Arrogance

The President of the Chamber of Commerce throws a temper tantrum, threatens to ship all the jobs overseas if EFCA passes, and gives orders in public to all the Republicans in the Senate.

Thomas Donohue of the Chamber of Commerce threatens to ship all the jobs overseas if the Employee Free Choice Act passes. I wonder how the voters like being threatened that way. Not much, I’d guess.

He also – publicly – barks out orders to the Senate Republicans as if they were formally as well as actually on his payroll:

“On this deal… there’s no compromise. There’s no credit for amending the bill, the only credit anyone gets is for voting against cloture. Am I clear?”

Now if I were a Republican Senator with any self-respect …

… oh, never mind!

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com