SOTU Reaction #2- Substantial Policy Proposals

• President Obama proposed that Congress enact legislation that makes multinational corporations pay taxes at a higher rate than countries which keep themselves in America.  This seems nice at first glance, but would run into legal problems with international trade agreements and would be almost impossible to enact.  Also, even if he were to succeed in enacting such a policy, it seems that it could induce multinational countries to simply leave America, or discourage their investing here, rather than pay these high tax rates.
• Creation of an International Trade Enforcement Unit to look into violations of international trade rules by foreign entities-  Again, at first glance this seems like a good idea, but what exactly is this unit going to do? Are they going to go to China and start sanctioning people violating trade agreements? China might have something to say about that, and last time I checked, they are still a sovereign country.  The President mentioned preventing the importation of counterfeits and illegal copies, but ICE already does that, why create a new unit?  This is what I call a classic "Faulkner idea" full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
• "Train 2 million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job"- His plan to do this is basically through federal funding of community colleges.  In order for what he outlined to be effective, it would mean a huge federal presence in the everyday running of these schools.  Damn near a federal takeover of community colleges.  Not sure how I feel about that, but I like the idea of incorporating a mandatory training element into federal unemployment, provided it can be paid for, which I kind of doubt it can.
• Have all states require individuals stay in HS until graduation or turning 18- maybe a better version of this is to limit unemployment benefits to those who have either received, are continuing to work towards a high school diploma, or are adjudged mentally incapable of doing so (in which case some kind of disability would surely be more appropriate).  Otherwise, the President can't force states to require that individuals stay in school until graduation or turning 18.  The 10th Amendment hasn't been repealed.  Has it? No? oh good.
• Ordering the opening of 75% of offshore oil fields - If he is actually doing it, and not just saying he is and then requiring that they pass some ridiculous administrative hurdles, then that is great news! Pardon me if, in light of the recent decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, I don't hold my breath.
• Require a "living will" for banks, explaining "how you'll pay the bills if you fail"- I could just be misunderstanding the President here, but it seems to me that it is when a bank is unable to pay its bills that it has failed.  How then, is it supposed to explain how it will pay out if it finds itself in a situation where it cannot pay its bills.  I am a fan of stress-testing banks to ensure they are maintaining adequate resources, but I'm not sure what this "living will" stuff is about... Dane?
• "send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of congress" - How is this not already banned? Insider trading is illegal at any level, presumably including when members of Congress engage in it.  This is a case of misappropriating a phrase which describes a criminal behavior and using it to insinuate that some vague malfeasance is taking place in Congress.  Unless the President can clarify exactly what he meant, than this is just meaningless double-talk
• "let's stop any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact"- with government as big as it is, this would essentially prevent elected officials at the highest levels from owning any stocks at all.  This is neither reasonable nor desireable, as it would strongly discourage  many successful Americans from pursuing political office, as they would have to make a major financial sacrifice to do so, on top of the financial sacrifices already associate with running for office (campaign expenses, opportunity cost of not working in higher paying private sector).  Fortunately, it is not likely to be enacted either.
• "All Judicial or civil appointments receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days" - This seems like such a benign idea, but it is possibly the most dangerous proposal he made in his entire speech, a post expanding on this opinion is coming later in the week.

A more structured post on some of the rhetoric from the State of The Union containing more analysis will be out tomorrow.