I’m going to cover this cool event, who else is planning on going?
P.S. Click here to order tickets. Also note that this is a joint fundraiser for John Bell as well as for Jennifer Boysko.
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[This is the 14th installment in the “Swinging for the Fences” series. A compendium of the preceding entries, complete with links, is found below the present installment. This is the second round on how the market economy generates a force that, if uncorrected, drives a society to develop in ways determined by the system rather than chosen by the people who in that society.]
My book, The Illusion of Choice, is about how the market economy is only partially a means for human choice to determine the course of things. The system itself has its own inherent dynamic which, if not corrected by means of collective decisions made through government, will take a society in a direction chosen by the system, and not the people. The market steers in certain directions because it sees and is responsive to some areas of value while it is blind to others.
There are several aspects of this. One of these is what economists call “externalities.” These are impacts of market transactions on people or systems that are not party to those transactions.
Here’s a passage from the book which examines this problem. It begins with the problem of ice on the roads in winter, and what solutions people choose for dealing with the problem. The market gives out information through its pricing. The market ideologues treat “market prices” as embodying great wisdom. But the blind spots corrode that wisdom significantly.
Quoting:
“Rock salt is quite effective in keeping both private driveways and public highways from icing up… The runoff of the salt, he explained, causes damage to underground cables, car bodies, bridges, and groundwater. The cost of these damages is twenty to forty times the price of the salt to the person or organization buying and using it… There is an alternative product to rock salt that produces no such damage from runoff. It is called CMA, and it costs a good deal more than the salt. It costs less, however, than the damages the salt inflicts. Yet, as Morris writes [in a Washington Post article], ‘No highway department, homeowner or business would purchase large quantities of CMA today even if it were widely available, because the individual doesn’t care about cost, only price.’
Rock salt is an example, but (I continue):
“How is rock salt different from a million other things we use and countless things we do except, perhaps, in degree? The cost of rock salt is many times higher than its price. But are not the costs of most things we consume in our economy higher than their prices? Everything that in production or use involves the consumption of carbon-based fuels is contributing to the greenhouse effect, which, according to present scientific consensus, threatens disruption of the global climate and possible world-wide famine within a human lifetime.”
The market ideologues, like Milton Friedman, know about the problem of externalities. But they don’t seem to recognize how significant are the implications of this problem for their overall rationale for putting our destiny into the hands of the market.
Those of the Milton Friedman school just don’t seem to realize that these externalities are so pervasive that, like so much rock salt sprinkled liberally across the landscape, they rust out the iron-clad logic of the market ideology. As a result, many of their ideological assumptions become questionable.
(1) If important costs and benefits are disregarded in market transactions, how meaningful are the values that the market assigns to the goods exchanged, and what happens to the market’s claim of efficiency?
(2) If nontransactors must suffer damages to which they have not consented, what happens to the claim that the market metes out justice? And, finally,
(3) if each of us is the unwilling victim of countless transactions in which we have no say, how well does the market protect the liberty of any of us to choose our destiny?
In the context of “Swinging for the Fences,” and our exploration of systemic forces that must be controlled or overcome if we are able to create a future we would desire, the bottom line is this: we use an economic system that, unless we correct for its defects, will drag us into a future in which those values that get attended to in transactions between buyers and sellers get magnified in importance, and those values that fall outside the concerns of the immediate parties to the transaction will be neglected.
This leads to a society whose mix of wealth and poverty is warped and unbalanced, and suboptimal for human fulfillment.
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The Series Is Introduced with These Entries:
Swinging for the Fences: Please Join Me in this Bold New Effort
Swinging for the Fences: The Fable of the Magnet
The First Round on the “Magnets Consisted of These:
An Unwelcome Driver of Social Evolution: The Parable of the Tribes
Swinging for the Fences: How the Market Economy Shapes Our Destiny
Swinging for the Fences: Polarization as a Form of Cultural Breakdown
Swinging for the Fences: The Transmission of Culture Through Time
Then There Were a Few Improvizational Offerings;
Swinging for the Fences: Hunting for Very Big Game
Problems in the Religion Are Symptoms of Something Deeper
Second Round on the Four “Magnets”:
Swinging for the Fences: The Parable of the Tribes–Step Three: Selection for the Ways of Power
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Andy Schmookler, an award-winning author, political commentator, radio talk-show host, and teacher, was the Democratic nominee for Congress from Virginia’s 6th District. He is the author of various books including Fool’s Gold: The Fate of Values in a World of Goods.
