Send in the clowns...

I had to take a couple of days off from the BL blog because I was so pissed off and disappointed at Obama and the democrats for their sackless capitulation to John Boner and his tea party clowns that I didn’t trust myself – I thought for sure I’d say something mean, nasty or politically incorrect.  But then, after thinking about it for a while, I decided that I had no choice but to do that anyway and any impulse I had towards accommodation, reconciliation and good fellowship was a complete waste of time and if I did that I’d probably turn into a pillar of salt or something. 

Today all of the news analysis is about how the democrats did a great job because they were able to secure “concessions” from Boner in the crafting of the final bill.  To me that’s like talking the executioner into giving you a blind fold and a smoke before he lines you up in front of the rifles.  Memo to Harry, Nancy and Barack; you got played.   The whole thing was nothing but political theater and you ended up looking like hapless dupes – the skinny kid on the playground trying in vain to not get pantsed.  How this could possibly be spun into something positive is a mystery, even though you “protected” medi-care and social security.   Because for all the media blather and reactionary partisan spiel for the perpetual news programs on TV, those aren’t the problem. 

Social Security has, until this year, had a surplus and actually contributed to the general fund.  Whatever intractable problems attributable to it in the future could be fixed with one simple change; raise the income level at which social security deductions end to $200,000 and the problem is solved.  But of course that might anger the sleepy-eyed dilettantes sending in the campaign contributions so it never even comes up.   Medi-care issues are a bit more tangled but the first steps to fix it are in place with health care reform and that is yet to fully play out.   And no, the budget deficit problems aren’t the result of the stimulus programs or the bail outs, as distasteful as those were.   As a matter of fact, the deficit isn’t really a problem at all in the sense of being what ails the economy right now and this is where the democrats’ cowardly retreat is most vexing.   Here’s what one of the chief investment officers of PIMCO said about this just-in-the-nick-of-time deal;

"Because of the very public and intense squabbles in D.C., already-anemic economic growth will be weaker, the unemployment crisis will worsen, income and wealth inequality will deteriorate further and, ironically, the fiscal dynamics will be more challenging.”

Hmmmm…yep, sounds like everything is going to be OK now that random and obscure discretionary spending programs have been cut down to size.  And this is coming from one of the leaders of a gigantic bond fund, not the brain trust of Moveon.com.   The truth is, this sad and disheartening episode is prelude to disaster, both economically and politically for the democrats.  They had a chance to draw a line and dare the republicans to cross it and they didn’t do it.  Sure, they are spending a lot of time whistling past the graveyard in front of microphones and cameras but at night when they are half way through the bottle of vodka, they know they screwed this up.   When they folded and took any revenue enhancements off the table it was essentially over.

The deficit – to the extent that it’s a problem at all – is the result of the Bush tax cuts, (which Obama would have let expire if he had any balls), and ten years of two wars accompanied by utterly clueless and incoherent exercises in nation building in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  That accounts for about 4 trillion, give or take, and is far more to blame for the economy running on empty than medi-care or after school programs.  How in god’s name did you all let the tea party steal the high ground in this debate?  Because you’re a bunch of pussies, basically.  You blinked.  You flinched.  You let the Clanton Boys beat you to the draw.  You saw the riled up new kids coming and you hid in the closet.  Pick an insulting metaphor…Now only did you not address the true economic issues causing such pain, fear and loathing in the country, you probably doomed us more of the same by putting the pillow over your heads during the scary part... letting the big kids steal your lunch…pick a metaphor…

Wait, I found one that really sums it up nicely, I think - compliments of the Huffington Post:

The review of 20 studies published over the last 10 years shows that there is little evidence that colon cleansing improves health or promotes weight loss, while there is much evidence that shows it is associated with bloating, vomiting, cramping, renal failure and even death.

Yesir, I believe that says all you need to say about it...