Rachel Maddow interviews Matt Yglesias.
By on Jan 30th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Rachel Maddow interviews Matt Yglesias.
Yesterday, our own Matt Yglesias appeared MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show to discuss recent conservative obstructionism of the stimulus package:
YGLESIAS: There’s a lot of business tax cuts in there, which were put in with the idea of making it more palatable to Republicans, that I think most Democrats and most progressives don’t think are the best possible policy. And if Republicans aren’t going support it no matter what you do, then it makes a lot of sense to look at putting more infrastructure projects in, look at more tax cuts weighted at working people.
Watch it:
Obama’s “first instinct has been to try and reach out, but of course, if that hand just gets slapped away, then you need to fight back,” Yglesias noted.
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bachmann
Beck
Boehner
Bush
Business
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
Dobbs
Education
Election
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Global Warming
Health Care
Immigration
International Relations
Iraq
Justice
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
McCain
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Politics
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Steele
Stimulus
Tea Parties
Technology
Terrorism
Veterans
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
Saw this last night. Matt and Rachel are right on. My God, some people in Kentucky will not have power for weeks because of the recent storm. We need infrastructure investment! People are freezing for God sake!
January 30th, 2009 at 11:37 amGood God TP, its “weighted” not “waded”…
January 30th, 2009 at 11:41 amObama’s “first instinct has been to try and reach out, but of course, if that hand just gets slapped away, then you need to fight back”
Disagree. Why waste your energy fighting? Just ignore them… or if you must, flick them the bird.
Fight them, and you keep them relevant. Ignore them, and you put them in their rightful place.
January 30th, 2009 at 11:46 amRepukes never did well as kids on the playground, either.
(It’s my ball, and I’m going to take it home.)
I agree with Matt…let’s put the objectionable pieces back in while ensuring voters know the ‘Permanent Minority’ doesn’t ‘own the ball’ anymore.
January 30th, 2009 at 11:47 amlarkohio Says:
Saw this last night. Matt and Rachel are right on. My God, some people in Kentucky will not have power for weeks because of the recent storm. We need infrastructure investment! People are freezing for God sake!
Mitchy: Howld it riight theirya, boy!
January 30th, 2009 at 11:50 am(It’s my ball, and I’m going to take it home.)
And the response should be: “That’s OK, we’ve got lots of our own balls and we’re taking them to the House and the Senate and to the Courts.”
January 30th, 2009 at 11:50 amDvlsAdvocat, thanks for the tip. I changed it to “weighted.”
January 30th, 2009 at 11:52 amBipartisanship assumes that the minority party has any good ideas, and the republican minority has shown itself to have no good ideas. We’re a full library as a party, we don’t need to merge with modern-day Republicanism to get the job done because more times than not that proves to be a setback. Republicans are looking for a fight, not worthy input.
January 30th, 2009 at 11:54 amBig, bright spotlights being shined on Obama’s extraordinary efforts to listen, be gracious and be inclusive. Which shines a big bright spotlight on the GOPers unwillingness to do anything to help We the People if it could possibly make Dems looks good.
Calculated bet on their part. Calculated, losing bet.
PEACE
January 30th, 2009 at 11:55 amI think it was said on Maddow’s show last night and bears repeating: why give credence to a group of people (GOP) who’s very philosophy is predisposed to the flawed belief that government CANNOT help? The basis of the modern Republican Party is that any attempt at stimulating the economy (other than further tax breaks)is akin to welfare and goes directly against their conservative worldview. The Republican Party CANNOT be involved in crafting meaningful stimulus legislation simply because they ARE the Republican Party. They ARE the problem and a solution cannot be found from within.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:08 pmGOOD ON YA MATT!
January 30th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Hey Dynamo! Mind if I ask why anyone would want your opinion? If you have an idea of what WOULD help please post it. It seams that Republicans bloviate about what won’t work but have NOTHING to offer when asked what would work. Oh yeah, more tax breaks right? More retarded Reagan trickle down bullshit? Face it, your Party is irrelevant. They have no answers to any of the problems facing America other than continued divisiveness, petty political bull shit and a continued mantra of failed ideas all based on the concept that government CANNOT be the solution (which they prove in spades every time they get the chance).
January 30th, 2009 at 12:18 pmInfrastructure work is a slow and a very inefficient way to stimulate the economy.
