Home > Jay Bookman > Archives > 2009 > February
February 2009
The ethics of resurrecting Neanderthal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Scientists are closing in on the entire genome for the Neanderthals, raising the possibility of bringing the species back to life. For discussion, go to our new blog site at http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/
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Another Obama nominee withdraws
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg withdraws as Obama’s Commerce nominee. Apparently he was a round peg who wouldn’t fit in the square hole. To comment, go to the new blog site
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Two-thirds back torture investigation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Almost two-thirds of AMericans support an investigation into allegations of torture by the Bush administration. It’s the latest post at the blog’s new home at http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/
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Growing public confidence bodes well for Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Polls suggest a slowly growing national confidence, boding well for the economy and Obama long term, at least if it can be sustained. It’s the latest post at the blog’s new home at http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/
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“Moving on up ….!”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Starting Thursday, all new posts and comments will appear at the blog’s new site at http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/
See y’all there; bring me a housewarming gift. I’m registered at Manuel’s Tavern.
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Georgia Power gets its way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Power is a private, for-profit company, but with a very valuable distinction: It holds a government-issued, government-protected monopoly. Within its territory, no other company is allowed to sell electricity.
It’s a sweet arrangement. By barring competition, it effectively guarantees Georgia Power a double-digit profit year after year, even in times as hard as these.
Fortunately, drafters of the state Constitution did provide a check on the company’s monopoly by creating the state Public Service Commission.
The five-member PSC, elected by the people, has a competent, well-trained if sometimes overmatched staff to help it wade through the complex details of utility regulation. That’s important, because the decisions made by the PSC affect more Georgians more directly than most decisions made by the state Legislature.
Yet on Wednesday, the state Senate voted 38-16 to weaken the PSC’s oversight of Georgia Power. State senators —- with little or no expertise in utility management, and with no staff to call upon for advice —- decided that somehow they knew better than the PSC how to handle extremely complex technical questions about utility financing and ratemaking.
Of course, the senators weren’t entirely on their own in making that decision —- they had a little input from experts at Georgia Power. The company has more than 70 lobbyists registered to protect its interests —- roughly one lobbyist for every three legislators. In fact, the legislation in question, Senate Bill 31, was largely written by the company’s lobbyists and lawyers.
Even with all that manpower, the company still needed an actual legislator to sponsor its bill. The company chose state Sen. Don Balfour, a Republican from Gwinnett County who also happens to be chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. In that post, Balfour decides which bills are allowed to come to a vote on the Senate floor, which means other legislators don’t want to make him mad by opposing a bill that he sponsors.
Georgia Power, in other words, chose its man wisely.
The company has displayed a rather exquisite sense of timing as well. The Senate vote to strip the PSC of some of its decision-making power comes at the very moment the PSC is trying to exercise that authority in a case critical to Georgia Power.
In that case, the PSC is trying to decide whether electricity users in Georgia should be forced to start paying now for nuclear plants that won’t start generating power until 2016 at the earliest.
The company claims it’s a great deal for its customers; the PSC staff claims otherwise. But if SB 31 becomes law, the debate at the PSC becomes moot.
Clearly, Georgia Power intends to have its way. If it can’t intimidate the PSC into giving it what it wants, it will use its friends in the Legislature to get it anyway. And that show of raw political muscle becomes all the more impressive once you realize that it is absolutely unnecessary.
The Georgia PSC is not exactly a bulldog of utility regulation; four of its five members have long histories of voting in favor of Georgia Power, and at least two of its members have earned reputations as company lapdogs.
The PSC is also wrestling with another important issue involving Georgia Power’s proposed new reactors. The company claims that the runaway construction cost that halted the growth of nuclear power a generation ago is a thing of the past.
Nuclear power is now a mature technology, with standardized reactor designs and standardized regulation that greatly minimizes the risk of ballooning costs.
However, while offering such confident assurances, the company also absolutely refuses to accept any of the financial risk should its cost estimate of $6.4 billion for its share of the plants prove wrong. It insists that its customers bear the risk of cost overruns and that its shareholders be held immune.
It’s hard to blame company officials. Their job is to maximize profit and protect the best interests of their shareholders, and they do it well. They have convinced PSC members and legislators that what is good for Georgia Power is good for Georgia, and that’s not always true.
It is sometimes true; it is even often true. But it is not always true.
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Reminder: Moving to new location
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just a reminder that starting Thursday all new posts and comments will appear at the blog’s new site at http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/
See y’all there.
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Jindal to deliver GOP response to Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is getting another prominent role in the national Republican Party. He’ll deliver the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s first speech to Congress, in two weeks.
Obama plans to speak to a joint session of the House and Senate on Feb. 24.
Jindal will give the national Republican response from Baton Rouge immediately following the speech, according to a news release from House and Senate Republican leaders.
“I’m looking forward to hearing President Obama’s address and I’m honored to be delivering the Republican response after him,” Jindal said in a statement.”
