Good day,
Letâs start with a reaction that I bet Joe Manchin wasnât anticipating, per CNN.com: Senator Joe Manchinâs opposition to the Build Back Better Act prompted Goldman Sachs to swiftly dim its US economic outlook. The Wall Street firm told clients Sunday it no longer assumes President Joe Bidenâs signature legislation will get through the narrowly divided Congress, citing the West Virginia Democratâs announcement that heâs a ânoâ on the $1.75 trillion bill. âA failure to pass BBB has negative growth implications,â Goldman Sachs economists, led by Jan Hatzius, said in the research report. Citing the âapparent demiseâ of Build Back Better, Goldman Sachs now expects GDP to grow at an annualized pace of 2% in the first quarter, down from 3% previously. Ratings agencies, which donât watch cable news or follow Twitter, base their forecasts on facts. And the fact of Manchinâs decision is that it is bad for the economy. So all these people who carry on about socialism and spending money we donât have and all the rest have it completely backward. Public investment is investment. It helps goose the economy. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar or an idiot.
I tried to go to the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Monday morning to see what the local reaction to Manchinâs announcement was. Itâs West Virginiaâs flagship newspaper and was once known as a great, crusading, fearless newspaper, a strong liberal voice in what was once a heavily Democratic state. That was the Gazette. The Daily Mail was the right-wing paper. A few years ago, times being what they are, they merged.
This morning, I was hoping to see an editorial at least politely rapping Manchin on the knuckles. I had some issues with my login info, so I couldnât read much, but I saw enough. There was no editorial criticizing Manchin, and the lead story early Monday morning was about a family adopting a dog (later in the morning, the site did highlight a piece featuring quotes from West Virginians who support Build Back Better). Back in the old days, legendary publisher Ned Chilton, a champion of racial integration and progressive ideas and a quiet hero of American journalism in the twentieth century, lived by the motto âSustained Outrage.â I didnât see any outrage today. And this is part of how someone like Manchin gets away with doing this.
One piece really worth reading today is Politicoâs thorough and detailed examination of 14 items that are in the current version of Build Back Better and Manchinâs position on each of them. Some of them you know, like paid family leave; others you probably havenât even heard of, like the methane fee. Itâs really good reporting, and it suggests that there is a way forward here for Democrats to pass something early next year.
Moving on: CNN.com dropped a bomb Friday on the January 6 front, with a piece from Jake Tapper and Jamie Gangel reporting that the famous November 4 text urging an âagressive [sic] strategyâ to push three states to ignore the will of their voters and overturn the election results may have been written by former Energy Secretary Rick Perryâa surprising development, given that Perry had not heretofore been thought to have been involved in all this. Perry denied authorship but âmultiple peopleâ told CNN that the phone number from which the text message originated was Perryâs. This was in the tranche of material Mark Meadows turned over to the select committee before he stopped cooperating. So if indeed Perry was the author, we have a Cabinet secretary suggesting behavior that is unethical and, oh yeah, illegal. Canât help but wonder what else the committee knows.
For a little breather from the bad news, check out this amazing Washington Post story about Robert Todd Lincoln, the presidentâs son. He was at his fatherâs side when he passed away at the house opposite Fordâs Theater. Robert Todd Lincoln was standing a few feet away from James Garfield when he was assassinated. And he had just arrived in Buffalo, New York, to join William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition when he got the news that McKinley had been shot. Small wonder he resisted repeated entreaties to run for president himself.
At NewRepublic.com, read Grace Segers on the postâManchin announcement state of play on Capitol Hill; my own column on Manchinâs decision, a little dose of the old sustained outrage; and Marion Renaultâs fascinating report on conservationistsâ search for one particular oak tree in Texas (in an 880,000-acre national park) and what it tells us about conservation efforts more broadly.Â
Happy Monday,
âMichael Tomasky, editor |
