I can’t tell if these guys are tone deaf, believe their own bullshit, or just don’t give a fuck because the looting is on. Probably a combination of all three:
GARY COHN: The most excited group out there are big CEOs, about our tax plan.
Ya think?
Reader Interactions
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MattF
There’s so much stupidity in that one sentence.
JPL
Lindsay Graham is afraid that their donations will stop, if they don’t pass tax cuts for the wealthy class. They don’t even try to hide it anymore.
Baud
Why would they hide it? They ran on big tax cuts for the wealthy last year and they won. Voters did not care.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Cohn is writing ads for the Dems, and I hope some smart-ass outlet has video of Lindsey begging for money. Make it viral, make the media attention he craves awkward for him.
And in other news…
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: might be more accurate to say the voters were willing to overlook it. After all, no tax reform plan like this has ever hit the floor before. Why expect them to start now? The Bush tax cuts put money in their pockets. They probably expected more of the same.
If the voters (not all of them, just enough of them) don’t care enough to change the congress in 2018, then we can say they don’t care.
It’s instructive to parallel this to Obamacare repeal. They ran on it, sure, but once it got real enough people said oh HELL no! that it failed.
Area Man
I sit on the board of directors of a small charitable foundation. Our stockbroker told us that corporate budgets have already been set for 2018 with “the tax cuts baked into them,” as he put it.
It’s the one certainty that Wall Street is counting on — everything else may go to hell, but Congress will get those tax cuts passed.
He also said there are two things that could crash the markets (a “correction,” as it’s pleasantly called):
1. War
2. Congressional failure to pass the tax cuts
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I’m sure the CEOs are excited because they want to use their tax cut to give all their employees a $4000 raise.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: Sure, but the GOP ran on repeal and replace with something better (without explaining what that was). When they couldn’t produce better, people got worried about their own health care. Will people get upset with this tax plan? Probably, but only because the GOP plan raises their taxes. Not because it cuts taxes on the rich.
At a minimum, it’s hard to fault the GOP for promoting what they’ve always openly promoted.
dmsilev
@JPL:
(from here)
TenguPhule
@MattF:
Trump: Hold my well done steak with ketchup.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: right, republicans ran on tax cuts for the rich!, but also you and you and you! What they’ve come up with is tax increases on a lot of folks who work for a living to cover a huge slash to the corporate tax rate and perpetuate dragons hoarding gold over generations. Just like they ran on Obamacare repeal and replace with something better to be specified later.
ETA yeah I’m not putting the congresscritters at fault here, anybody with two brain cells to rub together could see something like this coming. Then again, almost half of the population has double digit IQ’s.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Corrected for accuracy.
And even after all of that, they lost by 3 million votes.
oatler.
In an unrelated story, Bloomberg’s London HQ now has a Roman temple to Mithras.
Baud
@TenguPhule: The first edit is wrong because the two aren’t mutually exclusive. The second edit is irrelevant because they won, even if they cheated.
I’m not saying don’t fight this tax plan tooth and nail. I’m saying that being shocked they they want to cut taxes on the rich is kind of silly.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Er, it was bit closer then that as I recall.
We had to rely on grandstanding John McCain stealing the spotlight from female GOP Senators who may have actually demonstrated actual principles for once. Or just had deep seated grudges against their leadership.
Yarrow
I saw that on CNN. Even the CNN anchors seemed shocked by his statement. It’s so blatant.
So…that being said, is everyone calling their Congressional representatives to tell them this tax plan is terrible? I did it last week and it was great fun. The interns had no comebacks for my specific points. Told them doing away with the adoption tax credit would hurt a friend of mine, the medical deductions disappearing would hurt my family, the capping of the mortgage deduction was another issue, etc., etc. Find your issue and call up your reps and let them know what you think!
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Baud 2020: It’s considered winning even if we cheated to get here!
The Moar You Know
@dmsilev: Hence the push to pass legislation that is polling in the mid-20s.
