Obama (scolder-in-chief) Packs his Bags for a Camp David Vacation

“You need to be here. I’ve been here. I’ve been doing

Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis.”

Capitol Hill Blue
By: Doug Thompson
July 1, 2011

After scolding Congressional Republicans for failing to work hard at resolving the debt crisis — and urging Congress to stay in town over the July 4th holiday and act — President Barack Obama packed his bags and headed to Camp David for a vacation.

In an astounding show of political hypocrisy the scolder-in-chief practiced the old Washington art of “don’t do as I do, do as I say.”

Obama flees Washington after issuing a long list of one-liners aimed at the GOP.

He claimed his daughters accomplish more with their homework than Congress does in dealing with the debt crisis, bringing back — to some — visions of former one-term Democratic President Jimmy Carter‘s incredible admission that he once turned to his daughter Amy for advice on nuclear policy.

“There is more activity in a nursing home than there is in the House under the GOP majority,” Obama said.

While no one can claim with a straight face that Congress accomplishes much, hearing one politician claim he is more adult than another is — in itself — childish.

Obama, like everyone else in the messy debt-limit debacle, is posturing and jockeying for position. He knows full well that nothing will happen until the last minute and that the blame for the delay lies as much with his own party as with recalcitrant Republicans.

Governing is not a high priority on either end of the National Mall. Both the White House and Congress play politics while Americans suffer in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and that will not stop after August 2 when the debt ceiling is extended — as it most certainly will.

With public approval of both parties in the crapper, voters head into the 2012 election year with more pessimism about the future. Polls show 39 percent of Americans believe the economy will never recover and that it doesn’t matter which party is in control of Congress or living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Obama to Congress: Do your Job by Michael Crowley Time Swampland (not to be confused with Swamp People).

Grandpa's Suggested Reading For All Politicians

Sorry, Geithner and Bernanke used up every

tear-out check to pay for your fiscal ineptitude

When you hand a lobbyist a cookie...

Grandchildren know full well that it's

broken and both red and blue states

took their eye off the ball

Nuff Said...

Horton is laughed at by his jungle friends, exposed to the elements,

captured by hunters, forced to endure a terrible sea voyage,

and finally placed in a traveling circus. However, he refuses

to leave the nest through all of these because he promised

Mayzie he would look after the egg

("I meant what I said and I said what I meant,

And an elephant's faithful, one hundred per cent!")

Nuff Said II

If Horton was not inspirational enough for you...

As it neared the top of the grade, which had so discouraged

the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying,

"I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can." It reached the top by drawing on bravery

and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying,

"I thought I could, I thought I could."

Time for all of you to cease stomping on our childrens'

and grandchildrens' dreams.

They deserve an opportunity to dream.

Bernanke, you have a sacred obligation to continue faking it (Bill Frezza)

Ben, you have a sacred obligation to continue faking it.

Nobody will think less of you if you just brazen it out.

Forbes
By: Bill Frezza
June 28, 2011

The United States economy has weathered countless panics, bubbles, and recessions throughout its history, typically recovering with a vengeance on the way to achieving new heights. One and only one downturn turned into a Great Depression. So far.

Countless scholars have studied exactly how the federal government managed to turn a stock market crash and cyclical recession into a fifteen year nightmare. Only incorrigible ideologues persist in spouting the idea that greed and selfishness caused the Great Depression. After all, these are eternal features of the human condition.

Thinking economists generally blame a combination of the Federal Reserve’s failure to maintain a steady price level and Congress’s insistence on destroying global trade with its protectionist Smoot-Hawley tariffs. Debate continues on the degree to which FDR’s interference in the economy helped or made things worse, but the undeniable fact remains that the country didn’t get back on track until all the economic controls loaded onto businesses were lifted at the end of World War II.

Ben Bernanke devoted his professional life to understanding these failures. Destiny put him at the helm of the Federal Reserve when a real estate bubble fueled by easy money, collapsed lending standards, rash derivatives gambling, and a bipartisan bailout upended the world’s financial system. As the economy teetered at the edge of the abyss Helicopter Ben flew into action, flooding the planet with liquidity determined to smother any hint of demon deflation under mountains of fresh greenbacks.

Hurrah, it worked! Prices are going up, slowly at the moment, but with every indication that we will soon be longing for the days when inflation was only in the single digits. Meanwhile debate continues on whether President Obama’s czar-driven interference in the economy is increasing or decreasing the rate at which things are getting worse.



So, Ben, now that you have saved us from the horror of cheaper stuff why isn’t the economy bouncing back like it has after every other recession?

Cue deer in headlights.

Come on, mumble some sphinx-like inanities to reassure us. It worked for your predecessor. “We don’t have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting” is not going to cut it. Grab a thesaurus and pull out whatever comes after “temporary factors” and “persistent headwinds.”

Don’t you realize that supporting the illusion that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve knows what the hell he is doing is central to maintaining investor confidence? Do you understand how paralyzed with fear your countrymen will become if they realize that all you economics professors in Washington are merely passengers on a runaway train? What will people make of your promises to know exactly when to soak up all this excess liquidity before it drowns us if it becomes obvious that you haven’t got a clue what is going on or why?

