In a statement, the White House said Biden will use the Defense Production Act to improve the domestic manufacturing of medicines deemed crucial for national security and will convene the first meeting of the president’s supply chain resilience council to announce other measures tied to the production and shipment of goods.
…
The Defense Production Act of 1950, which was passed to streamline production during the Korean war, was last used in early 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic to accelerate and expand the availability of ventilators and personal protective equipment.
Watch Republicans somehow find a way to complain about lower prices and call Biden a dictator.
Remember kids, capitalism for profits and socialism for losses makes the world go round just right…
/s
Remember when gas prices dropped a few months after he took office and everyone on the right complained that he was hurting small business owners by making them eat the cost difference for the expensive fuel?
“Socialism!”
“When supply chains are smooth, prices fall for goods, food, and equipment, putting more money in the pockets of American families, workers, farmers, and entrepreneurs,” the statement added.
The problem is that prices never fall even when supply chains are smooth, it isn’t like Kelloggs or Nestle are going to lower their prices because the costs of moving stuff and buying stuff is cheaper.
That money goes right back into profits.
Unions have helped a lot with this problem, but it has only helped people with a union organization.
And it really hasn’t fixed the core problems in America.
Americans need to see some kind of relief from these companies that are apart of our lives running smoothly.
I agree with the general sentiment of this, but you’re wrong here:
it has only helped people with a union organization
Union membership increases pay for non-union people, since their employers now have to compete for employees at that higher pay rate.
But pay is just one side of the equation. If I get a 10% raise and prices go up by 9%, it’s only a 1% raise. I would really love to see our government take corporations to task for this, but until politicians don’t need corporate money to get elected it’s not going to happen.
Prices don’t need to go up.
But think of the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical corporations!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The White House has announced it plans to use a cold-war era law to ease supply chain issues that the administrations argues are contributing to higher inflation – a key electoral challenge to Joe Biden’s re-election chances next year as polling consistently suggests voters are not buying his Bidenomics pitch.
In a statement, the White House said Biden will use the Defense Production Act to improve the domestic manufacturing of medicines deemed crucial for national security and will convene the first meeting of the president’s supply chain resilience council to announce other measures tied to the production and shipment of goods.
But the White House has acknowledged that improving economic picture is not shared by consumers, and the administration has explicitly tied the economy to the president by calling it Bidenomics.
Prices have risen as much in the past three years as they had in the previous decade, according to a report by Bloomberg, and it now costs almost $120 to buy the same goods and services a family could afford with $100 before the pandemic.
According to Bloomberg, groceries and electricity are up 25%, used-car prices have climbed 35%, auto insurance 33% and rent roughly 20% since January 2020.
“When supply chains are smooth, prices fall for goods, food, and equipment, putting more money in the pockets of American families, workers, farmers, and entrepreneurs,” the statement added.
The original article contains 581 words, the summary contains 228 words. Saved 61%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I appreciate the idea of trying to lower medical costs (I can’t imagine he can use this sufficiently to actually reduce overall inflation) but I can’t help but think that in a working democracy we would repeal the Defense Production Act and the Insurrection Act and any other decade/century old laws that give the executive power which is or might be being repurposed for modern times for political reasons.
If you want to reduce medical costs, pass a law to do that. If you can’t, run on a campaign where you explain that the other side is stopping you from passing the law, and if you don’t win enough seats to pass the law then you just can’t do the thing you wanted to do, Democracy has spoken.
Except we’re not operating under democratic rule. Our democracy is under assault from a conservative minority that is determined to block any attempt to utilize government for the public good. How many comments have been lambasting Democrats for failing to do enough, no matter what they tried? Are you proposing we just give up and abandon democracy because we shouldn’t do everything in our power to counter the unprecedented methods Republicans are using to shut us down? Are you arguing for accelerationism?
It’s people buying into the propaganda that somehow repubs opposing everything somehow is the same as being better than the party trying to do something. Regressives are appealing to idiots because they are loud and have vague answers to hard problems. Shout them down and they might go away. Don’t bother reasoning with them.
It’s not exactly unprecedented. Republicans have been blocking everything for almost 30 years.
Except we’re not operating under democratic rule. Our democracy is under assault from a conservative minority that is determined to block any attempt to utilize government for the public good.
I agree with this, this complaint is baked into my comment. Ideally we wouldn’t be running a government by re-interpreting laws from the past. We are and that’s a shame.
Are you proposing we just give up and abandon democracy because we shouldn’t do everything in our power to counter the unprecedented methods Republicans are using to shut us down? Are you arguing for accelerationism?
Oh I’m the opposite of an accelerationist, I think the solution to the Trump problem is just defeating him at the ballot box, the solution to the voter base that likes him is probably just that we have to compromise with them and do weird interpreting like Biden is doing as necessary. Because their votes count equally, they are allowed to vote this way even if I don’t like it.
It’s just a shame we can’t regularly write good legislation and get it passed to fix specific current problems, and delete the legislation that a majority of folks don’t like. The inertia that leaves the Comstock Act and Insurrection Act on the books 100+ years later to wreak havoc in unpredictable ways is weird and bad.
Will be inevitably blocked by Republicans causing the usual response from Democrats:
Biden is literally trying something and you act like Dems do nothing. Fuck off and just vote Republican like you were already planning. Remember to bring the lube so they don’t fuck you dry.
See all the other things blocked by Republicans. How’s that student debt relief going?
Wut? Go be wrong somewhere else.
Super simple, Biden tries to do the right thing, blocked by Republicans, fights over. Nothing happens.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/24/bidens-second-student-loan-forgiveness-plan-what-we-know-so-far.html
Would you like to be demonstrably wrong about anything else?
Tell you what, how about you tell me when my wife has her student loans forgiven… we’re still waiting…
Yes, I’m aware that Republicans have successfully blocked student loan forgiveness to date. But according to you, the fight is over. Even though Biden is still fighting to find a way to make it happen. You’re blaming Democrats for the consequences of Republican obstruction, and I honestly don’t know how you could be that dishonest and still show your face.
The fight is over. Biden and the Democrats are doing nothing, same as always. They meet a little resistance and cave.
So, doing something is the same as doing nothing. May as well give up and admit the party that’s fighting to help people is just the same as the party looking to fuck us all over.
Maybe I really am in the wrong community, if you represent it.
Democrats: try something and get blocked by Republicans
You: Damn Democrats didn’t even TRY ANYTHING! I might as well vote for Republicans.
Yes, thank you for the “both sides” nonsense.
