• Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    How is Biden supposed to have done anything to rein in corporate greed when he’s stuck with a Republican controlled house that refuses to even entertain the faintest notion of the slightest hint of the merest idea of reining it in?

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Come on, it’s not like Republicans are against their own bipartisan immigration deal because it would be good for Biden. I’m sure they’ll work with him on the economy…

      Oh.

    • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The president needn’t do a damn thing. The People need to protest outside of Citizens United office. Its what we need to do. Tear the structure from the Earth and the occupants along with it. Cast them to Tatarus where they belong.

      Citizens United
      1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE
      Washington, DC 20003
      Office: (202) 547-5420
      Fax: (202) 547-5421
      info@citizensunited.org

      • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        How is protesting in front of the office of a random right wing political group in DC going to accomplish anything? They won their court case a long time ago so they seem kind of irrelevant now.

        • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Oh, you mean the people who got Money = free speech codified into law? You dont see how that would help? It shows we know. We know who you are and what you did. And we dont accept it.

          • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            No, I don’t see how that helps anything. They already know we know. They have been protested before and it didn’t change anything, how is it going to have any impact on anything to do it again? You could burn their office down and nothing will change, it’s just a random office belonging to a random political group. They aren’t even really relevant beyond the case they won back in the day so what’s so special about their office now?

            • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              But, has anyone done it? Has anyone actually done it? These people are more fearful than anyone else on the planet. The only way this ends is if the boot gets turned on them. Anything else is just kicking the can down the road like those did before us. All their blood and tears are being undone as we speak.

    • hark@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Does that mean that bidenomics is actually the work of the republican controlled house? I don’t see how biden can get credit for a supposedly amazing economy but at the same time be powerless to do anything because of congress.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        He can do some things. He can’t do others.

        For example one of the big checks on corporate greed is the FTC, which is independent of the executive branch’s direct control. All he can do is nominate people to the FTC, which has to go through the legislature. At the moment, the FTC has a majority Democrat leadership, which has resulted in things like the blocking of Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot, the attempted blocking of the Albertsons-Krogers merger, the upcoming ban on noncompete clauses, and other reining in of corporate greed.

        Biden can’t tell the FTC “you have to impose fines on x corporation”. All he can do is appoint the kinds of people he thinks would support fines on x corporation. And like I said, even that is subject to the legislature’s approval.

        Biden can modify student loan programs, but (according to the courts) he does not have the power to wholesale forgive student loans. He’s doing what he can, but he’s not a dictator. We have 3 branches of government for a reason.

        • hark@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          But there are things in his control where he doesn’t put up a fight at all. A great example of this is where he not only didn’t fight against border wall funding, he actually went out of his way to waive federal laws to accelerate the border wall construction: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-administration-waives-federal-laws-allow-border-wall-constructio-rcna118959

          Biden just doesn’t seem to put up much of a fight, whereas Trump was pushing ahead with ridiculous actions like his Muslim ban, whether or not a court would uphold it. Biden’s inaction in a number of areas are excused with “if he tried then it would be stopped.” At least try. And again, if Biden is so powerless, how can he take credit for the economy?

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Did you see the headline on your own link?? “BIDEN ON BORDER WALL: ‘I HAD NO CHOICE’”

            Biden’s inaction in a number of areas are excused with “if he tried then it would be stopped.”

            Yes. Why the fuck do you want him to bang his head against a brick wall? That’s stupid and if you want it, you’re stupid. Things he can do, he should do. Things he can’t do, he shouldn’t waste time on.

            if Biden is so powerless, how can he take credit for the economy?

            Well, two things. First, like I said, he does have some measure of control over some things, and he has popular influence. But second, and more importantly, presidents always get praise or blame for the economy under them regardless of how incredibly stupid it is to believe that the president can personally make the economy good or bad. So, political reality is, if he has a good economy, he has to claim it, since if there’s a bad economy, he’ll be blamed for it.

            • hark@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              There is nothing that forces Biden to waive federal laws. Biden had a choice, he just decided to make this one for whatever reason. Republicans can obstruct all they want, but apparently democrats are incapable of even inaction to stop or slow down dumb republican shit like the border wall. Tell me how this makes any sense.

              Biden slapping his name onto the economy by calling it “bidenomics” is a risky bet when the market is so fickle and people can feel wildly different depending on their individual circumstances. Broad numbers can hide very real problems that aren’t being addressed.

              • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                It’s not “for whatever reason”.

                Pressed about Biden’s previous comments rejecting the construction of more border wall during his presidency, the White House official said the administration had no choice but to use the money Congress appropriated in 2019 during the Trump administration.

                “In order to follow the law, we had to use this money,” the official said, adding that the timing of the environmental waiver was related to the end of the fiscal year.

                Why delay the inevitable? Do it, gain some political points, move on. It’s gonna happen anyway, and he needed he points he got from moderates more than he needed the points from people like you.

                • hark@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  So you admit that he had a choice in the matter, but now you claim it was needed to score points with the supposed “moderates” that love republican policy. If “moderates” want a wall, they will simply vote republican. This dumb stunt does not change that at all. I am curious what you mean by “people like you”.

                  • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                    9 months ago

                    I meant “far leftists who make irrational demands of Democrats”

                    He had no choice in stopping the wall from being built.

                    He could claim points for not delaying it.

                    Both of these are true.

                    And do you really believe moderate Democrats don’t exist?

    • PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Threaten to nationalize any business that extorts with the defense production act. Cant have good conscriptees if they are malnourished and mentally ill.

      Lets get creative.

    • Spiralvortexisalie@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The issue with that logic is that Dems will say they can’t get anything done but fear the substantial change that Trump can bring. Like the party’s own stance is more of the same with Biden or certainty of drastic change by voting against Biden. That does not come off like the party elites think it does. I can see how that messaging can work with say the UAW or the already rich who can claim wins during the last four, but many of us really only expected him to not be Trump after the Biden win and somehow even that bar feels missed, the man has lower approval ratings than Trump ever had.

      • ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.com
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        9 months ago

        Well thats just not true. His approval rating is very low for sure, but Trump has got him beat in that metric, he had substantially worse ratings. Still Biden might end with worse approval average if he continues downward in approval ratings, and that’s kinda impressive since Biden hasn’t been doing egregiously corrupt and stupid shit basically daily like Trump did. Golfing at his own resort. Putting his kids into government positions. Firing staff on grounds of “loyalty” like some mob boss. Etc etc. Biden hasn’t even been impeached, let alone twice.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating

      • PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I don’t know why you’re being downloaded, you’re right here. They fear that Trump is going to be a dictator rightfully, yet Biden’s not allowed to use any power to help the people. That, for some reason, is where the line in the sand is.