Trump Morphed Into a Mini Andrew Yang
The political bedfellows have never been stranger.
Yesterday, Trump threatened to to Veto the bipartisan package. One of his reasons was the myriad of unrelated attachments.
The other was Trump wanted to send out blanket checks, not of $600 but $2,000.
AOC Hops on the Bandwagon
I’m in. Whaddya say, Mitch? Let’s not get bogged down with ideological offsets and unrelated items and just DO THIS! The American people deserve it. @senatemajldr https://t.co/L1b5rUkc7h
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 23, 2020
Free Money!
Free money for everyone.
That’s a populist idea that comes up several times every year. It was even a campaign issue.
Andrew Yang Chimes In
Please recall the presidential debates and Andrew Yang: This 43-year-old running for president in 2020 wants to give everyone $1,000 a month in free cash.
Freedom Dividend
Yang calls it a “Freedom Dividend”.
Damn, that’s a name Trump would have used if only he thought of it first.
Yang wants $1,000 a month. Trump wants a one-time $2,000 payout.
Other Trump Ideas
The House’s failure to pass the Balance Budget Amendment was another unforced error by the GOP. Very disappointing.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2011
Yep, it’s very disappointing we do not have a balanced budget amendment to stop this nonsense.
Well, we can always use tariffs to balance the budget.
..Because of Tariffs we will be able to start paying down large amounts of the $21 Trillion in debt that has been accumulated, much by the Obama Administration, while at the same time reducing taxes for our people. At minimum, we will make much better Trade Deals for our country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
How’d that idea work out?
What a Disgrace
Finally, please note: Trump Calls Covid Bill a Disgrace, Refuses to Sign It
When do Yang, AOC, and Trump get together to hash out the bipartisan details of the “Freedom Dividend”?
Surely there is a compromise here somewhere. The way Washington works, expect $2,000 a month for everyone.
The way Washington works, the compromise would be $2,000 a month for everyone.
But with AOC openly on board it is more likely Trump just signs the bill after stewing over it.
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) December 23, 2020
But with AOC openly on board, Trump likely to sign the disgrace then lash out at everyone again.
Addendum: Who Agreed With Whom?
Backwards, but yes.
— MidLife’s Back (@MidLifesBack) December 24, 2020
Mish
when do I get the check??
Trump feels the more chaos he creates the better position he is in. Unfortunately the country pays for it in the end, in lives and dollars.
There is a particular need for chaos at the moment. If there are massive riots after January 6th, he can declare martial law.
Let’s do it the sooner we really break the country the sooner we can start putting it back together. Just make it 5k and 10k per couple nice round numbers.
The bill had plenty of hand outs to business and the inflation of money supply is supporting the wealth of asset holders, so why not throw some money at the poor end. They will spend it which will boost the economy while the wealthy just trade it for more assets.
Yes, where are the lobbyists for the poor?
If the bill passes, it’s just another opportunity for the American people to take it in the a$$ again. What a disgrace, to pass a 5K+page bill that no one has read. For me, the silver lining (in my case, gold) is that gold will shine once again. Bring it on, fools.
what a business model Amazon has:
For its smaller competitors, it has made business untenable. How can anyone compete against Amazon? A company so big, so omnipotent and so convenient that it has generated wealth for its owner and his (ex-)wives on a scale never before seen on this planet.
Here’s a small example of how Amazon operates, courtesy of a recent Wall Street Journal article. A small business began selling camera tripods on the site, and reached $3.5 million in sales, 0.001% of Amazon’s revenue. Amazon then copied the tripods and sold them more cheaply and subsequently banned the tripod company from the site.
So AOC ditches positive discrimination for a couple of thousand bucks ?
GOP Senate opposition to this coule cost them the Georgia Senate seats.
Yes very good point. That will add an interesting twist…..great chess match… It’s McConnell’s move.
American democracy nowadays is like a circus. plenty of laughable stunts now and then then.
Why stop at $2000? Make a real difference in people’s lives. Give a $100,000. Really it’s only a digital keystroke away. Deduct a few billion from the defense dept.
Default is coming anyway through inflation, and more importantly, the bond vigilantes don’t seem to be interested.
From “The Hill”: Does anyone know if these are true?
The $900 billion stimulus package COVID-19 “relief” bill is exactly what one would expect from a dysfunctional, tone-deaf Congress: a pork-filled cluster filled with anything and everything that has nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic or relief.
