Presidential results unlikely to break the gridlock

Submitted by Jack McCullough on August 23, 2012
Tags: 
Problem-Solver's Daily
Gridlock
Hyper-Partisanship
Presidential Election
Fiscal Cliff

NO CHANGE: No matter what happens this November, gridlock is likely to remain in Washington. Doyle McManus argues that the gridlock has "made it virtually impossible for Congress to do anything more ambitious than writing short-term spending bills that merely kick the can down the road." Unfortunately there is little hope of finding across-the-aisle solutions. McManus predicts that the winner of the election will face an uphill battle as divided government is likely to continue in Congress: Doyle McManus for the Los Angeles Times: Gridlock likely in Washington no matter who wins presidential race

BUS TOUR: Total federal liabilities and unfunded promises are growing at a rate of $10 million a minute, according to Walker and the Comeback America Initiative.  No Labels Co-Founder Dave Walker is going on a nationwide bus tour to tell citizens just how bad the problem has become. Walker will also talk about "bipartisan ideas such as "No Budget, No Pay," which would stipulate that if Congress fails to pass a budget and required spending bills by the end of a fiscal year, the members would not get paid until they fulfilled this responsibility." H. Ross Perot Sr. and David M. Walker for USA TODAY: The national debt, our $10 million-a-minute problem

DYSFUNCTION NO MATTER WHAT: No Labels supporter Alan Ungar believes that no matter who wins the presidential elections this November, Washington will be locked in the same hyper-partisan state that has plagued government for years. Ungar believes that No Labels is the solution. "The nonpartisan organization’s objective is “progress not partisanship,” and to that end, it has created 12 concrete ways of improving the functionality of Congress," he says: Alan Ungar for The Thousand Oaks Acorn: Just say no to partisan politics

NOT AN ISSUE: While visiting Ohio this week President Barack Obama and three students used their arms to spelled the state's name from their perspective and spelled it 'oiho'. Not wanting to let this gaffe go, the Romney campaign quickly commented on the president's spelling. The American voters want a debate on ideas for government, not a spelling bee: Alicia Cohn for The Hill: Team Romney calls out Obama for misspelling 'Ohio' at campaign stop

THE DAILY BREAK: Think you dress well? Check out these well-dressed animals: BuzzFeed: 10 Animals Who Might Dress Better Than You

ACTION OF THE DAY: Re-pin one of our Pinterest images to your Pinterest board to share with your friends. If you don't have a Pinterest account, you can create one here.

STAT OF THE DAY: In the course of discussing the fiscal cliff, most people only think about the Bush tax cut expiration and the blind spending cuts that are due to occur. However, there are other components to the fiscal cliff as well, and even if those two major issues are addressed, the so-called "fiscal clifflet" could still cause a drag on the economy from 1.4 to 1.7 percent of GDP: Greg Ip for The Economist: The forgotten fiscal threat

Written & edited by Kelsey McLaughlin, Collin Berglund, Lauren Gilbert and Jack McCullough

Tips, questions or ideas? Email the Problem-Solver's Daily team at psdaily@nolabels.org or tweet at us (@nolabelsorg).

Subscribe to Problem-Solver's Daily now