Good news

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has quit the deficit talks that are being presided over by Vice-President Joe Biden. His reason?

That said, each side came into these talks with certain orders, and as it stands the Democrats continue to insist that any deal must include tax increases. There is not support in the House for a tax increase...

Absolutely, positively out of the question! It would be far better for Democrats to simply say “Hey, well, we tried” and to simply leave the talks than to agree to take an increase in taxes off the table. To agree to Cantor's demand is absolutely unacceptable.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is correct - "Yes, we do want to remove tax subsidies from big oil, we want to remove tax breaks from corporations that send jobs overseas. That list goes on." The piece suggests in its title that Pelosi used the word “tantrum,” to describe the Majority Leader's pulling out of the talk, but doesn't quote her directly saying that.

Problem is, many progressives have suspected all along that President Obama has wanted steep budget cuts and now, some die-hard Obama supporters are agreeing. The Cat Food Commission, after all, was what one terms an “unforced error.” It wasn't something that Obama had to do, it was clearly something he wanted to do. Unfortunately, Cantor refers to “trillions in spending cuts,” which sounds an awful lot like Obama wants to seriously shred the safety net.

Further evidence that people in the administration are being dense on purpose is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's statements on the economy:

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told reporters Wednesday that the central bank had been caught off guard by recent signs of deterioration in the economy. And he said the troubles could continue into next year.

"We don't have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting," Bernanke said. He said the weak housing market and problems in the banking system might be "more persistent than we thought."

Good heavens! Has this man been living under a rock for the past year?!?!?! What is so surprising about seeing Republicans hacking and slashing away at the Federal budget, followed by the news that there's been a rise in unemployment?!?! I can't imagine where this guy gets the idea that a further weakening in the economy could possibly have been a surprise to anybody.