All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Mister Mets]

I don't know most of those people, so can't comment on that, but out of curiosity, why do you think that Republican majority in House and Senate would be better now? Do you want them to pass some specific bills, deal with the inflation in a different way, ... ?

Fair question.

I'm a Republican, so I do generally prefer the policies of Republicans to policies of unchecked Democrats. On inflation, the main thing Republicans in Congress would be able to do is to keep Democrats by making things worse, which occurs with increases in spending or regulations.

I think inflation is a temporary problem (temporary can still be a year or so more) caused by a mix of high spending, Covid-related supply chain hiccups and high energy/ grocery prices, partially due to the war in Ukraine. Efforts to alleviate temporary suffering could end up making things worse.

[Mister Mets]

I think I understand a little better how the crazies took over your party.

Do you think I'm wrong? Billionaires are often very out of touch, and that leads to them supporting advertising that does not connect to the median voter.

[Reviresco]

Fair question.

I'm a Republican, so I do generally prefer the policies of Republicans to policies of unchecked Democrats. On inflation, the main thing Republicans in Congress would be able to do is to keep Democrats by making things worse, which occurs with increases in spending or regulations.

I think inflation is a temporary problem (temporary can still be a year or so more) caused by a mix of high spending, Covid-related supply chain hiccups and high energy/ grocery prices, partially due to the war in Ukraine. Efforts to alleviate temporary suffering could end up making things worse.

I don't understand why people keep believing the Republicans are better with spending and budgets and finances. The Republicans under Trump have spent way more money, leaving a 2020 deficit of $3.1 trillion. Under Biden and the Democrats the deficit was 2.8 trillion in 2021, and 1.4 trillion in 2022. Likewise, the Democrats have cleaned up repeated Republican financial messes and deficits, often leaving surpluses, since Regan.

It's like people believing Trump would be better for the economy because he was a "successful" businessman -- the f**ker went bankrupt SIX times and was repeatedly bailed out by his daddy. How is that successful?

As for our current inflation ... yes, I agree, most of uncontrollable things have contributed to inflation. The Fed wasn't exactly on top of things early enough. But one thing that rarely gets mentioned is how much these companies are gouging the public, taking advantage of inflation, to post record breaking profits.

[Zauriel]

"For too long, the establishment leaders from both parties have sought to enrich themselves, play games, and build up their power while ignoring and even enabling the suffering of millions of hard-working Americans." -- Tulsi Gabbard

Finally, a moderate democrat has said something that made sense.

[CaptainEurope]

"For too long, the establishment leaders from both parties have sought to enrich themselves, play games, and build up their power while ignoring and even enabling the suffering of millions of hard-working Americans." -- Tulsi Gabbard

Finally, a moderate democrat has said something that made sense.

I'm very sorry to have to tell you that Tulsa took that piece of trolling away from you. She no longer pretends to be a Democrat.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

"For too long, the establishment leaders from both parties have sought to enrich themselves, play games, and build up their power while ignoring and even enabling the suffering of millions of hard-working Americans." -- Tulsi Gabbard

Finally, a moderate democrat has said something that made sense.

Newsflash, homie: Gabbard left the Democrats and became a full-blown Qpublican. So, she's still a member of one of those parties enriching themselves and enabling the suffering of Americans. Try again.

[Zauriel]

I'm very sorry to have to tell you that Tulsa took that piece of trolling away from you. She no longer pretends to be a Democrat.

What does a city in Oklahoma have to do with Ms. Gabbard's quote?

Tulsi has actually opened her eyes to the corruption in the Democratic party. She realized that the Democratic Party is rotten to the core and is also unfaithful to their ideology that they enjoyed preaching in order to attract votes.

Newsflash, homie: Gabbard left the Democrats and became a full-blown Qpublican. So, she's still a member of one of those parties enriching themselves and enabling the suffering of Americans. Try again.

She isn’t afraid to call out the warmongering elitist cabal of permanent Washington and the Military Industrial Complex, and their propagandists in the mainstream media.

[Panfoot]

You do know she's a far right, fascist supporting puppet right?

[Kirby101]

A "moderate Democrat" who now supports Kari Lake and Trump. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

[Kirby101]

It's cute that Mets thinks billionaires influence the country by "advertising and hiring" and not by their bought and paid for politicians. Sure Mets, it's all about public discourse and the market place of ideas.

[hyped78]

You do know she's a far right, fascist supporting puppet right?

A "moderate Democrat" who now supports Kari Lake and Trump. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

It's funny because, not too long ago, she was being hailed as a rising star in the Democratic Party, as stated by folks like Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/u...efying-it.html
https://www.vogue.com/article/making...tic-party-star

[hyped78]

It's cute that Mets thinks billionaires influence the country by "advertising and hiring" and not by their bought and paid for politicians. Sure Mets, it's all about public discourse and the market place of ideas.

