This week’s New York Magazine has an interesting article about Governor Paterson by Chris Smith.

However one part of the article stands out to me. Writing about what was going on when Paterson had to appoint someone to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate, Smith says:

“Andrew [Cuomo] has always dreamed about being governor and president; David has always dreamed about being U.S. senator,” says a New York Democrat who is a friend of both. “We had an opportunity for it to work out that way. We had a small threshold where if David had named himself senator, we could have had some time with Malcolm Smith as interim governor while putting together a process to give Andrew an opportunity in a special election to run for governor. It would have solved a lot of problems”

RESHMA SAUJANI: This is a new decade and we need a new direction…We need to put aside the policies of the past and start building the future because we are the future. That's going to take new ideas, new leadership and new bridges.

Translation of message to Carolyn Maloney:

MARLENE DIETRICH (in Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil”): …Your future is all used up. Why don’t you go home?

or maybe

ROGER DALTREY: Why dontcha all f-f-f-fade away…talkin bout my g-g-generation  

Back in October, I published a pretty comprehensive piece outlining in detail the monumental stupidity, hypocrisy and irresponsibility of nearly every politician, writer and advocate who’d made a public comment about the Monserrate case.

As I’ve documented at various times, this is a problem which has been present from the case’s inception and persisted throughout on all sides and even among those who’ve taken no side.

Since the sole reason for the existence of this Department is to make sport of such people, I am happy to report that the problem continues unabated.

With an assist from the staff of the Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS), I’ve crunched down Medicaid beneficiary and spending data for FY 2007. The assist was required because the Datamart program only works with Internet Explorer, and my teenagers convinced me to shift over to Apple when my old computer wore out. Previously, I had found that the Regional Economic Information System disks from the Bureau of Economic Analysis could only be used on Windows machines, not I-Macs. I guess the federal government doesn’t do Apple, although I haven’t had a problem with the Census Bureau yet. Those who have read my past posts on this subject might as well just download the attached spreadsheets for the latest year, because not much changes. But for those who are interested in my analysis, details on beneficiaries, spending, spending per beneficiary and related information follows.

It is perhaps emblematic of the depths of despair currently implicating those of us to the left of center that not only have our factions begun firing upon each other, but among themselves.

A dedicated fan (except when I am writing about matters affecting Carroll Gardens) writes:

SHAMES: I think it is generally good to remind the "progressives" that progress is taken in successive steps and that incrementalism is a related concept of increase and no more a dirty word than progress. They don't seem to understand that they share their country with a lot of people who don't agree with them on everything and who also believe that they are right.

It appears that Generation Greed is responding to the upcoming elections the way it always does — by selling out the future of the country and younger generations. The Obama Administration came in promising investment in America's future, funded by borrowing, through the Build America Bond Act. But older generations don't want to build America, they want to securitize it as a way of getting more for less right now. And they are becoming more and more desperate as the diminished future ensured by 30 years of their past decisions continues to arrive.

So now, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Obama Administration proposes that the Build America Bond act be made permanent, with an ongoing federal subsidy (funded by the federal debt) for state and local bonds (more debt) issued not just for capital improvements (which might provide some benefit in the future when younger generations are forced to pay back the debt) but also to pay for more services and lower taxes right now. This might be the one Obama proposal that doesn’t get filibustered, as it is one that consistent with Republican principles. Not theoretical principles from the far off Republican past, actual ones from the past 30 years.