The last five words of this blog title are taken from a recent article by Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist. My politics are the polar opposite of Krauthammer's but some of his criticisms of P:resident Barack Obama's State of the Union speech are on target. I would, however, change Krauthammer's title ending to "Brimming With Bad or Unworkable Ideas."
Krauthammer labels Obama's proposed Buffett Rule as "a tired replay of the alternative minimum tax...." and he ridicules Obama's proposal to give a double tax break for high-tech firms as posing defiinition problems and unlikely to create blue-collar jobs. I agree with Krauthammer's take on the double tax break but my concern about the Buffett Rule is much different from that of Krauthammer. I view the Buffett Rule as gimmickry and that it will impede efforts to get fundamental change in the tax rate schedule. I view a a giant mistake the adoption o thef conventional wisdom that the top marginal tax rate should be under 40 percent, which is well out of line with the reality that a tiny percentage of the nation's population owns most of the nation's wealth. In an earlier blog I proposed a tax rate schedule ranging from 16 to 60 percent -- Robert Reich wants a top rate of 70 percent. My prior blog lays out other needed taxation changes.
My fear is that adoption of the Buffett Rule will kill any momentum to raise the taxes on those with six-figure or even five-figure incomes. Relative to other industrialized nations, U.S. citizens are under-taxed. In this regard, I feel that Obama's plan to let the Bush tax cuts expire for only those earning over $250,000 a year as a mistake, not only because the GOP will not likely agree to it, but because the nation's taxpayers, speaking generally, either pay no federal income tax or pay too little
I also share Krauthammer's concerns about Obama's plans to give tax breaks to employers who hire veterans, employers who add workers for any sorts of jobs -- easily subject to manipulation -- and having separate tax rates for corporations based on whether they create U.S. jobs, or are low-tech instead of high-tech firms.
Krauthammer also caught correctly, I believe, the Clintonian aspects of Obama's speech, in which he called for "little things:" "little watchdog agenices to round up Wall Street miscreants and Chinese DVD pirates...." These little things include a trade inspection unit and a financial fraud unit in the Justice Department. The time to go after Wall Street "miscreants" was three years ago; however, Obama didn't want to look backward, only forward, at the time, so the Bush administration's complicity in torture and other illegal actions was given a free pass. Now he proposes to look back at possible serious financial wrongdoing when the trail has grown cold.
What particularly stood out in the speech was Obama's flat statement that "all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18." Kratuhammer calls this Obama "playing truant officer." Obama didn't say a single word about how this very improbable outcome might happen.
Charles Kratuhammer made no comment about Obama's opening and ending his speech with glorification of the military and Krauthammer also ignored any foreign policy comments. I was dismayed by the fact that Obama signaled no downsizxing of a bloated Pentagon; in addition, his advice that a represetnative demcoracy should model itself on a hierarchical, orders-from-the-top-down military structure is simply absurd.
President Obama made no mention of his assumption of the power to detain U.S. citizens and even order their killing. His celebration of the elimination of top Al Qaeda leaders masks the possible downside of drone strikes creating more violent extremists than they eliminate.
Missing from the speech was any indication that Obama might end his assault on civil liberties, which exceeds, if anything, any action taken by George W. Bush.
We also saw in the SOU speech the Obama practice of following two incompatible pathways, as illustrated by: 1) his call for more oil and natural gas production juxtapositioned against his call for clean energy tax credits and standards; 2) his vow to tear down regulations that hold back small businesses countered by the need to enact smart regulations to prevent irresponsible behavior; and 3) his fulsome praise of the military posited against the need for a new defense strategy. President Obama has largely followed the defense policies he inherited.
One thing Obvama did not take off the table in his SOU speech was his threat to use nuclear weapons if Iran crosses certain red lines in its nuclear program. The danger and lawlessness of this stance will be explored in my next blog.
In summary, the Obama SOU speech doesn't hold up well under close scrutiny but it appears to have been extremely effective as a political statement. His political base is more focused on playing up the weakness and meanness of his political opposition than in holding him to the promises of fundamental change he made the core of his presidential campaign.
Showing posts with label military glorification overdone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label military glorification overdone. Show all posts
Monday, February 20, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Obama's Fractured State of the Union: Part II
The section on Iraq will be the longest on any topic covered in this blog. The reason for this is that the invasion of Iraq was one of the great disasters of U.S. policy. It has had devastating consequences for both Iraq and the United States, as well as pulling in other nations to their detriment.
