Buffett is a huge hypocrite. He is all for supporting anything that works for his interests and now that the government is proposing something that hurts his investments, he is against it. Granted, that's not really any different than anyone else in business. But the man should not be regarded as some kind of saint. He's as self-interested as anyone else.
" But the man should not be regarded as some kind of saint." so what! " Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future" Buffett
Howard Dean was on BBC's Newsnight saying that the victory of Scott Brown was due to Obama "making too many compromises...not going far enough". He said that Democrats that switched to Brown or abstained were polled and they said they did it "as a protest towards Washington"...implying that Obama needs to go further to the left, not towards the right, i.e. effecting real change as he said he would when elected. Though I'm no expert on American politics it seems there are many forces at work here. I notice that M3 growth went negative recently despite the Bernanke money printing, that doesn't suggest much of a recovery and if unemployment stays high at the same time that Wall Street is paying big bonuses we may need to up our game in the next few months. You know, something like this shock result might spur Obama into more radical populist measures...rather than sitting on the fence he pushes forward with what he really wants, adopting the attitude that he's going to get a bashing whatever he does, so he might as well trust his instincts. That may not be good for us... I fear this battle has only just begun, the debate is not going to go away so easily.
I don't think it would be too hard to bribe two Republicans. There are always politicians from any party that will either be incompetent or willing to 'do a deal'. So this commission sounds very dangerous to me. I hope that we are not counting on the support of two politicians. You just know that a FTT will be on the table for discussion... I understand that in the 1930s they never believed the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act would pass, with something like 1000 economists signing a petition against the Act (and I'm guessing 1000 economists in the 1930s was a LOT)...until it passed. And this time there are quite a few economists such as Krugman (aahh!) and Stiglitz in favour of a FTT. Add the likes of Buffett and Soros and unfortunately we really are David in David v Goliath.. Robert's a lot more optimistic I think, which is good, and lets hope he's right...
Just because this commission proposes, then approves something, doesn't mean that it will become law. It would still have to be taken up by the full House and Senate in order to pass. Someone correct me on that if I'm wrong.
Less than a day after congressional Democrats and the White House reached a tentative deal to establish a bipartisan federal debt commission, the effort appears to be on life support. http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=...-debt-commission-is-political-cover-exercise/ GOP opposition threatens fiscal commission agreement. http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=...osition-threatens-fiscal-commission-agreement
you're probably right, though I would still hope such a vote never takes place... Also, I mentioned before the Glass Steagal Act in the 1930s...my mistake, I meant the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, that was passed in 1930...have corrected original post
The idea of the commission is to create 1 package that wouldn't be modified in the house or senate. It would be a simple up or down vote on the entire package.
The Conrad Gregg bill would require a 3/5 majority vote in both the House and Senate. Also the Treasury Secretary would be one of the commission members. "The President shall designate 2 members, one of whom shall be the Secretary of the Treasury, and the other of whom shall be an officer of the executive branch." "VOTE ON PASSAGE- Immediately following the conclusion of consideration of the Task Force bill, the vote on passage of the Task Force bill shall occur without any intervening action or motion, requiring an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. If the Task Force bill is passed, the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall cause the bill to be transmitted to the Senate before the close of the next day of session of the House. The vote on passage shall occur not later than December 23, 2010." It's the same 3/5 majority required in the Senate... http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-2853 -Guru
Guru, What you stated is for the Conrad Gregg idea to from a commission which has not been looked upon favorably, the one people are talking about now is the defeicit commission formed by presidential orders by passing congress which will have rules seaside mentioned.