All of these things definitely were in the news, of course. They just don't STAY in the news, and the public memory hole works fast.
Because they're fucking bread crumbs. What you want us to hold a parade over credit card fees while housing, education, healthcare and food continue to become more expensive and Biden's cabinet works to suppress wages? Neato.
Ya, basically Biden is only able to solve minor first world problems instead of any sort of meaningful attempt on any of the several huge issues.
This isn't all his fault, he's not a king and can't do whatever he wants, but I also don't often find my own managers all that happy with me when all I can say I've accomplished is minor, non-critical tasks and haven't even started on the major work they want accomplished. Making a report look nicer and fixing the break room coffee machine isn't going to cover for failing to launch our latest product. Americans are right to be disappointed in their government and we should be disappointed in our media for failing to stick to larger issues.
Always beware of the fact, that the only thing hindering an all-out revolution is your fear of losing the scraps they throw at you. Gore Vidal
Biden has made significant progress for the average person during his presidency, which is disheartening given the potential for even greater impact. It seems he knows that simply meeting basic expectations will be enough to outdo previous leaders.
Now give me single payer healthcare/Medicare for All, and I'll be a happy camper.
We need more Democrats in Congress for that. A third of the Senate and all of the House are up for election in November. Attendance at the polls is crucial for down-ballot candidates just the same as presidential.
Vote in November, or be ready to accept what a Republican President, Congress, and SCOTUS decide for you.
He can't do that.
People keep saying the things Biden have been doing are weak, half measures, but they have no idea what he's actually capable of doing without Congress.
He literally tried to wipe away a significant amount of student debt. He tried to fulfill that promise without Congress. The Supreme Court stopped it.
which is disheartening given the potential for even greater impact
What potential? Without Congress or the Supreme Court, what potential things could Biden be doing that would have "greater" impact that he isn't doing?
Something that doesn't require a new law, and won't be shot down by a hostile conservative court?
Please give me examples.
Without Congress or the Supreme Court
Pretty sure the potential lies in changing this.
Vote. Not just for president, but for every office you're able to. Because this shit isn't just "Trump did it!" or "Biden didn't do enough!" It's also the legislators, and a lot of the judiciary they approved (and probably pushed during the Trump administration). Not to mention all the state and local reps that initiate most of the policies that affect people.
They can't give you any examples and neither can the dorkuses downvoting you. Biden has accomplished a lot with the maggats playing the "I don't wanna" game whenever a dem is in office. He not only had to dig us out of the hole the orange menace left us in, he also has to cure cancer, be the first human to step on Mars, etc and even then people will find something to bitch about.
With any luck (and a lot of hard work) we will have Biden for a second term and then a dem to replace him in 2028 so at least 12 years of the adults running things. Then maybe we can get some shit done and stop trying to tread water at best.
He could get caught trying.
He could frame a big-picture vision of what he and Democrats value, expressed in terms that speak to Americans emotionally. He could push for policies that Republicans and the Supreme Kangaroo Court will shoot down, and then go to the American people and blame them for taking away good things that everybody wants.
The student-loan debt relief effort had about 1 1/2 of those things. The rest of the time he tends to talk about particular bills and policies. Republicans can stop those, and those things become dead letters, but dreams and hopes are evergreen.
But don't you think getting the 10 commandments in our classrooms will make things soo much better? 🙃
If only politics were about policy and not popularity.
Yeah. But they’re not. Usually.
Interestingly that’s more a function of media more than politics. Political movement “in a vacuum” doesn’t require popularity. But since we have put political power in the hands of everyone vs a king or whatever, the media is the ocean in which politics “swims”.
Interesting
But they did make headlines, that's how we know about these. The FTC and FCC doing their job more is good and makes headlines.
It's good, don't get me wrong. But man it feels like table scraps compared to a lot on what Biden ran on in 2020.
Not really. The average person knows more about trump's bowel movements than these accomplishments. The average undecided voter is lazy and needs information spoon-fed to them. That's why it matters what is reported in the media.
And also, the people who run the media have very fucked up priorities. Biden's NLRB can make historic strides in bringing unions back into American working life and they every so often run a story about it if there happens to be something they can say that has the word "Starbucks" in it.
But, if either Biden or Trump ever farted on camera, it would be all we heard about for a month.
But man it feels like table scraps compared to a lot on what Biden ran on in 2020.
Given that the republiQans retook the house in 2022, what did Biden run on that he hasn’t delivered?
