American Politics

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2951926][B]We Asked A.I. Who Would It Vote For?[/B]

[URL]https://youtu.be/dkqhGhOcCNM?si=TRaMLe-fY9RlATxk[/URL]

The answer might surprise you.

Bear in mind, no history of behavior was factored into this exercise. Therefore, A. I. Did not take into account Trump leading his blood-thirsty, violent, cop-killing mob of insurrectionist "patriots" into bloody and deadly battle on American Soil in his War Against America as the sitting former president or his being more responsible than anyone else on the planet for creating Trump's Pandemic and all the worldwide deaths, economic disaster, inflation and opportunistic corporate price gouging that naturally and predictably followed.

So that gave Trump a huge advantage in this "contest".

Instead, it was strictly based on their stated policies, political and public service accomplishments.[/QUOTE]
Gotta say, I was very impressed with the level and depth of the analysis, that ChatGPT brought to the conversation and the question of, [i][b]"Who IT would vote for?",[/i][/b] rather than [i][b]"Who'd win the 2024 Election?",[/i][/b] definitely made for an interesting video.

In pretty much all surveys or comparison AI tests, it appears that all the AI's "handlers", have Harris vs. Trump in a toss-up, or have been instructed to keep their AI models from being used to spread misinformation online and have [i]"restricted their respective models from answering questions about elections, instead telling the user to search online themselves or review websites considered trusted sources.[/i]

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2951926]It only involved Harris and Trump. I assume the A. I. Program had also gathered the same information [b]on candidates like Chase Oliver but that it probably only spit our responses like "Who"?[/b][/QUOTE]

ChatGTP: Chase...who now?
ChatGTP: Did you mean Chevy Chase? (....kkkk)

Thanks again! I did enjoyed how the producer of the video, challenged ChatGTP and asked conversational election candidate questions, as if it were an actual person going to vote, and a potential voter, would vote based on the weighed merits of each candidate.

[QUOTE=SubCmdr;2952068]For me it is not as easy as allowing a intermediary to hold everything for you. That fuckery turns everyone into a baby having their hand held in the new nanny state. I am a real man. I sovegien individuals. I don't need to mother fuckers telling how can use the capital I have saved and invested by working the better part of my lifetime, shedding blood, sweat and tears working on government / corporate slave wage plantations in the United Staes of America. The current banking system is run by the Plutocratic class and is design to enrich that class at the expense of the common man like me. Now some would not know a thing about that because they are the privileged because of what their father and mother looked like and where she pushed them out of her vagina.

The system so many posting about here is a system where you have to ask permission to have your own money.

[B]Fuck dat shit[/B]!

When was the last time you held a stock certificate of one of those dividend holding companies you have in your portfolio? The actual note from a bond you purchased? Don't answer that. Because you haven't mother fucker. You depend on trusted intermediaries to handle thing for you and that is all well and good until it isn't. [B]LOL[/B]!

Some people don't the first thing about buying crypto. They don't know how to own it. That is why you making so many accusations about it. Because you want me to explain it to you because you don't understand it. Because you just cannot call your bookie (ooops, I mean broker) up on the phone and place an order. Now you can use the internet to buy stocks and bonds. You can do the same to buy crypto.

Bitcoin has worked that way for me. But I had do a lot of homework to understand it. Homework many have not done because they keep asking questions about and instead of admitting that they really don't know shit they instead choose to put out misinformation.

He was white boy of privilege who went to a top university in the United States of America. He was able to build a business based solely on his reputation because people did not do their due diligence because of who he was.

Namely: [B]He was white boy of privilege[/B]!

[I]Samuel Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, 32, of Stanford, California, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture for his orchestration of multiple fraudulent schemes[/I]

[B]Not your keys; Not your crypto[/B] Only keep the amount of value in crypto that you need on the exchange of your choice to perform your transactions. The rest should be self custody using a combination of a hot wallet and cold wallet. I never went near FTX because I know what I am doing!

This is so basic, yet it requires self education. If you are not ready to take responsibility for self. Bitcoin and crypto is not for you. Because currently there is no nanny state, hand holding protections for those who participate in the crypto market. Hopefully it will remain a place reserved for individuals who understand what they are buying and the risks they are taking.

