DL Open Thread: Friday, January 20, 2023
Krugman: ‘Don’t Appease Economic Terrorists.’:
No, raising the debt limit doesn’t give the president free rein to spend whatever he wants. It simply allows the government to honor its promises, which include everything from paying interest on its debt to sending checks to Social Security recipients. These promises, duly authorized by Congress, exceed the expected amount of taxes and other revenue, so they must be met in part through borrowing; but that’s normal operating procedure, and financial markets are happy to lend us the money.
Unfortunately, a quirk in the U.S. budget process requires Congress, having enacted budget legislation, to vote again to authorize the Treasury to raise the funds needed to follow the law. And Republicans — who had no problem with large-scale borrowing when Donald Trump was in the White House — are now getting ready to weaponize that quirk.
Krugman offers five solutions. Fair use prevents me from listing them. So, read. Learn.
You Think The Judge Was Too Subtle Here? This is how the order leads off:
This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident
from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none
of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim.
Thirty-one individuals and entities were needlessly harmed in order to dishonestly advance
a political narrative. A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers
undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans, and diverts resources from those who
have suffered actual legal harm.
The judge imposed about $1 mill in fines on Trump and his lawyer.
Idle Thought: How long before George Santos gets offered a deal for his own reality show? I could argue that his story is ‘stranger than fiction’, but I read Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Nose’ last night. You should too.
Can Florida Just Secede Already?:
Florida’s ongoing war against so-called “wokeism” has reached a new low. On Wednesday, 28 presidents of Florida’s state and community colleges announced that they would seek to eliminate policies and academic programs that are viewed as forcing a “belief in critical race theory” or subjects related to intersectionality.
“Our institutions will not fund or support any institutional practice, policy, or academic requirement that compels belief in critical race theory or related concepts such as intersectionality, or the idea that oppression should be the primary lens through which teaching and learning are analyzed/ improved upon,” the Florida College System presidents wrote in a joint statement.
The alarming move comes weeks after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered Florida’s colleges and universities to submit comprehensive reports outlining spending data on programs related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and critical race theory, prompting fierce condemnation that the move would pressure universities to simply cut such programs from their budgets. The request builds on Florida’s “Stop WOKE” Act, which aims to restrict race-based teachings in Florida schools and colleges.
Jessica Ardern’s Integrity. She knew when to quit. Why she should quit. Then quit:
One of the hardest things in life is knowing when to stop. So it is testament to Jacinda Ardern’s enduring skills that she has made it look almost easy. New Zealand’s prime minister announced her resignation this week in an emotional but characteristically graceful speech, declaring that after five and half gruelling years at the top she no longer had “enough in the tank to do it justice”.
She was quitting, she said, not because the job was too hard but because she believed leadership was about giving it everything you’ve got for as long as possible, but recognising when your time is up. And so Ardern becomes that rarest of unicorns, a politician with the emotional intelligence to jump instead of waiting to be pushed.
Would it be gratuitous for me to point out that Gov. Carney never ‘had enough in the tank’ to do justice to being Delaware’s governor?
Speaking of our Budget-Smoothing Bro–Didja know that Delaware’s ‘on a roll’? We’re creating so many new jobs by bribing businesses to locate here that there’s nobody to fill the jobs:
One of the biggest challenges facing Delaware is filling the number of open jobs in the state.
“For my entire career in public service, we’ve been focused first on creating jobs,” Carney said. “There have always been more people looking for work than jobs available.
“Today, it’s just the opposite. We have thousands more job openings than we have people looking for work.”
The governor said Delaware businesses have 37,000 job openings, but only 21,000 residents looking for a job. There are 2,000 openings just among state agencies.
“I’ve never seen a situation like this before,” he said.
To beat this, Carney said, the state will need to keep more University of Delaware and Delaware State University graduates in the First State.
Gee, why didn’t anybody think of that before?
What do you want to talk about?
In a poll this week Trump crushed DeSantis 48-31. DeSantis has not been attacking Trump directly, but I guess this was his response:
Florida blocks high school African American studies class
So how long will it be before major universities stop accepting diplomas from Florida high schools? Or the College Board decertifies all AP classes in Florida?
The outline of the Republican nomination is taking shape: it’s going to be a contest for who can be the most racist motherf***er. I give DeSantis the clear edge on that, because he has incumbency in a racist hotbed and has unlimited options to enact even more racist policies.
