A quote to make you think…

Rick Perry joins the Ranks of the Inverted

“Look, I am not an establishment figure, never have been, and frankly, I don’t want to be. I dislike Washington; I think it’s a seedy place.”

— Texas Gov. Rick Perry

Don’t you wonder why a Presidential candidate would be so opposed to Washington, DC? It’s like being opposed to our National History, being opposed to being in the location of the seat of power, unwilling to communicate with the rest of the government in its central place.

It’s a good reason not to vote for the guy.

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• Rick Perry labels Washington “a seedy place” – Reuters (news.google.com)
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Hey… Maybe the Republicans realize they have a couple of goofballs leading the nomination league…

It could be that Republicans are beginning to realize what a pair of bozos (ie: Bachmann and Perry) took the lead out of the Iowa Straw Poll and they are starting to get REALLY worried.

While it looks like Bachmann is at the head of the list for the Iowa Primary, Romney seems to have New Hampshire tied up and Perry is claiming the lead in South  Carolina. So, as the race currently stands, there’s no candidate who can chart a likely path to the nomination that involves winning a majority of the leadoff primary states and sealing an early victory, and that’s causing some Republicans to re-evaluate the field.

The "treasonous" Ben Bernanke

Karl Rove has come out to say that Perry went too far accusing Fed. Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke a traitor. “I think we are likely to see several other candidates think seriously about getting in. And frankly, they have time to do so,” said Rove.

The last issue  of  The Weekly Standard reported  that Paul Ryan is indeed “strongly considering a run” and is currently on vacation with his family discussing a prospective bid.  So we may have the creator of the worst budget on earth as a candidate in contention with the Religious Righters who are ahead.

And then there’s always the rumored Chris Christie and Jeb Bush Party Salvation Stories.

The Democrats are watching all this with concern… but also with a great deal of amusement. Let’s see what comes next.

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• Will Rick Perry’s Texas swagger help or hurt? – CBS News (news.google.com)
• Karl Rove Takes Aim At … Rick Perry? (theundergroundconservative.wordpress.com)
• Krugman: Rick Perry is “a shoo-in” after threatening Texas “ugly” if Bernanke plays politics & “prints more money” (americablog.com)
• No apologies from Perry for Texas-style tough talk (chron.com)
• GOP establishment blisters Rick Perry (dailykos.com)
• Speculation of Chris Christie presidential run continues after Rick Perry joins race (nj.com)
• Perry calls Fed ‘treasonous,’ threatens to get ‘ugly’ with Bernanke (dailykos.com)
• Late Returns: Bachmann Leads The 2012 Field In Number Of Iowa Family Reunions (huffingtonpost.com)
• Karl Rove Warns GOP Presidential Candidates Against Moving Too Far To The Right (Video) (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Perry replaces Pawlenty in race, looks to challenge Romney for GOP nomination ()
• Ron Paul Rolls Out Ad: He’s ‘The One’ (blogs.wsj.com)
• With the focus on Iowa, Huntsman seeks votes in New Hampshire (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)

Will The Republicans Listen To Bernanke?

The Federal Reserve Chairman made his presentation to Congress today and was not thrilled with the House Republicans’ proposed budget cuts.

What are the odds that these turkeys ignore him?

Here’s a clip from a longer McClatchy article:

clipped from www.mcclatchydc.com Bernanke: Steep budget cuts this year would threaten economy Steep spending cuts proposed by Republicans in the House of Representatives would slow the nation’s economic growth, cost jobs and work against the Federal Reserve‘s efforts to stimulate the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned lawmakers Tuesday. The nation’s prosperity would be better served by Congress and the White House agreeing on credible legislation to reduce the federal deficit and debt over a longer period of five or 10 years, he told the Senate Banking Committee. Bernanke was asked repeatedly about GOP proposals to trim anywhere from $60 billion to $100 billion in government spending during the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. These cuts would do little to bring down long-term budget deficits but would slow the economic recovery, he cautioned. “That would be ‘contractionary’ to some extent,” Bernanke said.

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Ben Bernanke interviewed on 60 Minutes: Income Inequality Is ‘Creating Two Societies’

Gosh… Has Bernanke just figured this stuff out after helping to make the inequality himself?

