This is interesting, and I think I know where it may be going. And that’s nowhere good for the GOP going into 2024. According to reporting in Politico, just as President Joe Biden is gearing up for another run for the White House, he’s getting an unexpected boost from an unlikely ally, Corporate America. You know, the same guys he whacks over the head with a 2×4 in almost every speech?
In the short time since Biden played whack-a-mole with the GOP House in his SOTU, Biden has received gift concessions from two industries he specifically called out in his speech. And unlike the infrastructure bill, these are benefits that take place and can be felt immediately. Here they are;
- Earlier this week pharma giant Eli-Lily announced that they were voluntarily complying with the new Medicare reform by capping insulin costs at $35 a month for patients with insurance. This applies only to their older, established insulin, and not the newer next generation
- About the same time, three major airlines, United, American and Frontier have voluntarily dropped a totally bogus fee that charged parents more to get advance guaranteed seat assignments next to their children, instead of taking what was available, and letting the agent make the change at the gate. Biden spanked the airlines in his SOTU, accusing the airlines of treating children like a piece of baggage
Granted these concessions are modest, but both sides can take an immediate victory lap. Biden can boast rightfully that all alone he is taking the steps he can to ease the pain for consumers. The GOP can’t claim anything, there wasn’t even any legislation pending on either issue. And Eli-Lily and the airlines can now brag about what good corporate citizens they are. Now that they’ve taken the plunge, how long before other pharma companies and airlines follow suit to avoid looking like total shits. And of course none of them will acknowledge that they took these steps only after Biden shined a spotlight on them climbing over the prison wall.
I said above that I think I know where this is going, and I do. You all know that I cut my political teeth in Chicago in the early 70’s. And it was common knowledge that companies, and even corporations normally more aligned with the GOP were donating to Mayor Dick Daley and the Cook County Democratic party. That’s because the Democrats had a stranglehold on city and county politics. Quick example. Every company needs insurance, right? Why not throw those premiums to the agency with the Alderman’s name over the door? After all, a conservative insurance couldn’t even get a traffic ticket fixed for you. A little legal boo-boo is more likely to be overlooked by a party that’s getting paid to look the other way.
And it’s already happening today, even before the SOTU. The Koch Industries political arm announced weeks ago that they were going to be very busy in the 2024 GOP primaries, backing anybody who was aligned against Trump and the MAGA GOP. Corporate America is monolithic, it is profit driven. Just look at the millions that Big Pharma throws into Arizona ditz Kyrsten Sinema’s campaign coffers. You invest in who you can buy.
Keep an eye on this, because it might just be the start of a pattern. Regardless of whether it’s Trump, or DeSantis, or Haley, or Pimpeo, the 2024 GOP presidential primary is already such a high speed demolition derby that whomever is nominated is going to have an incredibly difficult time getting elected in November. Why put $100 on a 75-1 shot?
And here’s the McGuffin. Even if Trump or DeSantis wins, what difference does it make? After all, any 2025 GOP held House will be so full of dipshit performance artists that they won’t even be able to name post offices. How are they going to get their shit together enough to cut you a $1 trillion tax break? They’re too busy fighting with each other to fight with Democrats. It’s an exercise in futility.
This is a perfect example of the old saying, Better the devil you know, than the one you don’t. With a free-for-all monkey island like todays GOP, even being associated with the GOP by exposed donations isn’t good for your corporate image. Making modest concessions to Biden allow Biden to build his campaign rhetoric, and makes the corporations look like good faith actors. And the Democrats still figure to end up with enough moderate House and Senate members to keep the corporations from taking a total bloodletting with the next tax package. Play the game, rig it when you can, and wait for the GOP to finally boot Traitor Tot and get their heads out of their asses. Welcome to politics.
Chicago and the Daley’s had the best machine in the country. I’m still of the opinion no one else comes close to what Chicago had.
Had, Spike? I’m 66 years old, and I’ve NEVER seen a GOP Mayor of Chicago in my lifetime…lolAt this point, the Democratic party is so totally enshrined in the political structure of government in Chicago I don’t believe it’s possible to oust them…
You have never seen la palanca in Rio Grande Valley South Texas. it rivals chicago politics. Sucio eddie lucio made millions off his connections and never had to face any primary challenge. his son eddie lucio the turd, lived off this graft for years. the whole machine was based on politiqueras who collected votes. They didn’t care about state or national politics, all that mattered was delivering for the local politicians who could bring home school district jobs, border patrol jobs, any jobs. things may be changing but not for the better. elon musk has bought off most of the local politicians with his space x program.
It’s not much but it’s quite a bit more than nothing. I hope you’re right and that it’s the start of a trend. I sometimes see financial pundits note that while Wall Street types hate taxes they hate instability even more. Corporate America might be starting to think like Wall Street. Oh, they’ll fight like hell to keep their fucking tax cuts and to gut regulations but they don’t just see instability from Trump and the now Trumpian GOP – they see bat-shit insane chaos! Paying more in taxes and having more regulations might be something they are deciding to live with for a while as they try and bankroll a rebuilt GOP without all the asshats calling the shots.
Yeah Denis my friend…And Wall Street types are one of the few corporate entities out there that aren’t REALLY customer facing…They can play the hand as the dealer…And NO President wants a hostile Wall Street on his watch…
A thought I had, is all the mess that DeSantis is creating with Disney, there’s even talk about if he goes far enough they will pull out of Florida. I don’t think any big corporations or companies want to chance what the GOP may do to them. Like you said, better the devil you know.
DeathSantis is bluffing with an empty hand and Disney knows it. He pushes his luck too far, they move to Georgia and the district they ran suddenly becomes an unsustainable financial burden on the Florida budget.
Well, it’ll take a LOT of time to move Disney World (or build a new one from scratch). Not to mention EPCOT. It took several years to decide on the Orlando area and then roughly 5 years between starting construction and grand opening of Disney World.
As for the company’s cruise lines, Disney would have a tough time finding new ports. Savannah, Georgia would require some massive construction to become a real cruise port (and could cause some serious issues with the Gullah/Geechee culture in the Sea Islands running from just north of Jacksonville, FL to the Charleston, SC area) and Charleston, South Carolina could possibly take the upgrades to handle cruise ships but you’re still looking at some major financial considerations at play.
Hate to break it to you but, ain’t nothing sudden about old Joe being in bed with corporate America.
Joe is an old fashioned pol who knows regardless of what you personally want to happen, there’s just no way thru the quagmire without DEALING with the enemy – you only win what you have persuaded others to accept, and he has a very good history of persuading ! That is why pols generally all seem so conniving & crafty – they have to have that streak to get anywhere, but Joe has somehow kept his ‘nice’ thru it all, and that is why he tends to win lots of battles. Many pols get elected with no obvious ‘crafty’, but only the most clever manage to stay long term. Jamie Raskin is one to watch – hope his health issues are resolved in his favor, he has a great future IMO.