We can appreciate Senator Rand Paul's (R-KY) honest answer with regard to Edward Snowden and his mixed feelings about what he did, and we agree that the death penalty should be taken off the table. And Mr. Paul brought up a good reason as to why; and that is because Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, we know for a fact perjured himself in front of Congress when he stated that there was not mass collection of data on the part of the N.S.A. What happened to him? Nothing.
However, the notion that Mr. Snowden has suffered and been punished enough, according to Jesselyn Radack, one of Snowden’s legal advisers, is a bit too far for the simple reason that this is a choice that Mr. Snowden made himself.
One question hanging out there from last week is whether Mr. Snowden acted alone or not. Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff buttressed Congressman Roger's comments from last week saying that there are questions about how Mr. Snowden knew where to go and what to do making it difficult to understand how he acted alone. However, Ms. Raddack did point out that the FBI believes that Mr. Snowden acted alone, and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he had seen no evidence that he had help. Mr. Paul also said he hadn't seen any details of that. It begs the question of whether or not our Senator's are as fully informed as they should be, but that's a whole other topic.
All this speaks to the complicated nature of what Mr. Snowden has done, and we still contend that he did the right thing in the wrong way. We're glad that Mr. Snowden has brought this illegal N.S.A. spying to our attention, but we just can't bring ourselves to say he's a hero, not quite. However, what Mr. Durbin said just seems implausible to us which was that the N.S.A. program has to be changed so that it keeps the American people safe but doesn't overreach - practically impossible. There shouldn't be amnesty or clemency for Mr. Snowden as Attorney General Eric Holder said, but there's just no way that a deal is going to be struck if the minimum penalty for what he did is 25 years in prison as Mr. Chertoff said.
And where Mr. Paul has to be careful, by the way, is in the type of libertarianism he advocating for in the United States because his libertarian philosophy is what leads people like Edward Snowden to think that it's good to break the law, complete flout the government and then think there shouldn't be any penalty. You can't have it both ways.
Speaking of having it both ways, one can not disqualify Hillary Clinton from the presidency because of Bill Clinton's actions as Mr. Paul did. He said that Mrs. Clinton should be judged on her own merit, but then said that Mr. Clinton's past actions should factor in. Well, what is it? If he's making that call, then he would have to make the same call against Senator David Vitter (R-LA) who has announced that he's running for governor of his state and had openly admitted that he broke the law by soliciting prostitutes, for which he received no punishment.
With regard to presidential politics, Chuck Todd outlined an interesting notion that will be considered, which is if voters are thinking of the 'Hillary' brand (our word) instead of the 'Clinton' brand then she'll have a better chance of winning if she runs, which is very true because of the notion of looking toward the future, which the round table also brought up. Does Mrs. Clinton represent the future, being progressive enough for today's changing Democratic party? Of course the answer, as with everything, is yes and no. Progress in this country would certainly be having a woman as president and in our humble opinion, a really good idea, but it is also true that Mrs. Clinton is not the most progressive of Democratic politicians. This seeming conundrum is one solved by the 'party' that most Americans belong to, which is Independent. Both of those seemingly at-odds notions with regard to Hillary Clinton work for independent voters, and it speaks to another truism about the American people which that they are more socially liberal, but also more fiscally conservative - otherwise known as the center.
Mr. Paul is trying to get to the center but the way in which he's going about it will take a longer time than he has to be a viable presidential candidate. Instead of shaping his views to fit into the mainstream - the center, right of the country - he's trying to get the mainstream to see it his way. With that comes a lot of scrutiny; with scrutiny comes clarity, and it's clear that on many issues Mr. Paul's views are well outside the mainstream, especially his cavalier attitudes toward race in this country.
This leads us into what to expect from Mr. Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. In the wake of another deadly mall shooting, not to mention another recent school shooting in South Carolina, unfortunately the president will not talk about gun control as he had last time around.
We agree with Chuck Todd and Mike Murphy who basically said that this is the last State of the Union address that counts for Mr. Obama in as much as setting an agenda to get things done. One of those things will be immigration because both Republicans and Democrats alike know that something has to be done; it's more politically advantageous for Republicans because of their dismal numbers with minorities and Hispanics.
Another topic will certainly be income inequality and helping the poorest Americans. There is not question that the distance between the richest and poorest is widening rapidly but also just as important is the fact that the middle class in America is being thinned out. In this vein will also be discussion of the farm, which plays across the issue of the poor and tax reform as the farm bill address the SNAP program ('food stamps') and corporate welfare in the form of subsidies that go to big agri-business.
Contrary to popular thought, there is still a lot for the president to do and things that he can get done. Does he still command the stage, as Carolyn Ryan questioned. The answer is yes, but only if he decides to take it... without compromise, and that's not to say that he shouldn't compromise to get things done. Sure, it's important to pay attention to the laws being broken, but it's equally important to get laws passed for the betterment of the most amount of people. That's what it's all about anyway.
Round Table: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA); former FCC Chairman, now President
and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association,
Michael Powell; Republican Strategist Mike Murphy; New York Times
Washington Bureau Chief Carolyn Ryan; and NBC's Chuck Todd.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
1.19.14: Did Edward Snowden Have Help?
We'll admit that over the week, we've softened on our hardline attitude toward former Security Gates, but not on Governor Chris Christie, nor on Edward Snowden, really.
For Governor Christie, it's actually become worse for him as the week has progressed with city mayors in the state coming out and accusing the Christie administration of quid pro quo deals with private developers, leveraging Hurricane Sandy relief funds as bargaining chips. And as for today's program, Rudy Giuliani didn't make any impact in defense of Mr. Christie. In fact, he made the same mistake as many other Republicans are making and that is trying to deflect attention away from Mr. Christie's situation by referencing President Obama in terms of Benghazi and the I.R.S. What that does is elevate the bridge lane closings to the same level of Benghazi and the I.R.S. Politically, Republicans should be trying to diminish the situation by focusing Mr. Christie's policy accomplishments, and Mr. Christie should keep the politically mega-fundraising to a minimum from now. As Newt Gingrich said, it's not going away any time soon and you know where we stand.
As for the former Security, we greatly appreciate that he cares for the troops so deeply but he admitted that it sometimes clouded his judgement and we're uncomfortable with that because that also means that he was perceiving others decisions through a clouded lens as well. Our one question for Mr. Gates, would be simply this: At the end of the day, can you honestly say that you did everything in your power as Secretary, given your deep concern for the troops, to get them home as quickly and as safely as possible while bringing about an effective [a vague term, admittedly] military conclusion?
Americans can handle and accept war if necessary, but what they've learned is that they have a real distaste for preemptive war.
Lastly, Mr. Gates said the president has the right temperature in terms of what he feels should be done about the NSA's bulk collection of data that it will continue but with strict oversight domestically and that the government should not store the data. Sure, the president has the right temperature, but on which planet?
If the government isn't going to store the data but the government insists that it in fact needs to be collected - bulk data collection is not stopping - then who does store it? Just as someone can ask of Edward Snowden, who are you to decide what state secrets everyone knows or not; someone could ask of the government, if you're not storing the information, who gets to decide who stores it if not you? All of this doesn't even include the overriding question of why they are collecting your information in the first place.
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said it's a false choice between security and privacy; we agree with that, but he made the distinction between the government collecting data vs. Google or Amazon because you opt-in for those. That's a false choice as well. You know how many times you have to do a Google search or buy something on Amazon for those companies to get your information? Answer: once. As we've said before - you're privacy these days comes by being one of a million faces walking down Broadway in New York City - you can see them all but nothing specific about any. That's the new reality in terms of your online identification.
And as for the call for stricter oversight, we heard Congressional Intelligence Committee Chairs Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) both said that there have been no abuses and everything the NSA has done has been legal. Yet, we still need stricter over? That doesn't sound right.
