This being Massachusetts, some friends are very upset that the rest of the U.S. doesn’t see the need for a Congress controlled by Democrats. Here’s what I wrote to comfort them: “Don’t be too worried about the Republicans. Remember that they are politicians and seldom what they promise. Also once they get to D.C. they tend to become fans of big government and continuing whatever the government has been doing. On the grounds that the federal government ran no schools or universities, Reagan promised to kill the recently created Department of Education and their budget has grown every year since…”
What do folks think that Congress might do now? I would like to see them freeze the tax code for five years so that regular business people have time to read it before it changes again. Of all the stuff in my November 2008 Economic Recovery Plan I think the simplest to implement would be flexible capital expense depreciation. Currently the situation is a mess. Section 179 deduction limits were $500,000 for 2013. They are $25,000 in 2014. It makes the tax code seem arbitrary if there are huge swings like this from year to year.
I can’t see Congress wading back into the Obamacare swamp since nobody in Washington (or anywhere?) can understand the American health insurance or health care system. Most of the spending is entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and now Obamacare. Then add pensions and our war machine that even a Nobel Peace laureate could not scale back. So what could Congress actually do that would make a difference to an ordinary American?
What could they pass or what could they pass that Obama would sign, which are two different things? Despite the pro forma talk about bi-partisanship on both sides, there are fundamental differences about the role of government between the two parties (notwithstanding your point that Republicans tend to “go native” once they hit Washington). So just about anything that Obama would want, the Republicans won’t pass, and vice versa.
So I expect few new initiatives in the next two years, which is actually fine. One of the problems with government is that there is a strong impetus to “don’t just stand there, do something!” and oftentimes the “something” that they “do” is poorly thought out and just makes things worse than before (while in the meantime costing a lot of money).
In terms of what they could do in a best of all possible worlds situation, it would be to regain control of the borders. Real wages have been stagnant for 40 years and unions have lost most of their bargaining power to improve working conditions and a large part of that can be traced to the fact that there are now another 50 million people (10 million “illegal”, 40 million “legal”) who have arrived in the US since 1965, plus all their kids. Immigrants add to both the supply and demand for labor, but more to the supply – greater supply = lower market clearing price. If we could somehow get real market wages (not magical fiat wage decrees, which only backfire) climbing again, that alone would cure many of our social problems. Immigration control is an important (if not the only) piece of that.
But border control is not in the interest of either party. The corporate interests that back the Republican party love the current situation where pesky unions are almost a thing of the past and you can get away with paying close to minimum wage with few benefits. Democrats love the idea that they can elect a new people who will become a reliable part of their voting block – this week’s election has only reinforced for them the fact that they can no longer count on blue collar whites.
Theoretically, a deal COULD be done (one that would double cross American workers by granting amnesty to illegals and increasing future immigration) because of the unity of interests between Republicans and Democrats that I just mentioned. BUT, almost every red state Democrat senator who supported such proposals in the last Congress lost his or her job partly as a result, so individual senators may not be so keen on taking a bullet for the sake of their party this time. http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/05/what-schumer-wrought/
Republicans campaign as conservatives and govern as moderates. Democrats campaign as liberals and govern as moderates.
What can they do?
Go to a single payer health care system.
Introduce a flat tax and end the yearly tax return charade.
Acknowledge that climate change is real and do something about it.
Stop spending money on wars to procure oil, and use that money to provide free college educations.
Support total equality for women.
Quit telling us that the American people have spoken…they indeed have, Congress just hasn’t heard them.
Let Americans travel to Cuba.
Get religion out of government.
And for goodness sake…get rid of daylight savings time!
Jim: By “what could Congress actually do” I meant stuff that was within the realm of possibility. So that would rule out, for example, a single-payer health care system (unless all of the insurance companies, medical associations, and hospitals send their lobbyists to Club Med for two years).
@Jim: …use that money to provide free college educations.
Or give it back to the workers that earned it.
Tuition is free or nearly free at community college, in-state universities, active duty military, military reserves & national guard, academic/athletic/affirmative action scholarships, and through employer tuition reimbursements. The real problem for most students is living expenses (but those must be paid regardless).
@Jim: Get religion out of government.
Or get government out of religion! End non-profit, tax-exempt status for churches.
@E.Rekshun…”Tuition is free or nearly free at community college, in-state universities…”
It certainly is not in my state (California). Tuition is a huge cost, as well as student living expenses.
@Jim: Tuition is a huge cost, as well as student living expenses.
Then join the Army, if they’ll take you.
Kind of an unfair question. If you say “within the realm of possibility”, then your left with what the government actually does. Everything else is, “outside the realm of possibility.”
I do this all the time at work. I’m always proposing stuff prefixing it with “why can’t we just do ‘x'”, and then I find out the “x” is actually impossible for any number of reasons and I was incredibly naive to suggest it.
If I could indulge in wishful thinking though and come up with a simple policy change which would be an unalloyed good, both here and around the world, it would be to decriminalize the sale and consumption of all drugs.