On the Contrary

I have been watching the Republicans complain about the stimulus bill and it became clear that they are loosing their grip on reality, if they ever had it.  My favorite is John Boehner giving a speech in the House claiming this was not a stimulus bill to create jobs, but a spending bill. “A bill that was supposed to be about jobs, jobs, jobs has turned into a bill about spending, spending, spending.”   Uh, Mr. Boehner?  Just what do you think a stimulus bill is?  It is spending to put money into the system to stimulate jobs.  What would your jobs bill look like and why didn’t you propose it?  Would that be your tax cut bill?  Is not tax cuts spending since you are reducing your revenues to put money in people’s pockets?  Oh but it gets better.

One the floor during the debate the Republicans were making some pretty wild claims.  Apparently they are getting their stuff from the right wing blogosphere and not doing any fact checking.  That is the most disturbing part of this episode because it is now apparent that many in Congress believe their own propaganda and cannot separate out wild accusations from real facts.  Maybe all we have left in Congress of the Republican party are the right wing fruitcakes and conspiracy theory wing nuts.  Here are a few examples:

• They made the claim that there were millions in the bill for a mouse protection program in the bay area (a Pelosi earmark).  There was money for wetland restoration, but not in her district.  By the way, wetland restoration is spending that employs people and improves our environment, but that would be wasteful spending in a Republican’s mind.
• There was a provision they claimed in the medical stimulus that would let the government dictate what medical procedures could be used.  Actually it simply was money to provide doctors with data on how effective different treatments were so they could make a rational choice, but with these guys, the black helicopters are just behind the next ridge.
• Food stamps and unemployment payments are not stimulus.  Oh really?  Both are money that is immediately spent in the economy.  It keeps people from living on the street and provides the income so necessary to other businesses to stay in business.  John McCain’s own economic advisor for his campaign estimated that for every dollar spent you get $1.6 dollars of impact on the economy.  You guys want it to be more stimulative then double the amount.
• The bill is full of pork.  I think that means anything that isn’t a tax cut.  Was spending on a high-speed rail pork?  Of course they think so.  But doesn’t it improve our transportation infrastructure while providing good jobs?  I think their point is that once again unless the money benefits corporations directly through tax cuts, it is pork. Note that once again most economist say that for every $1 tax cut, the effect on the economy is a paltry $0.80.  Wow, that is stimulus.  From their point of view, giving people good health insurance is pork if the government is involved.
• Government spending is not stimulus.  I love this one.  It is like the whole 1930’s didn’t exist.  Does anybody ask these guys who is going to spend if the private sector is shrinking and government shrinks also?  Did anybody ask them why most businesses, most of their own Republican governors, and the Chamber of Commerce supported this bill?  They have truly lost their marbles and are becoming ideological flacks.  Welcome to the California legislature.

What should really worry you is that recent studies of the debate showed that the guests on most cable and network media news shows were 2 to 1 Republican as they hammered their talking points (Media Matters).  Even more troubling when looking at all the guests the media invited to talk about the plan, only 5% were economists.  Talk about failing to do your job of informing the people (Huffington Post).

But the part I liked best was the claims by John McCain and John Boehner.  McCain, still not remembering he lost the election because most Americans figured out he did not have a clue about what to do about the economy other than cut taxes, claimed that this bill is stealing from our children.  Oh really?  You Republicans did not blink an eye to approve the same money for Iraq and then you proposed a tax cut that if enacted would increase the deficit by more than $3 trillion.  I guess if it is big enough it is not stealing from our kids any more.

Then John Boehner claimed that this was so partisan that they weren’t even given time to read the final bill, all 1100 pages.  Let’s see, you have been debating it for several weeks so does that mean you did not read it then?  The final bill was a markup with your Republican colleagues approval from the Senate, so couldn’t you have reviewed the markup?  Oh, and I forgot, none of you guys voted for it last time so we want to give you extra time to make up more fantasies about this one?

The amazing thing is that even with all this misinformation and misdirection the stimulus package is still popular out here where real people live and are losing their dreams.  Maybe the echo chamber of the Washington news media and Republican false talking points are finally losing out to reality.  I can only hope.

