Steven Pearlstein on All Topics
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“The only way a democratic system like ours can work is if the majority party acknowledges that winning an election means winning the right to set the agenda and put the first proposal on the table, though not the right to get everything it wants. By the same logic, if members of the minority party want to influence that policy, they have to understand that it will require them to accept some things they don't like to get some things they do.”
“Reports of the death of book publishing, like those of music publishing and newspaper publishing, are greatly exaggerated. Business models will change, companies will come and go, and people will lose their jobs. But at the end of the process, there will be fewer people who will be paid higher incomes to produce a wider array of products at lower prices.”
“However clever and well intentioned, this is the kind of industrial policy micromanagement you'd expect in Japan, not the United States. The better approach would have been to keep Ticketmaster and Live Nation as separate companies and leave it to the competitive marketplace to sort things out.”
“I look forward to discussing these initiatives with you. I am open to reasonable and principled compromises. But there will be no more games, no more business as usual -- just straight talk and the hard work of governing. On one thing we should all be clear: The do-nothing option is not acceptable -- not to me, and more importantly not to the voters who sent us here.”
“This is a leadership moment for the president. It is a chance to show he can respond to setbacks not by running for cover or resorting to political gamesmanship, but by calmly and confidently reasserting his control over his party and the public debate.”
“A filibuster-proof majority certainly makes it quicker and easier, and there's been a lot of clever talk about parliamentary maneuvers that could get some version of the bill to the president's desk with fewer votes than that. The better approach, however, has always been the straightforward one: Put the final package before the Senate and make the lawmakers talk and talk, amend and amend, vote and vote until a deal is struck and the majority is allowed to work its will.”
“I can have as much fun as the next guy fulminating about Wall Street bonuses, but it's time to move on. There's nothing new to say, nor is there much that can or will be done about them.”
“Moral: It's good to be close to your customer -- just not too close.”
“Unfortunately, folks, it's not gonna be that easy.”
“With the economy in recession and companies scrambling to reduce payroll just to remain profitable, there was simply less money to spread around. All the more reason to celebrate those companies that maintained their giving or stepped up to do more.”
“Dear Santa, I know it's been quite a while since I've written.”
“It's even worse for a president to tear into Wall Street 'fat cats' one day and then let them off their leash the next.”
“Earlier this week, I found myself in the majestic office of Indiana's diminutive governor, Mitch Daniels, talking about health care.”
“What I like about President Obama's Stimulus 2.0 is what all the partisans and ideologues hate about it -- its restraint and its willingness to embrace seemingly contradictory ideas.”
“The Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission should use the merger review process as an opportunity to craft a set of regulations for this new media world that would apply not only to Comcast-NBC, but to all competitors.”
