The Left and Right, Both, Can Get on this Bandwagon (Guest Post)

I saw this yesterday on Facebook on economist, writer, professor Robert Reich's page:

The heads of government-controlled housing finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will each get whopping raises -- from $600,000 this year to $4 million next. Congress set up Fannie and Freddie so Americans could get mortgages more cheaply. In the financial crisis the agencies were bailed out with nearly $190 billion of taxpayer dollars, and taxpayers are still backstopping them. They’re overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, whose director, Mel Watt, just approved the pay raises.

Watt says the $4 million pay packages are necessary to keep the two heads, Timothy Mayopoulos and Don Layton, from bolting for the private sector (Mayopoulos has been complaining about his salary). Baloney. The President of the United States will get $400,000 this year; the Vice President, $233,000; Senators, $193,400; the Chief Justice of the United States, $258,100; Associate Justices, $246,800; cabinet secretaries, $199,700. We don’t pay any of them $4 million to keep them doing their jobs.

Mayopoulos (below, left) joined Fannie in 2009 as general counsel after being fired by Bank of America. When Layton joined Freddie in 2012 after retiring from J.P. Morgan, he called it “a great opportunity to participate in public service.” Which is precisely the point. If they’re public servants, they shouldn’t be paid a penny more than cabinet secretaries. If they’re not public servants, and if Fannie and Freddie are just like any private-sector mortgage lenders, these two agencies should be abolished.

That damn Obama

That damn Socialist/Communist/Kenyan Obummer.

First I saw this today:

Census: Poverty rate has first decline in 7 years

Then this:

CDC Study: Fewer Americans Now Without Health Insurance

And finally this from, of all places, business-loving, conservative Forbes Magazine:

The Federal Budget Deficit Has Disappeared.Really

It just keeps getting worse and worse.

Drives me nuts.

John Boehner sues the President

More of our imbalanced American priorities

Fifty States of Fear

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Federal Government shutdown

And weren't afraid to ask...

And one more thing:

This is and Republican-conceived, Republican-planned and Republican-executed Federal Government shutdown.

And no one else's.

How's this for irony?

To Congress right now, from the Gipper himself:

 

Here's hoping those chuckleheads in Congress will do the right thing and totally avoid any government shutdown.

 

President Obama's budget proposal

Click on picture for easier viewing, as ever.



The first one alone nearly makes it worthwhile, singularly.

The Republicans suddenly, amazingly admit we have no big debt crisis after all

The heads must be exploding all across America today, from Washington, D.C., out. I know mine certainly is.  Check out what came from the Sunday morning news programs today. First there's this:

John Boehner Tells ABC He Trusts Obama, Agrees Debt Is 'Not An Immediate Problem'

House Speaker John Boehner downplayed the national debt as a major problem for the country during his appearance this morning on ABC's This Week. Boehner told fill-in host Martha Raddatz that not only does he think the debt is not an immediate threat but that he trusts the president and that "they're trying to bridge some big differences."

And then closely followed by this one:

Paul Ryan Tells CBS' Bob Schieffer 'We Do Not Have A Debt Crisis'

Congressman Paul Ryan downplayed concerns that the United States is in the midst of a debt crisis on Face The Nation this morning by saying that the country hasn't arrived there yet because it is buoyed by factors unique to America. 

What on God's green Earth is going on in and with the Republican Party? First they say we're going to hell with debt and now their two leaders come out today, this morning, and say that's not the case at all. THEN WHY ARE THEY PUTTING US THROUGH THIS SEQUESTER??

What in the world is with the Repubs right now?  I can't believe Boehner and Ryan could or would both come out and say we're not that bad on debt right now since they've been screaming about it for what? years? All of a sudden, these people both sound like and agree with economist Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, who have been saying this FOR YEARS. Sheesh.  Hypocrisy, anyone?

If this is all true, then are we surely not, then, now very close to having these people compromise and get a budget for the nation?

I doubt it seriously but I certainly hope so and it seems as though, with these positions on both their parts, that's where we should be--on the cusp of getting a budget from Congress.

I wouldn't put money on it but geez, what other conclusion can you come to?

