Politics - stop wasting your time

[charlespig]

The vast majority of the stuff you listed has literally zero effect on your quality of life. Much like the media now throws “Delta variant soon to be dominant in the US” in a big headline even though 70% of the country has at least one shot shows you it’s about selling sensations.

Agree with your first statement, but the Delta variant is a poor example. First, the country will fall shot of the goal of at least 70% having one shot. Second, having one shot of the Pfizer / Moderna vaccine is really only about 50% effective, and that was to the original virus. IIRC, I think JnJ is only 60% effective against the Delta variant.

Point is, we don't need to go crazy about the Delta variant as if the end of the world is approaching, but it is not having zero (or close to zero) effect on quality of my life. It is something we do need to know about and do our part in trying to stop the spread. There are still many people refusing to get the vaccine that was proven to be 90+% effective. And now almost all the Covid deaths are unvaccinated.

Nearly all COVID deaths in US are now among unvaccinated

Nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. now are in people who weren’t vaccinated, a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been and an indication that deaths per day — now down to under 300 — could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine.

apnews.com

 

[charlespig]

What amazes me is the tax and spend liberals like Schumer and Pelosi sit around and b!tch about SALT taxes. They want to raise taxes on everyone, then the hypocrites complain when it happens to them. WTF is that about?

Because it is targeted taxation. For example, one can believe

a) All American citizens should pay taxes,

and complain about paying taxes if they live in the 47907 zip code if

b) American citizens in the 47907 zip code need to pay extra in taxes


For example, New York consistently ranks high in net balance of payments to the federal government. The state pays $256B to the federal government and receives only $220M in return. On a per capita basis, {NY, NJ, MA, CT} receive 86 cents or less on every $1 on federal tax paid (as a comparison, on a per capita basis, IN receives $1.3 and KY $2.4 for every $1 federal tax paid).

https://rockinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1-7-19b-Balance-of-Payments.pdf

The elimination of SALT will disproportionately affect those states than others, and I think people there have a reason to be displeased with targeted taxation when they are already subsidizing other states.

 

[charlespig]

I don't really blame the people, rather the media and social media platforms. We saw this with the lab leak theory. 90% of the mainstream media is telling people that lab leak was a debunked fringe conspiracy theory.

Not sure what MSM you are referring to, but most MSM I watched mostly said "there is no evidence" in 2020, and "there are growing demand for China to open up and let the international community investigate" in 2021. I find both reporting to be in accordance to the journalistic standard. You can't just throw out a theory as if it is true if you don't have enough evidence to prove it. Now that Biden wanted his intelligence to redouble the effort to get to the root of it, that's what MSM is reporting too.

Same thing is happening with only 1% will be impacted by Biden's tax proposals.

I thought they are just reporting Biden's promise on not to raise taxes on those making less than $400k (which is not the same as 1%).

 

[charlespig]

We needed someone like Trump to get us focused on what a great country we live in, rather than despising it and wanting to tear it down, like the Left does. Trump was all over the spectrum politically, when he was younger. He was a lot more consistent, as President.

You must have forgotten how much Trump wanted to do business in China before he was President, and continuously kissed Xi's ass. Again, I followed the news in Hong Kong, and I never forgot when Trump said "Xi is my friend, and I stand with Xi" during the protest in 2019. And when House passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act with an overwhelming 417-1 vote, Trump even said on Fox & Friends that he might veto the bill b/c it might impact his talks with China on the trade war. He waited until the last day before reluctantly signing it (his veto would have no use b/c the bill has such overwhelming support from both parties).

Then he praised China repeatedly in Jan and Feb of 2020 in an attempt to secure his trade deal, and then flipped 180 in March.

The one thing that Trump is consistent is his admiration of Putin. Never speak against him. Even agreeing with him over US intelligence. The Helsinki Summit was disgusting when he publicly kissed Putin's ass.

 

[charlespig]

Thanks for helping to prove my point. Fox, National Review, Tax Foundation are not really considered part of the MSM. They have a right leaning bias, and are described as conservative outlets (or in case of tax foundation libertarian with bias for lower taxes and less regulations).

The first article (CBS) is classic MSM analysis. Everything is framed as wealthy not paying their fair share. Just like Trump tax cuts were framed by democrats and the MSM as tax cuts for the rich.

NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post. That's essentially your traditional MSM. Everything is usually framed on democrat party terms. Sure online they will occasionally do check the box reporting of a story that is negative for democrats. But the negative stuff that gets repeated over and over and over is usually related to Republicans.

That group largely frames the narrative on a broad range of topics. So you get people repeating MSM talking points "lab leak is a fringe conspiracy theory", "Trump tax reform was only tax cuts for the rich". "Biden tax reform only impact a tiny % of people."

There is no balance in MSM. They simply reject the right leaning opinions of Fox, National Review etc. They rarely present that side of the story. Rather just focus on democrat party talking points.

Wow, what a way to redefine "mainstream media" to your own narrative ? More people actually see Fox as MSM than WSJ. You might as well define "mainstream media" as media you don't agree with.

