The Carter Gilson Report

I was watching Meet the Press this morning (okay, afternoon), and what they had was a roundtable discussion on the healthcare debate. The two sides were actually balanced in representation. On the Right was Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK, and former Rep. and current head of Freedom’s Watch, Dick Armey. On the Left was Tom Daschle, once nominated for HHS secretary by Obama, and Rachel Maddow, one of the smartest (and most prepared) left-leaning TV hosts out there.

My wife and I watched the discussion, and the thing that struck me (beyond the arguments from the right boiling down to, if you think things are bad now, wait until the boogeyman comes) was that whenever the discussion turned to actual policy, Daschle and Maddow were the only ones talking. When what a public option would mean on a structural level was the topic, Coburn and Armey had nothing to say.

The reason for this is simple enough, of course. When it comes to policy, the Republicans aren’t interested. If they had any ideas, they could easily put up their own plan, but the only idea they have is to scare people into leaving things the way they are. Their hope is that the nebulous idea of “change” that won over the electorate will become frightening if they can tie it to their Soylent Green nightmares.

And why do they want that? Well, I can’t speak for anyone on the right, but this is what it looks like. They are looking out for the interests of insurance companies, and don’t care the slightest bit about any actual Americans. Worse, they are trying to push the binary politics of Republican vs. Democrat for the sole purpose of bringing their party back from the brink of irrelevancy.

Politics may have become binary, but policy is not. A public option for insurance is a relatively new idea in the debate in this country, but it’s a damn good idea. It’s the bridge between a Massachusetts-style personal mandate requiring the purchase of insurance and a single payer system where everyone is covered. It also uses the power of the market and competition to drive down costs, which you might think the Right would cheer, if you thought they were honest brokers.

August is half over. Congress comes back into session soon. The President has signaled that he’s open to compromise on the public option. But compromise only works when both sides are willing to give something up. The Right is intransigent. It’s time to give up on the notion of bipartisanship and actually have a good bill.

NYTimes:

As the health care debate heats up, the American Medical Association is letting Congress know that it will oppose creation of a government-sponsored insurance plan, which President Obama and many other Democrats see as an essential element of legislation to remake the health care system.

Considering the amount of support among doctors for healthcare reform, it’s time to ask whether the AMA’s progressive members need to send a message and quit the group.

The AMA is a professional association with a quarter million member doctors. The AMA provides a seal of approval to the nation’s medical professionals, but over the years they have always opposed any government involvement in healthcare, whether it’s Medicare or, now, the public option.

In a way, it’s understandable. Most doctors get paid mostly through insurance coverage, and a public plan would almost certainly pay them less. At the same time, their insurance costs (malpractice insurance and other costs of doing business) are through the roof.

But the AMA taking this stand for its members makes no sense to anyone for whom logic is a factor. You see, the idea of the public option is to make health insurance more affordable to every American, who would then be covered and wouldn’t have to rely on emergency departments for routine medical care.

It would make sense for the health of the nation, not to mention for the bottom line of medical providers, to support a public option, as in the current configuration the uninsured are an explicit drain on the system. Making the change to a Medicare-style public option for all Americans just seems like the most intelligent thing we can do right now.

Will it lead to single payer? Only if the medical insurers don’t offer competitive plans. In a way, public medical insurance may be the most free-market idea in medical insurance ever.

Republican Tom Price of Georgia posted this silly little YouTube clip today:

So, wait a minute, you think that the President only stands with some people and not others because he blasted the people who caused and exacerbated the global economic crisis we’re now facing? Because that’s what you’re saying here.

Just a tiny little suggestion, if you’re trying to win back the middle class, don’t make it quite so obvious that you’re standing with the investment firms and hedge funds whose greed necessitated the biggest government bailout of financial institutions in US history.

Tomorrow, after Chief Justice Roberts administers the oath of office, President Obama raises an eyebrow to Eric Holder, who steps forward, slaps cuffs on Bush and Cheney, and hauls them off to jail.

The best news to come out in a while. It seems that Toyota and GM are still pushing ahead with their plug-in hybrid models, and the competition is still pretty fierce.

Toyota plans to introduce its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle late this year, a year earlier than originally planned, and a year ahead of the Chevrolet Volt, a senior Toyota executive said Sunday.

James Lentz, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said in an interview that Toyota planned to initially make about 500 plug-in hybrids, which will be made available first to commercial customers. About 150 plug-ins will be slated for customers in the United States, Mr. Lentz said.

GM is hoping that the Volt will save it from the brink.  With Toyota pushing up their plug-in, it seems that there would be even more incentive for GM to speed up its development.

And given the economy right now, perhaps there could be some incentive to make them affordable?  Maybe?

Early on New Year’s Day, transit police at the Fruitvale Oakland BART station detained several men involved in an altercation.  It’s now January 6th and I haven’t written about it yet because it’s a bit too much to get my brain around.

