Recent Posts Tagged With politics government

• Ubiquitous In Business

  Posted on Monday March 15th, 2010 at 06:50 am in politics government economics business

  Not too long ago, it seemed that General Motors' decision to excise more than a thousand of its dealerships was a sensible and essential step in its return to profitability.  But dealers complained, and got Congress to legislate a get-out-o...

• State Government Budgets Tight

  Posted on Sunday March 14th, 2010 at 07:45 pm in politics government

  It's bad times in state government around the country:  tax refunds being "postponed," cuts in services from closed parks and highway rest stops to cutback in senior programs and even schools.  And, to make ends meet, many s...

• Government Reforms: Ripe To Root Out Rot

  Posted on Friday March 12th, 2010 at 08:30 am in politics government

  One positive result from the general disillusionment with politics and government which prevails in our country today may be that some long-awaited reforms in the way business is done may in fact become possible.  In at least three areas involv...

• Health Care Summit

  Posted on Friday February 26th, 2010 at 07:56 pm in politics government

  After Thursday's big health care discussion among the President, leading Democrats, and leading Republicans, not much has changed.  Republicans are claiming victory, but how silly is it to suggest the Democratic initiative for the talks, is...

• Adult Supervision And Leadership

  Posted on Sunday February 21st, 2010 at 07:31 am in politics government

  I'm aware that the Obama administration pulled out every stop to try to avoid the mistakes Clinton made in approaching the inexplicably controversial issue of improving health care.  That's what led them to a quasi-Maoist approach, opti...

• A Deficit Commission With A Deficit

  Posted on Friday February 19th, 2010 at 04:06 pm in politics government

  Republicans have reportedly agreed -- reluctantly of course -- to take part in a bipartisan commission on dealing with the deficit.  That is, almost the same commission that senior Republicans at first proposed, an...

• Bye-Bye Bayh: A Congress Resigns From Its Fate

  Posted on Tuesday February 16th, 2010 at 09:24 am in politics government

  I just posted about the individual aspects of Indiana Senator Bayh's decision to resign, but what about the national implications?   Congresspersons and Senators of all stripes seem to be resigning in droves rather than face ano...

• Bye-Bye Bayh - Indiana Senator Resigns

  Posted on Tuesday February 16th, 2010 at 08:26 am in politics government

  Anyone tracking U.S. politics by now knows that Senator Evan Bayh, considered a "moderate" Democrat, announced two days ago that he planned to resign from the Senate, mainly (he claims) because he isn't happy with the lack of bipartisan...

• Boston Moves To Dixie

  Posted on Tuesday February 2nd, 2010 at 01:09 pm in law and justice politics government washington dc region

  Here's an idea whose time has NOT come:  Virginia state legislators are setting an "example" for the nation, busying themselves passing bills (three different ones) that would "make it illegal to require individua...

• The Message Of The Burning Bush For Republicans

  Posted on Monday February 1st, 2010 at 09:21 am in politics government the 3 r's: rants

  I hate to sound like a broken record* but on the other hand, our Republican Party leaders don't seem to let that concern stop them, as the GOP drags out its worn drum again to complain that the Obama administration's budget is all wrong and t...

• State Of The Union

  Posted on Friday January 29th, 2010 at 08:27 pm in politics government

  If any of us thought the State of the Union address Wednesday evening would create some kind of sea change in the political picture, we were mistaken.  First, of course, it would be naive to think so.  When was the last SotU you remember...

• Deficit Commission Is Decomissioned

  Posted on Tuesday January 26th, 2010 at 03:27 pm in politics government economics business

  Less than a month ago it seemed there was a glimmer of hope that a bipartisan effort in the Senate would produce a commission aimed at breaking the logjam that has prevented us from reining in growing deficits created by both parties. �...

• Two Good Reads

  Posted on Monday January 25th, 2010 at 05:52 am in law and justice politics government

  I may be a little short of time today, so for now I'll just point to two good opinion columns on two issues I've blogged about lately: See Fareed Zakaria's "Obama Should Act ... Like a President" concerning the need for a revise...

• Changing The Political Approach

  Posted on Saturday January 23rd, 2010 at 05:08 pm in politics government

  Nearly everyone seems to have some advice on what should be done with pending health care legislation now, in the wake of the lightning bolt delivered by a Republican victory in Massachusetts last week.   The opinions are all over the map...

• Supreme Court Seeks To Obsolete Itself

  Posted on Thursday January 21st, 2010 at 04:12 pm in law and justice politics government

  Here's a headline that appeared today: "Supreme Court rejects limits on Corporate Spending in Political Campaigns."  Well, of course they did.  What else could be expected from the Roberts court?  Especiall...

