Congressman Davis has three upcoming town hall meetings in the suburban part of the seventh district, each focusing on “health care, jobs and the economy.” They are as follows:
Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Oak Park Village Hall
123 Madison, Oak Park, Illinois
Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
River Forest Community Center
8020 Madison Street, River Forest, Illinois
Monday, April 12, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Westchester Village Hall
10300 Roosevelt Road, Westchester, Illinois
If you want to hear what the Congressman has to say or pose a question to him in person, this is your chance.
Though he’s not excited about it, Congressman Davis has announced that he’s generally supportive of Obama’s plan to open up some coastal waters to oil drilling.
Even from an ecological standpoint, given that America will continue to consume oil for the foreseeable future (especially with Obama’s consumption-oriented stimulus plan in full bore), it makes more sense to drill within America’s stronger eco-guidelines than to import oil pumped under the lax rules of third world nations.
No, it won’t end our dependence on foreign oil, but if companies are willing to drill for it, this off-shore oil is certain to benefit the country, and Davis is right to support access to it.
If you want to understand just how twisted Congressman Davis’ economic views are, his recent appearance on Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto is a great introduction.
In the interview, which discusses the “Jobs Bill,” Davis makes the following outlandish arguments:
1. Not passing the bill would mean the government is “hoarding” money from the economy
Davis has said this before, and it’s patently ridiculous. Our government is currently running both the highest debt and highest deficit in our country’s history. For decades, we have been operating at the extreme polar opposite of “hoarding” — spending all of our all savings as well as some of the savings of other, poorer countries. By contrast, countries that could truly be considered as hoarding money (such as China, India, Brazil and Singapore) have economies that are continuing to grow.
2. Not giving jobs to the unemployed will cost the country more in care for these people
This might be true if Davis was talking about eliminating barriers to productive employment, but he’s not. The kind of stimulus programs Davis has largely supported have been the kind that rely on money “trickling down” to those in need, usually through corporate sectors like the automotive, real estate — and recently — coal freight car manufacturing industries. It would actually be cheaper — and more humane — to simply give the money directly to the needy (through either tax cuts or stimulus checks), rather than making them toil at an artificial job for a small cut of the cash.
Is this a proofreading oversight, or does Davis really expect the recession to last that long?
Either way, there will be more to follow on this ridiculous piece of legislation, which smacks of government favoritism for an ultra-specific segment of industry. (And to that point, what is a “cap-and-trade” congressman like Davis doing trying to subsidize coal transportation?)
Danny Davis voted with the majority of Congress on Thursday to extend the Patriot Act by another year, breaking with his two prior votes against the Act and violating his IVI-IPI survey response claiming that he supported repealing the law. The extension, which was part of the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act, passed the House with a vote of 315 to 97 and will now go to be signed by President Obama (who has worked behind the scenes in support of it).
All told, this is yet another blow to Davis’ so-called “progressive” record and another indication that what he found unacceptable during the Bush years is suddenly very acceptable to him now.
The Chicago Tribuneis reporting very low turnout at the primary polls today, so if you’re registered and haven’t voted yet, now is your last chance to be counted.
Congressman Davis appeared recently on the “Public Affairs” program and spoke with host Jeff Berkowitz on a range of issues. The interview was a fairly interesting one, even getting a tad heated at moments. You can view the 30-minute video below:
Overall, Berkowitz did a good job of interviewing Davis and holding his feet to the fire, even when Davis tried to dodge on questions about his positions on the Cook County sales tax hike and charter schools in Chicago.
However, Berkowitz also seemed insistent on pinning some of the blame for the failure of Chicago public schools on Davis, to which the congressman rightly replied “Talk to the people who run the schools!” Indeed, public schools are largely run at the local, not federal, level.
Berkowitz also repeated tried to frame Davis’ congressional actions in a “how has this benefited the 7th?” mindset, to which Davis again appropriately countered by saying that his voters cared about the country as a whole. (I certainly do).
