KRUGMAN!!!

One of the few truth-tellers left in our national media, Paul Krugman gives us a rather scary view of the GOP's plans in a potential full takeover of the legislative branch: The abrupt end of corporate reform. Not only that, but the cancellation of previously-granted funding to the SEC, to financially starve them. Krugman draws a sound parallel:

So what's going on? Here's a parallel. Since 1995 Congress has systematically forced the Internal Revenue Service to shrink its operations; the number of auditors has fallen by 28 percent. Yet it's clear that giving the I.R.S. more money would actually reduce the federal budget deficit; the agency estimates that it loses at least $30 billion a year in uncollected taxes, mainly because high-income taxpayers believe they can get away with tax evasion. So starving the I.R.S. isn't about saving money, it's about protecting affluent tax cheats.

Similarly, top officials don't really believe that the S.E.C. can do its job with less money; the whole point is to prevent the agency from doing its job.

This is the sort of thing that makes me want to do a rain-dance before election day to keep the GOP from taking the senate.