This sums up the last 4 years of the Obama administration and the risk of giving him 4 more.

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The Economist published an opinion piece today titled, “Prudence is the new greed“. The author notes:

THE new economic villains are not greedy bankers or inept politicians, but businesses choosing to hoard cash rather than hire new workers. I’ve heard it suggested that this is greedy or even unpatriotic.

But businesses have good reason to hold cash right now. Investment is risky and demand is still weak. An ongoing tepid recovery, or even a double-dip recession, may mean firms won’t need to grow for a long time. Or things might get worse; in that case a business owner may worry he won’t generate enough cash flow to meet his payroll. Then he’ll need that cash to avoid more layoffs. It might just be a sensible idea to hold off on expansion and keep assets as liquid as possible until there is some end to trouble in sight.

There’s a lengthy discussion about German firms and the inflexibility of the German labor market.

Joe Nocera is not having it. He confuses risk aversion under uncertainty with a focus on short-term profits.

The only way that’s going to happen, however, is if our society implicitly makes the kind of compact that German society makes explicitly: We have to be willing to allow companies to sacrifice short-term profits for the long-term good of the country. As the leadership expert Michael Useem wrote recently on The Washington Post’s Web site, business needs to make “people a priority, not just earnings.”

I never thought I’d see the day Americans envy the German labour market. But in Germany, firms often opt to cut back on hours rather than lay off workers, while the government subsidises the workers’ lost earnings.

As we suffer through our own economic hard times, the German approach is something we can only envy. Here, companies quickly lay off workers, many of whom never find their way back into the full-time labor force. Corporations shy away from investing for the future, even though investment is what will turn the economy around. The government, for its part, invariably starts talking about “job creation,” but rarely does anything that makes a difference.

But one reason German firms are keen to cut back on hours rather than sack employees is that it’s very hard and expensive to fire anyone in Germany. It’s so hard to fire someone that firms became reluctant to hire in the first place. That is why Germany has historically had much higher rates of structural unemployment. Many people who lose their jobs never find work again—and that’s in good economic times.

Having worked for a German company for 2.5 years, I saw first hand the inflexibility of the German labor market. Once I had someone on my budget, it was nearly impossible to get of them–even if they were incompetent or worse, malfeasant. After many discussions with my German colleagues, it was clear that this was accepted social policy and the resultant double-digit structural unemployment was part of the deal. Germany’s export driven economy has powered through the latest global recession, so I guess an inflexible labor market is sustainable as long as a) you build good products b) you can command a premium and c) people continue to buy your goods. Thoughts?

Those of you who follow my personal account on Twitter (@rpetty), can attest to my love of the TV show Red Eye (Fox News Channel, 12AM PT, 3 AM ET).  There is a rabid show following on Twitter each night, in fact the #redeye hashtag was the 3rd most popular TV show hashtag on Twitter in 2010 (Most Influential Topics of 2010 – Klout Blog).  Nothing short of amazing considering its relative obscurity due to airtime and its basis in news and current events.

One of the show’s loyal fans, Chris Barnhart, decided it was time to get to know these fans better.  He has put together a great series of fan interviews on his blog, Chris is Right.

We’ll it was finally my turn.  Here is an excerpt from my interview.

In doing these interviews, one of the things that attracted me to the idea was getting to know “Red Eye” fans from all over the place. The Internet makes the world a smaller place by overcoming geographical boundaries, and there is often a tendency to form friendships with people from far off places one might never otherwise encounter.

Sometimes though, this small world concept causes us to overlook those in our own backyards. That is a shame. Especially living in the Seattle area where those of us who don’t attend Hempfest or worship the statue of Lenin might do well to stick together.

It’s unlikely we Pacific Northwest “Red Eye” fans could fend off the coming zombie apocalypse alone. But, hey, safe houses! Also, the potential for a riotous midnight tweetup where we take over our local vegan, hummingbird safe, soy chai oriented coffee house and turn it into a pro-conservative/Libertarian den of iquity (that’s the opposite of iniquity, in case your dictionaries just threw up. Refudiate it if you like) is a tantalizing possibility.

