Senator Thom Tillis: Whose Throat Do I Get To Choke If Tariff Approach Fails?

"Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., asked U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday “whose throat do I get to choke” if the Trump administration’s tariff plans are unsuccessful.

The comment from the Republican senator came during a Finance Committee hearing where Greer answered concerns about the dramatic trade policy set to take effect Wednesday at midnight.

Tillis described his phrase as a concept from management consulting that means someone has to be accountable.

“You can certainly always talk to me,” Greer said in response. “I am at the tip of the spear, certainly.”

“I wish you well,″ Tillis later told Greer. ”But I am skeptical.’’

Trump announced the tariffs plan last week in an event he called "Liberation Day," saying they were aimed at resolving a longtime trade deficit with partners around the world. Some Republicans have defended the tariffs, levied across dozens of countries, as a way to create leverage. Democrats, economists and other countries have blasted the plan, emphasizing deep and negative effects for U.S. consumers, as well as wider geopolitical consequences. Several economists have said the formula the White House used to develop the tariffs, which were much higher than expected, is flawed and misunderstands some key trade metrics." 

Source:PBS NewsHour with a look at U.S. Senator Thom Thillis (Republican, North Carolina) U.S. Senator Ron Johnson in the background. But you couldn't pay him anything to get him to criticize any of President Trump's policies, if he thought that could hurt him with MAGA voters in Wisconsin. 

From the PBS NewsHour

From Mediate: 

"Republican Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) questioned Ambassador Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, during a Senate hearing on Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs and asked Greer if his is the “throat to choke” if the economy crashes.

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ambassador Greer, thank you for being here. Back in the 90s, I was in management consulting and there was a new platform that came out that promised to transform the business industry, ERP. Some of the early attempts at implementing the system proposed an alla prima approach. Let’s do it all at once. Let’s change the plumbing out. Let’s get it all in, get it done, rip the band-aid off,” Tillis began, adding:

It proved to be hugely unsuccessful. There are a lot of very visible projects and the industry decided there needed to be a methodical sort of prioritization of what parts of the business needed to perform better sooner and how do you layer onto that a comprehensive strategy.

It looks like we’ve got a novel approach here in terms of an alla prima approach. I’m not a trade expert and I’m going to question it at this point. I do have a question about at the end of the day– the other thing in management consulting we like to focus on is this concept of one throat to choke.

In other words, when you’re finally taking a look at a strategy, someone has to own it. And you can’t say that it’s the president or the vice president. So my first question to you, in this scenario, the decision maker who decided the alla prima approach, who has obviously had to have spent time anticipating what we saw in the markets and some of the pushback, I’m assuming this all got gamed out, because it’s a novel approach, it need to be thought out. Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?

“Well, Senator, you can certainly always talk to me, but I will-” answer Greer as Tillis interjected, “But are you at the tip of the spear... 

From Mediate

If Senator Thillis just asked me the question: "Whose Throat Do I Get To Choke If Tariff Approach Fails?" Before I would answer that question, directly, I would tell him about a certain scene from Airplane! (1980). For anyone who isn't familiar with that film: 

"This spoof comedy takes shots at the slew of disaster movies that were released in the 70s. When the passengers and crew of a jet are incapacitated due to food poisoning, a rogue pilot with a drinking problem must cooperate with his ex-girlfriend turned stewardess to bring the plane to a safe landing." 

From IMDB. 

There's a specific scene where the passengers are aware that the plane is in a lot of trouble. I mean, there's literally an escaped mental patient... and if that's not bad enough, he's 1 of the passengers whose brought in to try to fly and land the plane. And if you haven't fainted yet from that, this might knock you out: the escaped mental patient, airline pilot, is also an alcoholic. Who has lost so many braincells, he sounds like Donald Trump at 1 of his press conferences. Actually, when he tries to take a drink of anything, he spills it on himself, instead. 

But the specific scene that relates here to the question that Senator Thillis posed, was when the passengers know they're in a lot of trouble and the chances of them surviving this flight aren't very good. (But only because of some of the reasons I just mentioned) There's 1 woman in particular, who goes hysterical and can't get ahold of herself and there's this long line of passengers on the plane who want their opportunity to calm her down.

