Posts Tagged ‘Congress’
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
I’m still trying to get my head around how anyone can support the Republican Party in the upcoming elections. I know they have a big lead in the polls, and I understand that the party in power usually takes it on the chin when the economy is bad, and this economy is REALLY bad. Still, what has the GOP done to merit our trust? To date, opposed extending health insurance to the almost 50 million Americans without it, opposed the climate bill (Republicans supported cap and trade when it was their idea), opposed toughening offshore oil drilling regulations (even in the wake of the BP disaster), opposed extending unemployment benefits during the worst recession in our lifetime, opposed further stimulus (even though it clearly kept the economy from tanking even further), and the latest outrage, opposed transparency in campaign funding. The only thing the party has come out in favor of is extending the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, even though that giveaway to the rich, enacted while we were fighting two unfunded wars, is largely responsible for the massive deficit the GOP now swears is our biggest problem. This is the same party, if you remember, that told us, when the tax cuts were enacted, that deficits don’t matter.
Somehow, though, they’ve persuaded a majority of Americans that they deserve another shot at wrecking the country. If you like oil in your oceans, melting ice caps and rising seas, larger deficits, greater unemployment, cuts in Social Security, Medicare and little what remains of the safety net, a shrinking middle class, the wealthy grabbing an ever larger share of the pie, and are fine with not knowing who funds political campaigns, then by all means, put these guys back in power. You’ll get what you deserve.
Topics: campaign disclosure act, campaign finance, cartoon, Congress, GOP, opinion, Republicans, Senate, transparency | 6 Comments »
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Financial reform actually passed. Another victory for Obama, despite the furious objection of the other party and their Wall Street masters. Much too late, of course, and not strong enough, but at least they’re turning the Titanic slowly away from the deregulatory daze that got us into this mess in the first place. That’s little solace to those of us who have watched our investments dwindle. We could use a little old-fashioned irrational exuberance. Where’s the next bubble going to come from if Wall Street is held accountable? I’m going to have to go back to making money the old-fashioned way, by working for it. And I don’t like it one bit. Let’s have one more round of insanely inflated stock prices. This time I’ll get out when I have enough to retire, and I won’t care when the inevitable bust comes. Then you can regulate all you want. Sound like a plan?
Topics: 401(k), banks, cartoon, Congress, economy, financial reform, opinion, stock market, Wall Street | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Once again, I’m perplexed by the inability of the Senate to do what has always been routine–extend unemployment benefits during a recession. I’m equally perplexed by the silence from the White House on the issue–Obama should be out there every day demanding that the benefits be extended, and chiding Republicans and recalcitrant Democrats for their inaction, which compounds the cruelty of this deep economic hole we’re in. Americans should be outraged that our politics have become so dysfunctional that the people who’ve lost their jobs are held hostage to satisfy the electoral aspirations of a few.
Topics: cartoon, Congress, economy, jobs, opinion, Senate, unemployment benefits | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
I’ve been accused of blindly blaming the Republican Party for too many things. But this is one even my most conservative friends agree on. Both parties have always agreed to extend unemployment benefits during recessions. It makes economic sense, and it’s the most humane thing government can do when its citizens are economically stressed. First of all, the money goes immediately into circulation–it gets spent, both alleviating the pain of the unemployed, and acting as an economic stimulus to the broader economy. This Republican Party, though, either can’t understand the benefits, or more likely, is quite willing to inflict untold pain on the people of this country if it sees an electoral benefit. The economy will get worse, Obama will be blamed, and the Republicans will reap the gains in November. Never mind the suffering. The cynicism is staggering, and shameful.
Some of the rhetoric is beyond belief. The new talking point is that extending unemployment benefits will only discourage people rom looking for jobs. Oh, we lazy Americans. Fifteen million of us thrown out of work since the recession began, and we just don’t want to go back on the job because of those cushy benefits. Unemployment is our fault. And there are all those high-paying jobs out there just going begging because Obama is too generous with our tax money. Give me a break!
Topics: cartoon, Congress, extension, GOP, jobs, opinion, Republicans, Senate, unemployment benefits | 16 Comments »
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
The one most important thing that almost everyone agreed that financial reform HAD to do was to break up the “too big to fail” banks, so that we taxpayers wouldn’t be forced to bail them out again if Wall Street continued its reckless ways. So, of course, that was the one thing the financial reform bill nearing the vote in Congress fails to do. I keep thinking that the members of Congress cannot possibly care even less about the people they supposedly serve (us, not the banks), but they keep surprising me with how much sway the lobbyists have over them. One would have thought that the current recession, now in its 30th month with no sign of ending, would have emboldened our representatives in Washington sufficiently to actually break with their corporate masters on this one issue, but it wasn’t to be.
