A Perfect Summer Day

And it is summer: presto! Mid-70’s, still, sunny and everything smells great. Opened windows and removed screens so that Frank may come and go as he pleases. He really likes that.

Went to the post office and the bank. This is always an exercise in diplomacy. There are moments when living where I do seems surreal. Maybe it’s listening to Arcade Fire. But watching overweight suburbanites be oblivious to one another is a source of wonder to me.

Minnesota is shutting down some functions because the legislators can’t agree on a budget. Mark Helperin has been suspended indefinitely by MSNBC for calling the President a schoolyard vulgarity on national TV. I think both instances of public misbehavior are just pathetic. People know better; it seems as though it has come down to asking for permission to act like a child in public. Congress is doing so, and damn the consequences for anyone else.

I thought we had solved the problem of massive deficits in the 90’s. And it wasn’t this difficult. Marjorie Margulies Mezvinsky (D-Pa) is one my heroes. She provided the single vote which raised taxes in 1994, paving the way for budget surpluses, and losing her seat in the next election. According the Bruce Bartlett, our taxes are the lowest they have been in a very long while; it makes sense to raise taxes, particularly for those that received outsize benefits from the unbalanced economy. Get over it, and get on with it.