Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Second rate reporter says what?

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Sunday Morning Open Thread: JERBS!

Sunday Morning Open Thread: JERBS!

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Because Our President Biden deserves a bit of a victory lap!


Look at those sad faces!…

Reader Interactions

265Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    I’m liking Dark Brandon.

    And sucks to ABC News.  Funny that their “bad Biden economy!” draft has a digital job ad attached.

    The press has been so awful, panting for a recession, it’s time for a good article on why.

  2. 2.

    Another Scott

    Good job Team D!  I continue to think that the 2020s have a good chance to be the new “Roaring 20s”.

    Seeing “IRA” reminds me how confusing it can be to my old noggin to reuse famous initialisms.  Then I remember that my mom’s maiden initials were “NRA”…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  4. 4.

    Josie

    OT: This may be a stupid question, but could someone explain to me why the Republicans are opposed to the insulin price cap in the bill currently before the senate?​ 
    ETA: Their position would seem to lend itself to some devastating political ads.​​

  6. 6.

    Marmot

    Just what is the motivation of a doomer? And do they actually apologize ever?

    Adding: And are they actually oblivious to the harm they cause, the demoralization and demobilization?

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The US netted more jobs this month alone than the entirety of Donald Trump’s presidency.

    Ouch. That’s gonna leave a mark.

    Somebody needs to put a Biden “I did that.” sticker on this jobs report.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Josie: Profit margins will be reduced.

    ETA as for their stated reasons, it’s the govt interfering in the Godly work of the free market

  11. 11.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Mr DAW is sad because Formula 1 is on “summer break.” Being mostly European, F1 is horrified that someone wouldn’t get a long vacation in August. Not a bad system, actually.

  12. 12.

    Josie

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​
     Right, but from the numbers I saw, there would still be a profit, even if the cap was applied. It seems politically to be a loser for them.

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The US netted more jobs this month alone than the entirety of Donald Trump’s presidency.

    But that’s because all the Demon-craps convinced all the lazy darkies and youths and other layabouts not to work because of a fake “pandemic,” and just live off the massive unemployment checks the American Welfare State provided them. Had the Demon-RATS not done that, and had those people decided to do actual work for those poor corporations willing to pay a pittance for their serfs hired help, TFG would have created — BY HIMSELF, because he’s a “businessman” — over 200,000,000 jobs in ONE month!
    More or less.​
     
    ETA: Apologies to the jackaltariat. I’m just trying to get noticed by the FTFTFNYT, hoping they will offer me a job in their top-notch Pundits Department.

  17. 17.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Josie:

    I haven’t heard any.  Just deflections.  “This bill is a giveaway to social programs” etc.  Avoiding the topic is a standard GOP politician tactic.  I know the base has a myth that Trump fixed insulin costs and Biden reversed it.

  18. 18.

    Suzanne

    @Josie:

    This may be a stupid question, but could someone explain to me why the Republicans are opposed to the insulin price cap in the bill currently before the senate?​ 

    Aside from the reflex to be against anything Democrats are for, I agree that it’s dumb AF. There’s a whole lot of Type II diabetics in red states.

  19. 19.

    MagdaInBlack

    I’m so glad you posted Hal Sparks ABC news “accidental post.”  Hal is my current brain crush,

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    Vote-a-rama report from Klobuchar:

    I hope she STOLE the Egg McMuffin.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    @Josie: Their over-arching goal is preventing Democrats from having any “win” on their policy objectives.  That’s why they’re united on blocking anything other than a few things that the press can tout as “bipartisan”.

    If Democrats actually get good things done, then the whole stupid edifice of “Democrats will destroy the country and Republicans are the obvious default party of good government” begins to crumble.  And things like Democrats mostly controlling Congress for 3+ decades can happen again.  And they really, really don’t want that because, OMG, the 1%ers would have to pay more in taxes, and the looters and snakeoil salesmen couldn’t run roughshod over the economy and the rights of the hoi polloi anymore…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Josie: It should be a loser for them, with 37.3 million diabetics and 96 million prediabetics (waves “Hi.”) in this country, you would think people might care enough to vote their pocketbooks, but some lesbian teacher somewhere is talking about how her black wife is affected by racism and we just can’t have that kind of grooming going on in our schools.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    some lesbian teacher somewhere is talking about how her black wife is affected by racism and we just can’t have that kind of grooming going on in our schools.

    Especially since everyone knows racism ended when Obama was elected.​

    ETA: There’s some quote/adage I’ve seen here in the past, pointing out that the RWMFs would not be happy about any benefits the Dems provided, IF “those people” — meaning the (in the view of the RWMFs) undeserving — also got some of those benefits. Not too dissimilar to the “Their gay marriage undermines/cheapens MY het marriage,” I think.

  25. 25.

    sab

    It really fucks up the job market when serfs can choose. Got two serf stepkids. One got a substantial raise. Other got her dream job.

  26. 26.

    bbleh

    @Josie: Screaming “noooo” at the tops of their lungs and throwing their food across the room is actually appealing to the majority of Republican primary voters and a substantial number of other voters as well.  Infantile obstructionism has worked well for a lot of them for a long time.

    Personally I think they’re boxing themselves into a dangerous corner — they’re gambling that the “bad news for Biden” environment will persist at least through November and maybe even longer, and it’s not at all clear that’s the case.  The Narrative can turn on a dime, and even a moderate turn could leave a number of them stranded.

  27. 27.

    Geminid

    @Josie: I think that on Friday the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that the insulin price cap for Medicare fit within the Reconciliation rule but the more general one did not.

    Some other items in the Schumer-Manchin bill were ruled out also. Observers say that the Democrats left this particular one in the bill so that Republicans have to raise a point of order to take it out.

    I don’t think this has happened yet. I’m interested in how exactly it will go down.

  29. 29.

    bbleh

    @Geminid: I believe you’re correct as regards regulation of prescription prices for private insurers vs Medicare: those don’t affect the budget and hence don’t meet the criteria for reconciliation. Nevertheless, it would reduce profits for pharmacos (although not by a lot, because the class of drugs for which Medicare would be able to negotiate is limited).

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    US jury finds in favor of pharmacist who denied woman morning-after pill

    A Minnesota jury found that a pharmacy did not discriminate against a woman when it denied to give her the morning-after pill.

    The pharmacist gave “belief” as the reason for refusing to fill the prescription for emergency contraception. Although the jury decided that the woman’s rights had not been violated, it did say that the emotional damage caused by the decision amounted to $25,000.

    In pro choice Minnesota. I really can’t wrap my head around this verdict at all. It would seem this jury wanted to have it both ways: A pharmacist has the right to impose their religious beliefs on customers but the company will have to pay for the crime of hiring them? I despair.

  31. 31.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Geminid: ​

    the insulin price cap for Medicare fit within the Reconciliation rule but the more general one did not.

    It was the price cap for employer provided insurance. The parliamentarian thinks employer provided insurance changes don’t count as budgetary, and struck all the medical changes in that category.

  32. 32.

    Josie

    @Geminid: ​
    Yes, hopefully our intrepid news reporters will describe the attempt to raise the point of order for us so that everyone will realize what is happening. I live in hope.

  33. 33.

    artem1s

    In fact, there are more people working in America than at any point in American history.”

    Yea, but they aren’t all white men so obviously another failed Dem economy.

  34. 34.

    Cameron

    @SFAW: I read a story a number of years ago (think it was during the first Obama administration) about a proto-Cletus Safari, in which interviewer was listening to a white woman in the Deep South (Louisiana?) complaining about how black people were getting all this government gravy.  He asked, “Aren’t you on welfare, too?”  Reply was, “Yes, but they get more.”  Things never change.

  35. 35.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid:

    RollCall:

    The chamber began voting on amendments to the budget reconciliation package in a free-for-all process known as “vote-a-rama” around 11:30 p.m Saturday. As of 9 a.m. Sunday, none had been adopted but the Senate was continuing to process amendments with no immediate end in sight.

    After the 17th vote at around 6:40 a.m., Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., read a list of 18 more amendments and motions in the queue. Off the floor, however, Sen. James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., told reporters he didn’t think all would actually be voted on.

    “Obviously that’s not going to happen,” Inhofe said.

    All 48 Democrats and the two independents that caucus with them banded together to oppose Republicans’ amendments, defeating them all on party-line votes.

    When Democrats wanted their members to be able to vote in favor of something, one of them would raise a budget point of order, triggering a motion to waive it that is subject to a 60-vote threshold instead of a simple majority.

    That procedural maneuvering allowed the four Democrats considered most vulnerable in the November midterm elections — Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire — as well as other party centrists to show their support for the underlying amendment. They could vote to waive the point of order without worrying about it being added to the bill and potentially undermining unified Democratic support for the larger package.

    Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates Cortez Masto, Kelly and Warnock’s races a Toss-up and Hassan’s Tilt Democratic.

    Democrats jumped through the most procedural hoops to allow their vulnerable members to vote to uphold the Title 42 public health directive that allows migrants crossing the border to seek asylum in the U.S. to be expelled during the pandemic.

    Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., offered an amendment to provide $1 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue to implement Title 42 until 120 days after the termination of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Democrats all voted against that amendment and it was rejected, 50-50.

