WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2026
"What, us add to the debt?" For heaven's sake, who are we kidding?
We'll expect to be back to our usual task of saving the world by the start of next week. For today, as the madnesses keep piling up, we'll start by directing you to this report about the latest gong show:
Bessent Straight Up Claims Trump’s $5K Checks Can Go Out Without Adding to the Debt
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wildly insisted on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 checks to Americans could be sent out without adding to the national debt.
The president first floated the plan during last week’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, promising to send the money if the GOP retains control of Congress in the midterms. He’s said he doesn’t think the checks will require congressional approval and has pointed to tariff revenue and more than $20 trillion in claimed U.S. investment to justify the proposal.
Those figures have been disputed. CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale noted tariff revenue falls far short of the roughly $1.3 trillion estimated cost of the checks, while calling Trump’s $20 trillion investment figure “fiction.”
And so on from there, with videotape provided.
But yes, that basic report seems to be accurate. Yesterday, in a congressional hearing, Bessent seemed to say that he could hand out $1.3 trillion in checks 1) without adding to the annual deficit and therefore 2) without adding to our rapidly growing national debt.
Yes, that seems to be what he said. Yes, he seems to have said it!
We expect to be back Monday morning, perhaps with a new, improved attitude and tone. But just for the record, Jared Bernstein offers this guest essay in today's New York Times:
The National Debt Never Scared Me. It Scares Me.
[...]
For years, I wasn’t an alarmist about the national debt. During the Biden administration, I even criticized those calling for more austere budget policy; I thought that fiscal austerity would do more harm than good.
Our fiscal reality has changed significantly since those days, and so has my stance on public debt. Here’s why:
Bernstein was chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Biden administration. He goes on from there to explain.
As we've noted in the recent past, Bernstein has recently written other such columns, as has Paul Krugman. But it seems that nothing is going to stop the flow of the madnesses from the current administration.
In truth, discussions of policy topics like this barely exist at this point. Our discourse has been swallowed by the serial tabloid lunacies of the sitting president, lunacies whose fairly obvious (medical) origin our scribes agree not to discuss.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd how retarded Dumbocrats are so enthusiastic about "Medicare for All", for free higher education, for free hotels and endless free money for illegal aliens, and even for free grocery stores (in NYC), while sending lousy $5K to every citizen is a total armageddon.
Oh well, it's not really odd. They are, after all, Dumbocrats.
Trump made an empty promise to buy votes. It isn’t real.
DeleteDems do not say those things are free, they are paid for primarily by taxes, with the idea being that we spend tax revenues on our citizens rather than spending it on bombs and handouts to billionaires.
DeleteOn "your" citizens? So, when you Dumbocrats send $100 million worth of condoms to Mozambique, that's where "your citizens" are?
DeleteThe $7 million spent globally in 2023 on male condoms, helps prevent the spread of diseases and is a form of soft power, so yes, while your number is hilariously off, programs like USAID help our citizens quite a bit, while costing us next to nothing.
DeleteOn the other hand, we could and do spend trillions on weapons to kill people and welfare for corporations and the wealthy, it all comes down to whether you are a normal human being or a psycho.
Mao is a fucking nutso psycho who hasn't fucking figured out that there is no "B" in dum the dumb fuck.
Deleteanon MAGA visitor. You MAGA zealots just love to call people "retards." it's so cool in its braindeadness.. There was a movie, Dumb and Dumber. If they made another sequel, you could play Dumbest.
DeleteTrump's proposal is fiscally crazy, but so is the current budget. We now have option A. Trump proposes option B:
ReplyDeleteA. $40 trillion debt growing by $2 trillion a year
B. $41 trillion debt growing by $2 trillion a year
I think these would look pretty identical to most people.
(To be clear, IMO both options will lead to some sort of horrible disaster in a few years. Option B will get us there 6 months sooner.)
Let’s all spend like drunken soldiers since our debt is already so high? That isn’t how responsible people think or behave.
DeleteTrump, a member of the party of fiscal responsibility, promised to reduce/eliminate the debt, causing all those financially responsible republicans like DiC to enthusiastically vote for him. In fact, he is the worst-spending President in our history. (His profligate spending was evident during his first term). Oh well, all politicians lie, right? At least he’s cruel to brown people and those loser women, gays, and trans are no longer serving our nation in uniform.
DeleteIncreasing the National Debt by 2.5% overnight is not a rounding error. This proposal gives clarity to why Trump was a failed businessman (except as regards money laundering) and Republican administrations have performed miserably over the past 60 years c/w Democratic ones in virtually all parameters of economic health (job growth, GDP growth, inflation, etc.). There is a reason for this, and a big part of it comes from the failure of Reaganomics unnecessary military adventures, and the constant need to give tax breaks to the rich..
DeleteBy the way, DiC apparently didn’t get Bessent’s memo: the 5K won’t add to the debt!
DeleteDiC may be the dumbest troll, but he is reliably dumb.
DeleteGive credit where credit is due.
DiC, like most people, (especially the idiot president rapist), does not know there is a "B" in dum.
DeleteDickhead is a fucking fraud and a lying cunt
DeleteDavid is not a cunt.
DeleteAgree, he is not a cunt.
DeleteHe is a lying cunt.
Hunh. I remember when David defended the DOGE budget cuts because, even though they were small, they moved toward a smaller deficit. The cost of these checks will dwarf the DOGE "savings."
DeleteI'm still waiting for the DOGE savings QiB. They must be right around the corner... At least Elon and Putin have all our data now, so that's cool.
