Mitt Romney Needs Lawyers, George Will is Wrong Again, Congress Takes a Paid Vacation and Forces 70,000+ Workers to Take an Unpaid One,

And Other News That Should be Commented On

Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney named a group of lawyers to advise him on legal and constitutional issues.  The number of lawyers Mitt needed was 63, that’s right 63 bona fide legal people.  The group is so large it needs 3 co-chairmen.  The co-chairs are quoted as saying

“Mitt Romney deeply understands that the rule of law and the integrity of our courts are essential components of our nation’s strength and must be preserved,” the three chairmen said in a joint statement

Mr. Romney and Some of His 63 Lawyers

No, if Mr. Romney deeply understood the rule of law he wouldn’t need 63 lawyers advising him.

A campaign spokesperson explained the large number saying that when you take opposite positions on the same issue it takes a lot of lawyers to explain away that level of pandering.  The spokesperson went on to say that separate teams out of the 63 will be created to develop at least two positions on any given issue so that Mr. Romney can choose the position that he thinks is most politically advantageous at that time, and still be in a position to change his position when politics dictate a change.

George Will is a Washington Post columnist and professional Obama hater and amateur cheerleader for the Republican party.  He uses his column and his position on a news talk show to proffer advice and to support Republicans.  In order to do this his commentary  often has to be in opposition to the facts.



Mr. Will - Unencumbered by
Facts

 Mr. Will writes about the Stimulus package that was enacted early during the Presidency of Mr. Obama and notes

his stimulus — including cash for clunkers, cash for caulkers, dollars for dishwashers (yes, there actually were money showers for home improvements and greener appliances), etc. — led downhill

which is, of course, exactly opposite of what happened.  Here is what the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the CBO, the ones Republicans use to score their proposals said about the Stimulus

Raised the level of real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.7 percent and 4.5 percent,



Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points,

Increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million, and

Increased the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 2.0 million to 4.8 million compared with what those amounts would have been otherwise

So did the Stimulus lead “downhill”?  Well yes, but only in the minds of people like George Will who needed it to do so in order to break through the constraint of facts so they could peddle their brand of cheerleading for Conservatives.

The Congress has shut down non-essential operations of the FAA in part over a dispute about changing the rules under which the transportation industry unionizes (which has nothing to do with operations of the FAA, but that doesn't matter.)  The current rules are for majority rule, that is, a majority of those voting.  The Republicans want to change this to counting those not voting as “no” votes on unionization.  In every other election in the United States not voting counts as a “not voting” vote.  But nothing is too radical for radicals.

A spokesman for the Republican party said they are considering expanding this concept and passing a law for every election which would count all persons not voting as a vote for the Republican.  “That’s only fair” said the spokesman, “since we all know that every person not voting would have voted Republican if they had voted.”



Where are the Jobs Republicans?



Congress has decided to take its regularly paid vacation that it has so justly earned after voting to pay the bills for programs that Congress has voted to fund, but the aforementioned FAA employees will remain on furlough without pay.  Yes it is only about 4,000 government workers and seventy thousand private employees who are laid off because of the lack of funding, so the macro effect on the economy is inconsequential.  The effect on the employees and their families, well that is consequential and The Dismal Political Economist is sure that the Congress will take this up as soon as they return from vacation and can find some time.

The problem, as discussed earlier is that Republicans want to use the funding bill to force changes in unionization rules, (and also to cut funding for rural airports) a legislative action that has nothing to do with funding the FAA.  A polling company surveyed all 300 million Americans and found four actual people who were surprised the Republicans would do something like this.

The Federal Government will lose at least $1.2 billion in tax collections by the Republican actions, which dwarfs the $16 million in savings the House wanted from reducing airport subsidies.  Republicans are said to believes that losing $1.2 billion or more to save $16 million is exactly the kind of fiscal responsibility the party wants to be known for.  There was no objection to that statement.