I would like to think/hope that there are some Republicans who understand how our national government works and that defaulting on debt would be a disaster just as we are flirting with a recession. I would like to think there are at least 6.
That alone would tell the GOPer crazies AND Kevin McCarthy that they don't run the place.
I believe that a coalition of House Democrats and non-brain dead House Republicans will raise the debt ceiling, but not until the last minute. First, we will all have to wade through a mountain of BS from the "Freedom Caucus" GOP crazies. Not fun!
Exactly, Tim. And this issue might serve a positive function, in dividing the GOP to disempower out the crazies. But it's all in the messaging, which must be done in a way that doesn't make the radicals look like heroes or even, post-defeat, "martyrs in resistance." Moderate Republicans must pull up their big boy and girl pants, stop posturing, get busy, and do the work their voters sent them to do. Then Democrats can have a serious dialogue with them about those issues.
I wish there were an easy way to quickly wake up ALL of America. NOBODY in this country wants to see Social Security and/or Medicare bite the dust. NOBODY. I've already suggested to The Lincoln Party that their magic would be helpful in this, but even if they've already thought of it, it won't be enough.. (Where are all the decent media companies when you need 'em? It IS a big story...)
Tim, Fearing that far-right extremists would be setting the agenda for the next two years, late last December, I and many others contacted virtually every Republican member of the Problem Solvers Caucus urging them to join with moderate Democrats, who already had signaled a willingness to work with likeminded people across the aisle, to find a consensus Speaker, a compromise candidate who would owe nothing to MAGA extremist factions. We all know how that worked out.
Nonetheless, on January 7th, believing we had one more play not to give McCarthy the votes to implement the House rules package, again, I, along with others, dialed up these members urging them to vote against the rules package that not only was screwing the country, but also was screwing them, given, for example, the significant number of coveted committee assignments already pledged to the Freedom Caucus.
Notwithstanding the deafening silence, the main reason Iβm not quitting is due to something fellow subscriber Jerry Weiss once wrote to me. He stated, βDonβt convince yourself that itβs all futile, or it most certainly will be.β
I likewise hoped that Democrats could find 6 Republicans to agree on someone more fit to be Speaker than McCarthy, but I was disappointed as I think we will nearly always be if we rely on any House Republican to do anything sensible, decent or patriotic.
If any of the GOP (supposedly moderates) had gotten tired of the epic BS the few far right people they have were creating, they could have thrown a massive wrench in their plans and voted for Hakeem Jeffries... They are as complicit in the debacle as the rest for not standing up to create a functioning HOR's... This is unlikely to be fixed until the next election cycle... Or it could get even worse, who knows...
It was my vote too but it could be a challenge to them to pull it off. Quite a few are very angry at their losses of plum committee seats to idiot, know-nothing "freshpersons" and I don't blame them. I DO blame them for being too spineless & and lacking in creativity not to have banded together during all those Speakership votes in the first place to outnumber/outsmart little kev's tiny cabal of arrogant, self-important brats. IDK why they didn't see their future turning out as it is. But perhaps they're mad enough now to operate differently. Hoping the Dems can privately help them see how it would benefit them. If they succeeded, it could be a real game changer on many levels for both parties.
You seem very angry. BTW, you first replied to me, and still refuse to name a single Republican who will vote with Democrats on a clean debt limit bill.
Wow! You finally explained what specifically you were looking for...
Too bad you didn't start that way... I'm not mad, it's called being annoyed...
Annoyed at your inability to properly explain what you mean when you ask a question, and in the fact I thought I found someplace with a higher level of intelligence than that found on FB or Reddit...
Robert, I am just grateful and HAPPY that you are still in the middle of all this, adding your thoughts and insights and working for the Common Good as you always have. You are not even in an elected post so why do you still matter and why do people listen to you? Because of your proven credibility. Thank you for staying in the fight. You really matter. Nice pic from 1995, BTW.
I took a Poly-si class at a local college years ago that was taught by a professor named Spanhour, spelling. This guy was being watched by the FBI for being a subversive when he was younger. He had copies of documents acquired through the freedom of information act, that showed Reagan and Bush illegally withdrawing monies from the social security coffers. These two guys knew their budgets would never be approved by congress so they submitted requests that they knew would be accepted with no problem. Then as the situations presented themselves they would simply take the tax payers social security money to off set the difference, the needed expenditures grew to the tune of 3 trillion dollars. All monies stolen from the American people. They are the cause of the financial trouble social security is in today. Deal with the debt ceiling as you will but leave social security and Medicare, alone.
