Kind of. Its good for him, but its really good for his colleague, Republican Senate leader Mitch Mcconnell. You see, jim demint is not your ordinary senator. Hes like the Grover Norquist of the senate. Hes the guy the other republican senators are really afraid of. And that is because more so than anyone else and definitely more than any other republican politician, demint is behind the Tea Party Strategy of purifying the Republican Party in the cleansing fire of party primaries. Demint created this pact called the senate conservativist fund, a pact he made into a super pac which makes it more super and exists to help conservative republicans beat other republicans. Since 2009 demint has raised more than 17 million to promote promising candidates in an effort to remake the senate not just in a republican image but in a diehard conservative one. The image of jim demint, even. And he has often done it by going to electoral war with his own party leadership. In the 2012 midterm elections demint threw his weight behind marco rubio in the republican primary for floridas senate race. Despite the fact that the National Republican Senatorial Committee and republican leader Mitch Mcconnell endorsed Charlie Crist in that race. Marco rubio went on to win that primary and that senate seat. Demint also backed rand paul in his primary. That was a fight, by the way, that took place in mcconnells home state of kentucky and mcconnell endorsed the other guy. The not rand paul. But paul won. He won his senate race in kentucky which was deeply humiliating for Mitch Mcconnell. But demint has also backed a lot of candidates who won their primaries but did not go on to win their general elections. Like christine i am not a witch odonnell if you remember her. Demint backed the not a witch candidate and she lost big time. He backed todd aiken of the legitimate rape comments and mourdock of the other rape comments. The reason jim demint isnt in the majority today is because of jim demint. But jim demint says hes okay with that. Id rather have 30 republicans in the senate who believe in the principles of freedom than 60 who dont believe in anything. [ applause ] well, let let me make myself even clearer. I would rather have 30 marco rubios in the senate than 60 arlen specters. Arlen specter you might remember got driven out of the senate in part by folks like demint. He went to the Democratic Party and became the 60th vote on obama care. So that worked out well for demint. But demint does rather this being in the minority thing so much that he wants to seven out the rest of his term in the minority. When youre a senator and you even begin talking to another employer about leaving the senate, you have to file this paper with the Senate Office of public records. They do that so before a big vote on, say, an energy bill that will make Oil Companies really rich, you cant go to a Big Oil Company and say, hey, dont you think id make a good executive Vice President who doesnt do anything but makes a ton of money for not doing it . But makes way less money than youll make if this bill im going to be voting on passes . We want to know that kind of thing if its happening. So you have to file this paper and demint filed his paper only yesterday. According to him, these negotiations began and ended in 24 hours. That is very decisive for leaving the u. S. Senate. And if it is true then its really looking like the Heritage Foundation and jim demint saw an opportunity in the continuing republican crackup. Earlier this week, we learned that dick armey is breaking up with his Tea Party Group Freedom Works and then we learned Freedom Works is kind of crumbling from within due to internal disputes over its strategy. That leaves a mantle of leadership for the Tea Party Wing of the Republican Party wide open. That is a lot of power and a lot of fundraising opportunity. And if you believe the timeline of the records, demint and the Heritage Foundation saw that opportunity whereby they could join forces and seize it and perhaps even become leaders of that wing of the party. Now, theyre not alone. You know whos leading the other wing of the Republican Party right now . And also getting a bunch of money . The dont primary all of your incumbents and choose all of your unelectable candidates wing of the party. That is karl rove. Heres how rove explained his election experience. I was involved in a group called american crossroads. Its the worst volunteer job ive had in my life. I was in charge of raising money. We raised 324 million, and i got sick and tired of spending money in races where the moderates and the conservatives had gone at each other and made victory impossible. Rove has said he wants to reorient crossroads and some reporting says hes going to do that by beginning to intervene in primaries where jim demintlike strategies are being carried out. In fact, already even though it has been less than a month since the election, crossroads is coming to the defense of Shelley Moore capito, thinking of challenging rockefeller in 2014. Some have been attacking her as not conservative enough for the seat. Crossroads president steven law told politico, quote, it is