1.

Tea Party leaders wished out loud for the US to default on its debt payments, so why are they whining now when people blame them for the S&P downgrade?

The Democrats have been no prize either. IMHO the American leadership class, with honorable exceptions, is awarding itself huge rewards and delivering terrible performance. Corporate CEOs and Wall Street banks are just the most obvious examples.

2. I sympathize with the Tea Party’s limited-government goals but have concerns about some (many?) participants in the movement.

That said, I expect that tax increases will be necessary to drag us out of our financial quagmire, but I want to be damn sure that spending cuts are real before I accede to raising taxes. (The “conservatives” who are warning about military cuts: where were they when Bush was laying the groundwork for the current fiasco?)

3. Sign of the times?—The NYT led off its obituary of Hugh Carey by noting he was a liberal NY governor who brought the state’s spending under control and cleaned up the financial mess left by Republican Nelson Rockefeller. RIP.

While I don’t follow NY politics, it is my impression that liberal Andrew Cuomo is off to a promising fiscal start. I wish him well.

4. Warren Buffett has bluntly disagreed with the S&P downgrade. I’m not in the market at the moment, but I remember this from when I was: the man is uncanny.