Tag Archives: Meet The Press

Confidence, Schmonfidence

18 Monday Jul 2011

Posted by in economy, Unemployment

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Whenever I see a discussion about the real crisis this country faces—that would be unemployment, not the manufactured one over the deficit– a couple of words keep coming up from the alleged smartest guys in the room, confidence and certainty. Businesses would hire, so it’s said, if they had either or both.

President Obama referred to it in a recent press conference:

“What we need to do is to restore business confidence and the confidence of the American people that we’re on track — that we’re not going to get there right away, that this is a tough slog, but that we still are moving forward.”

It came up again yesterday in a roundtable discussion about jobs on Meet the Press. Just as an aside, two members of this roundtable were Ohio Governor John Kasich and Honeywell CEO David Cote. It has been estimated that Kasich’s budget cuts in Ohio could lead to over 50, 000 layoffs. Mr. Cote’s history at Honeywell, where his 2010 compensation topped $20 million, has been one of outsourcing and union-busting. Just the two opinions you want on what to do about unemployment, right?

Mr. Kasich and Mr. Cote, who also sits on the board at JP Morgan Chase, spoke about the need for businesses to have certainty. Certainty about taxes and regulation. Certainty meaning lower taxes and less regulation, naturally.

In August of 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the same issues we face today. Here’s what FDR had to say about confidence:

“In one year and five months, the people of the United States have received at least a partial answer to their demands for action; and neither the demand nor the action has reached the end of the road.

But, my friends, action may be delayed by two types of individuals. Let me cite examples: First, there is the man whose objectives are wholly right and wholly progressive but who declines to cooperate or even to discuss methods of arriving at the objectives because he insists on his own methods and nobody’s else.

The other type to which I refer is the kind of individual who demands some message to the people of the United States that will restore what he calls “confidence.” When I hear this I cannot help but remember the pleas that were made by government and certain types of so-called “big business” all through the years 1930, 1931 and 1932, that the only thing lacking in the United States was confidence.

Before I left on my trip on the first of July, I received two letters from important men, both of them pleading that I say something to restore confidence. To both of them I wrote identical answers: “What would you like to have me say?” From one of them I have received no reply at all in six weeks. I take it that he is still wondering how to answer. The other man wrote me frankly that in his judgment the way to restore confidence was for me to tell the people of the United States that all supervision by all forms of Government, Federal and State, over all forms of human activity called business should be forthwith abolished.

Now, my friends, in other words, that man was frank enough to imply that he would repeal all laws, State or national, which regulate business—that a utility could henceforth charge any rate, unreasonable or otherwise; that the railroads could go back to rebates and other secret agreements; that the processors of food stuffs could disregard all rules of health and of good faith; that the unregulated wild-cat banking of a century ago could be restored; that fraudulent securities and watered stock could be palmed off on the public; that stock manipulation which caused panics and enriched insiders could go unchecked. In fact, my friends, if we were to listen to him and his type, the old law of the tooth and the claw would reign in our Nation once more.

The people of the United States will not restore that ancient order. There is no lack of confidence on the part of those business men, farmers and workers who clearly read the signs of the times. Sound economic improvement comes from the improved conditions of the whole population and not a small fraction thereof.

Those who would measure confidence in this country in the future must look first to the average citizen.”

Confidence, schmonfidence. Businesses don’t need either confidence or certainty, they need customers. Those would-be customers need jobs. We’ve had 30+ years of low taxes and less regulation. If those were the engines of job creation we’d have more jobs than we do people.

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Bush Taught, Obama Learned

20 Monday Jun 2011

Posted by in Congress, Constitution, George W. Bush, Justice Department, Libya, Obama, Politics

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From an editorial in the St. Petersburg Times, May 21, 2006, via Newshoggers:

“[T]he changes that George W. Bush has made to our nation’s constitutional firmament may not depart with the first family’s bags. His disregard for the separation of powers has so dramatically distorted the office of the president that he may have engineered a turning point in American history.