So how did the #RedEye community get lucky enough to land Ryan as a regular?

“This is really a tale of two social networks.  You see, I went to high school with @evanpokroy.  In preparation for my 20th reunion I became my class’ unofficial Facebook cruise director (i.e. kinda like Julie from The Love Boat, only totally different).  As I was amassing a virtual boatload of Facebook friends from my graduating class, Evan’s name kept popping up (Evan graduated a year after I did) so we connected and I spent the next several minutes “profile stalking” Evan to see what had become of him in the intervening 20 years.  It didn’t take long till we were tag teaming comments during the 2008 election cycle and I learned that @evanpokroy and I share a lot similar views.  A friendship was re-kindled.

After connecting with @evanpokroy on Twitter, I saw several of his tweets scroll by with the #redeye hashtag, I was hooked. After Evan sent a short tweet introducing me and a #FF, I was warmly welcomed by the #redeye crew.

Aha! I just knew Pokroy had a hand in all this. Though I never knew Ryan and Evan went to school together. I guess that means there’s hope for me and Glenn Beck yet.

(Update 10/22/10): Voter Guides from Evergreen Freedom Foundation

With the election quickly approaching, I have been asked where I stand on several of this year’s ballot measures, legislative and judicial candidates for office.

Here are my recommendations for the Washington State 2010 Election.

Washington State Ballot Measures

• I-1053 (Requiring 2/3rds vote for tax increases):  YES
• I-1082 (End gov’t monopoly for Worker’s Comp. Insurance): YES
• I-1098 (Creating a state income tax): NO
• I-1100  Get State out of liquor business:  YES
• I-1105  Creates special liquor sales rules:  NO
• I-1107 (Rescind tax increases on soda, fruit juice and bottled water): YES
• R-52 (Makes bottled water tax permanent/raises WA debt ceiling, sell government bonds with proceeds for making schools more energy efficient):  NO

King County Ballot Recommendations

Here is where I stand on King County ballot measures:

• SJR 8225  Weakens state debt limit                           NO
• ESHJR 4220  Expands bail denial rules                     YES

Candidates for US and State Legislatures

U.S. Senate

US Senate ……………… Dino Rossi (Prefers Republican Party)

U.S. Congress

District 1………………. James Watkins (Prefers Republican Party)
District 2………………. John Koster (Prefers Republican Party)
District 8………………. Dave Reichert (Prefers Republican Party)
District 9………………. Richard (Dick) Muri (Prefers Republican Party)

Legislative District 45

Senator………………. Andy Hill (Prefers Republican Party)
Rep. Pos. 1………….. Kevin Haistings (Prefers Republican Party)
Rep. Pos. 2………….. Mark Isaacs (Prefers Republican Party)

Legislative District 48

Senator………………. Gregg Bennett (Prefers Republican Party)
Rep. Pos. 1………….. Diane Tebelius (Prefers Republican Party)
Rep. Pos. 2………….. Philip L. Wilson (Prefers Republican Party)

King County Offices

Prosecuting Attorney… Dan Satterberg (Prefers Republican Party)
Council District 8…….. Diana Toledo

Judicial Offices

State Supreme Court Pos. 1……… Jim Johnson
State Supreme Court Pos. 6……… Richard B. Sanders

NE District Court

Pos. 5…………………. David A. Steiner
Pos. 6…………………. Michael Finkle
Pos. 7…………………. Larry Mitchell

King County Amendments

County Charter Amendment 1. YES
(Clarification of county roles)

County Charter Amendment 2. YES
(Streamlines campaign finance reporting)

County Charter Amendment 3. YES
(Increases accountability to Sheriff)

County Prop. 1…………………… REJECT
(Unjustified sales tax increase)

I recently wrote about the excellent voter guides put together by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation which provide more details on the candidates and issues behind this election.  Election 2010 Voter Guides at Politalogue.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has put together two wonder voter guides for the 2010 Washington State elections.  I highly recommend you download these free guides and review the record of Washington lawmakers and review the impacts of proposed Washington Initiatives.

