The Senate as a solution?

One of the indignities of living in DC is that we have no representation in Congress yet states that are barely inhabited such as Rhode Island, Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont, etc. not only have that but also TWO Senators.

Though DC does not have the representation it deserves, one has to applaud the Founding Fathers for designing a legislative body that balances the interests of large and small, rich and poor, states. 

I thought about that design when reading all the stories about the latest turns in the eurozone and Greece in the Sunday Post and Times. One problem plaguing the eurozone is that nations share a currency but not much else. Their budgets, bonds, borrowing and spending - and politics - is each different. Exhibit A is Greece and Germany, with Germany obviously fed up with Greece's spending and politics.

One goal of a united, post-war Europe was to put an end to political rivalries and nationalism.  Another goal is economic; the eurozone is supposed to create one, big, united economy much like the one in the U.S. As you know, in our united states wealthier ones such as California and New York support their poorer brethren like Mississippi and Alabama. Unfortunately, now that the chips are down Germany does not want to eurozone to function like that. Instead of propping up they have decided to force austerity on the poorer nations of Europe. 

In doing so, Berlin has cynically prioritized their banks over their fellow European citizens. Clearly, German-imposed austerity has not worked. 

As the New York Times editorialized today, one way to make the eurozone actually function is to unite European financial markets and economies - not just currencies. The Times goes on to point out that that kind of unity is unlikely since countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland do not trust eurozone bureaucrat in Brussels (even though the Greeks would obviously benefit from being as transparent and prudent, etc. as the Germans), and vice-versa.  

That's where the Senate comes in. Though it slows things down, which can be but isn't always a bad thing, I am still a big fan of bicameral legislatures (sorry parliamentary democracies and Nebraska). Perhaps integrating currencies, economies and markets would work better if the existing European parliament was given greater authority AND was complimented by a Senate that functioned exactly as ours did - complete with the filibuster and cloture, and most importantly, every member of the European Senate, no matter how big or small, had 2 seats.  

Countries would be equals financially AND politically. Joining such a union or zone would also force a nation to decide, "Do you care about a union of equals or do you only care about YOUR national interests" -- and in this case German banks.

Whistling Past the Trade Deadline/Graveyard

The good news for Washington sports fans is the Nationals did not trade Adam Dunn.  Sure, the Nats aren't going to make a run at the wild card this season, but Dunn is a nice guy to have around while you rebuild your franchise and fan base.

Not only does he practically guarantee 35 to 40 homers every season, which is quite a luxury to have, but he appears to be a good club house guy, too.  Two great reasons to keep Dunn around.

And unlike the deals that dealt Matt Capps to the Twins and Christian Guzman (finally, the last of Jim Bowden's mistakes is erased) to the Rangers, trading Dunn would have demoralized an already demoralized fan base.

So Nats fans mad it past the trade deadline.

In Greece, things aren't as good.  I assume Greeks and Greek labor unions thought that they could whistle past the economic graveyard during this summer's tourist season.  I think every Greek hoped that despite all the negative economic news of the spring tourists would still visit the cradle of civilization this summer.  

But as usual, Greece is trying to slit its own throat.  First, the country saw massive and violent street protests in June over budget and spending cuts.  The nadir came when anarchists firebombed a bank and three employees died as a result.

The Greek public's disgust at the three deaths effectively stopped street protests.

However, some labor unions continue to take a razor to their country's neck.  First, in early July, dock workers in Pireas went on strike to protest new work rules and increased hours.  The strike lasted so long that Princess Cruise Lines decided to move their Mediterranean base from Greece to . . .  Istanbul.  Losing tourism jobs is bad enough, especially for a country that needs all the hard currency it can generate, but to lose it to Turkey?  Terrible.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there.  This week, fuel truck drivers have gone on strike, crippling bus and plane service throughout the country.  The travel gridlock further damages Greece's tourism industry.  The strike lasted so long that today the Greek government authorized the police and army to seize fuel trucks in the national interest and deliver the fuel.

Labor has the right to strike, but do it wisely - not during tourist season and NOT when the country is broke.  Striking Greek workers remind me of the right wingers here in the U.S. - both groups assume someone is lying to them, and have trouble with fact-based reality.  When the Greek government says they are broke the unions don't believe them, or when Obama show his birth certificate or cuts taxes for 90% of Americans our right-wing boobs assume the media is colluding with the White House to fool the public.

Have To is better than Want To

This morning in church, Father Steve’s sermon focused on the cross. I won’t give a complete review of his homily, but one of his core messages was “often times we need to do what we have to do rather than what we want to do.” And by doing so, we will be more fulfilled and happy and accomplished. 


A good lesson for our entire congregation, but of course I can think of three other bloggable topics from Father Steve’s sermon.


First of all, that old Hellenic bugaboo – Turkey. I have no patience for Greeks who reflexively blame or condemn Turkey. I’m not happy that they have Constantinople, but history is history. And like most Greeks, at least Greeks in Greece, I hope that one day Turkey joins the European Union.  


But if they want to join the EU, Turkey has to admit that the Armenian genocide happened, guarantee religious freedom, recognize the government of Cyprus and withdraw Turkish troops, among other things. 


I’m picking on the Turks because this week the Turkish government officially protested the House Foreign Relations committee passing a resolution condemning the Armenian genocide. The official Turkish government policy is that the genocide never happened. Of course, there is no legitimate debate on the first genocide of the 20th century, one the dissolving Ottoman Empire got away with. 
  
Implicit to joining a union of European states is that you give up some of your sovereignty in order to conform to the European – and western - standards.  But Turkey’s ultra-nationalism (to say nothing of European misgivings about including a Muslim country in its ranks) seems to make EU membership impossible. 


A few months ago 60 Minutes profiled the petty and mean-spirited restrictions on the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul. The EU charter prohibits that kind of religious persecution, but the Turkish government continues to keep the Patriarchate under its thumb despite the consequences for EU membership.


They want to keep acting like blind nationalists, but to make Turkey better they have to acknowledge the genocide, appreciate the history of the Patriarchate in Constantinople and guarantee religious freedom for non-Muslims, and recognize the government of Cyprus (which, after all, is an E.U. member).


Two, the elected officials and others who keep harping on the size of the deficit, if they are serious about this issue, need to either raise taxes to increase revenue or stop talking about this issue.  


I’ve blogged this before, but discretionary spending on so-called big government programs is only 3 percent of federal spending.  A catch phrase for hypocritical deficit hawks is “I want a government small enough to drown in a bath tub.”  Well, unless the bathtub is the Pacific Ocean that’s not happening. The only way to fit our government into a metaphorical bathtub is to undertake unrealistic and dramatic cuts in defense spending and Social Security/Medicare, or stop paying interest on the debt.  


Getting people back to work – and paying them unemployment insurance – is more important than deficit reduction. It’s also a way to shrink the debt long term since unemployment insurance spurs spending, and in America’s service economy consumer spending leads to jobs.  Jobs lead to more taxes and revenue, and revenue leads to deficit reduction.  


Deficit hawks want to shrink government, but to really reduce the deficit they have to support more government spending on job creation. 


Finally, as the entire world knows Greece’s economy is in crisis. But despite some protests in the streets – and let’s face it, Greeks will protest anything; when Jesus comes back they’ll protest that – polls show more than 70 percent of the public supports the long-overdue cuts to Greek government spending (FYI, the Greek government sold $7 billion worth of bonds last week, so others seem to support what the government is doing, too). 


So it appears Greece, of all people, is doing what they have to as opposed to what they want to.