American Politics

[Tiny 12]

You are in some of your points. The United States government does not need to tax for what it spends. Is the sole source of currency and the only thing that limits the amount of currency that can be placed into the system is productive capacity, ie. Natural resources and labor. The federal government is a currency issuer not a currency user. When Congress passes a bill the money is appropriated and then it goes on the balance sheets. When it is taxed back it comes off the balance sheets. Simple as that. Fiat currency is nothing but a system of debits and credits, which is a wonderful thing. The problem is what Congress appropriates money for. The deficit myth by Dr Stephanie Kelton is an excellent read, as is anything by Dr Randall Wray.

First thanks for the first thought provoking post in this thread in a long time.

As I understand it, Modern Monetary Theory, as promoted by Stephanie Kelton and Randall Wray, calls for massive deficit spending and injection of large amounts of base money into the economy by the central bank.

If a country implements MMT, why do you believe it wouldn't end up like Venezuela, Argentina, Zimbabwe and other countries that effectively printed money to pay for government expenditures? That is, why do you believe inflation wouldn't get out of control and the currency wouldn't be massively devalued?

And most importantly, why wouldn't SubComdr move to Monaco and start banging the same Colombianas for $1000 a hour that he's paying $50 an hour for now, with all the coin he'll be making from crypto when the world loses faith in paper currencies?

The standard answer by MMT proponents might be you'll increase taxes to reduce demand, and inflation, but not enough so that you create unemployment. So presumably you keep spending all out on government programs, and drain money from the private sector (from individuals and businesses through taxation) to control inflation.

I don't think that's practically doable. With a few exceptions like Bernie Sanders, politicians aren't willing to raise taxes enough to make that work. And what if they did? You'd crowd out the private sector, which is what grows the economy. That's not to say it wouldn't look good in the early years. Venezuela and Argentina did very well when they were initially goosing the economy. But eventually you pay the piper, and perhaps not only end up with high inflation but high unemployment too.

Undoubtedly Kelton and Wray have addressed this. Your thoughts on why I'm wrong would be interesting.

[EihTooms]

I do agree with clapping for nonsense is LOL

A little push back. There are some republicans, who are as you described, mainly (mega donors, ALL MAGA cult members), but I do not lump ever Republicans in this category. I watched the following video in which I found quite interesting on how taking one side or another without being critical when "my side" is wrong, or lumping everything together because explaining nuances is boring (intellectually healthy).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFq7BELzSHE

The video is 25 minutes, first 9 minutes sums up everything about the video, but at 21:17, a question regarding who's the left is then hotly debated and I found it to be very insightful / interesting.

Yeah, the lady host putting so much weight on the side of some supposedly "left-wing" individual loudmouth streamer on xitter vs the overwhelming majority of elected Democrats is similar to the "Defund the Police" phenomenon. One or two no-name loudmouths with no real legislative power do not represent even the beginning of a political Party movement. Not anything close to one Party voting unanimously in Congress to cut law enforcement budgets or deny necessary increases in law enforcement budgets or its iconic leader demanding his Party to defund and abolish the national police force and the Department of Justice.

In this case I don't understand what the controversy is. Are Wingers claiming the Aurora police are illegal immigrant-loving "lefties" who choose to ignore purported Venezuealan Immigrant-on-Venezuelan Immigrant crime?

And what crimes are the Aurora police ignoring? I heard that Venezuelan Immigrants and the apartment landlord are "saying" they have been threatened by violence. Ok. If the cops are refusing to respond to or investigate those accusations then does that make them "soft on crime lefties" who care too much about Venezuelan gangs or dismissive "anti-immigrant Wingers" who don't give a shit about the safety of those immigrants?

Bullet holes in cars? Yeah, should be investigated. But from where and from whom? Cars move. They don't just stay parked at apartment complexes.

I see a CC video of 4-5 guys walking up the stairs to an apartment door. One is on a cell phone. One is carrying a long gun of some kind. Is that the best evidence of a crime being committed by gangs in that apartment complex? Maybe the Aurora police are not rushing over to that apartment based on that video because it does not show a crime being committed. Colorado is an Open Carry gun state. That video simply does not show a crime being committed in the state of Colorado unless it is showing the long gun to be of an illegal type and I have not heard that it does.

