the exit of two liberal economic allies, Christina Romer and Larry Summers

I know it’s the WSJ, but I still can’t stop laughing

and good on Mr Bernstein, his spin on behalf of the Admin was increasingly cringe worthy

Stimulus is indeed right out. Per this week’s CBS/NYT poll, 67% of Americans oppose raising the debt ceiling, and another 10% aren’t sure.

Then 67% in that poll must really love pain and a worldwide crashing sound. Just plain stupid.

Bernstein can join the rest of us who live outside the heavily guarded very high walls of the protected Emerald City of Dee Cee, where the villagers gleefully enable the “man behind the curtain” (eg, Koch brothers, I’m looking at you) who enriches the Villagers’ lives at the vast great expense of the serfs who live beyond the moated, gated city.

Perhaps Bernstein can aid us serfs in shouting out our needs louder, and perhaps Bernstein can be more forceful, if not more effective, from outside the gated & heavily fortified bubble… perhaps… one can dream…

Get real. The 67% have no idea what they’re talking about in this particular instance. NONE. They’ve listened to their Masters’ voices, aka RushGlennSeanBillo, who demand that the serfs *believe* this b.s. That’s all.

That was my reaction as well. Larry Summers? Liberal? STFU.

(ordered)

(on edit)

Sorry, lost my mind. Thanks for the post, David. Good afternoon pups.

I’m glad that Bernstein is getting out. Who would want to work in this administration? I’d be ashamed to.

I’ll say it. I always do. That poll is skewed, wrong, and definitely not correct. Besides, exactly what was the question and to whom did they ask? I’m sick to death of these polls that state this opinion or that when the facts are that Americans are losing the ground they stand on!

Ahhh-men! Hopefully, the Court will no longer allow him to be a Courtesan and he will be forced to live upon reality.

“Centrist” = the new term for “right wing maniac.”

This reminds me of Biden’s duty at the Jobs Czar. I remember him handing it off to someone, but can’t remember to who. Anybody remember?

YES!!!!

Funny how words change meaning.

“This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,224 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone April 15-20, 2011″

There are 311,214,281 people living in the U.S., according to the US population clock. Yet, they call a “random sample” 1,224 people and are able to state that most Americans oppose raising the debt limit?
Polls are a friggen joke.

Oh well get ready for round 3 of uncle milton friedmans long lost sons crazy ben and 0 for the finishing blow of Shock Doctrine.

Hear-hear!

A “liberal” Larry Summers which “also may actually be correct, relatively speaking, which is of course even more horrifying.”

It’s best I read that after breakfast, otherwise I’d not have been able to keep it down. What kind of a world do we live in where a Larry Summers could conceivably be considered to reside on the left? Oh, boy. Maybe I spoke too soon about breakfast.

the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities are deficit terrorists (although they advocate a slower path to ruin than some other deficit terrorists)

By Robert Greenstein
March 24, 2011

The nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, and policymakers need to make major changes in policy. As a number of bipartisan panels have recommended over the past year, policymakers should aim to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy (the Gross Domestic Product) so the debt does not rise relentlessly as a share of the economy. That would put the nation on what economists define as a sustainable budget path.

To achieve this goal, policymakers should aim to balance the primary budget — the budget other than interest payments on the debt. As these panels have explained, stabilizing the debt — and avoiding the specter of a debt explosion in future decades — is the key, not balancing the total budget (i.e., the budget including interest payments). As a rough rule of thumb, if the budget excluding interest payments is in balance, then the debt will not grow faster than the economy. That means running total budget deficits of no more than about 3 percent of GDP. [1] In short, balancing the total budget isn’t necessary to put us on a sustainable course and reassure financial markets. Stabilizing the debt is.

Policymakers should meet this goal in a reasonable period of time, but it isn’t necessary to meet it in the next few years. Indeed, it would be unwise to put austerity measures into effect now while the economy is still growing too slowly to bring unemployment down to more normal levels in the next few years. Putting substantial deficit-reduction measures into effect now would cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next year or two by slowing the already inadequate economic growth. Ideally, policymakers would enact legislation this year that begins to take effect once the economy is stronger — probably in fiscal year 2013, not before — and puts us on track to stabilize the debt as a share of GDP by the end of this decade. Doing so would involve very tough choices, both substantively and politically, but meeting that goal would be a huge accomplishment and greatly allay the fears of financial markets. Reducing the deficit more precipitously, however, is neither necessary nor sound as fiscal or economic policy.

please note the first line:

“The nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, and policymakers need to make major changes in policy”

this is pure fear mongering based on economic mythology.

don’t know about you-all, but i’ve had enough of this… and it’s worse, not better, when it comes from those who claim to be on our side.

