Mayor Bloomberg in the Center

Posted on December 13, 2010 by billmanzi

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a major speech in Brooklyn last week that has been gathering some attention. Bloomberg has been talked of frequently as a potential third party candidate for President, and this speech will not do anything to stop that speculation.

Bloomberg points out what I consider to be the obvious: partisan gridlock, political pandering, and legislative influence peddling are destroying our ability to solve the great problems of the day in America. And although Bloomberg obviously believes in business and private enterprise he is not in lockstep with those on the far right of the Republican Party. He whacked around ideologues from both parties. From the New York Times:

“Despite what ideologues on the left believe,” Mr. Bloomberg said, “government cannot tax and spend its way back to prosperity, especially when that spending is driven by pork barrel politics.

“Despite what ideologues on the right believe, government should not stand aside and wait for the business cycle to run its natural course. That would be intolerable.”

Bloomberg did not really unveil any major new policy prescriptions, but he was relentless on the two parties that have made such a big mess of things.

But Mr. Bloomberg reserved his sharpest words for elected officials in Washington, who he said have indulged in partisanship rather than common sense when it comes to the economy.

“Both parties follow the mood of the moment — instead of leading from the front,” he said. “They incite anger instead of addressing it — for their own partisan interests. They tell the world about every real or imagined problem in America, and not what is right with America.

There is a new effort afoot to try to gather centrists from around the country into a movement that demands action from government and not partisan gridlock. It is called “no labels” and can be found at www.nolabels.org Centrists movements have traditionally failed, as the parties do control the apparatus of government. Those parties have increasingly moved towards the fringes. Maybe that can create the backlash necessary for people disgusted with the antics in Washington to try to move the country away from nonsense and towards solutions that actually help people. I know, I know. Naive in the extreme. But what we are doing today just is not working.

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Paul Ryan at the Wall Street Journal

Posted on December 12, 2010 by billmanzi

Yes I am fascinated with Rep. Paul Ryan. Here is his interview over at the Wall Street Journal. He talks about a bunch of different things. Items that I found interesting:

1) Yes he is a budget “hawk”, but a “pro-growth” budget hawk. What that means is he will stomach deficits and the tax cuts that feed deficits because he believes the economy will be dragged by increasing taxes. While he attempts to make a distinction between tax cuts and other “spending” that has budgetary impacts I think he did a poor job of it. Republicans say that you cannot compare tax cuts with spending (such as on unemployment benefits), and he is critical of the “new spending” and what he calls demand side stimulus contained in the bipartisan agreement, which he supports. But he never directly deals with how the tax cuts impact the deficit, simply saying that growth, plus spending cuts and entitlement reform will get us where we need to go.

2) He apparently does not believe, as Krauthammer does, that the bill will provide stimulus. He calls it a sugar high, with a short term jolt that will dissipate. Back to the WSJ mantra that cutting marginal tax rates is what produces economic growth, and hence his support for keeping the Bush tax rates in place.

3) He did not rule out a revenue component to deficit cutting, but insisted that it be part of a tax simplification process that will reduce rates and eliminate deductions. On this score he seemed at least sympathetic to the goals of the Deficit Commission.

4) He defended his vote no vote on the Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction plan by saying that they had punted on health care, which is a huge driver of federal spending. On that score he agrees with Paul Krugman, who attacked the Commission report from the left in part by making the same point.

5) As part of his Roadmap he touted two items. The first is the conversion of Medicaid to a federal block grant program. (Medicaid is the federal- state health care program for the poor) The second would be major changes in Medicare, including what he calls “premium support” that would turn the program into a “voucher” system, with private health plans competing for business from the seniors with these vouchers. The key point here is that the system would not even come close to providing federal dollars to match current rate of Medicare spending. Bottom line is that while it would achieve cost control over the program by simply limiting federal “premium support” increases, spending on health care for seniors would drop dramatically. And I do mean dramatically. Ryan, along with Democrat Alice Rivlin, has submitted the Rivlin-Ryan plan on Medicaid and Medicare. That necessarily must be another post, because it represents the true heart of this deficit debate.