One could answer, as Secretary Gates did, that we're talking about things that might happen, as opposed to things that have happened. In this case, if one can imagine that something 'might' happen, it certainly will happen. And the reason we know this is because they were happening without our knowledge and we didn't know it until Mr. Snowden informed the world about it.
We always contended that Mr. Snowden did the right thing, but in the wrong way. If Mr. Snowden went to work at the NSA strictly for the purpose to disclose secrets or unknown governmental agency operations, as Senator Feinstein explained, then he's technically not a whistleblower as Mr. Ohanian explained how Mr. Snowden will eventually be viewed.
Are we glad, we know what we know because of Mr. Snowden, no doubt. Did Mr. Snowden leak this information then go to China then Russian, also no doubt.
The reason we bring this up is because Mr. Rogers eluded to something even more serious and that was the question of if Mr. Snowden acted alone. Mr. Rogers obviously thinks that the answer is that Mr. Snowden did have help (see the clip below):
Though it would certainly affect the labeling of Mr. Snowden, whether he had help or not doesn't change the fact that someone at the NSA, a relatively low level contractor, could have access to so much sensitive information, so much so that the United States government has stated that it will never know the extent of how much. How does this not show us that abuse is not only probably, but easy as well.
Round Table: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, NBC political analyst and former Obama adviser David Axelrod (actually it was Harold Ford), The Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson and NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell.
Date of Note (thanks to Andrea Mitchell): June 15th. This is the date by which Congress has to reauthorize this mess.
For Governor Christie, it's actually become worse for him as the week has progressed with city mayors in the state coming out and accusing the Christie administration of quid pro quo deals with private developers, leveraging Hurricane Sandy relief funds as bargaining chips. And as for today's program, Rudy Giuliani didn't make any impact in defense of Mr. Christie. In fact, he made the same mistake as many other Republicans are making and that is trying to deflect attention away from Mr. Christie's situation by referencing President Obama in terms of Benghazi and the I.R.S. What that does is elevate the bridge lane closings to the same level of Benghazi and the I.R.S. Politically, Republicans should be trying to diminish the situation by focusing Mr. Christie's policy accomplishments, and Mr. Christie should keep the politically mega-fundraising to a minimum from now. As Newt Gingrich said, it's not going away any time soon and you know where we stand.
As for the former Security, we greatly appreciate that he cares for the troops so deeply but he admitted that it sometimes clouded his judgement and we're uncomfortable with that because that also means that he was perceiving others decisions through a clouded lens as well. Our one question for Mr. Gates, would be simply this: At the end of the day, can you honestly say that you did everything in your power as Secretary, given your deep concern for the troops, to get them home as quickly and as safely as possible while bringing about an effective [a vague term, admittedly] military conclusion?
Americans can handle and accept war if necessary, but what they've learned is that they have a real distaste for preemptive war.
Lastly, Mr. Gates said the president has the right temperature in terms of what he feels should be done about the NSA's bulk collection of data that it will continue but with strict oversight domestically and that the government should not store the data. Sure, the president has the right temperature, but on which planet?
If the government isn't going to store the data but the government insists that it in fact needs to be collected - bulk data collection is not stopping - then who does store it? Just as someone can ask of Edward Snowden, who are you to decide what state secrets everyone knows or not; someone could ask of the government, if you're not storing the information, who gets to decide who stores it if not you? All of this doesn't even include the overriding question of why they are collecting your information in the first place.
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said it's a false choice between security and privacy; we agree with that, but he made the distinction between the government collecting data vs. Google or Amazon because you opt-in for those. That's a false choice as well. You know how many times you have to do a Google search or buy something on Amazon for those companies to get your information? Answer: once. As we've said before - you're privacy these days comes by being one of a million faces walking down Broadway in New York City - you can see them all but nothing specific about any. That's the new reality in terms of your online identification.
And as for the call for stricter oversight, we heard Congressional Intelligence Committee Chairs Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) both said that there have been no abuses and everything the NSA has done has been legal. Yet, we still need stricter over? That doesn't sound right.
One could answer, as Secretary Gates did, that we're talking about things that might happen, as opposed to things that have happened. In this case, if one can imagine that something 'might' happen, it certainly will happen. And the reason we know this is because they were happening without our knowledge and we didn't know it until Mr. Snowden informed the world about it.
We always contended that Mr. Snowden did the right thing, but in the wrong way. If Mr. Snowden went to work at the NSA strictly for the purpose to disclose secrets or unknown governmental agency operations, as Senator Feinstein explained, then he's technically not a whistleblower as Mr. Ohanian explained how Mr. Snowden will eventually be viewed.
Are we glad, we know what we know because of Mr. Snowden, no doubt. Did Mr. Snowden leak this information then go to China then Russian, also no doubt.
The reason we bring this up is because Mr. Rogers eluded to something even more serious and that was the question of if Mr. Snowden acted alone. Mr. Rogers obviously thinks that the answer is that Mr. Snowden did have help (see the clip below):
Though it would certainly affect the labeling of Mr. Snowden, whether he had help or not doesn't change the fact that someone at the NSA, a relatively low level contractor, could have access to so much sensitive information, so much so that the United States government has stated that it will never know the extent of how much. How does this not show us that abuse is not only probably, but easy as well.
Round Table: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, NBC political analyst and former Obama adviser David Axelrod (actually it was Harold Ford), The Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson and NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell.
Date of Note (thanks to Andrea Mitchell): June 15th. This is the date by which Congress has to reauthorize this mess.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
1.12.14: What's Really Important - Meet The Press Drops the Ball
Just this once, we wish that someone on the Meet The Press staff would read this column because someone there needs to know that today's program totally dropped the ball. Instead of discussing the important issues of the day, it was 40 minutes of political gossip about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Is it an issue that should be one of the topics? Sure, but not for 40 minutes - simply ridiculous. And when the topic switched to Robert Gates' book, it was all about how 2016 presidential candidates will be effected.
Never mind that Iraq is disintegrating into a sectarian civil war that threatens to destabilize the entire region or that the jobs report for December was the weakest it's been in three years and Congress has decided not to extend unemployment benefits for 1.3 million U.S. citizens. How about the passing of Ariel Sharon and the legacy that his leadership of Israel, the United States' only true ally in the region, has left?
Yet, we have to hear the Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus, defend Governor Christie, not holding him accountable for his administration's actions while he hypocritically continued to bash President Obama - insufferable programming.
They didn't even really touch on the real reason the story matters. It wasn't a lane closing on a bridge. No, instead it was a lane closing on the busiest bridge in the world that leads to the biggest city in the United States that has already had to face terrorist attacks. That's what makes what the Christie administration did so despicable. On so many levels, they put general public safety at extreme risk for political purposes. Left out of today's conversation.
As 'Wall Street Journal' Columnist Kim Strassel, and many others have said, he [Christie] better be telling the truth when he said that he didn't know anything about it. Regardless of whether Mr. Christie knew before Wednesday or not, he might as well take off the lap band because despite what Mr. Prebus would tell you, Mr. Christie's chances for becoming president of the United States are now close to zero.
The fact of the matter is that Mr. Christie did create a culture in his administration that would enable something like this to occur. We agree with Rick Santorum when he said that personnel is policy, and this completely puts into question Mr. Christie's judgement on who would run the country in a Christie Administration.
And getting back to the Robert Gates passive aggressive (Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg's words) book for a moment, we haven't read it but that he's willing to dish with scorn on a sitting administration clearly illustrates in retrospect that he was not the right person for the job. The the discussed controversy about whether you interpret Mrs. Clinton's and Mr. Obama's stance on the troop surge in Iraq as political or not, it doesn't really matter because the surge should have never had to be decided upon in the first place if the Bush Administration didn't create the military folly that the Iraq War turned out to be.
