It looks like the Democrats are going to try to pass the 1.9 trillion stimulus bill regardless whether they get any Republican support. The few GOP senators who want to participate want a bill of 6 billion. This is way less than economists think would do any good. There are some who think that 1.9 trillion is still not enough. I am no economist so I don't know how much is the right amount. But given the dire situation of many Americans, I think you have to go big, even if it is not bipartisan like Biden wants.
When Obama took over the recession in 2009, he tried to rally Republican support. So his bail out and stimulus plans were not as big as he wanted. It turned out, he got no GOP support anyway. So it is foolish to think in this post Trump era, we are going to get more bipartisan. It turned out that the stimulus Obama put in was less than optimal in retrospect. Despite the outcry of Republicans against the bailouts, they claimed later that the recovery was too slow because not enough was done. So there will be no satisfying the GOP no matter what. Even Obamacare, which is very similar to Romneycare in Mass. has been attacked ad nauseum by the Republicans. So I think Biden and the Democrats should seize the moment and pass what they want instead of waiting for a few Republicans to join them.
I do agree that the minimum wage bill is not included in the stimulus bill. That bill will not help the dire situation right now and we should pass what is passable right away. I don't know if $15 is a reasonable goal and whether that is good or bad for most people. But I don't think it should be a national law to almost double the wage over a few years. Here in California, the minimum wage is $14 starting this year. Given the standard of living in California, it is justified. But that should not be the same in states where the cost of living is much lower. In fact, I think a study should be done in a few years to compare states with minimum wages higher than $15 vs those who are less and see how it affects the workers, the small business owners and the economy in general. Then we can see whether higher minimum wages is better or not.
It's too bad that both sides can't come together to work on something. But we have seen time and again that they won't work together and will do everything to block the other side. So, I don't see what Biden can do but to let the Democrats get the bill passed.
ReplyDeleteI admit I was on the side of no minimum wage increase to $15. I sort of back off that but have concerns. I do think that the minimum should be relative to the state and not a flat amount nationwide.
I do think that there should be some sort of increase. You look at the data and it shows that wages have not increased with the rate of inflation and cost of living. It used to be that the minimum wage jobs were for certain people but that's changed as well. So we should look into increasing it.
Are you a little surprised like I am that there are so many Republicans that still and will back Trump in 2024? To me, this is a sad situation and I am sorry to see this in the GOP.
On a side note, I remember you were in medicine. My mother has inquired about this prescription service called Refillwise. Her friend told her about it and it's supposed to decrease meds costs. Have you heard of this? Here is a link for it:
https://www.refillwise.com/
-LBOAYM
I think most GOP politicians wish that Trump will just leave, at least certainly not run in 2024. But most of them got elected with his base, so they don't want to bad mouth him. There are some like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz who think they can out trump Trump. They figure that if Trump can get 74 million people to vote for him, why can't they do better than him if they can retain his base. If they talk like Trump and is obviously smarter than Trump (both are Harvard graduates), and are a lot younger and more energetic (can walk down a ramp), then they can get 8 more million votes than Trump. At least that is their calculation. They figure that Americans won't see that they are bad people and bad for the country.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know how Refillwise and others like it make money. The way I understand it, they will compare prices for different pharmacies in your area and direct you to places where it is cheaper or willing to give discounts. I think for people who have no insurance, it is a good thing to use. I assume your parents have Medicare part D for drugs. I think you or one of your siblings can go to a site where if your write in the medications your parents take, it will tell you which part D program is best for them. If that is done already, I doubt that Refillwise will save then much money. It usually won't make much difference with generic drugs. If you need a high price drug, like a diabetes medication that has no generic, it may be a little lower. But then if you don't use the part D card, the money you spent may not go toward meeting the deductible. So that may also backfire. So off hand I don't see an obvious advantage to enroll in this program now.
March 4 is the day the QAnon said that Trump will be inaugurated as president. I bet that Biden will still be president when I wake up.
ReplyDeleteTexas governor Abbott is opening up the state and getting rid of the mask mandate. Is this guy a moron? According to my calculation, Texas is the one state that is seeing cases and deaths increasing more in the past 10 days than the previous 10 days. They just mishandled the electric and water crisis and now this? Are they trying to get rid of people in Texas?