They never call me!

The only question now is … how will they spin the inevitable collapse that all this nonsense will bring?

Me either! It’s probably for the best cause I’ll give them an ear full of stuff they don’t like hearing.

I’m sure they have ‘regulars’ that they call. Could be the fellow sitting across the room from them. Rigged, totally rigged.

I’m just waiting for the crash. Then we can start over with some real world economic/monetary policies.

IF citizens are asked about “raising the debt limit,” I suspect that a goodly percentage would at this point say: No very baaaah-d bc citizens have been carefully taught to view the US fed budget exactly like a household budget or a (true) small business budget… which it’s not.

That said, I whiiiined all day yesterday that all of these polls are totally bogus. The poll numbers are usually excessively small; they never say in which parts of the country the citizens lived; if you get to see the poll questions, they’re clearly written to be deliberately confusing, etc etc.

It’s frickin’ nonsense anymore and just more of the Kabuki Show. Waste of time, but fed out to the rubes so that they’ll “know” what they should “believe in.” Works for some part of the populace, unfortunately.

“…[D]eal-making pragmatists….” means that they cave quickly to those further right politically. I constantly feel as though I’m in a nightmare and, no matter how hard I try, I can’t wake up.

Gregg Levine’s regularly schedule vlog is ready: The Party Line – April 22, 2011
Radiation Nation

President Lyndon Johnson (aka LBJ) once said he’d rather have people inside his tent pissing out than outside pissing in. Maybe that rule is not so important anymore in Washington. The Obama administration isn’t afraid of progressives on the inside or the outside.

O gets more insane every day.

I guess his minders are pulling on his choke chain.

not if the demagogues are successful selling their snake oil. pissed off and desperate is not the best time to thoughtfully consider the alternatives.

jmo, but i think we need to build the alternatives now and spread the info to as many as possible. informed citizenry and all that….

There was a more recent version of the Manchurian Candidate with Liev Schreiber as the “Candidate” (Meryl Streep was his socio/psychopathic mother). Towards the film’s end, Schreiber increasingly has this weirdly demented look on his face. Anymore Obama keeps reminding me of Schrieber in that film. Maybe I’m just projecting…

Liberal isn’t left. Even Bernstein isn’t on the left. He’s on the center “left” part of a hard right political system. It’s only “left” in relation to the rest of the system.

You need to distinguish between

left = progressive and
left = left out

Few are left (progressive), many are left (out).

WSJ is amazing: “… in an increasingly centrist White House ….” Someone help me out, what one “centrist” Bill has Obama enacted?
You’re equally amazing as the WSJ: Bernstein is NOT in any sense a “Liberal” and to refer to Summers, even “relatively speaking”, as “liberal” is outrageous. I don’t recall even the WSJ trying to get that one by anyone.
But, no sense squabbling. How about comparing Obama Administration’s liberal accomplishments while Summers & Berstein served to those of Libertarian Gary Johnson while he was Governor of NM?

There is nothing in Greenstein’s statement that is untrue. Our long-term debt is an enormous problem, but enacting austerity measures right now is just economic suicide.

Although Greenstein does not suggest any specific policies, I will:
This country needs to do three things to bring the deficit under control and deal with the long-term debt. Raise taxes on the rich and put people back to work in full-time jobs commensurate with their education and experience to address the deficit; enact policies to bring down the costs of health care to address the long-term debt.

What Greenstein does say is this, “Doing so would involve very tough choices, both substantively and politically, but meeting that goal would be a huge accomplishment and greatly allay the fears of financial markets.” And he is absolutely correct about the difficulties involved in enacting anything substantive with this congress.

I’m all for democracy and doing what the people want, but there’s no point in polling people on something they likely have no idea about. I follow politics fairly closely and I don’t have much of an idea what the implications of this are.

