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Republicans test history in vote against pandemic relief

72 Comments
By STEVE PEOPLES

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The 2009 stimulus package was littered with political gifts, like a bailout of Wall Street, which caused the Great Recession, and funding of unproven green energy companies that went bankrupt. Why would anyone approve a package with obvious graft?

The 2021 stimulus is worse. $100's of billions for the governments of Blue states that decided to shut down their schools and economies. $100 million for a rail project in San Francisco. A $15 minimum wage that will kill off small businesses, aiding big corporations. And, the U.S. economy is expected to fully recover in 2021 without a stimulus.

Is this necessary stimulus or a political payoff?

-18 ( +9 / -27 )

Polling suggests that an overwhelming majority of voters — including a significant number of Republicans — supports the Democrats' pandemic relief plan

But the Republican nabobs care nada about the general population. They continue to be a minority party. They continue to back a male who left office as the LEAST POPULAR president in US history. That male lost the popular vote twice. That male and his party left the country in the worst shape it's been in decades, an economy in shambles, millions out of work, millions houseless. The R's need more supporters. To get them they've welcomed the looniest and most violent parts of American society, Qanon-ers, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, far right and other white nationalist groups into their tent.

Still the R's remain a minority.

11 ( +15 / -4 )

Traitors all.

$15/hr is only about $2,000 net per month. Average 1 BR apartment rent in US is $1,164 per month. Try to have a car, insurance, electricity, water, gas and food on what's left. Good luck.

20 ( +22 / -2 )

Weird how Republicans act like they aren't entirely useless at economics. Have they ever NOT failed economically in the past 40 years? And have the democrats failed at economics in the past 40 years?

The Repubs are just angry because once again the democrats are going to make them look bad for being fiscally responsible.

8 ( +14 / -6 )

""Elections Have Consequences"" , Mr. C. Schumer once said, and if the republicans go against the package we shall send them back to their Garages and Park them.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

And, the U.S. economy is expected to fully recover in 2021 without a stimulus.

Sigh. Says who? The job losses will take years to recover from. Businesses that have gone bankrupt are not returning. Just last week Fry's Electronics suddenly closed its doors and Best Buy is laying off 5000 workers and closing stores too. In the mean time people have to eat and pay rent. Or is that asking too much? One of my tenants has had to quarantine twice now, once after being exposed to Covid-19 and again most recently after catching it. She can't work when home quarantined, she's a dental tech. She has been good about catching her rent up but her line of work pays well. Those with lower paying jobs are struggling, and landlords like me will struggle when the bills come in but not the rent.

6 ( +11 / -5 )

Traitors all.

$15/hr is only about $2,000 net per month. Average 1 BR apartment rent in US is $1,164 per month. Try to have a car, insurance, electricity, water, gas and food on what's left. Good luck.

Please read Article III, Section 3 of the US Constitution. Treason is the only crime defined in the US Constitution, the founders thought it so important a matter and historically so subject to abuse that they felt the need to define it narrowly so it would not be abused by Congress or the Courts in the future. Section 3:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.

Policy differences are not tantamount to treason.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Pure partisanism over patriotism. They are the greatest threat to democracy there is.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

With the nation's financial system on the brink of collapse, all but three Republicans voted against the massive stimulus package designed to protect millions of Americans from financial ruin.

It was early 2009, just weeks after Joe Biden was sworn in as vice president, and the vote marked the beginning of a new era of partisan gridlock in Congress. And for beleaguered Republicans coming off a disastrous election, it was their first step back to political power.

This was actually a misstep, intentional or not, by the Democrats and was borne out in the subsequent midterm election.

The Obama administrations' going forward with the banker bailout, began under Bush, and condemning millions of ordinary Americans to foreclosure and bankruptcy was the opening that allowed for the rise of faux populist Trump. The Republican party of fatcats and fundamentalists could pivot toward populism and say the Democrats were the real elitists and supporters of Wall Street.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Over 75% of voters support this legislation. 

That's unity.

The fact that Republican politicians oppose it reflects their determination to divide.

Clearly, Biden is keeping his campaign promise.

