18 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. WOTD from Brad DeLong: "a skilled worker is an unskilled worker with a strong union"

   Paul Campos: Talent Is Not Scarce: "Existing social hierarchies, and especially the compensation structures that undergird them, require the constant denial of the fact that almost everyone is easily replaceable at any time.  After all, if there are 500 people standing at the ready who could do just as good or better a job than Chairman Smith or President Jones or Senior Executive Vice President for West Coast Promotion Johnson or Distinguished Professor of the Newly Endowed Chair for the Worship of Capitalism Cowan, then why do these people get treated and most of all paid as if they were as unique as unicorns, as precious as Vermeer portraits, as irreplaceable as Billy Shakespeare or Willie Mays? Because if we didn’t treat them (us) in that way, that would mean the entire structure of our society is radically unjust, root and branch.  And that can’t be true, obviously…

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2. The TABOR battle is reaching new levels. Critics are testing 18 ways to rewrite Colorado tax policy.

   Behind the scenes, the political left in Colorado is gearing up for a fight to overhaul the state’s tax system, a tangled mess of constitutional amendments that they believe holds the key to better-funded schools, less congested roads and more affordable college.

   Step one to unravel the knot? Figure out what threads they’re even allowed to pull.

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   1. Suggestion for the single subject title:  Restore our Representative Democracy

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      1. 

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      2. I always thought single-subject was proposed largely because of TABOR, but this was 1994 and I would be interested if others have opinions on that. Here's part of a "pro" argument from that year's Blue Book:

         "This proposal will help keep unrelated or misleading provisions out of initiated and referred measures to be voted on by the people. The practice of "log-rolling" or "Christmas-treeing" results in ideas, which probably could not pass on their individual merits, being made parts of a larger proposal that is likely to pass. Further, the proposal will protect against unexpected provisions that may be contained in a proposal. Voters, after an election, should not be saying, "I didn't know that provision was in that ballot issue," which is a potential result of having more than one topic in a proposal…"

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         1. TABOR was, indeed, a good part of the reason for single subject. It strangled revenue in ways no one (except, maybe Dougie-poo) considered until it was too late. Unfortunately, we did ourselves an injury by green-lighting single subject. TABOR has to be undone one thread at a time.

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      3. I don't have it yet, but some other words need to added

         Freedom

         Reduction/relief/cut

         Puppies and kittens

         Kids

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3. While Stumbledumb yaps to the British press about how climate change goes both ways and is astonished that Prince Phillip cares about future generations (while adding, he really doesn't need to in a way), we're approaching the 30th anniversary of Lady Thatcher's compelling plea to the UN on the very subject.  30. *ucking. Years. Ago. 

   Grab a cup of coffee and spend 30 minutes. It’s worth it.

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   1. Strange that Trump went to climate change with the prince when he could have gone with racism instead and found a quick meeting of the minds.

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4. Harry Reid changes opinion, says Pelosi-led House should open Trump impeachment inquiry

   Former Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who as recently as last month cautioned Democrats about the perils of pursuing President Trump’s impeachment, now says the House should open an impeachment inquiry that might or might not lead to a formal effort to remove him from office.

   “It’s not the right thing to do nothing,” Reid said in an interview Monday with USA TODAY. “It’s not the right thing to jump into impeachment without doing an inquiry.”

   The most important goal, he said, would be to “give the American people a view of what’s going on.”

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   1. And another former Senate majority leader has weighed in, too.  Sen Tom Daschle writes in the Washington Post that

      House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), meanwhile, has resisted the growing calls for Trump’s impeachment coming from within her caucus; from several of the 2020 presidential contenders; and the literal chants of “impeach” that arose from the crowd as she addressed the California Democratic Party State Convention this past weekend. She insists that before taking such a drastic step, Democrats must build an “ironclad” case.

      She’s right. And the party should listen to her.

      ….

      Pelosi says impeachment has a “silver lining” for Trump, because she understands that if he’s impeached but not convicted, “he believes he would be exonerated,” and Democrats would be demoralized. We can’t afford the confusion such an outcome would create. At stake is the fabric of our republic: our democratic institutions and the rule of law.

       

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5. Uncle Joe apologizes for your lack of access to abortion.

   There’s NO political or ideological excuse for @JoeBiden’s support for the Hyde Amendment, which translates into discrimination against poor women and women of color plain and simple. His position further endangers people already facing enormous hurdles. https://t.co/3jDleIq077

   — NARAL (@NARAL) June 5, 2019

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   1. The decay in polling support for Biden has now begun in earnest.

      He probably will remain on top, but his positioning away from the existing platform and likely policy preferences of many voters will pull him back towards the pack.  Just as Sanders has found, it isn't enough to be consistent with what you believe when the majority of the party has another preferred position.

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6. Axios is now (in a June 4 article) saying Bennet has qualified for debates by way of polling — among the 19 to qualify. 

   As I understand it, if more than 20 qualify, the "exclusion" will be on the basis the "best three" polls.  Don't know how he will fare in the fractional contest between those now qualified by polling–who are, in alphabetical order:

   • Sen. Michael Bennet
   • Former Rep. John Delaney
   • Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
   • Former Gov. John Hickenlooper
   • Rep. Tim Ryan
   • Rep. Eric Swalwell

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7. There's no need for impeachment because Democrat committee chairs will do the sort of deep investigations we nee…

   House Democrats clamoring for Donald Trump’s tax information have eagerly awaited a newly passed New York law allowing limited access to the president’s state returns.

   They’re about to be sorely disappointed.

   House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal would be the only Democrat allowed by the new law to ask for the documents, but so far he has said he won’t do it.

   Neal has said he fears that getting the state returns would bolster Trump administration arguments that Congress is on a political fishing expedition — and not, as Neal has claimed, overseeing the Internal Revenue Service’s annual audits of the president.

   New York Offers Up Trump's State Tax Returns—But One Lawmaker Stands in the Way

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   1. Grrrr… Neal is the perfect example of a complacent, entitled “moderate” who desperately needs to be primaried. He had no primary opponent and almost no general election opponent.  Blowing the chance to subpoena Trump’s tax returns oughtta get some primary opponents fired up for 2020. 

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8. Ken Buck is in hospital. Surprised you missed this, Alva.

   https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/congressman-ken-buck-taken-to-hospital-after-complaints-of-chest/article_ec13b158-87b0-11e9-8c7b-77c61e48d290.html

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   1. Hope he enjoys his free Federally subsidized health care that he denies to the rest of the country.

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