Stimulus deal announced … pretty quickly, actually
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
from the NYT….
“WASHINGTON — Congressional negotiators announced Wednesday afternoon that they had reached agreement on a $789 billion economic stimulus bill, clearing the way for final action and President Obama’s signature.
“The differences between the House and Senate versions, we’ve resolved,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, said in a Capitol news conference. The differences were resolved by a lot of intense “give and take,” Mr. Reid said, “and if you don’t mind my saying so, that’s an understatement.”
Negotiations had been going on all day, following extensive talks on Tuesday night, to close the gap between the Senate and House versions. In the end, the agreed-upon package will pare back Democrats’ proposed spending on education and health programs in favor of tax cuts that were needed to win Republican votes in the Senate.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a centrist Republican whose support was crucial to the outcome, said the final package includes $150 billion in spending on infrastructure, including transportation facilities, and considerable tax relief. Moreover, she said, it includes significant money to aid state governments.
Despite intense lobbying by governors, the final deal slashed $35 billion from a proposed state fiscal stabilization fund, eliminated $16 billion in aid for school construction and sharply curtailed health care subsidies for the unemployed.
In driving down the total cost of the stimulus bill — from $838 billion approved by the Senate and $820 by the House — legislators also sharply reduced proposed tax incentives for buyers of homes and cars that held huge public appeal.
Ladies and gentlemen, an announcement:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As of tomorrow, we’ll be moving this blog to new digs and new software. This URL will go silent. The new URL will be http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/
I’ve walked around in the new place; it definitely looks spiffier, offering more flexibility from my end. I hope it will solve some issues from your end as well, but let me know about that. So drop by tomorrow for the housewarming party.
— Jay
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Hamas, Israeli right feed off each other
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The outcome of the Israeli election — with the right-wing, more confrontational parties emerging as apparent victors — confirms the dangerous dynamic at play in the Middle East.
“The rightward tilt is a blow to President Obama’s hopes that a new Israeli government might be willing to make peace with the Palestinians and various Arab neighbors. Netanyahu and Lieberman are pushing for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which Palestinians say is a main obstacle to peace, and are adamant that Israel should hang onto the Golan Heights seized from Syria in the 1967 war. Both Netanyahu and Lieberman also say that the army ought to return to Gaza and wipe out Hamas.”
All of those policies will strengthen the grip of extremists among the Palestinians. And as extremist groups such as Hamas become stronger and more aggressive, the appeal of more aggressive politicians such as Netanyahu and Lieberman becomes stronger among Israelis.
Which in turn further strengthens Hamas. The extremists on both sides are locked in a strange sort of alliance, strengthening each other at the expense of those still willing to risk negotiation.
It does not bode well for peace in the region, or for success in any initiative by Obama.
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Well, tomorrow is another day….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
From the NYT:
“WASHINGTON — Acknowledging that Americans have “lost faith” in the government’s effort thus far to rescue the banking system, the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, outlined a sweeping overhaul and expansion of the program on Tuesday.”
The bad news is, Geithner’s message didn’t exactly make Wall Street sit up straight and holler hallelujah. The Dow fell by more than 380 points, a 4.6 percent one-day decline. Oil prices fell by $2 a barrel,
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Eight arrested in Phelps bong case
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That infamous picture of swimmer Michael Phelps and the bong was apparently taken in Columbia, SC. The Columbia police say they have no interest in prosecuting. The conservative governor of South Carolina says the case ought to be dropped.
But the local county sheriff, Leon Lott, may be going after Phelps. According to a local TV station:
“Lott says the picture indicated a law was being broken in his jurisdiction. He said he couldn’t ignore the violation just because Phelps is rich and famous.
We’ve now learned that since investigators began trying to build a case, they’ve made eight arrests: seven for drug possession and one for distribution. These are arrests that resulted as the sheriff’s department served search warrants.
We’ve also learned that the department has located and confiscated that bong.
Sources say the owner of the bong was trying to sell it on eBay for as much as $100,000.
The owner, who wasn’t even at the party, is one of the eight now charged.
Phelps is not one of those charged at this point, but the sheriff’s department has strong evidence that matches the photo to the house on Blossom Street.”
For goodness sakes, leave the guy alone. I’d say the punishment already meted out to Phelps more than fits the crime. The only saving grace would be that one of those arrested was the genius who took that picture and spread it around.
Really, aren’t there bigger problems in Richland County, SC?
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Meanwhile, back in Afghanistan where all this started…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A new poll in Afghanistan shows sagging support for U.S. efforts in that country, with airstrikes a chief concern. A quarter of the Afghans polled said that attacks on American or allied forces are justifiable, double the proportion saying so in late 2006.
The poll, the fourth conducted in Afghanistan since 2005 by ABC News and its media partners, also shows plummeting support for President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan government. …
…ratings of U.S. forces have declined precipitously; 32 percent said U.S. and coalition forces are performing well, down from 68 percent in 2005. And fewer than half of the respondents, 42 percent, have confidence in coalition forces to provide security in their areas.
