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Noem’s Misrepresents Budget Reality to Excuse Ignoring Common People

Son looks unimpressed with Kristi Noem's mashed potatoes.
Imagine these mashed potatoes are the federal budget….

Kristi Noem likes to pretend that funding the federal government is just like her kitchen-table economics (which she couldn’t make work without huge infusions of federal subsidies for her family’s crops and her husband’s job selling federally backed crop insurance). More sensible economists understand that federal budgeting is nothing like household budgeting. Individual households aren’t responsible for general welfare. Individual households aren’t charged with using fiscal and monetary policy to temper inflation and recession.

And, as Modern Monetary Theory recognizes, in serving those important macroeconomic goals, governments are not constrained by microeconomic conditions:

MMT argues that government spending does not face the same constraints as a regular household budget. When we — regular people — want to buy something, we have to spend our existing money or get a loan. MMT points to the fact that the government doesn’t tax in order to raise revenue to then spend. It simply spends what it authorizes. Moreover, countries with a sovereign, fiat currency — which includes the U.S. — cannot run out of money.

According to MMT, the limits are not in our government’s ability to spend money, or even in the deficit per se, but in inflationary pressures and resources within the real economy. Can the government spend trillions and trillions of dollars on health care and infrastructure? Technically, there’s nothing stopping it. The question is whether there’s enough available labor and resources to carry out such projects without raising inflation. And governments with non-sovereign currencies or foreign debt face considerably harder restraints [Daniel José Camacho, “Can We Afford Economic Justice in the United States?Sojourners, 2018.10.10].

Kristi Noem’s kitchen-table pablum not only misses the facts of macroeconomics but also exposes her true priorities. Noem thinks that the government has the fiscal capacity to give the Trump class more tax breaks and to buy ever bigger war toys, but when it comes to ensuring all Americans can afford health care, suddenly Kristi’s back at the kitchen table, griping that the newspaper didn’t carry any good coupons. Kristi’s kitchen-table budgeting isn’t government reality; it’s her excuse for lacking the will to stand up to the rich and powerful and support the common people:

If the government is not as broke as some say it is, then the inability to invest in things like public education is due to a lack of political will and not some natural law written into the fabric of economic reality [Camacho, 2018.10.10].

America can do a lot more than Kristi Noem thinks. We can certainly do things that differ from Noem’s narrow vision of “great”ness.

81 Comments

  1. Jason 2018-10-14 09:07

    Cory,

    Please explain how you the socialism you want is working in Venezuela?

    Also explain how you got Noem’s personal financial records to make this statement:

    (which she couldn’t make work without huge infusions of federal subsidies for her family’s crops and her husband’s job selling federally backed crop insurance)

  2. Jason 2018-10-14 09:21

    The Second International Conference of Modern Monetary Theory, held Sept. 28-30 at The New School, did not feel like a traditional economics conference. Its 430-plus attendees comprised several economists and policy wonks, but also lawyers, activists, even faith leaders.

    So Cory and the “several” economists believe in the magic money tree.

    Who gets hurt by inflation the most Cory?

  3. Jason 2018-10-14 09:45

    Four of the five worst-run states all have one thing in common — and it’s exactly what you think it is.

    That’s right, states in the worst fiscal condition — according to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University — are almost universally run by Democrats. The worst-run states are, in order starting from the bottom: Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Kentucky. The five best-run states are, in order: Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Florida, and Oklahoma.

    https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/norcross-fiscal-rankings-2018-mercatus-research-v1.pdf

  4. OldSarg 2018-10-14 10:16

    Funny how South Dakota, one of the BEST run states, is who these democrat leftist are wanting to trash and change. It has become almost a battle to keep the fools out of office around these parts.

  5. mike from iowa 2018-10-14 11:12

    Mercatus Center at George Mason U is a bought and paid for subsidiary of koch bros. They are paid to say what koch bros want to hear. It is run by a guy used to head koch bros industries.

  6. Jason 2018-10-14 11:21

    Mike,

    This thread is about fiscal issues. Your link is worthless.

  7. jerry 2018-10-14 12:18

    Yes, lets have a chat about economy and currency manipulation. The chickens may be coming home to roost earlier than thought. Have ya had enough yet? Are ya ready to rumble? Vote Democratic like your balance sheet depended on it.

    “Fear and greed were on display this week with the global sell-off of stocks. To get a sense of just how much wealth was destroyed in the panic consider that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos , who also owns the Washington Post, lost $9.08 billion on just Wednesday, bringing his wealth down to $145 billion.

    So, what spooked the markets?

    A sell-off in the bond market that was sparked by the growing realization among investors that there is likely to be an economic slowdown as a consequence of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates after almost a decade of keeping them artificially low to ease the U.S. out of the Great Recession.

