'My other piece of advice, Copperfield,' said Mr. Micawber, 'you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and - and in short you are for ever floored.'
According to the Wall Street Journal, Nancy Pelosi is busy reassuring Wall Street that she will be a good girl and not spend any mmoney on those worthless layabouts, the American people, should the Democrats take control of the House this fall: Pelosi Promises Fiscal Restraint If Democrats WinPretty clear what's going on here, ain't it? Pelosi figures that at least some of the big-money rats on Wall Street have decided that the Bush administration is a sinking ship. Maybe they're willing to scurry over to the other old scow, if they're reassured that a Pelosi congress will be as kind to ratkind as the Clinton White House was.Minority Leader Says Democratic-Run House Would Target Deficit
By DAVID ROGERS and SARAH LUECK
July 13, 2006; Page A4WASHINGTON -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pledged that if Democrats succeed next year in rolling back President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the money would be used to reduce the federal deficit -- not for new spending....
The California Democrat anticipates some resistance from within her party, but returned to the theme of fiscal prudence in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. When asked to outline the Democrats' agenda, she listed initiatives that she said wouldn't strain the government's coffers: cutting interest rates on student loans, raising the minimum wage and demanding higher royalties from oil companies.
"Not every single dollar" would go to the Treasury, she said, "but I hope that...we would use the rollback of the tax cuts" to address the deficit since "it is the biggest drain...on the next generation."
Comments (13)
Michael,
Let's take it (Pelosi's promise). After all, Bush called himself "compassionate" and didnt mean a word of it. Restoring the taxes that were cut under Bush is a solid idea, a no-brainer. So is reducing the deficit, as long as it is not an idee fixe. I just did it myself, to my personal finances. I didnt have to give up wine, so I said "why not?"
Let the democrats get back in, and do a little good, while we figure out who and how to mobilize a true progressive politics. OK, radical politics.
Posted by bobw | July 13, 2006 12:41 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 12:41
Between 8 years of Clinton and 8 years of Bush, what could there possibly be left for Pelosi to give them?
Posted by AlanSmithee | July 13, 2006 12:42 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 12:42
It's like one pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small. Who are these desperate little people. Holy Joe found elsewhere on the net blaming his problems anti-semitism. Anti-war = anti-semitism. My head is exploding. Is this real or am I hallucinating.
Posted by Jesus Reyes | July 13, 2006 2:08 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 14:08
bobw, what makes you think that the Democratic power and progressive "mobility" will be any more compatible in the future than they were in the past ?
I just don't see it, and even though a vote is only a symbolic gesture, I don't see myself handing it over one more time for nothing but a vague promise made by proxy of some future "mobility." In fact, it would be incredible to even get a vague promise, considering the more or less non-stop contempt I see in DP blogland toward anyone who refuses to "work within the system." Not to mention the willful shutting out there of any 3rd Party/Indy candidates, no matter how good their platforms might be.
Bah.
Posted by ms_xeno | July 13, 2006 2:56 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 14:56
just goes to show
there's a proper mom
to clean up after
every pop
this time we need a real mommy dearest type party
ready to really
coat hanger
the householder
small taters
however nan
my darling
caveat mater
there's no second crop
coming
like clinton's
middle 90's
four leaf clover....
this time round
one party or other
will have
to take on
lots and lots of
sewer water
if we all tip
into a global recession
Posted by js paine | July 13, 2006 3:49 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 15:49
Folks, we are watching two games, here. The democrats are playing little ball. You may not be interested in little ball, but it's being played in the big stadium where all the seats are sold. We on the left are playing big ball, trying to knock capitalism right out of the ball-park (sorry for the screwed up metaphor), but so far we are still playing in the alley and havent sold any seats to our game. I dont mind peaking over the fence now and then to see who's winning the little ball game. It's always important to beat the Yankees, hoping that Steinbrenner will go mad, even if it's only the Boston Red Sox that beats them.
Posted by bobw | July 13, 2006 6:11 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 18:11
The Democratic Party is not playing little ball. The people who dominate it skate as close as possible to intolerable and rely on the Republicans to keep moving the line where that begins. They count on their constituents grumbling, then holding their noses -- or other affected body parts -- and compromising themselves so badly that they're left as discredited ditherers.
Posted by J. Alva Scruggs | July 13, 2006 8:02 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 20:02
i prefer to compare the democrats to the dodgers
Posted by js paine | July 13, 2006 9:04 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 21:04
Heh. I'm trying to start my own business. It would be pretty damn humorous if I were also trying to destroy capitalism. In my heart, I guess I'm sort of a mixed-economy Socialist.
Fine. I'll look over the fence. But I still won't vote for any of the fuckers. :p
Posted by ms_xeno | July 13, 2006 11:44 PM
Posted on July 13, 2006 23:44
xeno: There is nothing incompatible with having one's own business and overthrowing capitalism. The exception is if you were to have employees working under you in the traditional master-servant wageslave fashion.
As a Wobbly, at least, I see no incompatibility there.
Posted by Djur | July 14, 2006 1:38 PM
Posted on July 14, 2006 13:38
OH Ms. X!!! I would have never figured you for a petit-bourgeois!! I'm so disillusioned... ;-)
Posted by Anonymous | July 14, 2006 4:49 PM
Posted on July 14, 2006 16:49
Ms Xeno, in my view, the task of socialism after the revolution will be to turn over the commanding heights of industry to the working class. Starting your own small business doesn't count as the "commanding heights of industry", so I think you're okay. :)
As for Pelosi pleasing Wall Street, what else is new? The Democrats are all about pleasing Wall Street.
Posted by Haikuist | July 14, 2006 6:55 PM
Posted on July 14, 2006 18:55
what if by then
"the commanding heights
of industry "
are over plants
along the yangtse
Posted by js paine | July 16, 2006 8:42 AM
Posted on July 16, 2006 08:42