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- I have no idea what Obama's political team thinks they're going to accomplish by conceding to deficit hawks. It's not as if the public gives a damn about the deficit; they want jobs. And it's not as if voters are going to the polls in November thinking, "Well, the president made his case for job creation, but darn it, Congress got in the way." Obviously, the beneficiary of this failure will be Republicans, whose intransigence, cynicism, and disregard for governance and the well-being of the country will be rewarded with more seats in Congress. Heckuva job Democrats. You deserve your fate this fall.
- If you're in the market for novel and contrarian explanations for our sagging economy, look no further than this post in Fortune. Apparently, the poor job market for the Gen-Y work force is a reflection of their laziness. You see, boomers knew the value of work, whereas these 20-something punks value "fun, innovation, social responsibility, and time off." Convincing! Almost as convincing as "the recession was due to an Obama shock, i.e., labor supply fell because U.S. workers anticipate higher future taxes."
- I have mixed feelings on the Obama administration's plans for NASA. On the one hand it's sensible to move away from manned missions and focus more on R&D and robotic exploration, but pragmatism has a cost. I am aware that the golden age of space exploration was fueled by Cold War competition with the Soviets -- i.e., nationalism. But in the case of space exploration, nationalism fueled amazing, inspirational achievements that I'm reluctant to toss aside in the name of expediency.
- Remainders: The Fed wants to get more involved in the economic recovery, but the results are likely to be negligible; as we all know, there's no room for nuance in war against radical Islam; make no mistake, deficit hawkery is just an excuse to dismantle social programs; I'd say the question of whether Sharron Angle is a moral monster has now been definitively settled; Wal-Mart fights the good fight against frivolous lawsuits; and a reminder that standards of politesse are quite different for liberals and conservatives.
--Mori Dinauer
