“It’s a little too quiet” - US Politics February 2021

I should point out that, in my local Dem chapter meeting tomorrow, I'm bringing up the immigration compromises and ACLU comments.

To add context to the Miami Herald story: the federal vaccination site getting activated is in one of the poorest and Black-est parts of Miami-Dade County. A big deal.

I should point out that, in my local Dem chapter meeting tomorrow, I'm bringing up the immigration compromises and ACLU comments.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, February 19, 2021 2:39 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk maybe you should try complaining on the internet instead

Equally effective tactics, to be honest.

I'm going to publish a stinging op-ed in the NYT! Stinging!

jon i think the part disconnect is that the covid situation is objectively improving. there is good news every day. could be better. might get worse. but right now it's moving in the right direction. and you struggle with this.

meanwhile there is regularly news that many of us consider bad or ominous about biden's economic agenda. and there hasn't been any concrete good news yet, either accomplishments or statements from biden that meet or exceed hopes.

Equally effective tactics, to be honest.

― Joe Biden Stan Account (milo z),

I appreciate the encouragement. Thanks!

meanwhile there is regularly news that many of us consider bad or ominous about biden's economic agenda. and there hasn't been any concrete good news yet, either accomplishments or statements from biden that meet or exceed hopes.

I mean, yes, there is a lot about Biden's agenda that is ominous one way or another, he's far from the ideal progressive president, no matter what promises he made. I guess I'm just tired of the fatalism about the minimum wage, specifically. There is nothing to indicate it's never going to happen. Obviously it sucks that it's being kicked down the road, but that's not the same as "never going to happen", which I'm seeing quite a lot of.

Meanwhile in the grift salt mines

NEW: A Roger Stone-connected group called "Committee to Stop the Steal" failed to meet two IRS filing deadlines to show how much money it raised and spent since the election, and its registered agent seems to have disappeared. Me @Salon https://t.co/sDNTEFCadz

— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) February 19, 2021

xp people don't trust joe biden based on his actual record, and he has nothing under his belt yet as president other than words and some good hiring decisions. so when he says he wants to fight a battle over the minimum wage another day (which is not what he's said. he hasn't said much publicly. but i guess that's what you think.), people don't trust that.

setting aside the question of the minimum wage, are we now expecting that there will not be a massive COVID relief bill anytime in the near future?

pretty sure that's guaranteed; it's the rest.

I'm kinda impressed by the fact that even though the figure of $50,000 in student debt relief has seen a lot of trial balloon news stories that indicate it has strong support, this translates here into bare assertions of "no debt relief", as if the Democratic party had issued a press release announcing "we won't even try for student debt relief this session, so stop hoping".

student debt forgiveness is not legislative. the schumer/warren proposal is an EO.

congressional sessions have nothing to do with it, except to the extent biden can bargain with congress by saying "i will do it if you do that" (which tells you that he doesn't want to do it, which is what we all know).

biden pretty vociferously announced his opposition to $50k of student debt relief in a televised town hall, which could be a clue that he's not interested in comprehensive student debt relief.

100% of student debt should be forgiven immediately, probably the cheapest possible stimulus.

trust the process xp

and the $10k must apparently be legislative to suit him, which means there's no reason to believe it will happen, because 10 Republicans aren't getting on board. See: minimum wage.

biden can bargain with congress by saying "i will do it if you do that"

If there's enough support in Congress, then the bargaining can go in the opposite direction.

maybe he's going to surprise us. by announcing real or feigned opposition to these things he already plans to do, he can extract unrelated concessions. that's the best possible interpretation of what he's doing. it's also completely preposterous, based on his 40 year record.

I guess I'm just tired of the fatalism about the minimum wage, specifically. There is nothing to indicate it's never going to happen.

What are the signs it is going to happen? Or do you mean that the minimum wage will be raised sometime around 2040?

some of you are too cynical. some of you are not enough. i, however, am the perfect amount of cynical.

but i guess that's what you think.

I mean, reductive of course, but isn't that what we all do? Filter what we read, see, study, interpret and observe into our own personal predictions of pessimism or optimism?

I guess I just get tired of being specifically called out when my pessimism runs away from me, but on so many other issues folks' default position is just pessimism that isn't necessarily any more well founded.

Fwiw, the folks in my immediate family eligible for the vaccine still haven't been able to even schedule appointments, so I think it's entirely possible for pessimism about my specific, local rollout to coexist with a relief at seeing the national numbers moving in the right direction.

I'm curious what the proper amount of fatalism is when the guy who has to sign the bill into law is saying it isn't going to happen.

What are the signs it is going to happen? Or do you mean that the minimum wage will be raised sometime around 2040?

