paygo signals to big dem donors not to flee to the GOP by embracing austerity logic and rendering any left populism impossible for 10+ years the fact that the capitalist leadership of the party is dying on that hill is them doing the job they were sent to Washington to do
Austerity logic had a bipartisan grip on Washington and American media for decades (Obama constantly scolded liberals over “tightening their belts” even while the economy was on fire) this grip is now slipping and the donor class is panicking
there is no actual constituency for austerity beyond 6 people at WaPo, Pelosi and whoever inherited her friend Pete Peterson's estate. Young lefties having seen nothing but permawar and tax cuts for the rich in their lifetime are increasingly calling bullshit. The scam is up.
here's Pelosi taking time out on the house floor to eulogize ex-Nixon official and republican billionaire Pete Peterson last year. Peterson spent his entire life pushing austerity and trying to gut social security and medicare -> articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/02/bu…
who knows if Pelosi actually believes in all the austerity nonsense; it's a fine line between venality and ideology, but it's amazing how no matter the journey we end up back at the place where what's good for billionaires is, incidentally, also The Right and Courageous Thing.
