Will The Real Fiscal Conservatives Please Stand Up?

We're gonna have a budget problem, here.

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With the State of the Union in the rearview mirror, Declan and David join Sarah to break down Biden’s re-election chances and the mood of the Democratic Party. The crew also takes a look at polling between Trump & DeSantis and their sway with voters. And yes, some balloon content drops, too.

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Comments (17)
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  1. Avatar photo
    LeGrand Northcutt

    On sunset clauses, they sound nice, but at least in Virginia, they have had zero effect. One particularly egregious example of many is that in 1987(!), the legislature passed a law that prohibited cities from expanding and annexing parts of counties with an 8 year sunset to "study the issues" (it was explicitly racially motivated, but that is beside the point here). Not only has the annexation moratorium been extended every 8 years since then, but the "deal" they struck, where the state would fund city policy departments or the moratorium would end, has also been suspended every two years since 1998. Because if you are extending the sunset, why not suspend the consequences as well? You can see the mangled state law here: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/15.2-3201/

    And this year? SB1185. Another bill for another 8 year extension. It passed both houses unanimously in a block vote. It was not a vote of consequence. I have a whole B side on this particular issue, but in short, in Virginia, sunset clauses end up giving politicians more cover (look, we *know* this is an issue, so we will study and fix it next time), not less.

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    The Bell Tower

    Also, didn’t Boss Platt shove TR into the VP slot to get him out of the way? Talk about a backfire!

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    The Bell Tower

    I’m not a conspiracy theorist so I won’t sit here and say that Democrats want a fiscal cliff to hit but certainly many of the serious ones understand that a fiscal cliff plays into their hands because the ensuing crisis will be a political opportunity for them to raise taxes at the very least. Maybe they can even permanently add a VAT to their arsenal.

    Republicans, still the desiccated corpse of less government, are not so fortunate because when the crisis does come, they’re gonna need to find funding and as they are fond of pointing out, raising taxes on the wealthy ain’t gonna cut it. There once was an opportunity to take that fiscally responsible hill. Not anymore.

    I haven’t heard enough people notice that Russia depleting their conventional and economic resources in Ukraine plays into Chinese hands. A prostrate Russia will run, tail between its legs with its huge oil fields, agricultural resources and vast nuclear arsenal, right behind big daddy China. It seems to me that’s exactly what China wants - a vassal Russian state.

    Meanwhile, “American” companies clearly have a financial interest in a weak US government. Look at Starbucks or Disney or Marriott. As you guys said, they want Chinese customers. Belligerent hawks disrupt their precious supply chains and plenty of such thinking pervades the Biden administration who still desperately want to get Warren Buffett more business in Iran.

    All this ESG baloney where Americans divest from our own fossil fuel production is GOOD for China, who couldn’t give two shits about global warming. They want us to nerf our own energy production while they try to play catch up with their military.

    The cliff and probably the war are coming. Americans don’t seem to notice or care. As Gibbon once noted about late Rome:

    "The rich and polite Italians, who had almost universally embraced the philosophy of Epicurus, enjoyed the present blessings of ease and tranquility, and suffered not the pleasing dream to be interrupted by the memory of their old and tumultuous freedom.“

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  4. Nejcik

    Why does "fiscal responsibility" only mean cutting spending? Aren't Democrats who want to raise taxes being fiscally responsible? They may be a lot of other things too, of course. But responsibility means paying for what you spend, and cutting spending is only one way to get there.

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  5. Rob

    Is there anyone on staff who could provide insight or reporting on why they chose to use a heat-seeking missile to shoot down the balloon rather than the plane's cannon? Seems like it would leave the payload more intact. Was it too high? Were they worried it would deflate too slowly?

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    1. Avatar photo
      Ben Connelly

      See one of the comments on Jonah’s episode with Noah Rothman

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    2. Rob

      Is it just because the F-22 can't fly that high?

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  6. Deleted Comment

    This comment has been deleted

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    George.Skinner

    Trump's ability to hurl accusations is always amazing for its hypocrisy and shamelessness. The guy known to have walked into changing rooms full of teenage girls at his beauty pageants is hurling grooming accusations at Ron DeSantis? I think this is where anti-Trump Republicans could probably make a difference with a series of ads that remind or inform voters of Trump's history.

    As a template, I'm thinking of the "Canadian Heritage Minutes" that the Canadian government produced to promote understanding of Canadian history: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1848FF9428CA9A4A
    Each one is 30 seconds long, with a dramatized recreation of some historic moment or person. Do the same for Trump's life, including the various bankruptcies, lawsuits, affairs, scandals. Do it with a bit of humor (the Canadian Comedy Channel's "Canadian Sacrilege Moments" were always a bit more to my liking than the earnest "Heritage Minutes" from the government: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTakrrA2EGo)

    The goal here is to produce something entertaining enough for people to watch, but less politically barbed than the Lincoln Project ads. Just remind people of who Trump is, and what he was like as president. It'd make some great counterprogramming during Fox prime time.

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  8. Chris

    Republicans have tried and failed to convince the public that social security and medicare have to be reformed, their insolvency is probably the only thing that will convince people to act. The good news is that this will happen soon-i believe medicare part A will become insolvent in about 5 years, social security around 5 years after that. At that point hopefully millenials and zoomers, as the largest voting blocks, will be able to craft a safety net program for themselves while they are still a couple decades from retirement. The sad reality is that those programs were meant for the america of the 1960s, the model simply doesnt work anymore. I think it will be a lot tougher for Gen X if those programs crash right as they enter retirement, but it was they and the baby boomers who refused even the most basic reforms when they would have been a lot less painful. Republicans like Rick Scott should just move on to issues they can actually win and let people live with the consequences of their actions.

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    Toog

    Rick Scott isn't proposing an actual substantive fix on entitlements, just a process. But why should we assume that requiring re-authorization every 5 years would result in cuts to make entitlements more sustainable? Isn't it just as possible that Congress would lard up the re-authorization bills with even more goodies?

    Look at the discretionary spending they already have to re-authorize. Budgets aren't long lists of cuts to fix the budget deficit. They're mainly lists of extra spending initiatives for which the politicians hope to get credit.

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    Dorothy Ott

    I was curious about Disneys loss off money and planned layoffs and read that they lost a large number of subscribers in Asia. The number of US subscribers increased by about 200,000. It didn’t sound like the “woke” stuff hurt them in the US.

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      George.Skinner

      Yeah - the "woke" explanation hadn't actually occurred to me. I figured it was more about the effect of inflation resulting in decreased discretionary spending on stuff like theme park vacations, and companies looking to trim back costs because they see an economic downturn looming. Also, 6000 people sounds like a lot until you consider Disney has a workforce of 220,000 worldwide.

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    2. Dominic

      Agreed. I didn't hear any evidence linking the loss of subscribers to the "culture" war. I think the price increase for streaming services is a more realistic cause. Weird to hear a claim without much support, but maybe that's why its in the "not worth your time?" slot.

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