And again, that Anbar province in Iraq is a de facto war zone, the memories of over 1,300 U.S. soldiers have been dishonored because with conditions as they are now, one is compelled to ask, 'What was the point in the first place?'
We would have really have liked to get all the guests take on that question, but it's not gossipy enough.
Round Table 1: Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; Wall Street Journal Columnist Kim Strassel; former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; NBC News Chief White House Correspondent and Political Director, Chuck Todd; and TIME Magazine's Mark Halperin.
Round Table 2: former Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), now president of the Wilson Center; Former GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum; Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg; and host of MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews.
End Note: The topic that have taken more center stage should have been Maria Shriver's story of how 1 in 3 women in the United States is in economic peril and one big bill away from financial ruin. We'd talk more about this but at this point today, we're so cynical about the topics covered today that we have concluded that the only reason it was discussed at all was to plug programming, The Shriver Report.
Is it an issue that should be one of the topics? Sure, but not for 40 minutes - simply ridiculous. And when the topic switched to Robert Gates' book, it was all about how 2016 presidential candidates will be effected.
Never mind that Iraq is disintegrating into a sectarian civil war that threatens to destabilize the entire region or that the jobs report for December was the weakest it's been in three years and Congress has decided not to extend unemployment benefits for 1.3 million U.S. citizens. How about the passing of Ariel Sharon and the legacy that his leadership of Israel, the United States' only true ally in the region, has left?
Yet, we have to hear the Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus, defend Governor Christie, not holding him accountable for his administration's actions while he hypocritically continued to bash President Obama - insufferable programming.
They didn't even really touch on the real reason the story matters. It wasn't a lane closing on a bridge. No, instead it was a lane closing on the busiest bridge in the world that leads to the biggest city in the United States that has already had to face terrorist attacks. That's what makes what the Christie administration did so despicable. On so many levels, they put general public safety at extreme risk for political purposes. Left out of today's conversation.
As 'Wall Street Journal' Columnist Kim Strassel, and many others have said, he [Christie] better be telling the truth when he said that he didn't know anything about it. Regardless of whether Mr. Christie knew before Wednesday or not, he might as well take off the lap band because despite what Mr. Prebus would tell you, Mr. Christie's chances for becoming president of the United States are now close to zero.
The fact of the matter is that Mr. Christie did create a culture in his administration that would enable something like this to occur. We agree with Rick Santorum when he said that personnel is policy, and this completely puts into question Mr. Christie's judgement on who would run the country in a Christie Administration.
And getting back to the Robert Gates passive aggressive (Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg's words) book for a moment, we haven't read it but that he's willing to dish with scorn on a sitting administration clearly illustrates in retrospect that he was not the right person for the job. The the discussed controversy about whether you interpret Mrs. Clinton's and Mr. Obama's stance on the troop surge in Iraq as political or not, it doesn't really matter because the surge should have never had to be decided upon in the first place if the Bush Administration didn't create the military folly that the Iraq War turned out to be.
And again, that Anbar province in Iraq is a de facto war zone, the memories of over 1,300 U.S. soldiers have been dishonored because with conditions as they are now, one is compelled to ask, 'What was the point in the first place?'
We would have really have liked to get all the guests take on that question, but it's not gossipy enough.
Round Table 1: Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; Wall Street Journal Columnist Kim Strassel; former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; NBC News Chief White House Correspondent and Political Director, Chuck Todd; and TIME Magazine's Mark Halperin.
Round Table 2: former Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), now president of the Wilson Center; Former GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum; Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg; and host of MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews.
End Note: The topic that have taken more center stage should have been Maria Shriver's story of how 1 in 3 women in the United States is in economic peril and one big bill away from financial ruin. We'd talk more about this but at this point today, we're so cynical about the topics covered today that we have concluded that the only reason it was discussed at all was to plug programming, The Shriver Report.
Sunday, January 05, 2014
1.5.14: Government Responsibility - Home and Abroad
We'll get into the conversation about U.S. healthcare and the larger economic condition in a moment, but we wanted to comment on a subject that was addressed on the program but insufficiently and that is what is going on in Iraq with Al Qaeda extremists taking control of Fallujah and Ramadi. The extremists are Al Qaeda, yes, but more prominently they are Sunni Muslims fighting Shiite Muslims, a religious war that has been going on for 700 years as Republican Steve Schmidt noted.
He also said that it isn't the United States' fight and that it shouldn't get involved, an opinion that Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) concurred with, but also went on to say that it's not America's responsibility. We find it disturbing how the United States has dismissed an ever escalating conflict that it is indeed responsible for. We're not saying that the U.S. should become involved militarily again, but washing our hands of it, ignoring it in large part as we are, and letting Anbar province slip into chaos, disgraces the memory of over 1,300 American soldiers who died there. The Iraq War wasn't smart then and proves itself to be less so every day.
The rest of the world is faced with a vital region that is essentially leaderless and is facing a complete meltdown. The elected, dictatorial, and anointed leaders alike in the region are all so consumed with the fear of losing power that they are all just covering themselves with layers of radicals and weapons. The loss of this province as NBC's Richard Engel pointed out is directly tied to the Syrian civil war and gives radicals with a solidified geographical base of significance. The U.S. needs to openly push for someone in the region to step up and end the violence.
And as athletes from the world's countries gather in Sochii, Russia for the Olympics, our fear is that extremists will want to interrupt the games by violently calling attention to their cause - security needs to be top of mind for every country participating.
***
After the joint interview with Dr. Delos Cosgrove of the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. John Noseworthy of the Mayo Clinic, we couldn't help but thinking how long overdue it was. They gave us the straight skinny on the Affordable Care Act, which is that it has increased access for individuals and is improving the quality of care. That's the good news, but the bad news is that we're not sure how much this is going to cost and whether it really will bring healthcare costs down. Dr. Noseworthy said that if the payment system were modernized that would do a lot to keep costs down. To us, that seems like a nonpartisan fix that should be happening now.
Also, Dr. Cosgrove stated it frankly, saying that hospitals were going to make less money - nothing that anyone in any industry likes to hear. Speaking of industry, the doctor explained that U.S. healthcare is not a system but a bunch of cottage industries, and that now the government is trying to create a 'system.' We don't know much about healthcare, but we do know that if the government is going to create a system, that indeed will cost a significant amount of money up front before you start saving anything down the line. With that said, getting access to all Americans while getting caregivers (i.e. hospitals) more or less on the same page is essential if you have a program like... we don't know... say, Medicare.
In addition to discussing the Affordable Care Act, we were relieved that the two doctors also did talk about Medicare, which desperately needs reform - a whopping 50 percent of healthcare costs. And while you think about that percentage, you try to make sense of it analytically unlike the other percentage that they pointed out, which was that 10 percent of healthcare is spent due to the epidemic of obesity in this country. That can only make one reel back in disgust.
And make no mistake, that disgust we mention is not toward the people afflicted with obesity; it's for the fact that we as a society have not given the people of this country the means to make healthier choices in their lives. U.S. citizens eat so much processed food because economically they can not afford healthier food.
This brings us to the economic topic of 2014, which is income inequality and will factor in prominently in every economic policy decision from extending unemployment benefits (something Congress should do) to raising the minimum wage (also something Congress should do, if only a little) to tax reform. We've arrived at an economic breaking point for the middle class in America where a stark choice in Washington needs to be made - are we as a country going to enact policies to bring more people into it or are we going to eliminate any kind of social safety net or contract or cohesion of a fabric. America is after all the precarious balance between those two directions. The first step in addressing such a grossly tangled problem as income inequality is to first acknowledge it and start the conversation so at least we're to that point.
In the more practical sense, like we said, Congress should extend unemployment benefits to the 1.3 million people the Director of the National Economic Council, Gene Sperling, cited in his joint interview with Jim Cramer.
