Hurricane Irene Coverage

Tags: New England, NECN, Matt Noyes, NOAA, Hurricane Irene

Balanced Budget Amendment

Just a thought here. 

Why not agree to placing a balanced budget amendment into play?

Sure, there is a lot of arguments on both sides.  Democrats say it will hurt the federal government's chance to help grow the economy or face major catastrophes like war and depressions.  But the Tea Party says we're not disciplined enough to stay within a budget.

So why not let the people debate the issue?  Why not put it on the ballot for all states to see if it can get ratified by 2/3rds of the states?

Let me know your thoughts.  Tell me 2 things: 1.) should it be considered by the states; 2.) whether you are for or against the balanced budget amendment on principle -- and why.

Tags: reid, tea party, Boehner, Balanced Budget Amendment

What's Wrong With DC Is Us

Friday night, during the 9 pm newcast, Latoyia and I broke from the news to go to Washington DC to hear Harry Reid and the Democrats in an impromptu news conference. They were about to criticize the GOP-led House for not compromising to find a solution to the debt ceiling. Just as the live shot appeared with Reid, Durbin, and Schumer a cell phone rang. It was on the podium. Reid picked it up and couldn't figure out how to turn it off or whose it was. Schumer took it and pretended to throw it away.

That was, unbeknownst to them, symbolic.

The smart phone and the internet may be the root cause of our stalemate in Washington. An article, sent to me by Fr. Paul Seaver, at Providence College, seems to back that up. It's written by Marc Dunkelman in National Affairs.

And the cause -- it seems -- is all of us. Apparently our leaders are merely reflecting what we're doing, thinking, and living.

Here's a portion:

But an inadvertent consequence of the changes that tracked the latter years of the 20^{th century and the very beginning of the 21st — some of them technological, but others driven by the evolution of everyday American life — has been to dismantle the basic sociological architecture that persisted throughout much of our history. And the frustrations that Americans feel today — the sense, among many, that the United States is a nation in decline — are largely driven by that transformation.}

In the 1830s, Tocqueville advised his readers that there was no point in debating whether we should favor or oppose the advance of democracy — it was a fait accompli, and the question was how to make the most of it. In the 1990s, observers like Thomas Friedman offered the same advice about globalization — that a new economic system was here, whether we wanted it or not. So it is with the shift of social capital away from the middle rings. Our challenge is not to argue about whether this change should come. It has come. But its consequences — and its potential for both good and harm — remain ours to grapple with and resolve.

The challenges wrought by the emergence of an increasingly interdependent world have left many Americans confused and unsettled, and for good reason. Many of the institutions that were built on the now eroding foundation of township community no longer function as we might once have hoped and expected. Our temptation, time and again, will be to find scapegoats and assign blame. But we would be wiser to accept that American life has undergone a deep and consequential change. It will therefore be incumbent upon new generations to adapt the institutions of American democracy to the contours of a transformed society.

While watching the disasterous weeks leading up to the deficit-ceiling stalemate, my wife Teri might have said it best. "The problem is none of their spouses are in Washington," she said. In other words, members of Congress and Washington don't socialize with others outside their party or their way of thinking.

My belief is that we are experiencing a societal earthquake due to technology which allows the under developed world to rise and demographics which makes us an older society with much different needs. This article confirms that.

Give me your thoughts and solutions.

Tags: Harry Reid, John Boehner, debt ceiling debate, political stalemate

Debt Ceiling Deal Near?

New York Times and Wall Street Journal are reporting a debt deal is near.

All it took: some negative posts right here earlier this morning.

Stay tuned to NECN for any breaking news.

Tags: Obama, Boehner, default , debt ceiling

Did Nordquist Blink?