If the debt-limit debate had anything to do with reality, every story about it would include a few basic facts. Starting with: President Obama inherited a $1.2 trillion budget deficit. And: Republican leaders supported the tax cuts and wars that (along with the recession, another pre-Obama phenomenon) created that deficit. Also: Republicans engineered this crisis by attaching unprecedented ideological demands to a routine measure allowing the U.S. to pay its bills. Finally, Obama and the Democrats keep meeting those demands—for spending cuts, then for more spending cuts, and even for nothing but spending cuts—but Republicans keep holding out for more.
These are verifiable facts, not opinions. But since they aren’t new facts, and re-reporting them would make “GOP claims” about the crisis look, um, non-factual, they’re rarely mentioned, except as “Democratic claims.” This is a real problem for journalism in an era where—now this is an opinion—one of the major parties has abandoned its grip on reality. I understand why objective reporters aren’t encouraged to contradict political lies with historical truths, but this hostage drama is one of the prices of our era of amnesia.
Look, staying in opinion-land, I think this particular hostage drama could conceivably drive budget policy in a good direction. I’d love to see big cuts in spending on agriculture, housing and the military. We do need to restrain long-term Medicare and Medicaid costs, although there are better and worse ways to do that. There’s still a chance to eliminate ludicrous tax breaks for ethanol producers, private jet owners and hedge fund managers, maybe paired with an economy-boosting payroll tax cut to help Republicans honor their no-new-taxes pledges.
(MORE: As GOP Debt Plan Faces House Vote, Compromise Brews Behind the Scenes)
In other words, it’s at least possible that this crisis the Republicans created could have a beneficial effect. It’s also possible that this crisis the Republicans created could cripple the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, plunge the economy back into recession, and increase borrowing costs for just about everyone. But whatever happens, Republicans created this crisis. They blew up the debt. They refused to raise the debt ceiling without conditions. And because of their internal divisions, they can’t even decide what those conditions should be. They initially demanded a breakdown of 85% spending cuts and 15% revenue increases, before deciding the deal had to be 100% spending cuts. Some initially praised the bipartisan Gang of Six plan—until Obama endorsed it. Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a proposal for 100% spending cuts, all of which Republicans had already endorsed –until, of course, Reid proposed them.
I’ve made some of these points before. More than once, I suppose. But they seem quite relevant to the back-and-forth over the debt ceiling, which goes on every day even though those points don’t get repeated every day.
(MORE: With Debt Vote Looming, House GOP Tries to Repair Its Fractured Coalition)
I remember back when I was at The Washington Post, a guy named Matt Miller (unsuccessfully) pitched my boss about running a daily front-page feature called “Still True Today,” to inform readers about important facts that didn’t happen to be newsworthy that day. Miller’s plan wouldn’t really address the problem of a major political party creating its own fact-free reality. And I don’t know how many minds would be changed by constant reminders that President Clinton left behind a substantial surplus, that President Bush vaporized it into a gigantic deficit, that President Obama’s health care reforms will actually reduce the deficit.
But it does seem to be worth pointing out that those facts are still true today. Not that they seem to matter.
(MORE: Ron Paul, the Debt Ceiling and the GOP’s Apocalyptic Wing)
7/28/2011
Still True Today: Frequently Forgotten Facts of the Debt Debate | Swampland
A fascinating discussion of 3 ways Pres. Obama can override the Tea Party if they keep congress from raising the debt limit
7/26/2011
The Facts About Bottled Water [infographic]
7/25/2011
Chart Of The Day - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
It really is amazing that the Republican party is willing to stake everything on saving theBush-era tax cuts. As you can see here, they are the single biggest contributor to the national debt over the last 9 years.
The world's population, if as densely populated as...
Very interesting. I imagine that Staten Island and outer Queens probably throw the NYC numbers off a bit but its still amazing how much land we really have in this country.