Republicans are only interested in seeing his presidency fail. At the expense of the country.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

They voted against it because it was too low right? They wanted $2,000, right?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I am confused with numbers above. $15 X 40= $6000 per month. Do American taxes really take 2/3 and leave the worker with only $2000 net?

Personally I am tired of seeing the name Trump.

This stimulus Bill has too much pork attached from what I hear, but I would like to read the whole Bill before deciding on whether or not I think it is good or bad.

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

I am confused with numbers above. $15 X 40= $6000 per month. 

Let me clear it up: there are not ten weeks in a month.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Well, you had two Democrats that joined the GOP in stopping this madness spending Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Jared Golden of Maine was one of two Democrats to oppose a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill and as I keep saying, there’s no way we can’t just go on again and again filling in bank checks as if we have an inexhaustible supply of money. That gravy train has long come to an end. Glad someone had the guts to bloke this madness and it was a no brainer that the minimum wage hike of $15 was going to go nowhere it was doomed to fail and DOA.

-12 ( +3 / -15 )

2009-Republicans oppose a stimulus because it would be politically advantageous to appear to oppose a Wall street bailout while secure in the knowledge it would pass anyway with the Democratic majority and the Democrats would bear the brunt of righteous public anger for bailing out the banks and leaving the public to suffer.

2020- Republicans gleefully passed Trump's bailout with massive corporate welafre and tried to take credit for a small one time direct stimulus.

2021- Republicans want to go back to an image of fiscal conservatism after running up the deficit with Trump tax cuts and do not want the democrats to take credit for more generous direct stimulus to the public so they are in opposition.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

as I keep saying, there’s no way we can’t just go on again and again filling in bank checks as if we have an inexhaustible supply of money

You didn’t keep saying that while Trump piled on the debt. You kept saying that debt would cripple the country while Obama was in power.

If you believe in fiscal conservatism, believe in it, but don’t switch it on and off based on egregious partisanship.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Early Saturday morning, 210 House Republicans joined two Democrats in voting against a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package that would send $1,400 checks to most Americans and hundreds of billions more to help open schools, revive struggling businesses 

Oh Democrats care about opening schools and struggling businesses suddenly? Didn't see much of that in 2020.

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

The 2009 stimulus package was littered with political gifts, like a bailout of Wall Street, which caused the Great Recession,

Oh boy, you have it all backwards. In 2008 the US entered the Great Recession. Everyone is aware of that. What few appear aware of what happened to the US money supply, specifically the measure once known as M3. It went off a cliff, not just a decline in growth but an absolute decline the amount of money in circulation. Why. As all those mortgage backed securities imploded in value something on the order of $16 to $20 trillion, yes trillion was lost from the US money supply. People fixate on inflation but the threat then, and to an extent even today, from a declining money supply is DE-flation. The US was in an incipient deflationary spiral by the middle of 2008. The oft maligned banking bailout and TARP arrested that decline. There was a well deserved Nobel Prize in Economics for the two economists whos math underpinned that effort. The reason nobody wanted to talk about deflation then was also due to the work of these two economists, who feared that if the expectation of an uncontrolled deflation took hold there might not be any fiscal or monetary policies available to arrest it. As it was, deflation was arrested mostly, but kept re-appearing over the course of the next three years and are the reason for the injections of "Qualitative Easing" by the Fed. Ideally Congress would have used massive fiscal stimulus to arrest deflation but Congress would not do so on the scale necessary. That forced the Fed to use QE in its place.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

You didn’t keep saying that while Trump piled on the debt.

Trump never asked for the punter to be locked down. He wanted people to work, which was possible to do in a safe manner. Better than filling in blank checks with money we don’t have?

You kept saying that debt would cripple the country while Obama was in power. 

Starting to happen under Biden, thankfully that bullet missed

If you believe in fiscal conservatism,

I do, that’s why I’m cheering for this win for the country and overall economy and that’s why I’m glad these two brave Democrats realized what they were putting the nation through, not a partisan thing.

