Congressman Paul Ryan has written an excellent op-ed for the New York Times discussing why the massive stimulus bill passed by Congress could lead us down a dark path to stagflation. One of the main problems that he points out is that countries who have historically been the biggest buyers of our debt, are now implementing massive stimulus packages of their own and will require borrowing money instead of having extra to invest. If we end up with more supply of bonds than demand, this would cause interest rates to rise. This is a problem because, as he says, “…inflation is a destroyer of savings, a killer of wealth, a crusher of confidence.” One of the worst things that could happen is for interest rates to rise while the economy is still in shambles (stagflation).
Additional thought:
With the Federal Government looking to raise so much money for its own use, there may be a crowding out effect whereby money that would have otherwise been invested in private enterprise will go to the government instead. This has the effect of stifling American business, which is the exact opposite of what we as a country need to accomplish right now.
Rebuild the Party has posted a new video about Americans and why they choose to belong to the Republican Party. I think this video has both strengths and weaknesses.
First, the strengths:
The video aims to show us that the Republican Party is diverse. We’re not just the party of Yosemite Sam as Democrats would like people to think
The video makes clear the core Republican values of smaller government, lower taxes, transparency in government, strong defense, equal opportunity
The video makes a call to action for relevant 21st century Party leadership to emerge
I like the flashbacks to Roosevelt, Lincoln, Reagan, and Goldwater. Unlike most GOP pieces I’ve seen recently, this was not simply a Reagan-fest but did acknowledge that other brilliant men have made contributions to the Party.
Next, the weaknesses:
The guy playing with the shotgun while speaking does not help the gun-toting image
Not all Democrats are lemmings. The video was doing so well until taking a personal shot at Democrats. I believe a fully positive message would have more impact here.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi further endeared herself to Americans this morning on ABC’s This Week by claiming that “contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.”
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STEPHANOPOULOS: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?
PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for childrens’ health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no apologies for that?
PELOSI: No apologies. No. we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy.
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I certainly believe in cost control and fiscal responsibility, but I think this is extreme and wrong. I don’t believe you would find many Americans who believe that reducing births will have an immediate enough impact to pull us out of the current recession. The original TARP provisioned dollars for wooden arrows and bike repair, and apparently now the lobbiests for birth control have also had their voices heard.
Charlie Cook has written a fabulous article for the National Journal Magazine entitled “Self-Destructive Conservatism: From the look of things, the Republican Party is in danger of cannibalizing itself.”I wrote a similar piece just after the election in which I challenged Republicans to modernize.I believe Charlie is right in believing that the party’s rightward movement has become self-perpetuating.Conservative commentators barely let President Obama finish his twelfth dance of the night to the same song before getting back to Democrat-bashing.The problem here is that finger pointing only works when there is someone to point it at.One day into a Presidency is not quite enough time to warrant the blame game.Instead of spending tonight’s television hours discussing Obama’s flubbed oath and whether or not Caroline Kennedy is withdrawing her bid for Hillary’s seat, why not discuss the merits of Obama’s big government program versus the Republican strategy of tax cuts to stimulate spending?Instead of bashing the coming Guantanamo shutdown, why not discuss alternate proposals so we can bring those responsible for acts against our country to justice while not compromising national security efforts?Republican leadership must remember that my fellow twentysomethings are much smarter and more passionate about the issues than given credit for.Partisan bickering is unattractive at a time when the economy is in crisis and the average person just wants to make sure their future is secure.Let’s participate in constructive debate and discourse and work together to come up with the best solution.People want to hear a message of hope, not negativity.I implore all who read and who are afraid the party principles we stand for are being shuffled by the wayside to remind people what you stand for.Also remind them that the Party is bigger than any one individual, and just because a President or group of elected officials believe in one set of principles, their beliefs do not necessarily represent all Republicans.
