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August 02, 2019 07:17 AM UTC

Friday Open Thread

  • 63 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“They appear to have become so attached to their outrage that they are even more outraged that they won’t be able to be outraged anymore.”

–Barney Frank

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63 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

  1. So. Much. Winning. 

    The Senate on Thursday cleared legislation raising the limit for farms to qualify for reorganizing their debts under agricultural bankruptcy law. 

    The bill, which had already passed the House, would more than double the debt limit to $10 million. The cap was set originally at $1.5 million in 1986 with passage of the Chapter 12 law and was raised to $3.2 million in 2005 and indexed to inflation. The limit is currently $4.2 million. 

    The Senate passed the bill by voice vote, clearing it for President Donald Trump’s signature. 

     

    “For family farms whose assets are largely tied up in land and essential equipment, reorganizing debts can be particularly challenging when falling on hard times,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. “As low commodity prices force farmers to take on more debt, this bill guarantees a safety net is in place for more farmers who need help getting back on their feet.”

    According to USDA data, the average value of U.S. cropland has more than doubled since the $3.2 million cap was set.

    Bankers raised concerns about raising the limit, saying it would increase their risk. 

      1. Dems need to focus on the middle class with proposals that are simple to explain and can actually be passed.  Tax cuts for the middle class come immediately to mind.  Someday I'll write a diary detailing my 25 year old daughter's taxes.  In summary, she is a preschool teacher for special needs kids and made about $14/hour in 2018 working a full 12 month year.  Her federal, state and local income taxes totaled 9% of her $28,000 income.  That's not counting Social Security/Medicare.  Trump's tax cuts helped her by about $500, or a 1.5% tax cut.  Dems should run on revoking the Trump tax cuts for corporations and millionaires with the proceeds used to reduce middle class taxes. 

  2. Trump is winning.
    Yes, I know voters are dumb… because people are dumb, yes.
    But also because they vote for the wrong reasons

    I vote D / R because …
    …I always have
    …my parents always voted D/R
    …I want lower taxes
    …I like the tall guy
    …we needa black/woman/jewish/immigrant candidate
     

    I want schools to be adequately funded and operated intelligently.
    I want national defense right sized for the threat.
    I want an economy that allows opportunity and outcome based on effort and talent – not the zip code of my or my parents' birth.

    D candidates want to tell voters not to like their "employer provided health insurance."
    Voters like what they like and so what if it's dumb.

     

    The problem with health care in America is access and affordability.
    And the cause is a for profit market for healthcare is going to lead to outcomes that make that problem worse.

    There are times when competitive free markets lead to the best possible economic outcome. But electrical generation and delivery is not one of them. Until MCI and Judge Green, telephony was not one of them. Water. Safety. Police. Fire.  Sometimes a profit driven free market is going to lead to inferior outcome.

    Access and affordability should not be left to a profit based market inferior solution.

    MFA is a loser if it means most consumers (in VA, PA, OH, MI, WI) are going to lose the employer provided insurance they claim they like. Likewise, it's a loser if the Medicare beneficiaries, who mostly don't understand how Medicare works, fear loss of their coverage.

    Public Option
    Freedom Option
    America's Healthchoice

    These are winners.
    And nothing should be described as "free" ever. Unless it's speech, citizen lives, or puppies.
     

    1. I visited Russia for the first time in 1994, just three years after the implosion of the Soviet Union, and was in both Moscow and the backcountry of southern Russia. The aftermath of Bernie Sanders-style socialism, and even worse, was clearly evident. People were hurting financially. 

      I'm no fan of Putin, also known as Trump's handler. But life was much better when I made my last visit in 2010. As for Medicare for All, Repeal & Replace said it best, and I paraphrase: MFA provides medical coverage for 20 million, but royally screws 250 million to accomplish the goal.

      1. I'd argue that it isn't the Sanders-style socialism that's destroying anything, it's the corporate welfare and billionaire tax breaks.  They just get to call it by nice names and no one notices. While some maroon at a Trump rally is railing about a poor kid getting a free meal at school, Exxon just pulled another million from our Treasury and another farm subsidy check gets dropped into a farmers mailbox.  This is less about socialism and more about allocation of our precious (and often finite) resources (tax revenues)

        1. Michael: I took a few MBA classes back in the 1970s (but got the eventual grad degree in Poli Sci, not Business). One of my MBA professors, a staunch conservative, opined one day that the biggest drag on the economy (then) was subsidies and tax breaks for corporations.

