Category: washington

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China democrats Politics washington

China State Media Calls Washington “Irresponsible”

China is speaking out, and it’s apparently not happy. As the world sits on pins and needles, watching the unnecessary man-made crisis going on in Washington in reference to raising the debt ceiling, China, the biggest “investor” in the United States economy, is voicing their displeasure, calling Washington’s antics “political brinkmanship” and “dangerously irresponsible.”

The piece was written by the government controlled, Chinese State Media, and is attributed to Xinhua, and written by Deng Yushan.

As the Aug. 2 deadline approaches for Washington to raise its borrowing limit and avoid a catastrophic debt default, deeply divided U.S. politicians remain stubbornly engaged in what is widely seen as a game of chicken.

Given the United States’ status as the world’s largest economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, such political brinkmanship in Washington is dangerously irresponsible, for it risks, among other consequences, strangling the still fragile economic recovery of not only the United States but also the world as a whole.

Analysts worldwide have already painted a grim picture. Although an exact outcome of a Washington unable to pay its bills is yet to be known, they warn that a U.S. default would trigger massive repercussions throughout global financial markets.

The piece also laments the reality of divided government in America, and refers to the “donkey and the elephant,” saying,

It is arguably true that the ongoing tug of war in Washington is Uncle Sam’s own business, as the United States has not yet defaulted on its debt. However, the ugliest part of the saga is that the well-being of many other countries is also in the impact zone when the donkey and the elephant fight. The potential collateral damage is way too heavy.

With leadership comes responsibility. It is unfortunate and disappointing that when political leaders in Washington spar over who is doing good for their country, they take little account of the world’s economic soundness.

With less than 3 days before the August 2nd deadline, negotiations are ongoing. The plan that is drawing the most attention now is the Reid Plan, that calls for Zero revenue and $2.4 trillion in spending cuts. The point of contention between Democrats and Republicans now is the timing and a Constitutional amendment. Democrats want the debt ceiling to be raised past the next election in November 2012, while Republicans want it raised for a few months. Republicans are also trying to get a “balance budget amendment” added to the constitution – a measure being pushed by the Teaparty.

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Barack Obama Politics washington weekly address

President Obama To Congress – Get Your House In Order

With the August 2nd deadline quickly approaching, President Obama used his weekly address to urge Washington to “get your house in order.” In conveying this message, the President quoted a letter from Kelly Smith, a concerned individual who wrote to congress, saying;

I keep my home clean. I work hard at a full time job, give my parents any money as I can so that they could afford their medications, I pay my bills and by all appearances, I’m a responsible person. All I’m asking is that you be responsible. I have my house in order, and all I’m asking is that you get yours the same way.

The President ended his message by calling for both parties to compromise and get the debt ceiling raised, saying;

All of us, including Republicans in the House of Representatives, need to demonstrate the same kind of responsibility that the American people show everyday. The time for putting party first is over. The time for compromise on behalf of the American people is now.

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CNN Politics Republican United States washington

Republicans And Their Jim Crow Ways

Former President Bill Clinton just figured out what the Republicans are doing. In a speech to a liberal group at the Campus Progress’s annual conference in Washington on Wednesday, Mr. Clinton broke the news – the Republicans are trying to disenfranchise minority voters.

“I can’t help thinking since we just celebrated the Fourth of July and we’re supposed to be a country dedicated to liberty that one of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time.

“There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today.

“They [Republicans] are trying to make the 2012 electorate look more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate,” Clinton added, referencing the dip in youth voter turnout in the 2010 elections. “Are you fighting? You should be fighting it.”

Jim Crow laws were enacted in the United States for almost 100 years, from 1876 to 1965. The laws were responsible for what was called, “separate but equal,” – a doctrine that demanded separate facilities be set up for blacks and whites, from restaurants to restrooms to drinking fountains to schools and other public places. Jim Crow laws also implemented stiff fines and fees, designed to keep blacks from voting.