Topics: banks, cartoon, Congress, financial reform, opinion, too big to fail, Wall Street | 21 Comments »
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Surprise! It looks as though the lobbyists are going to win again. The long-delayed financial reform bill is finally taking shape, with a vastly weakened Volcker rule, which would have kept banks from investing their own money in risky bets on the market, and would have prohibited them from owning hedge funds and private equity firms. In other words, the only fix that might have a chance at preventing another economic meltdown is being fixed by Wall Street lobbyists and their willing cohorts in Congress.
Topics: banks, cartoon, Congress, financial reform, opinion, Volker Rule, Wall Street | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
It may be a bit premature to predict the outcome of todays’ midterm primary elections, but given the unending stream of bad economic and environmental news and the generally sour mood of the electorate, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that incumbents, even if they eke out victories, are in big trouble, and that a variety of raging nutbags, who in normal times would attract scant attention, will probably end up garnering a fair share of the vote.
Topics: 2010 election, cartoon, Congress, Democrats, midterms, opinion, politics, primaries, Republicans, tea party, voters | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
The first round of primaries confirms that an anti-incumbent fervor, in part a result of the poor economy and inflamed by Tea Party rhetoric, is gripping the electorate. A word of caution here: turnout at primaries tends to be low, and the results don’t always reflect the broader mood of the voters. Rainy weather may have doomed Arlen Specter as much as a disgruntled electorate. Still, incumbents look to have a rough road come November, even as the economy strengthens. How much Congress changes, and what effect that will have on Obama’s agenda, remains to be seen. Even with the economic downturn, I still can’t quite fathom how the public mood has shifted so dramatically in a little over a year. Have we forgotten which party was in charge when the economy tanked? Is a policy of total obstruction the way forward? Are we really ready to put these guys back in power–or worse–replace them with Tea Party lunatics? I guess we’ll find out in a few months.
Topics: 2010 election, cartoon, Congress, House, incumbents, opinion, Senate, tea party | 16 Comments »
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
I’m more optimistic now than when I drew this cartoon. The last 48 hours have seen a dramatic turnaround in the chances of the Democrats achieving their agenda. Victory has a way of leading to more victories, and this one may be next. The serious reforms of the banking system proposed by Senator Dodd don’t go far enough, but they’re a necessary and long overdue beginning. We’ll see if the momentum of the health care triumph will carry over.
Topics: banks, Congress, financial reform, opinion | 1 Comment »
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
After more than sixty years of failed attempts, President Obama tomorrow will sign into law a sweeping reform of America’s health care system. It’s certainly not a perfect bill. I’d have preferred Medicare for all, with substantive changes in how reimbursements are made, but given the toxic political climate, that was not possible. I watched much of the final debate on CSPAN, which was in turns inspiring and stomach-turning. If I were a Republican, I’d be deeply embarrassed by many of the outrageous comments, distortions and outright lies that were said in opposition to the bill. No, this is not a government takeover of health care. No, it is not a left-wing communist plot to enslave Americans in a new totalitarianism (yes, more than one deranged House member actually made that and similar accusations). No, it will not destroy the economy.
The difference in what was said on both sides was telling. Democrats often talked about how this reform helps people who are trapped in the broken system we have now, unable to obtain health insurance because of pre-exisitng conditions, or because they got sick and their insurance company dropped them, or they lost their job and their insurance along with it. Republicans never mentioned the people this reform helps. Their opposition, when it wasn’t veering off into conspiracy-theory looney-land, or fretting about abortion, was on philosophic or economic grounds–it costs too much to insure people or government just shouldn’t be involved. Not one person from that side of the aisle suggested any alternative that would extend insurance to people who are locked out by insurance industry abuses. Nor did any of the anti-abortion Republicans (or Democrats, for that matter) seem to understand that access to health care reduces abortions.
It’s depressing that this could not be done with bipartisan support; Washington is indeed so broken that only one party seems to care at all about the plight of millions of Americans. I don’t know what the other party cares about beyond taking back control of government, even if that means adding to the suffering of millions.
I’m delighted that the Democrats finally used their majority to pass meaningful legislation. That’s what they were elected to do, even if it means a tougher re-election campaign in November. No matter what happens then, this was a good day for America.
Topics: Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, health care bill, health care reform, Nancy Pelosi, opinion | 7 Comments »
