Translating Allahpunditry
Pelosi: "We're going to do something good for America even if it costs us our jobs."
Alexander: "Screw that, I'm keeping my job and my government-provided health care."
Pelosi: "We'll do it without you then."
Allahpundit: "I think Pelosi comes across as the bad guy here."
Partisanship and Filibusters: GOP Flip-Floppery
Daily Intel via ATTACKERMAN:
When the actual bill was voted on this morning, it passed 70–28. Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander, Mississippi’s Thad Cochran, Oklahoma’s Jim Inhofe, Florida’s George LeMieux, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, and Mississippi’s Roger Wicker voted for the bill after trying, two days ago, to prevent it from being voted on at all.
It's clear that the bills themselves are not the underlying issue here. "Obstructionism" makes sense, because letting Democrats pass their bills makes it look like Democrats have good ideas. The vote flip-flopping, however, has got to be taken as proof that the Democrats' bills are, in fact, so good that even Republicans can't stand to be seen voting against them.
Is George Soros Plotting Against the Euro?
It has come to my attention that George Soros, global financial rogue and international man of mystery, has recently begun to spread an op-ed questioning the viability of the euro, first across the pages of the Financial Times and now at big-time roundup site Project Syndicate. It's not an outright attack on the currency, but it's not far off:
Recognizing the need, the last Ecofin meeting has, for the first time, committed itself “to safeguard financial stability in the euro area as a whole.” But Ecofin has not yet found the mechanism for doing so, because the current institutional arrangements do not provide one – although the Lisbon Treaty establishes a legal basis for it.
But this is politically impossible at present, because Germany is adamantly opposed to serving as the deep pocket for its profligate partners. Therefore, makeshift arrangements will have to be found.
So makeshift assistance will be sufficient to allow Greece to succeed, but that leaves Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Ireland. Together they constitute too large a portion of the euro zone to be helped out by makeshift arrangements. The survival of Greece still leaves the future of the euro in question. Even if the EU handles the current crisis, what about the next one?
As he did against the pound in 1992 and the Hong Kong dollar and the Russian ruble in 1998, George Soros has published an editorial publicly attacking the euro even as short sales of the euro hit an all-time high. In the framework of historical crises involving both a domestic and a foreign-exchange element, the implications are clear: the Greek crisis may yet evolve into a monetary crisis as well, and someone may be in position to profit from it.
(It's true that the FT article reviewing the shorts against the euro is somewhat sanguine about the actual data. I'm not saying that it's at a critical level yet; just suggesting that it might head in that direction.)
In Hong Kong, a staunch defense of the currency at the expense of the domestic economy averted massive private defaults and reduced the length of the recession which followed its crisis. In Russia, a failure to defend the currency coincided with a large default to produce a lasting economic depression. In Britain, the pound collapsed, but because the underlying economy was strong, the devaluation actually aided the restoration of domestic equilibrium. Should the Euro come under full-bore speculative pressure, it's not clear where the European Union would fall.
(Photo credit: grizzlygroundswell)
“The Republican party “lost its way” because of McCain’s radical progressive agenda.”
It's striking, the things you can convince yourself to say when you completely abandon reality. But this makes sense, given the general abandonment of reality undertaken by the far right these days. It's nothing new, either.
What do Beck, Krugman, and Wikipedia Have In Common?
According to Paul Krugman, that font of vicious liberal lies and distorted economic thought: Republicans created the US debt.
"But even when the crisis is over, the budget will remain deeply in the red, largely as a result of Bush-era tax cuts (and Bush-era unfunded wars)."
According to Wikipedia, the non-academic-paper-worthy source of disinformation: Republicans created the US debt.
According to Glenn Beck, the bastion of sanity in this insane world: Republicans created the US debt.
"One party will tax and spend. One party won't tax and will spend. "
Wait, what?