By Lambert Strether of Corrente
2016
Policy
Neera Tanden, Clinton advisor: “Everyone in Washington wants to say political leaders just don’t listen. They are listening too much. The bases of the parties are moving in opposite directions” [Wall Street Journal, ” Washington Doesn’t Listen? Nah. Maybe Politicians Listen Too Much. “]. The root cause, she suggested, is 15 years of wage stagnation. ‘The parties are responding in different ways. Republican base voters are more anxious about ‘the other’–immigration, Islamophobia. Democrats are more concerned about rising inequality than at any point in the past 20 years.'” 2015 – 15 = 2000, meaning the start of the Bush administration. Tanden conveniently ignores the Democrats’ own role in increasing inequality (i.e., class warfare) since the Crash. Shocking, I know. And there’s plenty of “othering” going on with the Democrats, as well; after all, that’s what identity politics is all about.
David Plouffe, “Uber’s Chief Advisor Tells Seattleites That Uber Is a Dream Job, Calls Unionization Efforts ‘Puzzling’ [The Stranger]. Just in case you thought the Democratic inner party didn’t hate working people.
The Voters
Sanders: “Republicans win when voter turnout is low. I see a future not just for my candidacy but for the Democratic Party” [WaPo]. Which would explain why Democrats have done squat on structural voter turnout issues since 2000.
Money
Trump: “I win at golf. I’m a club champion many times at different clubs. I win at golf. I can sink the three-footer on the 18th hole when others can’t” [WaPo]. My personal view is that knowledge of, or participation in, the game of golf should be a barrier to public office. The golf course is where the deals are cut…
Business as usual for Trump partners in Dubai, Istanbul despite anti-Muslim talk https://t.co/B4tM69DHME pic.twitter.com/VMbisoowFr
— AJE News (@AJENews) December 9, 2015
Ka-ching.
The Trail
Sanders: “What somebody like a Trump is trying to do is to divide us up — a few months ago, we’re supposed to hate Mexicans. Now we’re supposed to hate Muslims. That kind of crap is not going to work in the United States of America” [CNN]. Strategic hate management…
“Two weeks after renouncing the conservative movement, teen Internet phenom CJ Pearson has swung to the opposite side of the political spectrum and is endorsing Bernie Sanders for president” [CNN]. “‘This election will make a pivotal difference in the future of our nation. If it takes changing your mind to make the right choice as to who should lead our country, I am willing to do it. Screw the optics,’ Pearson, the former chairman of Teens for Ted Cruz, told CNN.”
“Clinton World wants to knock Bernie Sanders out of the Democratic presidential race with a resounding win in the Iowa caucuses” [The Hill]. That’s not news. “If the threat from Sanders isn’t neutralized by the Feb. 1 caucuses, allies of Hillary Clinton hope to finish off the liberal challenger on March 1, when 12 states hold contests on what’s commonly called Super Tuesday.” They’re not mentioning New Hampshire?
“‘This Will Be The End Of Trump’s Campaign,’ Says Increasingly Nervous Man For Seventh Time This Year'” [The Onion]
Trump: “”I. Will. Never. Leave. This. Race” [Politico].
Fiorina: “Donald Trump for example’s been saying we’re going to use a religious test and ban people from coming into this country. It’s a violation of our Constitution, but it also undermines the character of our nation. We stand for religious liberty” [Des Moines Register].
Fiorina: “Because if [Trump] were to be our nominee — and I do not think he will be — Hillary Clinton will wipe the floor with him and we will lose the Senate, we may well lose the House. I am the lump of coal in her stocking. I can beat Hillary Clinton and I can turn this government into something competent that serves its people and protects its nation” [The Hill].
Jebbie: “Maybe Donald negotiated a deal with his buddy @HillaryClinton. Continuing this path will put her in the White House” [The Hill]. Says Mister 4%.
“Trump says soon off to Israel to meet Netanyahu” [Agence France Presse].
“Netanyahu’s former chief of staff joins Carson campaign” [Politico].
The Hill
“[O]ur experts are betting that the government is more likely than not to stay open as Friday turns to Saturday” [Chris Cilizza, WaPo].