Iraq - The last U.S. combat troops left Iraq on December 17, 2011, nominally ending a war that was started by President George W. Bush.in March 2003, almost nine years ago -- "nominally" because the war continues in many real ways for all Iraqis, especially for some 3.5 million who are either internally displaced in Iraq or refugees in another country. According to the Bloomberg-John Hopkins survey, using well-established survey methodology, a mean average of over 600,000 Iraqis were killed in the war -- the survey was taken several years ago. Moreover, the war has left a ruined country that was formerly one of the most advanced in the Middle East in terms of health and education:
* Up to 70 percent lack access to clean water
* Up to 80 percent lack access to sanitation
* Half of the doctors are either dead or have emigrated
*Average electricity availability is 14.6 hours per day.
The political situation in Iraq is also complicated and dangerous.Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently accused Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi of running a hit squad five years ago. He is also pursuing a vote of no-confidence against Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlag. More broadly, al-Maliki has threatened to fire all nine of the cabinet ministers put together by Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister. Allawi's grouping ( Iraqiya) is boycotting all cabinet and parliamentary meetings, because even though Iraqiya won the most seats in the last parliamentary election, it feels it has been pushed out of a meaningful role in the governance of the country.
And in the United States, direct expenditures to date exceed $800 billion and there have been some 4,500 U.S. troop combat deaths, over 1,000 U.S. troop suicides and over 30,000 wounded. The $800 billion will grow substantially despite the war's nominal end, because as a nation we must keep our commitment to care for the veterans of the war.
The U.S. is maintaining a substantial presence in Iraq, with the largest embassy in the world and an army of mercenaries hired to guard the Americans working and living in that "embassy."
This war was a moral, humanitarian, financial and foreign policy disaster for the United States and its ramifications will continue for many decades.
Afghanistan - Obama believes that the Taliban's "momentum has been broken," a statement that is at odds with the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Afghanistan "is mired in stalemate" and security gains have been cut.
Iran - President Obama reiterated his warning that all options are open if Iran crosses certain "red lines" in its claimed pursuit of developing nuclear weapons. One of the options is the use of nuclear warheads to obliterate Iran's deeply dug-in nuclear facilities. There is a computer model which calculates three million deaths if nuclear warheads are used against Iran's facilities.
If Iran is attacked, transport of oil through the Strait of Hormuz would be endangered and Iran has the capability to cause the United States other types of serious harm.
Both ABC News and the Washington Post have employed fact-checkers to analyze Obama's State of the Union speech. Both media outlets have disputed Obama's jobs gained and lost figures. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, ABC News says he has he has over-estimated the job loss figures under Bush and over-estimated by almost a million jobs the jobs created by the Obama administration in its first three years. The Washington Post disputes the time periods during which these job losses and gains took place.
Another fact-check by ABC News raises doubts about Obama's claim that he has doubled the trade cases brought by Bush against China: Bush brought seven cases to the World Trade Organization and Obama has filed five.
Obama's statement that U.S. oil production is now at its highest level in eight years is largely meaningless because the level has remained relatively steady for those eight years.
President Obama proposed to use half of the money saved by reducing war-fighting costs to pay down the debt and half to do nation-building at home; however, all of the costs of the wars were financed by borrowed money, so there is no new money available to do that.
When President Obama said that the health care law "relies on a reformed private market, not a government program," he omitted the crucial fact that about half of the 34 million now uninsured who will receive coverage, will be placed in Medicaid. States are sharply reducing Medicaid coverage and lowered reimbursement rates are reducing the number of doctors who will take Medicaid recipients.
A Pew Center Research poll taken in May 2011 throws cold water on Obama's claim that foreign opinions of the United States are at the highest levels in years. Pew found that among two of our closest allies, Turkey and Jordan, confidence in Obama has dropped sharply: from 33 percent in 2009 to 11 percent in 2011 in Turkey, and from 25 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2011 in Jordan. Obama's confidence numbers have also fallen in Indonesia, part of the Asian theater where Obama wants to augment the U.S. military presence.
Probably the most incomprehensible proposal made by Obama was that all public school students will be required to stay in school until age 18 or until graduation. Obama gave absolutely no indication on how this would be done.
President Obama's glorification of the military at the beginning and end of his speech was devoid of any mention -- as has been the case in the past -- of the approval of widespread use of torture through the entire chain of command in the armed forces. Also, besides the many acts of compassion and kindness displayed to Iraqi and Afghan citizens, there have been disrespectful and even criminal acts performed on these citizens. A U.S. president has an obligation to provide a balanced and accurate account of how U.S. troops perform when serving overseas.
Finally, I would have liked to have a ballpark figure on how much the programs described by President Obama will cost and how that cost will be met. The most direct guidance we now have is Obama's 12-year plan, which proposes to raise revenue by $1 trillion but cut the accumulated debt by $4 trillion.