There was mention of a bipartisan agreement for a 3-month extension, which is a good start as it at least gets families through the winter. Unnecessarily, Congress will have to keep extending them because it can not conceive of an answer to Mr. Cramer's central question is how are you going to help get these Americans into the in-demand skill jobs, jobs in this countries biggest growth industry as Steve Schmidt thankfully pointed out - energy. Without an answer to that question, there is no choice but for extension.
There is the other practical matter of raising the minimum wage. We all know that the minimum wage is entirely insufficient to keep up with the cost of living so most say raise it. However, there are many that say if you raise it to $10 per hour for example, that will cause businesses to hire less and even lay people off because of the increase in labor costs. Whether the data bears that out or not, for the sake of the argument, we'll concede it a valid argument. However, the underlying problem still exists so Congress could raise it incrementally so the shock, particularly for small businesses, isn't so acute. Simply just a thought from which a negotiation toward a bipartisan solution could stem.
Leaders and Kings need to think more about the hope and dignity of their people over which they hold power, as opposed to simply thinking about holding onto the power itself.
Round Table: Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff and NBC Political Director Chuck Todd
He also said that it isn't the United States' fight and that it shouldn't get involved, an opinion that Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) concurred with, but also went on to say that it's not America's responsibility. We find it disturbing how the United States has dismissed an ever escalating conflict that it is indeed responsible for. We're not saying that the U.S. should become involved militarily again, but washing our hands of it, ignoring it in large part as we are, and letting Anbar province slip into chaos, disgraces the memory of over 1,300 American soldiers who died there. The Iraq War wasn't smart then and proves itself to be less so every day.
The rest of the world is faced with a vital region that is essentially leaderless and is facing a complete meltdown. The elected, dictatorial, and anointed leaders alike in the region are all so consumed with the fear of losing power that they are all just covering themselves with layers of radicals and weapons. The loss of this province as NBC's Richard Engel pointed out is directly tied to the Syrian civil war and gives radicals with a solidified geographical base of significance. The U.S. needs to openly push for someone in the region to step up and end the violence.
And as athletes from the world's countries gather in Sochii, Russia for the Olympics, our fear is that extremists will want to interrupt the games by violently calling attention to their cause - security needs to be top of mind for every country participating.
***
After the joint interview with Dr. Delos Cosgrove of the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. John Noseworthy of the Mayo Clinic, we couldn't help but thinking how long overdue it was. They gave us the straight skinny on the Affordable Care Act, which is that it has increased access for individuals and is improving the quality of care. That's the good news, but the bad news is that we're not sure how much this is going to cost and whether it really will bring healthcare costs down. Dr. Noseworthy said that if the payment system were modernized that would do a lot to keep costs down. To us, that seems like a nonpartisan fix that should be happening now.
Also, Dr. Cosgrove stated it frankly, saying that hospitals were going to make less money - nothing that anyone in any industry likes to hear. Speaking of industry, the doctor explained that U.S. healthcare is not a system but a bunch of cottage industries, and that now the government is trying to create a 'system.' We don't know much about healthcare, but we do know that if the government is going to create a system, that indeed will cost a significant amount of money up front before you start saving anything down the line. With that said, getting access to all Americans while getting caregivers (i.e. hospitals) more or less on the same page is essential if you have a program like... we don't know... say, Medicare.
In addition to discussing the Affordable Care Act, we were relieved that the two doctors also did talk about Medicare, which desperately needs reform - a whopping 50 percent of healthcare costs. And while you think about that percentage, you try to make sense of it analytically unlike the other percentage that they pointed out, which was that 10 percent of healthcare is spent due to the epidemic of obesity in this country. That can only make one reel back in disgust.
And make no mistake, that disgust we mention is not toward the people afflicted with obesity; it's for the fact that we as a society have not given the people of this country the means to make healthier choices in their lives. U.S. citizens eat so much processed food because economically they can not afford healthier food.
This brings us to the economic topic of 2014, which is income inequality and will factor in prominently in every economic policy decision from extending unemployment benefits (something Congress should do) to raising the minimum wage (also something Congress should do, if only a little) to tax reform. We've arrived at an economic breaking point for the middle class in America where a stark choice in Washington needs to be made - are we as a country going to enact policies to bring more people into it or are we going to eliminate any kind of social safety net or contract or cohesion of a fabric. America is after all the precarious balance between those two directions. The first step in addressing such a grossly tangled problem as income inequality is to first acknowledge it and start the conversation so at least we're to that point.
In the more practical sense, like we said, Congress should extend unemployment benefits to the 1.3 million people the Director of the National Economic Council, Gene Sperling, cited in his joint interview with Jim Cramer.
There was mention of a bipartisan agreement for a 3-month extension, which is a good start as it at least gets families through the winter. Unnecessarily, Congress will have to keep extending them because it can not conceive of an answer to Mr. Cramer's central question is how are you going to help get these Americans into the in-demand skill jobs, jobs in this countries biggest growth industry as Steve Schmidt thankfully pointed out - energy. Without an answer to that question, there is no choice but for extension.
There is the other practical matter of raising the minimum wage. We all know that the minimum wage is entirely insufficient to keep up with the cost of living so most say raise it. However, there are many that say if you raise it to $10 per hour for example, that will cause businesses to hire less and even lay people off because of the increase in labor costs. Whether the data bears that out or not, for the sake of the argument, we'll concede it a valid argument. However, the underlying problem still exists so Congress could raise it incrementally so the shock, particularly for small businesses, isn't so acute. Simply just a thought from which a negotiation toward a bipartisan solution could stem.
Leaders and Kings need to think more about the hope and dignity of their people over which they hold power, as opposed to simply thinking about holding onto the power itself.
Round Table: Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff and NBC Political Director Chuck Todd
Sunday, December 29, 2013
12.29.13: Benghazi and the State of the World
As is the standard in Washington these days, it turns out that both sides (Democrats and Republicans respectively) were wrong on what happened in Benghazi, Libya. As The New York Times reported today, the attack in Benghazi was neither the work of Al Qaeda nor was it spontaneous in nature.
The former Secretary to the UN, now National Security Adviser, Susan Rice's notorious battery of interviews in which she said that the attack was motivated by a video that insulted Islam turns out to be true according to the report. However, local militias certainly planned and coordinated it as opposed to being a spontaneous event. This incorrect second part speaks to the Administration's (of which Ms. Rice was a spokesperson) misreading of the overall security situation not only in Benghazi but in all of Libya and that is not to be taken lightly. Never mind that it was obvious to the locals that the mission in Benghazi was a CIA outpost instead of a diplomatic U.S. mission - spies exposed are obviously vulnerable, any movie would tell you that.
We're not as apologist as Mr. Gregory in citing early stages and fog-of-war reasons for getting the information wrong because it puts into question the validity and trustworthiness of the statements, but there is a disparity between the time it takes to get the information correct and when it needs to be delivered. The Administration had to speak before it had all the facts.
On the other hand, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sat in the studio contesting the report's investigated conclusion that Al Qaeda was not involved in the attack. We did not expect Mr. Issa to reverse his position after holding extensive hearing on the matter of whether the terrorist organization was behind the attack that occurred on September 11th, 2012, in which he concluded before the hearings were even held that they were responsible, the video played no part and that there was a cover-up at the highest level of government - opinions that he maintained this morning.
