The next big issue Congress is addressing is regulation reform.  It is bad enough that there are corporate Democrats that are going to water down most financial regulations.  But the one truly inspired idea is the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA).  One of the basic reasons the financial collapse was because too many people got too many loans they could not afford and mortgage predictors fooled many people, especially working class people and the elderly into bad loan terms.  Creation of this agency could mitigate those problems at the point of sale by not only educating financial consumers but making terms simpler and ultimately giving people an arbitrator on their behalf.

Republicans are even playing their word games again to invoke the desired Pavlovian response in their base by saying a newly formed independent CFPA would just be like the EPA and create unnecessary regulations that will only restrict business.

Get ready for a bruising showdown over the consumer protection agency the Democrats are trying to create: GOP senators are pledging to kill a standalone body, which is critical to the Dems’ plan. A strong, independent CFPA is anathema, says Utah Republican Robert Bennett: “Can you say EPA?” Bennett and allies see the EPA as a model of business-harming regulatory excess, and are determined to bring the proposed CFPA under the auspices of a larger agency to prevent it from doing likewise.

Coming back to the oxymoronic phrase “Populist Republican” which just means more tax cuts and deregulation, sound familiar?   “Populist Republicans” would only give corporations more power by giving them even more tax breaks and fewer regulations.   These same Republicans are now trying to say NO to a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency with the help of their old allies like the US Chamber of Commerce.

Of course this is all part of the GOP’s political strategy of saying NO to any progress whether it helps their constituents or not.  The GOP is banking on blocking enough progress so that they can get back power in 2010.  So they can have the power the progress of the Obama administration even more.  Maybe they can block progress enough to get back the White House in 2012 so we can slide backward again as a nation like we did under Bush.  The worse part is conservative Democrats trying to get elected in more conservative districts and states and apathetic progressives who are not happy with the pace of progress are unwittingly part of the GOP’s plan.  Conservative Democrats are under the false impression that if they just act like Republicans they will win more conservative constituents over.  Even more illogically some progressives think if they sit on their hands during the 2010 elections that it will teach Democrats some kind of lesson and somehow magically more obstructionists members of the GOP in office will ultimately lead to a progressive nation.

One of the MSM main memes last year was that the Public Option was some kind of liberal’s we dream scheme.   This year to create more controversy and get more ad money for higher profits their memes will be focused on the great Republican comeback.  The ironic part is that if the Republicans do take back power it will be because they are exceptional at just doing nothing.

Stop the CFPA brought to you by the US Chamber of Commerce.

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javaz
Member

Things are looking up!

“”On a conference call with reporters just now, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer officially announced his resignation, effective on February 20.””

“”The Senate race in the Sunshine State has become something of a proxy for the larger fight within the GOP, which pits conservative Republicans against extremely conservative Republicans. A wide variety of party players from outside Florida have been weighing in, making it the epicenter of the larger dispute over the future of the GOP.””

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_01/021776.php#more

abby4ever
Guest

KQ: this is a very thoughtful article, I was especially interested in the part about the Conservative Dems and at least some progressives and how deluded both seem to be about what will work for 2010 and 2012. Here is something you say:

Conservative Democrats are under the false impression that if they just act like Republicans they will win more conservative constituents over.

I believe this is called dissembling. Pretending to be something you are not, or re: Collins English Dictionary: ‘Concealing one’s real motives or emotions by pretence’. For a wider purpose; here, to gain votes. I just hate this kind of thing, for its dishonesty and because it is so self-serving.

javaz
Member

Here is an example of the ultimate Republican idiocy that Newt Gingrich praises.

Remember when Michelle Bachman urged her constituents to refrain from taking the census for some lame-brain reason against Obama?
Well, newsflash to another voice of insanity – Minnesota could lose a congressional seat!!!

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/80373447.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU

bito
Member

Hope it is Shelly’s seat that gets axed.

abby4ever
Guest

Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art…

wait, wrong Shelley…

bito
Member

Good one Abby! 😉 Not sure if the Shelly on this side of the pond knows that one.

choicelady
Member

LOL!!! That’s great, abby!

kesmarn
Admin

Hail to thee, Bachmann Spirit!
Bird-brain thou ever wert,
That from Hades, or near it,
Pourest thy half wit
In profuse strains of unpremeditated shit…?

With apologies to all English Lit lovers.

javaz
Member

Michael Steele, of all people, offers a bit of hope, but we all know how accurate and sane he is!

http://rawstory.com/2009/01/steele-gop-screwed-up-reagan/

“”In a TV interview Monday, Steele said the party won’t be regaining control of Congress in the mid-term elections this year. And if there’s a reason for that, it’s that the Republicans “screwed up” after Ronald Reagan left office.””

UncleB
Member
UncleB

Steele… continuing to give lame excuses for the Repub inadequacies..!

For example, he didn’t even have a valid excuse (um, I mean, reason) for their INACTION on Health Care.

“…we tripped ourselves up”. [Huh?]

“What gets lost in the health care debate is the fact that Republican leadership had multiple years themselves to pass health care reform and did not even try. When President Bush had a Republican controlled Congress both NEVER even seriously attempted to pass ANY kind of health care reform.”