Broad agreement in U.S. – even among partisans – on which news outlets are part of the ‘mainstream media’

We asked U.S. adults whether they consider each of 13 different news outlets to be a part of the mainstream media or not.

www.pewresearch.org

 

[SDBoiler1]

You must have forgotten how much Trump wanted to do business in China before he was President, and continuously kissed Xi's ass. Again, I followed the news in Hong Kong, and I never forgot when Trump said "Xi is my friend, and I stand with Xi" during the protest in 2019. And when House passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act with an overwhelming 417-1 vote, Trump even said on Fox & Friends that he might veto the bill b/c it might impact his talks with China on the trade war. He waited until the last day before reluctantly signing it (his veto would have no use b/c the bill has such overwhelming support from both parties).

Then he praised China repeatedly in Jan and Feb of 2020 in an attempt to secure his trade deal, and then flipped 180 in March.

The one thing that Trump is consistent is his admiration of Putin. Never speak against him. Even agreeing with him over US intelligence. The Helsinki Summit was disgusting when he publicly kissed Putin's ass.

If anyone has kissed Xi’s and China’s @$$ it’s Joe Biden. Got to protect Hunter, ya know….

 

[charlespig]

It’s bipartisan with R RINOs Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, etc.

So what is bipartisan then? I thought any bipartisan bill is always about getting the more moderate (RINOs, DINOs) to be on board too, as opposed to one party pushing it through just b/c they have a simple majority.

 

[charlespig]

So, he’s been serving Republicans for over 30s years …. Yeah, sounds like a RINO. Really?

Sounds like these days if you are not kissing Trump's ass you are a RINO. Liz Cheney is less Republican than MTG. Mitt Romney - the candidate to represent the Republican Party in 2012, is now just RINO.

 

[charlespig]

My guess of what SDboiler1 was saying (and I waited for him to reply as to not put words in his mouth) is that there are MANY RINOs today...with a baseline comparison of a few decades ago. These republicans are not really conservatives when being republican meant being conservative. years ago..still republicans, but in name only...as are MANY today. That shouldn't be a surprise since schools and media have a left bend. I could be wrong, but that is my guess on his take...and he is right...many republicans are not as conservative as the party decades ago.

OTH Romney would be conservative in comparison to some on the left.

In that case, then Trump is RINO too. And if we are basing it on GOP "Purity Test", then Reagan would fail as well.

Reagan Would Fail "Purity Test" Proposed for GOP

The most rigidly conservatives members of the Republican National Committee are circulating a proposal to establish a purity test for the party's candidates. If adopted, the party would withhold money from any contender who disagreed with conservative principles on more than two of 10 essential...

www.thenation.com

 

[charlespig]

I agree that no one will get government out of our lives, but whether you want to acknowledge it or not, Trump did cut a ton of Federal regulations, which eliminated a lot of petty requirements & expense from businesses, which allows them to sell their products at a lower price and still keep their profit margin.

I would love to see a President actually cut the size of government at least once, since that would save a ton of tax dollars, but the swamp creatures love to self perpetuate. In case you haven't noticed, Dems LOVE increasing the size of government, so they can intrude in every aspect of our lives and exert their control. If you value your individual freedom, you're an idiot, if you vote for a Dem. There was a time, when there were some Moderate Dems, who I would have considered voting for, but beyond Joe Manchin & Kyrsten Sinema, they are very rare.

And yet the government is much bigger in 2020 than 2017 or 2015.

The true size of government is nearing a record high

As the federal government has hovered close to two million employees for decades, the size of its grant and contract workforce has grown.

www.brookings.edu

 

[BoilerMadness]

You must have forgotten how much Trump wanted to do business in China before he was President, and continuously kissed Xi's ass. Again, I followed the news in Hong Kong, and I never forgot when Trump said "Xi is my friend, and I stand with Xi" during the protest in 2019. And when House passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act with an overwhelming 417-1 vote, Trump even said on Fox & Friends that he might veto the bill b/c it might impact his talks with China on the trade war. He waited until the last day before reluctantly signing it (his veto would have no use b/c the bill has such overwhelming support from both parties).

Then he praised China repeatedly in Jan and Feb of 2020 in an attempt to secure his trade deal, and then flipped 180 in March.

The one thing that Trump is consistent is his admiration of Putin. Never speak against him. Even agreeing with him over US intelligence. The Helsinki Summit was disgusting when he publicly kissed Putin's ass.

After over 4 years, you're still baffled by Trump. You focus more on what he says and not nearly enough on what he does. Trump schmoozes everyone that he's going to negotiate with. It's a disarming mechanism to get them to relax and let their guard down.

He schmoozed Xi and tariffed the Hell out of him.

He said nice things to Putin and sanctioned the Hell out of Russian Oligarchs and cancelled Russia's pipeline to Germany, when it was 90% built.

