Save The Filibuster!

Sen. KSyn argues that the filibuster promotes bipartisan buy-in and leads to longer lasting legislations. She does not mention the ten years of scuffling over the ACA as an example of the perils of cram-down lawmaking. But she should have!

Long time readers may take a dim view of Matt Yglesias, who was a young fire-breathing progressive twenty years ago. However, like so many of us, he seems to have mellowed with age. Or I have. Hmm, motion is relative, yes?

In any case, he makes an interesting argument about "The rise and importance of Secret Congress". His piece obviously violates the first rule of Secret Congress Club but his gist is this: in the current (and likely ongoing) hyper-politicized Nationalization Of Every Issue, neither side wants to give the other a visible win. Visible! As long as no one is paying attention, Congress can grind out legislation.

I'm not sure whether his Substack allows free trial views so here is an extended excerpt:

The core of the Secret Congress theory is that on highly salient issues, lawmaking is dominated by the question of which party controls which chambers and by how slim their majorities are. Under these circumstances, polarization is high and compromise is rare. Congress is prone to gridlock, and when solutions pass, they pass on a near party line. 

• • Highly salient successes tend to be the most famous legislative achievements of a president’s term (the ACA for Obama, the TCJA for Trump, the ARP for Biden). 

  • Highly salient failures tend to be what people point to when they call Congress gridlocked: the 2013 Manchin-Toomey background checks bill, Comprehensive Immigration Reform, the American Health Care Act, the Dream Act, etc.

But while these highly salient issues are the subject of heated debate in Regular Congress, Secret Congress keeps plugging away in obscurity. 

The key is that public attention creates incredibly perverse incentives. Members of the minority (rightly) think that any popular, well-known bill that passes on a bipartisan basis is going to help the standing of the president. David Mayhew’s book “Divided We Govern” studies the 1946-2002 period and finds that periods in which the president and Congress are on opposite sides generate just as much legislation as periods of unified government. Another classic Mayhew book, “Congress: The Electoral Connection,” is about how members of Congress like to win elections. Getting bills passed helps members win re-election by giving them things to take credit for. But in an era where congressional voting is so highly correlated with presidential approval, and primary electorates say they’d rather have members that fight the other party than help their own state, it’s extremely risky for a member of Congress to let an opposite-party president be seen as successful.

In their essay “The Logic of Conditional Party Governance,” political science professors John Aldrich and David Rohde write, “As conflict increases, so do the negative consequences to members of either party from a legislative victory by their opponents.” But, when something has low salience, its passage isn’t seen as conceding ground to the other side. No Republican congressman is going to be primaried for voting for the low-salience Endless Frontiers Act, because it doesn’t count as “giving Biden a win.” 

Plausible. One obvious implication: the President's use of the 'bully pulpit' to sway public opinion probably hardens battle lines and makes compromise less likely. The good news - if we need a President who puts people to sleep rather than fires up half and antagonizes half, with Biden in office we have the man for the moment.

Another perverse incentive he notes is that activist groups (I think of lefty groups but there are righties as well) can't fundraise off of subtle silence and suasion:

But here’s a tough pill. The way a lot of contemporary activism and advocacy works is that you want to be able to show your funders that you are making progress. That tends to mean doing things that are intended to get attention, making a lot of noise in the press, building alliances with other activist groups, and otherwise demonstrating that your loud-and-proud activity is making an impact. This conceit tends to make its adherents very skeptical of popularism — the view that elected officials and party-aligned groups should emphasize a small number of high-polling ideas. They want to say that their advocacy work is helping expand the set of political possibilities. The Secret Congress theory suggests this is not only false but backward. Aggressive, partisan-affiliated public advocacy can help you pass bills if it leads to landslide electoral victories, but in a non-electoral context, you are more likely to make headway by staying chill.

"Staying chill"?!? That is not how we do things these days.

Comments

[Thomas Collins]

If people don't wake up from Biden's executive actions, such as cancelling Keystone, we are in trouble. Whatever is the state of Congressional gridlock, Biden is doing continuing damage to the Republic. In terms of executive edicts and appointments, it's hard to see how Warren or Sanders would have had a more ersatz woke/oligarchic bent than Biden.

[henry]

Biden, or whomever controls his puppet strings.

