TALK RADIO BAGGERS ARE THE WORST

I've tried engaging a few of them on this POLITICO thread and I am still amazed at their "epistemic closure."

BACK TO THE "U.S. AS A SINGLE FAMILY" METAPHOR

In addition to cutting back on expenses, a family would also look for new sources of income, such as the wife or husband taking a part-time job. In the country's case, this would be increasing tax revenue.

S & P BLAMED THE BAGGER POLITICIANS

I don't think there's another way to interpret this:

The downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges…

The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy. Despite this year’s wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge.

LET'S NOT CRY ABOUT THE CORPORATIONS

They haven't ever done this well...

The new figures indicate that corporate profits accounted for 14 percent of the total national income in 2010, the highest proportion ever recorded. The previous peak, of 13.6 percent, was set in 1942 when the need for war materials filled the order books of companies at the same time as the government imposed wage and price controls, holding down the costs companies had to pay.

I THINK THIS IS A GIMME

The Tea Party should be blamed for the S&P downgrade and I'm glad to see that the WH is trying to push this meme and from what I've read about foreign reactions, and even the editorial page of the WSJ, most people think the Baggers are "Nutters."

SAD BUT TRUE

(h/t Atrios)

President Barack Obama on Friday made his promised hard pivot to jobs, following up the morning’s news about a 10 percent unemployment rate by announcing $2.3 billion in tax credits for clean-energy jobs.

This particular Friday was in January 2010. :-(

BIGGEST DEBT CEILING LOSERS?

At least politically, it's the Baggers and also, I hope, their talk radio supporters. From the NY Times:

The public’s opinion of the Tea Party movement has soured in the wake of the debt-ceiling debate. The Tea Party is now viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of the public and favorably by just 20 percent, according to the poll. In mid-April 29 percent of those polled viewed the movement unfavorably, while 26 percent viewed it favorably. And 43 percent of Americans now think the Tea Party has too much influence on the Republican Party, up from 27 percent in mid-April.

"BUSINESSES DON'T PAY TAXES..."

they just pass on tax increases to consumers, or so goes one of the all-time favorite wingnut memes. Let's say that it's true and then ask the wingnuts why businesses then whine so much about taxes?

LEON PANETTA FORGETS ABOUT THE PEOPLE

Our new SECDEF is shocked that the Pentagon may account for significantly less than 40% of the world's defense spending but omits one important group of people:

Such cuts "I believe would do real damage to our security, our troops and their families and our military's ability to protect the nation," Panetta said.

"It is an outcome that would be completely unacceptable to me as secretary of defense, to the president and, I believe, to our nation's leaders," he said.

What about the American people, Leon?

ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE FAIL

This time Texas Gov. "Good Hair" Perry's invitation to Christians across America to come to Houston this Saturday to pray away America's problems.  So far, despite all the news coverage, only 8,000 have signed up.

THEN WHAT HAPPENED IN BRITAIN?

In ENDGAMES, Prof. John Gray points out that Thatcherism (1979-1990) - the Free Market Fairy approach to government - was a failure in Britain not because of events beyond Thatcher's control but precisely because of the social harm done by Thatcher's "reformations."

THE WAR WHORES ARE AFRAID

They worry that America's over 40% share of global defense spending may decrease.  Of course, they don't phrase their worries that way, they use agit-prop like "we would be fools to disarm ourselves" or " This approach risks grave damage to our national security."

MORE CONSERVATIVE DISHONESTY

Conservatives edited a clip of a WH press briefing to make it appear that NBC correspondent Nora O'Donnell referred to herself as part of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party:

It was a question asked repeatedly during today’s White House press briefing, but some conservatives are lashing out at CBS’ Norah O’Donnell for asking Press Secretary Jay Carney how the Democrats benefit, if at all, from the final debt deal. The controversy began with a post from Commentary Magazine entitled “CBS’s O’Donnell to Carney: ‘We Got Nothing,’” which was technically a correct quote, except Commentary omitted some key words preceding that statement: “You have Democrats saying…”

According to Mediate, John Podhoretz was the first to help spread this smear and it was also picked up by Breitbart and The Other McCain.

So far, the latter two have not offered a correction or retraction.

A BETTER NAME FOR "THE ESTABLISHMENT"

(h/t Avedon)
Because of the influence of the Free Market Fairy supporters, our elites can no longer be considered pillars of the community.  Instead, many of them are part of the "feral elite":

"Politicians, bankers and media moguls ... share a common culture in which greed is good, everyone takes their turn at the trough, and private interest takes precedence over the public good."

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE

Last Friday, War whore Laura Ingraham smacked down Grifter-in-Chief Sarah Palin because Palin wanted the Baggers to go the default route:

"You can stand on that soapbox and it might make you feel good in the moment. It make might you feel good to put out these Facebook postings," she said. "But in the end, does it actually advance your cause? And does it advance the cause of fiscal restraint, which I think we all have?"

On Monday, Mark "Foamer" Levin made the typical gasbag counter-attack on Ingraham without mentioning her by name, only as "a female host."

SORRY ABOUT YESTERDAY

I did some errands in the morning and afternoon and simply crashed after that.