Campaign Diaries has its latest rankings of Senate races--predicting a net increase for Democrats of 5 seats. See the full rankings here. Okay, here's the bad news: Calling Kentucky a major disappointment for Senate Democrats, Campaign Diaries predicts McConnell will retain his seat. They claim the failure of KY Dems to get our act together as a major reason. With this, I agree. But I think Andrew Horne can still prove the pundits wrong and help us Ditch Mitch in '08. (The Horne kickoff party is tomorrow night. See here. The suggested contribution to bring at the door is $100, but bring whatever you can.) However, for this to happen, we have to keep the idiots at the DSCC from trying for DINOS like Bruce Lunsford or self-funding millionaires like Greg Fischer and ignoring Horne! ) The DSCC is afraid of grassroots campaigns like Horne's because they are part of the DLC-controlled, corporate Democrat, establishment. This is how they blew Ned Lamont's progressive challenge to DINO "independent" Joe Lieberman in CT in '06!
You'd think they would learn, wouldn't you? The DSCC should make getting rid of McConnell one of its highest priorities. But they are afraid of Horne because of his backing by progressive grassroots groups like VoteVets.org and Change for Kentucky (the state chapter of the progressive Democracy for America).
So, KY Dems: How much do you want to get rid of McConnell? This is our last chance for another 6 years! If you hunger for it as much as I do, then forget the DSCC and start contributing to Horne's campaign, now! Since Crit Luallen failed to run, Horne has been our only real chance at unseating McConnell and getting a decent KY Senator in '08. But we can't count on the DSCC. We'll have to raise the money, make connections throughout the state, and get out the vote ourselves. Let's get to work.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Clintons Misstate Hillary's Position on War--and Obama's--Again
In defending her 2002 war vote, both Sen. Hillary Clinton and fmr Pres. Bill Clinton have continued to say that this was only a vote to force compliance with WMD inspectors by Saddam Hussein by threatening invasion, not a vote for war. Eric Lipton shows how misleading that defense is here.
The Clintons have also repeatedly used distortions to smear Sen. Obama's record on opposition of the war. Make no mistake: I am one of many who have been disappointed that Obama has not done more since coming to the senate to end this war. But he has done more than Clinton. And her latest smear claim, that Obama in 2002 was in favor of "doing nothing" about Saddam is the adoption of a neo-con talking point: that a strategy of containment and weapons inspection was a "do nothing" strategy (in spite of the fact that a less vigorous form of said strategy was precisely the strategy of the Clinton administration for eight years!). David Corn, who is considerably to the left of Obama on foreign policy (as am I), sets the record straight here.
Once Hillary Clinton complained (rightly) of being the target of a "vast rightwing conspiracy." Now, apparently, she helps the rightwing out when it comes to attacking Obama. This is disgraceful voters should reject it. Further, Democrats of all stripes should be furious. After all, what if Obama becomes the nominee--do even current Clinton supporters want to have to defend him from GOP attacks that were helped by the Clintonians during the primary? I hope not.
The Clintons have also repeatedly used distortions to smear Sen. Obama's record on opposition of the war. Make no mistake: I am one of many who have been disappointed that Obama has not done more since coming to the senate to end this war. But he has done more than Clinton. And her latest smear claim, that Obama in 2002 was in favor of "doing nothing" about Saddam is the adoption of a neo-con talking point: that a strategy of containment and weapons inspection was a "do nothing" strategy (in spite of the fact that a less vigorous form of said strategy was precisely the strategy of the Clinton administration for eight years!). David Corn, who is considerably to the left of Obama on foreign policy (as am I), sets the record straight here.
Once Hillary Clinton complained (rightly) of being the target of a "vast rightwing conspiracy." Now, apparently, she helps the rightwing out when it comes to attacking Obama. This is disgraceful voters should reject it. Further, Democrats of all stripes should be furious. After all, what if Obama becomes the nominee--do even current Clinton supporters want to have to defend him from GOP attacks that were helped by the Clintonians during the primary? I hope not.