distasteful to see washington politicos clubbing republican candidates right out of the gate, especially ones with the guts to challenge an entrenched incumbent and who enjoy the broad base of support that Shelley Moore capito seems to have. Or jim demint said hed rather have 30 conservative republicans in the senate than 60 who dont believe in anything. Karl rove would probably rather have 60 republicans in the senate no matter what they believe. That is going to be the fight. That is the battle line in the Republican Party right now. The guys who want purity, more tea party, versus the guys who want a supermajority. No more obama cares. Heritage versus crossroads. Karl rove versus jim demint. Pass me the popcorn. Joining me, dave weigel of slate and msnbc contributor. Dave, it is good to see you here tonight. Good to see you, ezra. So is this what it kind of looks like . Do you see demint and heritage as consolidating power here and making, and vying for leadership of the Tea Party Wing of the party . No, i like the way that you put that. Freedom works is going through an awkward patch right now. Heritage has actually been expanding into that terrain long before any problems that occurred at Freedom Works. Heritage in 2010, point out, launched heritage action, 501c3 which is renting the floor space in the rest of the heritage building and has been aggressively campaigning. During the congressional voting season against republicans, getting them to vote their way on various bills. Irritating a lot of people. A lot of libertarians. A lot of moderates. This signals theyre going to step that up. Its perfect for demint who has always done this. You havent mentioned his legislation in your intro because he wasnt much of a legislator. He passed one bill that renamed a courthouse. He had stuff added to other bills. His strategy was to really slowly replace senators over the course of many years. Thats what hell do from the outside. Right. He didnt so much create legislation as he created legislators. Right. One thing here, his term if im not wrong, goes until 2016. Its somewhat atypical for senators to leave in the middle. Being in the minority in the modern senate is not super fun and so its hard to escape the impression here that a minority status that jim demint helped create led him to leave early. Its like hes fleeing a situation that he brought into being. Thats astute. If you look at the seats that he had the influence on, people he actually brought into the senate, he did create people in his mold to a degree that i dont think has been anyone has done before. But he did it in seats already held by republicans. The one semiexception as you point out is pennsylvania where, i mean, jim demint in a way, inadvertently, enabled the passage of Affordable Care act. Had specter stayed within the party specters pattern was to run toward republicans in the primary, run toward the general. It was ineffective. The clip when he talks about 60 senators who dont believe in anything, thats a little bit unfair to republicans like arlen specter. They existed. Their vision for the Republican Party was to compromise on a couple things, build the party on immigration reform, build the party on a Medicare Part d, on no child left behind. All things demint opposed. He succeeded in making republicans elected from places that safely vote republican more conservative. He didnt broaden the party at all. I mean, Mitch Mcconnell is not just craven. He believes to win the party, cant vote the way jim demint does. Jim demint said, well, fine, heres seven people like me. Ill see you. One thing i think we sometimes forget when we talk about abstract Party Principles is something a guy like specter believed is you represent your constituents. And his constituents were not as conservative as m demints in south carolina, as Mitch Mcconnells in kentucky and, of course, pennsylvania has been going very blue. That seems to me to be kind of the core argument here. One thing thats happened is these Political Parties have nationalized in a very big way, and demints strategy, it appears to me to largely be to nationalize the elections. You have this big washington groups like Freedom Works or now heritage entering into these primaries that are in districts for house members and states for senators and trying to get people acceptable to the national Republican Party even if theyre not seriously facility for the district or state theyre representing. That seems to me what karl rove is attempting to fight. Hes saying, look, you have to have these elections have some local character. Yeah. Newt gingrich used to say, when Newt Gingrich was more of a wise man outside the party, said the same thing. Gingrich endorsed the republican whos a moderate in a special election, and in upstate new york which a lot of people had forgotten, but was kind of the kickoff to this purge of nonconservativeses. Then gingrich apologized when the third, you know, the thirdparty candidate lost with its complicated. Basically the conservative might have won had the republican pulled out completely. Said, im sorry, ill never do it again. The demint vision for how to bring republicans to bear what