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OOTB's Political Thread . ..

I think that is going to happen, regardless,
It will happen as long as it's cheaper and more efficient than human labor. A company won't replace a human with a machine if it's not economical. Most of these lower paying jobs will most likely go away, but making them cost more now will only speed up the process.
 
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The national debt is at a very manageable level when compared to our GDP. When interest rates are low, taking out debt is a smart decision because it’s cheap money.
Wait a sec... "the debt is at a very manageable level?" I guess I have a different understanding of debt and the national debt. Is the objective to NOT BE IN DEBT? If it is, then we're royally fvcked. This administration and the congress has been borrowing and borrowing, like every other one that preceded it, and they cannot pay it back. Maybe my simple understanding is too... simple. That debt will never be paid, it will never even go in a different direction, or even slowed-down. I dunno what the objective is, but it better be something like "get in more debt" because that is the only outcome possible.

But I’ve just heard so many conspiracy theories and nonsense that people learned on YouTube that it gets tiring talking about the federal reserve. Most people have no idea what they even do.
I read the book "The Creature from Jekyll Island". I dunno if you categorize that as conspiracy theory or not- probably so. Nevertheless, the Federal Reserve Act and the 16th Amendment, created an unprecedented condition to American economics and Americans, in general. The Fed was in-place in 1929. The Fed basically allowed the 2008 Great Recession to occur. You could argue that it may have been worse, but no one went to jail. Nothing happened except bailing-out TBTF banks. From what I have read, seen and heard, the Fed was doing its BAU screwing-up.

One thing I have come to realize, and accepted as basically a law of reality (a "fact of life" if you will); The poor are always getting fvcked-over by the rich and wealthy. The wealthy/ruling class will prosper and always own it, run it, benefit from it, never be accountable for it, and continue to manipulate it. I don't care what form of government is in-place. It's always been that way, and it will always remain that way.

I can always count on George Carlin to sum-it-up. the man was a sage.

carlin+capitalism.jpg


 
Wait a sec... "the debt is at a very manageable level?" I guess I have a different understanding of debt and the national debt. Is the objective to NOT BE IN DEBT? If it is, then we're royally fvcked. This administration and the congress has been borrowing and borrowing, like every other one that preceded it, and they cannot pay it back. Maybe my simple understanding is too... simple. That debt will never be paid, it will never even go in a different direction, or even slowed-down. I dunno what the objective is, but it better be something like "get in more debt" because that is the only outcome possible.


I read the book "The Creature from Jekyll Island". I dunno if you categorize that as conspiracy theory or not- probably so. Nevertheless, the Federal Reserve Act and the 16th Amendment, created an unprecedented condition to American economics and Americans, in general. The Fed was in-place in 1929. The Fed basically allowed the 2008 Great Recession to occur. You could argue that it may have been worse, but no one went to jail. Nothing happened except bailing-out TBTF banks. From what I have read, seen and heard, the Fed was doing its BAU screwing-up.

One thing I have come to realize, and accepted as basically a law of reality (a "fact of life" if you will); The poor are always getting fvcked-over by the rich and wealthy. The wealthy/ruling class will prosper and always own it, run it, benefit from it, never be accountable for it, and continue to manipulate it. I don't care what form of government is in-place. It's always been that way, and it will always remain that way.

I can always count on George Carlin to sum-it-up. the man was a sage.

carlin+capitalism.jpg


Carlin was slightly off. The top one percent pay more than the bottom 90% combined.

ETA: Based on 2016 numbers from the tax foundation.
 
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@uncboy10

If you ever get a chance, watch/listen to this. This is the author of the book I mentioned. I'd like to know what you disagree with, or find to be inaccurate.

 
Wait a sec... "the debt is at a very manageable level?" I guess I have a different understanding of debt and the national debt. Is the objective to NOT BE IN DEBT? If it is, then we're royally fvcked. This administration and the congress has been borrowing and borrowing, like every other one that preceded it, and they cannot pay it back. Maybe my simple understanding is too... simple. That debt will never be paid, it will never even go in a different direction, or even slowed-down. I dunno what the objective is, but it better be something like "get in more debt" because that is the only outcome possible.


I read the book "The Creature from Jekyll Island". I dunno if you categorize that as conspiracy theory or not- probably so. Nevertheless, the Federal Reserve Act and the 16th Amendment, created an unprecedented condition to American economics and Americans, in general. The Fed was in-place in 1929. The Fed basically allowed the 2008 Great Recession to occur. You could argue that it may have been worse, but no one went to jail. Nothing happened except bailing-out TBTF banks. From what I have read, seen and heard, the Fed was doing its BAU screwing-up.

