"There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that's been supported by both Democrats and Republicans - including many who sit here tonight. And everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything." - President Barack Obama
You don’t change a country by proposing non-controversial legislation. You don’t You don’t change a country by proposing legislation that the people in power already thought of and supported. You don’t get the 14 million un/under employed Americans jobs by buying into the false idea that our deficit/debt is the problem.
[Transcript]
President Obama did two great things last night: he proposed 250 Billion dollars in job creation programs and defended the role of Government in creating a better America.
"The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans, and more jobs for long-term unemployed."
and this:
I reject the argument that says for the economy to grow, we have to roll back protections that ban hidden fees by credit card companies, or rules that keep our kids from being exposed tomercury, or laws that prevent the health insurance industry from shortchanging patients. I reject the idea that we have to strip away collective bargaining rights to compete in a global economy. We shouldn’t be in a race to the bottom, where we try to offer the cheapest labor and the worst pollution standards. America should be in a race to the top. And I believe that’s a race we can win.
In fact, this larger notion that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is just dismantle government, refund everyone’s money, let everyone write their own rules, and tell everyone they’re on their own – that’s not who we are. That’s not the story of America.
Unfortunately he couched these Progressive flourishes in continued calls for painful austerity measures.
The agreement we passed in July will cut government spending by about $1 trillion over the next ten years. It also charges this Congress to come up with an additional $1.5 trillion in savings by Christmas. Tonight, I’m asking you to increase that amount so that it covers the full cost of the American Jobs Act. And a week from Monday, I’ll be releasing a more ambitious deficit plan – a plan that will not only cover the cost of this jobs bill, but stabilize our debt in the long run.
We do not need further deficit reduction on top of what we already have coming through the Super Committee, and what we did with the Budget Control Act. Americans are hurting, and it is not because of the debt or deficit.They are hurting because they can't find good jobs. They are hurting because if they are lucky enough to have a job, it could disappear any day. They are hurting because that job that they are lucky to have - and unsure if they will have tomorrow - hasn't given them a raise in a decade. None of these ills will be solved by cutting the deficit. Not. One. And what did Obama say he was going to do to cut the deficit? Tax the rich and reform entitlements. I'm going to let it stand that Obama stands up to the Republicans, and lets the tax cuts on the rich expire. For arguments sake, I'll give him that. Let's look at so called "reforming entitlements".
SOCIAL SECURITY
I like that. Lift the Payroll cap. 97% of people won't see their social security taxes increase. No cuts to COLA. No cuts to benefits. No raising the retirement age. Social Security becomes solvent for decades longer. Great plan. What happened to it?
"Already, during debt negotiations it was proposed that Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) be changed by adopting the chained CPI (Consumer Price Index). That would cut Social Security benefits by $112 billion over 10 years."
There is no talk of doing the one thing that will strengthen Social Security, and protect senior citizens from devastating cuts: raising the payroll tax cap.
[Soure: Ezra Klein]
It will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business.
That money pays for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If you want to give the Working Class and Small Businesses some extra cash - good idea - send them a check. Don’t put vital insurance programs on the chopping block because you want the politically expedient “Middle Class Tax Cut" election sound bite. According to Obama:
Fifty House Republicans have proposed the same payroll tax cut that’s in this plan.
What is the last good policy proposal that you can think of that 50 House Republicans supported...........?
MEDICARE
( I am planning on writing a separate diary about this later today so I will keep this brief.)
Medicare, more specifically skyrocketing health care cost that are projected on to our countries balance sheet through Medicare, is a huge driver of of our national debt. Medicare spending per Medicare patient rose 400% 1969 to 2009. However:
"inflation-adjusted premiums on private health insurance rose more than 700 percent (from 1969 to 2009)"
Medicare was able to outperform the private sector by 300% even though Medicare has the worst possible patients. That is elderly and sick people who need the most care. If you are truly interested in reforming Medicare, and brining the overall cost of health care down, you would want to put more people in the more efficient system. If you let younger and healthier people pay into Medicare you would find health care cost plummet. Of course President Obama explicitly rejected doing this a long time ago.