Mark Felt, the proverbial ‘Deep Throat’, who guided Woodward and Bernstein’s investigation into the Watergate Hotel break-in, died Thursday December 18, 2008. Putting himself at great political risk, FBI Associate Director Felt provided the Washington Post reporters with the guidance needed to bring down a corrupt Presidential Administration. It is men like Mark Felt who renew my faith in the checks and balances within our political system.
There is a very interesting article written by Dennis Prager at Townhall.com about why the Pakistani Islamist terrorists spend a disproportionate amount of manpower and effort attacking and murdering Jews in Mumbai. Dennis points out:
“To reinforce my point, imagine a Basque separatist terrorist organization attacking Madrid. Would the terrorists take time out to murder all those in the Madrid Chabad House? The idea is ludicrous. But no one seems to find it odd that that Pakistani Muslim terrorists who hate India and want it to give up control of Indian Kashmir would send two of its 10 terrorists to kill perhaps the only rabbi in Mumbai.”
We must stand steadfast in supporting Israel and the Jewish people, for if we don’t, it is only a matter of time until the war against the Jews becomes everyone’s problem.
It was less than a year ago when Goldman Sachs predicted that the price of oil would reach $200 a barrel due to its “super-spike” oil theory. If we were assigning letter grades to predictions, I suppose we could give Goldman a C- since oil got to about $144 ($144/$200). Luckily using terms like “super-spike” and “peak oil” aren’t likely to incite panic in the average person’s mind. Not to be outdone by its competitor, Merrill Lynch is now predicting that the price of oil will drop to $25 a barrel, a level last seen in 2002.
Random thought:
For my next trick, I will predict that the Raiders will win the Super Bowl this year. I realize they’re currently 3 - 10, but the tarot card reader really had a strong feeling about this one.
Now that we’re past the election, here’s a little video entertainment to remember it by. I’d like to thank hmatkin on YouTube for his highly entertaining work.
Mitt Romney argues in his op-ed in the New York Times that the best way to save the American auto industry is by allowing General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler to reorganize under a managed bankruptcy. He argues that providing bailout money to these companies would merely prolong the inevitable, while a managed bankruptcy would allow these companies to shed massively anti-competitive labor agreements, pension, and real estate costs. With $2,000 in additional costs per vehicle produced, the American companies are simply not competitive with their foreign counterparts.
Thoughts:
I believe that we need an American auto industry, and that the companies comprising the industry must be able to compete on an equal playing field. We must focus on maintaining jobs at the car companies as well as suppliers. Shareholders and creditors of these companies should not get bailed out, as they placed their bets and lost. It does appear that a managed bankruptcy appears to be an attractive option, as it sends the message that the government intends to support American workers, and that management should not be rewarded for decades of failed strategy.
Update:
Apparently, the big 3 CEOs don’t think their companies are in quite as bad of shape as they’re leading us to believe. That’s the only conclustion I can come to after reading about their private jet travel.
Val Willingham at CNN writes “nearly half the respondents in a survey of U.S. primary care physicians said that they would seriously consider getting out of the medical business within the next three years if they had an alternative.” Many cite the red tape of insurance and government reimbursement and soaring costs of malpractice insurance as their biggest issues. According to the American Medical Association, the United States is staring at a shortage of nearly 40,000 primary care physicians within twenty years. According to the article, the universal healthcare plan proposed by the Obama Administration is likely to further increase the strain on an already fragile system.
Random thought:
With an aging US baby boomer population, a shortage of primary care physicians poses a massive problem. Instead of insuring everyone so that they can go see doctors who no longer exist, how about actually fixing the healthcare delivery system? I refuse to believe that the cost of providing healthcare has truly risen so dramatically faster than inflation. Instead of throwing more money after a bad process by massively increasing the size of the insured pool without fixing the system, let’s actually solve the problem. Let’s implement the wellness and preventative medicine programs that are so drastically needed in this country. Let’s work on tort reform to limit malpractice claims against doctors we so desperately need. Let’s work on intelligent legislation that helps to fix the already-spiraling-out-of-control healthcare costs imposed upon us.