[B]FFlintstone69[/B] I see you are reading and commenting on my posts again. Are you learning a lot about crypto from me?[/QUOTE]But when I'm scrolling bold italics do unfortunately catch my attn.

Just checking in to flex for myself and my brother from another mother, Jonah.

[URL]https://www.tiktok.com/@kingjonahfalcon/video/7252887098028526890?lang=en[/URL]

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aBgBoA_yIM[/URL]

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbmwJYLVQpI[/URL]

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2951948]Thing about you Loony Tooms is I wonder if you can tell where you are being duped or not. Is that article honest or is it propaganda? Of course, sales are up. Food costs more than ever before!

And you blew off Red Lobster going under and thought they were the only one. Uh, no. [URL]https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/01/restaurant-chains-that-filed-for-bankruptcy-this-year.html[/URL].

Similarly, while Denny's hasn't technically declared bankruptcy (one of its franchisees has, however) it has also closed numerous locations across the country. Denny's CFO, Robert Verostek, specifically pointed to inflation as the reason for the company's financial struggles during an earnings call back in February 2024.

While USA Restaurant chains are definitely struggling, it's worth noting it's not only the restaurant industry experiencing an uptick in business bankruptcy filings.

Read More: [URL]https://www.moneydigest.com/1659280/real-reason-restaurant-chains-struggling/[/URL].

According to the USA Department of Agriculture, USA Food prices rose by 25% between 2019 to 2023.

Thanks Joe indeed![/QUOTE]

Elvis 2008, you of all people, should understand supply and demand? Survival of the fittest? RIGHT?

If your food, restaurant and/or service is no longer appealing to consumers, or continue to grow with your customers...most likely, you're NOT gonna be in business for very much longer and eventually you are going to go outta business. So surely understand that, RIGHT!

[i][b]Sometimes, crappy food and old stale restaurants, is just crappy food and old stale restaurants[/b][/i], that either go outta business or need to reinvent themselves. Most often it has nothing to do with not being able to survive or thrive, in your so called, "bad Biden economy."

Some of those restaurant business, sited in your links, that are going into bankruptcy, may yet restructure and come out of bankruptcy, for the better. It's not an easy thing, but it's been done. And with lower inflation, interest rates coming down, a great forward looking and business friendly, Biden/Harris to Harris/Walz economy will better than an inevitable Trump/Vance disastrous recession.

But let be real, shall we? The restaurant business is a cut-throat business, and those that DON'T move with the times, or DON'T keep up with the changing culinary trends and appetites of their customers, ultimately will fall by the wayside.

[b]The 42 Fastest-Growing Restaurant Chains Right Now[/b]
[url]https://www.eatthis.com/fastest-growing-restaurant-chains-2024/[/url]

[b]Trends Shaping The Ever Changing Restaurant Business In 2024[/b]
[url]https://www.forbes.com/sites/garyocchiogrosso/2024/01/20/trends-shaping-the-ever-changing-restaurant-business-in-2024/[/url]

The good news is, that for every failed restaurant or restaurant chain, the are 10, 20 or 30 new restaurants looking to fill the void and provide the newest, latest and greatest, savory and tastiest menus, food, restaurant and/or service. Meanwhile the bigger restaurant chains are eagerly willing to step-in and gobble up, these failing brands and take over their market share of the business, consumers and customers.

Thanks to President Joe Biden and the up coming Harris/Walz administration/economy, many of those new restaurants, will hopefully thrive just nicely.

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2952124]MDS, I have gotten word the deep state part of the executive branch is so corrupt that they will turn their spying apparatus on judges they do not like, and the deep state really, really, really wanted Ulbricht, so they were not going to risk their careers standing up for a guy who appears to be not innocent. In fact, the judge sentenced him to more than even the prosecution was looking for.

The list of actual charges is listed here: [URL]https://freeross.org/the-charges/[/URL].

On May 29,2015, Ross Ulbricht, a first-time offender, was sentenced to double life plus 40 years without parole for all non-violent convictions. He was never prosecuted for causing harm or bodily injury. No victim was named at trial.

Well, there are always going to be both. But an organization like the DEA always needs an enemy to exist. So in 2013, they focused on new things. One was prescription drugs and doctors. The other was the dark web. They launched criminal investigations against both, reduced the number of drugs being prescribed and sold over the dark web, and what happened? The number of overdoses skyrocketed.

