Congress on Failure: It's Our Motto

And now for the final part on how our political leaders succumbed to their lesser sides of their philosophies.

Congress passed and President Obama signed the extension of the Bush (now Obama) era tax-rates. Everyone in fool-ville is hooting for joy because they all agreed (compromised in agreement anyway) that this is best thing since Congress figured out how they could just raise the nation's debt ceiling. It's not just the the middle-class got a couple more dollars in temporary tax relief (temporary because with the debt increase they will have to pay it back and even more), but most importantly the very well to do got really big tax relief gifts from the politicians. These abundant and lavish gifts are a repayment by our legislators' to the wealthy for their control of the political funding machinery that runs the parties' campaign financing processes.

Now we cannot fault the politicians for bowing to the pressures that the well-healed special-interest groups exert, after all the most important thing is getting elected not what you have to give up or agree to to get there. This is a parallel to the public's lemming-like race toward whatever politician promises to support some totally meaningless or inconsequential policy or position that is more critical to the electorate than any of the responsibilities of a free and democratic society. Besides you can flood the media with tons of lies that satisfy and entertain the public while completely avoiding any meaningful discussion of issues and solutions to the problems that are the true business of the government and the governed.

But surely the continuing the tax-rates at this time are essential to the economy, and particularly the lower tax rate for the rich. All the economists that the government consulted agreed that now was not the time to raise taxes, because consumer spending accounts for the bulk of the economy and … Uh, Wait! The consumers, most of them anyway, are not wealthy and the upper rate tax rate doesn't apply to them. I am sure that the upper 1% spends a lot more than you or me, but I also know that it is the rest of us that makes and sustains the economy. So the tax-cuts for the rich isn't needed because of their spending, which they will continue to do and are able to do regardless of this tax-cut.

I know, the tax-cut for the 1% is because these are the people who create jobs for the rest of us. And if we tax them more, then more of us won't get employed. Yeah that must be it. Wait! If these folks create the jobs that make the economy robust then why haven't they been creating these same jobs already? In fact, shouldn't the bad economy have provided a better opportunity for these folks to have created lots of new jobs by now? Oh, and are most of these folks the small-business owners that we hear about creating most of the jobs in the country? Surely, they're not the CEO of large corporations that are so essential that only they can run our major industries effectively, the heads of the banking and finance institutions that have protected us from fiscal irresponsibility so well, the lawyers and law-firms that do most of their work pro bono just to benefit society, or the politicians who serve the public at great expense to themselves and their families.

Ok, but then the tax-cuts for the rich were necessary because we need to give the Republicans this tit-for-tat in order for the Democrats to get their important gifts. And these Democratic party needs were also essential to the economy because without them the economy would suffer. I guess this just means that our legislators and we ourselves are so stupid that we can't figure out that you could let one bill fail and propose another bill that addresses everything else but that didn't include the cornucopia for the rich.

But now that we have the extension, we can all look toward an economy that will absolutely recover. And if it doesn't work out at least we can't hold the politicians responsible because they did everything that was possible.

Besides the politicians need to start focusing on how to make everyone pay their fair share for the debt we just increased. And they need to make damn sure that the 1% don't get hrt by that.

How To Fail Again. Again (Part 2)

Before getting to the main Christmas gift from Congress – extending the Bush/Obama-era tax-cuts, there are still more lessor gifts tucked, shoe-horned, wedged, cobbled, and stuffed under the national tree. Given it's a tax bill, it's not surprising that Congress used their hammer to pound more and more tax cuts/credits/exemptions/deferments into the bill as a compromise to gain support. Now compromise isn't a bad thing, in fact it's an essential ingredient in politics. The structure of our legislature is a compromise, the Constitution is a compromise and the Bill of Rights is a compromise. So the fact that Congress and the Administration compromised in drafting the bill is to be expected, especially since neither the Republicans nor Democrats could get a bill through Congress and signed by the President without some give and take. Whether its a good bill or not is not tied to the compromises that have been made, that question has more to do with the all-or-none nature of the tax-rate extensions, its affordability, and the true worth and impact that it will have to the nation's economy. But that is for the Part 3. Here let's shake all those other boxes chock-full of goodies for those who have been uhh! Is it naughty or nice?

We have an environmental gift for renewable energy development. Good intentions no doubt, but couldn't Congress have thought about how to make it target market conditions that impede the development of renewable energy?