          1. The genius, the motive power, of capitalism is the freedom to fail.  Take that away with subsidies and buyouts, an all you have left is fascist stagnation.

      2. Bernie learned a long, long, long time ago that he gets a lot more attention calling himself a socialist and yelling, than just yelling.

        Is he actually a socialist?  Check his bank account.

        “Sanders-style socialism” in the Soviet Union?  Nyet!

        Attention seeking boob and a coot?  Yes.   The second coming of Lenin?  Nope.

        Overstayed his 15 minutes?  By several decades . . . 

        1. I’m grateful for Bernie’s long decades of public service, including his “yelling” and negotiating on both sides of the aisle to “get shit done”, including funding community health clinics. 

          There is no requirement that people who espouse Democratic Socialism be paupers. There also is no evidence that Bernie is bought and paid for by industries, unlike most of his Senate peers. He is in fact one of the least wealthy Senators.

          Your opinion that he is an attention seeking boob and a coot is…your opinion. Millions disagree.

          I'm not voting for him in the primary, but I do honor what he has done, is doing, to keep attention on public health care, on inequality, etc. 

          1. I could point to entire villages of very wealthy Democratic- Socialists- parading-as-Trumpers in eastern Colorado.  They do love the part where they get their free stuff.  

      3. Have you been to Norway?  Is their healthcare system Bernie Sanders style? The intellectual vacuity of your ad hominem argument is pathetic.

      4. you and R&R are both wrong.

        How do you explain the electrification and affordable access to (mostly) clean water?

        Regulated markets.  Utilities get to profit  – 8-11%
        And everyone benefits.

        Health care – insurance companies 20% (and get to exempt salaires, compensation and distributions to shareholders like stock buy backs) 
        Medical providers – no limit.

         

        Why is it easier to access and pay for electricity than health care?

        Sure- soviet style socialism is stupid and bad for most people.

        but regulated utilities are great for everyone but the C-suite, shareholders and the extractors- yet, we do it anyway

        1. You've just stumbled upon your own solution.

          Utilities get a profit of 8-11% while health care sees 20% or more. Why is that?

          Because the utilities are better regulated private industries.

          Solution:  regulate the health care industry better.

        1. Been there seven times, Pear. You been there? If you go, the primo place to visit in the entire country, in my not so humble opinion, is the Winter Palace and Hermitage complex in St. Petersburg. One does have to, however, be into art and history.

          The primary Kremlin in Moscow is OK, with all the cannon on display that Napoleon left behind, and especially if the crown jewels of the monarchy are on display (I say "primary Kremlin" since "kremlin" is a generic Russian word for "fortress.").

          1. What about the hotel where the alleged water sports with the Russian whores took place? Is that in any tour guide? Maybe some Muscovite entrepreneur is selling yellow umbrellas carrying the fake Great Seal of the President on them.

            1. Don't know about those, R & R. But I did get a set of nesting dolls, on one of the visits, of Denver Broncos players after the 1999 Super Bowl victory.

              Also, Swan Lake (see Tchaikovsky) actually does exist. But it's just a big pond half covered in algae the couple times I saw it.

              Regarding “kremlins,” there are several others scattered around Moscow.

    2. 👍🏻

      On being stupid (NYT paywalled):

      Worst Democratic Strategy Yet: Attack Obama’s Legacy

      https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/opinion/democratic-debate-obama.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

       

      On healthcare (NYT paywalled):

      Democrats Are Having the Wrong Health Care Debate

      They should skip the argument over Medicare for All and find the best ways to tackle affordability.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/opinion/democrats-health-care.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

       

      On what matters, presidentially speaking (no paywall):

      Let’s Get Into a Fight About Foreign Policy

      After another two nights of Democratic debates, the 2020 field has spent little time on some of the presidency's most consequential challenges.

      https://newrepublic.com/article/154583/lets-get-fight-foreign-policy

       

      Climate Change Is Finally Getting the Attention It Deserved 20 Years Ago

      The CNN debates paid a historic amount of attention to the climate crisis—but were still embarrassingly behind the curve.

      https://newrepublic.com/article/154470/climate-change-finally-getting-attention-deserved-20-years-ago

      CNN’s own polling shows as much. In a nationwide survey in April, aggressive action on climate change was the top issue among registered Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Last week, the outlet asked 50,000 viewers what they’d most like to hear about at the debates—and 9,500 people said climate change. The economy came in second with 8,100 votes, and health care came in third, with 7,000.

