Republicans are dropping their Two Santas bomb right onto President Joe Biden’s head. It worked against Clinton & Obama and the media never caught on. Why wouldn’t they use it again?
All true. Problem is, the American public is too uneducated to see any of this and they fall for it, every time. I learned all this stuff in school; starting with grammar school and civics classes. Economics in high school and college. We see through all of this but because our school system is so poor, most Americans can't follow the thread, and here we are.
The Republican national debt. Perfect, simple, fact.
If we could just see progressives and liberals use the term, relentlessly, it would be inspiring.
But the liars would be right there, in all their channels, so I wouldn’t expect it to be effective immediately.
Lies are cheap. Proving lies is expensive. We can’t stop lies - lies can get around the world before the facts can get theirs shoes on - we have to stop liars.
best luck to US -- b.rad
ps the ‘lies around the world’ saying has many attributions and versions, I won’t even try. Not Twain after all, it seems.
AND, another person that has total comprehension and embraces this concept is Putin. He wants his proxy wars to do all the financial and political damage they can. He has learned from the best-Reagan. Ronnie got up there and made it look like the Evil Empire was losing because of ideology, when in truth most of what we did to the USSR was "run them out of business" with the arms-race from hell. It hurt us as well. We are still enriching the contractors and dealers with the HALF of our budget that is supposedly spent to keep us safe.
So once again the Republicans and Russia(Putin) are aligned, while the "conservatives" keep talking-out-their-butts about freedom and a balanced budget.
I do believe the main-stream has caught on. They just don't have the air-time to explain it all---too many mass killings to cover. Geez, one might even think that too is part of the plan. The Times needs this as an editorial. The Guardian needs to publish it. We need to send it to our Congressional delegates. Very succinct Report, and yet it's a lot of paragraphs. I love the "in Drag" tweak!
We need the GOP to stop playing Santa Claws with US debt:
The GOP’s evil formula: 1) Tax cuts and government giveaways for the rich, 2) Benefit cuts for the Lower and Middle Classes, 3) Blow up the economy, 4) LET THE RICH BUY UP ALL THE FORECLOSED ASSETS AT FIRE SALE PRICES, 5) Blame it on the Democrats, 6) Rinse and repeat…
During their administrations, Republicans run up massive debts while giving huge tax breaks and effectively buying huge houses and yachts for billionaires, then, when Democrats get in power, the GOP yells about debt and threatens to not pay the mortgage they created, which threatens the US economy, and makes Democrats look bad…while insisting that the way to deal with the GOP’s out-of-control debt is to reduce our healthcare, Social Security, education and children’s benefits.
The rich get tax cuts while you get benefits cuts and lose your job:
Thom, you are absolutely correct. The capitalist news media is protecting the sheeple from the truth. Letting the insurrection is gain control of the Congress was not an accident in my opinion. I just pity all the honest hard-working people of the planet with thugs of both parties in charge.
Will Deadbeat Republicans in Congress destroy the economy?
We all know that Republicans in Scotus and Congress are committed to "Hurting Joe Biden", but are each wisely "picking their battles"? There's obviously no such thing as a "Wise Republican" in Congress. But the Seditious Six of Scotus are crafty devils operating with a strategic plan that allows them to occasionally rule "for the people", side with Democrats, while they march on to secure bigger wins for corporate and conservative America.
Here's why it is possible that Scotus would allow Biden to ignore hostage taking by the House Republicans.
1.. Biden should commit to paying our bills, and order The Treasure to supply all money as necessary to keep the checks coming.
2.. Republicans will become unhinged, freak out, and bring their case to Scotus.
3.. Scotus could intervene and say, "No Biden, we won't allow you to pay the bills for goods and services already purchased and committed to.
4.. BUT, then - every corporation, business, Veteran, retired person, sovereign foreign nation, and anything/anyone else owed money will Have Standing to SUE the U.S. government to be paid what the government contractually owes. They will be able to cite the contractual obligations made by the government for every disputed transaction.
5.. Any/every lawsuit is a case that can be fast tracked to Scotus. And that same Scotus will then be faced with telling each and every plaintiff - including Exxon, Boeing, Raytheon, Chevron, ALL nations in the world that own U.S. Treasuries, ALL Veterans, retirees and other citizens, "NO, we do NOT have to pay our bills when we buy things from you or owe you money for which you have paid benefits!"
"Our contracts are valid - until we saw they are no longer valid!"
