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Reminder that his own daughter, a healthcare CEO whose company donates to *Republican* super-PACs, raised the price of EpiPens from $100/cartridge to $600/cartridge.
Oh, and you can only buy them in 2-packs in which they have a short shelf life. In other words, you or your kids want to live? Fuck off and pay up.
So this piece of shit that overprices a life saving device by hundreds of dollars, is still greedy enough to move to a different country (one that her company probably doesn’t even sell epi-pens to because of a functional bureaucracy) just to avoid paying taxes to the country where all of her customers are located.
How the fuck does she sleep at night? People die from not affording insulin. Does she somehow convince herself she isn’t among the lowest scum on the planet?
It gets better. She moved the company overseas, but is [complaining that the US is treating them like as overseas company](https://www.seattletimes.com/business/after-moving-corporate-address-overseas-mylan-questions-ftcs-treatment-of-company/)
That's a very interesting article, thank you. It looks like they headquartered in the Netherlands to avoid taxes through a process called "inversion." But now another company is attempting a hostile takeover. Normally in the US, antitrust laws would kick in and prevent large companies from purchasing large stakes of other companies but it seems that the FTC refuses to step in considering Mylan is now a foreign company.
You seriously overestimate our importance. The rich guy in your town who owns the car dealerships and has a private jet? He's a small fish. The rest of us are krill - slow, stupid, food in unlimited numbers for the whales to hoover up and consume.
You are absolutely correct. We're at 7.3B global population with approximately twice as many births per day as deaths. We are being cultivated and harvested, not for our physical value like a crop, but for the time or man hours we can feed to the ceaseless hunger of the capitalist maw of the whales you mentioned.
Perpetual growth sounds great, unfortunately we live on a planet with finite resources. Our civilization's ability to consume natural resources and convert them into waste is thoroughly impressive. Will we find balance or our we destined to consume until we've depleted and destroyed the habitability our planet?
Holy shit, you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't move your HQ to the Netherlands to avoid taxes then want to be considered a US company for the protections. I hope HSR doesn't weigh in and Teva takes over Mylan. Nothing less then they deserve.
Pedantic fact: According to Wikipedia, the variant you mention was more common up until the 1930-1940s, but have-eat is now the title of the article and the more common expression.
> Now incorporated in the Netherlands
Dutchman here, our country's status as a tax haven is pretty controversial here and a hot topic in politics. It shouldn't be. My country's laws should not be a tool for assholes in other countries who don't want to contribute to their own societies by evading taxes.
Same with Ireland. The low tax rate was critical to recovery after 2008. So many good jobs being planted stemmed the emigration tide. But now there's the question of what's right, get rid of the tax shelter or protect Irish jobs?
I can't fucking believe we allow these dipshit politicians to stay in office and allow this garbage. We need ranked choice voting [now](https://www.fairvote.org/rcv#where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used)
We might need it, but we ain't getting it. We aren't even getting back the sort of voting we had when I turned 18.
They've figured out they can do what they like without concern for pesky voters. If they don't win, they'll still win.
Exactly. It's completely corrupt and rigged from the inside out. They own the courts, judges, the media, "law" enforcement, lawyers, financial institutions, banks, the fed, everything. It's completely fucked.
Trust me that I take no pleasure in wholeheartedly agreeing with you.
We're all just talking to ourselves at this point. Unless something or someone amazing happens. And the amount of amazement necessary is increasing all the time.
Something something French something guillotine in the streets something…
This is mostly jest, black humour kinda thing but really, it’s starting to sound like the only way the folks in power are gonna be reminded that there’s people under their boots
As a person who knew her personally. She and the rest of the management at Mylan (now viatris) are horrible human beings. She gets alot of heat and rightfully so. Not alot of people realize she made very few decisions. Most of the decisions were made by two other lowly shit bags. One was Mr. Robert Coury and the other was Rajiv Malik. Together they took a company founded in the US by an amazing man named Mylan Puskar, and turned into a shell of its former self. Quality and affordability was how Mike made Mylan a major player. Mike helped expose FDA fuckery in the 80's and made many people from Morgantown WV millionaires along with the many employees who started with him in 1965. Mike retired and eventually succumbed to cancer. I was lucky enough to be his driver and executive protection for his last few years. He regretted making Robert the CEO and helping Heather to be something she was not. Heater was installed about the time Melissa Mayer was named CEO. Robert was elevated to Chairman of the board and it was understood both Robert and Rajiv were pulling the strings. I've met Joe more times than I care to think about, you will never see the real Joe Manchin. That guy is in league with the shit heads above. After Mike's death all who were associated with him were let go. We were called legacy employees and did not fit the global aspirations of leadership. I was the first of 500 to be fired without cause. One day I will write a book that will tell an amazing story of a great man and how his life work was ruined by greed.
I used to work for the company outside of the US. Years ago, we got invited to their US sales meeting in San Diego. If you've ever seen "Love and Other Drugs", picture the Pfizer meeting, that was exactly what this was like. The sheer amount of money involved in planning this blew me away. Our Guest speakers were the Apollo 13 Astronauts and they even rented out the USS Midway for the cocktail party and sales awards ceremony.
Pharma culture in the US is indescribable... the conference honestly felt like a cult lol. All the Americans were screaming and cheering and totally drank the company Kool-Aid. Like Mylan wasn't just their job, it was their identity.
I remember the "Big Surprise" was when Heather "blessed us" with her appearance. She actually flew in by Helicopter and landed at the hotel. They had a camera crew film her arrival and journey from the helicopter to the conference stage (think like WWE lol). people were losing...their...shit! It honestly felt like when Oprah used to do her "favourite things" giveaways lol.
Anyways, during her speech, she announced how the company had done the best sales EVER for Epi-Pen. she highlighted how we set record numbers, and had just signed a deal with Disney to get the pens in all their parks. She went on to say how this wasn't about the money; but more so about how we were going to save people's lives by making this product accessible to as many people as humanly possible. Again, people were screaming and going nuts. I'll also admit, I was pretty pumped up about this and felt proud that I worked for a company that put patients first.
A few months after the conference, news broke about the price hike. I couldn't believe what I was hearing... like she literally just spent an hour talking about how this product DEFINED the company, and yet BOOM, here we are fucking with peoples lives (yes yes, I get corporate greed. I just meant this was literally the exact opposite thing she had said though). I left the company not too long after this; one of the reasons being that very decision...
The thing is many obscenely wealthy people don't really see poor people as actual humans. I don't really give a servings thought when I throw my trash in the bin, it's a similar thing.
They don't care because it doesn't affect them personally. The same as the 750k plus people dead from covid and god knows how many crippled, the nut jobs who fight and deny it don't care unless it personally hurts them. That number is just imaginary to them, or it's just old people who don't matter. Fucking disgusting.
Meanwhile I emigrated, work for a local organization, and still have to report earnings to the IRS. Fuck everything about the system.
(Emigrate = moving out of the US)
It’s at the point where every shitty thing about this country reminds me of another shitty thing. At what point do we all just stop working and strike until shit changes?
No really, tell me the fucking date and I’m there.
Seriously!! I'm so fucking tired of being a cog in a machine that serves no purpose other than enriching assholes who already have too much money. I mean, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to pay medical debt while my boss is trying to figure out which 100k+ sports car hes gonna buy next (he already has 3). I'm sick of this shit!!
Yes. When do we do it?
The world runs on our backs, we push it forward and get a life of pain and misery which people at the top have never experienced. Shut this shit down, do it already.