[Huacho]

"Maybe there's an aunt or uncle that wants to help out a little bit more," Vance told host Charlie Kirk.

Yeah, like Donald took care of his nephew's kid.

[Goatscrot]

I do agree with clapping for nonsense is LOL

A little push back. There are some republicans, who are as you described, mainly (mega donors, ALL MAGA cult members), but I do not lump ever Republicans in this category. I watched the following video in which I found quite interesting on how taking one side or another without being critical when "my side" is wrong, or lumping everything together because explaining nuances is boring (intellectually healthy).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFq7BELzSHE

The video is 25 minutes, first 9 minutes sums up everything about the video, but at 21:17, a question regarding who's the left is then hotly debated and I found it to be very insightful / interesting.

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are economically left when looked upon with an international viewpoint. The Republicans scream deregulation in the Democrats counter with mild regulation as opposed to nationalization. If they didn't count her with nationalization perhaps we would end up with proper regulation in the United States and enjoy things like universal health care, four weeks paid vacation, maternity leave, and excellent pensions at a reasonable age. The Democrats have not even pretended to be left leaning since the defeat of Michael Dukakis. Go back and look at FDR's second Bill of Rights speech. That wasn't even considered extremely left at the time as FDR was making proposals to counter the socialist movement in the United States.

[Woodman09]

Is this the beginning of the RedWave?

[The Cane]

Dick Cheney to vote for Kamala Harris: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/06/polit...ent/index.html.

[CheckMate1]

The worst part of that incident was the people in that room, supposedly "business" leaders or some such nonsense, actually applauded that utterly incoherent, total gobbledygook non answer to the question asked of the severely cognitively impaired Donald Trump.

LOL. And that is what typically pro Repub Mainstream Media allows to be passed off as "taking questions" and "sitting for an interview" as long as it is Trump or some other blithering Repub numbskull.

That is not an answer to any question, least of all the question Trump was asked.

If Joe Biden had ever, ever given as blithering blathering nonsensical a response as that to any question at any debate, press conference or interview even I would have demanded he resign from the presidency this very minute and everyone in his circle of staff and acquaintances indicted for reckless endangerment of the American people.

But Biden never has. And neither has Harris.

Trump has. Often.

I do agree with clapping for nonsense is LOL

A little push back. There are some republicans, who are as you described, mainly (mega donors, ALL MAGA cult members), but I do not lump ever Republicans in this category. I watched the following video in which I found quite interesting on how taking one side or another without being critical when "my side" is wrong, or lumping everything together because explaining nuances is boring (intellectually healthy).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFq7BELzSHE

The video is 25 minutes, first 9 minutes sums up everything about the video, but at 21:17, a question regarding who's the left is then hotly debated and I found it to be very insightful / interesting.

[EihTooms]

Question: "If you win in November, can you commit to prioritizing legislation to make childcare affordable, and if so, what specific piece of legislation would you advance?

Genius:

[B]"Well, I would do that, and we're sitting down, and I was, somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It's a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, that, because, look, child care is child care is. It's, couldn't, you know, there's something, you have to have it. In this country you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I'm talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they're not used to but they'll get used to it very quickly and it's not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they'll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country..

The worst part of that incident was the people in that room, supposedly "business" leaders or some such nonsense, actually applauded that utterly incoherent, total gobbledygook non answer to the question asked of the severely cognitively impaired Donald Trump.

LOL. And that is what typically pro Repub Mainstream Media allows to be passed off as "taking questions" and "sitting for an interview" as long as it is Trump or some other blithering Repub numbskull.

That is not an answer to any question, least of all the question Trump was asked.

If Joe Biden had ever, ever given as blithering blathering nonsensical a response as that to any question at any debate, press conference or interview even I would have demanded he resign from the presidency this very minute and everyone in his circle of staff and acquaintances indicted for reckless endangerment of the American people.

But Biden never has. And neither has Harris.

Trump has. Often.

[CheckMate1]

Question: "If you win in November, can you commit to prioritizing legislation to make childcare affordable, and if so, what specific piece of legislation would you advance?