Here is a short clip from EFF on why they produced these guides.

Informed Voter Guide 2010

Informed Voter Guide 2010 Initiatives

On October 10th, David Cameron spoke to the Conservative Party Conference in the UK.  Mr. Cameron spoke eloquently on the the responsibility of the individual and the relationship between the citizenry and government.  It is an inspiring speech and one that conservatives in the US should take a look at as a pattern for the 2012 election cycle.

The anger of the US electorate over profligate spending by the Democratic party, in power since 2006 (not just since President Obama was elected in 2008), seems sufficient to carry conservatives to sweeping wins in the US Congress and in state and local elections across the country.  Anger energizes, but is not a substitute for real vision and leadership.

Outside of organizations like Heritage, Cato, & The American Enterprise Institute and others, many conservative candidates, and the Tea Parties candidates in particular, have been short on vision beyond stopping Obama.  The lack of a vision for the future of America will hamper future conservative electoral success by giving the Democratic party and their mouthpieces in the media, the ammunition to question conservative policy and leadership in the new Congress.

The gap between “conservatives” in the US and the UK is quite wide, but let me be bold and suggest that US conservatives, the Tea Parties and most importantly the Republican Party, should look for leaders like Mr. Cameron–those who understand the proper role of government and can articulate a vision for bringing it back to its Constitutional limits.

After over a century of progressive idealogical indoctrination of the electorate, who now in large part believe in the power and efficacy of government to solve every societal and economic ill, it’s time to offer an alternative vision.  As so much progressive dogma is accepted as common knowledge, as Mr. Cameron suggests, “We’re the radicals now!”

Mr. Cameron’s Speech to Conservatives – October 10, 2010

Excerpt on the role of the citizen and gov’t from Mr. Cameron’s speech.

RESPONSIBILITY

But however different life has got as Prime Minister, there’s one thing that for me has stayed the same.

My belief about how this country needs to change.

I think that we should start by being honest with ourselves.

The mess this country is in – it’s not all because of Labour.

Of course, they must take some of the blame.

Alright – they actually need to take quite a lot of the blame.

Let me just get this off my chest.

They left us with massive debts, the highest deficit, overstretched armed forces, demoralised public services, endless ridiculous rules and regulations and quangos and bureaucracy and nonsense.

They left us a legacy of spinning, smearing, briefing, back-biting, half-truths and cover-ups, patronising, old-fashioned, top-down, wasteful, centralising, inefficient, ineffective, unaccountable politics, 10p tax and 90 days detention, an election bottled and a referendum denied, gold sold at half price and council tax doubled, bad news buried and Mandelson resurrected, pension funds destroyed and foreign prisoners not deported, Gurkhas kept out and extremist preachers allowed in.

Yes, they deserve some blame and I tell you, this Party will never let them forget it.

I feel much better for that and i hope it was therapeutic for you too.

But the point I want to make is this.

The state of our nation is not just determined by the government and those who run it.

It is determined by millions of individual actions – by what each of us do and what we choose not to do.

Yes, Labour failed to regulate the City properly.

But they didn’t force those banks to take massive risks with other people’s money.

Yes, Labour tried to boss people around and undermined responsibility.

But they weren’t the ones smashing up our town centres on a Friday night or sitting on their sofas waiting for their benefits to arrive.

Yes, they centralised too much and Labour told people they could fix every problem.

But it was the rest of us who swallowed it, hoping that if the government took care of things, perhaps we wouldn’t have to.

Too many people thought ‘I’ve paid my taxes, the state will just look after everything’.

But citizenship, citizenship isn’t a transaction – in which you put your taxes in and get your services out.

It’s a relationship – you’re part of something bigger than yourself, and it matters what you think and you feel and you do.

So to get out of the mess we’re in, changing the government is not enough.

We need to change the way we think about ourselves, and our role in society.

