I thought it might be fun to list the things that don't seem to be anyone's problem as far as the upcoming Presidential race and Washington itself goes.
- Climate Change
- Ending the war in Afghanistan
- The Arab Spring - particularly America's involvement in Libya, but not Bahrain.
These are the three that come to mind immediately. So far everything from the Republicans has just looked like a circus sideshow and when it comes down (supposedly) to Romney and Obama... I can't imagine anything talked about will be anything more than non-issues and perhaps ' Job Creators' vs ' Wealthiest 1%' which really probably doesn't mean anything to either them and the implementation of legislation by either of them as President is bound to be more moot garbage.
I've said it before, but it bears repeating now... It's stupid, silly shit.
Also, sorry Rachel Maddow. I can't watch another hour on Newt Gingrich no matter how stupid he is. I really don't care.
Frankly, in a day and age when Congress can't even pass routine spending bills without bringing the government to the verge of a shutdown, those issues don't matter as much to "ordinary Americans".
I still can't make up my mind on why Obama and his gang spent so much of their first two years doing half assed health reform. Did he really think it was the most pressing thing on his plate, or was he just tap dancing to distract from the fact that he wasn't doing anything much or really effective about OWS type issues?
The credit card reform is a toothless wonder.
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
If we want to change things so a similar problem doesn't occur again:
1. Investment banks legislatively separated (again) from the regular banks.
2. Stop Fed lending at no interest to banks- banks that then take that money and lend it to make a profit- that's subsidizing banks for no reason.
3. Set a standard for what is Too Big Too Fail and then legislate limitations and break up the titans that exceed those limitations, so that there are no banks considered TBTF.
4. 10 year moratorium on working for Wall Street or affiliated law firms after working for the SEC.
5. Regulate derivatives.
6. Teeth to the Consumer Protection Agency.
7. Prosecute the massive frauds- this means jail time for the players that can be proven to have broken the law.
8. Tax Hedge Funds at a higher rate.
Maybe they could focus on these issues? There are others that deserve a grown up discussion, but I doubt we'll hear much about them either.
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
- Climate Change
- Ending the war in Afghanistan
- The Arab Spring - particularly America's involvement in Libya, but not Bahrain.
I do wish there would be some discussion of Afghanistan and Climate Change, but you are right- probably won't come up.
The Arab Spring may come up, but the US role in the history of the region and what support it offers today is damning and hypocritical, so it will be only be mentioned in terms of ominous warnings about how the "irrational" arabs and persians are easily swayed by the nefarious Muslim Brotherhood, "OMG Iran: bomb now, or possibly sooner?" debates, and Obama taking as much credit as possible for any positive spin that can be shaped, and Romney torpedoing that if possible, as long as the backstory is left untouched.
It floored me to recently listen to the former Drug Czar claim that the US could take credit for spreading democracy in places like Egypt- his debate partner pointed out the long history of the US supporting, funding, and propping up Mubarak's dicatorship, as one of many oppressive tyrants the US supported and supports in the Middle East. I find it equally fascinating that the discovery of a massive trove of documents showing the CIA using Libya as one of their black-site prison locales, to outsource the torture of terror suspects was mentioned and then promptly dropped.
Don't get upset, it is all just a reality TV show for the proles.
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What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. ... The origin of myths is explained in this way.
Is it Constitutional for states to ban gay marriage? If yes, how can this work if couples move from gay friendly to gay phobic states?
We really do need to start having grown up discussions about Social Security, to a lesser degree, and Medicare, to a major degree.
Meanwhile, the Super Committee can not play nice together. I wonder what the specifics of the automatic spending cuts are if they fail to reach an agreement? I wasn't paying attention to that part.
Driven skyward by deep tax cuts, two foreign wars, a financial crisis and the start of a severe recession, all during President George W. Bush's administration, the nation's debt has only expanded under President Barack Obama.
The annual budget deficit, pegged to be $1.3 trillion this year, has fallen slightly under Obama. But the tax code is still riddled with revenue-reducing loopholes and sharply higher Medicare spending looms ahead as the baby boom ages, painting a dire long-term U.S. fiscal picture.
