Digby on the obscene Kabuki of the deficit debate

[kpete]

Digby on the obscene Kabuki of the deficit debate:

the deficit issue itself is a disaster capitalist construct designed to confuse people into thinking that this is the cause of their problems when it is actually a symptom of a larger one that nobody wants to deal with. Even engaging in it at this point it is a capitulation to magical thinking and up-is-downism along the lines of the Iraq war debate. It seems this is what we do now (on a totally bipartisan basis, so that's nice): we make our serious problems worse by putting all our energies into "solving" those that are irrelevant.(And botching even that.) It's the sign of a totally dysfunctional system led by people who either don't know or don't care enough to fix it. It's monumentally depressing.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/compromising-position-liberals-dont.html

[chill_wind]

1. She makes point after point

but this is one of quite a few I don't think can be over-stated:

And sadly, even if the deal never materializes, by putting these drastic cuts on the table they are going to become the centrist and conservative baseline going forward. After all, "even the liberal Democrat Barack Obama thought this needed to be done."

I had not heard anything about raising the age of Medicare eligibility before this debate and now it's everywhere, pushed by the White House and by the health care technocrats who think that everyone should be thrilled to get into the untested Rube Goldberg health care program as soon as they can buy their way in.(If they can afford it.)

[girl gone mad]

2. k & r