The Indiana State Fair begins today - YES! I can already feel my arteries hardening at the prospect of eating all the deep fried {insert critter or other food item here}!
It's time for "this day in history." Let's begin with an item to make us all feel old; "Marsha - Marsha - Marsha" is 55 today! Get off my lawn!!
Neil Armstrong is 81 today; I triple - dog dare y'all to tell him the moon landing was fake. ;D
On with The Rachel Maddow Show!
"S&P Downgrades US Debt..." - In case y'all have been under a rock for the last 45 minutes or so... ;D Their maths may or may not be on target, but the damage is done no matter what. So, what kind of excuse will the GOBP try to offer up? After we got the Satan's sandwich with a side of a steaming pile of poo, we get downgraded anyway. I believe I predicted this! The White House is NOT pleased & called the S&P "amateur hour." The Dow was flat today despite the better - than - expected job numbers. Did y'all listen to the S&P release? They SLAMMED the aforementioned Satan sandwich with a side of a steaming pile of poo. They are also not thrilled with our political process & policy - making skills. Rep. Barney Frank's on the phone; he's not happy with the downgrade, either. He thinks the agency is incompetent & helped feed into the current economic crisis to begin with. Louise Story, a New York Times business reporter, thinks Rep. Frank's reaction will be pretty uniform across DC. However, the concerns raised by S&P are legit. How is our deficit going to be reduced WITHOUT REVENUE COMING IN?! So, did someone at S&P forget to carry a "1" in their maths or something? Someone needs to double check their work! ;D Here's reaction from Ezra Klein! Their downgrade isn't about the numbers or our ability to pay; Ezra re - read the release from S&P and agreed with their reasoning.
"S&P Downgrades...Part Deux" - A "AA+" rating is worse than a "AAA" rating even though "AA+" sounds pretty good. If I'd earned that as a letter grade, I'd be happy! :D Jared Bernstein's back again tonight to respond to the downgrade. No other rating agency has changed their rating of us. S&P doesn't have the greatest record in the whole mortgage crisis game. Mr. Bernstein't not entirely convinced that politics should've paid as big a role in the downgrade as it apparently did. We all need to remember that a whole mess of bat$hit GOBP were perfectly willing, ready, and able to take this economy over the cliff & have already said the debt ceiling issue would be a potential "hostage - taking" situation from now on. Some interest rates might go up due to this downgrade.
"U.S. Credit Rating Downgraded..." - John Harwood gets to talk the political angle of the downgrade. DC is saying the decision is all politics on the part of S&P. The decision wasn't politically motivated, supposedly. The reactions from "the usual suspects" is already rolling in. The "new Michael Steele" is touting the first downgrade in American history is under President Obama. Again, the other 2 ratings agencies are maintaing their "AAA" rating for us.
"What Your Country Can Do for You" - The GOBP is all ready to eliminate unemployment benefits because the best thing for unemployment is for those unemployed to get a damn job! *&^%$#@! President Obama announced a jobs program today specifically for unemployed veterans, and, Rachel, the GOBP will find a way to fight this. The unemployment rate for post - 9/11 veterans is over 12%. Nick Colgin had a hell of a time finding a job after a hell of a tour in Afghanistan. He's a retired Army combat medic. Todd Bowers is an IAVA Senior Policy Advisor. Mr. Bowers is confident this policy will pass; oh honey, I hope you're right. Nick's graduating with an English degree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
Rachel is going to be on MTP this Sunday; I will probably be asleep. ;D So, if she kicks David Gregory's a$$ and takes names, y'all will have to tell me about it. ;D