Politics and Spending Bills In Congress
MacRumors: Apple’s New Privacy-Focused Tracking Prompt Begins Appearing for iOS 14 Users
As a privacy measure for their customers, Apple will be requiring developers of iPhone and iPad “apps” to request permission from users to track their activity across other apps and websites for personalized advertising purposes starting early next year. iOS 14.4 should be publicly released in January or February.
Facebook pulled out the usual canard; “They (Apple) are hurting small businesses and publishers who are already struggling in a pandemic. These changes will directly affect their ability to use their advertising budgets efficiently and effectively.”
I think Zuckerman should be more worried about what happens to section 230 than Apple allowing iPhone owners blocking their collection of personnel information. He and Facebook have lived way too long under the protection of being a small business as detailed in Section 230.
WSJ: Senate Approves Trump’s Pick for FCC
During a lame-duck session, Republicans have added a new member to the FCC an action which typically has been left to an incoming administration.
Along party lines, the Republican-led Senate voted 49-46 to approve Nathan Simington for a five-year term on the FCC.
Mr. Simington told the Senate Commerce Committee last month he saw “no reason” to change the FCC’s approach to the regulation of internet-access services, a signal he could oppose Democrats’ expected efforts to restore net-neutrality rules that Republicans recently dismantled. The rules, if reinstated, would require internet-access providers to treat content equally. Cable and telephone companies have opposed them.
If cable and telephone service providers oppose net neutrality, then there must be more to this. I do not know about you; but, 90% of the calls to my regular phone are BS calls to sell me something, “spoofing” or the fake IRS.
Know Your Spending Bills in Congress
COVID 19 Relief ($900 Billion):
Funding Unemployment insurance ($120 billion), Direct payments ($166 billion), Paycheck Protection Program ($284 billion), Vaccines, testing, health providers ($69 billion), Schools and universities ($82 billion), Rental assistance ($25 billion), Food/farm aid ($26 billion), Child care ($10 billion), Postal service forgiveness ($10 billion), etc.
Omnibus Bill ($1.4 Trillion):
Non Defense Spending ($659.6 billion): The omnibus measure wraps 12 spending bills into one and funds agency operating budgets through Sept. 30 of next year. The measure also contains more than 3,000 pages of miscellaneous legislation, such as: Surprise billing, Community health centers, Tax extenders, Water projects, Clean energy, Education, Pipeline safety, McConnell’s Horse racing “doping, New Smithsonian museums, Aircraft safety, Intelligence programs, etc.
Defense Spending ($749 Billion): The omnibus includes $671.5 billion in Base Defense spending and also provides for $77 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations spending. trump is holding the defense portion hostage in an attempt to be Santa Claus and deliver $2,000 to each constituent.
Opinion
Think of Lucy holding the football for Charlie to kick it and then pulls it away. I can see where much of the spending can be turned into a trap after the January election if the Democrats do not win both Senate seats. There is no way Republicans are going to increase taxes next year to pay for Covid relief much less to fund an additional $1400/ individual. Guess who will be blamed for the deficit and a failing economy?
Keep in mind, the trump tax breaks passed under Reconciliation to avoid a 60-vote requirement “will” sunset in 2025 and the nation will return to the prior tax brackets due to the deficits created by the tax breaks. The winners? Corporate America and those taxpayers in the upper 1% of household income who will face a much smaller tax increase percentage – wise.
The Omnibus Bills are great places to hide things which get signed into law and often times hurt the constituents such as the Republicans blocking the funding for the Risk Corridor programs which caused healthcare insurance companies to leave the exchanges, CoOps to go bankrupt, insurance to increase in price, and constituents to scramble to find new plans. We should read the bill before we pass as we do not know what is in it (old Pelosi quote taken out of contest by Repubs).
We only have an internet phone. All messages go to the answering system. Most are hangup calls from salesmen. I can recognize numbers from family or friends. Few of those are seen.
Trump is holding the defense portion hostage in an attempt to be Santa Claus and deliver $2,000 to each constituent.
[ Forgive me, but this is incorrect. ]
anne:
Give the correction then.
