bankers against Biden's fiscal plan could really do with some proper fact-checking before sending their op-ed to the FT.

We all understand 'it's ideology, stupid!', but no excuse for lazy arguments.

apparently, the Gospel according to Morgan Stanley is that we havent had enough neoliberalism for the past 4 decades
if you click on BIS link, it tells you monetary policy, not higher deficits, are associated with wealth inequality.

Incidentally, unconventional monetary policy through which central banks basically rescued banks after they nearly destroyed the global financial system in 2008
speaking of government spending, who else but Morgan Stanley got $10 billion in equity investments from US Treasury in 2008?

I cant think of a more productivity-enhancing outlay for 10bn of public funds.
the OECD 'evidence' that 'four straight decades of growing government intervention in the economy have led to slowing productivity growth' is also, excuse my language, a lot of bullshit.
if anything, there is stronger evidence that monetary policy is more important for explaining some of the productivity puzzle.

to blame government spending, instead of the Morgan Stanleys of this world, for monetary policy is, let's say, a bit rich
I really like that someone high-up in Morgan Stanley can write about the 'low interest rate elite'

it's on par with Erdogan's 'high-interest rate cabal'
the OECD 'evidence' again, two paragraphs lower!
'my team cannot prove causality, and I wont even link to the study proving correlation, but it must be true because I am a serious person making substantive arguments backed by strong evidence'
the average person understands that some bankers do get a free lunch, and munch on it while penning underwhelming op-eds.

I for one am all for Biden taking it away. Or better, redistribute it to some migrant workers breaking their back for $10 an hour.

More from Biden

U.S. president-elect Joe Biden has indicated plans to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit via executive action on his first day in office, sources tell CBC News.

This weekend stakeholders have seen a longer list of Biden’s planned executive actions than what was publicly reported in a memo from incoming chief of staff Ron Klain.

That purported list includes a reference to cancelling Keystone XL on Day 1 — Wednesday.

Here is what the Biden transition team has publicly reported so far. From a memo by his Chief of Staff Ron Klain — that dozens of executive orders are planned in the first few days.
https://t.co/gEi3qHJnD1

The Biden team has publicly /

/ publicly announced its intention to sign climate orders on Day 1 including rejoining the Paris accord

What hasn’t been publicly reported, and it’s apparently something the transition team has indicated in stakeholder briefings, is that an order to kill KXL is coming on Day 1

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney raises the prospect of legal action if Biden cancels KXL.
Biden clearly should not do #1. The problem with #2 is that reconciliation delays the inevitable and creates a tiered system where issues that happen to be ineligible - like civil rights and democracy reform - are relegated to second-class status and left to die by filibuster.


This👇is the danger. By using reconciliation you’re conceding the point that major legislation deserves to pass by majority vote, but only certain kinds for arbitrary reasons. Plus the process itself is opaque and ugly. You risk laying a logistical & political trap for yourself.


All the “here’s what you can do through reconciliation” takes are correct but also look through the wrong end of the telescope. Any of the items mentioned, or a small number of them, would be relatively easy. But putting them all together in one leadership-driven mega package...

... with no committee involvement and no real oversight, enduring tough press for jamming a massive package through a close process and stories about lobbyist giveaways while dodging the adverse parliamentary rulings that are virtually inevitable and still maintaining 50 votes...

It’s possible! Maybe the mega-ness of the package ends up helping hold 50 votes. But the ugliness of the process is being underpriced. And to what end? You’re just delaying the inevitable since you can’t use it for civil rights nor can you allow civil rights to die by filibuster.
Sitting down to work for the first day of the Biden presidency is a surreal feeling.

So much happened yesterday. I'm going to collect my threads here on yesterday's big immigration news.

First, we got key details of Biden's big immigration


Once Biden had officially taken office, we got the first major action. As part of a standard transition process, the Biden White House froze all regulations which Trump had been trying to finalize at the last hour. I did a thread on what we


Last night we started getting more changes. One of the first was an order telling CBP to stop putting people into the so-called "Migrant Protection Protocols," a cruel program that's left thousands in a dangerous limbo. But there's still more to do!


After that, we began getting the text of immigration executive orders. The first one put onto the White House's website was the order ending the Muslim Ban/Africa Ban and ordering the State Department to come up with a plan for reconsidering


The next immigration executive order put on the White House's website revoked a Trump executive order from January 26, 2017 which made all undocumented immigrants a priority for deportation and directed a DHS-wide review of immigration
This is the start of my second thread of the front pages of newspapers on this date January 21, 2021. Click below for the first thread. #inaguration2021


Front page of the Independent Record on this date January 21, 2021. #OTD #Inauguration2021


Front page of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on this date January 21, 2021. #OTD #Inauguration2021


Front page of the Daily News on this date January 21, 2021. #OTD #Inauguration2021


Front page of the Tallahassee Democrat on this date January 21, 2021. #OTD #Inauguration2021

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