951: Bobby Bonilla Day
We just needed a few more
Every July 1, Bobby Bonilla gets a $1.19 million check from the Mets for a contract they ditched 25 years ago It’s deferred payment from 2000, when the Mets released the overpaid slugger and spread out the debt. It now serves as a punchline, a symbol of compounding bad decisions.
This year, it lands on the same day Republicans jam through a bill to explode the national debt. Bonilla will keep getting paid until 2035. The OBBB’s damage will last even longer through ballooning deficits, higher interest payments, and fewer resources for things that actually help people and grow the economy.
Debt, like a federal judge, sticks around long after the people who voted for it are gone. There are still ten 10 current Article III federal judges who were appointed by President Ronald Reagan. This includes judges serving on the U.S. Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, District Courts, and the Court of International Trade. As we wrote in Manchin’s Judges (our 4th ever post), and in Missing Manchin: the benefits of a majority echo for decades.
So do the costs.
Boy are we missing Manchin today, and thinking about how just three more Trump-district House members could have stopped this. One of them,
, had a great post today on the debt.
Also, watch this 97 second video from Rep. Mike Levin. It’s got a charming Ben Stein vibe to it:
And bumping up an ask from last week from “Structuring Debt” - send us your best examples of Democratic messengers explaining the issue. They’ll be needed when more campaigns launch this quarter.
951 days until the first presidential primary.