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Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Recap: 28 September, 2021

  

Is it just me? 

Am I the only one sick and tired of being held hostage every year? 

A bunch of spoiled miserable children pretending to be Senators and Representatives threatening us, threatening America, threatening the world, with ruin and disaster?

Am I the only one sick of this bullshit? 

Any elected official who says they intend to let America default on its financial obligations for some political point is too goddamn irresponsible to be in office. Hell, they ought to be in prison.

If some Taliban Jihadi said they had the means and intent and were prepared to deliberately crash the global economy and bankrupt the United States we'd call that guy a terrorist and send in the drones. 

Hell, they write movies starring Bruce Willis about this sort of thing and in those stories, the guy trying to take down the US financial system isn't the goddamn hero. Maybe we need to send Bruce Willis to Washington. 

Mitch McConnell is a fucking terrorist. 

No, that's not hyperbole. McConnell is literally threatening every single American -- and lot of the world -- with ruin and disaster. That's terrorism by definition. 

Indeed, if McConnell and his Republican pals succeed in crashing the US economy again and defaulting on America's loans, people are going to die. These son of a bitches are no different than any America-hating Al Qaida terrorist motivated by miserable politics and hate-filled religion to hurt just as many of us as they can in the name of their fanatical ideology.


This isn't about "when they need to borrow money."

This is about money already borrowed and about bills that are already due. 

This is about money Republicans under Trump have already spent. 

Trump told you he was going to build a Wall across border and make Mexico pay for it. Instead, we are the ones who ended up paying for that folly. 

Trump told you he "rebuilt" the military. Where did you think all that money for all those new ships and fighter jets and nuclear weapons came from? I mean, we didn't have it, right? Those trillions and trillions of dollars weren't just laying around in a vault somewhere unused. We had to borrow it. Trump borrowed it. Republicans borrowed it. Congress borrowed it. 

Trump told you he was going to teach China a lesson and he started a trade war and then had to pay farmers for the crops they could no longer sell. Where do you think that money came from? Trump told you he was collecting billions in new tariffs, did you believe him? Did you? So, where is that money?

Trump and Republicans cut taxes on the wealthiest of America, the billionaires and multi-millionaires,. They slashed taxes on massive corporations that rake in billions every year. Trump looked you right in the eye and lied, he told you that profits and income taxes on new jobs would not only pay for it but make it so America would be awash in cash. You know what happened? Predictably those billionaires pocketed the money and those corporations bought back their stock and they all took their profits and stashed them overseas and Trump just fucked us all yet again. And now that bill is due. 

I could go on here, down through the budget line by line but why bother? 

If we scrapped every bit of Biden's Build Back Better plan and just carried on as Trump left things, we'd STILL HAVE TO RAISE THE DEBT CEILING. 

The simple truth of the matter is that this is about money we've already spent. Trillions of dollars that Republicans rubberstamped under Trump, just as they did under both Bush Senior and Junior and under Reagan.  

Republicans have no trouble raising the debt ceiling and paying the bills when it's a Republican president buying more guns and missiles and nuclear bombs. 

But when it comes to the things that would most directly improve the quality of every American's life and put the country on a path to a decent constantly improving future, things like infrastructure, healthcare, energy, the environment, transportation, technology, education, good jobs and a living wage,  social programs, etc, then suddenly they're all about crashing the economy and holding us all hostage. 

When Trump spent all this money, Republicans justified it by saying that's why Americans elected him. 

Well, Americans threw him out of office and elected Joe Biden and now Republicans are suddenly saying the will of the people somehow doesn't matter and so they are right now engaged in extortion. Literally extortion. And that's the best thing you can say about it. 

Mitch McConnell is no different from any mob enforcer threatening to burn down your house unless you pay up. 

They are literally right now threatening the whole world.


Republicans like to tell the world that we don't negotiate with terrorists. 


Of course, like most everything else these people say, that's a lie. 

We do negotiate with terrorists. Hell, Trump invited them to Camp David. In fact, terrorists about about the only people we do negotiate with these days. 

Still, maybe it's time to draw a line in the sand. Stop negotiating with these particular terrorists. 

Maybe it's time for Joe Biden to take them at their word. 

If Republicans won't raise the debt ceiling and Democrats don't have the balls to override that opposition, then maybe it's time for Joe Biden to stop fucking around with these people. 

All of them. 

America has to pay its bills. 

The global economy is already fragile. If we default on our obligations, we could see another global financial disaster -- and this is where I remind you that we have not yet fully recovered from the last one. 

America has to pay its bills. 

Now, when you have bills to pay and you don't have enough income or credit, you have to make some cuts. 

So start cutting. 

The president has direct control over certain expenditures -- or rather programs that spend money, which ultimately is the same thing. 

Start cutting. Start with the Defense Budget. 