    This so called “quantitative easing” is when a central bank, like the Federal Reserve, buys government securities to keep interest rates artificially low, while increasing the money supply and in the process floods financial institutions with liquidity to spark increased lending.

    This “quantitative easing” strategy was also used by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

    Of course, the other side of the transaction of lending is borrowing. In the process of all of this “easing” the developed and emerging markets took on massive amounts of debt which all seemed to be predicated on either low interest rates forever, or the creation of real economic growth that could then pay down the debt.

    Sufficient economic growth didn’t happen. So, that debt is still hanging out there and it has been growing.” Salon 10/14/2018

    Whatever NOem says about the budgets, she should declare her responsiblity in exploding them. NOem is NO good. She now knows how to add the debt, in order to subtract the debt, NOem knows that social programs like Medicare and Social Security must be subtracted. Dump NOem…quickly.

  8. CIB vet 2018-10-14 12:19

    There was a conservative on MSNBC this morning who actually said the tax cuts will not increase the deficit, but actually lower it because people and corporations will no longer cheat on their taxes, but pay what they owe the government because of the tax cuts. I would suggest he was educated in the same economic schools as some of the respondents on this blog.

  9. bearcreekbat 2018-10-14 12:22

    Jason’s myopic vision overlooks that this post is about Noem’s misrepresentation of facts to the voting public.

    I experienced a significant misrepresentation of facts last night in a push-pull poll conducted by Noem. It started out with very neutral language and gave no indication of favoring any candidate for governor, with a very friendly and responsive lady asking the questions.

    As the questions went on, however, they gradually became propaganda favoring Noem. I told the pollster that I was no longer willing to answer questions that obviously completely misrepresented Sutton’s stand of economic issues. For example, one question falsely asserted that he proposes a substantial increase in sales tax, as well as other draconian policies that would harm the poor, and then asked if this would affect my vote. When I tried to tell the pollster I was done, she argued and persisted by following up wih a question extolling Noem’s many alleged virtues. Indeed, after I concluded the call politely and hung up, she immediately called back to insist on my responses to these stupid, loaded and misleading poll questions. It is clear that the poll was not a poll at all, but a misleading propaganda adverstisement seeking votes for Noem using false claims about both Sutton and Noem herownself.

  10. Jason 2018-10-14 12:23

    CIB Vet,

    Do you have evidence to contradict that person?

    I’m not saying I agree with him, but I want to see your evidence proving him wrong.

  11. Darin Larson 2018-10-14 12:31

    Jason,

    Check the nonpartisan CBO’s numbers if you want evidence. But who are you trying to fool? You don’t give a rodent’s behind about the facts or you would already know the CBO figures. Just tell us more lies. It’s what you do.

  12. Jason 2018-10-14 12:36

    Darin,

    How am I lying asking for proof?

    Are you off of your meds?

  13. Darin Larson 2018-10-14 12:42

    Jason,

    I didn’t say you were lying when you asked for proof. I said you don’t really care about the facts or you would look them up yourself. Then I said, “Just tell us more lies. It’s what you do.” I’m talking about the future lies that you will undoubtedly tell us soon.

  14. Jason 2018-10-14 12:44

    Why should I look up facts for CIB Vet? They said it, not me.

  15. Darin Larson 2018-10-14 12:52

    Jason,

    It’s ironic that you should ask why you have to look up facts when you are famous for asking people to look stuff up for you. CIB Vet knows the facts and you don’t, so really your ignorance is the reason you need to look it up. Why do we have to educate you? Isn’t that your responsibility?

  16. Jason 2018-10-14 12:56

    When did I ask someone to look up facts for something I said Darin?

  17. Darin Larson 2018-10-14 12:57

    Jason, I’m not going to look it up for you.

  18. Jason 2018-10-14 13:00

    Of course you’re not going to Darin because you lied.

    I don’t say things and ask other people to prove it.

    I do ask people who say I am wrong about my facts to prove their assertion.

  19. Darin Larson 2018-10-14 13:00

    Billie Sutton’s new ad running on Fox News ends with “There’s only one Washington politician running for governor and it isn’t me.”

  20. bearcreekbat 2018-10-14 13:02

    Darin, it seems to me that telling lies is a political strategy that has been adopted wholesale by Noem supporters, probably based on Trump’s success with using such lies to create distraction, since most are typically unrelated to whatever initial adverse factual report they cannot truthfully rebut.

    I suspect that no rational person believes these misdirection lies, and neither Jason nor Trump think the lies will be accepted as the truth by most folks. The point of such lying, however, is to change the topic of discussion from issues hurting Noem, et al, that cannot be effectively rebutted. If the liar can get others to focus on challenging the lie, then the liar can avoid trying to defend the indefensible initial topic.

