Wow.
Election Prediction Thread
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Stars Fan
Well-Known Member
Trump nominated Kavanaugh because of his views on presidential powers. It's fairly clear that Kavanaugh would shield the presidency from special prosecutors.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/04/kavanaugh-trump-mueller-executive-power-219634
http://www.scotusblog.com/2018/07/k...icle-on-investigations-of-sitting-presidents/
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In my experience, Jewish culture is probably the most literate and educated of any I have interacted with -- it doesn't mean there aren't people who are Jewish who are not literate, just as there are some African-Americans who are not good athletes, everyone is different, everyone has their talents. It's just that Jewish families put a premium on education and being very literate, more so than other cultures in the U.S. It doesn't necessarily mean they are more intelligent. I can't include Asian cultures because I don't have enough experience to compare. DJ is a lunatic, an outlier in my experience. He equates governments that called themselves socialist with real socialism, governments that were totalitarian and severely punished those who didn't comply with the rules, governments that broke all the rules of basic human decency. Real socialism is democratic; it looks to the needs of the people, all the people, and not those of a select group as the so-called socialist governments DJ talks about. Capitalism is by nature, opportunistic, seeking advantages to advance the goals of individuals over the group, or an organization over others no matter the consequences to the others. In its pure form, it's ruthless competition, which is what is happening now around the world because of the lack of government regulation. You could say we do that in competitive sports, but in sports, it is different. No one dies, goes hungry or homeless, doesn't get healthcare, is treated as subhuman or killed because of their race. It's healthy competition. In the rat race of capitalism, it doesn't matter what happens to your opponent, there is no ethics or compassion -- the bottom line rules, is the dictator. Marx was right, unregulated capitalism leads to monopolies and what most people don't understand, Marx said it would work only in the most advanced, industrial nations, not agriculturally-based nations like Russia was, or third-world countries with small industrial bases because they can't supply enough production to meet the needs of their populations. I think the model of regulated capitalism is a good compromise between the systems and is what our nation was on target to achieve, despite some problems, after WW II. We went awry though when we became such a huge military power that imposed its will on the rest of the world after the war and created the biggest entitlement program, the defense budget, and allocated a minimum of 15 percent of the nation to the military annually. Of course, this number rose during the overt conflicts we engaged in, like Korea and Vietnam, and the two Iraq wars. There have been books written about this, our "permanent military economy," that we would go into a Depression without the support of military spending. It's like our nation was hooked on a drug, in this case, military spending. And the waste in this is atrocious. We have spent literally billions of dollars on weapons that never were used and trillions of dollars on wars that never solved anything but killed millions like in Vietnam and Iraq, and yet we continue to glorify our military because it keeps us safe -- safe from what, people who want to control their own resources who don't want intrusion of American military bases protecting the assets of American corporations who are literally stealing the resources of other nations. Both Truman and Eisenhower understood this -- remember Ike's warning about the military-industrial complex, and Truman's regret about the growth of the covert operations of the CIA, which became its predominant function in maintaining control of other nations for the benefit of U.S. corporations and which engaged in drug-dealing and the black market arms trade to supply dictatorships. The Kennedys, while being "Cold Warriors" began to understand this and started to take steps to change things. Two of their goals were to get out of Vietnam and to limit the covert functions of the CIA. Unfortunately, the nefarious powers of the defense department and the CIA, which masterminded their assassinations, made sure this wouldn't happen. This was probably the beginning of the end of the democracy we were aspiring to and things have only gotten worse ever since, especially after Reagan came to power. Now we actually have a man as President who wants to become our first dictator.
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I still don't buy the economy is doing well claim. Based on what? You have something concrete besides some statistics without any sources to verify? How does this figure in the long-term? Why are so many traditional businesses going bankrupt? Why are people's salaries remaining stagnant while the cost of living rises? Why is healthcare getting more expensive and real estate prices rising so precipitously? So, the stock market is rising, but how many people do you think that benefits -- only a very small minority of the population. Yeah, the economy is good for a few people but not most, and it's the most bang for the buck, the most people who should benefit in a good economy like our most prosperous years during the 1950s. But that was a different era when there was actual regulation of the corporations.
You don’t believe it? Then try reading about it.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bl...18-08-31/why-the-u-s-economy-is-having-a-boom
https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/30/news/economy/us-economy-boom-history/index.html
Eenie has a point in that unlike the economy of the 50's and 60's, and even compared to the economy of the 80's, today's economic prosperity goes overwhelmingly to the 1% and especially the .1%. FAKE ECONOMY!
Eenie has a point in that unlike the economy of the 50's and 60's, and even compared to the economy of the 80's, today's economic prosperity goes overwhelmingly to the 1% and especially the .1%. FAKE ECONOMY!
Lmfao. Nice jab on “fake economy”. It makes me genuinely laugh.
Sure the 1% takes the lionshare. But denying that the economy is booming is just silly.
RandyForRubio
Well-Known Member
I believe wages have risen 3%, which is not stagnant. Real estate is booming. Construction is booming. Prices on everything is up. Unemployment is way down. Those are pretty good indicators the economy is doing well. The economy doing well does not prevent places like Sears from going out of business...I mean, that’s been waiting to happen because of poor business practices for like 10+ years.
Alfalfa
Well-Known Member
Against inflation?
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Well, those who disagree have failed to answer my questions with specific information. How about looking at debt profiles and comparing them to the years before Reagan. Then you will see that it is the banks that are growing prosperous, and also it should be added that corporations are making record profits, in part because they pay no taxes because of their overseas tax shelters. That's allowed because we virtually control the governments of those nations that give them their privileges. Ever read the books by "Economic Hit Man" John Perkins. Or try reading some of the tell-all books by disenchanted CIA agents. I don't have all the specifics on the American Empire as is the topic of another book that I have started reading, but Str8 is right, it is a fake economy. Good news for the 1 percent but not for most people, and democracy is about rule of the people, and a government that works for all the people, by the people, and for the people, and believe me it is perishing from the earth before our eyes. Wake up, people. We have representatives telling us after another mass shooting that now we should work to protect the second amendment rather than our own lives. Yes, owning guns is more important than protecting the lives of the people in our nation. This is insanity, and yes it rhymes with Hannity.
RandyForRubio
Well-Known Member
I’m not sure tbh. Believe it was not adjusted for inflation.
Best I could find in a very, very, very short amount of research was that since 2001 wages have risen 5.3% adjusted to inflation and benefit costs adjusted to inflation have risen 22.5% since 2001. Purchasing power is about the same as it was in 1973, but our benefits are much higher than they were in 1973, so you have to factor that in.
Long story short, wages are increasing at the highest rate in a while, jobs are up, unemployment is down, wages are increasing, among other reasons, because unemployment is low so companies have to pay real quality wages to keep good employees. Of course, with wage increases will come inflation. There’s no getting around that. With all that said, it would be very difficult to say that the economy isn’t doing very well right now.