Something very interesting is happening in U.S. politics right now. It is this: The U.S. Republican Party, long the ally of the business community, is becoming increasingly unhinged from that traditional base of support, even as the Democrats become more friendly with it. The reason is that both groups share an outlook characterized by centrism and pragmatism; this stands in increasingly stark contrast with Tea Party extremism, which is not at all good for the stability or growth of the economy, as even corporate leaders now recognize. They listen to the economic experts and the ratings agencies, even if Tea Parties don’t.
I give you Doug Oberhelman, the chairman and CEO of Caterpillar and a longtime Republican, criticizing the failure to raise the debt ceiling, and avoid catastrophic U.S. default. Heck, I give you the entire U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saying the same thing.
And the debt ceiling isn’t the only example. Many corporations, like GE and Duke Energy, joined Democrats in supporting cap and trade legislation, because they wanted a stable business environment going forward and considered greenhouse gas regulations to be inevitable, eventually. Indeed, many companies see the potential for great profits once we put a price on carbon.
Meanwhile, mainstream Democrats today do not take any of the left wing environmental positions traditionally associated with being anti-corporate: They are not anti-GMO; they are not anti-nuclear; heck, they are not even anti-fracking.
Read more at the link:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/07/25/are-republicans-still-the-party-of-corporate-america/Read this idiotic response to this article.
3. ╦heBigo╦ Says:
July 25th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Raising the debt ceiling will certainly place this country on a sure path to default. The credit agencies really have no credibility when 1) They had fannie-mae and freddie-mac o good ratings despite the obvious crisis that lay ahead. And 2) They still have the U.S.A on a triple AAA credit rating which is much undeserved.
Raising the debt ceiling only means an excuse to commit more margin borrowing and spending more. It’s basically saying ” Hey even though were racking up all this debt don’t worry! we will pay it back soon enough with interest.”. Of course even if we don’t raise the debt ceiling a default is still very likely unless serious cuts are made. But that would be near to impossible to accomplish when politicians like Reid, Pelosi and President Obama are sticking around. We already defaulted once before, we don’t need to default again. Cannot rely on the “full faith and credit clause” of the Constitution since it should be risk free.
And no well informed human being would support a cap-and-trade for carbon emissions. That means a tax on industries that Emmit carbon for the sake of the environment. But Co2 is still going to be emitted anyways. If you think this is a good idea, know that the ultimate unintended consequences are 1) Industries having less revenue to hire more people and finally 2) What ever you buy at any shop will have a higher price in order to compensate for this tax. Thus stealing your purchasing power as the consumer and reducing your standard of living.
Ultimately I don’t have much confidence that the debt ceiling will be halted in place let alone lowered. Which means we will default in the worst possible way, via Hyperinflation.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