They will pass with a 100% lockstep vote, deficit be damned. They all have gotten the same warning, they’re all owned by the same people.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
I have a very cunning plan.
We’ll need 50 fresh horse’s heads and a delivery service.
Baud
@TenguPhule: By hook or by crook…or by Rusk(ie).
TenguPhule
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Have you ordered your spiked tipped Pike yet?
randy khan
Well, one more Republican Congressman has seen the writing on the wall: Bob Goodlatte, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is retiring.
Eric NNY
@oatler.: I read today that Gates, Bezos and Buffett are worth more that the poorest half of the country. 3 vs. 160,000,000.
Baud
Why is Booman now shitting on our victory on Tuesday? Jeez. Can people wait a week?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: What is his problem?
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@TenguPhule: I already have a colander.
Archon
The elites in this country have absolutely no respect or fear for the “plebs” in this country. You can have a healthy polity without one from the oligarchs, but without either?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Read for yourself. Maybe he even makes good points, but why be negative so soon? (I didn’t read it carefully because I am continuing to savor our win.)
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2017/11/9/104328/224
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): As does every devout pastafarian.
Scott
None of this is surprising. Trump is a fraud. He always has been and always will be. Read some more:
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: I fail to see how complete, humiliating failure is ‘a little closer’ than a slightly different kind of complete, humiliating failure. Collins and murkowski opposed it because their constituents would suffer and probably punish them or their party in their state. McCain might have done it partly to stab at Mitch from hell’s heart, but he was also taking a bullet for other more cowardly senators who were hoping it would fail because voters.
Major Major Major Major
@The Moar You Know:
No way in hell they get 241 in the House and all 52 senators.
Kay
I hate people who say “we need more X taught in schools” but we need more labor history taught in schools. Those were some tough people! They didn’t kid themselves that this was some kind of collaborative effort – they knew none of these people gave a rat’s ass whether they lived or died.
That clarity was important. It’s not nice! You don’t have to feel good about it! But it is true.
O. Felix Culpa
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
Divided amongst all their employees.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Because this wasn’t a victory for his favored faction of the party?
Ian G.
It’s funny, as an upper middle class white dude, as much as I hate the GOP, I never actually expected them to fuck me over, but that’s exactly what’s going on here. Once again, I almost wish I lived in Peter King’s district, so I could carpet bomb his office with calls about this.
Best case scenario, this travesty fails like ACA repeal did, but it still costs Collins, King, Zeldin, etc their jobs in 2018.
dmsilev
@The Moar You Know: Actually, I doubt it will be 100% lockstep. Reps from suburban areas, especially in blue states like NY and CA, are already backpedalling. Darrell Issa, for instance, is currently a ‘no’. I’m sure his arm can be twisted or he can be bought, but doing that without losing the Freedom Caucus loons is not trivial. I think the odds are still in favor of the House passing something, but it isn’t a done deal.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: …And his points aren’t that good. He says Gillespie slightly outperformed Trump in a lot of districts that Clinton won anyway. But this was an odd-year election, the kind of election that is even more midterm than a midterm. Democrats have huge, chronic problems getting their constituencies to turn out for these things. That they swamped the polls in an election where Gillespie actually managed to raise R turnout is a huge change.
schrodingers_cat
I need some book suggestions about American history. What are your recommendations for this new American.
Cacti
@Matt McIrvin:
More or less.
The winners weren’t Berniecrats and therefore must be derided.
No Berniecrat has ever won anything, so nothing for them to celebrate.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@schrodingers_cat: Howard Zinn’s A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: For Civil War history, Ta-Nehisi Coates recommends the following:
Battle Cry of Freedom, James McPherson (I just started this one)
Grant, Ron Chernow
Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee, Elizabeth Pryor
Out of the House of Bondage, Thavolia Glymph
The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, final of Douglass’ three autobiographies
GregB
@schrodingers_cat:
Eric Foner is a good historian, Any of his books.
Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States.