- Freeing Mexican citizens locked in cages at the border, but has in fact increased the numbers according to the ACLU, and now limiting the numbers of who can come in like fascist Trump wanted
- The COVID pandemic is still ongoing, we're just ignoring it while I've had friends die from it after it was "over" according to the CDC. Also removing the 14 day expected leave for it to improve
companies fucking over sick and healthy workers alikethe economy - Roe v Wade being reinstated, for the party that "cares about women's rights".
- Minimum Wage increases (Yes Congress is in charge of the purse, but can he say "please fucking do it so everyone has better income?")
- Ran on trying to stop cops from shooting innocent civilians, but in his first State of the Union said "We don't need to defund the police, we need to fund the police!" to bipartisan roaring applause. I know he has a fucking cop as a VP, but god damn.
- And he's not doing anything to stop Project 2025 from getting into place if Trump wins.
- Could maybe consider giving new arms to Ukraine and stop funding explicit genocide in Palestine.
- Didn't help the unions during the rail strikes give into the demands for better worker safety and benefits, blocking it like how Reagan blocked the FAA from striking for safety and benefits
- Still allows Trump-era expansions of spying agencies, that was made public under "constitutional lawyer and defender" Obama, and instated under Dubya.
But we don't have the President saying stupid shit on Twitter every day, so I guess that means we're back to a sane normal, or whatever white cishet liberals need to say to sleep well at night. Ignore the bloodshed of BIPOC and queers, women and their doctors fleeing red states over being arrested for bodily autonomy, and that white nationalists just goosestep freely because its not respectable to tell fascists to fuck off and die, it doesn't impact you, so it's all sane politics and electable!
Yeah these absolutely made headline / TV news when they passed. No idea what OP means.
He means they aren't brokered talking points. No one is pushing this, because there's not a huge amount of money, bots, every news outlet that has a vested financial interest in getting Biden a second term.
Trump was found guilty, took a huge hit in polls, then turned around and had the biggest funding boost in US history.
Expanding internet access in rural areas with the Build Back Better plan. That alone was a massive investment into our infrastructure.
I'm actually switching very soon to a fiber company that recently started covering my area and has only been active at all for a few years. They only have coverage in like three towns, and don't cover all of any of them (mostly for obvious reasons related to local geography and where you reach the most people by running the lines).
Is there any info on who got funding for Internet in rural areas via Build Back Better? I'm curious if Biden is the reason they are a thing and we have any broadband Internet competition at all.
You can see of you qualify for the program : reconnect. It has a few reference to who has received funding. If you dig deeper, I'm sure you will find more info.
Biden made the big announcement as part of multiple packages at the time. The same plan that is suppose to put high speed rails on the east and west coasts.
Meanwhile: "Good isn't perfect, so fuck that and fuck you."
Too many people are all too ready to say that improvement isn't enough, it has to be a perfect and complete solution or else what was the point.
Which says they’re either not clear on how this whole “government” thing operates (which, tbf most people aren’t) and/or too young to have had experiences with government much before, and/or deliberately parroting a talking point designed to depress turnout for one of a few reasons.
It’s that last one that seems most in evidence unfortunately. And mostly from people who don't seem to remember 2016 that well.
Wait... no medical debt goes to your credit report? Is this a thing now or is it something he's working on?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a rule that would remove medical bills from credit reports, a ban that would prevent lenders from considering those debts when making decisions about whether to issue loans.
The proposed rule change, announced Tuesday, would also increase privacy protections, help raise credit scores and prevent debt collectors from using the credit reporting system to coerce people to pay.
. . . The proposed rule is open for public comment through Aug. 12, with the bureau working toward a final rule that would take effect next year.
It didn't even HAPPEN? What the hell homesweethomeMrL?
I'm not going to factcheck your post. I have to dismiss it. You have clearly mislead us all
If you're TRULY on the side of facts and integrity, you should edit it and explain which items here aren't actually done.
Disgusting.
Negotiating drug prices? How about making price gouging ILLEGAL? How about a world market price for drugs instead of a monopoly market in America?
I can go through the entire list like this. Trying to cheer for these crumbs is contortion at it's most contorting.
Most governments negotiate the drug prices around the world. This is standard practice. They have buying power so they can get far better pricing than anyone else. Just because it's a new concept to you, doesn't make it stupid.
The fact that it's standard practice doesn't make it non-stupid. Bullfighting in my country, Spain, is pretty stupid and unfortunately in some areas it's general practice.
