Ships Arrive From The Orient Laden With Pumpkin Spice - The Babylon Bee

It’s October, and that means women in UGG boots are crowded around the ports to catch sight of the masts of ships returning from their journey to the Orient.

17 Things With A Higher Approval Rating Than Joe Biden - The Babylon Bee

Prostate exams - Uncomfortable but at least they don’t last four years.

Benedict’s LEGO challenge Jack o’Lantern.

Updated Bipartisan Senate Infrastructure Deal: Budgetary and Economic Effects — Penn Wharton Budget Model

Overall spending on infrastructure is much larger than the increase in revenues, which leads to a 1.3 percent increase in government debt in 2031. Over time, as the new spending declines and some provisions, particularly the cryptocurrency reporting requirements, continue to generate increased revenue, the increase in government debt shrinks. In 2040 and 2050, government debt increases relative to baseline by 0.9 and 0.6 percent, respectively. The additional public capital increases the productivity of private capital, however the higher government debt crowds out additional private investment, leading to a 0.2 and 0.1 percent decrease in productive private capital in 2040 and 2050, respectively.

Results from spending $1T on Infrastructure, as proposed in the bipartisan bill, over a 30 year period:

• 0% increase in GDP
• 0% increase in workers hours/productivity
• 0% wage growth
• 0.1% decrease in stock values
• 0.6% increase in government debt.

Translation: Spend $1T of taxpayers money and 100.7% goes to waste.

Why didn’t the vaccine manufacturers win the Nobel Prize? - Washington Examiner

Lesson: Apparently, the Nobel Committee either lives under a rock or simply doesn’t care about the coronavirus vaccine.

I don’t pay attention to the Nobel prizes, but this is a really good point.

Democrats Float Changes to Filibuster Amid Debt Ceiling Standoff - WSJ

The possibility that Republicans would drag out the debate and insist upon endless votes is why Democrats maintain it would be too risky to use the approach, because it could put the U.S. too close to running out of cash-management options.

The debt ceiling was breached July 31st.

Congress took no action for 67 days, wasting time, and now it’s an existential crisis that can only be fixed by breaking all of the rules?

Imran Khan Explains Money Saved In Offshore Tax Haven Was To Buy Pakistani People A Big Present - The Onion

“I didn’t tell anyone because I wanted it to be a nice surprise,” said Khan, who added that his cabinet members, key financial backers, and other political allies had only moved millions of dollars into untraceable foreign accounts so that Pakistanis wouldn’t notice the unusually large deposits and start to suspect an exciting gift was headed their way.

Facebook’s hours-long outage had zero effect on me.

The good life!

Stock Funds Finally Had to Struggle - WSJ

Gold-oriented funds, always volatile, dropped 12.3% in the quarter, including 8.9% in September, to leave them with a 17% decline for the year to date.

Gold: a terrific inflation hedge!

Keto bagel and lox on the menu for Sunday Brunch.

Democrats’ Tax Plans Worry High-Income Business Owners - WSJ

About half the benefit of the pass-through deduction goes to households in the top 1% of the income distribution, according to the Tax Policy Center.

I strongly dislike how this measure of “benefit” of a particular tax rule has become the standard by which to judge a tax provision.

Sure. The “benefit” flows to people in higher brackets, until you look at the other side of the equation and see the tax bill rising, too.

People higher up the tax brackets get more “benefit” from exemptions and deductions while they pay more and more in actual tax dollars.

The Babylon Bee’s Predictions For 2021 - The Babylon Bee

October 11 - ISIS takes over all of Canada

Just checking in. Looks like this month is going to be a doozy!

German Catholic Leaders Support Blessings for Gay Couples, Challenging Pope Francis - WSJ

At a meeting in Frankfurt, German church leaders voted 168 to 28, with five abstentions, to adopt a draft statement on sexuality that includes a resolution saying that “same-sex partnerships who want to take the risk of an unbreakable common life…should be able to see themselves placed under the blessing of God.”

Bro, do you even Catechism?

Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election - MIT Technology Review

In the run-up to the 2020 election, the most highly contested in US history, Facebook’s most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were being run by Eastern European troll farms. These pages were part of a larger network that collectively reached nearly half of all Americans

If you weren’t on Facebook, you were not impacted.

Ok, Boomer.

Lordstown Motors to Sell Former GM Factory in Ohio to Foxconn - WSJ

The two companies have entered into a nonbinding agreement for Lordstown to sell the facility and property for a purchase price of $230 million with the exception of certain assets, said Lordstown Motors Chief Executive Daniel Ninivaggi.

What a company! GM sells the building to Lordstown, then forgives the loans. Lordstown turns around and cashes in.

Is there a business model here? If so, I need to get in on that action!

Congress Passes Bill Averting Government Shutdown - WSJ

Congress passed a bill extending government funding through Dec. 3, sending the legislation to President Biden’s desk hours before current funding expires and completing one of several pressing measures before lawmakers.

In fairness, this expiration of funding date really snuck up on these guys. No way to tell in advance it was coming. Plus, they had over 8 hours to spare!

Also, very hard to pass a budget when you only control 3 out of 3 parts of government required to enact a budget.

2021 Democrats remind me of 2017 Republicans. Very comforting that even when one party controls all levers of power, it’s still difficult to get things done legislatively.

See y’all back here on the afternoon of December 2nd for a repeat commentary the next time Congress almost misses the funding deadline!

Manchin Statement On Infrastructure And Reconciliation Negotiations - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia

If there is one final lesson that will continue to guide me in this difficult debate ahead it is this: America is a great nation but great nations throughout history have been weakened by careless spending and bad policies. Now, more than ever, we must work together to avoid these fatal mistakes so that we may fulfill our greatest responsibility as elected leaders and pass on a better America to the next generation.

The NCAA’s ‘March Madness’ Basketball Brand Will Now Include Women - WSJ

The NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament next March will use the “March Madness” branding long associated with the men’s tournament, the NCAA announced Wednesday, reversing the association’s practice of withholding the slogan from the women’s event.

Sounds great, but won’t add a single viewer.

The only way to increase NCAA women’s viewership is to adopt the CNN model: pay every airport and doctors office in the nation to leave it on and never change the channel.

New FAA Technology Aims to Speed Takeoffs of Planes Idling on Runways - WSJ

The software tools are expected to be available at 27 larger airports around the country within five to 10

Wow! That fast?!

The color orange makes me happy.