Category: Politics & government
I used to sympathize with the Democrats not long ago but I have jumped off the bandwagon some time after the Democrats conquered the Congress. Why?
Well:
WASHINGTON, July 15 — On Capitol Hill and on the presidential campaign trail, Democrats are increasingly moving toward a full-throated populist critique of the current economy.
Clearly influenced by some of their most successful candidates in last year’s Congressional elections, Democrats are talking more and more about the anemic growth in American wages and the negative effects of trade and a globalized economy on American jobs and communities. They deplore what they call a growing gap between the middle class, which is struggling to adjust to a changing job market, and the affluent elites who have prospered in the new economy. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, calls it “trickle-down economics without the trickle.” [New Populism Is Spurring Democrats on the Economy. NYT. July 14 2007]
With the Democrats in power of the Congress, I would like to see a Republican President and Ron Paul would do just fine for me. Maybe even Mitt Romney but that is just because Mankiw is his advisor. I certainly do not want to see the mistake of giving too much power to Barisan Nasional in Malaysia repeats itself in the US.
If a Democrat President sits in the Oval Office, I have a feeling a recession — with their protectionist and anti-trade thinking — will hit us all, sooner or later.
Earlier today, Khairy Jamaluddin seems to imply that CTOS is victimizing the Malays.
“Otherwise, many people will be victimised, especially Malays who may have settled their debts but get penalised by the information provided by CTOS,” he told reporters after the opening of the Rembau Umno Youth delegates meeting here.
The meeting was opened by Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who is also the state Umno liaison chief.
Khairy said he noticed that most of the people on the CTOS blacklist were Malays. [Khairy Suggests Winding Up CTOS. Bernama. July 14 2007]
Worry not Malays because here comes the knight in shining armor to save the day!
It is amazing how he is trying to turn a completely ethnic-neutral issue into a racial one. While doing that, he portrays himself as a savior by calling for CTOS to be winded up. By calling for such action, the victimized Malays would be grateful to Khairy for fighting for the Malays.
Wicked rationale of a populist, I would say.
I personally doubt that CTOS is trying to get the Malays. In fact, CTOS, from my reading, does not blacklist people. It merely provides individual’s credit information which is available publicly.
Regardless, if it is true that most with bad credit rating are Malays, there is one possible easy explanation to that: the Malays make up the majority population in this country. Assuming everything else is the same, it would be rational to expect the number of Malays with bad credit rating would reflect the percentage of the Malaysian population.
I would be interesting to to see the percentage of individuals with bad credit rating based on ethnicity background. I am betting that the relevant percentage would reflect the composition of the Malaysian population.
Tony Blair, whom along with Bill Clinton, the backbone of the third wayers of the 90s, has resigned from the UK premiership:
Labour leader Gordon Brown is the UK’s new prime minister after being asked to form a government by the Queen.
Posing outside No 10 with wife Sarah, the man who has been Tony Blair’s chancellor for the past 10 years, said: “Let the work of change begin.”
He said his priorities were education, health and restoring trust in politics. He promised he would “try my utmost”.
Outgoing PM Blair had earlier received an emotional and unprecedented standing ovation from MPs as he left Parliament.
It is the first time in 17 years a UK prime minister has entered office without a general election. [Brown is UK’s new prime minister. BBC News. June 27 2007]
I may not agree with the radical centrists but Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, in my humble opinion, are great leaders that I will sorely miss. They may have done mistakes but they have done enough good for me to remember them. This is an end of an era.
Goodbye, Mr. Prime Minister.
From the NYT political blog:
Some of Mrs. Clinton’s rivals, including the campaign of Senator Barack Obama, went through the list of the Clinton’s financial holdings that Mrs. Clinton filed with the Senate and released a very detailed and critical analysis about where the Clintons had gotten and invested their money.
[…]
Mr. Obama’s aides circulated the memorandum to news organizations on the condition that news organizations not say where they obtained the information.
[…]
This turned into a bit of a dust-up because by all appearances, the Obama campaign got a little sloppy in circulating what turned out to be two critical memos. They ended up in the hands of the Clinton campaign.
[…]
Why would the Clinton campaign want to circulate documents attacking its candidate? Mrs. Clinton’s aides declined comment. But the Clintons have been seeking to undercut the effort by Mr. Obama to present himself as the face of a new-kind-of-politics that eschews these kind of attacks. [The Backstory on Obama-Clinton Attack Memos. The Caucus. June 15 2007]
Clinton seems to be winning at the moment.
The Obama campaign was forced to acknowledge authorship when the Clinton campaign got a copy and shared it with The New York Times.
For the Clinton campaign, drawing attention to a document attacking its own candidate had the effect of demonstrating that Mr. Obama, like other candidates, is not above a bit of political street fighting and, by implication, should not be allowed to cast himself as a champion of a purer version of public service. But in this case, the disclosure also threatened to create a substantive problem for Mr. Obama by leading an Indian-American group to accuse Mr. Obama of engaging in racial stereotyping. [A New Kind of Politics Closely Resembles the Old. NYT. June 16 2007]
Read also 2008: Not-So-New Politics, New Fallout.