US Politics: coughing for peace is like dying for the economy

[GrimTuesday]

Just now, DMC said:

If the GOP still enjoyed unified government, I would maybe be a bit worried about this.  While pushes for privatization have been around since, well, as long as I can remember, I've never seen anyone explain how they're getting around Article 1 Section 8.

They have the Supreme Court, they don't need to follow the parts of the Constitution that they find inconvenient to turning the US into a Randian wet dream. Obviously they don't have the House, but I can totally see them starting their messaging campaign in the next couple years, claiming that when the pressure was on, USPS collapsed under the weight of its bureaucracy and UPS and FedEx were able to weather the storm thanks to their corporate flexibility (or some shit like that). It will all be an obscene lie, but I bet if the Post Office has to be bailed out, that is what we are looking at in the near future.

[DMC]

16 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

They have the Supreme Court, they don't need to follow the parts of the Constitution that they find inconvenient to turning the US into a Randian wet dream.

Again, I have a hard time believing Roberts or even Gorsuch is going to ignore an enumerated power.  Hell, it'd undermine Thomas and Alito's self-imagined "legacies" as well.

[BigFatCoward]

While I maintain that the captain of the ship should have kept quiet, and that the military is a different environment and they have a different role and set of expectations. I do apologise for being a dick last night. I was drunk and arguing with a fucking moron about why social distancing is necessary in another board and allowed my anger to follow me here. 

I also get frustrated that the default position is that governmental departments are somehow deliberately fucking up, rather than it being a consequence of circumstances beyond their control.

[Luzifer's right hand]

1 minute ago, BigFatCoward said:

While I maintain that the captain of the ship should have kept quiet, and that the military is a different environment and they have a different role and set of expectations. I do apologise for being a dick last night. I was drunk and arguing with a fucking moron about why social distancing is necessary in another board and allowed my anger to follow me here. 

I also get frustrated that the default position is that governmental departments are somehow deliberately fucking up, rather than it being a consequence of circumstances beyond their control.

The USA Navy is mainly used for force projection and is not really required for the defense of the USA which makes it a lesser kind of "treason" in my book (nuclear weapons and the Air Force can keep the USA safe anyway).

[Guest]

2 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

While I maintain that the captain of the ship should have kept quiet, and that the military is a different environment and they have a different role and set of expectations. I do apologise for being a dick last night. I was drunk and arguing with a fucking moron about why social distancing is necessary in another board and allowed my anger to follow me here. 

I also get frustrated that the default position is that governmental departments are somehow deliberately fucking up, rather than it being a consequence of circumstances beyond their control.

Just to be clear, under normal circumstances I'd agree that "blame government" isn't the right solution. For me, this is more a protest against the assembly of liars, cheats and con-men and -women Trump has assembled to "handle this crisis" (Dr. Fauci notwithstanding). So therefore, specific to the circumstances at hand, not levied against government in general.

 

[DMC]

Biden tells Sanders he's pushing ahead with VP, cabinet picks

Quote

Biden told donors at a virtual fundraising event his campaign is to unveil a committee to vet potential vice presidential candidates “sometime in the middle of the month," and said he has held discussions with others about potential cabinet positions. [...]

“And so I am in the process and I actually had this discussion with Bernie. He’s a friend. We’re competitors. He’s a friend. I don’t want him to think I’m being presumptuous but you have to start now deciding who you’re going to have background checks done on as potential vice presidential candidates and it takes time,” Biden added.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

9 hours ago, DMC said:

Meh from what I recall of the reading from the Torah, for how long the passages were I could memorize that in a couple weeks, which is what most of my friends did anyway.

You really would only need to learn the first part unless you were in an ultra religious setting. And with the Hebrew to English cheat sheet, I'm sure you could get it down in like ten minutes. Proper Hebrew though, the way it's written in Israel? Probably not.