FlipYrWhig
@Matt McIrvin: Booman is one of these YOU GUYS BUT WHAT ABOUT THE POPULISM characters. I’m not sure how perceptive he’s ever been.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: Three votes. We came within three votes of Civil Disorder and Violence. That was way too close for comfort.
Yes, it died, that time. But that ramshackle abomination should never have come so close to passage in the first place.
And we’re going to have to do the same thing next year.
I’m glad that so far the GOP have failed to pass these shitburgers. But I don’t find it at all helpful to try and claim they were these big wins or that they were easier to achieve then they actually were. Raising morale is one thing, overconfidence is something else.
We’re still trying to hold the line. And our margin for error is very small.
MattF
@schrodingers_cat: Grant’s memoirs. Sherman’s memoirs are good too-the two volumes used to be standard items on the bookshelves of every Yankee, both in the Library of America series.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: close only counts, as they say, in horseshoes and hand grenades.
See also: one year ago yesterday
Another Scott
@O. Felix Culpa: Over 10 years.
And in the meantime, they’re moving most of jobs to Yemen because of the freedom and lack of regulations.
And keeping the profits in Jersey.
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who thinks that the GOP will find a way to not pass most of this as well. Tuesday spooked them.)
bemused
I can help but compare CEO’s drooling with excitement for mega tax cuts with the village idiots in Johnstown, PA, Politico article. The idiots are incensed that kneeling for equality NFL players are making millions of dollars a year and just want it handed to them. Yet the filthy rich want the idiots to hand over what little money they have. If they don’t even know that Trump plays more golf than Obama, I would bet they don’t know anything about the tax bill and the deluge of money from the 99% of us gushing to the top. They don’t deserve a pass for ignorance when they now admit they didn’t ever really think Trump would deliver coal jobs, the wall, etc. They’ll still vote for him though. The stupidity, racism and whining is sickening.
FlipYrWhig
@Baud: He seems to be getting played by a phenomenon the election coverage was pointing out: the areas that turned out high percentages for Trump still turned out high percentages for Gillespie, but AMONG FEWER PEOPLE. I have a hard time understanding the way that “the left” continually thinks that winning MORE VOTES WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE is a weakness. I can only chalk it up to that old saw “it works in practice, but does it work in theory?” They’re so committed to the theory that The People should be voting for Democrats that they’re chronically disappointed to find that The People are dicks and Republicans (but I repeat myself).
Major Major Major Major
@Another Scott:
There’s also the matter of their monumental incompetence at legislating.
schrodingers_cat
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): @MattF: @GregB: @O. Felix Culpa: Thanks for the recommendations. I think I may have read Zinn’s book. I am thinking of starting from the beginning. I am looking for a series like the Cambridge History of India, written by actual historians studying those topics. Its okay if they are text booky and not entertaining.
JMG
@Area Man: I love the word “correction” because it implies that the money you had yesterday was some horrible mistake and you’re better off without it.
bemused
@Kay:
I agree on union history. A few years ago, a fairly new MN Dem Rep in my district introduced a bill that union history be required in public schools. The outrage from union haters killed that idea. I live on the Iron Range which has an extensive, fascinating history of the struggle to unionize the iron ore mines. Union haters don’t want the kids to know any of that.
Spanky
@schrodingers_cat: A People’s History of the United States
ETA: I see I’m not first. Don’t forget to click the Amazon button over there on the right!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Area Man: That’s really stunning these companies would be that stupid considering the record of failures this Congress has and no one has a clear idea what the cuts will be. Then again, we’re talking about Corporate CEOs, so not the best or the brightest, see Donald Trump.
Mike J
les
@Eric NNY:
6 of Sam Walton’s grandkids are worth more than 30% of the country. Abolish the Death Tax!!!!
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: It’s a huge topic. :-) Lots of people recommend Zinn, but he’s got his critics.
Personally, I’d start somewhere on-line and see what strikes your fancy. Maybe American History at the Smithsonian.
The NMAAHC is amazing, also too.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
LGM
Mike J
GregB
Saudi Arabia orders their citizens out of Lebanon…..
