OldGimletEye Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Just now, Tywin et al. said: Growing inequality is a huge factor, but I'd guess that one of the biggest reasons would be the recession. So many people lost everything. Now doubt that the financial crises was extremely damaging. There are plenty of reasons to think that financial crises are extremely damaging, given some of the academic work on the subject. This one reason, why I harp about the importance of Dodd Frank. And it is another reason why I have harped about the poor response to the financial crises, fueled in large part by fairy tales being told about "expansionary austerity", "the confidence fairy" and Swabian Housewives and such, pushed by, you guessed it, "The Party of Business". Making things even worse, "The Party of Business" decided to turn it's back on Milton Friedman. That is how ridiculous it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 This is how dictators talk: Quote Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax. (Clearly I'm still failing at this twitter thing) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altherion Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Here's an article which may presage a real struggle: Trump vs. the spooks: Quote President-elect Donald Trump, a harsh critic of U.S. intelligence agencies, is working with top advisers on a plan that would restructure and pare back the nation’s top spy agency, people familiar with the planning said. The move is prompted by his belief that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has become bloated and politicized, these people said. ... One of the people familiar with Mr. Trump’s planning said advisers also are working on a plan to restructure the Central Intelligence Agency, cutting back on staffing at its Virginia headquarters and pushing more people out into field posts around the world. The CIA declined to comment. The view from the Trump team is the intelligence world has become completely politicized,” said the individual, who is close to the Trump transition. “They all need to be slimmed down. The focus will be on restructuring the agencies and how they interact.” It'll be interesting to see if he can slim them down. If they decide to fight it with all available means, things could get really messy: these groups include world-class propaganda experts. If they choose to, for example, construct an impeachable offense for Trump, it will look quite real and will pass most fact-checks. On the other hand, immediate efforts to impeach Trump are the dream scenario for several heavily armed groups because they would effectively validate their worldview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempra Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 3 hours ago, Week said: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/01/congress-can-now-cut-the-pay-of-individual-civil-servants.html This does not seem ominous at all... Not a very excitng time to be a federal worker as Republicans are already planning to slash benefits. I guess they need to clear out space in the budget to overpay some federal contractors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 See Hobby Lobby. Terrible, oppressive President makes Christians include birth control in their Health Plans. Or the evil Sandra Fluke demands birth control from her Christian University Health plan... http://askanatheist.tv/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/oppressedchristians.jpg /Sekrit Mooslim, yo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKitttenGuard Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 2 hours ago, Altherion said: Here's an article which may presage a real struggle: Trump vs. the spooks: It'll be interesting to see if he can slim them down. If they decide to fight it with all available means, things could get really messy: these groups include world-class propaganda experts. If they choose to, for example, construct an impeachable offense for Trump, it will look quite real and will pass most fact-checks. On the other hand, immediate efforts to impeach Trump are the dream scenario for several heavily armed groups because they would effectively validate their worldview. One of my biggest concern is that Trump is looking to have what will be a private intelligence that is answerable to him. Too many people have forgotten that Cheney et al were not enamored with intelligence conculsion related to the support for the invasion. The parts of the CIA that assassinate, torture, and destabilize will be fine under Trump. The areas that do actual Intelligence work could be in trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Holy Shit. That was quick... http://www.fark.com/comments/9429988/Annnnnd-its-gone-Senate-Votes-51-48-to-repeal-Obamacare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrl6199 Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 20 minutes ago, TheKitttenGuard said: One of my biggest concern is that Trump is looking to have what will be a private intelligence that is answerable to him. Too many people have forgotten that Cheney et al were enamored with intelligence conculsion related to the support for the invasion. The parts of the CIA that assassinate, torture, and destabilize will be fine under Trump. The areas that do actual Intelligence work could be in trouble. Definitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publius Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 23 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said: Holy Shit. That was quick... http://www.fark.com/comments/9429988/Annnnnd-its-gone-Senate-Votes-51-48-to-repeal-Obamacare Pretty sure it hasn’t been repealed yet. I think this was just a vote to move on with the process. The US government was set up to move at a snails pace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altherion Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 2 minutes ago, publius said: Pretty sure it hasn’t been repealed yet. I think this was just a vote to move on with the process. The US government was set up to move at a snails pace. I'm not sure what this exact vote was, but the Senate by itself cannot do much. The same bill also needs to be passed by the