Most troubling to the Afghans are U.S. airstrikes and civilian casualties. One in five said coalition forces have killed civilians in their area in the past year, and one in six reported nearby bombing or shelling at the hands of U.S. forces.
About eight in 10 called coalition airstrikes unacceptable, viewing the risk to innocent civilians as greater than the value of these raids in fighting the Taliban and other anti-government insurgents. More blame U.S. and coalition forces for poor targeting than blame the Taliban for keeping assets among civilians (41 percent to 28 percent); 27 percent said both sides shared the blame.
More also blame the country’s current travails on the United States, NATO or the Afghan government than on the Taliban (36 percent to 27 percent), but the Taliban is viewed as a greater long-term threat.”
You know, I guess it would be bad manners to point out that things might be different today if we had committed another 130,000 troops and a trillion dollars to Afghanistan back in 2002 instead of wandering off onto our Iraqi adventure. But seven years later, our options look increasingly slim.
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In Florida, Gov. Crist backs Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In his press confererence last night and in his appearance earlier in the day in Indiana, President Obama referred repeatedly to the disconnect between partisan Washington and the rest of the country, which is in bad need of help.
“You didn’t send us to Washington because you were hoping for more of the same,” Obama told the crowd in Elkhart, Ind. “You sent us there with a mandate for change and the expectation that we would act quickly and boldly to carry it out.”
Apparently, at least one prominent Republican in Florida agrees with him:
“WASHINGTON (CNN) - Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will introduce President Obama Tuesday at a Florida town hall meeting plugging the stimulus plan.
Crist was one of 19 governors, including four Republicans, to release a joint letter publicly urging Congress to to pass the president’s stimulus package — a move that earned him an appreciative phone call from Obama.
The Florida governor has said he wants to help Obama push for the measure. The bill is currently being considered by the Senate after failing to draw GOP support in the House.”
Indiana and Florida have both been hit hard by the deepening recession. They are also Republican-leaning states that went to Obama last year, states the GOP needs to get back in its column.
In a White House statement, Obama said that “Gov. Crist and I have seen firsthand the toll that this economic crisis has taken on the American people, and we agree that we can’t allow politics to get in the way of urgent relief for the millions of families and small businesses that need it.”
Crist said Monday that he is happy to honor a White House request that he call GOP lawmakers and make additional appearances on Obama’s behalf.
“I think he’s doing the right thing,” Crist said.
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An investigation into everything Bush? Not a good idea
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is proposing a “truth commission” to investigate abuses of detainees, politically inspired moves at the Justice Department, and whole range of decisions made during the Bush administration.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the primary goal of the commission would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials, but said the inquiry should reach far beyond misdeeds at the Justice Department under Bush to include matters of Iraq prewar intelligence and the Defense Department.
Among the matters Leahy wants investigated by such a commission are: the firings of U.S. attorneys, treatment and torture of terror suspect detainees, and the authorization of warrantless wiretapping.
“Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened” during the Bush administration, Leahy said.”
That’s a bad idea. Leahy is giving the commission a mission that is far too broad and frankly far too partisan.
We don’t need an investigation into everything Leahy thinks went wrong under President Bush. Questions about the US attorney case, for example, are being answered by criminal and internal DOJ investigations. The warrantless wiretapping stuff is probably too sensitive to ongoing anti-terror work to be hashed out in public. And issues involving intel and the runup to the war can safely be left to historians at this point.
Only the torture/detainee issues lend themselves to this kind of investigation. What did we do, who authorized it, how extensive was it and also how productive was it? Let’s put it on the record — did torture work or didn’t it? Were there other/better ways to get that info?
I think it’s essential that prosecution be put off limits, so we get an honest accounting. But I also think it’s essential that we learn what was done in our name.
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American people choosing sides…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
… and they’re not choosing congressional Republicans.
In a related finding, a Gallup poll from last week says that 55 percent of Americans report increased confidence in Obama’s handling of the economy since he took office; 17 percent report having less confidence.
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GOP spendthrifts put us in this budget mess
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republicans in Congress and on the TV and radio talk shows claim to oppose the economic stimulus out of concern about the national debt and a moral conviction that we should not saddle future generations of Americans with such a burden.
But who do they think they’re fooling? Apparently they believe the world began anew at noon on Jan. 20, and that everything that occurred prior to that date had somehow been wiped clean from the national memory banks.
Well, it hasn’t.
We do face a long-term problem. Our gross federal debt is at $10.6 trillion, with a good portion owed to lenders in China, Japan and the Middle East. But how did that number get so huge?
Well, of that $10.6 trillion debt —- a figure that accumulated over more than 225 years —- a shocking $8.35 trillion was racked up during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush. And much as their apologists pretend otherwise, those numbers can’t be blamed mostly on Congress. During the Reagan era, for example, final budgets approved year after year totaled almost exactly what Reagan had requested.
