Cont: The Biden Presidency Part II

[Tero]

Yeah, but that was before 4 years of failed Democratic leadership reminding everyone why they hate that party. People still hate Trump, but the Democrats will have spent 4 years reminding everyone that things can't get better, even when we "win". Don't underestimate how dispirited the liberal voting population will become.

That's always the case, though. Voters think presidents can block inflation.

The benefits in jobs from the two Biden laws will be measurable by 2022 election. But not inflation.

Enjoy your loans getting reduced by inflation, folks. Only lenders lose for sure. Wages will go up.

 

[CapelDodger]

@Warp12 :

Inevitably you miss the point. Harris's approval rating does not matter, and finding half-a-dozen hack journos splashing around in the shallow end with you won't change that fact. It won't matter unless and until she runs for election in 2024, for President, VP or some other elected post. Her current ratings as VP ("a heart-beat away from a proper job") may well be transitory, unlike Trump's consistently and historically low ratings as President, which you took no great interest in : your concentration on Harris now is because she's a woman, a Democrat, better educated and more intelligent than you, reflects a multi-cultural society, and you hate her for all of that.

 

[CapelDodger]

Enjoy your loans getting reduced by inflation, folks. Only lenders lose for sure. Wages will go up.

I remember trying to get that across to my father in the 1970's : long story short, I failed. He paid off the mortgage in the 90's for what was by then chump-change, and still didn't get it. Parents, eh? You love 'em, but .

 

[TurkeysGhost]

That's always the case, though. Voters think presidents can block inflation.

The benefits in jobs from the two Biden laws will be measurable by 2022 election. But not inflation.

Enjoy your loans getting reduced by inflation, folks. Only lenders lose for sure. Wages will go up.

Inflation was going to happen anyway. You can't blame Biden for it, but you can't credit him for it either.

Speaking of loans, Biden refuses to use his sole discretion to forgive student loan debt. Just like he refuses to reschedule marijuana and defang one of the most egregious vectors of police violence against the public.

Even with a deep conservative streak running through the Democratic controlled Congress that makes passing popular legislation, Biden has a lot of executive power to make things better and simply chooses not to.

 

[Ziggurat]

Enjoy your loans getting reduced by inflation, folks. Only lenders lose for sure. Wages will go up.

Wage increases might not keep up with inflation. Interest rates will rise, hurting anyone who needs to take out a loan now. And people who rely on savings or fixed income also suffer. They aren't "lenders".

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Inflation was going to happen anyway. You can't blame Biden for it, but you can't credit him for it either.

Yes, you can. If he had let Covid run rampant it would have kept inflation down due to lack of demand (dead people don't buy stuff!).

Biden refuses to use his sole discretion to forgive student loan debt... Biden has a lot of executive power to make things better and simply chooses not to.

Now is not the time to do it. It's too early, people won't remember who bribed them.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Yes, you can. If he had let Covid run rampant it would have kept inflation down due to lack of demand (dead people don't buy stuff!).

Biden and the democrats dodged a political bullet. The vaccines were rolling out in time to make their decision making easier. Recall there were plenty of other nations that didn't have Trump as leader that still completely botched the job, and there's no reason to believe the stingy dems would have managed things much better. The chances that austerity hawks within the Democratic party were going to provide the public the necessary relief required to keep people home and not spreading the plague in a pre-vaccine world is pretty much nil. They wouldn't have been out spreading misinfo about the disease like Trump, but they absolutely would have lined up sacrifices to please the Almighty Dollar.

Now is not the time to do it. It's too early, people won't remember who bribed them.

He's not going to do it later either.

 

[Delvo]

It has occurred to me that it could be a decent strategy to hold back good stuff like that until closer to election time so people vote while it's still on their minds... but "it'll be an effective strategy" is never the reason why Democrats do anything. Especially not with the student debt crisis. That crisis is his baby. He had a bigger role than anybody else in creating it. There's no way he'll ever want to do anything to it.

 

[Aridas]

To poke at something that probably shouldn't have surprised me -

House Republican comes out and says it: Forcing tax cheats to pay up would 'cost' them billions

"Biden's policy will double the size of the IRS at the cost of billions of dollars in unpaid taxes. We should stabilize our nation's economy first."

Unpaid taxes are good for the economy! Therefore, we just shouldn't collect taxes! Trust us, the Party of Rich People Crime and Crackdowns on the Poor, to know what's good for you!

 

[Armitage72]

That's always the case, though. Voters think presidents can block inflation.

