This is scathing and worth a read.

The shrinking middle class needs to be convinced that there’s a point to all of this — other than banal hassles and meaningless toil and a death prolonged by for-profit hospitals, insurers and the medical/pharmaceutical industry — and Obama’s recess appointment today is intended to show these depressed, overworked people that he cares about their Sisyphean plight.

Republicans in the Senate are refusing to extend a payroll tax holiday that would be paid for with a small surcharge on incomes over $1 million. Their excuse is that it will hurt job creators. NPR asked to speak to some of these job creators who would stop hiring if their marginal income tax rate was raised.

Here's a list of Barney’s best insults. The list should probably be 10 times as long.

“You’re stupid.”

—to Margarey Egan of the Boston Herald, on some hundred occasions.

The Boston Globe posted this picture of Mitt Romney so I made this macro, and few others. I don't think this picture is going to bother anyone inclined to vote for him anyway, but I think everyone else is going to make fun of it.

The state of New Jersey gave the producers of Jersey Shore a production tax credit of $420K. Understandably, several lawmakers are are upset about it. In NJ's defense, the credit was for the first season. That said, where else would it have been filmed?

Saw this analogy about John Huntsman and the Republican presidential primary field.

Huntsman is like a rapper who isn’t gangsta, doesn’t want to be gangsta, and knows that some of the people making their name on gangsta don’t want you to know that they have problems with “authenticity.” The problem is, Huntsman is like M.C. Hammer—a family-friendly rapper with mass-market dance moves and baggy pants—and he’s certain that, sooner or later, people are going to get tired of all the songs about gangbanging, and what they’ll want instead is … him and his G-rated rhymes and his dance moves and clown pants. Because that was popular before gangsta.

Political calculations aside, the problem with the analogy is that MC Hammer did try to go gangster when he moved to Deathrow Records, dropped "MC" from his name, and released The Funky Headhunter. Young MC went gangster, too, Tone Loc was never G rated, would Kid N' Play work in the analogy?

via Balloon Juice.

"Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink."

Via Poynter

You'll see articles talking saying "Pentagon to cut spending by $78 billion", but what they really mean is spending on defense will grow less $78 billion less over the next 5 years. So not really any cuts.

In response to questions, he emphasized that the $78 billion reduction over the next five years actually represents a "decline in the rate of growth," since the Pentagon budget will grow "in absolute dollars" every year. "The focus here is on a reduction in the rate of growth as opposed to absolute cuts," he said.

Matthew Yglesias argues that the coming royal wedding in England is a good example of the need of the benefit of a constitutional monarchy. Basically, all of the identity politics and the 'would you drink a beer with that guy' personality tests get transferred to the royal family, and the politicians can go about the business of running the country.

We follow the royal family with fascination, they participate in weird ceremonies, they have dignity, they symbolize the nation, we all talk about them respectfully, etc. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister gets to be just another politician.

We need a king.

Thanks, Matt!

I don't think anyone really gives a shit about the deficit, what people care about is whether they have a job. In any case, check out the NY Times Budget Puzzle. It was easy to solve the deficit and create a surplus by raising taxes and reducing spending. PS 30 year budget projections are a joke and a waste of time.