I agree. Perhaps the EPI needs to review their "friends" on the Hill to make sure they are contacting the right folks....that is, ones without their heads stuck firmly in the sand.

Hmm...well, it's this kind of thinking that has bluebell splitting her ticket with the Greens.

Let's look at the ship of fools. First, the Democrats are fools because they can't even execute a strategy of surrender. Second, the American people are supposedly fools because they are believed to be too stupid to notice the bottomless insincerity of the Democratic Party. Third, the left are supposedly fools because we are believed too stupid to figure out that the party wants us only in the role as Punch and Judy puppets to be bashed by the establishment for the greater glory of centrism.

And last, as always, are the poor fools the Democrats will not represent, the working poor or any poor or anyone with any need that requires representation all pawns in the surrender strategy. We won't represent you, but we might pretend to if it it suits us but don't count it because we reserve the right not to if it looks better on Fox News.

Exactly. 

I never understood why no one on the left countered the right when they started calling inheritance taxes the Death Tax.  It would have been so easy to suggest that we follow God's example and make the death tax 100%.  It's good for a laugh or at least a conversation stopper.

Life is like a vast movie.  We all have a role to play.  Our role as activists, or as leftists, or as liberals, is to ask for what our fondest dreams would be.  So, we should be demanding fully funded, federally paid health care for all people who are in America.  And, that health care should be paid with a 90% tax on all incomes over $200,000 per year.  While we are at it, we should demand that no automobile be allowed to be registered in any state unless it gets 50 miles per gallon in highway driving.  Etc.  If we play our role well, we do exactly as Nathan stated - we provide cover for moderate Democrats to pass needed legislation to get us started along the road that might some day lead to accomplishment of those desires.

It is not our role to compromise on our demands.  We activists never compromise - we elect politicians to do that.  This isn't wrong, immoral, un-American, etc., it is just how the world works.  It works when you are in the Sierra Club, fighting for an end to logging in national forests.  It works if you are in MADD fighting to lock up any driver caught with any alcohol in his blood.  We need to learn and act our roles better.

Hoppy in Sacramento

This is all news to me. I'll see what I can find out and report back, though I'm a little out of pocket for a few days.

Max B. Sawicky

No, life is like a day-glo purple watermelon spiked with Everclear, salt peter, and muscilage; but nobody knows why.

True fact. Umm-hmm.

Great argument!

Using the same argument: If ignoring the minimum wage is good for the economy, then why not eliminate it completely?

That way, we could go back to the Grapes of Wrath days when laborers could under-bid each other to do backbreaking, piecemeal work for pennies a day to enrich their greedy bosses.

Most people who have serious diseases are terminally ill if not treated.  Such illnesses are the most serious we face, so they cost the most to combat.  I don't see a way to do a cost/benefit analysis when it comes to medical treatment.

But, you are right that the 18-30 yr olds don't usually buy health care insurance, and when they get gravely ill they use the emergency room system, which drives up the cost of medical care for everyone.  Or, they, like an aquaintance  of mine, use the welfare system to pay for their treatment, again driving up the cost for the rest of us.  That is why, as you noted, a SS type system where we all pay, is the only viable way to get universal health care.

Hoppy in Sacramento

A Dec 7 memo by the aforementioned Ross Eisenbrey and Jared Bernstein makes their position (EPI does not issue corporate positions as such) clear:

"And Republican House leaders say the minimum wage is “an issue ripe for compromise.” No it’s not. There is, in fact, no room to compromise on a minimum wage increase that has been delayed for nine years, to a level that will lift the earnings of less than half of the low-wage workforce. . . . Once they have passed the bill they have promised, the Democrats should come back quickly with the rest of what is needed. We suggest a raise to at least $8.00 an hour in mid-2009, with 50% of the national average wage for production, non-supervisory employees as the ultimate target to ensure that the wage floor never drops out from under working Americans again."

EPI does not delve much into legislative strategy. We do not lobby.  For insight on that front, Nathan might seek feedback from Congressional sponsors of the relevant legislation.

Max B. Sawicky

http://maxspeak.org/mt

max@maxspeak.org & The Economic Policy Institute

Good thinking, Shawn! This is the way it is supposed to work. Democrats need to find the backbone to ask for or even demand what their basic principles say we should have. Compromising before the negotiations even begin is a losing strategy. It will do no one any good if, now that Democrats control the Congress, they just become Republicans with a slight leftward leaning.

Hoppy in Sacramento

Publically declare support that its only wealth inheritance that will be taxed ... if you figure out a way to take it with you, it should be tax free.

One of the major failures of the left side of the political spectrum lies in the attitude that the left has a "role to play". This isn't about playing a role. Your vote and my vote are every bit as important as any robotized, focus-grouped split the difference, message tested, faux everyman voter that the punditry keeps feeding up as the "moderate man".

Don't play a role. Expect to be represented. And don't vote for any candidate who refuses to represent YOU.