On Friday, the Government reported its 2010 Fiscal Year results. Here are some fragments from a “news” article in WaPo by Vincent Del Giudice.

The U.S. government posted its second straight annual budget deficit in excess of $1 trillion as lingering unemployment constrained tax revenue.

The shortfall totaled $1.294 trillion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, second only to the $1.416 trillion deficit in 2009, the Treasury Department said today in Washington. . . .

Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — Have they given Americans the good government they deserve?

We constantly hear the monotonous refrain from the right that now is not the time to raise taxes, even for the richest Americans, citing that this will somehow threaten the weak and halting recovery. Yet a composite number of 59% of the American people either favor the expiration of tax cuts for the wealthiest or a roll back of the Bush era tax cuts entirely as per the latest Gallup Poll.

Tax policy and tax cuts in particular are elements central to the Republican Party’s economic philosophy. Republicans have made tax cuts one of their primary tools for fighting the Great Recession and returning America to prosperity. When advocating cuts, many on the Right have waxed nostalgic for the Reagan era tax cuts and their supposed economic benefits. The “record” of those cuts is held up as a justification for extending the Bush tax cuts beyond their expiration date and likewise for cutting taxes generally. All of this as an ideological counterpoint to what the Obama Administration has done in addressing the current downturn. Thus when economists who describe themselves as free market advocates, Libertarians, Republicans and even conservatives call extending the Bush era tax cuts into question one can only take note and inquire further as to why those whom we would expect to endorse tax cuts count themselves among the opposition.

Contrast of economic cheerleaders Geithner and Bernanke versus the reality faced by long term un and underemployed workers

Alan Greenspan undermines calls by the supposed ‘deficit hawk’ Republicans for keeping tax cuts in place.

When Peter Peterson’s anti-Social Security propaganda organ openly criticized Alan Simpson for his insulting comments to Alex Lawson, calling Simpson “condescending and derisive–and wildly wrong about important parts of the Social Security system’s past,” you knew they were worried about a lot more than Simpson’s typical bullying tactics and yet another disqualifying “macaca moment.”

Sometime Tuesday the Senate may take up an amendment to the Senate financial reform bill that would require the Government Accounting Office to conduct an audit of the operations of the Federal Reserve. The outcome is much in doubt, but it shouldn’t be.

Warning: At the end of this diary, I’m going to be asking for your support. Your financial support. Please consider making a donation today.

There is a glitch in the system. Alan Greenspan famously said after the collapse that he had “found a flaw” in his free market ideology. He added, “Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder’s equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief.”