Politics

Congress is so concerned about our well being while flying that it has mandated that the Transportation Security Administration cut 6,000 baggage screener jobs at the nation’s airports. This move definitely shows that Congress is concerned about our safety in the air and at our airports! What next prison work programs at Los Angeles airport so airport staff can take the day off to cut costs!

So far in the last two years we have the largest budget deficits in decades, no money in the budget for reconstruction in Afganistan, budget cuts for health care and education, an expensive war in Iraq to get rid of WMD that haven’t been found, huge tax cuts for the rich, and Bush wants another $500 million in tax cuts for the rich! When will Bush and Congress realize that allowing huge budget deficits with with huge tax cuts end up taxing the states and future generations?!?!?

Why Oh Why Can’t We Have a Better Press Corps? Part CCXIV Time to Bang My Head Against the Wall Once Again…

Why, oh why, can’t we get a better class of journalists? Those who write ABC’s The Note claim to be unable to understand Alan Greenspan’s nuanced–and consistent–position on fiscal policy issues. They write, “The Note has no idea what Alan Greenspan thinks about the prospects for growth and about the Bush economy, and that is after reading everything he said, and everything ABOUT what he said…” And those who write ABC’s The Note are close to the cream of the crop.

Brad DeLong explains how the budget (deficit) and tax cuts are currently screwing up the economy and will do so for many years to come.

It’s an Industrial Sealant! No, It’s a Dessert Topping!

Paul Krugman takes aim at the Bush tax cut. The underlying problem is that the Bush administration had no agreement about what its economic plan was. (a) The political shop seems to have demanded a bold policy that would fight the recession and create jobs. (b) The people who actually control things demanded a tax cut for the rich. (c) The economists (chiefly Glenn Hubbard) sought a program to boost economic growth. This “It needs to be an industrial sealant! No, it needs to be a dessert topping!” policy-development process produced (a) an increase in the deficit that is not front-loaded toward today (when a bigger deficit would be good and boost employment) but back-loaded toward the distant future, and as a result the (b) tax cut for the rich that was proposed took the form of (c) proposing to permanently reduce the double taxation of corporate income.

Brad DeLong of the Semi-Daily Journal is asking the same question that I and many others are asking, “Where are Saddam’s WMDs?”

Mr. DeLong states:

Where are Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction?

I was certain–certain–that we had lots of hard intelligence telling us of Saddam’s large quantities of chemical and biological weapons, and his ongoing nuclear program. Otherwise, the decision to invade Iraq made no sense: it might have made sense for an Administration that believed the U.S. had a humanitarian mission to take down cruel and genocidal dictators when it could do so easily, but not for the Bush II Administration that was so certain back in 2001 that it “did not do nation building.”