Quick Takes on @SenWarren etc

1.) Lizzie Warren took an ax and gave The Donald forty whacks:

That’s going to leave marks.

2.) It’s the Gig Economy, Stupid. In the last week, I have heard both Grover Norquist and Gary Johnson praising the Gig Economy or the 1099 economy as if it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread and everyone’s secret wish is to be a small business owner.

I don’t think anyone in the research industry really wants to be in the Gig Economy and be in a start up funded by vulture capitalists. Small businesses are great for people who are bakers or accountants. For scientists? ehhhh, not so much.

And then there is the paperwork and the taxes to manage. Plus, you lose your Obamacare subsidy and have to pay it all back if you underestimate your income. And income can be variable. Then there’s saving for retirement, saving for future bouts of unemployment, because most self-employed people do not get unemployment benefits.

The Gig Economy will ruin the middle class faster than anything. It leads to income instability. When you can’t count on your income, you can’t buy cars or houses. It’s hard to have kids because you may not be able to afford them throughout the 18 years of their early lives. The gig economy means having to pick and follow your job, something I saw happen to a lot of my former colleagues who had their jobs in one state and their families in another. In short, it sucks and very few people want to live this way.

I can’t imagine why Grover and Gary keep pushing this. It only appeals to young single guys. Well, there you go.

If I were Hillary, I would steer clear of praising the self-employed and small business person too much. Most of us don’t want to go there.

3.) I still like Bernie. Seriously. If I weren’t such a cold hearted pragmatist, I could have felt the Bern. I certainly got warm enough. He’s right on so many issues and that’s why he got so much support.

He went off the tracks by not realizing that the rest of us had a right to our own votes and opinions. Our votes are legitimate too. Delegitimizing Hillary’s voters has been a feature of Bernie’s supporters. They share that with the Obama supporters of 2008. Some of them are probably the same people. Bernie should ditch these people. They are ruining his reputation.

Compromising with Killers

UPDATE: See CannonFire and Corrente

[Grover] Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of the government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip: “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

I’ve always wondered what the voters who put guys like Norquist in power thought would happen.  But, now that they’re playing their games (largely) out in the open we’re all going to find out.

As Blue Lyon noted (quoting Digby):

Watching out for the humans in the equation

Let’s not forget who created the  Catfood Commission in the first place. Digby notes:

I’m guessing that the president likes having Ryan out there as someone he can “work with” on a Grand Bargain with everyone’s “skin in the game” (especially the tissue thin skin of millions of sick and impoverished elderly people who can’t work, apparently.) If it works out as well as the current budget negotiations have up to now, Ryan will only get 65% of what he wants and liberals will be required to call that a big victorybecause, golly gosh, we fought back the Ryan juggernaut.

Oh, yes,  “It Could Be So Much Worse!” will be the mantra of the 2012 Obama campaign.

Obama’s sweating out the “compromise” issue – like it makes any sense to compromise with killers.

And please don’t accuse me of exaggeration.  What is left out of the very serious conversations about the budget (and this is just one example) is that cutbacks to government services will result in people dying unnecessarily.

As Marc Rubin at Tom In Paine says,

Republicans do what Obama and Democrats had no guts to do — refuse to compromise

Contrast that with the capitulating and spine caving sell out by Barrack Obama to the small Republican minority on the country’s most important legislation even though Obama had the biggest congressional majority of any president in 60 years. Contrast that with Obama’s scrounging for one Republican vote on the public option when the Democrats didn’t need Republican votes at all, and then, not getting it, throwing the policy under the bus along with hundreds of millions of Americans who wanted real healthcare reform. Contrast Boehner refusal to compromise on principles with Obama caving in to Republicans on extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 5% of Americans, something Obama publicly stated since 2007 he would never do.

Republicans say they will not compromise or accept any options they don’t endorse as a matter of policy. Obama caved in on extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy then had the gall to accuse those Democrats who didn’t want to go along of being  “sanctimonious purists”. And this is who the Democrats are going to support for four more years?

(snip)

NOTE:  I just love when something happens that proves my point only hours after making it . On the floor of the U.S. senate at 6:32 p.m. in addressing the budget impasse Harry Reid said, ” On the budget cuts we agreed to meet the Republicans part of the way and they said no. Then we agreed to meet the Republicans half way and they said no. They we agreed to meet the Republicans more than half way and they said no. They we agreed to meet the Republicans all the way and they still said no.”

That’s giving ’em hell Harry.

It’s all a game to these guys.

Conflucians Say: Would you buy a used car from this man?

Heidi Li has the latest ad from Democrats for Principle before Party up.  And now that I think about it, I do see a certain resemblance:

Naaahhhh, Tricky Dick was a crook, not a used car salesman.  I think Heidi must be thinking of this guy:

His teeth!  Bright light!  Bright Light!!

Heidi could use a little help getting this ad on the air.  You can make a donation to The Denver Group here.

And what else happened today, boys and girls?  Did you read about what Hillary said about the bailout?  Have you called your congresscritter or did the fall in the Dow leave you shaky?  And why are the banks being so greeeedy?  Why isn’t the obscene wealth they already have enough?  Does it have anything to do with drowning in a bathtub?  Check in with Conflucians Say tonight at 10PM EST on PUMA United Radio and we’ll shine a light on it.