Now, raw numbers can admittedly be misleading. A more accurate way to gauge how much a president has contributed to the problem is to measure debt against the size of the national economy. If the economy grew a lot, debt could grow as well without creating a problem.
Under Jimmy Carter, debt declined as a percentage of gross domestic product, falling to 32.6 percent, its lowest in 50 years. Then came Reagan. By the time “the Gipper” left office, the debt had almost tripled in raw numbers; as a percentage of GDP, it soared to 53.1 percent, and it rose still further, to 66.2 percent, under the first President Bush.
Under Bill Clinton, it fell again, to 57.4 percent, but that reprieve would prove to be temporary. The second President Bush started two expensive wars, one a necessity and one a war of choice. He also became the only president in history to cut taxes in time of war, rejecting the quaint notion that a nation at war ought to sacrifice a bit to pay for it. Bush also created an expensive new entitlement program, the Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors.
The result? The debt almost doubled under Bush, from $5.7 trillion to $10.6 trillion. As a percentage of GDP, it grew from 57.4 percent to 68 percent, the highest since the aftermath of World War II.
And of course, the same congressional Republicans now preaching the dangers of deficit spending were right at Bush’s side, writing and passing the budgets that drove us deeply into the red.
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Free swim…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
but please don’t drown anybody.
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What kind of moral midget sends out poisoned food?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“As far back as 2007, the South Georgia peanut plant linked to the salmonella outbreak shipped tainted products, even after tests showed contamination, according to inspection records released Friday.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials earlier had said that Peanut Corp. of America, after receiving a positive reading for salmonella, waited for a second test to clear peanut butter and peanut products before shipping them to customers.
But the agency amended its report Friday to say that the Blakely plant actually shipped some products before obtaining a second test. … Federal officials have identified the plant as the sole source of the national salmonella outbreak that has sickened some 575 people, including six Georgians, and has been linked to the eight deaths. More than 1,550 products have been recalled and the the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation.”
How does somebody knowingly, repeatedly do that? How do you NOT take the steps needed to correct such a serious problem? Various criminal investigations are reportedly under way in the case, and they ought to be. I have no idea what the law allows in such cases, but manslaughter charges come to mind. They ought to put the PCA decision-makers in the cell right next to that of Bernie Madoff.
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The hard political reality behind stimulus deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A lot of Republicans are upset at GOP senators Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins for negotiating a stimulus package with the White House and agreeing to provide the votes needed to get it passed. They are being attacked as RINOs — Republican in Name Only — and with far more vicious terms in the conservative blogs.
That anger and outrage helps to explain why the GOP is increasingly becoming a regional party, as even some of its leaders acknowledge. Much of the country just isn’t comfortable with the ideology that Republicans insist be obeyed.
Specter, for example, is up for re-election next year in a state that voted overwhelmingly for Obama, 55-44 percent, and went Democratic in ‘04 and ‘00 as well. Specter either compromises or he disappears, adding another D vote in the Senate.
In Maine, the home state of both Snowe and Collins, Obama’s victory margin was even larger than in Pennsylvania, 58-41 percent. But while Maine voters were embracing Obama, they re-elected the Republican Collins by an even larger margin, 61-39 percent, over a legitimate Democratic opponent.
Why? Because Collins had shown a willingness to buck her party. Without it, her career would be over.
To insist that Republicans everywhere have to toe the party line set by Republicans in states like Georgia and Alabama is to insist that the party get even smaller, and it’s already down to 41 votes in the Senate.
Along with Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Snowe, Collins and Spectre were the only GOP senators remaining north of North Carolina and east of Ohio. And Gregg is giving up his seat to serve as Commerce secretary because he’s up for re-election next year and knows that a Democrat is likely to win.
Those numbers and trends are impossible to deny. Yet still the GOP base fumes and rants, driving the party even further into irrelevance.
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A message from the AJC to its readers…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OK, not really. It’s just some old-school traveling music to put some soul in your step and some strut in your stuff as we all prepare to head home for the weekend. The weather’s supposed be warm and sunny too….
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What is the future of newspapers?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I just opened a letter from a mayor of a Georgia town that will remain nameless, pleading with me to reverse a recent decision to cease delivery of the AJC to his city on the fringes of metro Atlanta.
“The vast majority of my citizens were dependent upon the AJC for news about our state, the United States and the world,” the mayor writes. The decision has reduced them to traveling to the next city over, “purchasing a single copy of the AJC and then passing it around…. I have even heard a fellow citizen … offer to purchase a used copy of the AJC from someone.”
I don’t know what to say to the mayor. In the first place, the decision to shrink our circulation area was a purely business decision and I had no input into it. Furthermore, I’m sure the business reasons for the decision were overwhelming and that there is no chance whatsoever of it being reversed. The economics of this business have profoundly changed for everybody.