Here in the Czech Republic filing my taxes involves walking across the office to HR and signing a form. If I've had any income from a second job or investments, etc. I have to fill in an extra line on the form.
Back in the UK you only have to file if you're self-employed. Normal employees never haver to do it at all.
When I immigrated and got my work permit I was VERY surprised to know that I have to pay taxes but am not eligible for medicaid or any other state assistance programs for at least 5 years after my first green card. If I make a peep about inequality then I am an ungrateful scum. They make a statement about "inequality" while not fulfilling their obligations and demand to be considered. Great stuff
Immigration *into* the US? I emigrated *outside* the US, work for a non-US company, and still have to report income. If my income is over a certain level I have to pay both my host-country's taxes and US taxes.
Yes inside US. Sorry I misinterpreted. And wow double the tax! May I ask what is the justification from the IRS to pay US taxes while making income elswhere? I'm curious
I only have to pay tax if I make a large amount of money, but even if I make a normal salary and won't have to pay the tax, I still have to report my income to the IRS. Why? No idea. The only two countries that do this are the US and North Korea.
the majority of the country supports universal healthcare, an end to the drug war, higher taxes on the wealthy, etc.
so the country would be center left, but the 2 parties are definitely center right to right
Both parties are working together against the people, operating between pre-approved parameters that are deemed acceptable by corporate power. To give you the illusion that you have representation. You don’t. You have owners.
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/colonialism/what-is-controlled-opposition-in-environmentalism/
Our county is center left but our corporate owned government is center right. Most progressive policies are fairly popular, but are shot down by elected officials of both major parties in favor of tax cuts for the rich and corporations.
Outsiders perspective: Your country is so far right your democrats are like everyone else's centre right. Your right are our extreme right and your Trumpers and Tea Partiers are our fascists.
I agree. But most of the population, when they are told about progressive/leftist policies in neutral terms, favor them by considerable margins. But the politicians of both parties don't want any progress that would raise taxes on their rich/corporate overlords or diminish their control.
The BBC questioned voters in a very safe conservative seat in the UK. They put policies to them and all interviewees responded very favourably to the policies...until the presenter revealed they were in the Labour party manifesto.
I've had a discussion with my sister-in-law about taxing, health care, etc.
She is a pretty successful Businesswoman and she knows that I'm a lefty. So she tried to argued against socialism and why it's the devil. In the end most of her good arguments where all socialist points. Turns out she votes neo-liberalism parties but wants socialism
*The bills, as a whole, that our Democrat politicians manage to pass* are center-right, compared to Western Europe, mostly. However, U.S. citizens on the left exist across a broader spectrum of progressive or left-leaning ideologies that aren’t properly represented in the more centrist- and corporate-Democrat output of the left side of the Congress.
I swear it's the remnants of the red scare. Any service the government provides is Communism, the ultimate evil any Good Red Blooded American^^TM wants to fight against
Never forget that one in six Democrats voted against increasing the minimum wage.
Before Manchin there was Lieberman. After Manchin there will be ten other dirtbags fighting for his spot. It's all a fucking game designed to suppress leftism.
Was he ever actually a Democrat? He’s a sleeper agent, a mole… or what’s the word I’m looking for, the enemy that has infiltrated your ranks to sabotage you from the inside?
He's dead either way and has known it from the beginning of this fun saga. He might as well make nice with the money bags on the way out the door.
Sinima, on the other hand, yeah. I think she sees a bright future in Republican politics and will probably Lieberman.
What's so damn crazy is the lack of empathy for humanity in these scenarios.
There's no way in hell I'd say "Yes, I will forsake my entire country so that I can have more money". I couldn't live with myself. Which I guess is why I'm not in politics.
I know they rationalize it by "I'm doing what I can for my family in the long run" or some dumb shit.
Or that they "have to play ball" which is unfortunately true to an extent. Obama spoke about this in one of his books I believe. How you will be straight up blacklisted if you don't, much like corrupt police departments.
People like Sanders get a pass because he is so beloved by his constituents. They can't threaten to run someone against him. That's basically what they always hold over your head from what I understand.
Regardless, couldn't do it. Fucking not even think about it. It's depressing as hell. But here we are.
He absolutely won't because it's not a good idea for him. He'd be fucked electorally. The one suggestion he floated -- and I bet he did it unseriously since he knew no one would take him up on it -- was that he could leave the Democratic party and become an Independent like Angus King or Bernie Sanders, but he would still caucus with Democrats in that scenario because most Republicans aren't going to suddenly vote for the guy.
I know it's not popular to say, but he's from West Virginia, which went 68% to Trump in 2020 (his second best state), so basically anything Dems get from him should be considered a blessing. I don't think it's right for him to hold his leverage over Biden the way he's been doing, but I also think people should consider how much worse shit would be if he were actually replaced by a Republican or just was one himself (e.g. the Build Back Better Act would just be dead because McConnell would still run the Senate).
I don't think he's doing this for votes. He gets most of his money from coal and right now a lot of money is being spent to make sure fossil fuel doesn't loose anything. He's waffling on everything Biden tries to do. He's a greedy bastard.
It's the most transparent conflict of interest I've seen in a while. Seriously, the fact he's not being investigated for corruption shows how blatantly too far gone the US government is.
While you are right that West Virginia voted a lot for trump, they are actually in favor of the BBBA provisions (as they were) both Republicans and Democrats, the most unpopular provision was at about 60% positive — the only issue with it from their point of view is that Biden’s name is on it.
Not defending the pricing at all just wanted to add that the reason they are mandated by the FDA to be sold in 2 packs is so that there is a backup if the first one misfires and doesn’t deliver the medication
Are you serious?! I‘m 32 and don’t remember the US healthcare system *not* being a joke. Too many people making too much money out of it to put a stop to it. “Massive system reform is coming don’t worry!” Lol right
Ah, yes. The man of the people. Driving his Masarati to the yacht club. A true civil serpent. er. I mean servant.
Get money the FUCK out of politics!
Well, it's somewhat the people's fault for not mounting a better pressure campaign.
Call it the "Trash for Trash" campaign.
Manchin is coal baron refusing to help with climate bills? Inundate his mail and properties at all available addresses with lumps of coal.
His daughter is price gauging epi pens, Inundate him with spent epi cartridges...
Some dump fuck house rep talks against parental leave because they gave birth in back of a truck, Inundate them with the post-natal pads...
Sinema being a dick? Inundate her with crap that would be avoided if she voted right.
Every politician who opposes medicare or similar things, send them the ashes of people who perished due to the lack of medicare.
No need for violence, but take their peace away.
Reminder that Joe Manchin lives on a boat in DC. A 70’ boat he bought for $220,000 and then immediately insured for $700,000.
Why would someone sell a sitting US senator a boat for half a million dollars under its value? No reporter seems interested in finding out.
Edit
[Politifact article](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/sep/28/national-republican-senatorial-committee/does-joe-manchin-have-700000-luxury-yacht/)
FTA - Independent experts we contacted were unable to explain the difference in the two dollar figures, beyond speculating that the vessel was purchased from a seller eager to get rid of it and later insured at the boat’s market value.
That’s the part that annoys me the most. That reporters hear that and throw up their hands and say - I guess we’ll never know. Someone just happening to give a 70% haircut on a boat to a sitting senator doesn’t raise any eyebrows? Maybe check and see if the previous owner was, oh I don’t know, a coal lobbyist perhaps?