The very concept of a patent is tenuous: "no, you can't make this, this is MY idea and I get to decide who profits by how much and who enjoys my invention". When applied to medicine, it's downright immoral and murderous. Even with negotiation of drug prices, you end up with things like the Hepatitis C curing drug costing several tens of thousands of Euros per patient even in European countries, whereas it costs less than one tenth of that in some others. It's just this is paid by the state and not by the end user so it's not as Machiavellian as in the USA, but it's still extremely fucked.
If you want some of the few examples of countries that don't follow the "standard practice", you can look at Cuba being the first country in the world to double-vaccinate 95+% of their population with the COVID vaccine. How? State-funded research, and state-funded vaccine manufacturing, with the primary objective of vaccinating as many as possible as early as possible, instead of the profit motive as the driver.
I sure don't know everything, but why mention it then? It's just normal? Or is this new for the US?
How is it negotiation when there is only one medicine, like in the case of insulin, or even Zolgensma? What chips does the government have to negotiate with? Buying power doesn't matter.
I still think that's screwed up, and needs fixing, but if it brought us in line with the rest of the world when it comes to drug prices, then bring it on.
I mean, I'm with you that would be great, but the President isn't a dictator. I don't know why this keeps coming up, I don't want one person having the power to make huge sweeping decisions because they feel like it.
Holding the president to an impossible standard is only going to hurt getting where we're trying to go here.
Comparably he's doing more stuff than obama with less legislative backing. I think, in general, US presidents are going to be shit piles no matter what until our electoral system undergoes some changes (probably first at the state constitution level)
But it's BlUe mAgA which is why I support red maga winning! /s
Break this down for me. I’m an idiot. What are you trying to say?
There's some dipshits that call Democrats Blue maga in a desperate last ditch effort to bring legitimacy to the notion that "both sides are the same". Either because they want Trump to win or because they believe they're an anime protagonist and they can will a third option into being. The /s means I'm sarcastically supporting that notion.
He's saying that all criticism from his left is actually from his right.
The problem with those is the maggat adherents in the repuglican ranks. Get rid of those and good things will happen
All of these are reported in "corporate news."
This is the beauty of not consuming the MSM, you can believe it has reported on or not reported on whatever you want.
What do you believe ‘headlines’ to be in this instance? Any mention whatsoever?
First, let me point out how interesting it is that I was clearly responding to your title, but instead you are trying to defend the words that Reich used in the tweet.
But anyway, your title says "no corporate news story." That literally means no mention whatsoever, but I would fairly interpret that as meaning that it's buried or there little to no mention of it. Which is untrue, I mainly consume "corporate media" for, as biased as they are, they are still hundreds of times less biased and more reliable than other news "sources" I've come across. And these are all things I've know about from my typical news consumption (with the exception of OT expansion, this is the first I've heard of that). So I disagree with your "no corporate news" claim. I think it's actually patently false.
What Reich here means is that they aren't the main news stories of the day. None of these single things is ever going to be, on it's own, the biggest news of the day. But it's the constant little steps that are good. And it's not like these are being hidden, it's just that none of them are going to be as popular as the main news stories of the day so they aren't getting the same traction.
Capping credit card fees? At what, 25%?
35% APR, compounded DAILY?
What fees are we talking about? They're already cash-it-here high. It's there something worse than that? Is the president making their interest remain at a reasonable amount above prime?
Now THAT WOULD be a cap worth bragging about.
PS: How about cash-it-here, and title-loan, and buy-here-pay-here, and instant-refund tax preparers, and accident attorneys, and bail bonds, and pawn shops, and rent-a-centers, and dollar tree/dollar general, and all the other predatory bad-financial-decision institutions we allow to thrive in poverty-stricken areas?
We know what we're doing, and we just let that shit happen. Fuck us, we deserve whatever comes.
Oh look at you, the brains of the operation here. Do you know what the Republicans would have capped it at? NOTHING AT ALL. Do you know why the Democrats can't deliver the perfect policies you demand? Because they have to fight against the other side tooth and nail to get anything through at all. Do you think the Republicans would be forgiving student loan debt right now? News flash: hell no. Do you have complaints about the way loans are being forgiven, oh of that I have no doubt. Do you know why you have those complaints? Because the Republicans are always chipping away and fighting against at every good thing that happens.
You'd be that spoiled brat whose single mother comes home after working her ass off all day, and throws a fit because she made potato soup again when you wanted hamburgers, wouldn't you?
I like your username
Thanks for the tongue lashing, but I'm reacting to something. This shitty list and big downvote party.
