Not to go all NotBruceZ but there are ways to get Manchin to cave if they really wanted to.
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when you shop at a dollar store, itās impossible not to notice just the last few weeks oh that $1 thing is now $1.25 or the used to be 3 for 5 or 6 deal is now 3 for 7. It slaps you in the face. (those were two of the things I regularly buy in there so yeah I noticed)
I just donāt expect him to cave because I think he legitimately believes in some of the things he says. Thereās a limit to how far he can be pushed.
What is actually in the bill at this point? I know universal Pre-K still in, but not sure what else survived and easier to find what President Manchin is talking about then what is actually in the bill. Sounds like paid-leave and most of the best climate stuff are gone, although somehow there still is climate stuff of some sort?
Billions for coal mines
Amnesty for epipen price gouging
Prohibition of approaching within 500 yards of yachts
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can you recall the costs of those things cost pre-pandemic vs last few weeks? i donāt think i could, but what i am reading is that changes in supply chains since beginning of 2020 are by far the greatest factor in the prices of individual items in retail right now.
but letās say you zoom out and take a longer view, compare the increase in price over the last 24 months, do you think the rate of increase is >5% or <5% annually? do you think itās greater or lower than historic average? do you think itās greater or lower than 10-MA? do you think itās within normal variance for food price increases? i donāt know what item you are talking about, but letās assume itās food, does your answer change?
itās tempting to say, āpumpkins are really growing in price right now. ZOMG inflation!ā, but in reality some food price indices shot up for a whole year starting in march 2020, but have been coming consistently down since june 2021. Food Price Index. moreover, while current inflation is higher than 10ma, which in itself was much lower than historical or global averages by a good margin, and current inflation is still lower than historical averages. but even that argument is basically splitting macroeconomic hairs. the numbers clustered pretty tightly around 5% (some higher some lower), and itās hard to buy into the idea that we were totally fine at 4.6%, but now that itās 5.6% and biden is president, everything is shit.
https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1453473713232433152
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1453477242114383875
https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1453477388692693002
Iād add that Yglesiasā tweet is more revealing about what āpopularismā, as Yglesias imagines it, is about. Not about genuinely asking for popular things, but attacking the left flank under the guise of objectivity. Why else would he turn a compliant about moderates shooting down popular things into a complaint about progressives (who didnāt shoot down those popular things)
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Wait what do they mean by popularism?
I donāt think thatās what heās saying at all.
As I understand it, Yglesias advocates for pushing whichever policies are most popular according to polls. His POV is equally critical of progressives pushing defunding the police and centrists trying to block the really popular stuff.
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Caucus meeting tomorrow to try and push progressives to vote on infrastructure. I say they should agree then vote it down on the floor
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Yiggyās logic is that heās trolling the libs and entertaining his substack followers.
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Manchin indicates he might support paid leave in a 60 vote bipartisan bill.
Seriously, what in the actual hell is going to be in this bill?
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bwahahha, if this bill had even 50 senators we wouldnāt need manchin.
heās done all the negotiating the republicans wanted him to do, and now heās telling them to go negotiate with mitch mcconnell too?
just fucking boot him to the curb.
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Even manchin doesnāt think this has 60 votes, just the lolz of it is too much.
https://mobile.twitter.com/mkraju/status/1453492254270763009
And Democrats think they have any chance of ever having power again, apparently?
Their only chance is to start running against these two clowns, yesterday.
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LOL fuck off. I truly hate these people.
https://twitter.com/richardrubindc/status/1453495258835214336?s=21
I think his argument is pretty straightforward. Progressives make it easier for centrists to block progressive policies by increasing the salience of issues which arenāt the most popular instead of campaigning on those issues that are both progressive and popular.
I think some politicians have the flawed idea that the policy areas that are most important need to be the policy areas where elections are won and lost. Some progressive goals should enacted using amendments on unrelated bills.
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Really hard not to join team no voting, some of that is indefensible. Canāt have family leave but have fucking stepped up basis.
I bet SALT deductions come back too. Tax cuts for the blue state wealthy.
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