When these guys show up, it's time to run.

Economist and former Obama-Administration official Jared Bernstein answers his own questions based on the miserable U.S. Census Report on income and poverty in a post titled, "The Lost Decade for the Middle Class".

What does all this tell us about how the American economic model has worked for the middle class and the poor?

My favorite progressive group, Citizen Action-IL, had its annual dinner. It's always a great event. This year, SOS Jesse White was honored.

The great Dean Baker comments on Tom 'Moustache of Understanding' Friedman's latest call for all of us to start making sacrifices:

.... In [Friedman's] world, sacrifice must be shared equally. Those who are incredibly rich and those who are barely getting [by] are both called upon to make sacrifices for the greater good. That's Thomas Friedman justice.

NPR reporter, Brian Naylor obviously doesn't know what the definition of populism is:

The former GOP vice presidential nominee sounded a populist theme. She called for ending corporate income taxes ...

I can't believe NPR called this segment today, 'Calif. Redistricting Likely To Have National Impact', since that's not exactly the message of the person -- in this case, a professor from Calif. -- had to say:

John Ydstie (NPR): Can you imagine that over the next decade or so, reforms like this could unlock the gridlock in our national politics?

As Kruggy says:

The real question facing America, even in purely fiscal terms, isn’t whether we’ll trim a trillion here or a trillion there from deficits. It is whether the extremists now blocking any kind of responsible policy can be defeated and marginalized.

Paul Krugman:

In the long run, however, Democrats won’t be the only losers. What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question. After all, how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy? And the answer is, maybe it can’t.

Wow, Scott Horsley waited till the tail-end of an almost completely vacuous piece of MSM reporting to add this sudden dose of reality:

Ezra Klein:

Republicans in Congress are threatening to manufacture an economic crisis unless they’re permitted to slash spending. Meanwhile, we’re in an economic crisis in which the main problem is too little spending. So the choice we’re being presented with is that we can either worsen an existing crisis or trigger a fresh one. With our leaders acting so irresponsibly, perhaps it’s no mystery why we’re having a recovery-less recovery, either.