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By Lesley Blanch
$22.50
By Chris Abani
$11.20
$22
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Andrew Morrell Photography (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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“Which federal program took in more than it spent last year, added $95 billion to its surplus and lifted 20 million Americans of all ages out of poverty?” finance columnist David Cay Johnston asks.
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401K (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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In the wake of the 2008 crash and the widespread government-imposed austerity that followed, high levels of long-term and youth unemployment across the globe are in danger of becoming fixed, according to an annual report by the International Labor Organization.
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davelawrence8 (CC-BY)
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Frugality? Check. Family values? Check. Sound reasoning? Nope. Mitt Romney’s campaign managed to stay true to the concerns of his base while totally botching the logic behind an infographic claiming that President Obama’s management of the U.S. economy is akin to that of a family accountant gone mad.
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President Obama shifts into full campaign mode as Romney inches closer to inevitability in his race to become the Republican nominee. In his day job as sitting president, Obama faced some setbacks from SCOTUS and a weaker-than-expected jobs report.
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AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta
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Mitt Romney sure is acting like a man who has it in the bag, and he practically does after racking up more wins lately in the GOP primary sweepstakes. That means, of course, that it’s time to show President Obama what he’s got, and on Wednesday he threw down by accusing Obama of ... “rhetorical excess.” Wait, what?
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White House / Pete Souza
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In case Paul Krugman’s comparison between the GOP’s prized budget plan and pink slime wasn’t a strong enough indication of its reception among the opposition, here comes President Obama with a descriptive attack of his own.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Imagine the shock when conservative Supreme Court justices repeatedly spouted views closely resembling the tweets and talking points issued by organizations of the sort funded by the Koch brothers.
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The Supreme Court took on a doozy of a case this week in its deliberations over Obama’s prized health care reform law. Do the top court’s conservative justices have it in for the law? Guest panelist David Frum joins regulars Robert Scheer and Matt Miller to take on Obamacare, plus the Trayvon Martin case and Paul Ryan’s budget plan.
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Wikimedia Commons
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Remember when austerity sounded more like an obscure SAT word than cause for international economic panic? This time around, it’s the Spaniards who are feeling the pinch, as their government has announced major budget cuts for the year.
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Flickr / Gage Skidmore
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It’s been quite the eventful week in Washington, no? In case the health care hullabaloo at the Supreme Court didn’t bring enough action to our nation’s capital, over in the halls of Congress there was an equally heated debate about Rep. Paul Ryan’s Republican-backed budget plan, which the GOP-heavy House passed Thursday.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Clarifying moments are rare in politics. Over the last week, Americans were blessed with three.
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AP / Jacquelyn Martin
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By Bill Boyarsky — What’s a pittance for a super PAC can buy a state senator, beginning with financing a campaign and continuing support into the statehouse. These campaigns to take over state governments will grow as business sees the possibilities.
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senate.gov
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It’s remarkable how political infighting in Congress can be resolved by a healthy dose of bad news from opinion polls. On Wednesday, the outlook for the Obama-supported payroll tax cut and jobless benefits bill that has been contested for months was suddenly better, and the timing was no accident. Above, Sen. Max Baucus, one of the legislative bargainers.
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Flickr / theunabonger (CC-BY-SA)
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Here’s a fun story involving the USDA, the FDA, the GAO—i.e., the United States Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the Government Accountability Office—with the Office of Management and Budget thrown in for good measure.
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This disturbing video shows riot-ready police facing off with students protesting on Wednesday at UC Berkeley. The students were reportedly attempting to set up camp on school grounds, which initially didn’t go over well ... (more)
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An emergency economic summit in Europe brought direly needed relief to Greece and neighboring nations, but will it last—and is it enough? Meanwhile, on our side of the planet, a report from Congress showed that the richest 1 percent of Americans more than doubled their share of national income in the last 30 years.
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Gage Skidmore (CC-BY-SA)
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By Joe Conason — Before Paul Ryan delivers another lecture on the “fatal conceit of liberalism,” he ought to examine his own silly conceit: that he and others like him represent the hardworking majority, when he was merely born at the top.
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Flickr / San Diego Shooter
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Facing a shortfall of a few billion dollars, the U.S. Postal Service is planning to drop 220,000 full-time jobs and close 3,700 post offices and 300 processing centers by 2015, while scaling back services and cutting retirement benefits. And that’s after laying off 110,000 employees since 2007. (more)
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Gulfstream
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White House Budget Director Jack Lew revealed Monday that the administration plans to raise $467 billion in tax revenue from people making more than $200,000 a year, investment fund managers, the oil and gas industry and owners of corporate jets. (more)
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FEMA News Photos / G. Mathieson
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The No. 2 GOP leader in the House says additional funds for FEMA will have to be matched by budget cuts, and we know from past experience what that means: less funding for programs that assist the poor and elderly without a hope of raising taxes. Michael “Heckuva Job” Brown thinks it’s a good idea. (more)
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By Eugene Robinson — The debt-ceiling fight generated enough hyperventilation and heartburn to replace a coal-fired power plant. The resulting product? It’s starting to look kind of puny and irrelevant.
