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"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." - Friedrich Nietzsche Welcome to the US politics thread! Our country is in shambles as the rich continue to pillage it and our generation is completely screwed no matter what your political beliefs are. Here we post to talk about the latest stunt and discuss the appropriate liquor to drink when they manage to further sabotage the country and the planet. Big Stuff in 2014: Military Spending: COLA cuts to pensions were partially reversed. After the Dems overcame a filibuster in the Senate, Boehner tried to get it through the House as part of the debt ceiling package and failed. He had to grab enough Dems to pass it. Pension cuts have been reversed if you are already retried, but remain in place if you are yet to retire. Sen Sanders (I-VT) and 10 Democrats entered a bill (SB1982) to reverse the rest of the cuts, expand intra-family transfers of the GI Bill, and increase funding for the VA for both health procedures and processing. It is currently filibustered by Sen Grahamn (R-SC). SecDef Hagel has proposed cutting the military's personnel while increasing military spending by $115 bln over 5 years with a focus on hardware. This is vigorously opposed as "gutting defense" by republicans and has them sneering that Obama would rather spend on food stamps than the military, going to show that up is down and left is right. Legalized marijuana Colorado is reporting millions more in tax revenue that was originally anticipated, which has gotten a lot of attention from other states. Publicly it is at a majority for support. Same sex marriage: Or, you know, just "marriage". In the wake of last years ruling we have seen a huge number of state level bans struck down, including in Kentucky, Utah, and Texas. So far Appellate courts are upholding those rulings, typically citing Justice Scalia's contributions to the ruling (which is also what is cited in striking down the bans, in some cases quoting him word for word). Through his ruling Anthony Scalia has literally, not at all figuratively, done more to bring about marriage equality in this nation than any other individual. Thinking about that warms my heart. Ryan Ideas: Ryan dropped a big pseudo-academic report that was a "summary" of government anti poverty programs and their effectiveness. He declared them ineffective citing studies. The authors of those studies came out and pointed out he was completely misrepresenting them to support his ideas. He got beat pretty heavily around the head with them so one month later when he released his budget which was supposed to lead the charge in reforming social welfare, that part was absent from the pitch. Good thing too, in order to achieve his goal of a balanced budget in 10 years with no tax reform and no changes to social security while expanding defense, he has to lay in deep cuts to the social safety net. ~86% of the costs in the Ryan budget would be born by the poor. gently caress this guy. Of course now he is back on his anti poverty train holding summer hearings on it. When the Dems tried to get actual poor people to testify he blocked them. When the poor people tried to sit in attendance they were shown the door by capital security. Irony is dead. Elections: Rough timeline, varies with state – California immigration: Iran: More negotiations to follow the previous deal. Expect GOP hate. The House leadership has said they won't pass any new sanctions, so at least they aren't going to jam up foreign relations. Hatred of working with the Senate Dems to do anything overcame their hatred of Iran. Senate GOP is using it as cover to torpedo bills that would be problematic - officially the reason Sen Graham filibustered the veterans care bill was because it couldn't be amended to include sanctions against Iran. This is actually moving ahead now, at least on the US side because domestic attempts to jam it up have been delayed so far. However, the hardliners in Iran are trying to jam it up on their end, so we will see how it all shakes out. Pink Crow: Mississippi Senate passed it most recently, Kansas it passed the house and died in the senate, Arizona it got through the legislature and was vetoed by the governor, Tennessee, South Dakota, Georgia, Idaho, Arizona, and Kentucky are all pushing the bills as well. Identical bills written by the American Religious Freedom Program popped up everywhere. If that sounds like the model ALEC uses, it's because they are joined at the hip through the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Heritage Foundation, with people in all 4 of those organizations performing secondment to another. Anyways, while all the focus is on the attempt to bring back Jim Crow laws against LBGT people, the legalese they are really trying to slip through is a redefinition of what constitutes an organization's rights, and what constitutes government interference in those rights. Under these bills if a private individual took a discriminating agency to court, the fact that it was in court would constitute government interference and allow them to invoke constitutional protections. Yes, I