Alec MacGillis at The New Republic had a stroke of genius when he decided to pull the last quarterly SEC filing for The Freedom Group. That’s the consolidated group of gun manufacturers aggregated together and now owned by Cerberus Capital Management, of the country’s biggest and most successful private equity firms. How do they look at their own financial prospects, going into the future? Read More
Brian Beutler’s got a great piece about how John Boehner’s ‘Plan B’ just seemed to totally blow up the fiscal cliff negotiations. There are so many different angles to go with this — one is, how is this good for Boehner or the GOP? He throws down the gauntlet and tells Obama: ‘I’m going to get my caucus to vote for a tax increase that will never actually become law and bogart all the blame for going over the fiscal cliff?’ Really? Read More
Yesterday I noted Megan McArdle’s suggestion that we drill young people to rush gunmen mid-massacre rather than trying to run and hide. Now we learn from Jessica Valenti that this is a growing trend. In NRO, Charlotte Allen laments that there were no men or even semi-pubescent boys who could have rushed Lanza (a la Megan McArdle) and what she terms the “feminized setting … in which helpless passivity is the norm.” Read More
Boehner shifts gears, says my way or the highway, tells Obama he must sign “Plan B” or be responsible for cliff dive.
The only issue here is that politically, the ‘highway’ is known as the Obama State Parkway, where Obama would prefer not to go but is happy to drive on if he must.
Like I said, talk loudly and carry a small stick. Maybe no stick.
The President has been very clear: he’s not going to get into another hostage negotiation over the debt ceiling. Absolutely not. That’s what he says. And I think he’s going to stick to that. But there’s a passion and energy behind it that’s made me think (not surprisingly) the President feels guilty about what he allowed to happen back in 2011. Read More
This afternoon we’ve got an exciting Live Chat with economist Jared Bernstein. Jared’s been of the top progressive economists in DC for as long as I can remember. More recently he was Vice President Biden’s Chief Economist and top Economic Advisor — and in general a top White House economics player during the first Obama term. Now he’s at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. A lot of you are asking now, what about this or that detail in the rumored/leaked fiscal compromise plan? What about the tax rate level? What about Chained CPI? Jared knows these things like the back of his hand, the pros and cons and also has no little insight into how this White House makes decisions. So don’t miss your chance. Jared joins us at TPMPrime at 4 PM. But you can get your questions in now.
Personally, my favorite part of John Boehner’s “Plan B” is how exquisitely it exposes the low cost of hypocrisy in politics. Last year, Dems were fighting amongst themselves over whether the threshold for extending the Bush tax cuts should be set at $1 million or $250,000. Today, a $1 million threshold is a non-starter. (Yes, an election interceded, but let’s not pretend Chuck Schumer preferred the $1 million threshold for purely political reasons).
On the other side of that coin, Republicans are now claiming “Plan B” — which would lock in the Bush tax cuts for income under $1 million — is a huge tax cut. But of course, if that’s a tax cut, so is setting the threshold at $250,000, which Republicans have spent the last year describing as a huge tax increase on small businesses.
But on a strategic level, I think Boehner’s plan, while clever, is also risky — if in fact his goal is to cut a deal with President Obama. Read More
White House says no dice on Speaker Boehner’s ‘Plan B.’
We’re hiring a Front End Developer to be based out of our New York City office. Help build great apps like PollTracker and do elegant and intuitive front end design that makes facts beautiful. Full description after the jump. Read More