Saturday, June 17, 2006
Close Reading of Democrat Domestic Policy
Let's look close at the huge Democrat plan, the labor of months and months, long delayed but finally announced this past week. Here it is, a whole page (my comments are interspersed in color):
Make Health Care More Affordable: Fix the prescription drug program by putting people ahead of drug companies and HMO's, (I think the apostrophe there is a mistake and what does that mean, anyway? Is the Republican plan to put people behind drug companies and HMOs?) eliminating wasteful subsidies (Is that the best way to lower health care costs, by removing government cost help? I'm OK with not spending Government money on private enterprises but I don't pretend that cutting off subsidies will lower prices), negotiating lower drug prices (You mean like Walmart negotiates lower prices because of the strength of its sales?) and ensuring the program works for all seniors (What program? The prescription drug program spearheaded by President Bush and passed by Republican big spending legislators?); invest in stem cell and other medical research (invest being a euphemism for tax and spend--and if stem cell and "other medical research"--thanks for narrowing that down--was so promising, why does it need federal funding?).
Lower Gas Prices and Achieve Energy Independence: Crack down on price gouging (notice they assume it exists, which it doesn't--could someone please explain basic economics to these people?); eliminate billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies (I'm actually for this but I do not delude myself that it would lower gas prices) and use the savings to provide consumer relief (doled out in a more circumspect way than Katrina relief, I hope) and develop American alternatives, including biofuels (from corn?--bad idea) ; promote energy efficient technology (is promote the same thing as invest, but more aggressive?).
Help Working Families: Raise the minimum wage (bad idea--it would cut job growth at the lower edge); repeal tax giveaways that encourage companies to move jobs overseas (I'd be willing to bet that cheap labor and lack of entangling labor laws might be the real culprit for sending jobs over seas).
Cut College Costs: Make college tuition deductible from taxes (OK idea, but won't Universities jack up their not really worth it prices all the quicker?); expand Pell grants (OK, but it's tax and spend) and slash student loan costs (OK, if it doesn't take government subsidies to make up the difference or dry up loans because the lenders can't make money any more because their margin is too thin after the regulations).
Ensure Dignified Retirement: Prevent the privatization of Social Security (and thus insure it's eventual catastrophicc failure--the mad fools); expand savings incentives (How? by taxing estates or by cutting tax liability for money saved? The first is the Democrats anti saving plan and the second is not bloody likely); and ensure pension fairness (step in with Government pension paymentss that have bankrupted the company?).
Require Fiscal Responsibility: Restore the budget discipline of the 1990s (I too am nostalgic for Republican legislators who don't spend like drunken sailors) that helped eliminate deficits and spur record economic growth (we're having record economic growth now--what would the Democrats do that the Republicans haven't already done well?).
This isn't just short on detail, it's nearly incoherent. The subsidies the government pays to private businesses are willy nilly good and bad to the Democrats. They decry high gas prices but vote as a block to stop domestic oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, continental shelf Pacific and tiny areas in frozen Alaska. It's increased supply that lowers prices. The Democrats want to create more jobs and keep them here at home but actually plan to do things that stop job creation and miss what actually drives jobs overseas. It is, in a word, a mess. It also seems a little trivial during wartime. I wonder what the Republican domestic policy platform was in 1943?
Can't wait for the page-long, foreign policy positions (as soon as the Democrats figure out where they stand on that).
Make Health Care More Affordable: Fix the prescription drug program by putting people ahead of drug companies and HMO's, (I think the apostrophe there is a mistake and what does that mean, anyway? Is the Republican plan to put people behind drug companies and HMOs?) eliminating wasteful subsidies (Is that the best way to lower health care costs, by removing government cost help? I'm OK with not spending Government money on private enterprises but I don't pretend that cutting off subsidies will lower prices), negotiating lower drug prices (You mean like Walmart negotiates lower prices because of the strength of its sales?) and ensuring the program works for all seniors (What program? The prescription drug program spearheaded by President Bush and passed by Republican big spending legislators?); invest in stem cell and other medical research (invest being a euphemism for tax and spend--and if stem cell and "other medical research"--thanks for narrowing that down--was so promising, why does it need federal funding?).
Lower Gas Prices and Achieve Energy Independence: Crack down on price gouging (notice they assume it exists, which it doesn't--could someone please explain basic economics to these people?); eliminate billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies (I'm actually for this but I do not delude myself that it would lower gas prices) and use the savings to provide consumer relief (doled out in a more circumspect way than Katrina relief, I hope) and develop American alternatives, including biofuels (from corn?--bad idea) ; promote energy efficient technology (is promote the same thing as invest, but more aggressive?).
Help Working Families: Raise the minimum wage (bad idea--it would cut job growth at the lower edge); repeal tax giveaways that encourage companies to move jobs overseas (I'd be willing to bet that cheap labor and lack of entangling labor laws might be the real culprit for sending jobs over seas).
Cut College Costs: Make college tuition deductible from taxes (OK idea, but won't Universities jack up their not really worth it prices all the quicker?); expand Pell grants (OK, but it's tax and spend) and slash student loan costs (OK, if it doesn't take government subsidies to make up the difference or dry up loans because the lenders can't make money any more because their margin is too thin after the regulations).
Ensure Dignified Retirement: Prevent the privatization of Social Security (and thus insure it's eventual catastrophicc failure--the mad fools); expand savings incentives (How? by taxing estates or by cutting tax liability for money saved? The first is the Democrats anti saving plan and the second is not bloody likely); and ensure pension fairness (step in with Government pension paymentss that have bankrupted the company?).
Require Fiscal Responsibility: Restore the budget discipline of the 1990s (I too am nostalgic for Republican legislators who don't spend like drunken sailors) that helped eliminate deficits and spur record economic growth (we're having record economic growth now--what would the Democrats do that the Republicans haven't already done well?).
This isn't just short on detail, it's nearly incoherent. The subsidies the government pays to private businesses are willy nilly good and bad to the Democrats. They decry high gas prices but vote as a block to stop domestic oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, continental shelf Pacific and tiny areas in frozen Alaska. It's increased supply that lowers prices. The Democrats want to create more jobs and keep them here at home but actually plan to do things that stop job creation and miss what actually drives jobs overseas. It is, in a word, a mess. It also seems a little trivial during wartime. I wonder what the Republican domestic policy platform was in 1943?
Can't wait for the page-long, foreign policy positions (as soon as the Democrats figure out where they stand on that).
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 10:54 PM 