    Immediately after that vote, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., offered an alternative amendment that would have extended Title 42 until 60 days after the public health emergency ends with requirements for the administration to submit a plan to Congress to address a potential influx of migrants.

    The Tester amendment contained no funding so was subject to a budget point of order, which six Democrats joined all Republicans in voting to waive. The Democrats who joined Tester in support for his amendment were Cortez Masto, Hassan, Kelly, Warnock and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. The motion to waive the budget point of order was not agreed to, 56-44.

    (Emphasis added.)

    More at the link! [/Silverman’s-Corner]

    This vote-a-rama stuff is always a game of gotcha. (Serious amendments would have been part of the package in committee or as part of the negotiations before it’s brought to the floor.) It’s good to see that Schumer knows the ways to reduce its impact in races where the gotcha factor is important. It’s almost as if he and Durbin and the rest of the Democratic Senate leadership know how to do this politics stuff.

    I don’t see anything about insulin in the RollCall piece, but I’m sure Democrats haven’t given up on it even if it doesn’t make it this time.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Another Scott:

    I’m a little twitchy about Sanders, but that’s more ptsd than anything else.  The news up until now has said that Sanders’ not-quite-stated intention was always to grump about how the bill should do more, introduce amendments for the stuff that he wanted, and when they were defeated vote for it as ‘still better than nothing.’

    EDIT – Among other things, I doubt Schumer would have gone ahead with this without making sure Sanders was on board.  Sanders has directly said that he wishes he was in on the negotiations themselves, but he knows from experience that he and Manchin don’t mix.

  38. 38.

    Geminid

    @Josie: @IgorBobich (Huffington Post) and @GraceSegers (New Republic) seem to be keeping up with the Senate process. I bet they’ll cover this detail when it happens. I think Jake Sherman is live tweeting too, among others.

    Longer form reporting may cover this as well, but there is so much going on here that it may be harder to find.

  41. 41.

    Chris T.

    @SFAW:

    … TFG would have created — BY HIMSELF, because he’s a “businessman” — over 200,000,000 jobs in ONE month!

    Don’t you mean “over five billion jobs in one day”?

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    @Frankensteinbeck: Yeah, I have the same feeling.

    From the RollCall piece:

    Sanders also offered two health amendments — one to ensure that Medicare pays no more than the Department of Veterans Affairs for prescription drugs, and one to add provisions expanding Medicare coverage for hearing, dental and vision benefits.

    Both were rejected, by votes of 1-99 and 3-97, respectively. The hearing, dental and vision amendment earned the support of Georgia Democrats Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

    Never change, St. Bernard. (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)

    Even when Sanders has some good ideas, he still seemingly has no idea how to get them passed into law. (To be fair, he’s head of an important committee so understands how the process works, but he seemingly just can’t resist doing the Man of La Mancha thing to show that only he is fighting for the little guy, or something…)

    He votes right when it matters. That’s what is required right now.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    Starfish

    @Marmot: You are looking for a long-term goal. There really isn’t one. People are sad and emotionally exhausted, and “What is your long term political motivation” is the type of question that a person asks when they have allowed politics to completely eat their humanity.

    I mean, there are some people cheering for the Democrats to lose, but those folks are in the minority. There are some people who are having PTSD due to living through multiple environmental disasters or experiencing solastalgia because they fear the climate change that is going to happen in their lifetime.

  46. 46.

    artem1s

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I really can’t wrap my head around this verdict at all

    the result is to scare pharmacies into not stocking anything that might get them into another lawsuit. They do this with pain meds already so they don’t have to deal with the hassle of stocking Class II narcotics. It’s not a hard leap to imagine a Walmart or CVS employee in TX collecting 10K bounties based on conversations they overheard at work. That stupid law is designed to scare people into obediance.  And there is the ever present issue of the violence directed at clinics being turned on pharmacies once all the clinics have been shut down. so better not to stock and avoid the hassle of lawsuits altogether.

    The religious exception has already become such a problem that a large part of the abortion provider system has become devoted to helping women obtain contraception and chemical abortions via the mail.

  48. 48.

    Brachiator

    528,000 jobs in July and a 3.5% unemployment rate.

    Not taking anything away from the Biden administration, I find it interesting that in Southern California I still see tons of Help Wanted signs in businesses. Dine in Restaurants and fast food places in particular still seem to suffering staffing shortages.

    I think that reporting about the post pandemic economy and even the responses of economists is based too much on outdated conventional wisdom.

    Also, has anyone seen reporting about wages? Are we seeing any wage growth?

    A historic deal to reduce inflation, invest in health care, and tackle climate change with clean energy. The fastest decline in gas prices we’ve seen in a decade.

    This is great news by any measure.

    ETA. Analysis of census data is coming out. Some of the studies focus too much on the decline of the white population. Demographic shifts. No big deal. But some declines which impact the decline in the working age population are kinda interesting.

    Previous analyses of Census Bureau estimates make plain that the nation’s population growth has ground down to a historic low: only 0.1% growth between July 2020 and July 2021. During this prime year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of deaths rose sharply, births declined, and immigration reached its lowest levels in decades. At the same time, population movement within the U.S. led to sharp declines in many of its largest metro areas—particularly in these areas’ biggest cities. …

    The examination of age shifts shows a loss of young people under age 18 and those in their prime working ages (18 through 59).

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    @Frankensteinbeck: Sanders has a national fanbase, and he plays to that gallery. When it comes to actually legislating, Sanders’ bark is worse than his bite.

    But Sanders makes me twitchy too. He seems crabbier than usual. I don’t think the Democratic Senators and the Independent from Maine much minded being left out of the Schumer-Manchin negotiations but the Independent from Vermont is showing his resentment I think.

  52. 52.

    sab

    @Geminid: All those high paid professionals out there and you are the best in the business on political coverage. You are a yard guy, aren’t you?

  53. 53.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator:

    The overall number of jobs is higher than pre-pandemic, but some sectors are still below that level. CalculatedRiskBlog:

    The headline jobs number in the July employment report was well above expectations, and employment for the previous two months was revised up by 28,000, combined. The participation rate decreased slightly, and the employment-population ratio increased slightly. The unemployment rate declined to 3.5%.

    Leisure and hospitality gained 96 thousand jobs in July. At the beginning of the pandemic, in March and April of 2020, leisure and hospitality lost 8.20 million jobs, and are now down 1.21 million jobs since February 2020. So, leisure and hospitality has now added back about 85% all of the jobs lost in March and April 2020.

    (Emphasis added.)

    The jobs market is very, very strong now, but L&H is still down. L&H is BLS categories: Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (NAICS 71), and Accommodation and Food Services (NAICS 72) – so it includes restaurants.

    Too much of the economics reporting doesn’t include vital details like whether the numbers they cite are inflation-adjusted or not. Even things like inflation number are mangled (“Inflation was 9.1% in June!!11” – NO, just NO. That’s the year-over-year number, not inflation in one month.) It’s really, really bad reporting.

    Grrr…,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    Layer8Problem

    @Josie:

    I live in hope.

    If you lived in Providence, you could live off Hope [Street].  Don’t forget that Friendship only goes one way there.  This concludes my morning non-sequitur.

  55. 55.

    Chris T.

    @Brachiator:

    Also, has anyone seen reporting about wages? Are we seeing any wage growth?

    We are, but the stats are very laggy: published data are from a minimum of 3 to 6 months ago. (Wage growth has been very uneven, but in a good way, with greater increases at the low end than at the high end. I have no proof but I suspect a lot of this is just the “covid hazard pay” finally showing up in the stats.)

  57. 57.

    JWR

    Politico story from late last night on the price controls for meds:

    Democrats’ plan to control drug prices for 180 million Americans with private health insurance has suffered yet another setback.

    The Senate parliamentarian ruled Saturday that a core piece of the party’s plan can’t pass the chamber with fewer than 60 votes, following arguments from both parties last week.

    […]

    Yet reconciliation experts and industry insiders were equally certain that the provision would get knocked out of the package.

    “A lot of people think that if something gets a significant CBO score, it can’t be considered incidental — but it’s more about whether the policy implications outweigh the budgetary ones,” said Stephen Northrup, a lobbyist who previously worked as the health policy director for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions. “If the inflation cap were limited to Medicare, you could draw a very direct relationship between the policy and the score. But when you extend it to the commercial market, the relationship becomes more tenuous. It looks less like you’re trying to save money than you’re trying to extend a policy that has impact beyond the federal budget.”

  58. 58.

    jonas

    @Chris T.: ​
     

    Don’t you mean “over five billion jobs in one day”?

    Please. If the Deep State hadn’t thwarted Trump, there would be 5 billion jobs on *Mars* today. It would take an array of Cray supercomputers just to calculate the number of jobs created back on earth.

  59. 59.

    Marmot

    @Starfish: That’s a thoughtful reply.

    You are looking for a long-term goal. There really isn’t one. People are sad and emotionally exhausted, and “What is your long term political motivation” is the type of question that a person asks when they have allowed politics to completely eat their humanity.

