Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You

The whole thing is completely crazy. Biden continues to wildly overperform in every election since 2020. I’m sorry this election is boring for the mainstream media but removing an incumbent because he’s 3 years older than the guy he’s running against is madness. https://t.co/rpHDz2EzC6

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) September 15, 2023

The government is barreling toward a shutdown. House Republicans threaten to impeach the president — though some of them don’t see the evidence. A Republican senator has a one-man blockade on military promotions with no end in sight.

The Capitol is in crisis. And though Democrats control much of the government, Republican divisions are driving the chaos.

Each of the Hill’s messes will reach a peak this fall, starting with a Sept. 30 shutdown deadline. Each on its own is a headache; the collection of problems lawmakers have to juggle at once is almost unthinkable…

The Jan. 6 riot permanently chipped away at the two parties’ already-shaky ability to work together on basic tasks of governing. After two years of Democratic control, that decay is only accelerating in divided government as Congress confronts a convergence of challenges. And stopping a shutdown, navigating an impeachment inquiry that even some Republicans don’t support and solving a military crisis all require careful maneuvering.

And as Congress barrels toward all-out gridlock, Republicans are growing more frustrated about their lack of a cohesive plan to use their threadbare House majority to stare down President Joe Biden and Hill Democrats.

Summing up the lack of a GOP spending strategy, Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson opined: “It’s stupid.”…

House Democrats, meanwhile, are watching entirely from the sidelines as GOP hardliners warn that cross-aisle cooperation would hasten their attempts to oust McCarthy.

“They’ve taken a sip of majority martini and it has intoxicated some of them to the point where they are walking along, stumbling,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said of Republicans. “It’s not a good time.”…

A reminder that 49m jobs have been created in America since 1989 and a new age of globalization began.

47m of those, 96%, have been created under Democratic Presidents. Essentially all of them. pic.twitter.com/tyH3xJmbvL

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) September 14, 2023

That car cost 40% of median family income in 1955. Today, 40% of median family income is $37,000. You can buy a car that is in every aspect (safety, comfort, efficiency) superior to that car for under $30,000 (e.g., a Camry starts at $27K) pic.twitter.com/cxqUKzdjlZ

— Jeremy Horpedahl ????? (@jmhorp) September 16, 2023

STAND UP.#StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/9QQ5yR5J64

— UAW (@UAW) September 13, 2023

Monday Morning Open Thread: Gonna Be Another Crowded Week…Post + Comments (251)