they have to believe if theyre republicans has spread far beyond places where it is sellable. And, again, the people who disagree with him, they just dont see what he gained for all that opposition. They saw, you stopped a couple of spending bills, but in the long run, or at least in the next couple years, you just set up a bunch of crisis points where republicans dont have lots of leverage because our message looks like your message and voters reject it. I mean, voters by about a 20point margin blame republicans now or they will blame republicans if theres a fiscal cliff crisis. Right. They perspectively they perspectively blame republicans for it and in part from folks like demint. Dave weigel for slate and msnbc contributor. Thank you for being here tonight, my friend. Thank you. Lame duck session means Different Things in different parts of the country. In one state, lame duck means shockingly bold action by the government. A lot of people calling it lame and other people ducking. Its big news and a serious conflict in the state of michigan. If it wasnt for you dont know what id do id have nothing to prove id have nothing to lose [ male announcer ] zales is the diamond store. Take an extra 10 percent off storewide, now through sunday. [ male announcer ] zales is the diamond store. Capella university understands back from rough economic times. Employees are being forced to do more with less. And the need for capable leaders is greater than ever. When you see these problems do you take a step back, or do you want to dive right in . With a degree in business from capella university, youll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. Lets get started at capella. Edu wears off. [ female announcer ] stop searching and start repairing. 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Its just common sense, from td ameritrade. There was a group of protesters who we are told by the state Police Rushed to Police Officers trying to get into this senate chamber. At that point, the Police Officers took out chemical spray, pepper spray, sprayed them, and eight people ended up, eight protesters ended up being arrested. And so now there are state Police Officers out in front of the state chambers, its similar in front of the house chambers, as they begin to take up this bill. That was what democracy looked like today in michigan where the states republican majority began voting on a bill that will dramatically curb the hundreds of people flooded into the Michigan State capitol where the house was scheduled to debate the bill. Police locked down the lidding until a local Court Ordered they open the doors again. The scene in michigan today looked familiar. It looked like the scenes in indiana and in ohio and in wisconsin where those states voted to take away the rights of unions. In fact, it was exactly that kind of scene michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a republican, had said he wanted to avoid. In february, Governor Snyder looked at those other midwestern states with republican governors and workers protesting in the state capital and decided he did not want that thing in michigan, not in his historically very strong union state. Governor snyder said, you look at now that theyve had those things happen, do they have a productive environment to solve problems . Not necessarily. Theyre still overcoming the divisiveness, the hard feelings from all of that. At the time reporters wanted to know whether rick snyder would support what is known as a right to work law. The idea of right to work is simple. Under a right to work law, employees of a union shop dont have to pay union dues. The employees get the benefit of the union, the higher wages and Better Health care, all of that, but they do not have to pay for it. Why pay money if you can have something for free . For unions, the results of this are close to catastrophic which is why republicans and big business love right to work laws. They are a way of destroying unions. The same Heritage Foundation that will be jim demints new home says Union Membership fell by 15 in states that passed right to work. Union organizing fell by half, passing a right to work law stops unions and it stops organizing. On the labor left, the Economic Policy institute reports that wages fall by more than 3 after you institute right to work. And pensions take a hit, too. Thats why unions call right to work the right to work for less. With Governor Snyder saying he wanted no part of a fight over right to work just a few months ago, the move to pass a bill in michigan was, well, kind of surprising. It appears to have started this year with a Referendum Campaign by Union Activists to protect union rights. Against Governor Snyders wishes, they collected signatures and got a referendum on the ballot that would have made it impossible for the state to pass a right to work law that Governor Snyder said he opposed. Now, or ever. That referendum failed. Failed by 16 points. That was november. On tuesday, all of a sudden Governor Snyder said right to work was on his agenda. How come . Quoting the detroit free press, there is a view unions must put something on the table if right to