Quick housekeeping: If you’re in the US and have an iPhone, all links are available on my free app for the best daily progressive content: Ideacracy. If not, no problem! I’ve also included the original links below.
Now on with the show:
Promises Made, Promises Over-Delivered
President Joe Biden promised 100 million vaccines in arms in his first 100 days. We’re now on track for 200 million.
He promised that all adults would be eligible for vaccines by May 1st. We’re now on track for April 19th.
It’s amazing what an administration can do when they develop a plan and bring in competent people. But like Stephen Colbert alluded to on Tuesday's Late Show, it’s not exactly time to - oh let’s say - attend a Rangers game (with 38,000+ people) in Texas (a state that abolished their mask mandate).
You can watch Stephen’s monologue here: on Ideacracy or on Youtube.
Fighting the Cancel Culture War
It may seem absurd that while our country faces multiple crises, Republicans are digging even deeper to manufacture fake controversies. I’m not quite sure if the latest hullabaloo is trans girls dominating sports (which doesn’t happen) or “woke corporations” meddling in politics (those classic bastions of liberalism).
As Dan Pfeiffer points out in his newsletter though, there’s evidence that railing against “cancel culture” is actually working as a messaging strategy. He suggests that we don’t even engage in the cancel culture debate. Instead, we can call out what Republicans are doing with messages like the following:
Republicans are spending all of their time talking Dr. Seuss and Potato Head toys, because they want to divide and distract from their unpopular, special interest message. While Democrats have been putting money in people’s pockets and shots in their arms, Republicans have been fighting to prevent Americans from getting a pay raise and pushing to cut taxes for multi-millionaires.
You can read Dan’s newsletter here: on Ideacracy or on Substack.
I’m with Stacey
Georgia has been on the forefront of Republican-led voter suppression laws. So at first, I was happy about the MLB moving its All-Star game from Georgia. And I was all for potential boycotts of Georgia-based companies who don’t come out against these laws. It’s not exactly a big leap for them to say that a functioning democracy and basic civil rights are good for business too.
But Stacey Abrams is of course closest to local politics and has a more nuanced (read: smarter) position (like the baller she is).
In a statement, she said that while she respects companies taking action and people participating in boycotts, she doesn’t want to see Georgia families hurt by lost events and jobs. She thinks these consequences are unfortunate, but Republicans accepted that risk when they prioritized making it harder for people of color to vote over the economic well-being of all Georgians. Ultimately, we should all speak out for voting rights. And for that she recommends checking out stopjimcrow2.com.
You can read Stacey’s statement here: on Ideacracy or on Twitter.
This Week in Wonkiness
In the coming weeks and months, we’ll hear a lot about infrastructure. And for good reason too. Biden’s recently-unveiled plans not only invest in classic infrastructure, but also in charging stations for electric vehicles, wifi in rural areas and “human infrastructure” like home health-aid workers.
This means jobs. And under the current proposal, it would be paid for by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. I believe the scientific term for this is (checks notes) a “win win”.
A wonky story for this week though is how the infrastructure plans are likely to pass. Basically, the Senate is a graveyard for legislation because of the filibuster - a made-up Senate procedural rule that requires 60 votes for non-budget legislation. We were able to pass the COVID relief package with 51 votes instead using budget reconciliation. This week, the Senate Parliamentarian (an unelected official) ruled that Democrats can pass further amendments under budget reconciliation. Those amendments would make infrastructure legislation possible.
It sure would be nice to not have made-up rules and unelected officials determining our democracy. More on that in the coming weeks. For this week’s wonkiness though, Sean Rameswaram from the Today, Explained podcast has great interviews in an episode entitled “Hot Senate procedural news”.
You can listen to Sean’s episode here: on Ideacracy or on your podcast app.
To Debt or Not to Debt
Last Sunday’s John Oliver cut right through decades of Republican pearl-clutching over the national debt. Much as they complain about mortgaging children’s futures under Democratic presidencies, Republicans from Regan through Trump have gleefully piled onto the national debt when it comes to tax cuts for the wealthy.
Economists don’t really know what the appropriate debt limit for the US is. But they know one question is important: whether adding to the national debt correlates to any actual benefit to the economy. And we have a clear picture for that.
As the show points out, tax cuts to the wealthy provide little to no benefit to the economy. Instead, supporting people at times of crisis (e.g. during the Obama and Biden administrations) are hugely beneficial and should go as far as possible. In fact, there’s evidence that spending during the Obama administration was too low and may have extended the financial crisis by as much as 4 years. Credit to the Biden administration for learning from the past and going big with the American Rescue Plan!
You can watch John’s episode here: on Ideacracy or on Youtube.
And now for our high note:
That’s it for this very first issue. Catch you next week everyone 🤓. Stay safe and healthy.