    But I disagree. Doomers act *compelled*, like evangelical even, to spread “we’re effed in the mid-terms” or whatever—without ever following up with the next step, what to do about it. I swear, if they put as much effort into follow-up, we’d actually have a much, much easier fight.

    And politics haven’t consumed my humanity! I think maybe you’re misunderstanding what I mean by “doomer.”

  60. 60.

    Geminid

    @sab: Well, I did my impersonation of a painter last week. And I sometimes do outdoor brick and bluestone paving projects.

    But most of my hours these days are spent keeping up with the weeds and bushes at one couple’s house. They have a lot of plantings, and with all the rain we’ve gotten everything is growing like crazy now!

    This fall, after the vegetation settles down and I make a beach camping trip to South Carolina, I’ll build a couple brick columns for these folks. Some blight wiped out a row of their boxwoods and they want something there.

  62. 62.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah but his claim that economists are terrified that wages might link back up with productivity gains is BS. As an economist, we think wages should be linked to productivity gains. The fact that they haven’t been is a problem. Now, owners of capital and employers of labor may be terrified of wages recoupling with productivity, but those people by and large aren’t economists.

  63. 63.

    frosty

    @Betty Cracker: The whole concept of the Vote-A-Rama is weird. I don’t remember it from the old days. Is this an artifact of the permanent “we don’t have to stand up and talk” filibuster?

  65. 65.

    artem1s

    @Geminid:

    Sanders has a national fanbase, and he plays to that gallery

    yea, but there are ways to play to that gallery without sticking it to rest of the party. And after all these years you’d think he’d have figured out a way to energize his base about the bill they actually get passed. Plenty of Senators manage to draw attention to the stuff they didn’t get into the bill without killing their base’s enthusiasm for  the bill and build their base’s empathy to gain improvements for someone else’s life and ability to get the care they need. His performances expose his lack of empathy for anyone who isn’t one of his voters. And worse, I suspect his performances are designed to keep HIS base from identifying with any other base’s issues, Senators or representatives. It’s petty and stinks of grift fundraising.

  66. 66.

    jonas

    @Brachiator: Those are minimum, to sub-minimum + tips jobs. People just aren’t taking them any more because there are other opportunities. In the IE of SoCal, for example, thousands of warehouse jobs have come in paying $20/hr or more plus some decent benefits. Those restaurant and low-paid service jobs are also the ones that were once filled mostly by recent immigrants. Despite the apocalyptic howls about brown invasions and all that on Fox, immigration is at historic lows and that’s really impacting businesses that relied on it.

  68. 68.

    Josie

    @Geminid: ​
     “a beach camping trip to South Carolina.” That brings back some fond memories of beach camping trips to the mouth of the river in South Texas. It’s the beach where Texas and Mexico meet and the Rio Grande flows into the ocean. Great surf fishing and shell hunting.

  70. 70.

    Geminid

    @frosty: The “vote a rama” is built into the reconciliation rule. I think the rule also provides for 20 hours of debate before the vote a rama, but that may have been curtailed. There were only a few hours of speechifying between the time Vice President Harris broke a tie to move the bill and when the vote a rama amendments started.

    @GraceSegars was saying yesterday morning that she sensed Senators of both parties wanted to get this over with.

  71. 71.

    HinTN

    @Another Scott:

    a good chance to be the new “Roaring 20s”

    With the requisite stake in the heart of this reprised Gilded Age. (FSM deliver me from these very rich men and their monster man toys.)

  74. 74.

    Danielx

    @SFAW:

    Why not? It’s a well paying gig and you couldn’t do any worse than some of the wastoids they employ now.

  75. 75.

    Ken

    @jonas: I can’t decide if “jobs on Mars” reminds me more of “The Marching Morons” or “my Canadian girlfriend”.

  76. 76.

    Geminid

    @Josie: I bet it’s nice down there.

    I really like Fort Pickens campground. It’s at the southern end of the passage into Pensacola, Florida. There is an old Civil War fort there, and miles of nice walking and bike riding. Fort Pickens is now part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

  79. 79.

    JML

    @OzarkHillbilly: In pro choice Minnesota. I really can’t wrap my head around this verdict at all. It would seem this jury wanted to have it both ways: A pharmacist has the right to impose their religious beliefs on customers but the company will have to pay for the crime of hiring them? I despair.

    MN has a complicated relationship with religion, I think. They don’t want anyone forced to go against their religious beliefs and more people still think of this as the religious person being asked to go against their religious beliefs than imposing their religious beliefs on another. Part of the reason for it is we don’t talk about religion in MN (my lifelong experience, anyways).

  81. 81.

    Danielx

    @bbleh:

    “My values say it’s your own fault you have cardiac issues because of your lifestyle, so no statins or bp medications for you!”

    eta: these fucking people…

  82. 82.

    sdhays

    @JWR:

    If the inflation cap were limited to Medicare, you could draw a very direct relationship between the policy and the score. But when you extend it to the commercial market, the relationship becomes more tenuous. It looks less like you’re trying to save money than you’re trying to extend a policy that has impact beyond the federal budget.

    All fucking policy has an “impact beyond the federal budget”. It’s so absurd that the Senate ties itself into silly knots over this shit.

    The Republicans can blow a hole the size of the Grand Canyon in the federal budget and it easily passes these rules – with the express policy intentions to enrich the wealthy and bankrupt programs they don’t like – but most things Democrats want to do don’t fit under these rules because the implications outside the federal budget are too obvious?

    Just so, so stupid.

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    @jnfr: The House will meet this Friday to vote on the bill. Speaker Pelosi says she has the votes to pass it, and if she says so I think she does.

  84. 84.

    Marmot

    @oldgold: I had this conversation with a (squirrelly and probably underhanded) libertarian the other day, with him confusingly trying to say wage gains have been erased by inflation.

    What’s the best estimate for year-on-year inflation rate that ordinary consumers have experienced? Just CPI?

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    @jonas:

    Those are minimum, to sub-minimum + tips jobs. People just aren’t taking them any more because there are other opportunities. In the IE of SoCal, for example, thousands of warehouse jobs have come in paying $20/hr or more plus some decent benefits.

    I don’t think these businesses could legally pay sub-minimum wages. And the minimum wage increased effective July 1.

    The City of Los Angeles minimum wage will increase from $15.00 to $16.04 per hour.

    Employees of large hotels must be provided a higher minimum wage. Beginning July 1, the minimum wage for employees at hotels with 150 or more rooms will increase from $17.13 to $18.86 per hour.

    Slightly lower minimum wage in other cities in Los Angeles County.

    But the advantage of warehouse jobs over other employment is significant, especially when benefits are included.

  86. 86.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Betty Cracker: I hope she STOLE the Egg McMuffin.

    I, OTOH, hope she ripped it (still wrapped) out of He-Do-Run-Run-Run Lord Haw-Hawley’s mitts with one hand while punching that pencilnecked geek in his Adam’s apple with the other. But that’s just me… :^D​​

  87. 87.

    bbleh

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: in my experience, Atrios takes the (admittedly somewhat hyperbolic) rhetorical position that (at least many) “economists” — by which I think he means “economists quoted in the MSM” — represent the interests of “capital and the employers of labor,” ie that at least those particular economists are little more than paid mouthpieces.

    And alas, as both something of an economist and something of a business-owner, I don’t see the linkage being re-established in the foreseeable future.  Wages are sticky and they lag, employers are very sensitive to supply and demand, and the notion that wage labor are “stakeholders” in a business, while still prevalent (and even legally established) in parts of Europe, has become almost quaint in the US.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    NYTimes today:

    In recent years, there have been over 100,000 domestic adoptions annually, and more than 600,000 abortions. Studies show that the vast majority of women denied an abortion are uninterested in adoption and go on to raise their children.

    Insanely high number on its face because it has nothing to do with abortion– the majority are step parent adoptions- where the spouse of a parent adopts the spouses children.

    Here’s the accurate number- the majority of the 25,900 came out of the foster care system.

    Approximately 25,900 infants were adopted in the US in 2019. Approximately 19,800
    were adopted in 2020.

    The media coverage of abortion and womens health is just sloppy junk. They simply don’t think it’s important.

  90. 90.

    Layer8Problem

    @Marmot: I have a particular bug up my rear about Doomers. I live with someone who is as upright and right-thinking as I could hope for, who truly gives a damn, but who gets into a despairing rut frequently with the deep-thought pieces and Op-Eds and tweets and polls declaring that the Democrats are Doomed [“I tells ya”] because they didn’t do this one thing (for many values of “one thing”), or they haven’t truly wanted to win because of insufficient grit, or they’re all old and demented (except for the gentleman from Vermont). I remind gently and repeatedly that some people are paid for a certain number of words a week, that clicks and “engagement” are paramount but truth and accuracy are discounted, and that there are very well-compensated think-tanks and boiler rooms here and abroad dedicated to keeping the mood of anyone to the left of Joe Scarborough in the toilet. Jen Rubin and Nicole Wallace generally get things back on track.

    And you’re right.  If any of these clowns cared they would say what the next steps are to get us to a better place.  Potential solutions aren’t their problem so none are offered.  I forgot who said it but the statement that Dooming is voter suppression is pretty accurate.  If they’re depressed, they won’t vote, and saying it’s just a vent and they’ll be right as rain in no time is not helpful or deliberately disingenuous.