That's my suggestion. I'm glad to see someone else make it (since mine is at the bottom of the comment section & will forever be because of the lateness of my posting it).
It seems that large corporate are entities using money they should have been paying in taxes and employee/investor compensation via βdark moneyβ to elect these Republican legislators. Donβt you think they are telling these legislators they βboughtβ that these actions will actually be very bad for these corporations? Perhaps I donβt understand all the dynamics, but it seems this whole scenario hurts corporate self interest a great deal and I donβt hear anything on this point in the media π€
And by and οΏΌlarge, you will not hear anything in the media. Corporations need to be constrained, either prohibited by law, or incentivized for longer-term outcomes.οΏΌ Itβs pretty much that simple. Otherwise this tale will not have a happy ending.
Our government, including the present Supreme Court, is being cheapened and degraded by a small minority who are grabbing for power. I worry that a portion of our voting public may turn away in disgust. I hope we can pull through this time and arrive at a stronger, more effective government (and Supreme Court) grounded in civic responsibility and integrity. What we presently have, in part, is a disgrace.
The Supreme Court and Congress have worked for minority money and bribes in the past especially during the Gilded Age.we the corporations is a great book on the history of corporations in America and how they have been constrained or not principally by the Supreme Court. Our predicament is that today when things break they may break everything,unlike the 1880s which did not face climate change and biodiversity threats.all I can say is get active and make a difference and that's more than just a keyboard
Nobody mentions my idea -- arbitrage. Interest rates in some countries are much lower than in the US. E.G. Switzerland: holding the policy interest rate at -0.75%. Other countries like Denmark, Japan and Sweden have low rates.
Treasury could BUY low and SELL high, making money and breaking the debt ceiling.. Janet Yellen could make this happen tomorrow.
Krugman says we could also issue βpremium bondsβ when existing debts come due β bonds whose face value is the same as that of the bonds they replace, so that they donβt officially increase the debt, but offer high interest rates, so they sell for much more than their notional value.
I also like the ide of collecting all the unpaid taxes owed by our delinquent super wealthy and by foreign actors welching on US taxes. Penalize them. Lien up their US properties. Garnish their bank accounts.
Lastly, we could ask the US public to donate to save the US. I have been all over this to save the SSA trust funds. Maybe we could do it as a nation. Consider the endowments of institutions like colleges. When the founders said "endow" maybe they meant it literally.
Emblazoned above the front entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court Building is the phrase "Equal Justice Under Law." In an investigation of who leaked a draft of the Dobbs decision, it could not be more unequal than to have all the court's employees be interviewed and sign affidavits - except the justices.
The attitude the court is showing is that if the leaker is at a lower level than a justice, he or she should be punished and likely have his or her legal career ruined. But if the leaker is a justice, the person should get away scot-free. The court is looking like the pigs who led Animal Farm: "Some are more equal than others."
At least a few of the justices should be strongly and publicly speaking out against this travesty and calling for everyone to be treated equally in the investigation. If the court so flagrantly acts against a fundamental legal principle proclaimed above its door, what legal principle can it be relied on to take seriously?
I came to believe many years ago that the "supreme" Court is merely the "last bastion" of the corporations and wealthy to protect their place in the hierarchy of this country. If you actually read the Constitution, it states that these justices can remain in their position with continued "good behaviour". This has been interpreted (naturally) as LIFETIME APPOINTMENTS. If this is what the founders of this country wanted, they would have explicitly stated this. They did not. In a TRUE DEMOCRACY, these people would NEVER be given lifetime appointments, but rather TERM LIMITS and Mandatory Retirement Ages. But, there is an agenda here and that agenda does NOT benefit the working-class Americans.
Good behavior? That automatically eliminates most of the justices right there. Kind of like the original allowance for companies to be incorporated only if they provided a public benefit, or a congressman being able to keep their seat only if they keep true to their oaths of office. Somehow all these wonderful standards, whether part of the Constitution or not, have eroded over time.
Randy Gaul: Not to diminish your father's insight by any means, but the Dems seem quite competent at self-destructive behavior as well. Not holding my breath.
