I read a really good piece by Martin Wolf in The Financial Times today. Excerpts:
Is the US a functioning democracy? This week legislators decided to shut down a swath of the federal government rather than allow an enacted health law go into operation at the agreed moment. They may go further; if they do not vote to raise the so-called “debt ceiling”, they risk triggering default on US government debt – a fate far worse than the shutdown or fiscal sequestration. If the opposition is prepared to inflict such damage on their own country, the restraint that makes democracy work has gone. Why has this happened? What might be the result? What should the president do?
The first question is the most perplexing. The Republicans are doing all of this in order to impede a modest improvement in the worst healthcare system of any high-income country….
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So what should the administration do? In a democracy, people overturn laws by winning elections, not by threatening the closure of government or even an outright default. It is impossible to run the government of a serious country under blackmail threats of this kind. Every time the administration gives in, it stores up more difficulty for itself. It has to stop doing so. Some argue that the 14th amendment of the constitution, which states that “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned”, gives the president the power he needs to borrow, in order to redeem debt. But such a presidential action would be risky. The Supreme Court might side with the president, but a constitutional crisis could itself impair US ability to borrow on favourable terms. Again, the clever proposal to mint a trillion-dollar coin and use that as security at the Federal Reserve might also cause mayhem.
Playing chicken with credibly reckless people is always scary. But the administration cannot give in. I remain, like Winston Churchill, optimistic: the US will do the right thing in the end, though not before first exhausting all the alternatives.
Sometimes. people looking at us from across the ocean see us most clearly. I think what they find hardest to believe is that part about how the nihilists in the House “are doing all of this in order to impede a modest improvement in the worst healthcare system of any high-income country.” It is pretty mind-boggling. Especially when this modest improvement is based on a Republican approach.
That’s far from the only good piece I’ve seen in the last few days that look at this situation from an international perspective.
I particularly liked E.J. Dionne’s column about how Germany — which we taught how to do democracy after WWII — has a lot to teach us now about how to have a functioning republic:
Are Germans now more American than we are?
As we stare at the prospect of a government shutdown driven by tea party radicalism and ludicrously irresponsible hostage-taking politics, we’d do well to study how postwar Germany — yes, encouraged by the United States — has embraced the sort of consensual, problem-solving politics for which we were once famous….
But let’s focus for now on public policy inside Germany, which has proved that capitalism with strong social protections works. The Christian Democrats call it “the social market,” a system that has been enhanced and reformed over the years by both Merkel’s party and the center-left Social Democrats.
This moderate form of progressive, bring-people-together politics was what the United States and its allies had in mind for Germany when they worked with German leaders, especially Christian Democrat Konrad Adenauer, to create a post-Nazi state. The goal was to avoid the extremism and polarization that destroyed the pre-World War II Weimar Republic and led to Hitler’s seizure of power….
He goes on to discuss how, on both the right and the left, the center of gravity in German politics is moving more and more toward the centrist parties. Now there’s a consummation devoutly to be wished, as the American sickness of gerrymandering drives us further and further apart toward the poles.
Of course, I love the piece because it’s very UnPartyish.
Then there was this piece, also in the WashPost:
As the U.S. government creaked toward a shutdown on Monday, the world looked on with a little anxiety and a lot of dismay, and some people had trouble suppressing smirks.
“To be honest, people are making a lot of jokes,” said Justice Malala, a political commentator in South Africa.
Over the years, Malala said, South Africa often has been lectured about good governance by the United States as well as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which are heavily influenced by Washington.
“They tell us, ‘You guys are not being fiscally responsible,’ ” Malala said. “And now we see that they are running their country a little like a banana republic. So there is a lot of sniggering going on.”…
Of course, they’ll be doing something other than laughing if this country goes into default.
It’s just a tragedy of immense proportions, what is happening to this country.
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Not I. This is a hostage situation. I one gives in, the bad guys win (what good guy takes hostages?); if we don’t we take a chance that the bad guys will shoot the hostage (the US government). The US government=us. Any way you look at it we lose.