  91. 91.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    I hope so.  Any Dem that prevents this bill from passing would be the most villified person for the rest of his or her life.

    On the flip side, some of the Manchin stuff is really crappy, so kudos to every progressive who is a team player on this one.

  92. 92.

    Starfish

    @Marmot: There are people who are unhappy about politics, but they are going to show up to vote. These are many of the unhappy people. They may be unhappy with the limited number of choices, the lack of focus on their issue, etc. If they have a history of voting, they are going to show up.

     

    There are some Susan Sarandon style narcissists, and those are a minority of people. You should not spend time on this group because it is not going to be fixed. Don’t even give them the time of day.

    There are some people who are down the rabbit hole and disconnected from reality. These, I worry about. I don’t worry about them in an electoral outcome way but in a concerned about whether they will survive way.

  97. 97.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So, has anyone actually offered any evidence of this alleged recession? I mean the stuff I’ve read is crazy like investors bailing on corn futures because their is a recession going on (and here I was thinking basic necessities like food is recession resistant) This all comes across like The Masters of the Universe have the sads because the housing prices and bit coins are crashing along with interest rates going up.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    The NYTimes should put abortion and coverage of womens issue on a special, pull out pink “ladies section” of the paper, with the recipes and fashion. That’s the level of seriousness and investment they allocate.

    “100,000 adoptions /600,000 abortions” as if it’s a direct comparison. Straight out of anti-abortion political campaigning. Cheap junk.

  102. 102.

    JWR

    Rick Scott was just on with Margaret Brennen, saying that the Dem’s bill will cut Medicare by $280 billion and somehow prevent seniors from getting the meds they need, because research, Margaret! Rick Scott has always been a bald faced lying liar.

  103. 103.

    Chris T.

    @Marmot:

    What’s the best estimate for year-on-year inflation rate that ordinary consumers have experienced? Just CPI?

    The two usual favorites are “chained CPI” and “PCE”.  Right now they tell somewhat contradictory stories.

  108. 108.

    different-church-lady

    Pitchbot pitch: “With the midterms approaching, will Biden run out of workers before all the jobs are filled?”

  109. 109.

    Soprano2

    @Elizabelle: Because they desperately want TFG and Republicans back. It was so much more enjoyable for the press when they were in power. Why, TFG might call them directly! 🙄🙄 I think they care more about the fact that TFG would yell at them by the helicopter than that he is a criminal and was a shitty president. They hate that Biden’s communication with the press has gone back to normal.  Just MHO about why they seem so determined to convince people that everything is awful.

    I’m sure we’ve all noticed that there are no more breathless stories about the price of gas now that it’s down more than $1.00/gal in the last month. They mostly mention it as an aside, and don’t seem to feel the need to constantly remind everyone of the fact that it’s down and how much it’s down. They’re still excited about inflation, though.

  111. 111.

    Chris T.

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    This all comes across like The Masters of the Universe have the sads because the housing prices and bit coins are crashing

    That’s most of it in a nutshell, really.  Also, people like Senator Burr are unhappy that their office-space REITs are doing poorly because people get to work from home. (Waah, my office realty stocks are tanking!)

    along with interest rates going up.

    The money-lender types actually like this part.  However, interest earned on loans takes a long time to catch up, so they’re annoyed to earn sub-2% here.

  112. 112.

    frosty

    @Geminid: Thanks, good explanation. So the Vote-A-Rama is tied to the no-effort filibuster because the only substantial legislation that can get passed is through reconciliation. Which wasn’t used much in the Olden Days because very few things were filibustered.

  114. 114.

    Steeplejack

    @Betty Cracker:

    I just had a sausage and egg McMuffin myself this morning as part of my occasional homeopathic intake of fast food. And, yeah, I hope Klobuchar swiped it!

  117. 117.

    JWR

    Chuck Todd just said that the Kansas abortion vote tells us that everything we thought we knew about November’s midterms was wrong. Fingers crossed, Chuck.

  118. 118.

    Marmot

    @Chris T.: Yes, thanks, it’s slowly oozing back from memory. Each has some weakness the other lacks. Not that your average Libertarian looks into the details beyond justifying the traditional social order. 

  119. 119.

    different-church-lady

    @artem1s: yea, but there are ways to play to that gallery without sticking it to rest of the party.

    Which is why he doesn’t do it that way.

  123. 123.

    Another Scott

    @Layer8Problem: Ah, but the solution is always known so they don’t need to state it and have it count against their 800 words.

    “Democrats need to use their agency to do what Republicans want them to if they want to win.”

    HTH!!

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  124. 124.

    Marmot

    @Layer8Problem:

    there are very well-compensated think-tanks and boiler rooms here and abroad dedicated to keeping the mood of anyone to the left of Joe Scarborough in the toilet.

    This is so horribly under-appreciated. Most doomers I see are just acting at the whim of either propagandists or clickbait.

  125. 125.

    Layer8Problem

    @JWR:

    Chuck Todd just said that the Kansas abortion vote tells us that everything we thought we knew about November’s midterms was wrong.

    How uncharacteristic of him.  Maybe he’s playing a deeper game.  /s

  128. 128.

    jonas

    @Brachiator: ​
     

    I don’t think these businesses could legally pay sub-minimum wages

    In most states there is a lower minimum wage for tipped workers. In CA, I believe, it’s $13/hr for businesses with fewer than 25 employees.

  129. 129.

    Marmot

    @Starfish:

    If they have a history of voting, they are going to show up.

    I think you’re right about doomers here—but I’m talking specifically about the harm they do to morale on our side. They’re worse than useless.

  130. 130.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: One thing they never talk about is what the people who want to adopt babies want vs. the reality of the available babies and children. Increasing births is not going to increase the supply of adoptible white infants the way the anti-abortionists think it is because pregnant single women no longer feel obligated to give up their babies, but mainstream press orgs can’t seem talk about this honestly because it would be too explosive. Did the article mention who is having those abortions? If you listened to the anti groups you’d think only teenagers get abortions.  Same as how they soft-pedal what happens at gatherings like CPAC, possibly because they think most people wouldn’t believe the unvarnished truth.

  133. 133.

    Brachiator

    Another tidbit from the Census analysis. Labor force decline.

    As of June 2022, the size of the labor force has shrunk relative to its pre-pandemic path: the labor force is roughly three- to three-and-a-half million workers smaller than its pre-pandemic projection.  A large portion of the decrease in the size of the labor force relative to pre-pandemic projections—approximately a third—has nothing to do with labor force participation. First, the population is smaller because of pandemic-related deaths. While those deaths have been concentrated among those 65 and older (three-quarters of a million), more than a quarter of a million pandemic-related deaths are estimated for those between the ages of 18 and 64. Second, there are ongoing pandemic- and policy-related factors that are depressing immigration.

    The biggest decline in the labor force has been among those ages 55 and over, with those 65 and older accounting for about a third of the total decline, owing to a combination of death among this group and lower labor force participation. The declines in participation likely reflect early retirements, concerns about health, and to some extent excess disability and lower life expectancy caused by disability due to COVID-19.

    The aggregate labor force participation rate (the share of the population over the age of 16 who is working or actively seeking work) remains depressed at 62.2 percent.

    “Can a hot but smaller labor market keep making gains in participation?”

    https://www.brookings.edu/2022/08/03/can-a-hot-but-smaller-labor-market-keep-making-gains-in-participation/

  134. 134.

    germy shoemangler

    A cat’s stomach is roughly the size of a ping pong ball. This isn’t very big and can only hold approximately 2 tablespoons of food at a time.

    My cat will sometimes get too enthusiastic during meal time, eat too much and then vomit.  Vet calls it “scarf and barf” and recommends some sort of puzzle device that makes the cat work to find her food.

  135. 135.

    frosty

    @Baud: ​
      Well played!

    PS I was following up from D-C-L upthread. Stealing her joke as it were. This whole thread is a hoot. I was going to try to explain to my family why I was laughing but it was really too obscure.

  136. 136.

    geg6

    @Brachiator:

    I know nothing about the CA minimum wage laws, but here in PA, you most certainly can pay sub-minimum wage if it’s a wage+tips job, such as wait staff.  There are limits to how low it can go, but it’s well below the minimum wage for other workers.

  137. 137.

    Geminid

     

         Seven Republicans voted to keep the insulin price cap in the bill: Cassidy, Collins, Hawley. Hyde-Smith, Kennedy, Murkowski and Sullivan. But seven Republicans are not enough- it needs to be ten. So that provision has been stripped from the bill.    @GraceSegers 

  138. 138.

    Layer8Problem

    @Marmot:  Diminish the mood and make the “national conversation,” whatever the hell that is, all about the disappointment in one side’s fecklessness and impotence and the inevitability of the other side’s deserved win.  People who normally vote may throw up their hands because what’s the point, people who are in a good place economically and mentally may feel worse, people in bad places may decide it’s time to “walk away” or join a militia.  The national and political desk of the FTFNYT is ready to join with Fox in reporting what all the astroturfed buzz is about.