"No chance" were the words that David Kirkpatrick, who reported the story for The Times, used for the claim that Al Qaeda was involved, but Mr. Issa seems to only want to see the select facts that support his interpreted conclusion, and this morning dismissing the report as after-the-fact and therefore not accurate. Not to dishonor the memory of those who died in Benghazi, but Mr. Issa's partisanship is so blind that when the date of September 11th is uttered, he immediately thinks 2012 instead of 2001. That's not to say that the date was coincidental, but more like convenient. Benghazi should have never been a partisan issue, but he contributed to it being one more than anyone else. We agree with Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) that Mr. Issa created an unnecessary distraction for a year, but he shouldn't have used the word 'crusade' to describe Mr. Issa's position. Of all words, it perpetuates our cultural insensitivity to Islam. Not realizing the historical significance of that word for Muslims speaks to the underestimation of the reaction to a video that insults Islam, something Mr. Issa said the Administration used as a talking point.
It was a local terrorist attack on a poorly disguised and defended CIA outpost, but not an Al Qaeda one as Mr. Issa has claimed. This is a clear illustration of both sides acting of the consequences of political prosecution instead of what they should have done which was simply get to the bottom of what happened and to make sure it didn't repeat itself.
Professor of History at George Mason University, Dr. Peter Stearns called Washington's political paralysis an embarrassment to the United States around the world. Well, so is the way our political leaders handled what happened in Benghazi, more concerned with political blame than the fact that 4 Americans died. It's speaks definitively to the round table's discussion about the 'state of the world' in 2014 and the position of the United States.
Despite all the in-fighting, the United States is in relatively good economic shape comparatively to many other countries, and this is what the U.S. should leverage more for influence. That along with robust diplomacy is the boldness that the panel was referring to. As other countries advance, Robin Wright mentioned Brazil and Iran, they'll want a say in a more and more integrated world economy that's why in the long game, it's smart to engage Iran. Image 10 to 15 years from now, Iran potentially being a reliable market for American products.
However, where the U.S. falls short with Iranian diplomacy is not thinking more regionally, and what we mean is also openly discussing Iran's proxy army called Hezbollah and the funding for it. That would be bold diplomacy, something we believe Secretary Kerry is capable of. Let's face it, if Hezbollah weren't involved in the Syrian civil war, there would be a lot more clarity on a quicker outcome.
The Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Elliott Abrams, said the U.S. is receding in the Middle East and it would seem that way with the Saudis and Egyptians becoming more and more indifferent toward U.S. relations. However, we see it more of a regrouping while changing strategy in the region. For the past decade-plus, we've been lighting it up militarily and where has it gotten us? Beside, what have the Saudis given the United States lately? Some would answer, 15 of 19.
But that's not the answer, the Saudis have given the U.S. the leverage to get everyone to the table. Should the U.S. trust the Saudis; perhaps not but they also shouldn't let the alliance drift and instead use it diplomatically to achieve first a civil coexistence in the region before you can even discuss sustained peace.
The issue of income inequality not only in the U.S. but throughout the world will become an even bigger issue in 2014 than it started to be this year. In The New York Times Benghazi article, there is even mention that the attack was also motivated, be it a small part, by the reluctance of American business investment. Economic opportunity or the lack thereof plays at the core of tragedy and it took Pope Francis to bring it front and center.
The other issue that will continue to grow in stature in terms of global debate will be surveillance. Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union who also serves as Edward Snowden's legal advisor pointed out the one for sure thing that Mr. Snowden got right, which was that he brought the American people into the conversation; it's how he 'won.' Also, Mr. Wizner made the important distinction between the Constitutionality of surveilling one American versus all of them, which we should all keep in mind.
Despite what Justice William Pauley of the U.S. District Court ruled, it's clear to a majority of Americans that the NSA has run amok, and something has to be done to curtail unchecked surveillance power.
With all this talk about being down economically and big brother continually looking over your shoulder, we're optimist for 2014 because we are in fact collectively more in the know about these major issues and having more information about something always leads to a positive.
Happy New Year
Round Table: Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson; NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell; Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Elliott Abrams; Woodrow Wilson Center Senior Fellow Robin Wright; Provost and Professor of History at George Mason University, Dr. Peter Stearns
The former Secretary to the UN, now National Security Adviser, Susan Rice's notorious battery of interviews in which she said that the attack was motivated by a video that insulted Islam turns out to be true according to the report. However, local militias certainly planned and coordinated it as opposed to being a spontaneous event. This incorrect second part speaks to the Administration's (of which Ms. Rice was a spokesperson) misreading of the overall security situation not only in Benghazi but in all of Libya and that is not to be taken lightly. Never mind that it was obvious to the locals that the mission in Benghazi was a CIA outpost instead of a diplomatic U.S. mission - spies exposed are obviously vulnerable, any movie would tell you that.
We're not as apologist as Mr. Gregory in citing early stages and fog-of-war reasons for getting the information wrong because it puts into question the validity and trustworthiness of the statements, but there is a disparity between the time it takes to get the information correct and when it needs to be delivered. The Administration had to speak before it had all the facts.
On the other hand, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sat in the studio contesting the report's investigated conclusion that Al Qaeda was not involved in the attack. We did not expect Mr. Issa to reverse his position after holding extensive hearing on the matter of whether the terrorist organization was behind the attack that occurred on September 11th, 2012, in which he concluded before the hearings were even held that they were responsible, the video played no part and that there was a cover-up at the highest level of government - opinions that he maintained this morning.
"No chance" were the words that David Kirkpatrick, who reported the story for The Times, used for the claim that Al Qaeda was involved, but Mr. Issa seems to only want to see the select facts that support his interpreted conclusion, and this morning dismissing the report as after-the-fact and therefore not accurate. Not to dishonor the memory of those who died in Benghazi, but Mr. Issa's partisanship is so blind that when the date of September 11th is uttered, he immediately thinks 2012 instead of 2001. That's not to say that the date was coincidental, but more like convenient. Benghazi should have never been a partisan issue, but he contributed to it being one more than anyone else. We agree with Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) that Mr. Issa created an unnecessary distraction for a year, but he shouldn't have used the word 'crusade' to describe Mr. Issa's position. Of all words, it perpetuates our cultural insensitivity to Islam. Not realizing the historical significance of that word for Muslims speaks to the underestimation of the reaction to a video that insults Islam, something Mr. Issa said the Administration used as a talking point.
It was a local terrorist attack on a poorly disguised and defended CIA outpost, but not an Al Qaeda one as Mr. Issa has claimed. This is a clear illustration of both sides acting of the consequences of political prosecution instead of what they should have done which was simply get to the bottom of what happened and to make sure it didn't repeat itself.
Professor of History at George Mason University, Dr. Peter Stearns called Washington's political paralysis an embarrassment to the United States around the world. Well, so is the way our political leaders handled what happened in Benghazi, more concerned with political blame than the fact that 4 Americans died. It's speaks definitively to the round table's discussion about the 'state of the world' in 2014 and the position of the United States.
Despite all the in-fighting, the United States is in relatively good economic shape comparatively to many other countries, and this is what the U.S. should leverage more for influence. That along with robust diplomacy is the boldness that the panel was referring to. As other countries advance, Robin Wright mentioned Brazil and Iran, they'll want a say in a more and more integrated world economy that's why in the long game, it's smart to engage Iran. Image 10 to 15 years from now, Iran potentially being a reliable market for American products.
However, where the U.S. falls short with Iranian diplomacy is not thinking more regionally, and what we mean is also openly discussing Iran's proxy army called Hezbollah and the funding for it. That would be bold diplomacy, something we believe Secretary Kerry is capable of. Let's face it, if Hezbollah weren't involved in the Syrian civil war, there would be a lot more clarity on a quicker outcome.
The Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Elliott Abrams, said the U.S. is receding in the Middle East and it would seem that way with the Saudis and Egyptians becoming more and more indifferent toward U.S. relations. However, we see it more of a regrouping while changing strategy in the region. For the past decade-plus, we've been lighting it up militarily and where has it gotten us? Beside, what have the Saudis given the United States lately? Some would answer, 15 of 19.
