Four percent toppled the 96 percent. But the four percent have no plan and the GOP is weaker.
Republicans Cut Off Their Own Heads
A motion to vacate succeeded for the first time in history. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is gone.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board comments, and I totally agree, Republicans Cut Off Their Own Heads
A band of eight Republicans succeeded in ousting Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker on Tuesday, and we trust they’re happy. They now have the chaos they wanted, though it isn’t clear what else they hope to achieve. Their clever plan seems to be to cut off their own heads.
Mr. McCarthy lost his job, but he rose in our esteem in recent days by the way he has handled this threatened coup. He put the country first on Saturday in refusing to let the plotters shut down the government for no good purpose. Then on Tuesday he refused to ask Democrats for a power-sharing deal in return for votes to rescue his Speakership. He put his party above his job, and his reward is that he is the first Speaker ousted in history. The vote was 216-210.
Reps. Matt Gaetz, Nancy Mace, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale, Bob Good, Tim Burchett and Ken Buck united with Democrats to topple a Republican Speaker without a plan, a replacement, or even a policy goal in mind. Four percent of the Republican conference trumped the 96% who supported the Speaker.
The path forward for the House wasn’t clear. North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry becomes Speaker Pro Tem, per a list Mr. McCarthy had submitted to the House clerk. But the search for a permanent Speaker could be long and chaotic.
Meanwhile, the House is essentially frozen. The putative GOP majority is weaker, and its ability to gain any policy victories has been undermined. Oversight of the Biden Administration will slow or stop. Republicans in swing districts who are vulnerable in 2024 will be especially wary of trusting the Gaetz faction, and regaining any unity of purpose will be that much harder. The crazy left and right are cheering, but no one else is.
Written on the Wall
When McCarthy agreed to let a single GOP House member push a call to vacate the house he sealed his own fate.
The Journal cites McCarthy’s accomplishments including a debt-ceiling deal that put a cap on domestic discretionary spending and clawed back some unspent pandemic money. He also moved to restore some bipartisan comity to the Intelligence Committee after Adam Schiff’s partisan manipulation.
McCarthy could have accomplished more but the gang of eight would rather have had nothing rather than something. McCarthy even agreed to push for some things that were nearly guaranteed to fail in the Senate. That would have at least set the tone for negotiation.
Now what? Who wants to be Speaker if Matt Gaetz or any Republican can call for a motion to vacate?
Rules of the Game
The rules of the game are simple. You can only push for big changes when you have the Senate, House, and White House.
In this case, the GOP does not hold the Senate, does not hold the White House, and barely holds the House.
Trump had two full years to press for major changes and failed. Whose fault is that?
Adults in the Room
One of my readers commented that Gaetz is the adult in the room. What a hoot. No, dear reader, Gaetz is like the kid who threatens to take the bat and ball away unless he is pitcher.
Please note that we only see these childish ball games and demands to fix the budget when Democrats are in control, never when Republicans are in a position to do something.
Why was Gaetz in hiding when Trump was president?
I would rather have bigger budget cuts. I would also like to see the Republican hypocrites who want to balance the budget also cut military spending. And I certainly would not have voted for the preposterously named Inflation Reduction Act.
Shutting down the government only to capitulate when risk of default is imminent is crazy. Voters would blame the GOP and rightfully so.
Irony of the Day
The eight who pulled off the ouster of McCarthy are cheering along with all the Democrats!
OK guys, you have the ball and the bat, and sided with 100 percent of the Democrats in a historic vote. All 208 Democrats in attendance voted against McCarthy.
Now what are you going to do with the Democrats for an encore?
Neither Party Will Fix Anything
“Neither party will fix the deficits. Neither party will do anything about mounting debt. No one will do anything about anything because the political system is totally broken.” Mish
For discussion, please see Debt to GDP Alarm Bells Ring, Neither Party Will Solve This
Late to this, but an observation.
I’ve read, I forget where, is that McCarthy was planning on bringing up a Ukraine funding bill and that is a, if not the reason he was deposed.
If it was, as a non-democrat and non-republican, I take some satisfaction in that.
Humm the way its set up the majority picks the speaker. No wonder nothing gets past. I would like to see the dems vote yes for a republican they can tolerate. The when dems are majority the republicans vote yes for a dem they can deal with. More bills would be past and less extreme politics.
“Four percent of the Republican conference trumped the 96% who supported the Speaker.”
Apparently, that doesn’t matter, as Democrats had a vote on whether McCarthy remained Speaker of the House. While he was a Republican, McCarthy was Speaker of the House, not Speaker of the Republican Party.
The difference is that no Democrat would have ever betrayed Pelosi and their party.
While agree with you in many ways continuing to do the same thing over and over has not got us anywhere in addressing our real problem’s.
Just heard a short clip on CNN and it seems to me Gaetz hits the nail on the head. Whether anything comes of it or not we got to start somewhere.
https://twitter.com/RepMattGaetz/status/1708896837657153570/video/1
He is a hypocrite – Ask him how much he wants for military spending.
These hypocrites only make noise when Democrats are in charge.
that is true. but alas, mish, the amerikan citizens love our endless warfare. democracy works. war mongers elect war mongers. D or R makes no difference. Gaetz is a war monger as was trump. he ratcheted up the bombing runs and the MIC spending. the dopes in his cult think he was a peacenik. but they themselves love war.
