Monday, September 8, 2008

A couple of things to rattle your cranial capacity, again…

First:

The GOP campaign has already begun to issue statements to the effect of, “the Democratic majority in the US Congress is responsible for all that is wrong with the USA today.”

If you believe that, have I got a bridge for you!


The Democratic majority in the US Congress decided to put its foot in its collective mouth and promise that, starting in January of 2007, things would be different. If their brains had engaged before their mouths, they would have noted that they did not have a veto proof majority in either the House or Senate. Also, the super-majority parliamentary rule (used by both parties when they found themselves as a slight minority) in the Senate could, and did, stop all the Democrat’s initiatives before they ever would reach the President’s desk.


For those reasons the Republican party’s defective government (the W admin. plus a Republican majority in the House and Senate) from January 2001 till December 2006 is responsible for the financial crisis (that started as a problem with subprime mortgages), the incredibly huge federal budget deficit, the consistently large monthly trade deficit, the incomplete effort in Afghanistan, the wrong war in Iraq, the stagnant middle class income, the disparity in wealth twixt the rich and the middle class, mass job exportation, etc…


If Republicans are not willing to own the consequences of their actions, perhaps they should not have caused them.



Second:

How outsourcing tasks to contractors saves anyone any money, even as the contracting company makes a substantial profit:


First, do the outsourced task poorly.


Second, move the work to a country where the prevailing wage is substantially lower than in the USA.


Third, the aforementioned other country need have weaker (or selectively enforced) environment, health and safety laws.


Forth, (as in the current war zones) make no-bid contractors completely unaccountable; contracting already provides substantial cover from accountability.


That’s all it takes. How do the executives that make these outsourcing decisions sleep at night?

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