From the Democratic Party of Virginia:
Richmond, VA – This morning Ken Cuccinelli spoke at the Conservative Political Action Convention in Maryland and observers are already beginning to describe the speech for what it was: the latest indication that Cuccinelli has no intention of backing off of his extreme agenda and focusing on mainstream solutions as he runs for Governor.
Below are a couple early reactions to Cuccinelli's performance this morning:
Politico: "Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli kicked off the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday morning with a speech to the conservative faithful that was part pep talk and part campaign stump speech.
"It's the setting in which Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, is most comfortable. And his decision to speak here – despite an abundance of advice that he needs to soften his ideological edge to win in a state that President Barack Obama carried – is a sign that the candidate isn't ready to tack to the center."
Washington Post: "Ken Cuccinelli II vowed Thursday to "defend our most sacred principles" in his race for governor, delivering red meat to an eager crowd of fellow conservatives."
"If Cuccinelli plans to move to the center, there was little sign of it at CPAC Thursday."
CBS News: "The first speaker, Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, perfectly embodies the dispute vexing the GOP. The likely Republican nominee in Virginia's 2013 gubernatorial race, Cuccinelli is beloved by the base for his crusades against the Obama administration on healthcare and environmental regulation, but some more pragmatic conservatives fear he may be too far-right to win the governor's mansion in a swing state."
( – promoted by lowkell)
Last evening, dozens of activists and concerned citizens attended a Climate Legacy Town Hall meeting in Old Town Alexandria. This event is part of a nationwide effort to accept President Obama’s invitation for a national conversation about climate.
Hosted by the Sierra Club and Environment Virginia, the town hall featured a presentation by renowned clean energy expert, Dr. Willett Kempton, from the University of Delaware. Dr. Kempton discussed his new study that shows how a mix of renewable energy sources together can be the key to transitioning the region toward a clean energy future. The study focused on the PJM electricity grid that powers all or part of 13 states including Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. It models scenarios where a mix of renewable energy sources like wind and solar can be used along with energy storage systems to reliably meet large energy demands without relying heavily on fossil fuels.
“Today’s event shows the continued momentum behind our call for clean energy and climate action,” said Phillip Ellis, Beyond Coal Virginia Coordinator with the Sierra Club. “In February thousands of Virginians traveled to Washington, DC to call for the President to move ‘Forward on Climate’ and now many have come to hear more about how we can transition to a clean energy future here in the Mid-Atlantic.”
In President Obama’s State of the Union address, he spoke about the urgent need to address climate change and meet our obligation to future generations to take bold action before it is too late.
“If we are to create a climate legacy, then now is the time to invest in energy efficiency, wind and solar,” said Ivy Main, Renewable Energy Chair for the Virginia Sierra Club Chapter. “Dr. Kempton’s new study shows how powering the grid without a lot of fossil fuels is not only achievable, but practical.”
The Sierra Club and Environment Virginia called on President Obama to move forward on climate by finalizing standards to cut carbon pollution from new power plants and to continue developing standards that cut carbon pollution from existing sources. Attendees of the Climate Legacy Town Hall event were invited to write letters to President Obama telling him why they are personally concerned about climate disruption and to urge the President to take climate action now.
“The majority of Americans agree that climate change is a problem that is happening right before our eyes and want our leaders to address the root causes of climate change – namely limiting industrial carbon pollution,” said Sarah Bucci, Field Organizer with Environment Virginia.
Self-styled “centrist” Democratic senators like Tim Kaine and Mark Warner say they recognize climate reality and support action to cut carbon pollution. But … then they see polls that show the public is split on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline … and feel pressure from Very Serious People in Washington who won’t say no to anything the oil, gas and coal industries want … and think, maybe we can have both? Get credit for support this current & specific polluting pipeline AND burnish climate bona fides by hand-waving towards some future & not yet existent climate effort?