Feds Recruit 2 More Big-Wig Lawyers to Probe Gaetz in Child Sex-Trafficking Case
Oct 21, 2023
https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-recruit-two-more-big-name-lawyers-to-investigate-florida-rep-matt-gaetz-in-child-sex-trafficking-case
Yesterday congress sent a message to our proxies, enemies and the yield curve.
The yield curve lost its umf. The 10Y stretched it’s fingers to poke the 5%, but
failed. Shoulder’s pains might be caused by a compressed trunk. The big whale pulses are over.
With less gov borrowing ==> the banks will take over.
Kevin “put his party above his job”…
that was, and is, THE PROBLEM with the Republicans…
particularly those still clinging to King Chaos and the Clown Car Caucus.
It’s wasn’t about the budget, it was about funding the war in Ukraine. Defense stocks are down on the news.
If McCarthy had stayed, there WOULD have been more of a path forward, but again, “For What?” Answer: More destructive Uniparty spending for slightly different pet projects. There is now an activist element to counter The Squad’s Marxist agenda. Not powerful enough to do much of anything yet, but it’s a start toward some kind of return to fiscal sanity. Still a looooong way off.
I agree if we were in 2005 or 2006. That ship has sailed. No way to dig out of this hole.
There is still the thorny question of what Federal spending to cut. The vast majority of Federal spending (SS, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, Interest, Vet spending — over 80%) is WILDLY popular amongst the US population. The puny programs that infuriate every Repub (foreign aid, arts and humanities, emergency health care for migrants, etc.) is pennies compared to the big dollars. Where did the problem with deficits start? It started 50 years ago when the rich decided they didnt want to pay taxes anymore (all they care about is roads and airports) and revenue didnt pay the bills. This wont get fixed in a year. It will take 50 years of tax increases — cant pay for bills any other way.
No! It stated 90 years ago when the FDR started all these stupid government programs that used tax payer money to bribe the voters.
rural electrification and running water should never have been done. no dams……..keep the hicks in the dark and out houses. the real problem was 1898 and Teddy making us an outright empire. of course the founders wanted an empire. FFS George W coined the name, the empire state for NY. they wanted to be an empire from the start. the BS people make up about the framers was mostly garbage for the serfs to lap up.
Nope. Ai & their worker robots will put everyone out of work. Everything will be free because robots will be able to produce everything for no cost at all, from the original mining to manufacturing to distribution. Money will not be needed any longer.
We also won’t need billions of bored humans sleeping in with nothing to do day after day. So the Master AI might do a Matrix scenario and plug human bodies into a grid to extract biological energy or just dispose of most of the human population.
sounds lovely. i would prefer the cloning of apes and humans the chinese are working on. i already pre ordered my monkey boy. i’ll give him some rights. maybe 3/5 of a vote for me to cast.
The 2023 Forbes 400 total wealth is $4.5 trillion. Assume you confiscate every penny of it. It doesn’t even cover this year’s budget.
The first problem you run into is the vast majority of that wealth is not money. It is stocks, bonds, real estate, etc.
So you have to sell the assets to get the money that the government needs. To whom do you sell all of that without collapsing the price?
Even if you could sell it and receive full value (you won’t be able to, not even close) the next question is : what do you do next year? And the year after that, etc?
This is not a problem that can be solved by raising taxes
In Q2 2008 US gov debt was 12T. Today, after 13Y, it’s 34T.
Hakeem Jeffries toppled a speaker who agreed to raise the debt ceiling in a turtle
pace. From mid Nov US gov ultra long debt run is over.
The next president will be cruel and brutal. Both Trump and Biden fit perfectly
for the job. Both are able to purge their opponents under the banner of democracy and blame the other side for what they are doing.
well stated.
Mish, You, the WSJ and the mainstream media all missed the basic point. McCarthy agreed to pass 12 individual bills but passed 1. Then did a CR with the Dems and a side deal on Ukraine. There is no way a budget deal will get done in the next 45 days and guess what we will get again….another CR which will take us into Q2 FY 24 and then they will say let’s try this year or let’s just find the government thru the election. The chaos doesn’t bother me and I don’t really care who is in control because we will end up in the same place if we keep doing the same things. I have been black pulled for a while and am just waiting for the shooting to start. At least Gaetz is willing to try something different. You should change the name of your Blog to Mish Mainstream Talk. Lol
Your right! It will all end up with the government printing money out the wazoo and the destruction of the middle class. Given the unpleasant nature of the end I can understand why Mish wants to keep on kicking this dog turd down the road. It’s like living under Damocles’ sword.
Agree! For once in a long time, a few stand up for truth, trust and principles and what do they get from the MSM and Mish Mainstream Talk; “it’s ok! Principles, values and trust don’t matter, they belonged to the old America, the one that worked for all” I say good riddance!
I don’t think they missed the point, they just don’t think it matters… it looks like that all that matters is officially having control, and then in reality having control through various levers of material power… it’s all a game and a facade. The issue for them is that they don’t know what game Gaetz is playing, or whether he is just upturning the board because there’s too much cheating. It’s certainly fun to watch the disintegration of the American empire, but the effects on the rest of the world are a bit uncertain.
when evil empires collapse it is better for most human primates on planet. ussr, uk, france, spanish, romans………….and on and on. evil empires are bad for humans. simple but ugly truth. the amerikan boomer cannot comprehend she grew up in an evil empire and didn’t know. she is that dumbed down and brainwashed. tought medicine for old folks to swallow.