[henry]

More supply chain vulnerabilities have been uncovered, Nozomi Networks Lab has announced a new vulnerability in a ThroughTek software component that’s used broadly by security cameras and smart device vendors.

https://www.iotworldtoday.com/2021/06/16/new-throughtek-iot-supply-chain-vulnerability-announced/?

[Melinda]

From the Marionette Master hisself! It couldn't possibly be their last chance at bat, could it?

John Solomon
@jsolomonReports
Obama says Democrats voting rights bill must pass before midterms, warns of more ‘shenanigans’ | Just The News ow.ly/apWZ30rLyyc

https://twitter.com/jsolomonReports/status/1407338887878483986

[sbwaters]

Henry: So many holes in the dike and the little dutch boy only has ten fingers.

But it is the middle finger that counts.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Obama has become the new V.I. Lenin. Virtually every evil that has been occurring has some degree or another of his involvement, either openly or behind the scenes.

Biden is considering new gas taxes heaped upon the higher gas prices he created. They tell the lie of green energy being competitive as they raised the cost of conventional energy to exorbitant levels. It's all a fraud, just like Obama.

His disastrous Middle East policies have come back. His appeasement of China has come back. His eagerness to destroy "God d*nm America" is apparent.

He lives in D.C. to be close to his minions. And no one does minion better than good old Joe. All Obama has to do is to hang old Joe out to dry and the media wolves will tear him to pieces, and Joe knows that. What better stooge?

The race divide is largely Obama's creating. From the first day of his term he did his best to divide us. Trayvon, Ferguson, Cambridge were all hoaxes. Even the FBI and DoJ couldn't find a case hard as they tried, but the political and social damage was done. The community organizer Mau Mau'd the flak catchers.

Now he wants mob rule.

That Congress is so evenly divided should be a clue, but instead the radicals are going for broke. They know that next year they're in real trouble.

[Melinda]

Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️
@realchrisrufo
WINNING: The Washington Post's hitpiece against me has collapsed.

They have admitted to fabricating a timeline, retracted or added six full paragraphs, reversed a key claim, and failed to produce evidence of a falsified quotation.

Democracy dies when the media lies.

https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1407151635214700545

[jimmyk]

Obama says Democrats voting rights bill must pass before midterms, warns of more ‘shenanigans’

I believe the proper term under Biden is 'malarkey.'

[Neo]

CNN: Senate Democrats brace for defeat on signature voting and election bill amid stiff GOP resistance

[clarice]

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/doj-nominee-worked-with-hunter-biden-at-big-law-firm-tied-to-ukrainian-energy-giant/

[Neo]

This instills a feeling far from 'warm and fuzzy' ...

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney announced he and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, are proposing legislation to establish a national wildfire commission, but in response to a question from 2News, acknowledged he can “never guarantee that a government commission will work.”

[Narciso]

Yglesias shirley noe manchin mentioned to lieberman that the threshhold used to be 67, the same as veto override. Why not there it would have beem a little harder to pass obamacare with 67 votes

[Narciso]

How about hr 4 though.

[Melinda]

This seems nice:

Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com
@stillgray
Scientists are going to try to make us allergic to meat so we start eating bugs. pic.twitter.com/AEMK2F7ok7

https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1407352087629938702

[Narciso]

You forgot to add mad as a descriptor.

[Dave (in MA)]

Hey, Ringo. Did you know the Democrats used the filibuster 327 times LAST YEAR?
Of course you did. https://t.co/9l8nyO1Tp9

— Gerry Callahan (@GerryCallahan) June 22, 2021

Ayanna Pressley@AyannaPressley ·
The people did not give Democrats the House, Senate and White House to compromise with insurrectionists.

Abolish the filibuster so we can do the people's work.

[Melinda]

Are they all named Ellie Light?

The Independent
@Independent
Nearly 1,000 US political scientists sign letter in support of key voting rights bill independent.co.uk/news/world/ame…

https://twitter.com/Independent/status/1407375056754282503

[Narciso]

Like thr 50 intelligence professionals who deemed the dauphin clean as the wind driven snow.

