More about the Obama job growth that America voted against

direct re-post from the incredible Bob Cesca

Job growth over the last 12 months:

Government takeover! Run away! Look at all those government jobs --- wait. Uh.

Reminder: Americans, specifically self-identified independents and conservatives, voted against the policies that created over a million private sector jobs and the policies that shrunk the number of government jobs.

(ht Sullivan)

Adding... American voters also rejected the people responsible for this:

Middle-income Americans are now paying federal taxes at or near historically low levels, according to the latest available data. That’s true whether it comes to their federal income taxes or their total federal taxes.

Americans are smart people.

Obama's disasterous economic plan continues to add more jobs

Washington Monthly

In October, the economy added 159,000 private-sector jobs, far exceeding expectations. It's the best private-sector total since April, and the second strongest report since the start of the Great Recession in late 2007. It was also the tenth consecutive month of private-sector growth -- a streak unseen in more than three years.

All told, the economy has added more than 1.1 million private-sector jobs in 2010. For comparison purposes, note that the economy lost nearly 4.7 million private-sector jobs in 2009, and lost 3.8 million in 2008.

Private sector jobs since January 2008


via Cesca

Nice job America. Let's see how you enjoy rolling back the policies that are slowly digging us out of Bush's disaster.

Stop listening to the American people on fiscal policy. They have no idea what they're talking about.

I suppose I'm becoming a bit of a political elitist. I wonder, over and over again, why we listen to the American people on matters of the economy? Don't get me wrong, I'm not repudiating democracy. I'm just wondering why we're listening, or pretending to listen, to a factory worker in Gary, or a housemom in Olympia, or a farmer in Luverne on fiscal policy.

In the wake of the elections, Republicans are trumpeting that Americans have rejected the stimulus, rejected government spending on bailouts and TARP, rejected the notion of government intervention, rejected all deficit spending.

First, I'll argue that they have not done so. What the American people have said is that they want the economy fixed. They want jobs and stability at home. This interpretation about what the electorate has supposedly said comes from politicians who want to believe that the nation shares their fiscal vision.

They don't. They want jobs. It's as simple as that.

Secondly, even if one can make the argument that "the people" have delved into fiscal policy nuance, rather than a more simple expression of "we want jobs", why would government possibly listen to them? What makes a mom from Olympia any kind of an expert on what it takes to jump start an economy?

The obvious parallel is having the hubris to tell your surgeon how to do the operation. When we go to the doctor, all we're really saying is "I want to feel better, but you've got the training, so fix me up." Using that rationale, why would we believe that a farmer in Luverne has any real notion of how macroeconomics works? I'm pretty sure Paul Krugman would take the farmer's word for it when he's told how to milk a cow, so it would make sense for the farmer to trust a Nobel winner when it comes to fixing the economy.

Polling consistently tells us that the American people don't care about the deficit right now, not when it comes to jobs. But the Republicans have ginned up this argument to support their goals of reversing progressive social policy. And as a side note, we'll see how the mom in Olympia feels when Mitch McConnell and John Boehner try to cut funding for the pre-K that's teaching her child how to read.

Americans aren't making statements about fiscal policy, they're saying "give us jobs".

I'd love to see a poll ask, "If you can have a lower deficit and less jobs, or a higher deficit and more jobs, which would you prefer?". You and I both know what the answer is, and pretending otherwise is stupid, obstinate, or ignorant.

We've got to get past the idea that we're all experts on everything. We're not, and when push comes to shove, we'll admit it. Everyone might think they can fly a plane, but how many would actually take the controls and try to land a 747? Why can't we do the same with our economy? Ask the electorate what they want and who they trust to deliver it, and then get out of the way and let it get done.

Secondly, we have to have a measure of patience. A mess on the scale we have cannot be fixed in 18 months. Obama's biggest mistake was suggesting it would be. But when one is in a sinking ship, the first thing that has to be done, before bailing out the water, is stopping the leak. We've clearly passed that point. In our instant gratification society, that's not enough. We want it all to be great, and be great now, despite the fact that it took us a decade of gorging at the trough to get us here.