But not as “inefficient” as the malfunctioning thought process that bangs around aimlessly inside your diseased brain, I’ll bet.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:20 pmTaking a Republican’s opinion of what could help the economy is akin to asking Ghandi to formulate your battle strategy. It’s just not how they’re wired is all…
January 30th, 2009 at 12:27 pmIf we didn’t know Dynosaur, we could expect that he would provide some sort of evidence to back up his expansive statement about the inefficient nature of infrastructure spending.
But we know Dynosaur, and we know where he got his information.
From deep in his backside.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:37 pmDynamo Says:
Infrastructure work is a slow and a very inefficient way to stimulate the economy. Its been proven time and time again.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
______________
So?
January 30th, 2009 at 12:52 pmDynamo Says
January 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Infrastructure work is a slow and a very inefficient way to stimulate the economy. Its been proven time and time again.
__________________________________________________________
You’re quite fond of claiming that something has “failed over and over again” or “been proven time and time again”, because you often use this as some bizarre way of bolstering your argument.
Just because you make that claim doesn’t mean it’s true, and words without evidence are meaningless. Provide examples, please.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:57 pmJust because you are a blogger for a living doesn’t mean you should go on TV with crumbs in your beard. Disgusting!!! Oh, and learn how to tie a freaking tie. Don’t they have makeup people helping you out there? That was a poor showing.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:01 pmDynamo Says:
Infrastructure work is a slow and a very inefficient way to stimulate the economy. Its been proven time and time again.
Yeah and we’ve seen how the Repug trickle down theory is fast and efficient. Your rubber dolly is probably grateful you like fast.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:03 pmWell, at least we’ve prompted Dynosaur to do some research, even if it’s citing two right-wing professors expounding the widely-discredited “Roosevelt prolonged the Depression” meme that wingnuts have been trying to peddle lately.
Um, Dynosaur… just because someone works in academia doesn’t necessarily mean they’re “liberal”.
We realize that most smart, educated people are liberal but there are a few who retain their regressive values and still manage to get a paycheck from a university.
I suppose you think John Yoo is “liberal” because he works at Berkeley, huh?
January 30th, 2009 at 1:05 pmSay, Dyno, how long before we see that robust economy that the Bush tax cuts was supposed to deliver?
Shouldn’t eight years be enough time?
January 30th, 2009 at 1:06 pmI’m still trying to figure out why Yoo is at Berkeley.
Didn’t they used to have standards?
January 30th, 2009 at 1:08 pmDynamo, once again your stupid is showing. It has become common wisdom that what caused the slowdown in the recovery efforts following the Great Depression was in fact attempts to appease the Republican minority while crafting recovery legislation. You see, capitulating to the republicans can do nothing but harm due to the simple fact that anything you change in the bill to appease Repubs is at the detriment of sound legislation. F@ck the upper class and corporate tax breaks. If anything I say t@x the ever lovin’ shit out of them. They have reaped the largest chunks of the pie the last eight years and the Country is hobbled for it. It is no secret that a large majority of the wealthy and US corporations pay little if any taxes at all. THIS needs to change. If they paid their fair share we would not be in the financial clusterf@ck that we are currently in.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:10 pmBrilliant work, Matt. Thanks for the representation.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:12 pmDynamo Says:
FDR’s policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate
Even your own liberal buddies agree that Government intervention gives a false sense of recovery, and in reality creates longer more prolonged economic problems.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
As usual, you pick and choose your facts. These two economists did not find that ALL government intervention is wrong. They studied a specific policy that gave companies an exemption from anti-trust laws as an incentive to enter collective bargaining agreements with their workers:
It doesn’t take a genius (or an economist, even) to figure out that a policy that allowed companies to collaborate and fix prices for consumer goods will inevitably lead to higher prices for consumer goods.
All the study shows is that NIRA was a bad and counterproductive policy. To extrapolate from this study and say “all government regulation or intervention is powerless against a recession” is bullshit.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:25 pmMatt is SO cute! And brilliant, of course. Great combination.
Kick ass, Matt!
January 30th, 2009 at 1:26 pmI hope President Obama does the will of the people and doesn’t bow to the unpatriotic, obstructionist Republicans.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pmDynamo Says
January 30th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
FDR’s policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate
Even your own liberal buddies agree that Government intervention gives a false sense of recovery, and in reality creates longer more prolonged economic problems.