Thing about doctors is they were prescribing safe drugs. Very few people who took their drugs correctly died. With Silk Road, it was an Ebay type system in which users rated the quality of the dealer. If that system had been in place, the people dying from buying Fentanyl dressed up to look like Oxycontin or Xanax would not have died.

Given the DEA's method of handling things has been such a disaster, they have changed course. They are banking everything on Suboxone and claiming the same crap about Suboxone that they did about Oxycontin. And like Oxycontin, suboxone is a generic drug or drugs put in a new shell that a drug company charges 20 X more for.

As for why Republicans are freeing Ross Ulbricht, I cannot speak for everyone. For a lot, it is the government going way too far for a nonviolent offender. [URL]https://freeross.org/support/[/URL].

If he is so bad, you should be able to get one person to testify against him that says they were harmed. The government did not do that.

For me, I am just sick and tired of law enforcement being lazy, self serving, or corrupt and getting away with it. You have the agents stealing money being excluded. That was bullshit. You had the entrapment excluded. That was bullshit too. The end game of all of this is what we saw with Trump where he was convicted on a law that law enforcement literally made up and a judge tossed out reasonable doubt.

You are not seeing it mentioned in the media like the conviction was but the lawyers who brought the fraud charges against Trump were spanked last week in Appeals court. Apparently, by the end, the state of New York attorneys were almost begging not to be sanctioned for bringing this crap. I hope they are sanctioned. I am sick of the bad LE always being given a pass.[/QUOTE][URL]https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/08/02/sue-mi-terry-south-korean-agent-indictment-column-00172298[/URL]

Thanks to Scumbag Joe and Pelosi et al.

Max the turd needs to be in jail also, zero doubt he was involved, but you can't do that he works for Bozo and WAPO.

Another propaganda appendage of the vile oligarchy, but the Cucks for Harris love it all.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175]Elvis 2008, you of all people, should understand supply and demand? Survival of the fittest? RIGHT?[/QUOTE]You give him way more credit. He often talks a good game. But when you step to him with facts he STFU.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175]If your food, restaurant and/or service is no longer appealing to consumers, or continue to grow with your customers...most likely, you're NOT gonna be in business for very much longer and eventually you are going to go outta business. [/QUOTE]This is how I understand that capitalism is supposed to work. Except if you are a bank. If you are a bank and you fuck up, the taxpayers bail them out.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175]So surely understand that, RIGHT! [/QUOTE]Still giving him too much credit.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175][i][b]Sometimes, crappy food and old stale restaurants, is just crappy food and old stale restaurants[/b][/i], that either go outta business or need to reinvent themselves.[/QUOTE]Keeping it 100 right there my ISG brother.

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2951948]Thing about you Loony Tooms is I wonder if you can tell where you are being duped or not. Is that article honest or is it propaganda? Of course, sales are up. Food costs more than ever before!

And you blew off Red Lobster going under and thought they were the only one. Uh, no. [URL]https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/01/restaurant-chains-that-filed-for-bankruptcy-this-year.html[/URL].

Similarly, while Denny's hasn't technically declared bankruptcy (one of its franchisees has, however) it has also closed numerous locations across the country. Denny's CFO, Robert Verostek, specifically pointed to inflation as the reason for the company's financial struggles during an earnings call back in February 2024.

While USA Restaurant chains are definitely struggling, it's worth noting it's not only the restaurant industry experiencing an uptick in business bankruptcy filings.

Read More: [URL]https://www.moneydigest.com/1659280/real-reason-restaurant-chains-struggling/[/URL].

According to the USA Department of Agriculture, USA Food prices rose by 25% between 2019 to 2023.

Thanks Joe indeed![/QUOTE]I don't know if you know how Supply and Demand and Inflation work. But, for starters, prices go up when demand is high. They can't go up when nobody shows up with the money to buy it. As the saying goes, "Askin' Ain't Gettin'.

Restaurants can raise prices for whatever reason. But when nobody shows up because, as Trump and his cult followers claim, "nobody has any money", then those higher prices can no longer stand.

That clearly did not happen in the restaurant industry for this and the previous two years.

Add this to the record high restaurant sales.

