Open Thread For October 11, 2017
BREAKING: Here’s Why Tillerson Called Trump A Bleeping Moron. Here’s another version. He called for a, wait for it, ‘tenfold’ increase in our nuclear weapons arsenal at a July meeting. That’s, um, ten times what we have now. It was literally right after this meeting that Tillerson called Trump a moron.
Wilmington Trust ‘Too Big To Fail’? Well, it’s M & T now. But it looks like that’s why the bank skated with a civil penalty of $44 mill. The slimy weasels who concocted the fraud now get to wait several more months before standing trial. If they ever do.
The Potential Fallout If (When) Trump Pulls Out Of Iran Deal. I know it’s obvious. But it’s real.
Why Jersey Teachers Backed An R In Key Race. They’re tired of Third Way D’s taking them for granted.
Kansas R’s Beg Congress Not To Do What They Did. How budget-busting tax cuts destroyed their state.
What do you want to talk about?
Now that we know why Tillerson said it, it’s clear he was giving a charitable assessment.
Anyone else see this? I know @Jason330 is always mentioning Simpler…
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/10/11/grand-bargain-delawares-budget-possible-treasurer-ken-simpler/750980001/
Thanks for the link.
“When the private sector is tanking, the public sector should be providing balance and stabilization, not contracting and exacerbating the decline. Conversely, when the economy is expanding rapidly, government should be proceeding at a deliberate pace and harvesting part of that revenue growth for the next cyclical decline.
A new Budget Stabilization Fund would have the clear purpose of leveling out the peaks and valleys in our income streams and would be funded and drawn down with regularity as our economy expands and contracts.”
I’m no fan of Ken Simpler, but that makes sense on a prima facie basis. And, unlike anything Carney has ever said, it has the general appearance of being an actual idea.
@RunCV: Sadly, this nonsense will not be seen for the economic illiteracy that it is.
“A better framework – one that matches our means and our needs – can be achieved by aligning our revenue portfolio with, and limiting our expenditures to, an index of economic indicators: gross state product, personal income, inflation and population. Such a model would produce steady and sufficient growth of 3-4 percent each year.”
Stupidest. Proposal. Ever. You don’t “align [a state’s] revenue proposal” to reflect changing macroeconomic conditions. It would result in a budget that bounced all over the place year by year, exactly the condition he is claiming to address. The rainy day fund’s actual purpose it to bolster our bond rating, a necessity in a state that is leveraged to the hilt.
“To be clear, these reforms alone will not fix our policy challenges in healthcare, education, safety and infrastructure. They will, however, provide the certainty and clarity to our annual budgeting process that allows policymakers to study these issues in greater depth, analyze our resource allocation with more care and develop benchmarks for both setting expectations and measuring results.”
If I wanted to hear this kind of horseshit coming from a guy in a suit, I’d go back to working. Policymakers can analyze and study this whenever they want to. They don’t want to, so Simple Simpler wants to force them to.
There’s a real simple solution to overspending: Show some fucking courage. It’s easy for him to say this shit because he doesn’t answer to voters (nobody knows or cares who the state treasurer is), and given the horseshit he’s peddling here he’d better not start because I’ll be up in his grill if he does.
Here’s my favorite:
“While these types of actions are required by our current fiscal controls to balance the budget, they are the antithesis of the actions that the state should be taking in a recessionary environment.”
We’re not in a recessionary environment, dipshit. Look it up.
Plus he fails to say which of the Carney proposals he backs. It’s fluff.
@jason: Courts in other jurisdictions have ruled against this idea explicitly.
Government is SUPPOSED to be pay as you go. The idea, which courts have endorsed, is that today’s taxpayers pay for today’s services, not tomorrow’s. Why should I be taxed at a high rate today to save the government from having to raise taxes tomorrow?
I’ll tell you why — because when taxes go up, voters blame politicians rather than the economy. You know what? That’s not my fucking problem. It’s theirs, and they’re trying to turn it into mine instead.
For that matter, whatever happened to all that “Party of Resposibility” bullshit?
Creating jobs isn’t the government’s job, it’s theirs. If they can’t create jobs, then they’re just loafing, right, living off government handouts. But if a person can’t get a job and so can’t pay for food and shelter, he deserves nothing from us.
They always accuse you of what they’re doing. Always.
Media bombshell of the day, courtesy of Gabriel Sherman and Vanity Fair:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/donald-trump-is-unraveling-white-house-advisers
“It’s clear that Bob Corker’s New York Times interview … was an inflection point in the Trump presidency. It brought into the open what several people close to the president have recently told me in private: that Trump is “unstable,” “losing a step,” and “unraveling.”
What’s scary is that officials are seriously talking about what would happen if Trump ordered the military to nuke somebody. Either they’d have to carry out the order or resign. Right on down the line until somebody activated the nukes.
We have an utterly unhinged person in the White House and ONLY ONE REPUBLICAN will come out and say it.
So far. One so far.
Meanwhile, since Hallowe’en approacheth, here’s another one that ought to scare you:
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/congressional-pharmacist-reveals-lawmakers-take-alzheimers-drugs-they-might-not-even-remember-yesterday/
A step closer to seeing what KHN, Vince D’Anna, Ron Morris, Dave Grimaldi and I hear, Mario Capano have been talking to each other about on county time.
http://delawareway.blogspot.com/2017/10/ag-matt-denn-ncc-council-violated-foia.html
Thank you, Nancy. And Amy Cherry. Read Nancy’s link. This is an important development.
Bottom line: “So, by order of the AG, NCC Council has until October 19th to hand over a set of emails allowed under FOIA to WDEL. “
Way to go Nancy and Amy.
As for KHN, this is what happens when morons get elected. I have known this woman for years and she has yet to exhibit anything I’d call a “skill.”