JOB CREATION MEASURES IN THE AMERICAN JOBS ACTS
While the 250b in pure job creation spending is a good start - it is not enough. America needs massive investment in FDR Works Progress Administration style jobs programs. What hat was proposed tonight does not even begin to fill the hole left by the recession. I'm not trying to make a case not to pass the American Jobs Act. Honestly. If we can get 250 Billion dollars in the kind of job creation measures Obama was talking about It will have a profoundly positive effect on the lives of working people. What I don't want is for what is being proposed to be viewed as the "Lefts" end all be all idea on how to create jobs. It's not.
That is not to say it is all bad. Not a long shot.
"First things first: I was favorably surprised by the new Obama jobs
plan, which is significantly bolder and better than I expected. It’s not nearly as bold as the plan I’d want in an ideal world. But if it actually became law, it would probably make a significant dent in unemployment."
"The good news in all this is that by going bigger and bolder than expected, Mr. Obama may finally have set the stage for a political debate about job creation. For, in the end, nothing will be done until the American people demand action."
[
New York Times]
INTELLECTUAL HONESTY AND THE LEFT
There is one other reaction I have seen to this speech that concerned me. It's the conflation that happens in peoples minds between good political tactics and good policy. The first time this phenomena really jumped at me was during the Debt Ceiling debacle. A very Liberal friend of mine and I were up watching a C-SPAN hearing on the Debt bill. I believe it was the Rules Committee in the House. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D - MD), a liberal Democrat, was debating the Republicans on the Committee and generally making them look like assholes. My friend said, "Van Hollen has been great on this issue." The bill Van Hollen was pushing was very similar to the one the Republicans were pushing. The big difference was wether there would be another debt ceiling showdown before the next election. I know that some people thought the Debt Ceiling Bill was a reasonable compromise around here, and some people thought it was a Satan Sandwich. My friend was certainly in the later of the two camps. Yet, there he was, talking up a politician, who was talking up a bill, that my my friend hated, and doing it without even blinking. He was of course talking Van Hollen up because what Van Hollen was saying was going to politically help the Democrats, even though the bill he was pushing was a Satan Sandwich. But, for whatever reason, the cognitive dissonance wasn't clicking. Let’s not mistake good politics for good policy. Obama rhetorically slayed Republicans last night. He took their lunch, their dinner, and then sent them home crying. Mitch McConnell sat there looking more turtleish than usual.Hell, his dastardly weird looks even made him a trending topic on twitter. It was great to see Obama do it to them, and he probably made huge inroads to getting reelected in the process. That’s great, I’m happy for that. I want President Obama to win reelection, and I plan I voting for him just like I did in the '08 primary and general elections. At the same time however, he proposed a slew of neo-liberal policy that would have set the Left on fire if it were proposed by a Republican. That's inexcusable on his part no matter what the economic climate is, but especially in a deep recession where people are already feeling economic pain. It is the Left's responsibility to fight bad policies that hit working people. And some of the policies that Obama is proposing (Trade Deals, deficit cutting, entitlement "reform", ect..) are bad for working people. The Left needs to be intellectually honest with ourselves. If President George Bush has proposed these trade deals would you have supported them? If President Rick Perry had announced that cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are around the corner would you support them? If President Mittens talked about lowering the Corporate Tax Rate would you support it? If President Michelle Bach.... Shutter couldn't even type it. Again, I'm happy that Obama is starting to fight the Republican Party. They are a awful group of neo-facist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, plutocratic, theocratic, sexist, oligarchic, neo-liberal, Orwellians that deserve all the bad things that come/are coming/ and have come previously to them in the world. But pointing that out does not necessarily mean that whatever I am proposing is "good" legislation. It might be better than the Republicans. But that is a pretty low bar. Being slightly better than a group of neo-facist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, plutocratic, theocratic, sexist, oligarchic, neo-liberal, Orwellians is not exactly great stuff. The Left must recognize that Obama correctly saying on the one hand "Republicans are awful people" and on the other hand "we need to cut medicare and social security " is not change or hope or progress. It's standard politics. It's triangulation. Attacking Republicans does not equal good policy. It might be good politics, but it's the Left's responsibility not to mistake the two, and to push our side as far left as we can. Not to acquiesce because we are excited about feisty speeches and pretty pictures.