War is coming.
sibusisodan
@schrodingers_cat: I’m about halfway through the Oxford History of the United States, which is an excellent series: readable, with lots of source notes and bibliography.
Battle Cry of Freedom, mentioned above, is part of it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_History_of_the_United_States
dmsilev
@schrodingers_cat: What era?
For the Civil War (including the run-up to the war), I’d recommend MacPherson’s ‘Battle Cry of Freedom’.
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J: Nice
Amendments? Are we doing a votearama right now or something?
LAO
Post article on Roy Moore. Pretty skeevy.
Yarrow
@Mike J: Party of life!
Mike in DC
@Mike J:
Yeah, that’s gonna leave a mark. I hope more resources flow Doug Jones’ way. Moore just refused to debate him. Maybe this was why?
Humboldtblue
Oh for fuck’s sake. Sweet fucking Jesus beating a homeless man with a 2×4 taken from the ruins of his burned down home while Mary Magdelene spanks Saul of Tarsus until his ass shines red, can we please get these clueless motherfuckers who claim that those poor, poor, working class white people are just misunderstood, to read the latest from the proposed tax cut bill?
From State Treasurer John Chiang’s office:
I am about 1.5 steps from being homeless if the shit really hit the fan. One of the reasons is because housing and rental prices in the state have risen so dramatically and steeply we are creating homeless out of people working more than 40 hours per week, and I’m not talking folks who work fast food or retail. But the fucking GOP has got to get those tax cuts through!
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major: That was in committee.
Adria McDowell
@Mike J: Having once been a 14 year old girl, I totally believe Moore would do that.
TenguPhule
@GregB: Iran is going to kick the Saudis to a bloody pulp.
Cacti
@LAO:
I didn’t think it was possible for Roy Moore to seem like a bigger creep.
Humboldtblue
@Baud:
It’s the one big nit I have to pick with him because no one champions the “Democrats need to really up their game in these rural white dominated districts if they hope to ever win again” like he does.
He never addresses voter suppression, he never addresses gerrymandering and he never addresses the fact that about half the eligible electorate fails to vote. He nails the rural anixiety and does a great job providing the historical background but I’d rather we focus on the people who are registered to vote and get them to cast a ballot than I am catering to some backwoods fuckwit who thinks Trump will make the country great again through some magical elixir of dipshittery, assholeness and outright dumbassery.
Push for an all-mail ballot process, Democrats will never lose again.
Kristine
Those are the only people the GOP cares about: CEOs, m/billionaires. Everyone else is a sucker vote.
debit
@Mike J: Holy shit.
LAO
@Cacti: There is no bottom to these people — especially the fake Christians,
Eric NNY
@les: I live in a poor rural Republican part of New York State. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to explain to people that killing the death tax would have zero effect on their situations and only serve the upper crust to retain their fortunes. Math is hard sometimes apparently.
LAO
@Mike J:
schrodingers_cat
@dmsilev: I want to begin at the beginning, from the colonial days.
Marcopolo
I am so tired of continually hearing R’s pushing the idea of “trickle down” economics. Nowadays I just subconsciously replace trickle with tinkle since in reality all of us are just getting pissed on.
I would love to hear more people talking about the idea of “trickle up” economics where you give the tax cut/relief to people in the bottom 60%, don’t give any tax cuts to the wealthy and let the benefits of regular folks spending their extra $ boost demand, increase economic growth, and the rich can profit off of that as companies make more $ and the pie grows.
p.a.
@sibusisodan: James Patterson is such a dedicated teacher he taught my seminar class after his wife’s death that a.m. (She had been ill; her passing was not unexpected.)
Yarrow
@Mike J: @LAO: Ugh. That’s just disgusting. Those poor girls at the time (women now). The article is so telling of the culture as well.
Another girl’s mother thought it was okay for her to date him because he was “husband material.”
