Which will voters remember more in 2024?

[lizkat]

Need to fix that poll and add the winning answer: the godblasted pharmaceutical industry is what American voters may well remember most. Not that they so far seem able to shake off K-street's hold no matter which way they vote.

Big pharma gives campaign donations to both sides of the aisle, and also runs plenty money into no-disclosure PACs and so supports ads running under innocuous-sounding names like "A Healthy Future" or "A Public Voice"... and the industry doesn't give a damn about "American voters" except the votes of members of the House or Senate, so long held in thrall. As the piece cited below points out, there are three times more registered pharma lobbyists than there are members of Congress.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/05/pharmaceutical-industry-drug-price-lobbying/

Other industries, including tobacco and electric vehicles, have worked aggressively to pare down or reshape parts of the bill in their favor, too. But the effort to fight back on drug-price increases stands out because of the enormous scope of the campaign waged by the pharmaceutical industry and its allies, which have derailed similar proposals for the past two decades, despite how popular many of the changes are with voters, according to polling data.

“They’re the Goliath,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of OpenSecrets. She said that aside from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, of which pharmaceutical firms are members, the industry had spent more than any other by a wide margin so far this year, deploying so many lobbyists — 1,600 — that they outnumber members of Congress 3 to 1.

The industry made $90.6 million of political contributions during the 2020 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets, 61 percent of that to Democratic candidates and groups.

The industry’s focus on drug pricing has increased dramatically in recent years as the issue became more top-of-mind for voters. In 2012, lobbyists registered to work on the issue of “drug prices” 69 times for 20 different clients. In 2021 so far, they have filed to lobby on the issue 1,192 times for 242 different clients, according to OpenSecrets data.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Let’s say you are going on vacation and need a neighbor to watch your dog while you are gone. You ask your neighbor on the right and they straight up tell you they will shoot your dog while you are gone. You ask your neighbor on your left and they tell you they would never shoot your dog. So you leave your dog with them and they shoot your dog while you are gone. Which neighbor is worse?

 

[SuperMatt]

Let’s say you are going on vacation and need a neighbor to watch your dog while you are gone. You ask your neighbor on the right and they straight up tell you they will shoot your dog while you are gone. You ask your neighbor on your left and they tell you they would never shoot your dog. So you leave your dog with them and they shoot your dog while you are gone. Which neighbor is worse?

The one in the middle. You shouldn’t ask your neighbor to watch your dog when you travel. They have their own life to worry about.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Historian Nancy MacLean: We're seeing a right-wing plan built on "decades of disinformation"

MacLean published "Democracy in Chains" four years ago — and says it's "gut-wrenching" to see it come to life

www.salon.com

"To this point, Democrats have been unable to mount an effective defense against the Republican fascists and their forces because they refuse to grapple with the enormity of the challenge. In that way, the party and too many of its liberal and progressive supporters remain trapped in short-term crisis mod, focusing on the immediate problem rather than the long-term threat and big picture.

By comparison, Republicans and "movement" conservatives have been thinking strategically, and in many respects have prepared for their impending victory for decades. Understood this way, American's democracy crisis is neither surprising nor new. The roots of our current disaster go back at least to the 1960s, with the backlash to the civil rights movement and other struggles to expand and improve the country's social democracy."

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

The one in the middle. You shouldn’t ask your neighbor to watch your dog when you travel. They have their own life to worry about.

That was a deflection. I asked which neighbor is worse, not for more options. This is what happens in a duopoly.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Inflation taking up a lot of airtime now. Regardless of the cause, that coupled with not passing any meaningful (and widely popular) economic relief legislation isn't going to land well with voters.

 

[Herdfan]

Inflation taking up a lot of airtime now. Regardless of the cause, that coupled with not passing any meaningful (and widely popular) economic relief legislation isn't going to land well with voters.

And yet not a big topic around here. Wonder why?

CNN tries to give Biden a pass, but even they realize he is going to get blamed for it.

Analysis: Why inflation is a political nightmare for Biden

Joe Biden's next political nightmare is inflation, a force that can destroy family budgets and political careers and is being driven by domestic and global factors tough for a president to quickly fix.

www.cnn.com

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

And yet not a big topic around here. Wonder why?

CNN tries to give Biden a pass, but even they realize he is going to get blamed for it.

Analysis: Why inflation is a political nightmare for Biden

Joe Biden's next political nightmare is inflation, a force that can destroy family budgets and political careers and is being driven by domestic and global factors tough for a president to quickly fix.

www.cnn.com

At some point "but Trump is so much worse" is going to stop landing with voters. I think we're about there already, but others believe that will never stop landing.

 

[Yoused]

At some point "but Trump is so much worse" is going to stop landing with voters.

Here is my graphic, charted in Numbers

data source​

One of the reasons that CFEFWSG and Burn-e were popular in '16 is that voters were/are increasingly fed up with the parties. Trends do not really show this changing in significant ways, but the upper-echelon power structures are working diligently to keep the either-or paradigm in place, because it foments stark division that keeps the lower echelons from gaining any real traction. This may be changing, but the pace is glacial and the status quo will not go away quietly nor without a lot of damage.

 

[SuperMatt]

Inflation taking up a lot of airtime now. Regardless of the cause, that coupled with not passing any meaningful (and widely popular) economic relief legislation isn't going to land well with voters.

This is still COVID’s economy. It would have been great if there was no anti-vax movement and we were 80% or more vaccinated by now, but that’s just not happening. Americans are doing this to themselves by not getting the shot.