You have to excuse me now, I have to go do something for my exploded  skull.

On this week's sequester showdown

"The Republicans’ austerity economics and trickle-down economics are dangerous, bald-faced lies.

Yes, the pending spending cuts will hurt. But even if some Americans begin to feel the pain when the cuts go into effect Friday, most won’t feel it for weeks or months, if ever.

 Moreover, the blame game can be played both ways, and Republicans are adept at slinging mud. When it comes to high-visibility consequences of the spending cuts — such as a sudden dearth of air-traffic controllers — Republicans will dodge blame by happily giving Obama authority to shift spending and find the cuts himself, thereby making the White House appear even more culpable. Besides, there’s no end to this. After Friday’s sequester comes the showdown over continuing funding of the government beyond March 27. Then another fight over the debt ceiling.

The White House must directly rebut the two big lies that fuel the Republican assault – and have fueled it since the showdown over the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011.

 The first is austerity economics – the claim that the budget deficit is the nation’s biggest economic problem now, responsible for the anemic recovery. The second is trickle-down economics – the claim that we get more jobs and growth if corporations and the rich have more money because they’re the job creators, and job growth would be hurt if their taxes were hiked.

Unless these two lies are rebutted clearly and forcefully, the nation will continue to careen from crisis to crisis, showdown to showdown. And we will have almost no chance of reversing the larger challenge of widening inequality. The President has the bully pulpit. Americans trust him more than they do congressional Republicans. But he is letting micro-tactics get in the way of the larger truth. And he’s blurring his message with other messages – about gun control, immigration, and the environment. All are important, to be sure. But none has half a chance unless Americans understand how they’re being duped on the really big story." 

--Robert Reich, political economist, professor, author, and political commentator

Links:  Robert Reich

 Robert Reich - Wikipedia

Note to Republicans, from a stellar one of your own

Note to Republicans:  Surely you remember this famous, famous quote from one of the most revered Presidents, statesman and, yes, Republicans this nation ever knew?

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Surely your remember that, right?

 Do you not see--does no one in your political party see--that we we all, all of us, as Americans, have to work together for the benefit of the nation? Do you not see and know that we have to be Americans first and members of some political party, second?

Do you not see and know that?

This is especially true of our representatives in Congress. We must, must work together, as one people, Americans first and all, to compromise on the problems facing us and it certainly applies now, this year, and it absolutely must come about time and again this year for our budget debates.

Compromise isn't capitulation, ladies and gentlemen of the Republican Party. I say again (and again and again), we have to work together to solve our problems.

We just went through a fairly rough set of negotiations, just to get past the "fiscal cliff" Congress themselves created and that only they could fix. In the months ahead, there are at least 3 or four more of these negotiations we have to go through. Read: endure. It seems ever since the former Soviet Union collapsed, we have taken on, internally, people in our own country as our enemies, since our former enemy--the Communist Soviets--collapsed.

Our political party opposites are not our enemies.

They are our countrymen and women.

Fighting one another, from within, only strengthens those on the outside of the country, while it weakens us and our nation.

Don't you see that?

Link:  "House Divided" Speech by Abraham Lincoln

Congress, playing "chicken" with Americans, our economy and our collective futures

This whole "fiscal cliff" thing is nothing if not infuriating.

They created this entire mess, more than a year ago, they're the only ones who can "fix" it, yet they haven't, as we all are so painfully aware.

Now, here they are, at the last hour, trying to get a deal, a compromise, done.

In the meantime, they hold the American economy and this fragile recovery in their hands.

Idjuts.

According to Bruce Bartlett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bartlett) just now from his Facebook page, "...Republicans have torpedoed the last minute effort to avoid the fiscal cliff by demanding a permanent cut in Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries."

Nearly unbelievable.

If there's a "silver lining" to this economic cloud, if there's anything good about this whole sad, sorry mess, it's that the entire Congress--all its members--are in Washington right now, where they don't want to be, when they should be at home, with their families.

Happy new year.

Links:  http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/senate-leaders-still-have-no-fiscal-cliff-deal-time-running-out-senior-aide

http://news.yahoo.com/sen-charles-schumer-more-50-50-chance-reaching-164601600--abc-news-politics.html

Fiscal cliff negotiations stall in Senate

McConnell to Biden: We need your help

Note from America to the US Congress

Get back to work, you slugs.

