1.) Of all the debates we could be going through at this point, this is the dumbest possible. The last two employment reports have been terrible prints, consumer spending is slowing and manufacturing is also showing weakness. All that leaves is government spending to help the economy along. And now we're going to slow that down, too.
2.) Obama is actually leading. This has been a pleasant surprise. For the last two weeks, he's been using the bully pulpit pretty effectively. Of course, it would have been nice if he'd been doing this for the rest of his presidency ....
3.) The current state of the Republican party shows the long-term effects of living in a hermetically sealed world of right wing radio and Fox news: you become dumber than a post. After these yahoos get their decreased spending, they're going to wonder why GDP prints negative for at least one quarter and probably more.
4.) The level of disappointment and shame I feel regarding the incredibly sorry state of affairs in Washington is incredibly high. All of these people are pathetic.
