Reuters Investigates
Insight and investigations from our expert reporters
Hell hath no fury like a Tea Party scorned
Here’s what Nick Carey had to say today about his special report “Stuck between the Tea Party and a hard place.”
Not long after the battle over the 2011 fiscal budget in Washington ended in mid-April, I received a few emails from Tea Party groups expressing frustration with the apparent failure by the Republican Party establishment to follow through on promises that they would cut spending in that budget by $100 billion.
I passed on one of those emails to an editor in Washington and we agreed that it would be a worthwhile exercise to talk to Tea Party groups across the country to see if that frustration was widespread, or if it was merely restricted to a few groups.
My very first call was to a Tea Party member in the South whom I had talked to before for previous special reports on the movement. I told him about the emails I had received and asked if he was frustrated by the budget deal. His answer: “Frustrated? I’m f***ing angry!”
At that point, I knew I was onto something. Dozens more interviews followed with Tea Partiers in 20 states, with all of them to varying degrees expressing anger and disappointment at what they see as an act of betrayal by the Republican Party.
Tea Partiers worked hard for a Republican win last November, driven by rage at President Barack Obama’s health reforms and egged on by Republicans many of whom professed that they, too, were Tea Partiers who would fix the mess in Washington with massive spending cuts. That message was simple and clean cut.
Stalemates have consequences
Could you imagine General Electric operating for six months without knowing how much money it has to spend? That’s the situation the U.S. government finds itself in as Congress still hasn’t settled on a budget for the fiscal year that started last October.
While Republicans and Democrats argue over $50 billion in proposed cuts, the effects of the stalemate are being felt around the globe. Airport control towers go unstaffed, scientific research goes unfunded and fighter jets are grounded.
Lawmakers have extended last year’s budget during the stalemate, an approach that keeps the government’s lights on but limits its ability to move forward with new projects. Agencies, unsure of how much money they’ll get in the end, are sitting on the funds they do have.
Though the budget debate is mired in the arcana of congressional procedure, its impact is becoming increasingly clear. To find out more, see our special report “On borrowed time: US budget delays start to hurt.”
You can read it in multimedia PDF format here.
Let’s be ethical, economists say
Last month’s special report “For some professors, disclosure is academic” has been making waves in the academic world, as this story shows:
Economists urge AEA to adopt ethics code: letter
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Almost three hundred economists have signed a letter to the American Economic Association “strongly” urging it to adopt a code of ethics requiring disclosure of potential conflicts of interests.
The 135-year-old American Economic Association, or AEA, does not have a code of conduct for its approximately 18,000 members. Over half of its members are academics, according to its website.
“We strongly urge that the AEA create and then promote adherence to a professional code of ethics that at a minimum requires transparency with respect to potential conflicts of interest,” Gerald Epstein and Jessica Carrick-Hagenbarth of the University of Massachussetts, Amherst wrote in a letter sent Monday to the AEA.
“We believe this would be an important and necessary step toward enhancing the credibility and integrity of the profession,” they wrote.
Please, no more drunks, tax evaders and womanizers in leadership-she can’t take anymore! Let em move to sin city where they’ll fit right in! Also, free internet porn for kids at a push of a button should produce big/expesnive sociall ills in no time!
Full disclosure, or not
Our latest special report, “For some professors, disclosure is academic,” examines the question of academic independence in the world of economics.
Emily Flitter, Kristina Cooke and Pedro da Costa reviewed 96 testimonies given by 82 academics to the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee between late 2008 and early 2010 — as lawmakers debated the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s — and found no clear standard for disclosure.
A growing number of critics are calling for change. They argue that disclosing industry relationships should be mandatory for academics who appear before the people’s elected representatives as independent experts.
One of the best known cases was chronicled in the movie “Inside Job” — Frederic Mishkin, a former governor of the influential Federal Reserve Board in Washington now teaching at Columbia, wrote a glowing paper about Iceland’s financial system in 2006 – f or which he was paid by the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce. Two years later, the country’s financial system collapsed.
What do you think? Should academics who testify to Congress be required to disclose any and all links to corporations?
To read this special report in multimedia PDF format, click here.
How to make friends and influence people
White House correspondent Caren Bohan’s special report out today examines President Barack Obama’s testy relationship with the business community.
After Tuesday’s election, Obama was faced with the prospect of legislative gridlock. Republicans pushed Democrats decisively from power in the House of Representatives and strengthened their ranks in the Senate as voters vented frustration over the economy.
Now that the election is over, one idea that could gain traction is a payroll tax holiday to give consumers and businesses some extra cash. Obama had considered proposing it before the election but rejected it because of its cost. There is some openness at the White House to it now but much would depend on whether it seemed likely to gain bipartisan support.
Obama aides say they were frustrated that the economic package the administration offered in September — including tax breaks for companies and beefed-up infrastructure spending — received little to no backing from Republicans in Congress. They hope to enlist business support in reviving these ideas.
The question is whether the divided congress can achieve anything. Tell us what you think. Could they at least agree on a payroll tax holiday?
For a multimedia PDF version of the special report, “White House to business: why can’t we be friends?” click here.
Message to John “Business as Usual” Boehner:
Lead like a man or step aside and let a true Conservative lead the House.
Conservatives will remember at election time if you and your corrupt liberal brethren raise the debt limit….AGAIN.