Elon Musk holds no elected office. Yet House Speaker Mike Johnson is hopping like a scared rabbit after Musk voiced opposition to a continuing resolution to fund the government. When we speak of oligarchs, we tend to think of Slavic billionaires, who call the shots from their dachas in Sochi. But there are an increasing number of American oligarchs on both the left and right ends of the political spectrum. They are far more dangerous to American democracy than some poor bastard who fails to get the necessary papers before he moves here.
84 comments:
SOMEONE, Musk or most anyone else, including YOU, Bernie, should be speaking out strongly against this proposed abomination of a continuing Resolution.
This 1500 page monstrosity of a plan is filled with pork spending additions, a massive increase in pay for our failed Members of Congress, and a variety of new ways for our oppressive federal government cabal to rule over every aspect of our lives. It even goes so far as to restrict citizen’s ability to object to what is being done to each of us.
SHUT THIS DAMN GOVERNMENT DOWN for a month, or two, until better people are in control!
The so-called ‘shutting the government down’ for a cooling off time is not really a serious hardship, anyway. Most everything critical continues on as is, even in ‘shutdown’ mode. Has happened several times before.
Wake-up, America! Our present government is not only out of control, but has has no responsible leadership in place.
I’ve seen over the last day or so that Musk has invested about $200 million in the 2024 election and has seen his wealth rise nearly $200 billion this year. He’s uncomfortably close to omnipotence in a way that transcends elected terms. Murdoch could sell his media empire to him in a moment, making Musk the most powerful man on earth (a similar outcome was played out in HBO’s “Succession”).
How does that change the life of the average retired guy living in a mobile home park in East Allen Township? How does it change mine? If he controls satellite communication (Starlink), the most influential news and opinion company (if he bought News International), it might over time make that guy’s life a lot less comfortable. We’ll see.
The latest no budget continuing resolution needs to stop now. Maybe the citizens would be surprised to see that the world goes on without much of the federal government.
I assume you don't like Musk becoming politically involved. Do you think it is for personal gain? I think Trump should hand over that 2 foot high federal budget to Musk and Vivek and their choice of staff and do a line out of all frivolous spending, do you doubt that budget has $100's of billions of bullshit? Then submit the budget, make it public, and let Congress feel the heat of the citizens. I think the people would approve.
It seems most all the congress do not even know what they are voting on.
Only a completely brainwashed zombie would categorize what happened yesterday as a bad thing.
No more business as usual in D.C.
America is getting what Americans voted for -- chaos, incompetence and greed.
It appears we have two presidents at a time since Biden's already half retired himself. I'd also like to point out after January 20th. Trump and the boys are to be held accountable for everything after that date. No excuses. Some things I agree with but far more I disagree with. I'll be quite surprised if by June things will not be chaotic. Let's see what happens.
This country is filled with pathetic morons who are too dumb to know this. Trump added $7.9 TRILLION to our deficit last term and the middle and lower class will pay for billionaires and trillionaires to reap the financial benefits. Now we have Elon, who isn't even American, pulling Trump's puppet strings. Great job all you Trump idiots. Thank you for your stupidity.
some poor bastard who fails to get the proper paperwork before he moves here - I believe you meant to say some diseased criminal illegal that the dems let in so they could get more votes, and REAL AMERICANS have to pay for their crime and welfare.
Bernie Sanders is spot on. I can't wait to read the stupid comments later from all these people who will trash democrats. The comments from this blog has made me lose faith in humanity.
Poor BO has gone completely off the rails since his girl lost the election. His hate is making him blind to reality. He is whing like a little child who didn't get his way.
Our government has sucked big time for years they are bastards, so Trump is put good people to work to try to straighten this big mess out and you Bernie try to make them look bad You are a very bad liberal person you should retire because you have a terrible outlook for this country.
how can you write this and not mention George Soros? How many of his DA's ruin cities?
The comments here against an African American are awful. Obviously you are xenophobic, and racist. Democrats rules not mine
Racist rich guy who's been in government since the beginning of time, and owns three homes, say whaaaaaat? He's made a fortune off dummies like you. Comrade Sanders is one of the primary reason voters demanded Trump again. I don't like Trump. But I LOVE what he's done to you and rich faux-commies, like Sanders. If Bernie truly believes in communism/socialism, he'll give me one of his homes and we'll each have two.