We got into this position by not listening to experts who were warning us about overspending, Wall Street malfeasance, easy credit and the housing bubble. We just didn't pay attention. At some point, we're going to have to stop pretending that we can all fly the plane and let the guys with the training take the controls.

Do you want jobs or not?If the answer is yes, then let the experts do what they have to do to create them and stop messing in partisan political theory. Jobs are not a partisan issue. Continuing to humor the Tea Party with the idea that we can create jobs whithout government intervention and continued spending is absurd.

Sept. job numbers: more private sector jobs in 2010 than in 8 years of Bush/Cheney

Cesca

The September jobs report was just released and demonstrates that America is on a far slower path to recovery than anyone originally predicted. Despite this, the shedding of government jobs cloaks a glimmer of hope: more private sector jobs have been created this year than during the entire Bush administration. Read that again: 2010 has had more private job creation than during the entire 8 year tenure of George W. Bush.

This is the 9th straight month of private sector job growth in the midst of a devastating recession that has put a serious strain mostly on the poor and middle class. There has been a total of 863,000 private sector jobs created in 2010, exceeding the total created under the Bush/Cheney regime.

In no way am I saying that these numbers are great. What I am trying to figure out is why Americans, who say they're going to vote GOP because of jobs, don't understand that this preisdent IS creating jobs? Why don't they understand that Obama has cut the deficit by over $100 million in 2010, in the middle of a recession?

Obama has created more jobs in 2010 than Bush did in EIGHT YEARS. He has cut the deficit more in one year than the last Republican administration ever did. That has to count for something. But it doesn't seem to, and here are three thoughts as to why:

1) Americans don't seem to understand that before you can heal a wound, you have to stop the bleeding. The stimulus and other actions that Obama has taken have stopped the bleeding. That is, and always was, goal number one.

Our "instant culture" of I-want-it-now doesn't give us the patience to see this through. We're tryintg to work our way out of the worst economic situation in 80 years, one that took 10 years to create, and we expected it done in 12 months.

We're unrealistic.

2) The GOP noise machine drowns out the facts.

3) Issue number 3 is that the Democratic party sucks at getting the message out. From our media wing to our leadership, there's no "there" there. The GOP has John Boehner, Sarah Palin and Eric Cantor. The Democrats have Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Reid and Pelosi are incredibly gifted legislators - especially Pelosi - but they can't communicate with middle America.

Add to that a huge right-wing media machine that's unable to be embarrassed and willing to engage in massive intellectual fraud and hypocrisy on a giant scale and it's not hard to understand how they're selling a message of fear and hate to a scared populace.

We're a nation with a raging case of Teh Stupidz.

Republicans are illogical asshats

Richard Shelby is blocking the nomination of Peter Diamond to sit on the Fed board of governors.

Why?

Shelby says Diamond is unqualified.

Diamond is a professor of economics at a little school called MIT.

Diamond won the Nobel Prize for economics.

Diamond was Ben Bernanke's teacher!

"While the Nobel Prize for economics is a significant recognition, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences does not determine who is qualified to serve on the Board of Governors," said Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee.

via Cesca

Right. He's unqualified. Notice Shelby didn't say he disagreed with him - he said that he's unqualified.

This is stupidity for stupidity's sake.

Rich vs. poor in the Great Recession

via Cesca

This chart via Jon Chait illustrates everything you need to know about the ultimate impact of Reaganomics. In short: the working and middle classes were totally hosed.



Chait: "The remedy, of course, is to cut tax rates for the highest-earning 2%."

Everything you need to know about the Pledge to America

Those "responsible spending cuts"? Not so much. The GOP has promised to kill the affordable Health Care act (increasing the deficit), keep the Bush Tax Giveaway to the Wealthy (increasing the deficit) and has not shown where cuts are going to come from.

