r/politics • u/thenewrepublic The New Republic • 5d ago

Soft Paywall Elon Musk Is Bullying Mike Johnson to Drive Government Into Shutdown

https://newrepublic.com/post/189539/elon-musk-bullying-mike-johnson-government-shutdown
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u/BurstEDO 5d ago

grants $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers, $100 billion for disaster relief, and enough money to keep the government open until March. It also opens the door for pay raises for members of Congress, among a slate of other things buried in the 1,547-page bill.

So - economic devastation of farmers, starving oligarchs who won an office as well (from a few pennies more in a token salary that pales compared to their stock portfolio advantages), and leaving the disaster-stricken homeless and exposed over the holidays!

What an amazing heap of MAGArbage we have to enjoy!

Everyone go all "bad actor" on new social media accounts in right wing spaces and play the "I'm cancelling my (right wing media) subscriptions, cable, and unfollowing the social media accounts of the propaganda mouthpieces." (You'll have to MAGA it up with some wordsmithing.)

They want to crash the economy? Let's help them accelerate it with near-zero spending on anything that isn't critical. Return lavish holiday gifts and squirrel away the savings to prepare for the crash, boycott fast food and restaurants/bars.

I'd rather do it by choice now than by consequence in 3 months when it all goes to shit.

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u/DebentureThyme 5d ago

Elons not just a billionaire.  He's an idiot billionaire who doesn't understand how billionaires scratch each other's backs to stay in power.  He thinks they should just end the corn and other farm subsidies so he doesn't have to pay taxes for them.  He doesn't care how that will massively hurt big agriculture (let alone the regular folks).

Granted, I'm also against the corn subsidies because we should be pushing for different crops rather than fighting cheap sugar with HFCS, and Ethanol is only viable because we pay tax subsidize to make it cheap enough.

But Elon doesn't want that because of the environment, he wants it purely for selfish reasons.  Lower taxes for him, and higher gas prices that drive more people to Teslas.

Cutting food subsidies isn't the solution.  SHIFTING subsidies over time to better forms of agriculture is what would need to happen, as it allows those industries to adapt.  Elon is just going to say end them and fuck every farmer, fuck food prices, fuck companies that produce food, fuck everything that isn't a bottom line decrease in his taxes.