Category Archives: Blog & Guest Posts

Two scary economic charts

      31 Comments on Two scary economic charts

As if recent events haven’t created enough cause for #PANIC already, I’ve recently seen a couple of charts of economic data that really put things into (scary) perspective. One is the “real” monthly employment picture since 2009, subtracting out the 150,000 jobs that must be added per month just to keep up with population growth: Yikes. The other requires a… Read more »

Congress. EPIC FAIL. But I repeat myself.

      11 Comments on Congress. EPIC FAIL. But I repeat myself.

Doug Mataconis’s post on the infuriating FAA situation got me all fired up, and inspired me to do something I rarely do: write to my congressperson. Congresswoman DeGette, I am writing to express my absolute disgust with the ongoing situation surrounding the FAA’s lack of funding. I do not know your position on the issue, and thus do not presume… Read more »

Quote of the day

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“One of the most important things about this piece of legislation is that never again will any president, of either party, be able to raise the debt ceiling without being held accountable for it by the American people.” –Mitch McConnell, just now. Translation: henceforth, members of Congress, of both parties, will feel even more freedom to pass irresponsible budgets, pretending… Read more »

Deal reached; now what?

      17 Comments on Deal reached; now what?

President Obama, Speaker Boehner and Senate leaders in both parties have agreed to a deal that would effectively raise the debt ceiling through 2012 while enacting a mostly Republican-friendly package of spending cuts (and no new revenues). It would also set up a likely showdown in December over a second wave of deficit-reduction measures as recommended by a bipartisan congressional… Read more »

High drama on Capitol Hill as Congress ponders if America should pay its bills

Well, the House GOP has finished wasting the better part of a week on fantasy-land legislation so unrealistic and irrelevant to the final (necessarily bipartisan) resolution of this crisis, they might as well have tied a debt-ceiling increase to Frodo casting the Ring into the Fire. Obviously, the Senate immediately voted down the House’s non-starter of a ridiculous, designed-to-fail bill…. Read more »

Boehner secures debt-limit vote “win” by adding absurd fantasy-land provision

Seriously? Seriously? We’ve wasted three whole days, with national default* on our legal obligations mere days away, for this?!? House Republicans will link passage of a balanced-budget amendment to Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) last-ditch debt-ceiling plan, which GOP lawmakers said would move the measure to passage in a high-stakes vote later on Friday. … Republican lawmakers say the Boehner framework… Read more »