So I’m starting all over again and I’ve gone two days and counting.  It’s said that if you get knocked off a horse that the best thing to do is to get right back on the horse.  So, I’m getting right back on my “NO DESSERTS” pledge to myself.

I believe that decisions narrowly defined by our self interest will surely compromise the common good.

It appears to me that we have lost our ability to understand the value of compromise, the art of give and take, the concept of win-win scenarios.  Today, we see compromise as associated with weakness and a failure to fight for strongly held beliefs.  This mentality is a breeding ground for partisan polarization and immobilization.  We need to shed the cowboy bravado and negotiate for the common good, in order to address the major problems confronting Americans.

As long as Democrats and Republicans believe that their parties are the sole repositories for solutions to the challenges facing Americans and that their political philosophies must prevail, then Americans will be doomed to be represented by a do nothing government that passes social, economic and political problems to future generations.

We need to raise taxes to help balance state and federal budget deficits, and it makes sense to place the tax burden on those most able to handle the increase.  President Obama wants to tax individuals with incomes above $250,000.  I agree.  If you make more than $250,000, then you are not hurting financially and can afford a tax increase.  The President wants to remove tax breaks awarded the financial secure during the Bush administration.  REPUBLICANS ARE IDEOLOGICALLY OPPOSED TO TAX INCREASES- stupid.

We also need to reduce expenses.  The President is calling for a freeze on increased spending in 2011.  It is true that everyone needs to better manage their spending in recessionary times, including the government.  It is also true that many are being forced to cut spending because their income is down, which also applies to the government.  DEMOCRATS BELIEVE THAT BECAUSE OF THE RECESSION AND INCREASED SOCIAL NEEDS, SPENDING SHOULD BE INCREASED – stupid.

Some of the reasons that we are in financial trouble today are:  1) greed-a preoccupation with individual gain; 2) deficit spending on pet projects, foreign wars, expanding bureauracy, and wage and benefit inflation.  Make no mistake, deficits are not good for the long term financial health of our nation.  We cannot continue to pass problems on to future generations for our own comfort and well being.  THINK ABOUT IT!

Democratic Chairman Chris Dodd of the Senate Banking Committee is weighing whether to negotiate with Republicans on the financial regulatory reform bill- madness.

Bipartisan negotiations were proceeding until the White House proposed a tax on big banks (which I support) and a ban on proprietary trading (which I also support).  The White House proposals have alienated many Republicans who see the new proposals as punitive and counterproductive.

Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell told Republican members of the Committee not to support a reform bill unless they were sure it was a good deal (FOR WHOM?) – madness.

Now some Democrats are advocating proceeding without Republican support, though to do so would surely doom its chances of enactment, with the Democrats hoping that the failure to pass a bill would turn into an election issue on which the GOP would have to justify opposing a bank reform bill – madness.

So both parties are prepared to sacrafice meaningful bank reform and improved safety and soundness because of entrenched philosophical positions, which reflect very different constitutencies – madness.

SOLUTION: keep talking, keep working, keep negotiating – failure is not an option.