Source:Tenor

From Tenor

President Trump's tariff strategy is already failing. Perhaps the last leader in the world, certainly of a large country with a large economy, that the People's Republic of China, or the European Union, Canada, Mexico, etc, would ever be afraid of, would be Donald J. Trump. If business becomes too expensive for them in America, they have a lot of other countries to go to instead. 

The question is when will and who will the voters blame for Trumpenomics. And to go back to Senator Tillis's question: "Whose Throat Do I Get To Choke If Tariff Approach Fails?" I believe you are going to see long lines of people at political rallies, who would want to choke the hell out of Donald Trump for applying this braindead approach to economics. Except it won't be a hilarious, Hollywood movie scene. It will be real life. 

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PBS NewsHour: WATCH: Senator Bennet Questions Tulsi Gabbard in Confirmation Hearing

"Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., questioned former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on Thursday in her confirmation hearing for director of national intelligence.

Gabbard appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Gabbard is a veteran of the Army National Guard of more than two decades who deployed to Iraq and Kuwait during her service. She does not have a background in intelligence and has come under fire as a nominee for her past positive stances on Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Gabbard was the first American Samoan and the first Hindu elected to Congress. A former Democrat who ran for president in 2020, she became an independent in 2022 before endorsing President Donald Trump’s comeback campaign... 

Source:PBS NewsHour showing U.S. Senator Michael Bennet's (Democrat, Colorado) questioning of President Trump's choice for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

From the PBS NewsHour

"The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial,[1][2][3][4][5] free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia.[6][7][8][9] PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programs to public television stations in the United States,[10][11][12][13] distributing shows such as Frontline, Nova, PBS News Hour, Masterpiece, Sesame Street, This Old House and American Experience.[14] Certain stations also provide service to Canada.[15]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[16] PBS has over 350 member television stations,[17] many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government." 

From Wikipedia

From TIME Magazine: 

"In 2013, Snowden fled the country after removing 1.5 million classified documents about military and intelligence programs, initially traveling to Hong Kong to share some of the files with journalists and eventually seeking asylum in Russia. Snowden leaked thousands of documents that revealed a broad collection of American telephone records by the U.S. government and other secret programs, prompting a national debate about civil liberties. Gabbard has called Snowden “brave.” Senators suggested Gabbard’s support for someone who so famously leaked classified documents would undermine her credibility as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence.

Asked repeatedly on Thursday if she stood by that compliment, Gabbard wouldn’t back away from it. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said. “He also exposed information that revealed the United States’ government’s illegal activities.” Snowden’s leaks prompted Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act in 2015 that was designed to curtail the collection of American phone records.

A bipartisan House intelligence committee investigation concluded in 2016 that Snowden’s theft caused “tremendous damage” to national security and quoted a Russian official saying Snowden did share intelligence with Moscow. 

Multiple senators pressed Gabbard to call Snowden a traitor. She steadfastly refused... 

From TIME Magazine

I hate to put this in terms like this because it sounds somewhat cheesy and nationalistic today, but there are times when the American people, especially members of Congress need to know which side you are on. Do you play for our team or another team. Meaning America, or for some other leader or country.  

This is what Senator Michael Bennet (Democrat, Colorado) was trying to get at here by simply asking Tulsi Gabbard whether or not she thinks Edward Snowden who illegally declassified classified U.S. military and intelligence secrets, so even rogue states like Russia, Syria, and Iran could have that information... was a traitor or not. And she knows about this story because she was in the U.S. House from 2013, 2021 and was in the U.S. Army before that. 

Imagine being a teacher and you have a class of students of just party girls and boys, who never do any homework, never study for anything (other where the next party is going to be and how much alcohol they can get away with) and every time you give them an assignment or test, they all fail the assignment and test. That's what it must be like for these senators to try to interview Bob Kennedy, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth. (A couple weeks ago) They can't, or won't answer the most basic of questions, because they don't either know the answers, or are worried about offending their dear leader. 

