THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2024
Lives are at stake, he said: Mercifully, President Biden devoted little time, last Thursday night, to the silly "shrinkflation" "issue."
Mercifully, he barely mentioned the topic at all! According to the AP transcript of his spoken remarks, he did say this at one point:
PRESIDENT BIDEN (3/7/24): Look, too many corporations raise prices to pad their profits, charging more and more for less and less.
That’s why we’re cracking down on corporations that engage in price gouging and deceptive pricing, from food to healthcare to housing.
In fact, the snack companies think you won’t notice if they change the size of the bag and put a hell of a lot fewer—same—same size bag—put fewer chips in it. No, I’m not joking. It’s called “shrinkflation.”
Pass [Senator] Bobby Casey’s bill and stop this. I really mean it.
You probably all saw that commercial on Snickers bars. And you get—you get charged the same amount, and you got about, I don’t know, 10 percent fewer Snickers in it.
According to the address as written, the apparent quip about "ten percent fewer Snickers" seems to have been an ad lib.
That said, has any proposal by a senator ever been sillier? If a snack company's costs have risen, they can't sell you a smaller bag of chips while keeping the price the same?
Instead, they have to sell the same number of chips while raising the price? If they choose the prior option, the federal government will make them stop?
In our view, the president's fondness for Casey's proposal is a tiny bit daft. Beyond that, the president may have made a few statements in his address which were perhaps false or misleading—though he also made some dead-on claims, according to the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler.
Kessler fact-checked the president's speech. It's the role he's long played at the Post.
Some of Kessler's analyses involve so much complexity that they could never play a serious role in any imaginable public discussion. Beyond that, we reach the true and the false.
Doggone it! Kessler said that Biden's claim about inflation—his claim that our rate is the lowest in the world—was no longer accurate. On the other hand, some of Kessler's fact-checks made Biden look quite good:
KESSLER (3/8/24): Biden’s job record in his first three years certainly tops Trump’s performance. In the first three years of Trump’s term, about 6.5 million jobs were created—less than half the number created under Biden in the same time period. The number of jobs is now 5.4 million higher than the peak under Trump in February 2020, before the pandemic struck the economy.
Most of Biden's statements were accurate; some may have been wrong. Then too, and rather strikingly, we come to the point in the president's address where he agreed with the highly ambitious young Republican solon, Senator Katie Britt.
As we've noted in the past few days, Senator Britt gave the official Republican response to Biden's address. She savaged the president for the way he has dealt with the southern border—but in the following part of the president's speech. he almost seemed to agree with one part of what Britt's red tribe has been saying all along.
Biden was heckled during this part of his address. For today, we'll quote from the official White House text of the speech as prepared for delivery:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of Senators. The result was a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen in this country.
That bipartisan deal would hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers. 100 more immigration judges to help tackle a backload of 2 million cases. 4,300 more asylum officers and new policies so they can resolve cases in 6 months instead of 6 years. 100 more high-tech drug detection machines to significantly increase the ability to screen and stop vehicles from smuggling fentanyl into America.
This bill would save lives and bring order to the border. It would also give me as President new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming.
The Border Patrol Union endorsed the bill. The Chamber of Commerce endorsed the bill.
I believe that given the opportunity a majority of the House and Senate would endorse it as well. But unfortunately, politics have derailed it so far.
I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill. He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him.
It’s not about him or me. It’d be a winner for America!
At this point, the president was interrupted. Already, though, he had agreed with some of the things the highly ambitious young Senator Britt would say in her formal response.
He had agreed that lives were at stake, in some unspecified way, by the ongoing conditions at the border. He had agreed that fentanyl was being smuggled across the border in a way which could be reduced or stopped by that bipartisan bill.
He also made the statements shown below in his formal prepared remarks. This mirrored, in a funhouse mirror sort of way, some things Britt would soon allege:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Unlike my predecessor, on my first day in office I introduced a comprehensive plan to fix our immigration system, secure the border, and provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and so much more.
Because unlike my predecessor, I know who we are as Americans.
