… fantastic. Other words include smart, scrupulous — and characteristic; he has managed to win applause from both progressives and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as the NY Times reports.
Now is the time — actually, long past, but … — to prime the Keynesian pump through deficit spending, and President-elect Joe Biden intends to do it to the tune of nearly $2 trillion. His plan is designed to accelerate covid vaccinations and hire more healthcare workers, provide emergency paid leave to more than 100 Americans and expand tax credits for child care, increase federal unemployment benefits, raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and offer financial aid to renters and small businesses.
In February, Biden will also introduce an even larger package of spending — that one paid for by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthiest among us — focused on infrastructure and therefore more job creation.
I needn't point out that the incoming president will soon suffer multiple migraines because of the political gangsterism and hypocritical frugality of a Capitol Hill pack that goes by three little initials — denoting a loosely organized syndicate that is no longer grand, old beyond any usefulness, and not much of a party. Its moniker has achieved the level of Voltairean sarcasm: "The Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire."
Still, Joe Biden is demonstrating that he means business. And that marginalized "organization," or whatever it is, would be well to comply with that aged catchphrase: help lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.