New Developments III

[Sabin]

Really like this NYT article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/opin ... -time.html

Why the Biden Presidency Feels Like Such a Disappointment

(a selected passage)

"American politics is punctuated by the rise and fall of political orders or regimes. In each regime, one party, whether in power or not, dominates the field. Its ideas and interests define the landscape, forcing the opposition to accept its terms. Dwight Eisenhower may have been a Republican, but he often spoke in the cadences of the New Deal. Mr. Clinton voiced Reaganite hosannas to the market.

Regimes persist across decades. The Jeffersonian regime lasted from 1800 to 1828; the Jacksonian regime, from 1828 to 1860; the Republican regime, from 1860 to 1932; the New Deal order, from 1932 to 1980.

Reagan’s market regime of deference to the white and the wealthy has outlasted two Democratic presidencies and may survive a third. We see its presence in high returns to the rich and low wages for work, continents of the economy cordoned off from democratic control and resegregated neighborhoods and schools. Corporations are viewed, by liberals, as more advanced reformers of structural racism than parties and laws, and tech billionaires are seen as saviors of the planet.

Eventually, however, regimes grow brittle. Their ideology no longer speaks to the questions of the day; important interests lose pride of place; the opposition refuses to accept the leading party and its values.

Every president presides over a regime that is either resilient or vulnerable. That is his situation. When Eisenhower was elected, the New Deal was strong; when Jimmy Carter was elected, it was weak. Every president is affiliated or opposed to the regime. That is his story. James Knox Polk sought to extend the slavocracy, Abraham Lincoln to end it. The situation and the story are the keys to the president’s power — or powerlessness."

[Greg]

It is just one poll, but, in a Hill-HarrisX poll 3/4 of respondents believe there will be a recession next year.

https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-america ... a-economic

I wonder if a large part of this reaction is due to rapidly-rising home prices and the sense that this will lead to a repeat of 2008. Then, there was a housing bubble, largely driven by subprime mortgages, that sent the country into The Great Recession when it burst. Now, there is another housing bubble, this one driven by hedge-fund leveraging, which could burst soon. The impact may be even greater now that it is coupled with stock and crypto bubbles. It will be interesting to see how Wall-Street apologists blame the Community Reinvestment Act for hedge-fund leveraging.

[Sabin]

Dr. Oz is running for Senate in Pennsylvania. It's getting real dumb out here, folks.

[Sabin]

Is Beto O'Rourke even "promising" in quotation marks anymore? He lost his race for Senate and the Presidency. He raised $80 million for his Senate race, $17.5 million for his Presidential race, and he raised $2 million for his Governor race within the first 24 hours which means he's probably already raised over $100 million in campaign contributions towards losing campaigns by now.

Also, he's standing by his stance on mandatory assault weapons buybacks. Which I admire but how does that equal winning in Texas? Maybe Democrats should stop worrying and love the McConaissance.

[Sonic Youth]

Abbott and O'Rourke are in a dead heat in this poll:

https://www.txhpf.org/2021/11/01/abbott ... ion-shows/

Let's not do this again, please.

Every election cycle, a "promising" candidate threatens to unseat a super-prominent Republican. Initial polls show a highly competitive race which never pans out. Rmember Amy McGrath?

I know Democrats are salivating for Texas, either electorally or otherwise. It ain't happening. Just let it go. We have more important things to focus on, like keeping Minnesota blue.

[Sabin]

Hope he makes it.

[Big Magilla]

Abbott and O'Rourke are in a dead heat in this poll:

https://www.txhpf.org/2021/11/01/abbott ... ion-shows/

[Greg]

Another article about Saule Omarova showing how Republicans have not only failed to get beyond Donald Trump, they have still failed to get beyond Joseph McCarthy:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11 ... arova.html

[Sabin]

Beto O'Rourke announces that he will lose for Governor of Texas next year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/15/us/p ... ement.html

I'm sorry, I just cannot imagine how he wins. He's on tape saying "Hell yeah, we're going to take your guns away." I'm sure he'll be well-funded and organized and I'm glad someone high profile is taking on Greg Abbott but his Presidential run was full of too many embarrassing moments for him to be taken seriously at this point. I don't see how he avoids the perennial candidate stink at this point, shifting his focus from state to national back to state again. And I'm concerned that asking Texans to choose between gun rights and reproductive rights is a losing battle.

I enjoyed this politico story: Beto O'Rourke's Long History of Failing Upward.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story ... up-226866/

[Greg]

A very important recent example of Republicans viewing bank regulation as a form of Communism:

"Republicans and Wall Street Are Smearing Biden’s Bank Regulator as a Commie:"

https://newrepublic.com/article/164106/ ... eet-attack

[gunnar]

Was this the article that you read, OscarGuy?

https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-e ... to-art-faq

I agree that they sound very dumb.

[OscarGuy]

I still don't quite understand them. I read something trying to explain them, but they didn't make sense...and maybe that's why I think they sound a bit dumb.

[Sabin]

NFTs are the dumbest things.

[Greg]

A 13-year-old YouTube video called "Charlie Bit My Finger," a family video of a baby biting the finger of his older brother, was just bought as an NFT (non-fungible token) for $760,999. The video will be taken offline and the buyers will be left with blockchain code acknowledging the sale. So, ultimately, they bought a receipt of sale for a video, for just under $800 thousand.

[Greg]

Goldman Sachs apparently gambled a lot on cryptos just before the entire thing began to implode, how much we will have to wait and see.

Goldman Sachs banker quits after making millions on cryptocurrency:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/14/goldman ... rency.html


Depending on how many other bubbles we have now in addition to the deflating crypto bubble, we could be heading into a repeat of the saving-and-loan, dot-com, and housing crashes. Another example of financial institutions using bank-loan leverage to blow bubbles for their own riches and let them pop for everyone else. We need to correct this by phasing out the banking system and eventually entirely replacing it with much more deficit spending from the federal government. Instead of defunding the police we should be defunding the banks!