Government IT

 This Politico opinion piece is enthusiastic about the government site for requesting covid tests. I'd be a bit more reserved--it's fast, simple, and works, but the underlying policy it's implementing is simple.  Good IT design works if the policy is good.

Not Enough for the IRS

 That's my reaction to this request from President Biden which was included in his 2022 budget outline:

 Supports a Fair and Equitable Tax System. To ensure that all Americans are treated fairly by the Nation’s tax system, including that the wealthy and corporations comply with existing laws, the discretionary request provides $13.2 billion for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a $1.2 billion or 10.4-percent increase above the 2021 enacted level. With this funding, the IRS would: increase oversight of high-income and corporate tax returns to ensure compliance; provide new and improved online tools for taxpayers to communicate with the IRS easily and quickly; and improve telephone and in-person taxpayer customer service, including outreach and assistance to underserved communities. In addition to increases for base IRS enforcement funding, the 2022 discretionary request provides an additional increase of $417 million in funding for tax enforcement as part of a multiyear tax initiative that would increase tax compliance and increase revenues. Altogether, the 2022 discretionary request would increase resources for tax enforcement by $0.9 billion

I'd prefer a multi-year plan for 50 percent for more. 

The Role of Government Regulation

 Over the last year or so the role of government regulation has been in the headlines:

• Boeing's 737-Max suffered two fatal crashes. The conventional wisdom now is that FAA failed to exert enough oversight of the process of redoing the 737 into the Max.
• The development of vaccines for Covid-19 has been controversial.  Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen  at Marginal Revolution in particular have pushed for faster approval and looser regulation of the various vaccines. The FDA's process has been contrasted against the process in other countries.  Alex, I think, has come out for reciprocal approval--approval by the regulatory authority in any (big, developed) country should be enough for FDA.
• The Trump administration pulled back on various regulations.  Today's Post  says the changes in inspection of pork processing plants have lead to more contamination in the ultimate products.

I always remember the thalidomide problem when the Republicans start pushing looser regulations.

Having said that, I wonder whether in the process of redoing the regulations which were undone in the last 4 years the Biden administration will find some things which should be changed.  I think anything a group does is going to have some flaws. In the usual course of events it's often easier to work around the flaws than to change them. But since the Biden people will have to go through the regulation process anyway, there's no added cost to fix problems.

IMO there's often a fine line between not enough regulation and too much, so a feasible solution can be an alternation between the two.

Should Democrats Go Hard and Fast?

 Part of Ezra Klein's argument in this New Yorker interview is Democrats should push harder than they did in the Obama administration to fulfill their promises.

I've just completed Obama's  "A Promised Land".  Part of the criticism is that the stimulus package should have been bigger and more obvious--issue checks rather than changing deductions for example. Part of the argument is don't let the filibuster stop you.

I'm not sure I buy that. Go too far too fast and you don't get Joe Manchin and Jon Tester reelected, you don't get Doug Jones elected, etc.

But it seems each administration is trying to avoid the mistakes of the last administration (of the same party). For example:

• Clinton administration designed a healthcare package without consulting Congress and it failed.  Obama administration spent (wasted?) a lot of time and energy dealing with Congress on ACA
• Biden administration is aiming to improve healthcare fixing Obamacare's problems.
• Bush administration had an aggressive foreign policy trying to restructure Iraq and Afghanistan.  The Obama administration backed away from that.  

Of course today's progressive wing of the Democratic party reminds me of the McGovern wing of the party 1968-76, which led us to defeat and long years out of power in the White House.

And my attitudes towards the $1.9 trillion Covid bill are swayed by memory of the the inflation of the 1970's.

We will see.

Our Short Memories

I've seen several articles comparing the difficulties faced by Biden/Harris in 2021 to the problems facing FDR in 1933 or Lincoln in 1861.  The problems Obama/Biden faced in 2009 are usually ignored, or dismissed.  I think this reflects our short memories, as well as the success of the administration.  

 I recognize the economy is worse today than in 2009, but it's worse because of the pandemic. The assumption now is when we fix the pandemic by vaccinated the country the economy will revive. (I think the assumption is wrong--the pandemic will have caused changes in society and the economy which will be revealed as our health gets back to normal.)  In 2009 we knew the economy had systemic problems which needed fixing.  We also "knew" a big stimulus would lead to inflation, which seems to have been disproved.

Meanwhile Trump boasts of not getting the country into a new war, which is true enough. Obama faced two wars--the dying one in Iraq and the endless one in Afghanistan. 

I think our memory of the euphoria of electing a black president clouds a realistic perception--the division in the country which was revealed by the rise of the Tea Party movement (and Occupy Wall Street on the left) was there on January 20, 2009, even if we did not realize it until later.