Instead of decreasing spending, why not bring in more money by finding a way to make billionaires pay taxes. Besos, Musk, Zuckerberg and Trump pay little or no income tax.
I think Kamala Harris is a smart lawyer, but a failure in the business of politics! Better suited as the Attorney General than as President. My two cents...
And worth every penny! I think she could be vulnerable to a Hillary-type mistake, as well. I hope she has a bit more common sense about her prospects. I would ask her, what if you had been Hillary and lost to ol' Tweety? It's not that I don't think she'd make a fine president. I'd be calling on her to look very closely at her political reality and exercise common sense.
I agree & have said so myself. I hope if Biden chooses not to run, that he won't endorse her. I still like Warren best, but there are others that would likely do a better job as President & have a better chance of winning than Harris.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."
I would like to think/hope that there are some Republicans who understand how our national government works and that defaulting on debt would be a disaster just as we are flirting with a recession. I would like to think there are at least 6.
That alone would tell the GOPer crazies AND Kevin McCarthy that they don't run the place.
I believe that a coalition of House Democrats and non-brain dead House Republicans will raise the debt ceiling, but not until the last minute. First, we will all have to wade through a mountain of BS from the "Freedom Caucus" GOP crazies. Not fun!
Exactly, Tim. And this issue might serve a positive function, in dividing the GOP to disempower out the crazies. But it's all in the messaging, which must be done in a way that doesn't make the radicals look like heroes or even, post-defeat, "martyrs in resistance." Moderate Republicans must pull up their big boy and girl pants, stop posturing, get busy, and do the work their voters sent them to do. Then Democrats can have a serious dialogue with them about those issues.
I wish there were an easy way to quickly wake up ALL of America. NOBODY in this country wants to see Social Security and/or Medicare bite the dust. NOBODY. I've already suggested to The Lincoln Party that their magic would be helpful in this, but even if they've already thought of it, it won't be enough.. (Where are all the decent media companies when you need 'em? It IS a big story...)
Name one reasonable Republican.
I read treasonable and had an entire list ready to go!
Haha
Republican members of the Problem Solvers Caucus. https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/about.
No evidence they exist in this Congress. Fitzpatrick endorsed by Trump, Trump campaigned with him.
Tim, Fearing that far-right extremists would be setting the agenda for the next two years, late last December, I and many others contacted virtually every Republican member of the Problem Solvers Caucus urging them to join with moderate Democrats, who already had signaled a willingness to work with likeminded people across the aisle, to find a consensus Speaker, a compromise candidate who would owe nothing to MAGA extremist factions. We all know how that worked out.
Nonetheless, on January 7th, believing we had one more play not to give McCarthy the votes to implement the House rules package, again, I, along with others, dialed up these members urging them to vote against the rules package that not only was screwing the country, but also was screwing them, given, for example, the significant number of coveted committee assignments already pledged to the Freedom Caucus.
Notwithstanding the deafening silence, the main reason Iβm not quitting is due to something fellow subscriber Jerry Weiss once wrote to me. He stated, βDonβt convince yourself that itβs all futile, or it most certainly will be.β
I likewise hoped that Democrats could find 6 Republicans to agree on someone more fit to be Speaker than McCarthy, but I was disappointed as I think we will nearly always be if we rely on any House Republican to do anything sensible, decent or patriotic.
Except for the fact they do run the place...
If any of the GOP (supposedly moderates) had gotten tired of the epic BS the few far right people they have were creating, they could have thrown a massive wrench in their plans and voted for Hakeem Jeffries... They are as complicit in the debacle as the rest for not standing up to create a functioning HOR's... This is unlikely to be fixed until the next election cycle... Or it could get even worse, who knows...
Good luck. Zero ethics zero integrity and zero love of country. Have you noticed anything else?
It was my vote too but it could be a challenge to them to pull it off. Quite a few are very angry at their losses of plum committee seats to idiot, know-nothing "freshpersons" and I don't blame them. I DO blame them for being too spineless & and lacking in creativity not to have banded together during all those Speakership votes in the first place to outnumber/outsmart little kev's tiny cabal of arrogant, self-important brats. IDK why they didn't see their future turning out as it is. But perhaps they're mad enough now to operate differently. Hoping the Dems can privately help them see how it would benefit them. If they succeeded, it could be a real game changer on many levels for both parties.