“For those of you who share the president’s and Senate majority leader’s lack of familiarity with banana republics and their mindsets, here’s a quick summary. A banana republic is a third-world country in which few people do much of anything productive, and most people depend on government welfare, while the government is basically a machinery for extracting economic wealth from the few who actually produce it, while the state slides deeper and faster into debt that nobody believes it can pay back, and the president does basically whatever he wants regardless of what the law or the constitution say, and generally abuses his powers for political advantage in a corrupt fashion.” – Mario Loyola
“Is the US a functioning democracy?”DOES not deserve an answer. – Juan
See, I knew it. I should have stayed in Germany. Better health care, better government, smarter populace. And all due, in part, to American sacrifice and generosity during and after WWII. Just the weather is lousy for about six months of the year, unlike SC.
Yeah the summers are just lovely in this state, if you enjoy 100 degree heat and 100 degree humidity and little air movement.
percent humidity
And cheap, good food!
“the worst healthcare system”
but the best military system. Can’t have both… unless you want to hasten the bankruptcy of the government. The choices have been made by Democrats and Republicans alike – we value guns over
food and healthcare.
I’m not an economist or any sort of budgeting expert (and even if I were, one could easily find five other such experts who would disagree with whatever I say), but I am unconvinced that we can’t have both the best military and the best healthcare system.
We just have to decide to do it.
The obstacle to us doing so is not financial; it’s ideological. We don’t have a rational healthcare system because there are so many people in this country who have a quasi-religious ideological objection to the very idea.
And as I say, I’m no economist. But I believe this is doable because I look at how much we spend now on healthcare in this country, and I see no reason why that amount, funneled through a vastly more efficient, unified system, shouldn’t be able to give us much better outcomes.
And yeah, know — for you, it’s an article of faith that the government can’t do anything efficiently. But that’s just not true. Even the WSJ today acknowledged something that the government has done right, in the regulatory area of all things. Of course, they found it hard to believe. The piece is headlined, “Business and Government Working Together. Really.”
And yeah, that’s an op-ed, not something by the WSJ’s editorial board. But still…
” I see no reason why that amount, funneled through a vastly more efficient, unified system, shouldn’t be able to give us much better outcomes.” – Brad W
Please, let’s not confuse business efficiency with operations of a large governmental organization. Choose any self-made, Progressive business person (hands-on types, please) you wish except government supported front companies (e.g. Solyndra) or non-profit organizations like A.C.O.R.N., etc. Let Warren Buffett be the referee.
Ask he/she what are the necessary ingredients for business efficiency and successful outcome. Competent, experienced managers, carefully screened employees, concern for customers/clients, and desire to compete will likely be cited.
The flaw in your confidence is absence of the any desire to compete (in which case service is doomed to decline). Oh, the constantly shifting metrics may improve (e.g. public education) for a while, but the output will deteriorate. A system managed by bureaucrats who cannot be fired for misdeeds, an independent waste-fraud-abuse detection apparatus (the GAO) whose advice is ignored at will, and budgetary accountability that is irrelevant in the monopoly of government is a recipe for failure.
I hope all of you who think otherwise are organ donors. The single advantage of a monopoly like Obamacare, is one the overconfident do not see yet — an over-abundance of available transplant organs. Ask yourself, how could that be?
There is a functioning example of what the government is trying to do with the ACA that has been in place for decades. It has had its share of (major) problems, and yet it fundamentally transformed – that is, rationalized and stabilized – a sector of the economy which is even larger than healthcare. It’s the system that developed as a result of Fannie Mae.
I am tired of the sky is falling bleats and yelps. The ACA is progress, not perfect clearly, but progress. People just fear change. Of course corrections, enhancements, clarifications and modifications will be necessary – as well as vigilance. But what was was a dead end.
Last, the United States can do, and regularly does – many things very well every single day. False choices do not reflect reality.
“…the United States can do, and regularly does – many things very well every single day.” – Mark S.
Would you like to name just one of the many things well done everyday by the federal government and let intelligent readers decide for themselves?
Facts seem difficult for you, and you have previously posited that facts do not change anyone’s mind.