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PBS NewsHour: Judy Woodruff: 'Conservative Retired Judge Says Donald Trump 'Corroded & Corrupted American Democracy'

Source:PBS- talking to retired Conservative U.S. Federal Judge Michael Luttig.

"An influential group of Republican legal voices called for a Jan. 2024 trial date to be set for Donald Trump for his attempt to overturn the presidential election. The group included former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Michael Luttig, a retired federal judge and one of the nation's leading conservative legal minds. Judy Woodruff spoke with Luttig for her series, America at a Crossroads." 

From the PBS NewsHour

"The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial,[1][2][3][4][5] free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia.[6][7][8][9] PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programs to public television stations in the United States,[10][11][12][13] distributing shows such as Frontline, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Arthur, Sesame Street, and This Old House.[14]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[15] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.[4]

As of 2020, PBS has nearly 350 member stations around the United States." 

From Wikipedia 

If you want to know why the so-called Republican Party, is not even a Republican Party today, let alone a conservative party, just listen to former U.S. Federal Judge Michael Luttig and listen to any so-called Republican who even struggles to criticize Donald Trump about anything, let alone to so-called Republicans who act like they're blind, death, and braindead, every time they hear or see Donald Trump to or say anything that's corrupt and authoritarian. 

When I think of Conservative: 

"Averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values. 

In a political context) favoring free enterprise, private ownership, and socially traditional ideas." 

These definitions courtesy of Dictionary.com. 

When I think of a Republican, I think of someone who believes: 

"Though conceptually separate from democracy, republicanism included the key principles of rule by consent of the governed and sovereignty of the people. In effect, republicanism held that kings and aristocracies were not the real rulers, but rather the whole people were." 

From Wikipedia 

What you hear Michael Luttig doing here, is defending key Republican values, like the rule of law, tradition, checks and balances, personal responsibility, and American democracy. 

What you get from Donald Trump and his supporters, as well as Republicans who know better and who don't technically like or respect the man and even see him as a threat to the American Republic, but who don't have the political balls (to be frank) to admit it publicly, is that it's not illegal or corrupt when Donald Trump does it. Or they act blind, death, or braindead, when Donald Trump does it. 

You can also see this post on WordPress.

PBS: NewsHour- Lisa Dejardins: 'What Will Happen in the Next Senate'

Source:PBS NewsHour- political editor and reporter Lisa Dejardins.

"The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor.[6] It is a nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational television programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America's Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, the PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping up Appearances and This Old House.[7]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Datacast, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[8]

PBS has more than 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government." 

From Wikipedia 

"NewsHour Political Editor and Reporter Lisa Desjardins says that if Republicans gain control of the Senate, we can look to see both the Keystone Pipeline and medical device tax factor strongly into their strategy. Alabama, Desjardins adds, will also benefit from senior Republicans potentially gaining high-profile seats in Senate leadership."  

From the PBS NewsHour 

What will happen in the next Congress, a united Republican Congress as far as Republicans controlling both the House of Representatives and Senate, will be based on what Speaker John Boehner and Leader Mitch McConnell actually want to get done and get passed out of Congress and signed into law. And what they want to try to pass by themselves with mostly if not all Republican votes in both the House and Senate and try to force Senate Democrats who will be brand new to the minority, to try to block, or force President Obama to veto partisan legislation.

President Obama is smart to invite Speaker Boehner and Leader McConnell down to the White House this week to try to see where they may be able to work together in the next Congress. But the fact is Republicans are in charge of Congress and Congressional Democrats and the President will be on the defensive at least in the early going of the next Congress. 

Democrats will react to Republicans based on what Republicans want to and try to do. The next Congress will be as effective and popular as Republicans are effective at running it. 

You can also see this post at The Daily Times on Blogger.

PBS: Robert MacNeil & Jim Lehrer: Introducing the Watergate Hearings

Source:PBS NewsHour- U.S. Senator Sam Ervin (Democrat, North Carolina) Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee (93rd Congress)

Source:The Daily Times

“How high did the scandals reach and was President Nixon himself involved?”

