Right Wing Pressures Johnson to Abandon Spending Deal to Avert Shutdown
NY Times – about an hour ago
Speaker Mike Johnson said he was talking with his ultraconservative colleagues about walking away from the agreement he struck with Democrats but had “made no commitments.”
Speaker Mike Johnson came under mounting pressure on Thursday from House G.O.P. hard-liners to renege on the spending deal he struck with Democrats over the weekend for avoiding a government shutdown, as ultraconservatives demanded he put forward a new plan with deeper cuts.
After meeting privately in his office in the Capitol with Republicans irate about the spending agreement, Mr. Johnson said he was discussing their demand to walk away from the bipartisan agreement but had “made no commitments” to do so.
But Republicans made it clear that they considered the deal the speaker negotiated a nonstarter, and threatened to wreak havoc in the House if he did not advance a different one. They are pressing for deep spending cuts, and many have said they cannot vote for any government funding measure that fails to include a severe crackdown on immigration.
“It’s a bad deal,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, said of the plan Mr. Johnson had agreed to with Democrats. “It’s a deal that I don’t support and other conservatives in the conference don’t support. So he’s going to have to go back to the drawing table.” …
Jimmy Hoffa’s wet dream – Jimmy Hoffa’s worst nightmare
First: Jimmy Hoffa’s medical labor market wet dream: a) cannot stop technical employees from organizing, b) demand is everywhere and ever growing c) bills paid automatically by insurance or government, d) bonus: once trained, employees can change location,
Jimmy Hoffa’s labor worst labor market nightmare – gouging physician residents: a) half the pay of physician assistants (PAs), b) full four years in medical school versus only three for PAs, c) perform more complicated diagnosing and procedures than PAs, d) 100 hour work week versus 40 for PAs, e) median pay $65,000 a year versus $75,000 for nurses!
I’m not trying to make a big pitch for PAs today. I am just using their extreme plight as an example of remuneration lost when labor has no wherewithal to defend itself with. Even trained medical doctors can be (will be) duped on payday if they lack bargaining punch. What can the rest of we unorganized expect?
(I’m not sure why residents have no means to fight back – possibly feel trapped because that they suspend their education the moment they suspend their work – or perhaps stuck in the “social/cultural” calculus that they are in school and lucky to be getting paid any amount at all. When confronted with such deep “social/philosophical” questions ask myself: What would Jimmy Hoffa say? :-))
Labor unions effectively couple employees to paying customers in free market bargaining– allowing them to calibrate their wage demands according to how much they think they can squeeze out of paying customers. Walmart labor costs are 7% — Imagine what the Teamsters Union could do with that. Add 7% to the price of merchandise – even if sales dropped 7%, most employees would be far better off.
Walmart’s sales might go up if its pay raises were part of a nation wide movement to up lower wages, sending more dollars to retailers who serve lower income shoppers.
Fifty percent of American workers say they want to be in a union.
Only 6% of non-government workers are union members. The only thing standing in the way of starting a political wild fire of support for regularly scheduled union elections seems to me nobody thinks it possible to turn the labor market around that much, that quickly — too good to be true – grandiosity insufficiency? 🙂
This essay seeks to make it seem impossible to work without a union.
$4 Billion of New Bitcoin Funds Change Hands in First Trading Day
NY Times – yesteerday
The products, known as exchange-traded funds, were approved by federal regulators this week, a watershed moment for the crypto industry.
More than $4 billion of a newly approved investment product tied to Bitcoin changed hands in the first day of trading on Thursday, as cryptocurrency enthusiasts celebrated a watershed moment for the industry.
Eleven of the products, known as exchange-traded funds, or E.T.F.s, started trading on popular platforms such as the Nasdaq a day after federal regulators authorized them, creating a simpler way for investors to bet on the cryptocurrency markets. Major financial firms, including asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity, are offering the E.T.F.s.