…Bush has taught tomorrow’s leaders that, if there are no consequences for ignoring legal constraints on power and if no one stops you from conducting the nation’s business in secret, you don’t have to be accountable. He is ruling through the tautological doctrine of Richard Nixon, who told interviewer David Frost that as long as the president’s doing it “that means it is not illegal.”

…Holding the executive branch to account for its actions, demanding that it respect the law and insisting that it fully report to Congress on its activities – these are nonnegotiable duties of Congress, because they are key part of our inheritance.

Being answerable to another is humbling. It makes you more careful in your actions. It requires that you consider how you will defend your decisions. George Bush has freed himself of this constitutional imperative and is showing the next president, and the next, how it is done.”

Bush taught, Obama learned, as evidenced by recent events. Like the expansion of the FBI’s investigative powers:

“The Obama administration has long been bumbling along in the footsteps of its predecessor when it comes to sacrificing Americans’ basic rights and liberties under the false flag of fighting terrorism. Now the Obama team seems ready to lurch even farther down that dismal road than George W. Bush did.

Instead of tightening the relaxed rules for F.B.I. investigations — not just of terrorism suspects but of pretty much anyone — that were put in place in the Bush years, President Obama’s Justice Department is getting ready to push the proper bounds of privacy even further.”

Like ignoring the advice of the Attorney General, the Pentagon general counsel, and the head of the Office of Legal Counsel on the president’s convoluted definition of “hostilities”:

“President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.

Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline D. Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that they believed that the United States military’s activities in the NATO-led air war amounted to “hostilities.” Under the War Powers Resolution, that would have required Mr. Obama to terminate or scale back the mission after May 20.

…Other high-level Justice lawyers were also involved in the deliberations, and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. supported Ms. Krass’s view, officials said.”

But the Executive’s ability to expand power and ignore existing law becomes easier with idiots like Lindsey Graham ready, willing, and able to lend a helping hand with statements such as this:

“Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that Congress should not interfere with U.S. operations in Libya. “Congress should sort of shut up and not empower Qadhafi,” Graham said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Pull out that copy of the Constitution that I’m sure is in your coat pocket, Sen. Graham. See what it says about Congress’ responsibilities and duties relating to the declaration and funding of war. I don’t think “shut up” is among them.

Is 9% Unemployment the New Norm?

28 Wednesday Jul 2010

Posted by in economy, Obama, Obama administration, Politics, Unemployment

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Considering this:

“Nearly half of the unemployed—45.9%—have been out of work longer than six months, more than at any time since the Labor Department began keeping track in 1948…Overall, seven million Americans have been looking for work for 27 weeks or more, and most of them—4.7 million—have been out of work for a year or more.”

And this:


How do you get to this?:

“Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the economy has now recovered sufficiently for government to begin to make way for private business investment.

Mr. Geithner’s comments on Sunday, which echo previous sentiments expressed by President Barack Obama, reflect a turning point in the government response to the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, a period marked by deep federal intervention in the financial, housing, auto and other industries.

“We need to make that transition now to a recovery led by private investment,” Mr. Geithner said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Led by private investment? Corporations are sitting on nearly $2 trillion of profits now and unemployment is still hovering around 10%. Just when is this private investment going to kick in and start hiring?

“A survey last month of more than 1,000 chief financial officers by Duke University and CFO magazine showed that nearly 60 percent of those executives don’t expect to bring their employment back to pre-recession levels until 2012 or later — even though they’re projecting a 12 percent rise in earnings and a 9 percent boost in capital spending over the next year.”

“2012 or later” huh? Something else significant is scheduled for 2012, isn’t it? Conspicuously convenient timing for the unemployment picture to start improving if you ask me.

