The Week That Will Not Be

The Senate remains out of session but present so that Elizabeth Warren can't get an appointment. The newspapers in North Carolina lit into Rep. McHenry's rudeness in the Warren hearing and reminded its readers that Warren had warned about the financial crisis ten years before it occurred and that she was the most able spokesperson for all those with mortgage problems. Editorials also reminded McHenry's constituents that she was not the "liberal" the congressman portrays and is working with Mrs. Petraeus to alleviate the financial problems affecting military families. Nice try but it's not going to work. In the Beltway, the punditry is already saying that Elizabeth Warren is polarizing. Since her persona is anything but,I guess they mean that powerful financial interests don't like her.

The House will be in session this week. They will be introducing a "clean bill" on raising the debt ceiling. This whole exercise is purposely futile since you need by House rules a 2/3rd vote to pass. The whole point is to show the Administration that the public just demands massive cuts in government spending to accomodate such a vote.

Paul Krugman writes today that our policy makers have a learned helplessness about job creation and have moved on to ranting about the deficit and national debt. He cites the OECD report that concludes that all industrialized countries have exhausted all the tools at their disposal for creating jobs. Krugman comes up with three of his own--a WPA style program, serious mortgage remodification programs and getting inflation up to 4% to reduce the personal debt issue. But he writes that all of these would just run into a brick wall with House Republicans. But, he urges everyone who is still concerned about unemployment to keep talking about it.

Yesterday's New York Times published an article on the findings of an international think tank about how the debt of all industrialized countries will eventually dwarf the largest economies. But the operative elements of the piece are the suggestions that the large economies should wait until 2013 to pass austerity programs so as to allow for the recovery to stabilize. In addition, elements of debt reduction programs should not really begin until 2019. The point is that this problem is actually manageable and should not be dealt with by panicking. Unfortunately, our wealthy punditry is sounding the alarms before there is an economic recovery.

The media has gained Rapture with Sarah Palin's black leather routine here in D.C. It's Sister Sarah 24/7. The word is that if she bails out before New Hampshire, it's because she is not feeling the positive vibes. If she takes her bus down towards South Carolina, she will pull the trigger.

Lawrence O'Donnell bummed out people like me by plainly explaining why she isn't running. Otherwise, Roger Ailes would have pulled her from Fox by now and they reiterated her status has now changed.

The Right has cut another one of its RHINO ads. This time they are going after Tim Pawlenty. The first ad went after Jon Huntsman. Will the third go after Romney? Stay tuned.

Mitt announces this week. I will be in the hinterlands so I will not be able to miss this historic event.

Tim Pawlenty now is attacking President Obama of being a "doofus", who wants to maintain the status quo. I guess he wants to contrast himself with Newt who claims that Obama is creating a socialist, secular state controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood. Should be an interesting debate. But speaking of "doofus" maybe Pawenty should have chosen a better word, not a self-description.

This week's commentator of the week is Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly. Benen has been in a groove all week, explaining the various modes by which the GOP ignore the practical answers to the problems facing this country. His writings this week deserve our attention. He's almost hit the same groove Krugman was in when he became a prolific blogger on the Ryan Plan.

Speaking of which, Mitch McConnell says he has put the Ryan Medicare Plan on the table. Whatever that means. It's not even a place to start. Since we are now at an ideological stalemate, let's just do nothing. The Bush tax credits expire by themselves in 2012. Let's keep the withdrawal dates for Iraq and hasn't the date for Afghanistan. You eliminate three biggest drivers of our deficits by attrition. Then we can debate whether you want to dismantle the social safety nets in 2012.

A curious thing happened on the way to the Wisconsin budget bill, the state now finds it will have $600 million more in revenues than anticipated. Not only was all that upheaval for nothing other than the ideological dreams of the GOP but it had no economic rationale. We will find the same is true once the three drivers of the national deficits are done and there is a modicum of a recovery.

Have a Happy Memorial Day. It is in the mid-90s in D.C. And the human race managed to emit more carbon emissions this year than at any time in history. But Sister Sarah says, "She just loves the smell of emissions". She better not tell Frothy Mix Santorum. He might get strange ideas.