Category: Current Affairs

Looking for some weekend reading?

Try the newly proposed Obama budget – titled “A New Era of Responsbility‘.

The time has come to usher in a new era – a new era of responsibility in which we act not only to save and create new jobs, but also to lay a new foundation of growth upon which we can renew the promise of America.

As I said, give it a read and form your own opinions.

Love that phrase – it’s so appropriate isn’t it: “our small-minded Congresspeople“.

Comes from Roger Ehrenberg’s Information Arbitrage post tonight – “YOU, the U.S. Taxpayer, Can’t Handle the Truth“.

Ehrenberg is predicting that the upcoming Geithner plan for dealing with the banks will ultimately fail – because it’ll end up being too complicated.

He concludes by saying that we aren’t the problem – it’s those folks in Congress who don’t get it:

Reality is, we [you and I] can handle the truth: it’s he [Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat from North Carolina] and his scared-out-of-their-minds Congresspeople that can’t handle the truth. We need some different people making the big decisions. They appear too big and too important for our small-minded Congresspeople to make.

I’ve lately been thinking what we need re: Congress is, among other things, an age limitation on service. Unfortunately, term limits have been a non-starter at the Federal level – unlike here in California (not that it’s mattered!). Getting some of the old “gentlemen/gentlewomen” to move on just might help bring a new reality to the place.

Too bad that Brad Miller’s a relative youngster – born in 1953. On the other hand, my age limitation would (even at age 65!) probably work wonders in the Senate! Goodbye McCain! And, of course, Goodbye Reid!

What’s your hurry? Here’s your hat!

[Update: Further evidence from NBC’s Chuck Todd.]

Obama never should have allowed his first major piece of legislation to be written largely by a man elected to Congress when the president was only 8 years old. I’m referring to House Appropriations Chair David Obey.

I’ve noted many times here and in “First Read” the stunning lack of change inside the leadership of the House Democratic caucus. The roster of current committee chairs is not exactly a profile of change Obama outlined during the campaign.

Some day the public might actually revolt against the undemocratic system of seniority that allows Congress to keep the old ways of Washington engrained into the culture of Congress.

[Update: Be sure to read Dan Newman’s comment to this post! Dan was the author of the op-end and has his own blog here.]

Small business owner Dan Newman writes an op-ed in today’s Washington Post advocating that the government issue gift cards to help stimulate the economy.

Unlike the earlier stimulus checks, Newman’s proposed American Gift Card couldn’t be deposited into your bank account and saved – you’d only have the option of spending it.

By sending every taxpayer a $2,000 debit card, the government stimulates spending directly. The card doesn’t get deposited with a bank, a step that greatly reduced the use of last year’s rebate checks for new spending, and with a defined expiration time, perhaps a year, the program could help precisely while other programs get underway.

The American Gift Card could bear a picture of Lady Liberty, since it may be used for whatever taxpayers wish: smarter clothes, dinners out, a weekend away, a new heater. And as gift cards tend to be used in person, they are of particular interest to local businesses.

A nice, creative idea!

The Feds could time the release of the gift cards – a Presidents’ Day gift card, Memorial Day gift card, Labor Day gift card, generic Winter Holiday gift card, and even one on your birthday! This idea has legs!