Why aren’t corporations hiring now? The Chamber of Commerce claims it’s because of the “onerous regulations” being placed on them by the Obama administration. Now if one had a conspiratorial mind one might think that big business wants to keep the unemployment numbers high through 2012 so that they get a Republican Congress this year to be followed by a Republican president in 2012 who would cancel all those “onerous regulations.” One might think that, and one would be right, in my opinion.

Sadly, the administration seems to be willing to accept 9% or higher as the new norm:

“The White House said Friday it expects that unemployment will stay at or above 9% until 2012, but at the same time forecast that the economy will grow by at least 4% in 2011 and 2012.”

To whom it may concern at the White House:

If you seriously think that the economy has “recovered sufficiently” so that the government can get out of the way and let private investment take over on job creation; if you’re willing to accept unemployment at 9% or above through 2012; schedule the moving vans for the morning of January 20, 2013.

GOP Agenda: Meaningless Generalities and “Going Back”

19 Monday Jul 2010

Posted by in budget, Congress, Conservatives, economy, financial reform, Obama administration, Politics, Republicans

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It appears that Republicans are following the advice of Rep. Peter King (R-NY) about laying out their agenda for what they would do should they regain control of the House in the November mid-term elections. On Bill Bennett’s radio program last Thursday, Rep. King said this:

“I don’t think we have to lay out a complete agenda, from top to bottom, because then we would have the national mainstream media jumping on every point trying to make that a campaign issue.”

Yesterday on Meet the Press Rep. Pete Sessions and Sen. John Cornyn, both of  Texas (sigh) continued with that theme. When David Gregory asked Sessions to explain what the GOP would do to cut the deficit, Sessions replied with meaningless generalities like these:

“We need to live within our own means.”

“We need to make that sure we read the bills.”

“We are going to balance the budget.”

“We need to make sure that…we look at all that we are spending in Washington D.C.”

Sessions added something which stood out to me when Gregory pressed him for specifics. “He [Rep. Chris Van Hollen D-MD who remarked earlier about removing tax incentives for employers who ship jobs overseas] wants to diminish employers’ ability to be able to be competitive across the world…We need to go back to the exact same agenda that is empowering the free enterprise system rather than diminishing it.”

“Employers’ ability to be competitive across the world.” For instance Hanes:

“As recently as 2006 when Hanes was spun off from its parent Sara Lee Corporation, the company had 19 plants in the US and Puerto Rico. It currently has seven with one (Forsyth, NC) more scheduled to close by year-end 2010. Hanes now manufactures its wares across 17 plants and production facilities scattered across the Caribbean and Central America (Haiti, El Salvador and Honduras) to South East Asia (Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam), Micronesia (Saipan, Marshall Islands), a China manufacturing hub and one plant in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

…two thirds of the growth in earnings for Hanes came as a result of moving its production offshore and from financing activities.

Who benefits? Well management certainly does as do the shareholders. Its stock closed today at $25.97 up 78.3 percent year-over-year. Its CEO, Richard Noll, was paid $5.7 million in 2009. Not bad for a manufacturer of underwear and hosiery. Meanwhile, the company’s average wage in Bangladesh is $0.33 cents an hour. Of its 50,000 employees worldwide, less than ten percent work in the US.”

This is the “free enterprise system” that Sessions and his fellow Republicans want to “empower rather than diminish.” Great for creating jobs in Bangladesh, not so much in America. Not to mention the “go back” remark. There’s the GOP agenda in a nutshell.

Cornyn’s answer to the question was much the same, adding that he wants to wait and see what the debt commission has to say. Way to face up to those tough choices, Sen. Cornyn. Watch:

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Rove’s Claim Goes Unchallenged By Tom Brokaw

15 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by in Iraq, Politics

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Every time I watch Meet the Press I’m reminded of the magnitude of the loss of Tim Russert. Yesterday’s program only reinforced that as an unprepared Tom Brokaw allowed Karl Rove’s claim that it was not the policy of the Bush administration to use Iraqi oil revenues to offset the cost of the war to go unchallenged. Here’s the exchange:

Brokaw’s next statement was, “Well, let’s talk about the insurgency.”

