I don't really think anything substantial will happen.
Political Discussion
- Thread starter David A.
- Start date
I don't really think anything substantial will happen.
History will be made.
The GOP, who takes control of the house in January, has vowed launching a committee and special investigation of the Jan. 6 Committee. History will be made. But it won't be anything good.
A committee to investigate a committee?
what about lower gas prices and inflation? Wasn’t that the priority?
Just read this. And I feel it's complete bullshit and proof manufacturing quality is not the same and and insurance is a scam.
Someone just put a new roof on their house. Bought the same brand / same roofing they had before because they were very happy with it and it lasted 40 years.
A month later they get a storm with hail, nothing major, they have seen much worse. Then they have roof leaks. Verdict, the roofing was damaged by the hail and needs to be replaced. But guess what, this damage is not covered by the warranty or insurance.
Reason being? The roofing wasn't rated for impact (hail) damage. The quality of the shingal is not the same as it was 40 years ago, and what the homeowner considered minor hail damaged the roofing. Where as the old roofing survived much worse. No one mentioned anything about the roofing not being impact rated, or that impact rated roofing exists. And insurance does not cover impact damage unless the roof is rated for it and you have the proper rider on your policy.
Yup, the financial responsibility completely falls on the homeowner and they have to 100% fund replacing the roof again. And this time with impact rated shingles, which are by far more expensive.
Someone just put a new roof on their house. Bought the same brand / same roofing they had before because they were very happy with it and it lasted 40 years.
A month later they get a storm with hail, nothing major, they have seen much worse. Then they have roof leaks. Verdict, the roofing was damaged by the hail and needs to be replaced. But guess what, this damage is not covered by the warranty or insurance.
Reason being? The roofing wasn't rated for impact (hail) damage. The quality of the shingal is not the same as it was 40 years ago, and what the homeowner considered minor hail damaged the roofing. Where as the old roofing survived much worse. No one mentioned anything about the roofing not being impact rated, or that impact rated roofing exists. And insurance does not cover impact damage unless the roof is rated for it and you have the proper rider on your policy.
Yup, the financial responsibility completely falls on the homeowner and they have to 100% fund replacing the roof again. And this time with impact rated shingles, which are by far more expensive.
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A committee to investigate a committee?
what about lower gas prices and inflation? Wasn’t that the priority?
Because you know, the January 6th committee was completely politically motivated and therefor unethical. That is their logic.
As for the other priorities. Why investigate them if you already have a foregone conclusion that Biden is to blame.
Oh wow, I can't even get a latte with that...
One of the biggest data breaches of all time and they payout is next to nothing. People who lost real money due to identity theft, paid to freeze their credit, bought credit monitoring services or any combination of all 3 are only getting a very small fraction of their money back with this settlement.
And a for profit company and the lawyers are who made out big here. The settlement was the largest in history for data breaches, but the courts allocated something like 90% of the funds to providing "credit monitoring" services and not cash reimbursements. Credit monitoring services which weren't even provided by the settlement until 3 years after the breach was disclosed. And the terms of the settlement was to either take the free credit monitoring services, or file a claim for reimbursements for your losses or expenses you paid for credit monitoring services and/or freezing your credit. Most everyone chose the reimbursements. Many people, like me, already have credit monitoring services from other breaches already.
They tried hard to get people to change their claim to free credit monitoring. Almost nobody did. And now everybody gets almost no money. Well, accept the lawyers, and the for profit company providing the credit monitoring.
folsom_lives
Well-Known Member
I dare you to report that transaction as fraud...
Elon Musk was spotted with a sanctioned, pro-Putin Russian TV presenter at the World Cup final in Qatar
Nailya Asker-Zade, who posted a selfie of her and Elon Musk to Telegram on Sunday, has been sanctioned by both the UK and Canada.
www.businessinsider.com
Face Recognition Tech Gets Girl Scout Mom Booted From Rockettes Show — Due to Where She Works
A recent incident at Radio City Music Hall involving the mother of a Girl Scout is shedding light on the growing controversy of facial recognition, as critics claim it is being used to target perceived enemies — in this case, by one of the most famous companies in the country.
www.nbcnewyork.com
We live in strange and trying times. I fear for what the future holds.
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’Tis the Season to Debunk Your Family’s Hunter Biden Conspiracy Theories — Slate
If “no politics at the dinner table” doesn’t cut it.
apple.news
Haha, I got a good laugh when I saw this headline come through as a notification.
Student loans relief may be seen as part of the retirement bill as currently proposed. It for sure is not any kind of forgiveness, and for sure is not popular with Republicans or corporate lobbyist. And it really isn't student loan relief at that, but more of retirement savings relief.