House and then signed by the President so an actual repeal is definitely not happening for at least another two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerenthaClone Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Planned Parenthood is going to be defunded through reconciliation, so say goodbye to prenatal screenings, birth control, mammograms, and abortions for any but America's Chosen Few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publius Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 1 minute ago, Altherion said: I'm not sure what this exact vote was, but the Senate by itself cannot do much. The same bill also needs to be passed by the House and then signed by the President so an actual repeal is definitely not happening for at least another two weeks. The telling sign that it wasn’t repealed is that I went over to the Drudge Report and they don’t have anything linked to it. Had it been repealed tonight you’d want to wear a rain coat because it would have been a huge circle jerk over there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Quoting OldGimletEye from last thread: Quote Is everyone here being irrational, except for libertarians? Funniest thing you've said all year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 BREAKING NEWS!!!!! The Trump transition team, it is being reported on CNN, has told the House Appropriations Committee that they will be asking for funds to Build The Wall. $38 Billion was the price tag, wasn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Being reported now: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubby Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 [MOD] A thread derail has been deleted. [/MOD] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 1 hour ago, Altherion said: I'm not sure what this exact vote was, but the Senate by itself cannot do much. The same bill also needs to be passed by the House and then signed by the President so an actual repeal is definitely not happening for at least another two weeks. Usually I show my intro American Gov't students something like this, but there's always Schoolhouse Rock. Anyway, per CNN: Quote The 51-48 vote was a procedural motion to start debate on a budget resolution that Republicans hope will result in overhauling the Affordable Care Act, and came after President Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Mike Pence visited Capitol Hill to rally their respective parties. ... The Senate will now begin 50 hours of debate on the budget measure, which sets up repeal of much of Obamacare through a separate budget reconciliation bill. Debate on this budget resolution is expected to carry into next week, after which there will be a "vote-a-rama," when an open-ended number of amendments to the budget resolution will gets votes, creating an opportunity for Democrats to further slow down the process. The budget resolution is the first in a two-part process to repeal Obamacare. It instructs relevant congressional committees to craft a budget reconciliation bill, which will include language repealing major parts of the law. Congressional sources say the process of crafting the reconciliation bill could take weeks, and a vote on that bill may not take place until February or later. To clarify, reconciliation bills - which have to be related to the budget - are not subject to filibuster and is how the ACA was passed in the Senate to begin with after Scott Brown was elected. Anyway, since this post is already basically links as is, my take on the political consequences of the Republican Congress' forthcoming efforts to repeal Obamacare are reminiscent of this. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 2 hours ago, Fragile Bird said: BREAKING NEWS!!!!! The Trump transition team, it is being reported on CNN, has told the House Appropriations Committee that they will be asking for funds to Build The Wall. Strange. Last I checked, the Appropriations Committee were not Mexicans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 2 hours ago, Fragile Bird said: BREAKING NEWS!!!!! The Trump transition team, it is being reported on CNN, has told the House Appropriations Committee that they will be asking for funds to Build The Wall. $38 Billion was the price tag, wasn't it? HAHAHAHA. So not taxpayers will pay for the wall, on Trump won't because he doesn't pay taxes. Avoiding more bills.... I mean, how do his supporters continue to justify their support? This was the centerpiece of his entire campaign. It was obviously all bullshit, but these people believed it for whatever reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martell Spy Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Quote Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday voted against the budget resolution that begins the repeal process. His given reason was that he wasn’t happy with the spending levels it set. But he also came out this week against repealing before a replacement plan is ready. “I think it’s imperative that Republicans do a replacement simultaneous with repeal,” Paul said on Wednesday’s Morning Joe. “If they don’t, there are many health care analysts predicting bankruptcy for insurance companies and a massive insurance company bailout within the first six months of repeal.” Sounding like one of those snooty D.C. wonks that America loves to stuff inside a locker, he explained that repealing the individual mandate while leaving guaranteed coverage for those with pre-existing conditions on the books would accelerate the problem of adverse selection and throw insurance markets into chaos. The way the first step of the process is going doesn’t augur well for the rest of repeal, delay, and replace. “If Congress fails to vote on a replacement at the same time as repeal, the repealers risk assuming the blame for the continued unraveling of Obamacare,” Paul wrote in an op-ed. “For mark my words, Obamacare will continue to unravel and wreak havoc for years to come.” Will Republicans Ever Replace Obamacare? The bickering has begun. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/will_republicans_ever_replace_obamacare.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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