Just this week, for example, News Corp., Rupert Murdoch’s media company and owner of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, announced a net loss of $6.4 billion in the last quarter of 2008. The value of its newspaper holdings alone were written down some $3 billion, and another 25 employees were laid off this week at the Journal.
As a privately held company, Cox Newspapers, the owner of the AJC, doesn’t publicly report its finances, and I’m certainly not in a position to know what our numbers are. But let’s just say that nobody in this business is immune to what’s going on, both in the industry and the overall economy. It has struck newspapers of every size, every editorial philosophy and in every region.
In fact, it’s a global phenomenon. In France, the government is trying to bail out its newspapers with taxpayer subsidies, an approach that would solve nothing and that I personally would oppose here in America. As Scotland’s Sunday Herald reports the French approach, “a package of measures that included the doubling of state advertising in key titles, a free one-year newspaper subscription for every French 18-year-old, and widespread reform of the newspaper distribution and manufacturing process, constitutes the most ambitious plan yet from any western leader to support the ailing print media sector.”
The British press faces the same problems, according to the Herald:
“Earlier this month, the Daily Mail and General Trust sold London’s Evening Standard for the nominal sum of £1. The paper is said to be losing £18m a year…. The extent of the problem, for those still in any doubt, was underlined by communications minister Lord Carter last Thursday, who wrote, in the newly published Digital Britain report, that the “dwindling of the advertising pound” would no longer “underpin content creation”.
So the British too are thinking about gov’t subsidies. Says professor Brian McNair, head of journalism at Strathclyde University:
“Who would have said six months ago that we would be bailing out our banks? We are in unprecedented territory. I don’t see why newspapers should not be considered eligible for state support.”
Again, government-funded newspapers contradict every instinct I have as a journalist. If we can’t find a solution that allows us to survive in some form as a private industry, we ought to go away. But what might that solution be?
First, it’s going to be web-based. At the AJC, we’ve already made the transition to thinking of ourselves as a web operation that also puts out a newspaper, instead of the other way around. If it survives at all longterm, the dead-tree medium will in effect be a niche product.
Some influential voices are beginning to wonder whether some form of Internet payment might be the answer. David Carr at the New York Times cites the example of Apple’s I-Tunes, which has convinced music downloaders to pay for music:
“Remember that when iTunes began, the music industry was being decimated by file sharing. By coming up with an easy user interface and obtaining the cooperation of a broad swath of music companies, Mr. Jobs helped pull the business off the brink. He has been accused of running roughshod over the music labels, which are a fraction of their former size. But they are still in business.
“Those of us who are in the newspaper business could not be blamed for hoping that someone like him comes along and ruins our business as well by pulling the same trick: convincing the millions of interested readers who get their news every day free on newspapers sites that it’s time to pay up.”
Walter Isaacson, writing in Time, suggests something similar. “During the past few months, the crisis in journalism has reached meltdown proportions,” he notes. “It is now possible to contemplate a time when some major cities will no longer have a newspaper and when magazines and network-news operations will employ no more than a handful of reporters.”
And his answer?
“The key to attracting online revenue, I think, is to come up with an iTunes-easy method of micropayment. We need something like digital coins or an E-ZPass digital wallet — a one-click system with a really simple interface that will permit impulse purchases of a newspaper, magazine, article, blog or video for a penny, nickel, dime or whatever the creator chooses to charge.”
“….Under a micropayment system, a newspaper might decide to charge a nickel for an article or a dime for that day’s full edition or $2 for a month’s worth of Web access. Some surfers would balk, but I suspect most would merrily click through if it were cheap and easy enough,” he writes.
Personally, I don’t know what the answer is. I do know that most of the news that feeds the blogosphere is generated first by reporters and editors at old-medium outlets, and that most of the content on radio and TV news shows — both locally and nationally — is also regurgitated from newspaper and magazine reporting.
That model cannot last. Just as the economics no longer allow the AJC to distribute to the mayor’s town, they won’t allow us to distribute work for free on the Internet forever either. And it has impacts that might surprise you. At lunch not too long ago, the local head of a federal law enforcement agency bemoaned what was happening to the newspaper industry.
Journalists serve that agency as an early warning system for public corruption, he said. They keep public servants honest, and they alert law enforcement to possible trouble areas. He worries that we won’t be there to serve that function any longer.
He’s right to worry. However, unless the market finds some way to value that kind of function, it will and should cease.
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Obama is doomed!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
.
Doomed, I tell you, doomed!
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‘teetering on an Obama implosion?’ Hah!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“We are quite literally after two weeks teetering on an Obama implosion — and with no Dick Morris to bail him out — brought on by messianic delusions of grandeur, hubris, and a strange naivete that soaring rhetoric and a multiracial profile can add requisite cover to good old-fashioned Chicago politicking…. Obama is becoming laughable and laying the groundwork for the greatest conservative populist reaction since the Reagan Revolution.”
