Factoid

The New York Times has an interesting graphic up about a Delta Airlines family and their use of the free or reduced-cost travel benefit.

Kevin Drum pwns Andrew Sullivan

The two have been going back and forth about the prospect of balancing the budget through budget cuts alone (i.e., without tax hikes). Kevin Drum challenged Sullivan to pare down the $400 billion budget deficit without touching non-discretionary spending (surplus-running Medicare and Social Security) and without touching defense spending (a sacred cow of conservatives, anyway) and without raising taxes (ditto). Sullivan gamely accepted the challenge and promptly had himself pwn3d by Drum.

To wit:

If Sullivan wants to increase revenue by closing loopholes and increasing the gas tax, that's fine with me. But in terms of actual budget cuts, he came up with only $120 billion, about one-fourth of the actual federal deficit — and even that was mostly by the lazy expedient of "I'd just wipe out this program completely," which isn't really even a serious response.

TJ's Coming to Atlanta

My friends and relatives in the Bay Area and Chicago love it. I have been jealous for years. But now, I won't have to be jealous much longer. Trader Joe's is coming to Atlanta!!! The AJC reports that TJ's will be coming in the next year. The great thing about Trader Joe's, as compared to Whole Foods and Eatzis, is that the former is a bastion of bourgeois products at proletarian prices, to steal from Slate.

For those of you who haven't heard of Trader Joe's, it is a privately held company that operates small grocery stores in California -- it was born in LA about 30 years ago -- California, DC and Maryland. Nineteen states in all. Trader Joe's buys all of its products directly from the source, rather than relying on middlemen like other chains. They pass that savings on. And their store brands are reputed to be as good or better than national premium brands. And, perhaps most famously, TJ's introduced the world to quality wine at $1.99 a bottle -- "Two Buck Chuck."

I'm thrilled that Atlanta has a Cost Plus, Whole Foods and Eatzis. And getting a TJ's will be the best. Here's hoping one pops up in Midtown or Decatur -- both close to my abode.

Update: Thoughts on locations here.

For Small-Government Types -- Something to Chew On

I'm going to assume that the numbers in Kevin Drum's post are correct. So how does somebody who supports reducing the deficit but not raising taxes to do it answer this:

Bush's tax cuts haven't touched Social Security or Medicare taxes (and both programs run surpluses anyway). They've been solely cuts in personal and corporate income taxes, dividend taxes, and capital gains taxes. These are the taxes that fund discretionary spending.

Discretionary spending in 2005 was roughly $1 trillion. About half of that was for defense and national security, which Sullivan doesn't want to cut. That leaves $500 billion, which funds the entire rest of the federal government.

The federal deficit for 2005 was over $400 billion.

So: if you support the tax cuts, and you don't want to cut defense spending, and you want a balanced budget, you need to slice about $400 billion out of the $500 billion that's left.

What 80% of the government did you want to cut?

Illini Lose to Huskies, Zebras

67-64.

Even She's Too Smart to be Seen with Him

Jessica Simpson rejected an offer to fundraise for W and his minions.

Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, singer-actress Jessica Simpson on Wednesday turned down a invitation to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, a snub that left Republicans dismayed.

The apparent final word that Simpson would be a no-show at a major Republican fund-raiser with Bush and congressional leaders on Thursday night came after a day of conflicting reports from her camp and organizers of the event.

Also, the headline is pretty sweet.

Yet More Proof

that Republicans and people who vote for Republicans have forsaken our country's future:

Senate Republicans on Tuesday narrowly defeated an effort to impose budget rules that would make it harder to increase spending or cut taxes, a move that critics said that showed Republicans were posturing in their calls for greater fiscal restraint. In the first of several politically charged budget and spending issues confronting Congress this week, the Senate rejected on a 50-to-50 tie a proposal to restore what are known as "pay-go" rules, a requirement that tax cuts and some new spending be approved by 60 votes or offset by budget savings or revenue increases.

The Nice Folks at Metroblogging Atlanta

beat me to a NY Times article, about Atlanta's gentrification. The author smartly avoids the race-baiting of many opposed to the process, noting that it (like probably 80% of issues couched as race-issues these days) is more of a class struggle. To wit: "Already, the change has had unpredictable effects. Kwanza Hall is a young black politician from the rapidly gentrifying Old Fourth Ward, a neighborhood that is part of a mostly white City Council district that includes affluent areas like Inman Park. But in the last election, Mr. Hall, who ran his campaign from a year-old coffee shop next to a soon-to-open men's spa, defeated two whites for an open seat."

Now, This is What I Need....

This New York Times article documents a growing trend in the United States: recent South Asian immigrants ordering lunch delivered from home kitchens.

In Mumbai, formerly Bombay, the tiffin, or lunch, is prepared by the wife, mother or servant of the intended. In the United States, because of little time (and a lack of a domestic staff), many of these lunches are prepared by outsiders, but the underlying principle is the same.

With the spread of these services, Punjabis can have their saag paneer and meat curries; Gujaratis can have their dal, bhat (rice), shak (vegetables) and rotis (flatbreads); and south Indians their rasam (tomato-based curry). And as demand for home-cooked food on the job has increased, so has the number of outlets providing tiffins.

I have not done it myself, but I can honestly say that this would be a pretty cool thing to have here in Atlanta. Alas, Atlanta's Indian population is probably a bit too thinly spread to make it worth somebody's while, except in a few areas. But I can dream, can't I?

Update: The fiance indicates that Bhojanic in Decatur does this.

I Don't Often Link to Comments

on other blogs, but this short one from the Volokh Conspiracy is worth it. Click the link for context, but here it is:

It boggles the mind to think that someone could spend three years in a decent law school and escape from it thinking that you can distinguish between "what the law is" and what it "should be."