Archive for May, 2012

The Imaginary U.S. Debt Crisis: Treasury Bonds Hit Record Low

Posted on: May 31st, 2012 by Kyle. | No Comments

Treasury bonds have fallen to a record low, according to the Wall Street Journal. America has the second lowest bond rate in the entire world at only 1.63 percent. The one country with a lower rate – and only just barely – is Germany at 1.62 percent as of April 2012.

Conservatives have falsely compared the U.S.’s debt situation to Greece, which has a bond rate of over 20%. If you believe in market-based economics, the market has spoken: the U.S. does NOT have a “debt crisis”. If it did no one would invest in Treasury bonds and the yield would go up. That has not been the case as investors flock to U.S. Treasury bonds in an uncertain economic climate. If the government wants to ensure growth and a decline in unemployment by passing a real jobs bill now would be the time. Unfortunately politics on Capitol Hill trump economic reasoning.

Oh Really, Mr. Ricketts?

Posted on: May 18th, 2012 by Kyle. | No Comments

News broke today via the New York Times that billionaire Joe Ricketts planned to spend $10 million dollars in Super PAC attack ads against President Obama featuring his former controversial minister, Jeremiah Wright. While that in itself was newsworthy, the fact that the Ricketts family owns the Chicago Cubs is even more intriguing. The Cubs have been seeking $150 million in taxpayer dollars to rebuild Wrigley Field at the same time that patriarch Joe Ricketts is blasting the city’s most famous resident (and sitting U.S. president). Not only is it bad politics, it is also bad business. Ironically Mr. Ricketts has called on less government spending, but apparently that doesn’t apply to baseball teams – only the working class and senior citizens.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was none too pleased. “The Mayor was livid when he read that the Ricketts were going to launch a $10 million campaign against President Obama — with the type of racially motivated ads that are insulting to the president and the presidential campaign,” an Emanuel aide said. “He is also livid with their blatant hypocrisy.” It is not clear if this will jeopardize the Wrigley makeover, but Chicago taxpayers should nonetheless take notice and let their voices be heard. Let the Ricketts family pay for renovations on their own.

Dick Lugar Falls to Tea Party Challenger

Posted on: May 8th, 2012 by Kyle. | No Comments

The state of Indiana has lost a statesman today. Voters went to the polls to unseat incumbent Senator Dick Lugar, who has served in the Senate since 1977, in a low-turnout primary where fewer than 20 percent of eligible voters participated. Lugar was the mayor of Indianapolis prior to his election to the Senate. His service to Indiana is unquestioned, earning him the respect of Republicans, Democrats and independents alike, but that goodwill was not enough to prevent a 22-point loss to a far-right Tea Party challenger.

Lugar’s popularity was so immense that six years ago Democrats did not even bother fielding a challenger in a wave election where the party won control of the U.S. House and Senate. Three of those House seats that Democrats won came from Indiana. Among them was Representative Joe Donnelly, who today won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in November against the man that defeated Lugar, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

Senator Lugar: America and the New Nuclear Strategy

The blowout loss of a high-profile man like Lugar without so much as a scandal – essentially the face of the Republican Party in Indiana for three decades – signifies a remarkable shift to the right among Indiana Republican voters. Lugar is a man of principle, not ideology. Republicans have said today loud and clear that they prefer purity over conviction. It is a rejection of civility and compromise. Mourdock has said that there is “too much” bipartisanship in Washington and has proudly embraced out-of-state special interests. His entire campaign has been vaulted by super PACs that can receive unlimited amounts of money from corporations.

Mourdock’s victory sends a signal to other Republicans in Congress – who are already intransigent enough – that working with the other party on anything is an offense worthy of a primary challenge. This follows a pattern that developed in 2010 where far-right Tea Party candidates defeated more mainstream Republican candidates in Alaska, Colorado, Delaware and Nevada. General election voters punished the GOP for lurching too far to the right. They lost each of those races in 2010. Indiana could be the latest state where the Tea Party costs the GOP a Senate seat.

Obama Campaign Launches $25 Million Ad Buy

Posted on: May 7th, 2012 by Kyle. | No Comments

President Obama’s re-election team is set to launch a record $25 million ad blitz in a number of swings states in the coming days, weeks and months. Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida and Colorado will be the first targets – each of them states that Obama won in 2008, but several are traditionally Republican-leaning states. President Bush carried all of them except for Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. That’s actually good news for the Obama campaign since they are playing on Republican turf rather than in places like Michigan and Wisconsin.

Michele Bachmann Endorses Mitt Romney

Posted on: May 3rd, 2012 by Kyle. | No Comments

Mitt Romney got an endorsement today that highlights the challenge his campaign will have with satisfying Tea Party conservatives while also appealing to independent voters. Michele Bachmann, the decidedly crazy congresswoman from Minnesota, appeared in Virginia with former governor Romney in order to give her endorsement. How can you try to pivot towards the middle when you appear beside right-wing radicals like Bachmann? It will be a real challenge, but if anyone is capable of intellectual jujitsu, it is Romney.