For Public, Tough Year Ends on a Down Note

Republican Split, Democratic Opportunity
Simon Johnson, the former chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, is the co-author of “13 Bankers.” An informative and potentially productive political debate has broken out over fiscal policy. But it is not between Democrats and Republicans — the leadership on both sides of the aisle is trying hard to agree that a moderate stimulus is worth the cost: increasing the National Debt by nearly $900 billion. And the new debate is not particularly due to the president...

Republican Split, Democratic Opportunity
Simon Johnson, the former chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, is the co-author of “13 Bankers.” An informative and potentially productive political debate has broken out over fiscal policy. But it is not between Democrats and Republicans — the leadership on both sides of the aisle is trying hard to agree that a moderate stimulus is worth the cost: increasing the National Debt by nearly $900 billion. And the new debate is not particularly due to the president...

Obama to blink first on Social Security (Politico)
The tax deal negotiated by President Barack Obama and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is just the first part of a multistage drama that is likely to further divide and weaken Democrats. The second part, now being teed up by the White House and key Senate Democrats, is a scheme for the president to embrace much of the Bowles-Simpson plan — including cuts in Social Security. This is to be unveiled, according to well-placed sources, in the president’s State of the ...

Free Markets and Safety Nets
An important point from David Leonhardt: It’s easy to look at the current debate and see an unavoidable trade-off between this country’s two economic traditions — risk-taking and security . But I don’t think that’s quite right. I think it is ultimately as misplaced as those worries about Social Security and Medicare equaling Bolshevism. Guaranteeing people a decent Retirement and decent Health Care does more than smooth out the rough edges of Capitalism. Those guarantees give

NHS wasting 50m a year on expensive insulin
If Republicans forget what their mission is in 2011, the British Newspapers offer plenty of reminders. From the Express: An NHS trust in Essex which hit the headlines over high death rates and filthy conditions has been issued with another reprimand by the health Watchdog. Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been warned over “major concerns” about the way it deals with serious untoward incidents, such as missed diagnoses. Inspectors from the Care Qua...

Tax-cut bill cruises through Senate; House vote set for Thursday
WASHINGTON — A far-reaching $858 billion tax plan negotiated by the White House and Republican leaders sailed through the Senate on Wednesday and was headed for a vote today in the House as lawmakers rushed to prevent a New Year's tax hike from striking virtually every American household. After a decade of partisan sniping over Tax Breaks enacted at the dawn of the George W. Bush Administration, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a plan to extend them beyond Dec. 31, voting 81-19 to keep t...

Republican Splits, Fiscal Opportunity
An informative and potentially productive political debate has broken out over fiscal policy.  Ironically, this is not between Democrats and Republicans - the leadership on both sides of the aisle is trying hard to agree that a moderate stimulus is worth increasing the National Debt by nearly $900 billion.  And the new debate is not particularly due to the Bowles-Simpson Bipartisan commission or other serious efforts to put the real math on the table; those technical discussions ...

The cost of the individual mandate
Image via Wikipedia IBD: Democrats insist that Spending Cuts won't erase the Budget Deficit, but they're wrong. Places to cut abound, starting with a big piece of ObamaCare. Earlier this week, a Federal Judge in Virginia ruled that the Individual Mandate requiring Uninsured Americans to buy Health Care coverage is Unconstitutional. But even before that opinion came down, the Congressional Budget Office had said the Individual Mandate is too costly. Well, not exactly "too costly." What the CBO ...

Pence Redefines Deficit: Only Number-Crunchers Think Tax Cuts Have A Cost
Pence Redefines Deficit: Only ‘Number-Crunchers’ Think Tax Cuts Have A Cost Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) made a bold attempt to redefine the word “deficit” last week during an interview on CNN, telling a perplexed John King that unpaid for tax cuts shouldn’t count as increasing the deficit. “I don’t think letting people keep their own money should be considered a deficit,” she said. It’s easy to dismiss Bachmann’s bizarre pronouncement as ju...

US-Obama Approval: 45% Approve, 48% Disapprove (NBC/WSJ 12/9-13)
After his party's midterm losses and with the Unemployment Rate still hovering around 10 percent, President Barack Obama might be down. But he's far from out -- especially when it comes to his prospects for re-election in 2012. That's the conclusion from the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which finds that the president's job Approval Rating has once again hit its Lowest Level; that more people believe the nation is on the wrong track than at any point in Obama's presidency; and that ...

Question Of The Day, Ctd
A reader writes: Megan asked, "On a reading of the commerce clause that allows the government to force you to buy Insurance from a private company, what can't the government force you to do?" The government forces you to do stuff all the time - they just use a different label: taxes.  For example, the government forces you to save for Retirement by paying Social Security and Medicare taxes every pay check.  In return you get a Pension and reduced rate Health Care from...

Does Peter Orszag Expose The Flaw In Liberalism?
Will Wilkinson sees Peter Orszag taking a job with Citibank as evidence of deep flaws within the liberal idea: In my opinion, the seeming inevitability of Orszag-like migrations points to a potentially fatal tension within the progressive strand of liberal thought. Progressives laudably seek to oppose injustice by deploying government power as a countervailing force against the imagined opressive and exploitative tendencies of market institutions. Yet it seems that time and again market institu...

David Leonhardt: Obama-Care on Same Level as Civil Rights
David Leonhardt is not happy with a judge’s ruling a vital part of Obama-care - the individual Insurance mandate - is Unconstitutional. In his latest front-page “Economic Scene” column, “In Health Law, Old Arguments Get New Airing,” the paper’s neo-liberal conscience on economic matters compared conservative opposition to Obama-care not only to past opposition to Medicare, but to opposition to Civil Rights for black Americans. “We are agains...

