On subjects both sublime and ridiculous--the nation's economy to catching a small-time crook in high office--the media are once again showing helplessness in the face of idiocy spouted by people in official positions.
For an hour with Larry King after a blitz of other TV outlets, Rod Blagojevich keeps repeating his mantra of Fitzgerald's tapes as "out of context" and his "innocent until proved guilty" grievances against the Illinois legislature, where the only vote not to impeach him was cast by his sister-in-law.
Much more serious is the constant tanned presence of John Boehner (does the man sleep under a sun lamp?), telling us that the answer to a deepening depression is tax cuts and more tax cuts.
There are many ways to dispose of such nonsense, but Paul Krugman's will suffice:
"Here’s how to think about this argument: it implies that we should shut down the air traffic control system. After all, that system is paid for with fees on air tickets--and surely it would be better to let the flying public keep its money rather than hand it over to government bureaucrats. If that would mean lots of midair collisions, hey, stuff happens."
Yet Boehner's brainlessness keeps being used by the media as "balance" to the Obama Administration's efforts to get a stimulus bill through Congress. There are serious objections that can be made to portions of the bill that can't be reduced to sound bites, but we don't hear them.
It all recalls the time when a US Senator kept waving pieces of blank paper as lists of Communists in the State Department and the media felt helpless not to report Joe McCarthy's lies with a straight face.
We haven't progressed much in half a century.
Showing posts with label economy stimulus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy stimulus. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Republican Leader Is Highly Stimulated
Like the Claude Rains character in "Casablanca," John Boehner was "shocked" yesterday by details of the Democratic stimulus plan.
"There's over a half-a-trillion dollars worth of spending," he said on the PBS News Hour. Spending in a stimulus bill? As shocking as gambling in a casino.
The House Minority leader, who has been an embarrassment before, doesn't like the proposal because (1) it isn't all tax cuts and (2) Republicans weren't consulted enough.
The $825 billion stimulus bill unveiled by Democrats yesterday has $275 billion in tax cuts and credits to jump-start the economy (and appease Republicans), along with $550 billion in spending for clean energy, road construction, social welfare programs and emergency assistance to states.
There is much to debate about the details, not only the nature of the infrastructure expenditures but opposition by some Democrats to the size of the tax cuts, but Boehner's boobery-as-usual won't advance the process very far.
When the original bailout was voted down in late September, Boehner insisted it could have drawn enough Republican votes "had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House," claiming Speaker Nancy Pelosi's words "poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south."
This led Barney Frank to respond with disbelief, "Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decided to punish the country?"
The House Republican leader is a sensitive man, who has shed patriotic tears on the floor, but with the US economy at stake, Boehner will have to calm down and get his colleagues to discuss the bill rationally.
"There's over a half-a-trillion dollars worth of spending," he said on the PBS News Hour. Spending in a stimulus bill? As shocking as gambling in a casino.
The House Minority leader, who has been an embarrassment before, doesn't like the proposal because (1) it isn't all tax cuts and (2) Republicans weren't consulted enough.
The $825 billion stimulus bill unveiled by Democrats yesterday has $275 billion in tax cuts and credits to jump-start the economy (and appease Republicans), along with $550 billion in spending for clean energy, road construction, social welfare programs and emergency assistance to states.
There is much to debate about the details, not only the nature of the infrastructure expenditures but opposition by some Democrats to the size of the tax cuts, but Boehner's boobery-as-usual won't advance the process very far.
When the original bailout was voted down in late September, Boehner insisted it could have drawn enough Republican votes "had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House," claiming Speaker Nancy Pelosi's words "poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south."
This led Barney Frank to respond with disbelief, "Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decided to punish the country?"
The House Republican leader is a sensitive man, who has shed patriotic tears on the floor, but with the US economy at stake, Boehner will have to calm down and get his colleagues to discuss the bill rationally.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Free Money for All
The bipartisan smiles in Washington signify that the President and Congress have agreed to give the economy a $150 billion jolt, less than a year's worth of what it costs to keep American troops fighting and dying in Iraq.
Democrats who gave up on de-funding the war will face the voters this fall with a "victory" over an impending recession to paper over their failure to do what they were elected to do in November 2006.
For consumers who overspent by $3 trillion dollars since 2001 (according to Business Week's chief economist), there will be free money and cheaper credit thanks to the Fed to keep doing what they did to get us into trouble in the first place.
The talking-head economists on TV will give us contradictory explanations of how this all works, but the bottom line seems to be that "fiscal discipline" for both individuals and the government has gone out of style in the Bush era, along with restraint over the use of military power.
Is it naïve to suggest that the money being wasted in Iraq could be stimulating the economy and rebuilding America's infrastructure without any loss of life?
Democrats who gave up on de-funding the war will face the voters this fall with a "victory" over an impending recession to paper over their failure to do what they were elected to do in November 2006.
For consumers who overspent by $3 trillion dollars since 2001 (according to Business Week's chief economist), there will be free money and cheaper credit thanks to the Fed to keep doing what they did to get us into trouble in the first place.
The talking-head economists on TV will give us contradictory explanations of how this all works, but the bottom line seems to be that "fiscal discipline" for both individuals and the government has gone out of style in the Bush era, along with restraint over the use of military power.
Is it naïve to suggest that the money being wasted in Iraq could be stimulating the economy and rebuilding America's infrastructure without any loss of life?
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