Your country needs you.

And today I want to tell you about the part we’ve all got to play, and the spirit that will take us through.

BIG SOCIETY SPIRIT

It’s the spirit that I saw in a group of NHS maternity nurses in my own constituency, increasingly frustrated by the way they were managed and handled, who wanted to set up a co-op to use their own expertise, their ideas, their contacts to provide a better serice for the mums in their area.

It’s the spirit you see just down the road from this conference in Balsall Heath, where local residents’ were fed up with the pimps and the prostitutes and the gangs and the drug dealers.  So they set up street patrols to clear them out of the area and turn what was a no-go zone into a desirable place to live

It’s the spirit that just today, has seen some of our leading social organisations come together to set up a new Citizen’s University, to help give people the skills they need to play a bigger part in our society.

It’s the spirit of activism, dynamism, people taking the initiative, working together to get things done.

It’s the spirit that has inspired the conference this week as you’ve heard from teachers and counsellors with a passion for what you do.  Seeing our activists building community centres down the road in Allan Rock or on the other side of the world in Rwanda, it’s the social activism that spirit that drives our country today

Now I accept, sometimes that spirit gets taken a little too far.

I got a letter from a six year old girl called Niamh with a pound coin stuck to it.

And there was a note from her mum which said…

“Dear Mr Cameron… after hearing about the deficit, Niamh wanted to send you her tooth fairy money to help.”

There we are, George – nearly there.

Thank you Niamh

But what I’m talking about, the spirit that we need, is the big society spirit – and here’s why I think its time has come.

All over the world, governments are wrestling with the same challenges.

Not just building prosperous, competitive economies, providing good public services, paying for pensions but creating strong societies, improving quality of life, ensuring  everyone feels that they belong.

The countries that succeed will be those that find new ways of doing things, new ways of harnessing the common good, better alternatives to the old-fashioned state and we’re on the right side of that argument.

Here at home, at this year’s election, the result may not have been clear-cut when it came to the political parties.

But it was clear cut enough when it came to political ideas.

The old way of doing things: the high-spending, all-controlling, heavy-handed state, those ideas were defeated.

Statism lost…society won.

That is what happened at the last election and that is the change I believe we can lead.

From state power to people power.

From unchecked individualism to national unity and purpose.

From big government to the big society.

The big society is not about creating cover for cuts.

I was going on about it years before the cuts.

It’s not about government abdicating its role, it is about government changing its role.

It’s about government helping to build a nation of doers and go-getters, where people step forward not sit back, where people come together to make life better.

Now of course the cynics and the defeatists will say it cannot be done, that we’re stuck in some sort of inevitable decline.

But that is what they said in the 1970s.

They were wrong then – and we can prove them wrong again.  We can.

We can build a country defined not by the selfishness of the Labour years but by the values of mutual responsibility that this party holds dear.

A country defined not by what we consume but by what we contribute.

A country, a society where we say:

I am not alone.

I will play my part.

I will work with others to give Britain a brand new start.

DEFICIT

Over the coming months we will need this spirit as we face up to the deficit and our financial responsibilities.

Everybody knows that this government is undertaking a programme of spending cuts.

And I know how anxious people are.

“Yes”, they say: “of course we need to cut spending.

But do we have to cut now, and by this much?  Is there another way?”

I wish there was another way.

I wish there was an easier way.

But I have to tell you: there is no other responsible way.

Back in May we inherited public finances that can only be described as catastrophic.

This year, we will borrow more money than we spend on the National Health Service.

Just think about that.

Every doctor’s salary. Every operation. Every heating bill in every hospital. Every appointment. Every MRI scan. Every new stethoscope, scalpel, hospital gown, the lot

Everything in our hospitals and surgeries – paid for with borrowed money, much of it from abroad.

And then when you’ve thought about that, think about the interest.

This year, we’re going to spend £43 billion pounds on debt interest payments alone.

£43 billion – not to pay off the debt – just to stand still.

Do you know what we could do with that sort of money?