But this bill intends to solve an issue where many young adults are unable to afford to contribute to their 401k because of their student loans. Under the proposed bill, if an employees are not putting money into their 401k, or are not putting enough in to make the full employer match criteria, employers then must match against what the employee is paying towards their student loans. This match wouldn't be towards student loan payments, but rather towards the 401k. So employees could pay their student loans, and still get the company match on their 401k if they aren't currently contributing to one.
But this bill intends to solve an issue where many young adults are unable to afford to contribute to their 401k because of their student loans. Under the proposed bill, if an employees are not putting money into their 401k, or are not putting enough in to make the full employer match criteria, employers then must match against what the employee is paying towards their student loans. This match wouldn't be towards student loan payments, but rather towards the 401k. So employees could pay their student loans, and still get the company match on their 401k if they aren't currently contributing to one.
Politics as usual in Florida?
What is it about policies like this that scream "socialism" to the right. And forcing a private business to pay towards someone's retirement fund is over reach of government power and unfair to those who did not go to college or didn't have the same benefits when they were younger. And thus that is why a law like this should never exist. It comes down to "personal responsibility". And if someone can't afford to contribute towards their 401k to earn the company match it's because of poor life choices / financial responsibilities they made. They should be accountable for getting them selves out of this situation rather than be getting "handouts".
And it sucks because I can't even have a meaningful debate with someone with this viewpoint. Because no mater what you come to the table with "they are right" and "you know it".
Why do you want to debate these people? If their minds are that closed you aren’t going to convince them otherwise.
They are family. And grew up in one of the most liberal places in the state, Amherst. I don't get how their minds can be so closed. Especially when they all were democrats before Trump.
Family are absolutely the last people on earth that I talk to politics about. Ever.
Lots of people drift right as they get older and more secure and paranoid about people coming to steal their “hard earned” money.
Also Trump didn’t come to power in a vacuum or as a bolt from the blue, it was a mixture of playing on and amplifying existing prejudices and the Democrats picking a very hate-able candidate.
TrainFan73
Frothy
I mean, it is a socialist policy. The problem is not socialism, it's removing the stigma of the word.
What's a real shame is that many of these folks who argue against things like this came up through a time when their parents (or themselves) were basically paid more than we are now (wages are fairly stagnant since the 70s but inflation means those dollars are worth less - if my wife and I made what we make now just 20 years ago, we would be a lot better off) and were part of a corporate world that did more than just pay a wage. Instead, we are increasingly asked to do more work for the same (or less) money and less benefits. But wanting the government to step in to increase wages or ensure the welfare of workers that companies aren't doing on their own is overstep.
Also, I think speaking politics with family when they disagree is bad form. It just leads to lots of heartache. My wife's family are all right minded and I just can't talk it with them. When they bring nonsense up, we change the subject or leave the room. It's just easier than getting into arguments that no one is going to "win." I'm fortunate in that my parents and grandparents and my mother's side of the family are all like minded as my wife and I. I lean more socialist than my wife does, but I think that is because she was raised capitalist by right wing nut jobs, so just getting her to be on this side of the fence is a good damn thing. She was also pretty apolitical until we started dating and then she realized that complacency was akin to complicity with the wave of nonsense coming from the right.
Max Sterling
Well-Known Member
Hope you all have chill holidays with your families. If you need some well presented and non-confrontational resources for why and how we can do better I'm a big fan of this guy's videos. Mom and dad might not listen, but cousins, nieces, and nephews might.
Yeah, my family would never listen to this either. To them it's nothing but Leftist Extremist Propaganda and trying to usher in the new world order. Something we should be fighting against with every fiber of our existence to maintain our freedom.
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The Best Buy camera sales is a good example of why capitalism sucks. And they really do threaten employees into conforming to what they want.
I worked at a Wholesale Club in college, and twice a year they would have a "free trial" membership people could come in and get. They heavily advertised it. However, it was pretty much a bait and switch scheme. Our goal as employees were to not just get these people to by the membership when they came in as an upsale, but try to upsell to the highest membership level as well. We had conversion goals we needed to hit them if you worked at the membership / customer service desk (which was desirable because it's base pay was 50¢ an hour higher than other positions). And if we didn't hit our conversion goals there were retainings, action plans put in place and our performance reviews were "needs improvement". Which essentially meant we got didn't get a merit increase and the action plan we were placed on required us to hit your numbers within 90 days or we were terminated.
This essentially lead to high pressure sales where employees were making customers feel like they had no other option but to buy the membership if they wanted to shop today. It was better for the employee to make the customer "walk" (walk out the door and not buy a membership or get the free membership) than to give the customer the free membership. Some people were quick to walk, some people take no shit and tell it to you straight and end up the trial membership, because you know you need to give it to them or they will want to speak to the manager / call corporate which also gets the employee in trouble / affects their performance review. They been through the drill before, each time the free membership exists, always only get the free membership and wouldn't even let you give them the sales pitch in many cases. These people pretty much had a free membership half the year because they played the system. Never have paid for a membership, and never will.