Well I would guess you are starting to get it.  The conservative Republican idea of compromise and country first only applies to their proposals and their ideas.  The economic bailout went down to defeat because the Republicans decided not to support it even with John McCain’s “leadership” (who most of them don’t like).  Speaker Pelosi made no secret that the bill would require 50% participation from the Republicans to make this thing work.  Then the Democratic leadership worked hand in hand with the Republican leadership and the White House to produce a comprised bill that was accepted by all parties.  After the leadership had agreed, they froze it, put it out for all to read, so that the vote would be a clean and quick process.  Then the Republicans leadership did not deliver their votes and somehow this is the Democrat’s fault.  I find this rather interesting thinking.  John McCain called its failure due to partisanship by the Democrats and then called for bipartisanship.  See any irony in this statement?  In plain terms, “You guys are stupid, ignorant jerks!  Now let’s stop calling each other names and work together.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner tells us that Speaker Pelosi gave a partisan speech prior to the vote that turned off the Republican Caucus and they responded by voting “no”.  Now lets think about this:  Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats recognized that something must be done and were willing to work with both the White House and the Republicans for a bill.  They gave and gave and gave in the negotiations and this bill is not what they wanted and they gave up their most important priority for a bill that would pass (mortgage rate relief).  So with a bill that is unpopular with the rabble in the country that just wants to lynch someone, she felt the need not to give those voting “no” cover by pointing out that this bill was the result of eight years of Republican economic policy, nobody liked taking this bitter medicine, but for the good of the country here it is.  The Republicans were offended and decided to screw the country.

Now it is true that 40% of Democrats did not support the bill.  Most didn’t support it, it would appear, because they were angry over the removal of the ability of the government to own the mortgages and negotiate new rates that would keep many in their houses or do enough for Main Street.  But two-thirds of Republicans were against it.  Most were standing behind the mantra that we should not reward the evil doers on Wall Street and the government should not be in the business of controlling the marketplace.  It is a faith-based belief that has served us poorly in the past and will continue to fail us until we finally grow up and quit believing in a magical invisible hand.  Most of us don’t know or understand the complexities of this market meltdown and the credit crunch we are facing, and neither do most in Congress; but most respected experts have said we are facing a calamity if no action is taken.  Apparently that is true since the market lost over $1 trillion dollars on Monday and that does not reflect the pain to come as credit freezes up.  That loss reflects the loss of real people’s retirement planning, education planning, hopes and dreams.  Meanwhile the Republicans sunk the whole deal because it wasn’t their perfect deal, didn’t reflect their religious belief in the marketplace, or their feelings were hurt by Speaker Pelosi.  So much for compromise, political courage, and country first.

Here is what I think really happened:  Like the Democrats, the Republicans have about 40% of their members who on basic philosophical terms (in the Republican’s case government has no place in the marketplace), disagreed with the bill.  But what about the other 26% of the Republicans that could have passed this bill?  They were gaming the system for political advantage.

According to Chuck Todd of MSNBC, those Republicans who voted “no” almost to the man/woman are in or have been in very tough re-election campaigns.  They wanted to go back home and convince their voters that they are not the lap dog of the Bush Administration (which of course they have been), and they have protected their constituents from rewarding the evil doer Wall Street financiers.  Even better, they wanted to make the case that they prevented the spending Democrat’s attempt to waste all that money and turn us into a socialist state.  People in the country have yet to really understand this problem and they are still in lynch mob mode.  They want to lash out instead of looking at solving the problem that will be much worse if they don’t reign in their need for revenge.  These Republicans were showing a total lack of moral courage by pandering to these constituents instead of supporting their country.  They were looking for a way to cover their political asses and they found one.

So where do we go from here?  If you believe like I do that we have to do something, then I would strongly recommend that the Democrats blow off the Republicans (except for the moderates) and write a bill that they really could whole heartedly support and then pass it.  That probably won’t happen and, after reality sets in, the Republicans will come back to the table.  I would give them nothing.  The bill is already bad so don’t make it worse.  Either pass the existing bill you worked so hard to build in a bipartisan way, or pass the bill you really think will not only help the market, but main street and let the Republicans flounder behind their leader, John McCain, who led them to nowhere.