So spectre

[Narciso]

So the seedpods were at stanford

https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individuals/derrick-bell

[Narciso]

Spectre=wef

[Melinda]

Kurt Schlichter
@KurtSchlichter
That Loudmouth Troublemaker Is An FBI Snitch townhall.com/columnists/kur…

https://twitter.com/KurtSchlichter/status/1407188308665376768

[Melinda]

🆘Rev Magdalen
@revmagdalen
Why focus on Republicans, if we're not allowed to say that they are white nationalist fascists who are trying to suppress nonwhite votes? If the rule is that we have to pretend they're acting in good faith, then focus should be on the idiots who came up with that rule.

Bill Kristol @BillKristol
I know we're focused on Manchin and Sinema. But could we pause to note that it appears every GOP senator will vote to block any debate on a voting rights bill? (They could vote yes on the MTP, and still vote against cloture on the bill, so a 60-vote threshold would still exist.)

🆘Rev Magdalen @revmagdalen
4m
GOP gets to use the bullhorn to say "None of us will even consider this 'Stacey Abrams Bill' because of legitimate reasons (wink wink)" and the rule is Dems must reply "But don't you see, this bill protects voting! Why are you against voting? Mystifying!"

https://twitter.com/revmagdalen/status/1407377672032817159

[Neo]

Breaking News! Philippine Secretary of Health Dr. Francisco Duque Allows Use of Ivermectin by Doctors for Covid-19

Post that on Facebook if you're ready for a vacation

[Narciso]

The bullhorn, the turtle has burbed quietly in the corner.

[Melinda]

Man, the desperation is rank:

memeorandum
@memeorandum
Kyrsten Sinema's Filibuster Defense Is Factually Untrue Moderate Democrat loves the supermajority rule, doesn't understand how it works. (@jonathanchait / New York Magazine)

nymag.com/intelligencer/…
memeorandum.com/210622/p61#a21…

https://twitter.com/memeorandum/status/1407383353720905738

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Who the hell is rev magdalen and why do they matter?

[jimmyk]

Nearly 1,000 US political scientists sign letter in support of key voting rights bill

Follow the science, you deplorables!

[Dave (in MA)]

Posted by: Melinda | June 22, 2021 at 12:22 PM

If that doesn't cause civil war, I don't know what will.

[Dave (in MA)]

The Babylon Bee@TheBabylonBee
·
NFL Player Announces He Is Gay, Is Switching Over To Soccer

[Melinda]

Insider Paper
@TheInsiderPaper
BREAKING: Iran's Press TV website seized by US government

https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1407385764158189578

[Just watching the rant get up to eleventy, matt.]

[MissMarple2]

May get to go home ime tomorrow night.

Male nurse heard me talking to my sister about the VW and wanted to buy it. Called son in SC but he is adamant on keeping it. 🙄 Maybe it will prod him to move it.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Political science is on the same plane as sociology, anthropology, psychology and heck, just about everything else these days. If you are not denouncing fascists, or anyone who is not loudly denouncing fascists for that matter, you are a fascist.

I don't know how they did it but the Chinese have re-created the Red Guards in Ames and South Bend and State College and 1,000 other small towns. We already have the mobs smashing icons and looting Niketowns and Prada in the cities.

We used to count on the Midwest to help balance the wackiness of the coasts, but now they are like bark beetles infecting everything around them.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

SBW from last thread;
Excellent draft but I would change 'relegated' in this sentence; --They want to centralize rules for voting that have traditionally and by Constitution been relegated to state legislatures.--

Relegated has a slight negative connotation to it, no?
How about 'reserved'? More neutral. If you say 'entrusted' a dimwitted prog will respond 'that's just it, they can't be trusted'.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I read about two lines of little Julio's blather in TM's post and gave up.
The simple fact is the Dems propose NO, as in zero, legislation that is not a malignant, malevolent power grab or usurpation of state or individual rights ever, anymore.
Might as well spend one's time debating the merits of whatever bilge the Politburo or Comintern used to pump out; it's all from the same fetid source.

[rse]

So dr jill introduced today's fed ED Equity summit wearing that dreadful purple butterfly dress from the G-7 summit. She started talking in a prerecorded comment about all the things "our administration is doing."

Co-Presidency apparently. Remember the outcry when hillary did that?