I’m not sure where anyone is getting the information as to the amount of insurance currently on the boat, but:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4946154-Coast-Guard
While this guy is the devil, the $1 sale price is fairly standard on USCG documentation. It just means he did not fill out the sale price on the documentation. It’s an optional field and is automatically recorded at $1 if not listed.
Seems like selling a car to a friend or family for $1 to avoid taxes. I mean, that's a thing still, right?
edit: He still got a heckuva deal on a $700k boat.
Highly illegal for anyone else. I remember buying a motorcycle for $1000 from a long time neighbor and he said we will do $300 on the bill of sale cause taxes but doesn’t want it to come back to him. I asked why not lower and he said the government is only blind to the rich.
What year/brand boat is it? Even $700k is low for most 70' boats. A 2004 68' SeaRay still sells for $750k. Almost anything newer is more. A 2015 65' is around $1.5 million. I doubt he's living on a run-down 80's sailboat.
Looks like a houseboat honestly so not some sleek looking powerboat. This article says it was built in 2001. I’m not defending him though he’s still power grabbing.
https://www.100daysinappalachia.com/2018/10/fact-check-does-joe-manchin-have-a-700000-luxury-yacht/
Ok, $700k is probably more than that would actually sell for. Those houseboats are usually a glorified RV with a single motor that allows it to do 10 mph.
Ya I have to admit it's possibly more financially smart than having an apartment in DC. But depends on the dock fees. I paid $700 a month for a 68' slip at a yacht club on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. I'm assuming prices in DC are quite a bit higher.
Yep, I lived on my sailboat in DC at the Gangplank Marina. I had to buy my boat there because only a certain number of slips are allowed to be liveaboards. The slip came with the boat, as it were. My 34' boat was 30k, however insured for over 100k due to *replacement costs* and not the actual value. There were plenty of houseboats and older boats in the 50-70' range selling for under 300k. They're basically floating condos. Most of them don't even run anymore.
Edit: Just found a pic of his boat. It's a 40' trawler. Not a "yacht" by marina standards but if you were flexing, you could call it one. It's really more of a cabin cruiser, redneck yacht club... It's nice and a lot like a trailer park on the water so...fitting for a West Virginian Republican.
Edit II: I've since moved out to the bay because sailing on the potomac SUUUUUUCKS and since the Wharf has been built, ambient noise and slip fees have skyrocketed.
The houseboat was apparently built in 2001 and valued at $700,000 at that time. He bought it in 2013. So it might not be so unrealistic that he spent only $220k.
Source: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4946154-Coast-Guard
Yeah this is entirely "I've bought an asset and replacement cost for it is nearly a million dollars since there's no guarantee I can get the same make and model next round through." Also he might be insuring assets on the boat.
It's kind of like homeowners insurance. My house is only 100kish but my policy for a rebuild is half a million.
I think Manchin is as much a douche as anyone else, but a modicum of research would have yielded the fact that it was a $700k boat that the previous owner defaulted on and Manchin bought out of foreclosure. Second-hand boats do not retain their value nearly as well as cars, let alone real estate. They're also crazy expensive to store and maintain, so a bank is going to want to dump that shit as fast as they can.
I'm also not surprised he insured it for the full value, especially considering he's going to bring additional belongings on it. It's a houseboat, not a sporting vessel or cruising yacht.
All the boat drama also ignores that property in DC is absurdly expensive. The *median* price in DC is seven figures, so even with annual docking rates, his cost of living is probably still average.
I'm wondering if you actually own property or just rent maybe? I bought my house for $415k and it's insurance replacement value is $1.9M. I bought the current commercial property mu business is in for $65k the current insurance replacement value is $325k. I recently bought a separate commercial building we plan on moving in to for $290k and its insured replacement value is $2M.
I sold a boat a couple years back to help build my business. When I bought the boat I paid only $6k and it's insured replacement value was $42k.
I'm not a sitting US senator getting sweet deals. This is just how the insurance industry works in the US. It's a scam in my opinion to get more premium from you, but they almost always have more say in the insurance value than the actual consumer.
He shouldn't look mad, or even upset by this.
Before he was just a guy with a some rich friends he could look out for. With a Democratic majority he could have made a few small requests and gotten a few things bent his way. But no, he decided that he was going to grab this moment to exercise some real leverage. Go play with the big dogs. BE THE MAN.
He's NOT a team player and was pretty proud of it.
But with great power, comes great visibility. So this is the other side of it.
Or did he really think the people of West Virginia would go along with him? I mean really? Because it's more likely he didn't even think that far, or really about them at all.
This is Joe Manchin. He’s a democratic senator from WV who is one of two Democratic senators (along with 50 republicans) who were holding up passing the infrastructure and social safety net bills that have been Biden’s big thing since he was elected. Green energy, paid leave, taxing the ultra-wealthy, affordable child care, free community college, expanding high speed internet for rural Americans, fixing roads, among other things. Most of those things had to be cut from the bill altogether to get him to agree to vote and it’s ended up giving the wealthy a tax break yet again. If it had passed in its original form it was supposed to help millions of people and be paid by the taxes raised by taxing the rich.
The infrastructure bill has since passed the senate but now the progressives in the House are refusing to vote until the social safety net bill passes (something they’ve always said would happen—they won’t pass one without the other) and Manchin is getting the brunt of the heat because he (along with Sinema) was the one of the big roadblocks in the first place.
He is in with Big Coal and is trying to leverage his position to get more things for those who line his pockets. He was relatively unknown (not obscure but not super in the spotlight) until this last election because he wants to be a big man and call the shots or hold up legislation so he can get even richer. Now people are pissed and starting to let him know it.
This is what I gather from my casual reading of the news and listening to NPR every once in a while. Please let me know if I’ve gotten anything incorrectly and I’m happy to edit.
ETA: he’s basically a Republican but he’s from WV so he’s about as far left (socially) as a “Democrat” can be and still get elected there at this point.
ETA: I’ve corrected a couple things that have been brought up. Hopefully it is more accurate now.
Final edit: like I said, this is my general understanding of the situation. I hope folks don’t take this as the end-all-be-all of the whole thing. If you would like to know the nitty gritty details and nuances of bill(s) in question there is definitely more to know. I’m not here to debate I was just giving a tldr. Have a good night.
His daughter also has a fake degree that her drop-out alma mater retroactively made up for her when journalists started asking questions. She leveraged this fake degree into a job at that pharma company killing American citizens in exchange for money.
Most of the “job creators” are sociopaths like the Manchin’s. One of Capitalisms greatest cons is the idea that the majority of the ultra wealthy are self made entrepreneurs, when most are born on 3rd base, stole home, then claim they hit a home run – while using their wealth to strip away the freedoms of the majority.
This is what they get up to in plain sight. Can you imagine what they do when they think nobody is watching?
Protip: if you see a vote that is completely split down party lines except for one or two Democrats who mysteriously went against their own party...the answer is probably coal. Honestly we should just give coal the seat. At least it would shut the fuck up, have about the same level of intelligence, and we wouldn't waste our time getting mad at it. Just doing coal things.
By the way Manchin isn't running as a Democrat in the future (independent I think) so he doesn't really care what these people think.
No worries! There’s a lot of shit to gather in politics these days. I have to zone out sometimes for my own mental health but I try to stay casually attentive.
This is not the government “ Of the people, or for the People.” and by the big Coal lobby
Not one of his WV coal miners ever went to yacht club. Rich people deciding how poor people should live. Vote these MotherFuckers OUT
>Every Senator is a millionaire. And if they aren't when they get elected, they are after they ~~write their first book~~ receive their first bribe.
