Politics & Government

07
Jan
2021

Nothing Funny

A mob acting in President Trump’s name stormed the Capitol on Wednesday.

Sorry, no humor today. I can’t think of anything funny. Instead let’s talk for a second about the mob of insurrectionists who stormed our Capitol yesterday to try to prevent Congress from carrying out its constitutionally-mandated duty.

First, we know that if this had been a mob of black people storming the Capitol, the police would have opened fire with deadly force. BLM protesters have been routinely met with rubber bullets, beatings, tear gas and worse. After George Floyd’s death, Federal law enforcement officers swept people up in unmarked vans and used troops and pepper spray so that the President could pose in front of a church.

Second, how could the police be so unprepared. During the recent BLM rally, the city was in virtual lockdown but yesterday the police seemed to be unaware that anything was going to happen. This, even though the event had been advertised on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and various other social media channels. It’s hard not to believe that some of the police were complicit with the rioters, especially when you see Capitol police posing for selfies with them. The police reported that they arrested some 50 people. I can remember some anti-war protests where thousands were arrested. I guess the police thought that these insurrectionist thugs were okay guys.

Third, it’s interesting to see all those who have been enabling Trump and his lies and dismantling of our governmental institutions now pretending to discover that he’s not a nice guy. We can start with Mike Pence and Mitch McConnell both of whom seem to have rediscovered democracy and the constitution after four years of supporting the man who tried to dismantle both. Then there are organizations like the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and so forth which were quite happy to bask in Trumps benign gaze and wallow in his money but now see which way the wind is blowing. What hypocrites! There are also those who repeated his lies to curry his favor even though they know they weren’t true, they knew the election wasn’t fraudulent and there weren’t millions of fake votes and Trump didn’t win by a landslide. But they repeated these lies anyway. They need to go.

Fourth, there are the social media companies which made lots of money repeating and amplifying his lies and the lies of others. We know that Facebook and Twitter and YouTube make money every time one of those lies is repeated and read again. It’s amusing that some of them have now decided that maybe Trump’s ungrammatical squeekings and calls to violence need to be…moderated.

Finally, there are the rioters themselves. How ironic to see them wearing ‘Make America Great Again’ hats while actually making America look like some third-rate banana republic. They should be ashamed of themselves. I’m certainly ashamed of what they’ve done to our country and its image abroad. They acted like ignorant thugs. They need to go home and shut up.

I should add that all of this took place on a day when almost four thousand Americans died of Coronavirus. Truly a sad day.

1
Posted by Tom in Politics & Government, Thoughts
21
Nov
2020

Down we go

Daily Covid-related deaths per NYT

Despite the approaching holiday season, it’s a grim time in many ways. New reported Covid-19 infections in the US reach new records daily and the number of deaths is increasing every day. About 2000 Americans died of Covid-19 yesterday (a bit more according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, a bit less according to the New York Times). Our President shows zero interest in providing any leadership or dealing with the growing national crisis in any way.

There’s more. The pandemic is driving our country into recession and Congress, after passing the CARES act in the spring, has failed to act in any way to address the economic dislocations caused by the pandemic. Let’s look at what is coming up.

The extended unemployment benefits established by the CARES Act will expire the day after Christmas. 7.3 million Americans who receive Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (supplemental insurance for gig and self-employed workers) will see it end on December 26. Another 4.6 million will have their extended unemployment benefits expire on that day.

On December 31st, the eviction moratorium ends and those who have been unable to pay their rent are subject to being evicted. State and local funding from the CARES Act expires. Small business debt relief ends.

There’s more! Student loan forbearance ends on December 31. The refundable tax credit for paid sick leave runs out.

Remember how the President made a big deal of deferring certain payroll taxes (FICA and Medicare) for employees and employers? Well that runs out on December 31 and the deferred amounts will then have to be paid back.

Of course all of this will have an immediate negative impact on our economy not to mention the personal impact on millions of our fellow Americans. So what actions are the President and Congress taking to avert these problems?

Nothing.

To be sure, the House of Representatives has passed two separate relief bills but the Senate has refused to take up either one of them because he is afraid to allow recorded votes on either bill.

So here we sit. Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by Tom in Politics & Government, Thoughts
13
Nov
2020

Words Matter

AOC
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

I have very mixed feelings about the election. On the one hand we won the presidency and got Trump out of office. On the other hand, we didn’t manage to take control of the Senate, even though the polls showed we were likely to and we lost seats in the House despite pre-election predictions that we would expand our margins.

For Democrats to have a majority in the Senate and the House means that we have to elect members in states and districts that may not be as liberal as we might think they should be. Most people don’t eat, sleep and drink politics and are more concerned with putting food on their tables, a roof over their heads and raising their kids than studying policy alternatives. So the words that are used to describe certain policy proposals can, and have been, misunderstood.

‘Defund the Police‘

For most of us these words don’t literally mean ‘abolish the police’, but rather use some of the money to attack the causes of crime as well as using other tool – mental health professionals or social workers to address certain kinds of problems rather than relying on law enforcement officers to handle every problem. This is something I personally support. But the phrase: ‘Defund the Police’ sounds to many like a plan to eliminate law enforcement and that is very worrisome to many and was effectively used by Republicans in this past election to scare people.

‘Democratic Socialism’

Many on the left wing of the Democratic Party describe themselves as ‘Democratic Socialists’. Now these folks are not socialists in the traditional sense of mandating state ownership of the means of production and abolishing corporations. In general they seem to be advocating for a return to some of the elements of the New Deal – stronger labor unions, more regulations to hold corporations accountable, a fairer distribution of income through tax policy and so forth. I personally support many of their goals. But…once again the word ‘socialism’ is scary to many people who equate it with communism. Republicans used this word very effectively particularly among Hispanic populations in Florida and Texas.