The speaker made promises in January 2023 to keep his job, from 12 appropiations bills to investigating Hunter and Joe Biden’s obvious corruption. He failed to keep those promises — which is even worse than trying and failing — for over nine months and lost his job as a result. That used to be the American way
The charted CBO deficit projections, by the way, are BS. They NEVER assume a recession in their wild guesses, but there is at least one recession per decade.
Yes, and he did all that he could.
Gaetz wanted this outcome and got it. Gaetz is a fool.
Had even Gaetz been speaker, this would have blown up with Gaetz being tossed.
So your point is that there was no point in trying to get any of these things done?
Why bother with all the expense and theatre of an election then, if …oh wait… so you think that politicians should lie and say whatever to get power, and then when they get power, do all the good stuff? How often do either halves of that happen?
My point is that political promises not kept should have have consequences. There is no reason the federal government needs one multi-thousand page budget that no one has time to read. That has to stop now, or two trillion per year deficits will be the minimum from now on. And no action on the Biden Crime Family, obviously the most corrupt VP and President in American political history, in the first nine months of 2023?
The best nominee for Speaker would be Donald Trump. He would not take the job, with his time completely absorbed by kangaroo court trials for fake crimes no Democrats would ever be charged with, and running for President in 2024. But a vote for Trump as Speaker would force Republicans to reveal to their voters if they are loyal or disloyal to the party. Assuming Trump stays far ahead in the race for the Republican nomination, every Republican in Congress has an obligation to support the Republican nominee for President in 2024. Those who refuse to support Trump as Speaker should be thrown out of office in November 2024. The Democrats are extremely unified — that is a source of their power (and also dishonest elections). If the Republicans split into pro-nominee (I assume Trump) and anti-nominee (RINO), they will lose in 20254, and I’ll go back to voting Libertarian. I won’t expect to see another Republican president in my lifetime.
you make no sense here Mish. Mac lied about what he would do when they elected him to speaker. serious times call for drastic measures. the uniparty war mongering is gonna wreck the joint permanantly. the empire will crumble ugly. best to lower it down gracefully like gorby did.
” That used to be the American way”
Nope. This is the first time in American history that a sitting Speaker has been removed. This is radical, uncharted territory for the Republic.
It is, but on another level, it’s a bit meaningless… the whole of the American system looks like a facade… with countless congresspeople troughing for money, and a network of embedded interest groups negotiating the direction of policy.
The old American way is that [eople who don’t do their jobs are fired. And politicians who don’t keep promises are not reelected. Those are punishments for failure. That principle may not apply to government bureaucrats, unfortunately, but it was applied to A Speaker who broke his January 2023 promises. It is irrelevant whether he was the first Speaker to lose his job before Election Day. It was very relevant that he lost his job for breaking promises. Politicians should be judged on what they accomplish — McCarthy failed to even TRY to keep his promises. He just said what he needed to say tin January 2023o to get his job.
The more the US Govt is paralyzed or in any way impeded, the better it is for the rest of the world and for the Americans themselves.
As a Western European suffering from the umpteenth American war, this is very welcome news.
It’s clear to me that the hillbillies in the house run by king hillbilly Gaetz want chaos and the whole system to break down so they poured gasoline on the house and lit a match. If there is a bond default, they will get what they want and then there will be hell to pay. A lesson from history, when Rome burned down, it never recovered and became a shadow of its former self.
Got exit plans?
I like hillbillies more than city slickers.
Especially Elly May!
God forbid we take away Uncle Sam’s credit card! He’s been so responsible with it. 🤣
Regardless of anything, there is hell to pay. A 33 trillion dollar debt and growing exponentially away from revenue. Long ago math determined what the outcome of that equation is. A bond default today or a currency collapse tomorrow, the outcome will be generally the same. Just the date will be different. One is just pushing off the reckoning that the math has already determined. The ancient Year of Jubilee becomes the modern Kondratieff Winter. The name changes, but not the math. All cycles come full circle. It is a built in inevitability. Hence all the talk of a Great Reset.
The Roman Empire never fell. It just decentralized.
exactly. the 50 state solution for pax dumbfuckistan is inevitable. perhaps the eastern roman empire, the byzantines will be WEST COAST or NEW ENGLAND. thank heavens the panem et circenses is so plentiful. this collapse is entertaining as fuck. nitwits live on cspan and court rooms………….J6 insurrectionists. too dumb to bring gas and a match or their gun collections. pax dumbfuckistan foreever.
You sound a bit silly.
I watch politics with amusement, scorn and fear. Every country is eventually affected by US policy so what happens there is important to everyone. This is one single case where a politician is apparently held to account and look at the responses. Of course, we’ll never know the true story.
Bottom line though, no politician anywhere can be trusted to work for the people who voted for them. The system is broken. I wish I had an answer. The best you can do is look out for yourself – no one else will.
The BIG WHEEL of our Uniparty system is made up of many spokes (think 200 plus). The problems with the RINO’s are that they are what we define them as: IN NAME ONLY.
But, dear audience (we have no voice, we are watching a Movie), what IS a “Republican?” I will NOT try to define that here because I do not think that the traditions of the Party are being upheld: CONSERVATISM IN SPENDING, is the big miss, right?