7:37 - First, you’re talking about the debt, not the deficit, and there’s a difference. Learn it.
Second, the debt increase under Trump was primarily due to Covid, as well as winding down the unpopular wars he inherited.
Finally, you’re complaining about what Trump added to the debt during his last term, and are now complaining that he’s trying to stop more wasteful spending before he takes office again.
That seems a bit schizophrenic, so time to get back on your meds.
Bernie, will you be at the courthouse today to watch the Oligarchs of Northampton County scrapple in courtroom 5? The show starts at 11 a.m.
John - How does adding more wasteful spending, funded by debt, benefit that retired guy in the trailer park, or his kids and grandkids? More and more of what they pay is going towards interest on the debt, and less towards what is actually needed.
What’s been going on in Washington is piggish, and is robbing the nations’s youth of their future.
If Democrats want to continue to spend without limit, let them have the courage to propose and vote for the tax hikes to pay for it now. It’s time for the days of a blank check to come to an end.
6:45 - There is nothing more greedy than spending money for things that you want now, and expect others - who
Haven’t even been born yet - to pay for it later.
It’s piggish and childish.
Money doesn't seem to matter. The Dems out spent Reps 2 to 1 to sell their shit sandwich candidate and lost.
Trump bought the presidency at a 50% discount... The Art of the deal. lol
Best Christmas presents for BO. A trump voodoo doll or a harris madonna shrine.
Just in time for our 250th anniversary, we are going to celebrate it by ending the experiment entirely, and adopting a Russian style oligarchy as our government model. Anyone who thinks there will ever be a free and fair election again is delusional.
Cope harder, loser!
I feel sorry for miserable heartless people like you. It must be difficult to live such a negative lifestyle. Do you celebrate Christmas?
You understand that a large quantity of average Americans work for the federal government, right? Hate Congress all you want but a shutdown impacts the food inspectors, the park service employees, the people that work on processing social security applications and veterans benefits... People that work Regular jobs, not millionaires.... Right before Christmas. IF they are deemed essential they have to come to work, but they don't get paid. How many people have enough savings to cover a month or more of no income?
Besides that, it is horrible for the people that don't work in government. "The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the 2018-2019 shutdown reduced Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by a total of $11 billion, including $3 billion that will never be recovered. On top of that effect, CBO notes that longer shutdowns negatively affect private-sector investment and hiring decisions as businesses cannot obtain federal permits and certifications or access federal loans. A 2019 Senate report found that the three government shutdowns in 2013, 2018, and 2019 wasted nearly $4 billion of taxpayer dollars."
You people just don't get it. If and when America falls, so goes the world. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is the worst thing that could have happened to this Country. But that is all we had to vote for and the voter, for whatever reason, picked a convicted felon to guide our Country through these difficult times. I am an elder senior citizen deeply rooted in the belief that you get out of life what you put into it. This Country's decision to have a half wit convicted felon guide this great nation may very well be the end of Democracy as we know it but will also serve as an invitation for DICTATOR's around the world to extend their destruction on their neighbors. Mark my words, it will happen under a Trump administration filled with self centered idiots. Unfortunately you will live with it. My life will be over. Thank God.
Who gives away an entire federal stadium without approval of the taxpayers who paid for it!
Bernie - FYI Only
know you focus on Bethlehem news but have you seen what's going on in Emmaus with their municipal budget?
It was not Musk alone....it's what he has done with the "X" platform....people can finally get the truth about what is going on....do a little research and you will see numerous elected officials cited the fact that their offices were bombarded with calls after the details about the CR were all over X...
All united under one party, under one king.
So do the Fox-watchers ever get out of their basements and into the sunlight? Do they understand that their orange leader is railing against spending while advocating raising the debt limit? Trump just disrupts to keep his name in the headlines. His narcissism will be eclipsed by Musk’s. Musk is indeed the smarter guy in the room.
It is not too late to get Bern a crying towel for Christmas
By all means, make Trump accountable for results. BUT, at least wait until after he has his team in place, and a vastly improved Congress. That could take a full two years, or more. We have far too many compromised, corrupt Democrats and Republicans serving in Congress now. It will take time to get rid of them completely. Too many in office work to serve THEIR best interest, not yours.
