Well, I never thought I’d say it, but here’s what we’ve come to: The Republican Party is bad for business. It’s not only bad for business, it’s bad for anyone who has a 401(k), a 403(b), or any other instrument for equities investment.
How, really, does a major political party get to be captured and held hostage by a bunch of crazies? Well…one explanation may be gerrymandering. Arizona’s district 5, for example, in 2011 was merged with District 6, solidifying Republican control of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area’s East Valley suburbs, which have historically been dominated by the Mormon church. Hence, Matt Salmon, one of the smuggest of the crazies we’ve sent to Washington. Other Arizona districts have similarly been manipulated to give Republicans an edge.
Another is probably poor education. You’ve heard me comment on the deplorable products of my state’s K-12 system. Former Intel CEO Craig Barrett, who was largely responsible for bringing his company to Arizona, has said that had he known how bad the educational system here is and how blithely the legislature cuts funds to schools, he would not have suggested that Intel build here.
Only a blindly ignorant electorate could possibly vote in clowns like Matt Salmon and Jeff Flake. One almost wonders if the Republican determination to underfund education in this state has an ulterior motive: uninformed, gullible voters = Republican wins.
My own business only just started to recover this year from the recession engendered by misguided right-wing theories about the economy and ill-advised military occupation in the Middle East. Now the fundamentalist crazies are at it again. The Republican party, driven by an extremist minority that in many ways can be likened to conservative Muslim extremists, has succeeded in shutting down the most powerful government in the world. And it is about to cause us to default on our loan payments.
Taken together, these two blunders will drive our country and the world into another recession. My business certainly won’t sustain that, and I’m sure many others won’t either.
As I write, eight hundred thousand people are furloughed from their jobs, thanks to the extremists in the House.
You understand: that’s 800,000 people who are bright enough to figure out that their livelihoods are threatened by a bunch of doctrinaire fools. It’s 800,000(!!!) responsible, hard-working, taxpaying citizens who, if they have any clue which side their bread is buttered on, will NOT vote Republican in the next election.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of children are locked out of HeadStart programs that, for many children of the working poor, provide the only square meal the kids get in a day and the only affordable day care for minimum-wage and underemployed parents. Not, I suppose, that we should care about the Underclass, eh? But hey: these are freaking children!
I used to be a Republican myself — was a fan of Barry Goldwater, amazingly enough. Actually campaigned for the man when he ran for president. He signed my first straight-A report card from the University of Arizona.
But the party diverged from my way of thinking (and, I believe, from Mr. Goldwater’s) years ago.
I am still not a doctrinaire liberal, although in the current atmosphere the crazies like to paint people like me as far to the left. That’s simply untrue. As a business owner, I probably would vote for Republican policy if it supported my company’s interests. I happen to believe in the Second Amendment, and if all things were equal (i.e., if all candidates had full control over their marbles), I would vote for a Second Amendment candidate and against a gun confiscation candidate, no matter what the party.
However, a policy that brings down the government is not good for business.
In my opinion, it’s sedition.
When exactly are the sane men and women of good will who remain in the party going to wrest control away from the nut cases?
Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing
demand compromise.
—Barry M. Goldwater
November 1994
I think that if anyone clings to ideals without thought of real world consequences then we will have these types of issues. It also helps that you don’t suffer the consequences yourself. If these politicians had THEIR livelihood threatened I am sure that they would ALL come to some arrangement quickly.
Well, IMHO virtually every American will be harmed if this nonsense continues. One-percenters can sustain the loss of a few million dollars. People whose net worth is in the vicinity of $1 million or less and are invested in the market or real estate, and people who depend on a job to make ends meet: those are the people who will suffer.
Interestingly, this includes most of the extreme Tea Party set. Whether or not you agree that they’re being manipulated, most of them are ordinary folks like you and me. And like us, they will lose their jobs and see their savings melt away.
The Democrats are costing businesses millions of money with added costs from Obamacare. Also, the Democrats are refusing to negotiate. Politics are a negotiation and when you have a party that refuses to negotiate, it causes everything to come to a standstill.
Well, if that’s true about Obamacare, then we need to see some specific, verifiable figures that prove it. Not speculation, not something emitted from a right-wing radio or TV commentator with an agenda to push, but hard facts.
Possibly your news media aren’t informing you that the Affordable Care Act is saving money on Medicare by improving the program’s bargaining power and by eliminating wasteful aspects of it. My Medicare Part D premiums will drop by almost 50% this year…and I don’t think that’s happening out of the goodness of the Part D private insurer’s corporate heart.
