If Nancy Pelosi Can’t Defend Ocasio-Cortez, Omar And Tlaib, The Speaker Should Resign

22 thoughts on “If Nancy Pelosi Can’t Defend Ocasio-Cortez, Omar And Tlaib, The Speaker Should Resign”

1. I’ve read that Pelosi’s net worth is between 20 and 70 million dollars. Her overlords, like Chuck and the rest of the old line democrats, are the neoliberal corporate elite. In this country we have fascists and fascists-lite. Government by and for the people my ass.

2. Nancy Pelosi absolutely refuses to impeach Trump or in any way hold him to account. For that enough, she should resign in shame. But fine, she thinks that would be a distraction from passing legislation. Great. What legislation? What has the House passed to put pressure on the Senate or Republicans in 2020? She controls one-half of a co-equal branch of government. How has she leveraged that to get concessions from Trump and Mitch McConnell? She hasn’t. She has rolled over every single time in defense spending, the budget, the Goon Squad and concentration camp funding. Her two (2!) “victories” have been not really preventing Trump from diverting funds to build his hate monument, and a vicious sideways sarcasti-clap. She is resisting her own left-wing far, far harder and more tenaciously than she is Trump or the G.O.P. She Had TO GO!!

   1. “What legislation?”

      Exactly. As noted in the post, there’s no point in shackling your superstars on the excuse they impede the legislative process if you’re not actually legislating anything in the first place

3. Remember the MSM propaganda about how fantastic and important Pelosi was for getting legislation done, when before was up for confirmation as House Speaker. Nancy needs to pass the torch, as does many of the Clintonista hangers on in the DNC.

4. Democrats need to first get together and kick out Trump, then they can argue amongst themselves, as is typical.

5. If you live in middle America where the line between voting for centrist democrat, or centrist republican is quite fine, you would understand why many of us look at disdain on the ultra liberal concepts of AOC’s and co’s masters, designed not to move the country together and forward, but instead to promote their own social media personalities.

   It is not that the ideas on a one off basis are not good, it is just that in sum there is no plausible way to go all in with a plethora of concepts that have not been fully baked as to the effects.

   Furthermore, the real issue is that there is no credible history or data, that they ideas will bring move liberal voters out and not bring out move conservative voters that are enraged or scared that it is going to have an effect on them.

   The recent history would suggest that the more AOC’s and co and her handlers try to fire things up, the more ammo Trump but also centrists republicans will have to win next time around. The downside to AOC very little since she is in a secure seat and her media position increases, the downside to the US; huge if the GOP succeeds in 2020. ….

   In addition, I enjoy Heisenberg, however the Heisenberg that wrote this article is not the same as the one writing about the markets, as we know that the market effect of the AOCs and co, plus handlers, ideas would not be positive.

   (This reference to handlers, should not imply that Pelosi does not also have a sophisticated staff that is thinking through things. So the argument is not Pelosi versus AOC, but rather the smart educated team behind Pelosi, versus the splinter group trying to build their own fame through social media – with out regard to those of us not in ultraliberal enclaves)

   1. I regret to inform you that it is exactly the same Heisenberg who writes about markets who wrote this article. I also regret to inform you that the Heisenberg Report, as a platform, stands 100% behind AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, who are doing what they were elected to do: Change the country for the better as opposed to doing absolutely nothing all day other than wasting your tax dollars, which is what centrist Democrats seem content to do.

      As far as your suggestion that the progressive agenda isn’t feasible, would you care to elaborate on why MMT won’t work? And before you do, please do read our entire MMT archive, which spans at least 30,000 words at this point, so you can be sure you aren’t making an argument I’ve already refuted.

      Lastly, you couldn’t be more wrong when you say progressives aren’t “trying to move the country forward”. I suggest you find a dictionary and look up the word “progress”.

6. Fear of the AOC types is what will keep red and purple states; red.

   1. Right. Which underscores a generalized ignorance about the economy. How many Trump voters actually benefit from capitalism? What is the average annual household income of Trump’s base? He plays on ignorance and fear. There is no sense in which capitalism and tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations benefit the majority of the people that show up at Trump’s rallies. The cold, hard reality of the situation is that capitalism is no longer functioning properly in America. Trump’s base should know this better than anyone, but they’d rather blame immigrants and put their trust in a man who has never worked for anything in his life and has, by most accounts, failed at every business venture he’s ever tried, which underscores yet another layer of irony: Trump may well be one of the least successful capitalists of all time. How in God’s name do you start with a $400 million inheritance and only end up with $3.5 billion six decades later? You have to be a special kind of dumb to manage that. And, of course, there’s no telling if he’s even really worth $3.5 billion.