Trump’s clearly stated goals include reducing the size of the government bureaucracy, regain control of our borders, reduce taxes, strengthen our military, and return respect for protections enumerated in our nation’s Constitution. If he manages to accomplish just half of that in 4 short years, I’ll be thrilled, and so should all of you, regardless of political party preference.
We are spending 100 billion dollars more a month than we have coming in. This with a 4.3% unemployment rate. It’s unsustainable and there is going to be pain for everyone, including political pain for whoever has the guts to put a stop to this madness. As far as a shutdown, federal employees get to what amounts to a paid vacation because they are always made whole.
We’re spending g 100 billion more than we have coming in. President Kennedy asked what can you do for your country, now it’s what can my country give me. Gimme gimme gimme these kids are going to inherit a disaster. Government can’t be everything to everyone.
Exactly right. Trump had to deal with COVID. Biden used it as an excuse to spend all kinds of money we didn’t need to spend. Not a big Trump guy but this is true.
Wild outspent Mackenzie 5 to 1. Crazy.
Palmer twp also. The supervisor said if you don’t like the big tax increase then move. What an asshole!
We are getting very close to stagflation. The Fed can’t cut rates to much further because of the stubborn inflation Biden caused. This as the economy is slowing. As far as the CR, they y this game every Christmas, pack a bunch a shit in a 1600 page CR packed with bullshit and then blow town. It’s got to stop!
Bernie Sanders loves Russia! He honeymooned there lol.
If it takes an oligarch like Elon Musk to get our financial house in order, so be it.
Stop being so partisan Republicans are just as guilty in spending as past Republican Presidencies. This great country was founded on compromise. We need to stop all this partisanship on both sides and work together and govern accordingly.
You understand that 90% don't go to work and are taking advantage of actual working people? Or are you a lazy goldbrick, yourself? Yeah. I thought so.
Dude. If you don’t have a month of living expenses put aside as an emergency fund I can’t help you. I was an essential government employee who went through this. Unfortunately we got used to it and are always made whole. What pissed is off was the nonessentials who got off from work then got paid for it.
CRs are political negligence. Our last debated budget was 16 years ago. Our local and state governments must debate and pass budgets, in the open, with full transparency, each year. It's ugly, but transparency usually is. Both parties are at fault. Bernie Sanders has been part of the problem for every one of those 16 years, and is a horrendous hypocrite. Musk is demanding an actual budget. Like him or not, he's correct. We're $35 trillion in debt with no end in sight. That's the government grabbing money from our kids and anyone who can no longer dream of home ownership. Our debt interest payment is now larger than our defense budget. And both parties continue to support the endless slaughter in Ukraine. Good grief.
7:37 am - do you realize you are spreading lies or did you just fail your 8th grade civics class? Musk is a US Citizen, he just isn’t a native born citizen, he was naturalized in 2002.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-became-us-citizen-221402007.html
Keep writing your doomsday blog while on the LVR Titanic. Check out the pirate ships' sinking of the bloated spending bill. Trump's Team is cannonballing toward the first steps of Making America Great Again and The SS LVR is taking on A LOT of water.
Anon 9:03 -
Do you really think we need to continue to toil at work and keep heaping more debt upon our children and grandchildren so the employees in our bloated federal bureaucracy can continue to work at home years after the pandemic ended? Spare me.
You might have had a point if your democrat overlords didn't load up what should have been a minimal, short-term continuing resolution with all sorts of goodies including stadium giveaways to billionaires and a pay raise for themselves. That's the kind of spending that has us $36 TRILLION in debt and climbing.
If the democrats were serious, the CR should have been easy. But Senate democrats couldn't help themselves to try to get one last raid on the federal treasury on their way out the door. I don't really care if those in Congress have to work over Christmas to get this right.
And get ready for more. I can't wait until the new Department of Government Efficiency starts exposing ALL the waste in the federal government. It's high time the taxpayers had someone looking out for them.
Correction 1 p.m
No, MAGA has one president, functionally. Musk owns the one with the title.
How much federal money has Musk put in his pocket? Only about 20 billion. Nothing to see here. How about the 1 billion NY gave Musk for the Buffalo gigafactory?
Realize that the billionaire club takes care of their own, R or D matters not.
