The budget plan no one is talking about

Ezra Klein:

The correct counterpart to the unbridled ambition of the Ryan budget isn’t the cautious plan released by the Senate Democrats. It’s the “Back to Work” budget released by the House Progressives.

The “Back to Work” budget is about exactly what the name implies: Putting Americans back to work. The first sentence of the budget lays it out clearly: “We’re in a jobs crisis that isn’t going away.” So that’s the budget’s top priority: fixing the jobs crisis.

The budget begins with a stimulus program that makes the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act look tepid. It includes $2.1 trillion in stimulus and investment from 2013-2015. The main policies there are a $425 billion infrastructure program, a $340 billion middle-class tax cut, a $450 billion public-works initiative, and $179 billion in state and local aid.

This is a lot of stimulus. The liberal Economic Policy Institute estimates that would be sufficient to “boost gross domestic product (GDP) by 5.7 percent and employment by 6.9 million jobs at its peak level of effectiveness (within one year of implementation).”

»READ MORE»

[photo via Digiart2001 | jason.kuffer]

News Roundup for 2/22/11

Scott Walker's ship of state

-Headline of the day-
"Walker Losing Support Among Rep. State Senators."

I told ya so. Turns out that that Governor Walker's big plan to destroy the political careers of everyone in the Wisconsin Republican Party isn't so popular with those Republicans as the governor would like you to believe.

Editor of Wisconsin instution The Progressive magazine Matt Rothschild spoke with fugitive Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch and Bob says that, among the less suicidal GOPers, Walker's plan is about as popular as a fart in an elevator.

"There are six to seven Republican senators that hate this bill, really hate this bill," Jauch said. Only three defectors would be needed to kill the bill outright. Bob says he's been in touch with these senators to try to "come up with an alternative" -- presumably behind Walker's back.

Rothschild reports, "Jauch also predicted that some Republican legislators who support Walker's bill would face a recall effort." Which wouldn't be fun for them because, even if they survived it, they'd go into the next election cycle weakened by the effort and somewhat cash-poor. So they're going to be eager to avoid that, which means more incentive to stick to the union.

Poor Scott Walker. All he wanted to do was destroy working-class families.

Is that so wrong? (The Progressive)


-More bad news for Walker-
Scooter's been having a lot of fun pretending that the public is with him, but that ends today. A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that Americans -- a group to which Wisconsinites coincidentally belong -- oppose doing away with collective bargaining for public employee unions by a ratio of about 2:1. According to the report, "The poll found that 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to one being considered in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law."

Walker's got to be wondering how everything could've gone so wrong, so quickly.

Let me help you out there, Scott -- it's called "rank incompetence." (USA Today)


-Bonus HotD-
"Is Scott Walker Cutting Off Internet Access To Thwart Protesters?"

Oh for chrissake, Scott. Name the last guy that worked out well for. (ThinkProgress)