[Narciso]

Yes is it ebola marburg hemorrhagic fevwr or some other pathogen

[matt - deplore me if you must]

clarice, I finally got around to reading your Sunday Pieces. Thank you for an excellent summary. I just hope that we are right, because there are thousands of elections coming up and these knaves need to be crushed completely and given the bum's rush out of our national conversation.

There is nothing more pernicious than Marxism in all of its disguises. But wait! There's more! Corporate wokism will destroy capitalism as we know it as well.

The consolidation of power will be complete if the Democrats get to change the election and Senate rules. We will become the ruled and at that point all bets are off.

[Melinda]

This might have an interesting backstory.....

Chinese Crypto Miner Airlifts Bitcoin Mining Operation To Maryland Amid Crackdown

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/chinese-crypto-miner-airlifts-bitcoin-mining-operation-maryland-amid-crackdown

Maryland and Kazakhstan? What could they possibly have in common?

Oh, yes. Massive corruption.

[Narciso]

Like locusts drawing out marrow and pouring in poison is that crossing metaphors.

[Narciso]

Wasps or mosquitoes

[Narciso]

Thats what were afraid of:

https://www.dailywire.com/news/portland-takes-out-ad-in-new-york-times-to-defend-itself-weve-always-been-like-this

[matt - deplore me if you must]

So Xendi is going to get an extra vowel in the spelling bee because equity?

x = −b ± √b²-4ac/2a daddy's a meth head?

If you're paddling a canoe upstream and a wheel falls off, how many aliens does it take to screw in a light bulb?

It is a drive to turn America into moronic dunces.

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Michael Smith
·
It is not really that surprising that the Democrats persist in calling the 1/6 event an "insurrection", especially when you consider how their minds work. You see it in their support of Critical Race Theory and even in how they are pushing "white supremacy" as the greatest threat to the Republic when, on a good day, it would be tough to find enough actual white supremacists to fill up a school bus.

Let me see if I can break it down.

Look at their position on CRT - there are mountains of statistical evidence about the overall performance of racial groupings that contain information on cognitive abilities (of the overall group) that have nothing to do with education, environment or family systems that have strong correlation to the economic status of all racial groups, several of which do much BETTER than white Americans (as a group).

But the left ignores that data and says to themselves, "It has to be racism! That is the ONLY explanation!"

It is pretty painful to watch them try to explain why teaching a white child he is always the oppressor and then teach a black child that he can never succeed because the little 6 year old is going to hold him back is not teaching the kids that they will become lifelong enemies due to their race.

Similar to their thinking on CRT, they approach "white supremacy" the same way. The Biden administration has not done us the courtesy of publishing their definition of "white supremacy" but in general, I believe the thinking is "We are the champions of black America because we know what is best for them, the Republicans oppose our policies, and the only reason to oppose something that helps other people is because they hate them. That makes them racists and we know racists are mostly white supremacists!"

Again, all evidence to the contrary is never considered - like the policies are just bad for everyone of any and all colors - and the settle on the only possible opposition is due to white supremacy.

The "insurrection" accusation follows exactly the same thought process. It couldn't be all the shady election changes due to the "pandemic" or that certain states violated their own constitutions to allow massive mail-outs of ballots to God only knows who. No, that couldn't be it.

It couldn't be that there were weird, statistically unexplainable swings in vote counts at very odd hours or that ballots are alleged to have been handled in weird ways - counting was stopped and restarted for no apparent reasons. Not that at all.

Nor could it have been the allegations of the counting of mail-in ballots that had no creases in them from being folded to fit into an envelope or that the ballots had perfectly filled in ovals that looked like they were Xeroxed (for the younguns, that means "run through a copier").

Couldn't be that the cowards on the Supreme Court punted on numerous lawsuits, hiding behind "lack of standing".

Nope, the only reason for the upset was an unarmed army comprised of QAnon shamans, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers (and apparently agents of the FBI), wanted to violently overthrow the government by taking Pelosi's laptop, her podium, breaking a few windows and zip-tying and kidnapping a few folks.

That is the only way you get "insurrection" out of the 1/6 riot.

But none of that is true. Not one fraction of an inch of any of it.

You know about Occam's Razor - when one is faced with two competing theories, the simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred.
This is Macco's Razor (razor is a palindrome) - when one is faced with a preconceived conclusion, the weirdest and most complicated situation is the one most likely to be correct.