‘He’s on the center “left” part of a hard right political system. It’s only “left” in relation to the rest of the system.’

Bingo.
From the start, he was an ineffectual fig leaf. Whenever he or goolsby appear on tv to tapdance around the horrific employment numbers they would be automatons reciting talking points.
They both stammer in response to increasingly infrequent questions about the 99ers.
The fact is, we are in the midst of a depression, it looks alot different and it’s in color but it is a depression, and it isn’t getting any better.
They would have been wise to acknowledge that, and prepare the country for just how miserably long recovery would be to materialize.

Sort of like Groundhog Day.

Actually that’s standard statistical sampling. With polling it is more a question of who is being sampled (like sometimes it is critical to know if the poll is about likely voters or registered voters amongst other things) and the overall polling methods, than it is necessarily about the volume of people contacted.

Hi Everyone,
I have moved from a war mongering staunch republican to a Libertarian political philosophy after witnessing the near destruction of our country by both sides of the aisle. I want to get a better sense of liberal philosophy, and try to understand the passion that you all feel for your position. With such passion, and smart people, I feel that I must be missing something because of my strong disagreement with you. Hope you can educate me. Is there a forum for people like me to follow?
Best

Please, there are plenty of Democrats who are saying just about the same things about austerity and the absolute need to reduce the deficit, to make cuts, as the rightwing whack jobs are doing.

“Our” Dems, particularly those in DC, but Cuomo The Younger falls into that group, are just as bad about misleading the public.

And, of course, the ostensibly Dem president, Obama, is right up there saying cuts before jobs, cuts before heat or any energy assistance to the poor, cuts before defending SocSec, Medicare, and Medicaid. And more wars, as well, just like Bush/Cheney….

So, it’s not just the rightwing Republicans; it’s also the center right (rightwing?) Dems. Our DLC, Neo-Lib, Corporatist, bipartisan Dems. The Blue Dogs, the austerians, the mushy centrist Dems.

We are so screwed.

Great catch, Selies, and thanks for tossing it our way. Beware those form DC who some label “liberal.” Few of those have been allowed anywhere within the Beltway’s Halls of Power in years.

Talk about persona non grata.

If you believe everyone should be on his or her own, then no one here can “educate” you. Some of this is philosophy that you may not accept no matter how persuasive. So yes, you may be missing something that isn’t said outright in most discussions.

I’ve been getting more and more disenchanted with Thom Hartman but I’d recommend giving his radio show a listen for a few weeks. That will give you an idea of much of the background of what it means to be a We’re In This Together kind of person with common purpose.

No one is going to hold your hand here though and if you don’t already agree on some basics then it is unlikely discussions here are going to be fruitful for you, just my take, based upon what and how you asked the questions.

My quick response, if I’m correct in assuming that you would argue against a stimulus, because our government is broke, and the private sector could do it better, would be to invoke the urgent need for infrastructure improvements in our country. Bridges, water supplies, energy conservation work, and so much more could and should be tackled with government spending, and the money could be available by cutting wasteful military spending and corporate entitlements (sugar, mining, ethanol, and on and on). And the massive financial fraud that by all rights should be sending thousands to jail could be investigated and prosecuted using stimulus money, but instead we get bizarre wasteful prosecution of athletes.

As for a forum to try to understand liberalism, I’ve found Naked Capitalism to offer excellent posts from a variety of perspectives, often liberal, with stimulating discussions that have on occasion changed my sometimes rigid mind.

thanks Tomk. I think that infrastructure is one of the few areas where I would agree on Government involvement, but only to a point i.e the requirement for Union labor etc. corrupts the process. I agree, of course on the military spending and corporate/fascist policies being flat out wrong. And I appreciate your response

Thanks Forest. The concept of being “in this together” is interesting, and I have found that first we must be “in this for ourselves” before being “in this together” will work. Human nature leads to people taking advantage of your communal approach to life. I have no choice but to be forced into this system through crony capitalism, taxation that destroys the middle class, and a Fed that debases our currency. At its core, liberalism/socialism fails, as it always has, and always will. End the wars, give me spending caps, a balanced budget amendment and I will agree to increased taxes. This is where liberals always fall down.