“Repeatedly yesterday, Congress members complained that [Financial Stability Oversight Council] members ignore their requests for documents or the documents are so redacted they make no sense, as well as condemning the secrecy in which FSOC operates” [The Hill].
Stats Watch
MBA Mortgage Applications, week of December 4, 2015: Little changed week-on-week, “robust” year-on-year [Econoday].
Wholesale Trade, October 2015: “Wholesale inventories fell 0.1 percent in October against no change for sales, keeping the stock-to-sales ratio for this sector unchanged” [Econoday]. “Year-on-year, inventories are up 3.6 percent which is well ahead of a 3.7 percent decline for sales.”
Commodities: “Commodity crunch: Brent crude oil plunges through $40 – as it happened” [Guardian].
Commodities: “Anglo American’s painful deconstruction serves as notice of global mining’s still brewing global financial crisis just as it announces tests both systemic and specific for those currently less existentially vulnerable to the sector’s post-boom realities” [Australian Financial Review].
Commodities: “In a change in tack after years of fining rule-breaking firms, the government said on Wednesday it will pay bonuses from Jan. 1 to those meeting coal efficiency standards” [Reuters].
Commodities: “In Paris, Banks Pledge Cuts in Coal as Oil Financing Flows” [The Intercept]. COP21.
Commodities: “For commodities, the news has been so bad that the mood must change at some point. Investors have become convinced that the “supercycle” is in the down phase; abundant supply is overwhelming stagnant demand” [The Economist].
The Fed: “Layoffs have not risen, the rate of hiring has accelerated, and the share of people voluntarily quitting has climbed, according to an update today from the Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as Jolts. The progress of the labor market along these dimensions underscores the central bank’s confidence that the economy is finally healthy enough for the Fed to raise its target interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade” [Wall Street Journal, “Hiring, Firing and Quitting Have Finally Gotten Close to Where Janet Yellen Wants Them”].
The Fed: “While most indicators have been trending in the right direction, nominal wage growth and the prime-age employment-to-population ratio remain far outside of target ranges, and provide ample evidence that the economy has a way to go before reaching full employment” [Business Insider]. In other words, Yellen’s definitinon of health is a new normal of crapified jobs and a permanently shrunken workforce. Thanks, Obama! Only Nixon can go to China…
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 43 (-5); Greed [CNN]. Last week: 55 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed).
Black Injustice Tipping Point
“The Movement Lives in Ferguson” [Orchestrated Pulse]. A very important read; we’re looking at the emergence of a new Black Misleadership class of neo-liberal Teach For America scabs and union-busters.
“[Michael] McBride had been spreading awareness about Ceasefire, a nearly two-decades-old strategy that had upended how police departments dealt with gang violence. Under Ceasefire, police teamed up with community leaders to identify the young men most at risk of shooting someone or being shot, talked to them directly about the risks they faced, offered them support, and promised a tough crackdown on the groups that continued shooting. In Boston, the city that developed Ceasefire, the average monthly number of youth homicides dropped by 63 percent in the two years after it was launched. The U.S. Department of Justice’s “what works” website for crime policy had a green check mark next to Ceasefire, labeling it “effective” — the highest rating and one few programs received” [Pro Publica]. “McBride wanted President Obama to make Ceasefire and similar programs part of his post-Newtown push to reduce gun violence… Later, other ministers who worked with McBride would get an even blunter assessment from a White House staffer: There was no political will in the country to address inner-city violence.” Amazingly, or not, Obama throws black constituents under the bus again. (And Sanders should consider highlighting the program.)
Health Care
“Congress is poised to delay the controversial “Cadillac tax” by two years.” It’s bipartisan [HuffPo]. See “ObamaCare to Crapify Health Insurance at 26% of Employers with ‘Cadillac Tax'” for background.
“The share of gross domestic product devoted to health care spending was 17.5 percent, up from 17.3 percent in 2013. The faster growth in 2014 that followed five consecutive years of historically low growth was primarily due to the major coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act, particularly for Medicaid and private health insurance, which contributed to an increase in the insured share of the population” [Health Affairs].