No. Climate action isn’t just about the easy & popular things, like clean energy and energy efficiency. It’s also about the hard things, like saying no to oil and coal barons who may spend lots of money to try to defeat you in your next re-election campaign. You can’t claim to support climate action, but wilt like corn caught in a global warming-fueled drought every time big polluters come asking for a favor.
Either folks like Tim Kaine and Mark Warner support climate action. Or they support Keystone XL and don’t really care about things like confronting superstorms like Sandy or protecting our natural resources for future generations. They can’t have it both ways.
Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, March 14.
*New Pope Shifts Church Center of Gravity (Geographically, sure; we’ll see about ideologically.)
*Ryan’s cruel vision (“Moderates must rebuff his radical budget.”)
*U.S. Budget Deal in Doubt; Obama’s Trip to Hill Reveals Split
*CPAC’s absent GOP rock stars (That includes our pal – and Pat Robertson’s best friend forever – Bob McDonnell.)
*Stuck in Cruz control (“Republicans try to repeal Obamacare, again.”)
*Kaine, Warner comment on Senate budget proposal
*Cuccinelli now against party rule fight he once took to court (“Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is advising fellow Republicans not to wage a fight over party rules on candidate selection at the Virginia GOP convention in May, an effort to preempt a battle that could mar his coronation as the party’s nominee for governor.”)
*Va. Dems parody upcoming Cuccinelli CPAC speech (A parody of a parody…)
*On Capitol Hill, McDonnell talks energy and sequester
*Three former Republican legislators endorse McAuliffe (Hopefully the first of many more sane Republicans to come…)
*Cuccinelli mum on transportation plan’s fate (“GOP gubernatorial hopeful stresses need to find fix, but won’t say if he would seek to undo current plan.”)
*Cuccinelli swears off no-tax pledge (So, first, Cuckoo attacks the bipartisan transportation deal because of its tax increases, now he’s apparently open to raising taxes – just not for transportation – and he won’t really say what he means by not signing Grover’s pledge. Slippery, slimy, duplicitous, etc.)
*GOP’s Ken Cuccinelli looks to broaden appeal beyond right-wing base (The problem is, he’s also a clever politician. That, combined with his extremism, is what makes him so dangerous!)
*What Virginia politics tells us about choosing a pope
*Sen. Mark Warner gets Navy’s highest civilian award
*Republican Crockett-Stark won’t run for re-election to House
*State capital reporter Sluss moving to the editorial board (Wow, this is VERY unfortunate!)
*The Washington Times extending reach with cable network (Also very unfortunate. The last thing we need is more right-wing propaganda and “truthiness.”)
*Jeff’s Notes: The Bolling effect (“Bill Bolling may not be running for governor, but he’s still not helping Ken Cuccinelli or hurting Terry McAuliffe.”)
*Va. government revenue dips 2 percent in Feb.
*Richmond-area Catholics, Hispanics happy with pope
*Washington’s explosive growth during recession is winding down, data show
*D.C. population swells, immigrants flock to suburbs
*Fairfax vs. Prince George’s: As FBI HQ race heats up, so does the rhetoric
We have come to expect craziness from FAUX News personalities and wrong-wing bloggers. Certainly we do not expect anything but trash from RedState. And here’s another example of how low our expectations should be. Earlier today, rabid RedState-er and (unbelievably now a TV FAUX News talker), Erick Erickson Tweeted the following on his Twitter feed:
That lefties are accusing the new pope of handing over lefties to the right wing junta for execution makes me adore the new pope.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) March 13, 2013
This Tweet shows more clearly than anything else I could say what kind of a man Erick Erickson is. And you have to wonder, who listens to or reads his garbage and why? Little other comment is necessary.
Today in Rome’s Saint Peter’s Square, over one hundred thousand people gathered to cheer a new pope. Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, a cardinal committed to social justice for the poor, became Pope Francis, most likely named after Saint Francis of Assisi, champion of the poor. Many Catholics rejoice in an American Pope, from Latin America. The first Latin American, first non-European, and first Jesuit is now the leader of the world’s largest faith.
