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Open Thread November 18 2023 – Bidenomics

Angry Bear | November 18, 2023 7:00 am

Education

Politics

US Economics

Bidenomics, a campaign slogan and a new approach. “Policy-making with the North Star rebalancing power in the economy fostering the industries we need, supporting workers’ demands for higher wages, and more economic security.”

Open Thread November 13 2023 – What happens to employment when the minimum wage is increased? Angry Bear

16 Comments

Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 18, 2023 at 9:40 am

The War Turns Gaza Into a ‘Graveyard’ for

NY Times – just in

Thousands of children have been killed in the enclave since the Israeli assault began, officials in Gaza say. The Israeli military says it takes “all feasible precautions” to avoid civilian deaths.

Barefoot and weeping, Khaled Joudeh, 9, hurried toward the dozens of bodies wrapped in white burial shrouds, blankets and rugs outside the overcrowded morgue.

“Where’s my mom?” he cried next to a photographer for The New York Times. “I want to see my mom.”

“Where is Khalil?” he continued, barely audible between sobs as he asked for his 12-year-old brother. A morgue worker opened a white shroud, so Khaled could kiss his brother one final time.

Then, he bid farewell to his 8-month-old sister. Another shroud was pulled back, revealing the blood-caked face of a baby, her strawberry-red hair matted down. Khaled broke into fresh sobs as he identified her to the hospital staff. Her name was Misk, Arabic for musk.

“Mama was so happy when she had you,” he whispered, gently touching her forehead, tears streaming down his face onto hers.

She was the joy of his family, relatives later said — after three boys, his parents were desperate for a girl. When she was born, they said, Khaled’s mother delighted in dressing Misk in frilly, colorful dresses, pinning her tiny curls in bright hair clips. …
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  November 18, 2023 at 9:42 am
  
  The War Turns Gaza Into a ‘Graveyard’ for Children
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 18, 2023 at 9:45 am

Bidenomics Has a Mortal Enemy, and It Isn’t Trump

NY Times – November 16

On Oct. 26, the Department of Commerce announced that gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the third quarter. This growth rate ran well above even optimistic forecasts, leading to what can only be called triumphalism from a White House dead set on making Bidenomics a key to its 2024 presidential campaign. President Biden issued a self-congratulatory statement, and the White House echoed it over and over — and Donald Trump’s relative popularity increased.

As the White House proclaimed U.S. prosperity, a New York Times/Siena College poll found that 59 percent of voters in six key swing states said they had more confidence in Mr. Trump’s ability to manage the economy than in Mr. Biden’s, regardless of whom they thought they’d vote for. Zero — yes, zero — respondents under 30 in three of the swing states said they considered the economy “excellent.” …
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  November 18, 2023 at 9:47 am
  
  (Graphs at the link.)
  
  …
  
  The West Wing may believe Bidenomics is working because the macroeconomic gurus at the Federal Reserve are telling the White House it’s working. But Bidenomics has failed to create sufficient tangible improvement in the lives of most voters in a world in which groceries still cost more than they did a year ago, average rent and mortgage rates have spiked and health and child care grow ever more unaffordable. Mr. Biden cannot win in 2024 unless he speaks to the economy as it is, not as he wishes it was.
  
  The mortal enemy of Bidenomics isn’t Donald Trump; it’s a reliance on aggregate and average numbers that mask the nature of the economy Americans experience. Focusing on G.D.P. is a mistake, as it obscures the range of financial success and hardship in an economy as unequal as that of the United States. …
  - Fred C. Dobbs says:
    
    November 18, 2023 at 11:13 am
    
    (Graphs at the link.) Got a little carried away there.
    
    I no longer post links to NY Times articles.
    
