• SkepticalButOpenMinded
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    10 months ago

    No. This is extremely lacking in nuance. I am not defending all compromise. Some compromises are garbage. But being against any compromise, and praising the Tea Party, is a lazy ignorant position. Obama was an overrated moderate president, unlike Biden who has tried very hard to pass progressive policies.

    Even with a Republican president and senate, House Democrats somehow managed to pass some of the most generous and progressive Covid relief in the world (even more than Scandinavian countries), including expanding child benefits and Medicare, and the US is benefiting from the strongest economic recovery in the world because of it. Biden has eliminated $130 billion worth of student loans. The Inflation Reduction Act was the biggest environmental legislation in a generation, and recommits the US to the Paris agreement. You know who voted for all these good compromises? Bernie Sanders.

    Calling that “Republican-lite” is straight up ignorant. Republicans wouldn’t do any of that.

    • hark@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I wasn’t praising the tea party, I was saying I wish democrats would fight as hard and dirty because obviously that approach worked. It’s funny that you think Biden is some step above Obama when it was Obama who joined the Paris agreement in the first place (plus did the Iran deal, which Biden refuses to rejoin, even though the US broke the deal). The covid benefits were generous under republicans too, but it doesn’t matter since most of that shit was revoked and was a fraction of the money handed over to corporations. Yay, we caught some drips from the trillions of dollars printed.

      The economic recovery is on paper, but there are severe vulnerabilities underneath. The US is standing tall because the other countries are simply doing worse. It helps a lot that the US dollar dominates global markets. I wouldn’t want to hitch the economy onto the president so much because for one, the president has little to do with the economy, and second, if the economy happens to crash between now and the election, Biden’s chances of re-election are toast.

      Biden eliminated $130 worth of student loans after helping create the $1.7 trillion student loan crisis we have now: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/02/joe-biden-student-loan-debt-2005-act-2020

      Causing a problem and then making minor chips at it is not a good thing. The “biggest environmental legislation in a generation” sounds great until you realize how little has actually been done about it. Also, it’s huge in terms of money spent, but the benefits remain to be seen since the important point is where that money goes. Handing private companies tons of money doesn’t necessarily translate to great results (it does result in great bonuses for execs, though).

      • SkepticalButOpenMinded
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        10 months ago

        This discussion is going off the rails. Most of these points are wild digressions.

        It’s funny that you think Biden is some step above Obama when it was Obama who joined the Paris agreement in the first place

        How does that argument even make sense in your brain? Obama was president at that time, so it was impossible for Biden to be the one to join it. Joining the Paris agreement is absolutely empty without actions. Unlike Biden, Obama passed no major legislation to support it and did not make climate a priority.

        The economic recovery is on paper… The US is standing tall because the other countries are simply doing worse.

        You’re missing the point. The US is doing better during a worldwide recession because progressive policies work. Left leaning economists like Joseph Stiglitz argue that the generous covid stimulus programs is why the US has avoided a recession, whereas Europe is suffering for their economic conservatism.

        Biden eliminated $130 worth of student loans after helping create the $1.7 trillion student loan crisis we have now:

        Biden was a centrist senator, but please stay on topic: we’re talking about his current presidency not what he did 20 years ago. As Sanders said, “I think he is a much more progressive president than he was a United States senator”.

        The actual topic:

        You made the ridiculous assertion that Democrats and Biden are “Republican-lite”. You haven’t addressed that point at all, because it’s utter indefensible bullshit and you know it. People like you are why progressives keep losing. If progressives don’t know and can’t recognize when their policies are being passed, then progressive policies will never be passed.