No one will again have confidence in selling things to the U.S. government.
6.. Furthermore, Scotus cannot repeal the rules of economics and capitalism.
This is a fundamental rule of our capitalism and market economics:
You pay for what you buy.
Hopefully they will have thought through their actions before deciding on yet another opportunity to "Hurt Biden."
This would be one more injury to the already, IMHO, irredeemably illegitimate Scotus. And I don't see them likely to stiff their corporate and foreign overlords.
I think Scotus would "punt this back" at Congress, perhaps declaring the 1917 debt law invalid.
Scotus is playing a longer game to reshape America, and to do so they need to preserve some minimal measure of legitimacy to keep their majority seats and move on to all else that's on their agenda. This includes giving an occasional "win" to Democrats.
The blame for cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNP lies squarely in the hand of the Senator from Wall Street the bipartisan, compromising Joe Biden, who is either cowardly, corrupt or compromised.
I keep mentioning it, he has Art II authority to declare a National Emergency and 14th Amendment power to raise the debt ceiling by Executive Order. He knows this, without a doubt, yet he ignores it constantly, why? Because major donors to the Democratic Party are bankers and financiers and they want and have wanted for a long time to destroy these programs so they can privatize them and use the trust fund and FICA deductions to gamble on Wall Street, thus Biden is doing what Dems have done since Clinton and that is betraying their base, and will until the base rises up and unifies like MAGA. Fat chance, the Democratic base only gives a jack squat when the horse has fled the barn.
We could have had a pro choice legislation during the same interregnum which congress passed the Defense of Marriage act, but didn't. Why? Because there are patriarchs in the Democratic Party, and fear of the backlash if they did. Gay marriage had already been accepted and the act included legitimizing inter racial marriage, thus keep Clarence Thomas filthy grubby hands off of it.
Nah Biden is going to give a way the farm and then do a victory dance, claiming he saved us from disaster. Typical dog and pony show I've seen before, with Clinton and St Obama, Who could have with Nancy's cooperation, given us Medicare for all, by amending the authorizing legislation by declaring coverage starts with birth, They did it before by changing the qualifying age from 65 to 70,
But that would have pissed off the lobbyist and megadonors of PhRMA and AHIP, who actually wrote the ACA
Wait for it. in 5 days I will gloat for saying I told you so or eat my words.(Which I will gladly do).
Yes the Republicans play games using the 2 Santa Claus theory, but the Democrats don't have to cave, except that they are cowards, compromised, corrupt or complicit.
Thom, your account of the much-too-long history of this strategy is exceptional, yet again, enlightening, reminding, on point and succinct -- it should be a call for action for progressives and liberals and patriots.
Liberal is where liberty comes from. ( . . . btw . . . )
It doesn't take a genius to realize that. We need to hear this kind of counter-jerk line from our stalwart leaders, to get in the face of fools and traitors with quiet, calm, comprehensive representations.
The Economist magazine would define 'liberal' as more laissez-faire, as I understand these things, but I rely on FDR's emphatic assertion that he was a 'liberal,' as related in Prof Kennedy's excellent account of his presidency, 'Freedom from Fear.' ( just looked, Pulitzer )
I'm an FDR liberal. Not rich yet, by most measures, but I am a citizen of the United States, and we can pay our bills, and have a mortgage, so that's doing very, very well by all historical standards.
We have $140 Trillion of household wealth, after all. That's about $1 million per household.
I was raised through college at the old PU, through independent publications and programs slipped to all of the undergraduates, to expect liberals to be weak, and 'conservatives' to be financially astute and pragmatic. Likewise at the ol Snodfart, which still hosts the Hoover damn institution . . .
We could spread prosperity like wildfire through our country, simply by doing the public projects that need to be done. We had that bill outlined, $6 Trillion in 10 years when Bernie first outlined it, so much smaller right after that, infuriatingly, because 'everybody' thought that $6 Trillion was an impossible amount of money. In 10 years.
We have $140 Trillion in wealth. That's before the MMT . . .
I'm going to write this before reading the rest of this great article, mainly to get it down before the impact is diluted, of reading the link to the Jude Wanniski article (retyped by the wallstreetpit-dot-com writer from the 1976 article - retyped because the original Observer died in 1977). Really worth reading for a true fantasy-land viewpoint.