[B]US home prices notch another record high in July.[/B]

[URL]https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-home-prices-notch-another-record-high-in-july-151810960.html[/URL]

[B]S&P 500 reaches another record high.[/B]

[URL]https://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au/archives/finance_news_network471335.html[/URL]

That can not happen if purchasing power has declined as Trump and his cult followers claim.

Oh, look:

[B]American households have seen their purchasing power increase.[/B]

[URL]https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/18/wages-have-outstripped-cpi-inflation-for-a-year.html?__source=androidappshare[/URL]

[QUOTE]Real hourly earnings, or wages after inflation, have been positive since May 2023.

That means buying power has increased for the average worker, especially those in non-managerial roles.

Real wages had previously been negative for two years amid fast-rising consumer prices.

Americans have seen their buying power rise for a year amid falling inflation and a strong job market, which might be welcome news for households struggling to afford everyday purchases.

The average worker in the private sector saw their real hourly earnings grow 0.8% from May 2023 to May 2024, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

"Real earnings measure the net growth in workers wages after inflation. In other words, the average worker in the private sector got a net raise from May 2023 to May 2024, after accounting for price growth in consumer goods and services. Their paycheck today buys more than it did a year ago.[/QUOTE]We already know there is zero reason for wages to go up in the face of idiotic economic "stimulus" legislation like the Trump / Repub's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that, despite adding Trillions to the deficit, produced 1 million FEWER jobs in the first 3 pre-Trump's Pandemic years with it than in the previous 3 Obama-Biden years without it and that the sole reason anyone's wages increased throughout the entire Trump so-called presidency is because primarily Blue Cities and Blue States (where the lion's share of Americans work) raised the minimum wage despite Trump / Repubs' typical historic resistance to it.

Therefore, it is well past time we all issue a great big Thank You to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the rest of the Dems for this latest Great Dem Recovery from the latest Great Trump / Repub Crash, Recession and Historic Jobs Destruction, along with the Dem Economic Expansion, Historic Jobs and Wage Gains for America!

An anonymous internet personality posting on an obscure website wrote this in reference to me:

[QUOTE][b]Reading your Sooper low IQ drivel, not on your life[/b][/QUOTE]My understanding is that this is the [B]American Politics[/B] thread. Still trying to figure out how ANY of the diatribe the OP writes has anything to do [B]American Politics[/B]. But it does seem like the OP has a axe to grind with me. If you don't want to buy Bitcoin, just don't buy it. But stop with your Elvis 2008 style [B]ad hominem[/B] attacks. Please do your best in the future to address the subject matter and quit showing us all that you are feeling inferior as you read the knowledge I be putting in people eyeholes.

I heard the is an election for the President of the United States of America and whom ever he picked to be their Vice President. Do you have any input on that?

[B]Stack Sats[/B]

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2952215]I don't know if you know how Supply and Demand and Inflation work. But, for starters, prices go up when demand is high.[/QUOTE]So people are eating more under Biden than Trump? LOL. There was a massive increase in deficit spending and giveaways that caused inflation that was due to Biden. The restaurant industry themselves are saying things are bad.

Now things look so bad the Fed is cutting rates, and you guys are like, "Look, the economy is going to get better because the Fed is cutting rates. " Unbelievable. Yeah, the market is higher. Gee, I wonder why that is.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175]Elvis 2008, you of all people, should understand supply and demand? Survival of the fittest? RIGHT?[/QUOTE]Yeah, and a fight for survival only happens when there are limited resources. You got that part right. With the restaurant industry, thanks to Biden, the resource is cash, and because of inflation and higher interest rates, restaurants and their customers have less buying power than ever before. As for crappy food, if their food was so bad, why did all these restaurants have so many locations? You do not get why they went under.

They went under because they were fast growing and in demand and got into debt. When interest rates went up and consumers had less real income, they could not pay on their debt. You and Loony Tooms and your crappy food idea. OMG. Can you be more dense?

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175]Some of those restaurant business, sited in your links, that are going into bankruptcy, may yet restructure and come out of bankruptcy[/QUOTE]Yes, Democrats think screwing one's creditors is a great thing.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175]The restaurant business is a cut-throat business, and those that DON'T move with the times, or DON'T keep up with the changing culinary trends and appetites of their customers, ultimately will fall by the wayside.[/QUOTE]You think people just quit wanting lobster and sea food? OMG.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175]The good news is, that for every failed restaurant or restaurant chain, the are 10, 20 or 30 new restaurants looking to fill the void.[/QUOTE]Is it 10,20, or 30? Admit it. You just made it up. And how are they getting the loans to expand after Biden's attitude with creditors and higher interest rates and banks cutting back on lending?

