Beware the Ides of March -- U.S. Politics March 2021

lol at "if you see your congressional representative on a flight, be sure to thank her or him"

If you watch anything today... pic.twitter.com/65vwH1XtLn

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) March 9, 2021

apologies if this has already been posted

What happens in this video

it's bryan giving the cross of gold speech

god help me he's the only one who stands a chance at winning the second Ohio seat, eh

that was some a+ yelling

i would absolutely hate-watch a mike lee reality show fwiw

That 13,000 non-lost jobs is higher than even the exaggerated number of 11,000 lost jobs Republicans were howling about with the Keystone cancellation (which was more like 1,000 or so actual jobs and a bunch of estimated temporary construction jobs that hadn't even happened yet).

the 2021 stimulus is pretty unusual compared to what other countries are doing so far (i think y-axis is % of GDP)

The killer charts from the OECD yesterday. The US wants the recovery more. pic.twitter.com/mxH4BtV5GD

— Mike Bird (@Birdyword) March 10, 2021

That chart looks sus as hell to me for a number of reasons, but I'm too busy to look them up atm.

One of them, though, is that the guy is a goon who writes for the WSJ.

"the US 2021 stimulus is pretty unusual" seems correct, though, like table, I think those graphs are a very sketchy way of representing that (what are the numbers on the left of the bar graph? are they comparing amounts of money or percentages of budgets/GDP or ?? what are the pre-existing social safety nets in these three places? etc.)

It’s per cent of gdp

The choice of December 2020 is obviously arbitrary and designed to magnify the difference.

ok that makes sense. Well, hopefully all the other govts see that tweet and get jealous

Bummer, nothing stopping debt collectors from grabbing the $2000$1400 stimulus checks in this bill.

yeah what a shitty bill

there could have been a better deal

that means this one is shitty

"i didn't say shitty, bla bla bla"

me: FUCK

ME: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

FUCK

no one is stopping me from stealing everyone's 1400 either watch out bitches

Someone is sad no one's paying attention to him.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwJ9IoJXMAYV_Pm.jpg

Yes, DT, any other president would have closed their eyes, crossed their fingers, and waited out the five years.

If it had been up to him, only his voters would get a vaccine.

So, on the House floor, Lauren Boebert just argued against gun background checks by telling a story about a man being beaten to death outside her restaurant in CO. But the story is a lie. The man actually died of a drug overdose: https://t.co/fjIRGZkqDP pic.twitter.com/UZn9swvdlQ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 10, 2021

If this had actually happened, she could have shot the assailant and the victim just because...

so...this bill is good, no?

Where are these DJT missives originating from anyway? They're like something from the North Korean news agency, they just appear out of thin air.

so...this bill is good, no?

From a strictly personal perspective, it's very good. I'm gonna get to knock $10,200 off my taxable income; my insurance subsidy might go up, making my health insurance even cheaper than it is (and since I'm in NJ, it's already pretty cheap); I'll get $1200 extra a month in unemployment...thanks, Biden! Plus, it has a bunch of knock-on effects that will last for years, like the whole Hyde-amendment thing and pushing through a bunch of structural improvements to Obamacare. It's also significantly beneficial for people using COBRA, people with kids, etc.

it's a good bill, but you live in the united states. your health insurance is not cheap.

And a couple of the temporary expansions run out...just before the 2022 elections, so I suppose the Dems plan to run on expanding them? If so, this is more shrewdness than I expected from this White House.

this is more shrewdness than I expected from this White House

They're good at this. And the "Hey America, you're welcome" tour is coming soon, according to Politico:

Biden is scheduled to deliver his first prime-time address as president Thursday, which will focus on the Covid crisis. Later this month, he’ll hold the first press conference of his young presidency. He’s committed to making a still-unscheduled address to Congress. And officials are busy preparing for a sprawling sales campaign designed to draw attention to the benefits of the Covid-relief package. Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and others will hit the road to tout, among other things: the $1,400 checks, how billions of dollars in the bill will reopen schools, and the investments being made in increasing the numbers of vaccinations.

“There are a lot of people who use the term ‘victory lap’ in a derogatory way. I’ve already heard people saying that Biden is about to take a victory lap. Well, that’s a lot of crap,” said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a close Biden ally. “One of the—if not the biggest—mistakes that Obama made, in my opinion, was getting the Recovery Act done and not explaining to people what he had done.”

Biden and top administration officials acknowledged they’ll have to do more to ensure the benefits of their package sink into the public’s consciousness. And they’ve spent weeks carefully planning how best to begin their efforts while much of the country remains consumed by the pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that once the American Rescue Plan is signed, “We will need to do some work and use our best voices.”

