Prairie Weather

Toxic

The New York Times has a disconcerting front page headline today.

We should go beyond mild limits and eliminate gases altogether altogether from both the White House and Congress.  Of course, this would mean eliminating the bulk of political advisors from the White House, every Republican member of Congress, and a few Democrats. 

It's a task for voters, not the EPA.  We need to get on it, and fast, before the methane buildup explodes.  Or maybe we should just let it happen.

Where we're headed, based on our responses to polls in 2010

Pew Research has done a year-end wrap-up on poll results "over the course of the past year that are likely to have consequences for the future course of U.S. policy and governance."

They range from the convictions about Barack Obama being an alien to the growing disgust with "isms": 

"Socialism" is not so negative, "capitalism" is not so positive among certain segments of the public -- notably, young people and Democrats, among whom both "isms" are rated about equally.

In other words and in at least one respect, younger Americans are finally overcoming the awful prejudices and ignorance of their boomer elders and the delicate, democratic balance between social and economic concerns appears to be restorable --at least in concept.

Wrong

Ecoomist Simon Johnson, writing at Bloomberg, takes us through the all-too-familiar steps leading to the next collapse and concludes:

At this point, we will have only two choices: Raise taxes or cut spending. Given that the Obama administration is unprepared for this scenario, and has no sensible tax-reform plans under way, this gives an opportunity to Republicans intent on big spending cuts. For anyone hoping to “starve the beast,” this will be a historic opportunity.

But there’s a problem. The U.S. government doesn’t take in much tax revenue -- at least 10 percentage points of GDP less than comparable developed economies -- and it also doesn’t spend much except on the military, Social Security and Medicare. Other parts of government spending can be frozen or even slashed, but it just won’t make that much difference.

That means older Americans are going to get squeezed, while our ability to defend ourselves goes into decline. Just because there’s a bipartisan consensus on an idea, such as tax cuts, doesn’t mean it makes sense. Today’s tax cutters have set us up for tomorrow’s fiscal crisis and real damage to U.S. national security. 

Of course, Simon Johnson is probably dead wrong about our ability to defend ourselves.  The most dangerous threat to national security is largely an internal threat.

Just another shocking report

...Polish air traffic control in Warsaw confirmed the regular use of the Szymany air base by two aircraft used in the CIA’s extraordinary renditions program, and prosecutors have apparently collected substantial additional evidence that the CIA used the facilities to house and interrogate prisoners. Public pressure to continue the criminal probe is growing. Polish Radio reports that a new billboard has appeared in Poznan featuring a person hooded and bound to a chair with a tattered American flag in the background. The legend in Polish and English reads “Welcome to Poland—Where they torture people.”

Scott Horton, at Harper's,  has the latest on the efforts of the US government to stymie investigations of torture in Europe with some help from Polish political leaders.  Poland is one of those countries where the CIA had a "black site" and used torture on prisoners.

The Department of Justice continues to stand in the way of investigations and justice.

Spanish prosecutors have identified officials of the Justice Department itself as targets of their investigation. WikiLeaks disclosed cables showing that U.S. diplomats made extraordinary efforts to suppress or interfere with these criminal investigations, and that threats were repeatedly leveled at local political leaders in an effort to get them to meddle with criminal justice processes–which by law are insulated from political manipulation.

Knockout

 

The story behind this video is told at The Atlantic.

The collapse of government. "Banana Republic,here we come..."

It doesn't take much -- only the stupidity we are facing in Congress in 2011 -- to collapse effective government in the US. The collapse just took place on a small scale in Nassau County, NY, where Paul Krugman grew up.  And it happened because Nassau County did what Jon Kyl and others are planning to do in Congress, according to Krugman.

...A year ago, in one of the first major Tea Party victories, the county elected a new executive who railed against budget deficits and promised both to cut taxes and to balance the budget. The tax cuts happened; the promised spending cuts didn’t. And now the county is in fiscal crisis.

Do Republicans really believe in their hearts... Wait, Republicans would have a hard time these days proving they even have hearts.  Or heads for that matter:

...2010 marked the emergence of a new, even more profound level of magical thinking: the belief that deficits created by tax cuts just don’t matter. For example, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona — who had denounced President Obama for running deficits — declared that “you should never have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.”

In other words, tax cuts pay for themselves. 

Not.

As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out, the incoming House majority plans to make changes in the “pay-as-you-go” rules — rules that are supposed to enforce responsible budgeting — that effectively implement Mr. Kyl’s principle. Spending increases will have to be offset, but revenue losses from tax cuts won’t. Oh, and revenue increases, even if they come from the elimination of tax loopholes, won’t count either: any spending increase must be offset by spending cuts elsewhere; it can’t be paid for with additional taxes.

So if taxes don’t matter, does the incoming majority have a realistic plan to cut spending? Of course not. Republicans say that they want to cut $100 billion in spending, which is itself small change in a $3.6 trillion federal budget. But they also say that defense, Medicare and Social Security — all the big-ticket items — are off the table. So they’re talking about a 20 percent cut in what’s left, which includes things like running the judicial system and operating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; they have offered no specifics about where the cuts will fall.

So, as Krugman points out, Nassau County is a model for what's about to happen in Washington. He also has the perfect description of why it's happening.

2010 was something special. For it was the year of budget doubletalk — the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger.

Republicans want the government to collapse.  Hypocritical?  Maybe.  Consistent?  Definitely!