US Politics: Winning is Easy, Governing is Harder

[DMC]

Gary Peters announced as the new DSCC chair (the caucus' campaign arm).  You mean the guy who just won reelection by the skin of his teeth and was the only Dem incumbent (and serious challenger for that matter) that couldn't significantly out-raise his opponent?  Hohkay...

[IheartIheartTesla]

Nearly all the attack ads John James ran against Gary Peters called him 'the invisible man' for not doing much when in the Senate. A better way to raise his profile is to put him in some high profile committees, but yeah, I 'd agree that DSCC chair aint it. You need a chance to bring some pork into Michigan.

[DMC]

To be fair I don't think he got the job as any attempt to boost his electoral prospects.  That'd be pretty silly.  And the post shouldn't affect his committee assignments - he's in line to be Homeland Security chair, which should give him an opportunity at least in terms of a boost in exposure.

[DMC]

So now trading platforms are restricting or outright cutting off trading of Gamestop and AMC.  The nakedly absurd unfairness of this move has managed to do the impossible and unite our polarized nation:

Quote

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted: "This is unacceptable. We now need to know more about Robinhood’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit. As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I’d support a hearing if necessary."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) responded, "Fully agree," to Ocasio Cortez's tweet.

Donald Trump Jr., who is not elected but remains a popular figure within his father's base, tweeted: "It took less than a day for big tech, big government and the corporate media to spring into action and begin colluding to protect their hedge fund buddies on Wall Street. This is what a rigged system looks like, folks!"

 

[GrimTuesday]

6 minutes ago, DMC said:

So now trading platforms are restricting or outright cutting off trading of Gamestop and AMC.  The nakedly absurd unfairness of this move has managed to do the impossible and unite our polarized nation:

 

AOC just said thanks but please fuck off and die.

Won't someone think of the unity?

[polishgenius]

AOC is the best

[DMC]

Looks like all the organizing resolution mishegoss is about to be resolved:

Quote

“I think it’s done,” Thune said on Thursday morning. “They were trying to get consent to do it yesterday but it didn’t come together. Hopefully today.” [...]

And Schumer and McConnell have been discussing how to allow more amendments and not block them, a key part of the agreement two decades ago. Schumer said this week he hopes the Senate has an open process.

Not thrilled about the second graph in terms of giving McConnell unfettered ability to attach amendments and force undesirable votes (as Fez warned of a few days ago).

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

13 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

AOC just said thanks but please fuck off and die.

Won't someone think of the unity?

NFL fans literally booed unity during the opening game of the season.

[GrimTuesday]

Just now, Tywin et al. said:

NFL fans literally booed unity during the opening game of the season.

Look man, that is all in the past, we have to ignore the fact that these people have actively been doing what they can to deprive people of their rights, entrench corporate serfdom, and and even tried to overthrow the government, but the most important thing is that we pretend that none of that ever happened and just assume that the people who have never acted in good faith are now acting in good faith.

[Myshkin]

19 minutes ago, DMC said:

So now trading platforms are restricting or outright cutting off trading of Gamestop and AMC.  The nakedly absurd unfairness of this move has managed to do the impossible and unite our polarized nation:

 

Listen pal, how would you feel if some filthy plebeian, blatantly ignoring the black tie dress code, waltzed in to your favorite Monte Carlo casino, guzzled down a Bud Lite, and wiped you out at the Baccarat table? I bet you wouldn’t hesitate to call in the gendarmes!

[Zorral]

AOC said something much better and smarter than "fuck off and die."  And she doesn't tell people to die in the first place, particularly it seems since she came so close to being killed / dying herself so recently

[Fez]

32 minutes ago, DMC said:

So now trading platforms are restricting or outright cutting off trading of Gamestop and AMC.  The nakedly absurd unfairness of this move has managed to do the impossible and unite our polarized nation:

I didn't think there was going to be any regulatory action in response to the Gamestop stuff, but now I'm not so sure. Making it smart politics for almost the entire political spectrum to treat you as a punching bag is basically the only surefire way left to overcome gridlock, and old-school corporate influence in DC has never been lower. I'm still not sure there will be enough agreement over what the response should be Congress to act, but I wouldn't rule it out anymore (or for the SEC to step in with new restrictions on online brokerages).

 

16 minutes ago, DMC said:

Looks like all the organizing resolution mishegoss is about to be resolved:

Not thrilled about the second graph in terms of giving McConnell unfettered ability to attach amendments and force undesirable votes (as Fez warned of a few days ago).

The things McConnell does are almost always so obvious, and yet they almost always work too (except the rare times he's actually trying to pass a bill, he's not so good that). It is incredibly frustrating.

[Fragile Bird]

19 minutes ago, DMC said:

So now trading platforms are restricting or outright cutting off trading of Gamestop and AMC.  The nakedly absurd unfairness of this move has managed to do the impossible and unite our polarized nation:

 

I don't know how to do the quote within the quote thing, but Don Jr. is full of shit, as we all know. Hedge funds have lost billions, and all that money got transferred to the people doing the short squeeze, including other hedge funds. More hedge funds will lose more billions before this is all over.