Let’s have a little history test. Who were the last Presidents to have a balanced budget. Bill Clinton and Lyndon Johnson and what party were they. Democrats correct
There are so many layers to excise to get to the root of this comment. The republicans have, since the 1980's, enacted a plan to try to limit what federal agencies can do, with the political slogans of "cutting red tape" and getting rid of "needless regulation". They have made the constitutional argument under something called the "non-delegation doctrine" that can be summarized as follows: if congress was not specific and explicit in its' delegation of power to the federal agency, the federal agency does not have the legal authority to act. The federal government, through agencies, has a rule-making process which requires public comment, hearings before congress, etc. One good example is when the EPA sought to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant because, in excessive quantities, it is bad for human health and they are charged with regulating air pollution. The republicans, through their lawyers at the Heritage Foundation, challenged this provision and the EPA regulation was struck down by our Supreme Court, which is overwhelmingly filled with republican appointees. The main thrust of the constitutional argument is that large decisions on the shape and purpose of our government should be made by elected officials, who are more responsive to the People than a non-elected federal bureaucrat. So now Mr. Trump (who was elected) is delegating the hard decisions to Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswami. The basic through-line in all of this is that our congress has been unable to reach consensus and pass even basic laws that a majority of Americans can agree with. Compromise with the other side is needed but unlikely. Happy New Year!
Yes, and that much-needed, new DOGE group is headed up by Musk! The man sounds absolutely serious, doesn’t he? There’s a guy who has the talent, ability, and courage to call out all the fiscal abusers that work in Washington, DC.
The UniParty Republicans under McConnell have been more than willing to lose to the Democrats on most every issue coming before Congress. That’s about to stop! Thank goodness!
That’s 100 billion a month.
See the shit in this CR? Pay raises. Woke shit. Subsidies for companies that don’t need it. It’s disgraceful!
Bernie why not write about the bloated bills congress is trying to pass. Billions in economic development used against the American public to obolish the American dream for the beneaficer.
9:03 is an obvious economic illiterate, so you couldnt have read this monstrosity of a bill filled with nothing but pork. And btw, 90% of gov't workers still work from home- Merry Christmas!
And not peep from LVR about all that outta town money spent to prop up the leaky Wild troll.
Best post on here. No budget for 16 yrs. Ridiculous!
What’s your point? Democrats are the party of big spending. Bill Clinton was 25 years ago lol. Now it’s the socialist party. California, NY, Massachusetts all have the highest taxes yet still have fiscal problems. Massachusetts state budget is 10 billion more than PAs, but they have 5 million less people. They love taxes and big government!
Trump wants a pass on the debt ceiling. Thus he can increase the deficit and say it wasn’t on his watch.
That’s what this is all about: unfunded tax cuts.
Cutting taxes is easy. Cutting spending is difficult.
The GOP: Borrow and spend.
Clinton balanced the budget by rolling social security into the general fund. He raided it. You failed your exam.
Biden is AWOL lol. He’s checked out.
How many homes could $1.2 Billion fund? That's what we just showered on an endless war in Ukraine that you support. The money goes to our war profiteer military contractors. They thank you for your service as their useful idiot. Now, back to you whining about affordable housing.
2:53 - If you had paid attention to politics prior to 2016 you would realize McConnell was only about winning seats for the party. He didn't let feelings get in the way of winning.
I know some will have to swallow their pride and admit they were very very wrong, but The People need to lend support to the Democrats and Bernie. It's clear that the wealthy (Elon, Vivek, Andreesen, Thiel, Trump, etc.) are coming after the nation's social safety net. They are going to let average Americans -- the old, the sick, the unlucky -- get crushed in the gears of our soulless capitalist machine. Make no mistake, they are coming for Social Security, Medicare, and Obamacare, so the rich can have more for themselves.
BO should have named this one, I know you are but what am I?
Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
-M. Twain
Hey, 6:51 -- low spending sounds great, but sometimes you get what you pay for. See MA is #1 in public school rankings? See how PA is #24? Makes you think, right?
https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/public-school-rankings-by-state
4:24AM -- Get some rest, buddy. President Musk isn't even in office yet, but he's already causing chaos. We could have gone into Christmas with a strong economy, had some peace and quiet with our families, but nope. MAGA fools are up at four in the morning screaming so: (A) Tesla's crash reporting won't be public, (B) President Musk can invest more overseas with the Chinese, (C) the wealthy can ram through more tax cuts for the rich by gutting Social Security and Medicare, (D) our government in general is weakened so it doesn't track all the corrupt sh!t MAGA leaders will be doing over the next four years. Give it a rest. We've all seen this story before. The rich are trying to capture the government. You're one of their cross-eyed bleating sheep in our community.