• The Massachusetts Moment II - Coakley Cooked

  Posted on Wednesday January 20th, 2010 at 04:42 am in politics government

  The shocking, if not surprising, victory of Republican Scott Brown in yesterday's Senate race in ultra-Democratic Massachusetts will engender some serious rethinking in the White House and among Democrats in Congress regarding m...

• The Massachusetts Moment

  Posted on Monday January 18th, 2010 at 04:19 pm in politics government

  Aficionados of the political process are acutely aware of the battle in Massachusetts over the Senate seat vacated by the death of Senator Edward Kennedy, which will be filled in a special election tomorrow.  The Democratic Party's an...

• Virginia Republicans Do It Regressively

  Posted on Wednesday January 13th, 2010 at 04:56 pm in politics government ethics civics morality washington dc region

  Virginia Republicans, buoyant from the victory of Republican Bob McDonnell in the election for governor last November, seem to have determined that it's time to get out their horses and buggy whips and transport the state and its people back into...

• Reid Down! Palin Up?

  Posted on Tuesday January 12th, 2010 at 12:52 pm in politics government

  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in political hot water right now.  A lot - but not  all - of his difficulty is wrapped up in the politically endemic issue of race in the U.S.  That's an issue I hope to get to soon. Fo...

• Conflict of Interest In Virginia

  Posted on Saturday January 9th, 2010 at 02:26 pm in politics government washington dc region

  Our new Virginia Governor, Robert McDonnell, is making some rational moves that everyone can approve, for example, the announcement that he will scale back spending on his inaugural to save money and set an example in these lean times.  Word is...

• Can A Bipartisan Commission Solve Our Debt Addiction?

  Posted on Monday January 4th, 2010 at 02:03 pm in politics government economics business

  Another of the serious dysfunctions of Congress in recent decades has been the tendency toward ever-increasing national debt.  We know why it happens.  Promises -- for services or achievements, ranging from warfighting to more acces...

• Broken Government

  Posted on Thursday December 31st, 2009 at 10:13 am in politics government

  Among serious pundits and analysts, it's become commonplace in recent weeks to talk about the need to "fix" our "dysfunctional" government.   The political struggle over health care and other elements of the progra...

• Balancing Act

  Posted on Wednesday December 30th, 2009 at 07:21 pm in politics government

  I recommend today's column by Steven Pearlstein, "Big Business vs. Big Government," as a brief must-read item.  Basically, it reminds us that our political/social/economic philosophies tend to seesaw back and forth, emphasizing at...

• Thinking "What If" - A November Surprise

  Posted on Tuesday December 22nd, 2009 at 08:34 am in politics government

  Republican reaction to the Senate's first official thumbs-up on its health care bill provided still more evidence (if any were needed) of the GOP's determination to maintain a cynical grumpy-grandpa stance, refusing to engage in solving...

• The Democrats And Health Care Reform

  Posted on Friday December 18th, 2009 at 05:01 pm in politics government

  The Republicans continue to oppose any amelioration of our health care mess on the most venal of grounds (yesterday proposing to delay defense appropriations as a parliamentary ploy to block voting on the Senate health care bill).  Some Democra...

• Party Of No, Party Of Mirages

  Posted on Thursday December 17th, 2009 at 10:11 am in social issues politics government

  Just a few days ago, in "A Positive News Day," I noted how the actions of Republican members of Congress speak much louder than their words in revealing that most of them consider big business as their true constituency.   There...

• Plus Ça Change - Or, How Business Is Done in Washington

  Posted on Sunday December 13th, 2009 at 09:47 am in politics government

  It's a slow news Sunday; perhaps that's why political comment today seems to reflect certain immutable truths of doing business in Washington. Dana Milbank's enlightening tale about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the &q...

• A Positive News Day

  Posted on Thursday December 10th, 2009 at 08:03 pm in Current Events politics government ethics civics morality

  A theme stood out as I read today's news.  Unexpectedly, on this cold, blustery day for much of the nation, today's reporting was united by an underlying note of optimism, a flurry of encouraging signs that things are developing i...

• Lieberman The Independent

  Posted on Tuesday December 8th, 2009 at 03:00 pm in politics government

  It looks as if Joe Lieberman, the now-Independent formerly Democratic Senator from Connecticut who supported Republican John McCain for President in 2008, is bent once again on demonstrating his independence by opposing any public option ...

• The Next Wave Of Reform

  Posted on Thursday November 19th, 2009 at 04:45 pm in politics government

  A lot of people are pointing nowadays to declared abuses of the various rules and privileges that enable a small group of Congresspersons, or frequently just a single member fo the Senate, to block action on a bill or a simple confirmation.  Co...