Meanwhile you like Biden, who allowed Putin to finish the pipeline to Germany and stopped the shipment of lethal arms to Ukraine, while Russia has military sitting on their border. Biden was too dense to realize he had some significant bargaining chips there that he just gave away for NOTHING. Perhaps that's what the $3.5Million, that Hunter got from Russia was for? It makes me wonder what Xi is going to get for the money he gave Hunter/

 

[charlespig]

Your problem was that you were so triggered by Trump's personality, that you never took a second to consider his policies.

Your problem was that you were so blind by Trump-friendly media, that you never took a second to consider if his policy is actually as good as they sound.

Trump had essentially solved the problem at our Southern border. Biden reversed the policy & we have chaos now.

If you are talking about illegal immigrants, actually most of them come through legally. Moreover, as of 2017, vast majority (83%) of illegal immigrants from Mexico have been in the country for more than 10 years, while those entering the country within 5 years are 8% or less.

Key facts about the changing U.S. unauthorized immigrant population

The unauthorized immigrant population’s size and composition has ebbed and flowed significantly over the past 30 years.

www.pewresearch.org

With Trump, we achieved energy independence. Biden's policies destroyed that.

You talking about fracking? Have you considered the full cost of it?

You've requested a page that no longer exists | Stanford News

news.stanford.edu

Trump stopped funding WHO, since they were Chinese puppets. Biden's funding them again.

WHO becomes China's puppets b/c China was able to bribe the small African countries to get them to vote on their side. Instead of forming alliance with our European friends to counter them, Trump insisted of America First, pissed everyone off, and let China take advantage of the power vacuum.

Trump left the Paris Climate Accord, since it would cost us $Billions and provide no benefit to the US. We had complied and no one else did near as much as us and China was exempt until 2038. WTF? Biden has us back in. Why?

The irony is, Trump complained about America losing its status as the leader of the world, but it is precisely his actions like reneging an agreement that made the world look down upon us. How can you trust someone who doesn't honor his words? The fact is, China pledged to be net carbon-zero by 2060, and invested $758B in renewable, compare to $356B for US:

The cost of a Trump term, in billions of tons of carbon emissions

Under Donald Trump, the US abandoned its global leadership on climate change even before leaving the Paris Agreement.

qz.com

and China is becoming the world's superpower in renewable energy:

China Is Set To Become The World's Renewable Energy Superpower, According To New Report

"No country has put itself in a better position" claims new report, noting that China accounts for almost a third of all renewable energy patents in the world.

www.forbes.com

Rather than blaming climate change as a hoax, the US could have used the opportunity to sell its high technology to combat it. Yet, because Trump continuously downplaying the risk, we lost that opportunity to China.

Trump put stiff sanctions on Iran and left the ridiculous Nuclear treaty. Iran continued refining uranium and wouldn't allow any inspection on military complexes. Why?
Biden wants to negotiate it with them again and Iran snubbed him.

If Iran doesn't want to deal, it probably means the deal was not favorable to them, don't you think? Even if the Iran treaty is not great, by pulling out of the Iran deal after giving them all the goodies, that's just dumb. Imagine you buy a pair of shoes for $200. Then you kinda feel like you've overpaid. You want a new pair but the owner says no refund and no return. So you just throw the shoes away. That's just dumb.

Trump cancelled the Russian pipeline to Germany, which would have made the EU dependent on Russia for energy. A week before his meeting with Putin, Biden allowed the pipeline to be finished. Why would he not use the pipeline as a bargaining chip to get something from Putin? Stupid!

So you don't want the US Government to interfere with your life, and you are a US citizen. So why in the world should Germans listen to the US Government on what they can or cannot have?

Trump had imposed a lot of stiff sanctions on Russia and the MSM called Trump, Putin's puppet.
Biden gave Putin his pipeline to Germany and stopped the weapons shipments to Ukraine and the MSM gushes about how tough Biden talked to Putin.

Trump was like a puppy and wouldn't stand up to Putin. Don't blame the MSM - he did it right in front of our eyes in Helsinki. What a disgrace to the country when our President sucked up to a dictator and agreed with him over our own intelligence. Yet, you worship him like a saint as if he is actually standing up for the country and "Make America Great Again." Geez, go around the world and people all over are laughing at us. I was in Japan a few years ago and talking to tourists from Sweden and they felt pity that America is becoming a laughing stock. Same from Australians. Maybe only Fox-watching Americans thought US was regaining her leadership position in the world under Trump.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Me neither.

 

[BoilerMadness]

Sounds like these days if you are not kissing Trump's ass you are a RINO. Liz Cheney is less Republican than MTG. Mitt Romney - the candidate to represent the Republican Party in 2012, is now just RINO.

It's got nothing to do with kissing Trump's ass. It has everything to do with having a spine and standing up for your constituents. Too many of the Rinos just roll over for the Dems, like trained puppies. The Dems usually vote in lockstep.

The Dems are starting to feel a bit drunk on power, so they're overreaching by wanting to kill the filibuster, make DC & PR states, Federalize elections taking away state control and eliminating an ID requirement, and stack the SC. Fortunately, Manchin & Sinema know the folly of those proposals and realize it will probably cost them their jobs, if they vote with the Dems. I would not be surprised, if either or both of them became Reps.

