Politics: December 2008 Archives
Defense Spending as Stimulus - WSJ.com
A better stimulus than funding road construction: "Replacing the supplies that have been depleted by the military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan is a good example of something that might be postponed but that should instead be done quickly. The same is true for replacing the military equipment that has been subject to excessive wear and tear. More generally, replacement schedules for vehicles and other equipment should be accelerated to do more during the next two years than would otherwise be economically efficient.... Each of the military services can identify new equipment and additional quantities of existing equipment that can improve our fighting ability in Afghanistan and our ability to protect our military forces while they are in combat. Military planners must also look ahead to the missions that each of the services may be called upon to do in the future." Military spending would not only stay in the US, it would absorb excess manufacturing capacity and spread some of that money into the high-tech sector as well. (Via Backyard Conservative.)
Clifford Winston: 'Stimulus' Doesn't Have to Mean Pork - WSJ.com
Clifford Winston of the Brookings Institution writes that infrastructure projects like highway expansion usually don't pay off: "[O]ver the past decade we have reaped a mere 1% return on our highway investments. And what's more, for every $1 the government has spent trying to reduce roadway congestion, motorists have saved a mere three cents in travel time and other costs." Winston wants the price to travelers for each mode of transportation to match the cost, rather than burying the cost with subsidies. "But if prices were aligned with actual costs (through tolls), demand would fall. This would especially be true during peak travel periods, and therefore public expenditures would not be wasted on dubious projects." (Via Backyard Conservative.)
iowahawk: Senora Kennedy Is Make Very Good Senator
An Iowahawk Guest Opinion by Rosa Ortiz, Chief of Housekeeping Staff, Estate of Caroline Kennedy: "Senora Kennedy father was El Presidente. She have tio who is senator. She have many cousin who also is senator, even all the ones with the drug problems. Why she is only one who no is senator? This is no fair to her. In my old country was the law that all family of el Presidente is also Senator or Minister until the revolucion."
Peace on Earth at Missile Silo 571-7 by Byron York on National Review Online
York visits the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson, Ariz., and the monument to the Cold War inspires thoughts on the incoming president's attitude toward strategic defense.
Task Force on New Americans: Building an Americanization Movement for the Twenty-first Century
"With immigrants increasingly coming from different countries of origin and settling in communities that lack a long history of receiving immigrants, citizens and immigrants alike should reengage the principles and values that bind us as Americans. Educating on these principles and providing opportunities for civic participation will ensure that the United States remains a successful nation and a home to immigrants who prosper and contribute to American society...."
"The Task Force uses assimilation to refer to the process of embracing shared political principles, which exemplify democratic traditions and build a sense of community and common identity as Americans.... Assimilation is the notion that shared political principles, including the principles of democracy, in the United States bind together immigrants and citizens from different cultures. The three components of political integration are embracing the principles of American democracy, identifying with U.S. history, and communicating in English."
(Via The Corner.)
John Stossel : The Scandal Is What's Legal - Townhall.com
"Ted Stevens, William Jefferson and Randy "Duke" Cunningham behaved egregiously enough to be convicted, but their actions didn't cost taxpayers nearly as much as what their colleagues did supposedly acting in the 'public interest.'...
"H.L. Mencken was right: 'Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.'...
"A system that rewards politicians skilled at campaigning -- which is the art of creating an illusion -- and that puts hundreds of billions of coerced taxpayer dollars at the disposal of the winners will tend to attract men and women with a comparative advantage in manipulation. We shouldn't be surprised that people like Blagojevich prosper in 'public service' -- until they get caught crossing the line."
The Rothenberg Political Report: Shocked About the Blagojevich Scandal? You Shouldn't Be
"If there is something to be learned it is that the lack of a vibrant two-party system seems to provide an environment in which extensive corruption can flourish. Party leaders and political associates often look the other way when they are afraid that they are going to see something unseemly, if not illegal. Political competition tends to keep everybody honest.
"Second, Congress and other federal officials better pay a great deal of attention to the considerable funds that will be thrown around over the next months to try to stimulate the U.S. economy. Money, it appears, seems to attract rats, and lots of money will attract lots of rats."
Bailout for Bloated Union Contracts | OpenMarket.org
"The [proposed auto] bailout is similar to the failed British auto bailout of the 1970s, which destroyed whatever chance the British auto industry had left to survive by diverting its focus from producing good cars at low cost to providing inflated wages for Big Labor and manufacturing vehicles that pleased government planners but not consumers (akin to liberal lawmakers' demands that U.S. automakers produce 'green' vehicles as part of the bailout)."
Detroit crap city - Crunchy Con
The proposed Big 3 / UAW bailout in one photo and 13 words (including one very rude one).