I reading this, Wanniski all but totally jumps over the crash of 1929. He goes from the great (he says) booming economy of the 1920's to the election of 1928 and then the election of 1932 "going into the teeth of the Presidential elections, banks failing left and right, and the stock market reeling."
I said "all but" ignore the crash. Instead he mentions it almost in passing as not having anything to do with Republican policies: Wanniski wrote: "Seven months after Hoover took office the stock market crashed, not the result of fiscal policy, but of economic contraction in Europe and a rapid unwinding of most of the stock-market loans that had been built on the excessive monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. "
In other words, rewarding the super rich was good, anything else was bad. GOP good, Dems bad. and so forth. Totally misconstruing the events as they happened. Even though all economic decisions were GOP and Hoover and Andrew Mellon and so forth, somehow they are never to blame, as Wanniski tells it. But FDR and the Dems, blame, blame, blame and lame.
Excellent analysis, and credit to Thom for observing that "both parties" have fallen for the "two Santas" scam—but the core issue has not been addressed: the "national debt" itself is being treated as if it were the same as debt by state or local governments, or household debt, or corporate debt. The "national debt" is (as Monty Python would say) "completely different." ONLY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN ISSUE OUR CURRENCY. Congress (contrary to the "common sense, bipartisan" consensus) neither has nor hasn't any money to "spend." It creates new funds at will, with every appropriation, under our current fiat system. It does not haver to tax or borrow before it "spends;" it can always create all it needs, by fiat. Every Congressional appropriation, rather than causing a deficit, is deleted from the national spreadsheet and added to the accounts of the recipients of those appropriations for a net-zero balance. It does not cause inflation with this process. Inflation can only become a hazard when the created money is spent, in excess of productive capacity. Federal taxes never "pay for" anything, they are deleted on receipt to shrink the money supply to control inflation and for other purposes. Until these facts become common knowledge (and are accepted as "common sense") to the general public (and progressives like Thom Hartmann), the kleptocrats who invented the "two Santas" and "debt ceiling" scams will continue to use them to get the 99% to consent to deadly "austerity" budgets in the name of "fiscal responsibility" (which magically never applies to military budgets). For a sharper view of how our modern money system actually works, as opposed to the confusion and myths promoted by almost everyone in politics and the mass media, see realprogressives.org.
All true. Problem is, the American public is too uneducated to see any of this and they fall for it, every time. I learned all this stuff in school; starting with grammar school and civics classes. Economics in high school and college. We see through all of this but because our school system is so poor, most Americans can't follow the thread, and here we are.
The Republican national debt. Perfect, simple, fact.
If we could just see progressives and liberals use the term, relentlessly, it would be inspiring.
But the liars would be right there, in all their channels, so I wouldn’t expect it to be effective immediately.
Lies are cheap. Proving lies is expensive. We can’t stop lies - lies can get around the world before the facts can get theirs shoes on - we have to stop liars.
best luck to US -- b.rad
ps the ‘lies around the world’ saying has many attributions and versions, I won’t even try. Not Twain after all, it seems.
AND, another person that has total comprehension and embraces this concept is Putin. He wants his proxy wars to do all the financial and political damage they can. He has learned from the best-Reagan. Ronnie got up there and made it look like the Evil Empire was losing because of ideology, when in truth most of what we did to the USSR was "run them out of business" with the arms-race from hell. It hurt us as well. We are still enriching the contractors and dealers with the HALF of our budget that is supposedly spent to keep us safe.
So once again the Republicans and Russia(Putin) are aligned, while the "conservatives" keep talking-out-their-butts about freedom and a balanced budget.
I do believe the main-stream has caught on. They just don't have the air-time to explain it all---too many mass killings to cover. Geez, one might even think that too is part of the plan. The Times needs this as an editorial. The Guardian needs to publish it. We need to send it to our Congressional delegates. Very succinct Report, and yet it's a lot of paragraphs. I love the "in Drag" tweak!
Thanks Thom.
There are times when you Thom, and this group are the only people who make sense.
We need the GOP to stop playing Santa Claws with US debt:
The GOP’s evil formula: 1) Tax cuts and government giveaways for the rich, 2) Benefit cuts for the Lower and Middle Classes, 3) Blow up the economy, 4) LET THE RICH BUY UP ALL THE FORECLOSED ASSETS AT FIRE SALE PRICES, 5) Blame it on the Democrats, 6) Rinse and repeat…
During their administrations, Republicans run up massive debts while giving huge tax breaks and effectively buying huge houses and yachts for billionaires, then, when Democrats get in power, the GOP yells about debt and threatens to not pay the mortgage they created, which threatens the US economy, and makes Democrats look bad…while insisting that the way to deal with the GOP’s out-of-control debt is to reduce our healthcare, Social Security, education and children’s benefits.
