Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spoke in front of the Council on Foreign Relations Wednesday, and he gave what amounts to an endorsement of the Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction plan.

Honeywell CEO David Cote said yesterday – when his goons weren’t yanking the microphone away from a labor reporter asking a question – that the ideal corporate tax rate should be zero percent.

One of the bigger issues with the lack of Democratic consensus as the fiscal cliff nears is that it gives oxygen to a group of right-leaning fiscal scolds who see the opportunity to decimate safety net programs, allegedly in exchange for some tiny giveback on taxes they will describe as balanced. You can see this with the renewed prominence of Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who claim to be working with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

On May 15, Sen. Bernie Sanders will join with citizen groups to protest the Peter G. Peterson “Fiscal Summit” where elite power brokers including House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), former Sen. Alan Simpson, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and former President Bill Clinton will gather inside to discuss a so-called “grand bargain” budget that will cut Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

Dayen’s news roundup from April 17, 2017, including stories you missed — because as usual, you waited until yesterday to file your taxes — about Barney Frank, EPA, not-Secret Service, postal reform, housing prices, Bowles Simpson, IMF, Mississippi, Mitt Romney, Seamus, Quebec students, Taliban, Bill Buckley, Tom Freeman, wanker of the decade.