First there's this one:

Alarm on Wall Street Grows as 'Fiscal Cliff' Nears

And then there's this:

US Nears Fiscal Disaster: ‘Washington Doing Nothing’

You created this mess and you, unfortunately, are the only ones who can fix it.

Get back to Washington and get back to work.

It's that simple.

Links: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49392277/Alarm_on_Wall_Street_Grows_as_Fiscal_Cliff_Nears

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49375694

While Rome burns, Congress fiddles

Americans, nationwide, being busy with trying to keep our jobs and homes and families and lives intact are, mostly, going on with our lives, of course but in the meantime, our own US Congress declared an 8 week vacation for itself and vacated Washington.

Wonderful.

Forget that the nation is facing a "fiscal cliff" that will hit us January 1--of their making--if they don't come up with a budget. Forget that.

They're going to come back right after the November election and have precious little time to do the rather huge job of working together and compromising to make that budget agreement so huge cuts aren't imposed.

In the meantime, there's little media coverage, really.

This, thankfully, broke today:


If Congress Goes Over The Fiscal Cliff, Here's How You'll Get Hurt At Tax Time (Link at bottom).

From the article:

If Congressional gridlock sends the U.S. government tumbling over the fiscal cliff later this year, Americans could face an average tax hike of almost $3,500 in 2013. Nearly 9 of every 10 households would pay higher taxes. Every income group would see their taxes rise by at least 3.5 percent, but high-income households would suffer the biggest hit by far, according to a new Tax Policy Center analysis.

And that's just a small part of what will happen if Congress doesn't get back to work.

From Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as reported from MISH'S Global Economic
Trend Analysis Blog:

"...the Congress and the Administration will soon have to address the so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of sharply higher taxes and reduced spending that is set to happen at the beginning of the year. According to the Congressional Budget Office and virtually all other experts, if that were allowed to occur, it would likely throw the economy back into recession. The Congress and the Administration will also have to raise the debt ceiling to prevent the Treasury from defaulting on its obligations, an outcome that would have extremely negative consequences for the country for years to come. Achieving these fiscal goals would be even more difficult if monetary policy were not helping support the economic recovery."

So, Congress, get busy.

Please get back to work, get busy and start compromising.

Links: http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2012/10/01/if-congress-goes-over-the-fiscal-cliff-heres-how-youll-get-hurt-at-tax-time/

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/10/bernanke-begs-congress-to-address.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis+%28Mish%27s+Global+Economic+Trend+Analysis%29


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/10/01/162088383/report-if-congress-ignores-fiscal-cliff-most-americans-will-pay-more-taxes

The Republicans are threatening--yet again--to take the nation to the brink of bankruptcy, all to "prove a point." (Click on picture for better viewing).

It didn't work for them--or the nation, certainly--last time.

It likely won't this time, either.

Here's hoping for some sanity, reason and logic from that group this time.

And now, the way Senators in Washington wasted their/our time and money this past week

I pointed out here, earlier, the way our Missouri State legislators wasted their/our time and money this past week. Now, from Washington:

Senators Seek To Name Bison 'National Mammal'

We've got thousands of important--really important--things the Senate could and should be working on like, say, a budget we haven't had for three years but what are they working on, instead?

Why, what our "National Mammal" is.

We have a horribly broken health care system they're responsible for; we have corporations running over the nation, stealing from us, individually as well as collectively and all kinds of, as I said above, real problems but this is the kind of nonsense they spend their time on instead.

Really.