As for Robin Hood and other platforms restricting trades, those traders can go elsewhere and trade. We all know GameStop shares are going to come back down, and when it does there's going to be a class action lawsuit against Robin Hood et al. Or maybe they all have arbitration clauses in their terms of agreement, so the cases will all go to arbitration instead. Everyone can still sell their shares and take their money and buy them elsewhere. However, I bet many shares were bought on margin and as the share price has gone up, more shares were bought on margin. When the price falls there will be margin calls and these firms will have to sue a lot of people to get their money, which happened back in the tech crash and in 2008. And in the spring last year.

Someone on CNBC today was talking about how Wall Street will always change the rules, though, when Wall Street sees danger. 100 years ago there was a guy named Saunders who owned a chain of grocery stores called Piggly Wiggly. He basically invented the self-serve grocery store. The idea was popular and he expanded rapidly, too rapidly, and the short sellers decided to go after him. He decided he'd teach them a lesson and borrowed millions and bought almost all the shares on the market, 98%, and driving the price up. Literally just before all the short sellers were going to go bankrupt they got the stock exchange to change the rules, giving them an extension of time to cover their short positions and dropping the price of the stock. It was Saunders who went bankrupt instead.

https://junto.investments/short-squeezes-and-market-corners/

[DMC]

6 minutes ago, Fez said:

I'm still not sure there will be enough agreement over what the response should be Congress to act, but I wouldn't rule it out anymore (or for the SEC to step in with new restrictions on online brokerages).

Yeah I think the most to realistically hope for is some political theater hearings, which is basically what AOC called for.

7 minutes ago, Fez said:

The things McConnell does are almost always so obvious, and yet they almost always work too (except the rare times he's actually trying to pass a bill, he's not so good that). It is incredibly frustrating.

Indeed.

[Guy Kilmore]

10 minutes ago, Fez said:

I didn't think there was going to be any regulatory action in response to the Gamestop stuff, but now I'm not so sure. Making it smart politics for almost the entire political spectrum to treat you as a punching bag is basically the only surefire way left to overcome gridlock, and old-school corporate influence in DC has never been lower. I'm still not sure there will be enough agreement over what the response should be Congress to act, but I wouldn't rule it out anymore (or for the SEC to step in with new restrictions on online brokerages).

 

The things McConnell does are almost always so obvious, and yet they almost always work too (except the rare times he's actually trying to pass a bill, he's not so good that). It is incredibly frustrating.

That is because McConnell doesn't care about actually governing and right now he is rewarded for that.  I would say the government not working, works to his benefit.  I don't think he is a mastermind, he is just masterful at not giving a "fuck" about how he is being perceived.

[GrimTuesday]

But for real though, this is classic fucking class warfare. This is evident from both how the media has covered it, and how the financial apparatus has responded by clamping down on retail investors. The sooner people wake up to the fact that class is one of the most defining elements of our society and that we need class solidarity, the better.

Was about to hit submit when I ran across this. They're just going mask off.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

32 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

Look man, that is all in the past, we have to ignore the fact that these people have actively been doing what they can to deprive people of their rights, entrench corporate serfdom, and and even tried to overthrow the government, but the most important thing is that we pretend that none of that ever happened and just assume that the people who have never acted in good faith are now acting in good faith.

Some of them, I assume, are good people too, so the past is all disco baby.

[Fez]

18 minutes ago, Guy Kilmore said:

That is because McConnell doesn't care about actually governing and right now he is rewarded for that.  I would say the government not working, works to his benefit.  I don't think he is a mastermind, he is just masterful at not giving a "fuck" about how he is being perceived.

I agree that he cares about very few aspects of the federal government, but I don't think you're giving him enough credit either. He is extremely good, as both Majority and Minority Leader, at finding the sweet spot of inflicting the most pain possible on Democrats before they would seriously retaliate. He's also been skilled at keeping his caucus mostly unified, and at understanding which aspects of our political system don't really matter and which ones do.

[Fragile Bird]

18 minutes ago, GrimTuesday said:

But for real though, this is classic fucking class warfare. This is evident from both how the media has covered it, and how the financial apparatus has responded by clamping down on retail investors. The sooner people wake up to the fact that class is one of the most defining elements of our society and that we need class solidarity, the better.

Was about to hit submit when I ran across this. They're just going mask off.

 

I watched that entire interview live and the name of Bernie Sanders went by in such a microsecond I didn't even catch it. It's a very interesting interview from someone with decades of experience. His point is the same one I made yesterday, that GameStop (which he doesn't own and has never owned) isn't worth $300 or $200 or $100 or even $50. He voted for Biden, even though he's worried that a sharp rise in taxes is going to hurt innovation and investment.

His point is he doesn't mind paying 50% to the government, but there are a lot of states where residents now pay 50% or more in taxes, and adding to that is going to cause problems. That's the same thing many of my American friends say on Facebook. A lot of Americans point at Canada and say "do you want to pay the kind of taxes they pay?" and they answer back "we already do and we don't have health care".

[Fez]

In non-Gamestop news, the filibuster on Mayorkas' DHS nomination was defeated today 55-42. There were 6 Republicans who voted with the Democrats; 5 are pretty much who you'd expect, but the 6th was Dan Sullivan. I don't know of any Mayorkas connection to Alaska, and I don't know of Dan Sullivan having any real principles; so it makes me assume that Sullivan is hoping that playing nice with the Biden administration, alongside Murkowski, he can get something important for the state. Like stemming too much role back of Trump's fuckery expanding oil and gas permits.