I vote for whatever can be done without involving the Republicans.
Dream on
Name a single sitting member of the House.
Considering that several of them are in the news on an almost daily basis what is the actual point of your question?
So name one
If you have a point make it please, or stop talking to me...
And I'm not doing something to prove to you anything...
You seem very angry. BTW, you first replied to me, and still refuse to name a single Republican who will vote with Democrats on a clean debt limit bill.
Wow! You finally explained what specifically you were looking for...
Too bad you didn't start that way... I'm not mad, it's called being annoyed...
Annoyed at your inability to properly explain what you mean when you ask a question, and in the fact I thought I found someplace with a higher level of intelligence than that found on FB or Reddit...
Robert, I am just grateful and HAPPY that you are still in the middle of all this, adding your thoughts and insights and working for the Common Good as you always have. You are not even in an elected post so why do you still matter and why do people listen to you? Because of your proven credibility. Thank you for staying in the fight. You really matter. Nice pic from 1995, BTW.
I took a Poly-si class at a local college years ago that was taught by a professor named Spanhour, spelling. This guy was being watched by the FBI for being a subversive when he was younger. He had copies of documents acquired through the freedom of information act, that showed Reagan and Bush illegally withdrawing monies from the social security coffers. These two guys knew their budgets would never be approved by congress so they submitted requests that they knew would be accepted with no problem. Then as the situations presented themselves they would simply take the tax payers social security money to off set the difference, the needed expenditures grew to the tune of 3 trillion dollars. All monies stolen from the American people. They are the cause of the financial trouble social security is in today. Deal with the debt ceiling as you will but leave social security and Medicare, alone.
You wouldn't be related to that Todd guy by any chance.
Have the Justice Department charge the House members that aided the insurrection and kick them out of Congress.
That's my suggestion. I'm glad to see someone else make it (since mine is at the bottom of the comment section & will forever be because of the lateness of my posting it).
Plenty have suggested it, having the numbers to actually get it done is a pipedream...
My son in college has never seen a chalk board. Is that how cavemen used to text?
If it filters down to grade school the kids can knock out "I will not do this or thats" 100 times quickly with cut and paste.
In this day and age if you're still dealing with school behavioral issues in that manner then maybe you shouldn't still be teaching...
Sure, if that is how you wish to frame that...
Do you use a horse and buggy to go the market?
Also the updated version of a chalkboard is the dry erase board...
So one could say it is still being used to this day...
Enjoy your retirement from formal teaching! I look forward to your continuing to impart your wisdom to all of on this Substack forum and beyond.
It seems that large corporate are entities using money they should have been paying in taxes and employee/investor compensation via βdark moneyβ to elect these Republican legislators. Donβt you think they are telling these legislators they βboughtβ that these actions will actually be very bad for these corporations? Perhaps I donβt understand all the dynamics, but it seems this whole scenario hurts corporate self interest a great deal and I donβt hear anything on this point in the media π€
And by and οΏΌlarge, you will not hear anything in the media. Corporations need to be constrained, either prohibited by law, or incentivized for longer-term outcomes.οΏΌ Itβs pretty much that simple. Otherwise this tale will not have a happy ending.
Our government, including the present Supreme Court, is being cheapened and degraded by a small minority who are grabbing for power. I worry that a portion of our voting public may turn away in disgust. I hope we can pull through this time and arrive at a stronger, more effective government (and Supreme Court) grounded in civic responsibility and integrity. What we presently have, in part, is a disgrace.
The Supreme Court and Congress have worked for minority money and bribes in the past especially during the Gilded Age.we the corporations is a great book on the history of corporations in America and how they have been constrained or not principally by the Supreme Court. Our predicament is that today when things break they may break everything,unlike the 1880s which did not face climate change and biodiversity threats.all I can say is get active and make a difference and that's more than just a keyboard
I vote other.
Nobody mentions my idea -- arbitrage. Interest rates in some countries are much lower than in the US. E.G. Switzerland: holding the policy interest rate at -0.75%. Other countries like Denmark, Japan and Sweden have low rates.
Treasury could BUY low and SELL high, making money and breaking the debt ceiling.. Janet Yellen could make this happen tomorrow.
Krugman says we could also issue βpremium bondsβ when existing debts come due β bonds whose face value is the same as that of the bonds they replace, so that they donβt officially increase the debt, but offer high interest rates, so they sell for much more than their notional value.
