U.S. Deficit, Koch Brothers, Texas, Warren, and Librarians

Quote of the week:  “This vote, based on a bill I introduced, must fail.”—House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) about the vote called to raise the deficit. The Republicans also assured Wall Street executives to tell them that the vote was just for show. That’s the level of professionalism among House legislators since they took office in January.

During the past decade, Republicans, now virulently opposed to raising the deficit, voted to increase it five times during George W. Bush’s reign from 2001 to 2009. Also during that time, Paul (get rid of Medicare) Ryan, Eric (House Majority Leader) Cantor, and John (Speaker of the House) Boehner all voted in favor of raising the debt ceiling all five times.  And the debt increase? President Bill Clinton inherited $4.2 trillion dollars which rose to $5.7 trillion when he left although it was falling at that time. With a Republican Congress most of the time, Bush managed to almost double the 225 years of debt to $10.6 trillion dollars by the time he was gone. The excuse was 9/11 and two wars—that Bush decided on his own to do on false pretenses. With the massive tax cuts that Republicans kept and a deep economic recession, Obama inherited an unbelievable mess. Unable to raise taxes because of Republican obstruction, the only way left to pay for all that is to borrow. Where are the jobs promised by the tax cuts? One-thousand employees have lost their jobs EVERY YEAR when just one corporation, Exxon/Mobil, cut its workforce. The U.S. not only gained no benefit in cutting their taxes and giving them lots of extra money but also lost in the bargain.

Update: The House of Representatives isn’t through with Elizabeth Warren after she was accused of lying to them. House Oversight Committee chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) has asked her to return for more questioning, citing her “unwillingness to provide direct and responsive answers to a number of important questions” at last week’s hearing.

Update: Los Angeles Unified School District teachers have agreed to take five unpaid furlough days this year and seven unpaid days next year, a move that reinstates 284 school nurses, counselors, and librarians. The $180 million saved will offset part of the school district’s $408-million shortfall. Everyone who thinks that unions don’t compromise should pay attention to these teachers giving up a sizeable percentage of their salaries.

Update: After Vermont became the first state to have single-payer health care, Connecticut because the first state to have paid sick leave. Those poor employers, some people thought. But consider the result of San Francisco doing this in 2007: two thirds of those employers now support the city’s requirement that they pay sick leave.

Update: Florida State University has become a bit embarrassed after the wide publicity about its selling the economics department to the Koch brothers. The university president has announced that they will be “reviewing” this policy and that the school will create processes for faculty to vet gifts impinging on academic freedom. Meanwhile the Koch brothers are also openly buying their own Congressmen. For example, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), with his oil business partnering with Koch subsidiaries in Brazil, was groomed and funded for his current position and then hired a Koch “government affairs” attorney as his chief of staff. The Koch brothers got their money’s worth: since being sworn in, Pompeo has sponsored legislation to cut EPA’s ability to regulate pollution and to kill a consumer safety database. Pompeo says he’s for small business: the Koch brothers are 50/50 for that policy. While they want free reign to do whatever they want (small government), they also demand bailouts and collect taxpayer subsidies (big government?). We hope that Pompeo got a Koch baseball cap and sweatshirt to advertise his allegiance.

Update: Texas plus Koch creates more legal abuse of wronged people. A new law  that passed the state House a month ago was allowed no amendments or debate because Gov. Rick Perry proclaimed it “emergency legislation.” The emergency? Anyone who sues a corporation could be responsible for the corporation’s legal fees if the person loses the case—and sometimes if the person wins the case. If the plaintiff wins but receives a lesser award than the defendant offered in a potential settlement, the plaintiff could be forced to pay the defendant’s court costs, even if those costs exceed the amount awarded to the plaintiff.  Pretty sweet!  For the corporations.  The 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals seems to be on target withTexas: the week before the law passed the House, a Texas cheerleader who refused to cheer for her alleged rapist not only lost the case but was also forced to pay the school district $45,000 for their legal fees. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear that case.

When the governor signed the bill in to law earlier this week, he said he declared it an emergency so that employers would spend less time in court and more time creating jobs. He’s already charging ahead with more “emergency” anti-immigration legislation. Maybe he’s in a hurry because he hopes to change his address to the White House.