am focusing more on the legal corporate bullshit of it than the horrible repressiveness of it because if I actually need to explain why that stuff is bad just get the hell out of the thread right now. Food Stamps: Finally got pushed through, with deep cuts (8 bln over 10 years). Millions suffering. Economy is worsening as aggregate demand slackens. Businesses cautiously complaining. Republicans defiant that their making GBS threads on the poor makes the poor better and they should be grateful for it. Debate is now about how much more to cut. Some states found away around the cuts but adjusting the levels of heating oil they give the poor, qualifying them for food stamps. Boehner is furious and looking for a way to reverse that and punish those states for "thwarting the will of Congress and the American People". State's Rights! (to poo poo on the poor) Unemployment Insurance: Millions suffering. Economy is worsening as aggregate demand slackens. Businesses cautiously complaining. This has finally got the Senate to move into action, and they have gotten together a deal to renew it. Boehner is strongly opposed to it, and won't get a hearing in the House, defiant that their making GBS threads on the poor makes the poor better and they should be grateful for it. Infrastructure: Obama has proposed $302 bln in new infrastructure spending to repair roads, bridges and the like. Even post stimulus out infrastructure is in huge need of repair after decades of neglect (thanks Reagan), and this winter really did a number on roads across the nation. Republicans are of course opposed to it. This is problematic because The Highway Trust Fund is almost broke Obama’s $302 bln plan is paid for largely through a $150 bln “pro-growth tax reform” tax hike on corporations rather than gas taxes or leaving them in disrepair. There’s basically no chance in hell the GOP is going to pass that, even if Obama wasn’t president Big Names for 2016: Chris Christie: His giving away of pensions to hedge funds turned out to run afoul of state anti corruption laws. His budget got ripped last month for being unworkable. David Samson is fighting his subpoena so he doesn’t have to testify against Christie. Scott Walker: Book flopped, snubbed by most of the money, still the Koch brother’s favorite son. Not a lot of news of late. Mike Pence: Making a lot of motions about it, speaking at conservative events, but with Daniel’s DoR shenanigans still hanging around Indianapolis we’ll see how far he goes. Ted Cruz: toured Iowa to meet with organizers and district chairs in March, signed a "MEGA book deal" and endorsed in primaries (and connected with organizers and district chairs) in April, stumping in New Hampshire in May, still meeting with his gang at Taco Cabana to jam up things in the house and senate Donald Trump: claiming he may decide to run for Governor of New York. Rick Perry: Moving to run again, trumpeting the “Texas miracle” [utl=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_may_2014/features/oops_the_texas_miracle_that_is049289.php?page=all]that isn’t[/url]. Latest “triumph” was paying Toyota $40 million out of the state slush fund to get them to move ~4,000 jobs there. Jeb Bush: With Christie faltering he is the establishment’s man. Said he’ll announce at the end of this year. Ben Carson: Still out there being a conservative personality. The PAC people says he has isn’t actually his, it is run by the team that ran Newt’s campaign in 2012. Grifting, the never ending saga. Mitt Romney: Don’t laugh. He isn’t looking to be candidate again (for now), but he is acting as an establishment counter to Jim DeMint, arranging money and connections for the corporate side like how DeMint provides money and connections for the populist side. Bernie Sanders: Talking about running, won’t have money for it, will be ignored, unlikely to even shift the message on economic policy. Elizabeth Warren: Polls at #2 behind Clinton (behind by 23 points). She is adamant she isn’t running, and her book tour pointedly does not stop in Iowa or New Hampshire because she didn’t want to fuel speculation she is running. This has resulted in much speculation she is running. Hillary Clinton: Basically hers for the taking. Of course, Monica Lewinsky just got a book deal. The 18 year olds eligible to vote in 2016 will have been 2 when that broke, so no one is really going to care. Joe Biden: Wants it. Had the saddest look on his face when Obama talked about how Hillary was in a good position to win the nomination in front of him. It will be OK Joe. Affordable Care Act: Over 8 million signups, 80-90% look to have made their payments, costs are following the expected “short surge, gradual drop” wave pattern that was expected, lowest rate of uninsured since they started tracking. It’s working, plain and simple. New challenge that the Feds can provide subsidies to plans bought through federal run exchanges instead of state exchanges was signed off by a Republican dominated Appellate court after being thrown out under the absurdity challenge by two previous courts, keep an eye on that. Republican Health Care Plan: *crickets