Discussion about this post

User's avatar
DAVID DEMILO's avatar

Until you mentioned him today, I had forgotten E.J. Dionne existed.

But now that you have refreshed my memory, I think I stopped following his work because I felt he was nothing more than a political hack who spins current events into a democrat political narrative. Throw a rock in DC and you'll hit a dozen just like him.

I think this latest round of the debt ceiling drama teaches us that the basic dynamic of the thing hasn't changed: President in power waits as long as possible, party in power in Congress conditions passage on things it can brag about in the upcoming election cycle, and no significant progress towards debt stabilization or reduction is made.

In this case, I commend McCarthy for doing what I haven't seen any republican Speaker since Newt to: explain in plain English what the debt ceiling is and why it is silly to set spending limits without budget discipline. The analogy he gave to a teenager's credit card resonates.

Washington is the only place in the US where a "cut" is actually an increase in spending, and spending increases year over year no matter what the general economic conditions are and what government revenues look like.

I also commend him for publicizing the types of useless things money is spent on, the gravity of the national debt, and the impact of government spending on inflation and interest rates. The irony is that while "cutting the costs" of American households has been the tag line for the Biden Administration, Crooked Joe has done nothing but find ways to put upward pressure on the costs of food, energy, transportation, and all manufactured goods, and devalue the retirement savings of Americans who don't enjoy the assurance of government pensions.

It was an "A" effort, and though it produced "C" results, it does send a positive message to the financial markets.

It also teaches us that commentators like Dionne don't have a clue. He comments that the GOP champions issues important to blue collar voters (whatever that means anymore), but serves the wealthy. Stipulating that he's right, and that the democrat party has abandoned that same cohort, who in Washington is championing the prosperity and security of working people?

Expand full comment
Doug Israel's avatar

What Dionne writes is what Democrats believe to their core. My Dad still claims that certain friends of his like Trump because they are rich. And all Democrats with just a few exceptions (like the Liberal Patriot for example) believe that cultural issues are ginned up by Republicans to trick the rubes. They will continue to believe this until they lose 4 out of 5 elections by landslides. Or the modern equivalent.

Expand full comment
1 more comment...

No posts