    A classic example is OS repeatedly asserting falsely that most DFP commenters don’t live in SD. Such an allegation is not only false, it is entirely irrelevant to virtually every topic that Cory posts. Yet, I have noticed OS has suceeded in using this lie to generate reponses from several DFP commenters declaring that they, in fact, live in SD, while distracting these folks from whatever issues OS seeks distraction since he has no rational or factual defensive position.

    And the reason I feel comfortable in even pointing this technique out on this thread is because Cory’s post deals with misrepresentation to serve political ends. Lying to distract seems a fundamental goal of political misrepresentation. OS and Jason frequently rely on this technique with their DFP comments.

  21. Jason 2018-10-14 13:10

    Bear,

    Please explain how South Dakota has a magic money tree with unlimited $ on it?

  22. jerry 2018-10-14 13:12

    Widdle Russian, ask Sonny Perdue about the BRIBE money tree of failure. Ask NOem about why she allowed the EB-5 to corrupt the system.

  23. jerry 2018-10-14 13:16

    mfi, check out the Des Moines Register. Wow, just wow!

    “Republicans in Congress have not only failed at comprehensive immigration reform, but their action allowed protection to expire on young, undocumented Americans brought here as children. They haven’t even fully funded President Trump’s border wall. They stood by as the administration tried to bar Muslims from certain countries from entering the United States. They looked the other way as the administration shocked and dismayed the nation by separating young children from their parents at the border, holding them in detention and losing track of some of the kids.” https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/10/13/register-endorsements-congress-gop-failed-govern-democrats-finkenauer-axne-loebsack-scholten/1594065002/

    First time evah, they have tossed the republicans to the curb..where they belong.

  24. Darin Larson 2018-10-14 13:16

    BCB,

    I agree with your take on the lying strategy of Trump, Noem, OS and Jason et. al. driving public discourse to distraction and eventually into the ditch. I do apologize for taking their bait on occasion, but sometimes I like to play out their lies to a logical end to reveal their misinformation. Then, typically, OS and Jason just try to move on to the next charade. In the case of Trump and Noem, it is purely a political exercise to blind people with BS. If people cannot ascertain the truth because of the barrage of BS, people tend to fall back on political party and ideology. In SD, that is normally a winning strategy for Noem.

  25. Jason 2018-10-14 13:21

    What are my lies Darin?

  26. Darin Larson 2018-10-14 13:21

    Good article jerry! Here’s a little more from it:

    Republicans promised fiscal responsibility, yet they have punted on putting the nation back on sound financial footing. Their one major legislative success, the 2017 tax cut, is projected to add $1.9 trillion to the debt. This, after Republicans howled endlessly about the comparatively meager deficits created during the Obama administration. The Congressional Budget Office said in August that these tax cuts and spending increases would become “unsustainable” if extended. But the House GOP, including Iowa’s three Republican representatives, voted last month for another $3.8 trillion in tax cuts.

    https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/10/13/register-endorsements-congress-gop-failed-govern-democrats-finkenauer-axne-loebsack-scholten/1594065002/

  27. Darin Larson 2018-10-14 13:25

    I don’t have much time for you today to go digging through the archives, Jason.

  28. bearcreekbat 2018-10-14 13:51

    Jason, your question makes no sense. An honest politican or defender of Noem would disclose that a magical money tree is not the issue. Rather, the issue is establishing priorities in raising and spending funds for our SD government and various programs that might improve our communities.

    An honest Noem defender would clarify that her number one priority is relieving the tax burdens on those who can most easily afford to pay taxes. Hence, she claims she will veto any new tax proposal, but fails to mention that such a carte blanche veto policy will likely harm the people in SD by failing to raise whatever revenue is necessary to responsibly fund needed programs. An honest Noem supporter would acknowledge that she has no regard for the needs of South Dakotans who are not wealthy, no matter how critical those needs might be, and thus will refuse to raise or spend funds to fulfill our governmental responsibility.

    Indeed, an honest Noem supporter would acknowledge a philosophy that denies any meaningful government responsibility to our population – let everyone (but our wealthy) fend for themselves!

  29. mike from iowa 2018-10-14 14:03

    Read it this morning, Jerry and Darin. Cantaloopy Calves King has wasted 16 years in congress and passed one bill he was the primary sponsor- to change the name of a post office. He is more useless than Noem by a long shot and she is worthless.

    King’s claim to fame is his palling around with white supremacysts and dictators.

  30. jerry 2018-10-14 14:59

    Russian and widdle Russian only distract, as they get paid to do on their paytroll. When they speak of “being from South Dakota” that only means they have been called out for their nefarious dealings with the Russians. Proof positive that the bots exist in South Dakota republican politics.