In fact, John Boehner was interviewed by Chris Wallace about the Pledge and it's lack of specificity and he had the following to say:

WALLACE: Congressman Boehner, as Willie Sutton said about banks, entitlements are where the money is. More than 40% of the budget. Yet, I’ve looked through this pledge and there is not one single proposal to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.

BOEHNER: Chris, we make it clear in there that we’re going to lay out a plan to work toward a balanced budget and deal with the entitlement crisis. Chris, it’s time for us as americans to have an adult conversation with each other about the serious challenges our country faces. And we can’t have that serious conversation until we lay out the size of the problem. Once Americans understand how big the problem is, then we can begin to talk about potential solutions. [...]

WALLACE: Forgive me, sir, isn’t the right time to have the adult conversation now before the election when you have this document? Why not make a single proposal to cut social security, medicare and medicaid?

BOEHNER: Chris, this is what happens here in Washington. When you start down that path, you just invite all kind of problems. I know. I’ve been there. I think we need to do this in a more systemic way and have this conversation first. Let’s not get to the potential solutions. Let’s make sure Americans understand how big the problem is. Then we can talk about possible solutions and then work ourselves into those solutions that are doable.

SRSLY? Let's not talk about solutions. That's the gist. Typical Republican response: 'Let's not talk about solutions until after the election because we hope Americans are dumb/frustruated enough to elect us on vague and empty promises, so we can give more money to the wealthy and screw the economy (again) after the elections'. This is full of non-specific iconography that the GOP hopes Americans are stupid enough to buy.

Are we this stupid?

Here's an analysis of the differences between the Pledge and Obama's proposed budget.

American Progress

The substantial increase in deficits under the “Pledge to America” budget are due to the significant tax cuts that come from extending all expiring tax provisions and the implementation of several new tax cuts. Altogether, tax revenues under the “Pledge to America” plan would average 16.7 percent of GDP. During the last period the federal government ran balanced budgets revenues averaged 20 percent of GDP.

The document claims that these cuts will be offset by spending reductions, but their proposals for these reductions add up to significantly less than their revenue cuts. The vast bulk of these spending cuts are achieved through what are described as “hard caps,” but they provide little detail as to what programs would be cut.

The “Pledge to America” also includes a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. But since the ACA reduces deficits over the next 10 years, repealing it increases the deficit as well.

Chart via Ezra

The Republican Pledge to Further Screw America

Dan Pfeiffer

Tonight, we learned more details about the Congressional Republican agenda – their “Pledge to America.” With this plan, they have made clear that they want to take America back to the same failed economic policies that caused this recession. Instead of charting a new course, Congressional Republicans doubled down on the same ideas that hurt America’s middle class.

Here’s what they made clear:

•Tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires by borrowing $700 billion we can’t afford;

•Tax hikes for 110 million middle-class families and millions of small businesses;

•Cutting rules and oversight for special interests like big oil, big insurance, credit card and mortgage companies and Wall Street banks;

•Doing nothing to stop the outsourcing of American jobs or to end tax breaks that are given to companies that ship jobs overseas;

•All while adding trillions to our nation’s deficit.

Their plan is also notable for what it doesn’t talk about: protecting Social Security and Medicare from privatization schemes; investing in high-quality education for our nation’s children; growing key industries like clean energy and manufacturing; and rebuilding our crumbling roads, rails and runways.

This is the same agenda that caused the deepest recession since the Great Depression, costing 8 million jobs, wiping out trillions in family wealth and setting middle-class families back. Instead of a pledge to the American people, Congressional Republicans made a pledge to the big special interests to restore the same economic ideas that benefited them at the expense of middle-class families.

George Carlin on the American Dream

h/t the mighty Hammerito

“Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own, and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought, and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year Lobbying. Lobbying, to get what they want.

Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. That’s right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin’ years ago. They don’t want that.

You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. And just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money, They want your fuckin’ retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you sooner or later cause they own this fuckin’ place. It’s a big club and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in The Big Club. By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy.