chirp* Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.: SCOTUS heard the arguments. Kennedy seemed receptive because he took it as a challenge to abortion. Really no way they can rule on this short of "No, obey the law or forgo the tax credits" that won't massively upend some precedent, so brace yourselves. SCOTUSBlog summary McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission: SCOTUS struck down personal caps on campaign donations, though caps remain for corporations and unions. Welcome to the reason why we drink. SCOTUSBlog summary Net Neutrality: It’s dead. Pretty much a natural outgrowth of Bush’s decision to encourage monopolies instead of cracking open the market like they did in every other country. Town of Greece v. Galloway: In a 5-4 decision SCOTUS said you can have prayer before meetings, made it much more difficult to challenge legislative prayers, kicked the establishment clause in the jimmy, and is notable for its split along court religious lines, and Alito’s mocking Kagan’s line of questioning in his concurrence. The cracks in the wall are really showing lately, with heavy sniping by bush appointees at Obama appointees. Immigration: Speaker Boehner tried to cobble together a meaningless soundbyte of "principles" so they would have talking points that made it sound like they were the ones trying to get things done, and even empty platitudes and spin was a bridge too far. Tax Reform: Rep Camp (R-Midland, MI) is chair of the House Ways and Means Comittee and he finally came out with something. Unlike Rep Ryan's empty bluster this is fully articulated policy. Rather than raising the burden on the middle class through hikes and lies about who would be paid how, this placed most of the burden on the upper crust by closing loopholes and impsong a tax on the banks. It has also led to him being ripped to shreds by his fellow Republicans for breaking their core vow to never do anything but direct more wealth to the rich, and from Wall Street which basically froze donations to all Republican groups as soon as this went public. It isn't a great plan, Patent Reform: Made it through the House 325 to 91 in December. Repeatedly pushed for by the President, civil liberty groups, and corporate interest groups. Sen Leahy (D-VT) has a bill to get it through the Senate, Sen Schumer (D-NY) has a similar bill with a few tweaks that are agreed would be even better but would need a return to the House; both are stalled out by senate Republicans. State level shutdowns: After the amazing success that was the GOP shutting down the federal government over the ACA, they have decided to take the act on the road, with multiple state level governments looking at shutdown over the fight over the Medicaid expansion. Missouri and Virginia are the ones that will hit the brink first, but several other states are in a similar position. China: Their latest economic reports apparently look ominously like the ones from America in the fall of 2007 when the collapse of the housing bubble spread to the banks. Specifically the cause of concern is their TED Spread which is the gap between two interest rates, and used as a marker of the financial strength of banks. TED stands for Treasury Eurodollar and is calculating subtracting the interest rate on treasury bills from the three-month dollar LIBOR. Brief note from Krugman on it and here is a Bloomberg piece on it. China imploding would be so bad it isn't really worth thinking about, much like it isn't worth thinking about if an dino-killer sized asteroid was falling towards Earth. There isn't anything you can do about it, so just pour a whiskey sour and hope the central bankers get it right this time. Ukraine: The Crimeans voted and have rejoined Russian. Russia under heavy economic sanctions, mainly targeting Putin and his closest fellows. Their stock market looks like it got hit with a baseball bat (RTSI is the Russian central bank, MICEX is the Russian equities market). Russia was bounced out of the Wall Street: The DoJ has announced an investigation into the practices of High Frequency Trading. Michael Lewis has a new book out on this topic. The news coverage about HFT as a result of these two things has been met with eye rolling and stating it is old news by Wall Street, and shock by Main street. Which is pretty much why it is a problem. The banks have since started threatening that investigating the banks could crash the economy, so best not do it. Oh, and Bank of America just lost $2.7 bln due to sloppy accounting. If that looks like a lot of critical stuff that is absolutely within the purview of the government but for some reason is getting no traction, welcome to the thread. Useful Reads:  America's class system across life cycle - in case you were under the misapprehension things might get better Media: Watch Alpha House on Amazon. If you are a regular in this thread it is right up your alley. It has been renewed for a second season. Mitt on Netflix is a documentary of the Romneys during the campaigns, focusing on the family rather than the politics. Inequality for all is a documentary, now on netflix instant. Watch it House of Cards Season 2 came out February 