-11 ( +2 / -13 )

As it was, deflation was arrested mostly, but kept re-appearing over the course of the next three years and are the reason for the injections of "Qualitative Easing" by the Fed. Ideally Congress would have used massive fiscal stimulus to arrest deflation but Congress would not do so on the scale necessary. That forced the Fed to use QE in its place.

QE is a guaranteed basic income for banks.

You would be better of reading from economists like Thomas Piketty.

It is part of the zero -interest loan, helicopter money financial arsenal of corporate welfare.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The Obama administrations' going forward with the banker bailout, began under Bush, and condemning millions of ordinary Americans to foreclosure and bankruptcy was the opening that allowed for the rise of faux populist Trump

In February 2009 when a Democratic administration replaced the former Republican one, there was no realistic choice but to go forward with TARP and the banking bailout. What you are not apparently aware of is what happens if a full fledged deflationary spiral were allow to occur. That is where the US was headed in 2009. In a deflation wages and prices fall. That means business incomes fall with falling prices. People who have cash hold off buying thinking that if they wait, prices will only go lower. That accelerates the overall decline. What does not fall are outstanding loan balances. In a deflationary spiral a point is reached where nobody makes enough to make their loan payments. Not businesses, not mortgage holders, nobody. When that happens you have mass bankruptcy, mass unemployment and human misery rivaled only by war. The level of bankruptcy and foreclosure that the US experienced was tiny fraction of the carnage the US would have suffered had there been no TARP or banking bailout. I'm an economist. This sort of thing is where I live. The US was supremely lucky that time. It could have been so much worse if people had listened the the ones maligning the bank bailout. Ugly as it was there was no other good choice. None.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The level of bankruptcy and foreclosure that the US experienced was tiny fraction of the carnage the US would have suffered had there been no TARP or banking bailout. I'm an economist. This sort of thing is where I live. The US was supremely lucky that time. It could have been so much worse if people had listened the the ones maligning the bank bailout. Ugly as it was there was no other good choice. None.

False equivalency and an often used rationale at the time. Bailing out homeowners who would pay off their loans to banks never occurred to the economists cited?

But of course the banks would be too big to fail and the amount leveraged by financialization could not be paid back so better to let millions suffer, which is what actually happened outside of apocalyptic hypotheticals.

Finland managed without a banker bailout.

And none of the bankers, AIG insurance, accounting companies who used the economy as a casino ever went to prison.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

This is the Equation of National Income

GDP = C + I + G + ( EX - IM ).

In words that is national income is the sum of consumption, investment, government spending and net exports.

Now, a recession is defined as two consecutive fiscal quarters of declining GDP. So your nation's GDP is declining. That implies C, I and maybe net exports are also declining. So now what do you do to get them going again and restore GDP growth? Spend more G. Here is why that works. The government spends money. It either puts money directly in someone's pocket or it buys things from industry. People with more money spend more, increasing C. Businesses spend too, also increasing C but often increasing I as they are now worthy of borrowing from lending institutions or by selling bonds. That $1 increase in G generally increases GDP by more than $1 as the effects ripple through the economy. That is why direct spending is always a better choice than "tax relief". With a tax cut of $1, less than a $1 is spent. Some is always saved so the increase in GPD from a tax cut is less than the tax cut itself.

Where the US gets it all wrong is that when GDP growth resumes and is stable, the debt incurred during the recession must be paid back. That means setting aside some tax revenue to retire the debt, maybe even raising taxes to do so. But instead in the US, as soon as GDP growth returns the battle cry is always and forever to cut taxes. Doing this perpetuates the debt and leaves the US vulnerable when the inevitable next economic crisis occurs.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

you praised Trump when he suggested checks for $2,000?

No, but I thought if he suggested it and the Dems would go for it and Congress would approve it, maybe The Dems would come to their senses and allow the country to open up and allow people to work to create revenue and that didn’t happen, so once again Dems think money grows on trees and we can continue to write number on these blank checks, pathetic.