So far, 13 Republican governed states have changed their voter registration laws, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida and Texas. And although these Republican governors wouldn’t admit to it, the reasoning for making voting more difficult in these states is to discourage the minority vote.

But Clinton is not the first to call out the Republicans on their Jim Crow-like efforts to keep the minority vote away from the polls. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic Committee Chairman told CNN back in June that Republicans “want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws.”

Mrs. Schultz eventually apologize for using the words “Jim Crow,” what she called, ” the wrong analogy to use,” but the fact still remains the same – trying to make voting more difficult for a particular group of people, whether its 1911 or 2011, whether it’s through fines or changing voting laws to disenfranchise this group, the words Jim Crow in my view, are very appropriate.

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Democrat Democratic hypocrites Politics Republican washington

Bill Clinton Blames Republicans For Present Economic Woes

Former President Bill Clinton blamed Republicans in Congress for the state of the economy. Mr. Clinton called out the  GOP as hypocrites for implementing massive tax cuts and increased spending during the Bush administration, policies that directly contributed to the present recession.

Speaking to a group of liberal group activists in Washington, Clinton said, “”Partly because the Republicans who control the House and have a lot of pull in the Senate have now decided, having quadrupled the debt in 12 years before I took office and doubled it after I left, that it’s all of a sudden the biggest problem in the world.”

The former President, who opposes spending cuts in a downward economy, again expressed his concerns with the present budget talks, and he referenced the United Kingdom and their mistake of cutting spending at a time when spending should have been increased. Clinton continued;

“In the current budget debate, there’s all this discussion about how much will come from spending cuts, how much will come from tax increases, and almost nobody is talking about one of the central points – that everyone who’s analyzed the situation makes, including the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission, which said you shouldn’t do any of this until the economy is clearly recovering.

“Because if you do things that dampen economic growth, and the U.K. is finding this out now, they adopted this big austerity budget, and there’s a good chance that economic activity will go down so much that tax revenues will be reduced even more than spending is cut, and their deficit will increase.”

President Obama meets today with both Republican and Democratic leaders to discuss the debt ceiling. Democrats have offered about $3 trillion in defense and other spending cuts and they have asked Republicans to agree on closing some tax loopholes that benefits millionaires and billionaires. Republicans have so far, dismissed this proposal and have demanded Democrats leave these loopholes alone.

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Politics Republican Rick Scott United States washington Wisconsin

Republican Governor Rick Scott The Worst In The Nation… Why?

A recent Quinnipiac poll just determined that Republican governor Rick Scott of Florida is the worst governor in the nation with a 29% approval rating. Besides the fact that Scott is a Republican, what other factors would explain this unbelievable fallout with Floridians? Well, maybe his recent budget cut of $615 million dollars to programs that directly affects the residents of his state is a good place to look.

Anxious over their increasing unpopularity, Republicans lawmakers across the country are banning media from chronicling the blowback at public events. Florida’s now deeply disliked Gov. Rick Scott (R) adopted a similar tactic yesterday at a “campaign-style” budget signing ceremony at a town square in The Villages retirement community in Central Florida. Before putting his pen to the $69.7 billion state budget, Scott took an ax to $615 million of what he called “shortsighted, frivolous, wasteful spending.” Scott conveniently failed, however, to mention exactly what some of those “frivolous” programs were, including ones that provide help for the most vulnerable in society:

In his speech Thursday, Scott omitted many of the serious-sounding programs he cut: homeless veterans, meals for poor seniors, a council for deafness, a children’s hospital, cancer research, public radio, whooping-cough vaccines for poor mothers, or aid for the paralyzed.

Rick Scott’s dumb decision-making for the people of Florida does not only stop at his draconian budget slashing, but it also extends to areas where his state was slated to receive funds from the Federal government. The Republican rejected $2.3 billion from the Federal government, effectively cancelling a planned high-speed railroad installation – a move that will affect job creation and income for his state for decades to come.