But that's not the answer, the Saudis have given the U.S. the leverage to get everyone to the table. Should the U.S. trust the Saudis; perhaps not but they also shouldn't let the alliance drift and instead use it diplomatically to achieve first a civil coexistence in the region before you can even discuss sustained peace.
The issue of income inequality not only in the U.S. but throughout the world will become an even bigger issue in 2014 than it started to be this year. In The New York Times Benghazi article, there is even mention that the attack was also motivated, be it a small part, by the reluctance of American business investment. Economic opportunity or the lack thereof plays at the core of tragedy and it took Pope Francis to bring it front and center.
The other issue that will continue to grow in stature in terms of global debate will be surveillance. Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union who also serves as Edward Snowden's legal advisor pointed out the one for sure thing that Mr. Snowden got right, which was that he brought the American people into the conversation; it's how he 'won.' Also, Mr. Wizner made the important distinction between the Constitutionality of surveilling one American versus all of them, which we should all keep in mind.
Despite what Justice William Pauley of the U.S. District Court ruled, it's clear to a majority of Americans that the NSA has run amok, and something has to be done to curtail unchecked surveillance power.
With all this talk about being down economically and big brother continually looking over your shoulder, we're optimist for 2014 because we are in fact collectively more in the know about these major issues and having more information about something always leads to a positive.
Happy New Year
Round Table: Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson; NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell; Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Elliott Abrams; Woodrow Wilson Center Senior Fellow Robin Wright; Provost and Professor of History at George Mason University, Dr. Peter Stearns
Sunday, December 22, 2013
12.22.13: Managing Healthcare and the NSA
Rationality creates certainty and from the interview with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, certainty is what the world economy is relieved to see from a U.S. Congress that acted rationally when it created a bi-partisan budget deal.
As the world's richest country (the economic leader), the United States has to eliminate fear, as Ms. Lagarde put it even though as Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) noted Congress agreed to raise spending and raise taxes in this budget deal. If you're a conservative that sounds bad, but remember that the budget deal has net deficit reduction. Also, Congress working together along with the Fed buying less and less debt are indicators, as Ms. Lagarde noted leads to predictions of a stronger 2014 economically because it will lead to corporations investing and hiring more. In the United States, the last economic quarter showed a 4.1% growth and unemployment is at a 5-year low at 7% (still not good enough).
Anecdotally, there is Senator Jim Imhofe (R-OK) who recently, tragically lost a son in a plane crash. This column rarely agrees with Mr. Imhofe's policy positions, but he has our sincerely condolences. In the interview, Mr. Imhofe said that he might get in trouble for saying so, but admitted that more of his Democratic colleagues reached out to him than did Republicans. A sad byproduct from a sad story is that this is 'surprising.' But what Mr. Imhofe concluded was that listening to his colleagues on the other side of the aisle and trying to work together is a good thing; this coming from one of the most partisan politicians in the Senate.
It all sounds like good news with the economic indicators noted above along with a Stock Market that is closing at record levels, but these indicators are not applying to the majority of Americans or citizens of the world for that matter because the income inequality gap is continually widening. It's a topic that United States politicians simply will not touch. Republicans believe for the most part that it doesn't exist or is simply luck-of-the-draw and Democrats hate being accused of class warfare and don't have enough political muscle, which limits their desire to give more support to low-income families through raising taxes.
The United States isn't close to it, but there is a breaking point where the fabric of society is at stake as Ms. Lagarde said. You see already happening now in many countries where civil society is breaking down because of lack of economic opportunity and furthermore a fundamental lack of hope that it will get better.
Where Americans keenly have a lack of hope is in the confidence that the United States can positively move the country ahead in a competent and trustworthy manner. When we say 'competent,' think healthcare, and for 'trustworthy,' there's the NSA of course. Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the Administration has no choice but to get it right, but really the whole United States government has no choice to get it right, and that means that no matter how many changes need to be made to get it right, it simply has to happen. As Senator Coburn stated, the government can not run one sixth of the economy (approximately 17 percent). Fine, but it is the government's job to lower that percentage. There was lots of talk of other countries' healthcare costs comparatively to the United States, and the reason that they are considerably lower is because they are government-run, single payer systems.
That's not what Americans want, unless you're 65 or older and on Medicare. Without single payer, you keep the insurance companies (the private sector) profit in place, but to do that you have to create a mandate to get everyone insured while keeping those companies viable. As Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rightly noted, the individual mandate is tied to accepting people with preexisting conditions in as much as you can not have one without the other. So fixes are needed, or a better option, which Republicans haven't come up with. And given the lack of a viable alternative Republicans, like Anna Navarro, can not complain that an aspect of the healthcare act doesn't work when they don't want the entire thing in the first place.
And as for the NSA, that is just one big ball of ugly. Just consider what Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said about the agency that collects all of our private data and conversations that a subcontractor stole all of their secrets, the extent of which they don't even know. David Gregory noted that the Constitution prohibits the government from being put in a position of abuse. This is clear where the NSA sits, despite Congressman Peter King saying that no abuse by the NSA has been found.
Clearly, no one is looking.
Round Table: New York Times columnist David Brooks, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Republican strategist Ana Navarro
As the world's richest country (the economic leader), the United States has to eliminate fear, as Ms. Lagarde put it even though as Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) noted Congress agreed to raise spending and raise taxes in this budget deal. If you're a conservative that sounds bad, but remember that the budget deal has net deficit reduction. Also, Congress working together along with the Fed buying less and less debt are indicators, as Ms. Lagarde noted leads to predictions of a stronger 2014 economically because it will lead to corporations investing and hiring more. In the United States, the last economic quarter showed a 4.1% growth and unemployment is at a 5-year low at 7% (still not good enough).
Anecdotally, there is Senator Jim Imhofe (R-OK) who recently, tragically lost a son in a plane crash. This column rarely agrees with Mr. Imhofe's policy positions, but he has our sincerely condolences. In the interview, Mr. Imhofe said that he might get in trouble for saying so, but admitted that more of his Democratic colleagues reached out to him than did Republicans. A sad byproduct from a sad story is that this is 'surprising.' But what Mr. Imhofe concluded was that listening to his colleagues on the other side of the aisle and trying to work together is a good thing; this coming from one of the most partisan politicians in the Senate.
It all sounds like good news with the economic indicators noted above along with a Stock Market that is closing at record levels, but these indicators are not applying to the majority of Americans or citizens of the world for that matter because the income inequality gap is continually widening. It's a topic that United States politicians simply will not touch. Republicans believe for the most part that it doesn't exist or is simply luck-of-the-draw and Democrats hate being accused of class warfare and don't have enough political muscle, which limits their desire to give more support to low-income families through raising taxes.
The United States isn't close to it, but there is a breaking point where the fabric of society is at stake as Ms. Lagarde said. You see already happening now in many countries where civil society is breaking down because of lack of economic opportunity and furthermore a fundamental lack of hope that it will get better.
Where Americans keenly have a lack of hope is in the confidence that the United States can positively move the country ahead in a competent and trustworthy manner. When we say 'competent,' think healthcare, and for 'trustworthy,' there's the NSA of course. Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the Administration has no choice but to get it right, but really the whole United States government has no choice to get it right, and that means that no matter how many changes need to be made to get it right, it simply has to happen. As Senator Coburn stated, the government can not run one sixth of the economy (approximately 17 percent). Fine, but it is the government's job to lower that percentage. There was lots of talk of other countries' healthcare costs comparatively to the United States, and the reason that they are considerably lower is because they are government-run, single payer systems.
That's not what Americans want, unless you're 65 or older and on Medicare. Without single payer, you keep the insurance companies (the private sector) profit in place, but to do that you have to create a mandate to get everyone insured while keeping those companies viable. As Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rightly noted, the individual mandate is tied to accepting people with preexisting conditions in as much as you can not have one without the other. So fixes are needed, or a better option, which Republicans haven't come up with. And given the lack of a viable alternative Republicans, like Anna Navarro, can not complain that an aspect of the healthcare act doesn't work when they don't want the entire thing in the first place.