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Iraq - The last U.S. combat troops left Iraq on December 17, 2011, nominally ending a war that was started by President George W. Bush.in March 2003, almost nine years ago -- "nominally" because the war continues in many real ways for all Iraqis, especially for some 3.5 million who are either internally displaced in Iraq or refugees in another country. According to the Bloomberg-John Hopkins survey, using well-established survey methodology, a mean average of over 600,000 Iraqis were killed in the war -- the survey was taken several years ago. Moreover, the war has left a ruined country that was formerly one of the most advanced in the Middle East in terms of health and education:
* Up to 70 percent lack access to clean water
* Up to 80 percent lack access to sanitation
* Half of the doctors are either dead or have emigrated
*Average electricity availability is 14.6 hours per day.
The political situation in Iraq is also complicated and dangerous.Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently accused Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi of running a hit squad five years ago. He is also pursuing a vote of no-confidence against Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlag. More broadly, al-Maliki has threatened to fire all nine of the cabinet ministers put together by Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister. Allawi's grouping ( Iraqiya) is boycotting all cabinet and parliamentary meetings, because even though Iraqiya won the most seats in the last parliamentary election, it feels it has been pushed out of a meaningful role in the governance of the country.
And in the United States, direct expenditures to date exceed $800 billion and there have been some 4,500 U.S. troop combat deaths, over 1,000 U.S. troop suicides and over 30,000 wounded. The $800 billion will grow substantially despite the war's nominal end, because as a nation we must keep our commitment to care for the veterans of the war.
The U.S. is maintaining a substantial presence in Iraq, with the largest embassy in the world and an army of mercenaries hired to guard the Americans working and living in that "embassy."
This war was a moral, humanitarian, financial and foreign policy disaster for the United States and its ramifications will continue for many decades.
Afghanistan - Obama believes that the Taliban's "momentum has been broken," a statement that is at odds with the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Afghanistan "is mired in stalemate" and security gains have been cut.
Iran - President Obama reiterated his warning that all options are open if Iran crosses certain "red lines" in its claimed pursuit of developing nuclear weapons. One of the options is the use of nuclear warheads to obliterate Iran's deeply dug-in nuclear facilities. There is a computer model which calculates three million deaths if nuclear warheads are used against Iran's facilities.
If Iran is attacked, transport of oil through the Strait of Hormuz would be endangered and Iran has the capability to cause the United States other types of serious harm.
Both ABC News and the Washington Post have employed fact-checkers to analyze Obama's State of the Union speech. Both media outlets have disputed Obama's jobs gained and lost figures. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, ABC News says he has he has over-estimated the job loss figures under Bush and over-estimated by almost a million jobs the jobs created by the Obama administration in its first three years. The Washington Post disputes the time periods during which these job losses and gains took place.
Another fact-check by ABC News raises doubts about Obama's claim that he has doubled the trade cases brought by Bush against China: Bush brought seven cases to the World Trade Organization and Obama has filed five.
Obama's statement that U.S. oil production is now at its highest level in eight years is largely meaningless because the level has remained relatively steady for those eight years.
President Obama proposed to use half of the money saved by reducing war-fighting costs to pay down the debt and half to do nation-building at home; however, all of the costs of the wars were financed by borrowed money, so there is no new money available to do that.
When President Obama said that the health care law "relies on a reformed private market, not a government program," he omitted the crucial fact that about half of the 34 million now uninsured who will receive coverage, will be placed in Medicaid. States are sharply reducing Medicaid coverage and lowered reimbursement rates are reducing the number of doctors who will take Medicaid recipients.
A Pew Center Research poll taken in May 2011 throws cold water on Obama's claim that foreign opinions of the United States are at the highest levels in years. Pew found that among two of our closest allies, Turkey and Jordan, confidence in Obama has dropped sharply: from 33 percent in 2009 to 11 percent in 2011 in Turkey, and from 25 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2011 in Jordan. Obama's confidence numbers have also fallen in Indonesia, part of the Asian theater where Obama wants to augment the U.S. military presence.
Probably the most incomprehensible proposal made by Obama was that all public school students will be required to stay in school until age 18 or until graduation. Obama gave absolutely no indication on how this would be done.
President Obama's glorification of the military at the beginning and end of his speech was devoid of any mention -- as has been the case in the past -- of the approval of widespread use of torture through the entire chain of command in the armed forces. Also, besides the many acts of compassion and kindness displayed to Iraqi and Afghan citizens, there have been disrespectful and even criminal acts performed on these citizens. A U.S. president has an obligation to provide a balanced and accurate account of how U.S. troops perform when serving overseas.
Finally, I would have liked to have a ballpark figure on how much the programs described by President Obama will cost and how that cost will be met. The most direct guidance we now have is Obama's 12-year plan, which proposes to raise revenue by $1 trillion but cut the accumulated debt by $4 trillion.
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