Once again, Democratic Leadership on display

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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/492909-schumer-and-mnuchin-inch-closer-to-a-deal-on-small-business-lending

Still a ways to go, but it is Schumer and Pelosi driving relief for Main Street. Meanwhile, Magic Mitch pulls a disappearing act and sits in Kentucky waiting for his wife’s next “allowance” check from back home.

Published by Adam Green

A 24 year Navy vet, cancer survivor, father, grandfather, assistant caregiver for my live-in mother-in-law. Enjoys golf, football (real and fantasy), being the best grandfather I can, supporting the endeavors of my children (both involved in the education of our younger generations) and tormenting my wife of 34 years. Also prefer bourbon over scotch, but will drink both, just not at the same time. Discovering craft beers and trying trying hard to get to a consistent golf swing.

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29 thoughts on “Once again, Democratic Leadership on display”

  1. What you meant to write was that Schummer was nearing success at holding the nations small business employees hostage for Democrat demands, like setting aside 1/5 of the funds for businesses that don’t have bank accounts.

    Pretty much a repeat of the last bill, in which Democrats demanded $25 million for the Kennedy Center, which promptly let its employees go and donated $5million to the DNC

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    1. Please don’t try to put words in my mouth. You are lucky in your retirement. How many in your family have been furloughed, had hours cut or flat out fired because of this? (I am also not as negatively affected financially by this, but I care about people outside of my compound and circle. As someone from the medical field, I thought empathy and compassion were part of that. Apparently, I was mistaken.)

      You mean hospitals and state and local governments?

      Show your work. Prove what you said. Or better yet, take a look at medical organizations owned by big dollar investors that cut doctors and nurses and are now begging for their piece of the pie. Then there are the Trump organization properties that are allowed to collect money because of their structure. Then ask how many of the illegals they fired are going to be brought back so they can meet the requirements of having the loan forgiven.

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      1. I am not opposed to the forgivable small business loan program. But I am opposed to earmarking portions of it for Democrat constituencies. Let all small businesses have an equal shot at assistance.

        From the article “Many businesses in underserved and lower-income communities have had difficulty obtaining forgivable loans backed by the federal government because of the lack of existing relationships with community banks and credit unions.”

        What kind of businesses don’t have bank accounts? If they have employees, they have to deposit taxes into a bank account. So, if the loans are intended to support keeping employees connected to their employers, such businesses don’t really exist unless they have been and intend to continue operating unlawfully and not paying employee taxes.

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        1. One business that comes to mind is legal marijuana distributors. I’m not sure if all the states where it has been legalized also have rules that allow banks ot accept their monies.

          As far as other businesses that do not have banking relationships, perhaps they get a money order to send their quarterly payments adn keep the rest of the money in their several mattresses.

          And these are not strictly Democratic constituencies. Just because they are big city folks, that doesn’t mean they are all Democrats. That is an unfair generalization on your part.

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        2. That tells you that our economy was DOW strong and structurally weak.

          42% of jobs pay at or less than $15/hr., the new minimum wage in some states. A good proportion of workers were on the Gig economy. They have little income beyond paying rent and food. Health insurance? Maybe. Retirement? Not so much. Education? Big debts.

          And when the economy turns south, for whatever reason, we have third world conditions.

          This has been going on for quite some time. And every time, people fall further and further. And we are good at privatizing profits and socializing losses.

          The recession is still having effects that were only starting to come back for some and that was due to a little bump when the government borrowed trillions to artificially boost the DOW. This crisis will destroy the economic status of tens of millions.

          We had a house of cards. And now we are borrowing trillions more to prop it up because we neglected building a solid social safety net over the decades while fighting wars and paying for tax cuts at the top on a credit card.

          Your kids and grandkids are going to have to fix this on their own. We can’t afford to do it. We are just trying to stay afloat.

          Capitalism works as far as rewarding innovation with wealth. That is fine. We need risk takers.

          But that accounts for a few percent of the population. No need to punish the vast majority who would like to raise families, do the work and live useful lives. And punished they are, particularly when the investment classes start shenanigans with our economy. Who bails them out time and again?

          Even Greenspan said he erred when he thought the financial sector could regulate itself.

          When this ends, I would be willing to bet most big companies will do fine. Small businesses will suffer some. Tiny businesses will get screwed. Cities and states will be broke. Hospitals too. And the homeless will have lots of new entrants.

          The GOP was holding up the new business stimulus because they refused to bolster states, hospitals and food stamps. What’s the problem?

