The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Plutarch
Tax Cut Extension Compromise Bill Passes the House As Is 277-148:
The First Bipartisan Bill Goes to President Obama: Thumbs UP!
Am I surprised that my own Congressman (Elijah Cummings) was quoted griping about the President's negotiating a lousy deal? Of course not. (There's not much a conservative blogger can do in a district where a bad year for Cummings is winning by 40 points.)
The progressive House members, sensing the numbers weren't with them, agreed to a separate vote on the controversial estate
One of the interesting side dramas was Mike Pence's (R-IN) opposition to the bill, where Romney and Palin have also done the same (as well as Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party favorite legislator). I read this as strongly indicative that Pence is posturing himself for a possible White House bid; the first three, undoubtedly, have calculated that Presidential primary voters will side with their criticisms over the concessions Republican leaders made to clinch a deal with Obama. I think they are mistaken; Congressional approval ratings are rock bottom, and I think it was to the benefit of both parties to show they could work together and get something done for the benefit of the country. But given the fact that the GOP had little leverage beyond the threat of a filibuster in the Senate, I think they got a decent deal on the tax rate extensions on income, long-term investment taxes, and the estate taxes. Most Republicans and conservatives will view the above politicians' opposition as politically opportunistic and unnecessarily putting extension of the tax cuts at risk.
How the GOP Stole Christmas
(From Santa Obama and His Legislative Elves): Thumbs UP!
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell dropped 1923 pages from the Democrats' $1.1T omnibudget bill (to one page essentially extended government funding several weeks starting next week), allowing the new Republican-controlled House to tackle the budget without over 300 pages in universally-despised earmarks; Majority Leader Reid, in the face of increasing pushback from Republicans, unhappy with the tone-deaf budget bill just 6 weeks after the landmark mid-terms, announced he would work with McConnell on a continuing resolution.
Zogby International Polling Announces Person/Event of the Year/Decade (2000-2010)
Here are the winners of the various categories:
- News Story of the Decade: 9/11 Tragedies
- Person of the Decade: George Bush
- News Story of the Year: BP Oil Spill
- Person of the Year: Sarah Palin
I have to concede the 9/11 tragedies were epic events and certainly transformed American politics, with many events stemming from that: the War on Terror, the Patriot Act, a supersized Department of Homeland Security, etc. But I'm curious about three broad themes which the Zogby poll did not pick up on:
- The Economic Tsunami of 2008. More broadly, we could coalesce the Nasdaq, oil and real estate bubble crashes as manic markets driven by rampant speculative activity at market tops, seemingly all but ignored by market makers, policy makers and regulators. It sounds easy to say after the fact, but when you have investors escalating trading on margins, investing gurus arguing there is a new paradigm of investment where profits don't matter, houses being sold at prices outpacing median wage gains, or energy costs doing the same, policymakers seemed to be oblivious and ill-prepared. I'm just puzzled at the poll results (I think elections were runner up stories to 9/11). When you look at the "Great Recession" or one of the worst decades on record for job growth, why are the tragedies costing 3000 lives the biggest stories over, say, some 15 million unemployed Americans or nearly 42,000 people a year dying in auto accidents? I am not insensitive to the unspeakable tragedies, and I have little doubt that our intelligence and police have prevented additional horrific incidents.
- The Rise of the Global Economy. It should hardly seem surprising that China, with over 3 times the population of the United States, has become the world's largest consumer of fossil-based fuels. But China over the past year has leapfrogged over Japan as the world's second largest economy (with the US lead in plain sight) with increasing dominance as a world manufacturer. India, the world's largest population of English-speakers and strong programs in math, science and technology, has become a global outsourcing center. China, India and Brazil have rapidly growing middle classes, with increasing demand for commodities, e.g., oil, agricultural products, cement, etc. The United States faces growing competition for various commodity imports. However, the long-unbalanced US trade deficit has also flooded American dollars across the globe and made our economy more sensitive to foreign holdings, e.g., nearly $1T in American Treasury debt held by China. The American deficits must be serviced, at the expense of crowding out expenditure for government operational expenses and/or investment dollars for the private sector.
- The Transformational Impact of Advanced Technology. This shows up in a variety of ways, e.g., online degree programs, social networking, telecommuting or videoconferencing; the increasing prominence of Internet sales portals, bloggers and the news cycle, multi-functional communication devices, and the WikiLeaks challenge to diplomacy and intelligence; etc.
News story of the year? My choice appears in a subcategory, but given the size of the health care sector in the national economy, the health care reform law, rammed down the nation's throat without a single Republican vote after Scott Brown's (R-MA) historic election as filibuster-sustaining #41, is hands-down the biggest story. Not only was this sold under blatantly misleading statistics, including unlikely, unprecedented savings in entitlements (which themselves are flirting with insolvency) (consider, for example, the constant doc fixes, where automatic cost savings for doctor charges have been constantly reversed), but it includes an unprecedented individual mandate and unilaterally raises eligibility for Medicaid, traditionally a shared fiscal responsibility, with cash-strapped states. This law was a contributing factor for the recent 63-seat conversion in the House mid-terms; the GOP ran on a 'repeal and replace', public reaction has continued to be heavily negative, and there has been a flood of state lawsuits against the law. This is a law which can, if not already has impacted pricing, choices and availability of health care insurance of nearly every American. Whereas the BP oil spill threatened fragile coastlines, was a severe blow to coastal economies, and got massive media attention, its effects on the economy were more limited.
Sarah Palin the person of the year? Are you kidding me? Any regular reader of this blog knows I'm not a Sarah Palin fan, but with her sky-high unfavorable ratings (even within her home state) and controversial resignation as governor, she is not a viable candidate for President, and she has had a very poor track record in a blow-out year for GOP candidates, notably backing losing Senate candidates in Alaska, Delaware, California, Nevada and elsewhere. Other than exploiting the Tea Party for her own political ambition (obviously nobody in the Tea Party has noticed she ran for governor based on building the Bridge to Nowhere (not to mention chasing other earmarks as mayor and governor), she raised taxes on oil companies, and the state budgets hit new spending records under her tenure), I don't know why anyone seriously considers her relevant; her only gimmick is being hypercritical of the administration through social networking outlets and expressing predictable, derivative opinions; she lacks any credible policy expertise or constructive agenda and engages in politically correct rhetoric and political spin. I think it's likely more substantive Republicans and conservatives find her to be a "useful idiot".
Who do I see as Man of the Year? I'll be releasing that in a post over Christmas weekend. HINT: My choice was not among the Zogby poll's top vote getters. I think once you read the post, you'll think my choice was obvious given a number of recent posts.
Political Humor
Christmas is only 10 days away, but there’s still time for last minute shopping. Ten days isn’t really “last minute.” - Jimmy Kimmel
[Believe me, the Democrats were trying to cram as many earmarks as they can into 2000-page omnibudget bills to Santa Obama before the lame duck session finally dies. For example, do those arsenic-based microbes NASA found at the bottom of a California lake have a phone to call home?]
Two feet of snow in the Midwest. But the good news is, these are the first shovel-ready jobs Obama has come up with since becoming president. - Jay Leno
[That's not true. I have it on good authority the White House briefing room is cleaned daily...]
Musical Interlude: Holiday Tunes
Bing Crosby, "I'll Be Home For Christmas"
