{"id":10113,"date":"2013-03-11T03:16:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T10:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=10113"},"modified":"2013-03-11T03:16:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T10:16:00","slug":"open-thread3112013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/11\/open-thread3112013\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–3\/11\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

After yesterday\u2019s grocery delivery, I\u2019m quite pooped, but still going.  I\u2019m current with replies, and tomorrow appears routine.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzle<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s took me 3:14 (average 4:35).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From NY Times<\/a>: <\/font>Right now, a sustainable deficit would be around $460 billion<\/a>. The actual deficit is bigger than that. But according to new estimates by the budget office, half of our current deficit reflects the effects of a still-depressed economy. The \u201ccyclically adjusted\u201d deficit \u2014 what the deficit would be if we were near full employment \u2014 is only about $423 billion, which puts it in the sustainable range; next year the budget office expects that number to fall to just $172 billion. And that\u2019s why budget office projections show the nation\u2019s debt position more or less stable over the next decade. <\/p>\n

So we do not, repeat do not, face any kind of deficit crisis either now or for years to come. <\/p>\n

There are, of course, longer-term fiscal issues: rising health costs and an aging population will put the budget under growing pressure over the course of the 2020s. But I have yet to see any coherent explanation of why these longer-run concerns should determine budget policy right now. And as I said, given the needs of the economy, the deficit is currently too small. <\/p>\n

Put it this way: Smart fiscal policy involves having the government spend when the private sector won\u2019t, supporting the economy when it is weak and reducing debt only when it is strong. Yet the cyclically adjusted deficit as a share of G.D.P. is currently about what it was in 2006, at the height of the housing boom \u2014 and it is headed down. <\/p>\n

Click through for the rest of Krugman’s editorial on what Republicans don’t want you to know.<\/font><\/p>\n

From The Guardian<\/a>: <\/font>New York City took a step closer to having its first female and openly gay mayor on Sunday with the formal announcement that strongly tipped Democrat Christine Quinn will run for the post.<\/p>\n

The city council speaker and veteran of New York politics confirmed her intention via a tweet and released a video<\/a> in which she vowed to fight for middle- and working-class New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

An early favourite to get the Democratic nomination for the mayoralty, she is also expected to get the backing of Republican-turned-independent mayor Michael Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

She sounds like she may be an improvement.<\/font><\/p>\n

From UPI<\/a>: U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan says his budget blueprint will promote repealing President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.<\/p>\n

Oh my! What a surprise!<\/font><\/p>\n

Cartoon<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"11Cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After yesterday\u2019s grocery delivery, I\u2019m quite pooped, but still going.  I\u2019m current with replies, and tomorrow appears routine. Jig Zone Puzzle: Today\u2019s took me 3:14 (average 4:35).  To do it, click here.  How did you do? Short Takes: From NY Times: Right now, a sustainable deficit would be around $460 billion. The actual deficit is […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-thread","category-personal","category-politics","category-35-id","category-3-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}