Current Status of Our Several Ongoing Crises

Today in same old same old: The bipartisan infrastructure group released the text of the bill, totaling 2,702 pages, yesterday. I assume that there are lots of people good with numbers studying the thing as I keyboard. Chuck Schumer says he thinks it will be voted on in a matter of days. The progressive wing of the Democratic party still vows to hold the bipartisan bill in the House until the reconciliation bill passes.

More evidence that Trump was not making America great again — according to an analysis of data at Bloomberg News, the Trump economy was the worst since Hoover’s. This was not just because of the pandemic. His overall rate of GDP growth was 1.6. The Trump economy was near the bottom according to other measures as well.

Speaking of tweets, Paul Krugman has been crunching numbers for Florida, which had another record high of covid hospitalizations yesterday.  Krugman says that DeSantis isn’t just failing to protect Floridians from the pandemic; he’s also costing the state a lot of money.

DeSantis enjoyed a lot of luck that Florida didn’t get worse faster, but I believe his luck has run out. It’s now reap what you sow time, guv.

Jennifer Rubin says business is stepping up and doing what Republican governors won’t.

Meanwhile, major corporations such as DisneyGoogle, Facebook, Uber, Walmart (at its headquarters), Morgan Stanley and The Post are requiring employees returning to the workplace to get vaccinated. … The private sector, which Republicans used to insist should be free to operate as business owners saw fit, now battles to save lives in the face of right-wing politicians who have formed a sort of death cult that elevates “owning the libs” over the prevention of needless death.

I take it DeSantis is still trying to force cruise lines to take unvaccinated passengers. A court ruling that said Viking could restrict its cruises to vaccinated people only was reversed by an appeals court a few days later. But now the cruise lines are saying “screw the appeals court; we’re following CDC guidelines.” Obviously, the last thing they need is more Diamond Princess episodes, leaving passengers quarantined on board while the virus spreads among them. Remarkably, it’s possible that the people who run cruise lines know more about the cruise business than Ron DeSantis does.

Return of the Cabbage — I have managed to avoid David Brooks’s New York Times column for a few years now. But he’s got an article at the Atlantic I started to read, and … it makes no sense at all. Seriously. I read several paragraphs into it with a growing sense that either Brooks is drifting into senility, or I am. If someone else wants to read it and explain it to me, be my guest.

Also at The Atlantic — What I Heard in the White House Basement by Alexander Vindman. You should probably just read this and not waste time on Brooks.

Finally — and maybe you should be sitting down for this one — do see Jane Mayer at the New Yorker, The Big Money Behind the Big Lie. Rich and powerful conservative groups are behind the “stop the steal” hysteria, she says. Further, the Big Lie has become a grift to separate Republican donors from their money. Can you imagine? (/sarcasm)

6 thoughts on “Current Status of Our Several Ongoing Crises

  1. Trump couldn't make money running a casino; everything he touches turns to rust. 

  2. I LUUUUUUUVZ YA, maha!

    But I ain't reading Bobo for ya. 

    Sorry, but my love only goes so far. 

    And not on a bet. 

    Or even if you paid me.

    So, yes, quite literally – and not just figuratively – you can't make me go read Bobo for love and/or money!

  3. I read / skimmed a bit of Brooks' article. It's just not that compelling or original to me – he's talking about stuff that seems obvious and not worth hundreds and hundreds of words. I'm familiar with parts of what he says, having heard / read / thought about it elsewhere.

    His opening scene reminded me of the word “bogans” – Australian for “white trash”. In particular “CUBS” – cashed up bogans.

  4. If DeSantis had promoted the vax and driven the vaccination numbers UP, Disney and the tourism industry would be going full blast. Instead, he's doomed them for another year. If De Santis had saved FL, the Trumpsters in Florida would kill him for going against Trump doctrine, so he was screwed either way.

    • How much political clout does Disney have in Florida? I would think that if the tourism industry collectively decides DeSantis needs to go away, he’s in trouble.

  5. You have to be a little bit crazy to keep from going completely insane, but a little bit just does not make the new Republican standard.  Dana Milbank wrote in the WP today that Sarah Palin's level of crazy makes her politically non-competitive.  The new level of crazy is way more than a little bit, and seems quite the impairment to  actually being able to govern.  So, the political future of the pioneer of the crazy Republican now lives in the shadow of the giants of crazy such as DeSantis, Paul, Cruz, et.al..

    From the article:

    Palin captivated the Republican base in 2008 with her unique blend of ignorance, insults and winks at political violence. But such attributes no longer make her a standout in the GOP.

    We sure have a lot of Bedlam in this country.  Red states seem to be the epicenters of the most of it.  Could it not be that the acceptable and standard level of Republican crazy is just incompatible with good governance?  When Lindsey Graham conceded to join the "bat shit crazy" rather than fight them, was this not the surrender to insanity that led to a party with a death wish.  Now they  even ignore the basic dollars and cents issues their 'right to be a Typhoid Mary' politics yields.  Kudo's to Krugman for his work there.  

    Just because a little bit of crazy might be good, it is not sane to think a lot would be a lot better.  This is a common thinking error.

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