Secretary of Immobility Ray LaHood announced recently that he plans to step down from his post at the end of President Obama’s first term and that he is looking forward to some “wonderful opportunities” in the private sector. This naturally raises the question of what kind of opportunities await a bumbling has-been who betrayed his party’s principles in order to unconditionally support a president of the opposite party.
For example, the former Republican congressman from Illinois recently charged that Republicans in Congress today oppose Obama’s transportation policies because they “don’t want Obama to be successful.” Since Obama’s policies call for spending hundreds of billions of dollars the nation doesn’t have on transportation projects the nation doesn’t need, it is more likely that fiscal conservatives don’t think those policies can be successful at accomplishing anything other than wasting money on a grander scale than any other domestic project in history.
There may be variety of causes why a man meets this problem but most common causes are:* Stress* Depression * Penile surgery * Blood-related issues* Relationship issues* Chronic medication* High blood pressure* Cardiovascular problems Apart from above mentioned conditions, aging is another tadalafil cost view to find out more reason of male depression revolves around their sexual health, if they do not work well without proper exercise and diet. The result is that many directories have india viagra generic been discounted. The tablets should be swallowed whole levitra from canada with a drink of water. Clinical diagnosis shows that chronic seminal vesiculitis usually occurs with chronic proatatitis, and can cause the phenomena of hematospermia. order cheap cialis secretworldchronicle.com LaHood’s only worthwhile legacy will be his emphasis on transportation safety, something that’s been forgotten by many planners who are willing to make streets more dangerous in order to achieve their goal of getting people out of their cars. (When told that his work for bicycle safety makes him a “hipster,” he replied, “I don’t even know what that term means.”) Unfortunately, LaHood’s safety concerns have not been strong enough for him to actually investigate whether the things he wants to impose, such as seat belts on buses, are cost-effective ways of improving safety.
The office of Secretary of Transportation has somehow become a “throwaway” position that recent administrations have used to make their cabinets appear more diverse. Bush kept a Democrat, Norman Mineta, in the office while Obama appointed a Republican, LaHood. We’ll see what the next administration does. As someone commented on the Washington Post web site, after Obama’s first term, “The other members of the cabinet will be leaving as well.” Maybe, if Republicans can find a credible alternative.
Leon Panetta, Norman Mineta. I get them mixed up too!
By the way, I like your new lay-out.
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I’m torn about this. While it is reassuring to see that he will be leaving the post either way next year, I have no doubt that he intends to ply his trade as a heavy-hitting lobbyist upon his resignation from his current position.
Agreed, MJ
The Secretary of Transportation deals in far more pork than the Secretary of Agriculture.
Randall:
Your comments evince a total ignorance of currency, budgets and economics.
The US Government always has the ability to pay for whatever it wants because it issues its own currency in whatever quantities it sees fit and it has an unlimited power of borrowing not constrained by any external factor. That is the privilege of being a sovereign currency issuer. How in the world do you think we ever paid for what was needed in World War II except by calling on these means?
Every single dollar in existence is a result of either its being stamped on metal at the US Mint, or its being called into existence by the issuing of US securities and their concomittant purchase by the Federal Reserve. If the entire US Federal debt were to actually be paid off, we would have no currency in circulation and would fall into a depression because there would be no money in circulation.
The US can always afford any transportation project it wishes to pursue. Since these projects typically contribute to the efficiency and productivity of the national economy by improving the movements of goods and people, it is quite difficult for deficit spending on
them to result in inflation unless the projects are especially large and ill-advised, as the natinal money supply can always increase in a non-inflationary manner as population grows and productivity is gained in human work.
Aside from providing a common defense organization and a level framework for business activity, the undertaking of internal commerce and evelopment improvements with debt financing was one of the primary reasons the current US constitution was written and put in place.
Andrew,
Thanks for your thoughts. When I say the U.S. has no money, I am relying on the inside-the-beltway consensus that transportation will be paid for out of revenues, not borrowing. There are no revenues sufficient to build a national high-speed rail system unless gas taxes are increased to politically unacceptable levels.
You are right that the U.S. Treasury could ostensibly borrow as much as it needs, but there is also a limit to borrowing. If it just prints money, it will devalue the currency and lenders will require much higher interest rates to compensate.
What Andrew is suggesting is lunatic economics. Ignore it.
Hey Andrew. You and Dan should go get a refund from the high school or junior high school that taught you that economics. If you need legal help, you and Dan should go talk to the “9/11 Truthers” and the “Obama Birthers.”
Randall:
Thank you for your response.
You are right in acknowledging the limits on what we can do are political and not financial or budgetary.
The stated policy of the US government and the Federal Reserve is a controlled devaluation of the currency (an ideal CPI of 2 to 3%). Combined with US population growth of over 1% per year and productivity growth of 1-4% per year, it implies a growth in the monetary base through the issuance of new debt at around 6% of GDP per year. The US Government certainly doesn’t have to do all the issuing, although it has been since 2008 with the frenzy among consumers to pay down their own debt. It didn’t require higher interest rates either to fuel the new debt issued since 2008 – on the contrary, they are at record lows because investor sentiment is that every other investment they might make in the private markets would lose them money, so 0-2% on T-Bills is a better choice. Plus, with consumers paying down debt, banks refusing to lend, and corporation sitting on piles of cash because they are hoping for a tax break to perform the accounting needed to make it spendable, there are few other options to invest.
A couple of other points to remember, the US Government sets interest rates through the Federal Reserve Bank. Even if the Fed sets the rates at a lower level than any private investor is willing to assume, the Fed can always buy every T-Bill issued by the Treasury, so that there can never be a shortage of demand for them in the entire economic system (private, financial, and fiscal).
The other point is that taxes primarily serve the purpose of creating demand for US currency in order to satisfy the obligation of paying them. Thus the words “This Note is Legal Tender for All Debts Public and Private”. You can trade two cows for 100 bushels of grain from your neighbor, but the US Treasury will not accept either in payment of your tax liability. The widespread acceptance of US Currency for payments creates the basis of our economic transaction system. They also moderate the ineherent inflation present in the issuing of money by the government. You pay the same amount in the end, but economic stability is promoted by price stability because it makes the seeking of returns on invested sums predictable.
Sandy Teal and metrosucks:
I encourage you to read about how a central bank creates money for its government through the purchase of government debt. All money aside from coin is the result of government debts.