14th, holy poo poo watch it. Threads is a BBC movie about nuclear war and its aftermath, watch it if your will to live has become too strong. The Battle of the Somme is on youtube, it was an early attempt at propaganda to get people to join the war effort and had the exact opposite effect. Do Not Ask What Good We Do by Robert Draper. Good summary of the insanity after the 2010 midterms Collision 2012 by Dan Balz covers the 2012 election (including some of the GOP primary) and written like it was a thread regular. Highly entertaining. Fiasco by Thomas Ricks. If you ever start to fade on how bad the naughty aughties were, here is a reminder of just one sliver of the gross malfeasance. I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay by John Lancaster. Decent explanation of securities, debt, finance, and why its all a mess. Mainly a decent fast reference for us if you get confused about how economics, finance, and politics move together. Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty. New book on wealth and economics making huge waves with people. Probably worth a look. Reporters: Ta-Nehis Coates In America politics has been intertwined with race since the beginning, and as much as we may wish to deny it it is still a core part of who we are as a nation. There is no better writer on race in America than Ta-Nehisi Coates. He covers it all, from historical research to modern commentary. Read him if you want great insight to how things are and why. Robert Costa formerly of the National Review, newly of the Washington Post has amazing insider reports on dirt and action being done in congress. His op-eds are right wing, as to be expected, but his twitter is a play by play of the insider game, and a great source. Other stuff IRC is in #poligoon on synirc Find us there during live streams of random poo poo. Go to this link and enter a username to get on the IRC channel: #PoliGoon on irc.synirc.net Drink of the Month Casa Noble Reposado Tequila It is a blue agave tequila aged in a white oak barrel for between 3 months and 1 year. This gives it a smooth, slightly sweet taste akin to cognac, rather than the usual hard bite tequila has. Runs $45-$60 a bottle. It's for savoring, not shots or mixing. For the day to day “gently caress it all” stuff, this link will help Past Drinks: Thread Title Credit to poster Captain_Maclaine for it. Because it is true. Now lets see how long it lasts until it gets changed by a mod
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May 7, 2014 05:29
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please continue booze suggestions here
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May 7, 2014 05:30
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Cimber posted:i suspect that OP is a drat dirty liberal. I'd argue I'm a conservative. I just mean that in the Burkean sense, of applying a realist perspective to changes needed to continue past trends of US dominance in world leadership, not the modern reactionary sense that the GOP defines it as. Of course, between the reactionaries working to break everything for the past 40 years, the shifting of the overton window, and the severity of the response needed to correct the damage done over the past 40 years (or longer when you want to talk about policies of racial disadvantagement or climate change) the modern spectrum puts me far afield. I'm basically a science focused Eisenhower republican, which puts me somewhere to the left of Robespierre to most people. I forgot to include the stuff on the Benghazi select committee in the op, I'll have to add it tonight. Latest news is that Boehner wants it to be a 7-5 GOP-Dem split for makeup and the Dems are demanding equal seats or they won't participate.
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May 7, 2014 13:04
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Obama is going to release the legal memos on drone killings. But only to the senate, in secret, and not to use peons in whose name it is being done. http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/n...a72c_story.html
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May 7, 2014 14:59
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Dancer posted:Hey, so I don't mean to circle-jerk about it, and I acknowledge his flaws but, given the repeated mention of actual issues in the OP (as opposed to just politicians), is there any reason you didn't add Matt Taibi to the OP under reporters? He's not perfect, but there's good reasons so many of us like him. Because he isn't writing anymore. He is supposed to be an editor for a new digital magazine. But First Look Media has been curiously silent since the latest round of Omidyar releases, not putting anything out on existing channels and no news about what his digital magazine will look like. Plus it was pushing 1 am when I wrapped that op up. I left off Benghazi, Bloomberg news, links to the election forecasts, vox, upshot, veep, the latest va controversy, cliven Bundy, Colbert leaving Comedy Central, the climate change report, new reports on solar cells, college rape, and about half the people clam morning for president in 2016.