We could take eleven million people out of paying income tax altogether.

We could take every business in the country out of corporation tax.

That’s why we have acted decisively – to stop pouring so much of your hard-earned money down the drain.

And at the same time it’s stopped us slipping into the nightmare they’ve seen in Greece, confidence falling, interest rates rising, jobs lost and in the end, not less but more drastic spending cuts than if you’d acted decisively in the first place.

Our emergency budget showed the world that Britain is back on the path to fiscal responsibility.

It took us out of the danger zone – and the man we have to thank for that is George Osborne.

The world has backed us.

Our credit rating – which is the mark of trust in our economy – has been preserved.

The International Monetary Fund, the G20, yes even the EU.

They are supporting what we’re doing.

There’s just one group of people that don’t:

You guessed it, the people who mortgaged Britain to the hilt in the first place – Labour.

I want to tell you what their plan is, I think it’s important that people understand the alternative

Labour’s plan is just to halve the deficit over four years.

That means that even after years of cuts, not only would the national debt still be growing, it would be growing as a share of our national income.

In other words, the problem would still be getting worse.

And as a result, the cuts would be bigger, not smaller because the interest payments on the debt would be higher.

That is why it’s right to deal with this problem now, and it is right to deal with it properly.

And I promise you this: that if we pull together to deal with these debts today, just a few years down the line the rewards will be felt by everyone in our country.

More money in your pocket.

More investment in your businesses.

Growing industries, better jobs, stronger prospects for our young people.

And that thing you can’t measure but you just know it when you see it, which is a sense that our great country is moving forwards once again.

LABOUR

The big society means that we must face up to this generation’s debts, not shirking responsibility.

And here I want to say something to the people who got us into this mess.

The ones who racked up more debt in thirteen years than all previous governments did in three centuries.

Yes you, Labour.

You want us to spend more money on ourselves, today, to keep racking up the bills, today and to leave it to our children – the ones who had nothing to do with all this – to pay our debts tomorrow?

That is selfish and irresponsible.

And I tell you what: these Labour politicians, who nearly bankrupted our country, who left a legacy of debts and cuts, who are still in denial about the disaster they created, they must never be allowed anywhere near our economy, ever, ever again.

I expect you all watched lots of the Labour conference last week.  It wasn’t so much Red Ed, but Red Head.  Neil Kinnock was everywhere.  He even said he’s got his party back.  Well Neil, you can keep it.

FAIRNESS

Now reducing spending will be difficult.

There are programmes that will be cut.

There are jobs that will be lost.
There are the things government does today that it will have to stop doing.

Many government departments will have their budgets cut by average by 25 per cent over four years.

That is a cut each year of around seven per cent.

Of course, that is big.

But let’s remember, a lot of businesses have had to make the same or bigger savings in recent years.

And when we are done with these cuts, spending on public services will actually still be at the same level that it was in 2006.

The spending cuts we do have to make, we’ll make in a way that is fair.

Fairness includes protecting the service we most rely on – the national health service.

We said five years ago we were the party of the NHS and now in government, by protecting the NHS from spending cuts, we are showing precisely that priority we have talked about so much in our party.

And as we work to balance the budget, fairness does mean asking those on higher incomes to shoulder more of the burden than those on lower incomes.

I’m not saying this is going to be easy, as we’ve seen this week with child benefit.

But it’s fair that those with broader shoulders should bear a greater load.

And I think, I do think it’s time for a new conversation about what fairness really means.

Here’s what I think.

Yes, fairness means giving money to help the poorest in our society.

People who are sick, who are vulnerable, the elderly – I want you to know we will always look after you.

That’s the sign of a civilized society and it’s what I believe.

But you cannot measure fairness just by how much money we spend on welfare, as though the poor are products with a price tag, and the more we spend the more we value them.

Fairness means supporting people out of poverty, not trapping them in dependency.

So we will make a bold choice.

For too long, we have measured success in tackling poverty by the size of the cheque that we give people.

We say: let us measure our success by the chance that we give.