Cacti
@LAO:
Those who spend the most time telling others how to live are usually hiding some secret shame.
schrodingers_cat
@Adria McDowell: Agreed. I have had creepy guys hit on me as a teen, probably true about practically every woman alive.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
Lies My Teacher Told Me–James Loewen. You’ll get both the truth about what happened from primary historic sources, contrasted with the Sunday School version of American History taught in U.S. schools.
MattF
And, speaking of billionaires (or possibly wannabe billionaires), we have Wilbur Ross, who seems to have a little honesty problem
ruemara
@Humboldtblue: *sigh* This is how blue states are unliveable. We have a major housing crisis now. This would tip us into devastation. Hate these people.
Eric NNY
@Mike J: He’s got Jesus now so it’s alright.
p.a.
@schrodingers_cat: Gordon Wood. C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel (biography as tragedy)
lgerard
@schrodingers_cat:
I would recommend a book published in 1934 and I don’t think it has ever been of of print
The Robber Barons Matthew Josephson
i believe it is available from the Internet Archive as well
ruemara
@Yarrow: Ugh. GROSS! WHAT THE FUCK!?
MattF
@Mike J: Not. Surprising. There’s something about Roy Moore.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat:
Confederate Reckoning by Stephanie McCurry is good. It talks about the impact white women and slaves had on politics in the CSA during it’s short existence.
MattF
@p.a.: The book on Tom Watson is a good one. I read it a long time ago.
NotMax
Grand Theft Toto.
@schrodingers_cat
Additionally to the names mentioned above, works of by Richard Hofstader, C. Vann Woodward and also de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.
@schrodingers_cat
Samuel Eliot Morrison’s “The Growth of the American Republic,” the standard undergraduate text for many, many years.
Cacti
Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s also story involving Roy Moore and underage boy.
Woodrowfan
as a professor of American history I have to say NO to Zinn. As much as I agree with him politically, he often distorts history to prove a point. And it’s really not necessary. Just a straight forward history will make the same points. His people’s history gets mentioned a lot among professional historians when discussing books where the author distorts history to make a point. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/lies-the-debunkers-told-me-how-bad-history-books-win-us-over/260251/
James Loewen’s “Lies” does the same thing. Drives me nuts, especially as it’s not necessary. His book on Sunset towns though, is good.
But I happily second sibusisodan’s suggestion about the Oxford History of the US series. It is WONDERFUL. @sibusisodan:
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@schrodingers_cat: since everyone is talking Civil War, I really recommend Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, because of it’s explanation on the formation and character of the Republican party.
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: No, they won’t. It will be Iran’s battle-tested and very skilled army against the US Air Force and a few token Saudis armed with every piece of modern weaponry that we can fly over to them. It will be a horrific slaughter on both sides and probably the start of World War IV.
schrodingers_cat
@Woodrowfan: I have read the Zinn book, I found it to be too polemical.
The Moar You Know
@Mike J: I knew that fucker was into kids. Fuckin’ knew it.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
In Lebanon?
Yeah. no.
Woodrowfan
@schrodingers_cat: me too. It grabbed me at first, then I hit the section about the era in which I specialize and I started thinking “hey, wait, that’s not true!!”
rikyrah
@dmsilev:
I have brought this up and continue to do so.
What they are asking for the GOP Reps in those high tax states is the equivalent to Career Suicide.
Don’t stop at CA, NY. Add in PA, IL, MA. Go down the line for the top 10.
There are at least FIFTY GOP Reps in these states.
They don’t rep people who care about the Little Baby Jesus, or Abortion, or Guns.
These people are hardcore IGMFY.
They are Republicans because of TAXES.
Their lifestyles are funded by those taxes. (Their neighborhoods, their schools).
They have accountants. They KNOW what those tax deductions mean to them.
They are going to go to THOSE people, and tell them that they need to lose THEIR deductions so that the Koch Brothers can get a tax cut.
And, think that’s gonna sell with them?
I can’t see it. They can’t hide this sociopathy. There is a DIRECT LINE from the increase in taxes to the GOP REP. Direct Cause/Effect.
schrodingers_cat
@Woodrowfan: I am not a historian by training but a scientist and a born cynic.
