And we have to clearly show the people who think politics are still the way they were that this is the case. Offering a responsible alternative and then seeing them balk at it is one way to do that. Remember, not everyone is as politically literate as the TAFM crowd.
Ummmmm, that actually says a lot. As does the word “process” that you used several times in your essay, TC. As is the lack of process being the negligent factor with people such as MT Greene and Mace and the FL congressman (I am loathe to even say his name) who put defused grenades in with his appreciative letter to his colleagues as he boasts of being assigned to the Armed Services committee.
As an educator of children in public education for decades, an informed teacher knows there is not rounded learning without process. Know a million facts about who, what, and when but remain ignorant without knowing about applying process to discover how and why.
With MTG in my grips for a semester, that is how I would remediate her knowledge base. In addition to a woodshed whuppin’ whenever necessary. Her learning is shallow. That is why her best option is saying stupid things over and over and depending on Daddy T’s misinformation saviors to dull and indoctrinate the MAGA base. I would ingratiate myself and ask forgiveness if she could coherently explain to me how the debt ceiling works and why most Americans do not want their Medicare and Soc Sec f*cked with. And then this question at the top of every lesson with her…..Tell me why cutting Medicaid off at the knees is a racist tactic that hurts every person…pink tan and brown, in poverty. And how does one gain any political survival by acting like one serves the tiniest sliver of the actual population of the American people.
My question remains…..how in the world is the ignorance and low level thinking masked so efficiently by dark money that the people that get elected get on the stage of Congress in this case with a clear idea of what they are told to think and not a clue as to how and why things get done. Job vetting at its worst.
And while the soapbox is handy. This book banning crisis in Florida and in my county especially is more of the same. I asked a school board member anxious for the ban to give me a short sentence explaining why we teach children to read. And feed millions of dollars to corporate for materials (which now are being shelved and covered up until necessary “vetting” that is intended to give the illusion that books are generally “bad”. This board member said…we teach kids to read so they can learn. I responded…and you want to allow them books that will teach them what YOU want them to learn? That’s not why we spend time and resources teaching kids to read. The basic premise of reading is that a child reads to think. And desantis and any autocrat does not want children to think.
Wondering where the tipping point is in all this.
Thank you, TC, for sharing your very learned expertise. Your writing sizzles because of the depth of the how and why currents of your subject.
quite beautifully put. I wonder what her reply was when you told her that she only wanted her kids to learn what she wanted them to learn. of course, that IS what she wants.
something I've taken up with Tom a few times is the fact that for the last several decades (at least), kids haven't been taught to read properly, and many of them not at all.
there's also a cash nexus involved...the preparation of books and other materials to brainwash students into learning precisely what the powers-that-be want them to learn is a huge, thriving business. teaching kids not to think actually takes some serious THOUGHT.
Again, as I said, the fundamental premise of reading is not for children to learn. It’s for them to read or be read to and think about what they’ve read or heard. It’s been made complicated with guided reading, etc.,but, when it all comes down the funnel, it goes back to the basis of why we ALL read. One reads to think.
No, we do not teach them not to think. Powers that be that believe they are in charge of children prevent avenues for them to be independent thinkers. Literacy and reading are the path to thinking.
I believe Jeri meant teaching kids NOT to think is the book banning bunch's purpose - not teachers. And it is - remove any book that might create questions in a child's mind - causing them to believe the current pap that their parents do (the parents who want to ban books).
You and TC are both on a roll today. I like the idea of the Commission, we could even name it after Manchin if the idea works and call it the Manchin Memorial Commission if it doesn't.
I feel old when I remember the "Repeal and Replace" campaign the GOP ran on after ACA was passed and how, when they got into position to implement it, they had nothing to go with. I'll feel better when Biden proposes the Commission, removal of the cap on OASDI tax, and legislation to provide legal residency for the DACA recipients as well as a complete overhaul of the asylum system. I realize that I may just feel old for a long while.
Yes, removal of the cap on the OASDI tax. So many have no idea the cap exists. This needs to be messaged ! I just call it the cap on Social Security.I mention how million/billionaires may only pay it for a week or two while you must pay throughout the year….and ask “ Does that seem fair?”