When I was traveling for Thanksgiving, I saw several gas pumps with stickers of President Biden pointing, positioned so he was pointing at the final total, with the caption "I did this".

 

[thaiboxerken]

To poke at something that probably shouldn't have surprised me -

House Republican comes out and says it: Forcing tax cheats to pay up would 'cost' them billions



Unpaid taxes are good for the economy! Therefore, we just shouldn't collect taxes! Trust us, the Party of Rich People Crime and Crackdowns on the Poor, to know what's good for you!

Yep, it's always been the Republican lie that the wealthy people should be left alone because the rest of us would starve without them.

 

[JoeMorgue]

Why is the goddamn White House Christmas Tree / Holiday decorations back in the news?

Listen I like to think my "Trump is bad" credentials are solid enough to say that I never got the big deal about how the goddamn Christmas Tree and that one hallway were decorated.

As I said at the time I didn't like it, but some weird avante garde Christmas set up isn't some insult to Americana, this stupid idea that the White House is allowed to look like Normal Rockwell threw up on Greco-Roman Marble and nothing else. For all of his many, many, many, many, many faults Trump decorating the White House differently is not a thing.

I swear if the next thing is about Jackie ******* Kennedy's goddamn rose garden...

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Why is the goddamn White House Christmas Tree / Holiday decorations back in the news?

Fox News grandpas are trying to get another star on their "war on Christmas" Combat Action Badge.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

A nice statement of Biden's support for legalizing marijuana would be for Jill to plant a nice weed farm in the White House Garden.

 

[Delvo]

A nice statement of Biden's support for legalizing marijuana...

...in a world where he hadn't been President for almost a year without legalizing it or even suggesting somebody else should legalize it, or where he hadn't laughed at the absurdity when a reporter asked him about it just a week or two ago...

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Biden and the democrats dodged a political bullet. The vaccines were rolling out in time to make their decision making easier. Recall there were plenty of other nations that didn't have Trump as leader that still completely botched the job, and there's no reason to believe the stingy dems would have managed things much better.

Stingyness wasn't the problem. It was the lack of urgency, irresponsible lying to avoid 'spooking' the markets, and basic stupidity from the top that screwed us. If Dems had been in charge we would have had a different problem, Republicans blocking their every move just to spite them, and stupidity from the bottom (which every country in the world is now facing).

If we had taken strong swift action from the start we could have saved 750,000 lives and billions of dollars. The markets would have quickly bounced back better than ever. 'Stingy' dems would have loved it.

On 9/11 the US and Canada immediately grounded all commercial air traffic. We closed bridges, tunnels, and train stations, evacuated buildings, and many states declared a state of emergency. When we opened up again it was with greatly increased security and travel restrictions etc. All that just to avoid the possibility of more attacks.

With the right leadership we could have applied the same techniques to the virus, but we didn't because our leader was an idiot. With Obama, Biden, or even Bush in charge we would have handled it much better. Actually Bush might have been the best, because he would have had both republicans and democrats on his side.

George W. Bush in 2005: 'If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare'

In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he began flipping through an advance reading copy of a new book about the 1918 flu pandemic. He couldn't put it down.

When he returned to Washington, he called his top homeland security adviser into the Oval Office and gave her the galley of historian John M. Barry's "The Great Influenza," which told the chilling tale of the mysterious plague that "would kill more people than the outbreak of any other disease in human history."

"You've got to read this," Fran Townsend remembers the president telling her. "He said, 'Look, this happens every 100 years. We need a national strategy.'"

Thus was born the nation's most comprehensive pandemic plan -- a playbook that included diagrams for a global early warning system, funding to develop new, rapid vaccine technology, and a robust national stockpile of critical supplies, such as face masks and ventilators

"A pandemic is a lot like a forest fire," Bush said at the time. "If caught early it might be extinguished with limited damage. If allowed to smolder, undetected, it can grow to an inferno that can spread quickly beyond our ability to control it."

Bush would not have pulled back from doing what was necessary. Yes, other countries also handled Covid badly, but they also had idiots in charge. And they didn't have the same resources on tap. The US - with its superior technology, the Worlds largest military, and natural barriers - should have beaten the virus down easily - but we didn't because we didn't have a Bush or Obama or Biden in charge - we had Trump.

The chances that austerity hawks within the Democratic party were going to provide the public the necessary relief required to keep people home and not spreading the plague in a pre-vaccine world is pretty much nil. They wouldn't have been out spreading misinfo about the disease like Trump, but they absolutely would have lined up sacrifices to please the Almighty Dollar.