And in the swampiest thing ever, the bill, which is combined with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill, is 5,593 pages long, or 5,583 pages too many, was given to lawmakers six hours before a vote to review what exactly is in it (hint: more pork than a Tyson Foods plant).
It harkens back to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) once explaining that a bill needed to be passed in order to find out what was in it. In a related story, our government is broken.
The top-line from the bill says a mere $600 per adult and $600 per child goes to those eligible, which is half of what adults received in another relief package passed earlier this year (the per-child payment was $500). Not hard to see that this amount is hardly enough to keep those struggling from staying out of poverty.
So where is the rest of the $1.4 trillion going?
Glad you asked.
Exhibit A: “Of the funds appropriated under title III of the Act that are made available for assistance for Pakistan, not less than $15,000,000 shall be made available for democracy programs and not less than $10,000,000 shall be made available for gender programs.” Yep. $10 million. For gender programs. In Pakistan.
Exhibit B: Funds for “Resource Study of Springfield (Illinois) Race Riot.” That riot occurred in (checks notes) 1908.
Exhibit C: “Statement Of Policy Regarding The Succession Or Reincarnation Of The Dalai Lama.” We’ll just leave that one there.
Exhibit D: There’s actually a commission tasked with educating “consumers about the dangers associated with using or storing portable fuel containers for flammable liquids near an open flame.”
Exhibit E: Another $40 million will be allocated “for the necessary expenses for the operation, maintenance and security” of The Kennedy Center, which received $25 million in another COVID-19 relief bill earlier this year. Also in a related story, the Kennedy Center has been closed.
Exhibits F, G, H, I, J: $86 million for assistance to Cambodia; $130 million to Nepal, $135 million to Burma, $453 million to Ukraine, $700 million to Sudan.
Exhibit K: The bill creates a Women’s History Museum and an American Latino Museum as part of the Smithsonian. Overall, the Smithsonian gets (checks notes again) $1 billion.
I prefer $2k to half-k. I think the country is united on this issue.
Junior member if Congress. No influential committee posts
At some point 51% of workers will have no work as their jobs will be replaced by a computer. This is guaranteed. If we were smart, we would take the time to find a way to “tax the computers” and skim off some of their productivity and return it to … American citizens a la Andrew Yang. Dont do that and we’ll eventually have food riots beyond belief. $2000 per person is doable even in a rational world. While we’re waiting for one, cash to Americans in whatever form is very necessary at the moment.
If you were “smart” you would tax the dead more and the living less.
Now we have two “populists” or whatever you want to call them agreeing on something fundamental which is not seen by the “rational” legislators or whatever you want to call them. Both of these “populists” represent significant parts of the population that are very unhappy.
I know I used to get pretty grumpy when grocery money ran out. The “3 Days Till Payday” fast worked great to keep me trim though.
The “X Days Till Payday” fast would make me downright stabby if it wore on too long. If you don’t have food and shelter, you die. People get grabby when they can’t get what they need to stay alive.
If you create a lot of money from nothing and give it to some and not others then you have to expect that those left out would demand their due especially when the criteria for receiving said funds are unnecessarily complicated and frankly suspect. Adding riders to the bill is worse than being wrong, it is a mistake because it gives the impression or more likely the certitude that no legislator has actually read the bill in its entirety and therefor have no fucking idea what they voted.
“Everyone” does not include everyone……just the deserving semi-poor, of course.
In the name of greater equity.
Rich people must be more heavily taxed. Like everyone with 100K earned income……you know, those RICH people….they don’t deserve to make that kinda money. They must be oppressing somebody.
Try working hard and then reread your statement.
I do work hard, my judgmental friend. And I saved about ten other people from losing their jobs. Where is my Christmas present from the government?
President Trump is trying to buy votes in the GA senator run-offs. Many voters from both parties have had their incomes blocked through COVID quarantine. Trump’s base would rather have no money go to foreign countries. Taking money budgeted to foreign countries and redistributing it to those in America is a better compromise in voters’ eyes.
Except you cannot buy votes for Republican incumbents when it is the GOP establishment had been what was blocking an earlier round of larger stimulus checks.
I’m sure AOC also was in favor of the veto of the dense bill, too.
Trump/AOC 2024
Good point – I was going to write about that but picked this one instead.
May get to that later today.
Busy, busy…
That combination would be some kind of Frankenstein’s monster.