However, it certainly wasn’t all wisdom flowing from Davis’ lips. When the discussion came around to Obama’s proposed Afghan troop surge, Davis offered lukewarm criticism of the troop increase, but then consoled himself with the following:
“The one thing I did agree with – that I really liked – was the fact that President Obama says, ‘We’re going to go in here, we’re going to have a surge, and we’re going to start pulling out at a time certain.’ I hope that that does in fact work, but I’m not enthralled with the fact that we’re sending 30,000 additional troops.”
Unfortunately, as Glenn Greenwald has pointed out, statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have directly contradicted Obama’s promise of a fixed withdrawal date.
Things then went further down hill with Davis justifying his trust in the Commander in Chief by saying, “It’s possible that President Obama may have known something that I didn’t know.”
Of course, Congress’ role is not to trust that the president “knows best” but to act as a check and balance. Furthermore, can anyone imagine Davis applying the same logic while Bush was still in office?
A senior policy fellow for Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) has pleaded guilty to defrauding the government and private lenders of nearly $822,000 by using aliases to obtain student loans and more than 90 credit cards.
…
His bio at Williams [College], where he was an assistant professor of political science, reads: “Moore is an academic researcher with an executive role in an important congressional office in Washington D.C. He is currently Senior Policy Advisor to Representative Danny K. Davis (7th District, Illinois), and he serves as the Congressman’s Representative to the Committee on Ways and Means. Among his responsibilities, Bernard Moore is the Congressman’s ‘pen,’ writing legislation, policy reports, floor statements, talking points, and letters to other members of Congress. He has built ties with individual members and coalitions with such organizations as the Democratic leadership, the Democratic Caucus, and the Congressional Black Caucus.”
Moore apparently helped put together Davis’ Second Chance Act, which aims to help nonviolent offenders reintegrate with society after prison, leading one former congressional aid to quip “Who knew he was writing that bill for himself?”
What would be even more interesting to know is if Davis’ recent statement urging leniency for student loan bankruptcies was based on Moore’s self-interested advice.
Update: Moore will be sentenced on February 17 of 2010 and is slated to receive up to 41 months in prison.
According to a Statement of Facts EFC filed for the case (hat tip to the below-mentioned EphBlog), Moore was using aliases and defaulting on student loan debt as early as 1985 and as late as 2008.
EphBlog has been doing an excellent job following the scandal, including finding:
Update: Ernest Moore has now filed a $1.3 million wrongful dismissal suit against Williams College for firing him following the revelation of his guilty plea.
Public Enemy Number One, to hear Danny Davis tell it
On occasion, Congressman Davis has been a good champion for some causes, but economics has never been his forte, and he proved that all too well this Tuesday on Fox News when he insisted that the government has been “smothering” the economy by not spending enough.
“If you hold your fist too tightly, and nothing goes out, nothing comes in. And ultimately, you smother whatever is in there to death,” Davis said.
But is that really the case?
The federal government is currently running the highest deficit in history, $1.36 trillion, and counting the shortfall in Social Security, it has been running deficits for most of the past several decades. Personal savings in the U.S. have been falling since the 1980s, and the debt accumulated by corporations like GM and AIG is now legendary.
Despite all this very un-tight-fisted spending, America is now facing an enormous economic crisis.
It’s because the Chinese have been spending their money in a better way than us. They’ve been saving it.
In the modern world, all savings is actually spending. When money is saved in a bank or in a stock or bond market, it gets invested in the economy to produce things like machinery, bridges, and college educations. This creates jobs, expands the economy, and makes society wealthier.
In the U.S., however, money goes increasingly not towards investment but toward consumption. When Americans aren’t being deterred from saving by government-slashed interest rates, politicians like Congressman Davis tax them and “invest” their money in failing car companies, worthless housing stock, and ongoing wars. But real investments always produce something more, not something less. The spending that the Danny Davis’s of the world are perpetuating is just more wasteful consumption masquerading as investment.
Consumption destroys wealth, and when wealth is destroyed, there is less left for everyone, including the government, to spend.
So, if Congressman Davis really wants to point the finger at someone for being too tight-fisted on spending, all he really ought to do is find the nearest mirror.
