That redolent term of administrations gone by, “Mayberry Mafia,” may yet regain some currency.

Thank you for the always indispensable reminder that undermining meaningful opposition to the powerful and corrupt is the work of most party organs, Brian. Which is to say — thank you for the acute reminder that MoveOn, et al., are indeed organs of a corrupt and corrupting party.

I believe you are correct. In any event, the coin does NOT dump $1 trillion into circulation — which seems to be, near as I can tell, jgordon’s premise.

http://www.businessinsider.com/3-huge-myths-about-the-plan-to-save-the-economy-with-a-trillion-dollar-platinum-coin-2013-1

Thanks for the updates, Jane! Much appreciated.

Sorry, Moveon, I will NOT be contacting my Congress-critter, the hyena Pelosi. More dangerous than any mere Republican, and certainly not one to be plied with some appeal from the old and sick gazelles in her bailiwick.

Our politicians know that they’re lying to us. We know that they know that they’re lying to us. They know that we know that they know that they’re lying to us.

Now all of this debased politicking may simply be a natural consequence of the stranglehold that money has on our electoral system, which inevitably comes down to a rather narrow turf war between competing groups of monied investors with most of the same basic interests, as political scientist Thomas Ferguson might put it.

But it also seems to me to be a natural consequence of Americans continuing to vote for unprincipled lying sacks of shit. We have just come through an election in which over 120,000,000 votes were cast for either Obama or Romney — each and every one of those votes going to a sociopath. With many voters totally unapologetic.

I’m not sure what conservatives “believe,” but I do know that lower estate taxes leave their heirs richer. It’s hard for me not to believe that that simple fact is the relevant incentive.

You bring glad tidings, David. Here’s to a New Year that brings no New New Deal!

On the other topic of the day — you will be so sorely missed, David. If I may, I would just like to point out one of your virtues that doesn’t get praised nearly enough. Your expository writing style is clean and clear and you always provide an understandable context for the story you are reporting. Consequently, one scarcely notices the ease of your prose. It is a style to be much admired.

Good luck!

Amen.

Thanks for the comment — and a great call to action. This is an issue that affects so many people that there actually is some chance that, if enough people make their voices heard, the politicos may not get their way.

That “step” had no beginning, has no end.

Thanks for your comment on the Pelosi letter.

Wrote her for you. (I don’t honestly expect anyone to unreservedly endorse my own sentiments):

I see that you are now reported as being in support of President Obama’s plan to cut Social Security benefits (via the so-called chained CPI) and that you expect your fellow Democrats in Congress to go along. No surprise, I suppose, as this has been telegraphed by Obama and the Democrats for quite some time — but my outrage is no less for the lack of surprise.

It is — there is no other word — criminal to demand that older citizens living on a small fixed income pay for the excesses of others. That this is being done under cover of reducing the deficit when Social Security is NOT part of the deficit just adds to the cynicism and human cruelty on display here. Retirees did not crash the economy and your apparent willingness to make them pay the bill shocks the conscience.

If you and the Democrats pull this off, believe me, I will be doing everything in my very limited power and resources to see you defeated in your next election — even if it means voting for a Republican (which I have never even dreamed of doing in my life). At least then there would be the slim hope that, later, someone might be elected who actually cares about human beings. Indeed, the Democratic Party DESERVES to be destroyed if this is where the party of FDR and LBJ has ended up.

I found it. I believe we are entering Greenwald’s Step No. 3:

“STEP THREE: Many progressives – ones who are not persuaded that these cuts are less than draconian or defensible on the merits – will nonetheless begin to view them with resignation and acquiescence on pragmatic grounds. Obama has no real choice, they will insist, because he must reach a deal with the crazy, evil GOP to save the economy from crippling harm, and the only way he can do so is by agreeing to entitlement cuts. It is a pragmatic necessity, they will insist, and anyone who refuses to support it is being a purist, unreasonably blind to political realities, recklessly willing to blow up Obama’s second term before it even begins.”

On principle, I resisted writing an outraged complaint to Pelosi, my “representative” in exactly the same sense that a hyena represents the interests of old and sick gazelles. But the angry missive is sent now and I return to the calm of knowing that among the truly innocent who suffer will be those who voted for Obama and Pelosi.

Someone please remind me where we are in Glenn Greenwald’s step-by-step outline of the Democrats’ treacherous snipping of the American people’s social safety net.