I have to confess that I really debated whether or not to live-blog this speech. It's not that I don't care what the president has to say. I do. It's not that I fear he won't have good ideas. I am confident that he will have some good policy proposals to ease the unemployment crisis in our nation. My frustration here ----- and it is colossal frustration ----- is that the Republican party and the media have decided that our biggest problem is debt. In fact, all this fuming about debt is making the recovery slower and is putting us on target for a double dip recession. I blame Republicans and Republican leadership. I blame a news media unwilling to explain the costs of GOP obstructionism. And I fear that the political crisis in this nation, a crisis of our own making, is not something that Republicans care to fix.
7:10 pm
The president starts with the facts on the table: the political process and Washington are failing us. President Obama says "we must stop the political circus and help the economy." Amen.
7:15 pm
The president's plan is called "The American Jobs Act." Sounds about right. Mitch McConnell looks like he's constipated. Perhaps he doesn't understand that it's his bullshit that's placed the nation in danger?
7:16 pm
Fixing the transportation system is the first defined element. Folks are standing. Well, folks who want to take action, anyway. Hint: They aren't Republicans.
7:20 pm
He's talking about programs that have had GOP support in the past. Any chance the current GOP will be there still?
7:25 pm
The president promotes a middle class tax cut (namely, extending the payroll tax cuts).....it's not Romney's tax cuts on stock dividends, so it actually will benefit the middle class. President Obama is also promising to cover the costs and not deficit spend. I could actually care less about this and object to paying lip service to this ridiculous notion. But it is sot to the GOP nonsense and he does need their votes. Sigh.
7:27 pm
And now to the tax code...applause from the Democrats. GOP sitting on their hands. Boehner seems to be in some sort of personal private space. It's like he's not even listening. God knows he's capable of emotion. What gives, Mr. Speaker?
7:30 pm
And he's taken on the contract payment issue for small businesses. I hope that mortgage help really happens this time. Call me a skeptic but sure, let's try. Nods to manufacturing are also promising.
7:35 pm
He's taking on the anti-regulation, anti-spending dolts and calling out the canards. Eric Cantor, chief canard, is equipped with a pen and pad of paper, should be taking notes now. I suspect he's about to get schooled. Obama's defense of good government and the power of community, rooted in the accomplishments of Republican Lincoln, is making my heart sing.
7:40 pm
"The people who hired us don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months" for action. Yes, yes, yes. This is a strong speech and he's got a good plan. Per the president's request. I'm going to lift my voice for this plan. I want to be hopeful, I really do.
Showing posts with label recession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recession. Show all posts
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Saturday, July 09, 2011
No Wonder We're So Screwed
One day after I assert that we get the government we deserve, this handy chart shows us why. Oh, America.
Friday, July 08, 2011
Our Own Worst Enemy
My patience with the politics of the debt ceiling exstention was never particularly durable and, as the negotiations drag on, I've grown less amused. It would be one thing if the United States was some punk economy with little impact on the world, but that's not the case. We are the largest economy in the world and while we don't always act as if we deserve the responsibility that comes with that status, historically we've been quite reliable. We organized the Marshall Plan, we managed the Bretton Woods agreement, and we've done our best to help other nations when economic ruin came calling for them. In sum, we behaved like a responsible nation.
Then came Grover Norquist and his crowd. Norquist, convinced that government is always bad, drafted an agenda which persuaded the nation to cut taxes while government spending grew. His goal was to starve the government out of existence. He didn't care who suffered in the process. So in the 1980s, we listened to Norquist and our common sense abandoned us. Since that time, marginal tax rates for high income earners have declined, even as spending has grown. Ronald Reagan started this madness (though, as the chart indicates, he's not the most guilty party…..that distinction belongs to George W. Bush). And in Bush Junior's case, the commitment to lower taxes while spending on two ill-advised wars blew up and led us to the edge of the cliff. The recession, a function of failed government regulation, pushed us over. Now the banks and Wall Street are fine while average Americans find themselves unemployed and with stagnant incomes.
But though the debt is high, there's no reason to panic about it. For starters, big nations require large governments. But more important is the fact that some very reasonable tax increases, combined with government spending to stimulate growth can have us out of the hole in a relatively short amount of time. We'd have to make some responsible decisions, of course. That sounds easy because it is easy. Kevin Drum shows us how easy it could be.
Yet these facts are simply lost on the current GOP leadership. Instead we get endless political grandstanding and Republicans who no longer care what happens to our national economy as long as they win elections. I sometimes tell my students that we get the government that we deserve. What I mean is that elected officials work for us and we must tell them what we want. This system works when you have both an educated, responsible electorate and educated, responsible leaders. These days, we seem to have neither. So we're getting what we deserve.
I don't know about y'all, but that's rather cold comfort to me.
Then came Grover Norquist and his crowd. Norquist, convinced that government is always bad, drafted an agenda which persuaded the nation to cut taxes while government spending grew. His goal was to starve the government out of existence. He didn't care who suffered in the process. So in the 1980s, we listened to Norquist and our common sense abandoned us. Since that time, marginal tax rates for high income earners have declined, even as spending has grown. Ronald Reagan started this madness (though, as the chart indicates, he's not the most guilty party…..that distinction belongs to George W. Bush). And in Bush Junior's case, the commitment to lower taxes while spending on two ill-advised wars blew up and led us to the edge of the cliff. The recession, a function of failed government regulation, pushed us over. Now the banks and Wall Street are fine while average Americans find themselves unemployed and with stagnant incomes.