I think everyone here would recognize that I’m a small goverment guy, but I would certainly argue there are things government does well. In no particular order, here are 5 right off the top of my head:
1. The interstate highway system. We probably have one of the best highway systems in the world.
2. NASA. Hey, we landed on the moon.
3. Assemble Statistics. The feds can crunch some numbers.
4. The military. We can pretty much project force anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. Not every country can say that.
5. Collect/Enforce Taxes. We’re actually really good at that. Most people don’t cheat the system.
Bryan,
I’d agree with you on 4/5. I think NASA’s lost its way. While certainly the scientists, engineers and managers who work there are very talented, the organization hasn’t really had a mission since the Apollo program ended. Perhaps it lacked the impetus to take the next big step. Perhaps it lacked the funding. But look at it today. We have a space agency that hitches rides with the Russians to the ISS – for lack of a rocket. The Space Shuttle never really accomplished its goals, and there was no funding to get the next manned spacecraft ready in time to replace it. What has NASA done for us lately? As soon as we’d landed on the Moon, we should have turned our collective gaze to Mars or beyond.
1. The interstate highway system. We probably have one of the best highway systems in the world.
COMMENTS: Authorized in 1956. As of 2010, was the world’s second longest after China’s. As far as quality goes, China’s is new and ours is in urgent need of significant maintenance and bridge replacements.
2. NASA. Hey, we landed on the moon.
COMMENT: This “everday” federal accomplishment is rather dated (1969), Bryan. But let’s agree the Hubble Telescope, ISS, and Space Shuttles filled the void for a while. I rather doubt Mark S. would ever endorsed such extravagant federal expenditures, however.
3. Assemble Statistics. The feds can crunch some numbers.
COMMENT: (please do not take this personally) — “Some” is the operative word. Where is the statiistic on how many lawyers federal government has employed each decade since 1900? (Easier?) Where is an on-line federal stat for the number of lawyers in Congress and each cabinet department currently?
4. The military. We can pretty much project force anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. Not every country can say that.
COMMENT: No argument on great fulfillment of a Constitutional requirement. Progressives like Mark, however would be loathe to admit such capacity was even necessary and would have omitted this claim of success.
5. Collect/Enforce Taxes. We’re actually really good at that. Most people don’t cheat the system.
COMMENTS: The voluntary taxpayer effort is, as you say, really good —most of us don’t cheat. The government’s effectiveness has been deplorable. The WSJ reported in 1984 that the size of the illicit underground economy reported by the IRS was large enough to erase the federal deficit (about $800 billions in those days). The size of the underground economy is no longer reported by the IRS and news media (no one watching the chicken coop?). Some academics believe today’s illicit economy is denominated in trillions of dollars. CERTAINLY NOT AN INDICATION OF AN EFFICIENT FEDERAL COLLECTION SYSTEM: Americans spend more than $160 billion and 6 billion hours per year complying with the tax code. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/irs-takes-up-a-chunk-of-taxpayers-cash-time/2140440
Juan,
Obtuse as I may be, I fail to see the connection between having a difficulty with facts and believing that argumentative facts rarely sway another’s mind when such are positioned as supportive of one’s viewpoint.
And viewing your comment below, I would have to add that if you believe that I, as a progressive, would be “loathe” to support a robust and engaged national defense structure you do not know me at all. Which is fine by me.
I completely disagree that we have “the worst healthcare system of any high income country”.
1) Our healthcare system is great for those who can afford it.
2) High income people from other countries often come here for treatments.
3) Our system consistently creates medical advancements, new techniques, drugs, treatments, etc. Other countries may be fast followers, but we are innovators for the world.
The problem with comparisons with Germany is that it is a parliamentary multi-party system, where the necessity of compromise and coalitions is practically built-in. True, that’s no guarantee of a well-functioning government(Italy), but it does seem that our two-party system has been heading more or less steadily to this point of dysfunction for two decades or more. Perhaps it cannot work any better than this, barring some massive reform which stands no chance of passing muster with entrenched interests.
But Germany does show that the idea of small business being unable to function well under a single-payer health system is patently false. Or for that matter, any other developed country shows the same thing. As if the US were the only country with small businesses!
Germans are far more communitarian than Americans, though less than, say, Danes or Swedes.
