Click here to view this media John Kerry left little doubt where Democrats plan on laying the blame for Standard and Poor’s deciding to downgrade our credit rating — squarely on the laps of those “tea party” Republicans in the House who were actually saying default would be acceptable. From TPM — Kerry Slams ‘Tea Party Downgrade’ : Senator John Kerry (D-MA), appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, blamed Republicans and in particular Tea Party intransigence for the unprecedented S&P downgrade of U.S. credit from AAA to AA+. “I believe this is without question the Tea Party downgrade,” he said. “This is the Tea Party downgrade because a minority of people in the House of Representatives countered the will of even many of Republicans in the United States Senate who were prepared to do a bigger deal.” Kerry intimated that the “grand bargain” that President Obama initially negotiated with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), a package of larger spending cuts and revenue increases, was scuttled by a smaller group of Republicans who were not willing to negotiate at any cost. “There were some people in the Republican party – and Mitch McConnell even admitted this – who wanted to default, Kerry said. “He said there were people in his party who were willing to shoot the hostage. In the end they found that the hostage was worth ransoming.” Read on… It looks like the Democrats got on the same page with their talking points for the day since David Axelrod said the exact same thing on Face the Nation today .
Continue reading …enlarge So will Texans still chant the right-wing “no such thing as global warming” mantra, or will they finally wise up and start demanding their officials do something to save what’s left of our ability to survive on the planet? Oh, and grow crops, too: Electricity officials in heatwave-hit Texas have warned of impending rolling blackouts from power shortages as the U.S. state struggles to cope with the relentless scorching temperatures. Texans have turned to air conditioners in huge numbers in a bid to beat one of the hottest summers on record in America’s second most populous state. But bosses for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) say the soaring power demand in the face of the brutal heatwave has left the state one power plant shut-down away from rolling blackouts. Temperatures in Texas are currently topping 100F (37.8C) and have been soaring for well over a month. Record highs have also been recorded this week in nearby states Oklahoma and Arkansas as the relentless heatwave spreads across southern America. In Forth Smith and Little Rock, Arkansas, the mercury hit 115F on Wednesday. ERCOT, which runs the power grid for most of Texas, cut power to some large industrial users after electricity demand hit three consecutive records this week alone. The grid operator now faces rolling blackouts similar to those which hit Texas during a bitter cold snap in February. In Dallas, Texas, a pensioner died from ‘heat-related’ causes after her air conditioning unit was stolen from her house. Power usage in ERCOT reached its highest level ever on Wednesday at 68,294 megawatts, almost four per cent over last year’s peak. The Texas grid faces at least one more day of extreme stress before temperatures cool slightly over the weekend.
Continue reading …Jim Cramer on CNBC seemed to be shocked that Rep. Eric Cantor wasn’t going to support the idea of extending unemployment benefits since the private sector refuses to spend those trillions of dollars they have been sitting on and hire American workers. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor recently said that government just can’t keep its promises to Americans. In that case he was talking Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Now he’s including extending unemployment compensation in the promises he wants to break, on the grounds that extending the insurance program is “pumping up” the jobless. In response to today’s jobs report, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) declared that “ unemployment is far too high ” and that Congress “must push pro-growth policies to get back on track.” Noting Cantor’s apparent concern as “spot on,”, CNBC host Jim Kramer told Cantor that obviously, “you’re for extending unemployment benefits given the chaotic situation.” Cantor’s response? Nope, because “for too long in Washington now we’ve been worried about pumping up the stimulus moneys and pumping up unemployment benefits”. Cantor declared that “the most important thing we can do for somebody who’s unemployed is to see if we can get them a job” and declared that the only way unemployment benefits could be extended is if “we find commensurate cuts somewhere else”: CANTOR: Jim, the most important thing we can do for somebody who’s unemployed is to see if we can get them a job. I mean, that’s what needs to be the focus. For too long in Washington now we’ve been worried about pumping up the stimulus moneys and pumping up unemployment benefits and to a certain extent you have states for which you can get unemployment for almost two years and I think those people on unemployment benefits would rather have a job. So that’s where our focus needs to be. KRAMER: I just want to be very, very clear, on a day when we have a good unemployment number, that’s terrific, but not a great one and you confirmed not a great one, you are not in favor and will go against the president’s wishes to extend those unemployment benefits? CANTOR: What I have said all along, Jim, is if we’re going to spend money in Washington, we better start to make choices and we’ve got to set priorities. If we’re going to spend money, we better cut it somewhere else. That’s Cantor Logic. He says we need to find them some jobs, but not how or what he’ll do to find people jobs. For him, it’s out of the question to help struggling American families. I’m surprised he didn’t suggest a get together with Gov. Rick Perry so the two could join in a prayer meeting asking the good Lord to create new jobs for those who are suffering. Joan has a good idea: In the meantime, I recommend all unemployed people send their resume and a request for a job interview to Rep. Cantor , since he says the most important thing he, as part of government, can do is to get unemployed people jobs. Maybe he’ll share his bootstraps with the rest of us. Maybe Cantor can dip into his Wall Street fund and pass around his bribe money campaign contributions to those less fortunate than himself. Tanya writes: A brief survey of Cantor’s priorities quickly reveals why his callous lack of concern for the unemployed is not surprising. He has always intimated that extending jobless benefits, or even preventing layoffs, are not his priorities . Even though unemployment benefits actually spur economic growth, Cantor prefers to focus on preserving tax cuts for the wealthy — something he even admitted actually would “ dig the hole deeper ” on the deficit. In considering whether to fund programs like unemployment benefits that spur the economy and buoy struggling families, Cantor adopted an all-too-familiar Republican attitude: “I would say that sort of, we’ve been there, done that .” “So if nothing else,” he said, “let’s at least try something else.”
