Month: June 2010

Austerity Pimp Show Part III

by digby

Dday was at the Pete Peterson Austerity Pimp Revue in LA today and so (unlike me, who blogged it in my pajamas with a cat on my shoulder) went in person and got his hands on the written materials. His full report is here, but this part is particularly interesting:

The entire event was absolutely designed to create a panic about the deficit among the participants. Slickly produced scare videos talking about the dire straits of the budget were prevalent. Multiple charts and graphs without precise numbers or percentages were handed out. Speakers discussed how “most Americans are concerned about the deficits and debt,” and how we cannot grow our way out of the problem. The current state of the economy, which needs an increase in aggregate demand, mostly in the form of government spending, to avoid a relapse into recession, got a short mention at the beginning of the discussion, an inclusion which seemed forced and tacked-on. Overall, there was about 15 minutes of discussion of the current economic problems, and 5 hours on the deficit. Organizers stressed that their solutions are designed to kick in after the country hits recovery, but the compounded effect of stressing deficits over and over is undeniable. There was no slick video about the need for economic recovery, put it that way.

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“Everything must be on the table,” said David Walker, and while everything certainly was at the meeting, it was tilted in a particular direction. The meeting was designed to provide an outline of the fiscal challenges of the nation, and offer solutions for how to meet it. But all the solutions were very prescribed and very narrow. An authoritative “Options Workbook” sets out potential budget solutions, on the spending and revenue side. 28 pages cover spending cuts, 15 pages cover revenue solutions. And the very first pages of the workbook talk about cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. While the workbook has pages and pages describing the health care system, the final menu of solutions simply list amounts of percentage cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, without mentioning how to achieve those cuts. The options to “achieve savings” in the program include means-testing, raising deductibles and co-pays, increasing the Medicare eligibility age, limiting Medicaid eligibility and voucher-izing Medicare. There are no progressive solutions nor is there anything close to the potential savings achieved in the Affordable Care Act, things like health IT and bundled payments and increased efficiency. On Social Security, a more precise menu of options is offered, but so is a drastic description of the solvency of the program, without one mention of the trillions of dollars of surplus in the Social Security trust fund. The options in the workbook include raising the retirement age, cutting benefits through indexing or straight cuts, raising the payroll tax, raising the “limit of taxable earnings” (but not just eliminating the limit) and “creating personal savings accounts within the system,” the language of which has been taken completely from Republican Paul Ryan’s “roadmap” budget. When the workbook finally gets around to tax increases, the language in the text constantly goes back to how taxing wealthier Americans would “reduce incentives for work and savings.” At one point it says that “Tax increases on upper-income Americans will discourage work and penalize success.” It talks about raising the corporate tax rate but not the effective tax rate, as in reality many corporations pay nothing in taxes. And writing about deductions, little in the workbook talks about the vast amount of subsidies for corporations and, for example, Big Agriculture. Only two specific corporate deductions, for depreciation for equipment and for producing goods in the US, get a mention. That a financial transactions tax makes it into the document (literally as the last option) is surprising, but predictably, the workbook says it could “move stock transactions to other markets.” Growing the economy and the effect of job creation on revenue appears nowhere in the document.

Dday also concurs with my earlier impression that this was a very slickly designed program to steer people worried about the economy toward cuts in the safety net, which we all know is the real purpose of this thing. (It’s amazing what a billion dollars can do…) The people who attended were mostly earnest, decent citizens who are legitimately worried about the future of this country. And they are being led very methodically into a belief that the biggest threat to that future is government spending on social programs.

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Enviroterror

by digby

The right wing is in full dudgeon over a rumor that the oil covered judge who lifted the offshore drilling moratorium is getting death threats from environmentalists (fully aired with no proof here, by Fox News. You have to see it to believe it.) It’s amusing that the people who vote for someone who says things like this should be calling for the fainting couch, but there you have it:

I don’t know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that’s been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in – engage in violence.

If you watch the Fox video, you’ll notice that they do hedge just a bit by qualifying their horror at judges getting death threats with “judges who make the right decision” so perhaps there’s no hypocrisy here after all. They just think people shouldn’t threaten to kill conservative judges.

