The Fig Economy
@figgityfigs.bsky.social
Father of lots, earnest as shit, Regular and not too fancy, weird li’l guy enthusiast. He/him.
Pinned
I think, for those of us on the political left, we need to address morale as a real and pressing issue that will fuck up our ability to fight if left unaddressed. We *need* to figure out a way to keep people feeling at least minimally good about things even in shitty situations.
Every one of you: post at least once a day about some small thing that makes you happy that has nothing to do with politics. This is a hard and fast rule. I won’t be keeping a spreadsheet or anything but if you don’t do it, I’ll know.
I didn’t watch any Buffy until like ten years ago, and I remember dudes in high school identifying really hard with Xander, and once I saw that first season, like…the dude is fucking repulsive, and the show doesn’t know it.
Oh God rewatching that show knowing what we know now is amazing, it's like he wrote Xander to tell himself what an asshole he is but the message never reached its intended audience
November 11, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I didn’t watch any Buffy until like ten years ago, and I remember dudes in high school identifying really hard with Xander, and once I saw that first season, like…the dude is fucking repulsive, and the show doesn’t know it.
God fucking damn, this website not beating this day old rap IME.
I think there is a near-pathological remove from which a lot of people on this website view politics. For all the talk about material conditions, a refusal to see the effects on material shutdown that have happened and were worsening. “Yeah but the other guy’ll get blamed” can change on a dime.
November 11, 2025 at 12:56 AM
God fucking damn, this website not beating this day old rap IME.
This is happening because of republicans.
My ACA current plan is going from $385/mo to $821/mo.
November 11, 2025 at 12:35 AM
This is happening because of republicans.
Bluesky, inventing morons and arguing on their behalf: oh damn, this is going to convince so many people
Regular people seeing their premiums skyrocket: healthcare pls
Regular people seeing their premiums skyrocket: healthcare pls
Trump: "I want the money to go into an account for people where they buy their own health insurance. It's so good. The insurance will be better. It'll cost less. Everybody is gonna be happy. They're gonna feel like entrepreneurs. They're actually able to go out & negotiate their own insurance"
November 11, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Bluesky, inventing morons and arguing on their behalf: oh damn, this is going to convince so many people
Regular people seeing their premiums skyrocket: healthcare pls
Regular people seeing their premiums skyrocket: healthcare pls
I need people to take a breath and take a step back if they believe this is true of how normie types are going to respond to this a year from now, or if they want to manifest this narrative to make them respond that way.
No one is really going to pay attention to the ACA subsidy vote because what matters is Democrats had leverage, people saw them use it, and people saw them give it away
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I need people to take a breath and take a step back if they believe this is true of how normie types are going to respond to this a year from now, or if they want to manifest this narrative to make them respond that way.
I’ve thought, like most, that a Thune promise of a vote on subsidies was nothing. Still mostly do. But I think there’s a chance that Republicans see how bad it’s gonna be and get cold feet and ultimately take the off ramp, and Dems get credit for making them do it.
November 10, 2025 at 8:36 PM
I’ve thought, like most, that a Thune promise of a vote on subsidies was nothing. Still mostly do. But I think there’s a chance that Republicans see how bad it’s gonna be and get cold feet and ultimately take the off ramp, and Dems get credit for making them do it.
I feel this too, and it bums me out. I have Some Thoughts on the deal and they’re not in line with the overwhelming consensus here, and I feel comfortable with them, but I don’t really feel like dealing with the shit it’d bring down if I shared them, and that’s a bummer.
November 10, 2025 at 7:37 PM
I feel this too, and it bums me out. I have Some Thoughts on the deal and they’re not in line with the overwhelming consensus here, and I feel comfortable with them, but I don’t really feel like dealing with the shit it’d bring down if I shared them, and that’s a bummer.
Once the house comes back into session to vote on this bill, do they have to seat Grijalva immediately? Like is that a privileged thing that has to happen, or is there some room for ratfuckery?
November 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Once the house comes back into session to vote on this bill, do they have to seat Grijalva immediately? Like is that a privileged thing that has to happen, or is there some room for ratfuckery?
I have this vague memory that the screenshotted poster is a former Republican never Trump type, and sometimes those types have, uh, not come fully onside (also saw another screenshot with some rank fucking transphobia from them).
Decided it's not worth keeping this one as a vague-post, I blocked this person, some of you may want to as well
November 10, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I have this vague memory that the screenshotted poster is a former Republican never Trump type, and sometimes those types have, uh, not come fully onside (also saw another screenshot with some rank fucking transphobia from them).
The point under this point is “we, through the primary process, are not that good at judging who is progressive and who is establishment.”
i think an especially depressing part of this whole saga is that "we need to win primaries so establishment dems are replaced by true progressives" is a thing we've done before but one of the progressives we worked hard to install over the establishment pick was fetterman
November 10, 2025 at 12:39 PM
The point under this point is “we, through the primary process, are not that good at judging who is progressive and who is establishment.”
So many responses tonight are like “who cares what good parts are in the law they passed, Trump won’t follow them anyway” and like, goddamn, listen to yourselves and ask why you even care for one second what’s in any of this, then.
November 10, 2025 at 4:56 AM
So many responses tonight are like “who cares what good parts are in the law they passed, Trump won’t follow them anyway” and like, goddamn, listen to yourselves and ask why you even care for one second what’s in any of this, then.
Reposted by The Fig Economy
Right, I think that the thing is even if the senate moved, the house wouldn’t on subsidies, so that was a dead demand; there probably weren’t votes to kill the filibuster pre-elections, and definitely not post-. So it became a matter of figuring out an endgame after that.
November 10, 2025 at 4:39 AM
Right, I think that the thing is even if the senate moved, the house wouldn’t on subsidies, so that was a dead demand; there probably weren’t votes to kill the filibuster pre-elections, and definitely not post-. So it became a matter of figuring out an endgame after that.