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On this week’s “Left, Right & Center”: Getting too close to the debt deadline, Greek insolvency and what’s with these credit rating companies throwing their weight around?
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By Joe Conason — At long last, President Obama seems to have run out of patience with the truculent Republicans who have rejected all of his overtures for a budget deal—just as Moody’s and other economic authorities again warned of the potentially catastrophic consequences of a debt default.
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AP / Susan Walsh
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By Bill Boyarsky — Rather than trying to conciliate the Republicans, Obama ought to speak out against them. The truth is that Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell don’t want to work with him.
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AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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By Robert Scheer — These threatened programs are not government handouts to a privileged class, like defense contractors and bailed-out bankers, who do feel eminently entitled to pig out at the federal trough.
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Pat Bagley, Cagle Cartoons, Salt Lake Tribune —
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This week the Labor Department reported that employers added a mere 18,000 jobs in June, and that the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent. The news is a blow to all who were hopeful that the nation’s economic recovery was gaining speed.
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Illustration from a photo by Bayasaa (CC-BY)
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Here’s a Catch-22 for the tea party movement: Cities across the country are going without Independence Day celebrations this year due to budget cuts. We know how our tax-hating friends love to wave flags and celebrate the late 1700s, but somebody has to pay for all those explosives, and, more often than not, it’s us.
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Truthdig political reporter Bill Boyarsky explains why Michele Bachmann could win Iowa, tells us about Mitt Romney’s advantage and says “The impact of [California’s] budget is going to be felt negatively for generations.”
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Freedom to Marry (CC-BY)
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Californians made it easier for their lawmakers to pass a budget, but you might not be able to tell from all the drama. Perhaps you heard that Gov. Jerry Brown (above) vetoed a budget passed by his own party, Republicans managed to block voters from approving new taxes and the state controller stopped paying legislators. (more)
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woodleywonderworks (CC-BY)
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By Eugene Robinson — With the nation struggling to recover from a devastating recession, unemployment stuck at crisis levels, financial markets spooked by the possibility of European defaults and consumers disinclined to consume, it makes no earthly sense to suck money out of the economy.
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So, now we know Obama’s big plan for pulling American troops out of Afghanistan, but it hasn’t exactly been well received. This week’s “Left, Right & Center” panel—featuring Tony Blankley, Matt Miller, Robert Scheer and Chrystia Freeland—offers no exception to the naysaying.
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Flickr / tvol
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Gov. Scott Walker’s budget includes yet another (previously overlooked) way in which he’s willing to serve big business at the expense of the little guy: He’s taking aim at craft breweries by making it more difficult for them to distribute their products. (more)
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Friday’s job news was far from good news, pointing to more bumps down the road to economic recovery. Thus, it falls on “Left, Right & Center” regulars Matt Miller and Tony Blankley, along with guest panelists Ed Kilgore and Chrystia Freeland, to brainstorm ... (more)
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Republicans who invented “death panels” out of whole cloth and insisted, falsely, that Obama’s health proposal was nothing but a “government takeover” have a lot of nerve complaining about the “demagoguery” against Rep. Paul Ryan.
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By David Sirota — In the name of curtailing deficits, politicians across the country are hacking away at programs that aim to make children healthier.
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U.S. Marine Corps / Staff Sgt. Jeff Kaus
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By William Pfaff — To the wayfaring American citizen, the view of Washington, D.C., from abroad is as bizarre as that of Oz. One cannot believe what is happening.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — While the United States remains utterly frozen in a debate about budget deficits and all the things that government shouldn’t do, other countries are marrying public and private resources to make themselves stronger and more competitive.
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Matthew Reichbach (CC-BY)
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — When will Republicans realize that the anti-government cries they think they hear from “the people” are the voices of no more than 20 percent to 25 percent of the electorate who constitute the die-hard conservative core?
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Rep. Perry's office
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Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled House of Representatives will consider a bill that would change the way unemployment benefits are calculated, taking almost $500 million out of jobless residents’ pockets each year.
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Flickr / thebigo
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True to form, the man who was instrumental in passing a radical anti-tax amendment to Colorado’s constitution got picked up by police on charges of tax evasion and fraud. (more)
Posted on May 2, 2011
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AP Photo/Ryan J. Foley
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By Joe Conason — Indeed, in the guise of saving future generations from excessive federal debt, themes of national decay, egotistical greed and irresponsibility pervade the Ryan plan.
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AP / Jeffrey Phelps
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By Bill Boyarsky — Contrary to conventional wisdom, the media fascination with the potential presidential campaign of the great American phony, Donald Trump, has been helpful to the Republican Party.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The idea that “false choices” are distorting our politics is under attack. I want to defend the concept for both substantive and personal reasons.
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White House / Pete Souza
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Standard & Poor’s, one of those ratings agencies that made a living signing off on toxic assets, has once again thrust itself into the spotlight by downgrading Uncle Sam’s credit outlook from “stable” to “negative.” As a consolation prize, S&P let us keep our AAA rating.
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Luojie, Cagle Cartoons, China Daily, China —
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