Trump is holding the defense portion hostage in an attempt to be Santa Claus and deliver $2,000 to each constituent.
[ Again, this is incorrect. Sorry to have pointed this out though, since such comments are always unwelcome. No matter. ]
Sorry about the line spacing. I do not understand how to space properly.
I have a potential scoop, unproven, call it speculation.
Just last week, all of a sudden, a large amount of money went from deposits to checking accounts. A lot of folks are talking about this, mostly Cullen Roche. Find the link, ity is a twitter and dunno how to link it.
Why did a large group do this? Checking accounts to not appear as monetary reserves balances against Treasuries held by the Fed. This move causes reserves to drop, but dropping the reserves increases the seigniorage fees if rates are kept low. Raising seigniorage fees lowers the dollar value, and it is not back to 2018 levels, a 25% drop.
So here is what i suspect is happening. Wealthy hedge funds but bitcoin, then they move all their deposits fo checking, seigniorage rises, the dollar drops. Then they sell the bicoin, make lots of bucks.
This is a loop we have gotten ourselves into, Powell has no choice he needs the fees to keep government liquid. Hedge funds figured the scam and that is what causes the accelerated rise of Btc prices and the drop in dollar prices. It is a loop. repeatable until we default. Likely something soros figured out.
Powell suspects this, this is why the issue came up, he called it a side effect of QE, way understated. This scam will just suck money straight into the hand of the super wealthy, we are doomed. This will cause a meeting of the elders within a month, you can count that Powell and Yellen are aware. They havr been very aware of this possibility for some time,
If it sounds like a quack, then duck. It could be Matt Young.
https://6abc.com/politics/trump-threatens-covid-19-relief-over-stimulus-check-amount/9004614/
Trump suggests he may not sign COVID-19 relief package unless stimulus is increased to $2,000
President Donald Trump is threatening to torpedo Congress’ massive pandemic relief package in the midst of a raging pandemic and deep economic uncertainty.
By Kevin Freking, Andrew Taylor & Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 12:34PM
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has threatened to torpedo Congress’ massive COVID-19 relief and year-end package, upending a hard-fought compromise in the midst of a raging pandemic and deep economic uncertainty by demanding changes fellow Republicans have opposed.Trump assailed the bipartisan $900 billion bill and broader government funding package in a video he tweeted out Tuesday night and suggested he may not sign the legislation. That revives threats of a federal government shutdown. He called on lawmakers to increase direct payments for most Americans from $600 to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for couples.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Trump in a Wednesday tweet to “sign the bill to keep government open!”Pelosi wrote in a letter to colleagues “the entire country knows that it is urgent for the President to sign this bill.”
The final text of the more than 5,000-page bill was still being prepared by Congress and was not expected to be sent to the White House for Trump’s signature before Thursday or Friday, an aide said.Following Trump’s threat, Pelosi all but dared his Republican allies in Congress to meet the demand for far higher direct payments. She said she would offer the proposal for a vote on Thursday. But it would be offered under a procedure that allows just one lawmaker to block a vote and during a so-called pro forma session, with few lawmakers expected to attend.Republicans complain Trump’s proposal costs too much, but have not said if they will block it.Railing against a range of provisions in the broader year-end funding package, including for foreign aid, Trump in his video message told lawmakers to “get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill.”Trump did not specifically vow to veto the bill, and there may be enough support for the legislation in Congress to override him if he does. But if Trump were to upend the sprawling legislation, the consequences would be severe, including no federal aid to struggling Americans and small businesses, and no additional resources to help with vaccine distribution. In addition, because lawmakers linked the pandemic relief bill to an overarching funding measure, the government would shut down on Dec. 29…
*
[Sounds to me like Fat Donnie wants a government shutdown to prevent himself from being removed from office.]
Trump is holding the defense portion hostage in an attempt to be Santa Claus and deliver $2,000 to each constituent.
[ Still again, this assertion is incorrect but evidently and sadly will remain so. ]
Anne,
Not every rational conclusion is correct, not even mine. OTOH, it is always nifty for one to lay out their line of reasoning with veracity at least equal to the emphasis of their assertion.
Happy New Year.