I am not outraged. I am shocked and numb.

During the general election my ace in the hole when discussing McCain with RW types was that his proposal for a domestic spending freeze was about as sane or helpful as announcing that his first act in office would be to bomb Denver.

I hold a McCain vote to be morally indefensible, not merely wrong but straight-up malicious, based in his promise to wreck the nation by revisiting Hooverism.

I was shocked beyond the usual back-and-forth of politics. A domestic discretionary spending freeze was "WTF-policy"... like invading Iraq because we were attacked by a bunch of Saudis. McCain's thinking was a denial of everything we know about the economy... kind of like denying evolution, but with tent cities.

So this is blow. (Put Paul Krugman on suicide watch!) It is not quite as bad as McCain's proposal because it comes 15 months later, but remains dangerous, idiotic and at the very least politically amoral.

January 25, 2010 8:27 p.m. EST

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama will announce in Wednesday's State of the Union address that he's proposing to save $250 billion by freezing all non-security federal discretionary spending for three years, according to two senior administration officials.

The proposed freeze, which could help position Obama in the political center by sharpening his credentials on fiscal discipline, would exempt the budgets of the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs, along with some international programs.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/25/obama.spending.freeze/index.html?hpt=T1

I don't think he gave a shit. palin was clue #1.

he didn't win the nomination - everyone else just dropped out and left him and Huckabee. And even the Republicans aren't ready for huckleberry's brand of crazy. McCain entered the running as a long shot because he felt he was "supposed to", then ended up actually being the nominee. He then did anything he could to shoot himself in the foot.

The scary part is that, even though Obama got a clear victory over that, it was STILL awfully close.

everyone knew how ugly it was going to get.
IS going to get.

there was a back and forth for at least 15 minutes, and I still don't understand it! The "freeze" will not be across the board, and apparently they can "pick through" the budget, and still find $$$....

I'm so confused. :-(

...unless, of course, they want to hire someone.

But, it sounds good to tell applicants and managers in departments that won't be getting any new hires, and the public.

The deficit is not an unfortunate by-product of government stimulus.

The deficit IS the stimulus. The stimulus is the mechanism of borrowing money. After you have borrowed it it's nice to spend it on something useful, but even borrowing money to buy up everyone's old newspapers would be stimulative.

Dems and pugs argue back and forth about whether to stimulate with spending or with tax cuts. Dollar for dollar spending is better stimulus than tax cuts, but a huge tax cut would be more stimulative than a small spending increase.

The one thing that spending and tax cuts share is that both increase the deficit by borrowing money to put into the system one way or another.

The idea of reducing the deficit while stimulating the economy is actually insane. Rachel Maddow was right to use that word.

You cannot stimulate anything (except cynicism) by cutting the total discretionary budget while saving all the "stimulative parts."

This is some sad shit.

Read Paul Krugman tomorrow. I imagine he will be saying much the same, albeit a bit more politely.

It's wasted money. These idiots can't provide security, but waste billions on idiotic schemes that claim to do that.

because he is a LONG way from done

:hi:

:hi:

(Erroll Southers) for no good reason. He isn't even willing to fight for his own nominees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/us/politics/21southers.html

Someone send President Obama this article before he makes a tragic mistake.

7 Things About The Economy Everyone Should Be Worried About


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/23/7-things-about-the-econom_n_433688.html

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Freeze the Pentagon Budget if you want to see "change we can believe in" TM

because I bought Obama's story of "hope" and "change you can believe in" hook, line, and sinker. I enthusiastically voted for him in 2008 and was thrilled when he won.

I thought Inauguration Day 2009 would be a fresh start after the eight disastrous years of the Cheney/Bush regime. Here it is a year later and I am feeling completely hopeless... nothing has changed... and Obama seems to be acting more and more like a Repuke every day. If he keeps this up, he is going to be a one-termer for sure.

Unfortunately, Obama knows that.

Thus, they can just play us. But in Virginia, NJ, and Massachusetts, the voters showed that they do have a choice: Just stay home.

Rather than reading the elections as a referendum on Obama's spineless pandering to corporate America, the very rich, Wall Street, and the Republicans, he chose to read it as an excuse to sell out even more.