Drug Court Revival: And the Need for Increased State Revenue
The Courier-Journal profiles the good work of the Jefferson County Drug Court in cutting both addiction and recidivism since administration and funding was transferred to the state level. Along with education and everything else, this is at risk with the budget shortfalls inherited by new Gov. Steve Beshear (D-KY) from Ernie Fletcher. Beshear should stop promoting casino gambling as THE cure for the financial ills of the Commonwealth. Casino gambling could produce much-needed state revenue and jobs, but it will take a state constitutional amendment before any building can begin, and we need more immediate sources of cash.
Beshear should push the Legislature to pass increased tobacco taxes (as many have pointed out, KY's is 3rd lowest in the nation and we, consequently, have one of the highest teen smoking rates!). Increased liquor taxes would also help. We might also look at some of the sweetheart tax deals that were given in the '80s and '90s to corporations like Toyota and Humana to locate plants or offices in the Commonwealth. We don't want to scare companies out of state, but some corporations may need to ante-up some more for the sake of the entire Commonwealth--especially for excellent programs like the drug court, for increased mental health services (again, ours is one of the lowest in the nation), and for education at all levels. Growing the state's economy will take higher education levels throughout the state--and that will take money to all public schools, pre-K through university. The improvements we have made in the last decade are at risk of falling backward without increased sources of revenue. We also have an aging infrastructure that needs maintenance and improvement--and this also costs money.
Beshear may be right that gaming is an untapped source of that revenue--although social conservatives are not the only ones worried about the social and economic costs of encouraging a behavior known to be addictive in many--with disastrous personal and social results. (I mean, the state could probably get cash by selling drugs, but no one suggests they do so. Why promote other forms of addiction--which we already do through the lottery. This is different than simply regulating and taxing privately financed forms of addiction such as the tobacco and liquor industries--this is active promotion of a harmful behavior!0
But even if gaming revenue is all that Beshear desires with no social and economic fallout, it will not be sufficient nor come soon enough. Increased "sin taxes" on tobacco and alcohol, and investigating whether or not some KY companies need to have "sweetheart tax deals" (made to attract them to KY) reduced seems only practical. And, much as I hate to suggest it with a falling dollar and looming recession, we might have to investigate whether to increase sales tax to $.o7 and/or property taxes--although I agree with Beshear that Kentuckians are taxed higher than nearby states like Tennessee already.
But we have significant needs that can only be addressed through state programs, however much we also involve non-profit and private sector actors, and those state revenues must come from somewhere. Before the "Reagan revolution" so beloved by Republicans, we could count on some funding through federal revenue sharing--but that is a thing of the past. And, considering the mess the GOP has also made of the federal budget, it won't be coming back any time soon.
No one likes to pay taxes and high taxes can hurt an economy, but we have to break the ideology that taxes are evil in and of themselves. Taxes are a "civic tithe" by which we purchase good government, good education, excellent roads and infrastructure, adequate police, fire, and emergency response protection, and physical and mental health for all citizens, among many other social goods. Private enterprise and the free market are excellent mechanisms for many things, but they will not do it all, nor should they. To promote the common good of this commonwealth will take money--and that means taxes. The very first tax that should be increased is the artificially low tobacco tax.
Beshear should push the Legislature to pass increased tobacco taxes (as many have pointed out, KY's is 3rd lowest in the nation and we, consequently, have one of the highest teen smoking rates!). Increased liquor taxes would also help. We might also look at some of the sweetheart tax deals that were given in the '80s and '90s to corporations like Toyota and Humana to locate plants or offices in the Commonwealth. We don't want to scare companies out of state, but some corporations may need to ante-up some more for the sake of the entire Commonwealth--especially for excellent programs like the drug court, for increased mental health services (again, ours is one of the lowest in the nation), and for education at all levels. Growing the state's economy will take higher education levels throughout the state--and that will take money to all public schools, pre-K through university. The improvements we have made in the last decade are at risk of falling backward without increased sources of revenue. We also have an aging infrastructure that needs maintenance and improvement--and this also costs money.
