The inimitable TBogg, man of principle and Bassetts, on the cusp of becoming a millionaire, takes the pledge not to earn a penny more, lest he become subject to the Social Kenyan’s confiscatory plot to fund the government.

• A better line is refusing to cut Medicare.
• But demonizing the poor is just fine.
• Scenes from the Texas Miracle.
• All eyes on Bernanke.
• A hint: because they’re bloodthirsty assholes?

Rick Perry can find common ground with any despot willing to kill.

Eagle-Eye Cherry – Save Tonight

Rather effin’ lucky, I’d say.

George Will has been a harsh critic of President Obama’s stimulus package, claiming that it did little to boost the economy and create jobs. He would rather see him reduce the deficit. However in today’s column he firmly expresses the view that government spending does create jobs, at least when it is tied to the military.

The man who was Prime Minister of Japan just a few weeks ago, and (crucially) during the earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima accident, is telling us that the Fukushima accident was an event of the order of the Cuban missile crisis for the nation of Japan. Moreover, his fear was not confined to a single moment in time.

It is an article of faith among Republicans (and far too many Democrats) that all those pesky “regulations” are to blame for the lack of jobs today and the ongoing economic slowdown. Just the first of this month, McClatchy had an article where they had surveyed small business owners across the country and the consensus was that in fact regulations are not the problem for small business but lack of demand is.

This millionaire’s minimum tax also seems like a clever way to eliminate the “carried interest” loophole, where income from money managers is taxed at the capital gains rate of 15% rather than the top marginal income rate of 35%.

Progressives need a fundamentally new approach to politics. They have been losing not just because conservatives have so much more money and power, but also because they have accepted the conservatives’ framing of political debates. They have accepted a framing where conservatives want market outcomes whereas liberals want the government to intervene to bring about outcomes that they consider fair.