Bits 'n pieces from east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling:

To temporarily avoid a government shutdown, Congress passed a spending bill that keeps federal funding going through Dec. 3, The New York Times reported. The debt ceiling issue remains otherwise unresolved. Republicans refuse to raise the ceiling for borrowing to pay past debts despite raising the ceiling three times under Donald Trump, who saw the national debt increase by $7.8 trillion. Democrats, meanwhile, can only use reconciliation once, either for their Build Back Better plan or for raising the debt ceiling.

Failure to raise the ceiling could have catastrophic economic consequences.

This month the U.S. postmaster general will slow delivery of first-class mail (letters, bills, small parcels that used to be delivered in one to three days) to four to five days. According to Accountability Journalism, a similar move in 2020 caused late arrival of checks and resulted in credit card penalties and missed court appearances. The change is problematic for mail-in voting. The Postal Service estimates the slow-down will save “less than a quarter of 1 percent of the total Fiscal Year 2020 operating expenses …” The independent agency with Postal Service oversight, the Postal Regulatory Commission, believes that amount may be inflated.

Pandora Papers: 11.9 million private financial records recently shared with The Washington Post revealed a vast and secretive offshore network for hiding billions of dollars from criminal investigators, creditors and tax authorities. The newspaper plans an eight-part series exploring the financial records.

Risk of death and hospitalization from COVID-19 can be cut nearly in half with the use of their newly created anti-viral pill molnupiravir, according to developer Merck.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) told ABC News that the $3.5 trillion figure (over 10 years) for the Build Back Better plan is likely to be reduced before it gets to the president’s desk. It calls for investments aimed at addressing climate change and social infrastructure failings, among other issues. Progressive Democrats were promised the bill would be coupled with the bipartisan $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill, and are standing firm on upholding that promise. To appeal to conservative Democrats, many of whom have connections to corporate donors, angles are being sought to reduce the price and scope. Nonetheless, Sanders said the larger issue is not so much resistant Democrats, but “taking on the entire ruling class of the country.” That includes drug and health insurance companies as well as the fossil fuel industry, which, Sanders said, aims “to prevent us from doing what the American people want.”

Dark money groups aligned with the Koch political network aim to sink the Build Back Better plan and cripple Biden's presidency, according to a report by Rolling Stone. Koch affiliated groups are funded by anonymous organizations that support a Libertarian future. Koch network campaigns have opposed: the Affordable Care Act, election reform, Medicare negotiating lower drug prices, racial justice curriculums, expanding social safety nets and addressing climate change.

Why the oppositions? Taxes. The Koch brothers saved up to $1.4 billion in taxes under Trump-era policies, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. The Build Back Better plan aims to pay for itself with taxes on high incomes. (The Koch tax savings under Trump are almost a drop in the bucket. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said the nation’s richest 1 percent dodge $163 billion in taxes annually.) As well, Build Back Better’s plans for a cleaner planet will impact Koch enterprises, which include vast interests in fossil fuels and petrochemical production. David Koch died in 2019 at age 79. His brother, Charles, remains chairman and CEO of Koch Industries.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), a conservative Democrat who opposes much of Build Back Better, does not like the legislation’s stance on climate change. He has stock valued at up to $5 million in a coal brokerage firm he founded, according to The New York Times. His belt-tightening is at odds with his consistent votes to increase military spending to a level beyond that of Build Back Better — $9.1 trillion over 10 years, The Week has pointed out.

Blast from the past: An open letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, from economist John M. Keynes, said that without a robust economic recovery, the U.S. might slide into authoritarianism, which was happening in other countries. Despite opposition, FDR acted on Keynes’ advice, investing in housing, relief payments and direct hiring as part of his program against monopolies and Big Money interests. As a result, the U.S. economic recovery from the Great Depression was strengthened, as was its democracy. Eighty-eight years later, Keynes biographer, financial journalist Zachary D. Carter, pointed out parallels with politics today in The New York Times: Big Money interests want to torpedo the Build Back Better plan. Corporate-funded Democrats are putting out false claims about the legislation, such as claiming it would create “crippling” debt, when in fact Carter says Build Back Better is budget-neutral since it taxes high earners. Build Back Better includes plans for Medicare to negotiate lower drug costs (which will also lower government costs) and aims to help with child and elder care expenses, thereby keeping people in the work force and helping prevent supply shortages.

FDR gambled on a better life for average people and Carter said Build Back Better does the same.