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May 7, 2014 16:08
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radical meme posted:Where the hell is he? He quit Rolling Stone and is supposed to join that Glenn Greenwald/Pierre Omidyar operation but, I haven't seen anything from him since he quit. I may be wrong, but the most recent thing Greenwald put out was in the Guardian. Is that other operation ever gonna make it off the ground? Did Taibbi jump into a thing that's never really gonna happen? Charitably, they tried to grab early social media hype by promoting the endeavor before it was ready to roll. Less charitably, their boss is under fire now, and they have the choice of journalistic integrity and ripping him to poo poo, or having a job. Then there is the Matt Bruening theory of getting a monopoly on critical information, getting the critics wrapped up in legalese as they take jobs to try to access that critical information, and burying the whole thing.
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May 7, 2014 16:14
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ufarn posted:Taibbi also, you know, published a book that he's been promoting everywhere outside SA. Well gently caress me I thought that wasn't out until September
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May 7, 2014 16:51
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McDowell posted:http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/31/constitutional-conundrum-michigan-demand-for-a-bal/?page=all So the worst idea in politics has been replaced for that title by an idea to enact the precious worst idea. Like, I can't possibly see how a new constitutional convention won't end up completely loving us on every level. I started listing what we could expect based off actions at the state level and ideological beliefs on the motivated participants and had to stop because I just kept going. Like minimum, I'd expect the declaration we are a Christian nation, banning gay marriage, and ditching the equal protection clause. Realistically you are going to be looking at a huge push to restrict the federal government and state actions so that basically every general welfare provision we've bled to get in place for the past 227 years will be gone.
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May 7, 2014 18:07
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McDowell posted:I'm betting that an attempt to institutionalize partisan poo poo like that would get people to pay attention. But I doubt Congress will ever let a convention happen since it would threaten their comfy existence. Get them to pay attention, sure. Stop it, I doubt it. Given that this is the first I heard about it a month after it happened I expect as a thing it is going nowhere but googling it is a thing on the newsmax/infowars circuit
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May 7, 2014 18:33
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eviltastic posted:This doesn't reflect the discussion in the net neutrality thread. Not trying to have the argument here beyond pointing out that it exists. In so far as news goes, the next big item will be the FCC vote on May 15 regarding a notice of proposed rulemaking. BUSH 2112 posted:It's funny how conservatism went from being a semi-intellectual movement into being just a loving hot gooey mess of contradictions and insanity. I mean, gently caress, when their thinkers are making William Buckley look good ... well, that says it all. There are literally no actual intellectual conservatives anymore, not a single one, who actually has any kind of influence on the GOP or Conservatism writ large. DynamicSloth posted:Pretty idiotic to think a state can't rescind an application for a constitutional convention. Particularly since that is how these same people would argue the ERA is dead.
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May 7, 2014 20:47
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Bunleigh posted:How do there still exist people who pay even a cursory level of attention to current events and can't tell Republicans are the problem? I'm not talking about the twisted hate-golems that make up the actual right wing base, I mean just regular-rear end well-meaning folks who fret about how dysfunctional everything is and believe the truth is in the middle somewhere. I just really can't believe anyone who isn't fully invested in the right-wing worldview can still at this point fail to recognize the reality they're living in. Because most people are too busy living their lives to pay a cursory level of attention to things far away that don't directly impact them, and marketing works
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May 7, 2014 20:49
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ShutteredIn posted:Citing Breitbart, the Daily Mail, and The Right Scoop As base rabble rousing bullshit, that's exactly what he should cite
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May 7, 2014 21:47
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Unzip and Attack posted:Wait so you're saying killing a 16 year old with a missile while he ate a meal at a public restaurant with his teenage cousin was ok? RevKrule posted:And Scooter Libby was pardoned after leaking the name of an undercover CIA operative. I'm sure we can guess which was the greater crime. Libby was not pardoned. Cheney was quite upset about that. Install Windows posted:The thing is that everyone involved was innocent to begin with.