-11 ( +2 / -13 )

@Happy Day, you presented a side of the argument that needed a fair hearing. You were down-voted ten times. I tried to up-vote you once, but the site wouldn't let me. Not that I agree with your arguments, but fairness is vital to argument. Someone is controlling the up-and-down votes here, and I don't particularly like that. We're not here to incite or foment, we're here to comment from various perspectives. Or at least that's what I thought.

P*ss on it, eh?

From Canada, with all due (or undue) respect.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Let the Republicans dig their own graves. The package has widespread support from the public even in red states but it's nice of them to clearly show the world their real concern is more about themselves. Can't figure how anyone would support these unpatriotic liars.

That divide is playing out this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, where Trump himself is expected to attack his party's establishment on Sunday as he returns to the public stage for the first time since leaving the White House.

He's never really left the public stage and he didn't leave the White House either. He was booted out by the American public for being a disaster to the country. Hope he wrecks the Republican party even more than he has already.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Hey remember a month ago when our GOP apologists were somehow accusing Nancy Pelosi of wanting to crash the economy and cause the death of all working americans by refusing them a new stimulus check? (complete fabrication, of course).

Well, now republicans blocked a new stimulus check and those same people are happily applauding. Because a new stimulus check would...crash the economy and cause the death of all working americans?

If this was a parody, it would actually be pretty funny. Unfortunately, these guys are actually serious.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

national income is the sum of consumption, investment, government spending and net exports.

Andrew Yang has commented that the pandemic has exponentially accelerated the pace of automation.

By QE, monetary easing, increasing financialization and corporate bailouts while leaving the public with stagnant wages and little direct stimulus the consumer economy is withering with bankruptcies of small businesses and a vast pool money for the .001%.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

He wanted people to work, which was possible to do in a safe manner. Better than filling in blank checks with money we don’t have?

Which is exactly what Trump did when he ran up the debt by $3 trillion in his first year. And what Bush did when he started to wars on the country credit card.

As if you people care about writing blank checks.

The difference between the democrats blank checks and the Republicans, is that the democrats pay for their own, AND the republican's.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

Let the Republicans dig their own graves.

That’s not actually true.

The package has widespread support from the public even in red states but it's nice of them to clearly show the world their real concern is more about themselves. Can't figure how anyone would support these unpatriotic liars.

At this rate the way the Dems are spending money, it will devastate the nation, open up the country. No wonder people are moving to Florida and Texas.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-trillions-of-dollars-in-stimulus-money-will-have-a-worse-long-term-economic-impact-than-the-financial-crisis-51587746207

-11 ( +1 / -12 )

@Happy Day, you presented a side of the argument that needed a fair hearing. You were down-voted ten times.

The world should be run by owls. Only owls are wise enough to guide us. Their boots must be interpreted by specialist owl wrangler, named The High Priests of Hoots.

My argument needs to be heard and I am entitled to ten up-votes.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

In February 2009 when a Democratic administration replaced the former Republican one, there was no realistic choice but to go forward with TARP and the banking bailout.

Particularly as it was Bush 2, who introduced the first billion dollar bailout package for the banks that crashed from his policies.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

How do you explain Trump increase the National Debt by $9 trillion

How do you explain Biden’s National GROWING Debt by the federal budget deficit in the current fiscal year is expected to hit $2.3 trillion, or 10.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). This will cause the government’s debt to exceed the size of the economy in 2021, and that’s not even taking into account President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.3 trillion COVID-19 stimulus plan, the Congressional Budget Office according to the (CBO)

...and remember, Biden has only been in office for 2 months, we didn’t hit 4 years yet! That number will shoot up in no time.

-11 ( +2 / -13 )

How do you explain Biden’s National GROWING Debt by the federal budget deficit in the current fiscal year is expected to hit $2.3 trillion

Fixing the disaster Trump left of America costs a lot of money.

Once again you guys broke the country, then are blaming the democrats for spending the money to clean up your mess.

It's why you guys keep losing elections. It's cause your policies are those of losers.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

How do you explain Trump increase the National Debt by $9 trillion 

How do you explain Biden’s National GROWING Debt by the federal budget deficit in the current fiscal year is expected to hit $2.3 trillion, or 10.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). This will cause the government’s debt to exceed the size of the economy in 2021, and that’s not even taking into account President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.3 trillion COVID-19 stimulus plan, the Congressional Budget Office according to the (CBO) 

...and remember, Biden has only been in office for 2 months, we didn’t hit 4 years yet! That number will shoot up in no time.

