Can someone tell me why the same guy, at the same ratings agency, does a 180 in less than one week, when the deal hasn’t changed an iota?

Paul Krugman came to the conclusion that the Obama-McConnell tax deal could end up hurting President Obama’s 2012 re-election bid by reducing growth rates in the critical months leading up to the election.

If Democrats actually want to win political fights, they need to pose a stark choice between their own position and that of the Republicans.

If we had a media that highlighted events in proportion to their importance to the nation, Carl Levin’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations would be plastered across every channel in the nation, including MTV. Yesterday, Levin’s committee hosted an incredible hearing on the credit rating agencies, the “independent” analysts who assess various types of securities. During the financial crisis, the rating agencies, who are owned and funded by the very banks who create the securities they rate, simply gave up any pretense of independent assessment, rubber-stamping toxic assets as triple-A and safe, neglecting the very real dangers for investors and creating a false sense of security.

It’s entirely possible that some of this is kabuki, that in the end the banksters will win out. Indeed, the Gregg-Reed derivatives package could ultimately trump Lincoln’s stronger bill. But for the moment, you get the sense that there’s a turning of the tide in Washington, and everyone’s riding the populist wave.