Liz Cheney had an axe to grind and jumped on her soapbox once too often. I suspect that there were a lot of her constituents and other Republicans that were pissed off that she voted to impeach Trump and kept flapping her mouth, which cost her her committee.

I respect that she had the courage of her convictions, but I won't miss her. She, like her father, are part of the Globalist group of politicians and I prefer a more Nationalistic approach. Let's trade internationally, but let's fix what needs fixing domestically, before we start sending Billions of dollars around the globe.

 

[charlespig]

The Dems never seem to learn that if you raise taxes on Corporations or the very wealthy, they will tolerate it to some extent. If it gets onerous, they have the capacity to relocate to a more favorable tax environment. Currently, people are fleeing CA & NY and going to TX & FL for that reason. We had corporations going overseas to avoid our high Corporate taxes, as well. Trump lowering the Corporate tax rate brought a lot of them back.

Several years ago, France had elected a Socialist as their President. He imposed a 90% wealth tax on their Billionaires. When the vast majority of them left the country, he had to rescind the tax. He was NOT reelected.

There are several misconceptions.

First, US companies repatriated $1T under the new tax law, far from the $4T that he projected.

U.S. Companies' Repatriated Cash Hits $1 Trillion Under Tax Law

Corporations have brought back more than $1 trillion of overseas profits to the U.S. since Congress overhauled the international tax system and prodded companies to repatriate offshore funds, a report showed Thursday.

www.bloomberg.com

Second, if you just forgive the tax that the company is supposed to be paying, of course you can get companies to move money back. Is it good?

Third, US corporate tax rate is 25.77%, which has been declining for the last 40 years, so it isn't really just Trump. During the last 40 years, our rate is actually lower than other G7 or G20 countries, who are supposed to be our peers to be compared to. China is 25%.

Fourth, the true rate is of course a lot lower than 25.77%, otherwise there won't be a proposal for a minimum 15%.

Fifth, it is silly to compare ourselves to France. We are the most dominant country, unlike France. We can leverage our position because global companies have to do business in America. France doesn't have that leverage. Nike can stop selling in France if the rate gets too high, but they can't stop selling in the US. The same with Apple. Or any global companies.

Sixth, the wealth tax is not just for billionaires in France. It started at 1.3M Euro. So mere millionaires are subjected to it.

Instead of raising taxes, why can't our politician cut spending? I dream of the day, when politicians will not only talk about cutting government, but actually do it. We could cut the Federal budget by 10% and institute a hiring freeze and I doubt that we should notice any impact on services. Of course the bureaucrats will defend their turf and make sure that we feel max pain, if their fiefdoms are threatened. It's a no win situation for taxpayers, when the government gets too big.

Look, I am with you. I think government is too big. I prefer smaller government. But I disagree with no government (anarchy). So the real question is what is the optimal government? That's the questions I keep asking. What kind of public services that you want the government to provide? What are some we can go without? That will be a more productive discussion topic than just b!tching all day.

 

[charlespig]

And a lot of Dems went to the Republican side to vote for Trump, because they were concerned about the Left's move toward Socialism. After seeing what Biden is doing to the country, I anticipate a lot more people leaving the Dem party.

Sure there will be Dems moving to GOP, and vice versa. But which blue state is becoming more red? In the last election, we see GA and AZ going blue, while the Midwest {PA, MI, WI} going back to blue. Even Texas is becoming purple. If Republican continues to just suck up to Trump, it is gonna lose more than they gain. It is really leaving the voter with no choice.

 

[tjreese]

Z
Zd

In that case, then Trump is RINO too. And if we are basing it on GOP "Purity Test", then Reagan would fail as well.

Reagan Would Fail "Purity Test" Proposed for GOP

The most rigidly conservatives members of the Republican National Committee are circulating a proposal to establish a purity test for the party's candidates. If adopted, the party would withhold money from any contender who disagreed with conservative principles on more than two of 10 essential...

www.thenation.com

neither are as conservative as years ago, but less Rino than those we see today. I don't think there would be a perfect score fiscally and socially, but along the line of the spectrum they would not be as close to Mitt or either Bush president as many others. It all depends on what is being measured and the weighting of the variables chosen to paint the picture desired. The only thing that matters is whether those that don't want a RINO view thier person as a Non or less Rino than the alternative. How we view it is insignificant outside ourselves.

 

[charlespig]

If anyone has kissed Xi’s and China’s @$$ it’s Joe Biden. Got to protect Hunter, ya know….

If we are talking about children, Ivanka Trump got special treatment from China too:

China grants 18 trademarks in 2 months to Trump, daughter

SHANGHAI (AP) — The Chinese government granted 18 trademarks to companies linked to President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump over the last two months, Chinese public records show, raising concerns about conflicts of interest in the White House...

apnews.com

Sounds like 31 Republican senators don't want to compete with China on technology while over 2/3s passed a bill to compete with them, so maybe they are the ones that Xi bribed?

