Until everything is free and we all go broke!
One of these days the Head Groundskeeper will spot a likely progressive, a Trotsky look-alike walking along Madison’s Monroe Street — all masked up for Covid in the great outdoors — and tackle him to the ground. Shoving an iPhone in his face to record his flustered response, the Werkes poses this question for the amusement of our platinum subscribers: How much more free stuff are you going to inflict on America?
Joe Biden’s college loan forgiveness is only a down payment on the progressive project of government-paid everything. The Nation magazine (John Nichols’ day job) says as much: “Joe Biden’s $10,000 student debt cancellation is a huge win — but it’s not enough.”
One Nation reader objected: “I’m so tired of the “it’s not enough” phrase and headline right now. I get it. Of course we have to keep pushing for more! But do we have to do it one hour after something is announced?” The reader makes clear that socialism is a tough sell in an election year. She counsels:
In the midst of pushing people to get to the polls for the midterms? Why not frame it as: hold the House, get a few more Senators, and then let’s do more.
Market distortion
Big Gummint’s finger on the scale distorts market decisions, as it did when the easy-credit housing bubble burst in 2008. Free money papers over unproductive decisions. To wit: The average debt for a master’s degree recipient is $71,287; for a doctoral grad it’s $159,625. Yet the median salary for a Ph.D. is a mere $55,000 in the humanities and $67,250 in social sciences. (Source here.)
Uncle Joe took you for a chump
Charlie Cooke in National Review: I opened the door to six guys in blue shirts who had come to my house to replace our air-conditioning units. … The company they work for … was started by a guy who chose to forgo college in favor of taking out a small-business loan to strike out on his own. Most of the technicians who work for him didn’t go to college, either. They took a different path. And, well . . . what absolute chumps the President has just made of them for that!
The Babylon Bee reports, you decide:
‘Average lifetime earnings of a Gender Studies grad rise $10,000’ (albeit from $0.)
“Every $20,000 of loan forgiveness,” Kimberly Strassel (one of the essentials) writes, “is $20,000 the favored college forgiven can blow on urban loft refits or Hawaiian vacations.” She quotes Obama administration economist Jason Furman: “Pouring roughly half [a] trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless.”
Enough with the economics, Blaska! Get back to the culture wars! Your wish is … Even the Washington Post editorializes: “Widely canceling student loan debt is regressive. It takes money from the broader tax base, mostly made up of workers who did not go to college.”
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Higher education (you have enough fingers to count the exceptions) has become a cancel-culture zone of anti-American political repression. Breeding ground for critical race theory, gender bending, and outright Marxism.
Is anything more arrogant than a tenured university professor?
39 responses to “It’s never enough for progressives”
I hope that my daughter, son and daughter-in-law (who all paid off their student loans) realized that Joe has turned them into “suckers” and will vote accordingly.
Outside of their little bubble, I wish people would stop calling them “progressives”.
I see no progress whatsoever in this “movement”.
Ian, I agree. I’ve been using the term “Regressive” for some time now.
“It’s never enough” can also be seen in action locally. All over the place.
I have been following the absolutely ridiculous saga of the Overture Center and MMOCA controversy that never seems to end.
From an unauthorized entry that exploded into the usual racial firestorm and that white lady gatekeeper getting summarily fired, to an unfinished art piece being mistaken for an invitation to hands-on kids art, to screaming and police calls and demands for immediate resignations by art gallery director and the entire board — and money grabs too — the latest chapter in the saga is the board clapping back to the racial grievance mongers and standing by the gallery director, while their statement simultaneously says (in the same paragraph) essentially, “we are committed to eliminating systemic racism but there is no systemic racism under our roof”.
The whole saga reads like an absurd tragicomedy that would not be believable in fictional form.
Apologies, accommodations, programs, funding, “centering (insert race/gender here) voices”…. none of it is ever enough and the harder the Madison white liberal tries, the more racism they will be accused of.
This is what “the work is never done” really means. You’ll neve be good enough, Madison white liberals. You can never carry enough water. You can say the prescribed words in the prescribed order as demanded — and it still won’t be enough.
The antiracist cause is basically a racist death cult. It is a nasty, hardcore twisted religion all about certain races never being able to make it right. No redemption is possible even though they dangle it — say THESE WORDS or else! Oh wait, there’s more to be done….
YES! Absolutely! The biggest faux outrage since Althea Bernstein! Exactly, that mom and her kid thought it was a hands-on kids’ participation exhibit. In some sense, MMOCA brought this on themselves by suborning art to identity politics. But am encouraged that bd of directors fighting back. So, too, is county Zoo administration against similar charges.
Yep, the zoo and the highway department too. EVERYWHERE. Madison can never do enough. Liberals try and try, and they can never undo their vicious white supremacy. 🤣🤣🤣
I nearly fainted when I read that the poobahs at MMOCA actually went against the wishes of a gaggle of ANGRY BLACK WOMEN and voted to keep the current director. Probably not enough to start a trend but encouraging nonetheless.
Will they EVER learn?
I have to think the Museum director had same thought as Tim Treadwell: “But, but I thought you were my friend!”