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May 7, 2014 22:45
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http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/205431-gowdy-says-elections-have-consequences-for-benghazi-panelquote:Asked about that possibility Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Gowdy said the length of his work would depend on the administration’s level of cooperation. In case there was any doubt that they are at least blowing the impeachment dogwhistle, if not going to go for it outright. Referring to it as a "trial" rather than "6th committee on this topic" is a pretty dead giveaway
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May 8, 2014 00:24
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Blindeye posted:Just FYI for the OP but based on the videos I've seen/Ukraine thread there's a lot of argument over the context of that awful thing. The people who may (or may not, as both sides stockpiled molotovs and were using them) were fired upon from the roof of the building in question and were not fascists. They were dismantling a pro-Russian encampment when shots started ringing out, people flipped out and rushed the building the shots came from, threw some molotovs. They also helped people get out of the building when it caught fire and the police stood by doing nothing even when pro-Russians used them as cover while they shot at pro-Ukrainian protesters. It's kind of a clusterfuck so it might be worth leaving out lest we imply the pro-Ukrainian/Euromaidan side is full of nazis. For this I was going off what was reported on NPR, but if you have something showing it wasn't fascists who torched a building full of civilians, I'll alter the OP accordingly
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May 8, 2014 02:29
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WhiskeyJuvenile posted:To distract the base from the fact that Obamacare is working On that note: Called by Republicans, Health Insurers Deliver Unexpected Testimony quote:WASHINGTON — House Republicans summoned a half-dozen health insurance executives to a hearing Wednesday envisioned as another forum for criticism of the Affordable Care Act. But insurers refused to go along with the plan, and surprised Republican critics of the law by undercutting some of their arguments against it. They are so far in the bubble, the reactions when it gets breached are astounding. I mean, its one thing to spew bullshit to win elections. That's how it works. But you aren't supposed to start believing it. And that's the problem: They believe their own bullshit.
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May 8, 2014 05:02
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:This is also known as "being a pussy." That presents an interesting conundrum for the GOP. Holder announced he is retiring later this year. So they don't want to confirm the new AG because they don't want to confirm any Obama appointee, but they need an AG to go forward on their circus.
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May 8, 2014 16:24
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In a 60-36 decision, the public announced today that they think the Roberts Court is chasing a partisan or personal agenda rather than rendering impartial rulings on law http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5279535?utm_hp_ref=tw I just have to wonder who the 36% are, those who see outliers from the GOP agenda like the ACA being upheld and say "well they don't always rule on partisan grounds, they must be impartial"?
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May 8, 2014 17:37
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If you thought the Benghazi distraction was going to be enough you were mistaken. Now they are going to gear up after Clinton for being insufficiently aggressive against Boko Haram http://www.esquire.com/_mobile/blogs/politics/house-benghazi-committee-050814?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_57354298 Religious nutjobs against black women being educated are now something the GOP is opposed to, rather than their base
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May 8, 2014 17:47
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The fuckers are flogging Vilerat's corpse for money http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/john-boehner-benghazi-fundraising-106493.html
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May 8, 2014 18:40
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Dystram posted:http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-clinton-lloyd-blankfein-blood-lust-geithner-sorkin Well, Bill isn't wrong. History bares that out pretty well, and heaping billions on the rest of the crooks would still piss me off no matter how harshly one of them was punished.
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May 8, 2014 19:28
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IMJack posted:Of course not. You don't slit their throat in a dark alley. You chop their head off in front of the New York Stock Exchange in broad daylight. All I'm saying is King Joffery would have had their heads on spikes along the White House fence
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May 8, 2014 20:40
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Evil Sagan posted:The Democrats have begged mercy for the bankers. But they have the soft hearts of neoliberals. The Canadians have awakened and are marching south, leaving Tim Horton's and single payer health care in their wake.
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May 8, 2014 21:03
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Talmonis posted:Agreed. Can we get Ann Romney to play Marie? Freep cast Michelle Obama in that role years ago Fried Chicken fucked around with this message at 21:39 on May 8, 2014 |
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May 8, 2014 21:04
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Reminder that the only difference between the tea party and the establishment is tactics.
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May 8, 2014 22:46
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zoux posted:What if your grandpa had a youtube channel? Really expected this to be Chuck Grassley.
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May 8, 2014 22:50
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Sword of Chomsky posted:
Not near the ranch or town, and the guys just happened to have hoods and a painted sign in their truck when they came across him by chance?
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May 8, 2014 23:32
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http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2548253/ Let's just bask in this headline for a bit, shall we?
