And So It Begins....

While this picture is representative of a typical day in Northern Virginia at rush hour, it's also meant to signify the virtual "gridlock" that I predict that will unfortunately grip the Congress and the White House once again over the next two years.

President Obama may be at least giving lip service to bipartisanship - as did Bush in 2007 - but not only does House Speaker John Boehner already plan as an initial action for to hold a vote to repeal the health care reform law, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has also openly stated his main goal is to make sure President Obama is not re-elected. With that sort of opposition, the likelihood of bipartisanship (in public anyway) seems infinitesimal.

Speaker Boehner obviously knows that his repeal bill may sail through Congress only to hit the wall in the Senate. This is just grandstanding for the conservative GOP base and other who are opposed to the health care reform law as it exists. I would imagine that Boehner will later attempt to repeal individual pieces of the law which he feels may have the best shot at removal. Instead of trying to remove parts of the law, I would rather see him work to add something such as tort reform; that is an idea - at least in terms of subjective "pain and suffering" judgements - that I would support. The trial lawyer lobby was certainly instrumental in  preventing the then-Democratic Congress and Senate from including that in the bill.

The new GOP majority in the House - particularly the freshmen Tea Party affiliates - have pledged to cut the federal budget by $100 billion. I would like to support this idea but I continue to have the feeling that the programs Republicans will focus on trimming will generally affect those that need it the most, i.e. social assistance. However, if Congress is willing to look at every government program and department equally, I think there are places where they can find a significant amount of savings.

Let's start with the Department of Defense. In fact, Defense Secretary Robert Gates already has. If his plans come to fruition, that would account for 20% of the Congress' savings by itself! Of course, those who believe that the government's main job should be to "provide for the common defense" may be concerned that the defense cuts may go beyond mere improved efficiency and instead affect the level of human and equipment resources. But considering Secretary Gates is someone who served under the previous administration - thereby fulfilling at least one goal of not changing leaders during wartime - one would like to think that his priorities haven't significantly changed.

How about corporate welfare? I have to wonder if those who were opposed to the bailouts of the banking and automotive industries are also against the money that corporations receive on behalf of research and development. How about we cut back or eliminate the research subsidies that we give out to these private companies?

This may be blasphemous for me to say as I have occasionally benefitted from related opportunities, but let's also take a look at the numerous private government contractors, of which a critical mass exists here in Northern Virginia.  And while a fair amount of contractor employees eventually cross over to the government, how about we expedite the process? Bringing these workers into the Federal fold would eliminate the formerly built-in contractor profit margin and slightly reduce salaries in favor of more favorable benefits. In the long run, I would predict this would save an significant amount of funds, much of which would again come from defense-related work.

UPDATE (January 6): Defense Secretary Robert Gates has really come through in the clutch, identifying up to $78 billion in potential savings! With "only" $22 billion left to cut, perhaps the House of Representatives will be more likely to focus on programs that will affect those individuals and companies who can afford to absorb the loss. One can only dream...

Playing Catch-Up

Hello to everyone out there in Bloggerville!

I just realized that it has been exactly three months since I posted my last blog. Of course, my most loyal readers (ha!) already know behind the scenes that I had quite a busy time preparing for, enjoying, then recovering from a rather busy summer season. But now that I have the time and wherewithall, I wanted to share a few thoughts before what could potentially be a busy fall on the local front. I'll be touching on a number of things, some of which I may expound on later.

First: the Summer of Love tour. That's what Cathy and I called our 37-day, 6550-mile cross-country trip with a not-so-subtle nod to the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. One big difference between that event and ours is the only time we got "high" was in the mountains of the "four corners" states. We even managed to survive both of our family reunions located on opposite ends of the country, hers being in Jackson, MS, mine being in Los Angeles. The logistics of attending those events as well as the Vegas BBW Bash spurred us to hit the road instead of the runway. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be able to spending that amount of time traveling through 27 states. While I figure that we'll be making pilgrimages to visit family in Dallas - or at least as far as Jackson - I don't think we'll be planning anything that extravagant again in the foreseeable future. I especially won't need to relive spending two weeks in Vegas. I'm grateful to Cathy for letting me indulge in my sightseeing for the first few days while she mostly enjoyed having her feet up and off the brake and pedal. I still think I'll need to leave the Bash property every so often, but I think I'm more likely to repeat my favorite things to see and do in Vegas than to find anything new there. I do suspect that we will be expanding our social circle which I feel would be a plus.

Wow... is 2009 The Year of the Grim Reaper or what? They say "death comes in threes" but this year, it's more like the dozens! Some of the more poignant passings for me include: Farrah Fawcett, with whom Cathy shared a common bond of an unfortunate illness; John Hughes, the "Judd Apatow" of my teenage years; and, Michael Jackson, if only for the surreal coincidence of staying in a hotel in Hollywood on the night before his memorial service. And of course, my most loyal readers would think me remiss if I didn't mention the loss of two members of the Kennedy clan.

The domestic agenda of President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress seems to be mixed in public opinion if not also in its effectiveness. As much as I dislike the idea of corporate welfare, I believe that simply letting the banks and auto makers fail would have had a ripple effect of millions in job losses that would have cost taxpayers more in the end than the stimulus package. And while necessity may well be the mother of invention, not everyone has the entrepreneurial skill and spirit to rely on themselves instead of an employer.

Regarding health care, I consider it to be the right of every American citizen and legal resident. I believe the status quo is not working, unless you're either an upper-income employee who is happy with their coverage... or the insurance company CEO who is happy with their bonus. While I think a government-funded "public option" should be in the mix, I'm not opposed to state health co-ops as a compromise, despite the unflinching views of both staunch Republicans and Democrats in Congress. I do think that GOP proposals like capping doctor malpractice judgments and opening up insurer competition to all fifty states would have potentially detrimental results for most citizens. One of the best models to build on, ironically, would the one that Republican Mitt Romney implemented while Governor of Massachusetts; it makes sense that everyone should pay into it, just as long as everyone is covered. I am surprised he hasn't received more news coverage these days. Or if he has, it must be on news media that I don't frequent.

Peace.