KOMMONSENTSJANE – BYE BYE! MR BIDEN

← KOMMONSENTSJANE – The Ballad of Bidenflation..

Posted on January 19, 2025 by kommonsentsjane

01/19/2025

GOODBYE MR. BIDEN. We had to give you a failing grade due to your help; but, Jill gets an A+. She was the glue that put you together. We didn’t have a President for four years. I blame Pelosi/Obama/Schumer/Soros/tech media for the whole ball of wax which contributed to the misery of the American people and the shape we are in now.

New Poll Reveals Trouble For The Democratic Party.

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman stated, “The party needs a complete reboot,” and “The party lied to the American people about the cognitive health and fitness of the president.” A recent Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll has caused concern among Democrats regarding future leadership. Nearly half of registered voters could not identify a leader of the party, with 30% responding “Don’t Know” and 19% saying “Nobody.” Among those who did provide names, Vice President Kamala Harris received 10%.

kommonsentsjane

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

KOMMONSENTSJANE – The Ballad of Bidenflation..

January 19, 2025

As the final embers of Biden’s presidency smolder, they illuminate a lesson as old as ambition itself: that power without purpose kindles not progress, but calamity. Inflation was not an inevitable storm—it was the work of hands too eager to grasp and too weak to steer.

History will remember not just the cost of this folly, but the folly of those who dared to dismiss its price.

****
The Ballad of Bidenflation
Breitbart Business Digest01/17/2025
by
John Carney – Breitbart Economics Editor
Alex Marlow – Breitbart Editor-In-Chief
 
January 17, 2025
The Ballad of BidenflationJoe Biden’s tenure as president will likely be remembered as an era of economic mismanagement, a vivid demonstration of what happens when the aimless pursuit of power combines with unbridled ideology to trump prudence. While every administration has its challenges, few have left such a clear trail of cause and effect as Biden’s policies did in fueling inflation—a scourge that has eroded the financial well-being of millions of Americans, upended the economy, and sent the once-ascendant Democratic party into a defensive crouch.

The last lamps of Joe Biden’s presidency are being extinguished, their light fading into history, and we can be assured that we will never again find ourselves subject to their glare. This is the final Breitbart Business Digest of Biden’s presidency, a farewell of sorts to an era defined by economic missteps and the consequences of misguided policies. Like a prisoner scratching out the days of his captivity prior to release, we now etch into the wall one final marker.President Joe Biden speaks about Bidenomics on October 13, 2023, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

To understand how this predicament unfolded, we must begin with Biden’s early days in office.

The administration entered the White House with an agenda as ambitious as it was miscalculated. Riding on a wave of COVID-era crisis politics, Biden and his economic advisers championed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the largest single stimulus package in American history. Sold to the public as a necessary measure to combat pandemic-induced hardships, it ignored warnings from economists across the political spectrum that the size and timing of such spending could unleash inflationary pressures.

Larry Summers articulated the risks early in 2021:“Even six months ago, it was reasonable to regard slow growth, high unemployment, and deflationary pressures as the predominant risk to the economy. Today, while continuing relief efforts are essential, the focus of our macroeconomic policy needs to change.Inflationary pressures are mounting from the boost in demand created by the $2 trillion-plus in savings that Americans have accumulated during the pandemic; from large-scale Federal Reserve debt purchases, along with Fed forecasts of essentially zero interest rates into 2024; from roughly $3 trillion in fiscal stimulus passed by Congress; and from soaring stock and real estate prices.This is not just conjecture.

The consumer price index rose at a 7.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter, and inflation expectations jumped at the fastest rate since inflation indexed bonds were introduced a generation ago. Already, consumer prices have risen almost as much as the Fed predicted for the whole year.”In February 2021, Olivier Blanchard, a renowned liberal macroeconomist, presented a detailed case against the scale of spending in the American Rescue Plan. He argued that the Biden administration’s excessive Covid relief efforts would trigger a significant surge in inflation. Using a straightforward economic model, Blanchard’s predictions closely mirrored the inflationary reality that eventually unfolded.That Biden was too infirm to resist the clamor of his party’s left-wing constituencies speaks volumes about his lack of fortitude and judgment.

It revealed a hollowness at the heart of Biden’s presidency—even his entire political career or really his entire life. It was always more about winning office and exercising power than the pursuit of particular noble achievements. That ambitious abyss was filled by the agendas of those who style themselves as representative of the aggrieved and afflicted. What was a little bit of inflation when America had been a nest of villainous vipers since 1619?Warnings over inflation were treated as obviously wrong.

Here’s what Binyamin Appelbaum, the most economically literate member of the editorial board of the New York Timeswrote in response to Blanchard:The fear of inflation has become a greater threat to the American economy than inflation itself.The Biden administration wants to spend $1.9 trillion to combat the coronavirus and its economic effects. Congress is grappling with the details, some of which certainly could be improved. But the plan also faces opposition on the grounds that spending so much could revive inflation.