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May 8, 2014 23:58
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Luigi Thirty posted:So what's the difference between Freepers posting about keeping powder dry and how the revolution will start any day now and our current conversation Yeah no poo poo, you guys are totally ruining the "Bernie = Pon Raul" moment here
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May 9, 2014 01:25
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Jagchosis posted:to be honest; from a legal standpoint I don't think the government even had the evidence to convict these motherfuckers, let alone go China on them and summarily execute. Yes, I have read the emails, and Yes, I have seen the Levin hearings (they're fantastic). To put more bankers in jail for the poo poo they pulled in 08 would require a substantial revision of securities laws. I completely agree that Wall Street executives who marketed mortgage backed securities that led to the crash are robber baron motherfuckers, and that it would hilarious if Bill Clinton gave Lloyd Blankfein a Colombian Necktie, I just don't think that a criminal prosecution of a top executive under our current laws would result in anything other than an acquittal, or a guilty plea if he is a dipshit, unless there was a paper trail that literally said "hey, let's do this fraudulent thing to defraud investors fraudulently." More controversially, I am also p. sure the DOJ looked into this as best they could, and did not find sufficient evidence to prosecute, because that is how prosecutors do. I do believe that civil charges may have had more luck because of the lower burden of proof, but there is still a lot of plausible deniability for higher ranking folk. A bigger issue is they no longer have the institutional knowledge for it. In 2001 Bush changed SEC and DoJ corporate crime policy to one of going for limited settlements instead of criminal prosecution. By the time 2009 rolled around, the people who knew how to prosecute these cases - the evidence needed, the statutes, the various ways they could approach a situation to bring charges, and how to handle everything in court - had all left for other positions since it wasn't being done there anymore.
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May 9, 2014 12:17
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theshim posted:Holy poo poo, reading this and a bunch of the related articles is simultaneously awesome and terrifying. What the hell is wrong with everything. See the thread title
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May 9, 2014 15:45
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Cimber posted:absolutely, everyone should be saving for retirement as soon as you start working. Even 25 bucks a week at 5 percent interest can make a huge difference in 40 years. ($165,930.94) What are you investing in that you are seeing a stable 5% return? That is a stock or real estate level, not IRA.
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May 9, 2014 16:24
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Femur posted:What I am saying is that people with bigger wealth expect the same thing, everyone has the same expectations that their time was worth some something. Yes, r > g so we are all screwed. On that note: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/pope-demands-legitimate-redistribution-wealth-23651955
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May 9, 2014 16:28
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shrike82 posted:Err, an IRA lets you invest in stocks and real estate. A self directed IRA is heavily regulated so if you want to invest in those it would be foolish to do so with said self directed IRA. You are capped on annual contribution so you get liquidity issues, RMD issues are greater because you are dealing with a more illiquid asset, and there are a host of prohibited transactions. Real estate and stocks need to be part of your retirement portfolio, but in general it is better to make them distinct from the IRA. Plus those lack the stable return I asked about. https://www.mybanktracker.com/ira-savings Handy comparison of rates, but note that they are all very far from 5% apy
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May 9, 2014 16:46
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Boon posted:Considering the median return on the S&P 500 has been 12.64% over the last 43 years, and you can invest in a fund with an expense ratio as low as .05%... I'd say there are quite a bit of options available. So did you not read what you quoted or are you unaware the S&P is a collection of stocks? Or do you think that just because the S&P sees 12% there must be an IRA somewhere that gives 5%? Someone show me an IRA that gets 5% apy. I want to park some money there.
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May 9, 2014 16:50
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So, anecdotal evidence time. I just got off a 4 hour register shift at a warehouse sale. A few weeks back we had an incident that "damaged" (sprayed water on) a bunch of inventory. Insurance kicked in so we didn't lose any money, but it still needed to go. We also had a bunch (also insured) of wrong winner gear (eg Broncos Super Bowl xLVIII champions) we needed to clear out. So we took our check from the underwriters and then pushed notices to a bunch of low income churches about the sale of stuff. We were completely packed. You'd see the bus drop off moms at the end of the block, corral their kids, and guide them to our warehouse so they could get new clothes/jackets/shoes. There was just this overpowering sense of desperation as you watched mothers try to wrangle with the kids because the shirt with the team name cost $3 more and that pushed it out of price range. The thing is, this was pure profit for us. Insurance already covered it. And even at the sharply reduced prices we were still charging more than it cost us, even factoring in holding costs. And we had people being unable to afford to wear the kind of stuff you see dumped overseas in Africa Aid commercials. We are the richest, most powerful country in the history of the world. There is no valid reason for things to be like this. But don't worry, some loving teabaggers are going to see a little poor kid wearing discounted Nikes and raise a poo poo fit, and we'll make it even worse. gently caress I need a drink.