  31. jerry 2018-10-14 15:14

    As goes Des Moines, so goes Iowa. Ernst is already called trump and his goon of an ambassador out for the misguided tariffs. That hog caller can read the tea leaves. Now, we here in South Dakota need do the same. Reject republicanism in it’s current form as it is anti business and anti social. Bring in sensible Democrats back into the political leadership to save the state and the country. Vote Billie Sutton for governor and reject the misrepresentation of NOem and all of her lies and deceptions.

  32. jerry 2018-10-14 15:22

    NOem has betrayed the country. There can be no doubt about it. Hurricane Michael did not strike Puerto Rico, it struck Florida and its adjacent states. trump and NOem’s FEMA cannot even get water to the survivors, cannot get food to the survivors, cannot get shelter to the survivors. We do not even have a clue how may are dead.

    We saw her in her lack of action not that many years ago with Atlas. Daugaard did what NOem should have done. Ranchers were left to their own. That is not the way to run a country and that was with a Democratic president.

    President Obama would not be golfing. He would not be tossing paper towels either. NOem just goes about her merry way as if nothing happened in her unicorn thinking.

  33. John Kennedy Claussen, Sr., 2018-10-14 15:24

    South Dakota probably is one of the best run states in the Union as long as you don’t care about pubic pre-K education, the state of low wages, a lack of ACA expansion for the working poor, and thorough investigations into political corruption.

    Also, trying to compare states like South Dakota to Illinois or Massachusetts is comical at best. The overall social, political, and economical challenges are far less demanding in a rural state like ours, than an urban one.

    Plus, I wonder where South Dakota would be without federal farm subsidies, which are paid with by federal deficits. Back in the early 1990s, a Rutgers professor published a study suggesting that the less populated, or square states, should lose their statehood and be returned to the buffalo, because financially these states are more of a burden to the federal government than an asset…. Now, I am not personally advocating this, but South Dakota is not the perfect economic model which many conservatives would like to suggest….

  34. Dana P 2018-10-14 15:27

    It seems like anything involving Ms Noem, could start with “Noem Mispresents __________________” and then let people fill in the blank. So much material. Her truth decay is something. Not as bad as the reality show president, but oh boy, Noem is right up there.

    As far as Jason and OS go? Isn’t it curious that they are always here? If the people that comment on DFP are out-of-staters, don’t tell the truth, and Cory never tells the truth – why do they take time out of their lives to be here and comment? Psychologists would have fun with that, wouldn’t they?

  35. OldSarg 2018-10-14 15:35

    Whether you personally believe it or not Kristi is actually a nice person that does not put on airs and for Cory and the rest of you to imply she is a liar or any other of your nasty worded attacks is no different than slapping a lady. You should all be ashamed. If you are willing to say nasty things, slap or hit a woman you are not even a man. You are a coward.

  36. Rorschach 2018-10-14 16:25

    Kristi Noem likes to use Booker in her commercials. Eight years ago when she first ran she did a commercial complaining about Booker’s share of the national debt. Now after 8 years in congress, Booker’s share of the national debt has skyrocketed, and Kristi doesn’t want to talk about it. Just this year she voted to increase Booker’s share of the national debt by thousands of dollars. Sutton ought to run a commercial playing a clip of noem’s 2010 commercial, turning it off, shaking his head, and telling people what Kristi has done to Booker’s share in 8 years. We can’t afford that here in SD.

  37. mike from iowa 2018-10-14 17:07

    You done it now, OldSpoonRiverhawgconfinement is about to pucker up and go all victimhood over DFP. I seen enough snowflakes today and not a one of them puckered up and felt abused. Put on yer big boy britches and act like a man, OldSalsifiedSnottynose.

  38. Ed 2018-10-14 17:17

    When the affordable health care act was passed, Noem screamed over and over again that there would be death panels making decisions on who got health care. That was a lie! Now she’s lying about Sutton supporting a state income tax. He doesn’t. Her nasty lies and deceitful attacks are standard practice in all of her campaigns. That is why a lot of Republicans are supporting Sutton this time around.

  39. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-14 17:17

    Mike’s link on federal dependency shows the Magic Money Tree on which South Dakota depends to inflate its coffers and its fiscal stability. Thank you, Mike, for showing that the entire state depends on the same trick Kristi Noem has personally to balance her books: call in free money from Uncle Sam! I wish I could balance my household budget like that.

  40. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-14 17:18

    JKC makes a good point: it’s easy to look like a well-run state when we aren’t trying to run much for the general welfare.

  41. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-14 17:21

    OS, criticizing Kristi Noem is not at all equivalent to slapping her face. That’s the entitlement mentality that Republicans like Al Novstrup preach: dare to question Republican policy and orthodoxy, and you’re just a mean person.

    Noem misrepresents government budgeting. Funding government operation is not at all like funding a private household.

    Besides, since no one has shown me a business that Kristi started before she became a career politician that remains in operation today suggests she’s not very good at any kind of budgeting beyond her kitchen table. Let’s send her home where she can do some limited good and leave the hard work to the rest of us.

