Here in this age of austerity, it’s fashionable to point out that the world just doesn’t work the way it did when John Maynard Keynes was the talk of the town. You just can’t find any shovel-ready projects, so weighted are they by environmental impact reports and the other red tape of 21st century life. But this neglects an entire area where construction work is needed: maintenance. I know from living in Los Angeles that there are enough potholes to keep a small army of workers in business year-round.

The insane belief common among many of the beltway pundits and politicians that the American people actually want a “grand bargain” or a “super Congress” to cut our entitlement programs has absolutely no basis in reality. It is purely a fantasy created people with lots of money, who don’t think they will ever have trouble affording the basic necessities after they retire.

John Boehner gets a major test of his leadership today when his plan to increase the debt limit gets a vote in the House. I think he’ll pass, as he’s designed the test and can give out the answer sheets, to use a pretty poor metaphor. I don’t believe Boehner would allow this up for a vote if he weren’t confident of passage, though he has been burned before. He can afford at least 23 defections. House Democrats say they won’t offer one vote for the package, but on Cut Cap and Balance, Republicans drew 5 Democratic votes. The Hill’s whip count lists 22 no or lean-no Republican votes. I imagine it will sneak by.

Many observers have noted that one of the few bright spots in the Justice Department under Barack Obama has been the Civil Rights division, under the direction of Thomas Perez. They have restored that division to its core mission of protecting minorities. So it’s no surprise that they, not the new financial fraud task force, not any of the other enforcement and regulatory bodies, would be the ones to pursue an investigation into the banksters.

Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House John Boehner are proposing to appoint six Senators and six Representatives from the House to meet in behind-closed-doors, non-transparent sessions, to agree to budget and program cuts for the next ten years that will affect all Americans. From Sunday night through today, details have emerged for what some are dubbing the “Super Congress,” otherwise known as the “Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.”

• Boehner’s had enough Teabagging.
• Shorter McCain: Hey everyone! Look at meeeee!
• What’s on tap for the kabuki show today.
• Also, Al Gore is fat.
• Shorter Quitter: Hey everyone! Look at meeeee!

Stop asking for infrastructure spending, can’t you see we’re building a bridge into the 18th Century

Gina Sicilia — Don’t Wanna Be No Mother, Don’t Wanna Be No Wife.

That’s right folks, if Rick Santorum goes after Dan Savage and gay people to raise money for what is surely going to be a losing campaign, Savage is going to redefine his first name as well. Now most of the time I’d take a threat like that with a big grain of salt, but this is the guy that made it so that all the little Santorum rugrats will never be able to cyber-slack by Goggling themselves. Him I’d take a little more seriously.

Representative Peter King (R-TX) chaired a third hearing on “Muslim radicalization” this morning. These hearings increasingly look like the work of a man desperate to prove something. In his opening remarks, he called out the “politically correct, equivalency media” like the New York Times, who he claimed was trying to get him to refocus these hearings “away from Muslim American radicalization.” And, he said he would not back down.