What’s more interesting about this from what I read on my short sojourn into wingnut blogs is what appears to be a desperate desire to find some equivalence in cuckoo-land on the left: they are all assuming these alleged death threats are coming from “enviro-terrorists.” Neil Cavuto, being fair and balanced as usual, says that you can’t prove it’s environmentalists” but he helpfully adds that environmentalists have been known to do such things and showed pictures of burning buildings. For context, dontcha know. Limbaugh has previously floated the idea that environmentalists started the spill, so I suppose this isn’t really new. But I’m getting the feeling that the enviro-terrorist meme may be something the wingnuts are very hopeful will take off.

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Blue America Chat With Michelle Bachman’s Worst Nightmare

by digby

Now at C&L.

Howie sez:

And today we’re going to meet state Senator Tarryl Clark (below in the comments section), a hard working leader with a proven track record who would be a great candidate whether she were running against Michele Bachmann, or just some garden variety Republican.

People say this suburban/exurban district mostly north of the Twin Cities is too red for a Democrat. But that isn’t true. Bush won it in 2004 with 57% and 4 years later McCain took 53% but, the district has also voted to elect Amy Klobuchar to the Senate– and against Mark Kennedy, the kook who represented the district before Bachmann. And in the 15th senatorial district near St Cloud, the part Tarryl represents– and which was a GOP bastion before she came along– the vote totals in that 2006 race were very interesting. Because she knows what it means to work hard and work smart, and with a very committed Wellstone-style of campaigning, Tarryl outpolled everyone on the ballot:

Clark 15581 (56.30%)
Klobuchar 14980 (53.45%)
Pawlenty 14307 (51.1%)
Wetterling 13082 (46.81%)
Bachmann 12542 (44.88%)

MN-06 has the most devastating unemployment rate in Minnesota and the worst foreclosure crisis in the state. But Bachmann has neither understood nor been sympathetic to her constituents finding themselves in a jam because of the vicissitudes of an economy buffeted by disastrous conservative ideological experimentation. She has not only not contributed to finding solutions to these very real problems, she has tried to capitalize of politicizing them.

Tarryl’s reaction, as a state legislator, has been the exact opposite. Instead of running around the country and ranting and raving at tea parties, she proven herself an effective leader for the people she represents, working to secure the funds to upgrade the facilities at Saint Cloud State University, working to ensure Central Minnesota’s nursing homes are paid fairly, working to establish a special law enforcement unit to fight gang activities in Central Minnesota.

Tarryl’s been a champion for issues including early childhood and higher education, health care, serving veterans, protecting Minnesotans from predatory lenders, and investing in the local communities that make America strong. Because of that her colleagues elected her to serve as the Senate’s Assistant Majority Leader. Bachmann’s colleagues have recognized her as a clown and have tasked her with going on Fox to stir up divisiveness and animosities.

Come on over and meet Tarryl Clark.

Tarryl is the newest member of the Blue America family. If you can volunteer for her campaign, there’s a sign up form here and if you can help the campaign financially, she’s on the Blue America endorsed candidates list.
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America Shrieks, Part II

by digby

Blah, Blah, Blah we are diverse, everybody’s represented!(Again, except those who already know that this deficit reduction scam is designed to destroy the social safety net.)

After acknowledging that they are going to spend the rest of the day talking about how to cure the long term deficit, they’ve allotted 8 minutes for people to talk about their greatest concerns about the economy today, so that’s good.

People are saying unemployment, over-regulating, “self-serving politicians”, offshoring jobs, corruption, education, education, education, “crisis will be a screen for privatizing our public institutions,” end of valuable services, homelessness, affordable housing, funding for the poor, late stage imperial stagnation, regulatory framework that holds people accountable, government should create jobs short term.

Then they did some quick polling. While people were answering the questions they played some music. They asked if the economy was getting better or worse and then played the song “Here Comes the Sun.” (Most people answered worse, btw.)

The next question was “How supportive are you of unemployment and stimulus for the states. The song was “Money, Money.” The result was: 32% supportive, 19% somewhat supportive, 11% neutral, 12% somewhat unsupportive, 26% unsupportive

(one of the national moderators commented tha this was a very difficult problem for the congress…)

Do you think the govt should be doing more or less to support the economy?(The song was the Rocky theme “Getting Strong Now ….”)The results were

Govt should do more: 62%
Less: 25%
same:16%

And that was that — the sum total of the discussion of the current economy.
Now they are now going to ask people to talk about their values and question them.

Very clever.

Soon, everyone will understand that caring about old and sick people comes at the “expense” of the well and young people and we can start to make some important “choices.”

