THE HEADLINES

THE COMING OF AMERICAN AUSTERITY ON STEROIDS.

(New York Times)

While the actual impact of the S&P downgrade of the U.S. government’s credit rating may have few tangible consequences for most Americans, the development is likely to lead to an even greater rush for spending cuts and the kind of aggressive austerity program that the UK implemented and is now gloating about (see below…). With the debt limit agreement reached by President Obama and congressional Republicans already laying the groundwork for a so-called “super committee” entrusted with finding over a trillion dollars in debt reduction, the pressure on that committee to find even greater cost savings will be immense. Lawmakers in Washington now see it as their job to appease rating agencies like S&P, making it likely that the focus of the “super committee” will be on significant long-term debt reduction items. Since tax increases are still off the table, that means “entitlements” are going to face potentially massive cuts and changes.

WHY THE S&P DOWNGRADE IS “JUST ANOTHER PRODUCT OF RICH, CORRUPT WALL STREET INSIDERS CAMPAIGNING AGAINST ‘ENTITLEMENTS.‘”

(Alternet)

Joshua Holland details the dirty laundry of Standard & Poor’s, the outfit the unceremoniously “downgraded” the debt of the United States government on Friday, and the other credit rating agencies that have become the gatekeepers of Wall Street and drivers of policy in Washington. Such a decision is a “ludicrous joke” coming from an organization that, in a recent congressional investigation, was given much of the blame for sparking the financial crisis of 2008 by granting their precious “AAA” rating on junk bonds and bad mortgages sold by their fellow Wall Street insiders. Now, after leading the way in dismantling the American economy, S&P is trying to strike the greatest blow in dismantling the government safety net, blaming “entitlement” spending and lack of “containment” in Medicare and Social Security costs for America’s debt problems and their call to downgrade the U.S.

WITH U.S. CREDIT DOWNGRADE, DAVID CAMERON’S GOVERNMENT GLOATS THAT AUSTERITY HAS “UPRATED” UK CREDIT EVEN AS AUSTERITY LEAVES BRITAIN BURNING — LITERALLY

(International Business Times)

The decision by the credit rating firm Standard & Poor;s to downgrade the United States from “AAA” to “AA+” (whatever that means) has been met with a smug arrogance from the UK, where PM David Cameron’s agenda of aggressive austerity has ostensibly left that country with a sterling credit rating, as it has retained a “AAA.” Austerity fanatics are going wild. One British official insists the decision to downgrade American credit “meant that Britain had been ‘uprated.’” But outside of the secretive world of credit ratings and Wall Street number-crunching, the situation on the ground in Britain is anything but “AAA.” Cameron’s austerity measures have led to a veritable economic collapse in the UK, with consumer income and spending both crashing down, and violent youth riots striking London as the British “welfare state” is demolished and government aid cut off.

CAN’T FIND A JOB? DENIED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS? KICKED OFF MEDICAID? HAVE A DONUT!

(Tampa Tribune)

Ranked among the country’s least popular state leaders, Florida Gov. Rick Scott is undertaking a major publicity blitz to help boost his undesirable poll numbers and general dislike among most Floridians. He’s just halfway into his first year as Florida’s governor, but Scott’s popularity has already taken a big slide with controversial decisions to kill a high-speed rail project, limit voting rights, kick thousands of state residents off of Medicaid programs, ans make it harder for the nearly 11 percent of Floridians out of work to collect unemployment benefits. With the help of a Tallahassee political insider, Scott is hoping to change all of that by reviving the “work day” strategy of former Gov. Bob Graham. Scott will “do” the job of supposedly “average” state residents for a day, and a his first project was a day at a Tampa donut shop. Whether his “work day” was all that “average” is debatable; Gov. Scott made it a point to participate in a personal delivery of some gooey pastries to the city’s major television network, bantering with the crew and appearing on-air to tout his record, then returning to the shop to serve donuts to customers that had messages of “protest” against his agenda.

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