That was what Robert MacNeil, then co-anchoring with Jim Lehrer, dubbed “the ultimate question” as public broadcasting began its gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Watergate hearings on May 17, 1973.

MacNeil said the hearings were intended “to bear the truth about the wide range of illegal, unethical or improper activities established … surrounding the re-election President Nixon last year.”

Lehrer also detailed the scandal. Though little action had taken place as the hearings began, the committee’s “basic job remains the same,” he said.” 

From the PBS NewsHour 

"The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial,[7][8][9] free-to-air television network[10][11][12][13] based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded[14] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing shows such as Frontline, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Sesame Street, and This Old House.[15]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[16] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government." 

From Wikipedia

If you are familiar with C-SPAN, (or the Cable Special Public Affairs Network) well, the PBS coverage of the 1973 U.S. Senate Watergate hearings is basically the early days of C-SPAN. Gavel to gavel coverage of a major invent in Congress which this was and what they did like what C-SPAN does. Is just show what happened and let the people decide for themselves what it meant and so forth.

Which is exactly what PBS was doing without breaking in to have an analyst explain what the people were watching. But would have the people be able to make those decisions for themselves. Which was basically the early days of what I call PBS News: the news operation over at PBS that produces shows like the NewsHour, Frontline, Washington Week, and so-forth.

PBS News allowed Americans to be able to see for themselves what Watergate was and what it meant for themselves. With a lot of the key actors in the whole Watergate affair and is a great example of what journalism should be rather than talk down to the audience with so-called experts allow for them to see for themselves what is happening.

20th Century Vision: 'PBS MacNeil/Lehrer Report- 1988 Iowa Caucus: Democratic Candidates'

Source:20th Century Vision- PBS News analyst David Gergen.

“These guy’s get everything wrong.”

From 20th Century Vision

Governor Michael Dukakis looked like the clear Democratic nominee for President as early as the summer of 1987 and was never really seriously challenged for that nomination. Representative Dick Gephardt was supposed to win the Iowa Caucus and that is exactly what he did being from Missouri and having so much support from organized labor and Iowa being a big organized labor state. Mike Dukakis being more of a New Democrat from Massachusetts even, which is probably not very common, who was to the right of Senator Ted Kennedy.

Mike Dukakis was the Democrat that the George H.W. Bush Campaign feared in 1988 and knew he could definitely beat them. And knew that voters especially Independents would probably like Dukakis who had a great personal and family story coming from a Greek immigrant family. Working his way up and making big success in life. Compared with George H.W. who was born to great wealth. And the Bush Campaign set to take Dukakis down as soon as he won the nomination, because they knew Dukakis would probably beat them otherwise. 

You can also see this post at The Daily Times, on WordPress.

PBS: NewsHour: Judy Woodruff- 'Why Are We Still Fascinated by Richard Nixon?'

Source:PBS- Richard M. Nixon (Republican, California) 37th President of the United States (1969-74)

"The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor.[6] It is a nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational television programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America's Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Nature, Nova, the PBS NewsHour, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping up Appearances and This Old House." 

From Wikipedia 

"Interest in the character and legacy of President Richard Nixon has endured 40 years since his resignation. Judy Woodruff joins Beverly Gage of Yale University, Timothy Naftali of New York University, Patrick Buchanan, author of "The Greatest Comeback" and Luke Nichter, author of "The Nixon Tapes," to discuss Nixon’s many facets and how his presidency changed American government." 

From the PBS NewsHour 

Is there a more fascinating politician than Richard Nixon, that is why we are still fascinated about this man, because there is so much to him from both good and bad. And forty years later we are still trying to learn more about the man. Every book that is written about him, or every movie that comes out about the man, or any new research and information that comes out about the man is seen by a lot of people and discussed everywhere. And not just in America, but around the world. 

Because of how consequential President Nixon  was when it came to both American foreign and domestic policy and of course of the criminal operation inside of the White House and Watergate that along with the Nixon tapes brought down President Richard Nixon, Americans and people outside of America are still fascinated about him and his presidency.

