Today's Meet The Press seemed a little all over the map today with headlines at the top, then the round table discussion first, then the interview with Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio into a Seth Meyers (Head Writer for Saturday Night Live) interview. The program flowed jaggedly along, but tinkering is always good as the little wrinkles keep the program interesting and watchable. However, we recommend not trying to stuff too much into the single hour, and dig into more substance with the guests, which is what should have been addressed with the Florida Senator.
But to begin, Mayor Bloomberg started off by saying that there is a crisis of confidence, in which many companies are looking at what the government is doing, or not doing as the case may be, and saying, "What's going on?" However, the confidence that Mr. Bloomberg is talking comes from a business sector that is, yes in fact, wondering what the government is going to do about the deficit and debt and at the same time its confidence level is lowered when the government insists on regulations. What our finance sector needs to realize is that if regulations are put in place on derivatives, the market will steady and in the long run, more people will make more money, but the very very top will not make quite as much. And in terms of the latter group of individuals, the amounts become insignificant.
Mayor Bloomberg also illustrated the grand conundrum for the average American in that it's a good time to buy a house, but there are many stipulations and the most obvious one is job stability. There is none, and overall wages for the middle class are down, yet Congress has not address this. Furthermore, Mr. Bloomberg is against having the Bush Tax Cuts expire for the wealthiest one percent in the country, but over the past 25 years we've seen that "Trickle Down" economics hasn't worked. That house that Mr. Bloomberg refers to is a moving goal, moving farther and farther away from reality.
This brings us to the budget discussion, in which no one seems to know how to balance with too many outside forces [read: special interest groups] determined to see that nothing is done about it, and that's on both sides. But as the Republican Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, admitted, as well as Senator Rubio, there a lot of deficit spending by Republicans as well as Democrats. Governor McDonnell explained that states have balanced budget amendments, which the federal government should have as well. However, if to balance it is how David Axelrod explained the way the Virginia Governor did, then what's the point. Mr. Axelrod explained that the Governor borrowed the money from pension plans, used Recovery Act money, and benefited from the cuts his predecessor made.
And though we at the column also feel that entitlement programs need to be reformed, we find it disingenuous on the part of Republican politicians to borrow money from the pension funds or ask people to pay into a system all their working lives and then turn around and say we're cutting back on the payments because we can't afford it. Talk about too big to fail. It's a bailout without labeling it as such because the two acts are not immediate to one another. And in the case of Governor McDonnell, the question is when will the money to the pension fund be paid back?
Mr. Axelrod and Governor McDonnell started to get into it a little bit and Mr. Gregory prompted cut them off. This is always a judgment call as to how long to let something like this go on, but both made a charge to the other and Mr. Gregory should have let the exchange to one more turn on either side before cutting off. However, this is Meet The Press so civility, we feel, is also tantamount to the debate.
The substance of Mr. Axelrod's questioning Mr. McDonnell is what we're looking for from Mr. Rubio, who said that the President needs to lead [on fiscal issues, which was the context of the discussion] because so far he has failed to do so. That sort of statement begs the question, in terms of whom? If the President does lead to enact his Democratic policies, without compromise, which Mr. Rubio equates to doing nothing in Washington then is he still leading?
Mr. Rubio also fashions himself an independent from the Tea Party Movement, but explained that 'we,' the Tea Party brought the subject of cutting spending to the table. One thing we'd like to say to Mr. Rubio if he wants to be taken seriously as a U.S. Senator as he aspires and that is to rid himself of the Rush Limbaugh speak. During the interview, he referred to the Democratic Party as the 'Democrat' Party and used the term 'Obamacare' to describe the Affordable Health Care Act. Both are derogatory. Furthermore, he said that the only people who cut Medicare are the people who voted for 'Obamacare.' If that is the case then why aren't Republicans applauding the effort. The reason is because they want to privatize the system - that's the end goal and it's the end result of Mr. Ryan's plan for Medicare by issuing vouchers to buy insurance from private companies.
And though he would not outright endorse Congressman Paul Ryan's budget plan, but said he would vote for any plan that essentially does what Mr. Ryan's does. Hmmm... He did make a good point to say that the Democratic leadership in the Senate or the House hasn't put anything together. Where is the Democratic plan? Well, right now Senate Democrats are playing politics, taking a page from the Republicans are waiting for the other party to fall on its own sword, which the Republicans are doing with the Ryan plan. Whether you think it's a good plan or not, Mr. Ryan's plan does change Medicare as we know it... for everyone. Seventy percent of Americans do not want it changed, which should say at the very least, let's look someplace else first for cutting, perhaps the military and defense.
Also, Mr. Rubio referred to our potential default on loans by not raising the debt ceiling as 'technical,' following a recorded statement by Secretary Geithner calling it irresponsible not to raise it. 'Technical default' is still default and every individual knows that they would have to contemplate bankruptcy in this instance. So imagine this on a country-wide scale, a country the size of the United States. As we've asked before, why would we do this?
And then there's Donald Trump, which Mr. Rubio said he's serious because the press give him serious attention. Mr. Trump is how President Obama indirectly described him, a carnival barker. When Mr. Obama released his long form birth certificate, it was the latter day equivalent of having to show your papers to prove that you belong. It was a sad instant in American history, to which Mr. Trump declared that he was proud of himself for managing to force the disclosure. Mr. Trump is not even an official candidate and this is level to which he'll take a debate or tactic he'll use. Hopefully, the Presidential vetting process, otherwise known as primaries, will show Mr. Trump as what he really is, a disingenuous salesman, nothing more.
Mr. Axelrod would dignify Mr. Gregory's question of whether birtherism equates to racism and didn't answer it. We will. Yes, birtherism is a euphemism for racism, plan and simple. Why? Because all it does is perpetuate the notion that the President is 'different' or 'not one of us,' which is a clear example of intolerance.
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