Day: October 1, 2021

Closing Thought–01Oct21

Horrible news!

My better half says that with enough bacon I could eat a bowling ball.

All true…everything is better with bacon.

Now for the horrible news…..

Not since the Reagan years will a side of bacon set you back as much as it does now. CNN reports that the price of the breakfast staple is the highest it’s been in four decades when adjusted for inflation, with the average cost rising close to 30% over the past year, per the Consumer Price Index. It all comes down to the supply chain, and like other industries, pork’s took a hit in the US during the pandemic. Meatpacking plants were temporarily closed and pigs were euthanized amid an animal backlog while those factories were shuttered.

WBIR notes that labor shortages also contributed to the pork problem, all while consumer demand has stayed steady. Pork prices overall have surged 12.1% since December, per a National Economic Council briefing earlier this month. “I’ve been in the restaurant business since the early ’80s, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” one chef for a food truck in San Francisco tells CNN, noting the price of pork needed for one of his specialty dishes has doubled in recent months.

One state is getting hit with a double bacon whammy: Not only are prices increasing in California, but new animal welfare rules set to take effect next year could mean pork products all but vanish there. Per an AP report in July, the state will soon start enforcing a proposition approved by voters in 2018 that mandates more space for breeding pigs, as well as for other livestock such as chickens that lay eggs and calves kept for veal.

Well crap!

My October just started with bad news….hopefully the rest of the month will be better.

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The Usual Antics From Congress

With about 90 calendar days left to this session of Congress the usual games are being played to assure that Biden gets at least something that Dems can run on in 2022.

Update: President Joe Biden on Thursday night signed legislation to keep the government funded through Dec. 3, with just hours to spare before a government shutdown, the AP reports. Also Thursday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed a vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. CNN notes Democrats may be waiting until a deal has been struck on the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act, for which negotiations will resume Friday. Our original story from Thursday follows:

After much drama, the US will avoid a potentially calamitous government shutdown at midnight. But talks continue on legislation that could decide the fate of President Biden’s agenda. The latest details from a busy day in DC:

  • Shutdown: The Senate voted Thursday afternoon to provide funding to keep the government running through early December, reports the Washington Post. The House quickly followed suit and passed it on to Biden for his signature, per CNBC.
  • 2 other votes: Democrats, meanwhile, were scrambling to pass Biden’s $3.5 trillion plan to overhaul the government, as well as a slimmer $1 trillion public works bill, per the AP. A promised vote on the latter faltered amid stalled talks on the bigger package.

Pelosi: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assembled her leadership team for a morning meeting and emerged determined to push ahead, strike a deal with Biden over his bigger $3.5 trillion effort, and avoid what would be a stunning setback if voting on the public works bill failed or had to be scrapped. Democrats are deeply at odds as progressive lawmakers threaten to withhold votes on the roads-and-bridges infrastructure bill they view as insufficient unless it is paired with Biden’s broader vision. In the narrowly controlled House, Pelosi has no votes to spare.

  • Manchin’s number: Attention is focused on Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, centrist Democrats who view Biden’s plan as too big but have infuriated colleagues by not making any counter-proposals public. Manchin called an impromptu press conference Thursday outside the Capitol, insisting he has been clear from the start—his topline is $1.5 trillion. “I’m willing to sit down and work on the $1.5,” Manchin told reporters.
  • Manchin, II: Politico reports that Manchin proposed the lower figure in a document sent to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in late July. Both senators signed the document. “Leader Schumer never agreed to any of the conditions Sen. Manchin laid out,” says a Schumer spokesperson. “He merely acknowledged where Sen. Manchin was on the subject at the time.”

Manchin and the other one are doing their part to make Biden and Dems look like buffoons…..which is not too hard since most are just that without any help.

This is  pathetic session….Dems work against their own agenda….those centrist toads are killing progress (as usual)…..

The hurdles that President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda is facing come not only from Republicans, but also from centrist Blue Dog Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan railed against Manchin and Sinema during a September 26 monologue, arguing they are preventing Americans from having things that residents of other developed countries take for granted — including universal health care and policies that address the dangers of climate change.

The progressive firebrand told viewers, “The main story here that should bother all of us is that the American people are suffering for no good reason. They’re being gaslighted. Why is it that the U.S. is the only industrialized country that cannot guarantee health care or childcare or family leave for its citizens?”

https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/biden-agenda/

Biden agenda will be watered down so that nothing is changing….in other words …..”same as it ever was”

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“lego ergo scribo”