One thing I have come to realize, and accepted as basically a law of reality (a "fact of life" if you will); The poor are always getting fvcked-over by the rich and wealthy. The wealthy/ruling class will prosper and always own it, run it, benefit from it, never be accountable for it, and continue to manipulate it. I don't care what form of government is in-place. It's always been that way, and it will always remain that way.

I can always count on George Carlin to sum-it-up. the man was a sage.


The relative size of the debt compared to GDP is what you should be concerned about. We're fine. Japan's debt to GDP ratio is 236%. Ours is 108%. That means is much easier for us to pay back the debt if we ever need to.

No the objective is not to be out of debt. We don't necessarily want to be out of debt for the same reasons that any major bank or corporation doesn't want to be. Credit is a tool. The proper use of credit (debt) can be profitable. As long as the federal government is borrowing money at insanely low interest rates, I'm not too concerned about it. That's cheap money. It's the same reason why people are being encouraged to refinance their debt right now. Low interest rates means cheap money. If you can borrow money at a interest rate that is lower than the expected rate of return on your investment, then you should borrow as much as you can without over exposing yourself. The debt-GDP ratio tells us that the federal government is not over exposed.

This is where I don't follow you. The Fed didn't allow the 2008 crash. The Fed doesn't regulate wall street. The SEC does that. The 2008 crash was caused by the combination of the gross negligence and greed of wall street investment firms and banks, the ratings agencies that evaluated mortgages, and lack of oversight by the SEC. The ratings agencies were throwing out ratings like candy, which caused the risk of mortgage backed securities to be misrepresented. Banks had every incentive to give out these mortgages because the debt was being bundled and sold in CDO's so they were passing on the risk. So virtually anyone could get a mortgage regardless of their ability to pay. Once investment firms realized they could push CDO's they got greedy. When the variable rates on these garbage mortgages started kicking, people started defaulting on their mortgages at a high enough rate for the CDO's to crash and burn. Most people think CDO's disappeared after 2008. They didn't. Now they are called "bespoke traunches."

If the bail out didn't happen we would have gone into a full blown depression. There would have been bank runs and the economy would have grinded to a halt. It would have been a total disaster, possibly worse than the 1929 crash. Now I completely agree that people should have gone to jail. And the executives who weren't criminally liable (if there even were any) should have been forced to resign as a term of the bail out. The fact that some of that bail out money went towards executive bonuses is sickening.

This documentary shows some interesting background on the bail out.

 
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So Trump publicly asking two countries, both of whom are fringe allies at best, to investigate an American only because he's his political opponent is really really shitty.

I don't want to debate if it's legal, treason, etc...my feeling is that it's just a shitty thing to do when you're the freaking President.
 
So Trump publicly asking two countries, both of whom are fringe allies at best, to investigate an American only because he's his political opponent is really really shitty.

I don't want to debate if it's legal, treason, etc...my feeling is that it's just a shitty thing to do when you're the freaking President.
What makes it dumber is that Biden isn't even going to be his opponent. He's asking for help to beat a guy he won't even be running against.
 
What makes it dumber is that Biden isn't even going to be his opponent. He's asking for help to beat a guy he won't even be running against.

That's another topic all together...why even do this? Just keep your mouth shut and you win the 2020 election.

There are so many Nixon parallels to this it's getting odd. He was also a shoo-in for 1972 but still felt it wasn't good enough.
 
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That's another topic all together...why even do this? Just keep your mouth shut and you win the 2020 election.

There are so many Nixon parallels to this it's getting odd. He was also a shoo-in for 1972 but still felt it wasn't good enough.

The strategy is to desensitize the public to it. It's what he's done all along. Anytime he gets called out for something, he doubles down and eventually people just get used to him doing it and the news cycle eventually just moves on
 
The strategy is to desensitize the public to it. It's what he's done all along. Anytime he gets called out for something, he doubles down and eventually people just get used to him doing it and the news cycle eventually just moves on
I agree that is probably part of his strategy. I'm not sure if it's going to work this time.
 
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I agree that is probably part of his strategy. I'm not sure if it's going to work this time.

Let's hope not. These kinds of things set dangerous precedents. Some people may think this is fun, but we don't need for this to become some kind of trend.
 
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Let's hope not. These kinds of things set dangerous precedents. Some people may think this is fun, but we don't need for this to become some kind of trend.

If the President is allowed to just do whatever he wants without push back from his own party, it would set an extremely dangerous precedent. That's why at this point, Trump needs to go.

I do not much like the Democratic Presidential candidates, but there's a few I would be infinitely more comfortable with at this stage than Trump. For me, it's about the country as a whole, not necessarily policy. Even a great deal of people who liked Nixon agreed he had to go.