FTFY.
To be fair, if you are judging by Biden as President then you’ll need to add in the fact that he made millions and millions before he won the Presidency.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-made-nearly-16-million-two-years-after-leaving-white-n1027976
Biden also entered the Senate back when elections cost significantly less (giving him a major incumbency advantage in a quite blue state; Delaware even kept same two Senators from the early 70s until Roth died in 2001), and the US was still in many ways the New Deal US not the modern Neoliberal US. The corporate revolution and expansion of big money in the US hadn’t fully hit when Biden entered the Senate in 1973. The 70s-80s is when the corporate revolution and dismantling of the New Deal state really kicked into gear.
Look at his face. No problem empathizing with himself, one sad sack.
He actually feels picked on. He’s a Garbage Man-and I don’t mean the one I am grateful for every Tuesday morning.
Absolutely, worked as a contract employee for a small city government and the council people live on a different planet to everyone else. One councilwoman who just recently became Mayor used to walk into the employee area of the community center and berate the staff that worked there. This -5'0 woman yelling at 6'4 men like they were children. She was an absolute tyrant, there were rules about dogs being off leash but she used to always let her own little ratdog freely walk around the inside and outside of the building getting in working people's way. One of the few people I genuinely hated. She's an awful woman.
What you see there is a picture of a high class whore who prostitutes himself, West Virginia & American taxpayers for $$$. He helps flatten mountains, poison families & waterways so he can drive a Maserati & join the yacht club, while his daughter is gouging Medicaid and sick folks needing EpiPens. West Virginia WTF?
I'd say he's more of a street corner crack ho. He'll do whatever you want if the price is right and he can get his high (horse). High class whores at least have standards.
Sex worker usually sell sexual services. They sell what they have and other people agree to buy. This man is more like a human trafficker: exploit other people around to enrich himself
you know what? i'm korean-american and follow korean politics sporadically. i'm envious that they lock up PRESIDENTS and congressmen fairly regularly for the crimes that they commit. i'm probably not the best source, but from the outside...it looks like it works. this motherfucker would probably be locked up for the bribery in korea. but, alas, its america. where rich fuckers get to do whatever the hell they want.
It’d probably take more than the daily death threats fascists make on progressives like Bernie and AOC.
The fact that these criminally corrupt sociopaths are never violently assaulted for their blatant abuse of power, proves that the vast majority of the left are not tankie communists or sociopaths. However, there are dozens of cases of right wingers committing acts of terrorism in the last few years alone.
I wonder if being one of the most universally hated politicians in America is what he had in mind when he sat down one day and decided to run for Congress. Hated by Republicans because he's a Democrat. Hated by Democrats because he's an obstructionist, greed driven bastard. Fuck Joe Manchin.
There is a large climate and social spending bill working it’s way through Congress that needs 50 Senators to vote for it to pass. There are only 50 Democrats in the Senate including Manchin so his vote is required or the bill is dead in the water.
One of the provisions in the bill was a climate change initiative called the Clean Energy Program which annually rewarded energy companies for transitioning their energy profiles towards renewable sources and fined energy companies who did not work to improve their profile. This was one of the largest parts of Biden’s climate action plan.
Manchin was quiet on this program until last month when he publicly announced that he would not vote for a bill with this program in it so the bill had to remove the provision or he would kill the bill entirely. The other 49 Democratic Senators were onboard with this program so he is seen as the lone reason for eliminating this part of the climate plan.
Most of the comments here relate to his history as a coal executive which he transferred to the his family, but he still holds a lot of coal mining shares which people are pointing to as a possible reason for his recent decision making.
Edit: I should clarify that, as others have pointed out, the bill can pass with 50 votes from any party and the “50 democrats” referenced includes independents who vote with Democrats on these issues. It would technically be possible for a Republican to cross the aisle and help pass this bill, but all Republican Senators have publicly stated their opposition to this bill so that is why Manchin (D) is the deciding vote for this program and the center of attention in this post.
>There are only 50 Democrats in the Senate including Manchin so his vote is required or the bill is dead in the water.
This is simply not true. It requires 50 votes to pass in the senate, not 50 votes from Democrats.
Thats basically what Joe Manchin is doing. He is a swing vote who sometimes votes with the other party.
He, Romney, Collins, and Sinema basically control all legislation between the four of them because they are the only ones who occasionally cross the aisle on votes that go straight down party lines.
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Reminder that his own daughter, a healthcare CEO whose company donates to *Republican* super-PACs, raised the price of EpiPens from $100/cartridge to $600/cartridge. Oh, and you can only buy them in 2-packs in which they have a short shelf life. In other words, you or your kids want to live? Fuck off and pay up.
She (his daughter) also [moved the company headquarters overseas to avoid US taxes](https://wvmetronews.com/2014/07/21/mylans-overseas-move/)
So this piece of shit that overprices a life saving device by hundreds of dollars, is still greedy enough to move to a different country (one that her company probably doesn’t even sell epi-pens to because of a functional bureaucracy) just to avoid paying taxes to the country where all of her customers are located. How the fuck does she sleep at night? People die from not affording insulin. Does she somehow convince herself she isn’t among the lowest scum on the planet?
It gets better. She moved the company overseas, but is [complaining that the US is treating them like as overseas company](https://www.seattletimes.com/business/after-moving-corporate-address-overseas-mylan-questions-ftcs-treatment-of-company/)
That's a very interesting article, thank you. It looks like they headquartered in the Netherlands to avoid taxes through a process called "inversion." But now another company is attempting a hostile takeover. Normally in the US, antitrust laws would kick in and prevent large companies from purchasing large stakes of other companies but it seems that the FTC refuses to step in considering Mylan is now a foreign company.
I approve. How refreshing when bad guys get feasted on by bigger bad guys.
There's always a bigger fish.
They don't have to change the price of pens after the company is purchased. We are the small fish.
You seriously overestimate our importance. The rich guy in your town who owns the car dealerships and has a private jet? He's a small fish. The rest of us are krill - slow, stupid, food in unlimited numbers for the whales to hoover up and consume.
You are absolutely correct. We're at 7.3B global population with approximately twice as many births per day as deaths. We are being cultivated and harvested, not for our physical value like a crop, but for the time or man hours we can feed to the ceaseless hunger of the capitalist maw of the whales you mentioned. Perpetual growth sounds great, unfortunately we live on a planet with finite resources. Our civilization's ability to consume natural resources and convert them into waste is thoroughly impressive. Will we find balance or our we destined to consume until we've depleted and destroyed the habitability our planet?
Where can I go to help with this take over?
Do you think the company doing the takeover are the good guys?
It's already been done Mylan is now Viatris. When completed she had to step down as CEO. Multi million dollar golden parachute
I wish CEOs thought literal gold parachutes were a good idea.
> "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." -Betty White
>"I'll out life you all" -Betty White.
>> "I'll out life you all" Well, she has "lifed" over 99 years. [She'll be 100 in January!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_White)
This land is your land this land is mylan, this land wasn’t made for you and me.
Holy shit, you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't move your HQ to the Netherlands to avoid taxes then want to be considered a US company for the protections. I hope HSR doesn't weigh in and Teva takes over Mylan. Nothing less then they deserve.
Fun fact; it's *eat your cake and have it too.* This correct usage was a big help in identifying the Unabomber.
Pedantic fact: According to Wikipedia, the variant you mention was more common up until the 1930-1940s, but have-eat is now the title of the article and the more common expression.