Quote

Of the 15-20 of them I went to growing up, we definitely weren't drinking Shirley temples.  Does remind me though, the last bar/bat mitzvah I went to was my ex's little sister's when I was about 20.  Other than my one friend growing up whose parents were millionaires, the reception was usually held in the synagogue.  But my ex was from Staten Island then moved out to Jersey.  Now, her dad is a stockbroker, so he pulled down probably $150k a year, but hardly any more (and usually less) than any of the friends' I attended growing up in suburban Rochester (Brighton). 

So when she asked me to go I was like "blah, this is gonna be boring, I have to be on my best behavior with her parents, and we gotta drive from DC to Jersey."  But goddamn, her sister's reception was in a hotel ballroom and had an awesome open bar.  Her mom got drunk and told me the whole thing cost them 25 grand.  I remember thinking "holy shit, I'm never gonna make a Jews being cheap joke again" (which of course I broke that vow probably minutes later).  Based on that experience, seemed like there were some big distinctions between NYC Jews and the ones I grew up with in upstate NY.

For mine, my parents rented out the entire JCC here and we ran roughshod over the place. Basketball. Swimming. Big party dance space. Some other shit. 

I had to play a role in my cousins' kid's Bat last year, and all I wanted to do is not drop the Torah. Her party was at the temple, but they tricked it out in between the post reception and when the party started. The cus is an exec at Apple, and I'm sure he dropped at least 50k on that. Pretty standard really, but then again I am aware that I grew up with .1%ers. 

And that's why I hate money and dream of a world designed around abundance, not scarcity. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 hours ago, DMC said:

Square.  To be clear, I'm not saying the kids were served alcohol - other than maybe a glass of Manischewitz - just that my friends and I were already at the point we were stealing from our parents' liquor cabinets and bringing flasks.

I don't recall any drinking outside of maybe getting to have a glass of wine, but I know second base was wide open at a few of them. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

5 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

While I maintain that the captain of the ship should have kept quiet, and that the military is a different environment and they have a different role and set of expectations. I do apologise for being a dick last night. I was drunk and arguing with a fucking moron about why social distancing is necessary in another board and allowed my anger to follow me here. 

I also get frustrated that the default position is that governmental departments are somehow deliberately fucking up, rather than it being a consequence of circumstances beyond their control.

1. We all make mistakes, and all you can do in the aftermath is own them. You're an adult, congratulations! Sadly our president is a spoiled, awful brat.

2. Separate the UK government from the US. I don't really know enough about the former to speak outside of generalities, but here in the US, yeah I do think the Republican party is essentially fucking up on purpose. They hate the government. They want to starve the beast, and I have no idea how on the back end of this they'll try to kill social programs when reality shows we need them now more than ever. But they will try.

And as I wrote this post and the last two, it sounds like one of my roommates is dying from coughing. Wunderbar!!!

 

[DMC]

21 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

And with the Hebrew to English cheat sheet, I'm sure you could get it down in like ten minutes. Proper Hebrew though, the way it's written in Israel? Probably not.

For mine, my parents rented out the entire JCC here and we ran roughshod over the place. Basketball. Swimming. Big party dance space. Some other shit. 

I had to play a role in my cousins' kid's Bat last year, and all I wanted to do is not drop the Torah. Her party was at the temple, but they tricked it out in between the post reception and when the party started. The cus is an exec at Apple, and I'm sure he dropped at least 50k on that. Pretty standard really, but then again I am aware that I grew up with .1%ers. 

Oh yeah I'd definitely need the cheat sheet.

I was a member of the JCC until I graduated HS.  My dad coached basketball there, in fact I think that was the first (slightly) organized basketball I played at ages, like, 6-8?  Definitely right before I got into the CYO circuit around 9-11.  And they did host (I think) annual dances there that I remember going to at least throughout Middle School.  But weirdly I don't think any of my friends had their reception there, and I'm pretty sure same goes with my brothers' friends (by the time my sister reached that age I was way too high to remember).  Guess my point is the Jewish community of my town really wasn't into making the whole thing like an opulent mini-wedding, even though they had the means.  No idea why, but kinda interesting to reflect on.