U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 1st Session

www.senate.gov

 

[BoilerMadness]

And yet the government is much bigger in 2020 than 2017 or 2015.

The true size of government is nearing a record high

As the federal government has hovered close to two million employees for decades, the size of its grant and contract workforce has grown.

www.brookings.edu

The biggest increase by far was contract employees. Why do I think that a big part of that was pandemic related?

 

[charlespig]

After over 4 years, you're still baffled by Trump. You focus more on what he says and not nearly enough on what he does. Trump schmoozes everyone that he's going to negotiate with. It's a disarming mechanism to get them to relax and let their guard down.

He schmoozed Xi and tariffed the Hell out of him.

He said nice things to Putin and sanctioned the Hell out of Russian Oligarchs and cancelled Russia's pipeline to Germany, when it was 90% built.

Meanwhile you like Biden, who allowed Putin to finish the pipeline to Germany and stopped the shipment of lethal arms to Ukraine, while Russia has military sitting on their border. Biden was too dense to realize he had some significant bargaining chips there that he just gave away for NOTHING. Perhaps that's what the $3.5Million, that Hunter got from Russia was for? It makes me wonder what Xi is going to get for the money he gave Hunter/

It's precisely I don't just listen to Trump and actually look at what he does.

He said he would release his tax return; he never did.

He said he would make Mexico pay for the wall; Mexico never did.

He said there was widespread voting fraud (even in the 2016 election) and he would prove it; he never did.

He said Obama was not born in America and he had prove; he never had.

He said he would repeal and replace Obamacare with something very beautiful; he never provided a better plan.

Also, he didn't tariff Xi. The tariff he charged was to Chinese companies exporting to the US, many of those were actually factories that American companies had a stake in b/c of the cheap labor there.

When you actually look at the trade deficit with China, according to census.gov,

2015: -$367B
2016: -$347B
2017: -$375B
2018: -$418B
2019: -$344B

It is not clear that we are "winning," despite what Trump boasted.

Lastly, according to John Bolton, what Trump really wanted from Xi was just to help him win reelection.

Trump asked China to help him win in 2020, offered 'favors to dictators,' Bolton says

In a withering behind-the-scenes portrayal, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton accused him of sweeping misdeeds that included explicitly seeking Chinese President Xi Jinping's help to win re-election.

www.reuters.com

 

[BoilerBF]

Not sure what MSM you are referring to, but most MSM I watched mostly said "there is no evidence" in 2020, and "there are growing demand for China to open up and let the international community investigate" in 2021. I find both reporting to be in accordance to the journalistic standard. You can't just throw out a theory as if it is true if you don't have enough evidence to prove it. Now that Biden wanted his intelligence to redouble the effort to get to the root of it, that's what MSM is reporting too.

This is MSM reporting on lab leak that I am talking about (press blue arrow below). You find this reporting to be in accordance with "journalistic standard"? ROTFLMAO

 

[charlespig]

The biggest increase by far was contract employees. Why do I think that a big part of that was pandemic related?

Why? I dunno. Maybe you didn't read the article that I included?

Coz if you do, you should see from Appendix A that the #1 source of growth from 2017 to 2020 in contracts is from DEFENSE. Not sure how you can make it pandemic related.

 

[BoilerMadness]

Your problem was that you were so blind by Trump-friendly media, that you never took a second to consider if his policy is actually as good as they sound.



If you are talking about illegal immigrants, actually most of them come through legally. Moreover, as of 2017, vast majority (83%) of illegal immigrants from Mexico have been in the country for more than 10 years, while those entering the country within 5 years are 8% or less.

Key facts about the changing U.S. unauthorized immigrant population

The unauthorized immigrant population’s size and composition has ebbed and flowed significantly over the past 30 years.

www.pewresearch.org

You talking about fracking? Have you considered the full cost of it?

You've requested a page that no longer exists | Stanford News

news.stanford.edu

WHO becomes China's puppets b/c China was able to bribe the small African countries to get them to vote on their side. Instead of forming alliance with our European friends to counter them, Trump insisted of America First, pissed everyone off, and let China take advantage of the power vacuum.



The irony is, Trump complained about America losing its status as the leader of the world, but it is precisely his actions like reneging an agreement that made the world look down upon us. How can you trust someone who doesn't honor his words? The fact is, China pledged to be net carbon-zero by 2060, and invested $758B in renewable, compare to $356B for US:

The cost of a Trump term, in billions of tons of carbon emissions

Under Donald Trump, the US abandoned its global leadership on climate change even before leaving the Paris Agreement.

qz.com

and China is becoming the world's superpower in renewable energy:

China Is Set To Become The World's Renewable Energy Superpower, According To New Report

"No country has put itself in a better position" claims new report, noting that China accounts for almost a third of all renewable energy patents in the world.

www.forbes.com

Rather than blaming climate change as a hoax, the US could have used the opportunity to sell its high technology to combat it. Yet, because Trump continuously downplaying the risk, we lost that opportunity to China.