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May 9, 2014 21:46
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Evil Sagan posted:What's the most right-wing thing you've done? Bombed Iraq to cinders.
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May 10, 2014 00:35
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Ditocoaf posted:Yeah SF is going to collapse at some point. You can't sustain a region where most people who work there can't afford to live there. Isn't the median monthly rent nearly half the median monthly income, or something absurd like that? Ironically, people can't afford to live there because of the lack of new construction, which is because the developers don't want to have the expense of complying with the earthquake codes, which are there so it doesn't literally collapse
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May 10, 2014 06:33
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Pillowpants posted:
Torrannor posted:Your president using chemical weapons on you and a brutal civil war breaking out in your country is a giant disaster. Managing to oust your corrupt president, only for your country to break apart on ethnolinguistic lines and your much bigger neighbor invading part of your territory is a giant disaster. You are much more optimistic about the impact of climate change and global shortage of non substitutable resources than I am. Our options are either go Manhattan Project on a number of life critical fronts or hope we get way lucky in terms of hundreds of Norman Borlaugs, Thomas Edisons and Albert Einsteins popping up with breakthroughs that save us from ourselves. By the way, for all you violent fantasiests out there, remember that the men in black still take this stuff seriously http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/fbi-new-castle-man-threatened-to-kill-boehner I do find his anger over the ending of unemployment insurance in this economy to be understandable and justified, even if how he chose to express it was not. and terming Boehner an "oompa loompa" in your rage rant is hilarious.
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May 11, 2014 16:41
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 10:06 |
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computer parts posted:We already have a lot of those breakthroughs, just no one wants to pay for them. In some of the areas we need them, yeah. But in some cases its not just a matter of having the solutions, but one of getting the solutions deployed in time. No one wants to pay to shift from oil and coal to methane and solar, but it is cheaper, carbon neutral, doesn't require infrastructure changes like the claim, and doesn't require the battery storage they claim either. It just happens to cost the existing interests a lot and benefit a new crowd. Eventually costs will force it, but the damage done by then will be huge. Other stuff, we just don't have the breakthroughs we need. Take the long run picture for food. Right now 70% of all food grown uses artificial fertilizer. That fertilizer comes from using the haber process for nitrates, and the ooda process for phosphates, and combining those to get what plants crave. The thing is, the ooda process (and similar phosphate fertilizer production methods) involves using rock phosphates, known as potash. And we are running out of potash. Prices have been climbing for a while now. The breakup of the potash cartel caused them to drop for a while, but they have started climbing again at a high rate. By about 2070 we are expected to start seeing price shocks due to shortage. There is no substitute product for phosphates. Plants need them to live, period. It's the "P" in "ATP", so we need it, meaning that even if we genetically engineer plants that don't, those plants won't meet our nutrition needs. Any extraction method for getting phosphates out of seawater is extremely expensive to do with existing techniques. So expensive that the cost passed on to food prices would leave us with the same problem: How are people going to get the food to eat? We need a breakthrough in seawater extraction technologies (ideally here because it makes potable water shortages just an infrastructure issue then), or a break through in new sources of phosphates. But we physically cannot use a substitute good, and we cannot let the cost paradigm shift to a new normal because that causes the same problem. This is just the phosphates picture. There are also the issues with water access, soil depletion, land reclamation, erosion, monoculture disease weakness, and a host of others. The narrative that Arab Spring was triggered by a guy setting himself on fire in Tunisia is missing the core question of what drove him to do that, and why that action resonated with so many people. Well, the guy set him self on fire because he couldn't afford food. He couldn't afford food because of a 30% spike in the cost of wheat, leading to subsidies being cut by the governments and prices going up in the markets, which was the same thing felt throughout the region. People were angry about not having necessities, and it spread. That can absolutely happen here. Cheekio posted:
As much as I love mocking buttcoiners over the similarity, the fact is that you can find a rough approximation of the bubble pattern in any trend if you look for a specific segment. There are a lot of reasons to expect renting over owning to increase over the years, with a corresponding growth in property values as plots are developed. Fried Chicken fucked around with this message at 17:38 on May 11, 2014 |
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May 11, 2014 17:34
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