21 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I don't recall any drinking outside of maybe getting to have a glass of wine, but I know second base was wide open at a few of them. 

Well, it was pretty standard to sneak away and drink at them.  And yeah, they certainly were useful in terms of some of the first forays into young love in my community.  

[Larry of the Lawn]

Postal workers, service industry, 'unskilled' (aka essential) labor, all reveal the horriffic banality of heroism.

[Freshwater Spartan]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

Biden tells Sanders he's pushing ahead with VP, cabinet picks

 

As he should. I think he should go one step further and skip any future Democratic debates.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

10 minutes ago, DMC said:

Oh yeah I'd definitely need the cheat sheet.

I was a member of the JCC until I graduated HS.  My dad coached basketball there, in fact I think that was the first (slightly) organized basketball I played at ages, like, 6-8?  Definitely right before I got into the CYO circuit around 9-11.  And they did host (I think) annual dances there that I remember going to at least throughout Middle School.  But weirdly I don't think any of my friends had their reception there, and I'm pretty sure same goes with my brothers' friends (by the time my sister reached that age I was way too high to remember).  Guess my point is the Jewish community of my town really wasn't into making the whole thing like an opulent mini-wedding, even though they had the means.  No idea why, but kinda interesting to reflect on.

Well, it was pretty standard to sneak away and drink at them.  And yeah, they certainly were useful in terms of some of the first forays into young love in my community.  

I'm pretty sure the reason it was held there is because my grandfather was someone who mattered in the community. I don't recall any other ones held there, but my cousins had some sick ones too. I was pretty young, but one included a private tour of one of Chicago's major museums. Much of it doesn't stick, but I do remember getting to touch a T-Rex skull.

[DMC]

11 minutes ago, Freshwater Spartan said:

As he should. I think he should go one step further and skip any future Democratic debates.

Sounds like he's trying to put pressure on Sanders to drop out.  I love how he said "I don't want him to think I'm being presumptuous."  Uh, yeah dude, it's pretty fucking presumptuous to publicize you're vetting VP - and cabinet - picks before you've even secured the nomination.  Not saying it's a bad move, but that gave me a chuckle.

[Fragile Bird]

I watched very little of Trump’s press conference yesterday, because I watched Canadian news instead, but this morning I saw clips of Trump expressing outrage at states who are releasing prisoners. ‘Very bad people are being released’.  He said they were going to see if they can block states from doing that.

Is that in his power?

 

[DMC]

7 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Is that in his power?

No.  Also, his own AG is releasing federal prisoners.

[Larry of the Lawn]

10 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I watched very little of Trump’s press conference yesterday, because I watched Canadian news instead, but this morning I saw clips of Trump expressing outrage at states who are releasing prisoners. ‘Very bad people are being released’.  He said they were going to see if they can block states from doing that.

Is that in his power?

 

Can't see how it could be, he's got his own stockpile of incarcerated people.

[Zorral]

9 hours ago, GrimTuesday said:

They've been trying to privatize it for years (though given the breadth of your knowledge I am sure you are aware of that), I wouldn't be surprised if that is their supposed remedy for this situation. I can't imagine that there aren't numerous Republicans licking their chops at the prospect.

I have written about this for years in this forum and other places.  I've even published papers on this.  Even in the colonial eras the post office was a center for political patronage -- see, Benjamin Franklin.  The post office was the foundation of his big fortune. The post office had the license to print government documents of all kinds, as well as other information. They rethugs went to war on it in Nixon's time,  taking away it's cabinet agency designation in order to weaken it. The post office was a huge source of Dem patronage, because, due to Wilson's apartheid, most of the employees were Dems, and there were significant numbers of African Americans (like the Porters' Union) who worked for it because white postal workers would not go into black communities. Since Reagan the postal revenues don't go back to the Post Office, but go to the general federal funds.  They've taken away the obligation to print government dox and have farmed out all that tax payer funded information that was free to eveyone because of that,  to private, commercial entities that take the free info you paid for and now must pay them to see.

