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Monday Political Roundup
Monday, December 15, 2008
Scott Garrett, Republican congressman serving New Jersey's 5th district, discusses the latest political news from Washington.
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Good job Congressman!
"hardest hit"? "middle class"? Has absolutely *everyone* forgotten the ***poor***? The discouraged workers who have not been able to find work in months or years? Or, the multigenerational poor such as, um, New Orleans? Appalachia?
It's truly disheartening. Middle class people donate to campaigns. And vote. The poor don't.
Garret says that "the private sector is more efficient than the public sector".
Is this statement based on any factual evidence whatsoever? The private sector overpays executives, wrecked the Real Estate, Finance, Auto, and Electronics industries.
On what FACTS does Garret base his Faith that the Private sector is more "efficient"?
The "private " sector got us into this mess.
wow...the private sector is more than wall street people.
LEARN SOME ECONOMICS!
Many types of stimulus options have been thoroughly studied by economists. Tax rebates have much less of a multiplier effect than government spending!
This guy is a republican... what he says has no legitimacy.. his party is totally discredited.
What congress can do is to get rid of these anti government republicans.
COngressman Garrett basically thinks that the president should not do anything for the last 4 months (going back to September) of his administration while the house of cards built by the Republicans crumble and the thieves pocket our savings. No Leadership!. No wonder we are heading down a deep hole
Here's another helping of free money to the private sector without them having to answer to the public. The banks were given billions of taxpayer money and they still aren't making loans to the taxpayer. How can Mr. Garrett gaurantee that these tax breaks will benefit anyone outside of these companies?
This is a terrible idea! A tax holiday does absolutely nothing to help the hundreds of thousands of people who are now out of work, nor would this help lower-income people who earn less to pay taxes on. Only people in higher income brackets would really benefit, and I think they've gotten more than enough of a bailout in the last few months.
Instead of bankrupting vital social services with another bad plan to stimulate the economy, we need a real progressive taxation system, a green public works program to revitalize the economy and solve the climate crisis (the private sector wont do this), and we need to hold the individuals who created this crisis accountable in a court of law.
Ok people....to say that the republicans caused the mess we are in is insane...
the private sector is small business rather than HUUUUGGGEEEEE corporations and banks that are the REAL government...
Paul from the Bronx...he is anti-Government?...and that is a bad thing?
Rachel...you don't think that the private sector will solve the climate/energy crisis...thats exactly how it WILL be solved...an enterprising thinker that isn't part of the big government will come up with real ideas that help and the Free market will follow...not Big Gov...
*Thank* you, SB! Even Democrats hardly ever mention poor people. The plan Garrett's advocating wouldn't do much for them, although if it included a payroll tax, those who have the kind of job where this applies might get a small, short-term benefit from it.
How would it work, anyway? They'd have to suspend deductions from paychecks for those "few months," or they wouldn't be getting the money till tax time, right? I didn't hear Garrett address that.
Medicare Advantage: An example of the private sector doing something at greater cost than the public sector.
joe
government spending has always driven the economy.
think GPS, tang, hummers, pharmaceuticals, and the internet.
the free market is a fantasy used to justify not ending poverty.
#15, hjs
I seriously don't think any of the libertarians who are constantly espousing the free market have actually ever read Adam Smith through and through.
I know Milton Friedman never did.
But he did have a great Adam Smith tie!
The free market is a great idea, but, per Smith, you can't have a free market without some sort of government regulation.
They've also completely warped the notion of "the invisible hand" beyond what Smith ever intended.
It would be funny, if it weren't so sad.
eva and hjs,
I have always thought that a hard ideology either way is ill-advised. Some goods and services are better delivered via a competitive market such as shoes or cars (heh-heh). Some are considered essential in a civilized society such as education, health care and public safety. If those are left to the free market, the market will always decide that there are those not worth serving.
I also agree, eva, that any system, be it socialism or capitalism needs oversight or else the wealth gets concentrated in a few hands.
mc,
Did you say "shoes"?
Heh.
Sister, if the worst thing to happen to our fearless leader is having to duck a few shoes, he is gettin' off easy.
Or getting away with murder.
Or course, I'm appalled by any violent action against a sitting head of state. But I think tens of millions of Americans watched that video and thought, "where do I send the check for Mr. p.o.'d Iraqi journalist?"
Another ten million thought, "where can I get a really heavy rubber sole and practice my pitching?"
Myself? I am just happy Mr. Bush will be packing his trunk and heading off to Texas soon. Poor Texas.
I note that during said attack, Ms. Dana Perino got a black eye when a microphone toppled over.
They neglected to mention the metaphorical black eye that Bush has left this entire country with.
eva,
Oooh, a black eye? It is hard to avoid a little schadenfreude watching the shoe throwing. I am actually not thrilled about the black eye. But Bush was not even bruised. I abhor physical violence of any kind. However, I also know that showing the bottoms of one's shoes is a statement of the highest scorn in Arab culture. I feel for the Iraqi journalist and what he may have endured personally as well as his country.
mc,
Calling someone a "dog" is also a very big insult in the middle east, tho if you ask me, no dog could do so much harm to an entire country as the Bush leadership has harmed, well, I could name at least two countries.
I'm watching the Madoff Ponzi scheme unwind, what a depressing situation. It doesn't just tank the rich - this is going to hurt a lot of little people, too, between charities being cut and the banks taking a big hit - there will be even more layoffs of ordinary people. Sick and egregious enough what Madoff did, but where was the SEC? Some no-name money manager with no political connections was knocking on the door of the SEC for the past NINE years saying, "something stinks" about Madoff but no one listened to him. Apparently, you have to be connected to bring a complaint forward that is actually listened to/acted on.
The scary thing is that anyone who thinks it starts and ends with Madoff, well... I'm just wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. Or shoes, plural. Have you noticed that it's about once a week something blows up in our face? And it's interesting that we haven't heard a peep out of Schumer recently. What's up with that?
Hi eva,
That's true about "dog" being an insult. I think it's insulting to dogs to compare Bush to one.
I haven't really kept up on the Ponzi scheme. I am about halfway through a lengthy article about Schumer and the banking industry in yesterday's NY Times. Very interesting. The relationship looks a little cozy for my taste. I am usually a big Schumer fan, but of course, as you know, it's never all good or all bad with any of these guys.
It seems you are not listened to even if you are connected if you have a message no one wants to hear. Brooksley Born tried to sound the alarm on derivatives back in the 90's. She was in charge of and agency that regulated foreign trading of some kind; my memory is a little fuzzy. She was shut down by R. Rubin, L. Summers and A. Greenspan. Now look where we are.
It's true, it seems as though each week brings fresh Hell. Wonder what's next.
Have to go -- have a good evening.
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