All four of these budget projections, if implemented could only correspond to a bleak, stagnating economic future for the United States, with the House Budget producing the worst result by far. I’m sure this analysis would be strongly objected to by the authors of all four budgets. But of the four, the most credible claims against what I’ve written would probably come from CPC neo-keynesian budget proponents.

While the Northeast is being buried under a blizzard, the Great Plains has its own storms to deal with. Dust storms, that is. Because of the ongoing drought in the Great Plains, crops are being ruined and dust storms are blowing. Down the road, this means higher food prices for all of us, because we’re in this together.

But there are folks beginning to take steps in the right direction. Anyone want to follow where they are leading?

Clearly, the lesson that Grijalva learned from the health care debate was that he wasn’t willing to carry out his threats, so to stay out of trouble he should just stop issuing threats. Basically, he’s been domesticated, trained to take whatever scraps he can get.

“See this t-shirt I’m wearing underneath? It says “Drill baby drill!” We flash the Republicans in the cloakroom and laugh like hell.”

If President Obama and other members of Congress actually thought the Progressive Caucus was honest and stuck to its promises, they would have moved heaven and earth to figure out a way to add a public option to the reconciliation bill.

Lynn Woolsey writes today in Roll Call: “The day after the health care legislation is passed, I will introduce a bill calling for the public option.”

Anyone who would write those words should not be the head of the Progressive Caucus.

Lynn Woolsey says she’s a definite “yes” vote on the Senate health care bill. Even if it lacks a public option. Despite the fact that it’s the biggest blow to a woman’s right to choose in a generation, and may come at the price of a stand-alone vote that allows Blue Dogs and ConservaDems to join with Republicans and roll them back even further in order to get Bart Stupak’s support.

Any ability for progressives to negotiate, to achieve meaningful concessions, to exert their influence and make the bill better just disappeared.

It’s time for Lynn Woolsey to resign as the head of the Progressive Caucus.

Should those 65 members who received $430,000 in donations because they pledged to vote against any bill that did not have a public option keep the money if they break that pledge, or should they give it back?

Here’s some detail from last night’s meeting between President Obama and the “Quad Caucus,” a combination of leaders from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.