Exactly. According to the IRS, even with annual adjustments, over 50% of reported income isn't subject to the tax. If the cap was removed and the current benefit structure maintained, an additional $200 billion would accrue to the Trust Fund every year.
I'm aware of FICA as referring to the payroll taxes for SS, Medicare, etc. but don't recall seeing your acronym, OASDI tax, before. I see they are one and the same. And they are taxes on our earned income, withheld with the explicit promise that they will be returned to our benefit when we reach retirement age or meet the criteria for Survivors of payees into SS and for Disability for those who are medically unable to work. A huge swath of Americans fall within one or more category.
Tell me Dave what does OASDI stand for? Same as FICA? I'm afraid unless anyone has either "run" payrolls, or just delved into what it means - theres an awful lot of people with no clue exactly what that "tax" does, or how they benefit from it.
It stands for Old Age Security and Disability Insurance, same as FICA and I don't remember what that is the acronym for.
You're right about the lack of background knowledge, there are too many of us who don't understand what happens to the 20 or 25% that disappears from our paychecks.
At the time I was still doing any payroll - it was .0765% of gross. Whether that has changed? I have no idea. I like THAT acronym much better than FICA & I dont remember either!
Christine you are my hero. Living in Florida and an educator fighting for the right for children to learn how to think, with a wannabe dictator and a bunch of his brainless followers banning books. It is appalling. As is this story I just came across. Just hope these nurses aren’t taking care of anyone you care about.
You're right, of course. The Fweedumb Cockatuss nuts just what to blow things up so Fox can put the explosion on a video loop. Weenies like Traitor Goon can't say what, exactly they want to blow up because they honestly don't care about anything but the explosion. K
Paul Waldman in the Washington Post has a nice article positing that the Democrats SHOULD negotiate with the Republicans on the debt limit, as follows:
Democrats are perfectly free to say the following: With their demand for across-the-board domestic spending reductions, Republicans are in effect proposing cuts to education, health care, economic development, clean energy, infrastructure, enforcement of environmental laws and a great deal more. So here are some of our demands:
• A significant tax increase on the wealthy
• An increase in the minimum wage, including indexing it to inflation
• A national paid family leave program
• A program to extend the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid to the states that have refused to accept it
• Universal pre-K
• A permanent expansion of the child tax credit
As Waldman said in his title, if the Republicans want to negotiate, bring it on.....
The whole point of Waldman's view (and others) is to force the Republicans to come up with the cuts they demand in exchange for not blowing up the US credit rating (and the world's economy). Make them own the savaging of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, or the elimination of popular government aid programs that benefit millions of citizens. So far, none of the "leaders" in the Freedom Caucus have been able to name any of the cuts they propose - and Waldman wants the Biden White House to let them twist slowly in the wind on this..... Works for me.
sounds to me like they're back to those old days (assuming they ever went away) of Gingrich's xeroxed "talking points," so that no matter which Repug gets asked, the answer is a word-for-word repetition of that day's talking point. I get this idea from the fact that one of the prevailing talking points is that SS and Medicare are off-limits. another piece of evidence hit me the other night (or was it last night?) when Scalise repeated the bogus assertion that Eric Smallwell "couldn't get a security clearance in the private sector," so should therefore not be allowed into the Intelligence Subcommittee. unlike, say, that gleet-leaking dick Devin Nunes?
what these scumbags may not be aware of is how any of their constituents rely on Medicaid. is it really possible that they associate a need for Medicaid with Democrats alone? I refuse to believe that there weren't a fair number of those insurrectionists who get their health care through Medicaid.
getting back to the insanity of that 30% sales tax...that anyone in that caucus would even think of presenting that sort of thing says all there is to say about their cluelessness. do they really think that the knowledge that the progressive income tax ( at least it is ON PAPER, but that's a separate issue) has been eliminated make them feel just fine about shelling out $13,000 for that $10,000 tractor? is the calculation that, since their base is blaming Biden for the current international inflation, they could manage to stick him with THAT? I betcha there are some of them who think that and they might be right about the stupidest members of "the base."
