One of the more irritating things during the last couple of weeks of negotiating the reconciliation bill is that every day, a new story about what is not going to be in the bill comes out, and at this point the only thing people know is what is definitely what is not going to be in the bill. No one knows precisely what is in the fucking bill, because no one is covering it. The only thing I can remember is this piece in the Times with Rep. Jayapal, which briefly discusses how huge the bill would still be.
And no, this is not a defense of a 3.5 trillion dollar bill not being passed, but it is the realization that a 2 trillion dollar bill is still a huge leap forward and it would be nice if more people knew about what was in it. The information is out there, if you look for it, but why can’t the media do a better job reporting it?
It just pisses me off.
Another thing that pisses me off, and I have no idea how reliable it is, is this:
As Democrats work to figure out how to raise revenues to pay for their social spending agenda, a new tax on billionaires has emerged as a serious consideration, but it is already receiving opposition from Republicans and skepticism from some Democrats and tax policy experts.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon said he’s set to unveil his billionaires income tax as early as Tuesday night. The proposal would apply to the roughly 700 wealthiest Americans: those worth $1 billion or who have an annual income of $100 million for at least three straight years.
“This is a billionaires income tax, it’s not a wealth tax. It’s a billionaires income tax,” Wyden said Tuesday. “And we expect that these billionaires and there’s something like less than 800, who made close to $2 trillion during the pandemic, would pay a tax, their fair share, every year just like nurses and firefighters.”
If, in the year 2021, after fucking decades of the middle and lower classes getting screwed and the ultrarich looting the god damned country, you can not support a tax on fucking billionaires, why are you a Democrat? Just go put on a top hat and monocle, shove your gilded cane up your ass, and fuck off already to some tax haven island with your donor money.
Finally, Sinema is back in the news:
United States Senator who’s made it clear she intends to do nothing to prevent the Republicans from destroying American democracy wears denim vest in Senate.#kyrstensinema @SenatorSinema #DefendDemocracy #denimvest pic.twitter.com/ZCSztnUaOh
— REFrankel (@REFrankel) October 27, 2021
Honestly, you know what? Fine. I don’t care. Anything that removes the bullshit facade that this is the world’s greatest deliberative body is probably a good thing. I’ve seen a better collection of minds at high school math competitions.
Also, I am still in a foul fucking mood. A freeze can not get here soon enough so my sinuses can just stop the fucking nonsense.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Daylight Savings Time is really late this year so I went ahead and switched all my ceiling fans to winter month (clockwise).
Mary G
No honor among thieves:
ronno2018
But what about Steve’s sinuses. That is what I care about! LOL.
NotMax
Daylight Saving Time. No additional “s.”
/pedantic inner editor
;)
HeleninEire
A+ rant Mr. Cole. I am past mad. I am EXHAUSTED. My mother forbid me when I was a little girl to use the word “hate.” Yeah well I HATE Kyrsten Sinema.
NotMax
@HeleninEire
You still traipsing about the old sod?
If not, curious what the return airport and flight experience was like.
Gretchen
@Mary G: hahahahaha
David Fud
@Mary G: $100 Million here, $100 Million there, and pretty soon you have a Billionaire. Couldn’t have happened to nicer (and more diligent) people.
cain
@HeleninEire:
I don’t hate her. I just want her to get whatever the fuck she wanted as a senator and then fuck off.
I hope after that she figures out that nobody is going to give her money after that and that she;s peaked. Hopefully she’ll find a good therapist and stop causing herself harm and by extension the rest of us.
Mary G
This feels exactly like what Max Baucus, Joe Lieberman, and “reasonable Republicans” did on the ACA – burn up months to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, but never agree in hopes that Teddy K would hurry up and drop dead so the whole effort would be for naught. I’m hoping the Democrats get the best deal they can, and if Manchin or Sinema vote no, it’s their funeral. I have faith in POTUS and Nancy SMASH to bang it through. Nancy’s refusing to vote on the infrastructure bill before this is done is awesome.
Another Scott
Part of the problem is that it’s not fully written yet. But Biden has talked about it.
2 years preschool (but no longer mentions free community college)
The child tax credit.
Etc.
I’m sure it’s easy to find clips of his speeches (like the one in NJ a day or so ago).
We’ll have the details soon.
Cheers,
Scott.
SpaceUnit
I’ve heard from folks on this very blog that Krysten Sinema is the best we can hope for from AZ and that we ought to be grateful to have her.
Fuck me.
I’m going to bed.
patrick II
I’ve seen a better collection of minds at a junior high fart lighting competition.
Fake Irishman
@Mary G:
Lieberman was a dick, but we got him and Ben Nelson in the end.
I’d go easier in Baucus. His preferences are to the right of what I’d want in a health care bill (and he’s had some bad votes on tax cuts in the past) but he said health reform was a priorty starting in 2008 and worked his ass off and in good faith to get it done in 2009. He could have acted like Daniel Patrick Moniyan I 1993-1994 and destroyed health reform from his position as chair of Senate finance. But he didn’t and was mostly one of the good guys.