The early volume was impressive, analysts said, comparing favorably with other E.T.F. debuts. But it may take months to gauge the impact on the cryptocurrency industry, which is still reeling from a recent series of market crashes and high-profile corporate bankruptcies. Initial market data did not show how much new investment flowed into the Bitcoin funds; some of the trading activity may have stemmed from investors who bought shares and quickly flipped them. …
… In a statement announcing the authorization of the E.T.F.s, Gary Gensler, the S.E.C. chair, said the agency did not “approve or endorse Bitcoin.” He said most crypto trading platforms were breaking the law and “often have conflicts of interest.” …
Crypto enthusiasts have fought for a Bitcoin E.T.F. for more than a decade, predicting the products would draw billions of dollars in new investment. But the S.E.C. repeatedly rebuffed those efforts, arguing that crypto markets were rife with fraud.
The tide turned in August when the federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the S.E.C.’s rejection of an application by the crypto firm Grayscale Investments was “arbitrary and capricious.” On Wednesday, Mr. Gensler said the ruling had effectively given him no choice but to approve the products. …
The 3-to-2 vote to approve the Bitcoin products also exposed divisions within the S.E.C. over crypto regulation. Mr. Gensler sided with two Republican commissioners over the objections of two Democratic commissioners.
In a statement, one of the Democrats, Caroline Crenshaw, cast the approvals as a dangerous mistake that put the agency “on a wayward path that could further sacrifice investor protection.” She cited illegal manipulation of crypto prices, as well as the rampant fraud that sent the industry into a meltdown in 2022. …
The (SEC) signed off on 11 bitcoin ETF applications, including funds from BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark Invest, WisdomTree and Grayscale. The new investment provides more access to everyday investors.
It seems like hardly anyone still cares about COVID. Does it matter?
Boston Globe – yesterday
Doctors differ on the question, with some saying long COVID remains a significant risk, while others say that concern is overblown.
The number of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations is surging across the region. But not fast enough to overcome widespread COVID fatigue, a phenomenon some frustrated public health experts say feeds a deadly state of denialism.
Levels of coronavirus in Boston-area waste water recently reached their highest point since the Omicron surge two years ago. Yet pandemic-era precautions like masking and testing before parties and flights — even when you have a cold — have gone the way of toilet paper hoarding and Zoom birthday parties. And just one in five Massachusetts residents say they have received the latest booster, which protects against the new, highly contagious JN.1 variant causing the surge. …
… But there’s another compelling reason for the young and the healthy to get boosted and consider following precautions: long COVID. The little-understood condition is broadly defined as a set of symptoms that are present four weeks or more after an initial infection, often consisting of brain fog and extreme fatigue. Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, has been studying long COVID for close to four years. He compared the casual attitude of some to playing “Russian roulette.”
… Al-Aly and his collaborators recently compared the long-term outcomes of 81,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between 2020 and 2022, to that of about 11,000 hospitalized with seasonal flu between 2015 and 2019. They found that patients were at a significantly increased risk of death, hospital readmission, or health problems in both cases. But those with COVID-19 were roughly 50 percent more likely to develop the chronic condition.
“Personally, I worry,” he said. “Because we know how to treat the acute phase of COVID. We have Paxlovid. We don’t have anything to treat this. But at the end of the day, it’s a personal choice. It’s about risk tolerance.” …
… Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer for the Tufts Medicine health system and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center … questioned claims that COVID is deadlier than influenza, saying most comparisons fail to account for the population of individuals infected with COVID whose symptoms are so mild their illness is never confirmed. By that measure, she said, COVID became less deadly than the flu in April 2022, according to a Financial Times analysis. …
(Who would guess that the Financial Times is a good place to get Covid information?)
Microsoft Tops Apple to Become Most Valuable Public Company
NY Times – just in
The shift is indicative of the importance of new artificial intelligence technology to Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors.
… On Friday, Microsoft surpassed Apple, claiming the crown after its market value surged by more than $1 trillion over the past year. Microsoft finished the day at $2.89 trillion, higher than Apple’s $2.87 trillion, according to Bloomberg.