If this is your take on federal employees you can go ahead and fuck right off forever.
November 10, 2025 at 4:11 AM
If this is your take on federal employees you can go ahead and fuck right off forever.
Not very long ago at all, conventional wisdom on here was that pushing for ACA subsidies to be extended was stupid on Democrats’ part because it was just saving Republicans from themselves.
November 10, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Not very long ago at all, conventional wisdom on here was that pushing for ACA subsidies to be extended was stupid on Democrats’ part because it was just saving Republicans from themselves.
The RIF provision in the bill is actually really strong and not just something we should handwave away as nothing, especially as people on here were saying the ask should have been reining in Vought rather than health care subsidies.
The RIFs language is actually great. Not only does it rehire the people RIFed during the shutdown, it makes it an unequivocal Antideficiency Act violation to do ANY MORE RIFs through the duration of the CR (Jan 30)
Completely stops Trump/Vought Phase 2 for now
Would love to see this standardized
Completely stops Trump/Vought Phase 2 for now
Would love to see this standardized
November 10, 2025 at 3:35 AM
The RIF provision in the bill is actually really strong and not just something we should handwave away as nothing, especially as people on here were saying the ask should have been reining in Vought rather than health care subsidies.
Reposted by The Fig Economy
I mean this is presuming that the only point of a fight is to win, but a lot of the people on this very website decrying this now are HUGE CHAMPIONS of the idea of winning through a series of noble losses (an idea I disagree with personally, just noting).
November 10, 2025 at 3:09 AM
I mean this is presuming that the only point of a fight is to win, but a lot of the people on this very website decrying this now are HUGE CHAMPIONS of the idea of winning through a series of noble losses (an idea I disagree with personally, just noting).
One other thing about subsidies is that the fact that this is the deal they arrived at right now probably means that there was close to zero (maybe just straight up actual zero) movement from republicans on subsidies despite polls, despite SNAP, despite elections.
November 10, 2025 at 2:55 AM
One other thing about subsidies is that the fact that this is the deal they arrived at right now probably means that there was close to zero (maybe just straight up actual zero) movement from republicans on subsidies despite polls, despite SNAP, despite elections.
Complete wishcasting and almost certainly not the case but it would be kind of hilarious if Dems got a bare 8 to walk the plank on a bill with the RIF poison pill that Thune was too dumb to realize he couldn’t whip all of his guys on.
Rick Scott, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson have not voted. They appear to be negotiating something with Thune in the back of the Senate chamber.
We are at 56-40
Also waiting on Cornyn
We are at 56-40
Also waiting on Cornyn
November 10, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Complete wishcasting and almost certainly not the case but it would be kind of hilarious if Dems got a bare 8 to walk the plank on a bill with the RIF poison pill that Thune was too dumb to realize he couldn’t whip all of his guys on.
Can anybody name me a government shutdown in history that ended with the holdouts in the minority getting the things they were demanding?
November 10, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Can anybody name me a government shutdown in history that ended with the holdouts in the minority getting the things they were demanding?
I think there is a near-pathological remove from which a lot of people on this website view politics. For all the talk about material conditions, a refusal to see the effects on material shutdown that have happened and were worsening. “Yeah but the other guy’ll get blamed” can change on a dime.
November 10, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I think there is a near-pathological remove from which a lot of people on this website view politics. For all the talk about material conditions, a refusal to see the effects on material shutdown that have happened and were worsening. “Yeah but the other guy’ll get blamed” can change on a dime.
“Ok you can day there are RIF protections but Trump won’t follow that part of the law” yeah ok but this is all a part of making the case, right? It’s the most solipsistic thing in the world to figure that because *I* know a thing, *everyone* knows it.
November 10, 2025 at 1:07 AM
“Ok you can day there are RIF protections but Trump won’t follow that part of the law” yeah ok but this is all a part of making the case, right? It’s the most solipsistic thing in the world to figure that because *I* know a thing, *everyone* knows it.
Look man, you can’t be like “the United States doesn’t have real political parties, there are no mechanisms to hold members in line” and then like two days later be like “lol Schumer is so weak he can’t even keep his members in line.”
November 10, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Look man, you can’t be like “the United States doesn’t have real political parties, there are no mechanisms to hold members in line” and then like two days later be like “lol Schumer is so weak he can’t even keep his members in line.”
RIF reversals and protections is a huge thing, and closer to what a lot of hardliners had been asking (reining in executive power). IMO that’s worth making this deal, and I’m surprised senate republicans let it in.
"More than enough" Senate Democratic Caucus members to pass shutdown deal led by Shaheen, King and Hassan, source familiar with deal says
- CR through Jan. 30
- ACA bill vote on bill of Dems' choosing in December
- Minibus has RIF reversals and "protections" against them in future
- CR through Jan. 30
- ACA bill vote on bill of Dems' choosing in December
- Minibus has RIF reversals and "protections" against them in future
November 10, 2025 at 12:27 AM
RIF reversals and protections is a huge thing, and closer to what a lot of hardliners had been asking (reining in executive power). IMO that’s worth making this deal, and I’m surprised senate republicans let it in.
If you’re interested in this, calling your senators right now and registering your opinion is more effective than posting “cuck Schumer” on your niche left wing microblogging site.
Sounds like the squishes in the senate caucus are ready to pull the plug with no ACA changes. This is real. If you want to register your opinion you shld call yr senator in the next hour. They not only want to reopen w/nothing. They want cover from their colleagues who still want to hold out.
November 9, 2025 at 11:36 PM
If you’re interested in this, calling your senators right now and registering your opinion is more effective than posting “cuck Schumer” on your niche left wing microblogging site.