As the Republic is delivered into the hands of the plutocrats, Abe surveys the wreckage.

 Hosted by Abe Proctor.  Joe Uris is off for the summer.

We truly have passed through the looking glass. With unemployment near 10 percentfor the third straight year, the patricians in Washington haggle over whether corporate jets deserve special tax consideration. In the name of fiscal discipline, after eight years of reckless borrowing and warmongering under G.W. Bush, congressional Republicans have seen fit to hold hostage the creditworthiness of the United States.

Does it matter that teachers, soldiers, police officers, librarians and firefighters won't get paid? Does it matter that, when the U.S. defaults on its debts, interest rates will jump and the world's most reliable investment will dissolve? Does it matter that the first chinks will appear in the armor ofMedicare and Social Security? Does it matter that a cornerstone of world economic confidence will evaporate? Apparently not.