  42. Dave 2018-10-14 17:42

    Suddenly I’m picturing Jason as a kid having this routine conversation with his mother:

    Jason’s mom: Did you make your bed?

    Jason: Why should I tell you when you can go to my room and look for yourself?

  43. Jason 2018-10-14 18:46

    Cory,

    Are you ready to discuss all the the Federal money that is included in MIkes link that goes to Native Americans?

    Why aren’t you answering the Venezuela question?

  44. jerry 2018-10-14 19:29

    Widdle Russian didn’t take very long to go full racist.

  45. jerry 2018-10-14 19:36

    Here ya go widdle Russian. Here is one answer to the Venezuela situation. “Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday in an attempt to secure help from Beijing for his economically-stricken country.

    China is Venezuela’s main creditor and is “willing to provide whatever help it can offer,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reportedly promised.”https://www.dw.com/en/china-vows-to-help-crisis-hit-venezuela/a-45492164

    “LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — A Chinese navy hospital ship docked near Venezuela’s capital on Saturday as the OPEC nation’s deepening economic crisis garners the attention of the U.S. and other world powers.

    Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino was on hand to greet the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s ship, the Peace Ark, on its latest stop as part of the 11-nation “Mission Harmony” tour announced in June.

    “This is how you undertake diplomacy in the world,” Padrino said, “with concrete actions of cooperation and not stoking the false voices of those who beat the drum of war.”” Associated Press 09/22/2018

    Is this what you meant widdle Russian?

  46. Debbo 2018-10-14 23:42

    “honest Noem supporter”

    A commenter said that and I copied it for a specific purpose, and I don’t remember exactly what that was right now. Was I shocked that there are “honest Noem supporter”s? Probably not. She spends A Lot of other people’s money to deceive voters so it’s no surprise that she succeeds sometimes.

    Were Pootie’s Cuties trying to present themselves as “honest Noem supporter”s? Those Keystone Kops trying to present themselves as any version of “honest” would be runaway winners on America’s Funniest Videos.

    Maybe it was the appalling sight of the word “honest” in a paragraph relating to Noem, one of the USA’s most dishonest politicians. But she’s a much better liar than the White House Psycho. She doesn’t lie as blatantly, ignorantly or stupidly, but just about as much.

    I guess any of the above could have been my original purpose. All 3 work just fine.

  47. OldSarg 2018-10-15 06:08

    Folks your attacks are sealing your own future. You accuse others of lies, of crimes and numerous unproven unsubstantiated attacks. It is how you now spend your days. No one likes you anymore and nor would a rational person vote for your candidates. You did this to yourselves. It is all turning to sand statues that crumble away to dust. In the end, as more truth comes out you will all be standing there with you hands up at your sides saying “but I thought” but you have done no more than poisoned the world with your nasty attacks. Note: ask yourselves where your “blue wave” went. Instead your bloviating has only excited the people willing to stand against your inflamed rhetoric. The party is over.

  48. Darin Larson 2018-10-15 08:26

    OS,

    Trump is the attacker and liar in chief. He literally attacked, lied and nastied his way to the presidency. I need not remind you of his belittling ways. But it is very revealing that I never, ever, ever, hear you complain about the lying and attacking and absolute BS that comes from Trump, but here you are blaming people for exactly that. Telling people to pipe down when your hero literally became president with a message built on personal attacks and extreme partisanship makes you the biggest hypocrite on this site.

    You eat up the Trump BS with glee like a randy teenager on a sugar high from too many energy drinks and then come and lecture us on manners, civility and truth. You can’t tear down truth and ignore it and then proclaim your reverence for it. You can’t treat people nastily and then insist on civility.

  49. mike from iowa 2018-10-15 08:29

    If OldSimplesimon fell in a forest, yeah it would still make noize but no sane person would have to deal with it. If it would only take the hint that people who come to DFP for enlightenment and knowledge don’t give a hoot in hell what snake oil the OldSnakeoilpeddler is peddling. Unfortunately, trolls tend to be dense- extremely dense and have one track minds. They want to disrupt the orderly customs of CORY”S blog.

  50. OldSarg 2018-10-15 10:40

    Guys, you are making this too easy. Did you learn nothing on the pervirbial school yard? When you attack someone and they don’t respond you keep attacking and you, the bully wins. When you attack someone and they return fire they appear as someone who will stand against the bully. Your attacks are not helping you and are getting more and more people to stand against you. Stop acting like bullies and you won’t get hurt.

  51. Debbo 2018-10-15 11:05

    “Give up. It’s all your fault. You’re gonna lose.”
    That’s the message OS was assigned and that’s what he gets his paytroll check for, that and generalized distraction. That’s what makes Pootie’s Cuties. Pfffft.