       

      So, yep, Madco:

      Attacking Obama, and ignoring the criminal Tweeter?  Dumb.  Incredibly Dumb.  Disqualifyingly stupid.

      MFA vs. affordability, when 150 million have private health insurance they like?  Ditto.

      Saving the planet from inevitable climatic or nuclear destruction?  Who knows, might be a good idea?

      Free Stuff?  Well, I do really like puppies . . . 

      1. You know what should be free?

        Speech. Ideas.Clean air, clean water. 

        Civilization costs – and I choose civilization.
        Even justice is not and should not be free.

        The problem isn't that 150 people have 'private' health insurance they say they like.
        The problem is that the insurance most Americans say they like is not really likeable – it's just a known quantity. Most insurance sucks – but having it beats the alternative.

        And while the working classes are fighting about it – the rich just keep getting richer.
        So of course the opposition exploits the fear of change and omg, why should an illegal alien get free healthcare that you pay for? hell, why should your neighbor get free anything that you pay for?

        And the DNC plays right in to it.
        It's about justice.
        Identity politics.
        Reparations.
        Free stuff.

        Everyone who ever took an economics class knows 
        y = F(K, L (a))

        The question is never about whether or not there is another model. The question is always about how to compensate L and K and a.
        The question is about how to spend y.

        Investing y in education (Pk – 16+) is one way.
        Giving the y to the managers and owners of K is another.

        Which is better?
        Well, the Csuites and shareholders of America will say y compensates them for the risk they take, the talent they deliver. And it makes everyone aspire – greed is good

        And the workers of America will say – please don't subsidize that new Walmart. Please don't allow the new boss to raid our pension. Hey, I love the local megasports franchises as much as anyone, but why I gotta pay for the stadia?  

        I choose civilization, and that means service to a higher idea, and it also means somethings are gonna cost more. Society always going to cost more. The question is who pays how much.

        And for any so called fiscal conservative, tax cuts that explode the deficit are not sustainable. But your guy just did it. And my grandchildren – whose parents don't even get to vote yet- will be paying n blood and treasure.

         

    3. I agree on not using the word “free”, MADCO.  My last (rural high school) Principal used to correct me on that one- “Someone is paying for it, even if it’s “free” public education.”

      He was able to persuade voters in his district to vote for a mill levy override to repair and renovate the school, by taking them on tours and showing them exactly what their tax dollars would be paying for – replacing broken windows, asbestos floor and ceiling tiles, leaky pipes. 

      “Affordable”, “need-based”, “public” “income-based”, “community-based” are all better ways of saying that taxes fund a given project.  

      1. Taxes are good.
        And the only just way to collect them is some people pay more than others and some pay none. (which almost no one in America pays zero now.) 

        1. Everybody should pay something and the rich should pay more.  Even paupers should pay something — give them $2,000 a month in welfare but withhold $100 of that in taxes.  Everyone should share the benefits and burden of government.

           

          1. Kids?
            Disabled?
            Disabled war vet?
            War widow?

            Lincoln was right, you are not.

            "Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

            "Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

            "And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

            "They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

            "The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.

            1. Sorry about your reading disability, madcow  — I specified that token taxes for the poor would come from their welfare grants.  But if everybody doesn't have at least a token stake in government, life becomes an Ayn Rand novel.  And you're a Stearns heir.

          2. V, you are being kind when you describe government as a burden. Government is actually a criminal enterprise as you know from student loans.

            1. Pfruit – you might recall when this student debt loan debacle began (and gave rise to faux-universities like those of your der Leader, who paid $25mm to quietly make the claims go away?). Why is it that the adults always have to clean up your f* messes? 

              The GOP Reversal on For-Profit Colleges in the George W. Bush Era

              during the administration, more than a few dubious actors in the for-profit higher education industry showed themselves only too willing to take advantage of a regulatory scheme that had no consequences for poor performance or lousy results. Between 2001 and 2009, the Department of Education—with the enthusiastic support of the for-profit higher education industry—largely turned a blind eye to questions of problematic practices by for-profit colleges.1

        2. Just a quick mention …. I'll happily go back to work and pay high taxes if someone has something interesting for me to do and pays me high enough income to warrant the high taxes.