“This would not be overheating; it would be starting a fire,” tweeted Olivier Blanchard, formerly the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. Lawrence Summers, a senior figure in each of the previous two Democratic administrations, warned in The Washington Post of “inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation.”These warnings should sound familiar because we’ve been hearing them for 40 years. The threat of inflation has been invoked repeatedly as the justification for placing limits on federal spending, for restraining the pursuit of full employment and for limiting the economic power of workers.It is a tired refrain that seems to be sung mostly by those whose views were forged during the stagflationary 1970s. But we live in an era of anemic inflation, and changes in the economic landscape since the ’70s have significantly reduced the chances of a revival, including the watchfulness of the Federal Reserve, workers’ loss of bargaining power and the effects of globalization.

Even as late as November of 2021, when the economy was quite obviously on the path to much higher inflation, progressives were declaring that rising concern over inflation was all just a Republican psy-op.“Is inflation running rampant? No,” proclaimed Rakeen Mabud, the chief economist of an outfit called the Groundwork Collective, in a video posted to Twitter by a different leftist group called Invest in America. “So these one-time price increases are the result of returning consumer demand and a sign of economic recovery.”Note that the tweet claims it is “debunking” the “GOP’s inflation disinformation.” Anne Price, an economist at yet another leftwing pressure group called the Insight Center, appears in the video to say that the “reality is that mildly elevated inflation is actually a signal that things are going well.”

For months, Biden’s economic team insisted that inflation was “transitory,” a temporary hiccup that would subside as supply chains normalized. Over and over again, Biden and his proxies claimed that inflation had been overcome—only to have it rise again.This narrative crumbled as inflation proved persistent, forcing the Federal Reserve to undertake its most aggressive rate-hiking campaign in decades. The Fed’s efforts, while necessary, came at a steep cost: higher borrowing costs, a slowdown in housing and business investment, and the specter of a potential recession.A Broader Failure of LeadershipBiden’s missteps on inflation weren’t limited to fiscal policy. His administration’s regulatory agenda, particularly its aggressive push for green energy subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act, further strained supply chains and raised costs for key inputs like energy and raw materials. The requirement that all programs be shaped to fit the climate change transition schemes and DEI demands further exacerbated the problem of an economy whose output could not keep up with demand.

While the president’s allies argue that these policies lay the groundwork for a greener and fairer economy, their actual effect was to exacerbate inflationary pressures.Unsurprisingly, voters took notice. Polls consistently showed that inflation ranked as the top economic concern for Americans, and Biden’s approval ratings on economic issues languished.

This erosion of trust extended beyond inflation, leading to broader doubts about the administration’s competence and priorities. By prioritizing ideological goals over pragmatic solutions, Biden has alienated not just conservatives but also moderate and independent voters who had hoped that his election would bring about something like a return to normalcy following the chaos of the pandemic.Many pundits sympathetic to Democratic politicians and the Biden administration were certain that public distrust and resentment created by inflation would fade as the worst of economic crisis subsided.

This was a serious underestimation of how deeply betrayed many Americans felt by Biden’s unleashing of inflationary forces on their household finances.While some have argued that the ubiquity of inflation absolves Biden, pointing to high inflation rates in other countries as evidence that his policies were not uniquely harmful. But this defense falls flat. Inflation abroad was often the result of similarly flawed economic leadership—a global outbreak of bad policymaking.

As economist Jason Furman observed, the American Rescue Plan was far larger relative to GDP than comparable stimulus packages in other advanced economies, amplifying U.S.-specific demand pressures. The ubiquity of bad economics does not absolve its practitioners of the effects. Rather, it underscored the need for disciplined policymaking, even when others fail to exhibit it.And so voters in the U.S. and around the world have been rejecting the leaders and their parties that loosed about their nation’s the long-dormant threat of inflation.

That, perhaps, may be looked at as the silver-lining of this episode, the bright note at the end of this mournful ballad. Bidenflation cost us dearly but it brought forth a political whirlwind that swept his party from power, delivered the House and Senate into Republican hands, and returned Donald Trump to the White House.

As the final embers of Biden’s presidency smolder, they illuminate a lesson as old as ambition itself: that power without purpose kindles not progress, but calamity. Inflation was not an inevitable storm—it was the work of hands too eager to grasp and too weak to steer. History will remember not just the cost of this folly, but the folly of those who dared to dismiss its price.

kommonsentsjane

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

KOMMONSENTSJANE – Jonathan Turley: President Biden Sees Dead Amendments.

01/18/2025

ttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/jonathan-turley-president-biden-sees-dead-amendments/ar-AA1xqJx9?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=506f5cdc1dc54dc9a410d3ec83314db6&ei=48

President Biden is presenting his progressive supporters with another parting:

FOX News

Biden pushes for Equal Rights Amendment to be ratified despite legal concerns

President Joe Biden wants people to know that he sees dead amendments. Just before leaving office, Biden declared that we have a 28th Amendment, despite the fact that the measure died in the ratification process years ago.