Or even better, “But, but,but I thought I was YOUR friend and ally! I said all the right things! I did the work! I owned my whiteness and worked overtime to make it right! I put in 80, 90 hours a week turning MMOCA into BIPOCA 24/7, centering the voices of Black women and fe.mes and Queer POC…. and, and, and it’s STILL not enough!?!!! Now you want my head on a stick and more money and public apologies and it still won’t be enough!?”
Can we imagine how differently this whole MMOCA debacle could have been if it had been approached through a “pro-human” lens of assuming good intentions and understanding that nobody and no situation is ever perfect? Assuming that simple human mistakes happen from time to time would have gone a long way to avoiding this problem in the first place. Jumping right to accusing innocent people of racism is so mean and arrogant not to mention untrue.
Can you imagine if all these folks (arts and staff) who were not that familiar with each other had decided to have a mandatory pot-luck instead so that they could all see each other as perfectly imperfect humans. Isn’t that one of the goals of ART?!!
A very succinct analysis of MMOCA’s tempest in a teapot. Madison is Exhibit A when it comes to the “nothing-is-ever-enough” mentality of liberal elites. Another example is the millions the city is pouring into a costly boondoggle called the Center for Black Excellence [sic], which would more aptly be named the Center for White Liberal Expiation.
Don’t even get me started about the MMOCA story. If that woman had been white and demanded the things she did, she’d be called a Karen, white privilege beneficiary, and a host of other racist perjoratives. Glad the board stood up to her but they were way too nice—could have instead told her what to go do with herself.
I keep reading that Biden’s most recent actions are illegal but I don’t see anybody doing anything about it. Does anybody on this blog know for a fact either way?
No. Only a court challenge will determine. I would think a single congress person would have standing.
The debt forgiveness order is likely illegal and, legality aside, a transparent vote-buying scheme. I couldn’t improve on Francis Menton’s elaborations on these points, so I’ll just commend this post to anyone interested: https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2022-8-25-the-governments-most-audacious-lawless-act-yet-and-a-potential-response. As Menton argues, “Every day it gets harder to keep up with the accelerating lawlessness of the Biden Administration. The basic strategy is, just do whatever the left wants, using all the vast powers and resources of the federal government, and dare anyone to try to stop you.” Menton has some suggestions, but they require in the first instance a transfer of power, notwithstanding what he rightly calls “this nearly $2 trillion … slush fund for the Democrats.” And require in the second instance, determination to implement reforms by Republicans on assuming power. Good luck on both counts.
There would be plenty of money for everything if the Goobers On Parade would stop giving their zillionaire donors tax breaks. Make corporations cough up their fair share. Look at all the money Walker gave Foxconn and the result is we are holding the bag. Quit your whining. You all sound like gotch crying about a bike lane.
Put Lesiak down for More Free Stuff at someone else’s expense. “Zillionaires” like Elon Musk are not creating wealth — they’re taking it from hard-working Grievance Study majors!
“hard-working Grievance Study majors!”
Those fries aren’t going to make themselves.
Yeah; and I’m still waiting for trump to come to town and throw some paper-towels out the back of a pick-up.
“Is there anything more arrogant than a tenured university professor?” No. And nothing more hypocritical either. When you proudly proclaim yourself a Marxist “scholar” yet reap the fruits of capitalism in order to live like the pampered bourgeoise rather than the proletariat, you are flaunting your hypocrisy for all to see–but it won’t matter because you’re tenured.
The flaccidly enfeebled Blogge Idiot is too clueless to realize that the majority of the richest members of the 111th-117th Congresses (those that write the tax code) are despicable Lefties.
But he read a headline on one of the LefTARD</b sites which pander to idiotic Lefties (forgive the redundancy) and swallowed it whole.
It gets worse.
Hillarity New Jowls Clinton Is OUTRAISING TRUMP 20-1 Among Billionaire$.
FACT: Despicable Lefty is the Party of Rich Phuques, but their half-witted base is too mind-bendingly STOOPID to acknowledge a fact-based Reality!
Gives them the sadz!
The Gotch
So the deck dwelling bean picker awakens to post more nonsense. The richest members of congress are lefties? You did yourself proud when you pulled that out of your anal leakage butt. Clinton is out raising trump? That fat orange faced hero of the crotch should be a zillionaire because he never pays his bills. The grifter can’t even get a lawyer to work for him that can spell. She should outraise the orange glob; none of them want to be anywhere near that fool. The inbred hillbillies that keep sending their pennies to trump for years on end deserve everything they get. SCREWED! You are too STOOPID to even check your facts. 20-1? Prove it. When, where, how, why. Have your care-taker check your meds.
Sensing the Gold Kryptonite Effect a fact-based Reality presents, the Blogge Idiot lacks even the RUDIMENTARY ABILITY to click onto a link which cheerfully, and unequivocally, provides proof positive of The Gotch’s contention?
Priceless!!!
The Gotch
The article you are praising is from 2016 you dumb putz. You’re just like trump; living in the past. Dumb-a$$.
You ask: “How much more free stuff are you going to inflict on America?”
The answer: when you stop taking it. We’ve given you enough.
We subsidized your college education to the tune of $2000 per year. We provided you with a subsidized draft deferment (what was that worth to you – $50,000?). We provide you with $19,000 a year in Medicare payments. We provide you with $3000 a month in Social Security. Your family received farm subsidies and a subsidized public education. God knows how much that cost.
There are a lot of valid reasons to oppose loan forgiveness and yes, you are right when you say “Free money papers over unproductive decisions.” By the time you die you and your family will have papered over $1 milion in unproductive decisions.
“We provide you with $19,000 a year in Medicare payments. We provide you with $3000 a month in Social Security.”
We?
Your monumental arrogance is almost as breathtaking as your imbecility.
Almost…
Anywho, did a life of cluelessly coddled entitlement paper over the FACT that working people must pay such a thing as a (and this is where it gets GOOD!) TAX for the benefits you describe above?
Thought so.
There exists a 6.2 % levy for SS and 1.45 % for CMS for both employee and employer, totaling 15.3%.
Don’t want someone else deciding how much you’re worth and choose to take the self-employment/independent contractor route like yours truly? You get to pay it all yourself.
The Gotch would LUV to recommend that you TRY HARDER, but based on a damn-near-perfect record of ill-informed, common sense/reality bereft, Lefty-Centric slobberings, replete with spectacularly un-cited/copy-paste plagiarism, it’d be a Fool’s Errand.
The Gotch
The chairman of the Blowhard Committee has blustered again.
I will respond in English as I’m not fluent in ebonics.
I understand your ignorance because you are a graduate from the Wisconsin school system.But let me tel you how the world works.
Transfer payments make up 62 percent of governement expenditures. The largest transfer programs are the middle-class entitlements, Social Security and Medicare. In addition, a large portion of the third biggest entitlement program, Medicaid, actually goes to the middle-class elderly and disabled individuals, not the poor. Those three programs alone now make up more than half of all federal spending.
YES, SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE ARE PARTS OF THE WELFARE STATE.
Of course, many recipients of Social Security and Medicare will object to calling them “welfare” (or even “entitlements”). They would point out, correctly, that they have paid taxes that they were told were intended to finance those programs. But this fundamentally misunderstands how those programs are funded, both as a matter of law and practice.
First, the Supreme Court has ruled, in both Nestor v Flemming 3 and Helvering v Davis, 4 that there is no relationship between taxes paid into Social Security (and by extension Medicare) and the benefits received from those programs. Payroll taxes may be designated FICA (Federal Insurance Contribution Act) taxes and referred to as Social Security taxes, but the court makes it plain that they are “paid into the Treasury like any other internal revenue generally and are not earmarked in any way.”
Second, we need to understand that, in practice, when an individual pays Social Security taxes, none of those taxes are set aside for that individual’s benefits. Rather, they are used to pay benefits to those who are currently retired. Social Security is merely a transfer payment from workers to retirees. In that sense, it operates exactly the same as any other transfer or welfare program.
Third, while this will not necessarily be true for future generations, current retirees can expect to receive more in benefits than they paid in taxes. Many individuals will receive more than taxes paid plus a reasonable amount of interest on those taxes.
Medicare operates in much the same way. There is no contractual right to benefits, which can be and are changed frequently. And it operates as a transfer payment from workers to retirees/recipients. Indeed, with Medicare, the welfare aspects of the program are even more apparent since roughly 43 percent of the program’s financing comes directly from general revenues without the illusion of a dedicated payroll tax.
This makes sense only if your point of departure is that the federal government owns the entire economy.
It’s nice that the students that got shafted by Trump U. can recoup some of their losses.
They’ve already been compensated through separate legal action.
The Blogge Idiot laughably believes that because an article was written in the past, that it somehow renders irrelevant the Inconvenient Truth it accurately portrays?
We’re shocked…SHOCKED…says no one!
The Gotch
It is irrelevant to the topic of Blaska’s blog. Living in the past, but can’t remember yesterday is a sure sign of dementia.
The comically inept, despicable Lefty Klown Kar Karavan barrels along apace:
Ex-Hopeless Changey Economist Blasts DementiaJoKe’s RECKLESS STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM As ‘Pouring Roughly Half Trillion Dollars Of Gasoline On The Inflationary Fire’
Ruh roh!
Anywho, just keep live mics in front of their clueless yaps, the fact-based Universe-n-circular Firing Squad will do the rest!
The Gotch
Seems former Mayor BikeShorts, (no MAGA Republican, he!) isn’t too keen on DementiaJoKe’s extra-legal vote buying scheme:
“Student loan forgiveness is a divisive question that Congress should wrestle with. PRESIDENTS SHOULD NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO RELINQUISH DEBT–AND PUT TAXPAYERS ON THE HOOK FOR IT–with just a stroke of the pen.” (bolds/caps/italics added)
The Gotch
July 2021, when asked about Biden’s “power” to forgive student debt: “He can postpone, he can delay, but he does not have that power,” Pelosi said. “That has to be an act of Congress.” SFGATE 8/27/2022
NICE CATCH, Mark!
The Gotch
Thx. My brother would say, :Even a blind hog finds an acorn sometimes.