    Did I say I have a bug up my rear about this subject?  Yeah, I do, and I could go on about it for Tony J lengths without a quarter of his talent or wit.

  139. 139.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator: I’m sure it’s in there, but CalculatedRiskBlog often makes a point about demographics as well.  The baby boomers are retiring and that is going to have implications for things like housing that one might not think is connected at first glance, but is obvious if one looks a little deeper.

    CalculatedRiskBlog – Housing and Demographics (from June 2021):

    On demographics, in 2010, a large cohort had been moving into the 20 to 29 year old age group (a key age group for renters).

    As I noted in 2015, in the 2020s, a large cohort would be moving into the 30 to 39 age group (a key for ownership). That is happening now.

    NOTE: This graph uses the Vintage 2019 estimates. There are questions about these estimates, and we will have much better data when the 2020 Decennial Census data is released.

    [image] Population 20 to 34 years old Click on graph for larger image.

    This graph shows the longer term trend for three key age groups: 20 to 29, 25 to 34, and 30 to 39 (the groups overlap).

    This graph is from 1990 to 2060 (all data from BLS: current to 2060 is projected).

    We can see the surge in the 20 to 29 age group last decade (red). Once this group exceeded the peak in earlier periods, there was an increase in apartment construction. This age group peaked in 2018 / 2019 (until the 2030s), and the 25 to 34 age group (orange, dashed) will peak around 2023.

    For buying, the 30 to 39 age group (blue) is important (note: see Demographics and Behavior for some reasons for changing behavior). The population in this age group is increasing, and will increase further over this decade.

    The current demographics are now very favorable for home buying – and will remain positive for most of the decade.

    […]

    My sense is there will be a pickup in Boomers selling their homes in the 2nd half of the 2020s and lasting until 2040 or so. These homes will be older – and most will need updating – but many of these homes will be in prime locations. We should also see a pickup in retirement community construction during that time period.

    Buy your Lowe’s and HomeDepot stock now and hold it for 15 years and you’ll be sitting pretty!!!1 ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Zooks! 2040 is only 18 years away!!”)

  140. 140.

    Delk

    TFG at CPAC talking about Ronny Jackson:

    “He the White House doctor. He was a great doctor. You know, he was an admiral, a doctor, and now he’s a congressman. I asked him, ‘Which is the best if you had your choice?’ And he sort of indicated doctor, because he loved looking at my body. It was so strong and powerful.

  145. 145.

    Layer8Problem

    @germy shoemangler:  What cats won’t tell you is that even if their stomachs were the size of vacuum cleaner bags they’d throw up anyway, because you know what you did.

  146. 146.

    jonas

    @Soprano2: ​
      That’s exactly right. The reason there are so many people waiting to adopt is that most adoptive parents are middle-class, white professionals who want a healthy white baby, and finding a young, healthy white mother getting excellent prenatal care and who also wants to give up her baby is really hard. The reality is that most women seeking abortion care are POC who are already raising several kids and simply can’t afford another one, or whose health is at risk with another pregnancy. Nobody’s lining up to adopt those kids.

  148. 148.

    Cameron

    @JWR: I don’t really care for your tone.  How dare you impugn the integrity of Sen. Nosferatu Medicare-Fraud?

  150. 150.

    jonas

    @Delk: ​
      If Trump actually had a sense of humor, I’d say that was a pretty good self-deprecating joke. But he doesn’t, so that was pretty insane.

  152. 152.

    JWR

    @Delk:

    he loved looking at my body. It was so strong and powerful.

    Oh, gag me! I have to wonder if that was attempted humor.

  155. 155.

    Gin & Tonic

    An excellent rejoinder to the WSJ’s stupid and ill-advised Tweet about the Ukrainian language:

    English, a barbarian language that was once spoken only by primitive Anglo-Saxons, is lately gaining popularity in London and other cities where residents want to sever linguistic ties with Normandy. https://t.co/W5TuUEMVmW
    — Mart Kuldkepp (@KuldkeppMart) August 7, 2022

  156. 156.

    Gin & Tonic

    Also, Reuters is reporting that Amnesty is starting to walk back its disastrous report on the russian war, ably chronicled (as always) by our own Adam Silverman over the previous couple of nights.

  160. 160.

    JWR

    @Cameron: Sen. Nosferatu Medicare-Fraud

    Ain’t it the truth! Good gravy, how is this guy either not in jail for what he did, or off lobbying somewhere, instead of sitting pretty in the Senate? Plus, he’s creepy as Hell.

  163. 163.

    Cameron

    @JWR: Twice elected governor, once (so far) to the Senate.  I’m not a native Floridian, so perhaps some of the genuine Floridians here can explain this.

  164. 164.

    NotMax

    McD’s? Would have thought the Republican cloakroom boasted a private pipeline direct to Chik-Fil-A.

    //

  165. 165.

    Feathers

    @jonas: I remember a friend who wanted to adopt getting upset at the story of another single mom movie star adopting. Pointed out that the star adoptions are often non white and mixed race kids, often older than infant, and because of their resources and watching friends with drug and alcohol problems have and raise kids, they aren’t as picky about maternal health history. Friend not happy.

  167. 167.

    Birdie

    @Layer8Problem: Chomsky is a weirdo but I do wish all my progressive friends who complain about inflation and Biden being “too old” would read Manufacturing Consent. I credit reading that book in my formative years, this blog, and Eric Boehlert for my deep distrust of media narrative and interest in the underlying evidentiary basis. It’s a bit shocking how much social media is constructed as narrative to serve a purpose, once you start looking at who is doing the writing

  168. 168.

    JWR

    @Cameron: Chuck Todd said that?

    Yep, he really did. And after creepy Nancy Mace, he did a pretty good interview with Stacy Abrams. Maybe the earth’s polarity is going haywire.

  169. 169.

    Feathers

    The doomer bunch that bums me out is the extremely online crowd who have a fantasy that the Democrats can do nothing right. They just take every piece of news that comes along and plug it into the equation. If there’s good new, like today, they’ll moan that it should have been more and a failure because it wasn’t done sooner.

  173. 173.

    Cameron

    @JWR: Just another reason for doomers to say “We were always right!  You libtards never saw the CHUCK TODD PUNDITOCALYPSE”

  175. 175.

    Kropacetic

    @JWR: Rick Scott was just on with Margaret Brennen, saying that the Dem’s bill will cut Medicare by $280 billion and somehow prevent seniors from getting the meds they need, because research, Margaret! Rick Scott has always been a bald faced lying liar.

    Because savings equal cuts. Also, too, he’ll be working hard to bleed Medicare from the government side since he about maximized his ability to do it from the private sector.

    A prediction that Scott will do everything in his power to see fulfilled.

  177. 177.

    Geminid

    @Feathers: Some lefties are intellectually invested in the proposition that Democrats can’t do anything right because the prospect of a successful Center-Left coalition threatens their dream of a powerful Left Party. They don’t really worry that the Democrats will fail, they hope that Democrats will fail

    I think other doomers tend to cynicism or pessimism in their basic outlook, and these are influenced by people making bad faith arguments.

  178. 178.

    Mike in NC

    Our local rag is all in about the “looming recession” with a front page article. Media hive mind!

  179. 179.

    Steeplejack

    I’m thinking about getting a Fitbit Charge 5. Any dire warnings? I’m not averse to the more esoteric features, but I’m mainly looking to upgrade from a basic pedometer to something that is still less clunky to carry than my cell phone.

    Also, gadget motivation to walk more.

  180. 180.

    gwangung

    @Geminid: Which is an idiot way to look at power. The far left won’t get any power until the far Right is destroyed; the far Right is leaching voters from the Center Left.

  181. 181.

    JWR

    @Cameron: Not only was Chuck Todd making way more sense than usual, Margaret Brennen was getting pretty hot at lil’ Ricky Scott, cutting him off mid-psychobabble ramble.

  182. 182.

    bbleh

    @jonas: thus the lucrative gray/black market in babies for adoption from, eg, central and eastern Europe.  But none of these silly “facts” matter to the forced-birthers, whose image of “the baby” from the moment of conception is like some putto in a Renaissance painting.  They are simpleminded fetishists, albeit dangerous because of their zealotry.

  183. 183.

    Steeplejack

    So the same people who insinuate that vaccines are nothing but a big Pharma profit conspiracy also don’t want to lower the prices on insulin?

    — Schooley (@Rschooley) August 7, 2022

  184. 184.

    Jackie

    Color me not surprised:

    “Donald Trump doesn’t rule out backing political foe Brian Kemp in the Georgia gubernatorial race when asked by Fox News Digital.”

    Kemp is laughing into his pillow…!

    Not linking, as it’s Faux.

  185. 185.

    SFAW

    @Delk: ​
     
    A fucking trigger warning would have been helpful, ya know.

    Glad I haven’t had lunch yet, so I only had dry heaves.

  186. 186.

    Cameron

    @JWR: Saints preserve us!  Time for another shot of Ronrico and some Steel Reserve to wash it down.  I’m a natural downer/depressive (“all surprises are bad”), but I’m starting to change my tune on this fall.  A kick-ass/take-names approach probably can trash the Republicans.  They rely on the lying meme-of-the-moment to whip up the mouthbreathers;  Dems have enough ways to strike back to get ’em all confused on their memes.  It’s going to be interesting, and I’ll keep my mouth shut around my non-downer GF.