work is not to proceed after having gone ahead with a collective bargaining ballot proposal against his urging in last months election. So this is payback . Bargaining . This morning Governor Snyder held a press conference with republican lawmakers to announce new right to work legislation for the current lame duck session. The governor said he was doing it for the good of michigans workers. And then the lawmakers explained that they had crafted the bill in such a way that michigan voters could not put it up for appeal by referendum the way they appealed Governor Snyders emergency manager law last month. So good, you cant actually get rid of it even if you want to, voters. Republicans then rushed the new language into a vote at the statehouse where it passed by a largely partyline vote of 5852. Just before 5 00 p. M. Local time. So depending on how you look at it, the entire legislative process today took about an hour and a half. This evening the Republicancontrolled Senate also voted yes. House democrats are now trying to slow down final passage of the bill and the protesters will likely continue their protesting. Both Governor Rick Snyder saying he will sign a right to work bill if republicans want to take away strong unions in michigan. There may not be that much that can stop them. Joining us now is rick pluta, Capital Bureau chief for michigan public radio network. Mr. Pluta, thank you for being here tonight. My pleasure. What changed that Governor Snyder said he was opposed to doing right to work in michigan, moved to on to the agenda and passed it so quickly . Well, certainly one of the things was what you outlined was that the unions pushed a very expansive union rights bargaining rights ballot proposal that also would have repealed or threatened a lot of laws that he and other republicans supported. But, yeah, and once it was over, you know, the governor said theyd overreached and really said that right to work might be kind of a comeuppance, regardless of what his wishes are. And he did hold it at arms length for really a couple of years in order to focus on other things. He said now a lot of those other things have been taken care of and it was time. But there was a lot of push behind the scenes. A lot of big money put behind encouraging both state lawmakers and getting the public behind a right to work legislation, a right to Work Movement in the state capital. And also just unions and democrats were too slow to come across with some support on things that the governor wanted to do. You know, just to name one, a rewrite of the states emergency manager law that was actually repealed by voters in a referendum which this bill wont be once it becomes law. What is the response been from unions and democrats in michigan . Is there anything they think they can do . Well, i mean, its this has taken on an area of inevitability. The house and Senate Approved bills today. The governor said he would sign them. Theres no reason to believe that anything will change between now and next week when both the house and the senate will have to take final action on that legislation to get it to the governor. That does not mean, though, that unions and progressive groups wont be organizing actions and protests to try at the very least call attention to whats going on at the state capital of lansing. Theyre already planning to whats going to happen after right to work legislation is signed into law in michigan. You know, democrats and unions are talking about things like trying to recall lawmakers, maybe even some ballot questions that this right to work law, if it does remain referendumproof, still isnt necessarily immune to the ballot because the unions can go and try and initiate a voterapproved law on their own. A separate law that would basically supersede it. And they could even go back and try and maybe do a cleaner constitutional amendment that would just protect collective bargaining rights and not be as expansive as this last ballot a lot of people really saw as an overreach. Something that was so sweeping that it just made voters too suspicious. Rick pluta, Capital Bureau chief. Thank you for your underground reporting on this. We appreciate it. The thing about most socalled doomsday plans, they have to do with what happens after doomsday. Among the current republicans in congress, a doomsday plan means something way different from that. It would be funny if it were not, you know, about doomsday. Stay tuned. If we want to impre our schools. What should we invest in . Maybe New Buildings . What about updated equipment . They can help, but recent research shows. Nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. Lets build a strong foundation. Lets invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. Lets solve this. Is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. Now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. Now why make a flavored heartburn pill . Because this is america. And we dont just make things you want, we make things you didnt even know you wanted. Like a spoon fork. Spray cheese. 