HOPELESSNESS is the tone of Mish’s Post here and I am in that Boat. We are prisoners with Blindfolds, in a Row boat and each side of the boat takes turns, creating a meandering movement towards a water fall and we are RIGHT AT THE EDGE and I am, being blind-folded, cannot see the edge, but I can HEAR the water movement as it pours over into the hell that seemingly is WANTED by the UniParty.
..sorry for the typo’s. I just arose from a poor night’s sleep.
Whose hell? Clearly the political class is focused on their own well being , not that of the American people. They look down with scorn on your average American despite the fact that this parasite class owes everything to them. Hillary’ “deplorables” remark showed the true nature of this parasitic cabal.
All McCarthy had to do was pass 12 appropriation bills. To get elected Speaker, he promised that this is how he would run the House. He has had since January to do this. He sent everyone home for August summer break. Instead of doing what he promised to do, he continued the madness and went with the CR. Good riddance.
Mish, I am a big fan. But herein, you have contradicted yourself. At the end you point out the big elephant in the room, the debt to GDP ratio. It is going to ruin our country. And the few who are trying to force it to be addressed, you say are not the adults in the room. They are the only adults. The rest are get along, go along, take the massive campaign contributions and keep the status quo. I’m sorry, but on this one, you have missed.
I pointed out you can only make big changes when you are in power. Small changes are better than no changes.
That is the bottom line. There is no contradictions. Trump achieved nothing when Republicans had the chance.
Perhaps Trump didn’t do it when he was in power, but that makes my case. The House needs to do it now while they are in power. The trivial changes offered might as well not be done. The few who stand for significant change have the correct vision, IMHO.
i hate trump. but he did sign the tax overhaul. which lowered taxes for working class, and small business, LLC owners…. and raised them on high salaried in high tax states……….
but he started a trade war and raised huge border taxes which was dumb as hell. he’s a con and grifter. but amerikans are mostly grifters, bottom to top. all war mongers too. just see how little any man who talks about ending imperialism gets for votes. under 5 percent in a good year.
“And the few who are trying to force it to be addressed”
No one is trying to force it to be addressed. If you want it to be addressed you have to look at each program and determine how to get a majority of Republicans and Democrats to agree to either cut it, restructure it at lower cost, increase taxes to pay for it, or some combination. Once you think you have that majority, then you have to find a way to sell it to the people who will inevitably lose from the proposition. That’s what adults in the room do. There isn’t a single adult in the room, nor are there any voters who could even pick out an adult if they saw one. America is going down the tubes because of voters, not politicians.
CORRECT. DEMOCRACY WORKS. THE ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE THE PEOPLE.
Wasn’t the Trump supreme court and accomplishment of trumps. Also, it seems as though everyone is afraid of Trump and that the world is becoming gradually less biased like someone was when they were CNBC.
I think people are so afraid of Trump now they don’t want to get on his wrong side so much of the sturm and drang is disappearing, as deals are being made
Gaetz played Dems. Resolving budget + war in Ukraine issues is a problem for Dems.
Gaetz played Gaetz. And he made it harder to win anything from the Democrats. This is 100% clear to anyone who can think.
I don’t think anyone can win anything from the current crop of democrat demogogues, they are completely indoctrinated.
That comment is just a prediction, and they are almost always wrong. We need to know who the next Speaker will be, and then we will need some time before judging whether he or she is an improvement over the last Speaker. That is called watching and waiting for facts and data to reach a conclusion, rather than predicting and jumping to a conclusion.
it’s one uniparty. nobody including me or you could pass a blind test of who was in power in congress or presidency past 50 years. because it is impossible. if you think the Ds and Rs are different you are just fooling yourself.
One thing that cannot go unremembered….the repeal of Obama care. The Republicans voted 7 times to repeal it then Trump came along with the house and Senate and they refused to deliver and even set up john McCain as the big FU to Trump (actually to all the base voters). They would not deliver in 2000, in 2012, 2014 and especially in 2016. The GOP has demonstrated over and over that they do not like their voters. But the voters have no where else to go. We have one party, the democrats. The other people vote against the democrats and that just happens to be the GOP who then mostly are more comfortable with the dems in Washington than they are with their own voters.
BS. the amerikan voter is perfectly represented by who they vote for. if the amerikan voter had a shred of decency they would elect peaceful honest men. hello ron paul, gary johnson…………….
I wouldn’t call Trump a RINO. RINOs are Republicans where Trump was a Democrat and then became a Republican and tomorrow might become something else. He is a Shape-changer. Although he does have his ear close to the ground and hears what a lot of people are thinking and feeling his has proven himself incapable of organizing coherent policies or putting the ones he had into motion. In a nutshell, he didn’t know how to govern then and doesn’t know how now.
Trump also didn’t know how to run a business.
The old adage is “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. If Trump had not been mentally driven to become President, he probably could have continued to skate by with his shady business practices and might never have been called to the carpet.
Now, his whole empire, whatever it actually was, is at risk and he stands a reasonable chance of spending time in jail.
Jumping from business directly into a very high political position is always very dangerous. Business leaders are used to giving orders and firing people but governing like that in a democracy doesn’t work. In business the leader has real power, a president does not. President Lyndon Johnson once remarked about presidential power when he said, “Power, the only power I’ve got is nuclear and I can’t even use that!” In business you don’t have to convince, you order. In government you can’t order. You have to convince . Trump’s problem is that he is by nature not someone who is good at convincing.
without his daddy giviing hime hundresds of milliions in his twenties, and bailing him out a couple of times in his middle age, trump would be in the pokey already. he’s a dirt bag rich kid, who is a talented actor and grifter……….and now cult leader of morons.