  187. 187.

    SFAW

    @Mike in NC: ​
     

    Our local rag is all in about the “looming recession” with a front page article.

    Someone should write in and say that very few people use looms these days anyway, so WTF are they talking about? [Of course, in New England, loam (which is sometimes pronounced “loom,” for a reason unknown to me) is booming.]

    The point being: “Yes, I know you weren’t talking about weaving, but there’s no fucking recession, so why are you morons/Rethug-enablers wishing for one?”

  188. 188.

    JWR

    @Mike in NC:

    Our local rag is all in about the “looming recession” with a front page article. Media hive mind!

    Reminds me of another thing Rick Scott said this morning. He said “look, we’re going into a recession”, quite matter-of-factly, almost as if it were a done deal. Let’s hope both they and he are dead wrong.

  189. 189.

    Scout211

    @Steeplejack:

    Any dire warnings?

    Just from our experience, they don’t last very long.  We had the charge 3.  One died after two months, the other after 4 months. We also found that the overnight sleep cycle information was not entirely accurate.  The 5s might be better now and with Google (I think) now owning the company they could be better quality now.

    We never replaced them and my daughter upgraded hers to an Apple watch and is extremely happy with that

    ETA:  The one thing that we both really liked was the nudge every hour to get up and move to get our “steps” in.  If that is what you are looking for, that was one feature that we liked.  For a few months . . .

  190. 190.

    Baud

    @SFAW:

    @Mike in NC: ​

    Our local rag is all in about the “looming recession” with a front page article.

    Someone should write in and say that very few people use looms these days anyway, so WTF are they talking about?

     

    Loomers!

  191. 191.

    SFAW

    @bbleh: ​

    The Schumer boomer-groomer-doomer tumor rumor!

    Oh, don’t get your bloomers in a twist.
    ETA: And that goes double for you, Baud, for your “humor.”

  193. 193.

    Villago Delenda Est

    But…but…TFG says unemployment is skyrocketing!  He’d never lie to us about something like that!!!!!

  194. 194.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Geminid: i am surprised to see Hawley on the list and I am surprised not to see Grassley, Romney, Ernst and some Plains states’ senators in there. Also, Portman and Burr. They’re retiring ffs. They can’t do one thing for their constituents?? Guess their post- senatorial lobbying gigs are more important.

  195. 195.

    Cmorenc

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    True Warnock is ahead of Walker by several points, but IIRC he is under 50%, which means he needs the undecideds to not break against him in the home stretch and that the GOP vote suppression won’t prevent enough of his supporters from voting to turn the result. (See Abrams v Kemp)

  196. 196.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @JWR: Eventually, there will be a recession.  There always is, it’s the cyclical nature of the economy.  The thing is, Medicare Fraudster Voldemort’s recession may not hit soon enough to help the Nazis in November.

  197. 197.

    PsiFighter37

    Thune trying to ratfuck the bill by getting a carveout to private equity subsidiaries to the 15% corporate minimum tax. Sinema is truly stupid for going along with it. It includes a SALT cap extension which will absolutely kill support in the House from Northeast/CA Democrats.

  199. 199.

    Steeplejack

    @Scout211:

    Thanks for the feedback. I presume (hope) the newer models get better! Mainly just want a pedometer on steroids with GPS. Clock/​stopwatch a bonus.

    I briefly looked at a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which would be roughly equivalent to an Apple Watch, but I decided that was overkill and too big.

  200. 200.

    James E Powell

    Little Marco voted against the insulin cap. The following is from the American Diabetes state fact sheet for Florida:

    Approximately 2,164,009 people in Florida, or 12.5% of the adult population, have diagnosed diabetes.

    An additional 546,000 people in Florida have diabetes but don’t know it, greatly increasing their health risk.

    There are 5,973,000 people in Florida, 35.7% of the adult population, who have prediabetes with blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.

    Every year an estimated 148,613 people in Florida are diagnosed with diabetes.

    There is a saying: the ads write themselves. This one is easy. You have different people reading those facts, you hammer that a hole for voting against. Run the ad into the ground.

    Please, Florida Democrats. Produce that ad & start running it. Set up a donation page for the costs I will give you money and so will several million other people.

  202. 202.

    Another Scott

    @Steeplejack: I’ve had a 5 for 6-12 months after replacing a 4.  It’s fine.  The 4 had consistently longer battery life (being B&W and doing a little less).  The 5 has a nice display and I haven’t had to replace the band yet so maybe it’s a little more robust in that area (bands are cheap).

    The battery life on the 5 can be a little weird though.  I don’t know whether it’s updates or what, but at first it would only last about 2 days before I needed to plug it in (a pain if one wants to wear it at night).  Then it settled down and I would only use 10-20% a day.  Recently it was in battery eating mode again, but after an update this week it’s back to sipping charge.  So, if it seems like it’s not lasting very long, just give it time and don’t give up on it.

    I use FittoFit to transfer data from it to Google Fit to keep the numbers in one place that’s easy to access.  It’s on the Play Store.

    Recommended – especially if you can get it on sale (scroll down to the price graph).

    It can talk to my phone for notification of messages and alarms, but I haven’t paid enough attention to set it up and rely on it.

    I don’t wear any other watch. I’ve thought about a smart watch occasionally, but I always have my phone with me so it seems unnecessary. Plus, most of them are huge and would make me look like I was a Flava Flav fan or something. ;-)

    HTH a little.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  203. 203.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Josie: Cruelty is the point with the GQp.  Which is why they must be sent to oblivion, like the NSDAP and the CPSU.

  204. 204.

    The Golux

    @Steeplejack:  I have a Fitbit Charge 5 after previously owning a Charge 4; Best Buy gave me $25 for trade in.  The Charge 4’s display was so dim it was almost impossible to read in daylight, but the Charge 5 is nice and bright.  It’s definitely an activity motivator.  Plus I get $10 a month from my health insurance by linking the Fitbit to my account.

  205. 205.

    Suzanne

    @James E Powell:

    Approximately 2,164,009 people in Florida, or 12.5% of the adult population, have diagnosed diabetes. 

    You know, as someone who does not have diabetes….I’m sure impressed by the fortitude and manliness of those GOP senators who voted against that cheap insulin! I FEEL SO OWNED.

    You know, if these dumbfucks want to die early, painful deaths after impoverishing themselves….

  206. 206.

    Steeplejack

    @Another Scott:

    Thanks for the information. I’m seeing that $117 price on Amazon, and it’s currently only $119 at Best Buy, so I’m thinking of rolling over there this afternoon and picking one up.

  207. 207.

    Eolirin

    @PsiFighter37: Pelosi will get it passed. It only maintains the status quo and we’ll hopefully have an opportunity to fix both if we manage to win in Nov.

  208. 208.

    Steeplejack

    @The Golux:

    Cool. You guys have about convinced me to go for it. Plus I have a 20% off coupon at Total Wine that expires today—another reason to get out of the bunker.

  209. 209.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Steeplejack: Probably more than you need, but the eponymous fitness band from Whoop is worth a look if you are serious about the data collected.

  210. 210.

    Suzanne

    @Steeplejack: I used to have a Fitbit, but I didn’t love it and I stopped using it. Now I have an Apple Watch. I wasn’t going to get one, but then I got it as a gift from Mr. Suzanne, who loves tech stuff. I am surprised by how much I like it. I probably should learn more about it, because I know it can do more than I do with it. One thing I like about it is that it can sync to certain fitness equipment. If that’s a thing that would motivate you, maybe look for the same feature in the Fitbit?

  212. 212.

    Steeplejack

    @Gin & Tonic:

    “Probably more than you need” is the understatement of the year. 😹 I ran across the Whoop when I was doing a little research, and it took me about five seconds to rule it out. I definitely could have used it [checks calendar] 40 years ago (!) when I was in serious training for a marathon. How time flies.

  213. 213.

    Connor

    @eclare:

    I like Egg McMuffins too!

    The day I discovered they could be special ordered with no butter, no cheese, extra canadian bacon, and tomatoes, was a very good day indeed.

  214. 214.

    Ruckus

    @Elizabelle:

    Why?

    They aren’t making the instantaneous profits that of course they should always be making, and they’ve had to hire new people and they will have to train new people and that takes money from PROFITS. Large companies are far more interested in how their investors are seeing their companies than in how the employees see it. Employees are money suckers in every direction, money that should be going directly into the investor’s pockets/bank accounts/investments to make them wealthy. People who sit behind their desks looking at their investments and income, rather than actually making, fixing, designing, engineering, repairing – anything, often do not understand how an economy works. They do understand their portfolio and their return, but often the nuts and bolts of an economy zip right past their heads.

    One wonders how they get to a point that they have investments to look at without any awareness of the reality of the vast majority of humans that actually work for a living.

  215. 215.

    Geminid

    @PsiFighter37: Igor Bobic, Huffinton Post, on the Senate “vibe”:

         Senators are getting cranky over a last minute hang up dealing with a Thune amendment proposing changes to the 15% min tax.