      1. Most people who live in America benefit from capitalism. That’s why most Cubans want to swim across the straights to live here and not the other way around. Same applies for most of the rest of the world.

         Yes, of course, Trump base also benefits. Particularly from economic expansion. More people are working and some of them will vote for Trump for that reason alone.

         I don’t know what you mean by “properly” and when it happened last time. You can complain about growing inequality for the rest of your life but who said this is not proper capitalism? You can argue that this is not the best possible system for the masses, but that’s another debate.

         In summary, I agree with two other anonymous commentators that “progressives” will push centrist voters towards Trump, and I could be one of them.

         WRT the subject of your post, I don’t see why it is Pelosi’s job to defend them for Trump. These women are more than capable to defend themselves. Strategically, they represent a lot more serious threat to dem party establishment represented by Pelosi than to Trump.

         1. from Trump.

            On second thought, maybe she should issue some sort of condemnation (and maybe she did already), I just don’t think it can be called defense.

         2. “Most people who live in America benefit from capitalism.”

            this is a blatant lie that is undercut by all manner of empirical evidence and reams upon reams of academic work. you clearly do not know that much about this subject, and seem well-meaning, so i’ll give you a pass. i don’t think there’s much hope in trying to explain it to you, but you can start here: https://heisenbergreport.com/2019/06/27/trump-plans-100-billion-middle-finger-to-middle-class-with-possibly-illegal-tax-break-for-the-rich/

            it’s not clear to me that you have any real conception of what “inequality” is. it sounds like you mean guy on one side of town makes $45k, guy on the other side of town makes $200k. If that were the extent of it, then sure, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles and hard work pays off, etc. etc. this country is a kleptocracy and an aristocracy. we are the wealthiest nation on the planet and somehow can’t figure out how to provide for the poor, how to provide proper education and how to give everyone healthcare. it’s a disgrace, and Trump is hell bent on perpetuating it.

            Oh, and why is it, if Trump’s economy is so fantastic compared to Obamas, that the US added more jobs on average during the equivalent number of months at the end of the Obama presidency as the number of months Trump has been in office? that is a fact. Also, why is it that if you look at a quarterly GDP chart, you would be hard-pressed to point out the supposed “miracle” that happened under Trump? why is it that if you look at hard data, as opposed to “soft”/sentiment data, you would have a difficult time discerning this purported economic renaissance? in other words: why is that reality clashes with everything Trump says? why is that farmers are going bankrupt from the tariffs and he’s selling them $45 “Make Farmers Great Again” hats on his website? why is it that campaign donations went towards his legal defense fees in the Russia probe? and I can go on, and on, and on, and on. he is a grifter and you are being sold a lie. people like AOC are trying to tell you the truth about that and all manner of other things, but you aren’t willing to listen.

            1. First mistake among many, is that you took me for a Trump supporter. I don’t need a pass from you but thanks for giving it to me anyway. You are not getting one from me though even though you are well-meaning.

               I know it might sound a bit immodest but I am not very interested in academic research on this subject. The reason is that I lived half of my life in a socialist country and I know first hand what I’m talking about. I know in what sense capitalism works for most people and socialism works for no one but the apparatchics. It is disingenuous to suggest that we don’t take care of the poor. Look at how many people are on Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and other forms of assistance. It is true, of course, that a lot of people are not covered by health insurance, and education sucks (not clear whose fault that is though) etc. but this is far – FAR – cry from claiming that capitalism doesn’t work for most. Even our poor live better than most Cubans otherwise they are stupid not to move there. That’s capitalism at work!

               And please don’t pontificate at me about poverty and inequality. I came here with nothing. At first, I lived in absolute poverty, then I was just poor (wife got a low paying job) and then we went thru various degrees of being slightly less poor. Since we happened to live in Manhattan, it was easy to observe inequality. There is nothing you can tell me that I don’t know or experienced in person. How many times you were unable to pay for your meal? Have you ever had a tooth pulled by an unlicensed dentist using equipment picked from a garbage dump? No? Then save your righteous rage for someone else, ok? Oh and btw, in a couple of years of living in NY, still counting every penny, w/o any form of public assistance, I already lived better than in the old country.

               This should be your key for understanding where I come from. I really REALLY don’t give a damn about inequality. Even when I was at the very bottom (not counting homeless), inequality was the last thing bothering me. I cared about buying milk, cereal, potatoes and subway tokens. I didn’t (and still don’t) care about millionaires living in Trump tower. I don’t care how many billions Jeff Bezos have. I care about paying my mortgage and my kids tuition.

