Money Topic

 I sat this morning, reading over a Covid-19 stimulus 'poll' done....involving that $1,400 check that DC guys intend to send out to folks.

The poll folks say that almost one-third of folks asked about this....say they won't spend the money (suggesting they'd push the whole check into savings and just sit on top of it).

If you ask the economic experts?  Well....they'd kinda like for you to spend the money....real quick.  They don't care....TV, new tires, new septic tank, fancy new refrigerator, or even a new rifle.

Identifying these folks?  No, there was not much done.  I suspect if you asked....they were in the safe zone...job still working, or retirement flow still in place.  

Should the stimulus deal been more structured?  Yeah....probably so.  But there in the House and Senate, you just aren't dealing with competent or capable people to figure that part of the issue out.  

Debt and Covid-19

 I sat and read a piece today....where journalists wanted me to know that 63-percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.....since Covid-19 started up.

I kind of sat there for a while....then looked up the pre-Covid-19 numbers.

Market Watch did a good update in January 2020 (before Covid-19 arrived). 

Their data....before Covid?  From Americans making $50k or less....74-percent were living paycheck to paycheck.

In fact, they went to suggest that from the $50k to $100k Americans....around one-third of them were in serious trouble, and making it by a paycheck to paycheck situation.

Then they went to the folks making $150k or more a year....one in four families were bad off, and suffering from a paycheck to paycheck situation.

So....suggesting now (14 Feb 2021) that 63-percent of Americans are bad off....if you use the 2020 statistical data.....they actually better now than before Covid.  

I am reminded of a DC story from the 2011/2012 era.  The local paper wrote up this piece of a couple who were about to default on their home loan.  The guy was pulling in around $130k a year....the wife was making near $160k a year.  Between credit debt, car loans (both had high-end cars that were valued at $40k or more), and a home that was up over $1-million....they weren't going to make it.   

The key thing here....people just aren't equipped to handle mortgages, loans, credit cards or living within your means.  They leave high school without this skill.  They leave college without this skill.  Then they get themselves deep into a mess with no real way to escape.  

So when you hear chatter about financial woes and want to get all hyped up....consider that it wasn't Covid-19 that got these people into serious issues.

The 14th Amendment 'Gimmick'

  The text in question that suggests it might be used on Trump?

There's a piece that says Congress has the power to 'banish' from any future federal public office....any current or retired American politician or military official...who is deemed by congress to have “engaged in insurrection.” 

Original purpose? This was a piece written by the Republicans shortly after the Civil War, and intended to prevent Civil War officers or politicians of the Confederacy from being elected to Congress or the presidency.

Yes, the 'evil' Republicans created this....against the 'double-evil' Democrats of the south.

Can you be 14thed and then have another vote to redeem your 'bad-boy' status?  Yes.  That's the funny thing about the written text.

Various Confederate officers who never were 14thed?  Yeah, that's also part of the story (count in General Joe Wheeler, who would be a House member in 1880, and then appointed as a General in 1898 for the Spanish-American War).

The three key problems here?

1.  You would open up the whole history of the Civil War and basically admit that the text was designed for bad-boy Democrats.  Trump's people would seize on this moment, and the opening of the history discussion might shock some folks.

2.  Even if you did accomplish the 14th goal of preventing Trump future office....the whole 2022 campaign season would then be about getting the 'right' people in, and undoing the whole 14th gimmick.  In simple words, the whole election would be about your position on Trump, and nothing else.

3.  Finally, the insurrection-chatter gets opened up....completely.  You could have weekly 14th meetings where various public officials were guilty of triggering insurrections (not just around DC, but around various states and urbanized communities).  Dozens of Antifa and BLM folks might suddenly get named via the 14th and can never participate in an election...even as a city council member.  Pelosi?  She could be accused of insurrection words which trigger a 14th meeting and she could be dumped.  

So opening up the 14th 'bridge' and thinking it'll solve your problems....no, it'll just complicate things even more.  

You could easily have a hundred people accused for 14th amendment purposes and Congress would be drawn into weekly sessions to judge so-and-so....on insurrection behavior.  

It Was Not the Scripted End

 In the final hours of Impeachment version 2.0.....this odd event occurred.

The House impeachment team wanted to open the final day of the episode by trying to depose Rep Beutler (R) who had some memory they wanted to dispute....so they wanted the witness business to open up.

It was put to a vote among the Senators...that witnesses would be allowed (55 voted in favor that it'd be fine to have 'witness-time').

So as the House folks laid out their deal....Trump's team said fine, and put up a list of 300-plus witnesses they wanted to call.

On this list....Rep Pelosi (House Speaker) was even noted.  

At this moment, the whole thing was 'doomed' (my words for the event).

Where this was leading?  Three basic issues:

1.  With 300-plus witnesses, you can figure that it'd take a minimum of a week to line them up with paperwork to show up.  If they failed?  I would imagine Federal Marshalls would be involved, and this whole thing would get rather messy.

2.  Doing witness-time with 300-plus folks?  You could be talking about four additional weeks....maybe even six weeks....of additional time.  This would have shut down the Senate entirely for the rest of Feb, and probably all of March.

3.  Finally, you would have drawn Pelosi into a sworn testimony situation.....with tons of potential that she'd admit that she hadn't had much hands-on business with the Sergeant-at-Arms people or the Capital Police.  Admitting that would have destroyed the event script for the 6th of January 'event'.

So it ended shortly after that hour....when the House folks say 'no'.....they didn't need witnesses after all.

Are we totally done now?  

No....I would expect another attempt at impeachment by the end of 2021.  I also expect the 14th Amendment process to come up.  Between now and November 2022.....the House and Senate will waste a minimum of three additional months of anti-Trump action.

That much fear of him in November 2022?  Yeah.  The House will go to another level, and I suspect five to eight Senators are looking at the end of their careers.