http://online.wsj.com/media/swf/VideoMicroPlayer.swf

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The Return of Bill Clinton

Posted on December 11, 2010 by billmanzi

Bill Clinton returned to the White House briefing room with President Obama, and he put on a tour de force, with the President excusing himself while the former President seemed to bask in the short term restoration. While Obama has been called a great communicator there is no question that the master put on a show, explaining key policy details in a language that could be understood. He defended the bipartisan compromise against Democratic critics, and pointed out that there was some Republican opposition to the deal as well. President Clinton specifically referred to a Charles Krauthammer column in the Washington Post that paints the bipartisan agreement as a major political victory for the President. And Krauthammer makes some very interesting points.

Obama is no fool. While getting Republicans to boost his own reelection chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound, second-chance, post-Bush, Tea-Party, this-time-we’re-serious persona of debt-averse fiscal responsibility. And he gets all this in return for what? For a mere two-year postponement of a mere 4.6-point increase in marginal tax rates for upper incomes. And an estate tax rate of 35 percent – it jumps insanely from zero to 55 percent on Jan. 1 – that is somewhat lower than what the Democrats wanted.

Krauthammer ridicules the left for their myopia in not realizing what a good deal this was for Democrats, and speculates that Obama has created a second “stimulus” bill, with Republican help, that may goose the economy enough to ensure his re-election in 2012. Krauthammer also recognizes the Democratic intra-party mud-fight as benefiting Obama amongst independents, where elections are won and lost these days.

Obama’s public exasperation with this infantile leftism is both perfectly understandable and politically adept. It is his way back to at least the appearance of centrist moderation. The only way he will get a second look from the independents who elected him in 2008 – and abandoned the Democrats in 2010 – is by changing the prevailing (and correct) perception that he is a man of the left.

Ah yes the political deal struck by the President begins to take form. After the midterms this deal was a foregone conclusion, with the President signaling its arrival a few months back. I thought he might have signaled it too early, but maybe I was wrong about that. The Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate are in no position to criticize Obama now. They had their chance to get a tax bill through for two years. They failed. Bill Clinton is right. This is the best deal available, and the more you look at the particulars the more you realize just what the President got the Republicans to agree to.

Krauthammer is not the only Republican to oppose this deal. Jim Demint announced his opposition, as did the Club for Growth.

The Club for Growth today declared its opposition to the tax compromise proposal reached yesterday by President Obama and congressional Republicans.

“This is bad policy, bad politics, and a bad deal for the American people,” said Club President Chris Chocola. “The plan would resurrect the Death Tax, grow government, blow a hole in the deficit with unpaid-for spending, and do so without providing the permanent relief and security our economy needs to finally start hiring and growing again.”

“Instead, Congress should pass a permanent extension of current rates, including a permanent repeal of the death tax, and drop all new spending,” Chocola said. “A month ago, the American people repudiated Washington big government. It’s time for both parties to finally hear that message and act on it.”

Congressional Democrats better act quickly, or come January they will find out what a bad political deal really looks like.

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Gas Outage Update

Posted on December 10, 2010 by billmanzi
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Major Gas Outage in Methuen

Posted on December 9, 2010 by billmanzi

Columbia Gas Company has informed the city that due to a loss of pressure, a gas main in Methuen has been shut down causing gas outages affecting over one thousand customers in West Methuen. There is no danger to residents from the work being performed. Columbia Gas is in the process of locking all gas meters in the impacted areas to the off position as a safety precaution. They are in residential areas going door to door to gain access to each residential meter. Work will continue throughout the night and into Friday, December 10th. Once the problem is fixed, Columbia Gas service personnel will go door-to-door to inspect natural gas appliances inside property before turning on the gas meter. There is no time estimation for gas service restoration at this point. The City of Methuen is activating its Emergency Management Operation. A shelter will be set up at the Timony Grammar School on 45 Pleasant View Street in Methuen beginning at 9pm tonight. All schools Pre-K through Grade 12 are closed in the City of Methuen Friday, December 10, 2010. For information and assistance regarding gas outages, please call the Methuen Fire Department at 978-983-8940.