22 year old Oscar Grant, unarmed, handcuffed, prone, restrained held down by two cops, was shot and killed by a third cop. Grant’s death leaves behind a young daughter, a reeling community, and, oh, yes, amateur video aplenty.

That’s how we actually know that Grant was restrained and posed no threat.  The cop that shot him had a good view from directly next  to him, so there does not appear to have been any question about the situation.  The officer reached for his holster, drew his gun, aimed and fired.

One of the early theories put forth by investigators is that he thought he was reaching for his Taser and not his gun.  Nevermind that they are kept in different holsters on opposite sides and feel nothing alike, but what the hell would he have been using his Taser for anyway?  Grant had been subdued, he was pleading with the cops not to hurt him, that he has a young daughter at home.

And now that daugter will be growing up without a father because some kid with two years on the BART police force reached for the wrong holster when he shouldn’t have even been reaching?

Tough to get my brain around.  Tough to understand how something like this happens.  Tough to see how a cop killing an unarmed and handcuffed father disappears from the news, with hardly any national coverage. Google searching doesn’t pull up a whole hell of a lot of articles on this story, and I’ve seen far more reporting in blogs than in newspapers.

This isn’t Rodney King; we aren’t joining an excessive beating in the middle.  The video that has emerged shows Grant to be agitated but complying.  And then it shows him being murdered.  Shot in the back while restrained.  What the fuck?

corrected some facts with strike-outs above; sorry for the sloppy

Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, and first rate wanker, is looking to prolong the economic downturn as long as it means providing money to actual Americans through jobs:

“As of right now, Americans are left with more questions than answers about this unprecedented government spending, and I believe the taxpayers deserve to know a lot more about where it will be spent before we consider passing it.”

Nice of you to think of that now, Mitch.  You didn’t seem to think that was all that important when bailing out the banks, who are getting billions in public money with no oversight, but now you want to stick it to the citizens who are unemployed or underemployed and would be helped directly by an infrastructure-based stimulus plan.

It’s brazen, I’ll give him that.  It’s also stupid.  You have an incoming president-elect with approval numbers in the upper ionosphere, promoting a popular idea that would put people back to work, and you decide that this is your Little Bighorn. There is no political way to win this from that position. If it doesn’t pass, you’ll have won the battle but lost the war, as the Republican Obstructionist brand takes hold. If it does pass, you’ll have lost anyway and will be seen as utterly ineffective. Just from a political standpoint it seems like McConnell should be supporting anything Obama says on the economy right now.

And, on the other hand, if this is a position based on deeply held convictions, we will finally have the man’s soul laid bare, alas a few months late to vote him out of office.

(h/t Political Wire)

Steve Benen at Washington Monthly posted an article today about the 0 and 16 Detroit Lions, saying that the team and Lions fans should embrace their ignominy, proclaim that they weren’t just bad, they were the worst that the NFL has ever seen.

If you’re going to have a bad year, why not have the worst year? If the Lions had gone 1-15, folks would say, “Wow, Detroit was really awful.” But by going without any wins at all, people get to say, “Wow, no one has ever been this awful.”

Isn’t it better to be memorable? No one cares about those who are merely awful, but everyone cares about those who uniquely dreadful.

I say, embrace the historic nature of unrivaled failure. Take pride in being a part of something truly “special.”

I think we can read in this a lesson for our #43, as he tries to bolster his reputation with the Bush Legacy Project.  Really, should he not just own up to his utter failure and claim the mantle as the worst President ever, combining the military success failure of LBJ with the economic success failure of Herbert Hoover and the general corruption of Dick Nixon? Bush also had the inherent nepotism of John Quincy Adams and a bloated self-importance that was all his own.

So, own it, Mr. President.  You’ve earned your place in history.

[pause]

Pinter’s dead.

[pause]

Eartha Kitt too.

[pause]

Well, Crap.

Alas, quite a bit of the middle is still missing.

Christmas is Coming–missing
A Baby Just Like You–missing
Deck the Halls–missing
When the River Meets the Sea–missing
Little Saint Nick–missing
Noel: Christmas Eve, 1913
The Christmas Wish

Unionized workers are having to resort to actions not taken since the Great Depression. Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors closed down this Friday. The union, under the United Electrical Workers, has decided to use peaceful, yet forceful, means to highlight their situation.

Workers laid off from their jobs at a factory have occupied the building and are demanding assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed.

About 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors began their sit-in Friday, the last scheduled day of the plant’s operation.

Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give 60 days’ notice required by law before shutting down.

Workers also were angered when company officials didn’t show up for a meeting Friday that had been arranged by U.S. Rep Luis Gutierrez, a Chicago Democrat, she said.

So, workers are staging an action over severance, back vacation pay, and most of all, the WARN Act. The WARN Act provides that in a situation like this, where a mass lay-off will be happening, the workforce will be given 60 days warning. Long enough for many to find new jobs, get training to change careers, and then the company must provide a severance of some kind.