Ben, you have a sacred obligation to continue faking it. Nobody will think less of you if you just brazen it out. Follow the example of the president, go buy yourself a teleprompter and blame everything on the last guy. With a little luck your term in office will be over before voters figure out that turning over the economy to people who have never worked a real job a day in their lives is insane. This is not to belittle the value of waiting tables at South of the Border any more than discounting the lessons one learns as a community organizer. But asking unaccountable bureaucrats to steer a national economy without ever having contributed to it is like asking the Pope to train sex therapists.



We all know that the Federal Reserve rests on a shared illusion. In what other industry can the biggest suppliers collude and fix prices with impunity? Which other businesses can always count on helping themselves to “liquidity” whenever they get themselves in a pickle? Keeping the masses believing that some guy in Washington sets interest rates with a wave of his magic wand only works if all the co-conspirators play along. A fiat currency is only as good as the inordinate faith people place in it.

Ben, maintaining this faith is your sacred obligation. No journalist will call you a liar if your prognostications turn out to be dead wrong; after all there is never any accountability in Washington. But everyone will blame you if you start to look the fool. You are safe for the moment as your boss can’t turn you into a scapegoat without admitting that he’s equally clueless. But if we’re sitting here in the summer of 2012 with 10% unemployment, 10% inflation, and negative economic growth who do you think will be the first to walk the plank?

If you appreciate Bill's perspective,

keep reading: Fixing Too Big To Fail

Senator Bernie Sanders: Letter to President Obama (Sacrifice Sharing)

June 27, 2011

Dear Mr. President,

This is a pivotal moment in the history of our country. Decisions are being made about the national budget that will impact the lives of virtually every American for decades to come. As we address the issue of deficit reduction we must not ignore the painful economic reality of today -- which is that the wealthiest people in our country and the largest corporations are doing phenomenally well while the middle class is collapsing and poverty is increasing. In fact, the United States today has, by far, the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth.

Everyone understands that over the long-term we have got to reduce the deficit -- a deficit that was caused mainly by Wall Street greed, tax breaks for the rich, two wars, and a prescription drug program written by the drug and insurance companies. It is absolutely imperative, however, that as we go forward with deficit reduction we completely reject the Republican approach that demands savage cuts in desperately-needed programs for working families, the elderly, the sick, our children and the poor, while not asking the wealthiest among us to contribute one penny.

Mr. President, please listen to the overwhelming majority of the American people who believe that deficit reduction must be about shared sacrifice. The wealthiest Americans and the most profitable corporations in this country must pay their fair share. At least 50 percent of any deficit reduction package must come from revenue raised by ending tax breaks for the wealthy and eliminating tax loopholes that benefit large, profitable corporations and Wall Street financial institutions. A sensible deficit reduction package must also include significant cuts to unnecessary and wasteful Pentagon spending.

Please do not yield to outrageous Republican demands that would greatly increase suffering for the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society. Now is the time to stand with the tens of millions of Americans who are struggling to survive economically, not with the millionaires and billionaires who have never had it so good.

Senator Bernie Sanders


Sanders Says Stand Up to Schoolyard Bullies

MN "Leaders" Enter Their Cone of Silence after a 75 Minute Meeting

After a 75 minute meeting, the best and the brightest MN

Elected "Representatives" didn't say when negotiations would resume.

Pioneer Press
By: Dennis Lien
June 26, 2011

Budget talks between Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders ended without explanation Sunday afternoon, prompting questions about whether the two sides have hit a roadblock in their efforts to end a prolonged budget impasse.

The governor and leaders met on a third consecutive day for about 75 minutes before GOP staff told reporters the session had concluded. They didn't say when negotiations would resume.

Dayton and the key lawmakers left without going past reporters, opting to use other exits.

Later, House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, refused to provide specifics, referring to a "cone of silence'' that had been established by the parties.



We've maintained all the way through this weekend that we are going to keep the conversations we had in there in the room,'' Zellers said. "But we continue to talk. We continue to work.''

Senate GOP spokesman Michael Brodkorb said legislative leaders would continue meeting Sunday with finance chairs, but no further negotiations would be held later in the day. No meetings had been scheduled for Monday.

The mysterious conclusion followed 16 hours of private talks Friday and Saturday in which Dayton and leaders reported progress on trying to resolve the impasse that, barring an agreement in the next four days, would lead to a state government shutdown Friday.

The two sides have been at odds over how to resolve a looming budget deficit for the upcoming two-year spending period.

Republicans want a $34 billion two-year budget tied to existing revenue while Dayton wants to increase taxes on the state's highest earners to pay for a $35.8 billion budget.

Though no one signaled any type of agreement was imminent before Sunday's talks, Dayton again said he was optimistic as he entered the room in which talks were being held.

"I hope we can make the kind of progress we've made the past two days,'' a smiling Dayton said.

Afterward, Dayton spokeswoman Katie Tinucci said she wouldn't address what had happened in the meeting.

"There is still work happening around the budget,'' House GOP spokeswoman Jodi Boyne said.

As that work continues, some of the focus will shift to the courts.

A judge today will hear arguments in Ramsey County District Court about courts spending if a shutdown occurs.

In addition, Ramsey County Chief District Judge Kathleen Gearin could rule as early as today whether to keep parts of state government operating if Dayton and the Legislature fail to reach an agreement.

The budget talks were held Sunday afternoon so Dayton could participate in the Twin Cities Pride parade in Minneapolis in late morning. He is the first Minnesota governor to have done so.