Continue reading …Early Saturday morning, NewsBusters asked how Obama-loving media would spin America's debt downgrade in order to blame it on the GOP. True to form, New York Times columnist Paul wrote at his blog: On one hand, there is a case to be made that the madness of the right has made America a fundamentally unsound nation. And yes, it is the madness of the right: if not for the extremism of anti-tax Republicans, we would have no trouble reaching an agreement that would ensure long-run solvency. We would have no trouble reaching an agreement that would ensure long-run solvency? Really? Then why didn't the President or his Party that controls the Senate ever put in writing such a proposal that could have been fully analyzed by America's legislators as well as scored by the Congressional Budget Office? After Obama's “grand bargain” was orally proposed without specific details, it was made quite clear that Democrats weren't comfortable with doing anything to Social Security and Medicare. As such, it appeared neither side supported what was coming out of the White House. It is therefore absurd of Krugman to accuse Republicans of blocking anything that would have altered Standard and Poor's decision. Consider too that before the GOP took over the House in January, the President and his Party that controlled both chambers of Congress couldn't get a budget done that, as promised by presidential candidate Obama, included the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. To suggest they “would have no trouble reaching an agreement that would ensure long-run solvency” which included more deficit reduction than what the President signed Tuesday requires what Hillary Clinton would call a willing suspension of disbelief. Nevermind that Obama initially called for a “clean vote” on this matter that wouldn't have included any deficit reduction whatsoever. Given S&P's decision Friday, such a move would have resulted in a downgrade anyway. Maybe more importantly, Krugman has made it clear for months that he doesn't support any spending cuts. Quite the contrary, he thinks we need another grand stimulus package to get the economy going. Just imagine how the credit ratings agencies would respond to America spending more money it doesn't have. Add it all up, and blaming this on Republicans lacks any understanding of what's happened in the nation's capital in recent months. We'd expect nothing less from a guy that even the folks on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” think is a “blind ideologue” producing tripe one would hear in a school “faculty lounge.”
Continue reading …The US government’s credit rating has been lowered to AA+, the first downgrade in modern US history, despite furious lobbying The credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has stripped the US of its top-notch AAA credit rating, downgrading it to AA+ and warning of further future downgrades because of political and economic uncertainty. The downgrade and negative outlook came late on Friday night, after news surfaced of a furious rearguard attempt by the White House to convince S&P that its calculations were flawed. The move shifts long-term US government debt into the same level as Britain, Japan and other countries, but below that of Canada, Australia and France. As a rule, a lower credit rating means higher borrowing costs for debtor nations. But because of the size of the US and its deep capital markets, it remians to be seen what impact the move will have when financial markets reopen on Monday. Republicans were quick to highlight the downgrade – the first in modern US history – as a humiliation for President Obama. But S&P’s statement explaining the move blamed both parties for the US fiscal mess – and had harsh words for the Republican party for ruling out any taxes increases. “We have changed our assumption … because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues,” S&P said. S&P also said the budget savings agreed by Congress at the start of the week were too feeble, and blamed political weakness and instability for triggering the downgrade: More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011. Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the government’s debt dynamics any time soon. The credit rating agency also said the outlook on its long-term rating was negative, warning that it could lower the long-term further rating to AA within the next two years “if we see that less reduction in spending than agreed to, higher interest rates, or new fiscal pressures during the period result in a higher general government debt trajectory than we currently assume”. S&P notified the US Treasury on Friday afternoon that it was planning to downgrade the credit rating, according to government officials, and the company sent a draft of its analysis to the White House. White House officials then claimed to have discovered a $2tn-sized hole in S&P’s calculations, and briefed journalists. But it failed to wring a delay out of the agency, which went ahead with the downgrade. US economy Ratings agencies Obama administration Republicans Market turmoil Economics US politics United States Richard Adams guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …What drives some men to pay for sex, and some women to sell it? Here, both sides tell their stories. The women Let me preface this by saying I grew up in a well-to-do family. I had more opportunity and
Continue reading …You’re so over corded gadgets, but you can’t justify replacing every device in the house with a pricier wireless version just because being leashed to a USB printer or external hard drive is a slight inconvenience. We get it, and it looks like IOGEAR does too. The peripheral company’s Wireless 4-port USB Sharing Station makes any connected gadget WiFi-enabled, letting you wander far away from those desktop devices without dropping your connection. The compact hub includes one USB 2.0 port on the front and three on the rear, along with an Ethernet port and wireless antenna, and it’s compatible with a variety of USB gadgets, including printers, hard drives, memory card readers, scanners, and webcams. Oh, but why would you want to wander far from your webcam, you ask? A remote webcam can be used as an instant, inexpensive home security system, providing access from anywhere within your wireless network. Sure, $100 may seem like a lot to spend on a wireless USB hub, but considering the cost of WiFi-enabling four individual devices, it’s probably the way to go. IOGEAR USB Sharing Station connects to WiFi, cuts the cord on four of your devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Congress has reached a bipartisan compromise to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration that has left 74,000 transportation and construction workers idled, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today. The deal would allow the Senate to approve a House bill extending the FAA’s operating authority through…
Continue reading …