All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[aja_christopher]

Which means that talking about the need for a higher minimum wage absolutely can be done. Just have to wonder why the current President hasn't done it.

Talk is cheap -- explain how you would actually enact a higher minimum wage with an obstructive Republican Congress.

Edit: Disappearing every time serious questions are asked just proves that you can't support the arguments that you are making.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Israel’s Wartime Government Frays as Frustration with Netanyahu Grows

Perhaps I’m wrong, but, I don’t think Netanyahu has a post war plan, or cares to develop one because keeping the conflict with Hamas going keeps him in power. Beyond preventing a two state solution with Palestine from coming to pass, nothing else matters to him.

[numberthirty]

Perhaps I’m wrong, but, I don’t think Netanyahu has a post war plan, or cares to develop one because keeping the conflict with Hamas going keeps him in power. Beyond preventing a two state solution with Palestine from coming to pass, nothing else matters to him.

From earlier this year...

(Seems like it would cause just as many problems as it potentially solves...)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68379646

Israel's PM Netanyahu lays out Gaza plan for after the war

[CaptainEurope]

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In my best (or worst) Casey Kasem impersonation: "And now, here's a song that's rocketing up the Top 40 charts:

https://x.com/i/status/1791982077489156322

[hyped78]

And if anyone thinks a big percentage of price increases isn't due to pure corporate greed, I have a bridge to sell you.

Corporate greed chiefly driving US inflation is a progressive myth that's not really backed up by economic figures. For example:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/15/b...fed/index.html
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/c...ws-2024-05-13/

"Some progressives have frequently blamed corporate greed for fueling the high cost of living that Americans are fed up with.
Yet new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco casts doubt on the greedflation theory.
Economists at the SF Fed found that corporate price gouging was not a primary catalyst for the inflation surge of 2021 to 2022."
"When zooming out and looking at markups across the economy, the SF Fed economists found little evidence that price gouging was the main culprit.

“Aggregate markups – the more relevant measure for overall inflation – have stayed essentially flat since the start of the recovery,” the paper concluded. “Rising markups have not been a main driver of the recent surge and subsequent decline in inflation during the current recovery.”

"In fact, the SF Fed found that the path of collective markups over the past three years “is not unusual compared with previous recoveries.”


While it has some impact, it hasn't been a main driver. - and/or not different from previous economic cycles. There are various other economic studies that have reached the same conclusion (and I am not talking about progressive think tank "studies")

[Mister Mets]

Giuliani's friends seem to be lying about how and when he was served.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/u...sultPosition=1

His spokesman confirms he was served as he was leaving the party, so it's not as if vindictive agents interrupted a celebration.

Richie Taylor, a spokesman for Kris Mayes, Arizona’s attorney general who brought the indictment, said that Mr. Giuliani was served on Friday night at around 11 p.m. in Palm Beach County, Fla., as he left his 80th birthday party. “The agents by no means disrupted his event. They waited to serve him outside as he left,” Mr. Taylor said.

Mr. Giuliani’s spokesman, Ted Goodman, confirmed in a statement on Saturday that Mr. Giuliani was served “after the party, after guests had left and as he was walking to the car.”

“He was unfazed and enjoyed an incredible evening with hundreds of people, from all walks of life, who love and respect him for his contributions to society,” Mr. Goodman said. “We look forward to full vindication soon.”

Giuliani has also taunted authorities while making it difficult to serve him, so this was one of the rare times they would know where he would be.

Over the past several weeks, Mr. Taylor said that authorities had tried multiple times to serve Mr. Giuliani in New York City, as well as through a phone call and certified mail.

Mr. Taylor said that agents with Ms. Mayes’s office traveled to Florida on Friday, knowing that Mr. Giuliani was there because of livestreams from his residence there.

“We would have preferred to serve him three weeks ago when everyone else was served,” he said, adding that Mr. Giuliani had avoided the attempts and had been taunting the office online.

[Kirby101]

Corporate greed chiefly driving US inflation is a progressive myth that's not really backed up by economic figures. For example:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/15/b...fed/index.html
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/c...ws-2024-05-13/

"Some progressives have frequently blamed corporate greed for fueling the high cost of living that Americans are fed up with.
Yet new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco casts doubt on the greedflation theory.
Economists at the SF Fed found that corporate price gouging was not a primary catalyst for the inflation surge of 2021 to 2022."
"When zooming out and looking at markups across the economy, the SF Fed economists found little evidence that price gouging was the main culprit.

“Aggregate markups – the more relevant measure for overall inflation – have stayed essentially flat since the start of the recovery,” the paper concluded. “Rising markups have not been a main driver of the recent surge and subsequent decline in inflation during the current recovery.”

"In fact, the SF Fed found that the path of collective markups over the past three years “is not unusual compared with previous recoveries.”


While it has some impact, it hasn't been a main driver. - and/or not different from previous economic cycles. There are various other economic studies that have reached the same conclusion (and I am not talking about progressive think tank "studies")

You got a study, I got a study.

Corporate profits have contributed disproportionately to inflation.

It is not universal and not with all things. But clearly when some prices outpace inflation by 2 or 3 times, and corporations' profits surge, it is clear that they are taking advantage of inflation to raise prices far beyond their cost increases.

It is apparent in the grocery store when we see some products, like dairy or corn chips (both completely domesticate products) double in price that it is not just inflation. I think people could have dealt with prices that rose just with inflation, but many corporations saw that as an opportunity to raise them more.

[Tami]

Trump at NRA convention floats a 3-term presidency

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday floated the idea of a third term if he wins in November.

“You know, FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” Trump quipped at the National Rifle Association annual meeting, speaking before a crowd of gun rights supporters.

