The Economy – Page 4 – Politics Plus

Open Thread May 8, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 082023

Yesterday, before going to visit Virgil, I started to print my auto insurance ID card (since the new policy had begun 2 days earlier) and nothing was happening. I went to the control panel and also into the details in the print command, and all I can come up with is that my printer had somehow become diconnected and then reconnected itself, with the reconnection making a “copy” in the printer list. I retried, selecting the copy, and got the printout. I don’t know how this happened except that it must have happened within the last three weeks or so. I use the scanner function more than the print function, and the last time I used the scanner, about that long ago, it worked fine. In the process of figuring out what to do today I tried the scanner, and it did not respond until I selected the copy in the device list. If that’s all Greek to you, I apologize, but I’ve never had anything like this happen before, so I really don’t have the vocabulary for it. And I haven’t had time for a deep dive into the manual. I’m just glad I got the card printed in time. Virgil was in good spirits, and we played three games of Scrabble and a bit over. He returns all gretings, especially the lovely anniversary ones. I wore an older sweater because I know he likes it – before he was incarcerated and when he was helping put away laundry, I’d have to go searching for it in his closet – he never put it in mone (and he actually remembered that, when prompted.) As of Saturday, we are now officially getting 14 hours of sun each day, so it gets easier every time now up till midsummer, and will be nice and easy for some time after that. Of course, I’m still tired out.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – King Charles III
Quote – The British monarchy is an archaic vestige of the country’s feudal past. Some argue that it should be dispensed with altogether. I’m in sympathy with this argument, but I wonder if it misses something…. Here in America, many of us romanticize our presidents and their families, at least at the start of an administration. Remember Camelot?… Because our presidents head the executive branch of the government, the two roles — the projected glamor and the political reality — often get confused, leaving us disappointed if not disgusted…. I’m not suggesting America have a royal family. It’s just that Britain’s infatuation with its own may have some social utility there that we Yanks don’t understand.
Click through for article (and click “Continue reading”). It’s not that long, it’s kind of different, and I think he’s on to something.

Daily Beast – How Bidenomics Has Finally Defeated Reaganomics
Quote – The last thing many of us expected when Joe Biden became president was that he would be a revolutionary. But just over two years into Biden’s presidency, there is no doubt that he has done more to dramatically transform U.S. policy and thinking in more areas than any of his predecessors since Franklin Roosevelt. America had failed to adequately invest in its infrastructure for over six decades when Biden made it a priority once again. Biden’s prioritized investment in combating climate change to a degree that no past administration ever did. On foreign policy, he executed the pivot away from a Middle East and terrorism focus to a long-term commitment to placing the Indo-Pacific region and our rivalry with China atop our list of priorities.
Click through for opinion – which seems wildly optimistic to me, but I certainly hope it’s on target. In a sane world it would be, but if we were living in a sane world, would we ever have attempted trickle-down in the first place?

Food For Thought

Video Thread 4/19/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:12 pm Open Thread, Politics

Apr 192023

Glenn Kirschner – Judge REJECTS Donald Trump’s attempt to delay E. Jean Carroll defamation trial. Trial begins 4/25

The Lincoln Project – How to Manufacture a Debt Ceiling Crisis

Farron Balanced – Former Trump Associate Says Ex President Has Become Too Boring For Voters

MSNBC – Ralph Yarl: Charges filed in shooting of teen who rang wrong doorbell

2-pound Wild Boar Grows Up Believing She’s a Puppy

Beau – Let’s talk about Jordan falling into a trap….

Video Thread 4/16/23

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:06 pm Open Thread, Politics

Apr 162023

Glenn Kirschner – Jack Smith expands criminal probe, investigates Trump’s wire fraud by fundraising off the big lie

Thom Hartmann – Will Nasty GOP Policy Starve Poor Americans?

Farron Balanced – Jim Jordan Abuses His Power By Attacking Colleges For Fighting Disinformation

Titus and Bradley – The George & Gracie Show: “The 2nd Amendment” (O, man, this takes me back.)

Girl Is Determined To Earn This Cat’s Love

Beau – Let’s talk about confusion, conflation, and currency…. (If you get the Crooks & Kiars newsletter, you’ve seen ads trying to scare you about this.)

