Congress is Pissed

Or so says CIP. This is vis-a-vis Mueller vs Trump. I said:

In Merrie Englande, "pissed" means drunk. Having said that...

I think Mueller is belatedly realised he kinda fucked up and now wants a second go. But what to make of "Mueller explained that his decision was based on longstanding justice department policy, rather than lack of evidence. “A president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office,” he said. “That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view – that too is prohibited.”" (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/29/mueller-says-trump-was-not-exonerated-by-his-investigation). That sounds like bollox to me. Plenty of people (waves hands vaguely) were fully expecting and hoping that Mueller would indeed charge The Mango; only *now* claiming there is a clear policy not to do so sounds like excuse making.

Congress has I think got using to buying cheap popularity with pork and ducking hard decisions, which is why so much power has bled away to the presidency. This is not what your founders intended.

Talking about "The Green New Deal And A Universal Basic Income" with Thomas Fuller

TF posts The Green New Deal And A Universal Basic Income; I commented the below. Let's see how the discussion goes.

wmconnolleysays:

May 15, 2019 at 8:28 am

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

This is doomed in so many ways (I say that as someone definitely interested in an UBI, and perhaps even a supporter of it).

> but few would argue we are doing enough

I think you’re wrong. I think many people would (in the sense of proportion of those-that-bother-to-even-think-about-it). Also, I’d guess your averages hide a lot.

> a permanent net loss of positions

A bit like when farming was mechanised. Or when spinning was. Oh, but this time is different… And who knows, maybe it is. But I’m dubious.

> primary premises of The Green New Deal is “Guaranteeing a job with…

I think this is a bad idea and it’s one of the reasons that I oppose the GND. But then I’m a small-govt person.

> endorsement by us for

You speak in the plural. Who is “us”?

> sovereign wealth fund

You don’t have a SWF because you don’t have a budget surplus, you have a (massive, by world standards) deficit. If you could raise extra income through magic free taxes, there would be pressure to (a) pay down the deficit; but also (see recent politics) to give out freebies and/or cut other taxes.

> it wouldn’t take long …. By 2030 we could have a nice nest egg built up

Sorry, but this is where you get delusional. Can you genuinely imagine a large nest egg building up, and your rapacious pols not raiding it for their own pet pork projects?