Here’s what Russert would have done. He would have been ready for Rove’s spin with this quote from the Washington Post by Bush’s deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz:

“The oil revenue of that country could bring between 50 and 100 billion dollars over the course of the next two or three years. We’re dealing with a country that could really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”

Russert would have been ready with this, from Ari Fleischer’s press briefing in February of 2003:

“Well, the reconstruction costs remain a very — an issue for the future. And Iraq, unlike Afghanistan, is a rather wealthy country. Iraq has tremendous resources that belong to the Iraqi people. And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for their own reconstruction.”

That’s what a real journalist would have done, Mr. Brokaw.

Paulson and Greenspan on Meet the Press

08 Monday Feb 2010

Posted by in economy, Financial Crisis, Politics, Uncategorized

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Remember when Tim Russert was the host and Meet the Press was a serious news show? Those days are no more. Now the host is David Gregory and the best Meet the Press can do is look to two of the architects of the financial meltdown for their opinion on how the recovery is going.

As Crooks and Liars put it:

“Oh yes, who better to bring in than Hank Paulson and Alan Greenspan to ask how we get the economy and the job market turned around in the United States? I know I always want to hear from the people who helped take a wrecking ball to something for advice on how to put it back together.”

Three things I did learn from Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey Paulson and Greenspan yesterday:

1. The worst of the recession is yet to come.
2. Housing prices are headed lower.
3. Unemployment is going up.

How do I know this? Paulson and Greenspan predicted the opposite. Holding true to form, both also predicted the Colts would win the Super Bowl.

Sneak preview: Next Sunday on Meet the Press, the captain of the Titanic discusses how to avoid icebergs, and Tiger Woods gives advice on marital fidelity.

Powell Endorsement Unleashes Republican Racism

20 Monday Oct 2008

Posted by in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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I am so angry this morning I can barely steady my finger long enough to write this post. The blatant racism that has been unleashed by the Republican Party in the closing weeks of this presidential campaign, and particularly since Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday on Meet The Press, makes me sick to my stomach.

First of all, it is as if the usual Republican suspects–Buchanan, Will, Limbaugh, Gingrich, et al, had their statements ready before Powell made his announcement. Powell endorsed Obama simply because he is black, they all spewed. Obviously these GOP mouthpieces didn’t listen to a word Gen. Powell had to say.

He gave a well-reasoned, well-thought out, detailed argument for his decision. Powell did much more than endorse Obama for president, he issued a scathing indictment of the Republican Party as a whole. See for yourself:

 

 

Then the tirades from the Republican Bigotry Brigade began.

Pat Buchanan: “Alright, we gotta ask a question, look would Colin Powell be endorsing Obama if he were a white liberal democrat.”

George Will attributes support for Obama to white guilt: “Barack Obama gets two votes because he’s black for every one he loses because he’s black because so much of this country is so eager, a, to feel good about itself by doing this, but more than that to put paid to the whole Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson game of political rhetoric.”

 

What Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have to do with anything is anybody’s guess. Oh I forgot, they’re both scary black men, just like Obama. What’s the matter George, you couldn’t work Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X in there somewhere?

 

Rush Limbaugh went even further: “Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race, OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

Not to be left out of the ‘scare white Americans with references to angry black men’ chorus, Newt Gingrich said on This Week that Obama would govern the country “like Reverend Wright.”

Now keep in mind these are some of the same neo-con chicken hawks who were singing the praises of Gen. Powell when he was useful to them in helping make the case for George Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

But now that he dares to stray off the Republican plantation and speak his mind rather than blindly support the Party nominee, he is branded as having based his decision solely on Obama’s skin color. I guess in the eyes of the GOP bigots Powell is not ‘one of the good ones’ anymore.