I think you're confused about the adjective "new"

The Hill: "Dems embrace new strategy on taxes"

Democratic leaders are embracing a new strategy for tax reform that leans on President Obama's State of the Union call for tax fairness and economic equality.
The new strategy diverges from the 1986 formula, the last time Washington successfully tackled tax reform, and focuses on raising tax revenue from the wealthiest taxpayers and businesses that funnel jobs offshore.

So instead of trying to broaden the tax base to increase revenues, we have this political strategy that is sure to go nowhere fast.  As for punishing those outsourcing companies, Hit & Run covered that one: "Obama's daft plan to insource jobs back to America."

Aside from the bogus case for tax "fairness" do Americans really understand the magnitude of our debt problem?  Scaling back the Bush tax cuts will produce an extra $70-80 billion in revenue a year, or about what we're borrowing every three weeks.  The 30% millionaires surtax is a laughable drop in the bucket and one that can be easily sidestepped by people like Bill Gates who earn their compensation in Microsoft stock.

Speaking of Bill Gates, did you hear what that awful miser did with his filthy lucre?  He's a monster.

Misty water-colored memories - The other night, during the State of the Union address, I was taken by Obama's nostalgia for the post-WWII economy and the credulous belief we can re-create the prosperity of the Eisenhower years.  In fact, I texted my buddy: "We really beat the heck out of the Chinese economy...in 1953."  Megan McArdle clearly had the same impression: "The President's Nostalgianomics."

Yikes - National Review: "Dole goes nuclear" on Gingrich.  Not a fan.

It's a brand-new day - Zero Hedge: "America has a $16.4 trillion debt ceiling."  You're welcome.

The more things hope and change the more they remain the same



Keep in mind that a good chunk of these promises and proposals were made when Obama had a filibuster-proof majority in Congress.  Yet he couldn't even get a vote on, for example, cutting off those oil company "tax breaks."  It's all populist smoke and mirrors.

Extra - Here's Cato with more info on corporate taxes.

Did I miss something? - Did Obama say a single word about the out-of-control national debt?  Not a whisper on the issue that animated the 2010 midterms?  Wow.

Update - Ah, I see: he was leaving that part for Mitch Daniels.  And, boy, is he laying out the daunting numbers.

Take that, Standard and Poors! - "Anybody who says America is in decline is a poopy-head!"  I may have paraphrased there.

Don't call it class warfare - "Hey, do you know who should pay for the government? Somebody else."  Or, as I like to say: robbing Peter to pay Paul will always have the enthusiastic support of Paul.

Crazy for caulking - How many times over the past three years have we heard about all the cash we can save in homes and factories if we'd just lay down more insulation?  Talk about small ball - Master Lock small.

Charlotte, Raleigh, Orlando - Hmmmm....there are a lot of proposals that just happen to be in swing states.

Smoot Hawley 2 - Electric Bugaloo!  1-2-3-4: Obama declares a trade war!

Apple cares about Jobs

NY Times: "Apple's Jobs to Obama: "Jobs aren't coming back to U.S.'"

Fox Business: "Apple 1Q results blow past street views, shares surge."

Prepare to be disappointed, America - Hot Air: "Gallup: Americans want specifics in tonight's speech."

Fuhgeddaboudit - TTAC: "Chevrolet dealers reject Volt allocation."

SOTU cliche betting - The UK betting site PaddyPower is taking bets on the first cliche used by Obama in tomorrow night's State of the Union address.  As it stands "We have more work to do" is the current favorite at 8-1 while "Life is like a box of chocolates" is running in last place at 225-1.

Exact wording is required so that disqualifies my straw-man entry of "Some people say (extreme position) while others say (opposite extreme position) but I say (rational moderate course)."

I may have to fall back on the high/low for variations of "fairness."  I'm going with 18.

Release the drones!

I get the impression that Conor Friedersdorf's rundown of Team Obama's pseudo-legal excesses in the War on Terror might have struck a nerve at the White House because now AG Eric Holder is going to ride the lectern and explain why the remote-control killing of (American, regrettably) Anwar al-Awlaki was A-OK.

Tom Maguire can't wait: "I absolutely cannot wait."  Yeah, I said that.

