Philosophy of Gridlock

Full Show: How Do Conservatives and Liberals See the World? | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com:


How do Conservatives and Liberals See the World? from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.


Common Sense is not a big fan of Bill Moyers but his provocative and thoughtful interview with Jonathan Haidt is well worth the effort. It sheds considerable light on some of the reasons Congress has become hopelessly dysfunctional.  Be warned though, you'll actually have to put aside your biases and think.

Of some note, Mr. Haidt offers two suggestions for how to change our broken Congress.  The first is to make demonetization, attributing evil motives, of our opponents socially unacceptable.  In this political season of Obama bad, Romney Obama light thus bad, Gingrich evil, etc. this would certainly be an improvement hopefully allowing ideas to displace name calling.  The second is to eliminate the corruption that has lead to a bought and paid for Congress.  Efforts to get big, particularly big corporate money, out of government should be vigorously supported.  Common Sense thinks these are good steps  forward.

Here is the Ted talk from Mr. Haidt.

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Foxconn, Apple, Microsoft, and American Manufacturing Jobs

CNN had a report on Foxconn, US Jobs, and Apple and Microsoft.  Briefly the report notes that Foxconn, a major supplier for Apple and Microsoft, has very poor working conditions.  Apple and Microsoft, as one would expect, released statements that trivialized the report.  Of course, it's easy enough to release corporate statements.  Undoing facts is a much more difficult proposition.


It's easy for companies to ship jobs to low cost Asian suppliers is the only criteria is cost. But is that the only criteria a company should have?  The short answer common sense answer is no it's not.  Corporations are creations of society licensed by government and given certain extraordinary rights in law.  They are not a law unto themselves or created from on high.  Consequently, corporations have responsibilities as well as rights.  There was a time in the United States when corporate social responsibility was much more common.  Perhaps it's time we, through our government, require more from our corporations.

There is another reason to avoid the trap of low cost as the only criteria.  By manufacturing in China Apple creates jobs in China at wages that do not support sales in China.  Apple damages the US middle class the principal driver of consumption and economic growth.  Apple destroys the very market it depends on for sales!  While offshoring jobs may work short term, it guarantees long term market failure.

Common Sense wonders should US consumers and businesses continue to do business with companies that have suppliers with near slavery working conditions?  The short answer is no we shouldn't.  It's time to stop buying Apple and Microsoft products and turn to products made by suppliers with reasonable working conditions that pay living wages.  Made in America is a common sense idea if you would like to see the return of the American middle class, improved economic growth, and jobs.

Related articles

• Apple manufacturing plant workers complain of long hours, militant culture (cnn.com)
• Inside story of Foxconn shrouded in secrecy (cnn.com)
• Should you feel guilty for buying your iPhone? (antiworldnews.wordpress.com)
• Microsoft Investigates Worker Protest at Foxconn Factory in China - PCWorld (pcworld.com)
• 300 Foxconn employees threatened suicide over working conditions (dvice.com)

National debt and lies by BOTH Democrats and Republicans

FactCheck.org : Dueling Debt Deceptions:

In this year's Republican primary farce there is a more or less constant drumbeat around Obama and the national debt.  FactCheck.org, a site that Common Sense thinks is well worth subscribing to published a factual and very informative article.  Here's the gist of their analysis:

What interesting about this is that both Republicans and Democrats have so distorted the facts as to rise to outright lying!

Republicans would have us believe that Obama is responsible for the worst increase in the national debt.  He's not!  The Republican sainted Ronald Reagan actually increased the national debt by almost 5 times as a percentage as Obama albeit on a dramatically lower base.  GW Bush who's policies largely brought us the current economic crisis increased the national debt by a larger dollar amount and a larger percentage (again on a much smaller base).

Democrat's hands are almost as dirty on this issue.  Nancy Pelosi has circulated a 35% increase in the national debt under Obama based on some dated data.  But that's not true either.  Mr Obama has increased the National Debt almost as much as Mr Bush.