Let us support the real routes out of poverty: a strong family; a good education; a job.

So we’ll invest in the early years, help put troubled families back on track, use a pupil premium to make sure kids from the poorest homes go to the best schools not the worst, recognise marriage in the tax system and most of all, make sure that work really pays for every single person in our country.

You will probably remember Manchester last year?

When you stood up to show how angry you were about the injustice of some low paid single mothers going out to work and losing 96p, yes 96p, for every extra pound they earned?

Well after months of hard work, I can tell you Iain Duncan Smith has found a way to end that system.

So to that single mother struggling and working her heart out for her children, we can now say:

We’re on your side; we will help you work; we will end that injustice once and for all in our system.

But here’s something else about fairness.

Fairness isn’t just about who gets help from the state.

The other part of the equation is who gives that help, through their taxes.

Taking more money from the man who goes out to work long hours each single day so the family next door can go on living a life on benefits without working – is that fair?

Fairness means giving people what they deserve – and what people deserve can depend on how they behave.

If you really cannot work, we will always look after you.

But if you can work, and refuse to work, we will not let you live off the hard work of others.

GROWTH

Now my friends, tackling the deficit is what we have to do.

But transforming our country is what we passionately want to do.

And here again we need the big society spirit – of activism and dynamism.

We need it to get growth.

Let me tell you what I believe.

It will be the doers and the grafters, the inventors and the entrepreneurs who get our economy moving.

Yes, it will be the wealth-creators – and no, those are not dirty words.

When you think of a wealth-creator, don’t think of the tycoon in the glass tower.

Think of the man who gets up and leaves the house before dawn to go out and clean windows.

Think of the woman who sits up late into the night trying to make the figures add up so she can pay her staff and go on with her business.

I can’t tell you how much I admire people who leave the comfort of a regular wage to strike out on their own.

I’ll always remember what the owner of one small business said to me.

He said “when I was starting out the government did nothing to help me. Then as soon as I start making money they’re all over me trying to take it away.”

That is completely the wrong way round.

We need to get behind our wealth creators.

And that is what we are going to do.  And let’s be clear, we will.

Deal with the deficit so interest rates stay low.

We will slash red tape.

We will cut the small business profits rate, corporation tax and national insurance contributions for new businesses.

But my friends I don’t think our job ends there.

I don’t believe in laissez-faire.

Government has a role not just to fire up ambition, but to help give it flight.

So we are acting to build a more entrepreneurial economy.

Tens of thousands of university and apprenticeship places and a new generation of technical schools.

A new Green Investment Bank, so the technologies of the future are developed, jobs created and our environment protected.

Big infrastructure projects like high speed rail, super-fast broadband, Carbon Capture and Storage.

A £1 billion regional growth fund to stimulate enterprise in those parts of our country where the private sector is weak.

And as we’ve announced this week, a New Enterprise Allowance that gives money to support the tens of thousands of unemployed people who would love to start their own business.

And there’s another way of getting behind business – by sorting out the banks.

Taxpayers bailed you out, now it’s time for you to return the favour  by lending to Britain’s small businesses.

LOCALISM

Now just as we need the big society spirit to get our economy going, we need it in our society too.

And I think you’ll see that social change is where this coalition has its beating, radical heart.

This is what drives us.

To change forever the way our country is run.

And we’re going to start by taking power away from central government and giving it to people.

On May 11th a great shadow was cast over the empire of the quangocrats, the bureaucrats and the power-hoarders.

The shadow was cast by the enemy of the bureaucratic state.

Public chum number one.

The big man on the side of the people.

I give you Eric Pickles.

Eric has come in to government and actually hit the ground sprinting which is a pretty remarkable sight. He is leading the most radical shift in power that this country has seen in decades.

More freedom to local councils, to keep more of the money when they attract business to their area, to finance those big new infrastructure projects and to run new services.

More power for neighbourhoods,to keep the local pubs open, stop the post offices from closing, to run local parks, to plan the look, the shape and feel of their area.