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Zero fat. In blueberry pomegranate and peach. Meet julia gillard, the Prime Minister of australia. If that falls through, a tilda impersonator. The top dog, head honcho of australia. Shes the prime freaking minister of australia, stood at a podium in front of an Australian Flag and in a somber tone delivered some incredibly bad news. My dear remaining fellow australians, the end of the world is coming. It wasnt y2k. It turns out the mayan calendar was true. The world is about to end. Whether the final blow comes from zombies, demomic hill beasts or from the tribe, if you know one thing about me, it is this. I will always fight for you until the very end. Good luck to you all. Wait, wait. What . Control room, somebody needs we need breaking news banners. We need your biggest siren. A prominent world leader just said the world is ending, maybe because were all going to be eaten by zombies. I dont think im generally prone to panic, but im not very fast, so 28 days later kind of zombies, i find that worrying. Oh, wait. Okay. Im told this is a joke. It is delivered with so little vermoof that it is hard to tell. This appears to be a promotion for a morning radio show in australian, a promotion for their end of the world party. Prime minister doing your work. Thats a good get, australian radio network. The world isnt actually ending, no more than it was a few minutes ago, so far as we know. That is the good news. The bad news is that that was only the second scariest news about doomsday we have for you tonight. The scariest doomsday news is something i will tell you about in a minute. Wooohooo. Hahaahahaha oh. There you go. Wooohooo. Hahaahahaha im gonna stand up to her no youre not. I know. You know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. How happy are they jimmy . Happier than a witch in a broom factory. Get happy. Get geico. 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The share everything plan. Sharable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. Get a droid razr m by motorola for 49. 99. Typically a doomsday plan, it is meant to help you survive the thing that happens after doomsday. During the cold war, the u. S. Had a doomsday plan meant to protect the president and ensure the continued functions of the u. S. Government. In the event of a nuclear attack. So nuclear attack, your doomsday happens then youve got your doomsday plan to try to survive it. In 2005, Congress Passed another doomsday plan meant to ensure the house could function in the aftermath of a terrorist attack that killed or incapacitated most of its members. The rule they passed in the house states that under, catastrophic circumstances a form would not require 218 congressmen as it does now. Rather the house could operate with whoever happened to be around. So, again, you have a terrorist attack, your doomsday scenario, then theres this plan to help you survive it. That is what a doomsday plan usually is. This week, washington is really into another socalled doomsday plan. But its a weird kind of doomsday plan. Its not a plan meant to save the country in the event of doomsday. It is a plan meant to create a doomsday scenario in the event that republicans have to compromise on tax rates. On monday, abcs Jonathan Carl explained how it worked. He said republicans are seriously considering a doomsday plan if fiscal cliff talks collapse entirely. It would be quite simple. House republicans would allow a vote on extending the bush middle class tax cuts. That bill already passed in august in the senate. And offer the president nothing more. No extension to the debt ceiling, nothing on unemployment, nothing on loopholes. Congress would recess for the holidays and the president would face a big battle early in the year over the debt ceiling. Two republican officials tell me this is becoming the most likely scenario. The New York Times added more detail including this amazing quote from rep michael c. Burgess of texas. Theres always better ground, but we have to get there. In this case the better ground is exchanging the threat of a congressionally induced recession for the threat of a congressionally induced Global Financial crisis combined with recession. That, that is your better ground . Thats a big plan . Its not its not better ground for the economy. And, frankly, i find it difficult to see how its better political ground even for the gop. I figured, i didnt get it. So i figured this was beyond my small political brain to understand. So i asked some of my smarter hill republican friends what the theory was here. They told me the idea is while the president can permit the economy to fall over the fiscal cliff, or curb, whatever you want to call it, he cant allow us to default on our debt. That would, like, destroy the economy. That gives republicans a stronger hand or so they think. But really, think about that. Heres how it would go. Later this month, republicans would, by voting present, which everyone would think was a bit weird, permit the bush tax cuts to expire for income over 250,000. That would let president obama pocket 1 trillion in tax revenue and secure a win on his key priority in the talks. But they would do nothing else. At the end of the year, we would still go over the fiscal cliff. Remember, the bush tax cuts are one of the at least stimulative policies in the negotiations. According to the Economic Policy institute, extending the middle class tax cuts would wipe out only about 11 of the austeritys economic impact. 