In defense of Mr Obama, he inherited Mr Bush's collapsed economy and financial crisis, and a do nothing Republican House that steadfastly refuses to recognize that to address an out of control unbalance budget it is necessary to both cut spending and raise taxes.  That's just common sense.

Common sense and federal pay

Pay freeze bill comes up for a vote - The Washington Post:
FactCheck.org : CBO Offers Its Two Cents on Federal Pay:
The direct cost of congress:

While Common Sense is often critical of the House Republicans this is one proposal that makes a good deal of common sense.  Government, all of government, should face the same economic constraints as the rest of society.  This measure helps and Common Sense thinks that the Senate should pass the measure and send it to the president.

That said, there is more that congress should do to cut its own excessive spending.  As mentioned last year, the cost of congress itself has risen much more rapidly than the consumer price index.   Common Sense thinks congress should reduce its own salaries and spending to closely follow the CPI.  That's just common sense.

Republican Primary: Politics and Farce

Common Sense took a bit of a break while the Republican primary has been providing no end of entertainment.  On the off chance that anyone in the United States has missed the republican primary farce  here's a brief synopsis: My opponent is bad;  I'm good; Obama is bad; the Democrats are responsible for all the countries ills; the Republicans can fix all the countries ills.  That farce is pretty much it for political dialog.

On a positive note the Republican field has shrunk.  The Tea Party queen is gone.  Likewise, the pizza king.  John Huntsman, who arguably had some qualifications, could hardly draw a crowd and has quit.  The tall Texan afflicted with hoof in mouth disease and unable to remember the three, er five, government agencies he'd eliminate finally gave up.

With the cast shrunk one would think that the farce would suffer.  Not so.  We still have Ron Paul, who continues to deliver some interesting and some wacko ideas.  While he has no real prospect of being nominated he continues on.  Staunch conservative, Fox news commentator, and darling of religious conservatives Rick Santorum has discovered that there is some truth in the old adage about nice guys and last.  We are left with front runners Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney to demonstrate that he who has the most money gets to be the nominee.  By that measure it will certainly be Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee.

Common Sense thinks that this is no way for a representative democracy to go about the process of selecting nominees for the presidency.  There are certainly much better qualified Republicans that former House Speaker Gingrich who thinks that we are all foolish enough to believe the fantasy that he was retained by Freddie Mac and paid 1.6 million as a historian not a lobbyist.  Of course that's not the least of his baggage, but hey we've all got short memories.  Alternatively, we have former governor Mitt Romney who wants to be president so bad that he believed in health care reform in Massachusetts but now that he's a candidate and has to answer to the radical right doesn't believe in it for the USA.

At root of this farce is a profoundly flawed two party system where radical elements and big money drive politics.  Common Sense thinks that there needs to be a better way.  There needs to be a third party that represents the center and common sense.

 

SOPA & PIPA

Your congress, you know the one that doesn't seem to be able to do much about the critical problems facing the average American, lobbied effectively by large copyright holders proposes to place unreasonable burdens on internet companies to monitor the internet for copyright violations and to deny US citizens access to sites that allegedly violate copyrights by blocking IPs.  These bills are wrong headed, heavy handed, and simply won't work in Common Sense's view.  They should be vigorously opposed.  Write your congressman to oppose SOPA and PIPA.

Related articles

• Author Of SOPA Is A Copyright Violator (huffingtonpost.com)
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TED Talks: Some common sense on health care

Image via Wikipedia

If you are not familiar with TED talks take a look at the listing site.  One recent posting is of a common sense idea to reduce the cost of medicine by creating an alternative market mechanism, a Health Impact Fund, that would compensate pharmaceutical companies based on the impact of a drug on health.  The basic notion is that a pharma company could enroll a drug in a Health Impact Fund.  Such drugs would be sold at cost and the Pharma company receive a portion of the Health Impact Fund tied to the impact the drug has on overall health.  Worth listening to.