One of the most infuriating aspects of this
White House has been their hypocritical pattern of politicizing events while
self-righteously wagging fingers at anyone else, warning them not to do the
same.
The Heritage Foundation was responsible for
the portion of Pres. Bush’s New Orleans ‘save my presidency’ speech regarding
a Gulf Opportunity Zone. It mentioned several favorite conservative Christmas
wish items: vouchers for private schools, relaxing regulations such as
prevailing wages on contracts, in addition to environmental safeguards. And
the big prize: a flat tax imposed on the GOP version of utopia, a
military-patrolled deregulated corporate republic.
For example, what was the first executive
action the President took after Katrina? He immediately waved the wage
requirements for federal contracts in the Davis-Bacon Act. This was done
before all the evacuees had been moved out. Now he’s proposing
“nearly $500 million in federal funding to help displaced
private school students from the Gulf Coast enroll in private schools
elsewhere in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The proposal, fleshing out a goal
President Bush had announced in a speech to the nation Thursday night, would
amount to the largest federal school voucher program ever, if
enacted.”
As to housing the displaced, some of you
may know that some shelters have been set up in remote campgrounds, that
although well-intentioned may function more like internment camps than
facilities where people can interact with agencies and job opportunities.
Another concern is the $500 million already spent on mobile homes and RVs to
be set up in “Katrina towns”. Isn’t one of the lessons of disasters that
mobile homes don’t fare well in hurricanes and tornados?
Already, fiscal conservatives, editorials
and what’s left of the “opposition party” are screaming about the lack of
details and the tendency to throw money at a problem. According to the latest
NYT/CBS poll, 90% of people surveyed, “including a majority
of Republicans, said they would disapprove of cutting expenditures on domestic
programs, like education and health care, to continue paying for the Iraq
war.” So there is a economic rebellion brewing, despite rosy rhetoric from the
podium.
The best idea I’ve heard yet:
sell
reconstruction bonds instead of sending the
deficit into Mar’s orbit, further shaking up our bankers in China and
Japan. As long as the POTUS keeps
insisting that we can do ‘whatever it takes’ in Iraq, and “whatever it takes”
rebuilding the Gulf Coast and still extend his tax cuts for the wealthy, one
has to wonder what secret deals or funny money is going to make that work.
Bush never had much luck in business himself and got friendly bailouts and
“do-overs”. But we need sound policy, not
Bushification.
This is an Alamo moment in US politics,
drawing a line in the sand. The GOP will dominate the debate by virtue of
their control over Congress, literally shutting out Democrats as they do on
other controversial legislation. Some are ideologically driven to impose
principles under the guise of reconstruction that they haven’t succeeded in
legislating. Progressives and everyone who opposes further abuses of
democratic balance of power needs to resist political opportunism instead of
real opportunity. If Karl Rove is the de facto “czar” of this effort, the Gulf
Coast recovery will officially launch a Republic of Halliburton with Grover
Norquist officiating. -
KwC
Sources:
Americans worry about the $5 Billion per
month spending in Iraq as other debt
accumulates
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/17/politics/17poll.html
Analysts discuss Bush’s speech/plans to
rebuild Gulf coast region: Heritage vs Brookings, Green Local First
vs Wal Martization http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec05/rebuild_9-16.html
Brooks
and Oliphant:
Bush between a rock and a hard place
Best
idea I’ve heard yet:
sell reconstruction bonds
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/political_wrap/july-dec05/bo_9-16.html
Bush proposes private school
vouchers http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091601723.html
Economists, housing experts question
proposals http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/15/AR2005091502664.html?
Separate but equal? Schooling of evacuees
provokes debate http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112666498176540100-DQgawuLyt4mP5qjjI_nsJlY369A_20060914,00.html?mod=blogs
WaPo ED Mind the Money. “However
the federal spending is paid for, the government must put in place a strong
structure to oversee the effort. This is important not only to guard against
fraud but to make certain that the money goes where it is most needed and is
spent in a way that makes most sense, rather than where the loudest political
clamor arises or where the administration's ideological predispositions
dictate. There are already some worrisome signs. Instead of creating trailer
towns of Katrina evacuees, for example, why not expand the federal government's voucher program
-- a program the
administration has repeatedly tried to cut -- to take advantage of the large
numbers of vacant rental units? There are serious questions about whether Mr. Bush's
proposed Gulf Opportunity Zone, which would grant tax breaks for business
investment in equipment and buildings in the affected areas, would merely
subsidize investment that would have happened anyway or draw it from
elsewhere.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091601634.html