And as for the NSA, that is just one big ball of ugly. Just consider what Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said about the agency that collects all of our private data and conversations that a subcontractor stole all of their secrets, the extent of which they don't even know. David Gregory noted that the Constitution prohibits the government from being put in a position of abuse. This is clear where the NSA sits, despite Congressman Peter King saying that no abuse by the NSA has been found.
Clearly, no one is looking.
Round Table: New York Times columnist David Brooks, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Republican strategist Ana Navarro
Sunday, December 15, 2013
12.15.13: Compromise and Privacy
Republicans in Congress are not yet ready to utter the word 'compromise,' but most have finally realized that unless they act in the spirit of that notion, their long-term prospects for winning national elections will continue to look more like a long shot.
The Washington Post's Katleen Parker said that there isn't much public interest in the budget, and nor should there be. It should be something that Congress simply gets down without much fanfare. The reality is that it had gotten to a point where they couldn't even compromise enough to do budgetary housekeeping.
However, with the support of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Budget Committee Chair Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) anchored the creation of a bi-partisan budget deal with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). The compromise budget served as a small, but very significant, step in body's attempt to reestablish trust with the American people and elevate a nine percent approval rating.
In more practical terms, what is does do is eliminate the possibility of a government shutdown for two years, a legislative stick in the eye of the tea party caucus who no longer have leverage to irrationally tank the world economy if they do not get everything that they want. We get at least two years of peace as far as shutdowns go; call it a well-needed extended break. Merry Christmas to us.
At the end of this clip, a reporter asks Mr. Boehner if he's telling these Tea Party Outside Interest Group to stand down, and he replies, "I don't care what they do," meaning that whatever they do, he'll challenge the credibility of it.
But let's not get too excited that this is going to start some new era of cooperation... please. We have a long way to go before this civil war in the Republican Party plays itself out. The next major battle will be the Republican Congressional primary races in 2014.
Tea Party groups, as it has been reported, have heavily criticized the budget deal and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) stated that 'as an American he could not vote for it,' something that Mr. Gregory had to correct himself on, because the compromise with Democrats was that there would be some sequester relief.
But in the end, the deal is a Republican win because even though it's modest. There is a net deficit reduction as Mr. Ryan pointed out. This helps Establishment Republicans because now they can say we worked with the other side and we got more of what we wanted than Democrats did. And Democrats should be more than willing to do these kinds of deals right now to help Establishment Republicans regain rationality within their party. Something that will move this process along that was mentioned by Governor Richardson during the round table discussion was that Jon Podesta, President Clinton's former Chief of Staff, has been working in the White House and communicating with Congress to facilitate these kinds of compromises, and to straighten out a disfunctional operation that is the Obama Administration.
As Senator Murray pointed out, Congress had created some much uncertainty in the business community with a governing-by-crisis approach that it rendered the prospects for real growth very dim. With all interested parties knowing all too well of this reality, Mr. Ryan, under cover fire from the House Speaker, worked out a compromise.
However, speaking about what Congress knows and doesn't, it doesn't seem like it knows much when it comes to surveillance, spying, and the NSA's data gathering.
Former head of the NSA and CIA, General Michael Hayden said that he agreed with the proposal to overhaul the parameters in which the NSA can gather information on U.S. citizens, but how do you put that genie back in the bottle? He said that he hasn't seen any abuse in the NSA's gathering of information, but could see the potential for abuse. The General is speaking in terms of what the courts have authorized, but what about the abusive nature of the intelligence gathering itself that has been brought to light by Edward Snowden? A debate as to whether the NSA should have this authority couldn't have happened due to the power of the Patriot act so really there is no dismantling of the surveillance state at this point. And to regulate it, legislators have to know the full extent of the program which they do not... Plausible deniability is political bliss.
General Hayden talked about the need for a discussion on the cultural understanding of privacy, but what he was really saying is that we need to redefine what, in fact, privacy is.
Round Table: Former New Mexico Gov. and ambassador Bill Richardson, TIME magazine Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs, Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker and Nation Public Radio’s Steve Inskeep
The Washington Post's Katleen Parker said that there isn't much public interest in the budget, and nor should there be. It should be something that Congress simply gets down without much fanfare. The reality is that it had gotten to a point where they couldn't even compromise enough to do budgetary housekeeping.
However, with the support of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Budget Committee Chair Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) anchored the creation of a bi-partisan budget deal with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). The compromise budget served as a small, but very significant, step in body's attempt to reestablish trust with the American people and elevate a nine percent approval rating.
In more practical terms, what is does do is eliminate the possibility of a government shutdown for two years, a legislative stick in the eye of the tea party caucus who no longer have leverage to irrationally tank the world economy if they do not get everything that they want. We get at least two years of peace as far as shutdowns go; call it a well-needed extended break. Merry Christmas to us.
At the end of this clip, a reporter asks Mr. Boehner if he's telling these Tea Party Outside Interest Group to stand down, and he replies, "I don't care what they do," meaning that whatever they do, he'll challenge the credibility of it.
But let's not get too excited that this is going to start some new era of cooperation... please. We have a long way to go before this civil war in the Republican Party plays itself out. The next major battle will be the Republican Congressional primary races in 2014.
Tea Party groups, as it has been reported, have heavily criticized the budget deal and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) stated that 'as an American he could not vote for it,' something that Mr. Gregory had to correct himself on, because the compromise with Democrats was that there would be some sequester relief.
But in the end, the deal is a Republican win because even though it's modest. There is a net deficit reduction as Mr. Ryan pointed out. This helps Establishment Republicans because now they can say we worked with the other side and we got more of what we wanted than Democrats did. And Democrats should be more than willing to do these kinds of deals right now to help Establishment Republicans regain rationality within their party. Something that will move this process along that was mentioned by Governor Richardson during the round table discussion was that Jon Podesta, President Clinton's former Chief of Staff, has been working in the White House and communicating with Congress to facilitate these kinds of compromises, and to straighten out a disfunctional operation that is the Obama Administration.
As Senator Murray pointed out, Congress had created some much uncertainty in the business community with a governing-by-crisis approach that it rendered the prospects for real growth very dim. With all interested parties knowing all too well of this reality, Mr. Ryan, under cover fire from the House Speaker, worked out a compromise.
However, speaking about what Congress knows and doesn't, it doesn't seem like it knows much when it comes to surveillance, spying, and the NSA's data gathering.
Former head of the NSA and CIA, General Michael Hayden said that he agreed with the proposal to overhaul the parameters in which the NSA can gather information on U.S. citizens, but how do you put that genie back in the bottle? He said that he hasn't seen any abuse in the NSA's gathering of information, but could see the potential for abuse. The General is speaking in terms of what the courts have authorized, but what about the abusive nature of the intelligence gathering itself that has been brought to light by Edward Snowden? A debate as to whether the NSA should have this authority couldn't have happened due to the power of the Patriot act so really there is no dismantling of the surveillance state at this point. And to regulate it, legislators have to know the full extent of the program which they do not... Plausible deniability is political bliss.
General Hayden talked about the need for a discussion on the cultural understanding of privacy, but what he was really saying is that we need to redefine what, in fact, privacy is.
Round Table: Former New Mexico Gov. and ambassador Bill Richardson, TIME magazine Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs, Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker and Nation Public Radio’s Steve Inskeep
Sunday, December 08, 2013
12.8.13: Nelson Mandela: Freedom and Equal Opportunity
South African President Jacob Zuma said, "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father." Though he was solely referring to South Africans when he used the phrase 'our people,' we'd like to think that he was talking about all of humanity.