The table has tilted, folks. The game is rigged. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people - white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-working people continue - these are people of modest means - continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t care about you at all. At all. At all. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care.

That’s what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that’s being jammed up their assholes every day, because the owners of this country know the truth: It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

-George Carlin (May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008)

The Bush tax plan v. the Obama tax plan... now with pictures

...worth a thousand words and all that:


via Ezra, h/t Hammerito

So if you favor the Bush tax plan, that's fine. Just be aware that you're borrowing billions from the Chinese to reward the richest among us, with no means to pay for it and very limited payback - pennies on the dollar.

GOP economic efficiency: they can screw it up faster than we can fix it

John Boehner and anti-intellectualism: ‘I Don’t Need To See Numbers Or Listen To Economists’

In an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, John Boehner (R-Dipshit) argued against further stimulus and in favor of extending the Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy.

When Wallace showed Boehner GDP numbers indicating that the economic recovery is shrinking and stated that many economists were calling for more federal stimulus (the effects of which Boehner still waffles about), Boehner became blustery. When pressed by Wallace about the contradiction between the giant hole that an extension of the Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy would blow in the deficit and Boehner's self-described deficit hawk status, Boehner decided that facts are inconvenient things:

"Well, I don’t need to see GDP numbers or to listen to economists. All I need to do is listen to the American people, because they’ve been asking the question now for 18 months, “where are the jobs?”

(Later, to Wallace)
Chris, you’ve been in Washington too long because that’s all a bunch of Washington talk... This is the whole Washington mindset, all these CBO numbers,”

John Boehner

He then went on to add: "Yes, those pesky NUMBERS. Those are LIBERAL NUMBERS, bent on making us a socialist nation. As Republicans, we don't trust those Democrat numbers. Numbers lie. We go from the gut, we listen to the American people. Maybe in Washington they care about numbers, but in real America, we know that numbers lie. Stop being so naive, Chris."

OK, maybe he didn't say that, but he should have. Because it's what he meant.

Now he's going to try to hang the lack of jobs that his party has filibustered on Obama. and they're going to hang the economy, which is losing momentum for lack of further stimulus, on Obama despite the fact that it's the GOP who won't listen to numbers and facts and do the right thing. Cesca (h/t) points out: The Republicans have filibustered the jobs. And they've proposed solutions, like renewing the Bush tax cuts and cutting spending, that will sabotage economic growth.

Now Boehner is asking "Where are the jobs that we've done our damned best to kill in order to make the Kenyan Messiah a one-termer?"

Quoting ThinkProgress, this is "blind ideology". He'll oppose whatever Obama stands for. He no more cares about the direction of the country than he cares about the long-term effects of over-tanning.

By the way, can we all at least agree that the real pronunciation of his last name is actually "Boner"?

Employment down, corporate profits up; more GOP memes fall apart

Ezra Klein

Employment? Down 5.9% since late-2007. Corporate profits? Up 5.7% since late-2007 -- and driven by Wall Street.

The GOP likes to claim that the private sector is the only thing that can save the economy. While I don't disagree that a strong private sector is vital, if the theory were true, we'd be in better shape right now. the private sector has been growing for 6 straight quarters now.

Speaking of exploding memes, let's debunk the "Obama is against corporate America" myth. Look at the rise in corporate profits since the first quarter of 2009. That doesn't look like the gateway to a socialist worker's paradise.

The REAL causes of the deficit

With Republicans claiming to be deficit hawks and frugality champions, it seems to be time to take a look at this chart from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showing the true causes of the deficit.

Background: Remember, the Republicans oppose the extension of unemployment ($34 billion) because it's bad for the deficit. But they support an extension of the Bush tax cuts ($678 billion), even though they're worse for the deficit. they also support an extension of subsidies to the billion-dollar-profit-making oil industry, to the tune of $4 billion a year.

But the deficit is all Obama's fault because of the stimulus and TARP. Just ask any Republican, they'll tell you. Never mind that TARP was started under President Bush and TARP saved the whole blanking economy.

