Senator Carper Tries to Disguise That He is Missing the Point

Sunday’s NJ gave us another one of those missives that seems to be designed to communicate that he is on top of the issues, but, if you look closely, is basically a whole lot of weak handwaving that tries to hide his real work.  They key bit here is this:

Today, as we emerge from the recession of the past 23 months, we must show the American people that recovery is inevitable if we learn from past mistakes.

Indeed. But is this really Senator Carper’s focus? Frankly, I think if you are watching his work in Congress, I think that the answer is NO:

• Senator Carper does not support a strong Public Option in the insurance exchanges and has not been useful in working out effective cost control measures.  While there may be a Public Option in a final bill, it won’t be as effective in providing the cost competition that might get the insurance companies to reduce costs.  This is an opportunity missed — one that looks to subsidize insurance companies without getting cost controls in return.  In this, Senator Carper is looking out for the interests of his insurance company constituents — not Delawareans.
• Senator Carper’s role in the climate change discussions appears to be that of advocating for taxpayer subsidies for already mature technologies (natural gas and nuclear) rather than an aggressive push for newer technologies.  Natural gas and nuclear technologies are already here — why they need taxpayer funds is beyond me.  Establishing permanent subsidies for technologies that are in the best position possible to actually get better if they are left to the free market is beyond me.  But Senator Carper has his other constituents in mind.
• In spite of his call for financial reforms that would shield taxpayers from the bad decisions of Wall Street players, what I think you can count on is that he will be at the table making sure that the local industry is as free as possible to misbehave again — but this time knowing full well that taxpayers will be the final hedge against the risks that they take.    Socializing bank losses is not good policy for either taxpayers or for the banks themselves — and Too Big To Fail should not be allowed to become policy.  But look for Senator Carper to be in favor of the weak tea reforms that look to be coming up — ones that provide alot of optics of concern and regulation but actually provide very little and ups the taxpayer backstop ante.

Senator Carper is right that there is plenty of opportunity in adversity.  Unfortunately, these opportunities are being preserved for banks and established energy companies who have the muscle and the funds to get a major piece of the pie.  Too bad the senior Senator from Delaware isn’t interested in demonstrating the leadership to get beyond business as usual.