The rich get tax cuts while you get benefits cuts and lose your job:
Thom, you are absolutely correct. The capitalist news media is protecting the sheeple from the truth. Letting the insurrection is gain control of the Congress was not an accident in my opinion. I just pity all the honest hard-working people of the planet with thugs of both parties in charge.
Will Deadbeat Republicans in Congress destroy the economy?
We all know that Republicans in Scotus and Congress are committed to "Hurting Joe Biden", but are each wisely "picking their battles"? There's obviously no such thing as a "Wise Republican" in Congress. But the Seditious Six of Scotus are crafty devils operating with a strategic plan that allows them to occasionally rule "for the people", side with Democrats, while they march on to secure bigger wins for corporate and conservative America.
Here's why it is possible that Scotus would allow Biden to ignore hostage taking by the House Republicans.
1.. Biden should commit to paying our bills, and order The Treasure to supply all money as necessary to keep the checks coming.
2.. Republicans will become unhinged, freak out, and bring their case to Scotus.
3.. Scotus could intervene and say, "No Biden, we won't allow you to pay the bills for goods and services already purchased and committed to.
4.. BUT, then - every corporation, business, Veteran, retired person, sovereign foreign nation, and anything/anyone else owed money will Have Standing to SUE the U.S. government to be paid what the government contractually owes. They will be able to cite the contractual obligations made by the government for every disputed transaction.
5.. Any/every lawsuit is a case that can be fast tracked to Scotus. And that same Scotus will then be faced with telling each and every plaintiff - including Exxon, Boeing, Raytheon, Chevron, ALL nations in the world that own U.S. Treasuries, ALL Veterans, retirees and other citizens, "NO, we do NOT have to pay our bills when we buy things from you or owe you money for which you have paid benefits!"
"Our contracts are valid - until we saw they are no longer valid!"
No one will again have confidence in selling things to the U.S. government.
6.. Furthermore, Scotus cannot repeal the rules of economics and capitalism.
This is a fundamental rule of our capitalism and market economics:
You pay for what you buy.
Hopefully they will have thought through their actions before deciding on yet another opportunity to "Hurt Biden."
This would be one more injury to the already, IMHO, irredeemably illegitimate Scotus. And I don't see them likely to stiff their corporate and foreign overlords.
I think Scotus would "punt this back" at Congress, perhaps declaring the 1917 debt law invalid.
Scotus is playing a longer game to reshape America, and to do so they need to preserve some minimal measure of legitimacy to keep their majority seats and move on to all else that's on their agenda. This includes giving an occasional "win" to Democrats.
The blame for cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNP lies squarely in the hand of the Senator from Wall Street the bipartisan, compromising Joe Biden, who is either cowardly, corrupt or compromised.
I keep mentioning it, he has Art II authority to declare a National Emergency and 14th Amendment power to raise the debt ceiling by Executive Order. He knows this, without a doubt, yet he ignores it constantly, why? Because major donors to the Democratic Party are bankers and financiers and they want and have wanted for a long time to destroy these programs so they can privatize them and use the trust fund and FICA deductions to gamble on Wall Street, thus Biden is doing what Dems have done since Clinton and that is betraying their base, and will until the base rises up and unifies like MAGA. Fat chance, the Democratic base only gives a jack squat when the horse has fled the barn.
We could have had a pro choice legislation during the same interregnum which congress passed the Defense of Marriage act, but didn't. Why? Because there are patriarchs in the Democratic Party, and fear of the backlash if they did. Gay marriage had already been accepted and the act included legitimizing inter racial marriage, thus keep Clarence Thomas filthy grubby hands off of it.
Nah Biden is going to give a way the farm and then do a victory dance, claiming he saved us from disaster. Typical dog and pony show I've seen before, with Clinton and St Obama, Who could have with Nancy's cooperation, given us Medicare for all, by amending the authorizing legislation by declaring coverage starts with birth, They did it before by changing the qualifying age from 65 to 70,
But that would have pissed off the lobbyist and megadonors of PhRMA and AHIP, who actually wrote the ACA
Wait for it. in 5 days I will gloat for saying I told you so or eat my words.(Which I will gladly do).
