Rep. Paul and Rep. Dave

Thirty years ago a Republican congressman from the upper Midwest had risen to prominence through his wonkish demeanor and mastery of the ins and outs of the Federal budget. The Republican leadership of that time gave him full power over the budget, which led to major changes in the federal government.

Today another Republican congressman from the upper Midwest has risen to prominence through his wonkish demeanor and mastery of the ins and outs of the Federal budget.  The current Republican leadership (of the House, not the President this time) have given him full power over the budget.

Will Rep. Paul Ryan succeed in making major changes to the federal government?  Will he, like ex-Rep. Dave Stockman, the director of OMB, have to be "taken to the woodshed" for going off the reservation and admitting his magic asterisk was bull?

[Updated:  I should have added, both Representatives were good at getting favorable press coverage; the media loved the wonks.]

Diversity Hidden in Plain Sight

"When the New York Times recently did a piece on me, Ezra Klein, Brian Beutler, and Dave Weigel exactly zero people complained about the massive over-representation of people of Latin American ancestry that reflected. People saw it as a profile of four white dudes. Which is what it was. But my dad’s family is from Cuba, Ezra’s dad’s family is from Brazil, and Brian’s mom’s family is from Chile."

Ethical Geezers--Are We a Minority?

Lots of stuff in the blogosphere on Rep Ryan's proposals.  One thing he does is to exempt people over 55 from the effects of his change on Medicare.  That may be wise politically, but it's not right.  I prefer the approach in the original Ryan-Rivlin plan, where geezers would choose between the current plan and the new plan (supported premiums/vouchers). Best would be a plan which is phased in and which applies to everyone.  No special breaks for geezers, even though we do vote.

Globalization--a Well-Traveled Baby

From Chris Blattman's blog, announcing the arrival of his daughter (plus stories on her name)

"Considering she made it to Cote d’Ivoire, Burundi, Uganda, Vietnam, Thailand, France, England and Canada while in the womb, we figure a name of many meanings (and easy pronunciation) fits perfectly.

A Lone Voice in the Wilderness

I must be one of the very few Americans who saw merit in the 1099 provision.  Sadly, Congress has now repealed it, so tax evasion continues.

How Bureaucrats Act

On the military theme, this Post article shows even Army lifers don't get and follow the message.  A brigade commander refused to follow the counterinsurgency doctrine associated with Gen. Petraeus and instead used the "search and destroy" doctrine associated, in my mind at least, with Gen. Westmoreland and Vietnam.

And Joel Achenbach of the Post, who has a book out on the BP well disaster, writes of learning, or relearning:

One thing I learned doing my book reasearch is that people don’t actually read reports. They don’t read their emails and they are not always in the loop. The one fella over here doesn’t know what the fella over there knows. If I were in charge of things, I’d make sure that any really critical piece of information was posted in the elevators and bathrooms.

You have to remember that people don’t behave the way they are supposed to behave. More generally, executives and managers and decision-makers need to remember that the military truism about battle plans (they don’t survive contact with the enemy) is true of most things in life. A plan is a good thing to have, to be sure, but you have to accept the fact that it will be abandoned in crunch time (and later mocked in the media).

A Haircut and Morality: Vietnam and Daily Life

Got my hair cut today.  Two old self-proclaimed Nam vets were bloviating (I've a strong memory of sitting around the tent and talking about the old f--ts who talked big at the VFW or Legion post; we agreed we'd never do that.)  One was boasting about the number of water buffaloes "they'd" shot.

Then I read this great post at The Best Defense. Mr. Ricks has a quotation from a contributor to a book on My Lai: Evil doesn't come like Darth Vader dressed in black, hissing. Evil comes as a little bird whispering in your ear: 'Think about your career. I'm not sure what's going on. We'll muddle through for the next couple of hours. We'll get over the hill, and we'll go on. I mean, after all, I can't call people in and admit that I can't control, I can't do some other thing.' In my judgment, the evil comes from that point of view.

After hearing the vets, I might just quarrel with the quote: evil really comes as a narrower and narrower focus on the nearby, so there's no awareness of a moral issue at all.  As in, was it right to kill someone's property and means of livelihood; did it advance the idea of winning the" hearts and minds." 

Ryan's View

Apparently, according to Chris Clayton, Rep. Ryan's budget plan would require a cut in farm programs by reforms in the 2012 farm bill.

In his plan, "The Path to Prosperity," Ryan stated that farmers appear to be doing well, and could manage if Congress were to "reduce the fixed payments that go to farmers irrespective of price levels." Further, agriculture needs "reform the open-ended nature of the government’s support for crop insurance."

A Convocation of Swineherds

We never raised pigs on the farm, so why I follow three blogs of hog farmers, which somehow sounds better than swineherds, I don't know. I'd like to eavesdrop on a meeting of Walt Jeffries, Bob Comios, and the Stonehead  where they compared notes and had a frank exchange of views, as the diplomats say. 

Arthur Brisbane Misses the Point

The New York Times has a new omsbudsman, Arthur Brisbane. In his piece today, he argues:

"This [a new integration of web and print operations] suggests to me a companion move The Times should make, one that would help secure a tighter bond with its audience: publishing The Times’s journalism policies in a searchable format and in a visible location on NYTimes.com. That would enable readers to see more clearly into the news operation."

Brisbane points out Times' policies are scattered in different places and are hard for the reader to find. It's all very well, but I believe he misses the main point. I, as a reader of the Times, both print and web, could give a damn about their policies. I care  more about the results.  Indeed, it's the reporters and editors of the Times who need to know and follow the policies; it's the people newly recruited to be reporters and editors of the Times who need to be trained in the policies and know where they can find them; it's the managing editors of the Times who need to see the policies in one place so they can direct the newspaper and web site to follow the policies; so finally it is the people of the Times who need to have the policies consolidated and easy to find.

I'd argue much the same is true for any bureaucracy: you can't serve your clients and customers effectively if you don't know what you're doing; clarity, like charity, begins at home.  The nice thing is once you have clarity at home you can be clear to others.