Bipartisanship For The Sake Of Bipartisanship?

 

        Recently, the national political scene has been focused on Pres. Obama’s efforts to get the Economic Stimulus bill passed. He has devoted much time and effort to garnering some measure of Republican support. The result … zero Republican votes in the house. There were enough democratic votes to pass the bill in the house, and so now we look to the Senate where Pres. Obama needs to hold his democratic votes and find a couple of Republican votes. It is my suspicion that the President, in anticipation of the need for a modicum of Republican support, made a point of publicly romancing the GOP for support that he knew would not be forthcoming in the house in order to make an advance charm assault on the Republican Senators whom he knows he will need to get the bill through the Senate.

        Political calculations notwithstanding, I find myself hoping that Pres. Obama is not seeking bipartisanship purely for bipartisanship’s sake. Let us recall what party was in power as our economy was steered into this ditch … no … this abyss. The American people rejected the policies of the Republican Party in November. By John McCain’s own admission, when the economy became the issue, his campaign began to circle the bowl. Why then would we lean our economic tent towards the ideas of this same party?

        I propose some thoughts on fiscal stimulus that are admittedly outside of the mainstream box, but are offered with at least a trace of evidence to support them.

 

Step 1 – Think of the U.S. economy as a balloon whose air is money. We can pump as much air/money in as we like, but if the leaks are severe enough, the long-term prognosis is going to be poor. The biggest leak in our economy at this point is trade policy. If trade policy is not addressed in very close proximity to any stimulus bill, we might as well dump the 800 billion into the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific, and watch it drift away. Stated simply, there is very little that we manufacture in this country anymore. Businesses have chosen profit over people and elected to send jobs overseas where no one legislates decent treatment of workers. They needn’t pay a living wage, they needn’t provide health care … basically, labor that is closer to slave labor can be had overseas. That’s why when you call customer service for many US companies you hear a Hindi or Mexican voice on the other end. Do not be mistaken. I am not a hateful person or a xenophobe. The standard of living for all workers around the world will be gravitationally pulled in the direction of the standard of living for US workers. Business will never protect its workers at the expense of its bottom line; they have proven this over the long run. Therefore governments must be charged with this task. So in order to fix the US economy we must seal it’s largest leaks. This is not done at the expense of world workers, but to their benefit. A trade policy that exacts tariffs that discourage the outsourcing of jobs to countries that do not protect its workers will achieve these ends.

 

Step 2 – One of the biggest costs to employers is health care. Now is the moment in history to make national health care a reality. During the time when the bailout of the big three automakers was the hot topic, we learned that one of the biggest problems that US auto makers have in keeping up with foreign competition lies in the crippling cost of employee and retiree health care. We were told (with fairly solid proof) that on average, employee health care adds an additional $1500.00 to the cost of every American made car. This is not a burden that is shouldered exclusively by the automakers. Think for a moment what manner of windfall it would be for every business in this country if they no longer had to make contributions to the health care of any employee. This is an opportunity for every US citizen to receive healthcare, to bring this healthcare under one tent where insurance company profit is immediately removed from the cost of health care … and for all US businesses to be relieved of a competitive disadvantage.

 

Step 3 – Place any remaining stimulus cash into the hands of those people who spend. The middle class and the wealthy are where they are because of an ability (however minimal) to save and to budget their money. The reality is that the poor are poor in part because of a lack fiscal acumen that leads them to spend every penny that they receive. These are the people in whose hands we want this cash. They will purchase, MP3 players, TV’s, beer, Big Macs and other such items which will infuse this cash upward into a recently or soon to be patched economy.

 

Step 4 – The last block in my plan is this. With the cost of health care removed from the equation, the last incentive for maintaining a staff of under-employed workers (workers working less than 30 or 35 hours per week) is their desire to minimize overtime pay. I would love to see some sort of legislation that penalizes such under-employment more harshly than the cost of paying overtime.

 

You see, jobs will be taken by the downtrodden in other countries at a greatly reduced wage, but this can only happen if these jobs are offered. If the captains of American industry were truly concerned with the plight of their workers, such offers would never be extended. But as demonstrated over the last eight years, this is not the case. So I propose that while pumping lifeblood into the American economy, we repair the arteries that pump this blood in order to repair the life threatening leaks that exist.

 

Reviews

[SM Davis]

Precisely...NOW IS THE MOMENT...regardless of who is in office NOW is the point. Now is the moment to make the biggest impact. Regardless of party affiliation. Very well stated. Much more information and much less emotional than my rant regarding the amount of money that was spent on his festivities.

I work in human services. I am in the trenches with those that are the most heavily AFFECTED by these political decisions. My hands are covered by those who are drowning, those that are freezing, those that are vulnerable and those that don't know where to look for help. Those that I work with are those that have fallen through the cracks. I don't understand this whole economic stimulus thing. I don't understand the bailing out of the american car makers. I don't understand why all of these extremely wealthy people are allowed to get more wealth under their belt while those that are in my center continue to get more poor and less healthy because theirs is the first financial assistance to get cut.

I don't understand politics...but I do understand that it is not about the "people". It is about who carries the biggest stick, and those that fight for their lives everyday suffer for it. THAT IS WHAT I KNOW...

[Hannah Estar]

Wow... I must say this is one of the most well thought-out pieces in terms of political writing that I have read in a while. You make your views very understandable and state them in a manner that is fascinatingly persuasive to the reader. Generally in politics, I see so many different logical sides to an issue, it is very difficult for me to have a solid opinion... I've found that when I have solid opinions, my mind is immediately bombarded with other things I could possibly have solid opinions on that differ from the opinion i have... =) which is never fun... However, I do enjoy learning about all the different mindsets and possibilities, more so when they are well thought-out, and not simply a restatement of the opinions of the head of whatever party one is affiliated with. I probably find this even more relevant because I am currently taking a economics, and can fully understand what you are saying... Often lack of comprehension and/or bias stand in the way of understanding differing political views.... A truly mentally stimulating read. Thank you for sharing :-]