A Few Billion Here. A Few Billion There.
From the Wall Street Journal’s How the Stimulus Plans Differ: “The Senate passed an economic stimulus plan with a price tag of around $840 billion on Tuesday, thirteen days after the House passed its own version of the plan with an estimated cost of approximately $820 billion. Now, lawmakers must meet to reconcile the two [...]
Someone Tell Me Why This Is A Bad Idea
Jon Stewart’s idea for the stimulus package is the best I’ve heard yet. While the guest in the clip below doesn’t really respond to it, one of this week’s guests, a guy who wrote a book about what President Obama needs to know about the economy, thought it was a good idea. Watch below, then [...]
Congress Gets Real
From Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional oversight panel of the $700 billion bailout: “[The panel’s first report on the spending of the bailout money] is tough and it’s fast. And I think fast was important here too. An ordinary Congressional panel would’ve taken three months to get up and running and would’ve fooled around [...]
Hooray for Capitalism
Image via Treehuggger.com via Boing-Boing.
Why The Waxman Thing Is Important
From AlterNet’s Call it What it Is: Corruption: “In a functional democracy — one where lawmakers pursue the public interest — the stock prices of politically connected companies or industries shouldn’t be impacted by the changing fortunes of politicans with whom they’re cozy. But yesterday, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrested control of the influential House [...]
Waxman Takes Over Energy
From NY Times’ Longtime Head of House Energy Panel Is Ousted: “The 255-House Democratic conference voted 137 to 122 to accept the recommendation of its steering committee and agreed to replace Dingell, 82, a long-time friend of the U.S. auto industry, with Waxman, a 69-year-old Californian anxious to ease global warming, a top concern of [...]
Main Street? Never heard of it.
From NY Times’ editorial, Meanwhile, in the Economy: “After the Senate approved the $700 billion bank bailout, the majority leader, Harry Reid, tried to persuade his colleagues to address another economic calamity before they left town for the long election recess. He urged them to extend unemployment benefits for 800,000 jobless Americans. In the face [...]
Why We Need The Change We Need
From NY Times’s Tom Davis Gives Up: “The [Gingrich] revolution is over, the thrill is gone and the Republican brand under President Bush has, in Davis’s view, been so tarnished that, as he likes to say, ‘if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.’ These will be [Republican Rep. Tom] [...]
I’m Mad As Hell
[Hat tip to Shawn for the video]
Don’t forget the military meaning for “Section 8″
From Section 8 of Treasury’s Financial-Bailout Proposal to Congress (read at blogs.wsj.com): “Sec. 8. Review.: Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” [Editor's note: Are they crazy?]