Open Thread March 22, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:55 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 222023

Yesterday, someone over at DU pointed out that the closest thing we have to a precedent for charging a President or a former President is the “arrest” of Grant for speeding (in his horse-drawn carriege.) I had forgotten about it, but, yes, this really happened. Grant, however, accepted accountability and paid the ticket. Since this happened in the open, there were no walls, but who would not wish to have been a horsefly on site in order to have seen it?

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – The Undeserving Rich
Quote – Markets depend on who has the power to design and enforce them — deciding what can be owned and sold and under what terms, who can join together to gain additional market power, what happens if someone cannot pay up, how to pay for what is held in common, and who gets bailed out. These are fundamentally moral judgments. Different societies at different times have decided these questions differently. It was once thought acceptable to own and trade human beings, to take the land of indigenous people by force, to put debtors in prison, and to exercise vast monopoly power.
Click through for full article. Is the idea of “The Deserving Rich” a real thing? I think not. But it’s been around for a long time. If you remember Jesus’s remark about the rich getting into heaven is like a camel getting through the eye of a needle, you may remember his listeners were sghast, and aske, “If they can’t get in, then can anyone?” The name “Prosperity Gospel” may be new but the illusion is not.

The 19th – Nearly 300,000 women served during the Iraq War. Two decades later, they remain ‘the invisible veterans.’
Quote – Theresa Schroeder Hageman, a political science instructor at Ohio Northern University who served as a nurse in the Air Force from 2005 to 2010, said that she’s noticed that veterans like herself who served during the post-9/11 conflict years don’t always claim the veteran status. Schroeder Hageman said she cared for active-duty and veteran patients at one of the country’s largest Air Force hospitals, but she was never deployed overseas. “Sometimes I don’t claim the status because I didn’t deploy, so I feel less than, which is silly,” Schroeder Hageman said. “You think, ‘I’m not a real vet.’ Some women who were deployed but didn’t serve outside the wire will say they’re not a real vet.”
Click through for story. I would say to vets like Schroeder Hageman, “Claim it. It may get ignored. Claim it anyway.”

Food For Thought

Video Thread 3/19/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:03 pm Open Thread, Politics

Mar 192023

Glenn Kirschner – NY authorities preparing for Trump indictment; Trump’s lawyers says Trump will turn himself in

PoliticsGirl – Must Do Before April 4!!

Ring of Fire – Texas Republicans Push ‘Bounty Hunting Bill’ Targeting Drag Queens

Robert Reich – This One Thing Would Increase Wages By $300 Billion

Spicy Kitten Needs To Be Wrapped in Purrito

Beau – Let’s talk about what went down over Ukraine….

Video Thread 3/14/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:55 am Open Thread, Politics

Mar 142023

Glenn Kirschner – Michael Cohen testifies in NY Grand jury; Trump refuses to testify in grand jury; indictment nears (Cohen is not a target of the grand jury before which he is testifying. A big difference – which Glenn taught me.)

Farron Balanced – Republican Lawmaker Has Complete Meltdown Over 4th Grader’s Rainbow Drawing

Robert Reich – What Silicon Valley Bank’s Implosion Means for You

Armageddon Update – This MOTHERTUCKER!

Pittie Thrown Away In Trash Does The Happiest Zoomies Around His New Yard

Beau – Let’s talk about an enduring math problem in Ukraine…. (for once, I knew this before he did. I’d call that a scoop!)

Open Thread March 14, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:58 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 142023

A few days ago, the newsletter I get every week from the Project on Government Oversight included a request for me to edit, sign, and send a letter to President Joe asking him to fire the IG of DHS. Most of the time I am not able to add much of anything to the letters that groups draft asking for change. This one was different. I never liked even the idea of a Department of Homeland Security – it seemed too nationalistic to me from the get-go. And the longer it exists, the less I like it. If we must have an agency that combines the functions which come under DHS (as opposed to having those functions split up, as we did before it was formed), then it absolutely needs to be subject to the State Department. Our national security is totally contingent upon our foreign relations, and those are not helped by DHS continually and blatantly breaking international law. I do get it that with the nation so ridiculously divided now may not be the best time to absorb DHS into State. But at the very least, it needs a tough IG of unimpeachable integrity, and Cuffari, the current holder of that post, is exactly the opposite. And I put most of that into the letter before sending it. Here’s the link, and besides the letter, there is some background on Cuffari and his – I’ll be overly generous and call it incompetence (but I absolutely believe there’s also malice there.)