I call Trump “the canary in the coal mine for the decline of the GOP”
Trump only has his ear to the ground for the subset of voters who attend his rallies. Which is why he is destined to lose. 30% of Americans is a lot of people. But there are a lot more who he isn’t listening to.
The mere fact that Nancy P got kicked out of her secondary office made my day and was worth it having me LMAO.
Defining your success by the failures of others won’t lift our nation up
1) 208 radical democrats ousted a RINO who cooperated with Biden.
2) 208/216 = 96% democrats toppled McC. Without them the 8 radical
republicans wouldn’t prevail. The media ignores regime change Hakeem Jeffries –
Obama disciple – and his gang.
3) In the next 12 months the democrats will tag every republican candidate as hanging on the walls Jan 6 supporter. Jan 6 MAGA tsunami and trigger pictures of criminal Trump and Matt the devil.
4) The republican might shut the gov down after Jan 2024 and cause a recession.
The buck stops at the Biden desk.
It’s a stretch to blame the Dems here. Of course they are not going to support a republican speaker, at least not without some sort of power-sharing deal that McCarthy didn’t want to agree to.
Speaker need not be a member of the house. Is anyone left in the United States a statesman with the respect of both parties? Anyone? Dolly Parton (Jimmy Buffet unfortunately died)? Anyone uniformly beloved – anyone?
Tucker but he wouldn’t take it…
tucker. an obvious grifter. ha ha ha. but yes, a true blue amerikan.
If that’s the case, republicans can vote in Trump as speaker
Michael, what House democrats did was simple to define, and it isn’t your definition. The democrats quite simply handed the Freedom Caucus and by extension the GOP all the rope they asked for.
Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake
Sun Tzu
Napoleon said that, not Sun Tzu.
I doubt either of them said it.
I was Napoleon. Look it up.
sun tzu said the same, just in a chinese way and thousands of years before the little cunt, napolean.
But which Party is in the process of destroying itself? It seems like Dims have been doing a great job of that with open boarder, sexualizing children, destroying our prestige with most countries, blowing up pipelines and flirting with nuclear war. I suppose those that consume the MSM think babbling Biden is doing a great job. It amazing to see how far the mindles herd can be gas lit.
What the rebels did was put on notice that they will not tolerate a speaker who made commitments to get their votes in January but then backslided.
The next guy to take the speakers role will remember that lesson.
So any idea who might throw their hat into the ring and will the rebels and the RINOs agree on who is acceptable?
If nobody gets enough votes then does the temporary speaker stay until the election in 14 months? And IIRC the speaker becomes president if we a blessed with Biden and Cameltoes both getting snuffed? Does that apply to a temp speaker who has not been confirmed?
The implication of the criticism of Gaetz is that one should never hold people to any contract they make… that everything is for show, and reality rules must prevail.
…whilst it may be true, it’s rather cynical. Why bother with an elected republic at all?
Why is it cynical? Reality always rules. Capitalism fundamentally requires that all parties to a contract understand reality. If you don’t, you should expect to end up on the losing end of the deal. And I assure you, in the end, Gaetz will be on the losing end of this deal.
Well it’s obviously cynical in that no contract is worth anything.
The obvious implication is that there are no contracts.
Contracts are the fundament of civilisation.
Byron Donalds, PLEASE! He is awesome & democrats with at least any common sense will like the box checkoff he comes with.
i think next in line after speaker would be commander in chief. president pro temp. patty murray.
The republicans should make one of the 8 as house speaker, as a gesture of good will to democrats, with the same deal that a single republican can push to vacate. A few bills pushing hard right agenda would push democrats to agree to support a more moderate republican, the far right speaker is then ousted and McCarthy reinstated.
The Dems followed the old adage of never interrupting the opposition when they are shooting themselves in the feet.
For what? Are you a RINO, Too? Please tell us how we can stop the madness of what Congress has become.
I know you understand that government funding is far more transparent by voting on each item instead of in a mass funding Bill that NObody reads until after the vote. It’s always the same ~ “look what was included in that Bill”; all the blogs and talk shows proclaim when each show-emergency is over. We’re all appalled and bitterly angry for a couple of weeks, then off to the next inane Congress comedy act, or maybe pull a fire alarm.
You would think after a few of these funding emergencies these asswips would understand that they need to start the process much earlier. Alas, it looks like they do it on purpose so they can sneakily get more funding through. They purposely want the emergencies, and why not, they always work.
We need more rebels.
“We need more rebels”
Until the bond market blows up?
Until when?
I explained the rules of the game. Republicans had a chance under Trump. What did they do with it.
Trump is a RINO.
I am not a RINO because I am not a Republican. And I certainly am not a Democrat.
I would slash spending including military spending but it is not up to me.
If you want to elect more Democrats, just act like Trump and Gaetz.
That is the bottom line. Some of us see that, the rest are blind to the obvious.
Mike, the bond market is currently blowing up, picking up steam since the passing of last weekends CR. Some experts finally labeling it a collapse which I think is accurate. This move is the most positive I’ve seen for the possibly of actually cutting spending in recent memory. I supported McCarthy’s first Debt Ceiling proposal only to watch him pass an unlimited increase. He should have been booted for that IMHO.
