In Matt Taibbi's book, Griftopia, he mentions that US states are selling their turnpikes and highways and parking meter systems to Sovereign Wealth Funds, and in process, the country is becoming a...
In Matt Taibbi's book, Griftopia, he mentions that US states are selling their turnpikes and highways and parking meter systems to Sovereign Wealth Funds, and in process, the country is becoming a vassal state of other nations. This book was published in 2010. Any updates on this situation?
Also, has there been a discussion about how the Koch network is close to realizing their dream of changing the American Constitution, Nancy MacLean claimed in 2017 that it was just 3-5 years away
After a short Google search, they want to start a constitutional convention which takes 34 state legislatures to start and use the lack of transparency around the whole ordeal to presumably pull...
After a short Google search, they want to start a constitutional convention which takes 34 state legislatures to start and use the lack of transparency around the whole ordeal to presumably pull some wicked shit.
The 2018 blue wave has brought many state legislatures the other way but that only means they will try harder.
That's pretty much it. A fair few of our problems in this country derive from people, especially Democrats, being so immersed in national politics that they hardly engage with local and state...
That's pretty much it. A fair few of our problems in this country derive from people, especially Democrats, being so immersed in national politics that they hardly engage with local and state politics, which are what give rise to the conditions of national politics, with things like gerrymandering and voter suppression. With the continuing death of local news reporting, I'm not sure how to fix it, but crossing our fingers for wave elections and downballot success doesn't seem healthy or sustainable.
Me neither (I'm Brazilian), I just focus more on American politics because that's what I hear the most about in American/Canadian/Western European forums like well, all of them except maybe...
Me neither (I'm Brazilian), I just focus more on American politics because that's what I hear the most about in American/Canadian/Western European forums like well, all of them except maybe reddit, (if you can call it a forum and only so from reddit's sheer size. And Western European politics are basically fine right now short of the UK and and a few Mediterranean countries.)
This article is speculative; it provides no direct evidence about what McConnell wants. I think any further comment by us is speculation based on speculation, and therefore pretty dubious.
This article is speculative; it provides no direct evidence about what McConnell wants. I think any further comment by us is speculation based on speculation, and therefore pretty dubious.
No direct evidence? The article quotes what Mitch said himself McConnell clearly has favored the rich over others with tax cuts, and the article also gives good reason why he would favor the rich...
No direct evidence? The article quotes what Mitch said himself
"I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there’s no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of.”
"We’re not interested in solving their pension problems for them. We’re not interested in rescuing them from bad decisions they've made in the past, we’re not going to let them take advantage of this pandemic to solve a lot of problems that they created themselves [with] bad decisions in the past."
McConnell clearly has favored the rich over others with tax cuts, and the article also gives good reason why he would favor the rich in other states
The biggest contributor to Mitch McConnell’s 2020 campaign and leadership committee is a PAC headquartered in Englewood, New Jersey. The second is a conduit for funds from real-estate investors. The third is the tobacco company Altria. The fourth is the parcel delivery service UPS. The fifth is the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical corporation. The sixth is the home health-care company, LHC Group. The seventh is the Blackstone hedge fund. And so on and on.
You are right, Frum does quote McConnell at the beginning. I had skimmed past that to the more speculative part. In particular, I don't think it's clear what a federal judge would do if a U.S....
You are right, Frum does quote McConnell at the beginning. I had skimmed past that to the more speculative part.
In particular, I don't think it's clear what a federal judge would do if a U.S. state went bankrupt? It seems unlikely that even a conservative judge would do what McConnell wants.
But this article is about what McConnell wants so there would need to be evidence of what he thinks would happen after a bankruptcy, not what Frum thinks would happen. I don't see the McConnell quote supporting Frum's theory of what he wants.
On further reading, it seems this whole article, along with any Republican talk of state bankruptcy, was nonsense, because state bankruptcy is not a thing and it's unlikely to change? It's unclear...
On further reading, it seems this whole article, along with any Republican talk of state bankruptcy, was nonsense, because state bankruptcy is not a thing and it's unlikely to change?
It's unclear whether it would even be constitutional for Congress to pass a law establishing a bankruptcy process for the states, and unlikely the House would be interested.
But it seems that a state defaulting on its debt would create a huge mess.
The important lesson is that in the absence of a dedicated judicial process for preserving the governmental functions of a state in debt renegotiations, sovereignty may offer meager protection for the interests of the general public and public employees. In the event of a severe state fiscal crisis, all parties may have to share the burden of putting the state’s fiscal house in order.
In Matt Taibbi's book, Griftopia, he mentions that US states are selling their turnpikes and highways and parking meter systems to Sovereign Wealth Funds, and in process, the country is becoming a vassal state of other nations. This book was published in 2010. Any updates on this situation?
Also, has there been a discussion about how the Koch network is close to realizing their dream of changing the American Constitution, Nancy MacLean claimed in 2017 that it was just 3-5 years away
After a short Google search, they want to start a constitutional convention which takes 34 state legislatures to start and use the lack of transparency around the whole ordeal to presumably pull some wicked shit.
The 2018 blue wave has brought many state legislatures the other way but that only means they will try harder.
That's pretty much it. A fair few of our problems in this country derive from people, especially Democrats, being so immersed in national politics that they hardly engage with local and state politics, which are what give rise to the conditions of national politics, with things like gerrymandering and voter suppression. With the continuing death of local news reporting, I'm not sure how to fix it, but crossing our fingers for wave elections and downballot success doesn't seem healthy or sustainable.
I'm not an American, I have just read 2-3 books on US politics
Me neither (I'm Brazilian), I just focus more on American politics because that's what I hear the most about in American/Canadian/Western European forums like well, all of them except maybe reddit, (if you can call it a forum and only so from reddit's sheer size. And Western European politics are basically fine right now short of the UK and and a few Mediterranean countries.)
This article is speculative; it provides no direct evidence about what McConnell wants. I think any further comment by us is speculation based on speculation, and therefore pretty dubious.
No direct evidence? The article quotes what Mitch said himself
McConnell clearly has favored the rich over others with tax cuts, and the article also gives good reason why he would favor the rich in other states
You are right, Frum does quote McConnell at the beginning. I had skimmed past that to the more speculative part.
In particular, I don't think it's clear what a federal judge would do if a U.S. state went bankrupt? It seems unlikely that even a conservative judge would do what McConnell wants.
But this article is about what McConnell wants so there would need to be evidence of what he thinks would happen after a bankruptcy, not what Frum thinks would happen. I don't see the McConnell quote supporting Frum's theory of what he wants.
On further reading, it seems this whole article, along with any Republican talk of state bankruptcy, was nonsense, because state bankruptcy is not a thing and it's unlikely to change?
It's unclear whether it would even be constitutional for Congress to pass a law establishing a bankruptcy process for the states, and unlikely the House would be interested.
But it seems that a state defaulting on its debt would create a huge mess.
From "When States Default: Lessons from Law and History"