Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, October 29, 2012

A divided U.S. Congress risks driving North American economies off ‘fiscal cliff,’ say experts

No matter who wins the U.S. presidential election next week, Canadians should be concerned about whether the U.S. government can get its fiscal house in order or risk going over “the fiscal cliff” and bringing Canada with it.

“That, to us, is probably the most important issue, because a poor American economy impacts Canada immediately, given that more than 70 per cent of our trade is with them,” said Michael Kergin, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2000 until 2005.

If Congress fails to address the so-called “fiscal cliff,” the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the federal deficit will be cut by $560-billion in 2013, but GDP will contract by four per cent, triggering another recession.

Mr. Kergin said that a divided Congress poses a problem whether Americans elect a Democrat or a Republican on Nov. 6.

“If you have a Republican in the White House, you set up a conflict with the Senate. If it’s a Democrat in the White House, you set up a conflict with the House,” Mr. Kergin observed. “It’s going to be interesting as to whether the Americans can get their act together to avoid going over the fiscal cliff, and that of course is priority one for us.”

All 435 voting seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs on Nov. 6, while one-third of the Senate’s 100 seats will be contested. Republicans are expected to remain in control of the House, while Democrats are expected to remain the majority in the Senate, stoking concerns of more of the legislative gridlock that resulted in the 2011 debt ceiling showdown.

Congress passed the 2011 Budget Control Act as part of negotiations to raise the U.S. federal government’s borrowing limit last summer. Congress must find $1.2-trillion in spending cuts under the legislation. Federal services will begin to see automatic cuts totalling $1.2-trillion over nine years beginning in 2013 without an agreement. In addition to looming budget cuts, a number of temporary tax cuts are due to expire.

Many congressional Republicans have signed pledges to not raise taxes, while Democrats have proposed a combination of tax increases and spending cuts.

Manitoba Conservative Senator Janis Johnson, co-chair of the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, said that she had not heard any concerning statements by the presidential candidates during the campaign, but called the U.S. Congress’ legislative gridlock “a nightmare.”

“[President] Obama was blocked so badly from trying to get things done with the Congress,” said Sen. Johnson of last summer’s debt-ceiling showdown. “I don’t know how it will change after the election if he’s elected.”

Sen. Johnson, who attended the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September and regularly meets with U.S. lawmakers to discuss shared interests, said that she was “very worried” about the U.S.’s financial situation.

Sen. Johnson is up for reelection as co-chair of the group on Nov. 7, and expects U.S. members of the group to visit Ottawa in May 2013. Canadian members are tentatively scheduled to visit Washington, D.C. during the National Governors Association’s winter meeting on the weekend of Feb. 23 to 25.

“There’s been a lot of talk of the fiscal cliff, and I think that’s people’s biggest [concern] at every level,” Sen. Johnson told The Hill Times. “America is redefining its role in the world in many respects—on the fighting front, and on the domestic front. That’s why the next few years are going to be of huge importance for the United States, and at home.”

The automatic spending cuts, or sequestrations, contained in the 2011 Budget Control Act are due to take effect in January.

Meanwhile, although Canada-U.S. relations have not been a campaign issue between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, energy policy is one area which affects both countries greatly.

Mr. Romney has repeatedly attacked Mr. Obama’s decision to block the cross-border phase of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline that would deliver oil sands crude from Hardistry, Alta., to existing pipeline infrastructure in Steele City, Neb.

The U.S. State Department denied TransCanada’s initial proposal in January, but the company reapplied with a revised route in May. Mr. Obama, under pressure from environmental groups, has stated that his administration would not rule on the reapplication until after the election, while Mr. Romney has promised to approve the project on the first day of his administration.

Retired Canadian diplomat Paul Frazer, minister of Canada’s Embassy in Washington during the Bill Clinton administration, told The Hill Times that he was confident the cross-border pipeline would be approved, no matter the outcome on Nov. 6.

 “I’ve always believed it. The President said very clearly that it would happen. Resubmit, do the work,” said Mr. Frazer, who has lobbied on behalf of the Alberta government in Washington. “Things have evolved. He approved the domestic part of Keystone, which is well under way in its construction. There’s still the cross border part, and I think it will happen.”

Mr. Frazer said nothing has happened in the campaign so far to raise concern about the project. “Given the daily contact between American and Canadian officials at all levels, there’s a healthy sense in Ottawa of American thinking on the widest variety of issues affecting the bilateral relationship,” he said.

Washington-based lobbyist Scotty Greenwood said that neither candidate would be a setback for Canada-U.S. relations.

“From the perspective of Canada-U.S. relations, you can’t go wrong,” said Ms. Greenwood, who is a senior adviser to the Canada-U.S. business council and worked in the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa during the Clinton administration. “The relationship is so important and so integrated, that no American president is ever going to get it wrong.”

Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: CHRIS PLECASH

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