Yes the Republicans play games using the 2 Santa Claus theory, but the Democrats don't have to cave, except that they are cowards, compromised, corrupt or complicit.
Thom, your account of the much-too-long history of this strategy is exceptional, yet again, enlightening, reminding, on point and succinct -- it should be a call for action for progressives and liberals and patriots.
Liberal is where liberty comes from. ( . . . btw . . . )
It doesn't take a genius to realize that. We need to hear this kind of counter-jerk line from our stalwart leaders, to get in the face of fools and traitors with quiet, calm, comprehensive representations.
The Economist magazine would define 'liberal' as more laissez-faire, as I understand these things, but I rely on FDR's emphatic assertion that he was a 'liberal,' as related in Prof Kennedy's excellent account of his presidency, 'Freedom from Fear.' ( just looked, Pulitzer )
I'm an FDR liberal. Not rich yet, by most measures, but I am a citizen of the United States, and we can pay our bills, and have a mortgage, so that's doing very, very well by all historical standards.
We have $140 Trillion of household wealth, after all. That's about $1 million per household.
I was raised through college at the old PU, through independent publications and programs slipped to all of the undergraduates, to expect liberals to be weak, and 'conservatives' to be financially astute and pragmatic. Likewise at the ol Snodfart, which still hosts the Hoover damn institution . . .
We could spread prosperity like wildfire through our country, simply by doing the public projects that need to be done. We had that bill outlined, $6 Trillion in 10 years when Bernie first outlined it, so much smaller right after that, infuriatingly, because 'everybody' thought that $6 Trillion was an impossible amount of money. In 10 years.
We have $140 Trillion in wealth. That's before the MMT . . .
We have the wealth, we have the money -- b.rad
I'm going to write this before reading the rest of this great article, mainly to get it down before the impact is diluted, of reading the link to the Jude Wanniski article (retyped by the wallstreetpit-dot-com writer from the 1976 article - retyped because the original Observer died in 1977). Really worth reading for a true fantasy-land viewpoint.
I reading this, Wanniski all but totally jumps over the crash of 1929. He goes from the great (he says) booming economy of the 1920's to the election of 1928 and then the election of 1932 "going into the teeth of the Presidential elections, banks failing left and right, and the stock market reeling."
I said "all but" ignore the crash. Instead he mentions it almost in passing as not having anything to do with Republican policies: Wanniski wrote: "Seven months after Hoover took office the stock market crashed, not the result of fiscal policy, but of economic contraction in Europe and a rapid unwinding of most of the stock-market loans that had been built on the excessive monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. "
In other words, rewarding the super rich was good, anything else was bad. GOP good, Dems bad. and so forth. Totally misconstruing the events as they happened. Even though all economic decisions were GOP and Hoover and Andrew Mellon and so forth, somehow they are never to blame, as Wanniski tells it. But FDR and the Dems, blame, blame, blame and lame.
Here's a trick that some in the media uses:
"Underexposure Exposed"
https://fair.org/home/underexposure-exposed/
Excellent analysis, and credit to Thom for observing that "both parties" have fallen for the "two Santas" scam—but the core issue has not been addressed: the "national debt" itself is being treated as if it were the same as debt by state or local governments, or household debt, or corporate debt. The "national debt" is (as Monty Python would say) "completely different." ONLY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN ISSUE OUR CURRENCY. Congress (contrary to the "common sense, bipartisan" consensus) neither has nor hasn't any money to "spend." It creates new funds at will, with every appropriation, under our current fiat system. It does not haver to tax or borrow before it "spends;" it can always create all it needs, by fiat. Every Congressional appropriation, rather than causing a deficit, is deleted from the national spreadsheet and added to the accounts of the recipients of those appropriations for a net-zero balance. It does not cause inflation with this process. Inflation can only become a hazard when the created money is spent, in excess of productive capacity. Federal taxes never "pay for" anything, they are deleted on receipt to shrink the money supply to control inflation and for other purposes. Until these facts become common knowledge (and are accepted as "common sense") to the general public (and progressives like Thom Hartmann), the kleptocrats who invented the "two Santas" and "debt ceiling" scams will continue to use them to get the 99% to consent to deadly "austerity" budgets in the name of "fiscal responsibility" (which magically never applies to military budgets). For a sharper view of how our modern money system actually works, as opposed to the confusion and myths promoted by almost everyone in politics and the mass media, see realprogressives.org.