Kevin Drum - June 2010

"The Lone Republican"

| Wed Jun. 9, 2010 11:03 AM GMT

Ezra Klein on Lindsey Graham's decision to abandon the climate bill he helped write:



I don't know if it's all been a cynical strategy or not, but it's worth noting that it hasn't been brilliantly successful. Healthcare passed. Financial reform looks set to pass. Climate legislation won't, but let's face it: that's as much due to lack of support from centrist midwest Democrats as it is to lack of support from Republicans.

Now, the Republican strategy does seem to have energized their base and will probably lead to big wins in November and gridlock down the road. The lesson Republicans are likely to take away from this is that obstructionism works and America is a tea party country after all. Hooray! But in fact, most of this has been baked into the cake for a long time simply due to lousy economic conditions. It's going to take the GOP a few more years in the wilderness to figure out just how wrong they are.

UPDATE: For more on Lindsey Graham's fairly bizarre turnaround on global warming, check out Kate Sheppard's interview with him today. "It's not a stretch to say that what goes into the air is contributing to global warming," Graham said, "but I don't want to be in the camp that says I know people in Northern Virginia will never see snow." And then it gets weirder. Maybe Sarah Palin has gotten hold of his brain?

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Are You a Deficit Poser?

| Wed Jun. 9, 2010 10:32 AM GMT

Over at TNR, William Galston continues his recent conversation about just how much fiscal stimulus the United States can afford, and concludes that it's hard to say. We certainly shouldn't terminate basic safety net protections during a brutal recession, he says, but beyond that there's some limit to how much we can run up the federal debt and we just don't know for sure what that limit is. Fair enough. Then this:

What matters most is making a credible commitment — through binding legislation that changes both programs and budget procedures — to alter our long-term fiscal course before our debt enters the red zone (where federal debt closes in on GDP). I can only hope that the report of the president’s fiscal commission, due out in December, sets the stage for the national discussion we have evaded for far too long. This discussion will test our capacity to govern ourselves wisely, and the whole world will be watching.

Well, I recommend that the world avert its eyes now, because our capacity to govern ourselves wisely is in pretty short supply right now. The basic problem, as about a million pundits have pointed out before, is that most of the things we talk about will have only a small long-term effect on federal spending. We could raise taxes a bit, cut a few programs here and there, resolve to fight fewer wars, and fix Social Security, and that would all be great. It would have a genuinely positive effect. But it's a drop in the ocean compared to healthcare costs. If we don't rein those in, they'll swamp everything else.

But what are the odds of that? The recent healthcare reform bill made a start on holding down spending, but it was a pretty small start and generated massive opposition anyway. In the near term, then, there's simply no chance of making a credible commitment to seriously reduce the growth rate of healthcare costs. But this is the subject that separates the posers from the real players. Forget Social Security, which is a smallish problem and an easily solved one. That's mostly good for demagogues. Healthcare spending is the 800 pound gorilla. Solve that, and you've solved our long-term spending problem. Ignore it, and you don't.

Taxes and the Rich, Take Two

| Wed Jun. 9, 2010 9:54 AM GMT

Yesterday I pondered the question of why most Americans, who aren't rich themselves, are generally unsympathetic to increased taxes on the rich. Today, Robert Waldmann takes me to the woodshed:


Italics mine. In my defense, I thought about mentioning this in my post yesterday. But then, for some reason, I didn't. I'm not sure why, to tell the truth. In any case, here is Robert's most frequently cited evidence from Gallup:

I've condensed the full report, but basically it shows that large majorities have felt that upper-income taxes are too low since at least 1992 — though that majority has dropped considerably during that time (from 77% in 1992 to 60% in 2009). It's also worth noting that essentially nobody thinks that they, personally, are paying too little federal income tax.

Still, there you have it. Soaking the rich isn't the electoral loser I made it out to be. So then the question becomes: why is Congress unable to reform the estate tax, which affects only the very tippy top of the super rich? Why are negotiations over the carried interest loophole, which affects only zillionaire hedge fund managers, retreating from 100% repeal to 75% repeal to 65% repeal? The answer, of course, lies primarily in the ideology of the Republican Party, aided and abetted by the ideology of "centrist" Democrats, which is strong enough to overcome public sentiment.

So then, how about this question instead: Americans apparently are sympathetic to higher taxes on the rich, but equally apparently, they don't really care very much about it. They don't care enough, anyway, to sway their elected representatives much. How come?

Numbers are Tricky

| Wed Jun. 9, 2010 9:07 AM GMT

There's been a bit of blogospheric back-and-forth recently on the issue of social spending in the United States vs. the Nordic countries. I haven't followed it closely, but basically Price Fishback argues that the U.S. is better than you think on this score, while Lane Kenworthy, after taking a closer look at the data, says we aren't after all. This isn't really surprising, but via Matt Yglesias, I just want to highlight this one paragraph from Kenworthy:


Italics mine. I don't have any point to make about the generosity of America's safety net here, just about the trickiness of international data comparisons. You'd have to be pretty knowledgable about this stuff to realize that consumption taxes are already accounted for when you look at comparisons of disposable spending in different countries, and if you didn't know that you'd derive an entirely incorrect conclusion about how much disposable income people in different countries really have. What's more, I'll bet there are some calculations where consumption taxes aren't taken into account, and you'd better know that too.