Cut the F-35. Kill it. 

Cut all new nuclear carrier construction. 

Cut it all. No new weapons. And so on. Start at the top and work your way down with the red pen until the DoD expenditures are a quarter what they are now. 

Do what can be done via executive action. 

Then take that money and pay the goddamn bills. 

Mitch McConnell threatens us? Then kill the programs Republicans hold most dear. Gut them. Shut 'em down. And then take that money and pay the bills Republicans ran up. 

And don't tell me you can't, because Donald Trump did exactly that when he wanted money to pay for his wall and neither Democrats nor the Mexicans wouldn't give it to him. Republicans are the ones who set this precedent and thought is was a spiffy idea. 

Chicken, home, roost, etc. Suck it, Mitch. 

Hyperbole? 

Maybe. 


Here's a competing idea. Don't say I don't show both sides. 



See you tomorrow. 

61 comments:

  1. You are absolutely right on every single count and I wish with all my heart that you were not.

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    1. It happens every time the party in power changes from the Republicans to the Democrats the republicans start complaining about the debt and spending. I have an idea. The USA spends seven times more on defense than then the next seven countries. I think we need that for home issues. You are as usual 💯 right , Jim.

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  2. Every freaking time they do not have the White House they pull this.
    The Dems have to go postal and get the damn job done.
    Great summary, as usual.

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  3. My technologically impaired self us having difficulty leaving a comment.
    I too am over this hostage situation. The GQP pull the same thing time and time again. The Dems have to go postal and get the damn job done.
    Love thus format and alway appreciate your thoughts.

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    1. Haven’t heard “go postal” in a long long time. lol. Congrats to USPS for lowering the murderous insanity level in the organization. 😀

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    2. Don't worry; DeJoy is working on changing it back.

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  4. Nope. It isn't just you, Jim. Rest assured that it's not.

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  5. The Treasury has the statutory ability to issue platinum coinage in any amount (the total value of paper currency is capped at $300 million, for some reason). So, just go ahead and mint a $1 trillion platinum coin and stick it in Fort Knox. Hell, mint 2 for future use. Then use that to pay off the debt.

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    1. Like gold, platinum has a market value. You can stamp it $2T, but if everyone can see it's an ounce of platinum, then they all know it's worth $945 (spot market 09/28/21). You might as well write it on some US Treasury Bonds, and skip the problems of designing a coin, choosing a design, minting it, and shipping it to FTK.

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    2. You don't seem to understand what you're talking about. Ever heard of seigniorage? https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/seigniorage.asp The point is to create money not take on more debt.

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    3. Just about every coin for legal tender has a face value that's more than the value of the metal in the coin. If they didn't, people would melt down the coins for the metal value.

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    4. Yes, a trillion dollar coin would only be worth the 900$ metal it is made of because everyone knows that 100$ bill has 100 time more "paper" in it than a one dollar bill

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  6. great essay. i am sick of this - every single year.

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  7. Nope, you aren’t the only one. We vote in a halfway decent president and we’re still being held hostage by the GOP, the anti-vaxxers, trumpicans and asshole Democrats. Enough already.

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  8. If the Republicans want to filibuster to prevent raising the debt ceiling, then bring back the "talking filibuster" and see which one of them wants to be the one on the senate floor speaking at the moment the default happens.

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    1. I completely agree. Bring back the talking filibuster and make those senators WORK for their ability to block.

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  9. I have a Federal job. I'm tired of wondering if we're going to shut down around this time every year. I'm tired of all the BS, but this always stresses me out every year.

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    1. It's the Federal contract employees who really suffered the last shutdown. When the government employees went back to work they were retroactively paid for the days they were off. Not so for many of the contractors. These people were shafted.

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  10. Someone really doesn't understand how much illegal immigrants are not costing us.

    Sometimes there really is just one side.

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    Replies
    1. They also don't realize that all the stuff they listed DOES cost us. Deporting people costs money.

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  11. Just look at what happened to Stocks just Today. Fuckers will Crash the Economy like GW did.

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  12. You are not alone. I'd like to see the Democratic party actually stand up and fight back instead of playing nice. We the People might suffer a bit for that, but not even close to the degree the Republicans are inflicting to suck up to the out-of-control capitalists lining McConnell's, et al pockets.

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  13. I keep wondering how stupid the people of KY are to keep electing McConnell. He's the worst.

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    1. This is what fascinates me. What is going on, there? Are they really voting for him, or is something else happening?

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    2. I live here and a lot of it is tribalism and the man has literally been around forever. He's the only politician some of them have ever known in that position.

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  14. If we kicked out all the undocumented immigrants, how would that save trillions? I know it is a comment on your tweet, but how do people think that makes sense?