If Iran doesn't want to deal, it probably means the deal was not favorable to them, don't you think? Even if the Iran treaty is not great, by pulling out of the Iran deal after giving them all the goodies, that's just dumb. Imagine you buy a pair of shoes for $200. Then you kinda feel like you've overpaid. You want a new pair but the owner says no refund and no return. So you just throw the shoes away. That's just dumb.



So you don't want the US Government to interfere with your life, and you are a US citizen. So why in the world should Germans listen to the US Government on what they can or cannot have?




Trump was like a puppy and wouldn't stand up to Putin. Don't blame the MSM - he did it right in front of our eyes in Helsinki. What a disgrace to the country when our President sucked up to a dictator and agreed with him over our own intelligence. Yet, you worship him like a saint as if he is actually standing up for the country and "Make America Great Again." Geez, go around the world and people all over are laughing at us. I was in Japan a few years ago and talking to tourists from Sweden and they felt pity that America is becoming a laughing stock. Same from Australians. Maybe only Fox-watching Americans thought US was regaining her leadership position in the world under Trump.



Me neither.

You said too many ridiculous things for me to waste my time trying to unpack them. Life's too short.

 

[BoilerMadness]

There are several misconceptions.

First, US companies repatriated $1T under the new tax law, far from the $4T that he projected.

U.S. Companies' Repatriated Cash Hits $1 Trillion Under Tax Law

Corporations have brought back more than $1 trillion of overseas profits to the U.S. since Congress overhauled the international tax system and prodded companies to repatriate offshore funds, a report showed Thursday.

www.bloomberg.com

Second, if you just forgive the tax that the company is supposed to be paying, of course you can get companies to move money back. Is it good?

Third, US corporate tax rate is 25.77%, which has been declining for the last 40 years, so it isn't really just Trump. During the last 40 years, our rate is actually lower than other G7 or G20 countries, who are supposed to be our peers to be compared to. China is 25%.

Fourth, the true rate is of course a lot lower than 25.77%, otherwise there won't be a proposal for a minimum 15%.

Fifth, it is silly to compare ourselves to France. We are the most dominant country, unlike France. We can leverage our position because global companies have to do business in America. France doesn't have that leverage. Nike can stop selling in France if the rate gets too high, but they can't stop selling in the US. The same with Apple. Or any global companies.

Sixth, the wealth tax is not just for billionaires in France. It started at 1.3M Euro. So mere millionaires are subjected to it.

Look, I am with you. I think government is too big. I prefer smaller government. But I disagree with no government (anarchy). So the real question is what is the optimal government? That's the questions I keep asking. What kind of public services that you want the government to provide? What are some we can go without? That will be a more productive discussion topic than just b!tching all day.

Again, not wading through all that stuff. FYI, I wasn't comparing us to France, I was using France as an example of what can happen, if a government gets too aggressive raising taxes. Wealth is mobile.

 

[charlespig]

This is MSM reporting on lab leak that I am talking about (press blue arrow below). You find this reporting to be in accordance with "journalistic standard"? ROTFLMAO

View embedded media

Looking at the tweet, there is a legit gripe on WaPo because they said Cotton "fanning the embers of a conspiracy theory repeatedly debunked by experts”, which they finally retracted.

But the other ones are legit. For example, Reuters said in April 2020, "China lab rejects COVID-conspiracy claims, but virus origin still a mystery." What's wrong with that headline? China lab did reject, and the virus origin is still a mystery (even today). Are they supposed to say, "China lies about COVID origin?" Can they make that claim without evidence?

Or CNN. They quoted a China spokesperson that said "We urged the US to stop spreading disinformation." That is reporting what China said, much like they could report Putin saying "We didn't meddle in the US election; we didn't have any campaign to spread disinformation." Coz that's what he said.

Again, news media are not supposed to make claims without enough supporting evidence. And to this day, there is still no evidence that can assert the virus coming from lab leak. If one has been repeatedly making such a claim a year ago, without definitive evidence, that makes it a conspiracy theory. Some conspiracy theory might eventually be proven right, but it is still a conspiracy theory. Now WaPo is making a fool out of themselves by calling it "debunked", but at least they are willing to retract it (and you can have fun mocking them). But other reporting, like Reuters, was just stating what was known at the time ("China denies it; origin still a mystery"). That's how reporting should work. You can only go by what is known at the time, and according to what most experts believed. As more and more evidence surfaces, then the narrative could change, but still news media shouldn't assert something that is unproven. I don't see what's wrong for Reuters to say in April 2020 that the origin was still a mystery.

 

[charlespig]

You said too many ridiculous things for me to waste my time trying to unpack them. Life's too short.

Fine. Convenient excuse. As if you write very little here.

 

[charlespig]

Again, not wading through all that stuff. FYI, I wasn't comparing us to France, I was using France as an example of what can happen, if a government gets too aggressive raising taxes. Wealth is mobile.

If you read my last paragraph, I actually said I agreed with you and that the government is too big, and I prefer it to be smaller.

