I am not entirely happy with the way the Obama administration has handled the bin Laden killing and the frequent drone killings. I think it was okay to kill bin Laden, but it would have been better to capture him and try him, in the US or in some international court. If he had resisted arrest, the Seals could certainly have killed him. I think he was killed because the US did not know what to do with him legally. The cowardly Republicans are scared to death of bringing any terrorists in the continental US, although the chance of their escaping and harming anyone is practically nil. The only way they could get out is if they were found not guilty of terrorism, and in that case there is no justification for holding them.
I do not like the idea of executing terrorists by drone attack. I think it should be used very sparingly, only when there is evidence of a genuine, immediate threat to the US, and the US has to act to save lives. On the other hand, I do not want to risk the lives of American troops unnecessarily. The drone attacks certainly save the lives of some American troops. But we are fighting to preserve American values of justice, honor, and the rule of law. Destroying these values also has a significant cost. Presumably we would not kill people willy-nilly, just because they looked suspicious. So, somewhere there is a trade-off between saving the lives of American troops and destroying American values. I believe Obama has erred on the side of destroying American values in order to save troops lives.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Supreme Court Coup
Americans and Egyptians have been upset at what they call a coup by the Egyptian Supreme Court in ruling on presidential candidates, etc. They forget that we had our own coup in the US by our Supreme Court in deciding Bush v. Gore, and appointing George W. Bush President of the US regardless of what the actual vote was in Florida. The US survived this coup, although poorly, since Bush was one of the worst Presidents in American history. Egypt may survive its little coup, but it is much more unstable than the US was. The big issue is Islamic fundamentalism, which has been given a huge boost by America's ill-advised war in Iraq, which hugely strengthened the hand of Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East.
Fed Still Alone
Today's announcement by the Fed that it will continue the "twist" to lower long term interest rates, since it can't reduce short term interest rates below zero, shows how isolated the Fed is because the Congress can't or won't do anything. We still have no fiscal policy, only a monetary policy. Monetary policy can't do everything. The Republicans complain that the Fed should not have an employment mandate in its duties, but Congress is doing nothing about unemployment.
The Republicans complain that the US looks like Greece in terms of incurring too much debt, and they have a point, but the US also looks like Greece because it has a dysfunctional government, in that our Parliament, Congress, does nothing.
One of the main reasons for a do-nothing Congress has been the introduction of the requirement of a 60% majority to pass any legislation, rather than 51%. I don't think the founders of the United States anticipated this outcome, although when talking about the Supreme Court, the Republicans always say we should adhere to what the founders were thinking in the 1700s. Until recently, the 60 vote requirement for cloture was only used for very important legislation where there was an actual filibuster. The Democrats are partly to blame for not forcing the Republicans to conduct an actual filibuster speaking for hours like Jimmy Steward in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," not just saying they are conducting a virtual filibuster.
I don't think the Fed should take actions to prop up the stock market unless there is a crisis. I guess there could be debate about whether we are currently in a crisis, but I don't think we are. Bernanke could let the Dow drop at least 1,000 points before acting as if there were a crisis. There is a crisis in Europe, but to some extent that is a good thing for US markets. The Fed should work with the IMF and its European counterparts to assure liquidity, minimize bank failures, etc., but that doesn't necessarily include propping up the stock market.
The Republicans complain that the US looks like Greece in terms of incurring too much debt, and they have a point, but the US also looks like Greece because it has a dysfunctional government, in that our Parliament, Congress, does nothing.
One of the main reasons for a do-nothing Congress has been the introduction of the requirement of a 60% majority to pass any legislation, rather than 51%. I don't think the founders of the United States anticipated this outcome, although when talking about the Supreme Court, the Republicans always say we should adhere to what the founders were thinking in the 1700s. Until recently, the 60 vote requirement for cloture was only used for very important legislation where there was an actual filibuster. The Democrats are partly to blame for not forcing the Republicans to conduct an actual filibuster speaking for hours like Jimmy Steward in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," not just saying they are conducting a virtual filibuster.
I don't think the Fed should take actions to prop up the stock market unless there is a crisis. I guess there could be debate about whether we are currently in a crisis, but I don't think we are. Bernanke could let the Dow drop at least 1,000 points before acting as if there were a crisis. There is a crisis in Europe, but to some extent that is a good thing for US markets. The Fed should work with the IMF and its European counterparts to assure liquidity, minimize bank failures, etc., but that doesn't necessarily include propping up the stock market.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Iraq and Iran
Arianna Huffington is right in her blog about the Iraq-Iran partnership made in America. The US war in Iraq vastly strengthened Iran's role in the Middle East. The strengthened Iran already has consequences in today's Middle East because of its support for Syria's President Assad in addition to other trouble-making groups such as Hezbollah.
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