But though the debt is high, there's no reason to panic about it. For starters, big nations require large governments. But more important is the fact that some very reasonable tax increases, combined with government spending to stimulate growth can have us out of the hole in a relatively short amount of time. We'd have to make some responsible decisions, of course. That sounds easy because it is easy. Kevin Drum shows us how easy it could be.
Yet these facts are simply lost on the current GOP leadership. Instead we get endless political grandstanding and Republicans who no longer care what happens to our national economy as long as they win elections. I sometimes tell my students that we get the government that we deserve. What I mean is that elected officials work for us and we must tell them what we want. This system works when you have both an educated, responsible electorate and educated, responsible leaders. These days, we seem to have neither. So we're getting what we deserve.
I don't know about y'all, but that's rather cold comfort to me.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Assigned Reading
There's been a lot of talk about the aid that the federal government is providing to American automobile manufacturers. Like virtually everyone else, I have an opinion. But nothing brings home the reality of the situation as well as this terrific article published in the New York Times magazine last weekend. It will be assigned reading for all of my classes when I return to school in the fall.
You should read it as well.
Then send it to your friends and ask them to read it. I'll warn you now: author Jonathan Mahler isn't going to provide easy answers. But he will make you think with both your head and your heart. And it strikes me that at least a few more of us could use that combination as we approach the making of public policy.
You should read it as well.
Then send it to your friends and ask them to read it. I'll warn you now: author Jonathan Mahler isn't going to provide easy answers. But he will make you think with both your head and your heart. And it strikes me that at least a few more of us could use that combination as we approach the making of public policy.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Opposition to What?
As the Obama Administration shepherded a stimulus package through the Congress and then followed up with a budget plan identifying priorities for the next few years, I have to confess that I've been shocked at the degree to which Republicans seem to actively wish for him to fail.
I understand the idea of being a loyal opposition; of supporting an alternative solution to our national problems and advocating for that view. I can certainly respect Republicans who cast a vote against the stimulus package because it does not represent their preferred solution to the recession. But that is not what the GOP is doing. They are opposed to the Obama plan primarily because it's not their plan. But they have offered little in the form of an alternative solution, instead trotting out tired and failed policies.
On top of that, more than one Republican in Congress and the chattering classes has actively expressed the desire to see Obama's plan fail. As if that failure would have no costs. As if that failure doesn't represent the failure of our nation. It's one thing to believe that Obama's plan is not a solution; to believe that there are better options to explore. But to actively wish for his plan to fail? That's just perverse.
And it's not just perverse. It's wrong. As President Obama is reminding Americans of their strength and their durability, as he is busy reminding us that we can succeed; that we can overcome this challenge, the GOP is hoping that we don't.
They aren't offering any actual solutions to the recession; they are just saying no to the ideas on the table. Memo to the GOP: more of the same failed policies (I'm talking to you, tax cuts for the rich, off-budget wars, and stimulus checks) is NOT a solution. It's just recycling of failed ideas. The kind of recycling we must reject.
I am loath to invoke 9/11 because I am tired of the many ways that George W. Bush and his Republican allies in Congress beat us down with that idea anytime we dared to question them. But in the aftermath of September 11, we came together as a nation and we sought to support one another through the darkness. Democrats didn't actively wish for George Bush to fail as our commander in chief because they knew that if he failed, we failed as a nation.
And I wish that Republicans would understand that lesson today. If President Obama's solutions to our problems fail, our nation will suffer. And that suffering isn't abstract: its effects will be seen in real people's lives. The same real people who voted for Obama because they found something profoundly meaningful in the idea of hope.
Failure will not bring redemption to the Republican party. It will bring disaster to the nation. And I hope that's something that none of us wants.
I understand the idea of being a loyal opposition; of supporting an alternative solution to our national problems and advocating for that view. I can certainly respect Republicans who cast a vote against the stimulus package because it does not represent their preferred solution to the recession. But that is not what the GOP is doing. They are opposed to the Obama plan primarily because it's not their plan. But they have offered little in the form of an alternative solution, instead trotting out tired and failed policies.
On top of that, more than one Republican in Congress and the chattering classes has actively expressed the desire to see Obama's plan fail. As if that failure would have no costs. As if that failure doesn't represent the failure of our nation. It's one thing to believe that Obama's plan is not a solution; to believe that there are better options to explore. But to actively wish for his plan to fail? That's just perverse.
And it's not just perverse. It's wrong. As President Obama is reminding Americans of their strength and their durability, as he is busy reminding us that we can succeed; that we can overcome this challenge, the GOP is hoping that we don't.
They aren't offering any actual solutions to the recession; they are just saying no to the ideas on the table. Memo to the GOP: more of the same failed policies (I'm talking to you, tax cuts for the rich, off-budget wars, and stimulus checks) is NOT a solution. It's just recycling of failed ideas. The kind of recycling we must reject.
I am loath to invoke 9/11 because I am tired of the many ways that George W. Bush and his Republican allies in Congress beat us down with that idea anytime we dared to question them. But in the aftermath of September 11, we came together as a nation and we sought to support one another through the darkness. Democrats didn't actively wish for George Bush to fail as our commander in chief because they knew that if he failed, we failed as a nation.
And I wish that Republicans would understand that lesson today. If President Obama's solutions to our problems fail, our nation will suffer. And that suffering isn't abstract: its effects will be seen in real people's lives. The same real people who voted for Obama because they found something profoundly meaningful in the idea of hope.
Failure will not bring redemption to the Republican party. It will bring disaster to the nation. And I hope that's something that none of us wants.
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