“To appreciate how one of the nation’s best hospitals—US News & World Report regularly ranks UCSF among the top 10 — could give a patient a 39-fold overdose of a common antibiotic, one first needs to understand how medicines were ordered and administered in hospitals as recently as a few years ago, before the system went digital” [Medium]. Good series, of which this is the first part.
Police State Watch
“[Public health researchers at Harvard] propose making law enforcement-related deaths a ‘notifiable’ condition to be reported weekly to the Centers for Disease Control, alongside afflictions such as tuberculosis and syphilis” [Bloomberg]. So, no need for Federal action, or even cooperation from the police.
“Leaked Documents Reveal Dothan Police Department Planted Drugs on Young Black Men For Years, District Attorney Doug Valeska Complicit” [The Henry County Report].
“A widespread practice in the US known as ‘pay to stay’ charges jail inmates a daily fee while they are incarcerated” [BBC]. More law enforcement for profit.
Dear Old Blighty
“In defence of Blairism, by Tony Blair” [The Spectator]. Some mysterious force must be inflicting reputational damage on Blair, impacting his consulting fees.
“Do little, hide the evidence: the official neglect that caused these deadly floods” [George Monbiot, Guardian]. Incredibly, vegetation in upstream hills preserves soil, prevents downstream flooding.
Imperial Collapse Watch
“Raytheon Chief Executive Tom Kennedy also joined in the informal celebration, saying that his company was seeing ‘a significant uptick for defense solutions across the board in multiple countries in the Middle East'” [Alternet].”‘It’s all the turmoil they have going on, whether the turmoil’s occurring in Yemen, whether it’s with the Houthis, whether it’s occurring in Syria or Iraq, with ISIS,’ Kennedy added.” So, Raytheon is long turmoil. Unsurprising!
“[Trump Islam advisor and Center for Security Policy (CSP) head Frank] Gaffney’s funders also include Boeing ($25,000); General Dynamics ($15,000); Lockheed Martin ($15,000); Northrup Grumman ($5,000); Raytheon ($20,000); and General Electric ($5,000)” [Foreign Policy]. Clearly, Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and General Electric are long turmoil, too.
CSP’s misleading polling on American Muslims is now playing a central role in the national discourse on immigration policy and how to respond to the San Bernardino shooting attack.
Ka-ching. Your imperial self-licking ice cream cone in action!
“Across the American business world, the goal is to cut costs, consolidate, do more with less. You can literally feel it when you are shoved onto on a shrunken middle seat on a United Continental or American-US Airways flight. Or perhaps when you drink a future Budweiser-Miller brew. Or are left selecting health insurance among a dwindling set of megaproviders” [Wall Street Journal, “Dow-DuPont Merger: Better Living Through Layoffs”]. “The argot of American business has been reduced to ‘sensible growth,’ ‘dividend return’ and ‘listening to shareholders.’ This is not an America playing to win. It’s an America playing not to lose.”
Corruption
“While posing as representatives from oil and gas companies, the Greenpeace U.K. investigators struck deals with academics from Princeton and Penn State to publish academic articles that promoted the positive benefits of carbon dioxide and the positive impacts of coal for the poor” [Good]. “One of the academics exposed, William Happer of Princeton, is actually testifying at Ted Cruz’s Senate hearing on protecting climate denial this afternoon.The details from the sting are a fascinating look into how academic credibility can be bought.”
Gaia
“Three ways international finance could enforce a Paris climate deal” [The Conversation]. Trade sanctions on nations, emissions tied to border tax or foreign aid, and international deposit system.
Guillotine Watch
“AT&T Pretends It Was Just About To Offer A Bunch Of Awesome Services, But Then Net Neutrality Happened” [TechDirt].
Travis Kalanick: “I’m learning how to be as passionate as I am but understand that when you get bigger, you have to listen more and be more welcoming. And step on toes more lightly” [Business Insider]. “Passionate” is another one of those words. If anyone in your house uses it, count the spoons when they leave.
Class Warfare
“Real estate as a store of private wealth is the rotten tree that sprouts these diseased branches, and the solution is to quit pruning twigs and chop the sucker down” [The Nation]. “As long as land value is socially created and land ownership is duty-free, a theft is occurring.” As I see in my own small town every day. See under Henry George.