There is no shame.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/25/bison-national-mammal_n_1546602.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

At last--a good idea coming out of Congress

Yes, sir, here it is. Finally, at last, a good idea in the form of a proposed and sponsored bill coming out of Congress. This one looks likely to get broad, bipartisan support, too, in this election year. It's called the "No Budget--No Pay" bill. It proposes that if Congress doesn't do one of it's biggest jobs--that is, creating a budget for the country and its government--that they don't get paychecks. Sounds like a marvelous idea, doesn't it? Go to this link to read about it and hopefully to send a note to your representative, telling them you support it and that they should, too: http://action.nolabels.org/issue/no-budget-no-pay/

Good news/bad news on the debt ceiling negotiations

The bad news is that those chuckleheads in Congress haven't compromised an intelligent solution for the nation so we can go forward with our business. The good news is that both chambers of Congress--the Senate and the House--have to stay in Washington again this weekend, working, until they get this hammered out. Hammerheads. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/vote-delayed-debt-bill-default-date-looms-010308473.html

We have got to stop ignoring the economists

Word from Washington on the budget negotiations today is that the desperate, pathetic Republicans have thrown yet another new wrinkle into the mix. Now they say they want a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget for the country. Yikes. If any of them would care to take a moment to poll a bunch of economists, virtually the entire consensus of them would tell the Republican leaders that for a nation, that is a patently bad idea. I'm not supporting runaway spending by any means, not at all and I'm not saying we can't or shouldn't cut spending or shrink government. (Really want to shrink government? Kill the Homeland Security Agency and cut defense spending by half. We need both). But a balanced budget for nations is a recipe for disaster as, again, ANY ECONOMIST WOULD TELL YOU. You want to kill a nation's economy? Require balanced budgets. Oh, and for evidence? Right before every large economic downturn of the last century ot two, we've had balanced budgets. Do we really want that? Links: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-adds-constitutional-amendment-budget-fight-190757159.html; http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/hanging-tough-with-keynes/; http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/11/17/nyts-krugman-think-economic-momentum-not-balanced-budgets/

Guest post: Today is the day, Washington

"I don't want an actual downgrade but I want Moody's to make noise about a ratings cut. I want the threat for the same reason I loved Bernanke calling the impact of a debt default a potential "calamity" yesterday. I want as many voices as possible telling Washington that pushing us towards a fiscal nightmare is unacceptable. Defaulting on our debts isn't about just a few people missing checks versus a few millionaires paying more taxes anymore. It's about national pride and our word being our bond. It's about all of us becoming deadbeats. Say what you will about Moody's past ineptitude; no matter how much you abuse ratings agencies I've almost certainly said something worse. But this time Moody's got it right. This summer, this moment, is a rare time when Americans can bond together and speak with a united voice. Join Moody's, stand with Bernanke, and link arms with me as we figuratively point our faces at Washington DC and rage against the political machine. Call your Congressmen and Senators. Tell him or her to just shut-up and do whatever needs to be done so America can avoid becoming a fiscal banana republic. Make this paralyzing national debate go away by avoiding a default and resulting downgrade. Get your act together or get sent home in 2012. It's really that simple." --Jeff Macke, "Breakout" Financial Blog Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/upside-usa-downgrade-threat-145945942.html%20;_ylt=AsrWvPtvA8hIVcm7YrA7ELy7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1ZWVyMms1BHBvcwM5BHNlYwN0b3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawN0aGV1cHNpZGV0b2E-?sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=

Note to Washington: MAKE A BUDGET DEAL

This is your job, people. This is what we voted you into office for. This is why you're in Washington. Like children in grade school, we, the citizens, expect you to get along. More than get along, we want, need and expect you to cooperate and--yes--compromise. You remember compromise, right? Check out this quote: "America has been writing checks based on her reputation rather than fiscal reality for years. We don't want to take that first downgrade if it can be avoided, and luckily in this case, it can be. Once the U.S. is downgraded there's no going back. Like a reputation, credit takes a lifetime to build and a moment to ruin. If the U.S. actually gets downgraded we may as well be Italy in terms of the global economic picture." So to all the government representatives in Washington right now, hear this. We want and need you to make a deal. Both sides, both political parties. The House of Representatives, the Senate, the White House and President, all of you. This is not some game you're "playing to win." This is our country. This is our lives. Do it. As they say on TV, "Make it happen!" Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/upside-usa-downgrade-threat-145945942.html%20;_ylt=AsrWvPtvA8hIVcm7YrA7ELy7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1ZWVyMms1BHBvcwM5BHNlYwN0b3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawN0aGV1cHNpZGV0b2E-?sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=