Wealth is mobile to an extent. If other G7 / G20 countries are taxing at a rate higher than the US, then there's limited option for wealth to flee. (Again, not that I support high taxes)

Yes, too aggressive raising taxes will scare off people and make them move. France and NY/CA are examples. I don't support that. However, my point is that US is operating by a different rule. Usually, when you owe other people money, you are worried about your creditor. But in the case of the US, it's the creditor worry about US not repaying more than the US worry about the creditor.

 

[BoilerBF]

Looking at the tweet, there is a legit gripe on WaPo because they said Cotton "fanning the embers of a conspiracy theory repeatedly debunked by experts”, which they finally retracted.

But the other ones are legit. For example, Reuters said in April 2020, "China lab rejects COVID-conspiracy claims, but virus origin still a mystery." What's wrong with that headline? China lab did reject, and the virus origin is still a mystery (even today). Are they supposed to say, "China lies about COVID origin?" Can they make that claim without evidence?

Or CNN. They quoted a China spokesperson that said "We urged the US to stop spreading disinformation." That is reporting what China said, much like they could report Putin saying "We didn't meddle in the US election; we didn't have any campaign to spread disinformation." Coz that's what he said.

Again, news media are not supposed to make claims without enough supporting evidence. And to this day, there is still no evidence that can assert the virus coming from lab leak. If one has been repeatedly making such a claim a year ago, without definitive evidence, that makes it a conspiracy theory. Some conspiracy theory might eventually be proven right, but it is still a conspiracy theory. Now WaPo is making a fool out of themselves by calling it "debunked", but at least they are willing to retract it (and you can have fun mocking them). But other reporting, like Reuters, was just stating what was known at the time ("China denies it; origin still a mystery"). That's how reporting should work. You can only go by what is known at the time, and according to what most experts believed. As more and more evidence surfaces, then the narrative could change, but still news media shouldn't assert something that is unproven. I don't see what's wrong for Reuters to say in April 2020 that the origin was still a mystery.

So to summarize your book. U.S. mainstream media just took China's word on lab leak not being a possibility. That's a "journalistic standard"? The media coverage on the potential possibility of lab leak was a disgrace. One of the biggest stories of any reporters lifetime, and no intellectual curiosity from MSM. They just parroted China & Peter Daszak talking points.

A 79 year old retired/independent journalist had to do the research on this. Where were the MSM investigative journalists?

 

[TheGunner]

And the liberals would say for 8 years, Fox went "all out attack mode" on Obama, and it worked. What's the difference?

The difference in my opinion is when MSM (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, NYT, WaPo, NPR) takes the side of one political party.

You say for 8 years Fox News went on the offensive RE Obama, that was one company, Fox news is a cable news network the equivalent of CNN.

Because it is targeted taxation. For example, one can believe

a) All American citizens should pay taxes,

and complain about paying taxes if they live in the 47907 zip code if

b) American citizens in the 47907 zip code need to pay extra in taxes


For example, New York consistently ranks high in net balance of payments to the federal government. The state pays $256B to the federal government and receives only $220M in return. On a per capita basis, {NY, NJ, MA, CT} receive 86 cents or less on every $1 on federal tax paid (as a comparison, on a per capita basis, IN receives $1.3 and KY $2.4 for every $1 federal tax paid).

https://rockinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1-7-19b-Balance-of-Payments.pdf

The elimination of SALT will disproportionately affect those states than others, and I think people there have a reason to be displeased with targeted taxation when they are already subsidizing other states.

it’s funny, you call it targeted taxatio, but that’s what Biden is offering to do, tax those making $400k or more.

Why should the federal government care how much tax a state charges? And/or why should a high tax state get a deduction at the federal level?

Joe sent out his COVID relief packages based on unemployment rates which disproportionately helped blue states. Seems to me that was targeted tax relief which helped states like NY, so you may need to update your 2019 data.

DeSantis: Florida to get $2 billion less from COVID relief package after unemployment model changes

The Bureau of Labor Statistics changed its formula for calculating unemployment to accommodate for the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, they changed all unemployment data dating back to 1976.

nbc-2.com

 

[tjreese]

And yet the government is much bigger in 2020 than 2017 or 2015.

The true size of government is nearing a record high

As the federal government has hovered close to two million employees for decades, the size of its grant and contract workforce has grown.

www.brookings.edu

A government program has eternal life whether growing or sustaining size. The ole cowboy from half a century ago talks about today. Seems a bit different than the RINO of today

 

[SDBoiler1]

A government program has eternal life whether growing or sustaining size. The ole cowboy from half a century ago talks about today. Seems a bit different than the RINO of today

View embedded media

That speech is so prescient. Granted this speech was from 1964. Reagan was the best President in my lifetime thus far.

 

[BuilderBob6]

Your problem was that you were so triggered by Trump's personality, that you never took a second to consider his policies.

Trump had essentially solved the problem at our Southern border. Biden reversed the policy & we have chaos now.

