So, the Senate will not be reaching a decision on the reconciliation framework by tomorrow. Many of the senators are likely already home, with no votes scheduled until Monday.
Manchinema are starting to move into the T****-level hatred zone amongst those I talk to.
We are going to be OK
Their both being really bad at reading the situation and the mood of us voters, some from both parties.
Is that a thing, to piss off your own party and voters, and voters from the other party?
You know, at the end of the day there will be ā at a minimum ā in the range of $3T to $3.5T in non-defense spending approved for physical and human infrastructure. And while it may not seem enough on climate and other things, itās still a BFD.
One thing Iām not looking forward to will be the inevitable Beltway labeling of all of this as āa Biden failureā b/c the toplines on both streams werenāt what the commentariat wantedā¦ and the sausage-making apparently ātook too longā. Never mind that Orange Twittler never passed a single āinfrastructure billā in four years even with control of all levers of power in DC for two of them. Never mind that the BIF and BBB bills will change countless non-beltway lives. Nope, weāre going to have to Chuck Todd this to death as āBiden couldnāt deliverā even though he did.
Oh ā and Democrats: the midterm election is NEXT YEAR. That means youāre still in power in 2022. ACT THE F LIKE IT.
/end rant
At first I was kind of shocked that a one year extension of the Child Tax Credit was agreed to but then I thought maybe itās a brilliant idea to run on in the midterms. Democrats will pledge to make it permanent and Republicans will surely cancel it.
I wonder with all the stuff TFFG promised when he ran, then only delivered a tax cut permanently for the rich and temporarily for the rest, why there is still such love for him? And who killed his other promises?
Oh! Oh! I know! I know!
Do you want to share with the rest of us Horshack?
The āBiden Failureā MEME is so frustrating as most of the so called Main Stream media are not adult enough or experienced enough to understand the so called āgive and takeā of high level politics.
I never thought the big number would go forward, but in any real adult negotiation, particularly at this level, the difference between the amounts from āceiling and floor discussionsā are always wider than realistic. For example, I never thought free Community College was always in, but it became a āchitā in the the negotiations.
But, to state Biden is failing when in the long game success is still there, and we have serious important issues/items that remain, then we have the chance for best outcomes.
There was a day when we didnāt follow every moment of every day as if they were worth a headline. But to return to that day, we would cancel Facebook, MSNBC, CNN, and FOX and only get a real and honest summary of the world from the 21st Century version of Walter Cronkite who gave us an honest and realistic summary of the news, instead of an ongoing interpretation of who pissed or shit at any given moment.
Oh, to return to the days of the possibilities of rainbows and unicorns.
DEEP BREATH. Watch and wait. The fat lady has not even stepped to boards, much less started singing.
Whelp, we got those who came for the entertainment and stayed for the racism, and vice versa. Then there are the ones who wanted to stick it to the libs and TFFG sure did that (and everyone else). Next are the cultists who adopted him as their unlikely messiah. Last are those who naively thought he was a breath of fresh air, an outsider, a successful business man who would make that pivot any minute nowā¦and donāt forget the just plain stupid.
There is of course overlap with all these, making a venn diagram that looks like the Montreal highway map.
The diagram would be relatively empty. The problem with Montreal highways is there are hardly any.
There is but one overused highway (40) which spans from the southwest to the northest of the island. You either take that, or try to avoid the island via the 640 in the North or the recently opened 30 to the South.
And that main highway is down to a single lane in both directions for 40 kilometres to facilitate construction of light rail which will cut 6 lanes (three in either direction) down to two for those 40 kms.
Add to that, the bridge at the southwest end (which has been sinking from the days it was originally constructed) is now too unstable to shore up and a new bridge is needed. The leading proposals are, to put it mildly, bat shit crazy.
The only viable solution is to apply the design first proposed in 1960 by a Danish firm with a fair bit of knowledge in these things back in the day. Problem is, it would involve the expropriation around 100 waterfront properties with an average market rate of $75 million per property. $7.5 billion for land acquisition only is steep and would bring the total price tag to a minimum of $15 billion for the whole affair. Ouch.
Problem is, the other proposals all have many more pylons in the water $$$ and adding 15 kms to the commuting distance before linking up to the main highway (adding cost to travel - 7,500 km a year to commuters and truckers). The number of secondary roads amounts to 100kms of additional paved area ($2 - 3 billion to build, $800 million to maintain every 5 years) and the number of (cheaper) expropriated properties is in the thousands ($1.2 / 1.8 billion). The bridges themselves will be $3 to 5 billion more expensive than then one where rich folk would be displaced. So in the end, the costs would level in ten years but users will burn more fuel and kill their cars a lot faster.
Thanks for the answer to the vexed question āwhatās up with the Montreal highway system?ā
I havnāt been there in awhile, but my recollection is criss-crossing, airy overpasses and clover leaves with on and off ramps everywhere. I thought it quite daunting compared to Boston. My fanciful simile was based on this recollection.
I Grew up in MTL. My oldest just started University there. She was scared of learning to drive in Ottawa. Two trips with me bringing here there and one bringing her back has her traumatized.
I drive an F-150 and reassure her that if any car or SUV size does anything stupid, we will rest atop of them thanks to the higher wheel base and steel frame (I demure at telling her they will die a bit slower because of the aluminium body).
To say it is disorganized is one thing. To recognize that half of Montreal drivers are too disorganized themselves or worse (fucking mental) to safely travel their own city is to be charitable.
The politics there is insane. Think lefties with zero knowledge about finance and amortized costs. They all ālove each otherā on the surface. But surely everyone else is getting more from the government teat than they. So when you talk about spending billions to displace rich people to make the commute less painful, all they hear is ābillions to millionaires? Ah ben non!ā
And so now they accept throwing away another 40 minutes in commuting everyday once the new bridge is built.
Just fucking moronic.
I have heard similar things from my sister about driving and traffic in that city. She coincidentally lives in Ottawa. We are all from the States, but she married a Canadian and moved there many years ago.
Iām still getting over covid and need to get some sleep. Itās been good chatting with you.
So sheās the smart one in the family then.
I appreciated the chat as well. Iām glad you are on the mend (and I assume your wife is as well). Take care and sleep well.
I wonder if part of the problem is there are two of them.
The āsavior of the dealā role is only available to one person at a time. Maverick agonistes battles valiantly for fiscal prudence, secures a flashy but not hugely significant cut and saves the deal.
But if there are two people trying to be the person whose personal Maverickyness secures the deal then the whole dance falls apart. Itās like the last two people playing musical chairs.
Iām really having a hard time understanding how two supposed Dems could put a Dem Presidentās agenda in peril, and for what? And the time for dickering over items and prices was months ago.
I have no idea if they even contributed to bills that were presented.
I do get that politicians have egos, but this isnāt an ego situation that I can wrap my head around.
I find it baffling and infuriating. But I am also stumped on how those of us in the peanut gallery should be helping.
Of the two Manchin seems like the more rational actor. Heās played this game before and voted for the presidentās agenda in the end. And he does rep a deep red state, so I understand his public positioning in opposition to āthe radical democratsā.
Sinema is harder to read. She seems to enjoy attention, but is also reported to be not keen on talking to the press. Iām wondering if she has taken the McCain myth as gospel, without close study of how he actually behaved, and tried to remake herself in that image. And just doesnāt have the media and negotiating skills to pull it off. She maybe didnāt even realize the implications of trying to horn in on Manchinās solo.
Bidens fall back on CC tuition is expansion of Pell Grants.