Senate overwhelmingly approves tax-cut deal
A far-reaching $858 billion tax plan negotiated by the White House and Republican leaders sailed through the Senate on Wednesday and was headed for a vote Thursday in the House, as lawmakers rushed to prevent a New Year's tax hike from striking virtually every American household. This Story Senate overwhelmingly approves tax-cut deal The Influence Industry: Tax-cut Legislation includes $55 billion in benefits for a host of industries Senate approves Tax Cut deal; House Dems weigh amending est...

Rising unemployment and inflation: Bah humbug!
IN RECENT months much of Britain’s economic news has been unexpectedly good. Though Inflation has been stubbornly high, The Economy has grown faster than predicted, employment has been rising and the jobless count falling. But this week brought unseasonal gloom as both Inflation and Unemployment climbed. Worse, the adverse trends look set to continue next year as a result of the government’s plans to slash the Budget Deficit. The rise in Inflation was hardly earth-shattering: consum...

S&P; says could downgrade Belgium within 6 months
Brussels | Tue Dec 14, 2010 7:03am EST Brussels (Reuters) - Belgium's failure to form a government since Elections in June threatens its ability to manage its Debt and could lead to a downgrade of its sovereign rating within six months, Standard & Poor's said on Tuesday. The strong warning to Belgium, which has a debt-to-GDP level of about 100 percent, places it firmly in the category of riskier states in the euro zone Debt crisis, with Greece and Ireland already receiving EU help and Por...

Democrats Pile On Earmarks Into Realm Of Total Insanity
This onslaught at the last minute by the Democrats is unforgivable. As others have observed, this is a political Battle of the Bulge! Here's an earmark table they call it.......FY 2011 Omnibus CJS Earmark Table 23 frickin' pages just for this one link alone. 18 million to Kennedy charities There's a separate table for just the agricultural Earmarks in the spending bill. This one runs 11 pages. FY 11 Omnibus Agriculture Earmark Chart OMG here is some more note the titles of these: FY 2011 Omni...

Rep. Pete Stark: Dangerous to America's Health: The Effects of Republicans' Push to Repeal Health Reform
Today I am releasing a report: "Dangerous to America's Health, the Republican Plan to Dismantle America's Health Care." The Affordable Care Act is already providing health coverage to Uninsured people with Pre-existing Conditions and young adults, and lowering drug costs for seniors. In time, it will help millions more. Yet Republicans fought us every step of the way and used every tool - including outright lies -- to try to kill health reform. The Republicans failed, but they won't give up. N...

White House to Hold Private Meetings on Health Care Law
Thursday, December 16, 2010 By Susan Jones (CNSNews.com) - Republicans are criticizing the White House for quietly inviting “industry stakeholders” to a meeting on Friday with Medicare chief Donald Berwick - the first of several private meetings on implementing the new Health Care law, The Hill newspaper reported. "We are kicking off a series of White House meetings between senior administration officials and healthcare providers to exchange ideas on areas in need of attention," the&#

Wow. Loser Lame Duck Wisconsin Dems Stunned
They even got a judge to let a legislator out of jail to try to ram through a last minute contract for State Employees--but the Dem Senate Majority Leader, who had lost his Reelection bid in November to Republican physician and surgeon Dr. Pam Galloway, voted NO. Absolutely amazing. Then the union called him a whore. Contract negotiations are usually a quiet affair, but Republican Gov.-elect Scott Walker ignited a bitter debate when he demanded la...

Wow. Loser Lame Duck Wisconsin Dems Stunned
They even got a judge to let a legislator out of jail to try to ram through a last minute contract for State Employees--but the Dem Senate Majority Leader, who had lost his Reelection bid in November to Republican physician and surgeon Dr. Pam Galloway, voted NO. Absolutely amazing. Then the union called him a whore. Contract negotiations are usually a quiet affair, but Republican Gov.-elect Scott Walker ignited a bitter debate when he demanded la...

FOMC statement
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November confirms that the Economic Recovery is continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring down Unemployment. Household spending is increasing at a moderate pace, but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Business spending on equipment and software is rising, though less rapidly than earlier in the year, while investment in nonresidential str...

Federal Reserve to stay the course
Published: Dec. 14, 2010 at 3:53 PM Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke departs after the Financial Stability Oversight Council held a meeting to discuss mortgage servicing and Foreclosure issues, and to vote on several resolutions to advance implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, in the Cash Room of the Treasury building in Washington on November 23, 2010. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve said Tuesday it would stay the course with a $600 billi...

Factory production, low prices provide boost for economy
WASHINGTON — The Economy appears to be settling into a period of moderate but enduring growth. Factories are producing more, retail prices are low, and malls are busy ahead of the holidays. Still, the Housing Market remains a major drag on the Economic Recovery. Builders, competing with millions of foreclosed properties, are pessimistic about their prospects over the next six months. The latest government and private-sector reports support a more optimistic but measured view that the econ...

Florida School Board Man Missed Killing
Dec. 16, 2010 Panama City: The Florida School Board man missed killing the Board Members on purpose says his wife, he just wanted to scare people. The Florida school board shooting of a man who entered a meeting complaining about higher taxes, took a gun out and started shooting needs to be investigated. The man Clay Duke a 56 year old gentle giant’s wife said he was standing up for her after she lost her job two years ago as a special education teacher. Duke shot a few rounds at School Bo...