I dispute that, but even if so it wasn't their call. And history shows that if the crisis was framed right then the majority would have been on board with spending what was necessary.

In 2009 we faced an economic meltdown. Many were saying 'let the banks fail and everyone lose their savings', 'let the car manufacturers go bankrupt and all the workers lose their jobs', 'we don't care if the whole financial World burns down - we won't have our taxes being used to prevent it!'. And who didn't listen to them? Who worked with Obama to save us from the catastrophe a lot of 'progressives' wanted? Bush.

He's not going to do it later either.

We will see. But even if Biden doesn't tick all of your boxes, I bet that on balance he will have proved to be good for this country despite the constant assaults on his record by 'progressives'.

 

[dirtywick]

TARP was actually very successful

 

[dudalb]

Stingyness wasn't the problem. It was the lack of urgency, irresponsible lying to avoid 'spooking' the markets, and basic stupidity from the top that screwed us. If Dems had been in charge we would have had a different problem, Republicans blocking their every move just to spite them, and stupidity from the bottom (which every country in the world is now facing).

If we had taken strong swift action from the start we could have saved 750,000 lives and billions of dollars. The markets would have quickly bounced back better than ever. 'Stingy' dems would have loved it.

On 9/11 the US and Canada immediately grounded all commercial air traffic. We closed bridges, tunnels, and train stations, evacuated buildings, and many states declared a state of emergency. When we opened up again it was with greatly increased security and travel restrictions etc. All that just to avoid the possibility of more attacks.

With the right leadership we could have applied the same techniques to the virus, but we didn't because our leader was an idiot. With Obama, Biden, or even Bush in charge we would have handled it much better. Actually Bush might have been the best, because he would have had both republicans and democrats on his side.

George W. Bush in 2005: 'If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare'Bush would not have pulled back from doing what was necessary. Yes, other countries also handled Covid badly, but they also had idiots in charge. And they didn't have the same resources on tap. The US - with its superior technology, the Worlds largest military, and natural barriers - should have beaten the virus down easily - but we didn't because we didn't have a Bush or Obama or Biden in charge - we had Trump.

I dispute that, but even if so it wasn't their call. And history shows that if the crisis was framed right then the majority would have been on board with spending what was necessary.

In 2009 we faced an economic meltdown. Many were saying 'let the banks fail and everyone lose their savings', 'let the car manufacturers go bankrupt and all the workers lose their jobs', 'we don't care if the whole financial World burns down - we won't have our taxes being used to prevent it!'. And who didn't listen to them? Who worked with Obama to save us from the catastrophe a lot of 'progressives' wanted? Bush.

We will see. But even if Biden doesn't tick all of your boxes, I bet that on balance he will have proved to be good for this country despite the constant assaults on his record by 'progressives'.

I think the Bernie supporters will never,ever forgive Biden for defeating Bernie in the primaries.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

We will see. But even if Biden doesn't tick all of your boxes, I bet that on balance he will have proved to be good for this country despite the constant assaults on his record by 'progressives'.

That's the problem though, we're not in a political situation where someone who on balance proves to be good for the country is sufficient to cut the mustard. We need someone to do a little more than that.

 

[Horatius]

With the right leadership we could have applied the same techniques to the virus, but we didn't because our leader was an idiot. With Obama, Biden, or even Bush in charge we would have handled it much better. Actually Bush might have been the best, because he would have had both republicans and democrats on his side.
...
George W. Bush in 2005: 'If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare'Bush would not have pulled back from doing what was necessary. Yes, other countries also handled Covid badly, but they also had idiots in charge. And they didn't have the same resources on tap. The US - with its superior technology, the Worlds largest military, and natural barriers - should have beaten the virus down easily - but we didn't because we didn't have a Bush or Obama or Biden in charge - we had Trump.

One thing I wonder about the idiots in charge of other countries, or at least the idiots who were trying to influence the people in charge: How much of their idiocy was natural to them, and how much was just them parroting the stupidity they saw coming from Trump? I think this would be an interesting project for some history grad student, try to trace the origins and timelines of various stupid talking points, and how they spread across the world.

Here in Canada, it seems obvious to me that our Local Idiots are largely parroting the US-based Idiots in how they respond to COVID regulations, and a lot of that originated with Trump and his ilk. Had Trump not been the one in charge in 2020, how different would things look, everywhere in the world?