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Epstein’s Brother: Jeffrey Ran From 45 Because Trump Was A Crook
Quote – According to what Jeffrey’s brother, Mark, told Business Insider, his now-deceased brother distanced himself from Trump because the former President was “a crook.” Imagine being too slimy for a pedophile. And there is unaired footage of an interview by Jeffrey Epstein conducted by Steve Bannon after his brother forwarded it to him in the spring of 2019.
Click through for story – it’s short. Just for the benefit of anyone whose first reaction is, “Mark is his brother. Of course he would try to put Jeffrey in the best light [or in this case the least awful light],” some people’s families do tell the unvarnished truth about them. Stephen Miller. Paul Gosar. That does not necessrily mean I believe Mark, but I won’t just dismiss what he says either.

Robert Reich – The real story behind the Silicon Valley Bank debacle
Quote – The surface story of the Silicon Valley Bank debacle is straightforward. During the pandemic, startups and technology companies enjoyed heady profits, some of which they deposited in the Silicon Valley Bank. Flush with their cash, the bank did what banks do: It kept a fraction on hand and invested the rest — putting a large share into long-dated Treasury bonds that promised good returns when interest rates were low. But then, starting a little more than a year ago, the Fed raised interest rates from near zero to over 4.5 percent. As a result, two things happened. The value of the Silicon Valley Bank’s holdings of Treasury bonds plummeted because newer bonds paid more interest. And, as interest rates rose, the gusher of venture capital funding to startup and tech companies slowed, because venture funds had to pay more to borrow money. As a result, these startup and tech companies had to withdraw more of their money from the bank to meet their payrolls and other expenses.
Click through for details. Responsible parents teach children self – discipline, not only for the sake of society, but to help their children to succeed, because, without self-control, you won’t. Responsible governments regulate – and that’s really for the same reasons. This case may be less egregious than some others we have seen. What will it take to convince people that regulation is NOT a bad thing?

Iterestingly, HEather Cox Richardson also concentrated on the bank failur in he Letter from an American.

Food For Thought

Let’s see them do this with those other constants.

Open Thread March 13, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:56 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Mar 132023

Yesterday, I overslept – slept through my alarm, I think, although I haven’t yet checked to make sure I actually set it to come on; it took me a whle to set it to the time I wanted because the clock zeroed out. It does that sometimes, which is annoying, but it keeps good time otherwise, and it really doesn’t take long to set, especially considering how many functions it has. I did manage to arrive just at the time I had said I would, but a lot of things I normally do were not done. I did greet Virgil for everyone here, as well as for my frosted sister in Florida, who dropped me an email to letmeknow that hew new hurricane windows, ordered in August, which arrived in October, were finally installed, and that her daughter had done some interior painting for her. (My response to her had included my taking offense on her behalf about the water being slandered, and she replied to that with some highly negative evaluation of her governor, along with a greeting for Virgil.) Of course he returns all greetings with appreciation. They have not yet replaced their lone deck of cards, but I found a Scrabble set, and that’s something we can play (we would both prefer UpWords, but they don’t have that.) We had to be told that visitation was over – and that’s a good thing. So it’s going to be Scrabble unless their game inventory changes.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – Kids Do Better In Schools With Teachers Unions
Quote – Research shows that teachers unions are positively associated with student achievement. Researchers Eunice Han and Jeffrey Keefe found that this effect is particularly strong for Hispanic and Black students. And economists Eric Brunner, Joshua Hyman, and Andrew Ju have found that districts with strong teachers unions increased spending on public education, which leads to larger increases in student achievement.
Click through for story. Just off the top of my head, I can think of many reasons why this would be so, and very few why it might not. (Customers aldo do better when dealing with businesses whose workers have unions. CEOs may not get quite such huge bonuses, though.)

Robert Reich – Psst! An urgent message for Jerome Powell
Quote – You and your colleagues on the Fed’s Open Market Committee are considering pushing interest rates much higher in your quest to get inflation down to your target of 2 percent. You believe higher interest rates will reduce consumer spending and slow the economy. With due respect, sir, this is unnecessary, and it would be unjust. Over the past year, you’ve raised interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s, from near zero to more than 4.5 percent. But consumer spending isn’t slowing. It fell slightly in November and December but jumped 1.8 percent in January, even faster than inflation.
Click through for full opinion – yes, opinion, but 100% fact based. After the shellacking Elizabeth Warren gave to Powell in committee (it was in a video thread here) perhaps this shouldn’t be necessary. But it probably is.

Food For Thought

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