This sell-off in treasuries is at a level that’s becoming frightening. I expect a bank failure by months end and like in march will feed on itself. I can’t remember a time when the stock market has sold off this much without a “flight to safety”. It telling us it’s time to get serious, this vacate is serious, I just hope it isn’t too late.
None of what you say is anything like a solution, you are just making observations about the recent past. From the outside perspective it doesn’t look much like individuals have as much influence on the outcome of elections as do the media and the online platforms, and the voter harvesting initiatives, and their donors.
What difference does it make for the Speaker to have been vacated or not?
It’s all very well saying that Gaetz and co. have no plan, but neither does the alternative… they are all breaking the system, just at different velocities and with shrapnel flying in different directions. Grounding a vessel versus scuttling it, isn’t much of a choice. It may need some new crew, but maybe it’s the way the crew are brought on board that is the problem, and the source of some solutions?
I’m not American btw, so I have no dog in the fight, other than the impact of the US policies outside it’s own bubble world, whichever turkey is ruling the roost.
“What difference does it make for the Speaker to have been vacated or not?”
If you are more familiar with the parliamentary system, McCarthy’s ouster would be the equivalent of the ruling party changing prime ministers so it is a big deal.
It really isn’t… we change PMs all the time, with no effect.
The UK has a similarly powerful Speaker, and changing the Speaker in Parliament is arguably a bigger deal than changing a PM, who, as Liz Truss will attest, can last little more than a fortnight.
Fundamental flaw of democracy exposed.
Populace will generally support those who promise and deliver increased spending (see free stuff, Dems) and lower taxes (no need to pay for needed stuff, Reps), result in ballooning debt and deterioration of infrastructure. Public is selfish and no longer has any concern over needs of next generation. We used to elect enough statesman to be the adults in the room, sadly we now elect only two types: Grifters and morons – both which are easy to control.
We need a Constitutional convention to save this republic. Senate needs to once again be appointed by state legislatures.
Need a Gorbachev to dissolve this abomination.
” Senate needs to once again be appointed by state legislatures.”
That is an interesting idea. Please develop.
Not as partisan gerrymandering is in place for both Blue and Red states. If we had nationwide non partisan data driven redistricting system then maybe state legislatures would be more representative of the citizens and not the dark money special interests as is today’s situation. 69% of Congressional and even higher at state level districts are drawn to be non competitive. The state and Congressional legislators represent who gives them the most money.
Well said!
I don’t think all the population think like that… the young and indolent maybe.
Hey Mish, while I agree we don’t need more rebels, but more educated voters would be nice… The bond market is going to blow up regardless of what happens now. This has been baked in the cake for quite sometime. Chias isn’t chaos without chaos…
Trump never had a chance as President the first time. The entire system was against HIM from the start! He had horrendous media coverage, all to tear him down and anyone with him. RINO’s had already hatched a plan to stall and defeat anything He tried to implement from the start.
Being NEW to Politics, Trump was forced to Trust people he didn’t know, and hadn’t yet vetted himself. As time wore on and he was further hamstrung, he started to understand and realize who was with him and who was against him. With ALL Democrats 100% Opposed AND ALL RINO’s 100% Opposed (I am still laughing at the “Trump is a RINO” Statement…), Trump had few Allie’s from the start, and it showed with repeated attempts at stalling him, stopping him, changing plans on him, pulling all sorts of shenanigans similar to what McCarthy just tried to pull. Fortunately for the Republicans THIS TIME Gaetz had laced the groundwork in place to prevent this BS from occurring this time!!
I too would slash Military Spending, and a whole lot more spending. I would cut every Government agency by 25% immediately without exception. I would then wait about 1 year and cut more where it shows it is obviously possible and add to the few areas where a bit might need to be added. I would immediately close the border 100% and once it is firmly secure, replace our immigration policies with something that actually works, is legal, doesn’t place a strain on America, doesn’t use American Citizens Taxpayers $$$ to allow for it to occur. Back to ports of legal entry only, with sponsors and all sorts of provisions added to be sure we are doing the right thing FOR OUR COUNTRY and not the country sending people here for our resources that we’re meant for American Citizens and paid for By American Citizens.
The bottom line is this: Get Trump into office in 2024, or see a grossly altered America that we may never get back IMHO. Trump knows who is for America and who is against America now. He knows who he can trust and more importantly NOT trust. There is no Insider that can get the job done, Trump would be a One Term President which affords him the ability to make changes with total disregard to being re-elected. WE (America) NEED THAT!!!
A president doesn’t have to power to do any of those things you mentioned. A dictator does have that power but the Constitution was written to specifically not give a president such absolutist powers.
Not on his own of course! He will need to bring it to the American Citizens and if they agree with his thoughts and ideas, then they will be implemented. I think they will, because they have no choice at this point, if we are going to truly save Democracy in America.
Tell that to Biden and his handlers. He has weaponized the Judiciary and now has the equivalent of the FSB to get rid of any and all opposition.
Biden is doing a pretty good job of subverting congress via media and big tech, big pharma, and industrial-military-blah-blah
Perhaps the net minus five of down votes to up votes at time I’m writing correlates with the “wishful thinking” portion of the conservative spectrum. Similar to “it’s a Trump witch hunt nothingburger” compared to all the convictions and indictments, let alone 91 criminal charges, all of which are following proper legal procedures. As a liberally inclined voter at the Presidential level, far be it from me to grab the wheel and steer the GOP bus away from the cliff, but at some point we need to for the good of the USA… kamikaze politics is no way to run a country.