    They only work for subscribers, alas.
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 18, 2023 at 10:07 am

Physicians should not be censored from discussing the medical devastation in Gaza

Boston Globe – November 18

… I had been invited to deliver my keynote speech entitled “Migration, Trauma, and Health” at a hybrid health equity themed conference held at the end of October. My slide had three images — one of an orange fireball illuminating the sky in Iraq as the US-led forces dropped bombs during the Iraq War in 2003; a recent one of an orange-lit sky in Gaza, as Israel dropped bombs; and a third of an ambulance in Gaza destroyed from a bombing. …

“You can acknowledge what’s happening,” the organizer told me when I pushed back about not bringing up Gaza given its immediate relevance to my keynote, “but don’t blame anyone.” …

That day, the number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza had risen to over 3,000, more than the annual death toll for children in all wars since 2019. The child death toll is now 5,000, 40 percent of the total deaths. The world has since borne witness to heart-wrenching pictures and videos of newborns crying for survival, pulled prematurely from their incubators due to a lack of fuel from Israel’s blockade. Not only have ambulances been bombed but also hospitals, including children’s hospitals. The largest hospital in Gaza has been raided and now includes a mass grave. Patients are dying due to energy shortages and lack of supplies. …
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 18, 2023 at 11:09 am

That day, the number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza had risen to over 3,000, more than the annual death toll for children in all wars since 2019. The child death toll is now 5,000, 40 percent of the total deaths. The world has since borne witness to heart-wrenching pictures and videos of newborns crying for survival, pulled prematurely from their incubators due to a lack of fuel from Israel’s blockade. Not only have ambulances been bombed but also hospitals, including children’s hospitals. The largest hospital in Gaza has been raided and now includes a mass grave. Patients are dying due to energy shortages and lack of supplies.
- Bill Haskell says:
  
  November 18, 2023 at 3:29 pm
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 18, 2023 at 11:40 am

Liz Cheney Reacts After Mike Johnson Announces Jan. 6 Video Release

Newsweek – just in

Former GOP congresswoman Liz Cheney took to social media on Friday with a reaction to the news that House Speaker Mike Johnson would be releasing thousands of hours of security footage from the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who was elected to the speakership after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the role last month, announced on Friday that his office would be releasing the complete archive of Capitol riot security footage, roughly 44,000 hours in total, after releasing an initial batch of footage totaling 90 hours. He had previously promised to release the footage during his run for the office of speaker.

Republicans, particularly supporters of former President Donald Trump aligned with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, have long called for the release of the footage, claiming the complete archive would confirm their narrative of January 6, that it was, in the words of GOP Representative Andrew Clyde, “a normal tourist visit” and not a violent storming of the Capitol building in response to Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. …

On Friday, in light of Johnson’s announcement, Cheney took to X … to share a clip of previously available footage of that day, edited together by The New York Times. In the clip, rioters can be seen aggressively engaging with Capitol security and police forces: spraying them with pepper spray, hitting them with flags and other long items, and forcing their way into doors. …

This was not the first time in recent days that Cheney has clashed with Johnson over his comments related to the former president. On Wednesday, she posted a stern rebuke after the House speaker suggested that he believes that Trump believed his false claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“Yesterday, Speaker Johnson suggested Trump could ignore rulings by 61 courts & defy our Constitution because Trump supposedly ‘believed’ he won,” the former congresswoman wrote on X. “Mike knows the election was not stolen and that a President who defies the rulings of our courts & attempts to seize power is a tyrant.” …
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  November 18, 2023 at 11:51 am
  
  Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the US Capitol
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 18, 2023 at 11:53 am

(There are a lot of links in the final paragraph above, which so far will not post.)
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 18, 2023 at 1:39 pm

Colorado Judge Keeps Trump on Ballot but Finds He ‘Engaged in Insurrection’

NY Times – Nov 17

A district court judge ruled that former President Donald J. Trump “engaged in insurrection” but said the disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment did not apply to him.

(It seems since Trump has not yet been indicted for insurrection, let alone convicted, he gets a free pass on to the GOP presidential ballot for 2024, after all the munchkins have bailed. Plausible?)

(Or she just decided it wasn’t worth taking chances on her personal security.)
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 20, 2023 at 8:05 am

Is this anything?

Pay Thousands to Quit Your Job? Some Employers Say So.