    “Just wrap it up, man” Murkowski says.

    Still “several hours” to go.

    @igorbobic 1pm

  217. 217.

    Steeplejack

    @Suzanne, @🐾BillinGlendaleCA:

    I love the tech stuff, like Mr. Suzanne, but I’m trying to stay low-key on this. The Apple Watch and the Samsung Watch 4, which I think is sort of the Android equivalent of the Apple Watch, are overkill for what I need, despite the many tempting features. And I wouldn’t wear one all the time. I have a clutch of old-school watches that I rotate. It’s one of the few ways that a gentleman can accessorize!

    And I don’t need to sync with any equipment at this point. Just getting my ass out the door and walking would be a big improvement on my COVID lifestyle. Which I’m starting to do, in a very “Jeez, I’m out of shape” way.

  219. 219.

    Ruckus

    @Josie:

    Rethuglicans look about as forward as an ant can see.

    Towards their credit it seems that it would be difficult to see much with one’s head stuffed up the outlet orifice.

    They see that the price of everything should be more, so that their income stream is bigger. And I mean really, how can one expect to make money without screwing over customers?

  222. 222.

    Ruckus

    @bbleh:

    “The Narrative can turn on a dime, and even a moderate turn could leave a number of them stranded.”

    They walked out on that limb a very long time ago. They did this because it seems it’s difficult to see where one is going with the directional scanners in the middle of our faces stuffed up the outlet orifice, or so I’ve heard… The basic concept is that it’s difficult to see where one is going when one is always looking backwards, hoping to go back to a time when, everything was something, something, but surly it had to be better. It wasn’t. Even for them. Take it from an old, it was worse, and they still looked backwards as longingly as they do today. They don’t see a future because they have no imagination vision, hope or expectations.

  225. 225.

    Another Scott

    @Baud:

    There seems to be some drama at the moment:

    Warner is now proposing to strike the SALT extension offset and extend the “loss limitation policy” instead. https://t.co/Pv7QjIDkWM

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 7, 2022

    Update:

    So that offset change seems to be passing. Private equity/Sinema got what they wanted and the bill appears to survive the danger of offending Gottheimer et al.

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 7, 2022

    Sinema isn’t making friends with her party colleagues with stuff like this…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  226. 226.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    As of 10 minutes ago, the Thune amendment – something about giving hedge funds an escape from minimum taxes – had passed, and Warner was introducing the final amendment, but I don’t know what it is or how it’s going.

  231. 231.

    bbleh

    @Baud: Gottheimer is one of the Sinemas of the House.  This removes a potential problem when the bill goes over there.

  232. 232.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: I think it’s in the thread.  I’m not paying too much attention to the details, it’s just something that popped up.  Let’s see…

    Thread:

    To avoid a last-minute collapse of the bill, Democrats have found an alternative plan to win over Sen. Kyrsten Sinema who has concerns over the 15% corporate minimum tax's impact on subsidiaries owned by private equity firms, per sources. Bill now on track for final passage.

    — Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 7, 2022

    Gottheimer is in the House from NJ. Vox (from last week):

    2) What about House moderates?

    Democratic House moderates are another contingent that might be disappointed by this iteration of the bill.

    Previously, several moderate members including Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) called for the full state and local tax (SALT) deduction — which is currently capped at $10,000 — to be added back into the legislation. That provision was so important to certain lawmakers that they adopted the mantra “No SALT, No Deal.” In the past, there had been no cap on this deduction, meaning people could pay lower federal income taxes since they were able to subtract their larger state and local taxes from their federal bill.

    FWIW.

    Take the win, celebrate it, and build on it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  234. 234.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: I’m having trouble figuring out what happened, but it sounds like the bill didn’t get blowed up.  Presumably there will be some non-Twitter clarity soon.

    [eta:] TheHill:

    A last-second hiccup occurred when Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) backed an amendment that extended a cap on on state and local tax deductions (SALT) that was a key feature of the 2017 Trump tax cut bill. It was seen as endangering the bill because the ceiling on the deduction hurts many households in blue states and districts.

    Seven Democrats ended up backing the amendment offered by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), but any damage was undone by the immediate passage of another amendment that replaced the SALT cap extension with a different revenue stream.

    As the vote on final passage took place, several Democrats offered hugs to Sinema, who had been involved in a number of negotiations over the bill in the last several days that some worried could topple the package.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  238. 238.

    JoyceH

    Yesterday on CNN, I saw an interviewer talking with folks at CPAC, asking who they supported for president in 2024. Almost all of them were Trumpers, natch. When one guy said he supported Trump, the interviewer asked him what about DeSantis. The fellow said dismissively, “Oh, DeSantis is okay, I guess”, and then added “but Trump is more abrasive.” So for the GOP base, “abrasive” is a selling point. Sounds like all those ‘Trump With A Smile’ wannabes (looking at you, Governor Fleece Vest) are out of luck.​

  239. 239.

    dnfree

    @Steeplejack: I have a Charge 4, previously had a Charge 2, and I really like it.  Sleep tracking seems pretty accurate compared to my memory of how it went, hourly at ten minutes before the hour it tells me to get up and move if I don’t have 250 steps in (you set the time range when this reminder applies, which is for instance 9 am to 9 m for me, but 7 am to 7 pm for my brother the early riser).  It links to my phone to tell me when I have  a call or a message, so my phone can always be silent.  It uses my phone for GPS when I walk, and it figures out if I’m riding a bike outside.

  240. 240.

    Another Scott

    @Gin & Tonic: Apparently TFG’s SALT cap at $10,000 was due to expire after 2025.

    So extending the cap was a bad thing for people with high state-and-local-taxes.

    It sounds like that cap will not be extended, because Thune’s amendment on that point was over-ridden by the subsequent amendment. I don’t know what it means for getting rid of it sooner or whatever. Maybe Brachiator can chime in.

    My understanding anyway!

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  241. 241.

    Ruckus

    @different-church-lady:

    I think it’s accurate that nobody wants to work.

    Most of us think/know that we have to be in some way productive to earn money to pay for food, clothing, housing, etc. But wants to work is not, in my mind the same as enjoying what one does for a living. And there have always been some who don’t actually work, they inherit enough money to never have to actually do any actual productive work. A nice job if you get to have it handed to you, success by genealogy. But the very vast majority of us have to be in some way productive. Physical and/or mental actual work where we produce some sort of product. And yes a mowed lawn is a product, stocking shelves is a product. Performing an appendectomy is a product in this concept. The vast majority of us earn a living by doing something that builds upon other’s doing something that creates something, be it a service or a physical new or repaired thing. We work, put out effort to meet a realistic (or sometimes not) goal. Some create, some use, some deconstruct, some destroy for reuse. And some suck and create nothing, not an idea, a physical new, a rebuilt or reconfigured whatever, or even an idea. I think of people from a certain family that we all dislike because they bring nothing to the table. Nothing but hate and theft of humanity. Not one thing positive, even for themselves.

  242. 242.

    Steeplejack

    @dnfree:

    Thanks for the info. I’ve pretty much decided to get the Charge 5 today. I do like that it can use my phone’s (presumably more accurate) GPS when I’m carrying it.

    Might use the sleep thing a few times to see if I am going into an apnea-based coma.

  243. 243.

    dnfree

    @Steeplejack:  note that you can set what your handedness is and what wrist you wear the Charge on, dominant or non-dominant. I’m left-handed and wear it on my right wrist, so the display is right-side-up for me. Probably also figures into other calculations.

  244. 244.

    Another Scott

    The Inflation Reduction Act that this Senate Democratic Majority has passed will endure as one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century:

    It reduces inflation, lowers costs, creates millions of good-paying jobs, and is the boldest climate package in U.S. history.

    — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 7, 2022

    Yes, yes it is.

    He’s following my brilliant advice: Take the win, celebrate it, and build on it.

    ;-)

    More, please.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  245. 245.

    JAFD

    Back when I was young, a group of jazz musicians from New Orleans went to Washington to see their Senator, Russell Long. Several countries among our Asian allies had very ‘loose’ copyright laws, and ‘bootleg’ copies made there were greatly cutting their income.

    Senator Long agreed with them, and arranged a meeting with Sen Hiram Fong, of Hawaii, as he was ‘closest to the problem’. On the way there, they met up with South Carolina’s Sen. William Spong, whom they invited along.

    Their porposal eventually was folded into the Copyright Act reform of 1976, but for a couple of years the Congress considered ‘The Long-Fong-Spong Hong Kong Song Act’.

  246. 246.

    James E Powell

    @Another Scott:

    How I hate this shit. Look, I know it’s all part of reality, but so is my hatred for it.

    I can’t recall when members of our team were so blatant with their “I’m going to make this bill worse & hurt my party’s chances in the next election solely for the benefit of my corporate sponsors” without even bothering to try to cover it with the usual “OMG the debt & deficit!!!” or “JOBS!” bullshit.

    Nevertheless, I will get over it by tomorrow because what else can we do?

  247. 247.

    terry chay

    @Josie: snark aside. The reason is that it would take 2/3 vote to be in there due to an obscure rule. Knowing the Democrats could not get 2/3 of the vote they had this voted on so it won’t be added and this take a “win” away from them.