PBS: Video: NewsHour: Jeffrey Brown Interviewing Comedian John Oliver on Making Fun of Serious News

If John Oliver is in America to find public officials making complete assholes out of themselves, he's in  the perfect country. Actually I can't think of another country other than maybe France or Italy. And the perhaps funniest thing about our assholes, I mean (sort of) public officials is that they work for us. Let me rephrase that. Our public officials are paid by us American taxpayers to work for us. Whether they work for the broader public, or just their lobbyists and high contributors is still officially an open debate. And that is only because there isn't enough evidence yet to put our public crooks in jail yet.

PBS: Video: NewsHour: Gwen Ifill Interviewing Marcia Coyle: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Michigan Ban on Affirmative Action

Damn! A Supreme Court decision on which I agree with Chief Justice John Roberts. Well, to amend that, I would've voted with the Chief Justice on this affirmative action case but I would've sided with liberal Justice Stephen Breyer to this extent.  If you are going to have affirmative action laws, then you should at least have legislatures and executives who are accountable to the voters making the decisions, instead of leaving it up to colleges to draft their own affirmative action policies.

I'm against affirmative action and so is this blog.  I'm a Liberal, not a racist. I'm against affirmative action because I take the MLK dream about racial equality and tolerance seriously.  Americans should be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin.

We all want racial and ethnic minorities to be admitted to  colleges and do well in the American economy but you can't reward them because of their race,  ethnicity, or gender. We reward all people, regardless of race, ethnicity and gender, according to the skills they bring to the table, their personal and professional qualifications.

If there are communities in the country which are struggling,  you have to  make sure that they are not being denied access in society because of their race, ethnicity or gender.  That requires a strong and effective civil rights enforcement system.  Beyond that, there must be mechanisms to ensure they have  educational and job training opportunities so that they can be successful on their own.

PBS: NewsHour: Paul Solman Interviewing William Darity On a Government Jobs Program

Economist William Darity is saying that "since we could borrow over a trillion-dollars for the 2008 TARP bailouts and the auto bailouts that we could afford to borrow the same amount of money for a new Federal jobs guarantee". The problem is that we can't afford either and just because borrowing a trillion dollars is a bad policy for one reason doesn't mean it would be a good policy for another reason. You are still talking about putting an additional trillion-dollars on the national debt, that is all debt financed, and increasing the Federal budget by 37.5 percent .

It would be one thing if the economy was still in recession and you decided to do this as part of a short-term stimulus to put all of those people back to work.   But it sounds like Mr. Darity is talking about an indefinite Federal program,  all financed by the debt and adding an additional trillion dollars to the debt every year.

Ideas like this  are being put on the table now because the 2009 American Recovery Act simply didn't go far enough.  I agree with Progressive Economist Paul Krugman on this. The stimulus should've been 1.5 trillion dollars or more, a trillion  for infrastructure investment alone, the rest for middle class tax relief, business tax relief and public aide to state and local governments.

PBS: Video: NewsHour: Judy Woodruff: How Retired Justice John Stevens Would Change the Constitution

Justice Stevens has apparently been playing a lot of baseball lately, playing the position of left fielder in a ballpark with a very large left field.  He's talking about essentially doing away with the second amendment.  His has been opposed to the death penalty and held this position on campaign finance for a very long time.

I agree with Justice Stevens on gerrymandering.  I would set up a Federal Congressional Districting Commission, for a lack of a better term,  to review states' redistricting decisions.  States could still draw their own U.S. House districts but could no longer draw them for partisan advantage.

There will be a future post on this blog about campaign finance with more detail, perhaps this week.  Voters need, at the very least, to know where the money  that is going to candidates is coming front so that they can make informed decisions about their representation in Congress. Congress should pass full-disclosure of all political contributions.

As a Liberal Democrat that the Second Amendment embodies the right to self-defense and the right to life.  For that to mean anything, you have to have the right to protect your own life.  So,        I oppose any constitutional amendment that would empower the state, at any level, to prohibit gun ownership for adults.

