Here's a quick rundown of Dems in tough races who are coming out against ending the tax cuts for the rich:
* Rep Jim Himes of Conneticut says he supports a termporary extension, because earning $250,000 annually "does not make you really rich."
* Rep Bobby Bright of Alabama came out against ending the tax cuts, because "a vast majority of my constituents that they don't believe in tax increases on anybody at this point in time."
* Rep Ron Klein of Florida wants a one year extension of the tax cuts, including those for the rich, because "right now, our top economic priority has to be job creation."
* Rep Gerry Connolly of Virginia says the tax cuts should remain because the recovery remains "fragile."
* Rep Gary Peters of Michigan wants the cuts to continue lest we "jeopardize economic recovery."
* Rep Harry Mitchell of Arizona says he "strongly" opposes letting the tax cuts lapse because "we need to encourage investment, not discourage it."
Really, guys? Way to back the party and the people on this. We can afford tax cuts for the rich, but we can't afford anything to help the rest of us. Nice.
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Jim Himes’ Bubble-Era Politics
We have just gotten through one bubble, but in the process created another one. The first was a financial bubble and the second, which grew out of the first, is a government bubble. Perhaps our experience of living through two bubbles in such close succession can help us draw lessons about how bubbles work and what we should do about them.
First, the illusion of unlimited resources makes it impossible to establish priorities and make sensible decisions. Borrowers could take advantage of free money from lenders who were offloading the risk onto others. The illusion of limitless and risk-free financing made it possible for borrowers and investors to think we could have it all.
Second, bubbles end – Badly. It cannot go on forever so it doesn’t. Once the last patsy is onboard, a bubble ends. Our financial bubble is ending and our financial markets are reverting to making sense.
Our next bubble is government. Our government seems to think it can have it all. For a while, it can: each new program can be a “right” because it doesn’t need to be a priority. There is no need for priorities while everything appears possible. Our government has found its patsies in its accommodating creditors, taxpayers, and future taxpayers.
This too will end – sooner or later and a higher or lower cost. Post-bubble, we will re-familiarize ourselves with the fact of resource constraints. We will prioritize. It will be an exciting period for public policy in which serious people will have to convey reasons for their best ideas and convince others of their wisdom.
Jim Himes is a politician of the bubble era – he is the representative of unlimited government to Fairfield County and a symbol of the excesses of our past. Watch for him to appropriate an “independent” label in the coming months. While we should sympathize with his efforts to distance himself from his extremist record, we cannot allow him to become independent of reality. He votes with Nancy Pelosi over 95% of the time; that is not an independent record. It is a record of profligate spending that we cannot sustain. Times have changed. Our families cannot afford Himes anymore.
Harry Mitchell is toast, it's too late for him to pretend to run to the right now. He voted for Obamacare, some of the TARP bailouts, and cardcheck. He doesn't support SB1070, which is even more popular in Arizona than it is in the rest of the country. He votes with Pelosi and the Obama administration and ignores the nonstop Tea Party protests outside his office, he doesn’t represent his Republican-leaning district. He is completely bought and paid for by the unions (http://epaper.aztrib.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RVZULzIwMDcvMDMvMTIjQXIwMzgwMQ==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom) epository/ml.asp?Ref=RVZULzIwMDcvMDMvMTIjQXIwMzgwMQ==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom) Fortunately he is polling at only 44% and challenger David Schweikert is polling at a whopping 50% - really bad news for an incumbent at this point in the race. Schweikert is polling higher than most Republicans challenging Democrats around the country. With early ballots going out in the mail in less than a month, there is virtually no way Mitchell can catch up to Schweikert, there are too few undecided voters. The Democrats aren't likely to try and pour money into the race at this point to save him - http://www.espressopundit.com/2010/09/dnr.html And the AFL-CIO just announced it won't be spending any money on Arizona Congressional races, only other Western states.
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