There's a gift from Social Security rates, wage earners will find that the government's hand will leave more behind in their pockets as it withdraws its take this year. While few like the pay-day mugging, is reducing the extraction really going to help address the real problem with Social Security? It's underfunded and proceeding toward yet another crisis, and the solution that's going to help is postpone doing anything about the growing cancer in the system itself. Yeah, now that's leadership!

The stockings are filled with all sorts of credits and incentives: child-care, college, use of mass-transit, hybrid cars, energy efficient products, and economic development support for Gulf Coast states. All things that lots of people like, support and don't want to give up. But all things that either cost money or redistribute wealth. (FYI, redistributing wealth is a given in government and societies; but usually the redistribution, as in this case, is not from the wealthy but to the wealthy.)

The justification of everything is that it will help the economy and will create jobs (or will prevent more jobs from being lost). Sounds good, sounds important, sound critical doesn't it. But do you really believe these politicians? When was the last time that they were right? When was the last time that they did something that people liked and then turned out to help the public, as opposed to when they did something that the public thinks was completely wrong but probably was both necessary and benefited the nation?
Everyone likes getting the presents under the tree at Christmas. But how often do people regret the costs that they have to struggle to pay after Christmas because they went out and bought things that they should have known were extravagant or beyond their mean.

The Tax-Cut Resolution, or How To Fail Again

We are on the verge of an Administration and Congressional agreement on extending the Bush-era tax-cuts for all Americans. As usual our illustrious and politically savvy leaders have failed to demonstrate a smattering of intelligence in their usual and pathetic legislative manner. The Republican side staked out a non-negotiation position that they would only support an extension of tax-cuts if it included every American. The critical aspect of this position being the preservation of the tax-cuts for the higher income individuals (particularly the very wealthy or it would not have been at all important to the Republicans). The Democratic position represented via the Obama Administration was to patch together a variety of attachments to the Republican position so as to create the sludge that feeds the politicians and the political process. Before considering how the tax-cut position is more of the same special-interest disaster for America, let's look at the the decorations added by the assorted visionless champions of the American electorate.
A couple of presents being offered up as a placating placebo for the economy are for ethanol. We get a subsidy for corn-based ethanol production and tariff protection from ethanol imports. Now I am sure that there are a couple of folks who will benefit from this, mostly politicians but there will even be a farmer here and there that get a little benefit. Of course, both could have gotten a really good benefit and the public would have benefited even more if they had crafted the law in an effective manner rather than the simple-minded and dysfunctional way that they always do.
So if encouraging ethanol production is good for America, then here's a couple of questions:
Why just limit it to corn-based ethanol? Wouldn't the same amount of ethanol produced via other organic matter be good for our economy, environment and electorate? It gets the same amount of money in the economy, and may do it at a lower cost to our food supply. And does subsidizing corn-based ethanol really add any jobs to the economy?
The tariff on ethanol imports extends the costs but doesn't actually promote any derivative benefit. So how does this generate more jobs? Might it not actually cost more jobs since it adds to the cost of the fuel used by other employers?
Finally, why not make the bill a productive impetus for the farmers and the energy industry, an economically stimulative action in support of the country, and something beneficial for the public both monetarily and in terms of new jobs? Just because these legislative light-weights can't see beyond their own limited horizons shouldn't prevent them from seeking the guidance and creativity of those who could serve the country's interests far better then they seem able to. After all, really good leaders don't actually have to know much or be able to do anything on their own, as we have evidence from many of our corporations' leadership; they just need to have people who can get things done show them the way.