This was posted like a kid's picture stuck on the fridge, and we're supposed to all admire it. Fuck that. Don't take me to a Dodge and tell me it's a Mercedes.
He's not Trump. That's the line. Nobody is moved by this post. It's desperate. It's pleading. And ultimately, it actually works AGAINST Biden's reelection. Because it's like telling a girl who's rejecting you all the reasons she should love you.
Wait is The medical one true?
Yet when the people ask to not be owned by corporations, to have medical care, to not commit genocide, that all falls on deaf ears.
When wall Street wants something done, Biden jumps to it.
These are all sticking little plasters on the giant gaping wound and saying that you fixed it
i will never understand how people take the time to criticize biden when trump is the alternative. unless those people are actually troompa loompas/russians
"not be owned by corporations" LOL yea... go ahead and vote against biden and see how that "not be owned by corporations" works out for you...
Pointing out that Biden is fucked up and is committing genocide does not have anything to do with trump. I'm not entirely sure how you even got to trump from what I said. That seems like a reading comprehension issue on your part
Trump is fucking awful and would likely be worse than Biden in almost every way. No one, least of all me, said otherwise. That does not mean you can't criticize Biden and the Democrats though. So not sure what your issue is but if you want to keep arguing a point I did not make then go for it and have fun.
If you want to address the actual issues plaguing the world then stop pretending that either trump or Biden are the right way forward.
What are you trying to accomplish? Silence any criticism of Biden?
Do you really think that if everybody would just NOT TALK BAD about Biden he would get elected?
The Democrats had a wide open door here to inspire real change against the weakest candidate the Republicans have ever put up. TWICE. But instead of running somebody INSPIRING what did they do? They ran somebody who's just NOT AS BAD as the Republican candidate.
In 2018 when AOC surprised everyone by winning her seat and Democratic socialism made a big splash and there were so much excitement, what did the established Democratic party do? They squashed that shit.
I don't care about Biden, nobody does. I care about Democratic Socialism, and the Democrats don't.
They’re all great things to point out and discuss, during primary season.
Well they’re always relevant and worth discussing, but don’t make any sense in the context of the general election.
Thank you for allowing people with crippling medical debt to get more debt.
This is the help they didn't know they wanted
Thank you for allowing people with crippling medical debt to still have the opportunity to get a decent loan for a vehicle or a house.
No, they're right. The last thing anyone in crippling debt of any kind needs is more debt of any kind.
This is a bad solution.
A good solution would be for people not to go into crippling medical debt in the first place.
I'm sure the mortgage brokers and realtors and car dealers and banks and corporate auto loan companies are happy too.
But how about addressing the REAL problem?
It's hard to follow these anti-capitalist bourgeoisie, when they fold themselves backwards for mere nuggets at every election cycle.
Your blocking will not be in vain, comrade.
It's not even complete nuggets it's week old table scraps, and they fain for them like it is the best thing in the world
Negotiating drug prices for Medicare. That's a huge caveat, especially since this guy is tweeting this info out. Medicare is only available if you're over 65.
Like why lie?
Lie?
You mean understand how progress happens over a long period of time against intractable evangelical zealots who, helpfully, are also batshit crazy and rich?
You want a five line recap of beneficial policies in 50 words or less with no context or qualifications. Ok. No, no, it’s a valid point that the drug price cap affects the most vulnerable on medicare. Would you also like to see those discussions and how they played out across the months to get that far? No. You would not.
“Lie.” Please. Get in there and make it happen or understand the people who are already doing it are making the kind of progress we haven’t seen since the GOP became the GQP (including the Tea Party Fuckwits).
Is it not enough? Are those mean ol’ liberals keeping the abundance of universal happiness from happening for (checks notes) genocidal . . . wtf . . . really? Geno- wow. Ok . . . genocidal reasons? Well, when you have your favorite orange rapist back in power you’ll be super stoked at all the progress you’ve been denied these whole . . year-and-a-half . . . of a friendly Congress.
Everyone wants everything and thinks it’s just simple to build new policies and procedures in the middle of their constant attack and destruction by republiQans. And it does not now, nor has it ever, worked that way.
“Lie.” Ffs.
prolly because it is a twatter sound bite, not a proper policy white paper.
"negotiating drug prices for Medicare".
Two extra words.
Cherry picking 🍒
And those cherries are so small and juiceless.
I wawnt it all er nuthin! May be win the fashises win pee pool wheel see!
Yes, I also don’t understand how the US government works and have a keyboard!
Well that's great then! When Trump and his gang of maniacs get in they won't be able to accomplish anything because of how the US government works!