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The Brooks-Ryan Debate

Posted on December 9, 2010 by billmanzi

An interesting debate between Rep. Paul Ryan and conservative columnist David Brooks over the role of government and the intersection of politics and government, and how to best act in the best interests of the American people. I have praised Paul Ryan on this blog, and today I do not take that praise back. He has had the courage to put forward a vision that included specifics as to how he believes a balanced budget should be achieved. And to the surprise of many conservatives he has done that without the Republicans “controlling” Congress. I do not agree with that vision, but at least he has had the courage to put forward a plan. But Ryan has also shown himself to be less of a conciliator than I had hoped, and actually voted against the Deficit Commission plan. And I believe it is for the reasons that some on the left were against the plan. They want solutions based entirely upon their own policy preferences, without compromise. Ryan apparently believes that any increased revenue makes the deficit reduction package a non-starter. He also wanted the Deficit Commission to recommend repeal of the health care package, something that they were not charged with doing. Not a real good sign about moving the ball in the next two years.

New York Times columnist David Brooks debated Ryan at the American Enterprise Institute last week, and Brooks wrote about that encounter in the Times. I come down solidly on the side of Brooks here. Ryan is using the type of rhetoric that makes common ground that much harder to find, using the same old tired nonsense about Obama being in favor of “European style socialism”, and apparently favors utilizing the political process to try to achieve total victory while the country goes bankrupt. From Brooks:

But Ryan and I differed over President Obama and the prospects for compromise in the near term. Ryan believes that the country faces a clearly demarcated choice. The Democratic Party, he argues, believes in creating a European-style cradle-to-grave social welfare state, while the Republicans believe in a free-market opportunity society. There is no overlap between the two visions and very little reason to think they can be reconciled.

I argued that Obama and his aides are liberal or center-left pragmatists and that nothing they have said or written suggests they want to turn the U.S. into Sweden. I continued that Ryan’s sharply polarized vision is not only journalistically inaccurate, it makes compromise and politics impossible. If every concession is regarded as an unprincipled surrender that takes us inexorably farther down the road to serfdom, then nothing will get done and the nation will go bankrupt.

Pretty big differences amongst those that are responsible, and those that are drunk on the kool-aid of tax cuts at all cost. I thought Ryan had a degree of responsibility. I may have been mistaken. The Dana Milbank column on Ryan is here.

http://aeistatic.capitalreach.com/a/aeiplayer/AEIConsole.swf
http://aeistatic.capitalreach.com/a/aeiplayer/embed.js

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The Obama Presser

Posted on December 7, 2010 by billmanzi

President Obama held a press conference today, arguing that the compromise reached on tax cuts with the Republican Party is the only option available to him, and is the best that can be done under the circumstances. His point, that this is not an “abstract” political argument but something that has “real” consequences for real people. He answered criticism from his own party by issuing some criticism of his own. From the Washington Post:

He also sharply criticized his party, accusing Democratic critics of failing to reasonably assess what he has achieved during a difficult political time. And he compared complaints that he has ceded too much ground on the tax debate to the objections from liberals during the health-care debate.

“This is a big, diverse country. Not everybody agrees with us,” he said. “I know that shocks people. You know, the New York Times editorial page does not permeate across all of America. Neither does The Wall Street Journal editorial page.

There is no question that the President basically did the best he could. President’s will also be criticized by everyone, regardless of merit. I think that the Dems could have swallowed this a little easier had the middle class cuts been “decoupled” from the top rate tax cuts with this extension. The Congressional critics, in my opinion, are in no position to beat up the President when they could not achieve their goals legislatively for the past two years. The Congressional left should look in the mirror.