11 . But all that other stuff, the payroll tax cut, the unemployment insurance, the sequester, all that, that would still be expiring. So come early next year, the economy would likely be entering an austerityinduced recession. Markets would be convulsing as they realize our austerity crisis is about to become also a default crisis. And so the economy, as a whole, is going to be going nuts. Poll after poll already shows republicans are receiving more blame for the potential failure of the debt talks. And after telling the press theyre going to make a strategic decision to use a debt ceiling as more and more dangerous leverage, theyre likely going to get blamed for that, too. And that will be much worse in the polls. Republicans may believe the white house can be so afraid of default that it would simply capitulate. My reports suggests the opposite. That they need to break the gops habit as using a debt ceiling as a bargaining chip. If congress in any way suggests that theyre going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again, as part of a budget negotiation, which by the way we have never done in our history until we did it last year, i will not play that game. Because weve got to break that habit before it starts. Did you see that background behind president obama . It kept saying, Business Roundtable. The Business Community agrees with him. My colleague at the Washington Post, greg sergeant, reports, the Business Roundtable, the biggest and most powerful Business Trade groups is preparing to come out to give the president essentially unilateral authority to raise the debt ceiling forever more, ending these crises forever. Republicans will have to compromise with the president who will have already pocketed 1 trillion in tax increases. Business will be screaming. The economy will be convulsing. Theyll be getting blamed. That is supposed to put him in the weaker bargaining position . Its frankly hard for me to see how this strategy gets the gop any of what it wants in terms of policy or politics. This doomsday they are courting, it might be their own. Joining us now, chrystia freeland, editor for Thompson Reuters digital and author of the plutocrats how the rich is getting ahead and the economy is failing everyone else. I think i messed up your subtitle. Its okay. You have the cover of the book there. Its a great book. I read it. People should read it. I highly recommend it. Youve been talking to a lot of business folks. Reporting for your book and your everyday reporting. Is the Business Community radicalizing on the debt ceiling . They didnt take the debt seriously in 2011. Theyre taking it a lot more seriously in 2012. I think thats exactly right. I think its because of the experience of what happened. You know, and two parts of the experience. First of all, i dont think that people believed america would get so close to the brink. You know, and i heard, remember at the time they kept saying, theyll do a deal, theyll do a deal. The way they behaved was frankly astonishing. The other thing that was a surprise not just for American Business but for Global Business was how powerful the reaction was. And i think actually the greatest reaction was outside the united states. This was the first time that the rest of the world really actually paid attention to the finer points of politics inside the beltway, which actually are profoundly boring for the rest of the world in general. But this was was really the moment in which, you know, if places like beijing and berlin, people started to say, you know what, maybe american political dysfunction is so extreme as to imperil the macrostability of the country. Does this now actually lead to pressure . I mean, one complaint that the white house certainly had in 2011 was they talk to these business guys and business guys all said, yeah, this would be a disaster, but they didnt do anything about it. In part because they didnt really believe in it. So the Business Roundtable coming out for the white houses proposal here seems like a very big deal to me. I mean, are you seeing the beginnings of an Actual Campaign to pressure republicans to take this threat off to the table, not get to the point where we begin seeing Consumer Confidence drop, begin seeing businesses cut back, begin feeling those economic effects we got in 2011 . Well, i agree with you this is an important moment, but i think we also have to remember that that hostility that we felt during the Election Campaign toward obama, that wasnt fake. Right. That was really real, and in a way, you know, the fact that the president won in the teeth of opposition from the super rich and the fact that he is now more insistent than ever on raising the taxes on the very top, does not exactly endure him to the entire Business Community. So i wouldnt say that battle is won, but i do think that what youre starting to hear from business is a sense that maybe republicans