Happy Birthday to Kelly McGillis, 56.
A little good stuff:
1. Very interesting: a confrontation between Eric Cantor and some of the committee chairs. Great reporting from Robert Costa. Not a good sign for Cantor -- or John Boehner.
2. More on health care spending...and health care employment. From Dan Diamond. Seriously, by 2050 we're all going to be some form of physical therapists, aren't we?
3. And Kevin Drum on the ratings agencies.
Interesting article from Costa. When the advantages of not working with party leadership and (in many cases) of being seen as opposed to party leadership becomes more valuable to an incumbent than being a part of the policy-making process, what holds a Congressional caucus together?
ReplyDeleteUsed to be PORK. Rep. A. gets to bring a bit of money home for a pet project that garners votes, Rep. B gets the same, so the band together to support each others projects. And it mattered less if Rep A and Rep B were from the same party.
DeleteEarmarks made for a smoother Congress. I'd like to see some analysis of the cost of earmarks vs. the cost of dysfunction.
I think there's been a sea change in the culture of Republican electeds. Norms of behavior seem to have been rejected, at least in part. It's fascinating.
DeleteMaking it a more broad complaint about modern politicians: the incentive to become a celebrity TV host or a think tanker is often greater than to become a respected policy-maker. A great example on the Dem side, I think, is Cory Booker. The guy prioritized saving people from burning buildings over doing anything a mayor is supposed to. What's he going to do when he's in the Senate? Try and build his national following, obviously.
DeleteThe healthcare article is interesting, but troubling to me because it raises a question I hadn't thought through. We need lower-cost healthcare. We also need more new jobs. It sounds like that's a bit of Sophie's Choice, though.
ReplyDelete