We Have Seen This Movie Before

The second week of September, Congress will reconvene after its annual 5-week August vacation.  Frankly, I cannot think of any group of salaried employees less deserving of a vacation of any length.  So far, this collection of politicians has passed just over 20 bills, on track to be the lowest productive Congress ever.  And of those 20, most all are token statements, of minimally consequential impact.  (“Let’s show our non-partisanship by agreeing to name a bridge in St. Louis after Stan Musial!”)

The important social issues of the day have been ignored or are in process of being swept aside.  Reforms in gun ownership are dead, even though 90% of Americans wanted some kind of action.  So it is clear that the opinions of the American public have been closed out of the discussions.  (Which only leaves you to ponder and speculate about who our congresspersons are listening to.)  Immigration reform, in another overweight bill that passed the Senate amid much hullabaloo, is now heading to its funeral service already planned in the House.  Restoration of some Voting Rights Act provisions struck down by the Supreme Court will not even get seriously introduced for consideration.

No, all of these issues (along with others) are going to be pushed aside in the coming months for yet another repeat argument over government spending – which itself is a disguise for a more basic attack on the purpose of government itself.  On October 1^st, the current fiscal year ends, having been propped up by endless “continuing resolutions” to keep the government level-funded through the year.  (Of course, “level” now reflects the drastic, indiscriminate cuts of sequestration from last spring that were supposedly never intended to happen.)  So now what we will spend in FY 2014 will be the focus of the next big argument.

Shortly thereafter, we will once again bump up against our national debt ceiling limit.  And we will have yet another insane Congressional argument over whether we should pay our debts or not – debts incurred to fund Congress’ own spending decisions already made.  It assumes that we spent our money, then realized we spent more than we can afford, so we just default and go bankrupt as a “solution.”  But in the government’s case, its default would become a world-wide default and economic meltdown well beyond the 2008 Great Recession.  It is the ultimate fiscal mismanagement.  And the mis-managers are the same ones now asking us to trust their judgment to fix it all.  Speaker John Boehner has promised a “whale of a fight” over raising the limit.  It is a fight that should not even be fought in the first place.

Tax reform?  Badly needed.  A major key towards economic growth.  But the question of “fair share” has been completely perverted by a Tax Code that favors certain groups over others, or gives direct benefit to individuals with sufficient purchasing power of influence.  But there is not a chance in hell that tax reform will rise to any level of serious conversation or action.

Within all of this nonsensical discussion, yet another old issue will resurface: the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”).  Republican opposition to health care reform was defeated in the Senate, in the House, and to people’s ultimate surprise, in the Supreme Court.  Public polls show increasing support for the Act as more of its provisions are implemented.  Yet the opposition, not to be deterred by reality, refuses to move on and continues to fight over what has already been decided.  The Republican dominated House has now voted over 40 TIMES to repeal this legislation – all to no productive end whatsoever.  More token, symbolic, and meaningless gestures except to raise funds for political campaign treasuries.

Meanwhile we watch some sleazy CEOs using Obamacare as the cover story for other lousy decision-making.  Employee working schedules of highly profitable companies are being reduced to keep employees below the 30-hour threshold for health coverage.  Similarly, hiring is being limited to stay below the 50-employee threshold.  The CEO of Papa John's Pizza argued that providing health care to its employees to meet the Affordable Care specifications would “raise prices on all pizza products”; follow-up research by independent economists concluded that this increase would amount to 1-2 cents per slice.  Trust me, I would be perfectly happy to pay even a whole nickel more to help provide health care to already low-paid employees.  Fortunately, some socially responsible CEOs are getting on with “the new normal.”  Starbucks will continue providing health coverage for employees with as few as 20 hours/week.  Even Wal-Mart has announced additional low-cost insurance options, including coverage for domestic partners/same sex couples – although it still needs to expand the pool of employees covered.

Yes, the biggest flaw of the ACA is that it still replies on one’s employee status as the source and eligibility for health insurance.  I support those employers who object to paying this added and uncompetitive cost.  But such complaints need to be redirected towards achieving a wholly different, and non-employer based, funding base.  Until that time, health care will remain the private insurance company / employer-provided / Congress-endorsed social contract for providing health care.

The bigger issue in all of this is the tiredness of these discussions.  Spending budgets; debt ceilings; Obamacare; shutting down the government.  These are all old news.  Legislation and constitutionality has long been decided.  Budget deficits have been consistently shrinking each of the last several  years.  The economy is growing, albeit slowly and without the proper government support needed.  The American character used to be to fight the good fight over areas of disagreement.  But once the decision was made, accept it and move on to the next issues.  But this Congress is stuck in a time warp, stomping their feet over their losses like petulant children in the school playground.

It is time to move on.  Time to deal with today’s ignored issues, not re-hassling the past.  Even as we try to remain vigilant against further political radicalism and division, the American people are increasingly tuning out listening to these clanging political voices.  And with good cause.

We’ve seen this movie before.  We’ve read this book before and know how it ends.  It is time for a new script, one that will likely require a new set of actors.

©2013  Randy Bell