Colum: I think you’ll find the only difference between the rich and other people is that the rich have more money.
Never say that Chamber of Commerce types are stupid. Whatever our stereotypes of the “idle rich”, many of them worked hard to get where they are, and have some sort of intelligence to which they can attribute their success.
But I think another quote about the rich, from F. Scott Fitzgerald, illustrates how we find ourselves in this pass:
Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand.
It’s that cynicism which is the reason we find ourselves where we are today, with the government shut down, and a debt default looming on the horizon.
Of course, not all the rich are callow and self-serving. Philanthropy and civic-mindedness amongst the moneyed classes has a long history in America. But it’s no stretch to call the Republican Party the party of business, and many titans of industry expect a return on their investment.
With the Democratic victories of 2006 and 2008, Republican backers began to panic. The economic dogma which had obtained since Ronald Reagan’s administration was no longer tenable. The crisis of 2008 promised to sweep away all their most cherished perquisites: lax regulation, laissez faire economics, the slow but inexorable withering of the welfare state. Suddenly bankers and other assorted masters of the universe were less popular than head lice. The world teetered on the precipice of a second Great Depression; the Great Recession which was the ultimate result was nearly as devastating to the US economy; in parts of Europe, it was a Depression in all but name.
Something had to be done, quickly. And ironically, Barack Obama’s election provided the kernel of an idea.
10:40AM: President Obama delivers remarks at M. Luis Construction Company
12PM: President Obama and VP Biden receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
12:30PM: Press Sec. Jay Carney briefs the press
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Sy Mukherjee: Meet Butch Matthews, A Republican Who Came To Love ObamaCare After Realizing It Will Save Him $13,0000
Butch Matthews is a 61-year-old former small business owner from Little Rock, Arkansas who used to wake up every morning at 4 A.M. to deliver canned beverages to retailers before retiring in 2010. A lifelong Republican, he was heavily skeptical of the Affordable Care Act when it first passed. “I did not think that Obamacare was going to be a good plan, I did not think that it was going to help me at all,” he told ThinkProgress over the phone.
But after doing a little research, Matthews eventually realized how much the law could help him. And on Tuesday, his local Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) provider confirmed that he would be able to buy a far better plan than his current policy while saving at least $13,000 per year through Arkansas’ Obamacare marketplace.
The mid-level “Silver” policy that he picked out also offers a significantly better benefits package. “It’s a lot better plan,” Matthews said. His old plan was considered to be “Bronze” and had much higher co-pays. Under Obamacare, when Matthews visits a doctor, it will no longer cost him around $150. It will cost $8.
What’s likely to be one of the nation’s most closely watched 2014 races kicks into full swing today. After months of speculation about whether she would parlay her newfound political stardom into a bid for higher office, state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, is expected to formally announce today that she’s running for governor.
Davis’ announcement last week of the event — which will be held around 5 p.m. at the auditorium in Haltom City where she received her high school diploma — all but confirmed that she would run. At The Texas Tribune Festival over the weekend, she talked at length about why and how she would run, but stopped short of confirming that she was doing so.
Think about it. Suppose Russia or Iran said, “we will use cyberattacks to shut down your government and wreck your economy, unless you make concessions.” Would we then blithely sit down and negotiate an amicable solution? Yet that’s what the House Republicans are saying. They’re insisting that Obama make concessions on a 3-year-old law, or else they will dock wages of government employees and damage the national economy to the tune of $300 million a day. In effect they’re assuming that Obama is more responsible than they are, and that he will capitulate to this blackmail and protect the economy.
Let’s be clear. This is not government as usual. I’ve watched politicians for decades and have seen any number of backstabbings, scandals, vituperations, and Machiavellian machinations. But I can’t think of the last time a major political party undertook a serious campaign to damage the American economy, unless the other party gives in.
Think Progress: Under ObamaCare, Disney World Will Promote Its Part-Time Workers To Full-Time Status
Walt Disney Co. announced on Wednesday that it is offering full-time employment to the 427 part-time employees at its Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida who work at least 30 hours per week — the threshold at which the Affordable Care Act requires large employers with 50 or more workers to offer basic health benefits to employees or risk paying a $2,000 per employee fine after the first 30 workers.
Disney already offers a level of health coverage that is acceptable under Obamacare to its full-time employees. But part-time workers, including those who work at the 30-hour cutoff set by the health law, receive more limited benefits. Instead of rolling back these workers’ hours to avoid expanding their health coverage, Disney is choosing to promote them to full-time status.
USA Today: Extended Shutdown Could Be Matter Of Life And Death
The federal shutdown has forced pre-kindergarten classes to close. Patients with incurable diseases have been turned away from a federal hospital. Millions of America’s poorest children are at risk of losing baby formula and healthy meals provided by federal programs.
The National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center closed its doors due to the shutdown, turning away about 30 children who come seeking cures for incurable illnesses from cancer to infectious diseases, said Francis Collins, director of the NIH. “When I think of the patients who come here — we are their last hope and to have to turn them away, how can I not feel emotional about that,” he says. “It’s pretty disheartening. … As the director of the NIH, I feel powerless.”
On This Day: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Claire Duncan, daughter of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, watch a tennis match at Camp David, Md., Oct. 3, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
The Obama Diary 
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