Here is Beltway Blogger Ezra Klein rewriting history in order to pretend raising taxes is juuust tooo hard:

As we've seen a couple of times now, when deficit reduction comes into conflict with tax cuts, tax cuts win. They win, in fact, every time, and have won every time since Ronald Reagan.

That's just false. Of course Bill Clinton raised taxes, and on the rich. Now Ezra Klein knows this. What is his interest in writing this falsehood? My guess is it is to excuse the "Grand Bargain" he suspects the Obama Administration may be embarking upon.

And in order to do this, Ezra Klein has to pretend Bill Clinton's 1993 tax increases on the rich never happened.

Speaking for me only

An issue I have thundered about for some time, with particular intensity during The Deal. The most progressive legislation of the last 20 years was the 1993 tax bill in which Bill Clinton and a Democratic Congress, with precisely ZERO support from Republicans, raised taxes on the rich and cut them for the working poor. To this day, this progressive achievement remains undervalued. Here is Scott Lemeiux:

NAFTA, welfare reform, the FMLA, the 1993 budget, the omnibus crime bill, DOMA, the line item veto, the death penalty/habeas corupus atrocity, the Brady Bill[. . . T]hose who are inclined to be nostalgic about Clinton when evaluating Obama should look carefully at that list.

(Emphasis supplied.) I do look at that list and think that it reveals a very serious shortcoming in the first two years of the Obama Presidency - his refusal to let the Bush tax cuts expire. Clinton raised taxes on the rich. Obama extended tax cuts for the rich. The heart of the deficit discussions going on today are laid at the feet of The Deal. Too many Beltway Blogger types want you to ignore that fact. But they are not hesitant to tell you what a bad guy Wisconsin governor Walker is because he, you guessed it, cut taxes. Many echo this reasoning from The Deal supporter The New York Times' editorial page:

I still have not had a chance to delve into the substance and specifics of the "Battle of Wisconsin," but I am struck by the fact that whether purposefully or not, the Republican and Democratic parties are stumbling into a class based political battle. Even President Obama has gotten into the act:

President Obama thrust himself and his political operation this week into Wisconsin's broiling budget battle, mobilizing opposition Thursday to a Republican bill that would curb public-worker benefits and planning similar protests in other state capitals. Obama accused Scott Walker, the state's new Republican governor, of unleashing an "assault" on unions in pushing emergency legislation that would change future collective-bargaining agreements that affect most public employees, including teachers.

This is very unObama-like. The Republican Party seems eager to take the other side of this battle:

More thread.

I will have time to write a substantive post this afternoon. Any topical requests?

Open Thread.

Busy.

Open Thread.

Jabar Collins was released from prison last year after serving 16 years for murder. He's now filed a lawsuit claiming the Brooklyn District Attorney's office under DA Charles Hynes routinely engaged in misconduct.

Michael F. Vecchione, a top assistant in the district attorney’s office, was accused of improperly using court orders to detain witnesses, physically threatening them and coercing them into providing false testimony that would benefit the prosecution’s case.

The 106 page lawsuit alleges these illegal practices were widespread in cases prosecuted by Hynes' office.

When a subpoena is issued, it is to appear in court, at a specific day and time when a hearing or trial is scheduled. It is not acceptable to subpoena someone to the DA's office for an interview. If the DA thinks a witness won't testify and a material witness warrant is necessary, the person picked up on the warrant should be brought before the court and provided counsel to challenge the warrant and seek bail, not brought to the DA's office for interrogation and threatened with jail unless they cooperate. [More...]

After last week's drop to 383k new unemployment claims, everyone was declaring the beginning of the end of the jobs crisis. As I noted in this post, this repeats the experience of last year, when everyone was ready to declare the beginiing of the end of the jobs crisis. And like the last time, the calls were delusional. Aggregate demand remains extremely weak. Unless and until aggregate demand shows consistent growth, the jobs crisis will continue. Today's weekly jobless claims report supports this view:

More people applied for unemployment benefits last week, one week after claims had fallen to the lowest level in nearly three years. The Labor Department says 410,000 people sought unemployment assistance last week, a jump of 25,000 from the previous week. The rise was much larger than economists had expected.

It's not Recovery 2011, it is the continuation of our Lost Decade. And our leaders do not seem to care, as Austerity 2011 goes into full swing.

Speaking for me only

Survivor Redemption Island begins tonight, and Russell is back. American Idol is having Hollywood Week.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Abdulwali Muse, the young Somali pirate, was sentenced in federal court today to 34 years in prison.

Muse pleaded guilty last May. As part of the agreement, prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of at least 27 years but no more than 33 years and 9 months. Today they asked for the maximum.

As Florida did last year, This happens:

Gov. Rick Scott announced Wednesday that he's rejecting federal funding for high-speed rail. "I'm not comfortable this is a project we should be doing," Scott said at a hastily called news conference in Tallahassee after a phone conversation with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. [. . .] Scott said he was not sure high-speed rail would bring taxpayers a return on their investment and he felt money would be better spent on state highway and seaport improvements.

The problem for Scott is the money is not his to decide how to use. It is the federal government's money and they will use it elsewhere. Florida Republicans and Democrats are not happy:

Sounds interesting and outside the party apparatus.