Pacific Gas and Electric
Pacific Gas and Electric’s criminal record is longer—a lot longer—than I thought and it’s pretty damned rare for a mainstream newspaper, like the Sacramento Bee, to defy capitalist ideology and call for a state takeover, as the paper does today.[1] I’d be the last one to argue.[2]
Sacramento Bee, “PG&E has destroyed enough California communities. It’s time for a public takeover,” November 5, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article255555496.html
Gig economy
Electric vehicles
Joann Muller, “Why the electric car era is a threat to Uber and Lyft,” Axios, November 5, 2021, https://www.axios.com/why-the-electric-car-era-is-a-threat-to-uber-and-lyft-ab9318a3-b049-4e29-b04e-06cd7784ef7d.html
Infrastructure
For a long time, it has been clear that Joe Manchin and Kyrstin Sinema are the chief obstacles to the reconciliation package that is supposed to accompany the bipartisan infrastructure framework to passage. What hadn’t been quite so clear was what exactly they were objecting to.[3]
This actually wasn’t quite the mystery it was made out to be and gradually, it emerged that Manchin and Sinema mostly objected to the overall cost of the reconciliation package.[4] But what if Manchin is using a different standard to evaluate the bipartisan framework he supports from the one he is using to evaluate the reconciliation package? It turns out he’s doing just that.[5]
Which is to say, Manchin and, I’m pretty sure, Sinema don’t actually object to what they call “fiscal irresponsibility.” They’re just desperate to oppose a social safety net bill on whatever pretext—money usually works—they can come up with.
David Dayen, “Manchin’s Cherry-Picking of Budget Estimates,” American Prospect, November 5, 2021, https://prospect.org/infrastructure/building-back-america/manchins-cherry-picking-of-budget-estimates/
- [1]Sacramento Bee, “PG&E has destroyed enough California communities. It’s time for a public takeover,” November 5, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article255555496.html↩
- [2]David Benfell, “Sorry, PG&E, but sorry is not enough,” Not Housebroken, December 4, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/03/sorry-pge-but-sorry-is-not-enough/↩
- [3]Igor Bobic and Arthur Delaney, “Progressive Democrats Stare Down Moderates In Battle Over Biden Agenda,” Huffington Post, September 30, 2021, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-pelosi-infrastructure-vote_n_6155b857e4b0487c855b9a42; Jonathan Chait, “Joe Manchin Has Put Biden’s Presidency in Mortal Danger,” New York, September 2, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/09/joe-manchin-pause-biden-presidency-failed-danger-congress-democrats.html; Jonathan Chait, “Kyrsten Sinema Threatens to Kill Her Own Infrastructure Bill,” New York, September 20, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/09/kyrsten-sinema-threatens-infrastructure-bill-biden-build-back-better.html; Democracy Now! “‘We Need to Deliver’: Anger Grows at Sens. Manchin, Sinema over Obstruction of Democratic Priorities,” September 21, 2021, https://www.democracynow.org/2021/9/21/35_trillion_spending_bill_ro_khanna; Olivier Knox, “It’s Bernie vs Manchin as spending breakthrough remains elusive,” Washington Post, October 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/07/its-bernie-vs-manchin-spending-breakthrough-remains-elusive/; Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett, “Democrats grit their teeth after Manchin lists demands,” Politico, September 30, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/30/democrats-grit-teeth-manchin-demands-514836; Kristina Peterson and Lindsay Wise, “Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Budget Framework Exposes Party Tensions,” Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-3-5-trillion-budget-framework-exposes-party-tensions-11628704569; Greg Sargent, “Bernie Sanders erupts at Joe Manchin, and a deeper dispute is revealed,” Washington Post, October 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/07/sanders-manchin-reconciliation-democrats/; Marianna Sotomayor, “Waiting for ‘Manchema’: House liberals grow exasperated with two Democratic senators as Biden agenda struggles,” Washington Post, September 30, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manchin-sinema-reconciliation-liberals/2021/09/30/3aa2b376-2130-11ec-8200-5e3fd4c49f5e_story.html; Daniel Strauss, “Can Pramila Jayapal Stare Down Manchin and Sinema?” New Republic, September 29, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/163811/pramila-jayapal-infrastructure-manchin-sinema; Paul Waldman, “Kyrsten Sinema needs to show us what she believes in,” Washington Post, September 20, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/20/kyrsten-sinema-needs-show-us-what-she-believes/↩
- [4]Mike DeBonis, “Joe Manchin gets all the attention. But Kyrsten Sinema could be an even bigger obstacle for Democrats’ spending plans,” Washington Post, September 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sinema-reconciliation-manchin/2021/09/15/8c583f96-162d-11ec-9589-31ac3173c2e5_story.html; Hans Nichols, “Manchin backs as little as $1 trillion of Biden’s $3.5 trillion plan,” Axios, September 8, 2021, https://www.axios.com/scoop-manchin-backs-as-little-as-1-trillion-of-bidens-35-trillion-plan-91d079e0-84a7-4f8f-94d4-212827a61339.html; Tony Romm, “Sens. Manchin and Sanders square off as Democrats clash over $3.5 trillion economic package,” Washington Post, September 12, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/09/12/manchin-sanders-reconciliation/↩
- [5]David Dayen, “Manchin’s Cherry-Picking of Budget Estimates,” American Prospect, November 5, 2021, https://prospect.org/infrastructure/building-back-america/manchins-cherry-picking-of-budget-estimates/↩