DeleteFunny thing, DiC, I'm old enough to remember how excited you got when Musk and the kids from DOGE were cutting the budget in little $5 and $10 million slivers (making sure those starving kids didn't get any peanut paste).
DeleteNow $1 trillion just makes you shrug.
Sorry Quaker, I see you beat me to the punch. But doesn't hurt to reinforce the message.
Delete“ In truth, discussions of policy topics like this barely exist at this point. ”
ReplyDeleteNo, discussions have not been swallowed up by tabloid lunacies. Discussions are futile when nothing can be done by the left to stop Trump’s destruction of our economy. Discussions may resume after the midterm election.
It's a democracy. For a democracy to work, you need an informed populace. In order to get an informed populace, you need a news media that informs them. What we have is a news media obsessed with sensationalism and "balance," when there is, in fact, no "balance:" one side has gone off the rails, and claims that, in fact, there were no rails in the first place.
DeleteThis is, BTW, because that populace WANTS sensationalism, and prefers stage-managed drama to objective, fact-based journalism; thus, the for-profit news media is giving them what they want. It's an accelerating downward spiral: people want un-informative news, but the more they get of it, the worse their decision making is, which results in more drama to keep their attention. This has been going on since cable news exploded, and it's how we ended up with Trump.
In the last 25 years, we've had two of the worst presidents in history, including the one who will almost certainly end up being considered THE worst. I don't think that's the product of random chance.
Fair point but the problem is not so much an uninformed populace, particularly in recent years with independent media.
DeleteCorporate media is bad, but not one of the more significant issues.
Success in our society is a function of two main things: privilege and happenstance.
The issues are deeper in our society.
"... the problem is not so much an uninformed populace, particularly in recent years with independent media."
DeleteThe problem is entirely a poorly informed populace, that is uninformed by choice. The majority of people don't pay attention to, or hold in high regard, "independent media," much of which simply consists of re-hashing what it gets from "corporate media" in the first place. How anyone could look at the wild, dumb beliefs held by majorities and near-majorities of the public and conclude an under-informed public isn't the problem, particularly in what is still a more-or-less democratic society, is astonishing.
I hear you, while your point might be valid, it is not sound (in part because you seem to be uniformed on certain things).
DeleteThe issue is more about personality traits and their causes.
My point is valid, but not sound, because I'm uninformed on certain (undisclosed) things. OK.
DeleteAt least I was heard. I can feel good about that.
It can feel good to learn new things even if initially it feels challenging.
DeleteTry it sometime.
I’m uninformed on most things.
DeleteWord.
DeleteHave you heard the word? Thunderbird,
DeleteI'm not aware of too many things, I know what I know if you know what I mean.
DeleteSome things are unknowable.
I see the problem as that the electoral process is being run by corporations, billionaires and foreign influence on behalf of candidates who will cater to the wealthy. We used to have laws governing campaign finance. Now we have corruption emerging from PACs, dark money in politics, and blatant bribery of elected officials, especially the president.
Deleteanon 4:01, everyone, all sides, are uninformed about loads of things. there is too much out there, and it keeps growing. As Socrates is said to have said, the more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
DeleteThat isn’t what that saying means.
DeleteLets support Thomas massie’s impeachment motion against hegseth.
ReplyDeleteA problem: lickspittle Mike Johnson cut Congress loose until after the mid-terms.
DeleteIf Dems win the house, they should impeach the entire cabinet.
DeleteMike Johnson is so fucking creepy, from "marrying" his daughter to own her virginity, to having his son keep tabs on his usage of porn, to allegedly having a Grindr account and living on the DL.
DeleteThat's hot. Do you have his #? I'd love to play with Johnson's Johnson.
DeleteWhat is unfolding inside the Democratic Party right now is the same kind of collapse of an old order that produced Donald Trump’s hostile takeover of the Republican Party. The common thread on both sides is economic anxiety, a sense of a broken promise.
Delete“ In September 2026, Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar requested that the country's Population and Immigration Authority investigate revoking the citizenship of Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the Oscar-winning co-directors of the documentary NAZA. Additionally, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly condemned the filmmakers, telling them to leave the country”
ReplyDeleteDamn Jew Hater!!! /jk
DeleteYou try eating tabouli and challah every Friday night, you'll see.
DeleteI’m not noticing a new tone.
ReplyDeleteHad to push that back to next week, dontcha' know.
DeleteThe tone that didn't bark.
DeleteTrump said it plainly, if we vote in Republicans he will send us all $5k.
ReplyDeleteIs Somerby skeptical of this?
It is what the guy said. If someone says something, they must mean it.
Right?
Absolutely! I heard he will definitely add the DOGE refund check, and the previous tariff refund check, plus interest, into one big beautiful check to all of us white Republicans. Isn't he wonderful? And ain't white Republican people fucking deluded idiots?
DeleteThe House voted to hold Leon Black in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas in the Epstein investigation.
ReplyDeleteTrump is all over those files.
DeleteWould I rather get five thousand to spend on McDonalds and knickknacks made in China, or Medicare For All?
ReplyDeleteDumb question since the answer for most people is obvious, Medicare For All would revolutionary in a positive way.
With Trump/MAGA ruining the GOP, one of the few ways for Republicans to redeem themselves would be to pass Medicare For All.
I heard the fucking jackasses have a "concept of a plan" for healthcare. Just a pile of lying losers be Republicans. Apparently that us their main attraction to voters, or hating negroes.
DeleteRacism is fundamental to Republicans.
DeleteIt is funny when old trolls try to hide behind new names.
ReplyDeleteI’m anonymous.
Delete