Trump, in my view, is creating a weird cult of personality not based on policy but his own stature as a person, his ego. That is also extremely dangerous. When you get people who don't even care what he stands for or what he does, they'll follow him blindly.
 
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If the President is allowed to just do whatever he wants without push back from his own party, it would set an extremely dangerous precedent. That's why at this point, Trump needs to go.

I do not much like the Democratic Presidential candidates, but there's a few I would be infinitely more comfortable with at this stage than Trump. For me, it's about the country as a whole, not necessarily policy. Even a great deal of people who liked Nixon agreed he had to go.

Trump, in my view, is creating a weird cult of personality not based on policy but his own stature as a person, his ego. That is also extremely dangerous. When you get people who don't even care what he stands for or what he does, they'll follow him blindly.

I couldn’t agree more. And with the release of those text messages from the state department, there is now zero doubt that trump was trying to extort foreign leaders into helping his 2020 campaign.

Trump is a wannabe fascist. He would love nothing more than to be able to remove anyone who opposes him from office. He’d shut down media outlets who criticize him if he could. He’s brazenly used his position to enrich himself. Sided with a foreign dictator who has journalists murdered over our own intelligence agencies. I have no idea how anyone fails to see this at this point.

This isn’t about left vs right. It’s about preserving the values that have formed the background of this country since it’s inception. Trump is exactly the kind of man that the founding fathers were concerned about when they were planning the constraints on the executive branch.

The part that concerns me is the cult of personality that you mentioned. His supporters don’t care about any of this. If a democrat were soliciting foreign governments to interfere with our elections then they would lose their damn minds. But you won’t hear a word out of any of them about this as long as it’s trump.
 
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If the President is allowed to just do whatever he wants without push back from his own party, it would set an extremely dangerous precedent. That's why at this point, Trump needs to go.

I do not much like the Democratic Presidential candidates, but there's a few I would be infinitely more comfortable with at this stage than Trump. For me, it's about the country as a whole, not necessarily policy. Even a great deal of people who liked Nixon agreed he had to go.

Trump, in my view, is creating a weird cult of personality not based on policy but his own stature as a person, his ego. That is also extremely dangerous. When you get people who don't even care what he stands for or what he does, they'll follow him blindly.

Where have you been the last couple of decades? That's the status quo in D.C. We've had six wars started the past 16 years without the approval of Congress. Wouldn't that be significantly more problematic than asking why and how a prosecutor was removed from a case?
 
Where have you been the last couple of decades? That's the status quo in D.C. We've had six wars started the past 16 years without the approval of Congress. Wouldn't that be significantly more problematic than asking why and how a prosecutor was removed from a case?

That’s a red herring and you know it. What proxy wars we are involved in has nothing to do with the current case.
 
That’s a red herring and you know it. What proxy wars we are involved in has nothing to do with the current case.

It's the typical Trump supporter rhetoric. They don't defend Trump, they just try to come up with examples of what other people have done that's also bad.

Imagine in a courtroom if someone said, "Well judge, if you think me raping someone was bad, let me tell you about the guy that was here 3 years ago...he was real BAD. So I'm ok now right?"
 
Trump, in my view, is creating a weird cult of personality not based on policy but his own stature as a person, his ego. That is also extremely dangerous. When you get people who don't even care what he stands for or what he does, they'll follow him blindly.
They are blind to the kind of man Trump is, they don’t see him like the rest of the entire world sees him. IMO this is due to where they get their news|information..
 
Trump has his faults and all but I like him because he keeps you libs panties all wadded up. The utter hatred and disgust spewed forth from your pie holes is comforting to see. You wag on about him and in the end your hatred consumes you. He is worth re-electing just to watch the angst and writhing of agony.
 
Trump has his faults and all but I like him because he keeps you libs panties all wadded up. The utter hatred and disgust spewed forth from your pie holes is comforting to see. You wag on about him and in the end your hatred consumes you. He is worth re-electing just to watch the angst and writhing of agony.

Okay, reread what you just posted.

Doesn’t it strike you just a little that your main motivation for wanting to see Trump re-elected is not because you like him as a candidate but because you want to see people who disagree with you suffer?

Doesn’t that strike you as something not to be proud of? A healthy democracy doesn’t thrive when people vote simply as a means of revenge.
 
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It's the typical Trump supporter rhetoric. They don't defend Trump, they just try to come up with examples of what other people have done that's also bad.

Imagine in a courtroom if someone said, "Well judge, if you think me raping someone was bad, let me tell you about the guy that was here 3 years ago...he was real BAD. So I'm ok now right?"