Hat tip: http://gothamist.com/
7/24/2011
7/20/2011
Congress Continues Debate Over Whether Or Not Nation Should Be Economically Ruined | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Congress Continues Debate Over Whether Or Not Nation Should Be Economically Ruined
July 20, 2011 | ISSUE 47•29
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WASHINGTON—Members of the U.S. Congress reported Wednesday they were continuing to carefully debate the issue of whether or not they should allow the country to descend into a roiling economic meltdown of historically dire proportions. "It is a question that, I think, is worthy of serious consideration: Should we take steps to avoid a crippling, decades-long depression that would lead to disastrous consequences on a worldwide scale? Or should we not do that?" asked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), adding that arguments could be made for both sides, and that the debate over ensuring America’s financial solvency versus allowing the nation to default on its debt—which would torpedo stock markets, cause mortgage and interests rates to skyrocket, and decimate the value of the U.S. dollar—is “certainly a conversation worth having.” "Obviously, we don't want to rush to consensus on whether it is or isn't a good idea to save the American economy and all our respective livelihoods from certain peril until we've examined this thorny dilemma from every angle. And if we’re still discussing this matter on Aug. 2, well, then, so be it.” At press time, President Obama said he personally believed the country should not be economically ruined.
Why do comedy outlets do so much better of a job of explaining issues to the american public than 'news' organizations?
7/12/2011
General Motors and United Auto Workers union aim to prove they can build a profitable subcompact in the U.S.
Good on them! By reconfiguring to a smaller, better run plant, and by workers taking a pay cut, the groups feel strongly they've got a winner. So, folks, if your in the market for a Ford Fiesta (made in Mexico) or Honda Fit (China/Brazil), maybe take a hard look at the GM Sonic instead.
207 years ago today, Alexander Hamilton, by far the most important non-president in U.S. history, was murdered
Alexander Hamilton is my political hero. I agree with the large number of U.S. historians who view him as the most influential American never to be president, and more important in shaping our country than nearly any other founding father. In fact, its not hard to argue that outside of George Washington, he has the strongest claim to being the father of this country.
After reading an inordinate amount about him on the web, last year I finally finished Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, an absolutely mesmirzing biography. The book explains what a brilliant thinker and practical man he was. It details his amazing acumen in guiding the passage of the Constitution and in shaping U.S. economic and foreign policy. Put simply, he was George Washington's brain and right hand man.
He died young, either 47 or 49 years old, so its impossible to know what he could have accomplished had he lived as long as his fellow revolutionaries. But his being killed in a duel was one of the worst events in U.S. history.
If you'd like to know more about him, please do read Chernow's excellent book. But at the very least you can check out a few sites:
http://www.alexanderhamiltonexhibition.org/virtualtour/good.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Remembering-Alexander-Hamilton-207-Years-Later.html
7/11/2011
Republicans Walk Away from $4 Trillion in Spending Cuts
July 11, 2011
Republicans Walk Away from $4 Trillion in Spending Cuts
First Read: "Six months ago, how many Republicans would have believed: 1) that the Obama White House would have backed a plan to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years; 2) that the president would agree to link the debt limit to spending cuts; and 3) that Obama would put Medicare and Social Security on the table? The Tea Party and deficit hawks like Jim DeMint would have won the argument when it comes to debt, and they would have achieved something -- especially on Medicare and Social Security -- they'd probably never get under a Republican president, unless he or she had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. But Republicans walked away from the deal, because they wouldn't give up the one thing that Democrats were asking for in return: any increases in tax hikes for the rich."
This is exactly why the Republican party that we knew from Nixon through the elder Bush has died. At this point its hardly a cohesive unit at all, except that the 'old guard' are afraid of losing their seats, either to Democrats (in most places) or to the Tea Party (in the South and rural Midwest). If we actually see a real third party in the next few years, look back to moves like this to see how it finally happened.
BTW - this is a big win for President Obama politically.