President Obama greeted the news with a statement which said (in part):
On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I offer our warm wishes to His Holiness Pope Francis as he ascends to the Chair of Saint Peter and begins his papacy. As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than two thousand years-that in each other we see the face of God. As the first pope from the Americas, his selection also speaks to the strength and vitality of a region that is increasingly shaping our world, and alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic day
And the Vice-President added:
The Catholic Church plays an essential role in my life and the lives of more than a billion people in America and around the world, not just in matters of our faith, but in pursuit of peace and human dignity for all faiths. I look forward to our work together in the coming years on many important issues>
Pope Francis is a conservative and likely to uphold the church’s reactionary rules concerning married priests, birth control, abortion, and gay marriage. A Daily Kos article noted the new Pope’s fierce opposition to Argentina’s law allowing gay marriage. And he noted that would be expected from anyone expecting to be Pope. It is, however, a disappointment nonetheless.
As each new pope is announced over the years, those (many) of us who are expats, and who are no doubt are still included in those 1.2 billion “members” mentioned with some frequency by various media, hope that this is the one who finally gets it right, that this pope turns the corner from official church misogyny, homophobia, contempt for women’s reproductive autonomy, and required priestly celibacy/non-marriage. We hope that the official church one day catches up to its faithful, many of (the majority of) whom love their pope, while completely disregarding his pronouncements on these same subjects. The church faithful are generally far more progressive than their official church. Many of us expats hope further that the church can be counted upon to live up to its potential as a beacon for justice for all people. It may be that this pope can do that. I hope that his sense of justice one day extends to women and the LGBT community.
Thankfully, as a Cardinal, Bergoglio renounced the lavish lifestyle cardinals are afforded in a church which values its pomp, circumstance and ritual. It is unclear this early on whether this Pope might let relinquish many of the church’s treasures and property to benefit the poor.
There is one controversial aspect to Pope Francis’s background. As the AP reports, he has tried to repair the damage to the church after it failed to stand up to the dictatorship from 1976-1983. Thousands were disappeared and killed during the dictatorship. For some time, Bergoglio was not very forthcoming in his public statements and even testimony concerning the dictatorship. Not even in the case of two priests, who were tortured, was he willing to put himself out and prevent their arrest. They were allegedly handed to death squads by Berglogio, who refused to back their liberation theology. The man who revealed this was none other than one of the priests, fellow Jesuit Orlando Yorio. Ultimately the priests were freed with the help of Bergoglio himself and ultimately told the tale. And at that point Bergoglio did show some courage, but not apparently soon enough for the priests or thousands of other Argentinians. There is more here. In 2012 Bergoglio initiated a church apology by himself and his bishops for not better protecting his church members against the dictatorship. It is my hope that this pope shows the courage needed to advocate for social justice seriously missing in the era of extreme vulture capitalism. It is a time for moral clarity on the subject. Let’s hope.
While those of us who can add and subtract see that Paul Ryan’s latest absurdist budget is simply a ploy to allow the Teahadists in the House of Representatives to cast another mindless vote, I recognize that the Senate budget that was released this week is also destined to receive only Democratic votes in that body and not see the light of day in the House. Leaving aside whether the Senate budget cuts spending enough or raises revenue enough by closing egregious tax loopholes, I simply want to defend one provision in that budget, a provision the corporate media is already discounting: $100 billion for infrastructure spending.
First and foremost, because of the near-zero interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve (and, for that matter, the central banks of most of the world), right now in real terms, the government’s cost of borrowing is negative for as long as 20 years into the future. In other words, borrowing money right now is not costing the government anything in real interest. In terms most people can relate to, suppose you were offered the chance to buy a house with a 20-year mortgage, interest-free? Sounds like a deal too good to pass up, huh? That’s the situation right now with debt and the federal government.
Zero real interest is partially why the GOP hue and cry about immediate budget deficits is fallacious. The other reason is that such emphasis skews the need for real, long-term deficit reduction by focusing on that long-term problem as if it can be solved by one draconian attack on the working and middle classes in the short run. Those negative interest rates won’t last forever, so now is the time to attack the real deficit problem, which is a structural one.