I attended a panel about four years ago that featured a debate between Liz Holtzman and Ed Cox (who status as a Nixon son-in-law I'd forgotten). Sam Roberts was the "moderator," who mentioned having a conversation with a farmer who was very happy about the small amount of money he'd been getting back from the government because of TFF's "tax cuts." he said that he was now able to buy the tractor he wanted. Liz Holtzman responded that he might not be so thrilled when 1) his rebate expires and 2) he experienced the Medicare cuts that the rebate would necessitate. among the angry people in that audience, I didn't exactly cover myself in glory when I found myself telling Cox to "shut the fuck up" when he was loudly talking over Liz, who is very tiny and frail-appearing. he looked like he was ready to mix it up with me and I was mortified because I was a guest of the widow of the person the event was honoring. I apologized to my hosts and when it was over, a retired judge who'd been at the dinner reception I'd attended gave my arm a little squeeze and said "hey, don't get so worked up. Liz can take care of herself."
Based on other situations, I'd suggest that the anti-Medicaid enthusiasm in the "base" comes from those who have just enough to be excluded from Medicaid. They don't want to see the very poor "freeloaders" get something they can't have. May sound convoluted, but old NYT reporting on welfare showed this effect........
It’s the same logic that kept poor whites feeling superior to Blacks, even though both groups would have benefited from joining together to try to raise wages, etc.
I do wonder which agency they imagine would calculate and enforce this 30% tax when IRS is gone? Local governments? It sure seems like these people must pay for a LOT in cash, if they don’t mind that sort of increase.
Your first sentence reminds me of this quote from Milton Mayer, “They Thought They We’re Free, The Germans 1933-45. Last sentence of a mind-blowing paragraph in this book. “You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things your father could never have imagined.” Certainly true at my parents house, and mine…
The dummies in the House are like the dog who finally caught the car they’ve been chasing…now what do they do? They have no plan, no alternatives, nothing in the tank. The lunatics have the run of the asylum, but now what do they do? They’re like the Russian sailors that mutinied and took over a frigate in the Baltic. They got the ship, but who steers it, how do we work the engines, the radio, where do we go, what do we do next? Totally clueless, just like the morons who elected them…
Good stuff here, TC. Today’s RepubliQans have absolutely nothing of substance to offer unless you are of the “burn it all down” mindset. I cannot help but love your opening salvo of “...ignorant vitriol with a swirl of conspiracy thinking” with a wonderful chaser of “...the Washington DC press corpse”.
I am slightly encouraged by seeing some reporters actually press republicans for specifics about what to cut and what their general vision for the country's future looks like. More of them have to lean on these media craving types in particular. It is not enough for them to burn it all down because it must be replaced with something.( Keep pointing at them and laughing behind your hand as you lean toward the ear of the person next to you.--Mean Girls Handbook)
So many congress critters who rail against gub'mint spending represent states that get back more in benefits than they pay to the federal government. They don't realize the gub'mint spending funds their benefits, for example their mama in the nursing home who is on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
The only thing Republicans have to offer America is a heaping helping of ignorant vitriol with a swirl of conspiracy thinking.
And we have to clearly show the people who think politics are still the way they were that this is the case. Offering a responsible alternative and then seeing them balk at it is one way to do that. Remember, not everyone is as politically literate as the TAFM crowd.
Ummmmm, that actually says a lot. As does the word “process” that you used several times in your essay, TC. As is the lack of process being the negligent factor with people such as MT Greene and Mace and the FL congressman (I am loathe to even say his name) who put defused grenades in with his appreciative letter to his colleagues as he boasts of being assigned to the Armed Services committee.
As an educator of children in public education for decades, an informed teacher knows there is not rounded learning without process. Know a million facts about who, what, and when but remain ignorant without knowing about applying process to discover how and why.
