The GOP Debate

I caught a little of the GOP debate from the Reagan Library. It was quite a spectacle as each man tried to be more conservative than the other. And not the compassionate kind. You could have titled the debate, "People We Don't Like and The Things We Will Do to Them."

One item that keeps getting emphasized are tax cuts and creating a "pro busines agenda." What is it that we have had in the last six years? Have taxes ever been lower? Has their ever been a political era more friendly to business, inwhich more regulations have been scuttled, more environmental laws ignored, more loopholes, cut outs and safe havens created? Has there ever been a time when a government has stooped lower to do the work of its corporate patrons? Can you really look at the Department of the Interior or the FDA and say these guys get in the way of making a buck?


I don't get it. If by "pro business" you really mean low taxes and no regulation in the name of the public, where is it that taxes are lower, regulations less, and there is indoor plumbing? Yet the candidates keep talking like this is the old USSR. It seems we have gone about as far as you can go on the laissez faire train and we see where that gets us -- a carnivorous, cronyist, and cruel capitalism.

Edwards is Out

John Edwards is dropping out of the presidential race. I guess he is simply unable to compete with the prospective First Black President and First Woman President. While Edwards fought a good fight, it seems the mass media made this a two superstar race and Edwards' singular focus on poverty and corruption started to seem boring next to the soap opera slap down between Sens. Clinton and Obama. I credit Edwards for -- at least for a moment -- shining a light into the other America. The one we do not like to talk about. The one we like to pretend is someone's else's fault.

I cannot top Barak Obama's assessment:

John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn't popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who's up and who's down, he made a nation focus again on who matters -- the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington. John and Elizabeth Edwards have always believed deeply that we can change this -- that two Americans can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose. So while his campaign may end today, the cause of their lives endures for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America."

So Much for Swords into Ploughshares

This morning, Sen John McCain assured us that "There's going to be other wars ... I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars. We will never surrender but there will be other wars."

McCain would not say who he plans to fight.

This approach when combined with McCain's attacks on the Democrats for wanting to "surrender," and the Suit Called Romney for supporting a "timetable for withdrawal," gives us a nice foreshadowing of the eventual campaign. The big themes are: Republicans are manly men who understand the ways of the world and the necessity of violence. Democrats are sissy idealists always afraid of sinking their hands into the bloodbath. Republicans represent honor and victory. Democrats represent shame and defeat. (Think about it. The Republican primary has become so bellicose that a candidate who reasonably suggests that the US and Iraq might want to agree on a time to pull out our troops is criticized as a coward. Only endless, undefined war now fits the bill.)

You may call it simplistic and adolescent, (and I do) but it is a message with resonance far beyond the VFW halls. It is always a smart play to convince people they are besieged and under attack and that you are uniquely qualified to protect them. It is, however, sad that Sen. McCain appears so willing to tear a page from the Bush playbook and sadder still that he appears ready to lay the groundwork for a self fulfilling prophecy. Walk into a bar looking for a fight, you will usually get one.

So it goes.....

Tax Cut Fever.. Catch it Soon

Congress just approved some tax cuts. Rudy Giluiani wants a big tax cut. John McCain now supports tax cuts he used to oppose. Tax cuts are the patent medicine of our political culture. They can solve every financial crisis and can ward off evil bacteria in a healthy economy. Even Democrats are buying tax cuts by the case.

Bunk um. Despite all the supply side hoohy surrounding them, there is no evidence that tax cuts increase federal revenues, stimulate the economy or produce anything that even looks like the Laffer curve. (Although a fat lot of money has been spent making sure that Americans believe all these things to be true.) Moreover, a reliance on tax cuts essentially mortgages our future and allows our current level of mediocre government to continue. For example:

Tax cuts will not repair our roads, ports, or air transportation infrastructure.

Tax cuts will not get us a world class public education system or even a third world class national healthcare program.

Tax cuts will not ameliorate our growing national debt, the principal of which enriches foreign governments and the interest on which grows to be a larger portion of the federal budget each year.

Tax cuts only attract the lobbyists that already infect our political system.

Tax cuts will not give us a federal government that can respond robustly to real crises like hurricanes, earthquakes or disease. Tax cuts just make our government weaker and less nimble.