“Medical liability in Germany is determined by standards similar to those in the United States. However, because any resulting disability costs are covered by the German social security system, minimizing out-of-pocket losses to the individual, awards tend to be low.
The German judicial system also has several unique features that help keep settlements low. Judges, not juries, try German civil cases, and standardized reimbursement tables for noneconomic losses guide judges’ decisions. If a claimant wants an award greater than the amount specified in the table, the costs of the litigation are deducted from the award. Nonetheless, medical malpractice awards for severe cases have risen to an average of nearly $650,000 per successful suit.” – http://www.aaos.org/news/aaosnow/sep11/managing4.asp
Note Canada, as well: “Contrary to popular belief, Canada does not have a socialized healthcare system; most physicians are in private practice. The major difference between the Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems is that each Canadian province has one health insurer that covers all provincial residents. Under this single-payer system, physicians bill the health insurer in each province for the medical-related services they provide to patients. Canadian physicians can opt out of the provincial program and bill patients directly, but if they do, they can only bill the patient, not the provincial insurer.” – [ibid]
John Edwards would probably have been an ordinary citizen in Germany. While he was getting rich (like so many US medical malpractice attorneys) the average recovery in Germany was around $100,000. His fee would not have been much less than the $Millions that made his empty head so big.
I have long said that it would be totally fair to limit tort recovery so long as we had full health coverage. As it stands now, plaintiffs want to biggest bite possible at their one bite at the apple, or risk holding the bag for any uncovered medical expenses down the road (Block that metaphor). It is not a very efficient or just system.
@Kathryn Especially the bread!
Word!
“…the United States can do, and regularly does – many things very well every single day.”
-Mark S.
Would you like to name just one of the many things well done everyday by the federal government and let intelligent readers decide for themselves?
Facts seem difficult for you, and you have previously posited that facts do not change anyone’s mind.
1. The interstate highway system. We probably have one of the best highway systems in the world.
COMMENTS: Authorized in 1956. As of 2010, was the world’s second longest after China’s. As far as quality goes, China’s is new and ours requires significant maintenance and bridge replacements.
2. NASA. Hey, we landed on the moon.
COMMENT: This “everday” federal accomplishment is rather dated (1969), Bryan. But let’s agree the Hubble Telescope, ISS, and Space Shuttles filled the void for a while. I rather doubt Mark S. would ever endorsed such extravagant federal expenditures, however.
3. Assemble Statistics. The feds can crunch some numbers.
COMMENT: (please do not take this personally) — “Some” is the operative word. Where is the statiistic on how many lawyers federal government has employed each decade since 1900? (Easier?) Where is an on-line federal stat for the number of lawyers in Congress and each cabinet department currently?
4. The military. We can pretty much project force anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. Not every country can say that.
COMMENT: No argument on great fulfillment of a Constitutional requirement. Progressives like Mark, however would be loathe to admit such capacity was even necessary and would have omitted this claim of success.
5. Collect/Enforce Taxes. We’re actually really good at that. Most people don’t cheat the system.
COMMENTS: The voluntary taxpayer effort is, as you say, really good —most of us don’t cheat. The government’s effectiveness has been deplorable. The WSJ reported in 1984 that the size of the illicit underground economy reported by the IRS was large enough to erase the federal deficit (about $800 billions in those days). The size of the underground economy is no longer reported by the IRS and news media (no one watching the chicken coop?). Some academics believe today’s illicit economy is denominated in trillions of dollars. CERTAINLY NOT AN INDICATION OF AN EFFICIENT FEDERAL COLLECTION SYSTEM: Americans spend more than $160 billion and 6 billion hours per year complying with the tax code. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/irs-takes-up-a-chunk-of-taxpayers-cash-time/2140440
Test
Okay now that I’d added a 2nd “r” on my name those seem to get approved within a couple hours, without it, they’re dead in the water or deleted.
I will still take America over any other country any day of the week. Can’t speak for Herb because he constantly laments the fact he is not back in Germany where things are sooooooooo much better. Yes Herb, I have been to Canada, Germany, Belgium, France, Greece, and the Middle East to name a few but I still prefer America.