“Lying to your customers is only a crime if it is fraud, and it is only fraud if the lies that you tell them are ‘material,’ and the lies are only material if there is ‘a substantial likelihood that a reasonable investor would find’ them ‘important in making an investment decision'” [Bloomberg]. But isn’t this a phishing equilibrium? Wouldn’t the “reasonable investor” assume the trader is lying? In that case, is a lie ever material?
News of the Wired
“Reed’s passion is making Twitter bots, relatively simple computer programs that use algorithms to send out randomized tweets based on predetermined formulas” [Daily Dot]. And so Reed made a bot for Republican tropes. Worthy effort, but they don’t call it a two-party system for nothing; there are pre-determined Democratic formulas as well.
Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And here’s today’s plant (OregonCharles):
OregonCharles writes:
This is sasanqua camellia “Hana Jimon” – with pollinator. It’s also covered with tiny ants. Extremely fragrant flowers, about 3 inches across.
I like images of plants that are more about whole systems: Plant, pollinators, ants, and so on.
If you enjoy Water Cooler, please consider tipping and click the hat. Winter has come, I need to buy fuel, and I need to keep my server up, too.
46 comments
Comments are closed.
RE: Trump – More misinformation and foggy rhetoric, this time from Fiorina. No, Trump’s immigration test wouldn’t be unconstitutional, because there is no constitutional right to immigrate here. This has been well-tested in the courts. There is specific statutory law that says the President has the right to restrict any group, for any reason, including “they don’t have stars upon thars.”
This was pointed out in an article from the NY Times in this morning’s links. Just because something is a bad idea, or runs against popular opinion, doesn’t make it unconstitutional.
If you repeat a lie long enough …
But if you repeat it as a metaphysical certainty with sufficient acidity, venom, and crazy eyes, you may get a bump in the polls!
Re: Cadillac Tax
So potentially, this would get pushed back to 2020, which coincides with the Census. To Obama’s credit, it won’t be his problem anymore as he enjoys his library, content in the fact that he screwed over an entire populace despite having a supermajority his first term.
Speaking of Obamacare, I had an interesting discussion with someone about the law, who touted it as a good thing, despite the hoops one has to jump through. When I mentioned the 5k deductible for Bronze plans, I was countered with “but it’s still a good thing in spite of that!” On a purely random note, it took some effort to find all six, but I added your “Obama’s Relentless Creation of 2nd Class Citizens” to my reading list (for some reason, Part 5 was never on NC, but on Truthout – I could be wrong, though!)
Here’s part 5. Thanks!
No, no, if anything, I should be thanking you. Everything I’ve learned about the ACA has come from NC through the Links and the Water Cooler and I’m doing my part to spread the word, that there is a better way through this mess.
Yep, we knew it was going to Suck but with the help of NC and commenters we now know we were right.
Yep, if it was not for Lambert would never have been kicked and HR’d off Kos!
I poked the stick into the hive until Obots just could not take it. Never knew I was a RW troll until I crossed the line….
I’d wear that kos troll badge with honor;)
Someone missed the news that not all of Middle East is happy with Trump:
One of the Middle East’s largest retailers, Landmark Group, has stopped selling Trump-branded products, following the Republican presidential candidate’s controversial call to ban Muslims from the United States.
The Dubai-based firm signed a deal in February this year to sell items from the Trump Home collection to customers in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia through its Lifestyle outlets.
However, the group said on Tuesday it would now remove all products from its shelves.
“As one of the most popular home decor brands in the Middle East, Lifestyle values and respects the sentiments of all its customers,” Lifestyle CEO Sachin Mundhwa said, in a statement sent to Arabian Business.
“In light of the recent statements made by the presidential candidate in the US media, we have suspended sale of all products from the Trump Home décor range.”
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/dubai-retail-giant-suspends-sales-of-trump-products-amid-muslim-ban-furore-614696.html#.VmiRgHarQfL
Sigh – why not post facts instead of bogus stuff. Dems had majority in Senate for a 7 months. Feel free to hate ACA, but why lie?
