Mark Twain: "it's easier to fool someone that it is to convince them that they've been fooled".
How can so many Americans be so fooled by liars and thugs for 50 years - see "Powell Memo".
Dems - either go very big, very bold and courageous, a new grand strategy for America, or go home. We have the economic power and brains to kick the lying Rs into their own abyss and heal America. This is the moment to rise up by the 10s of millions - October 18. No Kings, no sycophants.
EH: "How can so many Americans be so fooled by liars and thugs..."
The secret is in being really, really stupid and ignorant. Last November, 77 million voters qualified gloriously. Today, only a relatively small number of them have learned anything like a lesson. Stupid and ignorant people can't reliably support democracy, which explains why we're a long way down Fascist Lane and we've got both feet stomped on the accelerator. Oh, yeah, and those 77 million people cut the brake line last November.
I'd love to see a regression plot of ADP and BLS. It's pretty clear cut that both lines have a significant negative slope by inspection, but plotting it with confidence intervals would be telling.
Speaker Mike Johnson claiming to be a Christian is really rich. One thing is clear, Johnson's Ten Commandments are either only nine or the one about lying has been edited as follows:
Thou shalt lie constantly and excessively when trying to defend White Christian Nationalism or whenever you are trying to convince stupid and gullible voters that the Democrats are trying to do something that everyone should know they can't do even if they really, really want to. Jesus suggests crossing one's fingers to signal heaven that you are lying in what you are pretending is a good cause. Party on, dude!
It really is remarkable that he lies so brazenly. I guess really stupid and ignorant voters deserve really stupid and ignorant representation. And Wowie-Wow-Wow do they have that in Mike Johnson.
The Ten Commandments are from the Old Testament. What about the teachings of Jesus whom Johnson claims to follow? The cruelty of his policies are a clear rejection of everything Jesus taught and lived. Just because someone claims to be Christian doesn’t make it true anymore than claiming to be a pacifist while advocating for violence makes that true.
“Whether you’re adding 10K jobs a month or losing 10K jobs a month, your job creation machine has stalled.”
What a lot of people don’t seem to realize (probably because of the way the numbers are reported) is that every month hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people get hired and a similar number of people stop working because they get fired, laid off, quit, or retire, and the number of “jobs created” that gets reported is one subtracted from the other.
I disagree that the stock market rising is positive. The fastest way to get Trump and Republicans to back off their hateful, destructive policies is for the stock market to react negatively to what they are doing.
I agree. If the Democrats we’ve elected cannot elevate this and explain clearly and forcefully how this will be changed, they should seek other work in what will remain a tough jobs market.
JB: "I think readers know that I almost always try to keep a measured tone."
Maybe it is time to start shouting. Democrats are notoriously poor communicators. If there is way to say something in a way to put people to sleep, Democrats will find it. I don't want Democrats making stuff up, that is for "9-Commandment Christians" like Mike Johnson to do, but, for example, when Chuck Schumer says something its effect is similar to taking a massive overdose of the most powerful sedative in the world....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I have no doubt that if Schumer had the critical information that all life on Earth would be snuffed out in twenty minutes, he would be the right person to announce it, since that would guarantee everyone would sleep through the end of the world and feel no pain.
Yes, I despise Schumer and desperately want the Democrats to replace him as the Minority Leader in the Senate.
"But the other goal—much more important and highly consistent with much writing up here in recent weeks—is to distract Americans from how much more expensive the Rs are making health coverage."
It's also to CONNECT taking subsidies away to the fictitious STORY of "immigrants are attacking and stealing your ___________" a key emotional HOOK strong enough to shut down reasoning when thinking about subsidies being lost and get people to back things that are not in their best interest. Once they find these hooks that they can hang all of their actions on, i.e. immigrants are making Portland a battleground so send in troops, they keep extending and strengthening the story by connecting all their arguments to them.
I’m confused. My friend who is undocumented receives Medical, which is the state’s version of Medicaid. Also, from the web, In California, "illegal" or undocumented immigrants are eligible for certain state and federally-funded programs, including Medi-Cal (full coverage for children, pregnant individuals, and adults 19-65 starting Jan 1, 2024, though full Medi-Cal eligibility for undocumented adults will end after January 2026). Do they have accountants parse out undocumented Medical costs from their Medicaid funds or something like that. Thx.
Got it. Though billions in federal funds are spent on ER visits and other emergency care services, as I understand, but I suppose that doesn’t fall into the bucket that we call healthcare.
Trusting the Rs and T is the same as Kennedy’s medical advice… the American sans culottes are consumed with the World Series and the NFL, a charging Bear market will get their attention
Unanimously passing the clean CR offered by Rs to Ds is exactly the way Ds can highlight how bad the coming loss of the enhanced subsides in the ACA will be. Shutting the government down, when offered a clean CR that just continues the budget that Ds supported when Biden was president, is aggressive incompetence by the Ds. The current government shutdown will pour gasoline on the dumpster fire of Rs implementing Project 2025. Fighting for continued clean CRs or ones with positive changes will show that Ds are both willing to fight for what they believe and show that they are responsible legislators. Rs will have likely have to break the filibuster to get this year's budget passed. Delaying that with clean CRs is really the best thing Ds can do right now for America.
Mark Twain: "it's easier to fool someone that it is to convince them that they've been fooled".
How can so many Americans be so fooled by liars and thugs for 50 years - see "Powell Memo".