Also, from a different Politico story (which of course tries to paint it as a bad thing), there are some other good things in the bill:

Democrats are getting an early start on their tax-increase agenda.

They’ve tucked a trio of little-noticed tax hikes on the wealthy and big corporations into their coronavirus relief package that together are worth $60 billion.

One takes away deductions for publicly traded companies that pay top employees more than $1 million. Another provision cracks down on how multinational corporations do their taxes. A third targets how owners of unincorporated businesses account for their losses.

They're good at this. And the "Hey America, you're welcome" tour is coming soon, according to Politico:

how about staying home and paying everyone $2000 a month to also stay home

They’ve tucked a trio of little-noticed tax hikes on the wealthy and big corporations into their coronavirus relief package that together are worth $60 billion.

That's a lot of money.

how about staying home and paying everyone $2000 a month to also stay home

― armoured van, Holden (sic),

Nah. Poor promotion fucked Obama in 2010. These dudes are vaccinated.

reminder to the girls of this page that I will soon have $ 1400

— wint (@dril) March 11, 2021

They're good at this. And the "Hey America, you're welcome" tour is coming soon

_They’ve tucked a trio of little-noticed tax hikes on the wealthy and big corporations into their coronavirus relief package that together are worth $60 billion._

That's a lot of money.

For something that has received that little of attention? Seems to me like a lot.

Well, no, it isn't a lot of money if we're talking guillotines.

silby, if you had $60 billion, you might get introduced to Mr. Choppy

Trump did this. 60bn is a drop in the ocean:

The bill’s cuts totaled $5.5 trillion. The corporate income tax rate shrank to 21 percent from 35 percent, and companies also won a tax break on the trillions in profits brought home from offshore.

I’m not a sovereign nation-state! xp

The COVID relief bill was the easiest thing they get to do (and it got bargained down). They still have to deal with the filibuster and move on the PRO Act in the Senate and $15 minimum wage and having the child tax credit extend beyond 2021 (and etc.).

yes they do -- so celebrate anyway

xp - honestly, my post was primarily to continue the use of the hilarious coinage "Mr. Choppy"

I’m sure I stole that from someone.

like I can see some great memetic potential combining Gritty with Mr. Choppy

another little detail about the bill i just heard about - apparently it paves the way for student loan forgiveness by providing a window (until 2026) where student loans can be forgiven without then taxing the same people on the amount that was forgiven. warren seemed very pumped about that, at least

Congressional leaders seized an opportunity to accomplish some long-standing objectives through the latest pandemic relief bill, which passed the House on Wednesday. Chief among them is eliminating the tax burden many student loan borrowers would face if any portion of their debt was discharged.

The tax relief is good only through January 2026, but lawmakers say it is a key step in canceling some of the $1.5 trillion in federal student loans held by 45 million Americans. Among the many concerns surrounding widespread forgiveness is whether debt relief would be subject to taxation, which could undermine the benefit to borrowers and ultimately the economy.

“This change clears the way for President Biden to use his authority to cancel $50,000 in student debt to provide a massive stimulus to our economy, help narrow the racial wealth gap, and lift this impossible burden off of tens of millions of families,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement after the Senate passed the stimulus package Saturday.

Biden in February rejected a call from Warren and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) for $50,000 in debt cancellation through executive action, citing his reluctance to forgive the education debt amassed by graduates of elite private universities. Still, the president has expressed a willingness to cancel $10,000, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration is reviewing his authority on the matter.

Warren and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) first introduced a similar bill to make debt forgiveness tax-free in 2016, but the legislation stalled in committee. The latest version of that bill is far more expansive in that it covers all student loans originated by the government and private lenders.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/03/10/student-debt-forgiveness-for-profit-colleges-stimulus/

I've been holding my fire on this thread because Joe Biden deserves the skepticism, but given Joe and the Manchins and the structural conservatism of the Democratic Party, I'm...aghast a bill of this size passed after a lifetime of living under Reaganism and Clinton's institutionalizing of same, in which Joe Biden played a considerable part. Parents with children have some cushions. Unions too. Cities get their debts paid. And the temporary protections, if we wanna be political, expire before the '22 midterms. The bill needed the $15 minimum wage, but I see no way the White House could've bent Sinema and Manchin to their will without earmarks (which might change soon!).

Where I sit now the cynicism is another form of sentimentality. And we owe Donald Trump, god help us, something for reminding the percentage of Republicans supporting he bill that debts/deficits don't matter.