Michael Steele On Why GOP Didn’t Pursue Health Care Reform In The Past: ‘We Tripped Ourselves Up”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/25/michael-steele-on-why-gop_n_268953.html

Oopsie…it must have slipped our minds..!

javaz
Member

Michael Steele is a total idiot.

choicelady
Member

But what’s been cited here actually makes sense. It’s scary when a screwball is the brains of the outfit! If he did not try so hard to bring gang bangers into the Republican party (there IS a logic in that if they’re heavily into making money regardless of legal status) he MIGHT actually have a decent critique of his party’s weaknesses. But he lost me, never mind his party, with his stupid blog, “What up?” Lord save us all.

Khirad
Member

On Matthews I believe he just used the word ‘jailbait’ in the weirdest context… or did I mishear him? If so, just one more WTF moment from the fly in the soup guy…

I never want the jive Steele sideshow to stop!

javaz
Member

I can’t find the proper word for a person who belongs to a group that hates him because of his color, yet the person is out there praising those hateful people, and denying that his color doesn’t matter and it’s the other side that are racist bigots.

Oh, yeah, maybe the word is STUPID.

boomer1949
Member

Well, “stupid” is a preexisting condition you know.

abby4ever
Guest

Watch the caps, boomer.

:]

boomer1949
Member

🙂

jan4insight
Guest

javez, I’ve heard the term “Stockhom syndrome” applied in such cases.

also, back in my radical days of the late 60s, the phrase Uncle Tom would have been used.

javaz
Member

I agree and you are very kind to Steele in trying to find an excuse to excuse his ignorance.

jan4insight
Guest

Hey, I wasn’t excusing anything! “Uncle Tom” which I feel is more applicable to Steele than the other suggestion I offered, is definitely not an excuse!

But I assume you were being sarcastic in your comment, no?

Pepe Lepew
Member

Who is that new person in your avatar Khirad?

Khirad
Member

Zarathushtra

Thus spake Khirad, yea.

Pepe Lepew
Member

This Zarathushtra?

Pepe Lepew
Member

Painfully bad spelling of “Odyssey.”

Khirad
Member

Didn’t you know? That’s my theme music whenever I enter a room! 😆

And yeah, painful spelling indeed. Having made my own YouTube videos recently, I don’t know why spellcheck never crosses their minds in the process. YouTube is rife with them.

bito
Member

Oh, the Great Saint Ronnie? Increased spending, increased debt expanded the government, increased payroll taxes and cut taxes for the rich. That St. Ronnie?
Edit: I forgot. Busted the Unions!

javaz
Member

I know it!
And aren’t you sick of it?
Reagan had ’em fooled, didn’t he?
Then again, he was an actor, B-rate, but still an actor.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

My view, along with many of our friends and associates, who are small business owners and former CoC members, believe, if the Chamber doesn’t like it, then it must be good for us.

So many of us small business owners have defected from the CoC because of their ties to the Mongo Corporations and political affiliations. They are no longer the voice of the small business owner, but the voice of Corporate America, who enjoy more of the benefits of the CoC than we do.

They have lost their power to persuade us, this fear mongering by the CoC and the Republicans seem to be back firing with the real small business owners…so I have hope that this, like their out cry against Health Care Reform will fall on deaf ears.

Tiger99
Guest

If the GOP gets back in power the I am gonna “cling to my Bible and guns”… As soon as I get me a Bible and some guns…

javaz
Member

Republicans are exceptional at doing some things – reducing taxes on the rich, increasing corporate welfare, starting wars and not finishing them, proselytizing about Christ, cheating on their wives, and spewing lies about anyone not in agreement with them.

Republicans are exceptional at raising taxes on the middle class and working poor, downsizing the middle class, increasing poverty, eliminating benefits for workers, eliminating social programs for the middle class and poor, not funding infrastructure, destroying the environment, not funding education, and preaching ‘abstinence only’ while threatening to overturn Roe vs Wade and eliminate birth control on religious grounds.

I’ve come to the conclusion that if American voters place the Republicans back into power that I am following Timothy Leary’s advice – “Turn on, tune in, drop out.”

jan4insight
Guest

What you said, javaz!

This seems a like a good place to post this little gem that I saved from HP before it got scrubbed – It’s my comment supported by another poster there named goldynchyl. Pay particular attention to goldynchyl’s conclusion:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

posted 1/3/10 & scrubbed apparently ~

WASHINGTON

Emerald1943
Member

Hey Jan, it sounds like this “goldnchyl” is just the kind of person we need to invite to the Planet! I hope you have done so…or at least tried to before you were so unceremoniously scrubbed!

And just one question…what in hell is the purpose of putting up a big blog site if you won’t allow opinions to be voiced? HP is getting worse and worse as time goes by! I wrote a few days ago:

HP has lost more than they will ever know!

jan4insight
Guest

Yeah, I loved what goldynchyl had to say, and I’m so glad I copied the comment before it vanished into the ether. I haven’t found goldyn again, but when I do I will definitely offer the invite – I’ve been posting invites to here whenever I get a chance, and staying off HP threads where I know for sure I’ll get scrubulated!