I just read an article in the New Republic that purports to tell us what the first 100 days of a Republican controlled senate would be like. According to the author, the first thing that the GOP would do is approve the Keystone Pipeline, repeal the medical device tax, grant "fast track" trade authority to the president and bar some proposed (but unknown) EPA regulations. These actions are then described as helping only "big business". Now I know that progressives like to think of themselves as standing up to big business (even though they don't), but this article is delusional.
First let's examine the Keystone Pipeline. The article acknowledges that construction will result in just under 50,000 new jobs. Those are jobs being held by individuals, not big business. But the article says they will only be temporary jobs. After the years during which the pipeline is constructed, these jobs will disappear. That's true, but that has nothing to do with big business. Maybe the author should ask the people across the Midwest who will get those jobs if they don't want them because they will only last three or four years. I think we all know the answer to that one. But all of this ignores the real benefit of the pipeline: once Keystone is completed, the world supply of oil will be increased by about 750,000 barrels of oil per day. That is almost a 1% increase in the world supply. While that may seem like a small amount, it is critical to remember that small imbalances in supply and demand produce big moves in the world price of oil. If this extra oil production can bring the world oil price down, that means lower gasoline prices across America, a major benefit for everyone. This is hardly a boon for big business of the sort claimed by the New Republic.
Next is the medical device tax. This tax is a special one put in place by Obamacare. If left in place, it is likely to drive manufacture of medical devices into other countries. Why build medical devices in the USA for sale abroad and pay the tax when you can build them in China and avoid the tax? Why should doctors and hospitals have to raise their prices to cover the increased cost of medical devices (as a result of the tax) so that health insurance premiums have to go up as well? The jobs lost and the people forced to pay higher premiums are hardly big business like the New Republic claims.
Then there is fast track authority for trade negotiations. This is a mechanism which allows the president to make trade deals without having to worry that special interests will get the senate to block parts of the deal. Votes have to be on an all or nothing basis; that is what fast track authority is. The reality is that granting fast track actually weakens the special interests like big business or big labor. It makes it easier for the president to move forward with deals that help everyone. The New Republic gets this totally wrong.
Finally, we get to the unnamed EPA regulations that are supposedly going to be blocked. If we don't know which regs are involved, there is not way to claim who will benefit or be hurt by the move. The claim by TNR is just a total delusion.
Look, I would like to know what the GOP would plan to attempt should it take the Senate. The three items listed above actually seem like good first steps. (I omit the EPA since no one knows what TNR is talking about; not even TNR.) Taking the hack position that the GOP would just try to help big business, however, is a joke.
First let's examine the Keystone Pipeline. The article acknowledges that construction will result in just under 50,000 new jobs. Those are jobs being held by individuals, not big business. But the article says they will only be temporary jobs. After the years during which the pipeline is constructed, these jobs will disappear. That's true, but that has nothing to do with big business. Maybe the author should ask the people across the Midwest who will get those jobs if they don't want them because they will only last three or four years. I think we all know the answer to that one. But all of this ignores the real benefit of the pipeline: once Keystone is completed, the world supply of oil will be increased by about 750,000 barrels of oil per day. That is almost a 1% increase in the world supply. While that may seem like a small amount, it is critical to remember that small imbalances in supply and demand produce big moves in the world price of oil. If this extra oil production can bring the world oil price down, that means lower gasoline prices across America, a major benefit for everyone. This is hardly a boon for big business of the sort claimed by the New Republic.
Next is the medical device tax. This tax is a special one put in place by Obamacare. If left in place, it is likely to drive manufacture of medical devices into other countries. Why build medical devices in the USA for sale abroad and pay the tax when you can build them in China and avoid the tax? Why should doctors and hospitals have to raise their prices to cover the increased cost of medical devices (as a result of the tax) so that health insurance premiums have to go up as well? The jobs lost and the people forced to pay higher premiums are hardly big business like the New Republic claims.
Then there is fast track authority for trade negotiations. This is a mechanism which allows the president to make trade deals without having to worry that special interests will get the senate to block parts of the deal. Votes have to be on an all or nothing basis; that is what fast track authority is. The reality is that granting fast track actually weakens the special interests like big business or big labor. It makes it easier for the president to move forward with deals that help everyone. The New Republic gets this totally wrong.
Finally, we get to the unnamed EPA regulations that are supposedly going to be blocked. If we don't know which regs are involved, there is not way to claim who will benefit or be hurt by the move. The claim by TNR is just a total delusion.
Look, I would like to know what the GOP would plan to attempt should it take the Senate. The three items listed above actually seem like good first steps. (I omit the EPA since no one knows what TNR is talking about; not even TNR.) Taking the hack position that the GOP would just try to help big business, however, is a joke.
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