    The fact is that NOem is as clueless as they come about macroeconomics. She will do whatever her owners, chiefly the Koch’s, tell her to do. It has nothing to do with kitchen tables and everything to do with a governor’s responsibility for the entire state. That includes the Entire State, from Kyle to Rosholt.

  52. jerry 2018-10-15 12:01

    This joker House Rep. Lou Barletta (T) voted just like NOem did with the ACA and the repeal of the ACA. He voted NO. Now he has a grandchild with cancer and he wants to put the toothpaste back into the tube on his votes. Tough luck buddy, you voted against healthcare and now you shall reap what you sow. Lou knows full well that this could impoverish them, does NOem NO that? Maybe she is too ignorant to understand and that is one more reason to say NO to NOem.

  53. o 2018-10-15 13:06

    OldSarge, right analogy (bully) – wrong assignment of roles. You so often remind us that the GOP has the dominating power (from numerical advantage) to run right over we “lefties.” You so often say that it doesn’t matter what we do or say, you and your big-bad GOP will roll right over us. You wield the power of the tribe to ignore issue discussion.

    You have been engaged. You have been discredited. You have been stood up to. You are becoming more-and-more irrelevant to thoughtful discussion.

  54. OldSarg 2018-10-15 15:46

    o~ the numerical advantage I spoke of is only here in South Dakota. You can look it up but just to give you an idea of how substantial it is imagine having $2.00. You have to give part to one child and part to another child. To duplicate the republican lead in this form you would give one child $1.40 (the republican) and one child $0.60 (the democrat). Does that make sense to you?

    Look at it this way: You don’t have to just overcome a 30% lead in votes you have to also continue to gain with the undecided who normally can roll 50/50 in either direction but in South Dakota you would need to get almost ALL of them to just tie. Copy these words so you can throw them back at me if hell froze over: “Sutton can not win as a democrat.” Today I heard his radio add and even their he is claiming he is a fiscal “conservative” just in hope of garnering even the votes of the uninformed. So, here ya got a nice guy that wanted to run for governor. Good goal. He knew he couldn’t get the party node over Noem so he ran as a democrat. Now, knowing the unpopularity of democrats he decided to announce to the world he is a believing Christian. Seeing that wasn’t pulling in enough votes he is telling us all he is a conservative as well. What will happen next? What thing that all of you hate would garner Sutton enough votes to win? The guy is getting desperate. . . I will bet you he comes out as a TRUMP supporter!

    Look, this race isn’t even about one party over the other because it will all still be controlled by the state republican party, who would just ignore anything Sutton tried to do anyway, it is actually about the sad plight of a man who could have won but he chose the wrong party to associate with. I will say it again: I like Sutton. He would have won had he run as a republican even over Noem but he didn’t. He chose to run with the party that is rioting in Portland, calling everyone racist or misogynist, defends the illegals stealing the people’s jobs, promotes the killing of babies and hates America. This is honestly how people see the democrat party today. Listen to the news on any channel. Listen to the radio. Watch a youtube or read an article. The democrats have become a raging mob of callithumpians. This was a poor decision on Sutton’s part. . .

  55. jerry 2018-10-15 15:54

    Indeed o, indeed. Paytrolls gotta grift. “You have been engaged. You have been discredited. You have been stood up to. You are becoming more-and-more irrelevant to thoughtful discussion.” The Russian and his sidekick, widdle Russian are like the last mosquitoes of the summer, just buzzing but to weak to draw blood.

  56. o 2018-10-15 16:29

    OldSarge, to again clarify “Sutton’s Party”:
    1) The “Proud Boys” are not Democrats, they are of the GOP.
    2) Democrats call OUT racists and misogynists – claims that are backed with evidence. It seems problematic that the GOP are heard only defending when called out but silent otherwise.
    3) Undocumented workers are hired by ILLEGAL employers to undercut fair wages for all. The GOP punish the workers and celebrate the ILLEGAL employers.
    4) BABIES (as defined under the law) are only killed after birth – killed all too often by inadequate health care and poverty perpetuated by the GOP.
    5) We love America as defined by her ideals and potential for good; we hate the America of greed and intolerance the GOP has perverted those ideals to embody. Enlisted in the US Armed Forces tend to skew Democrat (https://www.quora.com/Are-most-military-people-Republican-or-Democrat) – what higher demonstration of love of country can I give than that?

  57. OldSarg 2018-10-15 16:30

    jerry, I wish I got paid for spending my time with you geniuses. By the way, you can’t actually discredit numbers. Numbers are conclusive, definitive, factual. Thought you should know. a One will always be a one. Never a two, just a one. That is a fact.

