[with contributions from Matt O'Brien and Darius Tahir]
The national political conversation is shifting left. Is the super-committee shifting right? Greg Sargent thinks so, given the latest proposal that Democrats on the committee have made. To make his case, he cites an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
The new deficit-reduction plan from a majority of Democrats on the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the “supercommittee”) marks a dramatic departure from traditional Democratic positions — and actually stands well to the right of plans by the co-chairs of the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson commission and the Senate’s “Gang of Six,” and even further to the right of the plan by the bipartisan Rivlin-Domenici commission. The Democratic plan contains substantially smaller revenue increases than those bipartisan proposals while, for example, containing significantly deeper cuts in Medicare and Medicaid than the Bowles-Simpson plan. The Democratic plan features a substantially higher ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases than any of the bipartisan plans.
I confess I’m still not sure what’s going on behind the scenes. And Tim Noah, in his latest TRB, makes a pretty good case that the supercommittee’s deliberations will turn into a big nothing-burger.
But after mostly ignoring this story for a while, and with the November deadline looming, maybe I should pay a little more attention again.
Elsewhere:
Multiple Choice Mitt: When I wrote about this yesterday, I had no idea Multiple Choice Mitt had his own website. But he does! Check it out.
Philip Klein agrees with me about Obamacare. Sort of. Anyhow, he’s worth a read, as usual.
Chart of the Day: It’s at the Altantic, via Derek Thompson, and it shows that movie studios get only a tiny fraction of revenue from box office sales. The rest comes from other sources, particularly television revenue spun off from the films.
Money talks: China has a message for the Europeans: If you’d like us to contribute to the Euro bailout fund, stop bashing the undervalued Chinese currency. Via the Financial Times.
Reader comment of the day: From "GeoffG," about Republican complaints that the health law will eliminate income tax liabilities for some low- and medium-income Americans:
Taxes are punishment for success. That's why we can't raise them on rich folks, because it's wrong to punish rich people. The poor, working and middle-classes, however, deserve to be punished, because they haven't been successful. It's even worse when you consider the cushy jobs these shiftless layabouts do - changing bedpans on the nightshift, building roads in the blazing heat and freezing cold, teaching kids, putting out fires, serving coffee to rich people, pulling rich people out of crumpled BMWs, mopping rich peoples' floors and traveling to foreign climes to try to blow up as much stuff as possible before getting blown up yourself. Jealous yet? Well, get a load of this - some of these people like their jobs so much they work two or three at a time! These jobs are so popular that whenever a company announces openings, hundreds of applicants show up for just a few positions! How can I get one?
Tweet of the day: After last night’s baseball game, from @Toure:
George Bush is holding up a sign saying "Mission Accomplished!"
Video Dedication of the Day: When the Cardinals left the bases loaded on Thursday night, down two runs going into the ninth, I came this close to turning off the television. I’m glad I didn’t. This World Series has featured terrible managing but it's had plenty of great drama. So this is for the fans, whether you root for the Cards, the Rangers, or just fun baseball.
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