memeorandum: Liberalism's $400,000 Problem (Ross Douthat)

10:55 PM ET, January 1, 2013

Top Items:

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

GOP Congressmen Suggest Republican Senators Who Voted For ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Compromise Were Drunk — House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), who is joining a growing number of Republicans trying to add more spending cuts to the last-minute fiscal cliff deal and send it back to the Senate …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Other McCain, The Gateway Pundit and Hullabaloo

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

CBO: ‘Fiscal cliff’ deal carries $4 trillion price tag over next decade — The Senate deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff” will add roughly $4 trillion to the deficit when compared to current law, according to new numbers from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Discussion: Politico, The Gateway Pundit and CNN

Politico:

House set for final vote on fiscal cliff — The House will vote Tuesday night on the Senate-passed bill to avert the fiscal cliff, likely paving the way for the deal to become law, as President Barack Obama has said he will sign it. — If the House acts as expected …

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:

Could A Boehner-Cantor Rift Send The Country Over The Fiscal Cliff? — A rift at the highest level of House Republican leadership is imperiling Senate-backed legislation to yank the economy back from over the fiscal cliff — legislation that House Republicans directly asked their GOP counterparts in the Senate to negotiate and pass.

Discussion: Post Politics, The Impolitic, The Raw Story, CBS News, CANNONFIRE, The Moderate Voice, The Hill, Bloomberg and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Ross Douthat:

Liberalism's $400,000 Problem — If the tax debate could be simplified to a liberal desire to make sure the tax burden is borne by those who can most easily afford it and a conservative desire to keep taxes as low as possible on as many people as possible, the fiscal-cliff bargain …

Discussion: The Agonist, The Daily Caller and Firedoglake

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Part 1 of the Fiscal Cliff is Over. Now Gird Yourself for Part 2. — The fiscal cliff is dead. Long live the fiscal cliff. — It's over. Sort of. The Senate voted 89-8 to prevent middle-class taxes from rising while allowing rates to increase for taxpayers with incomes over $450,000.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Say Yes to the Mess — The fiscal cliff deal that the Senate passed early this morning is ridiculous in too many ways to count. There seem to be no figures from the Congressional Budget Office and only “very preliminary” figures from the Joint Tax Committee about the real spending and revenue implications.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

David Rogers / Politico:
The price tag: $4 trillion added to deficit

Discussion: Jared Bernstein, Truthdig and The Gateway Pundit

Kyle Balluck / The Hill:
House Republicans gauging support for two budget options

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, NBC Politics, Crooks and Liars, CBS News and Firedoglake

John Stanton / BuzzFeed:
Republicans Prepare To Vote On Fiscal Deal

Discussion: Washington Post and The Huffington Post

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
Boehner's 100 loyal soldiers might give him political cover on ‘fiscal cliff’

Discussion: The Hill, Hullabaloo and Crooks and Liars

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Democrats will reject House changes to tax bill, aides say

Discussion: ABCNEWS and AMERICAblog

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Fiscal Deal Heads for Vote In House as Pressure Rises

Discussion: CNN, Truthdig, The Maddow Blog, The Week, Angry Bear and Balloon Juice

Peter Baker / New York Times:
On the Left, Seeing Obama Giving Away Too Much, Again

Discussion: Daily Kos and American Prospect

CNNMoney.com:
CBO: Fiscal cliff deal adds $4 trillion to deficits

Discussion: Washington Times, CNN, Weasel Zippers and Outside the Beltway

David Brooks / New York Times:
Another Fiscal Flop

Discussion: Hot Air, Firedoglake, Right Wing News and The American Conservative

Matthew Boyle / BREITBART.COM:
FISCAL CLIFF DEAL: $1 IN SPENDING CUTS FOR EVERY $41 IN TAX INCREASES

Discussion: Chicago Boyz, Patterico's Pontifications and Twitchy

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Senate Passes Tax Increases on Wealthy Americans

CBS News:
Fiscal cliff deal heads to House after Senate vote

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Prairie Weather, Michelle Malkin, Calculated Risk and New York Times

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
Focus now turns to the House

Discussion: Politico, Booman Tribune, americanthinker.com, The Impolitic, CNN, Associated Press, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway and The Huffington Post

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
White House Claims Victory In Fiscal Deal

Discussion: Politico and The Daily Caller

Fox News:
Fiscal crisis measure now heads to the House for approval

Discussion: protein wisdom and Fox News Insider

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Senate passes massive tax cut which raised taxes over $600 billion in middle of night without reading the bill

Discussion: Business Insider, Twitchy, Post Politics, Wonkblog and UrbanGrounds

Dylan Byers / Politico:

‘Journal News’ hires armed security guards — The Journal News of West Nyack, N.Y., has hired armed security guards to defend its offices after receiving a torrent of phone calls and emails responding to the paper's publication of the names and addresses of area residents with pistol permits.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, UrbanGrounds and Weasel Zippers, more at Mediagazer »

Dskriloff / The Rockland County Times:

The Journal News is Armed and Dangerous — ROCKLAND COUNTY TIMES EXCLUSIVE — Armed guards from RGA Investigations have taken up post at the Journal News' Rockland County headquarters — Journal News' Rockland headquarters in West Nyack, Town of Clarkstown — Guns are good for the goose but NOT for the gander.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Gawker and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Tyler Durden / Zero Hedge:

Putting America's Tax Hike In Perspective — One of those occasions when one picture really does speak a thousands words. — Houston, we may have a spending problem. — Average: — Your rating: None Average: 4.9 (79 votes)

Discussion: National Review and Doug Ross

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

An Optimistic Take On the “Cliff” Deal — Here are some glass-half-full observations on last night's McConnell-Biden fiscal deal from an inveterate optimist. — Raising taxes on those who are already paying roughly double their fair share, while leaving everyone else's taxes the same, is lousy public policy.

Paul Krugman:

Perspective on the Deal — To make sense of what just happened, we need to ask what is really at stake, and how much difference the budget deal makes in the larger picture. — So, what are the two sides really fighting about? Surely the answer is, the future of the welfare state.

Discussion: The Plum Line, Campaign for America's Future, Brad DeLong, Hot Air, The Agonist, AMERICAblog, Economist's View, ABCNEWS, Booman Tribune, The New Republic and ctj.org

Devorah Lauter / Telegraph:

Apple's Paris store hit by New Year's Eve raid — The Apple shop in Paris's Opera district was robbed by armed, masked men on New Year's Eve, under the noses of riot police patrolling the nearby Champs Elysées. — The Apple store in Paris — Reports claimed the thieves …

Discussion: Mashable! and The Verge