Political Discussion

Joe Mac said:
It's funny and in response to a weirdo US "scientist" who published a disgusting "proper" way to make tea that led to several mock horrified articles over here. Life doesn't always need to be super serious, especially with cultural exchanges.
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I guess. I just think about how much time was spent on that to ensure it didn’t piss someone off and wonder how those resources could have been used for something meaningful.
 
Lee Newman said:
I guess. I just think about how much time was spent on that to ensure it didn’t piss someone off and wonder how those resources could have been used for something meaningful.
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I'm pretty sure it didn't distract from whatever important crap the ambassador was dealing with between London and Washington. It is important that your mission to a country gets involved in the country at more than just a surface level political way.
 
ayayrawn said:
The Hamas attack was possible because the Israeli government propped them up with money through Qatar to weaken the PLO for decades. It happened because Netanyahu saw a (temporary) way out of the corruption charges he was weeks away from getting prison time for. These things were well underway without Trump being involved.
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The intelligence leak about iron dome from trump to the russians allowed the russians to give the info to iran, which is how it winds up in hamas' hands [*]. That israel/netanyahu did that shitbaggery with hamas/qatar/PLO is true, but that's a thing that happened a long time ago. You may as well blame the british or the marshall plan. you're not wrong but that's still not (in my view) enough of a reason to abstain from voting or for voting for anyone who can beat trump. let me reiterate: things will get worse for palestinians under trump. if there's ever been a motherfucker who truly does not give a shit about poor helpless foreigners that don't give him money, it's that trash.



* here, here, here
 
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Saw another interesting piece on the economy today that left me feeling they don't understand.

Basically, it was all about how the economy post covid and with inflation cooling is very good right now. People are well off. Of older generations, only 20% of people feel the current conditions of the economy are poor or fair. Of younger generations its 80%, so the vast majority.

And this article went on to explain how "social media" is to blame for this. That negativity resonates, so all the bad things about are in peoples faces. Like a recent example a bout a Twitter post that went viral over a large fries at McDonalds costing $7. What was not explained in the Tweet that that was the price delivered. They didn't say through which service, but something like DoorDash or GrubHub.

Everyone exploded about how bad things are and how crazy prices are. And it's this that is causing young people to have a poor or fair view of the economy when in reality it's in good shape and that these young people are in good shape.


But this completely disregards that young people are troubled by student loan debt and the cost of buying a first home right now makes buying your first home nearly impossible to most younger people.

Why are these not considered issues with the economy. And why are these young people who are riddled with debt and can't afford to buy their first home like previous generations not an issue with the economy. And how are these young people with these issues "in very good shape" despite them not feeling it.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Saw another interesting piece on the economy today that left me feeling they don't understand.

Basically, it was all about how the economy post covid and with inflation cooling is very good right now. People are well off. Of older generations, only 20% of people feel the current conditions of the economy are poor or fair. Of younger generations its 80%, so the vast majority.

And this article went on to explain how "social media" is to blame for this. That negativity resonates, so all the bad things about are in peoples faces. Like a recent example a bout a Twitter post that went viral over a large fries at McDonalds costing $7. What was not explained in the Tweet that that was the price delivered. They didn't say through which service, but something like DoorDash or GrubHub.

Everyone exploded about how bad things are and how crazy prices are. And it's this that is causing young people to have a poor or fair view of the economy when in reality it's in good shape and that these young people are in good shape.


But this completely disregards that young people are troubled by student loan debt and the cost of buying a first home right now makes buying your first home nearly impossible to most younger people.

Why are these not considered issues with the economy. And why are these young people who are riddled with debt and can't afford to buy their first home like previous generations not an issue with the economy. And how are these young people with these issues "in very good shape" despite them not feeling it.
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I mean part of it has to be the source, right? What's their angle?

The economy is pretty fucked. Media says it's good to convince people other wise. For the wealthy it is great. For everyone else, not so much.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Saw another interesting piece on the economy today that left me feeling they don't understand.

Basically, it was all about how the economy post covid and with inflation cooling is very good right now. People are well off. Of older generations, only 20% of people feel the current conditions of the economy are poor or fair. Of younger generations its 80%, so the vast majority.

And this article went on to explain how "social media" is to blame for this. That negativity resonates, so all the bad things about are in peoples faces. Like a recent example a bout a Twitter post that went viral over a large fries at McDonalds costing $7. What was not explained in the Tweet that that was the price delivered. They didn't say through which service, but something like DoorDash or GrubHub.

Everyone exploded about how bad things are and how crazy prices are. And it's this that is causing young people to have a poor or fair view of the economy when in reality it's in good shape and that these young people are in good shape.


But this completely disregards that young people are troubled by student loan debt and the cost of buying a first home right now makes buying your first home nearly impossible to most younger people.