The rejected funds were then sent to other states including $15 million to Washington State, prompting John Laird of The Columbian to officially deemed Rick Scott Washington’s new BFF. John wrote;

Fellow Washingtonians, hoist your glasses high and let’s toast our state’s newest BFF: Rick Scott.

Because the Florida governor bullheadedly rejected $2.3 billion in federal funding for rail improvements, Washington state is $15 million richer in our own drive for better railroads.

Previous BFFs had been Ohio and Wisconsin, where federal funding also had been turned away, only to be sent to other states. As a result, since February our state’s rail-improvement pot has grown from $590 million to $781 million, all because a few governors were willing to cut off their states’ noses to spite the feds’ face.

The Huffington Post also reported that Scott ran a campaign based on “jobs creation.” No surprise here, because in an atmosphere where many Americans are out of work and finding work is a top priority, many Republican politicians seized on job creations in the 2010 mid-term elections, promising America that if elected, they would deliver the jobs. Well, according to the Huffington Post report, Rick Scott has other priorities to worry about and jobs is not one of them.

In the legislative session that ended Saturday, lawmakers passed no job creation bills for Scott to sign. But they did pass five bills restricting abortion rights and a state budget that cuts nearly 4,500 public sector jobs.

Florida Republicans filed a total of 18 bills to restrict abortion rights during the session — the third most in the country, according to the ACLU, and twice the number of anti-choice laws introduced last year in the state, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America.

These are just some of the reasons this first-term Republican governor is receiving a 29% rating and is considered the worst governor in America. Considering some of the other items on his résumé, I would argue that a 29% approval rating is at least 28% too high.

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Domestic Policies Republican United States washington

Sacrificing America’s Future Is The Republican Way

The Republican Party would like Americans to believe they are all for deficit reduction. Of course, their position on the deficit and spending can easily be refuted by the free pass they gave the Bush Administration, who conducted business in Washington like they were playing with monopoly money. That said, the Teaparty was hatched to keep Obama  in check, and the November midterm election saw much of their members elected to Congress.

They rode into Washington claiming to have a mandate from the Teaparty the –reduction of America’s  deficit–and in keeping with this mandate, Republican leaders in the house  began making the usual promises . One of those promises was a reduction of $100 billion, a feat easier said than done, and one that can only be accomplished through drastically slashing services that benefit many Americans. The Teaparty demanded these spending cuts, and the House Republicans are determined to please.

So what’s a Republicans to do?

Paul Krugman – a nobel price winner for Economics – wrote an article in then New York Times in which he explains the plight the Republican leaders face. As Krugman explains, Republicans will “sacrifice the future.”

Focus the cuts on programs whose benefits aren’t immediate; basically, eat America’s seed corn. There will be a huge price to pay, eventually — but for now, you can keep the base happy.

If you didn’t understand that logic, you might be puzzled by many items in the House G.O.P. proposal. Why cut a billion dollars from a highly successful program that provides supplemental nutrition to pregnant mothers, infants, and young children? Why cut $648 million from nuclear nonproliferation activities? (One terrorist nuke, assembled from stray ex-Soviet fissile material, can ruin your whole day.) Why cut $578 million from the I.R.S. enforcement budget? (Letting tax cheats run wild doesn’t exactly serve the cause of deficit reduction.)

Once you understand the imperatives Republicans face, however, it all makes sense. By slashing future-oriented programs, they can deliver the instant spending cuts Tea Partiers demand, without imposing too much immediate pain on voters. And as for the future costs — a population damaged by childhood malnutrition, an increased chance of terrorist attacks, a revenue system undermined by widespread tax evasion — well, tomorrow is another day.

Sacrificing America’s future just to win the next vote. But then again we are talking about the Republican party, and with them, it has always been party before country, regardless of what John McCain’s 2008 presidential slogan was!

Read Paul Krugman’s Article here.

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