Comical dodge. No comment on Trump’s out of control spending at all ( he promised to get the debt down ). You run to forecasts on how bad the debt will be under Biden.

Bass, this is rank partisanship. You can’t be expected to be taken seriously on a point of principle.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Andrew Yang has commented that the pandemic has exponentially accelerated the pace of automation.

And he is wrong. Automation is independent of the pandemic and is an ongoing process. Few of tThe jobs lost to the pandemic are jobs that are amenable to automation. Warehousing has been automating for over a decade. So has auto production. The B-2 was the first aircraft to go directly from a design on CAD to production hardware built on computer operated machinery with no static mock up to test fit everything. That was back in the 1990s. Now all kinds of products are made that way. The pandemic has nothing at all to do with this process. None.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Once again you guys broke the country, then are blaming the democrats for spending the money to clean up your mess.

It's why you guys keep losing elections. It's cause your policies are those of losers.

Yeah, no one believes that now. The Dems own all of it, all of it now. So the blame the GOP garbage is not selling. You go Biden! Going to be a quick 4 years. Get the gold ready!

Trump and national debt.

you answer a question with another question

No, answered the question with a frightening and realistic statement. Biden is the pilot and he just blew on engine, be careful...

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

By QE, monetary easing, increasing financialization and corporate bailouts while leaving the public with stagnant wages and little direct stimulus the consumer economy is withering with bankruptcies of small businesses and a vast pool money for the .001%.

Those problems pre-date the Great Recession and are not caused by QE. QE adds money to the money supply and prevented a destructive deflationary spiral from destroying the nation. It is that simple and that bleak. There were no other choices at the time. But the problems you speak of are amenable to remedy using the nation's tax and anti-trust laws as the roots of these problems line not in QE, but in tax policy and an utter lack of anti-trust regulation. Too many big consumer markets like beer, toothpaste, cleaning goods, bread, snack foods and soft drinks, things working people spend a large proportion of their after rent/mortgage income on, are sold by some very large oligopolies that need to be broken up.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

While there could be political fallout from the GOP's strategy in next year's midterm elections, Republican officials privately concede they are more concerned about the intense intra-party feud pitting Trump and his loyalists against leading establishment Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the No. 3 House Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

What more could the Pubs do to damage and make their party irrelevant for the next several decades....

They are in the beginning of a massive civil war - the Trump cult versus the Rotarian Repubs - and it will only grow and get worse....

So while that is going on, they oppose a emergency stimulus bill that has a 70% support rate...

Then there's the radical far-right freak show going on down at CPAC - each kooky speaker seeing who can out-rant and rave the next...

But we'll know if Pubs have really gone off the deep end if they select a nominee in 2024 who is serving a sentence for tax and insurance fraud...and will have to campaign from a cell at Rikers Island...

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Republicans need to do all they can to oppose Biden’s $1.9 trillion waste. Only a small fraction is planned for direct covid aid. Oppose Biden’s loony policies and America wins.

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

False equivalency and an often used rationale at the time. Bailing out homeowners who would pay off their loans to banks never occurred to the economists cited?

That is not where the money supply was hemorrhaging. The economists who helped develop TARP and the bank bailout looked at where the least money could have the greatest impact. Btw, they did their work many years before the recession but once the recession occurred the Fed and others in the banking system and Treasury department who were aware of their work consulted them for advice. Sorry to sound crude or unfeeling but throwing money at mortgage holders would have taken far to long to roll through the system. A lot of money would have gone to home owners in no danger of foreclosure. This was a problem in the securities markets where suddenly investors realized that these securities based on packages of mortgages were worth a lot less than they were sold for. That is the point where the money was hemorrhaging and that is where the bleeding had to be stemmed. It was a hard, unemotional and impersonal decision based on data, math that proved to be dead on and the severe time constraints involved in stopping the decline in the money supply before a full fledged deflation took hold.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Automation is independent of the pandemic and is an ongoing process. Few of tThe jobs lost to the pandemic are jobs that are amenable to automation.

