Thomas Friedman is once again orthogonal to reality. In his column today he urges a “grand bargain” where the Republicans abandon extremists of the right and agree to tax increases and Democrats abandon extremists of the left and agree to cut Medicare and Social Security (euphemistically referred to as “entitlements”). There is one little problem with Friedman’s story…

New numbers from Greece show once again that austerity is a foolish prospect in the middle of a global economic slowdown, as it takes away demand when governments should be fueling it.

• The fatal flaw in the jobs bill?
• Krugman on the euro crisis.
• Tearing down what FDR and LBJ built.
• Our bipartisan plutocracy.
• More bigotry from the Republican Party.

Paul Krugman called out the Villagers over 9/11. They showed him, they ignored him as much as they did their past policy errors.

Bob Marley – Three Little Birds and Bobby McFerrin – Don’t Worry Be Happy

Behind us, then, this last and greatest anniversary: perhaps? Without forgetting the victims or disrespecting their loved ones — might it be? Can we now move on?

Thoughts turn to monetary policy, and yesterday we saw at least some movement toward some action on that front. In addition to Charles Evans of the Chicago Fed talking unusually rationally about the crisis of high unemployment, Ben Bernanke hinted at more steps.

Shorter Fred Hiatt…

I cannot believe that Eric Cantor, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, thinks that slashing first-responder money nearly in half is the way to deal with disasters.

September 11 should be called “First Responders Day” as it showed America and the world the heroism and sacrifice of our police, firemen, and and medical people.

The White House wants you to believe that the American Jobs Act is loaded up with bipartisan solutions once preferred by Republicans. And to some extent, that’s true. But there are a number of Easter eggs in here, policy ideas that originated with liberal policy groups. The White House may be touting the bipartisan bona fides on the top line. They may have frozen out the liberal policy shops for years. But when the time comes to save their bacon with jobs programs, they come back to the liberal wonks.