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An Open Question
"We've got the tools, why don't we use them?", Joe Biden asked, on Friday afternoon.
He was referring to the federal government's capacity to relieve economic suffering for millions of Americans simply by passing legislation.
Of course, Biden knows the answer to that question. If anyone knows why it is that US lawmakers habitually fail to deliver for the very people who put them in office, it's a career US senator.
That's not a personal jab at the President. Rather, it's simply to state the o
It’s early, early days, but after four years of anti-democratic chaos emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., I think investors might be willing to “pay up” for decency and competence.
Earlier this week, on a dare, I correctly recited the first twenty elements of the periodic table. This got me quickly rebuffed as being a nerd. Quibbling about a two foot height difference in Mount Everest?
The Everest thing is important because it drives home the point that our understanding of the world (or universe) is only as good as the granularity of the data available. I believe it was Isaac Asimov who stated that the original concept of the earth being flat was the best explanation for the data available at the time. Gradually that changed to round, pare, then lopsided pare as more information became available. With the right tools we’d probably know Everest is different today than last week.
It may be that Pelosi and company are looking ahead to the next bout of Senatorial elections. Covering the Republican party with as many coats of tar and feathers as they can prior to the election in hopes of reclaiming a workable majority in the Senate and to keep the house firmly Democratic. With this they hope to end the Republican stranglehold on having a working government.
“Everest (which is taller than previously thought…)”
Even more so considering rising sea levels. How high is anything if not measured by the level of the sea? Don’t answer that. It’s a trap.
I guess we might have some early indication of whether R Senators will play ball with Trump impeachment. The dilemma there is clear : Either condemn Trump, trying to reclaim the R party and retain some dignity but that implies cooperating with D. Or give Trump another pass out of fear of his base.
The calculus for the stimulus is somewhat different but I haven’t heard a reasonable explanation as to why the R wouldn’t pull another 2009 “oppose everything” strategy. Worked well enough for them back then.