cat power

disaster capitalism

All this concern and urgency about the deficit. A deficit created by ramming through a massive tax cut at a time when the U.S. was embroiled in two unnecessary wars. Obama should let the tax cuts expire. Will he? Probably not based on his behavior in his first term. Also, I'm noticing the stupid term "fiscal cliff" echoing throughout every newscast and no more mention of the idea of people paying their "fair share."

Here's Krugman's latest blog musing about deficit hawks.

why did Romney lose?

David Frum:

 I believe the Republican Party is a party of followership. The problem with the Republican leaders is that they’re cowards….The real locus of the problem is the Republican activist base and the Republican donor base. They went apocalyptic over the past four years. And that was exploited by a lot of people in the conservative world. I won’t soon forget the lupine smile that played over the head of a major conservative institution when he told me that our donors think the apocalypse has arrived. Republicans have been fleeced and exploited and lied to by a conservative entertainment complex….Because the followers, the donors and the activists are so mistaken about the nature of the problems the country faces the nature–I mean, it’s just a simple question. I went to Tea Party rallies and I would ask this question: “have taxes gone up or down in the past four years?” They could not answer that question correctly. Now it’s true that taxes will go up if the President is re-elected. That’s why we’re Republicans. But you have to know that taxes have not gone up in the past. And “do we spend a trillion dollars on welfare?” Is that true or false? It is false. But it is almost universally believed. That means that the leaders have no space to operate.

Quotable - stand your ground

Meanwhile, the president is in a far stronger position than in previous confrontations. I don't place much stock in talk of "mandates," but Obama did win re-election with a populist campaign, so he can plausibly claim that Republicans are defying the will of the American people. And he just won his big election and is, therefore, far better placed than before to weather any political blowback from economic troubles -- especially when it would be so obvious that these troubles were being deliberately inflicted by the GOP in a last-ditch attempt to defend the privileges of the 1 percent. 

Most of all, standing up to hostage-taking is the right thing to do for the health of America's political system. 

So stand your ground, Mr. President, and don't give in to threats. No deal is better than a bad deal.

Paul Krugman -  Let's Not Make a Deal

Rest in Peace, Elizabeth

Restless in Reno

Went for a hike on a new trail this afternoon with John. While driving to meet him in Reno, I thought about this blog and whether it's time to pull the plug. I'm still mulling this. Is this normal? If you have a blog, do you sometimes wonder why you have one?

Getting back to the hike...didn't see another hiker until the end. It was a guy who said he is preparing to hike to the top of Mt. Whitney this weekend. All of a sudden I thought "I should set a goal of hiking to the top of Whitney." Just like that. What?! Why am I so impressionable?

Guess I'm feeling a little adrift these days. End of summer melancholy perhaps.

[Photo - Hunter Creek, Reno, Nevada]

birds on a wire