‘Medicare for All’

I support single-payer health care in our country. Most do not, however. Surveys show that most Americans are satisfied with their health insurance and are fearful, based on phrases like ‘Medicare for All’ that a Democratic majority in the House and Senate would take away their right to choose how they get their healthcare. Medicare has its own problems anyway. I think the idea of a ‘public option’ is a good way to get folks to understand that there can be better ways to pay for their healthcare than the private insurance model.

‘Shut Down the Oil and Gas Industry’

Climate change scares the hell out of me. We had a record number of hurricanes and tropical storms this year and unprecedented wildfires in California, Colorado and other states. This past winter, one of the warmest on record, the Great Lakes didn’t freeze over. This year we have had sixteen weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. We need to act swiftly to prevent things from getting much worse.

But hundreds of thousands Americans work in the oil and gas industry. How can we say ‘Shut Down the Oil and Gas Industry’ without reassuring these folks that they will have other jobs, at least as good? We have to be more nuanced in our speech if we expect to persuade folks to support our party and our programs.

These are just some examples – there are lots more. If we want to build solid, lasting majorities across the country we need to be much more careful about how we frame our policy choices and the words we use. Words do matter.

Posted by Tom in Environment, Politics & Government
26
Oct
2020

Focus on the Important Things

University of Maryland

Who is the highest paid employee of the State of Maryland? It’s not really a trick question because the answer in Maryland is the same as the answer in almost every other state…the university football coach.

The University of Maryland football coach, Mike Locksley, is the lowest paid head football coach in the Big Ten Conference at a measly $2.5 million a year. I’m sure he’s worth every penny of it, even though his team dropped their opener to Northwestern 43 – 3 on Saturday. I’m sure it will get better.

Maryland Head Coach Mike Locksley

Why do I even ask this question? The NYT this morning carries a story about colleges and universities cutting programs due to deficits brought on by the corona virus pandemic. Professors are being furloughed and entire programs are being cut. The University of South Florida, for example, has eliminated their entire undergraduate education program. I guess they think we don’t need any more teachers. In case you’re wondering, the USF football coach, Jeff Scott, is paid $1.8 million a year.

I’m sure some of you are saying ‘But the entire athletic budget is funded by ticket sales and athletic donors’ and so it doesn’t take any money away from the university. Sadly, that’s almost never true. One of the biggest sources of athletic department funding is the ‘Student Athletic Fee’. It’s a guaranteed source of revenue and it’s not cheap. At the University of Virginia, for example, undergraduates pay $657 a year to support the athletic department. Many, of course, will be paying this for years as a part of their student loan.

Maybe it’s time to rethink our priorities.

Posted by Tom in Gripes, Politics & Government
16
Sep
2020

COVID 19 Stimulus and Relief

When the CARES Act passed in April, it was an historic step by our government to mitigate the effect of the COVID pandemic on our people and economy. The $2.2 billion provided by the act supported enhanced unemployment benefits, stimulus payments to individuals and families, the Payroll Protection Plan to allow businesses to keep employees on the payroll, funds for state and local governments to cover COVID-related costs and support for students and renters to suspend student loan repayments and many kinds of evictions.

While the CARES Act was successful in many ways, most of the benefits have either expired or are about to expire even though unemployment continues at very high levels, business bankruptcies are growing, economic activity remains depressed, state and local governments are suffering from increased costs and decreased revenue and the threat of further bankruptcies and more economic and health damage continues.

FILE – In this May 21, 2020 file photo, a man looks at signs of a closed store due to COVID-19 in Niles, Ill. U.S. businesses shed 2.76 million jobs in May, as the economic damage from the historically unrivaled coronavirus outbreak stretched into a third month. The payroll company ADP reported Wednesday that businesses have let go of a combined 22.6 million jobs since March.AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

In light of this, the House of Representatives passed legislation two months ago to provide additional stimulus and relief totaling almost $4 billion for individuals, families, businesses, healthcare providers, state and local governments and others. the Republican-led Senate, however, has been unable to pass any corresponding legislation and the Senate leadership and the White House oppose most of the initiatives included in the House bill. This is creating a severe hardship for many Americans which can only get worse with further layoffs and business closings in the future and evictions and homelessness in the future for many of those whose unemployment benefits have been cut or the newly unemployed.

So I was heartened to see that a bipartisan group of representatives called ‘The Problem Solvers Caucus’ had proposed a framework for a COVID 19 relief package that might help move things along. I’m cautious because this group hasn’t really had much of an impact until now but perhaps this will go somewhere.

The package being proposed represents, of course, a compromise between the administration position and the legislation passed by the House. In my view it’s far from perfect but better than nothing. Here are the basic elements:

  • $100 billion for testing and healthcare, primarily for providers
  • $316 billion in support for families and individuals including increases in WIC/SNAP, direct stimulus payments as in the CARES Act, Rental assistance for the most needy and Student Loan forbearance through December.
  • $120 billion for unemployment assistance including $450 weekly supplement for 8 weeks followed by up to $600 but not to exceed previous salary for 13 weeks.
  • $290 billion for small businesses and nonprofits including a second PPP program with a focus on small and community banks and $50 billion for employee retention tax credits
  • $145 billion for schools and childcare including $15 billion for childcare providers, $100 billion for K-12 schools and $30 billion for higher education
  • $500.3 billion for state and local governments, most of it to make up for general revenue shortfalls.

I think in some of these categories there is not enough money but, as I said before – it’s better than nothing and nothing is what we will get if the current gridlock continues. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Posted by Tom