Tax cuts will not help our current over concentartion of wealth. In fact, tax policy has been one of the prime instruments the GOP has used to create the massive wealth inequality we now face.

From whence did the tax cut fever come? Perhaps the attraction of tax cuts is that they allow us to ignore all those other problems. Perhaps, in our uniquely American way, we are convinced that we can solve our problems by contributing less to the common good and buying an X box instead. Whatever the rationale, we need to ramp up a real economic policy or we will be faced with a country mortgaged to the hilt and a government too weak to do anything about it. I credit Mike Huckabee for being the only candidate on the GOP side to yell "shennanigans."

This Week in The News

This week, students at La Sapienza University in Rome protested a planned visit by Pope Benedict the XVI. In particular, students and faculty protested the Pope's statement (made while he was a Cardinal) that the 1633 trial and conviction of Galileo was "reasonable and just." Galileo was tried for heresy after insisting that the earth revolved around the sun. He was forced to publicly recant his (true) statement. In response to the protests, Vatican Radio has condemned the protestors for "censoring the Vatican." Asked if they found any irony in the Catholic Church accusing others of censorship, a Vatican spokesperson said, "Irony... no. Come to think of it, there was something going around Tuesday, when we were telling people condoms do not prevent AIDS, but we just thought there were some bad prosciutto. It could have been irony though...."

This week, Rep. Robert Wexler (D Fl) called for the House Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment proceedings against V.P Dick Cheney. Wexler's pleas stems from an impeachment petition currently in the Committee dealing with manipulation of Iraq intelligence, torture of foreign detainees, the outing of a CIA covert agent, and the unlawful firing of US attorneys. Responding to Wexler's speech, the Republican National Committee's Alex Conant stated that Wexler was simply playing to the "far Left." (real quote) Asked who he believed was in the "far left," Conant replied, "You know who I am talking about. That little cabal that doesn't like torture, thinks the government should tell the truth when preparing for war, should not out its own secret agents, who get all hot over a little undisclosed surveillance. They are a small but vocal minority."

This week, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and other banks announced they were all receiving cash infusions from investment trusts controlled by governments in the Mideast, and Asia. For Citigroup and Merrill, the investments come on the heels of massive melt downs due to the sub prime mortgage crisis." Asked if the government bailouts did not contradict the laissez faire message that Citigroup and Merrill espouse and lobby for, a Merrill spokesman noted, "If you check our record, you will see that we have openly been against government assistance when it involves actual people getting assistance from our government. The bailout of a wealthy corporation, by a foreign government --- why that is something else entirely. I mean when you are handing out $2 million in bonuses [Merrill] you really can't expect us to take the hit."

This week, Congress continues its probe on the whereabouts of a number of videotapes depicting the interrogation of prisoners at Guantanomo Bay. As part of the investigation the Justice Department sent a team into the man sized vaults of V.P. Dick Cheney in the hope of locating tapes. The team came up empty though. After two days of searching, Special Agent Luis Gonzalez said, "We looked everywhere. Even in the cabinets labeled 'Pelosi -- Secret Lesbo' and "Terrorist Loving Sissies,' but locating a single tape of torture in an entire vault of the Vice President's is tough. Every time we thought we found it, it just turned out to be another snuff film from the V.P's private collection."


This week, Congress and the President agreed on a stimulus plan in the hopes of staving off a recession. The plan would chiefly involve rebates to taxpayers in the neighborhood of $600 and tax cuts to corporations. The President successfully defeated a Democratic attempt to include extensions of food stamp, summer work programs, and unemployment insurance in the package. Asked why he refused to extend direct aid to the poorest Americans, the President stated, "A compassionate conservative might have gone along with that, but that is so Bush 1.0. In case you guys haven't noticed, Bush 3.0 is a fiscal conservative who watches every dime, particularly those not spent on my base of upper income taxpayers. Besides we have a $13 trillion economy. Let me tell you, to stimulate an economy that size, you need something more than the french tickler you bought in the mens room for a quarter. By the way, Bush 3.0 is also a little salty ... got a taste for the off color quip ... likes to mix it up in a locker room type of way... 3.0 is a rough and tumble type. "