With Trump, we achieved energy independence. Biden's policies destroyed that.

Trump stopped funding WHO, since they were Chinese puppets. Biden's funding them again.

Trump left the Paris Climate Accord, since it would cost us $Billions and provide no benefit to the US. We had complied and no one else did near as much as us and China was exempt until 2038. WTF? Biden has us back in. Why?

Trump put stiff sanctions on Iran and left the ridiculous Nuclear treaty. Iran continued refining uranium and wouldn't allow any inspection on military complexes. Why?
Biden wants to negotiate it with them again and Iran snubbed him.

Trump cancelled the Russian pipeline to Germany, which would have made the EU dependent on Russia for energy. A week before his meeting with Putin, Biden allowed the pipeline to be finished. Why would he not use the pipeline as a bargaining chip to get something from Putin? Stupid!

Trump had imposed a lot of stiff sanctions on Russia and the MSM called Trump, Putin's puppet.
Biden gave Putin his pipeline to Germany and stopped the weapons shipments to Ukraine and the MSM gushes about how tough Biden talked to Putin.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Laugh or cry? If things are so bad maybe you should consider suicide.

Since you're diagnosing me, I'll just say that has trumpers like you have finally realized what a freakin idiot trump is, you now focus on his policies and ignore what the man is capable of..........the same man who spent 90 minutes last night lying and whining about an election he lost 8 months ago.

Trump solved the immigration problem by essentially halting immigration.

Do you have a link showing we are no longer energy independent? If we aren't, what the hell does it matter? The last year we weren't energy independent was........2018. The last year we were was 1957. How did we survive all those years?

I don't agree with your indepth characterization of WHO and your statements about China and Paris are misleading and inaccurate.

What was the endgame for trump on Iran? Just sanction them until......what? They just come out one day and call "Uncle"? They would end all nuclear research, allow unlimited inspections and beg us to let them sell oil again? Maybe had over some terrorists for good measure? Or was it regime change......we hope they have a revolution and the new government would be our friends? Explain how trump thought that would play out......assuming of course he had actually thought it through. If they do neither, could we be looking at another NK in 10 years?

The pipeline wasn't our decision to make.

The weapons shipments to Ukraine were paused because Putin is withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border. If they don't go far enough or stop the withdrawal, we can still send the arms. Where do you get your news?

 

[Matt Tiger]

Go read some history if you think now is so vastly different. It isn’t. You’re just acutely aware of it because you spend your entire day surfing Brietbart or wherever. Back in time, politics was not an all-consuming 24hr media phenomenon as it is today.

Just stop consuming it.

It I think the 24 hour news cycle has done more harm than good.It has magnified everything in the news and some people have become consumed by it.

 

[Crayfish57]

Laugh or cry? If things are so bad maybe you should consider suicide.

Since you're diagnosing me, I'll just say that has trumpers like you have finally realized what a freakin idiot trump is, you now focus on his policies and ignore what the man is capable of..........the same man who spent 90 minutes last night lying and whining about an election he lost 8 months ago.

Trump solved the immigration problem by essentially halting immigration.

Do you have a link showing we are no longer energy independent? If we aren't, what the hell does it matter? The last year we weren't energy independent was........2018. The last year we were was 1957. How did we survive all those years?

I don't agree with your indepth characterization of WHO and your statements about China and Paris are misleading and inaccurate.

What was the endgame for trump on Iran? Just sanction them until......what? They just come out one day and call "Uncle"? They would end all nuclear research, allow unlimited inspections and beg us to let them sell oil again? Maybe had over some terrorists for good measure? Or was it regime change......we hope they have a revolution and the new government would be our friends? Explain how trump thought that would play out......assuming of course he had actually thought it through. If they do neither, could we be looking at another NK in 10 years?

The pipeline wasn't our decision to make.

The weapons shipments to Ukraine were paused because Putin is withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border. If they don't go far enough or stop the withdrawal, we can still send the arms. Where do you get your news?

This post should be taken down, I admit saying hey move to another country etc but telling someone to commit suicide even if TIC should not be permitted. There are just lines that should never be crossed and I dont care how much you think it is a joke telling someone to commit suicide it should be banned. I dont mind getting down and dirty a bit with people I disagree with about whatever, but not suicide. Until you know someone that took that option you have no idea. @BuilderBob6 is just a nasty POS to begin with but this needs taken down and likely my post too. @BuilderBob6 has shown himself to be a total POS prick about everything but telling someone to consider suicide and thinking that is funny . There is nothing remotely funny about suicide

 

[ecouch]

I found this tonight and I think it is cool.

 

[BorisSutherland]

I will be honest with you guys. For my whole life, I wasn't a person that liked to be involved in politics. I always tried to avoid this subject, and I had my reasons for that. From my perspective, politics is a dirty and ugly field. But when I nearly lost hope, I've read an article about karim jivraj's campaign. And truth be told, this article changed my mind a bit. I am not saying that I've completely changed my opinion about politics, but a small idea that this field is not that bad appeared in my mind.