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    1. You assume people like Karen actually think. They don't, they just like to regurgitate the talking points from Fox or OAN and see what sticks.

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    2. If we kicked out all the undocumented immigrants, it would bring total ruin to the economy. Millions of jobs would go unfilled, particularly destroying our agricultural and construction industries. Hundreds of thousands of vacant houses and apartments would create a crash of the housing market that would make the last one look like a hiccup. Vacant apartments and rentals would drive down rental prices so far that landlords would be underwater and unable to find tenants. Same thing with house sale prices. Most of the homeowners in the country would find themselves underwater. And this doesn't even get into all the assorted other businesses that depend on immigrants for their sales.

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  15. For Republicans, Chaos Is the Strategy

    https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/for-republicans-chaos-is-the-strategy

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  16. The Karen who yelled at you needs to get an education and stop kissing the orange menace's ass. Yes, start by cutting the military's bloated budget, although I'm waiting for the next republican to start a war somewhere. Gotta keep Haliburton, Northrup, Lockheed et al in business.

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  17. I am so sick of this ... every freaking year. My husband is retired military and has a civil service job ... every year we go the stress of government shutdown
    threat.

    Republicans are low life hypocrites but they stick to together. They will all go down with the ship together.
    Democrats are too busy fighting with each other to get anything done.
    I'm sick to death of all of them.

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  18. Brain-dead one-issue trolls are the worst. Everything is seen through so narrow a lens; blindness results.

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  19. I've been fed up to the eyeballs for years. I started planning to "live with less" back when Reagan was in office. I started being openly "opinionated" following the passage of The Patriot Act. Now, I'm just old and fed up. We've had the wherewithal to do better by the regular citizens and instead we've been robbed again and again.

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  20. As a government employee, I can definitely agree with everything you have said. I am so tired of being held hostage every damned year. I am tired of not spending any money at all other than bills and food starting at least 1 month before the end of the fiscal year when this crap starts again. I am tired of dealing with short term Continuing Resolutions and going through the continuous fear of 'what next?'. I'm so tired of not being able to buy my husband a birthday or Christmas present year after damned year because his birthday falls in December when Congress really loves to screw us over. I'm just tired, Jim - so damned tired.

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  21. Extortion, thy name is Mr. McConnell. Also this breaking our great economic engine is just the quickest way to pare down all weez "entitlement"-receivers that they complained about yesterday during debait on the Senate floor... just shut us down by a gov't shutdown since they can't do it as fast as the Conserva-conscienceless would have it done by the regular legislative routes.

    This column today is a soliloquy worthy of what was needed to call out the depth and ignominy of the malfeasance being committed by some of the Senators charged with the most august duties that a nation can ask of it's law makers.

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  22. I am a political dummy, so please bear with me. My only comment is; it's time for term limits!! I am sick and tired of these "lifers" screwing us just because they can. Bet they have a good laugh when they go to their "meetings?", as well as try to think of other ways to screw us, while they all sit in their nice homes, have a job with extreme and excessive (paid for by us) Bennies, which no one else gets,uh....don't ya think it's time for a changing of the guards??

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  23. You are my fucking hero. Please send this essay to Biden.

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  24. I feel the strong urge to punch something or someone. Where is MCConnell when I need him?

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  25. Even though I heartily agree the programs should be cut, I'm a little concerned that if Biden cut the programs you suggest, it would be politically disastrous for him. McConnell and the rest would start screaming that he was weak on defense, blah blah blah. And the only people who would listen to the response (that the GOP was refusing to allow the money to be spent) would be those of us who already know the GOP are terrorists.

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  26. Unfortunately, Biden can't cut the program Repugnants love most. Our President doesn't have the power to stop the tax cuts Repugnants passed - which have added a lot to our debt.

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  27. Now, we need to get all these horrible truths out to the voting public before 2022 because, if history proves true again, Republicans will have majorities in the House and Senate, at which point we will all become hostages.

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  28. Republicans do NOT care about anything but themselves and the 1%. They don't care if the global economy is trashed as long as the fight tooth and nail to keep Biden and Democrats from achieving a single thing. Cut every program tRump and Republicans started. Cut their pensions and heath care. We can't afford them anymore. Cut their security details, but only for republicans, we can't afford it. This BS makes me sick.

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  29. Mitch and ilk are running out the clock, attempting to use this issue to distract from the Voting Rights bill...wait for it...so that Republican gerrymandering of new voting districts will be in place for the 2022 midterms. As a resident of NC, I can attest that established district boundaries are just about impossible to challenge in court, once the election season begins.

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  30. Jim, I immediately shared this to my FB page because your writing mirrors my opinion. McConnell is a rabid dog who is chained to the houses of business, power and accumulating wealth.The orange liar is his creature and their ignorant followers are actively destroying our nation.