This week, the GOP presidential train moved to Florida where the candidates were forced to focus on the economy. While all the candidates -- with the exception of Mike Huckabee -- trotted out the familiar Republican refrain of tax cuts, the suit known as Mitt Romney also stressed his vast experience in the private sector and the millions he has made as a venture capitalist and leveraged buyout specialist. Asked how that experience could be brought to bear on the American economy, Romney answered, " Just like the deals I worked in the private sector, I would wait for the value of the country's assets to become severely depressed. I would then buy them at a firesale prices, carve them up and sell them off to foreign investors at a tidy profit. Then I would set up a dummy partnership and offload all our Iraq war debt. Trust me.... I've done this hundreds of times and made millions."

Soft Power... Its All the Rage

This morning, Defense Secretary Gates emphasized his view that the US should concentrate more on "soft power" in its foreign affairs and not on military strength. (Soft power referring to diplomacy, foreign aid, and overall persuasion geared toward influencing events in foreign countries). This is the third time I have heard the term "soft power" coming from a military or Republican speaker. Maybe its catching on.

Gates also had some illustrative examples of how skewed our priorities are toward warfare: 1) the Pentagon spends more on healthcare than the entire State Department budget, 2) the entire US diplomatic corps could not man a single carrier group, 3) USAID used to employ over 9,000 people. It now employs about 3,000.

When your mindset and budget are so skewed toward war making, is it any surprise that military solutions are privileged over diplomatic solutions.

Me Generation

The following was posted in response to a NYT piece on the narcissism of the "Me Generation." Worth repeating. (Other posts said the whole idea of generational narcissism is just Baby Boomer projection.)

I feel growing up my parents and teachers spoke about historical leaders and statesmen and their virtues and ability to take stance and positions. However, nowadays it seems that the role models are dictated by Fortune;s list of the weathiest persons and the excesses of the uber-rich. We, as a society whether it be in developing countries, or the Western world glorify triumph and materialistic self wealth over trials and tribulations overcome far more than we recognize selfless contributions to those who make an impact in the life of the less fortunate. Over the last two decades, primarily due to the globalization of media and technology making - Andy Warhol's comment '15 minutes of fame' has been proven true time and time again. Thus, I feel its the environment, society and culture that has made today's youth (I am guilty of it myself) narcissistic and the luxury of everyone maintaining their individuality has transgressed into narcissism.

Huckabee Is An Evangelical Nut Case... Who Knew

Mike Huckabee is making the rounds in Michigan. On Monday he said he supported constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and abortion:

"What we need to do," he said, "is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than trying to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family."

Gee .. and he seemed like such a nice man, playing the bass and all....

Michigan's GOP Primary

Today Michigan Republicans go to the polls in what appears to be a battle between hometown boy Mitt Romney and the resurgent Sen. McCain. (Due to a schoolboys game of chicken between the Michigan democrats and the national party, Michigan Democrats will have no voice in selecting a candidate.) According to local pundits McCain is gaining on Romney and may well beat him, but neither candidate is drawing enthusiastic supporters and neither has had much success convincing Michiganders they have a plan to cure the state's economic ills.

There is something richly ironic about Michigan Republicans being turned off by the candidates who preach the same message that helped sink the state's economy. So called free trade forced us into competition with third world countries. Resistance to national health care undermined our auto industries fight against Japanese imports and Canadian factories. Deregulation aided and abetted a foreclosure boom. Tax cuts left the state's infrastructure in a shambles. One wonders if any local GOPers are connecting the dots.

Random Thoughts on Obama

Two thoughts. First, all this business over Hillary Clinton's remarks about the passage of the Civil Rights Act are just overheated nonsense. The Obama camp has played it for all its worth in a well timed racial mau mau right before two primaries heavy on African American participation. It is clear that Barak has got more game than I thought. I am just not sure I like it.

Second, the Obama camp put out their economic stimulus package over the weekend. It is well to the right of anything put out by Edwards or HRC. By that I mean it relies on all sorts of tax cutting Laffer Curve hijinks instead of direct aid to states or individuals. Sen. Obama seems to believe that we can repair our economy simply by fattening corporate balance sheets. Trouble is, corporate America tends to keep a lot of that fat for themselves. This, combined with Obama's healthcare reform proposal leads to the conclusion that Obama is not as progressive as many like to think. I fear that if elected, we would see another administration given over to the type of compromise and triangulation that the Clinton presidency loved. While that strategy stopped the bleeding, it did not repair the wound inflicted by twelve years of policies that favored the wealthy over the rest of us.