               Inequality is a wrong target that brainless SJW types pursue. History taught them nothing. The problem of inequality was already solved once in Russia and the results are well known to everyone, apart from those who claim that it was a wrong type of socialism or not a socialism at all. Sure, sure. Except there is no other kind. Arguably, inequality is a natural byproduct of capitalism in the sense that people have incentives to work hard in order to live better.

               The right target is to do as much as possible to facilitate economic growth even at the cost of giving tax breaks to evil corporations. The more people work and earn decent wages the better for them and for the rest of us.

               I didn’t say anything about Trump economy being better than Obama’s (although once you are done with cherry-picking data and look at totals it probably will look better), nor about miracle, nor about renaissance so I’m not sure why your telling me all this. I’m sure you can go on and on about Trump as you do every day but please don’t: you are preaching to the quire. I have zero sympathy for the guy but I still think that a lot of people benefited from his policies. Except for farmers but I thought he somehow compensated them.

            2. “I know it might sound a bit immodest but I am not very interested in academic research on this subject”

               I figured as much.

               “How many times you were unable to pay for your meal?”

               More than once, but not more than ~two-dozen times. (rough estimates, based on admittedly cloudy recollection abilities during that particular time period)

               “Have you ever had a tooth pulled by an unlicensed dentist using equipment picked from a garbage dump?”

               No. I have so many questions about this. you should tell the rest of the story.

               Finally, what “totals” are you talking about for the economy? I cited NFP and GDP. Those are literally the most broad-based indicators there are. Can you point me to what I should be using instead?

            3. Nothing interesting about that tooth. A lot of pain, no money to pay for a real dentist, no insurance, sleepless nights, desperation, friends recommended a woman illegally operating out of her apartment in Brooklyn. She charged $100 w/o anesthesia of course. How many times you had dental work (not counting cleaning) done w/o anesthesia?

               I’ll give you another data point: in the socialist paradise where I grew up, it was every effing time. Every caries that I had drilled was w/o anesthesia. You have any idea how it feels?Maybe anesthesia was available for the party elite but certainly not for the rest of us. Here, almost everybody gets it and it’s also capitalism at work.

            4. This is all kinds of absurd, which you must surely realize. This is the same old strawman. You are implicitly equating AOC’s policy prescriptions with what sounds like something out of Venezuela. With all due respect to your experiences, that comparison is blatant bullshit and it’s the kind of ridiculous propaganda that Trump relies on to scare the public. The idea that the progressive wing of the Democratic party is hell-bent on forcing people to have cavities filled with no anesthesia is utterly ridiculous. until you can explain, in economic terms, and taking into account the 30,000 or so words we’ve written here refuting MMT critics, why MMT can’t work to fund Progessive policy proposals like universal healthcare, then you really don’t have a leg to stand on, other than trying to scare everybody to death with stories about a country that bears no resemblance to the multitude of prosperous countries who have adopted, in one form or another, soft socialism.

            5. And do you know what else? Brooklyn is, of course, in the United States. If AOC’s policies were in place, you wouldn’t have had to go to this nefarious woman operating out of her apartment, because the US government would have paid for a dentist. See there?! You’re an AOC supporter and you didn’t even know it.

            6. By totals I meant total increase in GDP and jobs created. Obama’s second term vs. Trump’s first (and hopefully last). We’ll have to wait for the final count on these but I am placing my bet on Trump.

               I cannot prove to you that MMT won’t work. I am “philosophically” against it because I believe that something doesn’t come out of nothing and that real life problems cannot be solved by accounting tricks. And I have a lot of well-qualified people arguing the case for me. I prefer an honest solution in the spirit of Obamacare but better designed.

               My main point of contention was about capitalism which, according to you, doesn’t work. I am not saying that AOC’s policies will take us straight to Venezuela. I am for universal access to health care but I’m against killing private insurance. Anyone who wants it is taking the first step towards Venezuela. Yeah, our system is not perfect and I happened to have fallen thru a crack. Uh-ah. The Brooklyn woman had me fixed and made a few bucks in the process. Everyone won and god bless America. The point of the story was not about pitying poor me suffering (who said immigration should be easy?) but to spare me from your lectures on poverty and inequality. I’m well aware, thank you very much.

      2. I agree with everything you said. As long as the car is running they do not care to look under the hood. When the car breaks down they will blame it on Democrats, and that will be the extent of their troubleshooting. I like AOC, and wish her luck.

7. For clarification I am the red and purple Anonymous.

   1. we’re all anonymous. lol

8. Pelosi is Lucy in Peanuts.