If it wasn't so tragic, it would be comic: one of the preposterous arguments made by Glorious Lost Causers that the CSA was a 'real government' and 'real nation' (it was neither) is "the confederacy had a post office! see! real government, real nation! Of course the post office system had been the result of the former Union, but nevermind, as consistency, intelligence and public good are the true enemies of tru kool aid drinkers.

 

[Rippounet]

Was working on this text (for my students) and realized it's actually quite informative... Could be posted in several threads really...

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/americas/2020-03-30/us-economy-uniquely-vulnerable-coronavirus

As crazy as it is, this article does help explain a bit both Trump and BoJo's choices in the crisis.

Quote

 

In contrast, countries with growth models of the Anglo-American variety, especially the United States, tend to have weaker states, lower taxes, and large financial sectors. They have highly flexible labor markets rather than large welfare states, which means they ultimately depend on wages to drive growth. Since those wages have been buying less and less over time, credit cards, student loans, and medical debts have become a standard part of U.S. household budgeting. When those household budgets shrink sharply, their debts are not compensated by the shock absorbers that countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany have in place. When systems such as the American one are hit by shocks, they tend to bail out their financial systems to keep credit flowing and let the real economy absorb the blow through unemployment and austerity policies. The assumption is that with no shock absorbers in place, prices and wages will adjust quickly, capital will be redeployed, and growth will return without the need for state intervention.

[...]

Because the model is designed to adjust through reduced wages and employment rather than increased welfare outlays, political leaders can contemplate temporary unemployment benefits for a banking-induced shock, but not semipermanent cash transfers—which is what the British are doing—and a near-total collapse in asset values. The British solution is too politically toxic to be anything other than a short-term expedient in the American context. So, once it became clear that—at least according to the Imperial College London model—the epidemiologically correct response was to put the economy in hibernation for several months, U.S. leaders started looking for other solutions.

One alternative solution, put forth by U.S. President Donald Trump but with proponents in many states, is to simply “restart the economy.” The direct cost of doing so, according to the Imperial College London model, could be the deaths of as many as 2.2 million Americans—or, as Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick bluntly suggested in a recent interview, old people need to die to save the economy.

 

Now, as a eurocommie, I'll reiterate my position that this entire crisis just highlights the ultimate failure, both moral and technical, of unregulated capitalism. I'm even starting to think it might lead to actual revolutions in thinking in the next couple of years.

However, this article also suggests that this crisis is actually destroying the US economy. As in, for good. If just half of this article is correct, then the US has definitely lost the n°1 spot to China.

Which might also raise several very tricky questions for the future of the world economy as a whole... As I understand it, China's ownership of US debt (about 1 trillion $) is supposed to protect us all from a full-blown trade war... But what if the US economy is beyond saving? Wouldn't dealing it the death blow become attractive to Xi Jinping? At the very least, Chinas has a lot of good cards in its hands right hand, and the US a lot of bad ones... This might explain why Trump (and Republicans) seem genuinely willing to let 1M to 2M elderly Americans die to save the economy... Maybe.

Not that any of this is good news for anyone. The US still is #1 militarily, and I've always thought that the US will nto be afraid to flex its military muscles to compensate for a shrinking economy.

TL;DR: buckle up, this might just be the beginning.

 

[Ran]

The news broke late Friday evening, because Trump sent his letter at like 10PM to the committees -- he has fired Inspector General Atkinson, the one who (entirely properly) let the inteligence committees know that a whistleblower report had been made and had not been properly forwarded to them as was required by law. Cowardice and corruption, hand in hand.... and per the NY Times, Trump is likely to try and remove other "Deep State" inspector generals who have done nothing wrong besides execute their jobs fairly and faithfully ... but since Trump does neither of these things, they are now his enemies.

Disgusting, really, to use the pandemic crisis to cover one of the most corrupt things he's done yet.