If only the levee was dry

 Posted by Doc Opp  Bush Administration, Disasters and Tragedies, U.S. Politics  3 Responses »
Apr 282006
 

“We’re much more ready this time than last time. And we’re taking very seriously the lessons learned from Katrina” — President Bush on disaster preparedness, and why FEMA isn’t a problem.

Funny that Bush should say that he’s learned his lesson from Katrina. California is currently facing a major levee crisis. The aging levees that protect California’s central valley (you know, the central valley that serves as one of the nation’s chief breadbaskets), are in trouble. They haven’t been shored up in a long time, and recent rainstorms have threatened their integrity. One major storm, or one earthquake (California has a lot of these) and the levees break, and New Orleans looks mild in comparison.

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Safeguarding Our Economic Future

 Posted by Mike  Debt and Deficit, Fiscal Issues, Poverty, U.S. Politics  14 Responses »
Apr 282006
 

The United States economy is strong and growing. This is great news for the country. Economic growth means more employment opportunity, greater tax revenue, and, most importantly, less pressure on America’s poverty-stricken. That being said, it is important to look ahead, so that the economy will continue to grow in the future. And there are plenty of warning signs that things will not always be so prosperous. The good news is that if we take action now, we can avoid those pitfalls and maintain this economic growth indefinitely.
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The Great Conservative Myths, Part 2: Pork, Spending, and Deficits

 Posted by Mike  Debt and Deficit, U.S. Politics  No Responses »
Apr 272006
 

Yesterday I discussed the great myth that our dependency on foreign oil is driving up the cost of gasoline. Today I’m going to tackle the intricacies of the federal budget, and try to get to the bottom of the other great conservative myth: the drastic increase in unnecessary federal spending, typified by a sharp uptick in the number of pork-barrel projects, is driving up federal budget deficits. You wouldn’t think that this would be a particularly popular refrain among the ruling party–you know, the people who control what can and can’t be added to particular bills. But, for the Republicans, blaming spending is better than the alternative. The alternative is to blame the tax cuts upon which they all campaigned, and that won’t do any of them any good. Besides, most Democrats want to raise taxes, at least back to pre-Bush levels, and that starts to look reasonable if the tax cuts are to blame for the deficits. Most Democrats, however, also want to increase spending, or at least prevent further spending cuts; if spending is the problem, then, Republicans can at least claim to be better than the other guy.
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The Great Conservative Myths, Part 1: America’s Foreign Oil Dependency

 Posted by Mike  Bush Administration, Foreign Policy, Middle East, U.S. Politics  4 Responses »
Apr 262006
 

I watched a press conference by the American Conservative Union this morning and, I have to say, it was one of the most absurd pieces of political theater I have ever witnessed. Essentially, they were railing against the House and Senate for out-of-control spending and out-of-control deficits. They scoffed at the absurdity of the notion that a growing number of Americans believe that the Democrats would do better at controlling the deficit than Republicans, and used that to chide the Republican leadership for pork-barrel spending. (Never mind that the deficit was significantly lower when President Clinton was in office.) They pulled out a half a dozen examples of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars being wasted on pork-barrel projects. (Never mind that every example was targeted at a solidly Red state, which likely indicates Republican backing, and that pork-barrel projects only make up a small fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars we have in deficit.) And they claimed that this particular House and Senate were horrible when it comes to reining in budgets. (Never mind that both houses are solidly controlled by Republicans, most of whom the American Conservative Union staunchly backed for election.) The whole thing reminded me of a spoiled child, who is given everything he asks for and then cries because nothing works out like it is supposed to.

But perhaps the most absurd statement at this press conference came from Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida’s 24th District. Representative Feeney said that when he went home to his constituents over the recent break, that he got “an ear-full” of complaints on two issues: the rising cost of oil due to our addiction to foreign oil and the rising federal deficit due to increased spending. Which leads me to believe one or more of three things must be true: either Rep. Feeney doesn’t know what he’s talking about, the people of Florida’s 25th don’t know what they are talking about, or Rep. Feeney is lying to prove a political point. Sadly, both of these myths are favorites of conservative Republicans in general, and the Bush Administration in particular, and therefore deserve confrontation. For now, I’ll talk about the myth that foreign oil is to blame for the rising costs of gasoline; I’ll get to the budget issues later today or tomorrow.
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Polls and Public Opinion

 Posted by Doc Opp  Fiscal Issues, The Media, U.S. Politics  1 Response »
Apr 262006
 

A recent poll of new Jersey voters suggests that they are unsatisfied with the current governor’s budget.

“Just 10 percent of registered voters say they are satisfied with Corzine’s $30.9 billion budget plan, and six in 10 voters believe Corzine’s plan is more of the same political dealings instead of a product of tough, thoughtful choices, according to the poll.”

I find it incredibly hard to believe that 60% of voters have so much as looked at the budget plan, let alone know enough of the details to know that “tough, thoughtful choices” haven’t been made, or know enough about past budgets to make comparisons and conclude that it’s “more of the same political dealings”.

Maybe I’m one of the unenlightened few New Jersey residents that hasn’t perused the budget in detail, but the majority read the budget in their free time. It strikes me as more likely that the poll reflects completely uninformed opinions. People don’t know what’s in the budget, so they just use their creativity and take wild guesses. Then, when the results of the poll hit the media, it reinforces people’s notions that they were right (after all, they’re in the majority) and forces political actors to make policy changes based on uninformed, and likely highly malleable, opinions. That can’t be a good basis for making policy decisions.

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