[QUOTE=Spidy;2952175]Thanks to President Joe Biden and the up coming Harris/Walz administration/economy, many of those new restaurants[/QUOTE]LOL. Restaurants are going broke right and left, forced to cut prices because the consumer is in a world of hurt, and you think Biden-Harris did a great job? What is next? Are you going to praise how they handled hurricane Helene?

People have to eat. They just are staying in more because they have less money and it is cheaper to eat at home. It is not that hard.

But whatabout Kamala Harris' laugh, Joe Biden's stutter and Barack Obama's beige suit?!

[B]Fascist to the core": Former Trump official Milley warns against "dangerous" second term.
Trump appointee Mark Milley called the ex-prez the "most dangerous person ever".
Oct. 11, 2024[/B]

[URL]https://www.salon.com/2024/10/11/fascist-to-the-core-former-official-milley-warns-against-dangerous-second-term/[/URL]

[QUOTE]Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mark Milley warned that Donald Trump is a fascist to the core and a danger to the country in an excerpt from journalist Bob Woodwards new book.

In a snippet from the forthcoming book "War" that was obtained by The Guardian, the Trump appointee expressed concern that the former president would do serious harm to the country during a second term.

"He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize hes a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country, Milley told Woodward, adding that he fears Trump would have him court-martialed in a second term.

Milley is one of dozens of former Trump administration officials to come out against the former president, He shared with Woodward that he spent the last weeks of the Trump administration warning against a potential coup, saying that he could pull a Reichstag moment.

They may try, but they're not going to f-ing succeed, Milley reportedly told deputies. "You can't do this without the military. You can't do this without the CIA and the FBI. We're the guys with the guns.

Milley's tenure lasted well into the Biden administration. He took time to criticize Trump upon his retirement, telling a crowd that he took an oath to the U.S. Constitution and not a wannabe dictator. Milley shared that hes been plagued with a non-stop barrage of death threats since disparaging Trump.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2952320]So people are eating more under Biden than Trump? LOL. [B]There was a massive increase in deficit spending and giveaways that caused inflation that was due to Biden.[/b] The restaurant industry themselves are saying things are bad.

Now things look so bad the Fed is cutting rates, and you guys are like, "Look, the economy is going to get better because the Fed is cutting rates. " Unbelievable. Yeah, the market is higher. Gee, I wonder why that is.[/QUOTE][B]Trump ran up national debt twice as much as Biden: new analysis.[/B]

[URL]https://www.axios.com/2024/06/24/trump-biden-debt-deficits-election[/URL]

[QUOTE][b]By the numbers:[/b]

Trump added $8.4 trillion in borrowing over a ten-year window, CRFB finds in a report out this morning.

Biden's figure clocks in at $4.3 trillion with seven months remaining in his term.
If you exclude COVID relief spending from the tally, the numbers are $4.8 trillion for Trump and $2.2 trillion for Biden.[/QUOTE]When you properly factor in that Trump's DOUBLE the deficit spending over Biden added zero additional jobs and / or higher wages with it than without it (verses historic job and wage gains under Biden-Harris) and that Trump's horrific economic and national security policies and stewardship ushered in and exacerbated Trump's Pandemic with all of the deaths, massive job losses, school and business closures, inflation and opportunistic corporate price gouging that followed as predictably as night following day, Trump's economic legacy alone, not even counting his leading his violent, cop-killing mob of insurrectionists into battle on American soil in his War Against America, fully supports his ranking as The Worst President of All Time by a bi-partisan committee of American Presidential Historians.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2952221][B]US home prices notch another record high in July.[/B]

[URL]https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-home-prices-notch-another-record-high-in-july-151810960.html[/URL][/QUOTE]

Wow! Just wow. From the graph in your link, home prices are up 38% since Biden took office! Not only that but interest rates are much higher. How are people supposed to be able to afford to buy houses?


[QUOTE=EihTooms;2952221]Real hourly earnings, or wages after inflation, have been positive since May 2023.

That means buying power has increased for the average worker, especially those in non-managerial roles.