I am making no comment on Charles Johnson's stupid remarks about Obama. Mr. Johnson has always been enamored with himself, and he sounded quite righteous for a man who has made a vast fortune peddling the worst stereotypes of his own race. The Clinton people should have known better than to put him on the dais. They also should have known better than to put such a ridiculous spin on the story.

Lowering the Bar

Ok, so many of the conservative blogs and even the mainstream media have been trumpeting the idea that "the surge is working." One can only assume this is a prelude to even grosser displays of triumphalism. Perhaps a new jet landing caper.

Saying the surge is working is a bit like a physician who mistakenly opens up his patient's artery assuming it was a vein. (Other surgeons told him it was an artery but he did not listen and called them weak.) While the patient is bleeding out massively, she loses brain function, function in her major organs and loses both her feet. Finally, the surgeon repairs the artery on the third try leaving behind a vegetative and debilitated patient who will be entirely dependent on others and may still succumb to infection at any time. He then wonders why no one congratulates him on his success.

This Week In The News

This week the Justice Department opened an investigation into a $52 million contract the government awarded former Attorney General John Ashcroft. According to the Newark Star Ledger, the contract is for 18 months of monitoring a New Jersey pharmaceutical company that had settled a case with government. (The case dealt with kickbacks paid to doctors to recommend the company's products). The contract was not subject to competitive bidding and it appears no other firm or lawyers were considered. Asked if he was concerned about the appearance of favoritism and cronyism, US Attorney Chris Christie stated, "Not really. a) We did nothing technically wrong, b) Even if we did something wrong, the other side does it to c) John Ashcroft is a born again Christian and therefore immune from prosecution or d) this happened two months ago, It is ancient history."


This week, Lt. Col Steven Jordan was cleared of all charges related to his role in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Stevens was the only officer to be indicted in the scandal and his indictment sent sighs of relief through the pentagon. Army spokesperson Sal Mineo stated ebulliently, "This whole thing was the result of a group of bad apples who came up with sophisticated and humiliating interrogation tactics on their own with out any input or oversight from their superior officers. Combine this with news that less people are dead this month than last and we are off the hook. No more Defcon Four ... Return to State of Uncritical Moral Depravity."

This week, Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that he had converted to Catholicism. Blair, whose wife is Catholic, stated that he did not convert while in office for fear the British public would think he was a "Holy Joe" or "Crackers." Asked what initiated his conversion, Blair stated, "I think it was working with your President Bush on Iraq. You see, Bush is quite faith based you know. And I was impressed at how easily he just invaded a country and lowered a death sentences on hundreds of thousands of people without any evidence. Then I realized, that's the trick see? When you have the faith, you don't need the truth because you feel like you have already got it. If you talk to god, and he doesn't box your ears right there, you are spot on. As time went on, people started to get quite brassed off with me as the body count grew. I started to doubt myself, but not Bush. Said he prayed on it and he remains confident in his choice. A mess all over the Middle East and he sleeps like a baby. I mean... you can't beat that can you? Its like never having to say your're sorry, never having to really think about anything you have done. As long as you say a little prayer, and don't get struck by lightening ... you are good to go. Well top marks I say."

This week the New Republic uncovered a number of articles that appeared in various newsletters published by GOP presidential hopeful, Ron Paul. The articles, which contain no by lines, are chock full of paranoid fantasy, anti semitism, racism, predictions of the coming race war and praise for the militia movement and Klansmen David Duke. Notably, the newsletters (with titles like Ron Paul's Liberty Report) were found in the archives of libraries in Texas and Wisconsin and were not provided by the Paul campaign. Asked if his past as a racist wing nut may effect the avuncular image he projects on the trail, Paul was confident, "I doubt it. Look, everyone has had a favorite uncle that they found out was a member of the Silver Shirts or the Klan or the Birch Society. We just dismiss it as an affectionate pecadillo, 'Oohh there goes uncle Jess on the Jewish bankers, must be Christmas.... or 'Nothing says Easter dinner like Aunt May railing on the mud people.' We think of racism like picking your nose or buttoning your shirt wrong. Its not really bad... just uncomfortable."

