A new Congress has been officially sworn in, but given that the very first bill proposed was Michelle Bachmann’s latest attempt to repeal Obamacare, it is understandably hard to be optimistic that the 113th Congress will be all that much better than the 112th. With a Democrat-dominated Senate and a conservative-controlled House, it seems that gridlock and partisan divisions may, unfortunately, continue to be defining features of the (in)actions of this session of Congress. There are, however, some promising signs. If nothing else, it is no longer an election year, so legislators should have more time to actually legislate. John Avlon of The Daily Beast also argues that the era of Tea Party obstructionism might be over, as whereas the 2010 Congress “was elected by a narrow but intense slice of the electorate—the anti-Obama, recession-fueled rage of the 2010 midterm election landslide,” this session was elected by a broader, more …
Immigration Policy Changes, Dueling Economic Campaign Speeches, and the SCOTUS on Health Care Reform
As I mentioned in my previous post, Mitt Romney added to the list of gaffes by saying that states do not need to hire more teachers, more firefighters, or more policemen. In short, we don’t need no stinkin’ public sector jobs. However, as The Handle’s own CJ Jackson writes, and as Nobel Prize-Winning Economist says in the video below, more public sector jobs are EXACTLY what we need. Not only would hiring more teachers, firefighters, and policemen bolster the amount of people who can buy things in this economy, it would also benefit society at large, despite what Mr. Romney and his surrogates say. Last time I checked (this morning, actually) the United States education system has been slipping compared to the rest of the world. Everyone knows our education system needs reforms, but how can you disagree that adding more teachers is harmful? It is well documented that a …
The Pressing Need for Government Spending and the Harmful Effects of Republican Austerity
The Handle Discusses the Wisconsin Recall Election, Obama’s Gaffe and the State of the Economy, and a Preview of the Presidential Election