The Whole Delivery

Photo form Reuters' Chris Usher Probably the only satisfying political news of the day : White House economic adviser Larry Summers is stepping down from his job at the end of the year, the administration said on Tuesday. The White House said Summers planned to return to his position as professor at Harvard University. I wonder if Liz Warren really pushed him out for good. He should have never been there in the first place of course, but such is the case with our dysfunctional government. Despite being wrong about virtually everything, his wonderful arrogant self will land somewhere nice and comfy.

And most likely growing : The poverty rate surged to 14.3 percent last year, the highest since 1994, as the recession took its toll on incomes, the Census Bureau said Thursday. Also from the Census Bureau, not a suprise to see the number of people without health insurance rising as well : Meanwhile, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 46.3 million in 2008 to 50.7 million in 2009, while the percentage increased from 15.4 percent to 16.7 percent over the same period. Your modern day American Dream in full display right now.

It sure is a wonderful feeling for the Treasury and the FED to see the Department of Labor report about unemployment claims pass half a million and be the highest since last November . And you what their current plan is? To just keep on doing the same "fiddle with their thumbs" thing.

Photo from DPA It really isn't in already bad times, at all : The austerity measures that were supposed to fix Greece's problems are dragging down the country's economy. Stores are closing, tax revenues are falling and unemployment has hit an unbelievable 70 percent in some places. Frustrated workers are threatening to strike back. The feast of the Assumption of Mary on Aug. 15 is the high point of summer in the Greek Orthodox world. Here in one of the country's many churches, believers pray to the Virgin for mercy, with many of them falling to their knees. As Atrios summed it up...." It really is depressing. " But making it more of an embarrassment is that the US seems very comfortable heading right in that direction . Priorities!

They still have no shame from how they committed virtual grand larceny on the people of the nation: The U.S. economy will improve slowly and another round of fiscal stimulus probably wouldn’t be effective, former Treasury secretaries Paul O’Neill and Robert Rubin said. Rubin, who served under Democratic President Bill Clinton, said the U.S. is “going to have slow and bumpy growth,” an interview on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” aired yesterday. A “major second stimulus” might create more uncertainty and undermine confidence, he said. Companies concerned about demand won’t expand facilities or hire new employees until sales have improved, said O’Neill, who was Treasury secretary under Republican President George W. Bush. “We are moving forward at a pretty gradual pace,” he said. “But I don’t think things are terrible.” Rachel Maddow has a series on her show about the nutcase party "Having No Shame", but that same must also be placed on our corporate overlords eager to work ...

Chart from Calculated Risk : MB , Atrios ( all the posts ), and even Ezra put in perspective, though the first two don't provide any window dressing. And hell, add DDay in there as well.

Amazing how they could get a vote so fast for Mr. Bernanke but now on health....well, we know the deal. A little surprising is how definitive the voting for his renomination has been. At least 70 votes for the man who played a part in our economy almost going six feet under. Just last Friday, his nomination seemed to hang in the balance. Now, he is drinking some good lemonade, as 77-23 is the cloture total for his renomination . And 70-30 is the final total overall . David Dayen with the overall numbers UPDATE IV: Dorgan, Harkin, Boxer, Kaufman, Whitehouse all just voted no on the final vote after voting yes on cloture. It just shows the asymmetrical warfare of the filibuster, and why it must be eliminated. UPDATE V: The final vote was 70-30. Seven members flipped their vote. Bernanke gets his second term.

Well the news of the last 15 hours is dominating. A lot of people hate the terrible timing of this, obviously. Now to be fair, I feel Maddow jumped a little too hard on Jared Bernstein last night , making her opinions being felt instead of having Bernstein tell the whole info and then delivering her perspective, especially on the "across the board freeze" issue. But I leave it to the terrific Bill McBride to say this clear: This is an important issue, but I'd rather wait to address the deficit until after we see clear signs of a recovery. Why even cater to the Evan Bayhs and Judd Greggs of the world? Just why?

Duncan Black usually reigns supreme in this, but I thought I was going to beat him to it . Darm Anyway, San Joaquin, California gets eated .But when #100 comes next week, I will beat him to it. No question about it!

Just last week I had a conversation with a so-called "friend" of mine on the topic of universal health care. Providing some background information, I write "friend" in quotations because this individual was more like a student government partner, with our collective work serving as Presidents of our respective constituents, which often overlapped. Basically, that was the extent of our relationship with each other. This individual posted a link to a NY Times editorial advocating that in order to enact universal health care, a system of rationing must be implemented. He then advocated ethically indefensible statements, including "On that note, since when do we have the right to long or healthy life? The fact that we're living so long is a product of our scientific progress, medical advancement, and financial incentives" and "The free market has enabled us to experience a side of life which is unnatural... and now that we're convinced we...

In his press conference today announcing his economic team, Obama restates the importance of getting people back to work, as the unemployment percentage grows in this suffering that this country is undertaking. It can't be stated enough that this important campaign promises of his needs to be fulfilled by the people of this nation as well. It is not just his responsibility, but the responsibility of us Americans in total. The Agenda's Pending Schedule is in the comments section.