Category Archives: news

blog, news, politics

Priming the pump: Downgrade Pain didn’t have to happen if only Obama was more like Roosevelt than Reagan

As I was monitoring the fall of the markets, President Obama made a brief cameo to remind everyone that S&P doesn’t know squat.

You want to bet the house on a ratings company that couldn’t rate the financial companies right in 2008?

S&P has a credibility gap.  

But  they’re right on one score. We  still have a less than Triple-A political process.

It was bit strange to see Obama come out fighting today. 

Where was that fight,the spirited sense of pump priming last week when we needed to see it?

“Pump priming” is what succesful stimulus packages are all about. Government spends on infrastructure and more people go back to work. And it does work. It’s the way Clinton got us out of debt.

On Monday, Obama talked like he had a plan. He was still a big lukewarm. But at least he acknowledged all the things government can do, including some things the GOP has already agreed to and can do today. 

Obama mentioned political will as if the lack of it was due to those spoil sport Tea Party folks.

But all along, Obama could have shown a bit more muscle too.

 He  just hasn’t been pumping up  priming the pump hard enough.

Don’t forget the power of the pump, Mr. President.

Check out my amok column at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund website blog:

 http://aaldef.org/blog/downgrade-pain-courtesy-of-our-political-class.html

blog, news, politics

America won’t be America with debt ceiling deal

It didn’t have to come to this, but why has the  debt ceiling deal turned into the Tea Party’s Government Re-Organization Act?

Do you understand what a plan with no extra revenues and all cuts does to this country?

It puts the New America squarely into the New Third World.

Maybe it’s the way the GOP and the Tea Party wish to curb immigration–make the U.S. less desirable than even a place like the Philippines. (My cousins may be better off there. At least, there are call center jobs in Quezon City).

When the deal came down Sunday, I was visiting a friend. Her story will sound familiar. The debt ceiling deal did nothing for her. Check out the amok column:

http://aaldef.org/blog/bad-deal-still-bad-economy.html

blog, diversity, news, politics, race

Rep. David Wu’s failed promise

The debt ceiling debate was given a little levity when politicos had David Wu to pounce on.

It’s hard not to. The guy has been flat out bizarre in his actions.

But it’s not funny, really.

The guy may have been troubled personally, stressed out on many different levels.  But he was no buffoon. He was the first Chinese American elected to the House. And that’s a big, big deal.

Read my amok column exclusively on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund website: 

http://aaldef.org/blog/farewell-to-tigger-wu.html

blog, journalism, news, politics, race

Old Dish: Wendi Deng, Murdoch’s Tiger Mom? Or the fully evolved Asian anchor babe?

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We all saw Wendi Deng Murdoch sit behind her man this week like she was in a TV studio perched on an anchor chair. (They have chairs instead of old-fashioned anchor desks these days because consultants realized it hid one of an anchor babe’s best assets).  

Wendi watchers will recall the conflict in her life at the beginning of her career while at Star TV in Asia.

Smart enough to run the business.

Pretty enough to be a host, like the second coming of Connie Chung.  

Conniving enough–oh let’s give her the benefit of the doubt–lucky enough to get herself the job as chief interpreter to the Chairman of the Board. 

Quandry of quandries!  What’s a girl to do? It was enought to give a pretty young thing a real headache!

But it all came together this week at that parliamentary hearing for Wendi. She knew exactly what to do when it mattered.

Given all in her past, what better time to summon up her god-given  talents, including going claws up in defense of poor Rupert, a victim of all sorts these days,  a cream pie being the messiest.  (Why the mess makes it worse than a phone hack, don’t you think?) 

Don’t let the pink fool you, Wendi knows what she’s doing.

If you don’t know jack about Deng, here’s a primer on her back story:

 http://aaldef.org/blog/dengs-paw-showing-some-claw-in-defense-of-her-murdoch-1.html