Some Facts That the GOP Doesn't Agree With

I know politics is all about spin to keep the political base fired up so they keep sending $ into the candidate for the campaign, but finding compromise in policy to move the country forward requires an acknowledgment of facts.

I will reproduce here a few facts that the GOP is not admitting because it doesn't fit their spin.  And, I don't understand why any Democrat would agree to a compromise with the GOP point of view when their policy recommendations don't fit the facts.

Keystone Pipeline:  In 2009 President Obama approved the Alberta Clipper pipeline that brings 400,000 barrels of Tar Sands Oil into the U.S. every day.  It provides a good measure for what employment the Keystone Pipeline will produce if built:  About 35 permanent jobs.  Yes, it will employ about 4,000 during construction, but those construction workers could be working on road, sewage and water repair.  And the reason I support the pipeline, and believe the President will also ultimately, is once the court process is complete in Nebraska, a pipeline is a safer way than trains to bring oil into the U.S.  We need to get the oil off of those trains which derail next to rivers and usually explode violently.  And for the environmentalist opposition, we won't burn less oil and Canada won't produce less Tar Sand Oil if the pipeline isn't built, so the cessation of train derailments is the only environmental improvement from building the pipeline.  There is no environmental damage provided the aquifers in Nebraska are protected by routing the pipeline around them.

Economic Growth:  Economic Growth is like an Ocean liner.  It doesn't change on whim unless there is a systemic shock like a cessation of credit.  And it doesn't restart unless there is business confidence in policy continuity.  So the current economic growth is the result of the U.S. standards for proper conduct of business, the steadiness of the monetary policy and the steadiness of demand for U.S. goods and services.  When gridlock is the dominant political feature, the party in charge does not effect a manager's decisions to hire someone.

ObamaCare has not curtailed economic growth.  The U.S. is on a job creation tear.  Now the government could make productive changes on the margin to any number of issues for valid reasons, but let's agree on the facts.

Monetary Policy: The GOP has been anti-Fed for some time.  But their policies have kept inflation low while encouraging job creation.  If the U.S. had followed the German model, we would be like them:  In recession and facing deflation.  That is not a productive path when you are in a credit restraint generated recession.  That is not a productive path when you are in any type of recession.

Climate Change:  The average temperature of the earth moves higher almost every year and we can't do anything about it that will have an immediate reversal effect.  But carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the atmosphere to warm.  That has been scientific fact for over 100 years and no reputable scientist can disprove that.  Consumption of fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  There is global political agreement that we should take gradual measures to reduce human carbon generation.  A little macro policy encouragement would be productive, but the GOP will not even discuss that because of their position that science does not produce facts.  Of course, many of these science deniers also believe in home schooling and the teaching of creationism, so I am not hopeful for the future of this debate.

And not to leave the Democrats out.

Trade Agreements:  To think that if the U.S. had trade barriers and no trade agreements, our economy would be better off, please think through some basic economic facts.  Stock prices are based upon profits.  U.S. companies are amongst the most competitive in the global economy.  Their profits are produced all over the world and require freedom of capital and the ability to produce and sell goods wherever they can make a profit.  This creates higher value added jobs in the U.S.  Technology would have created the pressure on U.S. labor and free trade offsets the job reduction that technology creates.

America cannot return to the 1950's economic model no matter what you want, anymore than the U.S. will return to the 1950's family model, no matter what the GOP wants.  It is not reality anymore. Policy needs to be based upon reality and reality must be recognized and agreed upon, if good policy changes are to be the result.

I don't know if a 30 hour week or a 40 hour week is the better definition for full time employment and the provision of health insurance.  What I do know, is that obtaining health insurance should not be contingent on having an employer providing it and needs to be affordable.  How best to do that would be a proper debate.