We are the only nation in the world with a heart and soul that draws from old and new.
Home to Native Americans whose ancestors have been here for thousands of years. Home to people from every place on Earth.
Some came freely. Some chained by force. Some when famine struck, like my ancestral family in Ireland.
Some to flee persecution. Some to chase dreams that are impossible anywhere but here in America. That’s America, where we all come from somewhere, but we are all Americans.
We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now!
For the record, are we "the only nation in the world with a heart and soul that draws from old and new?" Well actually no, we aren't.
At any rate, President Biden now said that he had "introduced a comprehensive plan to fix our immigration system [and] secure the border." He said that he'd done that on his very first day on office!
That same night, Britt gave voice to a sharply different view of the matter. As we noted yesterday, this what the young solon said concerning that very same topic:
BRITT (3/7/24): President Biden inherited the most secure border of all time. But minutes after taking office, he suspended all deportations, halted construction of the border wall, and announced a plan to give amnesty to millions.
We know that President Biden didn’t just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days.
[...]
From fentanyl poisonings to horrific murders, there are empty chairs tonight at kitchen tables just like this one because of President Biden’s senseless border policies.
The young solon mentioned fentanyl too, though she also referred to "horrific murders." That said, she took a very different view of Biden's first day in office—of his first hundred days, in fact.
President Biden seemed to agree that lives are currently at stake at our southern border. This topic constitutes a major part of the political war in which our flailing nation is currently involved.
Long ago, the Achaeans went to war with the Trojans concerning the marital status of "Helen the radiance of women." A bit more sensibly—or possibly not!—our polarized nation, Red against Blue, has now gone to war about this.
Red tribe members are told one thing. We blue tribe members hear something quite different, on the rare occasions when we're re asked to consider this life-and-death topic at all.
Biden and Britt almost seemed to agree, at least on that one basic point. Lives are at stake at our southern border, the president and the senator said.
Tomorrow: Hooray for interruptions!
ReplyDeleteSnack companies must be nationalized. Immediately.
And the horrible Republicans must stop preventing Mr. Biden from implementing his brilliant immigration plan. If not for the horrible Republicans, there would've been zero, yes: zero, illegals in the country now.
And this is all I have to say. Except this: Somerby is an ass.
I am Corby.
Fake.
DeleteThere’s an old joke about a lawyer making 3 inconsistent arguments. That’s a precedent for Biden’s argument. There is no border problem. And it’s the Republicans’ fault that the problem isn’t fixed.
ReplyDeleteNot a lawyer joke, David. It's from Freud. The Kettle Logic:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_logic
David is a kettle thinker himself. He says Biden denies there’s a problem, offers a bad solution to the problem, and has no plan. David doesn’t care if his criticisms are inconsistent, he just wants to condemn Biden.
Delete"There’s an old joke about a lawyer making 3 inconsistent arguments."
DeleteWhat's her name?
Alina Habba
DeleteThere is no border problem. The problem lies with a broken immigration policy and legislation. Trump and his lickspittles would rather guzzle toilet water than to address and resolve the real problem since they have nothing else to run with.
DeleteJim - what should the legislation say that would fix the problem?
DeleteThe Republicans came up with legislation to deal with the so called “border issue”, and Biden agreed to pass it. It didn’t pass because Trump feared it would interfere with his path to presidency, which he views as not only a way for personal enrichment, but also a get out of jail card.
DeleteThere’s no need to wonder what the legislation should say, it’s readily available.
Furthermore, as Somerby notes, immigrant crime is vastly lower than native born Americans; the border issue as Republicans present it, is trumped up, a completely phony issue. Immigrants do the dirty work of this country, they bring culture and new ideas that are a benefit to our society, they pay taxes, but they can not vote or use most of our government services.
The real issue is how to efficiently and humanely process those that are looking for refuge, respite, and amnesty from the terrible circumstances in their countries of origin, circumstances that the US is largely responsible for.
Republicans tout ‘’personal responsibility” but it’s really just lip service, they never live up to it.