New powers to you, to choose the hospital you get treated in, the school your child goes to.

And because information is power, we are bringing real transparency to government.

All those things the last government kept from you, who spends your money, what they spend it on, what the results are, where the waste is, what they spend on themselves and their salaries we’re putting it in your hands.

We are putting all that information in your hands, it’s your money – so you should know how it is being spent.

This is not about a bit more power for you and a bit less power for central government – it’s a revolution.

Let’s leave Labour defending the status quo, the vested interests, the unions, the quangocrats, the elites, the establishment.

We are the radicals now, breaking apart the old system with a massive transfer for power, from the state to citizens, politicians to people, government to society.

That is the power shift our country needs today and deliver it in government.

PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM

And let me tell you why we desperately need this change.

It’s because the old way, of just pouring public money into services from on high, it didn’t make the promise the changes it promised to.

Health inequalities got worse.

Almost four in ten children left primary school unable to read, write and do maths properly.

There were nearly a million violent crimes a year.

So if anyone tells you that all we need to improve our hospitals and schools or keep our streets safe is more money, tell them we have  been there, we have done that and it just didn’t work.

So this is what radicalism means.

No more top-down, bureaucrat-driven public services.

We are  putting those services in your hands.

The old targets and performance indicators that drove the doctors, nurses and police officers mad – they’re gone.

All that bureaucracy that meant nothing ever happened – we are stripping it away.

The big, giant state monopolies – we’re breaking them open to get new ideas in.

Saying to the people who work in our public services – set up a mutual, establish a co-operative, do things your way.

Saying to business, faith groups, charities, social enterprises – come in and provide a great service.

Already, businesses are getting people trained and ready for work.

GPs are coming together and running NHS services.

And next year, the first generation of free schools will open in the state sector.

But let me tell you as with any radical change, there is going to be some fierce opposition.

I want to give you an idea of the mentality we’re fighting.

Ed Balls, the man who used to be in charge of education in our country, said one of the dangers of our schools policy was that it would create “winners”.

Winners? I mean we can’t possibly have winners.

The danger that your child might go to school and turn out to be a winner.

Anti-aspiration. Anti-success. Anti-parents who just want the best for their children.

What an unbelievable attitude from this Labour generation and we are going to fight it all the way.

CRIME

Now I’ve heard some people say there are some places where reform can’t go – for instance law and order.

I disagree.

Of course the state has a clear role, to score a line between right and wrong; to punish those who step over it, and to do it in a way that gives confidence.

That’s why I have absolutely no time for those who sneer at public attitudes to punishing criminals.

Offenders who should go to prison will go to prison.

Justice must be done.

But we also have to recognise where the state is failing on crime.

We spend £41,000 every year on each prisoner – and yet within a year of leaving half of them reoffend.

There are 150,000 people in Britain today who get their heroin substitutes on the state, their addictions maintained by the taxpayer.

We have police officers who spend more time on paperwork than they do on patrol.

So it is here, that reform is needed most.

So let’s get our best charities to help rehabilitate offenders, our best social enterprises to get people off drugs.

Let’s get more local people – who know their streets – to sign up as special constables.

And let’s get our police officers out from behind their desks and on the streets fighting crime.

I’ve seen at close hand what the police do for us – I know how they put themselves in the line of danger to keep us safe.

So I want to give them more freedom.

But in return for that freedom, the police are going to have someone new to answer to.

Not Ministers – people.

You people.

On the way are new elected police commissioners that you can vote in – and kick out.

Neighbourhood beat meetings where you hold the police to account.

I say to every police officer in the country – don’t be afraid of these changes.

The more you’ve been controlled by the central state, the less people have respected you.

I want to change that.

More freedom for you to be out on the streets, policing the way you know best – and in a way local people support, that will mean more respect for the absolutely vital work that you do.

This is the reform our public services need.

From top-down to bottom-up.

From state power to people power.

That spirit blasting through.

SOCIAL ACTION

But the big society needs you to give it life.