The change is part of a reordering of the stock market that was set in motion by the advent of generative artificial intelligence. The technology, which can answer questions, create images and write code, has been heralded for its potential to disrupt businesses and create trillions of dollars in economic value. …
The tech industry still dominates the top of the list, but the companies with the most momentum have put generative A.I. at the forefront of their future business plans. The combined value of Microsoft, Nvidia and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, increased by $2.5 trillion last year. Their performances outshined Apple, which posted a smaller share price increase in 2023. …
(‘Value’ here is the worth of all outstanding shares of a corp’s shares.)
(GOP voters probably won’t pay too much attention to this.)
With Time Running Short, Liz Cheney Implores Republicans to Reject Trump
NY Times – Jan 7
She endorsed efforts to remove him from the ballot and said, “Tell the world who we are with your vote. Tell them that we are a good and a great nation.”
In a flurry of appearances and commentary, former Representative Liz Cheney has stepped up her denunciations of former President Donald J. Trump in a last-ditch effort to persuade Republicans not to nominate him again.
“Tell the world who we are with your vote. Tell them that we are a good and a great nation,” Ms. Cheney told primary voters in New Hampshire on Friday, in a speech at Dartmouth College’s Democracy Summit. “Show the world that we will defeat the plague of cowardice sweeping through the Republican Party.”
A day later, she blasted Mr. Trump’s suggestion on the campaign trail that the Civil War could have been prevented if President Abraham Lincoln had “negotiated.”
“Which part of the Civil War ‘could have been negotiated’? The slavery part? The secession part? Whether Lincoln should have preserved the Union?” she wrote on X. “Question for members of the G.O.P. — the party of Lincoln — who have endorsed Donald Trump: How can you possibly defend this?” …
(AP – Jan 2) — U.S. presidential elections have been rocked in recent years by economic disaster, stunning gaffes, secret video and a pandemic. But for all the tumult that defined those campaigns, the volatility surrounding this year’s presidential contest has few modern parallels, posing profound challenges to the future of American democracy.
Not since the Supreme Court effectively decided the 2000 campaign in favor of Republican George W. Bush has the judiciary been so intertwined with presidential politics.
In the coming weeks, the high court is expected to weigh whether states can ban former President Donald Trump from the ballot for his role in leading the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court is weighing Trump’s argument that he’s immune from prosecution. …
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden is seeking reelection as the high inflation that defined much of his first term appears to be easing. But that has done little to assuage restless voters or ease widespread concerns in both parties that, at 81, he’s simply too old for the job.
And at least three serious candidates who have launched outsider presidential bids threaten to scramble the campaign and eat into the support from independent voters who were critical to Biden’s success in 2020. …
Echoing strongmen leaders throughout history, Trump has framed his campaign as one of retribution and has spoken openly about using the power of government to pursue his political enemies. He has repeatedly harnessed rhetoric once used by Adolf Hitler to argue that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.” He said on Fox News last month that he would not be a dictator “ except for day one. ” And he shared a word cloud last week to his social media account highlighting words like, “revenge,” “power” and “dictatorship.”
Biden, like his party more broadly, has leaned into concerns about the future of democracy should Trump return to the White House, but that has done little to improve his standing. Early polls reveal weakness among core segments of his coalition, including voters of color and young people. …
Here’s some breaking news: President Joe Biden is an older fellow.
Biden’s 80. He’s “up in years.” The man is no spring chicken. Biden is, in terms of human chronometry, old.
You may have already learned this, as it seems nearly every story, poll and lump of political-punditry pablum surrounding the 2024 presidential election can be distilled down to: “HOLY YIKES! JOE BIDEN IS OLD!”
Yes, Biden is older. But what would you call Trump?
While the age of the president and leading Democratic presidential candidate is a wholly valid issue, I fear the mainstream news media, of which I’m a part, as well as the electorate at large might be missing an important point: Donald Trump, the far-and-away leading GOP primary candidate and Biden’s most likely opponent, is a mere three years younger than Biden. …
Right Wing Pressures Johnson to Abandon Spending Deal to Avert Shutdown
NY Times – about an hour ago
Speaker Mike Johnson said he was talking with his ultraconservative colleagues about walking away from the agreement he struck with Democrats but had “made no commitments.”