@6:14 have you read the legislation? Is it your opinion that it would work? How well do you believe it would work. Would it reduce illegal immigration by 25%? By 50%? Even more? What changes would you recommend in the legislation would make it more effective? Also, are there actions that the President could take without any new legislation that would help?
DeleteYou ask a lot of questions, David, but you are the one misrepresenting the problem and Biden’s response. How did Trump do on the border?
DeleteBiden said there was no border problem. Show quote. What he did say was that on day one of his presidency he offered a border plan. Explain why he would do such if he thought that there was no border problem.
ReplyDeletePaul Alexander has died.
ReplyDeleteYes, we are the only nation in the world with a heart and soul that draws from old and new. If Bob doesn't understand that, he should go back to Cuba, or China, or Gaza, or wherever he came from.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter how rancid a speech emerges from Trump or MAGA world, Bob will mine it until he can salvage some solid Right Wing talking points.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican attack when Biden took office was to strike at these things: his age, his son, his criminal theft of the election, immigration, and the economy.
His age: Well, Biden is old, and although Bob laments Fox calling him "President Poopy Pants" he's given this as much traction as possible. He's very concerned about Biden's ability to function, but tomorrow it looks like Bob will celebrate the rude treatment he has received at the state of the Union speeches (Horray for interruptions!) while giving Biden no credit for handling this abuse like a gifted young stand up comic.
His Son: Bob has given his right wing friends and neighbors quite a gift in blaming The President for not controlling his son during periods of drug abuse. Now that the case has long since devolved into pitiable mean spirited mud slinging, he doesn't have much to say about it.
HIs Criminal Theft of the Election: Bob basically refuses to examine these horrible, unceasing smears of the President and his whole family, he thought the Jan 6 report was too one sided (the riot was a result of these smears) and turns over to Fox when confronting this "legal trivia" on MSNBC. He generally faults the Press for the use of the word "lie" in regards to Trump, and was furious when the left jeered at the Republican use of the term "legitimate political discourse" for the people who sprayed bear spray into the cops faces.
Immigration has become a big issue for Bob during Biden 's term. I can't recall a time when the southern boarder was not an issue to some degree. People getting paid under the table was a big local issue when I lived in L.A. forty years ago. No matter how obviously crude and racist the Trump team's attack on the issue becomes, he will always find some good in it and ignore the racism and fear mongering. And the killing of the immigration bill just because Trump wanted to keep it alive as an issue? Crickets from Bob.
I don't know Bob wanted the recession Bob's good friends and neighbors were dreaming during Biden's term, but it didn't happen, and even the oil pump inflation seems to have passed to a great degree. More crickets.
So, you would have to give Bob an almost perfect score in denigrating the "tribe" he says he belongs to.
"He had agreed that fentanyl was being smuggled across the border in a way which could be reduced or stopped by that bipartisan bill."
ReplyDeleteHoly heck! Our Host has fallen for the cynical deception in Britt's presentation. In the political starlet's view, people are crossing the border illegally and drugs are coming in illegally, therefore the illegal border crossers are bringing the drugs!
But are they? Are the folks encountered at entry points between legal points of entry being caught with knapsacks full of fentanyl? Or is the fentanyl coming across the border at legal entry points, conveyed by people who enter with authorization?
Biden's bipartisan bill takes aim at a problem with a pragmatic solution. Britt's scary story finds a button and sews a vest on it.
Yes. One of the many times Bob is roped into Biden hating talking points accidentally on purpose.
DeleteI don’t think Somerby is actually interested in the facts, of this, or any other issue. Sadly.
DeleteYeah! Let's hear some appreciation for Mike!
ReplyDelete"That said, has any proposal by a senator ever been sillier? If a snack company's costs have risen, they can't sell you a smaller bag of chips while keeping the price the same?
ReplyDeleteInstead, they have to sell the same number of chips while raising the price? If they choose the prior option, the federal government will make them stop? "
Somerby still seems to misunderstand this issue. It is about deceptive packaging, not price changes.