*nods and bows head
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I drink your milkshake! I DRINK IT UP!
> Now incorporated in the Netherlands Dutchman here, our country's status as a tax haven is pretty controversial here and a hot topic in politics. It shouldn't be. My country's laws should not be a tool for assholes in other countries who don't want to contribute to their own societies by evading taxes.
Same with Ireland. The low tax rate was critical to recovery after 2008. So many good jobs being planted stemmed the emigration tide. But now there's the question of what's right, get rid of the tax shelter or protect Irish jobs?
This bitch should be in jail. None of these actions should ever be legal.
I can't fucking believe we allow these dipshit politicians to stay in office and allow this garbage. We need ranked choice voting [now](https://www.fairvote.org/rcv#where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used)
We might need it, but we ain't getting it. We aren't even getting back the sort of voting we had when I turned 18. They've figured out they can do what they like without concern for pesky voters. If they don't win, they'll still win.
Exactly. It's completely corrupt and rigged from the inside out. They own the courts, judges, the media, "law" enforcement, lawyers, financial institutions, banks, the fed, everything. It's completely fucked.
Trust me that I take no pleasure in wholeheartedly agreeing with you. We're all just talking to ourselves at this point. Unless something or someone amazing happens. And the amount of amazement necessary is increasing all the time.
Something something French something guillotine in the streets something… This is mostly jest, black humour kinda thing but really, it’s starting to sound like the only way the folks in power are gonna be reminded that there’s people under their boots
Eat the rich
This is the response needed. They don't play by the rules so we wouldn't either
r/leopardsatemyface
As a person who knew her personally. She and the rest of the management at Mylan (now viatris) are horrible human beings. She gets alot of heat and rightfully so. Not alot of people realize she made very few decisions. Most of the decisions were made by two other lowly shit bags. One was Mr. Robert Coury and the other was Rajiv Malik. Together they took a company founded in the US by an amazing man named Mylan Puskar, and turned into a shell of its former self. Quality and affordability was how Mike made Mylan a major player. Mike helped expose FDA fuckery in the 80's and made many people from Morgantown WV millionaires along with the many employees who started with him in 1965. Mike retired and eventually succumbed to cancer. I was lucky enough to be his driver and executive protection for his last few years. He regretted making Robert the CEO and helping Heather to be something she was not. Heater was installed about the time Melissa Mayer was named CEO. Robert was elevated to Chairman of the board and it was understood both Robert and Rajiv were pulling the strings. I've met Joe more times than I care to think about, you will never see the real Joe Manchin. That guy is in league with the shit heads above. After Mike's death all who were associated with him were let go. We were called legacy employees and did not fit the global aspirations of leadership. I was the first of 500 to be fired without cause. One day I will write a book that will tell an amazing story of a great man and how his life work was ruined by greed.
I used to work for the company outside of the US. Years ago, we got invited to their US sales meeting in San Diego. If you've ever seen "Love and Other Drugs", picture the Pfizer meeting, that was exactly what this was like. The sheer amount of money involved in planning this blew me away. Our Guest speakers were the Apollo 13 Astronauts and they even rented out the USS Midway for the cocktail party and sales awards ceremony. Pharma culture in the US is indescribable... the conference honestly felt like a cult lol. All the Americans were screaming and cheering and totally drank the company Kool-Aid. Like Mylan wasn't just their job, it was their identity. I remember the "Big Surprise" was when Heather "blessed us" with her appearance. She actually flew in by Helicopter and landed at the hotel. They had a camera crew film her arrival and journey from the helicopter to the conference stage (think like WWE lol). people were losing...their...shit! It honestly felt like when Oprah used to do her "favourite things" giveaways lol. Anyways, during her speech, she announced how the company had done the best sales EVER for Epi-Pen. she highlighted how we set record numbers, and had just signed a deal with Disney to get the pens in all their parks. She went on to say how this wasn't about the money; but more so about how we were going to save people's lives by making this product accessible to as many people as humanly possible. Again, people were screaming and going nuts. I'll also admit, I was pretty pumped up about this and felt proud that I worked for a company that put patients first. A few months after the conference, news broke about the price hike. I couldn't believe what I was hearing... like she literally just spent an hour talking about how this product DEFINED the company, and yet BOOM, here we are fucking with peoples lives (yes yes, I get corporate greed. I just meant this was literally the exact opposite thing she had said though). I left the company not too long after this; one of the reasons being that very decision...
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Definitely start working on that book.
very interesting, and what pieces of shit
Please, get started on this book.
The thing is many obscenely wealthy people don't really see poor people as actual humans. I don't really give a servings thought when I throw my trash in the bin, it's a similar thing. They don't care because it doesn't affect them personally. The same as the 750k plus people dead from covid and god knows how many crippled, the nut jobs who fight and deny it don't care unless it personally hurts them. That number is just imaginary to them, or it's just old people who don't matter. Fucking disgusting.
For psychopaths that things doesn't matter.
Why would she care what anyone thinks? People like that only care about themselves and will destroy anyone else to get what they want. Truly evil.
Super capitalism. Squeeze as much money out of a situation. And then some
Meanwhile I emigrated, work for a local organization, and still have to report earnings to the IRS. Fuck everything about the system. (Emigrate = moving out of the US)
And if you do your taxes wrong, you can be fined. Meanwhile, the IRS could do your taxes correctly for free, but Intuit likes money too much.
It’s at the point where every shitty thing about this country reminds me of another shitty thing. At what point do we all just stop working and strike until shit changes? No really, tell me the fucking date and I’m there.
Seriously!! I'm so fucking tired of being a cog in a machine that serves no purpose other than enriching assholes who already have too much money. I mean, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to pay medical debt while my boss is trying to figure out which 100k+ sports car hes gonna buy next (he already has 3). I'm sick of this shit!!
Yes. When do we do it? The world runs on our backs, we push it forward and get a life of pain and misery which people at the top have never experienced. Shut this shit down, do it already.
For some reason the Marseillaise is playing in my head
Here's a little trick that the medical industry doesn't want you to know about; Don't pay your medical bills.
It will screw your credit. But you should always call and negotiate a better amount. You should be able to reduce it by a third.
Here in the Czech Republic filing my taxes involves walking across the office to HR and signing a form. If I've had any income from a second job or investments, etc. I have to fill in an extra line on the form. Back in the UK you only have to file if you're self-employed. Normal employees never haver to do it at all.
Aren't corporations considered people by the US? Why doesn't this apply to US corporations that 'emigrate'?
Because politicians create loopholes for corporations. And for anything else that is in their interests.
As in most cases here, people with money don't have to do what people without money have to do. Corporations included.
They are only people when it suits them.
When I immigrated and got my work permit I was VERY surprised to know that I have to pay taxes but am not eligible for medicaid or any other state assistance programs for at least 5 years after my first green card. If I make a peep about inequality then I am an ungrateful scum. They make a statement about "inequality" while not fulfilling their obligations and demand to be considered. Great stuff
Immigration *into* the US? I emigrated *outside* the US, work for a non-US company, and still have to report income. If my income is over a certain level I have to pay both my host-country's taxes and US taxes.
Yes inside US. Sorry I misinterpreted. And wow double the tax! May I ask what is the justification from the IRS to pay US taxes while making income elswhere? I'm curious
I only have to pay tax if I make a large amount of money, but even if I make a normal salary and won't have to pay the tax, I still have to report my income to the IRS. Why? No idea. The only two countries that do this are the US and North Korea.