When I was working at RCN and they closed my call center, that is exactly how it happened. 60 days before they gathered us and gave us the news. At the time, it seemed unbelievable, but it also seemed like a long time, time enough to find something new. Some did, many did not. I was unemployed for six months from September 2003 to March 2004.

The workers at the Republic plant did not get this time before the doors were to close. So they are keeping the doors open.

During the peaceful takeover, workers have been shoveling snow and cleaning the building, Fried said.

“We’re doing something we haven’t since the 1930s, so we’re trying to make it work,” Fried said.
…
Police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak said authorities were aware of the situation and officers were patrolling the area.

In other words, they’re hardly engaging in malicious acts. This is a modern sit-in, they won’t be cowed, and I kind of want to bake brownies for them. Alas, delivering them would be tough.

There’s a meme that’s been going around the government and the media for the last few months.  Some companies, they say, are too big to fail.  If these companies were to go under, declare bankruptcy, and fall off the face of the earth, the vacuum left in their absence would be too much for our economy to survive.

On the one hand, they’re right.  Companies like GM and Citigroup employ, directly and indirectly, millions of people across the world.  Losing them would drive this already sick economy into a death spiral.

But there’s something to think about in calling anything too big to fail.  Beyond abandoning the free market, which is supposedly God to many economic policy makers, it also points to the failure of deregulation.  These companies got so big because the anti-monopoly, regulatory, post-robber-baron financial world that was in control for most of the 20th Century got chucked out in the Reagan Revolution, and the trend continued through Clinton until Bush 2 got into power and totally screwed the pooch.

Yes, we should be bailing out the big companies right now.  But there have got to be strings included.  And one of those strings should be that no company be allowed to get where it is too big to fail.  Companies fail all the time, and new companies come along.  It’s financial natural selection.  That’s what commercial bankruptcy is for.  We shouldn’t get to a point where any company is too big to declare bankruptcy if that’s what is needed.

Just a couple weeks ago, GM was talking about buying Chrysler as a way to get both companies out of trouble.  That’s the opposite of what should happen.

The Telegraph gets a scoop that should really come as a surprise to no one.  We all remember just how ugly the campaign rallies with Sarah Palin were.  Seems that ugliness spread beyond the rallies and into the streets:

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling “terrorist” and “kill him” until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin’s attacks.

Again, this should not be surprising to anyone who was paying attention at the end.  The only good thing I can think of is that it finally forced some daylight onto the ugliness that still exists.  It’s been underground for a long time, not accepted in the public sphere. 

My hope is that, now that it’s more visible, it will get the push-back that it needs.

* corrected spelling in the title.

Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman has what may be among the most important columns about the negatively-aged Obama administration to date:

Barack Obama should learn from F.D.R.’s failures as well as from his achievements: the truth is that the New Deal wasn’t as successful in the short run as it was in the long run. And the reason for F.D.R.’s limited short-run success, which almost undid his whole program, was the fact that his economic policies were too cautious.
…
This history offers important lessons for the incoming administration.

The political lesson is that economic missteps can quickly undermine an electoral mandate. Democrats won big last week — but they won even bigger in 1936, only to see their gains evaporate after the recession of 1937-38. Americans don’t expect instant economic results from the incoming administration, but they do expect results, and Democrats’ euphoria will be short-lived if they don’t deliver an economic recovery.

The economic lesson is the importance of doing enough. F.D.R. thought he was being prudent by reining in his spending plans; in reality, he was taking big risks with the economy and with his legacy. My advice to the Obama people is to figure out how much help they think the economy needs, then add 50 percent. It’s much better, in a depressed economy, to err on the side of too much stimulus than on the side of too little.

In short, Mr. Obama’s chances of leading a new New Deal depend largely on whether his short-run economic plans are sufficiently bold. Progressives can only hope that he has the necessary audacity.

FDR nearly failed because he didn’t go far enough.  That’s almost blasphemy, but it’s true.  Obama needs to do more, and do it fearlessly.

A new WPA based on a new power infrastructure is a first and necessary step.  Our current power grid is not just prone to failure but vulnerable to an attack.  It was just a few years ago that most of the eastern seaboard was shut down by a single outage, and we haven’t fixed it enough since then to avoid the same thing happening again.

Also, a new power grid could more efficiently transfer electricity generated from new sources.

This would need to be coupled with a reinvestment in physical infrastructure, the roads, bridges, railroads, waterways and other ways that we get our selves and our stuff from place to place.  It’s been 50 years since the last major project, the Eisenhower highways, and Obama has indicated that this is something to invest in.

These two projects alone would generate many jobs and a lot of revenue which would then fund more structure reinvestment.  America has been in a terrible accident, but we can rebuild her.  We have the technology.

First change: new theme.

Second change: more writing.  No, really.

Third change: still more to come.