With MTG in my grips for a semester, that is how I would remediate her knowledge base. In addition to a woodshed whuppin’ whenever necessary. Her learning is shallow. That is why her best option is saying stupid things over and over and depending on Daddy T’s misinformation saviors to dull and indoctrinate the MAGA base. I would ingratiate myself and ask forgiveness if she could coherently explain to me how the debt ceiling works and why most Americans do not want their Medicare and Soc Sec f*cked with. And then this question at the top of every lesson with her…..Tell me why cutting Medicaid off at the knees is a racist tactic that hurts every person…pink tan and brown, in poverty. And how does one gain any political survival by acting like one serves the tiniest sliver of the actual population of the American people.
My question remains…..how in the world is the ignorance and low level thinking masked so efficiently by dark money that the people that get elected get on the stage of Congress in this case with a clear idea of what they are told to think and not a clue as to how and why things get done. Job vetting at its worst.
And while the soapbox is handy. This book banning crisis in Florida and in my county especially is more of the same. I asked a school board member anxious for the ban to give me a short sentence explaining why we teach children to read. And feed millions of dollars to corporate for materials (which now are being shelved and covered up until necessary “vetting” that is intended to give the illusion that books are generally “bad”. This board member said…we teach kids to read so they can learn. I responded…and you want to allow them books that will teach them what YOU want them to learn? That’s not why we spend time and resources teaching kids to read. The basic premise of reading is that a child reads to think. And desantis and any autocrat does not want children to think.
Wondering where the tipping point is in all this.
Thank you, TC, for sharing your very learned expertise. Your writing sizzles because of the depth of the how and why currents of your subject.
Salud!
🗽
quite beautifully put. I wonder what her reply was when you told her that she only wanted her kids to learn what she wanted them to learn. of course, that IS what she wants.
something I've taken up with Tom a few times is the fact that for the last several decades (at least), kids haven't been taught to read properly, and many of them not at all.
there's also a cash nexus involved...the preparation of books and other materials to brainwash students into learning precisely what the powers-that-be want them to learn is a huge, thriving business. teaching kids not to think actually takes some serious THOUGHT.
Again, as I said, the fundamental premise of reading is not for children to learn. It’s for them to read or be read to and think about what they’ve read or heard. It’s been made complicated with guided reading, etc.,but, when it all comes down the funnel, it goes back to the basis of why we ALL read. One reads to think.
Salud, David.
🗽
Teaching kids not to think…. Exactly
No, we do not teach them not to think. Powers that be that believe they are in charge of children prevent avenues for them to be independent thinkers. Literacy and reading are the path to thinking.
Salud.
🗽
I believe Jeri meant teaching kids NOT to think is the book banning bunch's purpose - not teachers. And it is - remove any book that might create questions in a child's mind - causing them to believe the current pap that their parents do (the parents who want to ban books).
You and TC are both on a roll today. I like the idea of the Commission, we could even name it after Manchin if the idea works and call it the Manchin Memorial Commission if it doesn't.
I feel old when I remember the "Repeal and Replace" campaign the GOP ran on after ACA was passed and how, when they got into position to implement it, they had nothing to go with. I'll feel better when Biden proposes the Commission, removal of the cap on OASDI tax, and legislation to provide legal residency for the DACA recipients as well as a complete overhaul of the asylum system. I realize that I may just feel old for a long while.
Yes, removal of the cap on the OASDI tax. So many have no idea the cap exists. This needs to be messaged ! I just call it the cap on Social Security.I mention how million/billionaires may only pay it for a week or two while you must pay throughout the year….and ask “ Does that seem fair?”
Exactly. According to the IRS, even with annual adjustments, over 50% of reported income isn't subject to the tax. If the cap was removed and the current benefit structure maintained, an additional $200 billion would accrue to the Trust Fund every year.
I'm aware of FICA as referring to the payroll taxes for SS, Medicare, etc. but don't recall seeing your acronym, OASDI tax, before. I see they are one and the same. And they are taxes on our earned income, withheld with the explicit promise that they will be returned to our benefit when we reach retirement age or meet the criteria for Survivors of payees into SS and for Disability for those who are medically unable to work. A huge swath of Americans fall within one or more category.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/01/25/what-is-oasdi-federal-tax/11119626002/
A much larger swath than the House Looney Tune Caucus seems to recognize.
