“We shouldn’t have litmus tests as to whether or not you can be a Republican.” — George W. Bush in his Fox News Exit Interview
It is striking, in all honesty, that all 177 Republican members of the House of Representatives voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It’s either a recognition of political irrelevancy or a mass suicide pact. Let’s hope that it’s the latter but the former will suit the nation just fine. To watch the GOP convulse as it has this past fortnight over the details of the fiscal stimulus plan demonstrates the dangers of ideological path dependency. Tax cuts here, tax cuts there, everywhere a tax cut. As the discussions moved forward, it was clear that that was all they had to offer for the approach is an economic means to a political end. Theirs is a party hostage to a bankrupt economic ideology because they have no other mechanism with which to achieve their political goals of limited goverment and an environment propitious to the international free flow of capital.
When it comes to the economy, the Republicans are now the party of tax cuts and nothing but tax cuts. And just who does that benefit? The nation? Clearly not. Their devotion to tax cuts has only succeeded in widening income distribution in the United States. We are now as an unequal a country as we were in 1928.
In terms of economic policy in its singleminded pursuit of tax cuts that benefit only the top one percent of Americans, the GOP showed itself to be a party of a narrow sectarian class. No doubt, there is still a social component to the GOP but economically-speaking, theirs is really a party that represents just 300,000 Americans. That’s where their path dependency on supply-side tax cutting economic philosophy has led them. The Laffner Curve is now the laughter curve. The GOP should toss it in the dustbin of economic theory before they find themselves in the dustbin of history. Path dependency is never forgiving.
2009 World Economic Brainstorming: What Happened to the Global Economy?
Despite having endured economic shocks of historic proportions, the public still does not have a clear answer to the root causes of the global downturn.
The World Economic Brainstorming (WEB) will examine the central question of what policy, regulatory and market failures led us to the current predicament.
1) What policy assumptions created the most damage to the global economy?
2) Which regulatory failures delivered the largest systemic shocks?
3) What were genuine market failures?
Chaired by Maria Bartiromo, Anchor, CNBC’s Closing Bell, and Host and Managing Editor, Wall Street Journal Report, CNBC, USA; Young Global Leader.
Truly laughable that they need to spend an hour brainstorming on “what policy assumptions created the most damage to the global economy?”
This is the address of Wen Jiabao, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, to the Davos World Economic Forum. He is introduced by Klaus Schwab, the founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
What would Mao think? What does it say about the world when the Premier of a state ostensibly founded in the name of the proletariat addresses the annual jamboree of the neo-liberal elite that have successfully waged a class war executing the greatest transfer of wealth in human history?
European countries plan to spend 1.5% of their gross domestic product — 200 billion euros — to restore growth across the continent, but the fiscal situation in many economies remains dire.
What are the options for Europe to counter the nearly half per cent drop in GDP that is expected in 2009? The panel discussion includes:
Richard Lambert, Director-General, Confederation of British Industry, United Kingdom
Jacek Rostowski, Minister of Finance of Poland
Dennis J. Snower, President, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany
Valdis Zatlers, President of Latvia
The Panel on Europe 2009 is moderated by Charles Grant, Director, Centre for European Reform, United Kingdom.
The mission for US forces in Afghanistan has evolved beyond just the military to also trying to safeguard fledgling institutions in danger of falling into the control of an increasingly resurgent Taliban.
Al Jazeera’s Josh Rushing joins US troops on the frontline to file this report from Wardak province.
The Davos World Economy Forum Plenary Session features addresses by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Swiss Federal Council member Hans-Rudolf Merz, the President of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab, the former CEO of Nestlé Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the founder of Dell Computers Michael S. Dell, and the CEO of Renault Carlos Ghosn.
The Davos 2009 Session is entitled The New Economic Era.
In the opinion of many pundits, the global economic collapse that began in 2008 rivals the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In partnership with Time Magazine, members of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Councils and Time magazine’s Board of Economists examine the new fundamentals of the global economy that will emerge in 2009.
Justin Yifu Lin, Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist, World Bank, Washington DC
Trevor Manuel, Minister of Finance of South Africa
Stephen S. Roach, Chairman, Asia, Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong SAR
Ferit F. Sahenk, Chairman, Dogus Group, Turkey; Young Global Leader
Heizo Takenaka, Director, Global Security Research Institute, Keio University, Japan; Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum; Co-Chair, Global Agenda Council on the Future of Japan
The panel is moderated by Michael J. Elliott, Editor, Time International, Time Magazine, USA.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that economic growth worldwide will fall to 0.5 percent in 2009, the lowest rate in 60 years.
In response to failing economies, the IMF has issued emergency loans of close to $49 billion to countries including Pakistan, Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia and Iceland.
The Icelandic government has virtually collapsed, as the prime minister resigned and the two-party ruling coalition fell apart — just months after the countrys banking system collapsed.
Riots and protests have already occurred in Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary, leading to concern that the economic slide around the world is going to lead to much more unrest.
Michele Wucker, the executive director of the World Policy Institute, joins Martin Savidge to provide insight into the social and political fallout from the economic crisis. They discuss whether social unrest brought on by the financial climate is likely to grow and how world government will respond to such unrest.
Worldfocus special correspondent Edie Magnus and producer Rebecca Haggerty report from Montreal on the Canadian health care system.
During the Presidential campaign, President Obama spoke about the money being spent on paperwork and other administrative costs attached to medical care, hundreds of billions of dollars which he said could be redirected to the care itself.
Those savings are already being realized in Canada, where basic health care is universal and, in most parts of that country, free — and where remarkably little paperwork is involved.
Each hospital in Canada gets a global budget, a set amount which is all they have to spend for the year. They don’t price things like bandages, drugs or even overnight stays individually. The cost for these things and for doctor service is negotiated in advance.
Canada has a single payer system but the provinces have the bulk of the responsibility of running the health care system for their own residents. In order to qualify for federal funding, each Canadian province must meet the following criteria.
* Universality. Available to all provincial residents on uniform terms and conditions;
* Comprehensiveness. Covering all medically necessary hospital and physician services;
* Portability. Allowing residents to remain covered when moving from province to province;
* Accessibility. Having no financial barriers to access such as deductibles or copayments; and
* Public administration. Administered by a nonprofit authority accountable to the provincial government.
The threat of nuclear weapons makes the long list of challenges facing the Obama administration. While Iran’s nuclear capacity remains a problem with a thin possibility for diplomacy, Pakistan, North Korea and a Soviet legacy provide other sites of concern.
To discuss the nuclear threat, Worldfocus speaks with Joseph Cirincione, an expert on nuclear weapons policy.