__________________________________________________________
Um…that’s only TWO economists — hardly a consensus of the economic community. And when googling these guys, they appear to be consistently skewed to the right. This is hardly a mandate for their position.
And as far as your statement about “liberal buddies” condemning government intervention, this seems to have escaped me. At the moment, we are in deep doo-doo to the point where some government intervention is necessary (they’re the only entity big enough to help), so it’s difficult to believe that anybody but the most deluded wingnut would buy the idea that this will just work itself out while the government sits idly by. If you have some evidence (that doesn’t come from a rightwing blogsite) that liberals are telling the government to butt out, please share that with us. And provide context.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:42 pmObama’s approach to the opposition is admirable and earning him a lot of respect across America.
The repugniscum are the ones who will regret their “my way or the highway” attitude. They need to be reminded that the cowboy is gone. They are looking more and more obstructionist; they appear to want the nation to fall into another great depression. They are today’s Herbert Hoovers.
The problem, as I say repeatedly here, is the media. The media gives the repugs all the air time and print paper they need to express their policies and proposals. Though it has been proven time and time again that their policies fail – nonetheless, their corporate friends, media owners, continue to look at the short term effect of more money in their pockets today with no care for the long term future — when Democrats come in to clean up the mess, as is their usual posiiton, they are blamed for excess spending and tax hikes.
If Obama doesn’t fix this economy in 90 days, even without any cooperation from the repugs, they will blame that on him too — and the media will give the platform to say it.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:49 pmDynamo doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:53 pmHe finds an economist who supports his cockamamie philosophy and he thinks he’s golden.
Matt Yglesias:
And if Republicans aren’t going support it no matter what you do, then it makes a lot of sense to look at putting more infrastructure projects in, look at more tax cuts weighted at working people.
Well said and represents the thoughts of so many.
How refreshing it is to see an intelligent pair, appearing all natural, such as Rachel and Matt on TV.
January 30th, 2009 at 2:45 pmDynamo Says:
Infrastructure work is a slow and a very inefficient way to stimulate the economy. Its been proven time and time again.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
No it hasnt. Studies have just come out that show exactly the opposite. How many jobs did rural electrification make? The Highway system? How much did THEY stimulate the economy? No putting money into the hands of those who spend it in the middle with good wages is an almost immediate stimulation of the economy and the projects pay off down the road
January 30th, 2009 at 3:19 pmDynamo Says:
There is NOTHING liberal about Ohanion or Cole. Calling them our liberal buddies was just a bit of stupidity on your part. Now NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST Paul Krugman has specifically debunked those two and what he called the cottage industry of attacking the New Deal. Here is what HE says about infrastructure spending
http://www.politicalpeon.com/2008/10/think-infrastructure-infrastructure.html
FOCUS: Infrastructure – put people back to work, and put the deficit on hold for the short term
And this is also a good time to engage in some serious infrastructure spending, which the country badly needs in any case. The usual argument against public works as economic stimulus is that they take too long: by the time you get around to repairing that bridge and upgrading that rail line, the slump is over and the stimulus isn’t needed. Well, that argument has no force now, since the chances that this slump will be over anytime soon are virtually nil. So let’s get those projects rolling.
January 30th, 2009 at 3:29 pmDynamo picks and chooses, cherry-picks…that’s nothing new…
January 30th, 2009 at 4:01 pmoh plus the fact that he doesn’t realize what is trickling down is the piss of the wealthiest 1%…but he thinks it’s water…
January 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pmFor the cost of NOT fixing infrastructure see New Orleans. This is not hard. Looks like a lot of people just want to be contrarian.
January 30th, 2009 at 5:54 pmralph the lama,
Truly intelligent people are neither liberal or conservative. The fact is that both sides ideas are full of flaws.Toa ct like your ideas are the apogee of human thought is the height of arrogance. The simple fact is that what is good for one person may not be so for another.
What this nation needs is not more myopic, divisive policies from the left or right, but policies that benefit most people possible.
January 31st, 2009 at 9:36 pmfinee
sikis
April 22nd, 2009 at 3:25 pmporno izle
porno videolar
porn videos