Here’s a snip they had on HuffPo this morning:

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes the growing income gap is “creating two societies” in America. The central bank chief weighed in on income inequality during an interview Sunday with “60 Minutes” reporter Scott Pelley: Pelley: The gap between rich and poor in this country has never been greater. In fact we have the biggest income disparity gap of any industrialized country in the world. And I wonder where you think that’s taking America. Bernanke: It’s a very bad development. It’s creating two societies. And it’s based very much, I think, on educational differences. The unemployment rate we’ve been talking about. If you’re a college graduate, unemployment is 5 percent. If you’re a high school graduate, it’s 10 percent or more. It’s a very big difference. It leads to an unequal society, and a society which doesn’t have the cohesion that we’d like to see.”

You notice he’s not saying what happens if you are a college graduate over 55 who became unemployed at the end of the Bush Debacle. I’ll bet our unemployment rate is at about 15%.

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Paul Krugman: Reign Of Error

From today’s NY Times:

Oh, well. Sewell Chan has an article about the rising influence of conservative economists; what he doesn’t point out is so far that these guys have been wrong about everything. They’re prospering because their political faction is prospering, not because their economic doctrines have proved correct or even plausible.

I have to say, when I got into economics, I expected evidence to matter more than it does — obviously telling people what they want to hear prevails more in the political arena than in academics, but even there the willingness to hang on to preferred narratives no matter the evidence is impressive.

Nothing to do but keep on plugging, I guess. In the long run truth will, one hopes, prevail; but in the long run …

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Did you hear about the Fed?

…this should explain everything:

Got it now?

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It’s Wednesday, and what is Geithner doing?

Here’s a clip from McClatchy News Service. It’s worthwhile going in to read the whole thing… then watch Geithner get grilled on C-Span.

clipped from www.mcclatchydc.com Geithner to defend bank bailout — and maybe his job, too Facing a rising tempest and new investigations, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday will defend before Congress his 2008 decision to use taxpayer bailout money to pay major banks the full $62 billion face value of bets made on risky offshore securities. Geithner, who headed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the height of the financial crisis, will not be alone in giving sworn testimony to members of the House Oversight and Governmental Affairs Committee skeptical about the handling of the massive rescue of the American International Group. He will be joined by his predecessor at Treasury, Henry Paulson, who’s expected to be asked whether he “picked up the phone” or took any other action to force banks to accept a discount on the insurance-like contracts, a committee staffer said. It seems clear that some lawmakers have Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in their sights…

Bernie Sanders: Let’s Not Renew Bernanke

Here is Senator Sanders’ comments for this week:

I agree with him. If enough of us sign on with Bernie you’ll see how fast Obama comes to agree with him as well!

From the NY Times: Dodd & Gregg think Bernanke will be approved…

This is a clip from the NY Times… go HERE for the whole article. There’s a lot more to it.

clipped from www.nytimes.com WASHINGTON — Two senior senators, a Democrat and a Republican, jointly issued a statement Saturday predicting that the Senate will confirm Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, hoping to quell doubts that had shaken markets and forced the White House to scramble to keep him from becoming a casualty of populist anti-Wall Street fervor. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Democrat from Connecticut who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, a Republican who is a longtime member of the panel, said in their statement that “based on our discussions with our colleages, we are very confident that Chairman Bernanke will win confirmation by the Senate for a second term.” Mr. Dodd, who recently decided to retire as his own re-election looked doubtful, and Mr. Gregg, who also is retiring, not only forecast Mr. Bernanke’s approval but also provided a fulsome endorsement.

It’s not that easy, though:

At least 11 senators have said they would oppose Mr. Bernanke, including four Democrats, Ms. Boxer, Mr. Feingold, Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota and Jeff Merkley of Oregon; one independent, Bernie Sanders of Vermont; and six Republicans.

“Especially since the election in Massachusetts, Democrats are waking up to the fact that Americans are profoundly disgusted with the behavior on Wall Street that led to the disaster we’re currently in,” Mr. Sanders said. “In the last week the president has decidedly changed his tone on Wall Street — in my view, quite appropriately. He would be well served to have an ally at the Fed who shares those concerns.”

Quote of the Day…

“The American people overwhelmingly voted last year for a change in our national priorities to put the interests of ordinary people ahead of the greed of Wall Street and the wealthy few. What the American people did not bargain for was another four years for one of the key architects of the Bush economy.”

-Senator Bernie Sanders putting a hold on therenomination of Ben Bernanke to the Federal Reserve.

Go to it, Bernie!