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| Wyden, Crapo. |
With the flip of the U.S. Senate back to Republican control, Ron "Gatsby" Wyden will again lose the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee. This time around he held it for four years. What did he get done? The one thing worth noting was the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which created billions of dollars of tax incentives for "green economy" investments. That was a remarkable achievement, but of course, most of it is likely to be repealed now. I doubt it will survive next summer.
The rest of the time with the gavel, Wyden wrote strongly worded grandstanding letters to businessmen and floated all sorts of tax proposals. As usual, none of them went anywhere, because nobody listens to him. He probably thinks he's going to get another crack at chairing the committee some day, but I doubt it. He's 75 years old, and his party has no idea what it's doing.
The new chair will be a senator named Mike Crapo (I am not making this up), and he's a spritely 73-year-old from Idaho (I am not making that up, either). Gatsby will huff and puff, but the MAGA types will just laugh behind his back and do whatever they want. One side knows how to get stuff done; the other always has some excuse.
“Because no one listens to him” could be written on his gravestone…….he is such a ridiculous disappointment when given a shot at thoughtful leadership. Many critical issues land at the Finance committee but, “taxing unrealized capital gains back to the date of acquisition” perfectly captures Wyden’s clueless understanding of how the private sector functions. Our tax prof is correct, a wasted 4 years …..
ReplyDeleteWyden looks kinda cadaverous anyway...
ReplyDeleteShow me one "green" project that hasn't been an insider grift. After all these years there isn't a single example of an electrical grid running only on "green" energy, none. Germany has been decades ahead of us and they don't have one either. In fact the Green party is losing big time as people are fed up with the BS.
ReplyDeleteThere are wind turbines all over the country. Are they all insider grifts? Doubtful. Meanwhile, oil companies recorded a trillion dollars in subsidies in 2022 alone. If you don't think "green" energies are a viable part of the energy mix, you might be an idealogue.
DeleteI wonder if he's still pushing his bill to pack the Supreme Court with 6 new members. A bill he introduced *checks notes* less than two months ago.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-introduces-sweeping-court-reforms-to-restore-public-trust-as-supreme-court-faces-legitimacy-crisis
Merkley probably not excited to kill the filibuster anymore either.
DeleteI always thought Ron was an embarrassment. But, the machine keeps putting him on the ballot and he keeps getting elected. Maybe the embarrassment isn’t Ron.
ReplyDeleteI'm just waiting for the time when we don't have clueless septuagenarians trying to convince Gen Z how they have all the answers and are so relatable to what they care about.
ReplyDeleteIf it's not on Tik Tok, anyone under 30 has no idea it exists. Including the senior citizens in Congress.
DeleteKnew Ron when he was working as a "gofer" for J. Pat Horton in the Lane county D.A.'s office, after flunking the bar for the third and final time. Didn't require much savvy to realize his future.
ReplyDeleteAs long as he's still a member of the committee, he should have all the insider information he needs to help his wife pick stocks.
ReplyDeleteI love that their big bet is Nvidia, which is running Intel into the ground.
DeleteWyden just enjoys being an elitist.
ReplyDeleteas do they all
DeleteMy goodness, I always forget how old he is. 75 years old, and his term runs until 2028. He better hang it up at that time, or sooner. He’s such a goofy guy.
ReplyDelete