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  31. Love that that reply to your tweet came from a KKKaren.

    Seriously, I want to see Biden push back HARD against McConnell and his thug brethren.

    Cutting Defense spending as much as you suggested might just give Turtle Man and many of his gang of goons that nice big stroke we’ve been wishing on each of them, too - BONUS!

    Sickens me to watch all this insanity from next door in Canuckistan. Will the super-slo-mo train wreck ever end?

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  32. The Pentagon budget for this year is twice what the infrastructure investment would be this year. The infrastructure investment is 3.5 trillion ~ with a "t" ~ over the next ten years; 350 billion, dollars per year. The Pentagon budget for this year is 703 billion dollars, twice the per year infrastructure investments over the next ten years; if applied evenly would be 7 trillion with a "t". Nothing fuzzy about it.

    Bozos are sniffing glue if they think they'll stop the migration.

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  33. I love your idea with every fiber of my being. Unfortunately Dems, even our President (who--let me make VERRRRRRRY CLEAR here--is an INFINITY of infinities better than that lying bastard who defiled the People's House from 2016-2020) don't have the sand to actually DO it. But oh, how I wish they did.

    I would LOVE to hear Mitch squealing like a pig as his precious programs were chopped into a Cobb salad--with no dressing. That would be sweet.

    As for Capital-Letters KKKaren, I have no response, because none is needed. Idiocy like that speaks for itself.

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  34. Christopher Browning, one of America’s most eminent and well-respected historians of the Holocaust, wrote in 2018 in the NY Review of Books that "If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell.”

    Nuff said.

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  35. Congress does not have the power to set a debt ceiling or default on our debts.

    The Treasury could just continue selling bonds and sending checks to pay our bills, and McConnell would then have to challenge it in courts and request an injunction... and he'd lose, because article 1 gives congress the power to borrow -- but not to default.

    The 14th Amendment denies anyone, including Congress, the power to default on the debt or ruin the credit of the United States.

    The Democrats are scared to wield their power because the country sees how the gop abuses theirs, and dems don't want to risk support. even though I predict if they did, it would encourage more to vote dem.

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  36. No, you are not the only one sick of this bullshit. Every goddamn year it seems like we have to watch this song and dance. Every year the fucking Republicans hold the country hostage. I cannot even make any ascertations if more money was directed to programs and agencies that actually help people, their base would start to see what worthless POSes their representatives and senators are. Because their base doesn't care about anything except "owning the libs" and will continue to vote for awful people. How Mitch has gone on for so long is proof of that. Everytime he opens his fucking mouth I'm overwhelmed with the urge to punch him in it.

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  37. Karen (ha) sounds a little unhinged herself.

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  38. I think you give Mitch McConnell too much credit. Say what you want about terrorists, but at least when they destroy people's lives they do it for a cause. Mitch doesn't have a cause. The only thing he cares about is Mitch McConnell. It's not that the GOP will rubber-stamp spending on guns and missles, but not infrastructure. The policies don't matter; it's simply a matter of which party controls the White House. Mitch thinks that brinksmanship benefits himself more than Biden. That's all.

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  39. We need small bills, not omnibus bills that no one understands. One thing at a time. Republicans will be required to tell their people why they would not vote for a clear, concise bill. Get rid of lobbying. Pretend they care about people instead of building their own wealth. How dare they try to mess up the debt ceiling bill and destroy peoples' lives? I have had it with both parties, but I hate that Democrats are giving McConnell such nice Christmas presents.

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  40. I rarely comment, but I eagerly look forward to your every post. I love coming here for your long form work. You're brilliant.

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  41. I think our side should be really careful in exactly what it cuts in the military budget. We seem to be headed into a civil war or coup in the next few months to years, so you don't want to tick those folks off. Big boondoggle projects are probably safe to cut, but if anything pay and benefits should probably go up.

    In the year after the Praetorian Guard got rid of Nero, there were two folks who tried to succeed him but didn't last long, largely because the Praetorian Guard didn't stay loyal to them either. Then they had Vespasian, who succeeded and remained emperor for a good while. They started calling it the Year of the Four Emperors.

    The Praetorian Guard got three raises that year. Maybe if there had been four, and Nero had given them a preemptive raise, it would never have become a year of four emperors.

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  42. You're definitely not the only one sick and tired of this petulant, hazardous bullshit that comes round every time there's even a remote chance of even one person being fed or housed or healed without every toxic segment of our capitalistic hell dimension getting an exploitative bite or a kick or a sneer out of them.

    I have just been too exhausted to talk about it, surrounded as I am by anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers and conspiracy theorists and damned liars who insist that "Biden wants the IRS to check everyone who has more than $600 in their bank accounts" and that refusing to take pandemic precautions hurts no one but themselves.

    Thank you for articulating so many of these points so well.

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