Wasn’t meant as a lie, just a bit of misinformation on my end. It was actually 4 months, not 7 btw, as seen here:
When Obama Had Total Control of Congress Even with the drastically shorter timeframe, the potential to do good was there.
Obama must have been quite relieved at the end of that 4 month period! Finally, the pressure was off, and his scapegoat was again available. Whew!
Obama could have gotten single payer and a jobs program through budget reconciliation, which requires only 51 votes in the Senate. Democrats always like to conveniently forget about budget reconciliation because it takes away their excuse for doing nothing. I knew the Democrats were frauds when they didn’t pass an omnibus reconciliation bill when they had the White House and both houses of Congress.
Bush got three budget reconciliation bills, loaded up like Christmas trees, during the six years he had Republican Congresses. It’s how he got all his tax cut give-aways to rich people.
Don’t let the Democrats whine to you that they didn’t have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Neither did the Republicans but most of the time they found ways to make the rules work for them.
1) ObamaCare was passed via reconciliation anyhow;
2) There are several ways to change the filibuster without having a two-thirds majority; in fact, Reid did just that in 2013 over a few judges. But for policy? N-o-o-o-o-o.
Democrats loyalists who tell you that those mean Republicans prevented Obama from getting anything done are just flat out lying, especially in the 2009 session. As usual in DC, it comes down to a question of stupid or evil; I think that inner party Democrats wanted to pass, and believed in, Republican policies (for example, ObamaCare), and so they did.
60 is the new 51.
He always intended to screw the majority over, right from the start. His supermajority just made it easier for him to do it. Along with his Democratic co-conspirators.
I’m so disappointed in COP21. I mean, after a languid COP20 and an insipid COP19, I waited all summer in anticipation of COP21, hoping it would be the blockbuster the big leaders had promised with new plot lines, action, and mandatory cuts. Instead, it’s just a re-hashed storyline similar to the now distant COP15–voluntary cuts only, people from faraway islands complaining about vanishing shorelines, and two LONG weeks of “Democracy Now!” in Paris. Major yawn.
That’s it. I’m just going to the movies to watch Creed aka Rocky VII then finish the night at home streaming Fast and Furious 7.
I had to laugh about using trade sanctions to enforce climate rules. Silly. Trade sanction are supposed to protect corporations from climate rules. Unless they can somehow be gamed. Put Froman on the case.
Right?! When will it stop already with this word. It’s like an officespeak STD. I say give me $300 and I’ll be passionate about whatever you want. The girlfriend experience costs extra.
Indeed. When “passion” means Uber, it is just one more sign that this is a loveless nation. A shame about that.
Stuck in a conference call for a few hours this afternoon I heard way too many passionate, disruption, innovative and cloud-based buzz words but then realized that I was at least getting paid to laugh behind my mute button.
Car-ride-takers still have a choice to take cabs, not ubers. If enough of ride-seekers take cabs to keep the cab companies from going extinct, then perhaps various legal theories can be tried and applied to exterminate Uber from existence. Certainly those hip groovy with-it people who take uber deserve whatever bad things happen to them in a uber car.
Dean Baker on the JOLTS report: “It Doesn’t Seem Hard to Get Good Help.” Not a long series as he notes, but the quits don’t look all that impressive in the chart.
Everyone knows it’s the liberals at fault there too. If only they hadn’t brought so much attention to what our friends across the aisle have been doing to our voting booths. We’re still waiting for all those centrist voters to return to the voting booth after liberals scared them off.
“At this morning’s event, Plouffe called their unionization effort “puzzling,” “flatly illegal,” and said it “doesn’t make a lot of sense.” ”
Flatly Illegal? Will that be true if they get the City Council OK?
And that’s his big concern? What a lovely guy.
Oh yeah, every kid grows up telling Mom and Dad he wants to scab some cabbie’s job away for half wages and no benefits.
Yes and the parents will be so proud of the child that’s deeply in debt for his PhD in finance living in their basement if he ‘s lucky.
The New Amerika one shiny nickel at a time.
Please do not forget all the responsibilities for the car. That is also a killer.