Automation , because of the twin influences of a rising stock market and government subsidies inflating corporate capital and pandemic pressures on labor liabilities, is accelerating .

Yes the infrastructure has existed since the 90s but these twin influences have made the equation profitable for business now.

The liabilities of customer facing services and rising costs of associated health care and pension benefits make it especially attractive to business.

And the monetary policies are exacerbating this.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The historical pattern for the last 50 years or so has been that the Republicans break the economy with their dogmatic inflexibility, and then the Democrats come in and fix and stabilize it by spending. And then the Republicans complain and blame the Democrats and somehow manage to keep convincing the American people that they are the party of business and the economy. Despite all actual statistical evidence to the contrary.

Statistically, if we'd had only democrat presidents for the past 50 years then the US economy would be almost double the size it is now, as the majority of economic growth has been under Democrat presidents.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Republicans need to do all they can to oppose Biden’s $1.9 trillion waste. Only a small fraction is planned for direct covid aid. Oppose Biden’s loony policies and America wins.

Yes and Again, it’s not going through and bravo on the Two Dems that sided with the GOP to defeat this monstrosity.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

@Lazar. I was adding overtime in.:-)

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

The Dems own all of it, all of it now.

Yup - and 67% of Americans view Biden's covid response favorably. Biden already has a higher popularity rating than Trump ever achieved in four years.

Poor Trump, bookended by Obama, best president ever, and Biden, whose going to fix the country Trump left broken. It's bad enough he was the worst president ever, but being surrounded by presidents who are so competent, it only magnifies Trump's incompetence.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

How do you explain Trump increase the National Debt by $9 trillion 

How do you explain Biden’s National GROWING Debt by the federal budget deficit in the current fiscal year is expected to hit $2.3 trillion, or 10.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Answer the question.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Answer the question.

He's getting pummeled again so expect him to veer the conversation farther off topic in another attempt to get it shut down.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Answer the question.

I did and by the way, Trump is not President anymore, so let’s stay in the here and the now, the present. At this deeply disturbing and alarming rate Biden and the Dems will create an inflation like nothing we have ever seen before....but yeah, Biden and the Dems owe it all, can’t toss the GOP out, did that already, can’t whip a dead horse.

He's getting pummeled again

Hardly

so expect him to veer the conversation

Nope, right on target. Trump is history, the Dems need to point the finger at themselves, that’s as focused as you can be.

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

There are two separate priorities, one requiring the overriding necessity to deal with the public health implications of this devastating pandemic.

The other, a targeted relief package to address the huge economic impact to families and shore up emergency funds and prepare for a significate job losses.

This economic relief package has to be target to relieve the burden of this pandemic to the most venerable.

These two policies should politically, be manage separately.  

To bungle both together, then devote a $1.9 trillion stimulus package may not be the smartest course of action.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Automation , because of the twin influences of a rising stock market and government subsidies inflating corporate capital and pandemic pressures on labor liabilities, is accelerating .

You are alleging relationships where none exist. If anything you have it backwards. Stocks for a given company or an industry as a whole rise because they are seen as being better bets for the future and the ability to automate and improve labor efficiency is a big attraction for investors. It is more likely a case of stocks rising for these firms as a result of successful automation, not rising stocks driving automation. As for government subsidies, what subsidies? I am speaking specifically of the US economy.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

bass4funkToday  10:19 am JST

Trump and national debt.

you answer a question with another question

No, answered the question with a frightening and realistic statement.

You didn't answer the question at all, I daresay because it's taboo for Trump fanatics to acknowledge any of the debts he's racked up.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Good. Get money into the hands of the people. They will ultimately spend it on rent and necessities which will also help business.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

You didn't answer the question at all, I daresay because it's taboo for Trump fanatics to acknowledge any of the debts he's racked up.