If inspiration were measured like gold, we'd all live in big houses from the courage and patience Nelson Mandela showed us. No one who is a true symbol of something, never aspires to be such, but Mr. Mandela will forever serve as a symbol of freedom and equal opportunity for the world.
We can offer little, if any, insight with regard to the life of Nelson Mandela and what he meant to the world; we wouldn't to presume to insult your intelligence and diminish his memory.
But Mr. Mandela's death makes us think of the very essence of what it means to have freedom and equal opportunity. We see the latter of the two systematically being replaced, or abridged, to only 'opportunity.' The lack of simple opportunity is chronically plaguing country's all over the world, and it's getting worse exponentially. When people around the world should be demanding an equal opportunity, we've been reduced to asking for any one, equal or not because the notion of opportunity is becoming more scarce. And if we keep going on in this direction, we'll bottom out in a place where we'll only have to hope for another individual to act and lead on the inspiration given to him or her by Mr. Mandela
Nelson Mandela
1918-2013
Postscript (a lighter note - sort of): We can say that the song "Sun City," written and produced by Steven Van Zandt for United Artists Against Apartheid, 1985, is the best mass-all-star collaboration recorded in pop music, much better than its contemporary rival "We Are the World," which has all the genre-varied artist conforming to one structure whereas "Sun City" incorporates several divergent music styles to complete one generous whole of a song.
If inspiration were measured like gold, we'd all live in big houses from the courage and patience Nelson Mandela showed us. No one who is a true symbol of something, never aspires to be such, but Mr. Mandela will forever serve as a symbol of freedom and equal opportunity for the world.
We can offer little, if any, insight with regard to the life of Nelson Mandela and what he meant to the world; we wouldn't to presume to insult your intelligence and diminish his memory.
But Mr. Mandela's death makes us think of the very essence of what it means to have freedom and equal opportunity. We see the latter of the two systematically being replaced, or abridged, to only 'opportunity.' The lack of simple opportunity is chronically plaguing country's all over the world, and it's getting worse exponentially. When people around the world should be demanding an equal opportunity, we've been reduced to asking for any one, equal or not because the notion of opportunity is becoming more scarce. And if we keep going on in this direction, we'll bottom out in a place where we'll only have to hope for another individual to act and lead on the inspiration given to him or her by Mr. Mandela
Nelson Mandela
1918-2013
Postscript (a lighter note - sort of): We can say that the song "Sun City," written and produced by Steven Van Zandt for United Artists Against Apartheid, 1985, is the best mass-all-star collaboration recorded in pop music, much better than its contemporary rival "We Are the World," which has all the genre-varied artist conforming to one structure whereas "Sun City" incorporates several divergent music styles to complete one generous whole of a song.
Sunday, December 01, 2013
12.1.13: Process of Difficulty
We start today's column with something that New York Times columnist David Brooks said, which was (and we're paraphrasing here) that government can not run something as complex as healthcare, and that there are certain things it's meant to do, just not healthcare. However, is it that governments simply can not do it, or is it just that the United States government can not do it? It seems as though the latter is the answer because in most other industrialized nations, there is universal healthcare. In the United States, implementation is difficult because insurance companies have to stay in the healthcare business.
With all the cancellations of policies, it hasn't been enough for the insurance companies to keep getting paid, but now it's also a matter of how much, and that's why it's difficult for the government to engineer a healthcare plan. Government is not going to confiscate your healthcare as Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) emphatically stated. Insurance companies now have to commit 85% of their collected premiums to care, which means less profits due to the Affordable Care Act. The cancellation of policies is retribution for that financial hit.
The reason that other countries' governments have made healthcare work is because they've taken the profit motive out of care. The Affordable Care Act will eventually work and the eventual consequence is that the United States will either move toward a single payer system or to the eventual end of employer-based healthcare. If you're calculating the American government as a whole getting more conservative (because of big monied interests) like we do then you have to figure on employer based insurance going away sometime in the future. Not in the next year but possibly 10 to 12 years down line is well within the realm of possibility. Those are all the 'pink slips' that Congressman Rogers was referring to.
[And is it just us that finds Congressman Rogers' entire complaint about the sites security readiness a completely joke, or what? Mr. Rogers, a former F.B.I. agent, endorses the NSA's data collection and surveillance activities - essentially spying on Americans, so we find it disingenuous that he would bring this up as a point of concern.]
It's a 'process of difficulty' as the Washington Post's Erza Klein described it. Case in point is the interview with Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. He said that initially the bishops and the Catholic Church were in favor of the Affordable Care Act, but now are opposing the Obama Administration on it. One of the reasons the Cardinal cited was that the Affordable Care Act did not cover undocumented citizens. When President Obama took to the House floor to explain that the undocumented would not be covered, he was famously called a liar by Congressman Joe Wilson. It's a silly rhetorical argument that Father Dolan was making, but when in reality, it's all about birth control and limiting access to it for women. Father Dolan eloquently reiterated how Pope Francis wants to move beyond those debates but it's clear that the Church does not.
Today's real topic was 'Obamacare,' and whether it will work or not, but if government can be an agent of change. Unfortunately, the only one who thought government could have a positive effect was Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and sadly she sounded naive saying so. However, when someone sounds naive, it's because the person is emoting sympathy, and in this case sympathy for those who do not have healthcare. In today's America, sympathy isn't taken seriously. Fortunately for all of us whether we know it or not, Father Dolan's boss disagrees.
Roundtable: New York Times Columnist David Brooks; Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell; and Political Director & Chief White House Correspondent for NBC, Chuck Todd.
With all the cancellations of policies, it hasn't been enough for the insurance companies to keep getting paid, but now it's also a matter of how much, and that's why it's difficult for the government to engineer a healthcare plan. Government is not going to confiscate your healthcare as Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) emphatically stated. Insurance companies now have to commit 85% of their collected premiums to care, which means less profits due to the Affordable Care Act. The cancellation of policies is retribution for that financial hit.
The reason that other countries' governments have made healthcare work is because they've taken the profit motive out of care. The Affordable Care Act will eventually work and the eventual consequence is that the United States will either move toward a single payer system or to the eventual end of employer-based healthcare. If you're calculating the American government as a whole getting more conservative (because of big monied interests) like we do then you have to figure on employer based insurance going away sometime in the future. Not in the next year but possibly 10 to 12 years down line is well within the realm of possibility. Those are all the 'pink slips' that Congressman Rogers was referring to.
[And is it just us that finds Congressman Rogers' entire complaint about the sites security readiness a completely joke, or what? Mr. Rogers, a former F.B.I. agent, endorses the NSA's data collection and surveillance activities - essentially spying on Americans, so we find it disingenuous that he would bring this up as a point of concern.]
It's a 'process of difficulty' as the Washington Post's Erza Klein described it. Case in point is the interview with Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. He said that initially the bishops and the Catholic Church were in favor of the Affordable Care Act, but now are opposing the Obama Administration on it. One of the reasons the Cardinal cited was that the Affordable Care Act did not cover undocumented citizens. When President Obama took to the House floor to explain that the undocumented would not be covered, he was famously called a liar by Congressman Joe Wilson. It's a silly rhetorical argument that Father Dolan was making, but when in reality, it's all about birth control and limiting access to it for women. Father Dolan eloquently reiterated how Pope Francis wants to move beyond those debates but it's clear that the Church does not.
Today's real topic was 'Obamacare,' and whether it will work or not, but if government can be an agent of change. Unfortunately, the only one who thought government could have a positive effect was Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and sadly she sounded naive saying so. However, when someone sounds naive, it's because the person is emoting sympathy, and in this case sympathy for those who do not have healthcare. In today's America, sympathy isn't taken seriously. Fortunately for all of us whether we know it or not, Father Dolan's boss disagrees.
Roundtable: New York Times Columnist David Brooks; Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell; and Political Director & Chief White House Correspondent for NBC, Chuck Todd.
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