Real wages had previously been negative for two years amid fast-rising consumer prices.

Americans have seen their buying power rise for a year amid falling inflation and a strong job market, which might be welcome news for households struggling to afford everyday purchases.

The average worker in the private sector saw their real hourly earnings grow 0.8% from May 2023 to May 2024, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

"Real earnings measure the net growth in workers wages after inflation. In other words, the average worker in the private sector got a net raise from May 2023 to May 2024, after accounting for price growth in consumer goods and services. Their paycheck today buys more than it did a year ago.[/QUOTE]Median real (inflation adjusted) earnings for wage and salary workers were up 6% during Trump's term in office. During Biden's term they're down 1%.

[URL]https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q[/URL]

This is despite the end of Trump's term coinciding with the worst pandemic-induced recession in the history of the USA. And Biden's term coinciding with the recovery from that recession.

Normally I'd say that's coincidence, that the president doesn't have a lot of control over real wages compared to everything else that's in play. But in this case, Biden and Democratic Congressmen are partly responsible. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) set off inflation in the USA months before it hit other countries. Ironically, Biden et al pumped trillions of fiscal stimulus into the economy, adding greatly to the national debt. You'd think that would have increased real wages. But prices of goods and services went up faster than wages, and the working man got farther behind the eight ball.

Inflation in the European Union lagged behind inflation in the USA from March, 2021, when the first ARP checks hit, and didn't cross over and become higher until July, 2022. Well, during that period, real weekly earnings declined by 4%! Biden and Democratic Congressmen own that, again partly.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2952221]We already know there is zero reason for wages to go up in the face of idiotic economic "stimulus" legislation like the Trump / Repub's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that, despite adding Trillions to the deficit, produced 1 million FEWER jobs in the first 3 pre-Trump's Pandemic years with it than in the previous 3 Obama-Biden years without it and that the sole reason anyone's wages increased throughout the entire Trump so-called presidency is because primarily Blue Cities and Blue States (where the lion's share of Americans work) raised the minimum wage despite Trump / Repubs' typical historic resistance to it.

Therefore, it is well past time we all issue a great big Thank You to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the rest of the Dems for this latest Great Dem Recovery from the latest Great Trump / Repub Crash, Recession and Historic Jobs Destruction, along with the Dem Economic Expansion, Historic Jobs and Wage Gains for America![/QUOTE]The unemployment rate went down from 4.7% at the end of Obama's term to 3.6% pre-COVID. We were essentially at full employment, and experiencing the lowest unemployment rates in over 50 years when the pandemic hit. How do you add lots of jobs when everyone's already employed?

You persist in assuming the provisions of the TCJA will be extended past their sunset dates when you say it will add trillions to the deficit. Estimates around 2018 were that it would add around $1.5 trillion over 10 years, and I bet the number will be lower than that, even with Bidenflation. An NBER paper I've linked to here indicates the long term effect of the corporate tax cuts will be to increase government revenues, primarily because of higher social security and medicare contributions that will result from [B]additional jobs[/B] and higher wages. The corporate income tax rate, state + federal, was the highest in the developed world before the TCJA. Now that the USA is around the middle of the pack, our companies are more competitive. And that means more investment and more jobs.

Trump's position on the minimum wage is that he'd consider a nationwide increase to $15/ hour but would prefer to leave it to the states and localities. That was in 2020 by the way. Adjust for inflation during the Biden Administration and that $15/ hour becomes $18/ hour. Trump's right. Farmington, New Mexico probably can't support an $18/ hour minimum wage, while that number might be too low for Rockwall, Texas. Increases in the minimum wage anyway don't have much effect on average wages and have virtually no effect on median wages. There aren't that many people, percentagewise, receiving the minimum.

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2952124]MDS, I have gotten word the deep state part of the executive branch is so corrupt that they will turn their spying apparatus on judges they do not like, and the deep state really, really, really wanted Ulbricht, so they were not going to risk their careers standing up for a guy who appears to be not innocent. In fact, the judge sentenced him to more than even the prosecution was looking for.

The list of actual charges is listed here: [URL]https://freeross.org/the-charges/[/URL].

On May 29,2015, Ross Ulbricht, a first-time offender, was sentenced to double life plus 40 years without parole for all non-violent convictions. He was never prosecuted for causing harm or bodily injury. No victim was named at trial.

