Irwin Stelzer - Times Online - WBLG

Legislative paralysis upsets US voters

Congress will soon be returning from its Easter recess, and if its members have been doing what they say they have been doing they will be a crestfallen lot. Before adjournment the Democrats in the Senate managed to scupper a compromise immigration bill that would have bolstered border security and laid out a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants living and working in America. Result: no action.

A brawl between Republicans who want to rein in spending, and Democrats and Republicans who have never met a spending programme they disliked, stalled agreement on a budget. Result: no action.

Petrol prices soared 25 per cent while congress maintained swingeing tariffs on imported ethanol, an anti-pollutant additive, and at the same time mandated increased use of ethanol in petrol. Prices up, motorists angry, congress impotent because it cannot agree on a sensible energy policy. Result: no action.

There’s more, but you get the idea – a restless electorate, a paralysed congress, and an election approaching. We may well see some real changes in the makeup of congress come November.

The Doha round of trade-opening talks is stalled. The EU won't match America's offer to eliminate trade-distorting agricultural subsidies, the developing countries won't open their markets to services, and China won't stop stealing intellectual property. So America will concentrate on bilateral deals: those completed and in the works cover 54% of America's exports. And it will do some tough talking to China's president when he visits the White House on April 20.

Condoleezza Rice's Visit

American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s tour with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was scheduled to let her see what life is like for her UK counterpart. And different it is. Straw has a constituency to tend, and the people who sent him to Parliament want their potholes filled and their visa problems solved. Rice has a one-man constituency – the President of the United States, and he wants her to win support for US policies and help him craft a post-Iraq foreign policy. Right now, Rice needs Straw: Tony Blair’s popularity in America makes his continued support of US policy in Iraq crucial to its success.

Mergers without Americans

A merger wave of unprecedented magnitude is sweeping across Europe, with British companies the special targets of Spanish, Japanese and German firms because of their high profits and huge cash flows. But the Americans are sitting on the sidelines, or more precisely, on their cash piles. Blame a new caution induced by tighter corporate governance standards.