People already do so much to help others.

Three weeks ago volunteers were asked to come forward to help with the 2012 Olympic Games.

You know how many people volunteered??

100,000.

Together we’re going to make these Olympics great for Britain and great for the world.

And on the way we’re going to throw everything we can into winning that bid for the 2018 World Cup.

But not just so I can watch it all over again with the German Chancellor.

There is an incredible appetite out there for people to play their part.

Our job is to help them, encourage them, break down the barriers that stop them.

So let’s scrap the health and safety rules that put people off.

Let’s get community organisers to stimulate action in our poorest areas.

Let’s get going with National Citizen Service so more of our teenagers get some purpose in their lives.

And today I can announce International Citizen Service, to give thousands of our young people, those who couldn’t otherwise afford it, the chance to see the world and serve others.

Last century, America’s Peace Corps inspired a generation of young people to act, and this century, I want International Citizen Service to do the same thing.

That’s the big society spirit, around the world and back here at home.

So that great project in your community – go and lead it.

The waste in government – go and find it.

That new school in your neighbourhood – go and demand it.

The beat meeting on your street – sign up.

The neighbourhood group – join up.

That business you always dreamt- start up.

When we say ‘we are all in this together’ that is not a cry for help, it’s a call to arms.

Society is not a spectator support.

This is your country.

It’s time to believe it.

It’s time to step up and own it.

CONCLUSION

So mine is not just a vision of a more powerful country.

It is a vision of a more powerful people.

The knowledge in the heart of everyone – everyone – that they are not captive to the circumstances of their birth, they are not flotsam and jetsam in the great currents of wealth and power, they are not small people but big citizens.

People that believe in themselves.
A Britain that believes in itself.

Not a promise of a perfect country.

Just an achievable future of a life more fulfilled and fulfilling for everyone.

At this time of great national challenge, two parties have come together to help make it happen.

Yes, this is a new kind of government, but no, not just because it’s a coalition.

It is a new kind of government because it is realistic about what it can achieve on its own, but ambitious about what we can all achieve together.

A government that believes in people, that trusts people, that knows its ultimate role is not to take from people but to give, to give power, to give control, to give everyone the chance to make the most of their own life and make better the lives of others.

Yes, we will play our part – but the part you play will mean even more meaningful.

Your country needs you.

And It takes two.

It takes two to build that strong economy.

We’ll balance the budget, we’ll boost enterprise, but you start those businesses that lead us to growth.

It takes two to build that big society.

We’ll reform those public services, we’ll devolve power, but you step forward and seize that opportunity.

Don’t let the cynics say this is some unachievable, impossible dream that won’t work in the selfish 21st-century – tell them people are hungry for it.

I know the British people and they are not passengers – they are drivers.

I’ve seen the courage of our soldiers…

…the spirit of our entrepreneurs…

…the patience of our teachers…

…the dedication of our doctors…

…the compassion of our care workers…

…the wisdom of our elderly…

…the love of our parents…

…the hopes of our children.

So come on: let’s pull together.

Let’s come together.

Let’s work, together, in the national interest.

Great article from the WSJ which explains the role of government in the recent economic meltdown. I’ve selected a few interesting points made by the author Charles Gasparino and added my own commentary.  This is probably the most balanced explanation of what happened in late 2008 that I have read in the media.  Mr. Gasparino has published a book (see below) in which he goes into greater detail.

The entire article can be found at online.wsj.com.

I came across this article from a 1994 edition of Diabetes Reviews.  It was written at a time when we were debating health care reform under the Clinton Administration.  It is timely to the debate raging today.

Healthcare Reform Paper Fall1994

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Reform for Fannie, Bill S.190 was introduce by the Republicans….in fact, McCain co-sponsored (although this is video from the House of Reps).

The Bill must go thru Committee & gain 60% support. The committee is made up of 20 members. At the time, 11 were Republicans & 9 were Democrats. To get 60% of support, the Republicans needed ONE Democrat to support. Not one Democrat budged & the bill died.