The Economy – Page 4 – Politics Plus

Open Thread July 6, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:47 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 062023

Yesterday (I’m calling it yesterday because it came in after midnight, but she probably wrote it the day before), Joyce Vance took on the subject of “legacy admissions.” Legacy admissions refers to preference given to children of alumni (and alumnae.) But she also points the three other categories which receive preferential consideration: children of big donors, children of faculty and staff, and athletes. Of course one thinks “football,” but, at least in the “ivy league”, most athletic admissions are for sports not played in minority high schools (e.g., fencing.) This essentially comes down to money. Not only athletes, but also faculty and staff are recruited, and those policies are a recruiting tool. And in the case of big donors and legacies (small donors) the connection is even more obvious. I knew that private schools did these things, but I wasn’t aware it had come to the point where state colleges and universites were so starved for cash that they needed to adopt the practices. Another reason the far right wants to abolish the Department of Education.

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Short Takes –

Daily Beast – This Melting Planet May Reveal How Venus Became a Hellscape—and Why Earth Was Spared
Quote – Venus, the second planet from the sun, isn’t just Earth’s neighbor. It’s roughly the same size as Earth—and rocky, like Earth is. But while Earth evolved into the wet, breathable planet we know and enjoy, Venus apparently got so hot that its oceans evaporated. Poisonous carbon dioxide vapor then blanketed the planet, trapping the heat and making everything even hotter: a process of runaway global warming that gives climatologists here on Earth nightmares. Why Venus got hot and toxic while Earth stayed relatively cool and liveable (for now) is one of the big mysteries of the solar system—and one with immediate implications for us as we pump more and more carbon into Earth’s atmosphere and risk our own greenhouse-gas calamity.
Click through for details. I think it’s safe to say that no carbon life form is ever going to survive on Venus any time soon. And it certainly wouldn’t hurt to know how it got to that point.

Crooks & Liars – Buttigieg Drops Truth Bomb On The GOP About Biden’s Economy
Quote – Well, look, we’re seeing extraordinarily low unemployment, some of the most job creation under any president ever,” Buttigieg said. “We’re seeing, by the way, with that also unusually high rates of job satisfaction. We’ve seen inflation falling. We’ve seen manufacturing returning to the U.S. Now, obviously, a lot of effort and a lot of money goes into negativity to try to get people focusing on other things, like some of the things that we’re talking about in the culture wars that certain figures are bringing to the fore again and again, I think because they don’t want to talk about the economic work that they’re doing.”
Click through for story (and short video). Secretary Pete is very good at this. But I think this goes beyond just messaging. See Robert Reich’s take.

Robert Reich – Competence isn’t enough. Biden must also confront America’s economic bullies
Quote – Biden has framed that choice as competence or craziness. His new “Bidenomics” blueprint makes clear that America has done well under his quietly competent leadership — featuring significant public investment, taming of inflation, and rebirth of manufacturing. Trump has framed the choice as strength or weakness. I’d rather have someone in the White House who’s competent (even if weak) than someone who’s crazy (even if strong). But I fear voters may choose strength over competence. Strength is one of the central narratives of America. In the mythic telling, America was borne from grit, guts, and gumption.
Click through for his rationale. Messaging, yes – but more than that. I think Bob is on to something. Unless – do you suppose Joe could claim the mantle of the myth by messaging “Good old American know-how”?

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 30, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 302023

Well, yesterday, they did it. The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions (but you can bet any important body part you can think of that this applies to any selection process. If not now, it will.) In the interest of avoiding profanity, I’ll stop there. In other news … New York City’s “Free Shakespeare in the Park” is doing “Hamlet” this year. FSitP has never shied away from using the dynamincs of race, and this year is no exception. Hamlet and his relatives are all black – Polonis and his family, white or mixed. They decided not to show the ghost of Hamlet’s father, but instead to represent him by his voice through loudspeakers (which also obscure the direction from which his voice is coming – making it seem to come from anywhere and everywhere. Visual projections add to the effect.) The voice actor is not seen, nor credited. But Daily Beast reveals that the actor is in fact Samuel L. Jackson. Wow. PBS Great Performances featured their “Much Ado” a few years ago. I surely hope they pick this one up.

Cartoon – 30 KBJ RTL

Short Takes –

HuffPost – In Speech On Bidenomics, Biden Tries To Turn The Page On Reagan (And Every President Since)
Quote – Biden embraced the insult the Wall Street Journal Opinion page gave to his economic plans — Bidenomics. “I did not come up with the name,” Biden noted. But he would now embrace it to tout what the White House sees as significant economic achievements and a new vision of economic policy for the country. He denounce[d] the old supply-side economics that have dominated American policy-making since Ronald Reagan put them in place in 1981. But then Biden explained how his policies actually mark a break with this economic model — and while he didn’t say it, how they break with the policies of both Obama and Bill Clinton.
Click through for story. The speech is attracting a lot of attention, as it should. Enough attention? Not yet really possible to tell.

Daily Beast – Inside the Dem Playbook to Stymie GOP Impeachment Efforts
Quote – Lefty groups like the Congressional Integrity Project and Facts First USA were first formed in 2020 and are doing much of the heavy lifting for the White House, as Biden and his staff attempt to stay out of the political fray—at least publicly. “The impeachment efforts are not legitimate,” said David Brock, a longtime Democratic operative who launched Facts First USA. “They’re basically 100 percent driven by the idea that the Republicans believe that the impeachment of Trump hurt him politically. So the fact that they have the power to do it, they’re gonna do it, whether they have the facts on their side or not.” Brock, who was famously a right-wing reporter in the 1990s before converting to the Democratic side, said he’d seen this as a long time coming—a sort of slow onramp of Republican ire against the Biden administration that he only expects to grow ahead of next year’s elections.
Click through for details. I find this reassuring – and unexpected, though i should have expected it. Joe thinks of everything.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 6/10/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:50 am Open Thread, Politics

Jun 102023

Glenn Kirschner – The evidence detailed in the 44-page Trump indictment makes clear: Trump. Is. Done.

The Lincoln Project – More Biden Jobs

Thom Hartmann – You Won’t Believe The Power Behind The Most Corrupt SCOTUS Justice…?

Ring of Fire – Republican Says Trump Is Absolutely Terrified Of Chris Christie

Rescue Lamb Is Obsessed With His Dad’s Guitar

Beau – Let’s talk about the government removing the stigma….

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.

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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?

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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