The lower black line is where the deficit would be today without the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush-era tax cuts, TARP, and the Fannie and Freddie bailouts, the stimulus and the economic downturn.

Notice the culprits. In order, the Bush tax cuts are the biggest deficit problem we have. Second is the Bush economic downturn. Third are the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. TARP and stimulus - which have been credited with saving the economy - are far down the list.

But the GOP are concerned about the deficit. Right.

If we're truly going to talk defiict, let's look at the U.S. military budget. In 2009, military spending was $782 billion, 23% of our deficit-riddled budget. click the link and look at the projects we're funding. We're still building a Cold War military to fight 21st century battles. It's wasteful. And why? Because Congress's power is unchecked and connected politicians are able to strike deals saving outmoded bases and projects in their districts.

If we're serious about cutting the deficit, we have to look at military spending. Actually, first we have to get serious and stop any talk of the Bush tax cuts, which go to the wealthiest Americans who need it least. Cutting the funds that go directly to boost our moribund economy, unemployment and stimulus, is stupid, short-sighted and will have almost no impact on our deficit.

Chart: Hullabaloo via Cesca

What's going on? The media is actually fact-checking and calling out wingnuts.

OK, no surprise here... Dylan Ratigan lays into Rep. Kevin Brady (R_TX) who refuses to answer Dylan's questions and tries to obfuscate and change the subject several times.

HuffPost

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) looked uncomfortable when MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan introduced him Tuesday afternoon to talk about unemployment benefits and Wall Street greed. Brady's discomfort proved well-founded.

Ratigan tore into the Texas Republican, who voted against the extension of unemployment benefits but for the Wall Street bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Brady repeatedly attempted to deflect Ratigan's harsh line of questioning on the nature of Wall Street by arguing that potential -- not actual -- tax increases are stifling capital investment and thus job creation, but the MSNBC host didn't let up.

"I know you have an issue with the government, but I've got an issue with a private industry that's using the government to rape my country of its money, and I'd like to try to put a stop to that," Ratigan said.

"We are facing higher taxes in energy and income and capital and dividends," Brady argued, not for the last time. "All those tax proposals are what's keeping our recovery from gaining steam--"

"That's a lie. That's a lie," Ratigan shot back. "What's keeping our recovery from gaining steam is the fact that the financial industry is stealing America's money, depriving this country of any investment whatsoever, and that is the entire basis of our system, and the government has converted it from an investment vehicle into a vehicle for it to steal money for its rich friends."

The MSNBC host ended the segment on a frustrated note, complaining that Brady simply retreated to his talking points. "I'm done with you," Ratigan said, after he challenged Brady to answer his questions and his guest resumed talking about possible future taxes.

Here's Mark Haines of CNBC with Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Bader is trying to flog the right-wing talking point that the Gulf Oil Spill isn't cleaned up because the President has refused foreign help because of a piece of legislation called the Jones Act — a 1920 law stipulating that commerce between U.S. ports needs to occur on U.S. ships. The claim is that Obama is citing the Jones Act at the command of his Big Union overlords.

ThinkProgress

Haines noted that 68 different offers of foreign cleanup help have been accepted, and then challenged Bader to cite examples of the Jones Act causing a problem:

HAINES: How many rejections under the Jones Act?

BADER: I don’t know how many.

HAINES: Excuse me, Senator McCarthy, you can’t tell us how many there are? I want the facts, give us hard facts, give us evidence, not innuendo, not baseless accusations, okay? It’s offensive to intelligence. The fact is sir, you have told us there are examples of rejections and you can not name a single one.

GOP is sabotaging America for the hope of political gain

The Republican party, with the help of the Teabaggers and the tacit agreement of the media, is deliberately sabotaging the economic recovery. They've blocked jobs-creation legislation, they're decried economic stimulus to the point of making it a dirty word.