Markets and voters have grown increasingly frustrated by the inability of the Obama administration and a politically polarized Congress to take firm action. Public approval ratings for Congress are at rock-bottom levels.
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
It was one of those countries that starts wit a "K". There's Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, and...uh...I forget the other one. Where the fuck is Ron Paul when you need him?
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Like a Koala that crapped a rainbow in your brain!
David Gergen isn't one of my favorite common taters, but this op ed does a decent job of tying together a few separate pieces of the current political landscape and non-dynamic. It fits with the thread.
David Gergen isn't one of my favorite common taters, but this op ed does a decent job of tying together a few separate pieces of the current political landscape and non-dynamic. It fits with the thread.
Republicans complain that federal spending under President Obama has gone up dramatically and cuts should come there before any new taxes.
The increased federal spending was mostly the $800 billion stimulus package. The package is clearly the reason the recession wasn't worse, and is one-time spending. And where the Republicans say the cuts should come from is the FULLY FUNDED Social Security and Medicare programs that HAVE NEVER CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEFICIT EVER. So that narrative Gergen offers is missing some key points.
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Democrats say that the rich have increased their wealth much more rapidly than the other 99% of Americans, while their taxes have gone down, so that the first order of business is to raise taxes on them.
This is David Gergen playing the first half of the functionaire game of faux journalism. I don't care what the Democrats say. I want to know what the facts are. Is it factually true that the rich have increased their wealth much more rapidly than the other 99% of Americans? Then you don't need qualifiers and the "he said, she said" pretend objective viewpoint.
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Both sides have valid points, worthy of debate.
This is generally the second half of the functionaire game. "Group A says life evolved over hundreds of millions of years. Group B says magic elves built a humongous flying monkey from their moonbase that pooped our world out of its butt. Both sides have valid points, worthy of debate." Gergen is mailing in beltway pablum.
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But such contentious disagreements have characterized our politics since the dawn of the republic, and in almost all crises of the past, political leaders have worked out compromises.
Things were better in the past, check.
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Our "leaders" of today, however, have tossed aside the wisdom of the Founders.
The Supercomittee couldn't agree to draconian austerity for everybody but the rich, like the Republicans wanted- only because the Democrats actually wanted some tax increases on the wealthy- something that actually would reduce deficits. NOT because they weren't willing to hack the shit out of Social Security and Medicare. They had the chainsaw idling. So let's not be so very sad the deal to fuck the working class couldn't be finalized.
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A related concern is how financial markets will react.
Yes, what will the shadow policy-makers and puppet masters want us to do? How can we please them?
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Partisans on both sides are grievously failing the country.
More of the "both sides do it" bullshit, though certainly both sides of the Business Party do suck ass.
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It is not as if Congress and the White House are working productively together to solve other problems. They have done almost nothing in recent months to create more jobs and to shore up most homeowners.
Just to clarify here- Obama proposed a Jobs Bill, which the Republican-controlled House axed, repeatedly. What the White House could have done to reach agreement with the Republicans- who actually want the economy to get worse, as their election strategy to glean a few more percentage points for the Republican candidate- is unclear. The idea that if only "both sides could reach a compromise" makes sense only when both sides actually have the willingness to compromise.
Obama and the White House have plenty to be blamed for, but this recent inability to get a Jobs Bill through isn't one of them.
@ chunksmediocrites, you da best, man! That was the perfect critique. If I may...
From Gergen: That's why this failure of the super committee represents a reckless, irresponsible gamble by our "leaders" in Washington. It's difficult to remember a Congress that has put the nation so much at risk in the service of ideology and to hold onto office. Partisans on both sides are grievously failing the country.
Partisans on one side trying their best to stick it to Joe Sixpack, partisans on the other standing around with thumbs up hineys letting it happen. That's the failure.
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
Issues that Don't Matter 2012
Job Creators' vs '
Linear Mode