    Yes, it is a bad look, but it helps if you understand that everything about the Republicans is about winning elections and not doing anything good for their constituents. That’s why, when they controlled all the branches of government all they could pass were tax cuts. They needed Democratic votes just to fo simple things like raise the cap.

  248. 248.

    Steeplejack

    @dnfree:

    Good to know. I’m left-handed but wear a watch on my left wrist. Well, actually I’m ambidextrous: eat and write left-handed, play sports and use tools (mostly) right-handed.

  249. 249.

    Another Scott

    Chuck’s burning up the Twitter machine.

    To the tens of millions of young Americans who have spent years marching, rallying, demanding that Congress act on climate change:

    THIS BILL IS FOR YOU!

    — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 7, 2022

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  250. 250.

    Another Scott

    Senate is now out of session until Sept. 6. Schumer teed up votes on judicial nominees for then

    — Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 7, 2022

    That seems to mean that the bill that passed the Senate is going to be the final bill (as things like health insurance rates impacted by this bill are going to be set around the middle of this month, so any changes have to be in effect before then). So the only mystery is the final total in the House, not any changes to the text.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  251. 251.

    Another Scott

    Gottheimer says in statement he will support recon deal even though it lacks SALT change.

    "If someone tries to change the tax rates on families in my District, I will insist that we restore the State and Local Tax Deduction. This legislation doesn’t" so he will support it.

    — Andy Duehren (@aduehren) August 7, 2022

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  252. 252.

    Another Scott

    RollCall says the House vote is scheduled for Friday. This seems to be a decent summary:

    An official Congressional Budget Office “score” wasn’t yet available. But based on preliminary information and previous estimates, the bill would spend more than $450 billion over 10 years on energy and climate programs and tax breaks, a three-year extension of more generous subsidies for purchasing health insurance on public exchanges, expanded Medicare prescription drug benefits and caps on monthly insulin copays.

    The package would be more than offset through tax increases on corporations, enhanced IRS tax enforcement, Medicare savings from allowing price negotiations directly with pharmaceutical companies on certain drugs and new taxes and fees on oil and gas companies. On net, the package is expected to reduce deficits by roughly $300 billion over a decade.

    […]

    Manchin identified three goals he was willing to pursue in those negotiations: lowering prescription drug costs; shoring up fossil fuels in the short term and transitioning to more clean energy sources in the long term; and restoring fairness to the tax code.

    Left off the table — although other Democrats kept prodding — were major party priorities like an expanded child tax credit, paid family and medical leave, universal pre-kindergarten, child care for kids under 6, higher education assistance, affordable housing, immigration relief and expansions of Medicaid and Medicare.

    […]

    Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., had a heavy hand shaping the tax package. She dashed many Democrats’ hopes early on of reversing the 2017 Republican tax law by raising corporate, individual and capital gains tax rates. In the final days of negotiations, Sinema also removed a provision to increase taxes on carried interest, a form of compensation for investment fund managers.

    The new taxes that made it into the Senate’s final bill are a 1 percent tax on what public companies spend on stock buybacks and a 15 percent minimum tax based on corporations’ income reported to shareholders. Neither tax was part of the more sprawling revenue title that won approval from the House’s tax-writing Ways and Means Committee last fall, which included multiple increases on the wealthiest Americans that were ultimately squeezed out.

    The minimum tax is aimed at preventing the largest corporations, those earning at least $1 billion, from paying very low effective tax rates. But the final version still offers a range of exemptions for purchases of machinery and other equipment; amortization of wireless spectrum assets; pension plan contributions; net operating losses; tax credits for research expenses, investments in renewable energy and low-income housing projects and more.

    In a final change negotiated shortly before passage, Democrats agreed to cut language that counted businesses that fall under a corporation’s umbrella for the tax, which companies argued would impact businesses private equity firms invest in.

    The package infuses the IRS with almost $80 billion over the next decade to enforce the tax code, fulfilling a Biden administration priority of bolstering the agency to go after tax cheats. Another top issue for Biden’s Treasury Department — raising the minimum tax on multinational companies’ foreign earnings to better align with an international pact to root out tax havens — didn’t make it in after global progress stalled.

    Health care

    The bill would finally achieve a cornerstone of Democrats’ longtime campaign platform to let Medicare negotiate prices directly with drug manufacturers, but under strict parameters. The final deal would only apply to a maximum of 20 high-cost drugs that lack competition.

    […]

    Democrats had kept Sen. Raphael Warnock’s proposed $35 a month cap on insulin costs in the bill without having it vetted by the Senate parliamentarian, daring Republicans to raise a budget point of order and take a roll call vote against a politically popular provision.

    Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., only partly obliged by raising a budget point of order about the cap under private health insurance plans. He raised no objection to the bill’s cap on insulin prices for Medicare patients.

    Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., proposed to waive the budget rules for the provision. “The cost of insulin has tripled over the last decade and it’s not like it’s three times better,” she said.

    Seven Republicans joined Democrats, but the 57-43 vote to waive budget rules still fell short of the 60 votes needed, and the $35 insulin cost cap for commercial health plans was removed.

    […]

    Additionally, the bill would cap annual out-of-pocket costs for Part D patients at $2,000, and offer free vaccines to seniors in the Medicare program.

    Extending more generous subsidies for insurance plans bought on the 2010 health law’s marketplaces became a priority in the weeks before a package came together, as Democrats realized that, absent action, notices of higher charges would go out just before November’s elections. They settled on a three-year extension to avoid another election-year dilemma in 2024.

    Energy and climate

    The centerpiece of the Democrats’ bill on climate change is a $270 billion package of tax credits to incentivize renewable electricity production, electric vehicles, energy efficiency improvements for homes and buildings, manufacturing to boost renewable energy supply chains and more.

    To maximize the benefit of some incentives, clean energy projects would have to pay the going rate for similar jobs in the local area and hire apprentices from government-run programs, which Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., touted as ensuring that “clean energy jobs will be good-paying jobs.” Subsidies for building facilities and buying equipment or other technology would have to source U.S.-made steel and iron.

    The credits offsetting what consumers pay for electric vehicles would have their own set of strings, tying access to whether enough key components are sourced from the U.S. or its allies, instead of China. Those Manchin-led mandates saw a flurry of pushback, with some automakers and Democrats concerned they were too strict.

    The bill’s other climate and energy provisions include $27 billion in grants to help attract private investment in “zero-emission technologies” such as rooftop solar; $20 billion in loans to establish new “clean vehicle manufacturing plants” and a fee on emissions of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas, from oil and gas sites. The measure would also reinstate the lapsed “Superfund” tax on oil producers and importers at a higher rate, with the money going to help clean up contaminated sites.

    To assuage Manchin, Schumer agreed to allow new lease sales for oil and gas development on up to 2 million acres offshore and 60 million on shore, over the next decade.

    Democrats from Western states secured a late $4 billion addition to the package for the Bureau of Reclamation to address drought.

    Climate modelers estimate the measure would drive down electricity prices and greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

    Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan research organization, estimates retail electricity costs would drop 5 to 7 percent and the average U.S. household would save $170 to $200 a year. Some independent experts say the bill would be the most significant climate bill in U.S. history, knocking down domestic emissions roughly 40 percent by 2030 and getting within “striking distance” of President Joe Biden’s 50 percent goal.

    […]

    “This is an enormous win for senior citizens and taxpayers. This is an enormous win for clean air. It’s an enormous win for being able to go after wealthy tax cheats,” Wyden said. “Pretty darn good package.”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  257. 257.

    Subsole

     

     

    @Soprano2: Is it just me? The press seems to have had a frigging blood vendetta against us since Carter. Specifically him. Like, he didn’t make them feel all masculine, so they shit on him, and that just became the pattern. That’s when the Dems got coded as the “female” party.

    Am I misremembering??

  259. 259.

    PaulB

    @Baud:  I thought they put SALT back in.

    They restored the status quo, which means that the deduction limit will expire in 2025, as originally written. Some House members were insistent that the limit needed to be removed immediately and they would not vote for the bill otherwise.

    So the original limit deduction was set to expire in 2025. The bill initially left that unchanged, but an amendment extended that expiration date by a year. Another amendment immediately overrode that, returning us to where we began.

    Josh Marshall, over at TPM, had an interesting take (subscription required) on the SALT deduction limit:

    The authors of the bill correctly believed that gutting the SALT tax was a direct attack on the (mostly) blue states with high-tax/high-service governance. …

    The aim of the SALT portion of the 2017 tax cut bill was to penalize states with the high-tax/high service model and over time, via the federal tax code, convert them into low-tax/low-service states. In other words, convert New Jersey into Alabama, Minnesota into South Carolina.

  262. 262.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Subsole: Right – and these are people who think getting compared to Mr. Rogers is a bad thing. What’s wrong with them?

  263. 263.

    Matt McIrvin

    The thing to remember when people bring up alternate unemployment measures like U-6 is that they always move in parallel.

  264. 264.

    Salty Sam

    @bbleh:    HEY! Enough with The Schumer boomer-groomer-doomer tumor rumor humor!

    ETA- beaten to the punch line by Subaru D.  I should have known…

Comments are closed.