That mean the people that were walking out the door and not getting either the free trial membership or a membership were likely their best bet for getting a conversion at the end of the trial membership and growing their membership base. Instead, these people were alienated, and likely won't come back. So not only were they out potential future members, but also all the sales of goods they would have gotten form that person during their 90 day free trial membership.
But this is what we had to do to hit the conversion goals. And the conversion goals were out of alignment with what was feasible. And this trend didn't help. Because if we hit our conversion goal, they just raised the conversion goal for the next trial membership program in 6 months...
If the conversion goal wasn't hit, they didn't lower it. At least not for multiple programs in a row didn't hit it and by then it's to late for any of the employees who had to obtain that unrealistic goal. They either quit because of the BS, or were terminated for not hitting their numbers.
Another good example of why capitalism sucks is when we look at services like Internet or TV.
In most of the world, if you have internet you only have one speed available to you and no data caps and overages. In the United States, internet is sold to you in several different speed tiers. They upsell you to get higher speed and more data per month. And the slower speeds are artificial restrictions put in place. Those artificial restrictions, slower traffic, are what clog the system. Thus the data caps. Instead of upgrading our infrastructure to handle more traffic, which costs money, and much of the traffic is clogs by the artificially slow traffic, we create data caps to limit usage and charge people more money who use the internet more. And don't get me started on overages. Comcast, in some markets, have set a data cap, where even with their highest plan, a family of 4 could never be cord cutters and go all streaming. Netflix alone for a family of 4 resulted in a surprise bill, $1200 in overages fees, in Atlanta when they first rolled out the data caps a few years back. These data caps also ensure, Comcast, who is also the cable provider, is the only real option for TV service.
Exploiting people and generating more revenue without upgrading service options is what capitalism does bast. And it may only get worse for us. Under the Trump administration the FCC rules were relaxed. And in US territories the cable companies have started segregating the internet into different bundles. You need to subscribe to things like "social media" or sites like Twitter and Facebook are blocked / not available. "Video" for YouTube and other streaming service and so on. All addons to the basic internet and cost more money. We could potentially see this in the United States. So far, we only have seen throttling. Yes, throttling. A few providers tier video streams with their plans. The lower plans only have SD, higher plan has HD and the highest plane has 4K. I'm not talking about Netflix doing this. I'm talking about if you get AT&T or Verizon unlimited home internet via hotspot. Whether this is your only option because you live in a rural area, or it's your only other option and you want to ditch the cable company.
Now let's look at broadcast TV. Most of Europe and Southeast Asia have moved on to 4k. And 8K rollout is well underway.
Here in the United States we haven't even started to roll out to 4k. In fact, it likely will not happen for decades without a government mandate. And this is because it costs money, and the broadcast networks have a responsibility to their shareholders. They just spent a lot of money upgrading to digital and HD less than 20 years ago. In their eyes, it makes no sense to have such a large expense again so soon. It's just not profitable. The digital / HD rollout was a government mandate, and even that was delayed from 2004 to 2008 because these private companies were so slow rolling it out citing the costs were prohibitory. And they had years to prepare for this.
All the big broadcast networks have stated at this time, they have no plans to upgrade 4k. That they will continue to use existing technologies and add new features such as HDR, which todays equipment can support without replacing. They said this more than 4 years ago. And there is zero movement on HDR. It's simply not happening at this time. They are not producing content with it, noor made the minor upgrades to their systems to allow it.
While it's true that some major sporting events are available in 4k, they are not broadcast in 4k. They are essentially a stream, IPTV actually. Some cable systems support this, and these streams are available only on their 4k capable boxes, as well as streaming platforms like YouTube TV. And a new channel is added just for the 1 game. And not everyone is doing it yet and options are real limited. For example, NBC did not do the super bowl in 4k this year, because they had all their 4k equipment at the winter olympics.
Another reason we won't see 4k tv anytime soon is cable and satellite companies. They are ever trying to squeeze more channels in, and a trend most of them are doing is downres. They are converting the 1080i HD broadcasts to 720p and heavily compressing them to fit more channels onto their network. Something they wouldn't need to do if they upgraded their systems to fiber optic, or converted all the channels to IPTV and use modern video codecs instead of MPEG. But that would mean replacing millions of cable boxes, so that's a no go... Yes, cable tv systems are mostly MPEG Layer II. A codec that has been in existence since 1991. There are some regions or areas that use MP4 video, or have some upper tier channels that are MP4 that require a special cable box (not their base box) toget. Broadcast TV also uses MPEG Layer II.
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