Our Best Stuff From a Week We Went Big on Policy

The Afghanistan withdrawal, our intelligence bureaucracy, and a really (really) big ‘human infrastructure’ package.

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Happy Saturday! I’m not sure if where you are is super hot or extra rainy, but I’m guessing it’s one of the two. Which makes it a great day to stay inside and read—and have we got some stuff for you!

By now you’ve heard our spiel a few times: We started The Dispatch to focus on reporting and informed commentary. We wanted to do deep dives on policy, analyze legislation, evaluate and critique the leaders we elect to represent us. 

For a while, when I would tell people about my job or those familiar with it would ask how it was going, I would reply, “Well, it’s been busy. We knew when we launched that the runup to the election would be hectic, but we sure didn’t plan on a pandemic or a summer of protests and riots or, well, this,” and then I would shrug and gesture wildly and everyone knew I was talking about the aftermath of the election.

Don’t get me wrong: We’re proud of the work we’ve been doing all along. We brought you firsthand accounts from doctors who were treating COVID patients, we covered the pandemic relief stimulus packages, we tracked the development of the vaccines. We covered all aspects of the Trump administration and the 2020 campaign. We did some of our best work in the aftermath of the election, and even broke a little news. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    rlritt

    "Sen. John Cornyn, meanwhile, worries that previous aid packages have created demand for goods and services that are affecting prices, and this could exacerbate things."

    Duh! How stupid is this statement. Yes, putting money in people's hands after a year of recession due to Covid lockdown is causing consumers to purchase again. Yes, demand is high and supply is low, which everyone who took ECON 100 knows increases prices. But the alternative is no money for consumers, no using, no demand no more businesses who have all closed down, and then of course no hiring. What does that give us? Depression. You'd think a senator would understand basic economics. Yes the deficit is huge, but not the main problem at present because growing businesses and higher employment will give the government higher tax revenue.

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    BikerChick

    The child tax credit payments are arriving...I suspect that’s not going to help much with inflation. More money injected into the economy without corresponding production.

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    1. Avatar photo
      rlritt

      Except a child tax credit means more money spent on goods and services for children. I raised two kids and they're expensive. Those businesses in turn pay taxes and hire people who okay taxes. It's not money thrown away.

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        BikerChick

        I've raised three kids, I know how expensive they are, and I sure never expected government to take from Peter to pay for Paul to help Paul raise his kids. No, I never qualified for child tax credits, dependency exemptions etc and that's fine with me. But all that aside, you inject more money into the economy to compete for a finite amount of goods/services, the cost of the goods goes up.

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        1. Avatar photo
          rlritt

          Exactly, and businesses improve and hire more workers who then have money to spend. I was fortunate to not to need any assistance and even sent my kids to private schools. However, we were older when we had kids and were lucky to have good paying jobs. I am not a fan of woman having illegitimate children when they can't afford them. That's why God invented birth control when he stopped raining down plagues and pestilence. People need to catch up. Until then the little ones still have to eat. I'm not a monster.

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            BikerChick

            You realize people qualify for the credit up to $150,000 income. I doubt those kids are starving. You also realize there are already programs to feed children.

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      2. Avatar photo
        rlritt

        Who PAY taxes. .....


        My auto correct either can't read English or can't spell.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Dave Conant - MO

    Great wrap-up, enjoy the rest of the weekend.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    https://www.daytondailynews.com/nation-world/3-texas-democrats-who-fled-elections-bill-vote-get-covid/OSTFKQ3WYJG5JCA6YCNNGWILTU/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_2604776

    I am sure there is a moral to the story of not masking on an airplane when trying to make a getaway form jour job, but I'll be durned if I know what it is.

    It reminds me of my lunch today with my oldest--he met one of my college friends, who told him I did discuss marriage in college--but only with the getaway driver! ;-) (I was too immature to get married back then, but my oldest says I haven't changed, so...)

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    Victor Clairmont

    Hey hey! Ho ho! Rachael Larimore with the round up yo!

    Hey hey, ho ho!

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  6. Jack Zentrist

    I’m wondering now if Afghanistan came up in that two hour conversation in January between Biden and President Xi Jinping.