This is mostly a note to myself to be careful in the future with this kind of thing. But these kinds of notes usually work better if you take the time to actually write them down, and they work even better still if you make them public so that people can mock you if you ever get sloppy and fail to apply proper care. Consider that done.

POSTSCRIPT: By the way, Kenworthy's post is worth reading if you're interested in the subject at hand. He's a genuine expert who does know how to properly read the data, and you'll be unsurprised to learn that, in fact, the United States tends to be pretty stingy on the social welfare front.

Watch the Bouncing Ball

| Wed Jun. 9, 2010 8:44 AM GMT

The quadrennial festival of kvetching about the new World Cup ball is in full force again this year, but the LA Times reports that this time the kvetchers might have more of a point than usual:

"It's very weird," Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano said. "All of a sudden it changes trajectory on you. It's like it doesn't want to be kicked … like someone is guiding it.... It's supernatural."

Teammate Julio Cesar was more succinct. "It's horrible," the Brazilian goalkeeper said...."It moves around so much ... this ball can go anywhere," said Marcus Hahnemann, the backup U.S. goalkeeper. "You can't judge it. And it's taking the skill away from the game.... You can't pinpoint a pass anymore."

...."The ball's terrible," U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard said. "You're going to hear that now, you're going to hear that next week and next month."

This sounds great! I can hardly wait until some pipsqueak team like, say, the United States, ends up beating Argentina on a bizarre fluke play where the ball suddenly starts acting like Sean White on a halfpipe and dives into the net a full body length away from the astonished goalie. Sounds like great TV.

Props 16 and 17 Lose

| Wed Jun. 9, 2010 8:07 AM GMT

When I went to sleep last night, California Props 16 and 17 were winning by narrow margins. This morning, with 100% of the vote cast, they lost. There is a God.

This means that PG&E (Prop 16) and Mercury Insurance (Prop 17) have just wasted a boatload of money trying to use the ballot box to improve their corporate fortunes. In turn, this means that other corporations might be a little less willing to try their hand at this in the future. Only a little less, mind you, but that's way better than the alternative. If they had passed there would have been an absolute tidal wave of stuff like this in the future.

Proposition 14, which essentially gives California an open primary system, was approved. I was against it, but I don't mind all that much that it passed. It's not as if our politics can get an awful lot worse than it already is. We'll see how it works out.

UPDATE: A reader emails to note that Prop 14 passed every place except San Francisco and Orange Country. "FWIW, my guess is that what SF and the OC have in common is a high level of partisanship relative to other counties, and partisans are more likely to want to protect their own party's primaries." That sounds like a reasonable theory to me.

UPDATE 2: Mickey Kaus won 5% of the vote in the Democratic Senate primary, well behind second-place vote-getter Brian Quintana. Barbara Boxer won 80% of the vote.

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R.I.P. Climate Legislation

| Tue Jun. 8, 2010 10:50 PM GMT









Quote of the Day: Gays in the Military

| Tue Jun. 8, 2010 2:34 PM GMT

From Rep. Ike Skelton (D–Missouri), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, on why he doesn't want to end the ban on openly gay soldiers in the military:

What do mommas and daddies say to a seven-year-old child about this issue? I don't know. I think it would be a family issue that would concern me the most ... What they might see in their discussions among the kids.


Kicking Ass at the White House

| Tue Jun. 8, 2010 11:34 AM GMT

Last night, the media boomlet of the nano-moment was President Obama's televised Chuck Norris schtick, when he told NBC's Matt Lauer that the reason he talked to experts about the Gulf oil spill was because they "potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."

Boo-yah! Obama's showin' some outrage! He's takin' it to the street! Bluster, baby, bluster!

Except, no. I was unhappy that Obama said this because I don't think he should give in to the yahoos who insist that he needs to be the emoter-in-chief, but I didn't bother commenting on it because something about the clip seemed slightly off. I wasn't sure what, but it didn't quite scan. Today, via Steve Benen, I know why. Here's the whole exchange:

LAUER: Critics are now talking about your style, which is the first time I've heard that in a long time. They're saying here is a guy who likes to be known as cool and calm and collected, and this isn't the time for cool, calm and collected. This is not the time to meet with experts and advisers; this is a time to spend more time in the Gulf and — I never thought I'd say this to a president — but kick some butt. And I don't mean it to be funny.


Well, that explains it. Obama's seemingly odd answer about why he talks to experts was a direct reply to the question Lauer asked and to the way Lauer phrased it. But none of us knew that because NBC chose to release only a part of Obama's answer and none of Lauer's question. They knew perfectly well what impression this would leave, they knew perfectly well that the media interpretation of Obama's statement would be set in stone before anyone saw the entire interview, and if you go to about the 4:30 mark (and then to the 9:50 mark to hear the rest of Obama's answer to the "kick some butt" question), you'll see that the clip they released represents the exact opposite of how Obama twice told Lauer he actually feels. But they went ahead and did it anyway. Because, I guess, they really don't care about reporting the news accurately. They just care about attracting attention.


Go Vote!

| Tue Jun. 8, 2010 10:45 AM GMT

I feel the need for some fresh air. I believe I'll take a stroll down to my local polling place and cast a vote or three against Proposition 16. I'll vote on a few other things too, but mainly I'm just going to vote against Prop 16. I'll be back in a little bit.