Help Is On The Way!

Last week, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, the latest in US federal pandemic and economic aid, which no less than Bernie Sanders himself has characterized as the “most progressive” bill to make it through the legislature since his own election to the House of Representatives in 1991. Others have gone even further, comparing Biden to Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt.

The latter comparisons are ludicrous, deranged hyperbole, like what you’d expect from a state-run propaganda agency. The most significant things Joe Biden has in common with LBJ are a legacy of expanding unpopular wars and being a racist, while the only major policy “achievement” he shares with FDR is building and operating concentration camps.

As for calling it the most progressive economic legislation in the last 30 years: if that’s so, it sure damns the American government with the faintest of praise, huh?

You mean to tell me that after all this time, even during a GLOBAL PLAGUE in which other so-called “first world” nations have paid out hundreds or thousands of dollars in emergency relief to each of their citizens every month, the best the United States can manage are some measly tax credits and a one-time payment of $1,400 that a lot of struggling middle-class people won’t even get because of pointless and unnecessary means-testing??

That isn’t just pathetic and borderline useless—it’s insulting. It’s like tipping the staff at a restaurant only a single nickel because you found the food or service unsatisfactory, but still want the snotty entitlement of being able to say, “well, how’d you like it if I’d have given you NOTHING instead?”

To make matters worse, it falls far short of what Biden and other Democrats promised they’d do; promises which, even if fulfilled, still wouldn’t meet most of the population’s basic needs.

The $15-an-hour minimum wage Biden explicitly ran on (but apparently decided was no longer a priority upon taking office) might have been enough to keep the average American fed, clothed, and housed when the “Fight for 15” began in 2012. After ten years of inflation, however, it’s a poverty-level wage which does not cover the cost of living. By 2026 (or whatever other theoretical future date by which they’re offering to phase it, lately), it’ll be a starvation wage.

A single, $2,000 emergency payment, which Biden promised would “go out the door” immediately if Georgia elected Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff in January, wouldn’t cover the average rent for more than a single month in ANY state, to say nothing of the 12+ months the pandemic has continued. That’s without even factoring in grocery bills, utilities, and other regular, routine expenses.

Yet they couldn’t even stick to that modest pledge, and instead tried to find some way to slime their way out of it like a bunch of stereotypical used car salesmen. How’d things work out for George H. W. Bush and his party’s ability to retain the White House after he reneged on “Read My Lips,” again?

Why bother lying if you’re gonna make the lie so puny, anyway? The fallout’s the same, especially if you have to go through all kinds of contortions to explain the difference between what you promised and what you even tried to deliver. At least have enough respect for your marks to make the initial lie compelling!

Better yet, resign, retire, and GET OUT OF THE WAY. Leave the job of governing to people who actually give a damn about their constituents’ survival.

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