Simpson/Bowles and their mindless fear mongering. You have to almost admire them for their tenacity in the face of mountains of evidence that they are bat shit crazy wrong.

Check out this tweet from these guys:

More from CBO: A deficit reduction plan could increase income levels by $2000-$4000 by 2040 and reduce interest rates http://t.co/6wIV8674xJ

— The Moment of Truth (@BowlesSimpson) July 6, 2015

So 25 years from now your income may go up from $2,000 to $4,000 per year.

1) Where is there proof?

and...

2) What fucking difference is that going to be 25 years from now???

But that's not all they promise...

They promise that interest rates might be reduced.

This is, like, insane. Rates are NEAR FUCKING ZERO YOU ASSHOLES!

Furthermore as this chart shows, there is no correlation between debt and rates. No, wait, there is...it's the FUCKING INVERSE!

WHAT. UTTER. MORONS.

Stephen Rosenfeld — Sell-Out Alert: 9 Democrats Already Caving to GOP On Social Security Cuts

Illinois’ Dick Durban, Washington’s Patty Murray Virginias Sen. Mark Warner, California’s Dianne Feinstein, Montana’s Max Baucus, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Delaware’s Chris Coons and Tom Carper, and Colorado’s Michael Bennett have all said either that they support cuts to entitlements in letters to constituents, or have put "everything" on the table for negotiation — and this is for starters.

But the biggest Democrat of all—and the one not drawing a line in the sand but possibly leading a historic sellout—is President Obama. In September 2008, when the senator from Illinois appeared before the AARP, Obama attackedRepublican nominee John McCain for suggested cuts to Social Security. As President, he has embraced those kind of cuts.

Alternet
Sell-Out Alert: 9 Democrats Already Caving to GOP On Social Security Cuts
Stephen Rosenfeld

Olli Rehn should not resign, he should be tried for crimes against humanity

Article in the U.K. Telegraph saying that EU Finance Minister Olli Rehn should resign because it was his austerity push that created mass unemployment and misery in Greece.

Well if you ask me, Olli Rehn shouldn't resign, he should be tried for crimes against humanity. And that goes for all the other austerity pushers like like Reinhart and Rogoff, Pete Peterson, Paul Ryan, Simpson/Bowels, and the rest. Their policies have caused widespread human suffering, mass unemployment, the veritable collapse of states, poverty and, indeed, the wasting of an entire generation along with their futures.

I submit that these people should be arrested and tried for crimes against humanity and if found guilty, should face the stiffest penalty without any possibility for leniency.

Randy Wray — Krugman is Right about Simpson-Bowles: The Buzzards Circle the Fiscal Cliff

Randy on another tear. Bravo.

Make no mistake. The President as well as both houses of Congress are solidly aligned to gut these programs. That is what the Rube Goldberg machinery is all about.

It is time to get out the pitchforks to destroy the doomsday machine Washington is creating for us.

Economonitor — Great Leap Forward
Krugman is Right about Simpson-Bowles: The Buzzards Circle the Fiscal Cliff
L. Randall Wray | Professor of Economics, UMKC

(I suppose this is what Ted Cruz means by "communism.")

Mark Gongloff — Here's Hoping Obama's Fiscal Cliff Summit With CEOs Devolved Into Screaming And Dish-Throwing

Mark Gongloff doesn't like what he sees.

In his press conference on Wednesday, President Obama rejected their approach as a non-starter, a hopeful sign that maybe the CEOs have been unconvincing. But as Salon's Alex Pareene points out, the CEOs, and Peterson, and Simpson, and Bowles, have managed to convince most of Washington, including the journalist corps (and also CNBC), that something close to their way is the best approach to cutting a "grand bargain" to fix the deficit and avoid the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts looming with the turn of the calendar.
We know Obama would love a grand bargain. The risk is very real that the CEOs will end up getting their way.

The Huffington Post
Here's Hoping Obama's Fiscal Cliff Summit With CEOs Devolved Into Screaming And Dish-Throwing
Mark Gongloff | Chief Financial Writer

Ryan Grim — Austerity War Revs Up: Peter Peterson Drops Millions On New Budget Campaign

Billionaire private equity mogul Peter Peterson is investing millions of dollars in a new Washington-based campaign for austerity, planning to blanket the airwaves after the election to bolster the case for a "grand bargain" in Congress' lame-duck session that would slash Medicare and Social Security spending in exchange for new tax revenue.

The Huffington Post
Austerity War Revs Up: Peter Peterson Drops Millions On New Budget Campaign
Ryan Grim

Marching over the fiscal cliff to the tune of Pete Peterson. Get ready for it.

$54 trillion PAID BACK and counting...

Just thought I'd check in and see how much of our debt we've "paid back" so far this fiscal year. Let's see...hmmm...well, turns out it's now up to $54 TRILLION. And that was in the past 10 months.

And with absolutely no problem whatsoever. The world didn't end. Interest rates didn't spike up (they're actually at record lows...AGAIN), the dollar went up, the economy is still growing, there's no hyperinflation, gold is down, commodities are down. What else? It's all good.

What say the idiots likes Schiff, Santelli, Rogers, Faber, Paul Ryan, Simpson/Bowles, Peterson, Walker, Fox News, et al?

We don't have money? Can't pay for Social Security for our seniors? Health care? Education? Infrastructure? Basic research? Jobs for the unemployed?

What a joke. We have all the money we need and an abundance of goods and services to make and distribute. It's religion that keeps us from doing it. The proof is right here in these numbers that folks at Treasury and the Fed all understand.

Mike's Latest Bloomberg Hit: "US Budget Deficit is a Virtue"

Video below from after the market close yesterday of Mike shredding on the topic of the true nature of US "debt" and fiscal deficits.

Mike is able to reveal the truth of these issues through the use of professionally recognized terms and procedures of accounting and economics.  Mike's professionalism is played off in the piece against the metaphoric rantings of two politicians, Simpson and Bowles, who here are made manifestly morons and blind on these issues, with Simpson first referring to the debt as "16T babies" and later Bowles using the word "cancer" on the deficit.  Unfortunately "Moe and Larry" here have been selected to co-chair a US government committee on the deficit.


 

In contrast to these two government stooges, the Bloomberg host Ms. Massar seems legitimately intrigued and interested in the fresh, hopeful, positive and truthful MMT based economic perspective expertly communicated by Mike in this piece.  Here's hoping that  this interest continues at Bloomberg, and will lead to more appearances by Mike, and more reporting there that keeps the insights of MMT in view.

h/t the 'Deus ex Machina' ;)


Video streaming by Ustream

The phony debt crisis!

At a Treasury auction today of 4-week bills, investors were prepared to give the government over a quarter of a trillion dollars AT ZERO PERCENT INTEREST!

And they keep telling us there's a debt crisis and we need to cut the debt!

If this doesn't show how the whole debt thing is a total farce and a total propaganda lie, then I don't know what will.