When I was growing up I would pepper our family* priest with elebenty questions, he was cool though, he always answered my questions and welcomed discussion.
Most Hindu families have a priest, that performs religious functions, like weddings, funerals and other religious ceremonies. Our priest was a principal at one Mumbai’s older schools and used to do the priestly duties to carry on family traditions.
frosty
@schrodingers_cat: Civil War: James McPherson “Battle Cry of Freedom”. One volume, readable, and the parallels between the 1850s and now are interesting.
BruceFromOhio
The most excited group out there are big CEOs, about our tax plan.
I’ll go with “All Three” for $500, Alex.
schrodingers_cat
@frosty: I read that one after Spielberg’s movie on Lincoln came out. Then I realized that I needed to read more of what happened before because I was missing a lot of context.
Woodrowfan
and scary////
TenguPhule
@rikyrah: Don’t underestimate the extent of wingnut welfare. Koch and Mercers are willing to give every one of those assholes a cushy job for life if they just do one thing for them.
Woodrowfan
@schrodingers_cat: that one was pinged by specialists for over-emphasizing the conflict within Lincoln’s cabinet, but it’s a good read and she makes good points. I enjoyed it.
Gore Vidal’s “Lincoln” is fun so long as you keep in mind that it is fiction. And I like how he portrays the atmosphere of DC in that era.
schrodingers_cat
Wingnuts relitigating the Civil War have nothing on wingnuts in India, who are currently relitiagating the 13 th century, over a fucking movie to be released shortly.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: I confess I have not actually read Zinn, but one of the criticisms I hear sometimes is that his treatment of the Civil War/Reconstruction gave excess credence to some Dunning School-y claims in his eagerness to debunk patriotic myths about Lincoln and the Union. I recall some discussion of that on Coates’ blog.
The Moar You Know
Been thinking it over about Roy Moore. Totally understandable. He showed us all his tiny gun a few weeks ago, remember? He just wanted to find a woman that didn’t know it was so small.
cain
They won’t be happy when there isn’t enough people buying their company products and short term shareholder mentality starts yelling at them wondering why stocks are down.
Duane
Someone needs to ask Republicans why we need tax cuts now. Unemployment is low, GDP at 3%, etc. When they reply so the economy will grow, scream INFLATION! and DEFICITS! Seems they need reminding.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
When will people realize they really should not raise flags like this.
laura
@Humboldtblue: John Chaing is my candidate for CA Gov -though I’d vote for Jerry again if that were possible.
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: I am sorry, I don’t understand what you are trying to say.
catclub
@germy: Trump is only competing with himself to tell ever bigger lies. The weird thing is he must at least half-believe that the people he is telling these lies to believe them.
@GregB: I wonder if the Saudis will actually send their own people into a battle. Usually they just pay someone else.
(Saudi War hymn is Onward Christian Soldiers… so is Israel’s!)
catclub
@Matt McIrvin: main thing I heard was that the best part of Zinn to use is the bibliography.
catclub
@Duane:
At least in 2001 we were running a surplus. Now the deficit is manageable but slowly rising under present law. Expanding the deficit in good times is crazy.
Because you will REALLY want to expand it in bad times.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat: Its a tvtrope trope. Basically it means you really shouldn’t tempt fate like that. Because fate tends to succumb to the temptation.
Cacti
@catclub:
Yes, our friends the KSA and Israel are always prepared to fight Iran down to the last American.
catclub
@ruemara:
I agree housing is tough in California, but people still want to move to CA. Not so much a whole lot of other places. Mississippi offers lots of cheap housing.
Only problem: you have to live in Mississippi, and there are not nearly so many jobs available.
Kay
The sooner people realize NONE of these people give a shit about health care, or immigration, or “social issues” or education, the better.
It’s about the money. They would support anyone doing anything as long as they get a tax cut. It’s about their personal gain. I know you want to make it more complicated than that. but it’s not.
