What Avedon said...

She doesn't post as much as she used to, so I've gotten out of the habit of checking her daily and thus have been very remiss in linking to Avedon lately. Even when I don't agree with all of them, she always has the must read links, but even better is when she takes the occassion to post her own thoughts. Been meaning to link to these two in particular that I very much agree with.

Avedon on tax cuts for the wealthy:

The facts are simple common sense: If there is not enough money in the economy because the wealthy are sucking it out of the economy and sitting on it, the way to restore the economy is to take that money back and inject it back into the economy where it will do the most good - at the bottom, where the people who need that money to spend live. Welfare checks, Social Security, food stamps, numerous public programs (like free education) and a host of mid-level public servants are one way we ensure that we have a lot of people who can spend that money in the real economy. "Austerity" means reducing the amount of money that is being put into the economy. It's really that simple.

And this speaks to my own frustation with the lack of focus in Leftopia:

Marcy Kaptur knows the rules of Let's Play Wall Street Bailout. I didn't see this when she stood on the floor to say it in September. Most of the sources I regularly check were too busy focusing on loony statements by right-wing hacks, I guess, to highlight something worthwhile that someone said. How does that happen? Why is it that when people like Louise and Marcy get up and talk sense, it never gets the buzz? You can't claim Kaptur is a boring speaker or "too nuanced" or any of that crap. The simple fact is that everyone is still letting the wingers set the agenda. Instead of worrying about whether Sarah Palin or some Teabagger said something stupid, we should have been calling our representatives to demand that they support Kaptur's proposal.

So we should have, and would have if the big bloggers had been keeping to their former role of informing us about the stories the MSM misses, instead of echoing the establishment media's wingnut coverage, even if it is to laugh and point. As I've said a million times now, sure it's fun and it drives traffic, but it doesn't really advance the progressive agenda in any way I can see.