Well, if I had just read YOUR comment, Judith - could have saved myself the question to Dave! I always knew it as FICA, too.
Tell me Dave what does OASDI stand for? Same as FICA? I'm afraid unless anyone has either "run" payrolls, or just delved into what it means - theres an awful lot of people with no clue exactly what that "tax" does, or how they benefit from it.
It stands for Old Age Security and Disability Insurance, same as FICA and I don't remember what that is the acronym for.
You're right about the lack of background knowledge, there are too many of us who don't understand what happens to the 20 or 25% that disappears from our paychecks.
At the time I was still doing any payroll - it was .0765% of gross. Whether that has changed? I have no idea. I like THAT acronym much better than FICA & I dont remember either!
Today YOU sizzle Christine. " The basic premise of reading is that a child reads to think."
Agreed ! I need to use that line here where Moms of Liberty was founded…sigh.
Moms of Liberty can kiss my ass. Talk about sucking up to the patriarchal bargain.
🗽
Sizzlin’ Christine!! The book fiasco in Floriduh is horrific. Thanks for your post from your position of knowledge!
Christine you are my hero. Living in Florida and an educator fighting for the right for children to learn how to think, with a wannabe dictator and a bunch of his brainless followers banning books. It is appalling. As is this story I just came across. Just hope these nurses aren’t taking care of anyone you care about.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/us/florida-nursing-diploma-scam.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
7,600 Fake Nursing Diplomas Were Sold in Scheme, U.S. Says
So very well said Christine.
I gotta keep reminding myself...
Ain’t that the truth…
You're right, of course. The Fweedumb Cockatuss nuts just what to blow things up so Fox can put the explosion on a video loop. Weenies like Traitor Goon can't say what, exactly they want to blow up because they honestly don't care about anything but the explosion. K
Paul Waldman in the Washington Post has a nice article positing that the Democrats SHOULD negotiate with the Republicans on the debt limit, as follows:
Democrats are perfectly free to say the following: With their demand for across-the-board domestic spending reductions, Republicans are in effect proposing cuts to education, health care, economic development, clean energy, infrastructure, enforcement of environmental laws and a great deal more. So here are some of our demands:
• A significant tax increase on the wealthy
• An increase in the minimum wage, including indexing it to inflation
• A national paid family leave program
• A program to extend the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid to the states that have refused to accept it
• Universal pre-K
• A permanent expansion of the child tax credit
As Waldman said in his title, if the Republicans want to negotiate, bring it on.....
That's good.
The whole point of Waldman's view (and others) is to force the Republicans to come up with the cuts they demand in exchange for not blowing up the US credit rating (and the world's economy). Make them own the savaging of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, or the elimination of popular government aid programs that benefit millions of citizens. So far, none of the "leaders" in the Freedom Caucus have been able to name any of the cuts they propose - and Waldman wants the Biden White House to let them twist slowly in the wind on this..... Works for me.
sounds to me like they're back to those old days (assuming they ever went away) of Gingrich's xeroxed "talking points," so that no matter which Repug gets asked, the answer is a word-for-word repetition of that day's talking point. I get this idea from the fact that one of the prevailing talking points is that SS and Medicare are off-limits. another piece of evidence hit me the other night (or was it last night?) when Scalise repeated the bogus assertion that Eric Smallwell "couldn't get a security clearance in the private sector," so should therefore not be allowed into the Intelligence Subcommittee. unlike, say, that gleet-leaking dick Devin Nunes?
what these scumbags may not be aware of is how any of their constituents rely on Medicaid. is it really possible that they associate a need for Medicaid with Democrats alone? I refuse to believe that there weren't a fair number of those insurrectionists who get their health care through Medicaid.
getting back to the insanity of that 30% sales tax...that anyone in that caucus would even think of presenting that sort of thing says all there is to say about their cluelessness. do they really think that the knowledge that the progressive income tax ( at least it is ON PAPER, but that's a separate issue) has been eliminated make them feel just fine about shelling out $13,000 for that $10,000 tractor? is the calculation that, since their base is blaming Biden for the current international inflation, they could manage to stick him with THAT? I betcha there are some of them who think that and they might be right about the stupidest members of "the base."