PBS: Video: NewsHour: Gwen Ifill: How the Civil Rights Act opened a door to the American dream

The civil rights acts literally opened the public business domain to all citizens.  It said that if you are open for business to the public you are open for business to every member of the public who wants and can afford for your service.  It prohibited the denial of service and employment to people by business owners on the grounds of race.  I believe that the people who claim property rights on this issue do not understand the American constitution when they say that American business owners have the right to discriminate against anyone they choose for whatever reason.

If you don't want to serve the entire public, then don't be open to the public.  Run a private club at which only members can get services and perhaps, employment.  If you are open to the public, that is the entire American public, not the Caucasian public, the African public, the Asian public or any other  racial or ethnic group.   That the public is the entire public and subgroups of  Americans cannot be discriminated against.

PBS: Video: NewsHour: Economic Gap Takes Priority in President Obama's FY 2015 Budget

E

Since very little of anything will be passed this year in Congress, with a Republican House and Democratic Senate, this will be a year when Democrats led by President Obama and Republicans led by House Speaker John Boehner will offer their economic agendas for the 2014 mid-term congressional elections and both sides' plans for the next Congress, especially if either party has more power in the next Congress than they have in this one.

PBS: Video: NewHour: Texas Monthly's Wayne Slater: Previewing The Governor's Race in Texas

This is Texas Democrats' best opportunity to win the Texas governorship since 1990, when Anne Richards won this seat.  I'm not saying State Senator Wendy Davis is going to win this race, because she is definitely the underdog.  I am saying that she can win this race, and it could become competitive, somewhere around five points by election day in November either way because of the growing Latino population in Texas, especially female Mexican voters, both Democrats and Republicans, and perhaps because of Attorney General Gregg Abbott being too far to the right on social issues, even for Texas as a whole.

PBS NewsHour: Debate on the Minimum Wage Between Walter Williams & Charles Rangel

If you want to encourage people, especially low-skilled adults, to work and not collect all of their income from public assistance, and you are not a Libertarian who believes that government has no role when it comes to public assistance, then work simply has to pay more than not working. The basic reason for a minimum wage is to have a floor that no one can fall through so they can pay most of their bills on their own.

We could debate forever whether the minimum wage affects job creation negatively or positively. I'm in favor of  a minimum wage where employers, especially small employers, could receive a deduction or tax credit that is worth 30 percent of whatever the minimum wage at that point happens to be. This would keep their payroll costs down and I'm talking about employers who simply can't afford hikes in their payroll costs, not wealthy employers, just as long as we are encouraging work over unemployment.

I would like to see a $10 per hour minimum wage in America and index it for inflation, with a 30 percent tax credit for small employers and nonprofit employers. Then apply today's $7.25 per hour minimum wage to people who are on welfare and not working at all so they have more incentive to work and not remain unemployed, believing that work wouldn't pay their bills.

PBS: Video: NewsHour: Closing the Gap: Senator Tim Scott on Expanding Educational Opportunities

If Senator Tim Scott is talking about expanding educational choice in the public school systems including charter schools, then I'm all for that as long as the Federal Government is not mandating this without the funds to pay for them. And I would also expand educational and job training opportunities for low-skilled workers and low-skilled adults who aren't currently working so they acquire the skills to find good jobs.

If Senator Scott is saying that we should do those things plus school vouchers and mandating them from the Federal Government and taking the decision away from States and localities about whether to use taxpayer funds that would normally go to public education to pay for private schools instead, then I'm not in favor of that on the Federal level, and if States and locals want to do that, then that is their business. But for the Feds to be involved in education at all it should be in public education as a helper and funder but not as a director.

PBS NewsHour: Representative Charles Rangel Debate Dr. Walter Williams on The Minimum Wage

Sounds to me that whatever spin that Common Sense Capitalism wants to give it, that Representative Rangel was arguing not only in favor of the minimum wage, but empowering those workers to be able to get additional skills so they wouldn’t have to work for the minimum wage. And be able to get better jobs and be able to support themselves. With Dr. Williams arguing and using traditional spin of the Right that the minimum wage kills jobs and costs others jobs even when some others are getting jobs.Representative Rangel was arguing for economic empowerment for low-income low-skilled workers. So they wouldn’t have to work for the minimum wage long-term. While Dr. Williams was making the so-called free market argument when it comes to employee compensation. “Let the free market decide”. When in fact the so-called free market wouldn’t decide that. Employers who just happen to be part of the market, would decide what wages should be for everyone including themselves.

