Pull the cord on your parachutes, people; we’re in intellectual free fall this week. After Mitt Romney earned the award for most preposterous political whopper by labeling himself “severely conservative,” everyone became severely challenged.

The Federal Reserve did not only vow to maintain a zero interest-rate policy through the end of 2014 (a policy that has its critics, incidentally). They also set an explicit interest rate target for the first time ever, as far as I can tell.

The questions Mitt himself raised are exactly what the country should be debating. After Wall Street’s self delusion and greed tanked the economy, throwing millions out of work and into fraud-laden foreclosures, the number one economic issue of our times should be whether the malefactors of wealth through financial engineering should be allowed anywhere near governmental power over the economy.

Mitt Romney has a big problem ahead, as he is faced with headlines that feature words like bankruptcy and layoffs. The Bain business model, as Paul Krugman noted, enriched Romney and his cronies at Bain at the expense of ordinary workers at the companies they bought.

Reuters paints this picture vividly, as they tell the story of a Kansas City steel mill that Bain purchased, looted, and led into bankruptcy. Even more devastating is the reaction of at least one conservative former Armco worker, who is featured in a new anti-Romney ad put together by Moveon.org. “They [Bain] walked out of here with millions. They left us with nothing.”

Way to reach out to the conservative base, Mitt.

Poor sad little Rich. Today he echoes the conservative lament that the GOP just “doesn’t have our A Team on the field.” “A” apparently stands for Anonymous, because he has trouble even imagining who that might be.

Paul Krugman links to Kim Lane Scheppele about the current state of politics in Hungary. Scheppele notes that after winning the last election the Fidesz party is radically re-writing the constitution in very anti-democratic ways, attempting to make Fidesz policy and political power permanent. Some measures look familiar and should be a warning sign to Americans.

Politifact just told a whopper. It declared as a “lie” the fact that Paul Ryan’s proposal to transform Medicare from a government guaranteed benefit program to a voucher for private insurance that doesn’t guarantee benefits would not end Medicare. Politifact should have given the “lie of the year” award to itself.

Oligarchy is the Problem. We need a solution.

The decision by the Greek Prime Minister to call for a national vote on the proposed European mechanism for reducing Greek sovereign debt, rescuing banks and imposing further austerity measures on Greece is shaking up national markets. Fear of a European financial breakdown and recession, which could carry over to the US, may make Obama’s reelection chances even more uncertain than it was.

An introduction to the theory of oligarchy in practice today.