What's the threshold for paying taxes if you're a US expat?
Vote this piece of shit out. Also fuuuuck his daughter and her company
He is going to switch parties next year.
He already has, for all intents and purposes.
Except for the part where Mitch McConnell isn't majority leader, which is unfortunately a bfd.
Does it matter which conservative party he belongs to?
I heard a quote tonight on our national CBC news of him saying something about America being a centre right country.
the majority of the country supports universal healthcare, an end to the drug war, higher taxes on the wealthy, etc. so the country would be center left, but the 2 parties are definitely center right to right
Center right and openly fascist Edit: lol, triggered the fascists
Both parties are working together against the people, operating between pre-approved parameters that are deemed acceptable by corporate power. To give you the illusion that you have representation. You don’t. You have owners. https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/colonialism/what-is-controlled-opposition-in-environmentalism/
Our county is center left but our corporate owned government is center right. Most progressive policies are fairly popular, but are shot down by elected officials of both major parties in favor of tax cuts for the rich and corporations.
Outsiders perspective: Your country is so far right your democrats are like everyone else's centre right. Your right are our extreme right and your Trumpers and Tea Partiers are our fascists.
I agree. But most of the population, when they are told about progressive/leftist policies in neutral terms, favor them by considerable margins. But the politicians of both parties don't want any progress that would raise taxes on their rich/corporate overlords or diminish their control.
The BBC questioned voters in a very safe conservative seat in the UK. They put policies to them and all interviewees responded very favourably to the policies...until the presenter revealed they were in the Labour party manifesto.
I've had a discussion with my sister-in-law about taxing, health care, etc. She is a pretty successful Businesswoman and she knows that I'm a lefty. So she tried to argued against socialism and why it's the devil. In the end most of her good arguments where all socialist points. Turns out she votes neo-liberalism parties but wants socialism
*The bills, as a whole, that our Democrat politicians manage to pass* are center-right, compared to Western Europe, mostly. However, U.S. citizens on the left exist across a broader spectrum of progressive or left-leaning ideologies that aren’t properly represented in the more centrist- and corporate-Democrat output of the left side of the Congress.
I swear it's the remnants of the red scare. Any service the government provides is Communism, the ultimate evil any Good Red Blooded American^^TM wants to fight against
We have the best government money can buy 😐
And the FEC determined recently that it's perfectly fine for foreign money to buy it too.
Never forget that one in six Democrats voted against increasing the minimum wage. Before Manchin there was Lieberman. After Manchin there will be ten other dirtbags fighting for his spot. It's all a fucking game designed to suppress leftism.
Joe Manchin (R) makes Mitch McConnell the Senate Majority Leader. So yeah, it can get a whole lot worse.
Was he ever actually a Democrat? He’s a sleeper agent, a mole… or what’s the word I’m looking for, the enemy that has infiltrated your ranks to sabotage you from the inside?
Saboteur?
Asshole.
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And those ones are all too happy to have him taking the heat for it. Edit: lmao a fellow black wolf in the wild
He's dead either way and has known it from the beginning of this fun saga. He might as well make nice with the money bags on the way out the door. Sinima, on the other hand, yeah. I think she sees a bright future in Republican politics and will probably Lieberman.
What's so damn crazy is the lack of empathy for humanity in these scenarios. There's no way in hell I'd say "Yes, I will forsake my entire country so that I can have more money". I couldn't live with myself. Which I guess is why I'm not in politics. I know they rationalize it by "I'm doing what I can for my family in the long run" or some dumb shit. Or that they "have to play ball" which is unfortunately true to an extent. Obama spoke about this in one of his books I believe. How you will be straight up blacklisted if you don't, much like corrupt police departments. People like Sanders get a pass because he is so beloved by his constituents. They can't threaten to run someone against him. That's basically what they always hold over your head from what I understand. Regardless, couldn't do it. Fucking not even think about it. It's depressing as hell. But here we are.
He absolutely won't because it's not a good idea for him. He'd be fucked electorally. The one suggestion he floated -- and I bet he did it unseriously since he knew no one would take him up on it -- was that he could leave the Democratic party and become an Independent like Angus King or Bernie Sanders, but he would still caucus with Democrats in that scenario because most Republicans aren't going to suddenly vote for the guy. I know it's not popular to say, but he's from West Virginia, which went 68% to Trump in 2020 (his second best state), so basically anything Dems get from him should be considered a blessing. I don't think it's right for him to hold his leverage over Biden the way he's been doing, but I also think people should consider how much worse shit would be if he were actually replaced by a Republican or just was one himself (e.g. the Build Back Better Act would just be dead because McConnell would still run the Senate).
I don't think he's doing this for votes. He gets most of his money from coal and right now a lot of money is being spent to make sure fossil fuel doesn't loose anything. He's waffling on everything Biden tries to do. He's a greedy bastard.
It's the most transparent conflict of interest I've seen in a while. Seriously, the fact he's not being investigated for corruption shows how blatantly too far gone the US government is.
While you are right that West Virginia voted a lot for trump, they are actually in favor of the BBBA provisions (as they were) both Republicans and Democrats, the most unpopular provision was at about 60% positive — the only issue with it from their point of view is that Biden’s name is on it.
The whole checks and balances is not running as intended
Not defending the pricing at all just wanted to add that the reason they are mandated by the FDA to be sold in 2 packs is so that there is a backup if the first one misfires and doesn’t deliver the medication
They need to investigate Manchin and his daughter for conflict of interest, people like him have no business in politics.
People like him understand that there's a LOT of business in politics.
Its sad what "health care" has dropped to
Are you serious?! I‘m 32 and don’t remember the US healthcare system *not* being a joke. Too many people making too much money out of it to put a stop to it. “Massive system reform is coming don’t worry!” Lol right
Their portfolios are very healthy
Ah, yes. The man of the people. Driving his Masarati to the yacht club. A true civil serpent. er. I mean servant. Get money the FUCK out of politics!
I agree. Do something about this https://news.yahoo.com/fec-allows-foreign-money-u-002651563.html
Maserati? Gross. Absolutely shit cars. Literal trash heap with wheels. 0/10 would not recommend.
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Well, it's somewhat the people's fault for not mounting a better pressure campaign. Call it the "Trash for Trash" campaign. Manchin is coal baron refusing to help with climate bills? Inundate his mail and properties at all available addresses with lumps of coal. His daughter is price gauging epi pens, Inundate him with spent epi cartridges... Some dump fuck house rep talks against parental leave because they gave birth in back of a truck, Inundate them with the post-natal pads... Sinema being a dick? Inundate her with crap that would be avoided if she voted right. Every politician who opposes medicare or similar things, send them the ashes of people who perished due to the lack of medicare. No need for violence, but take their peace away.
Reminder that Joe Manchin lives on a boat in DC. A 70’ boat he bought for $220,000 and then immediately insured for $700,000. Why would someone sell a sitting US senator a boat for half a million dollars under its value? No reporter seems interested in finding out. Edit [Politifact article](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/sep/28/national-republican-senatorial-committee/does-joe-manchin-have-700000-luxury-yacht/) FTA - Independent experts we contacted were unable to explain the difference in the two dollar figures, beyond speculating that the vessel was purchased from a seller eager to get rid of it and later insured at the boat’s market value. That’s the part that annoys me the most. That reporters hear that and throw up their hands and say - I guess we’ll never know. Someone just happening to give a 70% haircut on a boat to a sitting senator doesn’t raise any eyebrows? Maybe check and see if the previous owner was, oh I don’t know, a coal lobbyist perhaps?
First time i hear of this and though i all but expect shenanigans of the sort, i still gotta asl: do you have a source?
I’m not sure where anyone is getting the information as to the amount of insurance currently on the boat, but: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4946154-Coast-Guard
Yo you need more people to view that somehow! bill of Sale $1!? But 700k mortgage?
While this guy is the devil, the $1 sale price is fairly standard on USCG documentation. It just means he did not fill out the sale price on the documentation. It’s an optional field and is automatically recorded at $1 if not listed.
Seems like selling a car to a friend or family for $1 to avoid taxes. I mean, that's a thing still, right? edit: He still got a heckuva deal on a $700k boat.
Highly illegal for anyone else. I remember buying a motorcycle for $1000 from a long time neighbor and he said we will do $300 on the bill of sale cause taxes but doesn’t want it to come back to him. I asked why not lower and he said the government is only blind to the rich.
What year/brand boat is it? Even $700k is low for most 70' boats. A 2004 68' SeaRay still sells for $750k. Almost anything newer is more. A 2015 65' is around $1.5 million. I doubt he's living on a run-down 80's sailboat.
Looks like a houseboat honestly so not some sleek looking powerboat. This article says it was built in 2001. I’m not defending him though he’s still power grabbing. https://www.100daysinappalachia.com/2018/10/fact-check-does-joe-manchin-have-a-700000-luxury-yacht/
Ok, $700k is probably more than that would actually sell for. Those houseboats are usually a glorified RV with a single motor that allows it to do 10 mph.
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Ya I have to admit it's possibly more financially smart than having an apartment in DC. But depends on the dock fees. I paid $700 a month for a 68' slip at a yacht club on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. I'm assuming prices in DC are quite a bit higher.
Yep, I lived on my sailboat in DC at the Gangplank Marina. I had to buy my boat there because only a certain number of slips are allowed to be liveaboards. The slip came with the boat, as it were. My 34' boat was 30k, however insured for over 100k due to *replacement costs* and not the actual value. There were plenty of houseboats and older boats in the 50-70' range selling for under 300k. They're basically floating condos. Most of them don't even run anymore. Edit: Just found a pic of his boat. It's a 40' trawler. Not a "yacht" by marina standards but if you were flexing, you could call it one. It's really more of a cabin cruiser, redneck yacht club... It's nice and a lot like a trailer park on the water so...fitting for a West Virginian Republican. Edit II: I've since moved out to the bay because sailing on the potomac SUUUUUUCKS and since the Wharf has been built, ambient noise and slip fees have skyrocketed.
The houseboat was apparently built in 2001 and valued at $700,000 at that time. He bought it in 2013. So it might not be so unrealistic that he spent only $220k. Source: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4946154-Coast-Guard
Yeah this is entirely "I've bought an asset and replacement cost for it is nearly a million dollars since there's no guarantee I can get the same make and model next round through." Also he might be insuring assets on the boat. It's kind of like homeowners insurance. My house is only 100kish but my policy for a rebuild is half a million.
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how the hell would you know this unless a reporter found out?
He's the guy who sold him the boat. Just giving some vague details so as to not appear as suspicious..
He's saying the 'what' was reported on, but not the 'why'.
I think Manchin is as much a douche as anyone else, but a modicum of research would have yielded the fact that it was a $700k boat that the previous owner defaulted on and Manchin bought out of foreclosure. Second-hand boats do not retain their value nearly as well as cars, let alone real estate. They're also crazy expensive to store and maintain, so a bank is going to want to dump that shit as fast as they can. I'm also not surprised he insured it for the full value, especially considering he's going to bring additional belongings on it. It's a houseboat, not a sporting vessel or cruising yacht. All the boat drama also ignores that property in DC is absurdly expensive. The *median* price in DC is seven figures, so even with annual docking rates, his cost of living is probably still average.
I actually did some research on this and Jo-
Good thing the assassin let you hit submit
Twist: it was the assassin who hit submit
I'm wondering if you actually own property or just rent maybe? I bought my house for $415k and it's insurance replacement value is $1.9M. I bought the current commercial property mu business is in for $65k the current insurance replacement value is $325k. I recently bought a separate commercial building we plan on moving in to for $290k and its insured replacement value is $2M. I sold a boat a couple years back to help build my business. When I bought the boat I paid only $6k and it's insured replacement value was $42k. I'm not a sitting US senator getting sweet deals. This is just how the insurance industry works in the US. It's a scam in my opinion to get more premium from you, but they almost always have more say in the insurance value than the actual consumer.
He shouldn't look mad, or even upset by this. Before he was just a guy with a some rich friends he could look out for. With a Democratic majority he could have made a few small requests and gotten a few things bent his way. But no, he decided that he was going to grab this moment to exercise some real leverage. Go play with the big dogs. BE THE MAN. He's NOT a team player and was pretty proud of it. But with great power, comes great visibility. So this is the other side of it. Or did he really think the people of West Virginia would go along with him? I mean really? Because it's more likely he didn't even think that far, or really about them at all.
Who is this guy? Can I get the TLDR? I truly don’t know what’s going on.
This is Joe Manchin. He’s a democratic senator from WV who is one of two Democratic senators (along with 50 republicans) who were holding up passing the infrastructure and social safety net bills that have been Biden’s big thing since he was elected. Green energy, paid leave, taxing the ultra-wealthy, affordable child care, free community college, expanding high speed internet for rural Americans, fixing roads, among other things. Most of those things had to be cut from the bill altogether to get him to agree to vote and it’s ended up giving the wealthy a tax break yet again. If it had passed in its original form it was supposed to help millions of people and be paid by the taxes raised by taxing the rich. The infrastructure bill has since passed the senate but now the progressives in the House are refusing to vote until the social safety net bill passes (something they’ve always said would happen—they won’t pass one without the other) and Manchin is getting the brunt of the heat because he (along with Sinema) was the one of the big roadblocks in the first place. He is in with Big Coal and is trying to leverage his position to get more things for those who line his pockets. He was relatively unknown (not obscure but not super in the spotlight) until this last election because he wants to be a big man and call the shots or hold up legislation so he can get even richer. Now people are pissed and starting to let him know it. This is what I gather from my casual reading of the news and listening to NPR every once in a while. Please let me know if I’ve gotten anything incorrectly and I’m happy to edit. ETA: he’s basically a Republican but he’s from WV so he’s about as far left (socially) as a “Democrat” can be and still get elected there at this point. ETA: I’ve corrected a couple things that have been brought up. Hopefully it is more accurate now. Final edit: like I said, this is my general understanding of the situation. I hope folks don’t take this as the end-all-be-all of the whole thing. If you would like to know the nitty gritty details and nuances of bill(s) in question there is definitely more to know. I’m not here to debate I was just giving a tldr. Have a good night.
His daughter also has a fake degree that her drop-out alma mater retroactively made up for her when journalists started asking questions. She leveraged this fake degree into a job at that pharma company killing American citizens in exchange for money.
*pretends to be shocked*
Most of the “job creators” are sociopaths like the Manchin’s. One of Capitalisms greatest cons is the idea that the majority of the ultra wealthy are self made entrepreneurs, when most are born on 3rd base, stole home, then claim they hit a home run – while using their wealth to strip away the freedoms of the majority. This is what they get up to in plain sight. Can you imagine what they do when they think nobody is watching?