PBS: Video: NewsHour: Poverty and Politics: How Strong Is Safety Net for Poor Americans?

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

The perfect debate for the mainstream Left in America to have that Liberals and Progressives should be debating about. The future of the safety net and it exactly what it is for. Is it really a safety net in its purest form, there to catch people who fall down in life in a liberal capitalist economy and give those people temporary financial relief to help them get by as they are struggling, as well as help them get back on their feet so they no longer need public assistance?

Or do we want to create a real welfare state and perhaps write a paper called something to the effect, Of Moving Past the Safety Net and Into the Welfare State. In other words transforming from America to Europe and creating a super-sized superstate there to meet most of our economic needs for us and there to take care of everyone. So we don’t feel the responsibility or freedom to have to take care of ourselves. Because we have big government to do that for us.

Well that last example isn’t so much center-left as it is far-left and a more socialist economic system. So maybe the other version of the safety net in America coming from center-left Progressives, would be to still have these social insurance programs targeted for the needy. But to spend a hell of a lot more on them without having work requirements or anything else for people on them. And have the Federal Government completely run all of them itself. But not try to create a welfare state in America.

Again if you are familiar with this blog you know where I come down on these issues at least as a Liberal. That a safety net is exactly that and nothing more and that to have the strongest economy possible, you need the most educated and productive people as possible to be able to meet their own economic needs. And that the safety net is there for the few who for a temporary amount of time aren’t able to do that for themselves. With the safety net also there to empower those people to be able to take care of themselves in the future.

PBS: Video: NewsHour: Marcia Coyle: U.S. Supreme Court Considers Definition of Recess Appointments

This is all about Senate Republicans ability to block President Obama’s recess appointments. Simply by having a large enough minority to prevent votes on legislation or executive appointments they do not like or agree with. Or do not believe that position should exist in the first place. Because of partisan ideological positions they have with Democrats. And I believe the Supreme Court will rule on the side of Senate Republicans on this simply because of the fact that Congress was technically in session when these supposed recess appointments were made. And technicalities tend to be very important in these close cases. Which tells me at least that Congress needs a better definition of what it means to be in recess. To prevent these partisan tactics from either the majority or minority from happening again. Especially the Senate that deals with executive appointments.

PBS NewsHour: Judy Woodruff: 'Ray LaHood & Ed Rendell Make Push to Revitalize U.S. Infrastructure'

Source:PBS NewsHour- anchor Judy Woodruff.

"A bipartisan group of former lawmakers is making a push to revitalize America's roads and bridges. Judy Woodruff talks to the co-chairs of Building America's Future, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and former Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, about the advantages of investing in the nation's infrastructure." 

From the PBS NewsHour 

"The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial,[7][8][9] free-to-air television network[10][11][12][13] based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded[14] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing shows such as Frontline, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Sesame Street, and This Old House.[15]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[16] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.[6]

As of 2020, PBS has nearly 350 member stations around the United States." 

From Wikipedia

The National Infrastructure Bank is the best answer to solving our infrastructure deficit because it would be self-financed, because its funding would come exclusively from the private sector. Bringing in investors that would get their money back, plus profits on the projects they invest in that the NIB would also get back to pay its bills and even make profits, based on fees that people would be charged to use the projects like the roads, bridges, airports, etc. 

A NIB at best is around a hundred-billion dollars a year or more. Which would be great if we didn’t have a 1-2 trillion-dollar deficit in infrastructure. So we also need a new infrastructure bill passed by Congress that takes care of most of the infrastructure investment. With the NIB financing infrastructure in this country in the future. 

You can also see this post at The Daily Times, on Blogger.