Genius:

"Well, I would do that, and we're sitting down, and I was, somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It's a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, that, because, look, child care is child care is. It's, couldn't, you know, there's something, you have to have it. In this country you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I'm talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they're not used to — but they'll get used to it very quickly – and it's not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they'll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we're talking about, including child care, that it's going to take care. We're going to have — I, I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with child care. I want to stay with child care, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I'm talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just, that I just told you about. We're going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it's relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we'll be taking in. We're going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we'll worry about the rest of the world. Let's help other people. But we're going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It's about Make America Great Again. We have to do it because right now we're a failing nation, so we'll take care of it. ".

His running mate did offer a more substantive answer:

"One of the ways that you might be able to relieve a little bit of pressure on people who are paying so much for daycare is, maybe grandma or grandpa wants to help out a little bit more, or maybe there's an aunt or uncle that wants to help out a little bit more," Vance told host Charlie Kirk.

[Goatscrot]

The most powerful thing about crypto is not the amount of money it has made me. It is that I have been able to take a portion of my wealth and opt out of the fiat currency system. The same way that precious metals allow one to do that. Except digitally. It is worldwide and permisionless. That is the power that crypto ownership has given me!

Of course none of the Presidents are responsible for GDP growth or increases of decrease of the stock market. It is the workers on the wage slave plantations that increase production because their overseers are flailing the fuck out of them.. NVDA was started by a guy who used to wash dishes in Dennys. He managed to be upwardly mobile. I have also, just on a lower level.

Presidents need to use tax dollars to build good infrastructure then get out of the way. And they should use a few of them as possible and lower the burden of the tax system on the wage slaves of the country. But has anyone ever asked: if the USA GOV is allowed to print money. And that money is the reserve currency of the world, why do they need to collect taxes in the first place? Why don't they just print the money the want to pay for what they need?

Look, my purchases of stocks are not genius. It is luck. I decided when I was young man I was going to get a piece of the American Pie. The genius part was busting my ass as a wage slave, doing without out and then putting that capital to work. A self taught financial education is what did that. Not the President of the United States of America. The Plutocracy will allow you to have a few crumbs that fall off the table. But they are not interested in inviting you to said table no matter what the political party.

You are in some of your points. The United States government does not need to tax for what it spends. Is the sole source of currency and the only thing that limits the amount of currency that can be placed into the system is productive capacity, ie. Natural resources and labor. The federal government is a currency issuer not a currency user. When Congress passes a bill the money is appropriated and then it goes on the balance sheets. When it is taxed back it comes off the balance sheets. Simple as that. Fiat currency is nothing but a system of debits and credits, which is a wonderful thing. The problem is what Congress appropriates money for. The deficit myth by Dr Stephanie Kelton is an excellent read, as is anything by Dr Randall Wray.

[Tiny 12]

Outside of politics, in your life, have you met people like this or keep them as friends, or even hold them in high regard?

Personally, I detest this type of people. So for me, he hasn't even met the basic threshold, let alone for me to vote for him.

Leaders do their jobs, not say how great they are ad nauseam. They don't look for excuses and don't have a victim's mentality.

What is your threshold?

The "R" party has gone down a path that enables CHARACTERS like Trump, to devolve into a CULT of personality and voting for people who has no interest in governing and are unserious. Lawmakers who are voted into office who haven't written a single legislation are rewarded with second / multiple terms, who moonlight in other jobs while not doing the primary one.

This is what I see on the Federal level. The party needs to "check yourself before you wreck yourself" I just hope it is not too late.

If I'm able to vote, it won't vote for him because of his character. Because I've worked with two people who are like him, and it was a living hell. However, I can understand how intelligent people, like Elvis and some of our other esteemed posters, might after looking at the alternative.

[Tiny 12]

The most powerful thing about crypto is not the amount of money it has made me. It is that I have been able to take a portion of my wealth and opt out of the fiat currency system. The same way that precious metals allow one to do that. Except digitally. It is worldwide and permisionless. That is the power that crypto ownership has given me!

I'm a rube with crypto, but a less sophisticated way of saying that is that it takes money out of the hands of government. That may not be a huge deal for those of us in western countries, yet, but it darn sure is in places like Venezuela.

[Tiny 12]

You "sarcastically paraphrased" Obama and then slammed him for something you are now suggesting you know he never said?

Uh. It looks to me like you totally swallowed the Repub LIE about what he said and merely repeated and regurgitated it on the grossly mistaken assumption that he actually said it.