They've blocked and are continuing to block unemployment benefits for the people who have lost their jobs. This means less money goes into the economy, people lose their homes. This devalues property prices and depriving already cash-starved states and municipalities of tax revenue both from decreasing property tax rolls and lost sales tax because the unemployed have no money to spend.

They're happy to let jobs languish until the elections in November of 2012 - 17 months away - in order to try to hurt the President. Have we ever had a situation where the minority party has been willing to plant bombs in our own economy and hurt our country for it's own political gain?

I believe this view of the economy echoes their environmental stance, which seems to be that it's so big (the environment and the economy) that it can't possibly be really, really, really, seriously crippled. You know, America forever, we're exceptional, yada yada yada.

And the media allows it to happen. It acts as if both sides have valid points on every issue. Except they don't. Politics has been reduced to sport: "Strasburg goes for his 4th start against the Dems tonight, let's see if he can blow further oil company incentives past the heart of that Dems line-up."

The Democrats, for their part, are too mealy-mouthed to really stand up and scream. They play the Beltway Game too, while America is dying.

Meanwhile, the largest financial collapse in history happened 18 months ago and we still have no legislation to prevent it from happening again. And the largest environmental disaster in history happened and we're arguing over whether the practices that generated it are really, truly that bad. We also gave the oil companies $38 billion in incentives while denying that same amount in unemployment to resuscitate the economy.

As the Senate discusses a climate bill, John Kerry recites the phrase that, as Ezra Klein says, should be engraved on the dome of the U.S. Capitol: “We believe we have compromised significantly, and we’re prepared to compromise further."

This is fucked up.

Jon Stewart on the G20 summit

Election 2010/2012 in graphs: housing prices, economy, GDP, jobs

Ezra Klein has an excellent piece about the 2010 election with graphs charting topics of concern.

Something I found interesting was a graph of housing prices dating back to 1988 and the end of the Reagan Administration. I took Ezra's graph and overlayed the various administrations for some context.

What is so incredibly striking to me is the trends in prices so closely follow the change in administrations. Prices tanked almost immediately after Bush 41 took office in January of 1989, rose and then plateaued towards the end of his 4 years. They kept a pretty steady, if not dramatic, upward climb under Clinton. The immediately trended downward under Bush 43, and then were impacted by 9/11 (you can see the bump), diving before becoming erratic, following the trends in Iraq.

Notice two things - the trend sharply downward following the 2004 election and the trend sharply upward almost immediately after Obama took office.

I'm not Nate Silver but my admittedly-basic analysis shows me that there is some correlation between prices and the practices of and perceptions of an administration.

The other graphs are telling as well, but focus almost solely on President Obama's performance.

JOB GROWTH SINCE JANUARY 2008

The market tanks on health care

Or not.

Fox Business

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 43.91 points, or 0.41%, to 10785.89, the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 5.91 points, or 0.51%, to 1165.81 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 20.99 points, or 0.88%, to 2395.40. The FOX 50 added 3.04 points, or 0.36%, to 843.19.

Like the bill or not, Wall Street closed at its highest level since Oct. 2008 on Monday as the House’s historic health-care vote removed a huge cloud of uncertainty that had been hanging over the markets.

Media Matters

This doesn't pass the smell test. Because is Fox Business, along with its Wall St. sources, really claiming that stocks rose on Monday regardless of what investors thought about the historic passage of health care reform? Are they really suggesting that if investors, as well as big business and corporate America, hated health care reform that stocks still would have gone up simply because everyone was happy with "clarity"; with closure?

I don't buy it. If big business actually thought reform was going to cripple the economy and was the first step towards socialism, which is what some Fox News pundits have been claiming, then the market would have cratered 300 or 400 points. Easy.

If the bill was really a "disaster" for business, as CNBC's Jim Cramer claimed last week, the markets would have responded an in obvious manner. Instead, the Dow went up.

Lehman meltdown, accounting gimmick "like a drug"

Dylan Ratigan's easy to follow primer into what went wrong, with former Governor Elliott Spitzer:



Also read an excellent compilation of sources from Huff Post