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Ben Bernanke on the Economy

Posted on December 7, 2010 by billmanzi

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke went on 60 minutes and talked about the economy, fed actions, the prospect for our economy in the future, and his recommendations for the tax code in a wide ranging interview. He talked about the economic divide that is occurring in America, defended the “quantitative easing” policy of the Fed, and urged a reduction in tax rates along with simplification of the code by eliminating a host of deductions. Bernanke highlighted a critical point, both economically and politically. The unemployment rate for college graduates is 5%, while the unemployment rate for high school graduates is over 10%. His point on “two societies” developing is borne out to some degree by that number. A good interview with some interesting points by Bernanke. The Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson talked about the interview in his column today.

http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf

http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf

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John Molori is December Artist of the Month

Posted on December 7, 2010 by billmanzi

Mayor William M. Manzi has named John Molori as December’s Artist of the Month. John is a long time resident of Methuen and a photographer. He is a regular contributor to AM 1110 WCCM and a syndicated columnist for Patriots Football Weekly, Boston Baseball Magazine, Methuen Life Magazine, Merrimack Valley Business and New England Golf Monthly. His columns and photos have been published in The Boston Metro, The Providence Journal, New England Hockey Journal, North Shore Sunday, Merrimack River Current, Lowell Sun, and Eagle-Tribune.

Molori’s work has been featured on Monday Night Football, ESPN, Fox, Sporting News Radio and several radio stations and websites throughout New England. He has served as a guest lecturer at Emerson College, Boston University and Curry College.

John has won numerous honors including the New England Emmy Award, CableAce, Beacon Award, Hometown Video Award, Common Cause Open Government Website Award and the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters Award. He is President of the Methuen Community Television Board of Directors and Webmaster for the City of Methuen official website.

Mayor Manzi stated, “I’d like to personally thank John for his participation in this program. He is one of the many talented photographers and artists living and working in our community. It is an honor to display his photography. I encourage people to come to my office and view his work.”

The Methuen Artist of the Month Program was created by Mayor Manzi four years ago in order to give members of the Methuen Arts Community a forum to display their work and to encourage participation in Methuen’s growing creative economy. Methuen artists interested in being considered for Artist of the Month should contact the Mayor’s Office.

John Molori, December Artist of the Month

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Scott Brown Leads the Field

Posted on December 6, 2010 by billmanzi

With Massachusetts Democrats having a very good year there has been much speculation about the potential vulnerability of Republican Senator Scott Brown in 2012. A new Public Policy survey shows Brown in a relatively good spot, with a very good favorability rating and a good sized lead on all potential Democratic opponents.

Brown tops recently re-elected Governor Deval Patrick, 49-42; Kennedy’s widow Vicki,
48-41; 34-year representative of the 7th congressional district, Ed Markey, 49-39; 8th district
Congressman Mike Capuano, 52-36; and 9th-district Congressman Stephen Lynch, 49-30. The varying deficits are largely a function of name recognition, but there is clearly a ceiling for a Democrat right now in an unlikely place. Brown gets 22-28% of Democrats, something usually only seen in Southern Democratic states like North Carolina. He maintains 85-89% of his own party, and holds 29- to 34-point leads with independents, who make up almost as much of the electorate (38%) as Democrats (42%).

Brown’s approval rating is higher than John Kerry’s, with 53% approving of his job performance. Brown also continues to bank a large amount of campaign cash and should be in a strong financial position in 2012. Can he be had? Despite his very good numbers this is still Massachusetts, and I think it very possible. But I do think that the Dems greatly lessen their chances with a wide open, multi candidate primary. This is a democracy, and many will likely be interested in running, but such a field may lead stronger candidates to sit out the race. Either Deval Patrick or Vicki Kennedy could win a race like that, in my opinion, but would they be interested in such a primary? (The Governor has said he will not run). And Brown is a great campaigner who is not afraid of work. Yes he is potentially vulnerable, but you have to like his chances today. The Public Policy press release is below.
brown-ppp_release_ma_1202424

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