Are there businesses out there who are saying that they will not hire or invest today because Social Security and Medicare are too generous? Will these businesses decide to hire more workers and expand their business if the government cut these benefits?

There’s the issue of trade. Now this starts unexceptionally. Romney supports the existing trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia (on this point, the President agrees). And he wants to finish off the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Obama also supports. He also wants to pursue a “Reagan Economic Zone,” which I assume is important because it has the word “Reagan” in it. But then he starts in on China.

I’ve been trying to remind people throughout the run-up to the Obama jobs proposal that it would also presage a deficit proposal, to “pay for” whatever spending is in the jobs proposal. We now have a topline number for the jobs plan: $300 billion, half from tax cuts and 2/3 from the extension of current law (Maybe this is why nobody thinks it will work). So will there be $300 billion in cuts in some fashion to “pay for” the spending over time? No, it’ll be much higher than that.

The worst wildfires in Texas history are still burning, and so far, have destroyed 1,000 homes and tens of thousands of acres. And the Secessionist, who was last seen begging the feds for help — has some ‘splainin’ to do.

It’s been very hard to determine how much the FHFA is seeking in their lawsuit against leading banks in the mortgage bond scandal. We knew the total value of the mortgage backed securities in the suit – around $250 billion – but not precisely the amounts FHFA would ask for. Public radio’s Marketplace takes a look, and comes up with the eye-popping figure of 60 billion.

I’d like to be able to tell my friends who live outside of my great state that our leadership is working hard to bring jobs to NC and to boost the flagging economy for us here, but the Republicans, in charge of the general assembly for the first time since Reconstruction as a result of the 2010 midterms, are more focused on promoting a very specific religious point of view and embarrassing themselves in talking about sex acts in the name of “protecting marriage.” Recognition of church-state separation eludes these elected officials.

Let’s briefly look at the numbers. A $300 billion scheme would amount to around 2% of total GDP, and that’s being charitable by saying that this would all be used up in one year. That would have an impact, but half of this would be supply-side solutions that haven’t inspired much confidence during the recession. The question of whether temporary tax cuts are spent is a good one to ask. Especially on the employer side; if minimum wage increases have no effect on jobs, then surely tax subsidies to make hiring cheaper wouldn’t either.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), is holding a hearing on successes and challenges the Department of Homeland Security has faced and now faces. The hearing is one of a number of hearings being held on Capitol Hill in the coming days to mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The number of people without insurance hasn’t increased because Obama’s big health care reform law “failed.” The number of uninsured people has increased because the Affordable Care Act, for the most part, hasn’t started helping people get insurance yet. By design, it will not expand coverage until the year 2014.

• Better than nothing?
• Sign of the times.
• This should doom the Secessionist’s campaign – but it won’t.
• Willard’s job plan: tax cuts and deregulation.
• Mark Halperin, still a dick.