          Why is it that people discussing the wonders of a their investment strategy, or how much their last vacation cost, or their sizeable raise are "successful," while those who pay high taxes NEVER brag about that?

      2. Ahhh, la Pamposa ha hablado!

        And now there is another word relegated to the Index of Forbidden Words along side "henpeck" and "scowl." FREE!

        During the 2016 campaign, Blue Cat once said the stuff Bernie was promising to give to everyone wasn't so much "free stuff" as stuff paid for by other means.

        I suppose we could refer to what was formerly "free stuff" as "stuff most people would not need to pay for but which would be paid for by the one percent." That is, until the one percent caught on to what was happening and started to hide their money at home and/or abroad, in which event it is stuff which would be paid for by the five percent. At least until they realized what was going on, at which point……well, you get the picture.

        There were many things I disliked about the Baroness Thatcher but one thing she was famous for saying was, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money to spend."

         

        1. Where did I say any words are “forbidden”? You are free to complain about “free stuff!” , or about anything else, til you’re satisfied. I have no power to censor anyone’s words- although I can use my own free speech to comment about words others use.

          What I mean by not using the word “free” is in the context of political organizing. I think it’s more honest to say that tuition at community colleges, for example, is free for qualifying students, but subsidized by grants and property taxes. It’s more honest to say that preventative health care requires no copay (at Kaiser), but is subsidized by other fees and insurance premiums. Tell who is paying for it, in other words. So the payers feel appreciated.

          I just took my daughter and granddaughter to the Lakewood Breastival – yes there was plenty of free stuff, (food, toothbrushes, screenings, books, pens, bags, the usual schwag) which had been paid for by grants and taxes paid by Jefferson County residents.

          What do you enjoy that is free to you, and who ultimately pays for it?

           

        3. Ah Blue Cat. Now there is character of some renown. I heard she/he died on election night from the though of have to eat massive portions of crow. Poor thing! 

          1. Better watch out, Pear. The Blue Cat is still lurking, and she has a mean left paw. 

            And where is Dave Barnes, a.k.a. The Grammar Cop, whenever you squirt out a little pile of garbled verb smoosh?

  5. Fifteen years ago this morning we delivered 110,000 signatures for the socialist Amendment 37 campaign, the nation's first-ever citizens-initiated renewable portfolio standard, leading to the destruction of our rural way of life to billions invested in eastern Colorado wind farms and thousands of jobs created in urban and rural areas alike. A small standard (10% by 2015) by today's goals, it put Colorado on the path as a global leader in the New Energy Economy – and our current goal of 100% renewable energy. (Sorry V, my showers will be hot and my beer cold with these new-fangled energy sources, including hemp batteries!) 

     

    2. Well – I remember hearing that A37 would ruin Colorado and bring nothing but failure.

      How's that failure feel now?
      gol-dang soviet/sanders style socialism

      100% is within sight

      1. Yes, shrill claims that we’d bring down our grid that could apparently only run in coal, thus driving business away from Colorado with unreliable and expensive energy.  The costs, we were promised, would be BILLIONS. 

        They were wrong on every account. Bigly. 

    3. I was not involved in A37 except to sign it. My activism in O&G matters had not quite begun, but I remember the heebee jeebies displayed by the Fossilonians hereabouts.

      And nowadays, renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuel and driving the dirty fuel guys out of the market.

      Dammit, Michael…see what you started!    😄

  6. The clueless buffoon thinks “vetting” is something Swells do in a sports car made by Chevrolet.

    WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday abruptly dropped his plan to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, as the nation’s top intelligence official, following bipartisan questions about his qualifications and pushback over whether he had exaggerated his résumé.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/us/politics/trump-ratcliffe-dni.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

    1. In related news, the Scaramucci remains the official unit of temporal duration measure for a Trump administration official's tenure, i.e., "He lasted 6.8 Scaramuccis." Plans to replace the Mooch with the Ratcliffe were shelved when John Ratcliffe failed to actually become an administration official.

      1. I'll need to go look — I forget if the Washington Post Trump appointment tracker counts those who were mentioned for a job or if it has to be an "official" nomination letter before they push it to permanent pixels.

        Either way, 30 month in to his term, Trump now has an undisputed record for first term Cabinet resignations/firings, and is pulling away, likely never to be surpassed.  "Only the best people."

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