Extraordinary Measures

“It’s like running with scissors on a tight rope.”

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Sarah, Jonah and David wonder what’s left of fiscal responsibility in the Republican Party as the debt-ceiling deadline hits Congress. Who’s serious about digging in and balancing the budget? Will taking on the “weaponized” bureaucracy make a dent? And, haven’t we been in this before? The crew also tallies which countries are providing tactical support to Ukraine (and how much). And of course, stay tuned for an extra salty Not Worth Your Time.

Show Notes:

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Comments (51)
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  1. Nejcik

    Not sure I get the metaphor in the quote. Running with scissors is bad if you fall on them on top of a hard floor. On a tightrope, surely you'd just drop them? They wouldn't add significantly to your problems if you fall.
    Sorry.

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    Denise Cote

    Everyone knows that the snack food not worth anyone's time has to be rice cakes. Pringles are not worth anyone's time - reconstituted potato powder is gross. Ruffles (with or without onion dip) are the bomb. Flan is delicious. Donuts from a specialty shop are worth the time and calories. It's a good thing we don't judge you on your snack/food choices. 😂

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      T.Kalbach

      Absolutely correct on rice cakes (though I'm not certain you can even buy them, anymore). Generally speaking, I prefer snacks with heft. Potato chip do not fall into this category, while donuts do. After Krispy-Kreme down-sized out of my region of the country, I look eagerly to when I have to do road trips through their territory. Sarah is on the right track for an ultimate bang for your buck snack, though she goes for the upscale, hoity-toity, version with Ghirardelli. Nestle Semi-sweet Tollhouse morsels are *Chef's Kiss*

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    Coveredwagon379

    Agreed that you can’t eat a donut on its own. You need a cup of unsugared coffee to go with it.

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    Ben Connelly

    Sarah, I really like that “skepticism, not cynicism” framing. That’s a pithy description for something that I intuitively understood had to be a better approach than cynicism - which always struck me as intellectually somewhat lazy. It’s akin to Yuval Levin’s “hope, not optimism.”

    I think a pairing of “hope and skepticism, rather than optimism or cynicism” is an intelligent framework from which to interpret the world.

    By the way, potato chips are absolutely a waste of time - and calories, money, chewing effort, etc.

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    BrandonAlleman

    I always enjoy this line up plus Steve. I'll most miss David for his contrast and comraderie with Sarah and Jonah here.

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    Whit Waldo

    I haven't heard a half-serious suggestion about what to do about entitlement spending since Bush meagerly floated and then quickly retracted his proposal to provide an option to privatize social security.

    I do hear an awful lot of about "cutting entitlements". Are there any real-world proposals floating out there about what could/must/should be done about Social Security (14% of the budget), Medicare (16%), Defense (13%), "Health care services" (11.9%), Income security (9.7%) and the ever-increasing interest on outstanding debt (8% of the budget) (according to www.usapsending.gov for FY22). Together, they make up nearly 3/4 of the entire budget.

    It seems like a complete waste of time to take these off the table as you'd have to shave significant portions off the remaining categories to add up to anything substantial (and I haven't seen any appetite for that either).

    But has _anyone_ been brave enough to suggest real proposals to the big ticket items? I would love to hear a show breaking some of those down with some of the pros and cons and a sense of what traction anything might get (in some parallel universe).

    Edit: Just noticed this piece here, https://thedispatch.com/article/how-republicans-can-get-serious-on-spending/, but even it mostly speaks to the hypocrisy of either party and ends speaking to cutting out edge-case spending on existing programs, narrow future spending, and identify solutions that we can work towards. None of that seems like a real path to change - are there any more concrete ideas floating around out there?

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      Ben Connelly

      Lucky for you, Brian Riedl went on the Remnant this week to follow up on that article he wrote.

      There are people who have done exactly what you described who work in think tanks (like Riedl), but as far as politicians, the closest we got was maybe Paul Ryan and he’s out of politics and in a think tank now. Maybe with Mitch Daniels running for Senate we will have another politician who is serious about these issues again.

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        Whit Waldo

        That's what I'm getting at - I think it'd be interesting to hear a podcast or read through a write-up of what the editors at the Dispatch thought might be a collection of the better and/or more likely ideas out there for each of these big ticket items.

        I'll be honest; I don't follow DC politics enough to name more than two think tanks off the top of my head, but I bet the Dispatch team can.

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          Ben Connelly

          The Brian Riedl episode is a good start. There are probably some really old episodes of the Remnant that fit that bill too.

          But the best thing to do would be to check out AEI’s website - I’m sure Riedl or some of his colleagues have articles and podcasts that answer your questions.

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    M.E.

    Not part of the show, but my Friday morning podcast stream has The Dispatch Podcast followed by KCRW's Left, Right, and Center, which announced that Sarah will be the regular panelist on the right with her friend Mo Elleithee on the left. I've already taken to calling in the Sarah and Mo Show and their rapport is fabulous, so it's great that it's a permanent gig.

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  9. MathewA

    1. It's been well known for decades that we have two parties. The big government party (Republicans) and the bigger government part (Democrats).

    2. Agreed that Republicans are often hypocrites when it comes to spending. When they control everything they spend more.

    3. Who cares. I'll take Republican's fiscal restraint part time, over never having any fiscal restraint.

    4. Yes spending went up WAY to much under Trump. Then Dems took back over and showed us how it's really done, and absent Joe Manchin, would have passed even more.

    5. not passing a debt ceiling increase does NOT mean we default on our debt. There's plenty of money for that. It just means we have to cut other spending (SS, Medicare etc).

    6. Failure to pass reform now will mean REALLY high inflation later as we stealth default.

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  10. Timothy Sinclair

    My snack suggestion: Popcorn with hot sauce on it, eaten with chopsticks. Or your sauce of choice - I also like it with spicy peanut sauce. Or Tajin with lime juice!

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      Mike B

      Microwave popcorn hot from the bag with a little extra melted butter poured over it and Parmesan cheese sprinkled liberally on top, then shaken a bit to evenly coat the kernels. Mmmmm.

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    2. DebWa

      Yes! For a while popcorn with Tabasco sauce was the only way I'd eat it.

      Another good one is using Cajun seasoning or the seasoning for crayfish boils.

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