I explained this the last time Somerby brought it up. Because he doesn't read his comments, he repeats the same tripe. Deceptive practices in grocery stores are outlawed in most states. They should be universally outlawed. Grocery stores used to have scales where you measured out fruit or other commodities. A scale that was fixed so that it showed more weight than was actually sold, was considered illegal. This is more of the same. If you sell someone less food than they expect, for the same price, that is cheating the consumer. People do monitor prices but they do not monitor ounces or grams or counts. Fairness demands that a manufacturer label the product as different when such a change is made: "New smaller size!" or "Now with fewer chips!" but no manufacturer is going to do that without being required.
Apparently, Somerby doesn't care whether people are cheated or not. If Biden showed the same callous disregard for so-called kitchen table issues (such as how far the dollar stretches at the grocery store) he would be called out-of-touch or elitist, but Somerby can do it as a source of complaint and still persist in calling himself liberal.
My guess is that Somerby thinks this is an easy way to deride Biden, without actually having a genuine complaint.
What percentage of people across the nation have a kitchen that looks just like Katie Britt's? I don't, but she is insisting that we do.
ReplyDelete"there are empty chairs tonight at kitchen tables just like this one..."
Or maybe she is saying we all have tables like hers (which was not pictured in the video of her speech)?
Assuming we all have her level of income is pretty elitist in my opinion. I don't have a kitchen table at all.
You are lucky to have a KITCHEN! We live in one room, all hundred and twenty six of us, no furniture. Half the floor is missing; we are all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!
DeleteTell Katie…
Delete"The young solon mentioned fentanyl too, though she also referred to "horrific murders."
ReplyDeleteYoung solon is an oxymoron. The way to avoid fentanyl poisoning is to not use fentanyl (or other street and recreational drugs). That means beefing up our addiction prevention and treatment facilities in the US. Biden has been doing that, but that isn't on Trump's agenda. Has anyone mentioned that to Britt? The Trump White House used to pass out drugs like they were candy. Has anyone mentioned that to Britt either?
Being young is no excuse for not having facts at hand, especially as a senator (even from a red state). Britt is too ignorant to be senator, much less VP, much less be taken seriously, as Somerby seems to be doing. After that whopper of a story that she has been using to play her red state audiences, she should be laughed out of the senate, not called a "solon" by Somerby, who either doesn't know what the word means, or wants to beef up her reputation. But that just illustrates how pathetic and thin the bench is over among the red team players.
I think they gave Britt the rebuttal opportunity because no one else wanted to become a lightning rod for ridicule. They threw her to the wolves, without hesitation, because who likes a sanctimonious woman with a fundie baby voice? Except Somerby.
That's a lot of beef for one comment.
Delete" ... our polarized nation, Red against Blue, has now gone to war about this."
ReplyDeleteNow? What were they doing before now?
Red vs Blue is Right vs Left, which has been the fundamental struggle in society for the past 10k years.
ReplyDeleteThe disparity between Somerby’s ignorance and the self assured manner in which he posts his unevidenced nonsense is breathtaking.
Biden’s speech preceded Britt’s so it’s more accurate to say she agreed with Biden (Somerby’s framing is a “tell”), but even this is a misinterpretation of their stances: Biden values immigrants and wants to diminish chaos at the border by enhancing border infrastructure, Britt is a xenophobe that wants to keep people she deems inferior living precarious lives, in part to have a more compliant workforce.
Britt actually achieved a goal of Somerby’s: she briefly brought this divided nation together, as both Dems and Repubs lambasted her ridiculous speech, we were united as one in expressing displeasure at her embarrassing performance.
DeleteDavid in Cal and Cecelia refuse to criticize Katie Britt’s SOTU response.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt turns out that the Republicans’ star witness in their phony “Biden Crime Family” panic is actually an honorary member of the Trump Crime Family, albeit one bought and paid for.
ReplyDeleteSmirnov was paid $600k at the time he started lying about Biden, the payment came from entities with direct ties to Trump.
Of course this is nothing new, Trump paid an “accounting expert” $900k for his testimony at Trump’s fraud trial, which Trump lost and now he has to pay a little under half a billion dollars for his fraudulent behavior.