actually are not better stewards of the economy as a whole. And thats scary. Is there any evident effect being felt from the president s ongoing ceo tour . Since the election, despite the hostility, the feeling of betrayal on the part of the white house, hes been going to Business Group after Business Group, having Business Leaders over to the white house. Is that paying dividends . Are people sort of is there any calming of those passions because of the diplomacy tour . Sure. I think it really matters. You know, businesspeople, believe it or not, are human beings, too, and like to be paid attention to. They especially like to be paid attention to by the president. So, yeah, i think it makes a big difference. I do actually think the president is partly to blame for that extreme hostility in his first term because he didnt do some of the basic, you know, meet and greet stuff that actually is the job of a political leader. Hes making up a little bit for that now. Do you think the white house can stand its ground on this . If we get past the fiscal cliff and republicans are attempting to take this to the brink, do you think despite what president obama says, they have the capacity to say, listen, if you want to pull the pin on the grenade, you do it, but were not going to do this anymore . On the fiscal cliff or the debt ceiling . On the debt ceiling. I was very interested by your reporting. That you took a really strong position there. I do think the white house has been transformed. Both by the experience with the debt ceiling and with the election. I think if they want to stand their ground, i think they can actually do it. I think that that is, in fact, possible. Can they . You know, well see. They seem a lot tougher now than they were last time around. Dont you think . They sound very tough now. Chrystia freeland of thomson, and author of the plutocrats. I promised you, red lobster, olive garden, timely for both, and i will deliver. That is ahead. [ male announcer ] take dayquil. [ ding ]. 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You might remember a couple of times ive been here when i want to do something too boring even for the geeky nerd geeks on the Rachel Maddow show and i love you geeky nerd geeks, made me do it in seconds in a short segment called the ezra klein challenge. Tomorrow the monthly job numbers are going to come out. Everyone will freak out because they will be horrible. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News say as low as 86,000. Deutsche bank says could be as low as 25,000. Dont freak out. In fact, you should probably ignore this report entirely, at least for now. And im going to tell you why in a bit less than 90 seconds. Ready, clock . Go. First remember what the jobs report it. It is a survey. The first numbers we get, the ones were getting tomorrow, theyre preliminary. They get changed over the next few months as better data comes in. The initial numbers are usually off the first time by about 100,000 jobs. Whats special about this jobs report is the survey was being taken at the same time Hurricane Sandy hit. Transportation was blocked. Power was out for a big swath of the country. Factories had to stop producing. The economy particularly in the northeast was a mess. There was no way to survey it well. That, the economists say is why their expectations are so low for tomorrow. The good news is the hurricanes affects are reversing and quickly. The number of people filing new claims for Unemployment Benefits rocketed in the week of the hurricane. Last week fell just as rapidly. We will eventually know what happened to the labor market in november. But as my Washington Post colleague neil irwin writes, probably not until december 21st or so when the state by state jobs numbers come out, that we can filter out the states hit by the hurricane and see whats going on in states where the economy was relatively normal. Done. Whatever the number is time to spare. Whatever the number is tomorrow, dont freak out, dont worry about it. At least not yet. Ladybug body milk . No thanks. [ female announcer ] stop searching and start repairing. Eucerin professional repair moisturizes while actually repairing very dry skin. Its so powerful you can skip a day. But light enough you wont want to. Dermatologist recommended eucerin. The end of trial and error has arrived. Try a free sample at eucerinus. Com. Do you remember what republicans called their bill to repeal obama care . I do. It was an act to repeal the job killing health care law. Now, the whole job killing thing has always been a bit of a talking point myth. A nonpartisan study of the very Similar Health insurance mandate enacted six years in massachusetts showed, quote, no evidence of reduced employment as a result of Health Reform there. Still, that argument, the whole job killing obama care thing, sent the owner of red lobster and a bunch of other very carb friendly restaurant chains on a hapless misadventure in corporate protest that culminated today in a public and embarrassing and informative way. Back in october, Company Called Darden Restaurants announced they were putting more workers on parttime status in stead