There is a widely believed myth that a Republican Senate could not use reconciliation to repeal most of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. But that view ignores the history of how the reconciliation rules have been used, as well as the ability of a Senate majority to interpret or change its rules.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to claim that an attraction bringing hundreds if not thousands of curiosity-seekers down to Lower Manhattan is hurting the economy. But he also claimed the existence of threats against the owners of the private park, Brookfield Properties, accounting for the stand-down early this morning against the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Wow. I didn’t think the Secessionists could get any whinier after Anita cried about how mean everyone was being to her husband the other day. I was wrong.

A helpful fact-check has debunked one of the two central themes of Republican job creation plans, that simply deregulating industry will bring about a job boom. Turns out that regulations aren’t responsible for jobs losses.

After passively accepting ever-increasing mistreatment from big banks, activists, community groups and even some politicians are jumping aboard a broad, multi-stage “move your money” campaign designed to transfer bank deposits into community banks and credit unions.

Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein, who made himself famous by predicting in 1993 that Clinton tax increases would not raise any revenue, strikes out big time in his proposal for the housing market in Thursday’s NYT.

Occupy Wall Street was notified by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday that the owner of Liberty Park (which the owner renamed Zuccotti Park) informed the city that there were concerns about health and safety as a result of the nearly four-week long occupation. The CEO of Brookfield Properties, the owner, wrote a letter to NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly that also went to Bloomberg and it outlined the key issues Brookfield has with the continued occupation.

Foreclosures continue to increase, with 610,337 filings last quarter (that averages out to almost 2.5 million annually), and new default notices also increased 14%. And the foreclosure backlog continued to pile up, because banks cannot prove ownership of many of the homes. So some banks are finding it cheaper to just demolish foreclosed homes than pay to keep them up.

Dayen’s News Roundup. it’s good to know that the jobs crisis is over now that we passed three “free” trade deals that will likely cost US jobs and patent reform that will shield companies and drugsters from competition. Much more . . .

“There shouldn’t be anything controversial about a .45-caliber bullet. If it were up to me we would just throw them off the Sunshine Skyway bridge and be done with it…In the words of Humphrey Bogart [sic], ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ I am so tired of being humane to inhumane people.” – Florida lawmaker Rep. Brad Drake

Man, I just don’t know what to say behind that slice of “win” from Brad Drake. If the GOP wants to earn more cred as the “law and order” party.