NY Times – Nov 20

Some U.S. businesses are forcing workers to sign contracts that demand steep “reimbursements” if they leave.

… This type of contract provision is known as a “stay or pay” clause, and it used to be common only for certain high-paying roles or in certain specialized industries. For airline pilots and software engineers, for example, it has been a longstanding practice at some companies to require employees to stay at their jobs for a defined period of time in order to recoup costs related to hiring and training. But the line between recouping costs and penalizing workers for leaving can be blurry, and companies have increasingly taken advantage of that ambiguity. Workers’ rights advocates say that, in many cases, stay-or-pay clauses no longer accurately reflect the company’s costs but instead appear to be inflated financial penalties designed to discourage quitting.

The use of stay-or-pay clauses has grown rapidly over the past decade, and it has seemingly exploded since the start of the pandemic, as companies try to retain workers in a tight labor market. The clauses have spread far beyond the handful of roles and industries where they originated and are now used by thousands of mid- and low-wage employers — something that came to light when workers began filing lawsuits challenging the practice. These contract terms have been applied to bank workers, salespeople, dog groomers, police officers, aestheticians, firefighters, mechanics, nurses, federal employees, electricians, roofers, social workers, paramedics, truckers, mortgage brokers, teachers and metal polishers. Legal experts believe stay-or-pay clauses might now be in industries that employ a third of all American workers. …
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 21, 2023 at 8:51 pm

Israeli Cabinet approves cease-fire with Hamas that includes release of some 50 hostages

AP – just in

Israel’s Cabinet has approved a cease-fire deal with the Hamas militant group that would bring a temporary halt to a devastating war that has stretched on for over six weeks.

Under the deal, Hamas is to free 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip over a four-day period, the Israeli government said Wednesday. It said it would extend the lull by an additional day for every 10 hostages released.

Ahead of Wednesday morning’s Cabinet vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would resume its offensive against Hamas after the cease-fire expires.

It was not immediately clear when the truce would go into effect.

The government said the first hostages to be released would be women and children.
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  November 21, 2023 at 8:55 pm
  
  Previously …
  
  AP: Netanyahu said that during the lull, intelligence efforts will be maintained, allowing the army to prepare for the next stages of battle. He said the battle would continue until “Gaza will not threaten Israel.” …
  
  Details of the expected cease-fire deal were not released. Israeli media reported that an agreement would include a five-day halt in Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for some 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
  
  Israel’s Channel 12 TV said the first releases would take place Thursday or Friday and continue for several days. …
  - Fred C. Dobbs says:
    
    November 21, 2023 at 9:01 pm
    
    Israeli Government Says It Will Uphold Cease-Fire if Hostages Are Freed
    
    NY Times – just in
    
    The Israeli government said Wednesday morning that it would uphold a brief cease-fire in Gaza if Hamas freed 50 of the hostages it captured during its assault last month on Israel.
    
    The decision, announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in a WhatsApp message early Wednesday, includes a pause of at least four days in the fighting in Gaza. If it holds, it would be the longest halt in hostilities since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks prompted Israel to begin its bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza.
    
    “The Israeli government is committed to the return of all abductees home,” the government said.
    
    It added: “Tonight, the government approved the outline for the first stage of achieving this goal, according to which at least 50 abductees — women and children — will be released for 4 days, during which there will be a lull in the fighting. The release of every 10 additional abductees will result in an additional day of respite.” …
    
    Under the terms of the deal, Israel would release 150 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails if Hamas released 50 hostages held captive in Gaza, according to two Israeli officials who requested to speak anonymously in order to discuss a sensitive matter more freely. But the government’s official statement did not include this detail.
    
    Both officials said the arrangement would likely be spread over at least four days and would involve roughly 10 hostages being released each day in exchange for roughly 30 prisoners. The time frame could be extended if more hostages are released, the officials said.
    
    Fighting would cease during that time, Israeli troops would remain in their current positions, and Israel would refrain from flying surveillance aircraft over Gaza for six hours a day, the officials said. Civilians currently in southern Gaza will not be allowed to return to the north, the officials added. …