• raccoona_nongrata@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Yes, it was ultimately Republicans who forced the politicization of the debt ceiling, but Biden really did not put up much of a fight. You have to ask yourself if the GOP really would’ve plunged the world into economic armageddon just for a handful of aid concessions. I think it was complete bluff, and Biden probably knew that but the reality is he’s pro-austerity. He can’t say it outright since it’s unpopular, but he’s still quite conservative and believer in the economic/corporate status quo. It might be deliberate, or it might be that he’s literally just not imsginative enough to see outside his own bubble.

    It tracks when you look at his stalling on student debt relief too; people like AOC were recommending he use the Higher Education act from the very beginning, precisely because it was more legally resilient, instead he chose a path that we more or less knew would result in failure in the courts.

    But he pursued that route because, as he explicitly said, he didn’t want Americans getting used to debt relief as the norm. More or less indicating that he saw this as a temporary political tool to bump his poll numbers, rather than trying to confront the broken debt system that will inevitably create a repeat of the situation we’re in now.

    • alyaza [they/she]@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I think it was complete bluff, and Biden probably knew that but the reality is he’s pro-austerity. He can’t say it outright since it’s unpopular, but he’s still quite conservative and believer in the economic/corporate status quo. It might be deliberate, or it might be that he’s literally just not imsginative enough to see outside his own bubble.

      i don’t see how you can make this argument when he’s presided over the largest expansion in social spending since the Great Society and has approved something in the ballpark of 4 or 5 trillion dollars in new spending between stimulus bills and his political priorities. a serious debate in the Democratic caucus was over whether to spend “just” 1.75 trillion or go for 2.2 trillion in spending. if this is austerity the word has absolutely no meaning at this point.

        • Juno@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          “Stalling on promises” You mean trying to do shit but have Republicans do everything possible to stop the law and if it passes they do everything they can to not comply???

          I think THAT is what you mean.

          • raccoona_nongrata@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            No, I mean like Obama explicitly promising to use his super majority to pass abortion protections and instead, when the time comes, simply saying it’s not a priority and passing a republican-crafted forced insurance bill. I mean like forgoing the opportunity to raise the debt ceiling when you have control of the house and then capitulating to a cartoonishly obvious bluff of threatening to decimate the economy. I’m talking about having people recommend a legally sound route to forgiving student debt, and instead wasting time going down a route that people are already telling you will be struck down in the courts.

            Establishment democrats and establishment republicans work together to stop progress. That’s what being bipartisan means in this political context. The democrats ability to constantly tie their own hands is a trick worthy of the circus.

            • AnarchoYeasty@beehaw.org
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              1 year ago

              Obama had a super majority for 72 days and even then that required independents to caucus with them. Independents who are the reason the health care talks stalled. This isn’t Obama’s fault it’s Liebermans. No matter how many times you repost this bull in this thread it still won’t be true. Stop doing the GOPs work and convincing people to not vote for the only side that is doing anything to stem the tide on every issue you are bringing up b

    • pbjamm@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      You have to ask yourself if the GOP really would’ve plunged the world into economic armageddon just for a handful of aid concessions

      Yes. They would rather Biden look bad than America look good.