Demand Question Time: sign the petition for more open government

Obama's Q&A session with the House GOP was a unique and curiously hopeful political event:



About 50 bloggers, pundits, and media members from across the political spectrum (including Nate Silver of fiverthirtyeight.com) have organized the Demand Question Time petition, in the interest of making this type of event a regular occurrence. If done properly this could be an excellent opportunity to make the Executive and Legislative branches more open and accessible, both to each other and - more importantly - to the People. Silver has a great post on how the details of Question Time might work.

If you support this idea, please consider signing the petition.

Has Obama sold out to Wall Street? Matt Taibbi thinks so

Reading this article will make you furious. In a recent article for Rolling Stone , titled "Obama's Big Sellout," Matt Taibbi eviscerates the Obama White House, saying that President Obama has . . . more

Back-asswards: Biggifying Too Big to Fail

What do we do in response to a financial crisis due in no small part to the systemic risk posed by institutions that by their very size prove essential to a functioning financial system? Gorge them on taxpayer funds so they get even bigger, while smaller banks without the benefit of implicit government guarantee are allowed to fail (as all insolvent businesses should):




From TARP Oversight Report via TBP.

Minnesota one of 23 states facing unemployment funding deficits

Minnesota is one of 23 states borrowing money from the federal government to cover its unemployment benefits obligations. This is simply their state obligations, which is independent of the federal . . . more

House health care bill HR 3962 may face stiff opposition in Senate

Yesterday's passage by the House of bill HR 3962 is considered a victory for many, especially liberal Democrats, despite widespread criticism from both conservatives and moderates. It was a historic . . . more

US House of Representatives passes health care bill HR 3962 by vote of 220-215

In a vote late last night the US House of Representatives passed landmark health care reform bill HR 3962 (The Affordable Health Care for America Act) by a close vote of 220 to 215. The vote was entirely . . . more

Grit: not just a measure of athletic prowess anymore

I was reading The Boston Globe's endorsements (today is the Boston mayoral election in which Tom Menino, the 16-year incumbent, will stand for an unprecedented fifth* term; there are also several city council and local races) and came across this tidbit I could not resist sharing. With a nostalgic nod to the glory days of FJM:

[The Globe urges] readers in Newton to support Ruth Balser for mayor. Currently a state representative, Balser has shown a commitment to her community and much-needed grit.

Emphasis on grit added.

*I like Menino well enough. Having recently moved out of the Hub I no longer have a horse in this race but the very idea of five terms in office is an insult to the ideals of good government.

I mean it's not like the most powerful federal legislative body can stay in office for life, right? That would be absurd.

GOP blocks unemployment extension vote with amendments

	On Tuesday of this week the Senate held a successful cloture vote to proceed with moving forward to a vote on pending federal unemployment benefits extension legislation. With Republican amendments . . . more

Census worker hanged

This is an extremely bizarre case. Authorities discovered the body of a U.S. Census worker hanged near a cemetery in Kentucky with the word "fed" scrawled . . . more

Bad Policy?

Breaking down the Baucus health care bill, from James Kwak over at Baseline Scenario:

One reason the Baucus bill is "cheaper" than the House bill is that it has lower subsidies. For illustration, let's assume that the whole $140 billion difference is due to lower subsidies. Relative to the House bill, then, the Baucus bill costs the government $140 billion less; but it costs middle-income people exactly $140 billion more, since they have to buy health insurance. The difference is that in the House bill, the money comes from taxes on the very rich; in the Baucus bill, it comes out of the pockets of the middle-class people who are getting smaller subsidies. Put another way, the Baucus bill is the House bill, plus a $140 billion tax on people making around $40-80,000 per year. That' s not only stupid policy; it's stupid politics.

Via Planet Money.

Swine Flu Symptoms Checker

Although the initial hysteria over swine flu subsided, fear and uncertainty has been building recently concerning swine flu . . . more

Fixing a Broken State

There's an excellent article in the latest Economist about the possibility of California holding a constitutional convention sometime in the next few years to rewrite their current mammoth guiding document (it's longer than the U.S. Constitution). Strict rules for tax and budget legislation; gerrymandering; posturing extremists in the legislature on both sides; overreaching direct diplomacy with numerous wacky referenda in recent decades; all coming to a head in the current financial crisis with California's finances shot - huge budget deficits looming amidst plummeting tax receipts and a bond rating that counts for dead last of the 50 states.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I like the idea of selecting convention members from the jury pool - how much more democratic can you get? (Although I wonder if there will be as many excuses to get out of convention duty...)

Ca$h Rules Everything Around Me, C.R.E.A.M. Get Those Election Funds, Dolla Dolla Bill, Y'all

(With apologies to the Wu-Tang Clan.)

Not news so much as an acute kick in the cubes of Good Government:

Nobody even tries to hide this any longer. The only way they could make it more blatant is if they hung a huge Goldman Sachs logo on the Capitol dome and then branded it onto the foreheads of leading members of Congress and executive branch officials.

Quoted in the article, this doozy from Matt Taibbi:

That’s why even people like [Glenn] Beck’s audience, who I’d wager are mostly lower-income people, can’t imagine themselves protesting against the Wall Street barons who in actuality are the ones who fucked them over. . . .

Actual rich people can’t ever be the target. It’s a classic peasant mentality: going into fits of groveling and bowing whenever the master’s carriage rides by, then fuming against the Turks in Crimea or the Jews in the Pale or whoever after spending fifteen hard hours in the fields. You know you’re a peasant when you worship the very people who are right now, this minute, conning you and taking your shit. Whatever the master does, you’re on board. When you get frisky, he sticks a big cross in the middle of your village, and you spend the rest of your life praying to it with big googly eyes. Or he puts out newspapers full of innuendo about this or that faraway group and you immediately salute and rush off to join the hate squad. A good peasant is loyal, simpleminded, and full of misdirected anger. And that’s what we’ve got now, a lot of misdirected anger searching around for a non-target to mis-punish . . . can’t be mad at AIG, can’t be mad at Citi or Goldman Sachs. The real villains have to be the anti-AIG protesters! After all, those people earned those bonuses! If ever there was a textbook case of peasant thinking, it’s struggling middle-class Americans burned up in defense of taxpayer-funded bonuses to millionaires. It’s really weird stuff.

And don't forget:

One might think it would be a big news story for the second most-powerful member of the U.S. Senate to baldly state that the Congress is "owned" by the bankers who spawned the financial crisis and continue to dictate the government's actions. But it won't be.

Indeed. Ah, America!

Greenwald over at Salon. Good stuff, if you don't mind vomiting after reading.

Make Work?

A very interesting piece by Brad Hicks on the Great Depression, public works projects, and how it all relates to our current situation.

Via the weird, wily Wax.

Ted's Return

Love him or hate him, this is pretty awesome.

Recession Fears

A great article in this Sunday's NYT Magazine about Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve - who they are, what they do, and how much influence they have on the economy. Illuminating for those of us who see the Fed chief as some sort of economic wizard dabbling in the arcane arts. Interesting stuff - especially considering this headline this morning.

An Open Letter to Uncle Sam

How's it hangin' Unc,

I just did my taxes and realize that I owe you a ridiculous amount of money. How wonderful! I was just thinking the other day, "Wow, I made so much money last year; I wish I were legally compelled to shell out an enormous percentage of my income to the federal government come April 15th!" People talk about things like food, shelter, etc. - these are just the trappings of a life of luxury. Heaven forfend I should have enough money in the bank to spoil myself with groceries this month! To tack on an obscene obligatory expenditure to my already taxed (pun intended!) finances - I should like that of all things!

Kill yourself,

MRhé