  58. bearcreekbat 2018-10-15 16:54

    o, Just to add to your comment, OS is wrong as usual about his stealing jobs claims. Research documents the positive impact that immigrants have on our economy, including contributing to the economic development that creates great jobs for all.

    https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2017/08/24/do-immigrants-steal-jobs-from-american-workers/

    Notice also that OS is often quick with anecdotes to support his claims, yet he offers no anecdote to suggest any immigrant has ever stolen a job from him, anyone he knows, or anyone he has ever heard about or read about.

  59. mike from iowa 2018-10-15 17:03

    it is actually about the sad plight of a man who could have won but he chose the wrong party to associate with. I will say it again: I like Sutton. He would have won had he run as a republican even over Noem but he didn’t

    Today’s lesson, boys and girls, is principles don’t matter. Being for or against policies don’t matter.Hard work and personal values don’t matter.What matters is being seen in the chic circles, popularity, wearing the right brand of political veneer. OldScuzzbucket says join the wingnut clique and yer troubles are over.

  60. bearcreekbat 2018-10-15 17:03

    Here is one more piece of recent rsearch as reported in the Atlantic. It begins (with links documenting each statement):

    Economists tend to agree that immigration is good for the economy: Immigrants create jobs and make U.S-born workers more prosperous. . . .

    It then discusses the new research that undermines a contrary conservative argument,

    Urban’s Maria E. Enchautegui studied a cohort of 16 million American workers without high school diplomas. She found that within this group, immigrants and native-born workers do very different jobs. In fact, she writes that native and immigrant workers at this level of education are much more dissimilar when it comes to their role in the job market than are workers at other levels of educational attainment. Here’s how she summarizes these results and their implication in a blog post:

    These findings suggest that immigrants and native workers with low levels of education may be competing for different jobs and even could be complementing each other. . . .

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/immigrants-arent-stealing-american-jobs/433158/

  61. mike from iowa 2018-10-15 17:11

    And then there is this little jewel that proves OldSashslasher is correct when he says wingnuts love women-

    Donald Trump finally just said it: he doesn’t care if Kavanaugh’s accuser is telling the truth
    “It doesn’t matter,” Trump told Lesley Stahl. “We won.”

    Of course Drumpf/OldSqueegee says they wouldn’t have won if the decent and honorable wingnut bogus potus hadn’t gone negative on Blasey Ford’s character, proving once more wingnuts love them some women.

  62. Rorschach 2018-10-15 17:31

    We have a number! The budget deficit for FY 2018 is $779,000,000,000. That’s not the number we have though. Booker’s share of the deficit just this year went up $2,383.94! Poor, poor Booker. He’ll be paying for Kristi’s policies longer than he’ll be paying for college.

    But Booker is just one person. Each of us has a share of the national debt that went up the same amount as did Booker’s share. Kristi is a spendthrift. We just can’t afford her. Let’s send her home where she only has control over Booker’s finances – not ours.

  63. mike from iowa 2018-10-15 18:19

    Rohr, I believe the deficit would have hit over 800 billion, they said, if not for some timely payments depending on how some weekends fell.

    Those numbers will only get worse for the foreseeable future.

  64. jerry 2018-10-15 19:01

    o, great link! Proves one thing that I will always remember, officers have their heads up their arse’s and depend on enlisted men to actually lead. No wonder us enlisted men have a greater number of Democrats and there are more of us!

  65. OldSarg 2018-10-15 19:09

    jerry, there are no sane enlisted members that are democrats.

  66. jerry 2018-10-15 19:30

    o, the problems now is there are so few men and women in the line military. Most are National Guard and Reservists that are carrying the lift. We have moved from a standing military to one of deployments by our neighbors. The dying continues though, with some being sent for as many as 9 deployments or more into the meat grinder called Afghanistan. We have been there now 17 years and counting. We have spent trillions of dollars there and we have not gained an inch of secured ground. It is all sifting sand in the graveyard of empires.

  67. jerry 2018-10-15 19:34

    trump and NOem and 3 buck a gallon gas. What a complete failure the two of them are. We cannot afford NOem to do anything but go home and make taters.

  68. Debbo 2018-10-15 20:28

    Actually Jerry, she can go do anything she wants, just as long as she stays out of the public treasury and public office. She can ride her horse to fix fence or cook in her kitchen. Let her actually practice her kitchen table economy with only her own money.

  69. o 2018-10-15 21:29

    OldSarge, OK, I have accepted your tribal shilling, but taking a shot at the enlisted men and women of the armed services . . . how clearly you show your “support of the troops.” For the first time, I now truly consider you may well be a Russian-bot.