The Democrats are refusing to negotiate because what they’re being asked to do a) violates what is now the law of the land as passed by Congress and vetted by the U.S. Supreme Court, a body that has been packed with politically conservative justices; b) is unreasonable; and c) is yet another scheme to undermine the present administration.
We see a group of people that refuses to negotiate — which, IMHO, is what the extreme contingent of the Republican party is doing (you’ll note that they won’t even negotiate with calmer heads in their own party) — and then yells that the other side isn’t negotiating. In the first place they’re dissembling, and in the second place their extreme position is not something that can be negotiated.
Personally, I hope the President stands his ground. Let the natural consequences of these folks’ thinking become apparent to everyone, and pretty quick we’ll be rid of them, at least on the national scene.
I’m one of the 800,000 and I was already questioning my career choice. When a Republican is in the big house, they appoint people who will barely keep the agencies afloat, unless the agency is one of their sacred cows (think war, vets, surveillance, FBI). Then the next group of Democrats spends all their time trying to repair the damage. Don’t think for one minute that this doesn’t have a negative impact on businesses. We aren’t friends. I think we may partially default, too. The Tea Party wants a weakened government and they aren’t educated enough to realize that the market can’t sustain it. I think the Fed saw this coming and it’s why the quantitative easing is still going strong. And you’re exactly right, the redistricting is to blame for he House. We can only blame Texas for Ted Cruz, since clearly districts aren’t to blame there. Revisionist history books and ignorance, maybe.
PS I own a firearm and voted for Bush in 2008. I am not some crazy liberal.
I’m one of the 800,000 and I was already questioning my career choice. When a Republican is in the big house, they appoint people who will barely keep the agencies afloat, unless the agency is one of their sacred cows (think war, vets, surveillance, FBI). Then the next group of Democrats spends all their time trying to repair the damage. Don’t think for one minute that this doesn’t have a negative impact on businesses. We aren’t friends. I think we may partially default, too. The Tea Party wants a weakened government and they aren’t educated enough to realize that the market can’t sustain it. I think the Fed saw this coming and it’s why the quantitative easing is still going strong. And you’re exactly right, the redistricting is to blame for the House. We can only blame Texas for Ted Cruz, since clearly districts aren’t to blame there. Revisionist history books and ignorance, maybe.
PS I own a firearm and voted for Bush in 2008. I am not some crazy liberal.
Funny ….You are correct. For the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone would give Ted Cruz and his cronies directions let alone the ability to shut down the goverment. When I hear these Tea Party elected officials speak, I am struck by their lack of depth and …well … “smarts”. Let us not forget this is the same group who insisted food stamps be cut while handing out huge incentives to corporate farms. IMHO these folks are doing irreparable damage to the Republican Party. You can rest assured come next election every one of those 800,000 who were laid off will be voting next election…and it won’t be for a Republican…
AMEN.
I see both sides refusing to compromise.
My husband is one of the 800,000 on furlough, also, and ok at least for a week or so. People should know that they are eligible for unemployment benefits [ that will have to be repaid when this ends – if salaries are paid retroactively].
And to bring a counter-point – my husband has had bosses appointed by Democrats and they have not done a good job for their state, their employees or the taxpayer. So from my point of view – they all should be fired.
I see both sides refusing to compromise.
My husband is one of the 800,000 on furlough, also, and ok at least for a week or so. People should know that they are eligible for unemployment benefits [ that will have to be repaid when this ends – if salaries are paid retroactively].
And to bring a counter-point – my husband has had bosses appointed by Democrats and they have not done a good job for their state, their employees or the taxpayer. So from my point of view – they all should be fired.
But we all have our opinions and thank heaven we can!
Sorry for the furlough hassle!
When the state furloughed university faculty and staff here, we were indeed able to get unemployment for the days that we were shorted on our pay. Of course, the university had no intention of paying us any back salary — in fact, we were expressly forbidden to do any work, even on a “volunteer” basis, to keep our jobs up to date and our offices functioning properly. So there was no question of repaying the UI benefits…not that it would have been a problem. It was hardly enough to matter.
LOL! It surely is hard not to throw up your hands and holler A POX ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES, isn’t it?
As it was with you, there is to be NO work done by furloughed federal workers, phones were turned in, computers shut down, no freebie/voluntary working – no nuthin’.
Do you think the Senators and Congressmen thought it meant them too?
Except for the lack of salary, of course.
Yes, I have written to Senators and Congressmen, and the answers you get back show they [staff] do not understand English or plain choose to misunderstand. Ah well.