Why are these not considered issues with the economy. And why are these young people who are riddled with debt and can't afford to buy their first home like previous generations not an issue with the economy. And how are these young people with these issues "in very good shape" despite them not feeling it.
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The economic reporting looks at macro numbers. From that lens things look good. What this misses is the micro lens of peoples day to day life and the income inequality that is gutting the middle of the American economy.
 
mindhead1 said:
The economic reporting looks at macro numbers. From that lens things look good. What this misses is the micro lens of peoples day to day life and the income inequality that is gutting the middle of the American economy.
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Right, but they use the macro numbers to tell everyone who doesn't feel that things are great that they are wrong. And tell them you treat they are actually in a good spot and that something has skewed their perception negatively.

Like in the above example, it's basically saying young people, you are wrong, the economy has you in a very good place right now. Your perception is whack because of social media.

It completely ignores the fact of inequality and on the miro lense young people's day to day life is tough and stressful. It's hard to get by.
 
yukbon said:
let me reiterate: things will get worse for palestinians under trump. if there's ever been a motherfucker who truly does not give a shit about poor helpless foreigners that don't give him money, it's that trash.
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A genocide is happening right now, as we speak, under Biden, with his express support. Would have a hard time convincing my Palestinian/Arab friends that he's the good option, actually.

Yesterday, protestors interrupted Biden's speech to condemn said support. He laughed and called them blue MAGA while the crowd chanted 4 more years to drown them out. I know exactly what I need to know about this party. I'd vote for him to be fed into a woodchipper.
 
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I'm not saying things are hunky dory, but I think when the economy takes an upturn it takes a while for those whose fortunes are not directly tied to that success to experience it. That said, with the increasing gulf between the rich and poor, that upturn may never be felt by the poor.

Plus, and I try to not treat social media like the boogeyman implied here, there is a lot of doomerism to be found on social media. If you're feeling angst about the economy, there's a galaxy of voices out there confirming as much and worse. There is a lot of (justified) pessimism, and it's easy to get into an echo chamber about it.

A few weeks ago Jamelle Bouie was discussing the phenomenon of people believing the Democratic party is deliberately failing at their goals, and how it's easy to take in a lot of media which buttresses the idea that Biden has done nothing over the last three years. On either side of the aisle, it's easy to go from "I'm struggling" to "someone is actively holding me down."
 
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mindhead1 said:
I realized in my previous post that I may have come across as a strong Democrat. That’s not the case. I agree with much of what you said, but I don’t agree that Presidents should get as much credit/blame as they do for the economy when they are in office. Especially in their first term. Much of what they are dealing with is the legacy of who was in office before. Definitely, agree the banks shouldn’t have been bailed out. That lesson was learned and the policy was different during Covid. Give money to people to keep things moving.

For about the last 40 years Democrat Presidents have been cleaning up the messes left by Republican administrations. I give propers to Biden for doing what Obama didn’t and getting out of Afghanistan. It was ugly, but it needed to be done. Losing is not pretty.

On Israel. It’s a mess, but i think Biden is handling as best he can. It was important to send the message that the US supports Israel. It is equally important to be working in the background to moderate the Israeli response. I’m at a loss to know what the Biden administration could do differently and think it’s crazy to consider not voting for him on this issue as if the alternative candidate would do better.

Biden is not my ideal choice and I wish he had decided to step down. That said, the bottom line for me is supporting the side that is committed to preserving our imperfect democracy and while flawed at least makes attempts to help regular people.

Last thing loving this site even more. I can talk about music, audio gear and politics. I have found my people. Where do we discuss beer and bourbon?
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Agreed in almost all regards-- except for when it comes to Isreal. We are literally handing them blank checks to commit genocide while pretending Isreal's government is still that of the 1990's and ignoring that half of the Democratic Party supports Palenstine. He couldn't possibly be handling it any worse.

In regards to whiskey, my layoff unfortunately came right after Whistle Pig had finished hiring in the Chicago area. 😂
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
Agreed in almost all regards-- except for when it comes to Isreal. We are literally handing them blank checks to commit genocide while pretending Isreal's government is still that of the 1990's and ignoring that half of the Democratic Party supports Palenstine. He couldn't possibly be handling it any worse.

In regards to whiskey, my layoff unfortunately came right after Whistle Pig had finished hiring in the Chicago area. 😂
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The Israel situation is a mess. They seem to be on the same revenge driven path that drove the US to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. IDK know how to fix this. That said, also don’t think a solution is possible as long as Netanyahu is in power. IDK enough about Israeli government to know what it will take to remove him.

The other sad reality is if we don’t support Israel we’ll likely end up with a multi front war that will involve US troops. I feel for the Palestinian people. But Hamas set this in action and knew what the result would be. Their terrorist act is working.
 
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Lee Newman said:
I mean part of it has to be the source, right? What's their angle?

The economy is pretty fucked. Media says it's good to convince people other wise. For the wealthy it is great. For everyone else, not so much.
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Housing seems to be one of the biggest problems - pay has not kept up with rents & mortgages. People need a place to live!

Think about the expression THE COST OF LIVING, then think about it again, and again.
 
Holdsworthian said:
I mean, if a group of people from one of the "Generations" (can't remember which one) can punk Trump's rallies, as was accomplished in Oklahoma, why can't we all do this here? I find Haley abhorrent but she is mos def the lesser of evils.
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I agree, much rather her than Dumpy
 
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