— Victor Davis Hanson, in “The Corner” at National Review Online
Ummm. I think he’s nuts. Laughably nuts. Desperately nuts. But time will tell….
.
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Does Christian Right believe in the Bible?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
.
“Republicans are supposed to be the party of family values. Where is the value in selling alcohol on the Lord’s Day?”
— Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, Republican candidate for governor, opposing attempts to legalize Sunday alcohol sales in Georgia.
“Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.”
— Proverbs 31: 6, 7
Maybe I’m missing it, but I don’t see language in Proverbs that says “except in Georgia, and except on Sundays.”
Do you suppose it could have been left out in the translation?
(culled from a post over at Peachpundit.com)
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New jobless claims top 600,000 a week
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says new claims for unemployment benefits jumped to their highest level in more than 26 years.
The Labor Department says the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 626,000, from the previous week’s upwardly revised figure of 591,000. The latest total is far more than analysts’ expectations of 583,000.
The number of people that remained on the unemployment compensation rolls increased slightly to nearly 4.8 million, the most since records began in 1967, though the work force is now much larger.
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The recession and the logic of ‘found money’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Imagine that a pretty good chunk of change surprisingly landed in your lap — “found money,” as my wife likes to call it. Maybe you hit a few numbers in the lottery good for $5,000, or some old uncle remembered you in his will for a few thousand.
These days, what would you do with your windfall? Call up your travel agent and book that resort vacation to Vegas or Hawaii? Use it as a down payment on that hot new car you’ve been lusting after?
A year ago, maybe so. Today, the whole psychology is different. If it happened to me today, I know what I’d do — I might use a little to pay off some bills, but I’d put most it right in the bank under lock and key and keep it there. Millions of other Americans would no doubt do the same thing. In fact, that’s what the banks themselves are doing with their TARP billions. They’re intimidated by the economy, so for the most part they’re sitting on the cash as a cushion against bad times.
That also explains why tax cuts can’t be a more substantial part of the stimulus package. “Found money” in the form of tax cuts would be treated in the same manner as a lottery win or small inheritance; most people wouldn’t spend it, they’d use it to bolster their financial defenses. That’s true for individuals, and it’s true for businesses as well. In times like these, most companies wouldn’t use new cash to invest in a new factory or hire new workers; they’d sit on it, and nobody would blame them for doing so. What seems like the smart thing for each of us to do individually is a huge problem for the overall economy.
To stimulate the economy, you need large sums of money that will actually be spent on things, and the only entity willing to do that in these scary times is government. At a time when consumers would consume and investors won’t invest, government can buy cars and military equipment, build new buildings and roads and transit, and invest in new infrastructure, and by doing so create demand for labor and material that would not otherwise have existed.
And as that happens, confidence will slowly return and people and business will once again start to take their own money out from beneath the mattress, restoring the economy to some semblance of health.
I understand that some people have an ideological problem with government spending. I’ve argued for years that we needed to address our federal debt problems. But this is something different, and I hope Americans recognize that. President Obama warned yesterday that without quick passage of the stimulus bill, the recession could turn into a catastrophe, and whatever else you may think of him, he is not a man easily panicked.
Let’s think this through and act accordingly.
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Just to let you know … I’m free Tuesday night
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those interested, I’ll be delivering the seventh annual “Real State of the Union Address” (a title conferred by the event sponsor, Women’s Actions for New Directions) on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. at Hillside International Truth Center, 2450 Cascade Road SW in Atlanta.
The event is free, and we usually draw an audience of several hundred people. Following the pattern of recent years, I’ll speak for 15 or 20 minutes on the state of the nation and world, followed by a response from the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery. The reverend and myself will then take questions from the audience, which is generally my favorite part of the evening.
If you show up, feel free to introduce yourself by your “nom de blogue.”
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Obama condemns “culture of narrow self-interest” on Wall Street
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I can’t find a transcript or video of Obama’s remarks today as he announced the $500,000 limit on executive compensation, so here’s a compilation of quotes I culled from various sources:
“We all need to take responsibility. And this includes executives at major financial firms who turned to the American people, hat in hand, when they were in trouble, even as they paid themselves their customary lavish bonuses. As I said last week, that’s the height of irresponsibility. That’s shameful. And that’s exactly the kind of disregard for the costs and consequences of their actions that brought about this crisis: a culture of narrow self-interest and short-term gain at the expense of everything else.
“In order to restore our financial system, we’ve got to restore trust. And in order to restore trust, we’ve got to make certain that taxpayer funds are not subsidizing excessive compensation packages on Wall Street.”
“For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis is not only in bad taste - it’s a bad strategy - and I will not tolerate it as president. We’re going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for federal aid - so that when firms seek new federal dollars, we won’t find them up to the same old tricks.”
