3 posts tagged “social security”

                The Future of Capitalism: Which Way Now?

The Future of Capitalism: Which Way Now
Here’s that in-depth philosophical program you’ve been waiting for. Tony is truly over the top in his defense of capitalism; Bob brings up the nearly-verboten name of Karl Marx… Tony quotes Lord Byron…and the fireworks begin. Matt, while defending capitalism, says it’s time to rewrite the social contract, with certain guarantees of security in terms of health care and welfare, so the rest of the economy can do what it’s supposed to.. Bob defends the middle class; Arianna invokes Ayn Rand saying she would disapprove of the Wall Street orgy. Tony and Matt duke it out for awhile, too. It’s a heady show and a hell of a topic. This one’s worth hearing twice and quoting from. We really want to hear from you on this one.

 

LRC 6.20.08

Obama/Public Finance; Offshore Drilling; China Economy

Obama announces he won’t take public funding-- is campaign finance reform dead? Is it good news or bad news when more Americans add their dollars to elections? Would offering every voter a voucher to apply to whatever they support make Goldman Sachs’ money less influential? Should we start offshore drilling to offset the increase in oil prices? Or is that just more backward thinking, promoting further environmental ruin for not much of a difference in supply or demand? And finally, does China’s Communist-party controlled economic growth prove that America’s liberal capitalism is no longer a role model for the world’s developing powers? Tony’s just back from a trip there and shares his observations.

Tony Blankley says Obama’s decision not to accept public dollars is potentially strategically decisive. Putting aside his honor, he’ll pay a small price for that, otherwise it’s a good idea. Bob Scheer defends public financing and thinks this decision is disastrous for the party and US democracy in general. Matt Miller revived an idea put forth by Bruce Ackerman of UC Berkeley: give voters vouchers of $50 each, to spend as they wish, and see where the money’s influence would go. Is that more democratic than a taxpayer check-off box or 527 campaign smear tactics? Would their dollars trump Goldman Sachs and other influence peddlers' bucks?

Though my headline doesn’t say it, we talked about the wiretap decision and War Spending bill – Tony said the twin bills were a buy-off for some Democrats in an election year, and the last significant victory that the legislature will hand W for the rest of his term. Bob called Pelosi’s spin phony and outrageous, a serious failure of representation when significant portion of voting public wants US out of Iraq.

Re: Offshore Drilling. Tony says Obama’s on the wrong side of this one. Will American public change its view now that prices are so high? He says McCain moved to pro-drilling side; and he recently spoke to a Democratic consultant who’s advising his candidates to come out in favor of drilling. He thinks there’s a better than 50-50 chance that Obama will move closer to that position.

Bob says more drilling’s a joke, the payoff’s small and too far in the future. Desecrates our natural resources, environmental safety and beauty. Says USA Today notes that driving habits are changing and once again points out that it’s not consumption causing this fivefold price increase but W’s mishandling of the oil-producing nations with whom relations have been completely mismanaged. he say Saudi Arabia could open the spigot – the fact that they haven’t after US has protected them all these years is an obvious indictment of Bush’s mismanagement.

Tony disagrees, saying the drilling is deep water 50 miles offshore, therefore not visible from coast. Technology has been vastly improved. China, Cuba, Norway are all engaging in this, the mere announcement of US drilling would put a big dent in speculative oil markets. Says 2-3-4 million barrels a day would make a difference.

Tony just returned from a trip to China where more and more, there are questions about America’s version of capitalism, which appears to be melting down. Tony met with Chinese officials and academics, and says they’re very nationalistic and proud of their 8 to 10% annual economic growth. Says even with the requirement of Communist Party approval of all economic enterprises, they’re succeeding (you can’t start a business, get a loan, etc, without CP approval). And they don’t care much if they have firewalls preventing them from getting CNN, Yahoo or Google – that politics doesn’t matter to them as long as they are prosperous, He says more developing countries are paying attention to their model than America’s.

Tony’s rant raises a very important and under-covered issue: China is involved with Sudan in its oil production. China’s Red Army troops are rapidly becoming a substantial military force in Sudan – ostensibly to protect their oil interests but a large military presence regardless.

Bob says imperialism doesn’t pay, China’s growing and they’re not occupying countries the way the US is.

Matt says to keep your eye on Obama’s Social Security donut plan…says it’s dangerous for entrepreneurs.

June 13, 2008
All of us at Left, Right and Center extend our hearfelt sympathies to the family of Tim Russert. News of his death reached us more than an hour after we recorded our program.

June 13, 2008
Quotable quotes:

Amity Shlaes says economics often lays the path for politics.
Bob Scheer says Hummers didn't drive us to high oil prices.
Arianna Huffington says McCain sounds like Bob Dole -- it's the 80s all over again.
Matt Miller wonders aloud whether the media is destroying democracy.

Congrats to Arianna: Huffington Post has again been named a big Webby Award winner -- 2008 awards go to her for best political blog and favorite People's Voice blog in the political category.

Amity Shlaes is our guest conservative again while Tony is in China (he's back next week). Bob Scheer opens the conversation about the Supreme Court decision in favor of Guantanamo detainees saying that 6 years without any idea of why you've been arrested and without access to a lawyer is much too long, and points out the irony that in defending our freedom, we've undermined the whole notion of freedom thanks to the Bush anti-terrorism policies.

Amity says the decision isn't about right or wrong, but a procedural matter. She says the issue of suspending habeas corpus goes back to Lincoln and even to the founding fathers.

Matt Miller wonders if this puts the Supreme Court at the heart of the election campaign -- Arianna Huffington says, you betcha, it points out the dramatic differences between McCain and Obama -- McCain says he'd reverse Roe v. Wade.

Conversation moves to a discussion of high gas prices and substantive conversation about Social Security, which Obama raised in a speech today, on his economic tour of America.

Bob reminds us that Wolfowitz said Iraqi oil would pay for the war and give us more oil (not like Vietnam, where their chief export was shrimp). But we're actually paying double now, for war debt and higher gas prices

Amity and Matt come down on the same side saying market forces need to drive change; and Amity talks about scholar Pigou and his Pigovian theory that change only happens when things become too expensive.

Then they dissect Obama's proposal to raise taxable income levels for Social Security to $250,000. Amity and Matt demonstrate how this raises the effective tax rate on the self-employed to more than 50%, making taxes higher than Europe.

Then there's some chat about the media, about Hillary and sexism, racism, about Jim Johnson and what his choice by Obama as a VP Vetter says about Obama...then you can enjoy the rants!

Have fun listening.