Hey! If they dropped the drug test game I’d join up, old as dirt or not. Sorry I smoke weed and have for over 50 years, and damned if I care what the politicians say. Judge us for what we do, not by what you want.
If we no longer have to create jobs, can we please stop giving away taxpayer money to companies to incentivize more job creation? Or do we have to wait for John Carney to figure that out?
Keeping more DSU and UD grads in the state is a small part of the solution. Even if you found jobs in state for the 21,000 job seekers, it would still mean (back of the envelope estimates here) retaining every DSU grad for the next 10 years or every UD grad for the next 4 years to fill all the openings. In other words, impossible.
We need more immigration — from other states and overseas — and I’m not talking about retirees from DC, NY and other big metro areas fleeing high taxes in search of a more restful environment. Maybe the vaunted Delaware Prosperity Partnership should be out recruiting talented workers.
Missing from Carney’s analysis: say we fill his shortfall of 16,000 workers, where are they going to live?
RIP: The Geator With The Heater:
https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/jerry-blavat-dies-82-philadelphia-geator-with-the-heater-20230120.html
He was first known for his dancing. Here’s a clip from “American Bandstand” in 1960 (part of an ad, apparently) where Dick Clark, at the 0:20 mark, asks his name. He responds just as you’d expect him to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mryT9gihS4Y
“We have thousands more job openings than we have people looking for work.”
I think it’s just a simple as “The Boomers are finally retiring.” Especially from state jobs.
Holy shee-it, that judge’s order is a real page turner. No /s; he takes Habba and tfg to the woodshed and let’s them have it. How she keeps her license is beyond me. It seems to me that the legal system should give every citizen X number of free complaints. After that, maybe YOU are the problem and you should need to pay upfront to have your complaint reviewed. The judge rightly call tfg out for such disingenuous behaviour.
AFA as jobs in DE, that private school _______ needs to define some metrics. You mean people aren’t flocking to customer facing service/sales or back breaking warehouse work for barely above minimum wage? Color me surprised.
A) if all these free money giveaways are based on the jobs they create and they dont actually fill them do we have a claw back to get our money back?
B) maybe if we kept more instate students at the uofd and del state we’d have more job applicants
“Carney said, the state will need to keep more University of Delaware and Delaware State University graduates in the First State.”
So the smart younger people can’t wait to leave Delaware, and the cranky deadbeat old ont-of-staters can’t wait to get (to Sussex).
Carney should create a panel to look into this.
Where’s the damn like button?
I get your point but hard to believe you want to hit the like button for a comment suggesting that the governor create another goddamn task force.
Carney already has all the task force he is willing to accept in the Chamber of Commerce. And they tell him they need more warehouse workers and customer service peons willing to work for cheap.
There is nobody to tell Carney that to attract and keep young educated people you need improved social and cultural opportunities.
Plus affordable housing in walkable communities, which is currently in the corrupt hands of Wilmington and the counties and their developer lobbyists.
No, for a comment pointing out that there is no problem so large or so small that Carney won’t think the solution is another task force.
As noted by Puck I also see a day when red state grads are rejected out of hand by higher education, you cannot “dumb down” education and not pay a price. Would suggest the bill is already in the mail and can see being from a red state will preclude from much of higher education. As they say in medical you have to present with an minimum of valid education in the past to be considered.
The lack of positions being filled is easy to explain. The State of Delaware has a serious gap between what is paid in other States at the same job and what they pay. In many cases they 1/2 of what the other States are paying. When I was younger, the State pay wasn’t as good but you took it for the benefits/ pension. Now, the benefits go up every year, and in many cases, you can apply for public assistance because the salary is below or close to the poverty level. I saw a posting the other day that requires a masters degree and was paying $33K. That won’t even pay the student loan to get the degree.
Wow. That is shitty pay. I guess excises taxes on cigarettes don’t go as far as they used to.
A recent poll shows Sinema with a spoiler’s chance to tip the Arizona Senate seat to… Kari Lake:
Lake (R) 36%
Gallego (D) 32%
Sinema (I-inc) 14%
FWIW, a Senator does a lot less harm than a governor.
Gotta wonder, though — who is numb-nutted enough to actually vote for her? Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, wouldn’t you prefer the real thing?
Biden got elected. Just saying…
Yes, because he ran as a Democrat. Who would have voted for him if he ran as an independent?
When the annual “We Can’t Find Enough Bus Drivers” stories come around I always hope for the more honest headline. “We Can’t Find People to Work for What We Want to Pay”
Too wordy, I guess.