I don't know anything concrete, of course, but I choose to think it's an encouraging sign that it is even on the table. A federal $15/hour minimum wage would have been nearly unthinkable 18 months ago. Does that mean it's enough? Or happening as soon as it needs to? Not at all, but I find it an encouraging trend overall.

When did he specifically say it definitely, 100% wasn't going to happen? I missed that, I guess.

I guess I just get tired of being specifically called out when my pessimism runs away from me, but on so many other issues folks' default position is just pessimism that isn't necessarily any more well founded.

On the one hand we have political action (and inactions) being undertaken by the new Democratic President, which we can all see, hear and read about.

On the other hand, we have marginal improvement in COVID cases and deaths and increasing numbers of vaccinated people, no signs of a mutation rendering vaccinations moot, pretty much just a long game of waiting now for vaccinations to continue. Maybe your pessimism isn't as well-founded as you think?

stimulus checks are not any kind of lock, they are still fucking around with a means test iirc

“Encouraging trends” in White House trial balloons from the failed Biden administration don’t put people in homes or forestall climate crisis or prevent the collapse of the urban fabric and suburbanization of poverty. I basically don’t expect any federal policy legislation to ever pass again in my life other than tax cuts.

xpost - milo I like how you purposely left off the latter part of my quote, where I specifically addressed the local rollout versus the national one. It's pointless to engage with you, you aren't arguing in good faith at all.

some of you are too cynical. some of you are not enough. i, however, am the perfect amount of cynical.

betting against *ON* the Democratic party’s ability to shit the bed

Here's just one among many articles about the issue, jvc
https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/biden-acknowledges-dim-prospect-of-15-minimum-wage-in-congress-raising-concerns-among-activists/

xxp You issue dire predictions about COVID on far broader terms than local issues.

I live in Texas - but I am not worried that the power grid failures here translate to a national trend.

Before a Save-A-Biden steps in again and tries to pretend he's struggling to do it but just can't - he's not stumping for $15 or publicly pressuring Sinema or Manchin or telling them it's time to go nuclear. He doesn't give a fuck if people working at Dollar General can afford to eat two meals a day instead of one.

I mean lol we're literally watching an empire fall and hundreds of thousands of people die due to the malevolent greed of our leaders and their corporate handlers, and some of y'all are like, "trust the process"

so pardon me if i say, fuck the process and fuck your faith in it.

(caek was being ironic)

with the you in that situation not referring to anyone specifically, just a general "you"

Fwiw, this spun way off from my initial post, which was just meant to offer surprise that I'm more optimistic about the future of a federal $15 minimum wage than most people. I don't think Biden would do it if it were up to him alone, but I'm encouraged that there are people out there continuing to fight and push for it, which is why it's even a national conversation.

i understood caek was being ironic.

Just do it and be legends. Just once.

this is why I don't get why they just don't do the EO for debt forgiveness. Isn't one of the big arguments over Executive orders is that they can repealed by the next guy? what they going to do reinstate all those loans?

i think the thing is that the minimum wage should be much higher than $15. $15 isn't enough to live on in this country either, but poor people can get fucked say the leaders and corporate overlords.

_Just do it and be legends. Just once._

this is why I don't get why they just don't do the EO for debt forgiveness. Isn't one of the big arguments over Executive orders is that they can repealed by the next guy? what they going to do reinstate all those loans?

this is why I don't get why they just don't do the EO for debt forgiveness.

Because Biden doesn’t want to?

I mean, whatever. I'm always going to be a target for certain posters around here, I get it. Whatever.

I appreciate some of y'all keeping me in check when my pessimism spun out of control.

At the same time, I happen to find it highly encouraging that we are even talking about canceling student debt or talking about a federally mandated minimum wage. Because, given where we've been, it's a huge step forward. Will Biden do the right thing? Who knows, maybe not. But I'm encouraged that the trendline is pushing these ideas that were barely even pipe dreams half a decade ago into real conversations. It's not enough and it's way too late, but jfc giving up all hope isn't going to help either.

No one else gets to issue EOs unless Harris smothers him with a pillow.

Talking doesn’t mean shit if there’s no action. They’re going to lose the House in 2022 and 2024 is at best a toss-up. This is the chance to make “progress.”

I agree with Sanders when he says the only way to reach any wackos on the right is to show them results, help them even if they act like the don't want it and hey if they are still assholes about stuff at least you helped a bunch of good people too.

jvc, I'm not actually or actively trying to target you. I empathize and wish I didn't feel the way I feel.

But other than the speed and fury with which it punishes people and allows capital to flow toward the richest, the US has given up all pretenses of being an advanced society.