Beshear may be right that gaming is an untapped source of that revenue--although social conservatives are not the only ones worried about the social and economic costs of encouraging a behavior known to be addictive in many--with disastrous personal and social results. (I mean, the state could probably get cash by selling drugs, but no one suggests they do so. Why promote other forms of addiction--which we already do through the lottery. This is different than simply regulating and taxing privately financed forms of addiction such as the tobacco and liquor industries--this is active promotion of a harmful behavior!0
But even if gaming revenue is all that Beshear desires with no social and economic fallout, it will not be sufficient nor come soon enough. Increased "sin taxes" on tobacco and alcohol, and investigating whether or not some KY companies need to have "sweetheart tax deals" (made to attract them to KY) reduced seems only practical. And, much as I hate to suggest it with a falling dollar and looming recession, we might have to investigate whether to increase sales tax to $.o7 and/or property taxes--although I agree with Beshear that Kentuckians are taxed higher than nearby states like Tennessee already.
But we have significant needs that can only be addressed through state programs, however much we also involve non-profit and private sector actors, and those state revenues must come from somewhere. Before the "Reagan revolution" so beloved by Republicans, we could count on some funding through federal revenue sharing--but that is a thing of the past. And, considering the mess the GOP has also made of the federal budget, it won't be coming back any time soon.
No one likes to pay taxes and high taxes can hurt an economy, but we have to break the ideology that taxes are evil in and of themselves. Taxes are a "civic tithe" by which we purchase good government, good education, excellent roads and infrastructure, adequate police, fire, and emergency response protection, and physical and mental health for all citizens, among many other social goods. Private enterprise and the free market are excellent mechanisms for many things, but they will not do it all, nor should they. To promote the common good of this commonwealth will take money--and that means taxes. The very first tax that should be increased is the artificially low tobacco tax.
War Against Women in (DR) Congo
Last night CBS' famed 60 Minutes weekly newsmagazine aired an excellent segment by CNN's Anderson Cooper, "War Against Women in the Congo." It concerns the systematic use of rape against women and children in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The tragedy of the Darfur region of the Sudan is horrid and should not be underplayed, but it gets far more coverage in the U.S. than the horrors in the DRC--even though both the United Nations and Human Rights Watch conclude that what is happening in the DRC is the worst human rights tragedy in the world, currently. Further, although women have been raped in all wars, this is the most systematic use of rape as a weapon of war anywhere--making even the rape camps during the Balkans civil war which broke up Yugoslavia in the '90s or the rapes in the Darfur refugee camps now look small in comparison. DAILY GANG RAPE is now the norm--and reaches children as young as 3 and women in their '90s--and is leaving entire villages traumatized.
The video is disturbing and not for the squeamish. We need to make ending this a high priority of the U.S. State Dept. and the U.S. and international human rights groups and campaigns. The blog, Texas in Africa, run by a Texas poli-sci grad student whose dissertation is on Congo's health system and who has spent considerable time in Africa, has regular updates on all matters African, especially Congo related.
The video is disturbing and not for the squeamish. We need to make ending this a high priority of the U.S. State Dept. and the U.S. and international human rights groups and campaigns. The blog, Texas in Africa, run by a Texas poli-sci grad student whose dissertation is on Congo's health system and who has spent considerable time in Africa, has regular updates on all matters African, especially Congo related.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Europe's Comeback Economy: Lessons for America?
Princeton's Paul Krugman is my favorite mainstream economist. I read this great column on the CommonDreams site. We need useful information like this to keep the Right from scaring us away from a strong social safety net (like universal healthcare) and smart regulation--as if rapacious capitalism, the abandonment of the poor and the rape of the earth were the price to pay for any form of economic growth. Europe is repeatedly mocked. So, here's the truth about Europe.
________
Published on Friday, January 11, 2008 by The New York Times
The Comeback Continent
by Paul Krugman
Today I’d like to talk about a much-derided contender making a surprising comeback, a comeback that calls into question much of the conventional wisdom of American politics. No, I’m not talking about a politician. I’m talking about an economy - specifically, the European economy, which many Americans assume is tired and spent but has lately been showing surprising vitality.
Why should Americans care about Europe’s economy? Well, for one thing, it’s big. The G.D.P. of the European Union is roughly comparable to that of the United States; the euro is almost as important a global currency as the dollar; and the governance of the world financial system is, for practical purposes, equally shared by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.
