Higher Learning podcast #12-1st of 2013 aka Detox

[Dusty Bake Activate]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/today-in-well-duh/

Ezra Klein*mans up and admits he was wrong. He had written a piece suggesting that if only Republicans knew how much Obama has been willing to offer, they might be willing to make a deal.*Jonathan Chait*set him straight, informing him that no matter what Obama put on the table, Republicans would find a way to say that it’s not enough. And sure enough, a Twitter exchange lets Klein watch that process in real time, as a top Republican consultant, confronted with evidence that Obama has already conceded what he said was all that was needed, keeps adding more demands.

So Klein admits that Republicans just don’t want to make a deal. Their objections to the deals on the table aren’t sincere; if convinced that Obama has met their demands, they just make more demands.

I think it’s important here to understand the broader implications.

The whole push for a Grand Bargain has been based on the notion that we can reach a fiscal deal that takes the whole fight over the budget off the table. What Klein has belatedly learned is how unlikely such a Bargain really is; but the same logic tells us that any Grand Bargain that might somehow be struck, via Obama’s mystical ability to mind-meld Star Trek and Star Wars or something, wouldn’t last. In a year — or more likely in a minute or two — Republicans would be back, demanding more tax cuts and more cuts in social programs. They just won’t take yes for an answer.

Meanwhile, it’s not just Republicans who refuse to accept it when Obama gives them what they want; the same applies, with even less justification, to centrist pundits. As people like Greg Sargent point out time and again, the centrist ideal — deficit reduction via a mix of revenue increases and benefits cuts — is what Obama is already offering; in fact, his proposals have been to the right of Bowles-Simpson. Yet the centrist pundits keep demanding that Obama offer what he has already offered, and condemn both sides equally (or even place most of the blame on Obama) for the failure to reach a deal. Again, informing them of their error wouldn’t help; their whole shtick is about blaming both sides, and they will always invent some reason why Obama just isn’t doing it right.Anyway, props to Ezra — and is the use of Twitter exchanges to document political hypocrisy a new frontier in reporting?

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

@BarNone. I figured out how to edit the description. Ready to be put up. http://hlpodcast.podomatic.com/

 

[zerozero]

good work brehs listening now

 

[zerozero]

Broke Wave is on fire.

this was true

 

[88m3]

Why hasn't @BarNone upped this powerful podcast

 

[No1]

Why hasn't @BarNone upped this powerful podcast

I think you're blind bro.

 

[88m3]

I think you're blind bro.

didn't see it before my bad

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

Good show. But that was my most listless podcast performance. I was like Obama at the first Romney debate. I just wasn't sharp. I attribute it to working crazy long hours on a weird shift recently and not getting any sleep. When you work 3rd shift, you never get enough sleep and your mind just isn't right.

 

[88m3]

Good show. But that was my most listless podcast performance. I was like Obama at the first Romney debate. I just wasn't sharp. I attribute it to working crazy long hours on a weird shift recently and not getting any sleep. When you work 3rd shift, you never get enough sleep and your mind just isn't right.

typical liberal, a bad workman always blames his tools.
forced into silence as the neoconservatives and paleoconservatves did battle.


you started the podcast pretty strong

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

typical liberal, a bad workman always blames his tools.
forced into silence as the neoconservatives and paleoconservatves did battle.


you started the podcast pretty strong

Nah the beginning was the most boring part. It got better when you were getting owned about drone strikes and terrorism.

 

[88m3]

Nah the beginning was the most boring part. It got better when you were getting owned about drone strikes and terrorism.

@Broke Wave and I don't see eye to eye on the issue. That's fine.


Owned?






Your whole bureaucrat theory is nonsense.

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

@Broke_wave and I don't see eye to eye on the issue. That's fine.


Owned?






Your whole bureaucrat theory is nonsense.

Okay John Bolton.

 

[88m3]

Okay John Bolton.

Funny, you're the one using scare tactics.

 

[zerozero]

Good show. But that was my most listless podcast performance. I was like Obama at the first Romney debate. I just wasn't sharp. I attribute it to working crazy long hours on a weird shift recently and not getting any sleep. When you work 3rd shift, you never get enough sleep and your mind just isn't right.

You get major props for even trying to have a policy convo with the couple guys before Broke came in. It was like playing badminton against a sponge

 

[daemonova]

the highlight of the podcast...

*the best thing you've said this whole podcast is "i don't know" because you don't know anything

*i'm prejudice against people who don't believe in statictics"