Budget

Jonathan Chait speaking 'honestly' about the Ryan Budget:

Ryan's budget really is at odds with what most Americans would consider to be basic decency. Virtually every House Republican voted for it, and they deserve to face the consequences of it.

Kevin Drum explains:

Our budget deficit has skyrocketed over the past three years because of an unprecedented economic crisis. It will shrink as the economy starts to grow again, and it can be brought down to a nearly reasonable level merely by letting the Bush tax cuts expire. The rest will require changes to Medicare, since that's the source of nearly all our long-term problems.

Steve Benen quotes this summary of Rep. Ryan's appearance on Fox News Sunday:

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) defended proposed Republican budget cuts to popular domestic programs Sunday as necessary to maintaining fiscal health.

HuffPost also reports on the appearance:

Classic Krugman on the "bipartisan" debt-reduction commission:

It seemed obvious, as soon as the commission's membership was announced, that "bipartisanship" would mean what it so often does in Washington: a compromise between the center-right and the hard-right.

Follow-up Krugman Quote de Jour (this time on Soc. Sec.):

Senate votes no on world's most stingy stimulus bill. Erza points out that with close to 10% unemployment, maybe deficit reduction isn't the most important thing:

There'll come a time when we need to start reducing the deficit. If we can get the economy back into gear, that time might even be soon. But for now, increasing the size of the deficit isn't some nasty side effect of stimulus spending. It is, quite literally, the point of the enterprise.