What am I defending Trump from? There's been nothing except the usual suspects of anonymous sources so far. Didn't you guys learn anything from Russiagate or Collusiongate? I'm comparing a couple of baseless accusations to the systematic destruction of millions of lives.
 
Trump has his faults and all but I like him because he keeps you libs panties all wadded up. The utter hatred and disgust spewed forth from your pie holes is comforting to see. You wag on about him and in the end your hatred consumes you. He is worth re-electing just to watch the angst and writhing of agony.

Wait till he wins again in 2020, because the Dems are going to run some retarded tomato can against him.
 
Okay, reread what you just posted

Doesn’t it strike you just a little that your main motivation for wanting to see Trump re-elected is not because you like him as a candidate but because you want to see people who disagree with you suffer?

Doesn’t that strike you as something not to be proud of? A healthy democracy doesn’t thrive when people vote simply as a means of revenge.

Nope, not at all you are all reaping what has been sown. Enjoy your created new democracy.
 
Nope, not at all you are all reaping what has been sown. Enjoy your created new democracy.

I know I’m going down a rabbit hole here but what do you even mean by that?

Again, listen to yourself. If you’re more concerned with sticking it to people who disagree with you than actually building and maintaining our nation then you have a problem.
 
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The Kurds are already getting bombed because our dipshit president decided to betray them and pull out of Syria. This was a gift to Putin and Assad, and the Kurds (one of our biggest allies against ISIS) are paying the price with their lives.

This is disgraceful. The Kurds have beaten back the IS for years and that’s all about to go to waste. Leaving a power vacuum is how ISIS got started in the first place and it’s about to happen again.

Republican President sure seem to love to allow Kurdish genocides to happen. First Nixon, then Bush Sr, and now Trump.

Also let’s not forget that Trump has business interests in Turkey which are obviously a conflict of interest and having a tangible effect on his decision making. I wonder how Fox will spin this one.
 
Trump has his faults and all but I like him because he keeps you libs panties all wadded up. The utter hatred and disgust spewed forth from your pie holes is comforting to see. You wag on about him and in the end your hatred consumes you. He is worth re-electing just to watch the angst and writhing of agony.
Yeah, right......lol
 
The Kurds are already getting bombed because our dipshit president decided to betray them and pull out of Syria. This was a gift to Putin and Assad, and the Kurds (one of our biggest allies against ISIS) are paying the price with their lives.

This is disgraceful. The Kurds have beaten back the IS for years and that’s all about to go to waste. Leaving a power vacuum is how ISIS got started in the first place and it’s about to happen again.

Republican President sure seem to love to allow Kurdish genocides to happen. First Nixon, then Bush Sr, and now Trump.

Also let’s not forget that Trump has business interests in Turkey which are obviously a conflict of interest and having a tangible effect on his decision making. I wonder how Fox will spin this one.
But Trump is sticking it to the libs.........
 
The Kurds are already getting bombed because our dipshit president decided to betray them and pull out of Syria. This was a gift to Putin and Assad, and the Kurds (one of our biggest allies against ISIS) are paying the price with their lives.

This is disgraceful. The Kurds have beaten back the IS for years and that’s all about to go to waste. Leaving a power vacuum is how ISIS got started in the first place and it’s about to happen again.

Republican President sure seem to love to allow Kurdish genocides to happen. First Nixon, then Bush Sr, and now Trump.

Also let’s not forget that Trump has business interests in Turkey which are obviously a conflict of interest and having a tangible effect on his decision making. I wonder how Fox will spin this one.
Eh, Trump has said since his campaign that he doesn't like having troops overseas and despite all of his twitter threats, he's pretty much stuck to that. I don't think this has anything to do with any type of business interest.
 
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Eh, Trump has said since his campaign that he doesn't like having troops overseas and despite all of his twitter threats, he's pretty much stuck to that. I don't think this has anything to do with any type of business interest.
I tend to agree but he should have consulted his staff and the generals instead of going off half cocked like he did.
 
Trump has his faults and all but I like him because he keeps you libs panties all wadded up. The utter hatred and disgust spewed forth from your pie holes is comforting to see. You wag on about him and in the end your hatred consumes you. He is worth re-electing just to watch the angst and writhing of agony.

Liking “a” cause “b” hates him is about the most fuking ignorant shit possible and the reason the nation is divided and nothing is done in dc. Partisan bullshit politics. Thanks for the example.
 
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I tend to agree but he should have consulted his staff and the generals instead of going off half cocked like he did.
Supposedly he did consult with them, but decided to do it anyway. That was one of the reasons Mattis left. His foreign policy is really bipolar.
 
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