Open Thread for Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Just a few quick thoughts:

  1. Despite Successes at NATO Summit, Divisions Remain — So yay for Sweden, and yay also for Ukraine, but no membership there. And I’m sorry Ukraine’s not in, but I think I understand the rationale for being cautious.
  2. Idle, Anachronistic Thought of the Day, with a SPOILER ALERT — At the end of Catch-22, would Yossarian have taken off with the intention of paddling a rubber raft from Pianosa to Sweden had he known that Sweden wouldn’t always be neutral? I think yes, since he only needed to get through 1945 in a safe location. So, never mind…
  3. Convicted murderer back in custody after secret judge order released him 16 years early — I’m still not sure what happened here. Are you? Anyway, the guy was a fugitive for two months after the state Supremes voided his release. But no more.
  4. Giant sloth pendants indicate humans settled Americas earlier than thought — This is just a followup on the pre-Clovis post earlier. Now Brazil is weighing in, with prehistoric pendants that supposedly depict critters long extinct during the Clovis era.
  5. Will found in Aretha Franklin’s couch is valid, jury says — And yes, I’ve already written to complain to my attorney that he neglected to tell me I could do this. But upon reflection, I agree with him that this is probably not the best strategy for setting the future course of one’s estate. Especially if it has $80 million in it — which mine will not have, but Aretha’s did.
  6. Gratuitous baseball post — As one of the world’s least-engaged baseball fans, I went and took a look at the standings for the first time in a while. (I like to look at the big picture.) And my Red Sox are at the bottom of the AL East — but their percentage is better than the best team in the AL Central. And they’d be in third place in the West. So make allowances. Meanwhile, my Braves are dominating over the National League…

Hey, they’re in a tough division…

20 thoughts on “Open Thread for Wednesday, July 12, 2023”

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Thanks, Bud. I tend to ignore those money-and-numbers things…

      I’m sort of the opposite of James Carville on this point.

      When I was young — before I reached a stage in my career at which I decided what went on various newspapers’ front pages, and had to include stuff that interested OTHER people — I used to view stories on economics as indicators of whether there was any actual NEWS going on.

      When I think about that, I particularly myself picture standing out in front of the IGA that used to be on the main drag of Surfside Beach, just a few doors down from Highway 17. This would have been the late 70s, I’m guessing, and I was on vacation.

      I was looking at the Sun News box by the front door of the store, and I saw that the lede story was about some economic measure. I found this greatly reassuring. It meant there wasn’t anything interesting going on, so I wasn’t missing anything by being away from the paper.

      By the way, just to flesh out the picture for you, the rack card — the printed promotional thing that is attached to the outside of the box, under the window that shows the top half of the front page — probably featured a buxom young woman in a bikini. Probably the most aggressive thing I’ve ever seen a paper do in the marketing area.

      You may remember having seen those…

    2. Brad Warthen Post author

      I got this release recently, and I thought Bud might like it…\

      BIDENOMICS AT WORK IN SOUTH CAROLINA
      Dear Friend,

      Last week, I had the privilege and pleasure to welcome President Biden back to South Carolina, a state he knows very well. When he took office, he promised to be a president for all Americans, a promise he has kept.

      For far too long, communities like many of those I represent, and others throughout our state and the nation, have been overlooked by the federal government.  President Biden’s policies demonstrate that he understands that we must make America’s greatness accessible and affordable for everyone, everywhere.

      Image

      Click Image to View Congressman Clyburn’s Remarks During President Biden’s Visit to South Carolina

      Bidenomics recently brought $551 million in federal funds to South Carolina for broadband deployment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law via the Broadband Equity, Access, and Development Program (BEAD). Several weeks earlier, I joined with our Governor to announce that South Carolina officials had determined that $650 million would allow South Carolina to achieve 100 percent connectivity in three to five years.

      At that news conference, the Governor announced that he would be using $400 million from the American Rescue Plan, $100 million from the Federal Communication Commission, $50 million from state appropriations, and $100 million from BEAD to fund the effort. These funds from BEAD are $400 million more than that which is required to connect every home and business in South Carolina by 2026.  Hopefully this will allow us to build a more efficient and effective system that is accessible and affordable to more citizens.

      The week before President Biden’s visit, I stood alongside Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as we announced $22.7 million in grants for the Orangeburg Railroad Corner Redevelopment Project – a multimodal transit hub that will connect Claflin and South Carolina State Universities to downtown Orangeburg.