Not since the movie “Sixth Sense” has there been a more creepy moment. To paraphrase Cole Sear in the film, Biden does not see failed amendments in constitutional coffins but “Walking around like regular [amendments]. They don’t know they’re dead.” Neither does Biden.President Joe Biden is pictured in front of the U.S. Capitol. Getty Images

President Joe Biden is pictured in front of the U.S. Capitol. Getty Images© Getty Images

Biden waited until shortly before leaving office to pander to the most delusional elements of the Democratic Party in unilaterally announcing that the Equal Rights Amendment is now part of the Constitution. The farcical moment was then amplified by figures like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-N.Y.), rejoicing and falsely telling women that they can now go to court and enforce the amendment to restore such things as abortion rights.

This bizarre group fantasy was triggered by the following declaration:

“In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: The 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex.”

Without naming them, Biden cites dozens of “constitutional experts” to support this absurd claim.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APPJournalists work outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Getty Images

Journalists work outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Getty Images© Getty Images

Biden’s last-minute declaration is more creepy than the movie because it requires not just the departure from the constitutional process, but also from reality. Despite running as the champion of democracy, Biden is simply brushing aside the fact that the ERA was not ratified, as made clear by the Justice Department, various judges, and his own archivist just weeks ago.

Even the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg declared the amendment dead.

Archivist Colleen Shogan recently explained that neither her office nor the White House have the authority to publish the amendment unilaterally or waive the deadline for ratification:

“In 2020 and again in 2022, the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice affirmed that the ratification deadline established by Congress for the ERA is valid and enforceable,” she wrote. “The OLC concluded that extending or removing the deadline requires new action by Congress or the courts.”

“Therefore, the Archivist of the United States cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment. As the leaders of the National Archives, we will abide by these legal precedents and support the constitutional framework in which we operate.

The reason is simple. The underlying argument is utterly ridiculous.

As I have previously written, the ERA is as dead as Dillinger.

The deadline for ratification of the ERA was set for March 22, 1979 — allowing seven years to secure the required approval by three-quarters of the states, or 38 states. It failed to do so. Even worse,  four states — Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky — rescinded their prior ratifications. A fifth, South Dakota, set its ratification to expire if the ERA was not adopted by the 1979 deadline.

Kentucky also had an additional problem because its Democratic lieutenant governor vetoed the resolution rescinding the ratification when the governor was out of town. However, Article V speaks of ratifications by state legislatures.

Notably, during the extended period, not a single state was added. Even assuming that the five states could be counted despite the votes to rescind their ratifications, the ERA was still three states short when it missed the second deadline.

Democrats then insisted that states could not rescind their votes, even before ratification was finalized. So, Democrats and then-President Carter simply extended the deadline to June 30, 1982. However, in 1981, a federal district court ruled in Idaho v. Freeman that Congress could not extend the ERA’s ratification deadline. (The Supreme Court later stayed that order but then declared the matter moot.)

In 2021, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that it would have been “absurd” for the Archivist to disregard the deadline and unilaterally add the unratified amendment to the Constitution. On appeal, a unanimous D.C. Circuit panel rejected the claims of Illinois and Nevada that the Archivist should be ordered to publish the ERA, holding, “The States’ argument that the proposing clause is akin to the inoperative prefatory clause in a bill is unpersuasive…because if that were the case, then the specification of the mode of ratification in every amendment in our nation’s history would also be inoperative.”

None of this matters to the defenders of democracy who ignored the votes in these states and dismissed constitutional deadlines and procedures.  Harvard Law professors Laurence Tribe and Kathleen Sullivan ran a column declaring “The ERA is Now Law!” as if amplification and exclamation points would somehow make it true. (This is the same Laurence Tribe who called for Trump to be charged with the attempted murder of former Vice President Mike Pence and insisted that the law was clear “without any doubt, beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond any doubt”).

Notably, Biden did not issue an executive order to the archivist as many activists wanted. The reason is simple: The White House knew that it could be challenged in court and would quickly collapse under judicial review. They would prefer Biden to declare Caesar-like that we have a new amendment and treat it as a fact.

With the declaration, Biden gave “the last full measure of devotion” to the radical left of his party. It was a pandering and, frankly pathetic, moment for a president who is currently one of the least popular presidents in leaving office.

His action on the ERA is a perfect example of why he is viewed as a “failed” president. Biden has always sacrificed principle for the politics of the moment. This was a participation trophy given to activists that lacked any substance or basis. It is also why voters saw Biden as a greater threat to democracy than Trump.

It is chilling to think that Biden actually believes this nonsense and sees dead amendments walking around the White House. Yet, the truth may be even scarier: He simply does not care. He sees dead amendments in the hope of restoring life to his legacy. Both, however, now belong to the ranks of the corpus mortuus.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JONATHAN TURLEY

Original article source: JONATHAN TURLEY: President Biden sees dead amendments

***

kommonsentsjane

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

KOMMONSENTSJANE – Talking To Teenagers/Immature Grown Ups.

01/18/2025

Heloise’s suggestion with my adult addition.

Talking to a teenager or an emotional adult. One of the best hints I’ve ever heard concerns how to deal with an emotional teenager/emotional adult. I’m quick to offer my opinion, or if I’m lacking one, my response is: “I don’t know what to tell you!” Both responses never went over well.

Now I say, “Would you like me to listen? Or would you like my advice?” My response has expressed relief that they can ask me to simply listen to them or keep my opinions to myself!

kommonsentsjane

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment