{"id":2837,"date":"2020-03-25T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2837"},"modified":"2020-03-25T10:30:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T14:30:05","slug":"how-the-sausage-gets-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/03\/25\/how-the-sausage-gets-made\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Sausage Gets Made"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened.  No one really knows how the game is played, the art of the trade, how the sausage gets made. We just assume that it happens.  But no one else is in the room where it happens.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyrics from \u201cIn the Room Where it Happened\u201d from Hamilton \u2013 The Musical<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Trillion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Two trillion dollars:\u00a0\u00a0it was only thirty-four years ago that $2 trillion was the total amount the US government debt (today, the amount is approaching $23 trillion).\u00a0\u00a0Today the US Senate is debating corona-virus aid legislation that will add two trillion dollars to the US economy, and to the debt of the United States.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or to look at it another way, the total budget for the US government in 2019 was $4.45 trillion.  This week, they plan to spend almost half of that again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it\u2019s a lot of money.\u00a0\u00a0Republicans and Democrats don\u2019t agree on much, but at least that\u2019s one thing they all acknowledge.\u00a0\u00a0When the government spends that much money, all at one time, we shouldn\u2019t be surprised that all of the ideas, principles, dreams and b\u00eates noire of both parties comes out, in spades.\u00a0\u00a0And they\u2019re doing it under extreme pressure, as the country faces an existential crisis as large as World War II and the Great Depression combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watching the Process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And the rest of America, many \u201csheltering in place\u201d in their homes, has little else to do but watch.  There\u2019s nothing that will ruin the taste of sausage more, then to watch how it is made.  But we\u2019re seeing it, because we\u2019re all \u201cin the room where it happened\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I use Facebook to see what the \u201cother side\u201d is saying.  Someone somewhere, maybe Brad Parscale in the Trump Campaign, maybe a Russian intelligence agent in St. Petersburg, maybe Mr. Trump\u2019s 400-pound man in his parents\u2019 basement, makes meme after meme attacking Democrats.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n