Well, there are always going to be both. But an organization like the DEA always needs an enemy to exist. So in 2013, they focused on new things. One was prescription drugs and doctors. The other was the dark web. They launched criminal investigations against both, reduced the number of drugs being prescribed and sold over the dark web, and what happened? The number of overdoses skyrocketed.

Thing about doctors is they were prescribing safe drugs. Very few people who took their drugs correctly died. With Silk Road, it was an Ebay type system in which users rated the quality of the dealer. If that system had been in place, the people dying from buying Fentanyl dressed up to look like Oxycontin or Xanax would not have died.

Given the DEA's method of handling things has been such a disaster, they have changed course. They are banking everything on Suboxone and claiming the same crap about Suboxone that they did about Oxycontin. And like Oxycontin, suboxone is a generic drug or drugs put in a new shell that a drug company charges 20 X more for.

As for why Republicans are freeing Ross Ulbricht, I cannot speak for everyone. For a lot, it is the government going way too far for a nonviolent offender. [URL]https://freeross.org/support/[/URL].

If he is so bad, you should be able to get one person to testify against him that says they were harmed. The government did not do that.

For me, I am just sick and tired of law enforcement being lazy, self serving, or corrupt and getting away with it. You have the agents stealing money being excluded. That was bullshit. You had the entrapment excluded. That was bullshit too. The end game of all of this is what we saw with Trump where he was convicted on a law that law enforcement literally made up and a judge tossed out reasonable doubt.

You are not seeing it mentioned in the media like the conviction was but the lawyers who brought the fraud charges against Trump were spanked last week in Appeals court. Apparently, by the end, the state of New York attorneys were almost begging not to be sanctioned for bringing this crap. I hope they are sanctioned. I am sick of the bad LE always being given a pass.[/QUOTE]"Ulbricht's conviction became a cause seelbre in libertarian circles. In May 2022, Congressman Thomas Massie called for a commutation of Ulbricht's conviction. The libertarian-oriented Reason Foundation attempted to raise funds, citing Ulbricht's case without taking any legal action, and 2020 Libertarian United States presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen made a campaign pledge to pardon Ulbricht. In May 2024, candidate Donald Trump said that if re-elected President, he would commute Ulbricht's sentence on his first day in office. In June of 2024, USA Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Made a similar promise to pardon Ulbricht, if elected. Wired magazine, reporting from a 2024 Bitcoin conference in Nashville, said that clemency for Ross Ulbricht had become a single-issue voting concern among many cryptocurrency supporters. ".

[URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht[/URL]

I haven't read the replies to your post Elvis, but imagine the usual suspects are accusing you of supporting fentanyl addiction and murder for hire, instead of recognizing that you view this as a legitimate first amendment issue.

[QUOTE=Tiny12;2952437]"Ulbricht's conviction became a cause seelbre in libertarian circles. In May 2022, Congressman Thomas Massie called for a commutation of Ulbricht's conviction. The libertarian-oriented Reason Foundation attempted to raise funds, citing Ulbricht's case without taking any legal action, and 2020 Libertarian United States presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen made a campaign pledge to pardon Ulbricht. In May 2024, candidate Donald Trump said that if re-elected President, he would commute Ulbricht's sentence on his first day in office. In June of 2024, USA Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Made a similar promise to pardon Ulbricht, if elected. Wired magazine, reporting from a 2024 Bitcoin conference in Nashville, said that clemency for Ross Ulbricht had become a single-issue voting concern among many cryptocurrency supporters. ".

[URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht[/URL]

I haven't read the replies to your post Elvis, but imagine the usual suspects are accusing you of supporting fentanyl addiction and murder for hire, instead of recognizing that you view this as a legitimate first amendment issue.[/QUOTE]Cause celebre? Thomas Massie and Nick Gillispie? Don't forget to quote Mephistopheles too.

Libertarians are like 3rd world foreign born physicians that can't make an honorable living so they resort to evil methods, their political mantra should be.

Make a buck by literally by any means necessary, modern slavery ala importing illegal slaves or outsourcing to Xinjiang.

Destroying young Americans with drugs, and call that a 1st amend issue? WTF seriously?

Not too many people are opposed to a min wage but a few are, I'm guessing everyone of them is a Libertarian.