These are that.

And that is why your head hurts when you have to think about it.

[henry]

CNBC is on a big VAT tax push again. No bad idea left behind.

[Jane]

This is very short and epic:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/06/22/epic-bucks-county-pennsylvania-resident-and-taxpayer-confronts-the-school-board/
This guy knows how to fight back!

[James D.]

I am continually amazed by TM's views.

Now he's agreeing with a toxic lying sack of trash (and that's about the kindest description I can come up with for Yglesias) that we should have legislation done in secret, so that Our Betters can craft rules for us without the tedious need to justify their votes to their constituents or allow us a glimpse of what's being planned before it's foisted upon us.

I appreciate his hosting this blog and providing such a nice place for us to virtually gather, but his actual views are flat-out insane these days, and it's all the more galling because he's shown that he absolutely DOES know better and I guess he's still stuck on Orange Man Bad and will never be able to recover from that.

[jimmyk]

CNBC is on a big VAT tax push again. No bad idea left behind.

As with UBI, if it actually replaced everything else (income, corporate, cap gains taxes) it would be ok, but it will just be piled on top of everything else, causing the whole structure to come crashing down.

[henry]

Ugly new mail delivery vans to be produced in South Carolina. I blame Gov Evers.

https://biztimes.com/oshkosh-defense-to-build-new-usps-fleet-out-of-state/

[henry]

if it actually replaced everything else (income, corporate, cap gains taxes) it would be ok,

No. It would not. Look at the gas tax. Drivers blame big oil when most of the money per gallon goes to government, with penalties for putting it that way on the pump. Hidden taxes, which VAT is one, are the playthings of bureaucrats run amok.

Our current taxes suck. But we can see what most of them are.

[clarice]

https://scottadams.locals.com/post/781176/the-persuasive-power-of-simplicity

[Jack Lillywhite]

Is that you, Luigi? (

A "Cars" salute to designing mobility based on cartoons).

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Thus proving that they have lost their minds completely. WE have gone from the ubiquitous RHD jeep to the Grumman van to who knows what to this monstrosity.

UPS, FedX, Amazon and the others are all buying conventional vans, but the USPS has to make a mockery of our mail system with this monstrosity.

The thing looks like it was designed at the Ringling Brothers clown school.

[Narciso]

Homer is on the design tean again:

https://dossier.substack.com/p/why-lockdown-states-may-shut-down?r=6a3x3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter

[henry]

Matt, Oshkosh is only 90 miles from Baraboo. Thus a commute or collaboration is possible. ;)

[Jane]

US has seized 3 dozen Iranian websites.

[jimmyk]

“Hidden taxes, which VAT is one, are the playthings of bureaucrats run amok.”

Yeah, I know that argument, but it’s not that hard to figure out a VAT when it’s a fixed known percent of what you pay for something. The gasoline and “sin” taxes are exceptional because they’re, well, exceptional. When people complain about “big oil” it’s more when the price goes from $2 to $4, not because it is whatever it is. And a lot of people aren’t even so conscious of the income tax because of withholding, not to mention the fact that a lot of people pay little or no income tax.

A moot point because it will never replace everything else (meaning a repeal of the 16th Amendment), which is the only way I’d support it, but it’s big virtue is that it’s a flat tax.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Is it possible the Iranian's arrogance will make it impossible for the carbuncle in chief to lick their spittle?
I doubt it.

[Neo]

"Over the weekend, Google and the state of Massachusetts managed to make creepy COVID tracking apps even creepier by automatically installing them on people's Android phones. Numerous reports on Reddit, Hacker News, and in-app reviews claim that 'MassNotify,' Massachusetts' COVID tracking app, silently installed on their Android device without user consent."
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/06/even-creepier-covid-tracking-google-silently-pushed-app-to-users-phones/

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

In what way is a VAT superior to a sales tax?
Despite its many problems, if we're going to talk about a theoretical least awful idea, I have warmed up considerable to a national sales tax in place of all other taxes.
It's the least invasive for individuals, all retail businesses already collect it in most states, it punishes consumption and removes all penalties to investing, producing, saving, working and dying, it's flat and one can choose to a certain extent ones taxation by altering one's consumption and finally it would be right there on every single receipt reminding us how much these bastards cost us.
It has many problems but they seem miniscule compared to the current horror show, especially that it keeps the damn government out of our lives and prevents their coerced colonoscopies whenever they wish to punish us via our annual returns where we have to submit to a rectal exam on threat of prison, let alone audits where they turn us inside out using a bottle brush and take us to guilty until proven innocent tax court.