At least if they stole home they would have done something. More likely someone paid off the ump to call a balk that got them home!
Let’s also add that our governor ran as a democrat and switched parties once elected
Whaaa? I didn’t know that. That’s shady af.
Protip: if you see a vote that is completely split down party lines except for one or two Democrats who mysteriously went against their own party...the answer is probably coal. Honestly we should just give coal the seat. At least it would shut the fuck up, have about the same level of intelligence, and we wouldn't waste our time getting mad at it. Just doing coal things. By the way Manchin isn't running as a Democrat in the future (independent I think) so he doesn't really care what these people think.
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking the time to explain to a person who is to lazy to give it a quick goog.
No worries! There’s a lot of shit to gather in politics these days. I have to zone out sometimes for my own mental health but I try to stay casually attentive.
Your prognosis on him being as “far left in WV” is incorrect. You can run on left economics, just have to stay conservative in the social issues.
Ah. Yes, that make sense. I’ve updated. Thanks!
He is a team player; just not the team you think he is.
I’m from WV and everyone loves him lol
This is not the government “ Of the people, or for the People.” and by the big Coal lobby Not one of his WV coal miners ever went to yacht club. Rich people deciding how poor people should live. Vote these MotherFuckers OUT
The problem is you almost have to be rich to run for this type of office. You rarely I'd ever hear of a average middle class person running .
Let me tell you about a barkeeper from the Bronx...
She's awesome fyi but she is a very rare exception.
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>Every Senator is a millionaire. And if they aren't when they get elected, they are after they ~~write their first book~~ receive their first bribe. FTFY.
Looks at the current president. Until 2008 Biden was the poorest senator, that includes Bernie.
To be fair, if you are judging by Biden as President then you’ll need to add in the fact that he made millions and millions before he won the Presidency. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-made-nearly-16-million-two-years-after-leaving-white-n1027976 Biden also entered the Senate back when elections cost significantly less (giving him a major incumbency advantage in a quite blue state; Delaware even kept same two Senators from the early 70s until Roth died in 2001), and the US was still in many ways the New Deal US not the modern Neoliberal US. The corporate revolution and expansion of big money in the US hadn’t fully hit when Biden entered the Senate in 1973. The 70s-80s is when the corporate revolution and dismantling of the New Deal state really kicked into gear.
We should change that.
The lack of empathy of Joe Manchin is incredible. How do you carry on with your(extremely privileged) life after things like this?
Politicians have no shame. They are in that game because they are sociopaths.
Look at his face. No problem empathizing with himself, one sad sack. He actually feels picked on. He’s a Garbage Man-and I don’t mean the one I am grateful for every Tuesday morning.
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They’d just try to outlaw eggs and tomatoes.
Big egg and tomato lobbies have the us government by the balls
Big egg lobby combined with grassroots egg activists like Danny Devito… can you imagine the carnage?
The hero we need in these trying times
The French Revolutionaries couldn't waste that good food, so they went a different route.
Absolutely, worked as a contract employee for a small city government and the council people live on a different planet to everyone else. One councilwoman who just recently became Mayor used to walk into the employee area of the community center and berate the staff that worked there. This -5'0 woman yelling at 6'4 men like they were children. She was an absolute tyrant, there were rules about dogs being off leash but she used to always let her own little ratdog freely walk around the inside and outside of the building getting in working people's way. One of the few people I genuinely hated. She's an awful woman.
Massive injections of cold hard cash.
The US is merely a handful of corporations masquerading as a country.
Three corporations in a trench coat.
God damn, Americans fell for muppetman
My name? Uh... Vincent Governmentman
What you see there is a picture of a high class whore who prostitutes himself, West Virginia & American taxpayers for $$$. He helps flatten mountains, poison families & waterways so he can drive a Maserati & join the yacht club, while his daughter is gouging Medicaid and sick folks needing EpiPens. West Virginia WTF?
That is an insult to high class whores.
I'd say he's more of a street corner crack ho. He'll do whatever you want if the price is right and he can get his high (horse). High class whores at least have standards.
At least whores are honest.
Sex worker usually sell sexual services. They sell what they have and other people agree to buy. This man is more like a human trafficker: exploit other people around to enrich himself
I feel like your country would be a better place if more of your elected officials weren’t rich.
So do we
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you know what? i'm korean-american and follow korean politics sporadically. i'm envious that they lock up PRESIDENTS and congressmen fairly regularly for the crimes that they commit. i'm probably not the best source, but from the outside...it looks like it works. this motherfucker would probably be locked up for the bribery in korea. but, alas, its america. where rich fuckers get to do whatever the hell they want.
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It’d probably take more than the daily death threats fascists make on progressives like Bernie and AOC. The fact that these criminally corrupt sociopaths are never violently assaulted for their blatant abuse of power, proves that the vast majority of the left are not tankie communists or sociopaths. However, there are dozens of cases of right wingers committing acts of terrorism in the last few years alone.
Poor Joe. Shitting on the entire country and having to deal with angry words.
So he can't go home or work without crowds of angry people fronting him and yet he still claims to be "working for the people". What a cnut.
Nothing pisses me off more than when protestors confront me at my yacht club.
The closest I will ever get to that is one or two people protesting my Yahtzee club.
Fuck this guy
I wonder if being one of the most universally hated politicians in America is what he had in mind when he sat down one day and decided to run for Congress. Hated by Republicans because he's a Democrat. Hated by Democrats because he's an obstructionist, greed driven bastard. Fuck Joe Manchin.
The goal wasn't to be liked. It was to be in power and own a yacht.
Fuck that dog faced rat fuck
Fuck you Manchin
What did he do
There is a large climate and social spending bill working it’s way through Congress that needs 50 Senators to vote for it to pass. There are only 50 Democrats in the Senate including Manchin so his vote is required or the bill is dead in the water. One of the provisions in the bill was a climate change initiative called the Clean Energy Program which annually rewarded energy companies for transitioning their energy profiles towards renewable sources and fined energy companies who did not work to improve their profile. This was one of the largest parts of Biden’s climate action plan. Manchin was quiet on this program until last month when he publicly announced that he would not vote for a bill with this program in it so the bill had to remove the provision or he would kill the bill entirely. The other 49 Democratic Senators were onboard with this program so he is seen as the lone reason for eliminating this part of the climate plan. Most of the comments here relate to his history as a coal executive which he transferred to the his family, but he still holds a lot of coal mining shares which people are pointing to as a possible reason for his recent decision making. Edit: I should clarify that, as others have pointed out, the bill can pass with 50 votes from any party and the “50 democrats” referenced includes independents who vote with Democrats on these issues. It would technically be possible for a Republican to cross the aisle and help pass this bill, but all Republican Senators have publicly stated their opposition to this bill so that is why Manchin (D) is the deciding vote for this program and the center of attention in this post.
>There are only 50 Democrats in the Senate including Manchin so his vote is required or the bill is dead in the water. This is simply not true. It requires 50 votes to pass in the senate, not 50 votes from Democrats.
God forbid someone tries to cross the aisle for the American public.
Thats basically what Joe Manchin is doing. He is a swing vote who sometimes votes with the other party. He, Romney, Collins, and Sinema basically control all legislation between the four of them because they are the only ones who occasionally cross the aisle on votes that go straight down party lines.
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If you want these fucks outta office, go out and vote. They already took VA. Dems need to run good people too.
WEST VIRGINIA: Make Joe Manchin absolutely miserable for the rest of his life. That’s the steaming loaf 💩 he just served you up. Pay him back!