Here’s something that gives a beginning of an idea about inflation…

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1456683999657615364/

PS - you might not be able to see the end of the chart in this embed for some reason - open the tweet to see the massive uptick in goods consumption at the end.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Here is my graphic, charted in Numbers

View attachment 9691
data source​

One of the reasons that CFEFWSG and Burn-e were popular in '16 is that voters were/are increasingly fed up with the parties. Trends do not really show this changing in significant ways, but the upper-echelon power structures are working diligently to keep the either-or paradigm in place, because it foments stark division that keeps the lower echelons from gaining any real traction. This may be changing, but the pace is glacial and the status quo will not go away quietly nor without a lot of damage.

Both corporate controlled parties and their complicit news media have been painting different lipstick on the same pig for decades. It’s unfortunate that Trump (the biggest RINO of them all) seems to be the only viable alternative, but the blame needs to be put squarely on the entire system and both parties. This shit didn’t just start 6 years ago. At least a lot of people on the right stopped their romance with the Republican party while a lot on the left seem to still be happy in their abusive relationship with the Democrat party, neglect and a constant unfilled promise to do better is abuse.

 

[Herdfan]

Here is my graphic, charted in Numbers

View attachment 9691
data source​

That purple line that started increasing during the W era has to scare the hell out of both parties.

It also hints that many who went independent came from the GOP, at least initially. But in 2016 and again last week in VA, it was independents who pushed Trump and Youngkin over the top meaning those voter still agree with more of the Republican agenda vs the Democratic agenda.

But none of that has to do with inflation. And like @Chew Toy McCoy posted, blaming Trump is going to hit less and less as time goes on.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

But none of that has to do with inflation. And like @Chew Toy McCoy posted, blaming Trump is going to hit less and less as time goes on.

I sometimes try to put myself in the head of the low or bad information voter who, like Trump, just wants to see things through personal experiences (losses and gains) and simple graphics, not elaborate excuses for failures including a 100 year history lesson. That’s fine for these forums and discussions but a lot of voters aren’t going to bother with all that.

 

[Yoused]

it was independents who pushed Trump and Youngkin over the top meaning those voter still agree with more of the Republican agenda vs the Democratic agenda

Partly, perhaps. The main reason people voted for Youngkin was not about agenda, per se, but about the fact that they were disgruntled and/or that they felt like McAuliffe was being a dick/snob. It is a feature defect of binary choice representative, as well as direct, democracy.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Partly, perhaps. The main reason people voted for Youngkin was not about agenda, per se, but about the fact that they were disgruntled and/or that they felt like McAuliffe was being a dick/snob. It is a feature defect of binary choice representative, as well as direct, democracy.

Some Democrat politician (or maybe it was a Democrat strategist) said the Democrat party won’t change until you prove that you will no longer vote for them. However, Democrat politicians have their heads so warped by their corporate taskmasters (that also control the Republicans) that when they lose they don’t see it as the result of failing on their promises (or some would argue their traditional values), but they’ll see it as a sign that they should be more like Republicans. It's already being preached by all sides of the media...."The Biden admistration is going too left (with his extremist paid family leave, pre-k and affordable child care, medicare expansion, and reducing drug prices....what a socialist asshole!)

 

[SuperMatt]

Some thoughts on the current inflation from a Nobel-prize winning economist:

Opinion | History Says Don’t Panic About Inflation

This year looks more like 1947 than like 1979.

www.nytimes.com

Another lesson, which is extremely relevant right now (hello, Senator Manchin), is that an inflation spurt is no reason to cancel long-term investment plans. The inflation surge of the 1940s was followed by an epic period of public investment in America’s future, which included the construction of the Interstate Highway System. That investment didn’t reignite inflation — if anything, by improving America’s logistics, it probably helped keep inflation down. The same can be said of the Biden administration’s spending proposals, which would do little to boost short-term demand and would help long-term supply.

 

[Herdfan]

Well written article. Whether he is correct remains to be seen, but he does make some good points.

However, none of that matters to a family (aka voters) who's budget is being stretched thin right now.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Former Tea Party congressmen Joe Walsh has an interesting Covid related reason for the recent Republican wins that I didn't think of, kids being kept out of school for what some feel was/is way too long. Masks may be annoying to some, and you can get vaccinated or not, but there's no way to avoid your life getting turned into chaos when your kids aren't allowed to go to school long term. The scheduling and cost could be immense, especially as we've established a society where both parents need to work just to scrape by.

 

[SuperMatt]

Former Tea Party congressmen Joe Walsh has an interesting Covid related reason for the recent Republican wins that I didn't think of, kids being kept out of school for what some feel was/is way too long. Masks may be annoying to some, and you can get vaccinated or not, but there's no way to avoid your life getting turned into chaos when your kids aren't allowed to go to school long term. The scheduling and cost could be immense, especially as we've established a society where both parents need to work just to scrape by.

Sorry, was it that kids couldn’t go to school or that they were being indoctrinated with CRT at school? Seems like this is a contradiction of the anti-CRT narrative.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Sorry, was it that kids couldn’t go to school or that they were being indoctrinated with CRT at school? Seems like this is a contradiction of the anti-CRT narrative.

It's not a contradiction. The news media only gives the camera and mic to the extreme nutters. The same sources that are screaming it’s all about CRT, and nothing other than CRT, are the same networks saying nobody wants expanded government services because their main concern in life is the price tag.

You could have no feelings about CRT one way or the other, but have personal experience with your kids taken out of school long-term and see a Democrat governor being the reason for it.