No Child Allowed Ahead – An American Education

While the US economy is struggling to recover from the recession wrought from our imprudent ways, we have received yet another reality check on the soundness of our societal commitment to educating our children. Relative to other nations that we compete with on the international stage, the US continues to decline as others advance. We recede in math, sciences and reading and wonder why our nation struggles to provide the skilled and capable employees needed by American businesses. And what was the great undertaking by our political leaders, an unfunded mandate called “No Child Left Behind” by the Bush administration that seems to have achieved its goal not by elevating the achievement of our schools but by holding back those students who managed succeed thus preventing any other child from being left behind. If no one succeeds, then no one is left behind.
With the Obama administration, our school system is going to succeed by a “Race to the Top” spending more money on education. It does sound more achievement oriented then its predecessor's touchy-feelly random walk approach; but its going to run up against some significant resistance in the cut-spending campaign that will be a non-stop political whipping post for the next two years.
Is it possible that the political parties are in favor of a poorly educated public. We just had a Republican and Democratic compromise on the continuation of the Bush era tax-cuts (now to be known as the Obama era tax cuts) that continues to underfund Government revenues while simultaneously spending more. I suppose as long as Americans can't do the math, aren't capable of reading and understanding what is happening in the world, and don't have a scientific comprehension of the forces at work in their lives that I can't be surprised that they have elected the type of politicians who would continue to pursue the most idiotic and addle-brained policies that have failed to make a difference.
If America wants an education system that creates the competitive and world-leading citizenry essential to sustaining our democracy and economic vitality then the public (and their representatives) need to link the performance of our education system to the interests of our governmental, industrial and commercial entities. If a failing education system penalizes the interests of the powerful then like the hangman's noose, it will focus the mind's attention quite effectively on making sure that we succeed.

Politicians’ Progress: One Steps Sideways, Two Steps Back

We need to cut taxes! We need to cut spending! We need to protect the Military’s budget and allow it to grow! We need a balanced budget!

These themes seem to echo from some recent national exercise just barely beyond the recollection of the public awareness, an attention span deficit disorder if ever there was one. Given the citizenry’s ire about their government and the collective perception of an inept governmental vision, we have every politician and political party panicking and trying to find some course to sail their leaking and unseaworthy skiffs through the winds of this erratic Zeitgeist.

Let’s do the math!

The Military and Social Security are competing for the top position in the Federal budget. Social Security will win in 2010, but the Department of Defense is projected to take the lead in 2011. Health Care comes in next, although if you slice the pie a little differently it may be able to take first place in either year. We then get to Welfare and Interest on the Debit. We are now well past 80% of the budget. And let’s face it, we haven’t done much actual government yet! But we have accounted for $2.84 Trillion of the $3.55 Trillion 2010 budget. Surely if we cut half of the remaining $710 Billion, that’s $355 Billion for those Americans who helped put us in the 34th place in math among leading industrial nations, we would all save such an enormous amount that all our problems would disappear. Now if there are ~310M citizens (let’s not go there, it’s not a salient point here) then that budget cut would reduce taxes by $1,145.00 per person. Now I would like to have another thousand dollars to use to benefit myself; but I am not at all sure that it is enough to make up for a lot of that stuff that the federal government, albeit it very poorly and inefficiently, did with that money. And I am pretty sure that in the long run I would be better off if that $355 Billion were applied to paying down to national debt.

Returning to our political leaders (sorry I can’t think of a more apropos term but it’s hard to identify what they represent since it is not leadership), they are all about to line up behind the tax-cut, spend-cut, grow military, and balance budget scam under which they will do nothing significant to solving America’s problems. Cutting taxes and cutting spending while sounding good is not a guaranteed or even a likely solution to the deficit, to the economy, to jobs, or to the long-term interests of the American people. But it will do the one thing that is important, the one thing that is more important than the costs that every citizen will incur, the one thing that every politician pursues at any expense and at any consequence – their re-election.

Before these sycophantic plague bearers venture forth to save us with their promised solutions, perhaps it would be wise to remember the capitalistic maxim: caveat emptor. You are going to get what you paid for with your vote. Can you at least not whine about it when you get it!

Why Politicians Deserve No Credit

The sage insight and wisdom provided this week by recognized leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties will be tossed aside by the self-absorbed politicians striving to enshrine themselves as demigods of their respective political philosophies. While it is more indirect, assessing the position that Tea Party members would take is likely to place them at immoveable odds with key aspects of the guidance being offered as the life-saving medicine for our nation. For a party that advocates fiscal responsibility, I suspect that in their heart-of-hearts tea party members mean they want to have what they want, and they want it now; but they don’t want to have to be held responsible for anything. Particularly they won’t be accountable for what they benefitted from in the past that they never paid for. You can hardly blame these weak-tea patriots, they have only recently been required to face the facts or consequences of their inattentive lifestyles. And even here, they managed to turn their mind’s eye inward on a utopian view of their future, where they expect anyone who is willing to lie to them to fix everything by promising to go forth and do what they want as long as it doesn’t affect anything that they see as good for them.

Who are the enablers of these irresponsible Lazarus-es of the American “Do Nothing” party? They are our politicians! Be they Democrat, be they Republican, or be they Tea Partyites or any other fractal variant of a party; these media crafted, sound-bite limited, issue distorting, bloviating sychophants are the bane of our democracy. These politicians always have the solution but never deliver it. They always promise to restore America to its rightful place in the world, but seem to do everything in their power to diminish, degrade and debase the vitality of America and its values.

Every politician in office today and those shortly to join the ranks of the incredibly incompetent will continue to avoid their primary responsibility; they will evade their responsibility for protecting the nation as obligated by their oath of office. The country is in debt. For decades politicians, particularly Congressional politicians, have been the sole builders of the debilitating debt deadfall that increasingly threatens America’s very way of life. Our politicians have done this by actively and knowingly passing budgets and legislation that either directly incurs greater debt or by ignoring the existing debt as if there were no consequences.

So let’s continue to follow these lackluster leaders and their new band of latter-day lackeys in pursuing the preservation of tax-cuts for everyone; thus advancing the day that crushes everyone under the uber-deficit created by their selfish partisans pandering to their respective special interests parasites. But since tax-cuts won’t pay off our debt, this chest thumping exhibition is just another log thrown onto the deficit deadfall we all get to enjoy when the trap collapses.

We certainly cannot depend on our political leaders, and extending them the country’s line of credit is just repeating the same act over again, and hoping for a different outcome. Yes, just going more insane.

If only there were an American value that we could live by, or some example from our history that illustrated the collective sacrifice that Americans made to protect the nation from destruction and preserve our principle of freedom, or even some document that provides some guidance that “as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”. But we would appear to be devoid of any such lessons from our past that might illuminate a fiscally responsible path we must find to escape this labyrinth of self-imposed liabilities.

After Stand Up Comes What Again? – American Intelligence Test #8

The mid-term elections have come and gone, and the world (more precisely the world-view) has turned upside down for many folks. The Democrats have lost their unilateral partisan initiative in Congress. The Republican elite have lost their established internal party leadership control. The Tea Party has gone from “I’am not going to take it anymore!”protester status to student drivers of the family car. And Independent voters have affirmed that they don’t like either party (or any party if you consider the Tea Party other than a sub-species of Republican) and want to kick out the current contenders for most egregious Congressional incompetents of the moment.

Now will this reconstituted amalgam of extreme positionists accompanied by a sprinkling of moderates and a couple of independents be able to address and more critically solve the core problems facing America? Before you think you have the answer, it’s test time. To solve these problems even the best and brightest of these dullards require the same thing that the worst and dimmest ideologue would require to solve these problems; and now you have our test.

Scoring is your responsibility to assess. As always a willingness to deceive yourself, as to the correctness of your answers or beliefs, is just another measure of the actual intelligence being measured. To paraphrase Lincoln:

Some of us can fool ourselves all of the time, and all of us can fool ourselves some of the time, but all of us can not fool ourselves all of the time.

The opportunity to fail is at hand.

Question 1: What is the most important issue that must be addressed if America is to guarantee its future as a free, democratic and competitive world-class society?

A. Taxes B. Gov’t Spending C. Deficit D. Education. E. Employment

Question 2: Does reducing taxes guarantee that the economy will improve?

Yes No

Question 3: The Government cannot create jobs?

True False

Question 4: American’s tax rates are ____

A. to high B. to low C. appropriate D. a choice

Question 5: Who benefited from creating the American deficit?

A. Government bureaucracy

B. Wealthy class (say over $1M/year)

C. Middle class

D. Poor and welfare state

E. Industrial/Military complex

F. Everyone

The Critical Question X: What is the only rational, logical and acceptable requirement for addressing America’s top problem?

A. Reduce taxes B. Reduce spending C. both A & B D. there is no problem E. Pay off the debt

That’s it, you are done, and you can now decide if you scored high, low or in the middle. For anyone with an interest, here are the/my answers.

1: C    2: No    3: False    4: D     5: F     X: E

The problem is that our politicians, bureaucrats, special interest lobbyists and stupidly ourselves agreed to go into debt. We choose to indebt ourselves at any price rather than stand up and be responsible for our country and democracy. We ignore that our Constitution gave the responsibility for Federal spending to Congress, and we naively not only listen to but we believe (actually believe) politicians.

Can a people that stupid, that unprincipled, that devoid of the American values of our founding fathers have a chance at preserving our life, liberty and happiness? Naaa! Let’s fight about Constitutional Originalism.