1. Is Paul Krugman Right, Again, Alas?

Has  Obama surrendered to the Republicans, again, alas?
Or do we ache Obama surrenders to no one, alas, again?
Is there anyone to  surrender to alas, alas?

None, all mirrors the same, all words without change, again,
     alas and alas and alas.

Click here for Obama's speech.

I don't now who wrote the following introduction to Krugman's article:

Are people wishing they could write headlines that read  Obama, the Unwise?  Obama, on Call, the Server of the Hole-ly Compromise?  Obama, the Great Democratic Republican Who Ended the Two-party System in a Whimper?  Maybe he's right to auction off, in his own self-interest, the money and rights of Main Street . Who am I to think the people are entitled to a democratic society, or a just and decent lifestyle?  Yesterday, I looked out my window. There it was rolling down the street like the Blob chasing and picking up everyone in its path, the massive new economic and political wheel.  Like the Blob is was really rolling by in hunger. I couldn't believe the way it reshaped people into itself.  Anyway, here's a cogent excerpt of Krugman's article:
Did the president have any alternative this time around? Yes. 
First of all, he could and should have demanded an increase in the debt ceiling back in December. When asked why he didn’t, he replied that he was sure that Republicans would act responsibly. Great call. 
And even now, the Obama administration could have resorted to legal maneuvering to sidestep the debt ceiling, using any of several options. In ordinary circumstances, this might have been an extreme step. But faced with the reality of what is happening, namely raw extortion on the part of a party that, after all, only controls one house of Congress, it would have been totally justifiable. 
At the very least, Mr. Obama could have used the possibility of a legal end run to strengthen his bargaining position. Instead, however, he ruled all such options out from the beginning. 
But wouldn’t taking a tough stance have worried markets? Probably not. In fact, if I were an investor I would be reassured, not dismayed, by a demonstration that the president is willing and able to stand up to blackmail on the part of right-wing extremists. 
Instead, he has chosen to demonstrate the opposite. 
Make no mistake about it, what we’re witnessing here is a catastrophe on multiple levels.
It is, of course, a political catastrophe for Democrats, who just a few weeks ago seemed to have Republicans on the run over their plan to dismantle Medicare; now Mr. Obama has thrown all that away. And the damage isn’t over: there will be more choke points where Republicans can threaten to create a crisis unless the president surrenders, and they can now act with the confident expectation that he will. 
In the long run, however, Democrats won’t be the only losers. What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question. After all, how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy? And the answer is, maybe it can’t. For full article, click here.
But it fell from the sky.

2. Less Unemployment Makes  Followers Leaders

Why wouldn't unemployment extensions  be tabled?
Less fat on the stats
Less truth to be had
gives illusion the hope
we'll shop till we drop
And help the one-party system grow stable.


3. America is Not Greece

Watch America set the example
of how to keep the wealthy ample
While the Greeks hit the streets
Americans stay neat

By watching themselves on the Tele.