Also liberally inclined, but I’m inclined at this point to let the GOP sort out on their own the mess that’s been created. It’s a leadership question, and to be fair, the GOP should get the leaders they want. I may not like it, and it may not be good for the country in the short run, but it’s messy democratic politics at work. The country can survive the short term mess, but I suspect it’s worth giving them a chance to sort it out on their own.
I’m not a hugely partisan person, and generally think strong partisanship is a bad thing, but in this case I think I agree with the Pelosi’s and Jeffries’ – the GOP is the majority party, so it’s their deal to sort out. The Democrats probably shouldn’t offer a rescue and try to do a deal with McCarthy since until the GOP sorts it all out, McCarthy’s ability to deliver on any deal would be highly suspect anyway. It’s a bad environment in which to try to create a coalition.
The GOP can’t sort out its problems. Not a lot of people know this, but Newt Gingrich traded the long-term viability of the party in the ’90’s for short term victories. He turned the party from something that had a set of conservative policies that it wanted to implement, to a party almost completely reliant on wedge issues that are never intended to be fixed.
They’ve created a disillusioned electorate who now expect them to completely end abortion, completely shut down the border, completely end whatever the hell “woke” is, and create a perfectly balanced budget on the backs of everyone but them. None of this is in any way possible and their elected officials know it. So they are stuck constantly having to ramp up the noise to hide their ineffectiveness. Unfortunately, it is leading to the country becoming ungovernable, and I place that blame squarely on the people who believe that BS and vote them into office.
The long term path we’re on has no markets, voting, or private property. Kicking out Kevin is admitting we have a problem.
True, but if if we want more Democrats, just keep buying stocks. 86% of the time when the market is up in the 3 months before the election, the incumbent is re-elected. However, if they change candidates, 90% likely, that bet is off. But there is substantially no fiscal difference between Democrats and Republicans anyway. A few RINO’s? There’s only a few dozen in Washington who are not. Will Rand Paul, Massie or Lee be elected? Not bloody likely. And RFK would just re-allocate spending, which is a start trying to cut off Ukraine and ending some mandates, but you think he would cut spending overall? Not a chance. There is NO electable candidate at this time who can change the behavior of DC. It’s spend until collapse. Let’s face it.
“If you want to elect more Democrats, just act like Trump and Gaetz.”
The interesting thing is that polls show Trump and Biden are pretty much neck and neck.
That was the tragedy of McCarthy. If he had really passed some bills he would have been able to negotiate with the Senate and with the slim Dem majority they been able to do something – like actually govern. Everyone complains about the border. Where is the legislation that can actually be debated. Part of the problems is that some conservatives really do not want a government but would prefer to simply shut it down. If you cant get the cuts you want – shut it down. Unfortunately for the rest of, they may get their wish.
Bingo Nancy.
This is what happened:
WSJ:
“McCarthy and his allies said that dissidents had put him in a double bind—spending months blocking him from advancing individual spending bills aimed at imposing deep cuts, only to complain when those same bills hadn’t advanced. McCarthy said he was left with no choice but to put a surprise short-term spending bill on the House floor, one that Democrats first said they couldn’t trust but which they ultimately almost universally supported.”
correct. one uniparty of war mongering imperial world wide dreams of global domination. those bases and bombs and fat cat pensions and C suites at MIC and wall street don’t pay for themselves. the nitwits who keep voting for it, love it. democracy works, mish. war mongering assholes elect war mongering assholes. democracy works. always has, since ancient greece.
““We need more rebels”
Until the bond market blows up?
”
Preferably until it all, literally, blows up, and there is not a darned thing left of any of it.
America was a better governed place pre 1776, pre America, than it is now. A least the parts the Brits did not control. Some would argue it managed to become better governed still, immediately post 1776. A hard reset as of this afternoon, could surely be nothin but a good thing, for absolutely anyone not directly involved in the pure, undifferentiated, systemic theft which is, by now, all and everything that America has become.
PD: Thank you, because you understand the real madness that’s been occurring in the House for far too long.
It is stunning that there are four people at the time of my posting this reply that think your post is bad. Just absolutely stunning.
Well, they weren’t going to do anything useful anyway, so it is right with the universe that they turned the entertainment factor up.
NonPlussed: That’s right & it’s a good thing. Status quo of ginormous spending & taxing is NOT working. McCarthy had 9 months to get spending cuts on track & he didn’t do it. Gaetz, McHenry & Donalds will. Cuts are absolutely necessary, but Dems & a few RINOs always say no. So some chaos is needed. Get the budget cuts, pass it in 30 days & let the Senate & Prez be the bad guys and cause the PARTIAL shutdown. WSJ eds are lukewarm Repubs, not real. They think fed spending equalling 44% of GDP is fine. It is not. Remember that GDP includes govt spending, so the 44% is actually much worse. This must end, we cannot sustain these off-the-charts deficits. I disagree 100% with WSJ eds. That’s exactly why I stopped buying their RINO pub in the fall of ‘16 when it appeared they preferred Hillary.
