ceiling debate, but you have not. I warn you, if you continue to read this post, you will come across an idea so stupid that it may well blast large parts of knowledge from your brain that you may not be able [...]
Clearing the Browser Tabs - The Baddest MoFo Lowdown ‘Round This Town Saturday Edition
In a world where asking the President for his budget plan is a Republican talking point, encouraging your Twitter followers to spam your opponents then spamming then for four hours is a gimcrack PR maneuver. Note whose tweet is featured at the end of that article. Who am I? Who am I? I can’t hear [...]
Clearing the Browser Tabs - Mostly About Me Friday Edition
Now is the time at The Sundries Shack when we engage in blatant self-promotion! I started this week as the contributing blogger to the website Ending Spending. It’s a site devoted to, well, I think you can figure it out from the title. I’ll be writing about government spending, budgets, tax policy and all sorts [...]
That’s What You Said