That's so encouraging! Here I thought being President meant you could effect change.
Banning medical debt from credit reports
Negotiating drug prices
He's only able to do these because he opposes universal healthcare. He wants people to die of lack of access to healthcare (70,000 per year) or lack of insurance (45,000 per year). What do dead people, or people who can't afford to be diagnosed, or people who can't afford necessary procedures care about their credit reports or drugs they can't get prescribed? Why would anyone cheer a horribly policy?
As if the media aren't congratulating him enough on his "tough red line" for Israel's genocide that they somehow never break. Ever the victims, Democrats in power are.
Let's not bash progress in pursuit of perfection. These policies are directly impacting me in the positive, which is more than we could say for the previous president.
Moderates:
Biden has no power, he's just a president!
Also moderates:
Look at these good things that happened while Biden was in office, he did this!
Biden:
Fuck congress, I'll go around them if it's something I want like supporting a genocide or violating human rights at our borders
Are you serious?
When Dem Congress goes his way, the common parlance is that the president, as leader of the Dems, gets the credit as "he did it". If you want to be pedantic, no he didn't directly do it. It's just common parlance to give the president credit for the things he pushes for.
He can ask the Dem House of Reps and Dem senators to do things, but that is not the same. If Congress says no, there's very little he can do. The President does not have absolute control - to pass legislation takes Congress.
Or things like banning Non-Compete clauses. That was a government agency, which gets appointments. Biden didn't directly make that decision, it came from his (or other presidents) appointments.
Then you have Executive Action (EA) which can be used for some things. You can't use EA for all things. But EAs are not laws, they can be undone by the next president lickity split.
It’s gotta suck knowing you will still be voting for him in November.
Eh, I could live in one of the ~45 states where we already know what the result is...
Everybody wants to act like we don't know what votes mean these days. The sad truth is if you're not in a battleground, it doesn't matter who you vote for as president.
Even 08 Obama that flipped a bunch of states, he already had it in the bag without them.
Then why y'all so scared of Trump winning?
Because there are a ton of single issue voters who ignore all of the good he's done because of the Israel thing, despite the fact that Trump would be exponentially worse.
There's no US politician that has any chance of being elected that would be any better about Israel. It all comes down to two things: Israel is our only real ally in the Middle East and AIPAC.
They could literally be building camps to gas Muslims and expanding their plans beyond Gaza and we'd likely still support them regardless of which party is in office at the time.
Because tr-mp is evil.
Can I answer for someone outside the US?
The only reason why I might be OK with Trump winning is that, perhaps, if you experience "fascism light" at the hand of an absolute dimwitted toddler, the damage might be reversible.
Just think about that... Any country wishing to destabilise the US, and destroy trust with allies, etc. Trump is peeeeerfect.
except, we've already done that. That was Trump 1.0
Trump 2.0 includes Project 2025, which is hard core, far right extremism. The Handmaid's Tale level of fascism.
I'm not voting for genocide.
Genocide will happen no matter how you vote. One option will lead to more genocide than the other. The rest of the options are not options under our current political system. If you do not vote for less genocide, including by not voting at all, you are voting for genocide.
Biden is only choosing to commit genocide because he thinks he can win without my vote because of people like you enabling him, promising to vote blue no matter who. It is your fault that the uncommitted campaign and campus occupations and our voices have failed to push Biden on this issue. I recently listened to Hind Rajab's call with The Palestinian Red Crescent Society again because of a new documentary on Al Jazeera ("The Night Won't End") and I want to fucking die. This is your fault. Own it.
You're not in Gaza fighting the IDF, and you aren't voting for the candidate that will do the most to mitigate The Genocide™, so it seems like you're actively choosing more genocide. I'll never understand you genocide enthusiasts, absolutely heartless.
You're not voting for a president of a country, who has a relationship with another country that acts in its own interests and independence from the rest of the world.
America is not the boss of the world, not the global authority, and no longer a beacon of progress and forward thinking. Israel is its own country, that brought something from another country for its own use. Another country's decisions are their own - its not America's fault any more than any other western country or arms producer.... weapons aren't manufactured and sold to be kind.
Biden went around congress to ship weapons to Israel bud. He's the bad guy too.
Another country’s decisions are their own
Biden chose to sell them weapons that he knew would be used for genocide. That's not Netanyahu's choice.
If the US stopped providing bombs they'd run out of bombs. Israeli officials have literally said this!
Good for you! ⭐ Here's your star, move along
