Morning Must Reads: Disappointment

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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka talks with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner during a meeting of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness at the White House on February 24. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

–Senate Democrats weigh which cuts they’ll agree to, which is the essential question in ongoing budget debates, shutdown or no.

–Wisconsin: Following a 61-hour marathon session, the Assembly passes the bill curbing collective bargaining. Democratic Senators are still at large, but recall petitions are circulating. Their allies in the Assembly erupted after the vote:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f0VProvuAo&w=460]

–Liberals pass around a 2007 video of Obama on the trail that is sure to lead to disappointment:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA9KC8SMu3o&w=460]

–Providence’s school board threatens to fire city teachers. All of them.

–White House will seek sanctions against Libya, reports Marc Ambinder. The violence there continues.

–Not really helping to further the cause, David Brooks pines for a Mitch Daniels presidential bid.

–Medicare and Medicaid aren’t drowning us in red ink because we can’t figure out how to work a balance ledger. It’s  because the goods and services the government purchases under those programs are costing us so much. This chart shows what you would expect: People in wealthier countries like to spend more on health care. But the U.S. is an extreme outlier, and we’re not significantly healthier for it:


–“[Grover] Norquist, the Tomás de Torquemada of tax policy…”

–Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom: “Mitt Romney is proud of what he accomplished for Massachusetts in getting everyone covered.”

–Chris Christie gets yet another longform profile; it’s timely, but doesn’t break much new ground.

–And courtesy of Ishaan Tharoor, who covered her speech in Hong Kong, what to expect when Palin visits India.

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