Dems - either go very big, very bold and courageous, a new grand strategy for America, or go home. We have the economic power and brains to kick the lying Rs into their own abyss and heal America. This is the moment to rise up by the 10s of millions - October 18. No Kings, no sycophants.
EH: "How can so many Americans be so fooled by liars and thugs..."
The secret is in being really, really stupid and ignorant. Last November, 77 million voters qualified gloriously. Today, only a relatively small number of them have learned anything like a lesson. Stupid and ignorant people can't reliably support democracy, which explains why we're a long way down Fascist Lane and we've got both feet stomped on the accelerator. Oh, yeah, and those 77 million people cut the brake line last November.
We must now rely on private sector data sources (like ADP) to get somewhat reliable information about the state of the U.S. economy.
You know what this means right? ADP is about the be slapped with A lawsuit.
I'd love to see a regression plot of ADP and BLS. It's pretty clear cut that both lines have a significant negative slope by inspection, but plotting it with confidence intervals would be telling.
Speaker Mike Johnson claiming to be a Christian is really rich. One thing is clear, Johnson's Ten Commandments are either only nine or the one about lying has been edited as follows:
Thou shalt lie constantly and excessively when trying to defend White Christian Nationalism or whenever you are trying to convince stupid and gullible voters that the Democrats are trying to do something that everyone should know they can't do even if they really, really want to. Jesus suggests crossing one's fingers to signal heaven that you are lying in what you are pretending is a good cause. Party on, dude!
It really is remarkable that he lies so brazenly. I guess really stupid and ignorant voters deserve really stupid and ignorant representation. And Wowie-Wow-Wow do they have that in Mike Johnson.
The Ten Commandments are from the Old Testament. What about the teachings of Jesus whom Johnson claims to follow? The cruelty of his policies are a clear rejection of everything Jesus taught and lived. Just because someone claims to be Christian doesn’t make it true anymore than claiming to be a pacifist while advocating for violence makes that true.
“Whether you’re adding 10K jobs a month or losing 10K jobs a month, your job creation machine has stalled.”
What a lot of people don’t seem to realize (probably because of the way the numbers are reported) is that every month hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people get hired and a similar number of people stop working because they get fired, laid off, quit, or retire, and the number of “jobs created” that gets reported is one subtracted from the other.
"...but also costly for those remaining on the exchanges, who will tend to be healthier people,..."
Don't you mean unhealthier people?
Yep. Fixed it.
I disagree that the stock market rising is positive. The fastest way to get Trump and Republicans to back off their hateful, destructive policies is for the stock market to react negatively to what they are doing.
I agree. If the Democrats we’ve elected cannot elevate this and explain clearly and forcefully how this will be changed, they should seek other work in what will remain a tough jobs market.
JB: "I think readers know that I almost always try to keep a measured tone."
Maybe it is time to start shouting. Democrats are notoriously poor communicators. If there is way to say something in a way to put people to sleep, Democrats will find it. I don't want Democrats making stuff up, that is for "9-Commandment Christians" like Mike Johnson to do, but, for example, when Chuck Schumer says something its effect is similar to taking a massive overdose of the most powerful sedative in the world....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I have no doubt that if Schumer had the critical information that all life on Earth would be snuffed out in twenty minutes, he would be the right person to announce it, since that would guarantee everyone would sleep through the end of the world and feel no pain.
Yes, I despise Schumer and desperately want the Democrats to replace him as the Minority Leader in the Senate.
thank you for the clear explanation
"But the other goal—much more important and highly consistent with much writing up here in recent weeks—is to distract Americans from how much more expensive the Rs are making health coverage."
It's also to CONNECT taking subsidies away to the fictitious STORY of "immigrants are attacking and stealing your ___________" a key emotional HOOK strong enough to shut down reasoning when thinking about subsidies being lost and get people to back things that are not in their best interest. Once they find these hooks that they can hang all of their actions on, i.e. immigrants are making Portland a battleground so send in troops, they keep extending and strengthening the story by connecting all their arguments to them.
I’m confused. My friend who is undocumented receives Medical, which is the state’s version of Medicaid. Also, from the web, In California, "illegal" or undocumented immigrants are eligible for certain state and federally-funded programs, including Medi-Cal (full coverage for children, pregnant individuals, and adults 19-65 starting Jan 1, 2024, though full Medi-Cal eligibility for undocumented adults will end after January 2026). Do they have accountants parse out undocumented Medical costs from their Medicaid funds or something like that. Thx.
They can’t use federal $ for that.
Got it. Though billions in federal funds are spent on ER visits and other emergency care services, as I understand, but I suppose that doesn’t fall into the bucket that we call healthcare.
Trusting the Rs and T is the same as Kennedy’s medical advice… the American sans culottes are consumed with the World Series and the NFL, a charging Bear market will get their attention
Unanimously passing the clean CR offered by Rs to Ds is exactly the way Ds can highlight how bad the coming loss of the enhanced subsides in the ACA will be. Shutting the government down, when offered a clean CR that just continues the budget that Ds supported when Biden was president, is aggressive incompetence by the Ds. The current government shutdown will pour gasoline on the dumpster fire of Rs implementing Project 2025. Fighting for continued clean CRs or ones with positive changes will show that Ds are both willing to fight for what they believe and show that they are responsible legislators. Rs will have likely have to break the filibuster to get this year's budget passed. Delaying that with clean CRs is really the best thing Ds can do right now for America.
Fixed. Thnx