Travel Day.

Open Thread.

Here is how I think the posturing on the super commission on the debt will play out - Dems will be for Simpson-Bowles (Kerry and Murray said yes to Simpson-Bowles. Baucus said no, but, come on, it's Baucus.) Republicans will be for no new taxes. Joan McCarter fills us in on the GOP picks:

John Boehner (R-Ohio) has appointed Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) to serve on the deficit supercommittee. [. . .] Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appointed his deputy Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), former Bush budget director Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Tea Party favorite Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.)

The kicker - all six are slaves to Grover Norquist and his no new revenues pledge.

So we now see what the atmospherics will be. What about the result? No deal means automatic cuts. Is there room for a no revenues deal? Only the President knows. I assume Yes.

Speaking for me only

Via Atrios, this story about how cable is losing customers contains this "gem" of a comment from DISH CEO Joseph Clayton:

Dish Chief Executive Officer Joseph Clayton said yesterday that one of his goals is to reposition the company away from marketing to lower-income customers. Instead, he wants Dish to rely on its technology and promotions to persuade customers to buy more expensive offerings and increase average revenue per user.Clayton rejected the idea of relaxing credit standards to appeal to lower-income people, saying he’s “looking for a better class of customer.”

I look forward to the day DISH files for bankruptcy. What an a**hole.

Speaking for me only

Another wild day at the track in lower Manhattan?

Open Thread.

Sen. Harry Reid today named the Democratic Senate appointees to the Deficit Committee:

Reid tapped Sen. Patty Murray of Washington to co-chair the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, and also named Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Republicans have until next Tuesday to name their appointees.

Congratulations to Armando, aka Big Tent Democrat, who will be the co-host of Daily Kos Radio on Sirius beginning this Saturday. What a great choice.

NEW YORK, NY– August 8, 2011 - Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) today announced that it will launch a live, interactive four-week radio series with Daily Kos, the influential online progressive political community, news organization and activist hub.

Daily Kos Radio will launch on August 13 at 10:00 am ET, and air Saturdays through September 3 live from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET on liberal/progressive talk channel SiriusXM Left, ch. 127. Daily Kos contributing editors David Waldman and Armando Llorens will co-host the show from SiriusXM’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, breaking down headlines and issues with other members of the Daily Kos community to bring the interactive experience of the blogosphere to SiriusXM listeners coast to coast.

Don't forget to tune in. And not to worry, BTD will be continuing to blog here at TalkLeft.

Amazing photos of the London riots which continue. 16,000 officers are now patrolling the streets.

One of the crimes to be charged: inciting violence through social media. How will they find the rioters not caught in the act? Camera images.

What's the deeper cause behind the riots? No one seems to agree on that.

Busy day. Open Thread.

Some, sadly including some self proclaimed "liberals," insist that today 'proved [S&P] f*cking right!' This despite the fact the US Treasuries hit 2 year yield lows.

I prefer, via Atrios, the lessons from Brad DeLong:

Stock market down 17% in two and half weeks while the bond market has reduced the yield on the Ten-Year Treasury from 3% to 2.35%, and break-even five-year inflation has fallen from 2.1% to 1.7%. I think that is a very loud wake-up call for Mr. Obama--that it is long past time for him to stop talking about how surrendering to Republicans on long-run spending priorities will bring the confidence fairy who will then gift us with a strong recovery and start actually doing his job.

Yep. See also Krugman.

Speaking for me only

While the markets don't give a fig about S&P's analysis of the creditworthiness of US debt, it does appear to fear that governments will be pushed to follow S&P's bad economic advice:

The downgrade of the United States’s debt to AA+ from AAA has global implications, said Alessandro Giansanti, a credit market strategist at ING in Amsterdam. “We can see that this may force the U.S. to move more aggressively to cut spending,” he said, something that could drive the already weak economy into recession and weigh on the economies of all of its trading partners. “That’s the main driver” of the stock market declines, he said.

Krugman makes a similar point:

Unless someone misread the S&P downgrade and it downgraded the global equities market, much egg on the face of the clowns at S&P, as the yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury is now lower than prior to Standard & Poor's downgrade.

S&P spoke, and nobody cared. This should be the end of S&P's sovereign debt ratings. When no one pays attention to you, what's the point?

Open Thread.

I forgot how time-consuming it is to replace a primary desktop computer. It's taken me almost a week to get everything transferred and reinstalled. I still prefer Windows XP to Windows 7, in every way, but I guess I'll adjust.

On to the Next Food Network Star, Big Brother and Breaking Bad.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome. (I see BTD has an open thread up as well, so feel free to post at either one.)