Okay, that’s a bit harsh, even though, let’s face it, a lot of Republicans are crumbs. A week or two ago, I ran a piece, “John McCain, Paul Ryan, and the Myth of the Virtuous Republican”, in the course of which I quoted fairly extensively from two often interesting “I’m outta here” books by (more…
Search Results for: tax reform
John McCain, Paul Ryan, and the Myth of the Virtuous Republican
John McCain is one of those guys who, when he dies, people say “he was the last of a dying breed.” No one will ever say that about Paul Ryan. John McCain was a genuine war hero, a man who preferred to face hardship, torture, and even death rather than abandon his comrades. Paul Ryan…
Alan Vanneman’s Mythbusters! Why the “myth” of upward mobility does and does not matter
Robert Samuelson, who is, frankly, rarely my favorite economics pundit, writes a not entirely terrible column, “Upward mobility is a myth”, largely pivoting off a recent study, “The Fading American Dream: Trends In Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940”, issued by the National Bureau Of Economic Research, put together back in March 2017 by a bunch…
The Koch Bros, not without virtue, and, yeah, not without sin
The Koch Bros, the Dave and Charlie Show, are definitely in the news these days, pissing on and pissing off Cap’n Two Scoops by hitting him hard on two of his very worst “raise the drawbridge” policies—protectionism and hostility to immigration. Koch, Inc, the menagerie of political funding and pressure groups the brothers have concocted…
Those Mean Old Disestablishment Blues: Why it’s so hard to put Humpty-Dumpty together again
Dreary old Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by almost three million votes, despite being deeply loathed by millions of voters, many of whom held their noses and voted for snatch snatchin’ Don. Post election, Trump’s poll ratings have never reached the 45% mark, despite a booming stock market and a steadily expanding economy. So why…
First Things First: Uncle Reno’s Just So Stories
What do you get when you click on an article in First Things, that heady brew of theological harrumphing first set in motion by frenzied spiritual striver Richard John Neuhaus, about whom I (mostly) snickered here? Well, judging from this piece by the site’s editor, R.R. (Richard Russell) Reno, “End Times Anxiety”, you’ll learn a…
Koch Bros pledge $400 million—because you’ve got to spend money to make money
Yes, the arms of the Kochtopus are reaching out, and gearing up, to spend $400 million on right-thinking guys and gals, first order of business being to maintain Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. “I’m more excited about what we’re doing and about the opportunities than I’ve ever been,” Charles Koch said. “We’ve made…
We have survived Trump. Can we survive the Republican Congress?
My answer is, probably not. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are asking the FBI to investigate allegations (made by them) that Christopher Steele, author of the famous/infamous Trump dossier, may have lied to federal authorities. The basis for these allegations? Well, they aren’t saying. And Politico’s Kyle Chene, reporting…
La Trahison des Milliardaires
In 1927, Frenchman Julien Benda wrote La Trahison des Clercs (“The Treason of the Intellectuals”), a plea, basically, for a return to Enlightenment thinking. Well, we could definitely do with a little more enlightenment thinking these days—and a little more enlightenment as well—but our real problem is not so much treacherous intellectuals as treacherous billionaires…
The Apotheosis of Paul Ryan is the Apotheosis of Hypocrisy
It is likely that Republicans in Congress will pass something resembling House Speaker Paul Ryan’s tax package—because if they don’t they’ll look like complete fools, and they’d rather fuck up the country than look like that. It’s “amusing” that everyone, even me, has pointed to the massive Republican hypocrisy of having spent eight long years…