Cutting the budget?? It’s really tragic how the only fiscal solutions EVER proposed by the republicans are cutting taxes or eliminating piddling marginal program that might make some poor kid’s life a little better. Meanwhile the gaping maw of the American regime-change MIC machine undergoes rapid intensification every decade or so, unfettered by any of our so-called lawmakers, and fully supported by a MSM which exists only to snuff out any dissension. Trump is a terrible person, wholly unfit to be president, but at least he has been able to detect a whiff of a potential populist uprising against the Empire. If only the left would recognize what warmongering monsters the Dems have become. Recall what happened to the House Progressives last year when they tried to suggest diplomacy as an option in UKR – they actually withdrew the letter the next day (after surely being taken out to the woodshed by Pelosi) claiming it was a mistake… *sigh*. I can’t get behind Gaetz and his crew, I don’t trust their motives to be anything beyond the culture war BS – nonsensical eyewash of the perpetual grifters that Congress has become. True change may not come until the federal government actually implodes, a day that perhaps is not too far off.
“True change may not come until the federal government actually implodes, a day that perhaps is not too far off.”
One could hope. It will, for sure and guaranteed 100%, be a good day when it happens. After all, the only upside of having the very worst government even theoretically possible, is that no matter what happens, it cannot be any worse than a lateral move.
Great FAFO moment for the US. Don’t like Qev? Fine. What’s the plan? We better hope they do better than it seems likely they’ll do. Sometimes the grass always seems greener, sometimes it ends up that they painted the brown grass green.
I’m glad he was ousted, but I’m not sure anything constructive is going to happen over the near-term. Hopefully, whomever the new speaker at least gets the House back to submitted budgets.
When Gaetz was being interviewed on the steps of Congress yesterday, he was surrounded by a group of young reporters. If I were him, I would have started out with a statement that went like this
Congress has not passed a budget in 27 years. Our once great nation is $33T in debt and will run $2T annual deficits for the foreseeable future. Q3 will most likely see our total interest expense rise to at least $1T from the current annualized rate of $907B. In the current higher for longer, it will continue to rise rapidly over the next several quarters. That’s your future being flushed down the toilet.
We have arrived at the moment when deficits matter. We have given Ukraine hundreds of billions of dollars. Had President Trump been re-elected, Putin would most likely not have invaded. But, we have corrupt MSM, big tech, the DoJ & FBI to thank for that. And, the Biden administration has embraced open borders and sold surplus steel fencing to construct a border wall for $2M instead of actually doing something material about this growing crisis.
It’s time for significant change in political leadership in the USA. For example, it’s time for Mitch McConnel to step down. Nancy Pelosi should not run for re-election.
And most importantly, it’s time for America to get its financial house in order. To do so, will help ensure we overcome the higher for longer inflation that’s here to stay. It’s time to start passing budgets again, working towards balancing the budget & shoring up the looming social security & Medicare crisis. To not take these steps in the next two years will ensure America’s debt crisis arrives sooner & with much greater ferocity than is necessary.
My fellow Americans there is pain ahead in our shared future. The question is do we react in enough time & courage to mitigate the pain down to an acceptable level?
the last person to ask the citizens to sacrifice was carter. so the populous sacrificed carter and went with the free lunch grifter raygunomics……….the rest is eyewash.
“Get the budget cuts, pass it in 30 days & let the Senate & Prez be the bad guys and cause the PARTIAL shutdown.”
The vast majority of federal spending is Social Security, Medicare, the Military and interest on the debt. For which of these programs do you think “conservative Republicans” are going to propose cuts? The elderly, militarists and the wealthy holding treasury bonds are their biggest supporters.
No one is ever going to propose cutting these things. They would immediately get voted out of office and new folks would be elected to spend right back where it was.
Um, Jon, it starts with Congress doing its job which includes passing funding based on budgets which is ultimately based on negotiations which results from compromising. That’s what Gaetz wants. And if you asked every American, you’d probably get agreement from about 80% that this is how things work.
There are MANY things that can be done to shore up the OASI (aka SS) fund. Obviously, the main thing that must be done is to raise the maximum SS wages well above the current $160,200 and then, of course, implement some sort of diminishing benefit. For example, create brackets like you pay in taxes, and have people pay into SS based on income levels. Then choose an amount at which point you don’t get the full amount back. How much money would be generated from forcing people making say more than $500,000 a year to pay a mandatory 5% SS tax but their bend curve only gives them 50% of that bac?. That’s just an example, and it’s not meant to be perfect, but $160,200 is a joke. Why do I have to pay the full amount on my wages, when people above this amount get to keep the 15.3% on everything above $162,000? That’s ludicrous!
And to be very blunt with answering your question. I don’t give a damn about the political consequences. We need more Gaetz’s up in Congress pushing back.
Take this to the bank. Within 2-3 years the annual SSTF report is going to miraculously show that OASI will go negative by 2030 instead of the current 2033. That’s six years from now. The GR moved it up by 4 years. And nobody wants to take on this political hot potato which is where your point arrives.
My point is that it’s time for voters to expect their elected Congressmen & women to do their job, even if it’s not politically expedient. America’s financial reckoning is coming. And it’s not like the old joke anymore about nuclear fusion where it’s always 30 years out.
The steepening increases in debt & interest expense are simply not sustainable. To think otherwise and have that kick the can down the road mentality like you seems to be proposing will only make the pain worse.
how about reeling in the world wide empire? nah. the volks love it.