So much for change...so much for hope!!!!!

Did Obama switch parties? :wtf:

because he's acting more and more like a Repuke each day.

If he keeps it up, he will be gone after 2012, mark my words.

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I've seen some asinine character assassination here, but you reallllly don't know who you are talking to.

I probably posted more on DU about the economic insanity of McCain's spending freeze proposal last fall than anyone.

This was my biggest single issue. My pet peeve... my bete noir...

I am sure everyone was plenty sick of me ranting about it.

I posted a comment/response. It didn't show. I sent a message that it seems there could be a lot of Gop creeps on DU.

the likes of Rubin's alteregos, Summers and Geithner?

I'm starting to think that he has a plan. The plan is to do so many outrageously Republican things that Progressives all over America will kill themselves or die of apoplexy, leaving open millions of jobs to be taken by the currently unemployed.

Obama has admitted he's a New Democrat.

"Even the personnel remain the same. Over the weekend, Obama reiterated his endorsement for reappointing Helicopter Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chairman.

As the lobbyist for high finance, Bernanke’s money drop seemed to land only on Wall Street. Now it has emptied out the government’s credit in an unparalleled deficit. So now, Obama is saying, “No more. I’m drawing the line. No further deficit.” There goes any hope for stimulating the “real” economy. Treasury apparatchik Tim Geithner, backed with his armada of administrators on loan from Goldman Sachs, is unlikely to support indebted labor, consumers or their companies in any way that does not benefit Wall Street first.

Even worse has been Obama’s rehabilitation of Clinton Rubinomics deregulator Larry Summers as chief advisor, sidelining Paul Volcker until he was hurriedly flown back from political Siberia, in reaction to the Massachusetts debacle and to soften the leak by the Wall Street Journal on January 15 that Obama and the Democrats were not unhappy to see Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Financial Products Agency die stillborn, despite the president’s promise that the agency was “non-negotiable.”

Hence the sudden passion of the Obama administration for the “Volcker rule” to re-separate commercial banking from its casino capitalist outgrowth. The photo-op with Volcker was intended to provide at least a semblance of regulation of the sort that was normal before Summers and other Clinton-Gore era Democratic Leadership Committee operatives had formed common cause with Republicans to repeal Glass-Steagall. Across the last year Democrats have failed every litmus test involving finance, insurance and real estate – the FIRE sector, which remains the major campaign contributor and lobbyist for both parties."

snip

http://www.counterpunch.org/

This Fed Chief Brought to You by Enron
By: emptywheel Monday January 25, 2010 7:59 am

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/01/25/this-fed-c... /

Just wanted to throw two tidbits into the debate on Ben Bernanke’s reconfirmation. First, this quote, which needs no explanation.

In the event that Bernanke isn’t confirmed, several sources say, Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Donald Kohn likely would be elevated to acting chair of the U.S. central bank. Bernanke would be entitled to stay on the board until his term as a Fed governor expires in 2020, but the sources said Bernanke could instead return to a professorship at Princeton University.

Possible successors to Bernanke include three people currently advising Obama on the economy, former Fed chief Paul Volcker, Larry Summers and Christina Romer.

Kohn was traveling in Europe at the end of the week on Fed business, but strategy on the Bernanke confirmation was being led by former Enron lobbyist Linda Robertson, who is viewed as an effective advocate for the banking chief on Capitol Hill.

read the rest at the link



edit to add...



see the comments by :


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JasonLeopold January 25th, 2010 at 10:40 am
15

Feb 22, 2001: Enron chairman Ken Lay and Enron lobbyist Linda Robertson met with energy task force executive director Andrew Lundquist to discuss energy policy.

April 17, 2001: Enron chairman Ken Lay and Enron lobbyist Linda Robertson met with Vice President Cheney for 30 minutes to discuss energy matters, including the California energy crisis.

April 20, 2001: Enron lobbyist Linda Robertson sent an e-mail to White House economic advisor Robert McNally.

May 23, 2001: White House economic advisor Robert McNally met with Enron lobbyists Linda Robertson and Richard Shapiro.

:grr:

McCainism--a disease easily caught in Washington inside the beltway!