[MJW]

Yeah, I know that argument, but it’s not that hard to figure out a VAT when it’s a fixed known percent of what you pay for something.

Wouldn't that be a sales tax not a VAT? With VAT, the tax the ultimate consumer pays is the sum of all the unknowable taxes that were added at each step along the way.

[Melinda]

Ig-

Silly boi, moar skus for which to sell exemptions. Those politicians don't elect themselves.

Oh, wait....

[Neo]

Soylent Green was based in the year 2022

[Neo]

Maggie’s List, a Conservative PAC that supports female candidates has made its first round of endorsements and Rep. Liz Cheney is not one of them.

[Melinda]

Not quite so, MJW, they add up, but at the "Value Added" at each and every step.

The VAT, ergo, is paid where it is defined by legislation to be paid.

Ask the French if you don't believe me.

[Neo]

Trees Are Now Racist: Portland School Delays Vote On ‘Evergreen’ Mascot Over Fears People May Link It To Lynching
https://www.dailywire.com/news/trees-are-now-racist-portland-school-delays-vote-on-evergreen-mascot-over-fears-people-may-link-it-to-lynching

Houses are made from trees, which might be linked to lynching.
Paper is made from trees, which might be linked to lynching.
Pencels are made from trees, which might be linked to lynching.

[jimmyk]

Iggy and MJW: I guess I think of the VAT and sales tax as essentially the same. I suspect the main argument for the VAT (for better or worse) is that it may be harder to avoid. But both end up being a flat percent of the final sale. And again, I don't see how, say, a 20% VAT (or sales tax) is so "hidden," compared to the income tax that is so complicated no one has any idea what their taxes are until sometime the following year, never mind the difference between marginal and average tax, which in my experience most people have a hard time understanding.

[Neo]

"When you interject that emotion, and you call the United -- the president of the United States a con man, how is that different from the emotion that Fox News interjects when they're covering Biden?" Hoover asked.

"Yeah, well -- because I'm coming from a place of truth because when I say that the president of the United States is racist, I went on after that to give the evidence, right?" Lemon replied. "I could have started -- I probably did -- with the housing-discrimination lawsuit that he and his father faced. I could have done the Central Park Five or the Exonerated Five. I think I probably went on to talk about his role in birtherism. And so I gave the evidence of that. When I say that the president of the United States is a fraud and a con, that was looking at his taxes and how he -- and his history of litigation and not paying people."

"These are all facts," he continued. "I don't do opinion. And I know -- The difference for me is, I do point of view. So I'm giving my point of view as an American, as a black man who happens to be gay, through that lens. But I'm also -- I'm also -- I also represent CNN. And so I must tell the truth. And if I don't, if my facts are wrong, then I have to clarify it, and I have to come on television, and I have to apologize, and I say, 'I got that wrong.' So that is a difference between what I'm doing and what someone, as you mentioned, over at Fox News is doing. I'm operating from a place of truth. It's all based in fact, and it's all based on the evidence that's out there."
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/06/22/cnns-don-lemon-i-dont-do-opinion/

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Protest signs are made from trees as well.

Maybe they should all go live naked in the forest and wear pine cone pants.

[MJW]

Not quite so, MJW, they add up, but at the "Value Added" at each and every step.

I said nothing different.

[henry]

Both VAT and sales tax vary by product. Compliance nightmares either way, with lots of room for political favoritism in each. The idea of a “flat tax” is right up there with “nonpartisan redistricting” and “unicorns” as things less likely in nature than Sasquatch.

[MJW]

I guess I think of the VAT and sales tax as essentially the same.

The difference is that with a VAT the percent tax paid by the consumer on different items can vary greatly, because it's based on the increases in value along the production path, not on the sales price.