  70. jerry 2018-10-24 19:15

    No market gains for 2018! This rests squarely on the weak shoulders of NOem and trump’s failed policies. “Stocks plummeted on Wednesday as a sharp drop in tech shares and worries about corporate earnings added fuel to this month’s steep pullback.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 608.01 points at 24,583.42 and erased all of its gains for 2018. The S&P 500 dropped 3.1 percent to 2,656.10 and also turned negative for the year. The Nasdaq Composite fell 4.4 percent to 7,108.40— entering correction territory — as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet all traded lower.” https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/24/dow-poised-for-triple-digit-losses-at-the-open-after-tuesdays-500-point-recovery.html

    3 buck a gallon for regular gas, soybeans in the basement and stocks in the crapper. Winning according to the NOem/trump economic playbook. Had enough yet? Dump them and put in a turnaround like Billie Sutton, Tim Bjorkman and our own Cory! Let them fix the mess left on the floor.

  71. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-24 22:45

    Hold on, Jerry: I make no promise to move the stock market from my post in District 3. The only returns I promise are honesty and good government to Pierre. :-)

  72. jerry 2018-10-28 17:08

    The tariff idiocy that trump and NOem and her protege, Dirty Johnson support, is killing the economy. Here is what we know and here is how to prevail…Vote Democratic! It is the economy stupid! Ask a farmer how they view the future, both near and far.

    “The China trade war is taking its toll on industrials and semiconductors, as the Fed Beige Book reports that tariffs are raising input costs and compressing profit margins for manufacturers and retailers in most of America’s twelve Federal Reserve districts. Semiconductors are getting crushed, with market leader Nvidia down over 5%.

    The US housing market is in free fall, with September new home sales down nearly 20% year on year. Homebuilder stocks are down 35% year to date. Home sales have shown hair-trigger sensitivity to interest rates, which suggests that household budgets are stretched.”

    No market gains for 2018 and we are still going backward. We need Medicaid Expansion in our state now more than ever. These losses are losses that take food and shelter from the mouths of our most vulnerable that depend on what little return they get on their life’s work. They were put into the 401k’s in a retirement scheme that benefits the employer a helluva lot more than the employee. So now what?

    We will need thinkers and doers like you in Pierre to help take care of the blow back we are suffering from on the horizon. Business and corruption, as usual, have no place in politics and especially the politics in such a small populated state.

  73. OldSarg 2018-10-28 19:01

    Have you all noticed jerry doesn’t have a positive thing to say about anything? It’s like the guy is just miserable.

    We should do a prayer circle for jerry. I’ll start: Lord, help jerry find peace in his heart for he is filled with anger and envy. Let jerry find in his heart the grace to open himself to the kindness and caring of his fellow brethren who carry his weight through this world Amen.

    Add your prayers for jerry. Thanks.

  74. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-29 07:09

    Cheap personal insult, OS, diverting from main topic. Jerry is not obliged any more than anyone else to say anything positive about Noem’s misunderstanding of fiscal policy and macroeconomics or about Trump’s reckless and ineffective tariff policy.

  75. mike from iowa 2018-10-29 08:59

    A poll by NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist found that 60 percent of adults surveyed preferred repealing tax cuts to cutting government spending and entitlement programs, which only 21 percent supported as a means of reducing the deficit. Just 2 percent said they wanted both, while 17 percent said they were unsure.

    Howz that for a kick in the pants to right wingers? I also noticed certain Trolls have been vewy kwiet about how lowsy the new NAFTA deal with Canada turned out to be for dairy farmers.

  76. OldSarg 2018-10-29 11:16

    Cory, I was trying to do something positive. I also supported your decision to stay home with your daughter. I am trying to turn over a new leaf and be more kind than I have in the past. I can see hope in the future with the elections coming up that our Nation will move to a more peaceful state of being. I think it came from looking at the issues from a more strategic perspective (big picture). Whether Noem or Sutton is elected governor the state government will not be changing. Dusty, with his voice that doesn’t match his diminutive body, is more of a conservative than his opponent and his election is a shoe-in. The Republicans will be gaining even more seats in the Senate which means even more judges that will follow the intent of the framers. The Republicans will now most likely retain control of the house so the truth about the Hillary/Obama cabal spying on the Trump campaign will be disclosed and maybe they will actually see some jail time for trying to overturn a duly elected President. You wife has dedicated herself to God and I know you love her so you will also, one day, find Christ and his love for you will grow within your heart. Peace brother.

  77. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-29 21:37

    No, you weren’t, OS. You’re just playing a different distraction game, now cloaking yourself in supercilious holiness to avoid addressing the fact that Jerry correctly critiques bad things that are happening and that you lack any intelligent, factual response to add to that policy debate. You thus continue to dwell in the very boring personal matters that consume your attention.

    Want to defend tariffs? Want to prove that Jerry’s economic points are shakier than Kristi’s? Go for it. Do it with evidence. But don’t snootily dismiss arguments you like by saying the man who disagrees with you suffers from some emotional or moral failing that requires condescending prayer.

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