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  7. Richard Fulmer

    “The U.S. secrecy system has grown too big to fix. It is too sprawling across too many agencies and private contractors who are too interested in maintaining their secrecy prerogatives as they defend the nation.”

    The federal government has become so big and complex that it's incapable of doing even its constitutionally mandated jobs. Sectors of the economy - housing, healthcare, education - over which Washington has the most control are the same sectors in which costs are rising the most and with which Americans have the most complaints.

    Question for Progressive TD commentators: Why do you keep wanting to give the big, sprawling, dysfunctional glob that is the federal government still more tasks?

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    1. Avatar photo
      DougAz

      Hello Richard,

      Well, I disagree respectfully with your premise that the US government is "dysfuntional". I find it extremely functional, and vastly more so than state governement, which is on the whole, very dysfunctional and of little use.

      I have benefited from Welfare and Food stamps, Medicare and Social Security. These are extraordinarily successuful.

      I have worked with, run businessess under Regulations from DOT, EPA, FDA. The latter is most needing some improvements. Mostly because unlike DOT, and EPA, the FDA has too few engineers and scientists and too many paper versions of the these.

      I would take greatly from the states, and give to the vastly more competent Federal governement.

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      1. Richard Fulmer

        Hey, Doug!

        Social Security and Medicare are both pyramid schemes that are going broke because the ratio of workers to recipients is dropping. Both transfer money from the poor to the rich – the elderly are, by far, the wealthiest of the country’s demographics.

        Medicare is good at sending out checks, but not so good at screening claims. Fraud, waste, and abuse estimates range from 10% to 15% of its disbursements. The program creates perverse incentives. For example, the government and insurance companies have payment guidelines that dictate reimbursement rates for treating various injuries and illnesses. This creates an incentive for healthcare providers to get creative when they label their patients’ conditions.

        The FAA, which is an agency of the DOT, uses obsolete technology and has needed to upgrade for decades. (https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-bulletin/reforming-air-traffic-control)

        Welfare makes no distinction (as private organizations do) between what was once called the “deserving poor” and the “underserving poor.” As a result, we end up supporting those who will not work as well as those who cannot.

        The FDA’s incentive is to be very conservative with new drugs, and people die as a result.

        I would take greatly from the government – at both the federal and state levels – and give to the vastly more competent free market. Freedom works.

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        1. Avatar photo
          JohnF

          Feel better?

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          1. Richard Fulmer

            Feeling bitter?

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  8. Conrad Masterson Jr.

    I’m more than a little concerned about your article on excessive security. I agree we have a security problem, but a far larger problem that the country and media overlook us the illegal activities of the DOJ and FBI. There is a serious problem with the politicalization of the federal justice system, and there are no checks snd balances to counterbalance it. The media and some corporations are actively supporting this situation that I feel is undermining the population’s already weakened confidence in our federal government. We have a dual mode justice system, one mode for the political elites and another for every body else. Examples include:
    Lack of prosecution of any FBI official for illegally monitoring citizens communications.
    Grossly over charging political allies of President Trump.
    Ignoring blatantly illegal laws and executive orders.
    Selective prosecution of individuals.
    Supporting the fabrication of stories to destroy politicians like Trump, Stevens, and Kavanaugh.
    Lack of prosecution of IRS officials for denying tax exempt status to conservative groups.
    And I could go on.

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  9. Avatar photo
    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    It rained so hard last night even the squirrels were lining up 2 x 2. I'm just bummed the hawk that lives in our woods called it in early last night...

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  10. ExploreOK

    If I didn't have The Dispatch I don't know where I'd go for any news, policy commentary, or opinion. It's refreshing how The Dispatch has managed to stay afloat the frothing madness of our politics, and I don't think any other outlet has managed such a feat.

    Thanks Dispatch team for all the work you do.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Bill Nelson

      The news of the day isn’t that important, look more for trend analysis. Each morning I get emailed updates from PJMedia (right) and Huffpo (left). I subscribe to several other sources other than TD. The Hoover institute is free.
      Separate note: Following the 2000 loss, Soros, Lewis and a few others did a deep dive into why they lost. One reason they noted was a lack of think tanks, and it is still a lack.

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