No one who has driven recently through NoVA or Hampton Roads or flown into JFK or Newark airports or ridden the so-called “fast” Acela train between Washington and Boston can doubt the need for infrastructure expenditures. The same goes for the need to upgrade our electric grid or bring fiber-optic networks to more of the country, or to rebuild crumbling urban schools. Well-run businesses often expand more when the interest rate for borrowing is very low. The dividends of future growth make that action good fiscal sense. Government should operate in the same, business-like manner.
So, my plea is that people not consider the Senate provision for infrastructure just another “stimulus package” or a provision to be bargained away. It makes economic sense. At the same time, I also strongly recognize that the long-term deficit of the nation must be controlled.
The whole rationale for the tax increases of the Clinton years and the constraint of federal spending in the Nineties was to create surpluses to pay down the national debt in anticipation of the retirement of the baby boom generation and the explosion in Social Security and Medicare costs. We all know what happened to that plan. Alan Greenspan fretted about the surpluses, and the Bush administration lowered tax rates, especially on the wealthy and those who earn money from dividends and capital gains. That created the structural deficit we have today, not to mention what starting two wars and offering a prescription drug plan for Medicare without paying for them did to the deficit. Not only that, but the Bush people privatized many of the support operations of the military and allowed the pharmaceutical industry to write the Part D Medicare benefit plan, thus guaranteeing that costs to the government would skyrocket.
We progressives ultimately will have to accept that growth in spending on earned benefits like Medicare has to be contained in any long-term deficit plan. At the same time, GOPers have to accept lower defense spending and the elimination of egregious tax expenditures that favor those with the ability to lobby Congress and provide campaign contributions. However, long-term deficit reduction need not preclude spending now on needed investments in infrastructure, green energy, and education. Those investments will more than pay for themselves in the future.
The government has just guaranteed a reduction in economic growth this year with the sequester, a reduction estimated by the Congressional Budget Office of about 0.6 percent this year. According to Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary and economist, “The type of government spending that is most likely to boost GDP is related to public investment…roads, bridges, etc. This makes sense, since it involves investment and paying people to work, as opposed to government transfer payments.”
The Senate budget plan with its infrastructure spending not only makes sense from a policy standpoint. It makes sense economically. With all the evidence pointing to the benefits of that spending, sadly I fully expect that the spending on infrastructure will be “bargained” away in some “grand bargain.” Why? Because rational thinking is not guiding any of the stuff coming out of Congress right now. Government is broken, the poison of ideology is driving congressional votes and the future will suffer for it.
LOL:
On the eve of Ken Cuccinelli’s big moment under the bright Tea Party lights of the Conservative Political Action Conference tomorrow in Maryland, the Democratic Party of Virginia today released an advance look at the prepared text for Cuccinelli’s speech tomorrow morning.
Okay maybe not the actual prepared text, but the speech included below is a survey of Cuccinelli’s agenda, time in office and campaign for Governor:
Hello CPAC! It’s great to be with you here in Maryland! It’s so impressive that so many of us were able to gather like this on what, for many people, is a regular workday.
I cannot express enough my gratitude for you inviting me here to speak in front of a national conservative and Tea Party audience – this is probably the most consequential thing I’ve done during my time in public office. This is a good looking crowd if I’ve ever seen one, particularly those of you joining us from the great states of Iowa and New Hampshire; don’t let me forget to swing by and shake your hands before the day is over.
Before I begin, I want to express my disappointment that Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell was not invited to join us here. It’s unfortunate that he forgot the most important rule of keeping the faith with the conservative movement: Refusing to compromise on your ideological agenda is much more important than actually getting things done.
I have seen some wonderful friends here already. Sarah Palin is a true rock star of our movement and rightfully so, she’s living proof of the power a statewide office holder can have if they don’t confine themselves to the mundane details of the everyday lives of people they serve.
Rick Santorum, one of my closest friends and supporters and a true champion in the fight to make sure no woman in our country is burdened by the difficulty of making her own choices about her health care.
And of course Paul Ryan, whose leadership in putting together budgets that reflect the values we all is an example to us all, even if he and I disagree on why we should cut Medicare and Social Security (he wants to trim the budget like the moderate he is, I think the programs are fundamentally wrong for our country because they make people dependent on government).
