Wednesday Open Thread [3.9.16]

Wednesday Open Thread [3.9.16]

10 Comments
Well, Bernie got his first quality narrative changing shocking upset of a win in Michigan last night. All his prior wins could be discounted in one way or another: caucus states, states close to Vermont, states that were overly white and liberal electorates. Michigan is the first state that is nearly identical to the demographics of the nation as a whole where he won. Sure, it's a very narrow win, and sure, Hillary actually won the delegate count, both in Michigan and throughout the night, thus expanding her almost insurmountable lead, but a win is a win. And you need wins, especially the unexpected shocking upsets kind of wins to change narratives and momentum, and campaigns are all about narratives and momentum. So for the last two weeks, I have been crowing about Hillary's success, so Bernie supporters, feel free to crow here about his success last night. Hey, if Hillary had won Michigan, I would have been saying the race is over. Remember what Chris Bowers said yesterday, that Bernie needed to win Michigan. He did. Celebrate it if you feel that rash commonly referred to as the Bern. Tomorrow, we will begin to talk about whether this win changes the course of the race.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 9, 2016

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 9, 2016

8 Comments
In the Senate Executive Committee is yet another giveaway to business, this one the so-called (is Frank Luntz coming up with names for these bills?) "Delaware Commitment to Innovation Act". The bill basically is yet another $10 mill or so annual giveaway to corporations in addition to all the other giveaways that have taken place in less than three months. Hey, I've got some time, let's see how many of these giveaways I can list: 1. Right out of the box,  THIS bill, aka the 'Delaware Competes Act of 2016' was specifically designed to keep Chemours, you know, the company that DuPont spun off specifically to avoid liability for its environmental wreckage, here.  Passed and signed. Loss of revenue to state's coffers? About $50 mill over three years, according to this fiscal note. Requirements that Chemours clean up its mess? Zero. 2. Then we've had the Council on Development Finance scurry to throw yet more $$'s at the new behemoth, which may well reward the CEO's who carved out this merger dual CEO's with an $80 mill payoff. A relatively paltry $9.6 mill of taxpayer money. 3. In the same article, we read that:
New Castle County officials are in the process of approving their own five-year, $7.5 million commitment to DuPont. The plans, which still must pass the County Council, would create a strategic economic development fund for the first time in county history and commit tax reserves to that fund.
Once again, that's taxpayer money. 4. But that's not enough for the would-be chemical conglom-o:
County Executive Thomas P. Gordon last month said DuPont officials also have asked him to use his authority to lower its property tax bills.
5. We're even acting as their real estate agent. (I know I'm missing some more. Isn't Wilmington  being extorted as well?) 6. Which brings us back to this $10 mill annual giveaway. Practically everybody is on the bill as sponsors, so it will sail right through.  Delaware and its local governments have been reduced to paying extortion in order to salvage jobs here. We used to bribe companies (the banks) to come here by throwing people who need credit under the 18.6% bus.  We're now reduced to paying any and all kinds of extortion to get giant corporations to stay here, at least until someone bribes them with even more.   Guess it beats providing living wages for people who live and work here.  Except, the extortion never stops, and the wages never go up. Pretty much defines 'The Delaware Way'.