Childish bullies...all I hear is "do it my way or I'll show you...I'll shut down the government to make my constituants suffer and I will blame it on you". These people have no business a government that is for the people. Everyone who reads this will be affected by a shut down in some way.
8:10am: what you say makes sense up until you talk about Democrats. Trump's tax cuts for the rich were UNPAID FOR. They were a transfer from the government to rich folks for no reason. Extending them will blow up the debt even more... to the tune of 4.6 trillion dollars (yes, with a T... trillion).
https://www.budget.senate.gov/chairman/newsroom/press/extending-trump-tax-cuts-would-add-46-trillion-to-the-deficit-cbo-finds
God Bless Bernie Sanders. Always respected him as one of the few politicians who actually speaks the truth. If he made some money thru authoring books or investments, good for him. At least he did not try to squeeze it out of working people thru voting for more tax deductions for himself while trying to destroy social security and other safeguards for our society.
Every Repub President since Nixon who started a very simple premise when going into office: Run up the deficit while cutting taxes for the rich then scream when out of office that "Something must be done about all the debt!" and blame it on the Dems and Social Security. I have not seen a Repub, starting with Nixon that ever dropped the deficit.
Reagan took the deficit from 70 billion to 175 billion.
Bush 41 took it to 300 billion.
Clinton got it to zero.
Bush 43 took it from 0 to 1.2 trillion.
Obama halved it to 600 billion.
Trump’s got it back to a trillion.
See a pattern here?
Sadly, a lot of people don't.
For those chanting "Commies" they've been fed crap so long they don't know the difference between some fine cuisine and another fresh turd.
I can hear the Repub sheep bleating now, when in 4 years they are told that the reason that Social Security has to be eliminated is because of the "Commie" Dems...and they will swallow it whole.
9:33 - What exactly was McConnell winning?
It’s great to have a majority. But there has to be a vision behind having a majority.
If you think it was a positive thing for the nation to print money now for things it can’t afford and then expect our kids and grandkids to pay for it, then McConnell was your man.
But if you’re looking for fiscal responsibility and strength, he’s not it.
President Musk and Vice President Trump have no concept of American Government it’s basic civics separation of powers and checks and balances the president doesn’t make the laws the check is the veto
10:09 - You’re right. We will all be affected. Our portion of the debt won’t increase like it would have. I’m fine with that.
Excellent
I just have to laugh. The real scandal is the Joe Biden coverup. Trump isn’t the President he is. They knew from the beginning that he was disabled. He had 9 cabinet meetings IN FOUR YEARS! His wife ran one of them! Obama had 25 in his second term. Trump had 19. The WSJ story is just the beginning. It’s all going to come out. His top cabinet members were shut out. It’s borderline treasonous what they did. Kamala herself is the one that has said she was always in the room with him. She knew! They all did. Where the hell is Biden? It’s disgraceful.
9:53am: Trump has never had respect for our Constitution; therefore, he's incapable of returning respect for anything enumerated in it.
Funny you don’t mention Biden lol
It’s a little more complicated than what you posted. Both Clinton and Obama were forced into spending cuts they didn’t want to make by republican congresses. Bush 43 had to deal with 9/11. Trump had to deal with the pandemic.
Obama spent big until when he had control.
Virtually all net spending increases during the Obama administration were enacted during 2009–10, when Democrats controlled Congress. During the following six years, with a Republican House and eventual Republican Senate, $889 billion in net spending cuts were enacted, excluding legislation that simply extended expiring policies.
LOL. I grew up in Mass. they are fleeing in droves. Go live there if you think it’s so great. Out of the last 5 senate presidents 3 of them have been sent to prison. Can’t afford to pay attention there never own a house.
Data pandas huh? Lol ok. Look up Boston, Lawrence, Lynn, Lowell and Brockton. Their schools are great if you can afford a 1.5 million dollar house in Winchester or Weston.
He beat Trump and lives in Trump’s brain
It was actually House Speakers that went to prison one right after the other in Mass. Dimasi, Finneran, and Flaherty. My bad I thought it was senate presidents. That was Billy Bulger. He wouldn’t give up where his serial killer brother was hiding.
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