First thoughts on the President's budget proposal

Three things stand out:

1) Record deficit. I'm mindful of it, but not fearful. Leaving my children a deficit that their generation needs to pay off doesn't frighten me when I know that we're bringing our nation up to date infrastructurally and technologically. This country has been crumbling and gone from ranch home to tract home to mobile home over the last 30 years. Its time to bring the country back.

And, frankly, I firmly believe that my generation can pay off this deficit. We've done it before and with a little ingenuity and ambition, we can do it again. I mean that whole-heartedly.

2) As a "small business owner" who makes LESS than $250,000 a year, I think that a BIG piece of the picture that the GOP and the media are missing regards healthcare. Yes, Obama will raise taxes on $250k household from 35% to 39.6%, but if those small business owners are paying for their own healthcare, Obama's budget for his healthcare program will save them HUGE bucks if they opt in. And tell me why in god's name they wouldn't opt in.

3) The cap and trade portion of the budget is the smartest thing I've seen in ages. As long as he continues to implement ideas like this to increase revenue, I'm exceedingly happy.

The President's success and the Governor's failure

Barack Obama's speech was everything I hoped for last night. Simple as that. He demonstrated that he has clear goals, knows what needs to be done, and is plowing ahead with his agenda one way or another. He makes me confident in our leadership.

Bobby Jindal's response? OK, I won't go too much into it. The reviews are in and uniform. My response to it was much like Rachel Maddow's. (See below.)

One thing I did react to (audibly) in Jindal's speech was his suggestion that Republicans "went along with" big government spending over the last decade. "Went along with"? "Went along with"?? Um, I lived through the last administration and was PAINFULLY aware that the Republicans were in full control of government for 6 years of that administration. They went along with irresponsible government spending? That was too much to stomach.

The rest of the speech was meaningless nonsense, as far as I'm concerned. Here is some interesting reaction:

"Bailout" vs. "Stimulus"

We know the difference between the mind-boggling bundles of cash we're talking about, right?

"Bailout" = $700billion given to Treasury (originally under Hank Paulson) to bailout financial services companies.

"Stimulus" = $800billion bill just passed by House and Senate, comprised of spending and tax cuts, meant to "stimulate" the economy-at-large. AKA "Recovery Bill" or "Rescue Bill".

All clear?

Before you commit to "the bailout failed"...

See, I know that what bailout there has been has not ENDED the economic crisis, but to say "it failed" is not convincing. What would have happened had we NOT injected billions into the financial services industry? Check out this recollection from Rep. Paul Kanjorski about the initial purpose of the bailout. Fear mongering or fact?

Austan Goolsbee: FOUND

I don't know why I'm so enamored of Austan Goolsbee (aside from his sexy/geeky name). This wunderkind of the Obama campaign's economic advisors, I suspect Goolsbee of being a genius, and I was a little brokenhearted when his name didn't appear in the ranks of the new Obama administration.

But Goolsbee has been found. Per NPR via AP, Goolsbee will direct Obama's outside economic advisory board:

Obama Names Outside Economic Advisory Board

NPR.org, February 6, 2009 · Choosing from corporate boardrooms, labor unions and academia, President Obama named a team of outside economic advisers Friday that he says he will turn to for help in boosting the sagging U.S. economy.

As promised in November, the president signed an executive order that creates the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Obama introduced members of the team at a White House ceremony Friday morning. Volcker will serve as chairman. Austan Goolsbee, one of three members of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, will be the group's staff director and chief economist.

Board members include:

William H. Donaldson, who served as SEC chairman from 2003 to 2005
Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., president and CEO of the TIAA-CREF retirement fund
Robert Wolf, chairman and CEO of the financial services firm UBS Group Americas
David F. Swensen, CIO of Yale University
Mark T. Gallogly, founder and managing partner of the investment advisory firm Centerbridge Partners LP
Penny Pritzker, chairman and founder of Pritzker Realty Group
Jeffrey R. Immelt, CEO of General Electric
John Doerr, a partner with the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers
Jim Owens, chairman and CEO of the heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc.
Monica C. Lozano, publisher and CEO of the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion
Charles E. Phillips Jr., president of the computer software maker Oracle Corp.
Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union and chairwoman of the labor coalition Change to Win
Richard L. Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the labor organization AFL-CIO
Laura D'Andrea Tyson, who served as a key economic adviser to President Bill Clinton and is dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley
Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University

The announcement came as employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and the unemployment rate soared to 7.6 percent.

In a statement, the White House said the board will offer independent advice in regular briefings to the president, vice president and their economic team.

The White House said the board's initial focus will be programs to "jump-start economic growth."

From NPR reports and The Associated Press

Jim, Mika, and Baby makes three

OK - I love being a working mom and I love politics, so this video just tickled me. I've held conference calls with one finger on the mute button and a baby in the other arm. I've had meetings with ad reps with a baby in my lap. I've come in on my day off with a kid, a snack, and a portable DVD player. Hey, modern moms! This is us!

I can't help it. I love this.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

"Rumored lesbian" Hagen back at Justice

More from the "Undoing the Damage" front. Today, NPR's Ari Shapiro filed this story:

On Monday, the Justice Department undid a small part of the damage that top officials caused in a scandal of politicized hiring and firing during the Bush administration. The department rehired an attorney who was improperly removed from her job because she was rumored to be a lesbian.

NPR first broke the story of Leslie Hagen's dismissal last April, and the Justice Department's inspector general later corroborated the report. Now, Hagen has returned to her post at the department's Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.

In 2006, Hagen was the liaison between the main Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys' committee on Native American affairs. The chairman of that committee, Tom Heffelfinger, described Hagen to NPR last year as "the best qualified person in the nation to fill that job." Hagen's performance evaluations had the highest possible ratings — "outstanding" in each of five categories.

The job came up for renewal every year. After the first year, Hagen was surprised to hear that she would have to move on.

As NPR reported in April, a top aide to the attorney general had heard a rumor that Hagen was a lesbian. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is against Justice Department rules. But Monica Goodling, senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, had Hagen removed from her job anyway.

That was more than a year ago. The inspector general eventually confirmed the NPR report and added new details, saying Goodling not only ousted Hagen but also blocked Hagen from getting other Justice Department jobs she was qualified for.

Last year, the Justice Department posted Hagen's old job again. The department conducted a national search. Applications came in from around the country. After several rounds of interviews, Hagen eventually won the job.

The paperwork makes it official as of Monday, Feb. 2. Hagen now has her old position back, but this time it's a little different. Her contract no longer comes up for renewal every year. Now, the job is permanent.

It is not a perfectly happy ending for Hagen. Nobody official from the department ever apologized to her for what happened. She still owes thousands of dollars in attorney fees, and the Justice Department has refused to pay those bills.

That was the department's position under the Bush administration, anyway. Hagen's attorney says her client hopes the new attorney general will take a different view.