HERE YOU GO: The ABSOLUTELY TRUE (completely arbitrary) conventional wisdom regarding the CBO’s scoring of Harry Reid’s Senate health care bill has been that it needs to come in at less than $900 billion, or the entire reform effort would collapse, and Trig’s army would finally seize its opportunity cross the Rubicon. The report’s coming out now: $849 billion. Now, for Harry Reid, it’s just a matter of convincing several members of his own party to not join Republicans in a filibuster to block this important bill from reaching an open debate on the Senate floor. Debates have well-known Stalinist agendas, according to a website. [Politico]
JUST A LITTLE ONE-SENTENCE REMINDER ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM FACING AMERICA FOREVER: We award nine million “succinctness points” to beloved CBO director Doug Elmendorf: “The country faces a fundamental disconnect between the services the people expect the government to provide, particularly in the form of benefits for older Americans, and the tax revenues that people are willing to send to the government to finance those services.” Blah blah blah, whatever, Elfinwhore. [Ezra Klein]
Your 2009 World Series will feature the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, two popular Northeast athletics organizations. USA! [New York Times]
Baghdad had another suicide bombing: 132 people died, which is the most all at once since 2007. [Washington Post]
The new new new health care bill will be submitted to the CBO as early as right now, or possibly even earlier this morning! [WSJ]
“Tony Blair” is a name that’s being thrown about to be the new president of the EU. Michael Sheen is already prepared for this. [Times Online]
College’s favorite singer, Morrissey, is A-OK after his collapse on a stage in London sometime a couple days ago. [CNN]
Wall Street money financial fatcats would like to maintain their huge bonus system, duh and thank you. [Reuters]
You may have noticed by now that your editor has a serious obsession with old dingbat Chuck Grassley and finds everything he does hilarious; sorry if you do not feel the same way. But just look at this guy! What IS it? Something to do with the fact that this barking, illiterate curmudgeon, who sleeps in an oversized cornhusk behind a maintenance door in the Third Street Tunnel, is STILL a leading negotiator on Health Care Reform. Take a guess what he was wheezing about during today’s crucial Finance Committee markup. Just take a guess. Now watch the clip. Oh, that’s right, blah blah blah, some Mexican or another might still get medical attention under the current legislation, harumph, and what about those Indians, harumph harumph harumph… IN OTHER NEWS: Max Baucus got into a fight with CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, you guys! MORE »
(YOUR CO-OPS ARE LAME): Hey Doug Elmendorf of the CBO, how are those proposed co-ops — the non-profit alternative to Pubic Options — in the Baucus Bill going to work? Oh you just want to tell us in a parenthetical aside within your official scoring report? “(The proposed co-ops had very little effect on the estimates of total enrollment in the exchanges or federal costs because, as they are described in the specifications, they seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country or to noticeably affect federal subsidy payments.)” In all seriousness, it’s pretty great that both Democrats and Republicans are pooping on this bill (these few shitsacks aside.) [Ben Smith]
You know that oft-repeated line about how Social Security will be screwed when the Boomers all get old at the same time? Well according to this graph from the CBO, we crossed that threshold into “screwed” territory right around, say, 10:36 this morning. You know what would be a great way to solve this? Taxing rich people, constantly. HA HA, NEVER. [Brad DeLong]
Ouch times a billion! The heroic Congressional Budget Office has gone through the sexy new health care bills from the House and Senate and, because he is racist against Obama, has determined that neither comes close to doing what they need to do: Bending The Cost Curve down, in the long run, to save the federal government from debt default and apocalypse, in the medium run. This is potentially terrible news for Democrats, many of whom were already scared as the dickens of voting for party-line $1 trillion overhaul that they won’t bother justifying to their constituents. So: will the leadership pussy out and just give poor people a few bucks to buy some Advil, or will they get tough and make it work? MORE »
Sorry, Denby, but your boyfriend Ted Kennedy has written the most awful piece of proposed legislation since Mitch McConnell suggested ending state funding for robotic goat-dildoes back in the Gingrich Revolution. What is so terrible about Kennedy’s healthcare proposal? The Congressional Budget Office NO LIKEY. MORE »
You know that oft-repeated line about how Social Security will be screwed when the Boomers all get old at the same time? Well according to this graph from the CBO, we crossed that threshold into “screwed” territory right around, say, 10:36 this morning. You know what would be a great way to solve this? Taxing rich people, constantly. HA HA, NEVER. [
Ouch times a billion! The heroic Congressional Budget Office has gone through the sexy new health care bills from the House and Senate and, because he is racist against Obama, has determined that neither 
Sorry, Denby, but your boyfriend Ted Kennedy has written the most awful piece of proposed legislation since Mitch McConnell suggested ending state funding for robotic goat-dildoes back in the Gingrich Revolution. What is so terrible about Kennedy’s healthcare proposal? The Congressional Budget Office NO LIKEY. 