“As part of the reforms we are announcing today, top executives at firms receiving extraordinary help from U.S. taxpayers will have their compensation capped at $500,000 — a fraction of the salaries that have been reported recently. If these executives receive any additional compensation, it will come in the form of stock that can’t be paid up until taxpayers are paid back for their assistance.”
The proposal will also require affected firms to report on non-salary perks provided to top executives.
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Obama, McConnell agree on something …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
and less noteworthy, so do I.
“WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama risked a backlash within his own party by criticizing “Buy American” provisions in the huge stimulus bill that would ensure that most of the big infrastructure money goes to U.S. suppliers.
The measures, highly popular among congressional Democrats and trade unions, have come under heavy criticism from U.S. trade partners, some of whom threatened this week to file legal actions against the U.S. if the measures become law.
Asked his views on the furor, President Obama said in separate television interviews Tuesday that he wanted to avoid any steps would “signal protectionism” or risk fueling trade tensions.
“I think that would be a mistake right now,” he told ABC News. “That is a potential source of trade wars that we can’t afford at a time when trade is sinking all across the globe.”
….By siding with its trade partners in Europe and Asia, the administration could antagonize key allies in Congress as it struggles to win passage of a nearly $900 billion economic-recovery package.”
I see where Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said something similar earlier this week, warning that “”I don’t think we ought to use a measure that is supposed to be timely, temporary, and targeted to set off trade wars when the entire world is experiencing a downturn in the economy.”
They’re right. Passing such laws is a natural instinct in hard times, and after the stock collapse of ‘29, Congress gave into that instinct by passing the Smoot-Hawley tariffs. Other major economies retaliated, compounding the Great Depression. Surely we have learned better.
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The Senate GOP’s stimulus ‘hit list’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate Republicans have released a list of projects in the stimulus bill that they consider wasteful. There are a few that sound dubious as stimulus, at least at first hearing.
They include, as CNN describes them:
— A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
— $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
— $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
— $75 million for “smoking cessation activities.”
Most of the rest of the list sounds pretty solid to me, though. For example, “$600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees” and “$200 million for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.” That’s $800 million to put autoworkers and steelworkers and parts suppliers back to work, plus encouraging automakers to invest in hybrid technology and production.
The same is true of “$650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands” — essentially hiring people to clear brush — and “$412 million for CDC buildings and property.” That CDC money would presumably be spent here in Atlanta, and I know people in construction who really need that work. (If you’ve ever spent time in the CDC offices, you know they’re not exactly working in the Taj Mahal).
This is a stimulus bill, designed to put people back to work and keep companies in business. These are the kinds of projects that would logically be in that kind of bill. If you oppose projects such as these, I’d argue that you are opposing the basic concept of a stimulus bill, and if that’s what Senate Republicans are doing, they should say so.
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Government saves and creates jobs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I confess: I love peanut butter. It’s a rare day when there’s not a peanut-smeared spoon or knife in the sink, evidence that I had once again dipped into my jar of Jiffy for a taste.
It’s a habit I haven’t had to surrender in the current salmonella crisis. Why? Because government scientists not only identified peanut butter as the problem, they quickly identified the specific peanut-processing plant that was causing the problem and they shut it down. As a result, major peanut-butter brands were not affected, and I can enjoy my indulgence without fear.
In that case, government saved lives. But what’s less well understood is that it also helped to save the livelihoods of tens of thousands of peanut growers and processors all over the country who had nothing to do with the problem.
The mayor of Blakely, Ga., the home of the troubled Peanut Corp. of America plant, writes a piece in today’s AJC bemoaning the economic damage done to his community by this crisis. However, if government hadn’t quickly isolated the source of the salmonella — if it had to issue a general warning that peanut butter can sicken or even kill you — the damage would have been far more widespread.
I raise the point as a small rebuttal to the anti-government arguments of GOP chairman Michael Steele and others. “Let’s get this notion out of our heads that the government creates jobs,” Steele says. “Not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job. Small business owners do, small enterprises do. Not the government.”
In this particular incident, government saved jobs. In others, it has created them. For example, government investment and research created the Internet, which has produced millions of jobs. It even created Gatorade.
Despite right-wing rhetoric, government is not by definition a drag or deadweight on the economy. It certainly CAN be those things, but it can also be an essential partner in economic growth and prosperity. Government regulation, done properly, increases prosperity.
And while too much government oversight can indeed reduce prosperity, too little oversight can have the same impact, as the good people of Blakely can now testify. The inadequacy of state and federal health inspections has damaged their already frail local economy, just as the inadequacy of oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies contributed to this broader economic meltdown.
That argument doesn’t fit so well on a bumper sticker; it doesn’t sit well with those who see themselves as heroes in a bad Ayn Rand novel, and it doesn’t lend itself to TV soundbites. But it’s reality.
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Daschle trend in wrong direction
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just a guess, based on a lot of little things and certainly no inside info:
Tom Daschle will withdraw as nominee for HHS secretary before the week is out.