It’s amusing to see this back and forth over a debt that both sides have contributed to. A Dem president raising a debt with a Republican Congress and vice versa. In this case it’s a Dem president with a Dem controlled Congress eagerly adding $2 trillion to the debt a mere three months after $1 trillion shoveled out the door. Can’t spend the money fast enough before demanding more. The spending by both sides is way past past ludicrous to pure insanity. It’s to the point now that it doesn’t matter anymore what they spend. Just give every citizen a million dollars and stop pretending that you give a damn about the future.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

I did and by the way, Trump is not President anymore, so let’s stay in the here and the now, the present.

Yes indeed - glad you have finally given up on that ridiculous "It was stolen" fairy tale...

At this deeply disturbing and alarming rate Biden and the Dems will create an inflation like nothing we have ever seen before....but yeah, Biden and the Dems owe it all,

Owe it all?

can’t toss the GOP out, did that already, can’t whip a dead horse.

Again, glad you finally admit the Repub Party is dead...

He's getting pummeled again

Hardly

Having the Prosecutor that took down the Gambino crime family investigating you? Sounds like getting pummeled to me...

so expect him to veer the conversation

Nope, right on target. Trump is history,

"Trump is history" - no truer words spoken....well said...

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Give the (CARES) Act a review…..

The Treasury Department is Delivering COVID-19 Relief for All Americans

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares

Needs to be broken down into separate bite size legislation.

Each bill is afforded ring fenced budgeting.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I did and by the way, Trump is not President anymore, so let’s stay in the here and the now, the present. 

Absolutely unbelievable but quite quite predictable.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The spending by both sides is way past past ludicrous to pure insanity.

You are one of the very few on the right who consistently talked about fiscal conservatism while the Trump cultists put it to bed for 4 years.

Thumbs up.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

.You are alleging relationships where none exist. If anything you have it backwards. Stocks for a given company or an industry as a whole rise because they are seen as being better bets for the future and the ability to automate and improve labor efficiency is a big attraction for investors.

With a successfully passed stimulus package the markets have risen. As the overwhelming amount of the stimulus package are subsidies for business and corporate welfare, in the US and Japan. The direct stimulus to the public is tiny in comparison. This is obviously separate from the profitability and efficiency of the company (ex. GameStop and Tesla).

This stock price inflation and subsidization is giving many businesses the wherewithal to automate.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Policy differences are not tantamount to treason.

I said traitor — a person who betrays a country or principle.

SandyBeachHeavenToday  08:55 am JST

I am confused with numbers above. $15 X 40= $6000 per month. Do American taxes really take 2/3 and leave the worker with only $2000 net?

Good Lord... $15/hr x 40 hours/week = $600/week x 4 weeks = $2,400 per month gross. A 5th grader can figure that out.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

You didn't answer the question

I did

, I daresay because it's taboo for Trump fanatics to acknowledge any of the debts he's racked up.

Maybe you think the US should spend less on military, I prefer a strong US that can take on China, Iran and North Korea, if need be. Liberals care more about entitlements, and never about how all that is going to get paid back. As long as people are locked up and can’t work, the debt will spiral out of control, at least under Trump we had full employment until the virus. So if Biden wants to punt some of this, let people go back to work, stop with the abusive and useless lockdown or move to Florida or Texas.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Maybe you think the US should spend less on military, I prefer a strong US that can take on China, Iran and North Korea, if need be.

You spent a large part of last year praising the former guy for cutting the military and not engaging in any conflicts. Why do you now believe in the complete opposite?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Well, he didn’t gut the military that much, but he definitely didn’t get us into any unnecessary wars and at the same time building up our military as much as he could.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Polling suggests that an overwhelming majority of voters — including a significant number of Republicans — supports the Democrats' pandemic relief plan.

Good to see socially responsible people choosing fellow person’s welfare over bigotry!!!!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

With the nation's financial system on the brink of collapse, all but three Republicans voted against the massive stimulus package designed to protect millions of Americans from financial ruin.

What on earth is this article talking about!?

What?!

Its 2021, the US financial system is not on the brink of collapse.

I lived through the actual financial crisis, a decade ago.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

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