      Two days before Secretary Buttigieg’s visit to Orangeburg, The Biden-Harris Administration announced $26 million in Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding for the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority. The funding is from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and will be utilized to build the CARTA Shipwatch Square Transit and Workforce Center. The Center will serve as an electric transportation hub for the Charleston and North Charleston communities.

      Image

      Congressman Clyburn with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

      Two days before Secretary Buttigieg’s visit, I was also joined by Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who helped me highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s investments in clean energy and EV production in South Carolina.  Thanks to their efforts, we’re working to fight the climate crisis by making clean energy accessible and affordable for all.

      Image

      Congressman Clyburn with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

      The record shows that I was the only member of the South Carolina House delegation to vote in favor of the legislation that brought these projects to life. But every South Carolinian, no matter where they live, or who their Representative is, will benefit from these investments.

      My father was a minister, but that is not how he made a living.  He was a small contractor who built buildings and renovated houses, and I spent a fair amount of time assisting him.  Although he preached about “the rock” in Matthew 16:18, he religiously practiced the building of a solid foundation in everyday life.

      That is what Bidenomics is about, building a solid foundation from the bottom up and creating greater opportunities from the middle out.

      Sincerely,

      Image
    3. Doug Ross

      It doesn’t reverse the increases of the past two years, does it? Did your income increase at the same rate?

      I remember when we had low unemployment and inflation under Trump and the same people like bud would talk about income inequality and other distractions.

      Hypocrisy is a sad trait.

      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        Well, I’ve always thought it made little sense to assign credit or blame to presidents for economic forces — at least in the short term.

        But everybody seems to do it, don’t they?

        Rare is the case when you can draw a line between a president’s action (or lack thereof) and a change in the economy. Although Trump does offer such an example, if Bud chooses to use it: He came into office while the economy was still shooting upward as it had through the Obama years, recovering from the 2008 recession (and while I mention Obama, I think the same would have happened with McCain). Then he tried to ignore and wish away Covid, and the shutdown happened, and things (in some ways) collapsed again.

        But you can argue all day about that. For instance, I would say in Trump’s defense that as stupid as his response to the pandemic was, even if he had taken the right steps, there almost certainly would have been some sort of shutdown.

        President is a big job, but economies are even bigger, and they respond to many forces…

        1. Doug Ross

          I just want to hear liberals like bud say that July 1, 2023 is the start of the Biden economy and not blame Republicans when things go sour… or the old “Trump Tax Cuts” b..s.

        2. bud

          But presidents DO matter. Sure lots of factors determine the state of the economy. COVID was a factor. But many countries handled it better and suffered a milder disruption. Trump was an unqualified failure as POTUS. No amount of spin can change that.

          1. Brad Warthen Post author

            “Failure” doesn’t really encompass what he was. Good people fail all the time; it doesn’t make them bad people.

            I mean, look at the failures people love to heap on the head of Jimmy Carter, who was and is a very good man.

            With Trump, we’re talking malevolence. There are other things involved, such as stunning ignorance. But in any case, “failure” doesn’t fully describe him, even though he failed at many things, thank Goodness….

      2. Barry

        I think it was Larry Kudlow on Fox- who went on to work for Trump saying before the 2016 election that the next President would likely enjoy a low unemployment low inflation tenure in office- at least for the first few years no matter who won the election.

        Then I heard basically the same thing mentioned on Morning Joe- I think by Eugene Robinson- because the long term trends were positive.

        of course Trump took sole credit for everything immediately as soon as he won – which was silly of course but that’s what Presidents do (Biden included)- but his supporters didn’t really care about the particulars.

        Kudlow said a lot of strange things but I think because of his age- he often does just say what he really thinks without thinking about the political fallout. It’s why he stepped in mud a few times while working for Trump.

    1. "Bobby"

      Obscure? Masked and Anonymous. “I don’t know what they are fighting about? I stopped trying to figure that out a long time ago.” Dylan …

  3. bud

    Should be first POTUS since WW2 to lose jobs. It took Trump 3 years to screw up the robust Obama economy but he did ultimately “succeed”. Folks like Doug believe Trump only had a 3 year presidency.

  4. Ken

    When it comes to presidents and economies, it’s essential to remember that politics is to a significant degree about perceptions.

    For instance: In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, polls showed that Republicans felt the economy was in bad to terrible shape. Polled again in early 2017, Republicans then felt the economy was in good to excellent shape. Nothing about the economy itself had changed, only the perceptions.

  5. "Bobby"

    “We’re all hallucinating all the time, even right now. It’s just that when we agree about our hallucinations, we call that reality” – Anil Seth

    Cosmology is fascinating.

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