[jimmyk]

Normally value added at each stage adds up to the final sale price for most things, so I can't imagine the differences would be that great. With a sales tax the entire tax is paid at the end, so the temptation to avoid with cash would be bigger. Compliance issues? Opportunities for political favoritism? Yeah, those don't exist for the income tax. All the options stink, so pick your poison.

[Jack Lillywhite]

I choose Belgium, jimmyk, where avoiding any tax is a national obsession:)

[Neo]

Dinesh D’Souza: The FBI Is the Greatest Domestic Terrorist Threat in America Today

[matt - deplore me if you must]

Never trust the government when it comes to taxes. Corporations buy and sell politicians in many cases specifically to rearrange the tax code to their advantage while the consumer gets screwed.

A VAT will bite the middle class in the keister. Count on it. Joe wants money to finance his plans and it has to come from the middle class, so VAT's, gas taxes etc are all on the table.

[Melinda]

NO, the final consumer price INCLUDES all the VATs paid by everyone else, along the road to the shelf or plate nearest you. The VATs keep getting paid along the way, not just by the final consumer, but multiple times. At tax upon taxes.

Totally different.

[clarice]

what's the difference between reporting from point of view and offering opinion?

[Pinandpuller]

“ If you spell illuminatti backwards Itanimulli.com takes you to NSA website.”🙃

[Narciso]

Meanwhile

https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2021/06/midnight-madness-as-canadians-slept-the-liberals-bloc-and-ndp-combined-to-pass-bill-c-10-in-the-house-of-commons/

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--what's the difference between reporting from point of view and offering opinion?--

RFPOV is what creepy little dishonest progs do.
Offering opinion is what creepy little progs do.
Neither of them come under the term 'reporting' the news.

[Melinda]

It's really is a tour de force of amendment bait and switch, plus CBC cover for themselves. Stasi policing doesn't even begin to cover it.

[clarice]

That's my thought, Iggy. Don Lemon must have learned journalism from someone other than Miss Gardener who would hardly have allowed an adjective or adverb in a news story unless it was absolutely relative as in the tall basketball player hit his head on the low ceiling..

[Melinda]

Don Lemon is decidedly not a "journalist" but a performer.

[James D.]

Don Lemon is decidedly not a "journalist" but a performer.

Like a performing seal except less intelligent.

[Melinda]

Note his IMDB profile I linked.

[sbwaters]

Clarice for the win!

[clarice]

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/reaganmccarthy/2021/06/22/hr-1-fails-n2591345?utm_source=breakingemail

[clarice]

relative at my 6:08 s/b relevant.

[Jane]

Mel,

Do you follow Blackrock?

[Jane]

Don Lemon is an asshole, not a performer.

[henry]

Congress names bills for what they destroy.

@cnbc

BREAKING: Senate Republicans block Democrats' sweeping voting, ethics bill

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

JUST IN - US Senate blocks "voting rights" bill, Democrats fail to proceed "For the People Act" with every Republican voting no.
@disclosetv
Manchin allowing debate on a bill that no Republican was ever going to vote for was a useless gesture. The Democrats needed TEN Republicans to cross over. They got NONE.

[Melinda]

Yes, both BlackRock and BlackStone. One is being deliberately overlaid for the other in the housing scam.

[henry]

It appears as though California's plans to become an environmental and socialist utopia are running face first into reality.

The latest dose of reality came this week when the state, facing triple digit temperatures, began to "fret" about pressure on the state's power grid as a result of everybody charging their electric vehicles all at once.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/california-begs-citizens-change-their-ev-charging-routines-amidst-precarious-power-grid

ROFL

[Jane]

Mel,

Blackrock is tied to the WH big time - inside and out. Their insider information will be telling.

[Melinda]

Both are tied to the WH. One overtly, the other not as much. Mr. Fink would've just about owned Killary.

[Narciso]

As janet pointed out the pair if weasels that attacked chris rufo for speaking truth to power, one of was josh dawsey of 'redacted' countries fame.

[henry]

So much for property. Don’t go looking for the Constitution- CDC used it for masks.

@cnbc

U.S. expected to extend CDC residential eviction ban by one month, sources say

[Jane]

So what are they investing in?

[Melinda]

Single family homes, in bulk, just like they did after the '06-'08 collapse.