Parfigliano
@cain: She is one of them. There is never enough. Never. Enough. They have billions. Not enough. Built a rocket to take you and your “friends” to not even the scientific definition of space. Not. Even. Enough.
The French dealt with this and knew how.
Ruckus
@patrick II:
This may be one of the best descriptions of a legislative body that tries to shoot itself in the groin just for the fun of it – and to see if it hurts.
@Parfigliano:
This. All of this.
@cain:
A nice thing to hope for.
I’m not that nice. I’m on the downhill side of this thing we call living. I have time left, maybe 20-25 yrs, I’d like to enjoy it a bit. But people like this, people like the 700-800 billionaires in this country that don’t give a fuck about anybody but themselves. Selfish fuckers who think that money fixes everything that’s wrong with them, so they need all of it. Because there is plenty wrong with people who worship money and think so little of actual life and lives. Selfish bastards think they need all that money to make up for lives that no amount of money can fix.
NotMax
Boy oh boy, how things have changed. This place at late night has become about as lively as Calvin Coolidge giving jitterbug lessons.
;)
SectionH
I’m hanging in for the pets and the snark, and AL’s covid threads. Mr S is Marcie Wheeler and Tagan What’sisname. I follow some Scots and English sources on the twit machine*. And I have to agree with Tony Jay mostly. Including about Corbyn* and the Brit press, but that’s just me. On a possibly related note, Rupert Murdoch should go back to Hell. He’s done his job. Now the important problem is sewerage vs sewage. I couldn’t make this shit up.
*I was in London when I read the first complete break from *observable* reality with English newspapers. No srsly. And yes, it was BS about Corbyn. It was a srsly bad feeling.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G:
I hope it’s true!
And let the entire family potentially get eaten by grizzlies.
satby
@NotMax: I noticed that, as an early riser who normally catches up in the wee hours.
Suzanne
@SpaceUnit:
I said the first thing, and I’m probably right. I suppose you think the state that elected McCain, Flake, and Kyl is really eager to elect a good Democrat.
I, however, never said the second thing. In fact, I warned this blog that she sucked back in 2018 and everyone here was excited, seeing her election as evidence that Arizona made some gigantic leftward shift.
Baud
@Suzanne:
I will never not be grateful to have a Dem controlled Senate. I don’t think that means being uniquely grateful to Sinema.
Ocotillo
Over the weekend there were stories about Biden having Manchin over to Delaware and there was reason for optimism. What any of the stories failed to speak to was what about Sinema? Her lack of support is as important as the King of WV.
John S.
@Baud:
I’d even settle for a shitty Democrat to grouse about. Instead, we have two of the worst fucking pieces of shit that make Manchinema look good (Rubio and Scott).
It wasn’t even that long ago that we had Democrats representing us in the Senate. Now, we’re little more than a dick-shaped version of Texas.
Spanky
I just dropped in to see what BillinGlendale did to piss off Cole.
Geminid
@John S.: How do you like Val Deming’s chances at knocking out Rubio next year?
Geminid
@John S.: I’d been pretty happy in Virginia, with Tim Kaine and Mark Warner representing me in the Senate. Then I looked up their grades at the rating site Progressive Punch. Kaine got a D and Warner got an F! Now I worry that I’ve missed something.
burnspbesq
@Geminid:
I’d be curious about the rating criteria. If that’s the outcome, I suspect I would find the criteria to be ridiculous.
Suzanne
@Baud: Yeah. Sinema sucks. I am just more sanguine about it because I have known this for a long time. And I have been voting for her opponent in the primary and then Sinema in the general election for a long time.
I just think that efforts are better spent getting additional seats, like PA, NC, FL. AZ Dems will be more likely to nominate a good Democrat if there isn’t something big, like control of the Senate, on the line. Give them the freedom to swing for the fences.
mrmoshpotato
@Spanky: Nice! Well done! ?
Butch
I would never, ever comment on innate physical appearance but every time I see a photo of Sinema – who dresses her?
Reboot
@Geminid:
I looked up the ‘About Us’ section of Progressive Punch. It began ‘The key person in ProgressivePunch is Joshua Grossman of Berkeley, CA. Joshua is a social entrepreneur. He has an extensive background in a wide variety of social change endeavors such as political campaigns, co-producing a video for PBS on the destruction of the Redwood forests in California, serving as an interpreter for earthquake rescue teams, etc.’ I haven’t looked up the section on how data points are weighted. Let’s say if I were hiring for a site with this function, this resume wouldn’t put Joshua on the short list.
I’m fairly recent to Virginia, and my impression is that many elected Democrats aren’t what you’d call progressive, but that this is changing to an extent. I’ve enjoyed following your comments–I feel a little more clued in to what’s happening here.
matt the somewhat reasonable
Sinema’s dumb quirkiness is a schtick to distract from her corruption.
jonas
@NotMax: I’ll be damned, you’re right. But *everyone* says “daylight savings“. That’s so funny.