I was under the distinct impression that the dems blocked the reps stimulus and the reps blocked the dems stimulus. Or did I miss something?
The Dems proposed a stimulus package that would actually help people in your position. The Republicans blocked it because it was “too generous” (you see, McConnell and his ilk consider you to be a “moocher”). Back and forth it goes, with the GOP being obstinate and then telling you “see, government is the problem” (when in fact the GOP is the problem). And the conservative rubes – people who need the money – nod along. This isn’t a “both sides are equally bad” situation.
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You are correct, they are both not equally bad, they are still both bad. When people need money to feed their children and we see other people bickering about wich politician is better and more principled it is hard to trust them when they obviously are just interested in themselves. I have never once in my life voted for a republican and it is highly unlikely I ever will but I’m sorry, the fu%$#ng democrats in congress should have eaten the republican’s lesser deal to actually help people and then moved on to trying to get their extra help passed. There is no excuse, they are just more focused on not giving them a “win” during an election year to give two shits about the rest of us. This whole BS about how we are all angels, they are all demons, everything we say is richeous melody, everything they say is vile noise is cringy under normal circumstances but these days it’s downright vomitous. I will do my part and hold my nose to vote for Biden but I am not a cultist in any religion.
As @ElQuesero said, NYC doesn’t get to set its own tax rates without Albany’s permission. It doesn’t control its own subway and train systems; the mayor only picks 4 of 13 voting members of the MTA board, the governor picks 5 (including the chairman and CEO), and surrounding counties pick 4.
Daddy demands obedience, then Daddy’s responsible when things go wrong. Although really I’m horrified by that “Daddy” metaphor when the situation is more “Democratically elected government of a city of 8 million people, still denied self governance by people who live living well over a hundred miles away, based on conditions imposed under duress 45 years ago.”
Also, there are so many overlapping authorities that actually making changes is nearly impossible even with supermajority consensus. That’s how in 2010 NJ governor Chris Christie could unilaterally cancel a project to build a desperately needed new train tunnel into Manhattan even after after 15 years of planning, real estate acquisitions, and funding by the NY state, NJ, and federal governments. It’s not a coincidence that a huge chunk of NYC’s infrastructure was designed by Robert Moses, who at one point held high positions in 12 different agencies simultaneously and so was actually able to get those agencies to agree on things. Unfortunately he was also very racist and favored cars over public transit (the bridges to Long Island and overpasses on the parkways were intentionally built too low for buses, so poor people of color wouldn’t be able to leave the city), and no one since has managed to undo that legacy. Subway changes are similarly infeasible; the Second Avenue Subway Phase 1, that opened in 2017, was first planned in 1920 and construction started in 1972. It wasn’t the locals that held it up.
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Wow, I had never heard that one. I have to read more about him than I had.
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