          Please try to keep things in perspective. Pelosi may have tapped millions for orchestras, but the GOP took care of it’s own too. Yeah, it’s a waste sometimes, but sausage making is tough.

          Especially when little thought is given until we are up to our asses in trouble.

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          1. Capitalism is the only economic system that produces enough wealth for anyone. (and that is just as true for the Scandinavians who in many ways are more free market capitalist than we are)

            Even people in the Gig economy are required to pay FICA taxes on their earnings.

            And Pelosi’s $25 million deal for the Kennedy Center did not save the orchestra’s jobs, just the administrators, and came with a $5million contribution to the DNC.

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          2. Those jobs aren’t lost permanently. Those performers are furloughed and they will get their jobs back when some sense of normalcy ensues. My son will get his job back when the Y is ready to reopen its centers, including The First Tee.

            As far as your contention about a contribution to the DNC please show me where that has been reported. I asked you to show your work and you still haven’t, so as far as I can tell you are pulling things out of a rear facing orifice.

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          3. I think I defended capitalism, but more like the Scandinavian model. Let the risk takers have room, but don’t make everyone pay for their mistakes without first making sure we have a good safety net.

            Gig workers are required to pay FICA. As you know, that is about 15% of pretax income.

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          4. RE: “Let the risk takers have room, but don’t make everyone pay for their mistakes without first making sure we have a good safety net.”

            The risk takers didn’t create Covid-19. A pandemic is not a good justification for a social safety net.

            When this black swan event is all over, one of the biggest lessons learned to be documented will be that our government bureaucracy failed and the private sector turned out to be a savior.

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      1. SO? Are they getting the loans?

        The loans are intended to preserve jobs in small businesses closed down through no fault of their own, so the employees will have jobs to go back to.

        For example, dental practices are effectively shut down other than for emergency treatment. The loans will allow the dentist to pay his rent and his employees at 75% of their regular rate so that when they can reopen they will still be there.

        Note that the loan CANNOT be used to continue the owner/dentist’s income.

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        1. I think you and I are reading the bill differently. And this is based on the experience of working for a small business that has applied for the forgivable loan.

          75% of the money is for payroll and the remainder is to cover as much of the rent, utilities and other overhead costs as the loan provides. I am not sure how the income cannot be continued for the owner if he/she is getting a regular weekly/biweekly paycheck.

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    3. @Tabor

      The Kennedy Center?

      What kind of shithead repeats egregious lies that he saw on some right wing disinformation site? Repeatedly and without checking? Look in the mirror for the answer.

      Duped again or deliberately spreading bullshit just like your Dear Leader?

      https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kennedy-center-donate-dnc/

      https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/kennedy-center-didnt-contribute-to-democrats/

      https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-coronavirus-kennedy-dnc/false-claim-after-receiving-25-million-in-aid-the-kennedy-center-donated-5-million-to-the-dnc-and-fired-employees-idUSKCN21X25Z

      Just how low can you go? You are right there in TK territory.

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        1. @Tabor

          It was obviously false for anyone with a tiny, tiny bit of common sense. The idea that the Kennedy Center would funnel pandemic money to the DNC was preposterous on its face. Realizing that, it took me about 45 seconds to confirm that it was just another lie. Why do you not do such checking before spreading such garbage?

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  2. And I think you are missing the big picture of my post. Where is McConnell in all of this? Sitting back and waiting for Schumer and Mnuchin to work out a deal? He is the MAJORITY leader and he has done bupkes on any of these bills, except for telling his GOP caucus to gag and vote for the 2nd bill that Passed the House first.

    If Mnuchin and Schumer work out a deal, and Trump backs it, it is NOT just a bill that Democrats wrote and forced a vote on. It is considered bipartisan because Mnuchin represent the REPUBLICAN President. The GOP just sits back and lets the Dems do the heavy lifting and then bitch about it while voting yea. And then follow up by taking credit for bailing out Main Street.

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    1. RE: “Where is McConnell in all of this?”

      He proposed a bill last week that would have served the purpose at hand: $250 billion to prop up the loan program. Democrats rejected it.

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      1. Because it did not address the current needs of state and local governments and hospitals. Plus, he couldn’t even get his own caucus onboard.

        And what her proposed was not a new bill, but additional funding under the current bill. And as stated, ignored a brewing problem with the states, localities, and hospitals.

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        1. Suit yourself, but the answer to your question is that Mcconnell wasn’t doing nothing, as you portrayed.

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          3. RE: “What he was doing was short changing Main Street USA.”

            So you say, but now that we’ve established that you are trading in exaggerations, not reality, it doesn’t really matter that you say it.

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