Consequences for Texas' Qpublican Mismanaged Infrastructure

Question: Can Texas' existing power grid handle the addition of a new Samsung wafer fab and the huge new Tesla facility?

No. The Texas power grid, that experienced an outage last, 2021, winter (similar to a power grid failure during the winter of 2011), can't handle it without adding significant capacity and resiliency.

The proposed Bitcoin (kleptocurrency) mining facilities will also consume enormous amounts of electricity.

Samsung's new wafer fab, in Taylor, and the new, enormous, Tesla facility, in south east Austin, will also put a substantial strain on existing transportation (roads, bridges, airports, rail, etc...), telecommunications (phone and Internet), education, etc... infrastructure.

These new businesses could be very good for Texas (with the exception of kleptocurrency mining) but not while Gov. Death and the Qpublicans seriously undervalue, and yet overestimate, the physical plant and services the state needs to provide for successful implementation.

Economics in the USA... Causes and Solutions

Challenges to our economy started at least 50 years ago when factories in the USA started to move from north to south, then to south of the border, then to the far east. 

There are enormous container ships waiting, sitting off our west coast, because American businesses, trying to save costs, moved manufacturing largely to mainland China.

The same management decided, "just in the nick of time," could continue to reduce costs; wound up with little, to no, inventory on hand when supply chains are hit by extraordinary challenges (e.g., a global pandemic).  They, intentionally, built-in a lack of flexibility/alternatives to deal with unforeseen economic problems.

When looking for the cause of the current inflationary pressures on the economy you need look no further than company/corporate management.  The destructive approach to economics was enabled by the ludicrous, supply-side, economics of the Republicans and the problematic policies of neo-liberal Democrats.

Democrats have recently remembered, and started to return to, the Keynesian methods and processes that were key to the New Deal and the Great Society. When the Democrats boosted economic possibilities for the most needy 40% of Americans (the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) it was done with no cooperation/assistance/votes from Qpublicans.  When attempting to do more (The Infrastructure and Jobs Act) Democrats checked across the aisle to find only 13 Qpublican votes in the House and 19 Qpublican votes in the Senate.

The current economic problems, inflation included, have roots that are, most often, not political...  When government assistance, Keynesian solutions, are proposed it is oft exclusively from the Democrats...  When assistance, or a counter proposal, is sought from across the aisle...  Little, to nothing, happens...

Keynesian solutions are underway, in spite of the 2 well purchased, neo-liberal (corporate owned), Democrats' obfuscation. More can be done if the elections of 2022, and beyond, give the Democrats (plus the two Independents) the larger majorities needed in the US House and Senate. More Democratic controlled, state governments are potentially even more important.

Without the massive and consistent efforts of the voting public our democratic republic, and the extraordinary economy it has enabled, could be gone forever.

 

Returning From Oligarchy to Democracy

Some are expressing disappointment with the Democratic party after voters gave the party, “control,” of the three branches of the US federal government...

We, Democrats, did not get control of the federal government. The US Senate has a Jim Crow era procedure known as the filibuster. If one party does not have 60 votes in the Senate bills can be stopped, period.

The Democrats do not have 60 votes in the US Senate. The Democrats do have a simple majority, because the Senate President is the US Vice President. We also have two, well purchased Senators giving control of the Senate back to the Qpublicans. The Qpublicans (post insurgency Republicans) have a stated purpose of allowing nothing (no bills, no rules/procedure changes) to pass in the Senate.

The Democratic party is recovering from a counter productive syndrome known as, “neo-liberalism.” That is the syndrome that allows Democrats to fix the budget/spending problems caused by Republican administrations, then blamed on Democrats when administrations change parties. The Democrats reduce Qpublican deficit spending by cutting the public programs that Democrats like; Qpublicans have always hated.

When the New Deal (FDR administration) and the Great Society (LBJ administration) passed public programs, that helped as close to all Americans as possible, the US Senate's Democratic majority was not only greater than it is now, we had something called bi-partisan (some Senators from that other party) votes. Bi-partisan votes are rarely, to never, done anymore.

The Democrats also do not have majorities in the legislatures of most of the states. That has allowed states to make it difficult for citizens to participate in the democratic republic that the USA is supposed to be; we are currently an oligarchy.

To continue to build toward an all inclusive, democratic republic we, the voters, must vote in every election... Do what you must do (without breaking reasonable laws) to get registered to vote, vote and then follow up, communicate (in a brief and courteous manner), with your elected representatives (even if they aren't the ones for whom you voted).

We had the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Women's health controlled by women, etc... All have been largely taken away, because someone else wanted, wants, power over everything and everybody... These same few also want extraordinary wealth (think Smaug). These are people for whom, “enough,” has no meaning. The MAGA crowd are just the sheep they need to help satisfy their unquenchable desires.

To quote (paraphrase?) Winston Churchill, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for everything else.” The USA has lost it's democratic republic to that small group of people who would be aristocrats in a country ruled by their authoritarian regime.

We, the 99%, can stop the 1% even if we must do it without approximately 25% who are the MAGA sheep.

Getting back, and then keeping, a democratic republic, that works for as close to everybody all the time, is a perpetual work in progress...

Let's stay busy!