As some of you may know, that was the guiding principle of a little book I wrote recently called The Last Line of Defense, for which I have been doing signings and media appearances around the country. A lot of people have questioned why I would write a book full of ideas that are not in-line with what Virginia voters want from their governors, but those critics are missing the point.
Of course I know that most Virginians don’t think Medicare, Social Security and other programs were designed by “bad politicians” to “grow government” and make people “dependent on government” “goodies.” But they were, and I know the people in this room get that.
Of course I know Virginia that families whose adult children are able to stay on their health insurance or who will no longer face losing their coverage due to a preexisting condition think they are safer and more economically secure. But those people don’t understand that keeping them healthy “is the fastest way to put insurance companies out of business.” Fortunately, the patriots here at CPAC do.
I know that Virginians won’t understand how public pools crowd out private competition and make our “liberty pie” smaller, but you do and that’s why I wrote my book and why I’m so happy to be here in Maryland today.
This campaign isn’t about what Virginians want from their Governor. If my primary focus were jobs, education, transportation, or another issue that mattered to Virginians’ lives, you’d hear me talk more about them. But that’s not the kind of campaign I’m running.
I’m running on issues that are more important to me than those, and I’d bet they’re more important to you patriots as well.
I’m running to restore our country to what I call “First Principles.” Those foundational values that I believe are the underpinning of our nation. That is not the approach that gubernatorial candidates usually take, nor is it the approach that attorneys general typically take, but I stand by my record.
Sure, I could have done what past attorneys general have done and focused more of my time on public safety, protecting consumers and offering sound legal representation to the people of Virginia, but that would have prevented me from picking fights on controversial issues that aren’t particularly related to my core duties. Yes, I lost most of those fights, but I believe they sent a critical message to the rest of the nation. Nothing is more important to me than these symbolic battles for the cause of liberty.
I’ve spent my time as Attorney General proving that jobs, education, health care, the environment, all of it takes a backseat to our fight for the ideological principles that bring us here together today. And that’s an agenda I plan to bring to the Governor’s mansion.
As I conclude, I want to remind all of you to first, of course, buy my book. Second, I want to share with you the latest example of how I’ve been putting those principles into action in Virginia. Some of you may have heard about the transportation package that came out of the Virginia General Assembly last month. That package was the result of a compromise between Governor McDonnell (it’s also the reason he’s not here today), Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, and Democrats and Republicans in the legislature.
For decades, Governors of both parties have struggled to come up with a transportation-funding package that is sufficient enough to meet the needs of the Commonwealth’s economy and also pass the political gauntlet of a diverse legislature. This year McDonnell and the rest of the coalition came together to hammer out a deal that actually did offer a substantial chunk of the funding it would take to build and maintain the roads our economy needs, and amazingly it actually had the votes to pass.
If I were running to put what Virginia needs ahead of my own ideological agenda, I would have jumped all over this once-in-a-generation chance to help solve the largest problem facing everyday Virginians. But I’m not.
I saw the package not as a landmark bipartisan victory on a key issue, but as a frontal assault on the principles that you and I hold so dear. So I became the only statewide political figure in Virginia to oppose it, and when I saw my opportunity to try and kill it by issuing a formal opinion of my office, I didn’t wait to actually read the legislation, I took swift action in defense of liberty.
As it turns out, like so many of my other defenses of liberty, I fell a little bit short and the plan passed despite my opposition. But I didn’t run for office to make friends, and I am proud of the message I sent to Virginians that day: Don’t expect me to be a Governor who will put his ideological agenda aside just to get results on issues that matter to you. That’s not how I approached my time as Attorney General and it’s certainly not how I will approach my time as Governor.
I know the folks in this room understand how important this campaign is for the cause of liberty, not only in Virginia, but also across the nation and maybe even the world. I hope if you live in Virginia you’ll head to the polls and cast your vote in November, and if you don’t, who knows, maybe you’ll have a chance to vote for me before you know it.
Thank you CPAC for having me, and thanks for continuing to fight the liberals who want to take our liberty pie and shrink it! Live Free or Die!