Jimmy Hoffa’s wet dream – Jimmy Hoffa’s worst nightmare
First: Jimmy Hoffa’s medical labor market wet dream:
a) cannot stop technical employees from organizing,
b) demand is everywhere and ever growing
c) bills paid automatically by insurance or government,
d) bonus: once trained, employees can change location,
Jimmy Hoffa’s labor worst labor market nightmare – gouging physician residents:
a) half the pay of physician assistants (PAs),
b) full four years in medical school versus only three for PAs,
c) perform more complicated diagnosing and procedures than PAs,
d) 100 hour work week versus 40 for PAs,
e) median pay $65,000 a year versus $75,000 for nurses!
I’m not trying to make a big pitch for PAs today. I am just using their extreme plight as an example of remuneration lost when labor has no wherewithal to defend itself with. Even trained medical doctors can be (will be) duped on payday if they lack bargaining punch. What can the rest of we unorganized expect?
(I’m not sure why residents have no means to fight back – possibly feel trapped because that they suspend their education the moment they suspend their work – or perhaps stuck in the “social/cultural” calculus that they are in school and lucky to be getting paid any amount at all. When confronted with such deep “social/philosophical” questions ask myself: What would Jimmy Hoffa say? :-))
Labor unions effectively couple employees to paying customers in free market bargaining– allowing them to calibrate their wage demands according to how much they think they can squeeze out of paying customers. Walmart labor costs are 7% — Imagine what the Teamsters Union could do with that. Add 7% to the price of merchandise – even if sales dropped 7%, most employees would be far better off.
Walmart’s sales might go up if its pay raises were part of a nation wide movement to up lower wages, sending more dollars to retailers who serve lower income shoppers.
Quick and easy path to across-the-board unionization of America: federal legislation mandating regularly scheduled union cert/recert/decert elections at every private (non-gov) work place: https://onlabor.org/why-not-hold-union-representation-elections-on-a-regular-schedule/
Fifty percent of American workers say they want to be in a union.
Only 6% of non-government workers are union members. The only thing standing in the way of starting a political wild fire of support for regularly scheduled union elections seems to me nobody thinks it possible to turn the labor market around that much, that quickly — too good to be true – grandiosity insufficiency? 🙂
This essay seeks to make it seem impossible to work without a union.
Denis Drew
Is this anything?
$4 Billion of New Bitcoin Funds Change Hands in First Trading Day
NY Times – yesteerday
The products, known as exchange-traded funds, were approved by federal regulators this week, a watershed moment for the crypto industry.
Thirteen marbles: put twelve in the can, take thirteen out …
Who is offering bitcoin ETFs?
CNBC – yesterday
The (SEC) signed off on 11 bitcoin ETF applications, including funds from BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark Invest, WisdomTree and Grayscale. The new investment provides more access to everyday investors.
(Or, you can just stay away from them.)
(You could always invest in precious metals instead. At least that’s more tangible?)
Investing in Precious Metals Guide for Beginners | The Motley Fool
(November 8, 2023)
It seems like hardly anyone still cares about COVID. Does it matter?
Boston Globe – yesterday
Doctors differ on the question, with some saying long COVID remains a significant risk, while others say that concern is overblown.
(Who would guess that the Financial Times is a good place to get Covid information?)
Microsoft Tops Apple to Become Most Valuable Public Company
NY Times – just in
The shift is indicative of the importance of new artificial intelligence technology to Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors.
(‘Value’ here is the worth of all outstanding shares of a corp’s shares.)
(GOP voters probably won’t pay too much attention to this.)
With Time Running Short, Liz Cheney Implores Republicans to Reject Trump
NY Times – Jan 7
She endorsed efforts to remove him from the ballot and said, “Tell the world who we are with your vote. Tell them that we are a good and a great nation.”
Biden and Trump are poised for a potential rematch that could shake American politics
So Biden is too old to be president but Trump isn’t?
USA Today – Sep 8