Fiorina is at DHMC today in Lebanon, NH. I would’ve gone but there was zero notice about it-kind of unusual. Will post when I see any reports. The latest WMUR poll has Trump increasing his lead (@32% to 2nd place Rubio’s 14%) in NH.
Wondering if HRC campaign has written off NH.
Back here in reality land- Uber just took a hit:
Uber Technologies Inc. drivers seeking to be treated as employees won a ruling that could add tens of thousands of them to the case and put hundreds of millions dollars more at stake.
The drivers can now seek expense reimbursement, in addition to their claims for tips that are already part of the case headed for trial next year. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco also permitted potentially tens of thousands of drivers who had previously been excluded from the class action to join.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-09/uber-drivers-can-pursue-expense-claims-in-class-action-lawsuit
The necessity of whining about a PR guy who pushed Obama and then got a job in Industry is beyond rational behavior. We all recognize that people will be hired for their “skill”, not their previous job, but somehow this obsession is a bit silly.
Shall we post each time a Neo-Nazi person likes Donald Trump or a Mitt Romney PR gets hired by Huckabee ( Mormon to Evangelical conversion).
This isn’t Daily Kos. That appears to upset you.
Some people derive their sense of life purpose from fighting for the honor of their lords. Especially Republicans in denial.
It seems to me eminently rational to keep putting it on the digital record what kind of ethically subhuman filth that piece of crypto-humanoid garbage that calls itself Obama had working for it. It may be embarrassing to Obama Botzoids, but that is their problem, not my problem.
Wowsers: “Repeatedly yesterday, Congress members complained that [Financial Stability Oversight Council] members ignore their requests for documents or the documents are so redacted they make no sense, as well as condemning the secrecy in which FSOC operates”
Does Congress realize that it can indeed do something about having executive departments send it censored reports? Like defunding? But most of the Congresscritters would rather complain than govern.
Also, like “passion,” the word “redacted” is a sign of massive silverware stealing. Count the spoons indeed.
Congress would rather bitch, moan, and dodge, ..before they would EVER govern as they should be doing……also,did i include insider trading and graft !!!???
“I’m learning how to be as passionate as I am” Huh? He has to exert an effort to be something he (supposedly) already is?
Thanks for the link to the Alternet article about the celebration by weapons makers of the financial benefits to themselves of ISIS and the Syrian war. And just imagine, it all began with this. Whodathunk?:
“Decades of irresponsible arms transfers to Iraq fueled the Islamic State group’s firepower and ability to carry out atrocities on a massive scale, Amnesty International said in a report published Tuesday.” —DefenseNews.com; Dec 8, 2015
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/12/08/report-reckless-arms-transfers-iraq-fueled-crimes/76987902/
Wonder there isn’t a tenth level that Dante failed to mention? Perhaps self-licking ice cream cones are the contrapasso.
from January 2005 until January 2009 Howard Dean worked very hard on issues of turnout and tactics to counter voter suppression, the very period that Democrats won elections.
The fact that he was replaced by the lackluster Obama choices that immediately eliminated and destroyed the procedures and progress he had made on the local and regional fronts was just bad luck I guess. Was it correcting the mistake made when they let Dean get his foot in the door. or just that no one expected it to work but agreed to reverse it at the National level. Since Dean’s DNC was instrumental in Obama getting the nomination (not that there was much of a choice) I’m really not sure anymore if it was mutual agreed destruction or backlash.
Dean’s 50 State Strategy was anathema to the centralized agenda of the new administration. I get the very strong feeling that Rahmbo was important to its demise.
I love to play golf.
If you love to play golf, then do not get in the way of Darth Trump.
Good. I’m sure we can use you for something.
A spy on the links?
“pay to stay”
I know a probation officer, casually. He refers to his parolees as “clients”.
I wince when I hear it.
And the winner is…
Western Illinois University has successfully predicted every single presidential election with 100 percent accuracy since 1975. They’ve completed their mock election for the 2016 presidential field and according to their calculations, the 45th President of The United States will be…
http://news.groopspeak.com/theyve-nailed-every-presidential-election-since-1975-they-say-our-next-president-will-be/
I don’t believe in voodoo ,still it gave me a chill….