The Krugman Speaks

Evan Soltas of Wonkblog and Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider both make the same point, in more detail, that I tried to make in my series on ONE TRILLION DOLLARS: the current budget deficit is overwhelmingly the result of the depressed economy, and it’s not clear that we have a structural budget problem at all, let alone the fundamental mismatch between what we want and what we’re willing to pay for that people like to claim exists. Here’s another chart, showing the primary federal balance — that is, not counting interest payments — since 1972 (data from CBO):

We don't get to talk about the real thing because the Dems need an honest-to-god partner in order to make shit work, and the Repubs are one tent short of a freak show.

I gets pretty obvious pretty fast that what Boehner & Co (and to a very much lesser extent, Obama) are doing is playing their little games.  And it's not even Boehner and Obama who pose the real problem.  I'm not one for simple 10-word solutions to big ugly complicated trouble, but the real problem is that there're just way too many big Corporations and big Trade Groups and big Lobbies, and big Unions and Power Factions inside Government (DoD eg), where everybody has their hands out expecting whatever favors and special treatment they believe they've got coming because of the money they raised for a candidate or the voters they turned out in the election or the vital role they play blah blah blah.  And it doesn't just boil down to the usual pap about "special interest groups" - in a democracy everybody's a special interest group for fuck's sake.  I think it comes down to a weird blend of Obama's semi-conservative centrism and The Repubs getting more and more crazy as we go.  And there's poor ol' Boehner trying pretty hard to get his numbskull caucus to stop being complete dicks about everything while not actually saying straight out (not in public anyway) that they're all a bunch of complete dicks.

Conventional wisdom is saying Boehner's likely to lose his speakership next month.  I'm not sure one way or the other, but I think it probably won't matter.  It could be a huge story that'll keep the Operatives and the Squawkers busy for months, but in the end, if Boehner stays or goes we'll still have a Republican Party that can't manage a High School Car Wash much less help govern an empire - while the rest of us can only sit around waiting for something good to happen.