Excellent.  The same chap who thought that waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (as we do routinely with US soldiers and airmen in training) represented a loss of America's soul will now explain why whacking disagreeable Americans on a one-off basis is acceptable.  Maybe in the same speech he will explain his plans to close Gitmo (another blot on our national character) while preserving all of its capabilites at Bagram.  The Niemann media watchdogs just can't figure out why this is being ignored by Big Media, although any righty could explain it.

Cue. The. Laughtrack.

I guess just like "only Nixon can go to China" now it's "only Obama can have indefinite detention."  Nobel Peace Prize and all that.

The deep, deep debt - NY Times: "The dangerous notion that debt doesn't matter."

Saturday poetry - I had an English professor who was a great fan of Richard Wilbur.  So it was surprisingly delightful to find one of his poems over at Maggie's Farm this morning.

Take a guess which state has the worst credit rating.  Nope, guess again. - Hot Air: "Illinois gets downgraded by Moody's."

I'm no big fan of Romney - But for heaven's sake, Republicans, are you really going to tank the nomination for Newt?  Washington Examiner: "America hates Newt Gingrich."  There is no way a guy thirty points underwater can win this election.

I was a Tim Pawlenty man at the start and I would have loved to see Mitch Daniels in the race.  But nominating Gingrich is punching Obama's ticket for four more years of awfulness.

Extra - What John Hinderaker said.

Ho-hum, so there's this again - Megan McArdle: "CBO report: Medicare pilot programs don't control health care costs."  Remember that these Medicare adjustments were supposed to save us enough money to fund Obamacare.

Keystone Kop-out

Here's Robert Samuelson: "Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity"

By law, Obama’s decision was supposed to reflect “the national interest.” His standard was his political interest. The State Department had spent three years evaluating Keystone and appeared ready to approve the project by year-end 2011. Then the administration, citing opposition to the pipeline’s route in Nebraska, reversed course and postponed a decision to 2013 — after the election.
Now, reacting to a congressional deadline to decide, Obama rejected the proposal. But he also suggested that a new application with a modified Nebraska route — already being negotiated — might be approved, after the election. So the sop tossed to the environmentalists could be temporary. The cynicism is breathtaking.

The WashPost editorial page reached pretty much the same conclusion: "Obama's Keystone pipeline rejection is hard to accept."

Extra - Weekly Standard: "Obama's revealing pipeline decision."

Dog bites man: Obama blames somebody else for something

This time's a little different: after some of the most fawning media coverage in the history of the Republic, Obama has declared that - gosh darn it - it's not sycophantic enough.  Politico: "Obama blames press for his 'cold and aloof' image."

Extra - Ace senses disappointment.

The Citizens United debate - The Volokh Conspiracy asks if Congress could pass a law to prevent Google from advocating for or against an issue, like its anti-SOPA campaign today, if corporations are not afforded First Amendment rights.

Not granted certiorari yet - Hit & Run: "Will the Supreme Court end New York's rent control laws?" "After losing various legal battles at lower levels, Harmon has petitioned the Supreme Court to hear his argument that rent stabilization is a form of takings that should be prohibited under the Constitution."

Obama tells another Presidential commission: "Drop dead"

Here's the Hill yesterday afternoon: "Obama's jobs council report says 'drill'":

President Obama’s jobs council called Tuesday for an “all-in approach” to energy policy that includes expanded oil-and-gas drilling as well as expediting energy projects like pipelines.
“[W]e should allow more access to oil, natural gas and coal opportunities on federal lands,” states the year-end report released Tuesday by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
The report does not specifically mention the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but it endorses moving forward quickly with projects that “deliver electricity and fuel,” including pipelines.

And now today from the WashPost: "Obama administration to reject Keystone pipeline."  Well, at least he was decisive this time instead of letting the group's recommendations wither on the vine like the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission.

Extra - Minuteman: "Jobs and energy independence for Americans - the greens will never get behind this."

More - From Q&O.

Honestly, the Pontiac Aztek should be the center square - From The Truth About Cars: "Bored on a long trip? Bad Car Bingo!"

Return of the Drachma - I heard this story on NPR this morning about how if Greece is thrown out of the Eurozone, they're going to have to revert back to their own currency and this could be catastrophic for Greek businesses, especially those that import from other countries.  Greeks don't want to pay for their government but they hate austerity also.  This is all leading towards a predictable conclusion.

Martin Luther King Jr. day - In which we celebrate the unity and equality of all Americans, but really Democrats.