But there’s another thing: it’s important to get the facts about Europe’s economy right because the alleged woes of that economy play an important role in American political discourse, usually as an excuse for the insecurities and injustices of our own society.
For example, does Hillary Clinton have a plan to cover the millions of Americans who lack health insurance? “She takes her inspiration from European bureaucracies,” sneers Mitt Romney.
Or are top U.S. executives grossly overpaid? According to a Times report, Michael Jensen, a professor emeritus at Harvard’s Graduate School of Business whose theories helped pave the way for gigantic paychecks, considers executive excess “an acceptable price to pay for an American economy that he believes has outstripped Japan and Europe in growth and prosperity.”
In fact, however, tales of a moribund Europe are greatly exaggerated.
It’s true that Europe has had a lot of economic troubles over the past generation. In the mid-1970s the Continent entered a prolonged era of sluggish job creation, which contrasted with vigorous employment growth in the United States.
And in the 1990s, Europe lagged behind America in the adoption of new technology. For example, in 1997 fewer than 15 percent of French homes contained personal computers and fewer than 1 percent were connected to the Internet.
But that was then.
Since 2000, employment has actually grown a bit faster in Europe than in the United States - and since Europe has a lower rate of population growth, this has translated into a substantial rise in the percentage of working-age Europeans with jobs, even as America’s employment-population ratio has declined.
In particular, in the prime working years, from 25 to 54, the big gap between European and U.S. employment rates that existed a decade ago has been largely eliminated. If you think Europe is a place where lots of able-bodied adults just sit at home collecting welfare checks, think again.
Meanwhile, Europe’s Internet lag is a thing of the past. The dial-up Internet of the 1990s was dominated by the United States. But as dial-up has given way to broadband, Europe has more than kept up. The number of broadband connections per 100 people in the 15 countries that were members of the European Union before it was enlarged in 2004, is slightly higher than in the U.S. - and Europe’s connections are both substantially faster and substantially cheaper than ours.
I don’t want to exaggerate the good news. Europe continues to have many economic problems. But who doesn’t? The fact is that Europe’s economy looks a lot better now - both in absolute terms and compared with our economy - than it did a decade ago.
What’s behind Europe’s comeback? It’s a complicated story, probably involving a combination of deregulation (which has expanded job opportunities) and smart regulation. One of the keys to Europe’s broadband success is that unlike U.S. regulators, many European governments have promoted competition, preventing phone and cable companies from monopolizing broadband access.
What European countries definitely haven’t done is dismantle their strong social safety nets. Universal health care is a given. So are a variety of programs that support families in trouble, helping protect Europeans from the extreme poverty all too common in this country. All of this costs money - even though European countries spend far less on health care than we do - and European taxes are very high by U.S. standards.
In short, Europe continues to be a big-government sort of place. And that’s why it’s important to get the real story of the European economy out there.
According to the anti-government ideology that dominates much U.S. political discussion, low taxes and a weak social safety net are essential to prosperity. Try to make the lives of Americans even slightly more secure, we’re told, and the economy will shrivel up - the same way it supposedly has in Europe.
But the next time a politician tries to scare you with the European bogeyman, bear this in mind: Europe’s economy is actually doing O.K. these days, despite a level of taxing and spending beyond the wildest ambitions of American progressives.
Paul Krugman is Professor of Economics at Princeton University and a regular New York Times columnist. His most recent book is The Conscience of a Liberal.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
________
Published on Friday, January 11, 2008 by The New York Times
The Comeback Continent
by Paul Krugman
Today I’d like to talk about a much-derided contender making a surprising comeback, a comeback that calls into question much of the conventional wisdom of American politics. No, I’m not talking about a politician. I’m talking about an economy - specifically, the European economy, which many Americans assume is tired and spent but has lately been showing surprising vitality.
Why should Americans care about Europe’s economy? Well, for one thing, it’s big. The G.D.P. of the European Union is roughly comparable to that of the United States; the euro is almost as important a global currency as the dollar; and the governance of the world financial system is, for practical purposes, equally shared by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.
But there’s another thing: it’s important to get the facts about Europe’s economy right because the alleged woes of that economy play an important role in American political discourse, usually as an excuse for the insecurities and injustices of our own society.
