Pawlenty Jumps Ahead in Race to be First to Withdraw, Obama Now Expects Congressional Miracles, Pat Buchanan Has to Explain, Again...

And Other News of the Day

In the race to be the first Republican to withdraw from the Presidential nomination race, Tim Pawlenty has pulled narrowly ahead of previous front runner Newt Gingrich and dark horse candidate Jon Huntman.  Mr. Pawlenty has cancelled advertising in Iowa, an action that almost always foreshadows the money problem that causes dropout.  The normal excuse is that the campaign is “redirect” money.  In Mr. Pawlenty’s case



Mr. Pawlenty In Iowa Aiming For First to Drop Out



The former Minnesota governor’s presidential campaign says it’s not short on cash, but simply planning to divert money into turning out supporters at the Aug. 13 event that’s a traditional test of campaign strength

The upcoming Ames Straw Poll, a farce of an election if ever there was one could claim another victim.

President Obama and the Democrats had a short term Congressional to fix the partial shutdown of the FAA which could have cost the government $1.2 billion in lost tax revenue and has resulted in the layoff of over 70,000 public and private workers.  Congress is not in Washington but is technically in session so there is a provision for legislation.

Harry Reid and other top Democrats are pushing House Speaker John Boehner to pass a temporary clean measure by unanimous consent, an option because both chambers are in a “pro forma” session.



Mr. Boehner is reported as still laughing about the request.  House and Senate did agree that the Senate would pass the House bill, which contains reductions in spending to rural airports, but in an amazing feat of legislation and governing, it turns out the Administration can ignore the cut in funding for the time being.  As for the union rules for organizing private sector transportation workers, that fight is put off until another day.

Mr. Buchannan in his favorite
position

Pat Buchannan has explained how he was using a possibly racist term “your boy” on Al Sharpton’s talk/news show on MSNBC.  MSNBC has not explained why Al Sharpton is hosting a show on MSNBC.

Over at Tyler Cowen’s Blog, The Marginal Revolution we have this chart by blogger Alex Tabarrok.  The Chart shows that over ten years it looks like the new spending cuts enacted as part of the deficit reduction/debt ceiling bill are just not a big deal. 

It’s true, in the macro sense they are not a big deal and The Dismal Political Economist has said that relative to the overall economy they will produce some, but not a lot of “fiscal drag” on recovery.



The important point, though, is that these cuts will not be evenly distributed over the economy or even over Federal spending.  They will be concentrated in programs like education support, health care, energy research and the like, and for people dependent upon those program the cuts can be severe. 

Of course, since recipients of the benefits of the programs to be cut are the elderly, the poor, the student, the young and the rest of a group of people and groups who are considered undeserving by Conservatives, they see no problem.