I also like the ide of collecting all the unpaid taxes owed by our delinquent super wealthy and by foreign actors welching on US taxes. Penalize them. Lien up their US properties. Garnish their bank accounts.
Lastly, we could ask the US public to donate to save the US. I have been all over this to save the SSA trust funds. Maybe we could do it as a nation. Consider the endowments of institutions like colleges. When the founders said "endow" maybe they meant it literally.
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/senior_lawyers/publications/voice_of_experience/2011/winter/social-security-maybe-charity-should-begin-at-home/
Appreciate the fresh ideas. They're worth a serious discussion, regardless.
Did you contact Janet Yellin,sounds doable.
Alito: Deleto!
Emblazoned above the front entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court Building is the phrase "Equal Justice Under Law." In an investigation of who leaked a draft of the Dobbs decision, it could not be more unequal than to have all the court's employees be interviewed and sign affidavits - except the justices.
The attitude the court is showing is that if the leaker is at a lower level than a justice, he or she should be punished and likely have his or her legal career ruined. But if the leaker is a justice, the person should get away scot-free. The court is looking like the pigs who led Animal Farm: "Some are more equal than others."
At least a few of the justices should be strongly and publicly speaking out against this travesty and calling for everyone to be treated equally in the investigation. If the court so flagrantly acts against a fundamental legal principle proclaimed above its door, what legal principle can it be relied on to take seriously?
I came to believe many years ago that the "supreme" Court is merely the "last bastion" of the corporations and wealthy to protect their place in the hierarchy of this country. If you actually read the Constitution, it states that these justices can remain in their position with continued "good behaviour". This has been interpreted (naturally) as LIFETIME APPOINTMENTS. If this is what the founders of this country wanted, they would have explicitly stated this. They did not. In a TRUE DEMOCRACY, these people would NEVER be given lifetime appointments, but rather TERM LIMITS and Mandatory Retirement Ages. But, there is an agenda here and that agenda does NOT benefit the working-class Americans.
Good behavior? That automatically eliminates most of the justices right there. Kind of like the original allowance for companies to be incorporated only if they provided a public benefit, or a congressman being able to keep their seat only if they keep true to their oaths of office. Somehow all these wonderful standards, whether part of the Constitution or not, have eroded over time.
I am sick of R subversive tactics that appeal to the willfully ignorant. Let them fall on their swords.
My father used to say: "... and then the Republicans get in and shoot themselves in the foot." May it be so.
Randy Gaul: Not to diminish your father's insight by any means, but the Dems seem quite competent at self-destructive behavior as well. Not holding my breath.
True enough... But not like the Republicans. This current crowd, jerked around by their radicals... Hmm, hmm...
Instead of decreasing spending, why not bring in more money by finding a way to make billionaires pay taxes. Besos, Musk, Zuckerberg and Trump pay little or no income tax.
Take billionaires and auction them off for slaves. Payback is a....
Instructive on the debt limit. Worth the 9 minutes: https://youtu.be/Rongpo2TbqQ
ALSO: Concerning Q-publican "investigations:" https://youtu.be/ZuJLTcDTX7A
A little preparation for an upcoming discussion topic (I don't know that for a fact. I just >know< it will be): https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kamala-harris-could-make-history-in-a-really-sad-way/ar-AA16zPyp
I think Kamala Harris is a smart lawyer, but a failure in the business of politics! Better suited as the Attorney General than as President. My two cents...
And worth every penny! I think she could be vulnerable to a Hillary-type mistake, as well. I hope she has a bit more common sense about her prospects. I would ask her, what if you had been Hillary and lost to ol' Tweety? It's not that I don't think she'd make a fine president. I'd be calling on her to look very closely at her political reality and exercise common sense.
I agree & have said so myself. I hope if Biden chooses not to run, that he won't endorse her. I still like Warren best, but there are others that would likely do a better job as President & have a better chance of winning than Harris.
Generally amusing: https://www.lssu.edu/traditions/banishedwords/
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-14/section-4/#:~:text=Section%204%20Public%20Debt,rebellion%2C%20shall%20not%20be%20questioned.
"Section 4 Public Debt
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."
Everyone seems to be forgetting the lunatic dentist, Rep Paul Gosar. On the Oversight Committee.