Update: Some comments from the first part of the discussion:

“It’s not constitutional for the government to take care of anybody” “When should we help someone who bought a home they couldn’t afford?” “People that have the capacity to be able to pay should pay” “Get rid of tax exemptions” “We can’t keep up saying that people who are successful should pay more but those who aren’t successful should pay nothing” “We have a system where it’s winner take all, taxes on high income people are lower than anywhere else in the world””I believe that everyone should share equally in reducing the deficit” “I don’t feel our upper classes are overtaxed and I think the federal government should carry a heavier burden” “people should volunteer because this is a great country and we can do this” “everyone is responsible for themselves”

People have an instinct to try to be “somewhere in the middle” on these questions and I expect that means we are going to see the middle subtly moved over the course of the day.

And, as is usual, the bullies in the groups talking about this are the wingnut assholes.

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AmericaShrieks

by digby

If you can stomach it, you can watch or listen to the Pete Peterson Austerity Pimp Event here, live.

Turns out there’s nothing to worry about. David Walker just said, “Fiscal responsibility and social justice are not mutually exclusive.” Whew.

A person from the MacArthur Foundation then explained, “our country is facing a terrible challenge,we need to do everything possible to put people back to work, but we need to start talking now about unsustainable deficits… if we start talking about it now we’ll be able to move quickly once the country is strong.”

Apparently, someone forgot to tell this person that the Senate just failed to extend unemployment insurance and aid to the states because of this fetish for deficit reduction.

They are very proud that this group is so very diverse and bipartisan — except, of course, for anyone who understands that a concentration on deficit reduction right now means that this country is likely going to suffer a lost decade of growth — as a best case scenario. The worst case scenario isn’t something we want to think about.

Everyone involved is either deluded about how politics works or is a cunning liar. This is one of the greatest scams ever perpetrated on the American people by their wealthy owners.

Now they are all asking for applause for their “funders.” LOL.

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Chamber’s Head Explodes

by digby

This interview with the head of the Chamber of Commerce on the Fin Reg bill is the most positive take on the bill I’ve seen. In other words, he really, really hates it — says it’s going to cost jobs, jobs, jobs.

Watch the latest news video at video.foxnews.com

(Interestingly, he does break with the Republicans by saying that they need to extend unemployment insurance. He also says that the states should starve though, so he’s still an idiot.)

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What He Wants

by digby

Huckleberry Graham explains that he can’t support climate and energy legislation as long as the oil spill makes it impossible to pass legislation that will cause more catastrophically destructive oil spills. After all, it’s often difficult to get people to agree to drink poison while they are still lying in a toxic pool of vomit:

The South Carolina senator candidly said the ongoing Gulf oil spill precludes him from rejoining any such negotiation for months.

“I will work with the president, Democrats and Republicans to come up with an energy policy, but I’m not going to it in the middle of an oil spill when the political environment doesn’t favor what I want,” he told WVOC radio in South Carolina. “I’m not going to do it between now and November when the oil spill dominates the politics and headlines.”

But just as soon as they get this little Gulf problem mopped up, he’ll be right back in there playing his very special role as chief backstabbing phony of the GOP.

I really, really hope that people understand now that Graham’s lugubrious paeans to moderation notwithstanding, he is a harcore partisan piece of work who isn’t trying to “cut deals” or form consensus. He wants offshore drilling, period. That’s what he’s always wanted. He just said it right out loud.

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Repeal Appeal

by digby

Jed Lewison at DKos is featuring a very interesting admission from Marco Rubio about the healthcare bill in which he supports the law’s requirement that insurance companies must accept people with pre-existing conditions. Lewison focuses on the fact that Rubio will face some blowback from the teabaggers because they will stand for nothing less than full repeal of the healthcare reform, but also writes this:

By supporting the ban on pre-existing conditions, Rubio is implicitly supporting the individual mandate, because you really can’t have one without the other without creating an enormous moral hazard. (If there weren’t a mandate, it wouldn’t make sense to get coverage until you needed it, but if everybody followed that practice, the entire system would break down.)

Obviously, Rubio would never admit he supports the individual mandate, but if he doesn’t repeal the ban on pre-existing conditions, he’s not going to repeal the mandate either.