Kristol Gets a New Gig

Bill Kristol of the ultra conservative Weekly Standard just got himself a weekly column in the NYT. I suspect the Times will pitch this as an attempt to diversify their editorial page. It is true. People who have been consistently wrong about most things in the last ten years are woefully under represented in the back of the front section. Maybe the Times should apply this same theory to the Business section. They can have a weekly investing column written by a guy who lost millions in the market and declared personal bankruptcy.

In reality, I think the move has more to do with the fraternity between the clan Kristol and the clan Sulzberg/Rosenthal.

Iowa

A few thoughts on the caucuses:

The most impressive win to me was Edwards' second place finish. He has been outspent by his rivals by about 6-1 and the media's focus on the Hillary v. Barack race turned those two candidates into superstars. Those were significant hurdles.

A lot of focus has been placed on HRC's personality for her failure to ignite voters. To me, she just went moderate way too early. She spent way too much time telling us how very conventional she is. We all see where conventional beltway candidates get us.

I was glad to see Romney chastened. The man has no principles, is the privileged son of a powerful family, and sounds like a recording of the 1980 GOP convention. He acts like cutting taxes is in the Book of Mormon.

Huckabee may be around for a while. Due perhaps to lavish spending on public education, New Hamshire has few evangelicals. However, the next primary is in bible rich South Carolina where believing is knowing.

Huh...

This morning in The Chicago Tribune, George Will termed neo conservative Shelby Steele, "America's foremost black intellectual." Huh? I suppose the statement is accurate if he said, "America's foremost black intellectual for white people looking for someone to hold them blameless." Hey George, ever heard of this guy called John Hope Franlin, or Cornell West or .... Maybe they don't read those guys in Northern Virginia.

This Week In The News

This week, the NYT told the sordid tale of Giuliani Partners' representation of Purdue Pharma. Faced with both DEA and Justice Department investigations into alleged misrepresetations regarding the painkiller Oxycontin, Purdue turned to America's Mayor to bail them out. For a hefty consulting fee, Rudy was able to derail the DEA probe, but the company and its executives were eventually indicted and pled guilty to various criminal charges brought by the US Attorney in Virgina. All this despite some six attempts by Rudy G to convince the ASUSA to drop the case. Commenting on his role as lobbyist to the pecunious, Rudy G stated that " I have consistently and proudly protected the privileged and powerful from any hint of accountability and have spun there stories faithfully. Without me, many an executive would be without a lear jet, many a stock option would be under water, many a contractor would be without a lucrative defense contract. I am nothing if not the Mayor of America Inc."

This week, the Wall Street Journal, reported on Ameriquest Mortgage's expensive efforts to avoid state regulation of its high risk [sub prime] mortgage business. Seems that Ameriquest and other mortgage lenders such as Wells Fargo spent tens of millions lobbying state legislatures, hoping to avoid any regulation on the type of high risk mortgage loans that eventually triggered the current mortgage meltdown. Speaking on behalf of Ameriquest, Morgan Crist stated, "Listen, it was the 2004. Bush is in office. We wrote a check. Said we were from the business community. Mumbled something about burdensome regulation and letting the market decide and sure enough, the bills we were concerned about disappeared in some committee like fruitcake at the holidays."

Last week, hundreds of supporters of former Governor Mike Huckabee jammed the Des Moines Sheraton to hear their candidate speak. What they got was a one hour sales pitch from Quixtar, the internet arm of the pyramid marketing giant, Amway. Huckabee appeared only after an hour and then only briefly. According to the Chicago Tribune, Huckabee agreed to attend the event because of his close ties to the conservative families that own Amway as well as their associated right wing foundations. Asked if his open alliance with Amway could hurt his candidacy, Huckabee responded, "Not really. See, my problem is that many perceive me as some sort of prarie populist. I needed to reassure voters that I was firmly in the pocket of corporate America and the conervative agenda they promote. No maverick I. No sir. Big Big Money behind everything I do. " Huckabee then attempted to sell some five gallons of liquid soap to the assembled reporters.