Public Struggle

Lynch Pin
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) scheduled a showdown vote for Wednesday, putting the linchpin of Democrats' gun-control efforts on the line even while Democrats appeared short of the votes needed to pass it. The bipartisan proposal, from Sens. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), would broaden background checks to all online and gun-show sales. Currently, only federally licensed dealers are required to conduct checks, which aim to screen for people with criminal and mental-health histories that make them ineligible to buy guns. (WSJ, 4/16/2013)

With respect to proposed gun legislation, the question that must be asked is this: Would this legislation have prevented the Newtown massacre? Given that the answer is no, what is the point? It is just politicians chasing their tails while pretending to be useful.

Here are some questions which might get to the heart of Newtown:

• Why did a mother use guns in an attempt to bond with her mentally ill son?
• Why were the guns not locked up?
• Why was the killer not institutionalized?
• What was the role of the violent video games found in the killer's basement on his mental health?
• Would an armed guard at the school have prevented or lessened the tragedy?

Now we are talking. 


Spiraling
Problem is, the Wal-Mart model of employment and service not only reflects but also reinforces the declining economic prospects of the majority of Americans. The nation’s largest private-sector employer has used its market power to impose its low-wage model all along its supply chain, leaving millions of Americans with no shopping option other than the kind of discount, and frustrating, experience that Wal-Mart provides. The U.S. economy that Wal-Mart has built — with plenty of help from Wall Street and the government — is in the shape of a downward spiral, and it will take all our ingenuity, and a mass movement for worker power, to free ourselves from that path. (Harold Meyerson, Washington Post, 4/16/2013)

Read an article - any article - about the ouster of J.C. Penney's CEO and the story is the same: Ron Johnson's ill-fated attempt to move the company away from the cycle of high nominal prices offset by discounts and couponing. Now along comes Liberal Op-ed writer Meyerson to set us straight. The real problem with J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart and other retailers? Not enough workers and low wages to boot! With analytical skills like this, the Washington Post had better make sure that the credit desk at Goldman Sachs doesn't recruit Meyerson away. 

We might have suggested that whatever problems retailers might be having could be tied to the sluggish economy and continuing concerns about the costs to companies of Obamacare. Who knew the answer was simply to hire more workers and pay them more? 


Bury Thee
At Ludgate Circus, close to St. Paul’s, a small group of protesters gathered, some with banners reading: “Now bury Thatcherism.” Some jeered and shouted, “good riddance.” (NYT, 4/17/2013)

Some day former President Jimmy Carter will pass. Whatever our differences with the former president, we will NOT dance on his grave. 


No Show
The official American delegation named by the White House is led by two more former secretaries of state, George P. Shultz and James A. Baker 3d. But some British Conservatives have complained that President Obama did not send a senior serving member of his administration. (NYT, 4/17/2013)

First, he returned the Churchill bust and then he snubs Thatcher. This is how Obama treats our stalwart ally.


Rank and File
Anthony D. Weiner has not yet said whether he will run for mayor of New York. But he already ranks among the leading Democratic candidates in the race, trailing only one other contender, Christine C. Quinn, in a poll of voters released on Tuesday. (NYT, 4/17/2013)

Run Weiner, Run!