Some in the crowd shouted in response: “Three.”

It’s not the first time Trump has mentioned extending his stay in the White House, an idea he suggested while on the campaign trail in 2020. His latest remarks provide more fodder for the Biden campaign, which seized on the comments as it tries to paint Trump as a threat to democracy and institutional norms.

During a meandering speech in Dallas, Trump addressed thousands of gun rights supporters on Saturday. The former president spoke about guns and the Second Amendment, but also tackled immigration, foreign policy, the economy and abortion. He at one point slammed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as “radical left,” while continuing his attacks on Biden and CNN about the debates.

Trump, intermittently pivoting back to the gun issue, spoke before a vastly different NRA than the one that threw its support behind him just eight years ago. In May 2016, the organization backed Trump and would go on to spend more than $30 million to help send him to the White House. On Saturday, the NRA endorsed Trump again, support that comes as both the former president and the nation’s top gun group face mounting legal challenges, raising questions about how much money the organization will be able to put behind Trump’s 2024 bid to return to power.

[Tendrin]

wtaf.jpg

Godspeed, WBE. I'm glad he stopped before his liver saw this.

[Username taken]

Corporate greed chiefly driving US inflation is a progressive myth that's not really backed up by economic figures. For example:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/15/b...fed/index.html
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/c...ws-2024-05-13/

"Some progressives have frequently blamed corporate greed for fueling the high cost of living that Americans are fed up with.
Yet new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco casts doubt on the greedflation theory.
Economists at the SF Fed found that corporate price gouging was not a primary catalyst for the inflation surge of 2021 to 2022."
"When zooming out and looking at markups across the economy, the SF Fed economists found little evidence that price gouging was the main culprit.

“Aggregate markups – the more relevant measure for overall inflation – have stayed essentially flat since the start of the recovery,” the paper concluded. “Rising markups have not been a main driver of the recent surge and subsequent decline in inflation during the current recovery.”

"In fact, the SF Fed found that the path of collective markups over the past three years “is not unusual compared with previous recoveries.”


While it has some impact, it hasn't been a main driver. - and/or not different from previous economic cycles. There are various other economic studies that have reached the same conclusion (and I am not talking about progressive think tank "studies")

Both articles cite the same study.

The first article in particular referenced other studies that showed somewhat different results.

Based on that, Greedflation can't be termed a progressive myth. At all.

[Kirby101]

Both articles cite the same study.

The first article in particular referenced other studies that showed somewhat different results.

Based on that, Greedflation can't be termed a progressive myth. At all.

I, and I don't think anyone, is blaming inflation on greed alone. What we are saying is corporations used inflation to raise prices much more than their costs would deem necessary. The increase in profits alone is proof of that. They didn't just passed costs on to consumers, they increased profits on the backs of buyers.

[CaptainEurope]

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi was involved in an emergency landing/rough landing/possible helicopter crash. In the absence of a free press, details are still murky.

[Username taken]

I, and I don't think anyone, is blaming inflation on greed alone. What we are saying is corporations used inflation to raise prices much more than their costs would deem necessary. The increase in profits alone is proof of that. They didn't just passed costs on to consumers, they increased profits on the backs of buyers.

I agree.

The area of contention is the mark-ups by the producers and why or if they should have come down post pandemic.

There's obviously price gouging going on and it's a driver of inflation but how much its driving overall inflation is the question.

[Mister Mets]

Corporate greed chiefly driving US inflation is a progressive myth that's not really backed up by economic figures. For example:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/15/b...fed/index.html
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/c...ws-2024-05-13/

"Some progressives have frequently blamed corporate greed for fueling the high cost of living that Americans are fed up with.
Yet new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco casts doubt on the greedflation theory.
Economists at the SF Fed found that corporate price gouging was not a primary catalyst for the inflation surge of 2021 to 2022."
"When zooming out and looking at markups across the economy, the SF Fed economists found little evidence that price gouging was the main culprit.

“Aggregate markups – the more relevant measure for overall inflation – have stayed essentially flat since the start of the recovery,” the paper concluded. “Rising markups have not been a main driver of the recent surge and subsequent decline in inflation during the current recovery.”

"In fact, the SF Fed found that the path of collective markups over the past three years “is not unusual compared with previous recoveries.”


While it has some impact, it hasn't been a main driver. - and/or not different from previous economic cycles. There are various other economic studies that have reached the same conclusion (and I am not talking about progressive think tank "studies")

People may be talking past one another because we've got different definitions of what it means for corporate greed to drive inflation, and the commentary are a bit vague as how to much of it is the result of greed.

You have one goalpost. "Corporate greed chiefly driving US inflation is a progressive myth."

Kirby said something slightly different. "And if anyone thinks a big percentage of price increases isn't due to pure corporate greed, I have a bridge to sell you."

"A big percentage of price increases" could be 8 percent or 80 percent. It is possible for corporate greed to result in a significant percentage of price increases but not more than 50 percent (which would be the criteria for whether it chiefly drives US inflation.) It could also vary by industry and company.

An argument from conservatives is that a driver for inflation is increased money supply due to excessive spending, although that can certainly be described as resulting from greed (companies charging more because they can rather than accepting more modest profits.)

Another complicating factor is companies dealing with paying off bills from the pandemic era.

I'm curious if there have been strong efforts to break this down. What percentage of inflation is due to price gouging, and what percentage is due to other factors (supply chain hiccups, labor cost increases due to regulations and pandemic era direct deposits, etc?)

Trump at NRA convention floats a 3-term presidency

While it's possible for the US to repeal the 22nd amendment, it seems the likeliest outcome would be Obama back in the White House.