The latest Employment Report did not bring tidings of cheer and prosperity. Instead, there were 663,000 jobs lost in March and the national unemployment rate rose from 8.1 to 8.5% (highest since 1983). 5.1 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007 but 3.3 million of those jobs were lost within the past 5 months.
Gov. Sarah Palin has now joined Govs. Mark Sanford (S.C.) and Rick Perry (TX) in rejecting a large portion of the stimulus package being offered to her state. The punchlines (and headlines) will write themselves on this one since much of the money Palin is refusing was marked for education:
There is no longer any need for commentary on the latest stupidities the Republican party has engineered. They have become self-evident and self-parodying. Indeed, at a certain point you have to wonder when, kind of like Liberace, the garish, overstated ridiculousness becomes the entire point.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor has been on a roll lately. He spoke out so strongly against the stimulus plan that a group of Democratic-leaning groups (including the union AFSCME) launched an attack ad against him. His spokesman responded by sending a profanity laden AFSCME “spoof” video to a reporter at Politico. Then Cantor confessed that [...]
The stimulus plan passed the House and Senate Friday night and is now on its way to possibly doing a small bit of economic good while continuing to be torn apart by everyone and their brother. Call me cynical.
If you’d like to see exactly what was in the version that passed- and don’t want to read through 1,000 pages of documents- follow the links below. (Cont…)
Europe’s More Screwed Than U.S.: Um…yay? Baseline Scenario breaks down why the economic situation in Europe is worse than it is here. Arnold Kling pops in to add hilarious “United States as the ‘tallest pygmy’” metaphor.
How’s that Bipartisanship Going? To no one’s surprise, the House passed the stimulus plan with 0 Republican votes (7 Dems [...]
On January 26th, the New York Times ran the best six words that have ever been part of any column William Kristol has ever written:
This is William Kristol’s last column.
Trust the Washington Post, however, to shred our short-lived joy. Yes, Wild Bill has found himself a home at the Post, in what appears to be their ongoing charity program for displaced wingnut columnists who have been completely, totally wrong about absolutely everything ever. And believe me, among such company Bill Kristol truly stands out.
Oh, Obama. This Gregg to Commerce thing had better start making sense soon or we’re going to have some words, Mr. President.
Judd Gregg, still a sitting senator, has announced he will recuse himself from congressional voting as he awaits his appointment. This voting includes the stimulus plan that Gregg has been a vocal opponent of. As Brian Beutler says, a non-vote in this situation is the same as a “no” vote:
The stimulus plan passed the House today with a vote of 244-188. The dissenting votes consisted of 11 Democrats and the whole of the House Republicans. After being catered to extensively in order to woo their support, not a single Republican cast an affirmative vote.
There is some paraphrasing happening in the subject line but it isn’t a stretch to imagine Citigroup as a greedy child eyeing a shiny toy in an aisle while Obama looks on like an exasperated parent. As you may have heard, Citigroup- the financial institution awarded a $45 billion bailout- had plans to purchase a [...]
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