I’m not sure that’s true. They could easily support the ban on pre-existing conditions and repeal the individual mandate as long as they removed the mechanisms that regulate the cost of premiums. In other words, all they have to do is tell the public that the law requires insurance companies to cover everyone but “the market” will decide prices. The way around this moral hazard it to force people who wait until they get sick to buy insurance to pay gigantic sums to buy into the system (rich people) and simply allow those who don’t have the money to die. That destroys health care reform while allowing the Republicans to back the “popular” pieces of it. After all, it’s not like the insurance companies are denying anyone health care, they are just letting “the market” be the decider on the costs. It’s the American way.

You can be sure that whatever “repeal” looks like it will keep the things people like on paper and gut the mechanisms that allow them to exercise them. That’s the Republican definition of progress.

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Highway To Hell

by digby

Pete Peterson Highway To Hell Austerity Pimp Tour comes to a Townhall near you:

This Saturday an organization called AmericaSpeaks is sponsoring a “National Town Meeting” on the budget deficit in twenty cities. Although organizers claim to be non-partisan, a review of their materials reveals an ideological bias in some key sections — a bias that’s likely to manipulate attendees into “spontaneously” deciding that the social safety net must be cut (with some limited tax increases possibly thrown in for camouflage.)

AmericaSpeaks (the odd formatting is theirs) is part of a well-coordinated media campaign. It’s no coincidence that the self-described centrist group Third Way sponsored an event this week in Washington, just before this “town meeting,” which also emphasized “defeating the deficit.” That event was called “Back in Black,” which happens to be the name of a song by rock group AC/DC. Given what’s likely to happen if we slash spending even more in this troubled economy, they might have done better to name it after another one of the band’s favorites: “Highway to Hell.”

The “town meeting” is being touted as a politically-neutral chance for people to be heard but, while their materials are genuinely objective in some places, the presentation is manipulative in others. “America” may “speak” on Saturday, but organizers seem to be writing its script, encouraging participants to make the right statements for media consumption. The objective may be to promote the idea that “ordinary Americans” are more worried about the deficit than they are about jobs, health coverage, or financial security.

Read on for the horrific details. I will likely attend the one in LA. if you are near one, it would be very helpful if some of you went as well and reported back.

It’s going to be a long hot summer.

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Protecting Themselves

by digby

The sea creatures are all starting to show up close to shore in the Gulf:

The animals’ presence close to shore means their usual habitat is badly polluted, and the crowding could result in mass die-offs as fish run out of oxygen. Also, the animals could easily get devoured by predators.

“A parallel would be: Why are the wildlife running to the edge of a forest on fire? There will be a lot of fish, sharks, turtles trying to get out of this water they detect is not suitable,” said Larry Crowder, a Duke University marine biologist.

The nearly two-month-old oil spill has created an environmental catastrophe unparalleled in U.S. history as tens of millions of gallons of have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Scientists are seeing some unusual things as they try to understand the effects on thousands of species of marine life.

So where are the pictures?

Day by day, scientists in boats tally up dead birds, sea turtles and other animals, but the toll is surprisingly small given the size of the disaster. The latest figures show that 783 birds, 353 turtles and 41 mammals have died — numbers that pale in comparison to what happened after the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989, when 250,000 birds and 2,800 otters are believed to have died.

Researchers say there are several reasons for the relatively small death toll: The vast nature of the spill means scientists are able to locate only a small fraction of the dead animals. Many will never be found after sinking to the bottom of the sea or getting scavenged by other marine life. And large numbers of birds are meeting their deaths deep in the Louisiana marshes where they seek refuge from the onslaught of oil.

“That is their understanding of how to protect themselves,” said Doug Zimmer, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This is all good for the wingnuts who care more about their fucking Hummers than they do about wildlife anyway. And for BP it’s perfect: if the fish and the animals can just die quietly in the marshes and sink to the bottom of the ocean it’s much better for their PR strategy.

It’s just too horrifying to bear. I don’t know how those of you with young kids are handling this, but it must be tough. I completely believe president Obama when he says his daughter asks him about the gusher every day. I had a long conversation with a little 10 year old girl the other day and her heart was breaking over this. It clearly had her emotionally overwrought. I know how she feels, but as an old person I’ve learned how to cope with those feelings (plus drinking) and this kid was just out there, hurting.

A few years back the snotty Villager question of the day was “what do we tell the children?” about oral sex during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It turned out that the kids either already new or didn’t really need any details.

This, I think is different. What are people telling their kids?

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