So much for the vaunted advantages of European integration, huh?

It’s not just the eurozone that is increasingly derided as a failure. Now, the very European Union itself is mistrusted by its largest members.

Fear and Loathing in the EU | RT Op-Edge.
 

Related Posts:

• Republicans Reject White House Fiscal Cliff Proposals
• The Shrinking Middle Class
• Occupy the Senate!

It may seem counterintuitive that a program that provides subsidizes could actually make people worse off, but welcome to the convoluted world of universal service.

Is Obamaphone good for the poor? Maybe not. | The Hills Congress Blog.

The point here is that by funding “universal service” with a flat 16% or so tax — euphemistically called a “contribution” — on all telecom services, the FCC has established a regressive scheme under which low-income people pay far more proportionally than the upper class. Bad policy, but USF is the third-rail of telecom politics.

Related Posts:

• Politics, Polls and Telephone Poles
• This Is Change?
• Wireless Number Portability is Coming After All

I think we’re all agreed the president is fading — failing to lead, to break through, to show he’s not at the mercy of events but, to some degree at least, in command of them. He couldn’t get a win on gun control with 90% public support. When he speaks on immigration reform you get the sense he’s setting it back. He’s floundering on Syria…. Mr. Obama’s brilliant sequester strategy — scare the American public into supporting me—flopped.

Peggy Noonan | WSJ.

Related Posts:

• Astonishingly Out of Touch
• Is Obamaphone Good For the Poor? Maybe not.
• The Pres Bites As a Golfer

After 121 rounds in five seasons, he still chips right over an easy green. Sh#t, even I could beat this guy. Stick to basketball, Mr. President!

Mr. Obama, who according to CBS News’ Mark Knoller has played 121 rounds of golf during his presidency, hasn’t often had congressional company. This is the fourth time he has invited a member of Congress to be part of his golf foursome. Twice he has invited Rep. Jim Clyburn, R-S.C., and once he’s invited House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Obama extends GOP outreach to the golf course | CBS News.
 

Related Posts:

• The Road We’ve Traveled
• Is Obamaphone Good For the Poor? Maybe not.
• Is Obama A Lame Duck Already?

When light bulbs are compared side-by-side, some conservative consumers are turned off by labeling that stresses the environmental benefits of efficient choices, a study finds.

And would you expect any other reaction? Conservatives have been railing against “tree hugging” liberals for years.

via National Geographic.

Related Posts:

• Fear & Loathing In the EU
• Is Obamaphone Good For the Poor? Maybe not.
• Is Obama A Lame Duck Already?

Is Obama kidding? This is a non-starter.

The proposals from the White House – the first to use hard numbers – include a $1.6T tax increase, a $50B stimulus package and new presidential powers to raise the federal debt limit without congressional approval.

via guardian.co.uk.

Related Posts:

• The Shrinking Middle Class
• What If the Tea Party Hobbits Are Right?
• Fear & Loathing In the EU

A new national poll that includes one day of polling data after the second presidential debate shows Republican Mitt Romney with his biggest lead to date. Romney has surged to a 7-point lead over President Obama among likely voters, according to Gallup’s latest daily tracking poll.

Related Posts:

• The Road We’ve Traveled
• Santorum Gets All the Valentine’s Love
• Is Obamaphone Good For the Poor? Maybe not.

Who woulda’ thunk it, but this trend has been going on for years.

The middle class is receiving less of America’s total income, declining to its smallest share in decades as median wages stagnate in the economic doldrums and wealth concentrates at the top.

A study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center highlights diminished hopes, too, for the roughly 50 percent of adults defined as middle class, with household incomes ranging from $39,000 to $118,000. The report describes this mid-tier group as suffering its “worst decade in modern history,” having fallen backward in income for the first time since the end of World War II.

via Associated Press.

Related Posts:

• Republicans Reject White House Fiscal Cliff Proposals
• What If the Tea Party Hobbits Are Right?
• Fear & Loathing In the EU

Obama’s new campaign documentary trailer.

Related Posts:

• Believing in Change
• The Big O
• That Was Quick

We’re living in a dysfunctional age. And our political system is as bad as the economic melt-down America has experienced for the past three years. Part of that, as Ezra Klein cogently explains, is that procedural rules are being used to stall substantive progress.

Harry Reid will head to Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue and join the drum circle before a majority of Senators agree to give up their individual powers of obstruction so that the country can be governed effectively.

Via washingtonpost.com from glenn’s posterous.

Related Posts:

• Fear & Loathing In the EU
• Republicans Reject White House Fiscal Cliff Proposals
• What If the Tea Party Hobbits Are Right?