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"Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

whitehouse.gov

221–230 of 1001 posts

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflation is an extreme handout to the wealthy. Money is by definition zero sum, otherwise the word "inflation" would have no meaning. There are good questions around what an over leveraged loan is, but fundamentally, the supply of money is to some degree fixed at any given moment. The wealthy and powerful keep their money in tax benefited, inflation tracking assets. Many of those assets are stocks, and a major busin…

The money supply is not zero sum. Private lenders create money when they lend and are paid back the loan with interest. It’s also why there’a always some level of inflation: Modest inflation is a sign of a healthy economy.

This video starts with a good explanation of how lending creates new money https://youtu.be/8xzINLykprA

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the sad reality of oligarchy. Red/blue culture wars appeal to some people because they would prefer an authoritarianism that at least pretends to have their back 50 percent of the time over rich people (their employers) who have their back 0 percent of the time. No one wants (and I don’t think anyone should want) bipartisanship, not really. Bipartisanship means the rich get everything they want—efficiently. I…

Bipartisan efforts are what makes Congress work. It’s this loss that plagues Congress. Bipartisanship is what was jettisoned by the republicans to ensure that they would always be able to blame democrats for the failure of the government. Even during Obamacare, when they adopted a Republican plan, Romney had to distance himself from it. Despite all the efforts for Bipartisan outreach - for all the concessions, the re…

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Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#223
post #128

This new administration lays bare what we've known all along - the legislative gridlock and dysfunction in the house of representatives and senate has made them completely incapable of governing -- the least productive in a generation. This is opened up an opportunity for a well funded strongman, and the checks and balances that were intended to protect our democracy are now mere suggestions.

Was with you 100% until the second half of your final sentence. Can you clarify?

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is an “independent agency”? Which branch of the government is that a part of? Which electoral representative do they report to?

I dunno, it makes sense that the federal branch that manages interest rates is independent of the president. Didn't we have a whole thing where Trump couldn't force rate increases or decreases back in 2020? Do we really want Trump to declare interest rate changes via tweeting or whatever? What about things like drug approvals? I don't want Trump to ban certain drugs just because they didn't donate to his campaign. I…

> it makes sense that the federal branch that manages interest rates is independent of the president.

You left out who the federal reserve is controlled by. It's not completely independent right? In its current form, it is owned and controlled by regional federal reserves which are controlled by the banks.

You are advocating for the corporate bank control of the money supply (and interest rates). One definition of fascism is the merger of corporate and government power. One sign of oligarchy is when corporations control the regulation of their industry.

"Independent government agencies" is just a code word for industry controlled government agencies (which are a form of fascism or oligarchy).

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your understanding is that these agencies are part of the legislative branch and the senate/house would have the power to do this? If it’s that clear will it be easy to take this to the Supreme Court?

They are part of the executive branch, but the law governs and constrains the behavior of the executive in managing them. You can’t even say that Congress is solely the source of those constraints since the laws creating and governing these agencies were signed by… the president! Most of these agencies have already been challenged in court and the Constitutionality of their structure and governance affirmed.

I agree. Taking trump to court for not carrying out existing law is a winning case. Saying he can’t replace X person because they are in an independent branch is not going to hold up. And I suspect they know that and want the court to rule on it.

Unless someone can make an argument that they actually report to congress.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the sad reality of oligarchy. Red/blue culture wars appeal to some people because they would prefer an authoritarianism that at least pretends to have their back 50 percent of the time over rich people (their employers) who have their back 0 percent of the time. No one wants (and I don’t think anyone should want) bipartisanship, not really. Bipartisanship means the rich get everything they want—efficiently. I…

Bipartisan efforts are what makes Congress work. It’s this loss that plagues Congress. Bipartisanship is what was jettisoned by the republicans to ensure that they would always be able to blame democrats for the failure of the government. Even during Obamacare, when they adopted a Republican plan, Romney had to distance himself from it. Despite all the efforts for Bipartisan outreach - for all the concessions, the re…

Why so two-party system?

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#228

If people think that we are safe because it is a democracy, and Trump was somehow elected, let's not forget that Russia is also a democracy and Poutine was also elected and re-elected. Now we can be scared because it shows that "votation" doesn't prevent dictators to grab the power to abuse if it for their own good.

Well no, the Putin's party wasn't. The fraud was widespread and decently documented, but not prosecuted, which is not the case here.

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Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#229

If you're wondering why the President can essentially write his own laws when that's not how our system is supposed to work, it's because the President gets extra powers whenever we're in a state of national emergency. We've been in a state of national emergency since 1979.

States of emergency should at least go to congress for renewal every 3 months as a measure to be voted on individually (cannot be tied, for example, to budgets). If that's not enough to kill it eventually, it should automatically become a ballot measure on the next Presidential Ballot after some number of renewals.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#230
post #128

This new administration lays bare what we've known all along - the legislative gridlock and dysfunction in the house of representatives and senate has made them completely incapable of governing -- the least productive in a generation. This is opened up an opportunity for a well funded strongman, and the checks and balances that were intended to protect our democracy are now mere suggestions.

This is the problem with people being OK with executive overreach when "their team" is in power. Eventually, and in fact about 50% of the time - the OTHER team is in power.. and may just push the overreach further. We should desire that the legislative side actually legislates and each branch of the government holds the other two in check, regardless of partisan control. Further having our judicial branch become open…

This is the crux of the issue. Executive power has been gradually expanded since at least the end of WWII, but things have accelerated since the early 00's. Think GWB's "signing statements" or Obama's "phone and pen." Trump I, Biden, and now Trump II have continued to push the limits, in part because of a desire for more power but also because Congress hasn't functioned as an institution in decades. Congress has passed a budget on time only 4 times since 1977, the last time being in 1997.

Presidents are elected based on promises made to various parts of the electorate, and if/when Congress won't act (often even when Congress is controlled by the president's party, nearly always when controlled by the opposition), no one generally makes a fuss if the president pushes through a popular-ish thing by executive authority. Republicans may be happy now but they won't be when a Democratic president ups the ante in a few years, just like Democrats were perfectly happy with Obama and Biden's overreaches but are furious at Trump's.

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