In their newly released study, the Northeastern economists found that since the recovery began in June 2009 following a deep 18-month recession , "corporate profits captured 88 percent of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1 percent" of that growth.

The study, "The `Jobless and Wageless Recovery' From the Great Recession of 2007-2009 ," said it was "unprecedented" for American workers to receive such a tiny share of national income growth during a recovery.

You have to understand that a large part of the blogosphere is made is made up of people from the tech industry. Their "liberalness" is not exactly your "traditional Democrat kind of liberalness".

I am one of those people in the tech industry.  And yes, I suffer job loss regularly since the only way to maintain my income (at a plateau, mind you) is by working on a contract basis.  Consequently, I have come to know a large number of IT engineers. And while management is often conservative of the money grubbing kind, the "tech people" cover a broad range of political views.  I have encountered a great many others how fall solidly in the Socialist category, as I do, and even admit it.  You don't have to be blue collar working class to be solidly liberal as opposed to neo-liberal.

So do me a favor and stop acting as if you speak for all of us IT folks, and just admit that it's your opinion.

And by the way those "poor coal miners" are likely to know what is endangering their health and life and limb.

Link

Look. The BTD theory is that somehow no dem was smart enough to even consider the fact that this could happen. He's said it a number of times and I've finally gotten tired enough of it to call him o it.  The bottom line is that there was a strategy.  This is the strategy as laid out by Reid and told to Klein in December:

"It's that they simply don't want to. "Let the Republicans have some buy-in on the debt. They're going to have a majority in the House," said Harry Reid. "I don't think it should be when we have a heavily Democratic Senate, heavily Democratic House and a Democratic president."

The theory goes something like this: Republicans will demand sharp spending cuts in return for lifting the debt ceiling. Let them. "Boehner et al have had the luxury of proposing all sorts of ideas that bear no relation to reality," says Jim Manley, Reid's spokesman. "Next year, they'll have to lay it all out. No more magic asterisks, no more `we'll get back to you.' "

In this telling, the debt ceiling vote represents a trap for Republicans more than an opportunity for Democrats. If Republicans want to cut spending, now's their chance. But that means passing a package of spending cuts, which they may find less enjoyable than simply saying that Democrats should stop spending so much."

Now I get that people don't think it was a good strategy, but the reality is that this is actually working exactly the way as predicted from a congrssional point of view. The GOP did indeed go nuts and the public has sided with the dems.

The only issue is that Obama has offered up some pretty serious goodies to get a deal.  If a deal is done with entitlement cuts then Reid was wrong.  But if that doesn't happen, everything Reid said was right.  Dems will be able to campaign hard on the fact that the GOP voted for a crazy plan that would have cut all sorts of crazy things. Obama will be able to say that he was only cutting stuff because the GOP was crazy and then we'll get a Bachmann type saying things that prove them all right.

Success.  Debt ceiling raised. No entitlement cuts. Cuts that force us to wind down the wars and other non-crucial cuts.

Win.

The funny thing is that in two weeks we could be talking about the fact that the dems come out looking decent and the GOP looks terrible, and people are so full of anger at the wrong folks that they can't imagine it's even possible.

When we argue that the middle class is going to be devastated by entitlement cuts, everyone agrees and nods approvingly.

When we argue that thay same middle class is going to be devastated by paying $3-$7K more in taxes, then suddenly it's not a big deal.

Nevertheless, my view was that when the 3 am call came, Hillary could always roll over and say, "Bill...it's for you!"  Obama?  When his 3am call comes...it's from Hillary.

I'm sure you do.

I've never, not once, in any circumstance, heard Obama talk with as much detail and depth about any policy issue.  Not once.  It's all bromides and oversimplification-- actually, very much the way you describe Clinton telling little stories about his childhood.

For example, it's easy to look back and say, man, I wish I hadn't dated that person. It didn't turn out well at all. But you don't know that's going to happen when you ask for a phone number. It's the rabbit in the pot six months later that's the give away.

The GOP last winter, TPers and all, looked no crazier than they have since Reagan, just louder and more single issue. Folks laughed at them, they were so ridiculous. Who would have thought?

Obama's weaknesses are on record. These underlie what I'm saying now and what BTD has said since before The Deal. Hell, I don't need to defend BTD or myself, just go back and search the threads and/or posted articles.

This crisis came from a lack of leadership. In the white house. Doesn't matter whether it was lack of character, experience, or wanting to be Mr. PPUS.

Same with the Blue Dogs. They needed leadership, a little bit of cover or concealment, to pass a bill in December.

Obama has never stopped denying his past. Not psychoanalysis-- I'm a sociologist. I can speak objectively and state he has not encouraged, enforced, or advocated for core Democratic principles.

If he actually demonstrated even an academic understanding of empathy I would be pleasantly surprised.

Obama feels pressure, yes, but he feels no pain, no shared loss, and he has no apparent understanding of such things. He's had more handed to him for ascribed status and grandparents than from his own work.

I no longer respect him, and I think he dirties the office he currently holds.