I attended a panel about four years ago that featured a debate between Liz Holtzman and Ed Cox (who status as a Nixon son-in-law I'd forgotten). Sam Roberts was the "moderator," who mentioned having a conversation with a farmer who was very happy about the small amount of money he'd been getting back from the government because of TFF's "tax cuts." he said that he was now able to buy the tractor he wanted. Liz Holtzman responded that he might not be so thrilled when 1) his rebate expires and 2) he experienced the Medicare cuts that the rebate would necessitate. among the angry people in that audience, I didn't exactly cover myself in glory when I found myself telling Cox to "shut the fuck up" when he was loudly talking over Liz, who is very tiny and frail-appearing. he looked like he was ready to mix it up with me and I was mortified because I was a guest of the widow of the person the event was honoring. I apologized to my hosts and when it was over, a retired judge who'd been at the dinner reception I'd attended gave my arm a little squeeze and said "hey, don't get so worked up. Liz can take care of herself."
Based on other situations, I'd suggest that the anti-Medicaid enthusiasm in the "base" comes from those who have just enough to be excluded from Medicaid. They don't want to see the very poor "freeloaders" get something they can't have. May sound convoluted, but old NYT reporting on welfare showed this effect........
Yes, that makes sense with those people.
It’s the same logic that kept poor whites feeling superior to Blacks, even though both groups would have benefited from joining together to try to raise wages, etc.
"You may be both living in a cardboard box, but his is *wet*"
Pecking order…
I do wonder which agency they imagine would calculate and enforce this 30% tax when IRS is gone? Local governments? It sure seems like these people must pay for a LOT in cash, if they don’t mind that sort of increase.
Administration would be by state. Which shows how ridiculous and unserious they are.
Your first sentence reminds me of this quote from Milton Mayer, “They Thought They We’re Free, The Germans 1933-45. Last sentence of a mind-blowing paragraph in this book. “You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things your father could never have imagined.” Certainly true at my parents house, and mine…
The dummies in the House are like the dog who finally caught the car they’ve been chasing…now what do they do? They have no plan, no alternatives, nothing in the tank. The lunatics have the run of the asylum, but now what do they do? They’re like the Russian sailors that mutinied and took over a frigate in the Baltic. They got the ship, but who steers it, how do we work the engines, the radio, where do we go, what do we do next? Totally clueless, just like the morons who elected them…
Good stuff here, TC. Today’s RepubliQans have absolutely nothing of substance to offer unless you are of the “burn it all down” mindset. I cannot help but love your opening salvo of “...ignorant vitriol with a swirl of conspiracy thinking” with a wonderful chaser of “...the Washington DC press corpse”.
👍👍
I'm waiting for Peter Baker's NYT "news analysis" saying it's all Biden's fault.
I Laughed Out Loud!
I am slightly encouraged by seeing some reporters actually press republicans for specifics about what to cut and what their general vision for the country's future looks like. More of them have to lean on these media craving types in particular. It is not enough for them to burn it all down because it must be replaced with something.( Keep pointing at them and laughing behind your hand as you lean toward the ear of the person next to you.--Mean Girls Handbook)
I think mean boys can use that, too. :-)
The consequence of gerrymandering and “safe seats.” The representative is chosen in the primary, when the most ideological vote.
So many congress critters who rail against gub'mint spending represent states that get back more in benefits than they pay to the federal government. They don't realize the gub'mint spending funds their benefits, for example their mama in the nursing home who is on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
The state of Arkansas cut Medicaid
here with a provision to get it, or keep it, you had to work. PBS did a
documentary on how well that worked out, when these Medicaid
people couldn't find jobs, because
there were none. They couldn't get
their medications or kidney dialysis.
I believe the documentary was
aired nationally. Medicaid benefits
were restored. Imagine this FUBAR
on a national level.
Hands off Social Security and Medicare is the new republican
mantra, due to the fact, most of
the MAGA base, especially in Florida, are on these programs.
Thanks for the really good essay
essayon the debt tussle, Tom.