Not the best sources, but this should give you some idea.
http://americablog.com/2011/08/gop-b...n-history.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_706590.html
The GOP is blocking appointments all over the place.
Why?
Not the best sources, but this should give you some idea.
http://americablog.com/2011/08/gop-b...n-history.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_706590.html
The GOP is blocking appointments all over the place.
Why?
1. Don't link me posts from HuffPo. As "accurate" as they might be, their so far left they are laughable (at best) in most DC circles.
2. As I said, for clear political reasons. That's why democrats stacked the SCotUS. More judges you have on your side the easier it is for your laws and policy to be upheld. Or why you block, it keeps your laws from being over turned.
The fact that I had to spell it out is pretty disheartening.
So they're crippling government to make a political point. Would that be that government doesn't work?
honestly, Wells, I could (and should) show you the links, but knowing how you are it wouldn't matter. Let's just say that in all of your "knowledge" you have, you really don't know.
also, only the Senate can filibuster. Which no one has done (in this or the prior congress) and no one will veto.
no no no, show me the links.
No, it wouldn't. People don't make products or improve products no one is going to buy. If you offer me a million dollars at 6% interest, I'm not going to take that money unless I have a way to invest it that will make me more that 6%. If I don't have demand for my products that's going to enable me to sell them and make >6% profit, no amount of offering me money is going to incite me to take it (yes, I know you can make more than 6% in most investments, it's just an example number). We don't have an issue with access to capital in the US right now. Interest rates are at all time lows. We're not seeing businesses expand right now though, and it's not because they don't have access to cheap capital, it's because they don't have confidence in demand in the current market.
Demand may not be low, but it's lower than it has been or could be because there are still a lot of people without jobs, or who don't have confidence that they'll still have a job in a few months. That suppresses demand. On top of that, we just had the expiration of the payroll tax cuts drop everyone's income by 2%, which will also suppress demand.With a system geared towards consumption, price basically stays the same. Our demand is hardly low at the moment, we basically have no reason to invest, the lion's share of our economy is based on consumption. If demand was low, prices would be falling and we'd be consuming less.
We have EVERY reason to invest right now. That's what you do when you are uncertain about the economy; you put more into the bank. There is a massive enormous global pool of money searching for places to put it right now. It's a large part of the reason CDOs became so big in the 2000s. Creditors both foreign and domestic and searching eagerly for a safe place to put their money that will get them a better rate of interest than US treasuries. On top of that, the lowest tax rates right now are on investment incomes. The whole concept that there's no impetus for investment right now is ludicrous.
No, it's not. Saving and consuming are BOTH integral parts of an economy. Saving is important because it allows access to capital. Consumption is important because it gives businesses a reason to use that capital."saving" is really the most important part to any economy. Putting money under your mattress probably hurts more than it helps, but most people buy durable goods, or invest in capital, new equipment, or facilities for a business (mostly indirectly through stocks). Any nation on Earth can consume all the goods produced by another nation, the U.S. has proven extremely effective at that. Its just lucky for us people still look at our money as valuable, because we certainly don't have anything actually of value to contribute.
We don't have anything of value to contribute? We're the world's second largest manufacturer for goodness sake. We have some of the biggest and best firms in the world in the US. Saying we don't have anything of value to contribute just confirms that you are completely out of touch with our economy.
'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Filibusters are used constantly in the Senate. They no longer have to stand and speak to do them though. They can just make a phone call, or raise an objection on the floor. Hell, last Congress, Mitch McConnell filibustered his own bill.
'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
A filibuster can be done by any Senator. IF a filibuster were to happen no side would want to do a 2/3 cloture because that would give the other side a cause to reciprocate should the power shift. The longest filibuster was Strom Thurman (then democrat) in 1954 to block the civil rights act. 24 hrs 18 minutes
“Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.”
"Conservative, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others."
Ambrose Bierce
The Bird of Hermes Is My Name, Eating My Wings To Make Me Tame.