Something's got Rachel "worked up" ... I wonder what it could be ...
Rachel Maddow: Why isn't the Progressive Budget Plan on the table?
http://youtu.be/...
Rachel Maddow:
This is the most comprehensive Budget Plan out there in Washington. If you care about the Deficit -- this seems to be the one that does it. This is the budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which is -- if you haven't heard about this -- which is Why the Beltway Press -- {has not covered it.} which is why you haven't heard about it. It's sort of an embarrassing thing to admit: you're not suppose to say it -- and people get mad at me, and write me letters from Washington, from within the Business -- every time I say it, BUT I'm just going to say it:
The Beltway Press DOES NOT Cover Liberals!
When the Beltway Press DOES Cover Liberals -- it's not as even, it's not only NOT Political Science, it's NOT even Sociology.
When the Beltway Press DOES Cover Liberals -- it's Anthropology! They might as well be putting tags on our ears, and watch us in a Mating Season.
[...]
Why on Earth is the most Fiscally responsible, comprehensive Budget Plan that's been submitted, that's been introduced, that's out there for discussion -- WHY is it Not even on the Table?
Good Questions. Liberals Don't throw enough Temper Tantrums, I guess. Liberals don't take enough Pledges to Corporate Front Group spokespersons, maybe?
Liberals, just Don't Talk -- Crazy Talk enough to suit The Beltway Press' latest bloodsport these days ...
"I can sink that Economy is 5 Notes!" ... oh! the tension's on now, Mort ... Will they or Won't they "sink that Economy is 5 Notes" ???
You could cut the tension with a knife -- the stakes have never been higher! ...
And we'll be right Back!
Meanwhile back on the Sanity Ranch ...
The People's Budget
Those wild-eyed Liberals somehow have figured out how to cut the Debt by $7.3 Trillion Dollars!
That's $7.3 Trillion with a T in Deficit Reductions and Spending Cuts -- ALL WITHOUT cutting the Big Three! ... that's something.
You'd think the 60% plus of the American People -- who want to actually protect Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security -- that THEY might want to hear about this People's Budget Plan?
But NOOOO!
The Beltway Press hasn't the time for a Real Budget -- They have a Three Ring Circus to run ...
... and those Librals well -- they just don't got a "ring" ...
Knowing how to take a cue, Lawrence O'Donnell adeptly takes up -- where Rachel left off.
WHY is the Progressive Budget Plan NOT even on the table ... Don't they want to fix the Budget or what?
Lawrence O'Donnell and Ezra Klein discuss the People's Budget
MSNBC Transcript: (they should invest in spell-check. maybe hire a Transcriber?)
Lawrence O'Donnell: ezra, i know rachel has done some coverage of the people's budget, but it has otherwise with been largely ignored. take us through the highlights of the people's budget and what its selling points are.
Ezra Klein: sure. the people's budget is looking at how you would balance the budget if you were going to do it largely through tax increases and mostly through taxes on the wealthy. it lets most of the bush cuts expire. it creates new millionaire tax brackets, it taxes capital gains as normal income, taxed dividend income higher, it raises a bunch of corporate taxes, it creates a tax on financial transactions. it cuts 1.8 trillion for the defense budget and invests $1.4 trillion in new job, science initiatives, et cetera. i think this is an important part of it, it opens up a space for new investment, which just about none of the budgets currently on the table do.
Lawrence O'Donnell: and do they do anything about energy taxation in this plan?
Ezra Klein: no, they don't.
Lawrence O'Donnell: any gasoline tax, any environmental-based taxes?
Ezra Klein: no. and when i began to talk to tax experts about it, they said a couple of things. they said, one, there's not enough tax reform in the plan. they're stacking new taxes on top of one another. and in that way, they enhance a couple of the tax systems' worst tendencies right now. the capital gains tax, the way it works wouldn't work. this budget does a lot of very brave and smart things, but what it needs to do is more tax reform and more creative taxation. so taxing energy is something that would work a lot better. a lot of people brought up a value-added tax, which would work a lot better. a lot of them liked the people's budget, but they didn't think they had gone quite far enough in terms of new thinking on taxes.
Lawrence O'Donnell: this is the only budget that takes a serious look at defense spending. something that says, okay, wait a minute, what are we really going to need to do going forward?
Ezra Klein: let me give a couple other people credit here. there are five budgets on the table. of them, the Obama and Ryan budgets are the two worst, on a lot of measures, but defense spending being one of them. the fiscal commission, Simpson Bowles did twice as many defense cuts as Obama and raised another $450 billion in taxes. the odd thing about the Obama budget is to the right of the fiscal commission document, which was a compromise among Tom Coburn and Dick Durbin and others. and i don't think people have really absorbed that. then there's another budget that also went after defense spending. when you get to the people who aren't worry about their passing their budgets tomorrow, there's a broad agreement that the defense sector is bloated and we need very significant cuts in it. but when you get to Obama and when you get to ryan, they really sort of whiffed on it. they really stood down from that particular fight.
Lawrence O'Donnell: now, and the real defense experts will tell you, we do have to change the nature of our defense posture, which happens to save us money, even if that isn't our intent, when we look at what the threats are going forward. We are no longer in that big Cold War posture. Ezra Klein of "the Washington Post," thank you very much for joining me tonight.
Ezra Klein: thank you.
Thank you Lawrence. Thank you Ezra. ... Thank you Rachel. For asking some obvious questions.
I wonder what you might think about this puzzler ...
Does the Beltway Press plan on going down with the Tea Party Ship, that they've all Docked their Dinghies to?
Or will sooner or later, even they will have to realize their "Reality Show" Cable News-Drama Gig is up ... and that Captain of the Tea Party, they have pledged their Allegiance to -- Well he still hasn't, and never will, figure out How to Buy a Clue ...
Will that Beltway Press ever realize ... That when it comes to the Tea Party ...
Rationality -- has left the Building!