185 Comments

The most outlandish cut: IRS budget.

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The unused covid funds were to go to an intranasal covid vaccine (would prevent infection where is enters the body), a pan coronavirus vaccine, treatment for long covid, etc. Just my opinion, but I think these were important for preparedness. Pandemics crush the economy, if that's all one cares about.

Plus, this pandemic isn't actually "over," only the declared "emergency" phase.

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> Hopefully science and technology funding will get carved out of the spending restraint in the final deal

As a government-funded scientist, I have very little hope for this. It's like Charlie Brown and the football with these authorization bills.

The bigger problem is that our national "strategy" for competing with China is largely incoherent.

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The whole point was to show how powerful some Republicans are and how they can manipulate the President. Mr. Biden said he wouldn't negotiate, but he did. Once again the poor get the ax, while the wealthy get the bonus. Cutting funding to the IRS and not raising any taxes is precisely what the Republicans wanted. I can appreciate the need to compromise, but giving your opposition precisely what they wanted is not a successful negotiation but a capitulation.

Not to mention, this is a long way from a done deal. Many on both sides of the aisle are unhappy with the compromise, and it remains to be seen if enough votes can be garnered to pass this legislation.

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It is incredibly unfortunate that the cost of the uncalled for Iraq War and unnecessary years after bin Laden was killed now cost American taxpayers so much.

We actually spend $378 billion annually on Veteran income pensions and Healthcare. Veterans including probably 75% of whom never saw live combat, retire comfortably after 20 years of work with better than Medicare.

This is the Bush-Cheney legacy. Create an entire generation of dependents beholding mostly to conservatives.

We won't touch it of course. But we should apply work rules. Eliminate the 20 year requirement and push it to standard Social Security.

https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-veterans-affairs?fy=2023

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These days, when trying to explain something, it pays to look low. Both sides fight because they can't afford not to look tough. This was the first time the two parties have actually had a chance for a real-world confrontation since the 2022 election, rather than the endless rounds of inconsequential trash talk.

And whom were they fighting in front of? How quaint of Noah to suggest that the most important audience is the rest of the world— of course not!

It's the base in both parties.

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"the net effect seems to have been to make the U.S. look like a dysfunctional clown show in front of our allies"

Between the Jan 6th riot, arresting the leading opposition political candidate, and our leaders denying basic mammalian biology... we've been looking like a clown show for several years now.

"the debt ceiling deal has a little bit of positive, a little bit of negative, and a whole lot of disappointing"

That the best definition of "bipartisan compromise" I've ever read.

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The problem with the IRS is not necessarily that they don’t collect enough but they need more education. Accountants tell me they end up educating the IRS accountants for free because the IRS doesn’t know it’s own laws. I actually don’t mind the dysfunction. If it weren’t for these so called negotiations few people other than the elite neoliberal opportunists would know anything about the budget. The electorate has to have some idea of the budget and what gets paid for. Some day we’ll end up like Europe with higher tax rates for all and a valued added tax. Try living in Europe where 50% starts at 70k. They don’t have billionaires as in America because the Uber wealthy can’t donate to the political parties and the taxes are too high to accumulate billionaire wealth.

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The fact we are not spending enough to shore up US manufacturing and innovation is as short-sighted as it gets. Alas, it is impossible to explain that to Marjorie Taylor Green and Paul Gosar voters.

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No, I'm sorry, this was a terrible deal. If I'd been Biden I would have started with, "We don't negotiate with terrorists." Then I would have had McCarthy carted off to Guantanamo and refused to bring him back until the Republicans capitulated. There's just no way this doesn't play out again sometime in the future as it's now a proven Republican attack. And before anyone says the Democrats play games too. No, just no. Sure they play games, but they do not go to brink of default. Not EVER. Next time any Republicans claim good stewardship of the economy the ONLY acceptable response is sustained laughter until they leave the room.

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If you want to limit Medicare costs, nuke the Medicare Advantage private plans, which are a mix of outright scams, and clever price-discrimination / skimming of healthy patients.

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Unfortunately, I must disagree, but for the wrong reasons.

Black cows cannot be seen on a dark night.

Clowns cannot be seen as clowns, if we all are.

Politics nowadays are a clown show, everywhere.

That’s also why nobody believed a deal would not be reached, and why nobody, therefore, cared.

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Good over all analysis. The government was never going to default. The default move was to shut down the government, salaries to be exchanged for IOU's, and a stop of government expenditures for any else but the debt. Neither side threatened this, so it was never on the table, which meant it was not going to default.

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individuals think, for the first time, the IRS might come after them. If you go with the idea of not being able to prosecute obvious tax fraud, your failure is a foreigner conclusion. A few perps walks focuses the attention of malefactors. Ask SVB principals how things are shaping up for them these days. SVB is an extremely complicated case, but a willingness to prosecute is the key.

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There is no point. Are you not entertained?

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I heartily share Mr. Smith's frustration with our inability to build. Somehow, even regulation-ridden social-democratic places such as Germany or Holland can get this stuff done while we're paralyzed with minutiae. Waiting anxiously for the first local political project championing a relinquishing of some local control..

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