of fulltime to see if they would be able to limit the cost of complying with the new Health Reform law. Under the new law, Big Companies like darden have to either offer Health Insurance or pay a 2,000 fine for each fulltime employee. Over 30 employees who ends up using public subsidies to buy health care. You catch those words there, though . Fulltime employees or their equivalent. So the thinking went, if you have fewer fulltime employees, that equals less money spent on Health Coverage would equal profit. Thus began Darden Restaurants in trying to dodge obama care. The schemes are kind of unpopular in america. This week the company to lower its earning estimate for next year in part because of the bad press they got for Health Reform shenanigans. People arent going for dinner special. 2 for 25 olive garden dinners are not a good enough deal in postrecession america. Today was the end of the line in Health Reform dodging. Their test in using fewer employees, providing them with Health Insurance, it was a fail. Had to lure its earning estimate for next year in part because of the bad press it got. People arent going for their dinner specials. Today was the end of the line for the experiment. The Company Announced that the test of using fewer full time employees, it was a fail. According to the aps reporting it received a flood of feedback from customers. Both employee and customers. Turns out everyone is happier when you have healthy full time workers who are not sneezing on your food. The story of the restaurants is a funny story. There is a reason that employers give them Health Insurance. It is because they need them to be happy and to be healthy and they need people to want to work there. One of the big policy arguments is that once it is fully implemented they will drop the coverage and pay the fine. But do you know what they pay now . Nothing. No fine, no penalty at all. And yet, most provide the health care anyway. We have seen how it goes. It is 295 per employee per year. Way less than the 2,000 that you would pay under obamacare. It didnt happen. In fact, since statewide Health Reform was there, it offers Health Insurance in the country as a whole. Do you you know what kills businesses and jobs . It is losing your workers and getting a reputation as a terrible employer with Terrible Service and breadsticks handled by sick people. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat . 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With a degree in the field of counseling or psychology from capella university, youll have the knowledge to make a difference in the lives of others. Lets get started at capella. Edu unless you like sitting back watching the Republican Party tear itself to shreds, you might wonder why a senator would go to a think tank. But you should care. A lot of the thinking is done by think tanks and this move shows something important and upsetting about the direction that those tanks are taking. But let me tell you the story about the individual mandate. The requirement is the heart of romneycare and obamacare and it made its debut in at 1989 payment in the Heritage Foundation. And stewart butler, the expert argued that it was like a seatbelt and you need to have it like we have auto insurance. The mandate appeared in a Health Care Reform today act. 12 years after that. It appeared in mitt romneys plan. And that caught the eye of a politician. He said he he has demonstrated when he stepped into government that he could work in a difficult environment, take good ideas like private Health Insurance and apply them to the need to have everyone insured. They came up with the idea an alternative and they made it the law in massachusetts and got democrats to embrace it. For a think tank that is the dream. Today both the foundation and the new president agree that the individual mandate is not just bad policy, it is terrible no good constitutional policy. Their idea. Now horrible and only judged that way until they began endorsing it. Flipflopping to try and make Health Care Reform. I dont want to call it his job, but it is not shocking. It is what you do. But it is not what you do if you are a think tank. His ascension to the head of the foundation is both a Perfect Match and a disturbing one. They are where the politicians get their ideas and where the media figures look to get an informed take on whether something make sense or not. Their leaders have had one foot in the political and policy world. Arthur brooks was recruited from syracuse university. The center for American Progress probably the most activist think tank on the left. Heritage has been founded by conservatives who thought the big conservatives began his career at the center of international studies. Before the house conservatives. Hes a policies who made his mark practicing a hard edge reform of electoral politics. You dont name him head of the think tank because you are trying to improve your scholarship. It is not necessarily a criticism of him. But that is a shame that is the job that heritage seems to want done. The problem is, place could help reverse that trend. That does it for us tonight and we will see you tomorrow