Incredibly wealthy people are issuing threats to Congress as speak. They want billions of dollars in tax cuts and if they don’t get them they’ll push elected offocials out of office until they find a group who STAY BOUGHT.
rikyrah
Maine’s Sec. of State, a member of Trump’s Election Commission, has filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming the commission violated federal law. https://t.co/hcdYGys9fg
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 9, 2017
geg6
@schrodingers_cat:
I think an interesting take is to read American history from the point of view of an outsider. I would recommend A History of the American People by Paul Johnson is pretty good for an overview of American history.
ThresherK
@Matt McIrvin: I have some Zinn acolytes who are the same folks worried about “angering” people by tearing down CSA statues, and misquote Lincoln about slavery, and laud how Lee put aside his own “closely held beliefs” (which wavered somewhat on slavery), while ignoring how he brutalized his slaves, and took the invite to lead the Rebel army.
To find Zinn on that bookshelf is not a surprise.
Kay
Our accountant says no one knows what’s in this tax plan or what the effects will be in the out years to tens of millions of people.
But the Masters of the Universe don’t care,because they wrote it and they got their cut up front
They’re robbing us. It’s disgusting. The level of excess is just repulsive. It’ll be like some third world dictatorship with a permanent overclass and a HUGE underclass. They’re already repulsive and decadent. I can’t even imagine how big the mansions will get and the private jets and the exclusive colleges stuffed with legacy admits. Just gross.
Duane
@catclub: I want to see their words thrown in their face. Now that they have control, INFLATION! and DEFICITS! Don’t matter to them. Their economic policies are irrational, and it needs exposed. Enough of the both sides crap.
satby
@Woodrowfan: I wonder what you think of this professor at Notre Dame’s labor history blog? I have enjoyed it, not a subject I previously knew enough about.
Mike S.
@schrodingers_cat: Starting with pre-colonial is good. Why could the Eurpoeans just waltz in? Try 1491 by by Charles C. Mann.
Fair Economist
@Cacti:
First rule of Republicanism: no matter how bad they they, they can always get worse. See W and Trump.
Another Scott
Anyone who has been to a shopping mall over 20 years old could have written this story, but it’s a good reminder.
Drum at MoJo – The “Retail Apocalypse” May Dominate the 2020 Election:
Lots and lots of changes are coming to the economy in the next 5-20 years. We need sensible people in office to help guide those changes to make lives better, not people like Ivanka who are “famous” but have no demonstrated political experience, ability, human empathy, taste, etc., etc….
Cheers,
Scott.
Fair Economist
@Humboldtblue: Booman is obsessed with rural districts because a very extreme pro-rural gerrymander has given the Republicans ironclad control of the PA legislature (he started blogging in Philadelphia). Breaking the Republican hold on rural districts is one way out of the current electoral mess but contra Boo’s claim it’s not the only one. The problem is that nobody has a good way to do that. Booman’s pet issue is antimonopoly, which is a great policy issue but probably doesn’t have much resonance in rural areas. We’re not going to get back into power by promising to close Walmarts. In practice, although opening Walmarts is typically a big blow to a rural area closing them later makes it even worse.
The basic issue with rural decline is that with natural resource extraction so automated there’s not much reason to have a large population in rural areas, and even the current shrunken rural population is probably economically too many. This is further complicated by the expensive nature of current car-dependent US development, and the general desire for services not readily provided in rural areas because there aren’t enough customers. There’s little to do to make rural areas recover except absolutely massive subsidies, and that’s not in the cards.
HumboldtBlue
@Fair Economist: Well said, thanks for that.
Wakeshift
Dead thread, I’m late to this party (hard-core lurker here) but…
I wanted to pop out to recommend to @schroedingers_cat in response to #80
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.
Good survey/narrative of colonial New England from Pilgrims through French and Indian Wars.
Brings to life the stories tucked in the shadows behind all our Dublin Donuts and subdivisions, and the families behind the names on those Historic Home placards “c. 1689”