For example, does Hillary Clinton have a plan to cover the millions of Americans who lack health insurance? “She takes her inspiration from European bureaucracies,” sneers Mitt Romney.
Or are top U.S. executives grossly overpaid? According to a Times report, Michael Jensen, a professor emeritus at Harvard’s Graduate School of Business whose theories helped pave the way for gigantic paychecks, considers executive excess “an acceptable price to pay for an American economy that he believes has outstripped Japan and Europe in growth and prosperity.”
In fact, however, tales of a moribund Europe are greatly exaggerated.
It’s true that Europe has had a lot of economic troubles over the past generation. In the mid-1970s the Continent entered a prolonged era of sluggish job creation, which contrasted with vigorous employment growth in the United States.
And in the 1990s, Europe lagged behind America in the adoption of new technology. For example, in 1997 fewer than 15 percent of French homes contained personal computers and fewer than 1 percent were connected to the Internet.
But that was then.
Since 2000, employment has actually grown a bit faster in Europe than in the United States - and since Europe has a lower rate of population growth, this has translated into a substantial rise in the percentage of working-age Europeans with jobs, even as America’s employment-population ratio has declined.
In particular, in the prime working years, from 25 to 54, the big gap between European and U.S. employment rates that existed a decade ago has been largely eliminated. If you think Europe is a place where lots of able-bodied adults just sit at home collecting welfare checks, think again.
Meanwhile, Europe’s Internet lag is a thing of the past. The dial-up Internet of the 1990s was dominated by the United States. But as dial-up has given way to broadband, Europe has more than kept up. The number of broadband connections per 100 people in the 15 countries that were members of the European Union before it was enlarged in 2004, is slightly higher than in the U.S. - and Europe’s connections are both substantially faster and substantially cheaper than ours.
I don’t want to exaggerate the good news. Europe continues to have many economic problems. But who doesn’t? The fact is that Europe’s economy looks a lot better now - both in absolute terms and compared with our economy - than it did a decade ago.
What’s behind Europe’s comeback? It’s a complicated story, probably involving a combination of deregulation (which has expanded job opportunities) and smart regulation. One of the keys to Europe’s broadband success is that unlike U.S. regulators, many European governments have promoted competition, preventing phone and cable companies from monopolizing broadband access.
What European countries definitely haven’t done is dismantle their strong social safety nets. Universal health care is a given. So are a variety of programs that support families in trouble, helping protect Europeans from the extreme poverty all too common in this country. All of this costs money - even though European countries spend far less on health care than we do - and European taxes are very high by U.S. standards.
In short, Europe continues to be a big-government sort of place. And that’s why it’s important to get the real story of the European economy out there.
According to the anti-government ideology that dominates much U.S. political discussion, low taxes and a weak social safety net are essential to prosperity. Try to make the lives of Americans even slightly more secure, we’re told, and the economy will shrivel up - the same way it supposedly has in Europe.
But the next time a politician tries to scare you with the European bogeyman, bear this in mind: Europe’s economy is actually doing O.K. these days, despite a level of taxing and spending beyond the wildest ambitions of American progressives.
Paul Krugman is Professor of Economics at Princeton University and a regular New York Times columnist. His most recent book is The Conscience of a Liberal.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
Reading Bill Kristol's Mind
Marty Kaplan has a great article that pretends to be what Bill Kristol is thinking as he begins his tenure as a columnist for the formerly great New York Times. ( I did tell ya'll that this Kentuckian cancelled his online and weekend subscriptions in protest, right?) Read it. It's a great laugh. Then cancel your reading of the Times and email them about it. Then email Paul Krugman and suggest he switch to the Boston Globe or something.
Oh, and while your at it, write the Gannett-crap Courier-Journal ( a fine paper when owned by the Binghams) and demand they stop putting 5 rightwing columnists in their op-ed pages for every one liberal! Sheesh!
Oh, and while your at it, write the Gannett-crap Courier-Journal ( a fine paper when owned by the Binghams) and demand they stop putting 5 rightwing columnists in their op-ed pages for every one liberal! Sheesh!
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