1. President's Question Time - One More Time
The point of debate is to clarify things, to find where the real points of disagreement are, and to assess them in that context of actual alternatives. All last year we had a rather wonkish debate going on about the details of health insurance reform - how to insure 40 million people without breaking the bank, how to expand insurance with the cooperation of insurance and drug companies, how to curtail costs, how to pay for it, etc. I don't blame people for finding their eyes glazing over. Mine tend to as well. And I don't blame people for watching the sausage-making in Washington and feeling nauseated.
But the Dish forced me to grapple with these arguments and to subject my knee-jerk resistance to this topic to yield to a deeper understanding of how crucial it is for our fiscal future - and our moral present. Your emails brought home to me the desperation out there - not of the idle or irresponsible, but of those who had done all they could to take care of themselves and were rendered indigent or sick or terrified for no fault of their own. Finding a way to get insurance against the exigencies of human life, of which illness is a prime example, is not socialism. It's insurance. it also helps labor mobility, reduces crippling anxiety, and is fundamentally humane.This argument seems to have been lost on many of my more rigid libertarian friends out there.
But outside this reasoned debate, we had people and politicians and charlatans like Beck and Levin and Limbaugh turning understandable anxieties about this process into hysteria and hyperbole and panic. The reaction was so severe on the tea-party right that it seemed simply impossible to counter. You can't reason people out of total hysteria or utter contradiction: "Get the government out of Medicare!"
But here are the obvious facts. The president wants to find a way to get private insurance to 40 million people who don't have it, but can turn up in emergency rooms in desperation, cost far more than if they'd had preventive care, and keep pushing up costs for everyone else. The Republicans have no such plans...2. Despite court ruling, Congress can still limit campaign finance
Now that the Supreme Court has struck down century-old restrictions on corporate money in politics, is Congress prepared to strike back?
Many suppose that the court has made it impossible for Congress to restrict corporate speech. But this is wrong. While Congress can't issue a broad ban on all companies, it can target the very large class that does business with the federal government and ban those companies from "endorsing or opposing a candidate for public office."
A 2008 Government Accountability Office study found that almost three-quarters of the largest 100 publicly traded firms are federal contractors. If Congress endorsed our proposal, these companies -- and tens of thousands of others -- would face a stark choice: They could endorse candidates or do business with the government, but they couldn't do both. When push came to shove, it's likely that very few would be willing to pay such a high price for their "free speech."...3. Fannie & Freddie vs. Mama & Daddy
Capitalizing on the public distraction afforded by the holidays, the US Treasury quietly announced on Christmas Eve that it would abolish a former agreement that limited Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to receiving no more than $200 billion in federal bailout funds. The $200 billion caps were set in 2008 when the federal government seized control of the mortgage giants in what is becoming an all-too-familiar trope of conservatorship—the legal process by which government acquires control of private corporations. The removal of these caps amounts to what is effectively a carte blanche for Fannie and Freddie, removing any capital limits to promise unlimited federal aid to the two. The announcement comes on the heals of a year in which Fannie and Freddie CEOs bothreceived an annual salary of $6million in cold, hard cash—bonuses included.
As a first generation high school graduate and college student, I have felt first hand the impact of a public funds put to good use. I went to public school my entire life, and though I now attend the most expensive college in this country (Sarah Lawrence College), I do not pay a dime of the approximately $55,000 annual cost of attendance (save a miniscule federally-subsidized student loan). This is because Sarah Lawrence is a private institution that awards financial aid based entirely on familial income. In addition to the roughly $50,000 I receive in private Sarah Lawrence aid, I also receive a Pell Grant, FSEOG grant, and a federally subsidized student loan. Situating myself within the interstices of public and private aid, I have been able to afford myself a college education.
Combing through the $787 billion dollar stimulus package signed into law by President Obama nearly one year ago, I found just under $60 billion to address Disability, Unemployment, and WIC (Women-Infants-Children) — all social programs that my family has utilized at one time or another.
Our nation is at a crossroads where it must demand a reevaluation of the neoliberal order, which has lead to our current economic environment — an environment that extolls the virtues of the free market and shames the recipients of government assistance with labels of “welfare queen,” among others. We must recognize that Algerism and American exceptionalism do not exclude the public sector — indeed, they are the crux of it. I only wonder when we will realize this; when the public sector will become a source of pride and not shame. Until then, I can only daydream about what Mama and Daddy could have done with that carte blanche placed firmly in the hands of Fannie and Freddie.4. Funniest Thing: French Fight AIDS With 120-Foot Flying Condom
The French have unveiled their latest weapon in the battle against sexually transmitted diseases: a 120-foot condom filled with helium that went on display Tuesday at the Palais de la Decouverte in Paris.
The giant inflatable – dubbed "Condomfiere" – will set off on a five-continent tour to promote World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, part of a campaign started by the safe-sex group CondomFly. The dirigible condom carries three passengers plus a pilot.
Before starting its international sojourn, the floating behemoth will stop in Vienna for the 18th International AIDS Conference in June, where it will disperse heath information, as it will throughout its travels.
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