Why? These things work on momentum, and once they start to shift in one direction, it’s very hard to reverse. After teetering early, the momentum is now against him.
UPDATE: (AP) Daschle withdraws nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services.
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor rouses his troops for battle against the evil Queen Nancy.
House Republicans are treating their unanimous vote against the stimulus bill as a major victory, which given their reduced numbers in the House might be understandable. After all, it’s the only kind of victory they’re likely to see for a while.
“Look at these faces,” California Rep. Kevin O. McCarthy told a reporter from Politico, pointing to a roomful of Republicans and their families at a House GOP retreat over the weekend. “They’re all smiling. You’d think these people are still in the majority.”
According to Politico, U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told his colleagues that they need to get over the idea that they’re participating in legislation and ought to start thinking of themselves as “an insurgency” instead.
There’s a certain romantic appeal to that insurgency approach. The Republicans are casting themselves as the brave 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, fighting heroically against the invading hordes. Being seen as combative insurgents also helps them with their base back home; most of the surviving Republicans represent solidly conservative House districts where they’re more worried by a primary challenge from the right than by a Democrat in the general.
In fact, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, 43 percent of Republicans trace their party’s problems to an excess of moderation; only 17 percent say their party has become too conservative. So for most GOP House members, moderation has no benefit.
However, if that’s the approach they’re going to take, House Republicans ought to drop the hypocrisy of pretending that they really truly wanted a bipartisan stimulus plan and could have been wooed if only that evil Nancy Pelosi had been a little nicer to them. The truth is, they have no interest in compromise or bipartisanship. Compromise is a danger to the strategy they’ve adopted.
A group that defines and excites itself by saying no cannot risk saying yes. Every effort by their opponents to reach out for support is a threat to their purity and unity, an effort to lure one or more of their number into betraying their holy cause. To say yes is to lose.
Again, if that’s their approach, fine. But don’t pretend otherwise, because it undercuts the image. Did the brave Spartans whine and complain that to the press that the Persian King Xerxes wouldn’t negotiate with them fairly?
Nosireebob, they did not.
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Gregg to Commerce, but GOP keeps his seat?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This seems like a fair compromise:
“WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is poised to pick a Republican senator, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, as his Commerce secretary, but the state’s Democratic governor will likely fill the vacancy with another Republican, leaving Democrats just shy of a filibuster-proof Senate.
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader in the Senate, said he has Gregg’s assurances that New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch would appoint a Republican to Gregg’s seat.
“In other words, whoever is appointed to replace him would caucus with Senate Republicans, so I think it would have no impact on the balance of power in the Senate.” McConnell told “Face the Nation” on CBS.
If that happens, the Democrats will be no closer to their goal of holding 60 Senate seats, enough to cut off Republican filibusters if all Democrats vote together. The Republican expected to get the seat until a new election is held in two years is Bonnie Newman, who served as Gregg’s chief of staff when Gregg was in the House. She is a veteran of the Reagan White House. Under the deal that has been worked out, she would not run in the 2010 election.”
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In Iraq, elections mostly peaceful
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Iraqi provincial elections over the weekend went about as well as could be hoped, with minimal violence and vigorous campaigning.
Turnout was a lot lower than expected — roughly 51 percent turnout, with considerably lower turnout in places such as Anbar Province. But as the NY Times reports, “Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and several secular parties appeared to score significant gains….. The relative success of the secular parties may be a sign that a significant number of Iraqis are disillusioned with the religious parties that have been in power but have done little to deliver needed services.”
The real test, of course, is how well the losers accept being losers. Do they stay within the system, or turn to the gun? It’s a hard choice, because in the past being a loser in Iraq often meant being dead. And that cultural memory clearly won’t fade for a long time, as this Times excerpt suggests:
“Ahmed Abu Risha, a powerful tribesman in Anbar Province and the brother of one of the founders of the Awakening councils, which joined the Americans to fight Islamic insurgents, said he believed that the turnout was lower than the 40 percent announced by the election commission and that the numbers were being manipulated by the Iraqi Islamic Party. “If the Islamic Party wins, it will be another Darfur,” he said.”
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I’m thinking Steelers 24-21 …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
with one of the Cardinal touchdowns coming late, after the game’s been decided.
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Republican guvs back stimulus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I know that putting the words “Palin” and “stimulus” together in the same sentence might be more than some conservatives male hearts out there can handle. But I’m going to risk it: apparently Sarah’s in Washington lobbying Alaska senators to pass the stimulus plan.
But why do I think that later, she’s going to come out and claim she had really been against it all the time?
“NEW YORK (AP) — Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama’s economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.
Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama’s spending priorities.
The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, planned to meet in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state’s share of the package.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist worked the phones last week with members of his state’s congressional delegation, including House Republicans. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, the Republican vice chairman of the National Governors Association, planned to be in Washington on Monday to urge the Senate to approve the plan.”