Completely agree. But let's bear in mind that happens to both parties - both parties get funding from billionaires. Now, you might agree with e.g. Soros more than you do with Peter Thiel, that's a separate discussion of course.

[Dalak]

What does a city in Oklahoma have to do with Ms. Gabbard's quote?

Tulsi has actually opened her eyes to the corruption in the Democratic party. She realized that the Democratic Party is rotten to the core and is also unfaithful to their ideology that they enjoyed preaching in order to attract votes.




She isn’t afraid to call out the warmongering elitist cabal of permanent Washington and the Military Industrial Complex, and their propagandists in the mainstream media.

She didn't join the Green party Zauriel, she joined the GoP: THE Party that proudly announces it's for permanent Washington and the Military Industrial Complex. You're defending this not because it's actually smart or principled, but because it's a way to complain about democrats again. If she actually cared about anything you quoted her saying she'd have done something about it instead of pumping the brakes on everything the Dems actually tried to do to help people along with Manchin most of the time.

[hyped78]

Val Demings owning Marco Rubio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx0uEsqIPVw

Harsh! Good blueprint to go after the GOP on the issue of crime, IMO.

[hyped78]

Couple of things, one also applying to the quote below, didn't say that communism was the better way to go. Just that capitalism and the greed factor is why we don't care as much about updating infrastructure or making public places safe after knowing about the dangers of asbestos for decades.

Both can be bad, and I went out of my way to point out the bad under communism (again to address both quotes here). As far as success, depends on your definition. The USSR collapsed, but they also spent decades being undermined at every turn by the West. China is the world's second largest economy, and Cuba and Vietnam seem to be doing alright. At least compared to their neighbors.

Some might say, "well China is only successful because they're exploited by big business in the capitalist Western world". True, because both are s##tty systems. Our greed has led to gutting our manufacturing base. If it wasn't communist China it would have been India, or Africa, or somewhere else with a large enough population able to be exploited (still may end up that way).

Are we really the success story when our wealth was born from the extraction of the wealth, resources, and dignity of people too weak to fight back across the world for centuries continuously and to this day? I guess. If Catlady thinks that desperate people going where the resources are is a sign of our success, I guess. Of a type.

But you only have to look at the other countries in our hemisphere and our treatment, resource extraction, and political interference to see what chance anyone has when they're not even left alone to try and establish themselves. Then we get mad when they come here.

On communism/capitalism, see the above. First bolded: The economy isn't everything, but for most people it's the first thing. It's the thing to worry about first, putting food on your kid's table and having gas to get around and heat your home, and everything else. Without those things people will tend to care a lot less about other issues, and will be much more susceptible to bulls##t if the bulls##t promises them better times ahead. It is damned foolish to dismiss those concerns.

Second bolded: To my points above, so is capitalism. They're just less transparent about it, and again are willing to exploit the cheap labor in communist countries if that helps the bottom line. They've just learned the lesson I addressed in my first comment, that if people feel secure they're less likely to have an uprising. It's also easier to distract people with entertainment when you're not concerned with censoring anything critical of the government/State and instead simply filter it out at the source as not being "marketable". Subtle, smarter, just as evil (but hey, you get cool stuff!).

Third bolded: And I would like to say I wouldn't have expected such a condescending answer from a person who disagrees with Republicans, but honestly it's exactly what I'd expect. It's also why when folks on the left ask the question, "Why aren't they listening to us?" I'd ask "Why aren't you listening to them? Why are you projecting the worst motivations on them? Why can't you recognize that people might disagree with you for legitimate reasons, and they're not voting Red out of confusion or racism or hatred of their fellow man but because they truly think Team Red has the best ideas or at least outcomes overall?"

The answer to all of those questions is because we need to think we're always right, and that too often means we need to think anyone who disagrees with us is always wrong. Even better would be if they were stupid, or fearful, or easily confused and better still would be if they were inhuman monsters whose needs, motivations, and arguments could be dismissed out of hand. That's a comforting thought, and doesn't require much thinking beyond it. Keeps one safely in that smug little bubble.

You forgot to mention North Korea

Catlady in training comes from a region of the world where they've suffered quite a lot under Communism, I'm pretty sure she will have a lot to say about that.

I think generally speaking, Capitalism is flawed but it's miles above Communism. Now, there are many different ways to look at "Capitalism" - is it an economy with a welfare state, universal healthcare etc. like most European countries have, or is it a system like the one you have in the US? I have 25 days of paid leave per year, how many does the average American have?