Bob Corker

Suddenly Washington is filled with proposals for 'debt triggers,' policy devices that would force spending cuts if arbitrary targets aren't met in the future. Everybody's either got one or wants one: the President, the Republicans, the Gang of Six, and all the usual suspects from the austerity crowd.

Let's not dance around the harsh truth, even though that's exactly what these gimmicks are designed to do: "Triggers" are economic IEDs, set to to explode when their builders have left the scene and can't be blamed for the damage.

For those who might be offended by the analogy, remember: the word trigger is best known as the term for the mechanism that fires a gun, or for the device that sets off a bomb. And in management slang, an executive who can't "pull the trigger" is one who can't make tough decisions. That makes it pretty ironic that these 'debt triggers' are all devices intended to make it seem as if tough decisions are making themselves. They're supposed to absolve our leaders of blame for the consequences of their actions.

Politicians all over the world must be asking themselves, where can I get one of those? more »

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There are basically two dimensions to the financial crisis. One is the way finance has evolved into a gambling operation that's fundamentally risky and fails to contribute to the real economy. The other is plain, old-fashioned greed - the kind that exploits the weak and vulnerable in a shameful manner, the kind that depends on political patronage to survive, the kind that used to be called pure, Old School, straight-up Biblical-style evil.

Well, evil came to Washington last week, in the form of executives from the "payday loan" industry - and from all reports it was very politely received. more »

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After more than a year of closed-door negotiations, the President and other Democrats have finally appropriated a Republican phrase by calling for "an up or down vote" on the resulting health reform legislation. Great idea - so great, in fact, that we should do even better on financial reform.

This time, let's have an up-or-down vote on each of the vital policy planks that constitute meaningful reform. Instead of having politicians do their horsetrading in private and leaving the public vote until the end, let's have a public show of hands on the vital economic issues of our time.. more »

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Almost everyone knows that to "pull a Kanye" means to steal the limelight when it rightfully belongs elsewhere. With Sen. Dodd's suggestion that the Consumer Financial Protection Agency be housed in the Federal Reserve, it looked as if Ben Bernanke had successfully "pulled a Kanye" on an independent CFPA. But before Bernanke had time to say "Imma let you finish" to Elizabeth Warren, the Fed Chair was sideswiped by a group of Senators who want to strip away his authority over any but the largest banks.

Now we've got a real mess on our hands. If the CFPA is housed in the Fed, but the Fed doesn't regulate most American banks, how will American consumers get the protection they need? more »

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At what point does "bipartisanship" begin to erode the democratic process?

Here's my answer: When it's used to take decision-making power away from voters and place it in the hands of a governing elite - an elite which acts in secret so that its members cannot be held accountable to anyone for their actions.

Democrats traded away some of the most critical elements of health reform for bipartisan comity that never appeared - and yet didn't bring those elements back when the other side of the aisle rebuffed them. Now they appear to be doing the same thing with financial reform. more »

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Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post waxed lyrical today about the compromise deal on financial regulations proposed Sens. Dodd and Corker, calling it a "creative bipartisan proposal." It's certainly "bipartisan," and it may even be "creative." What it isn't is effective. It's not just a compromise - unfortunately, it's also compromised. more »

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