We are messy, we make mistakes, we argue, we fight, we are generous to a fault, we criticize freely without fear of reprisal unless one is stupid enough to make threats against the president or another person in public or print. Our systems are not perfect but for the most part, they work. There is no need to get into a long discourse because if by now, one cannot recognize the uniqueness of America, they never will. Not everyone is going to be wealthy, popular, beautiful, and all of the other enviable qualities a few enjoy. However, if one can only see the bad things inside our borders, try going among the poor in third world countries and then get back to me.
Bitch, moan, and complain – me included – but at the end of the day, look around and understand just how fortunate we really are whether we realize it or not because we are constantly blinded by too many trivial things that won’t allow us to see our blessings. And yes, I do understand we do have some who are not as blessed or fortunate as others.
Yeah, me, too.
Although I really, really love England.
I always knew I did, what with The Beatles, Elvis Costello, George Smiley, Monty Python, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, etc.
But I was pleased to find, when I finally visited there a couple of years back, that I loved it even more in person.
Some people had tried to lower my enthusiastic expectations a bit, to help me avoid disappointment. Kathryn warned me it was more like a Guy Ritchie movie than Chariots of Fire, or Pride and Prejudice, or Master and Commander.
But hey, I love “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” too.
And if y’all haven’t seen “Attack the Block,” which depicts a very un-Merchant Ivory London, you should….
With regard to our topic, some of the things I love about England are:
— The National Health system
— The public transportation. The Tube is the best subway system I’ve seen. And you know I love the New York system. And you can get anywhere you need to go in the country, easily, without a car. (OK, technically, I’ve only experienced the part from London to Oxford, but that was great.)
— The museums, which are mostly free. A voluntary donation is encouraged, if you’re so inclined. You just drop it into a box. Or not.
— Did I mention the public transportation?
One disappointment — I didn’t like the beer, particularly “bitter,” as much as I had hoped I would. Well, as one Englishman said, you can’t always get what you want.
You cannot actually get “easily” around the countryside, especially outside of the south.
Oddly enough, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Dubai before it became the playground for the ME. It was still developing but one could get a feel for a time long past when travelling in the desert, visiting a remote village and watching life as it was lived a thousand or more years ago. People still riding donkeys, camels, and horses; stone watchtowers still manned; mosques made of native materials still in use after hundreds of years; the Seven Oasis of the Buraimi in Al-Ain before the area was developed; the peaceful solitude of the creeping red dunes on the Oman border; and the still functioning Roman aqueduct systems in parts of the UAE.
It was a great experience staying in the same house across from the old Bustain Hotel where Robin Moore wrote the book “Dubai”. He got in hot water with Sheik al-Rashid over the way he depicted the old man in the book.
For the ones who have been fortunate enough to travel outside the US, there are places we thoroughly enjoy but when it is time to go home, there is no sensation equal to the feeling if the wheels touching down on American soil. Or so it was for me.
sorry – “feeling of the wheels”
Yeah, I like feeling I am a citizen every time I go through Passport Control….much as I love Canada and Northern Europe.
While I can understand what Bart is saying, there is, I believe, a subtle pride at work, that believes that the materialistic culture of the US is superior to everybody else. Being immersed a lot in the Bible, because of my occupation, it reminds me of Rev. 3:17, “for you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.'” Having come to appreciate much more the values of community and family in other countries, I do not feel the same way as Bart does when I return to the US. In fact I often wish I could turn around and leave. We think we are well-off, but we are poor in spirit. Individualism helped pioneer this country, but I believe that same individualism is now destroying it.
Witness the increasing suicide rate in my own generation of people who have not been able to live up to their own expectations, and I’m not at all convinced that we are all what we think we are. ‘America the Beautiful’–but is it? On the inside?
Hell yeah!
Of course, Herb, what you write reflects the feelings of former East Germans about the West, I am told….
All these comments really make me want to travel. Hopefully one day. I’ll start with New England and perhaps Europe in due course.
E.J. Dionne “unpartyish?”
E.J. can’t get enough face-time on MSNBC. E.J. is about as in the tank for the Democrats as anyone on Fox News is for the Republicans.