Oh Please! That's just classic Tiny 12, backpedaling. That's just what you do! For you it's an Olympic event! (...kkkk!)

You have a sordid history of doing just that...backpedaling!

FWIW, my money is on you, as the next, Backpedaling gold medalist.

PS: BTW, that's four (4) good long years of backpedaling in the ISG Forums, to build up those lip muscles, before the next Olympics (...kkkk!)

Backpedal my ass. "Remember what Barrack Obama told the American businessman, You didn't create that job, the government did" is a good, succinct summary of the complete quote Tooms provided in the ABC link. Elvis, who I was replying to, probably has no problem with that. Given that you saw it, I owe you an apology though. You don't say bad things about Mohammed to a Moslem, the Pope to a Catholic, or Satan to devil worshippers, even if they're true. You're Democrats and this is a public forum. So belated apologies.

I'm not sure if you really want to know how us nonbelievers feel, so please stop reading now if that's something you'd rather not hear. You've been warned.

Here's an excerpt from a contemporaneous piece in the WSJ about this.

"Speaking in Roanoke, Virginia, Mr. Obama delivered another paean to the virtues of higher taxes on the people he believes deserve to pay even more to the government. "There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans," he observed, and many of them attribute their wealth and success to their own intelligence and hard work. But the self-made man is an illusion: "There are a lot of smart people out there," he explained. "Let me tell you somethingthere are a whole bunch of hard-working people out there.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help," he continued. "There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.".

This burst of ideological candor is already resonating like nothing else Mr. Obama's said in years. The Internet is awash with images of the President telling the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and other innovators they didn't build that. Kevin Costner's famous line in "Field of Dreams," as adapted for Mr. Obama: "If you build it, we'll still say you didn't really build it.".

Beneath the satire is the serious point that Mr. Obama's homily is the soul of his campaign message. The President who says he wants to be transformational may be succeedingand subordinating to government the individual enterprise and risk-taking that underlies prosperity. The question is whether this is the America that most Americans want to build."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001...33300916053684

Here's the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu2Ni0x4hJ8

The sanctimonious prick's words drip with arrogance, superiority and self righteousness: If you've got a business you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.

https://www.wsj.com/video/american-f...3-93B9F34480CB

"Dreams are built on hard work, not government."

[SubCmdr]

Land based cruise missiles. Green lighted by President Carter.

In promising to proceed with the MX missile and with cruise missiles suitable for use in Europe, President Carter has made clear to Senator Robert C. Byrd that he means I full‐scale deolovment of the weanons.

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/27/a...e-to-some.html

To counter this, the allies agreed in 1979, as part of a two-track decision, to deploy as a deterrent land-based cruise missiles and Pershing II missiles capable of reaching targets in the Soviet Union. These missiles are to be deployed in several countries of Western Europe. This relatively limited force in no way serves as a substitute for the much larger strategic umbrella spread over our NATO allies. Rather, it provides a vital link between conventional shorter-range nuclear forces in Europe and intercontinental forces in the United States.

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/ar...113keeperfile/

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts.

[Spidy]

A republican president did not do this:

NVDA: 108.02 Up 724.5% since I purchased it. NASDQ has taken a beating lately. You people be fucking up the program. Obama did shit right!.

• 100% correct and YES, he did do shit right! (w/r to AI's being an integral part of America's AI successes)
• 100% correct again, a Repub president DID NOT do that!
• 200% correct, WHAT would a "know nothing", "do nothing", "no vision", "backwards looking", Repub president/admin know about 724.5% returns?

As some would like to whitewash, minimize and revise, the accomplishments of President Obama (like they tend to do with Black History), the fact remains, that back in 2016, it was a keen AI enthusiast President Obama (and VP Biden), that did issue two (2) official documents, detailing policy initiatives on promoting Artificial Intelligence (AI), in the US.

It was that forward thinking vision, to heavily promote and back the 2016 AI Initiatives, with the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, that has gone a long way to supporting, building and keeping America, as the world leaders in the AI tech space. And more importantly, to say ahead of the Chinese, as they started their AI Initiatives in 2017, due to Presidents Obama's 2016 AI Initiatives.

CNA - China's Betting Big On Artificial Intelligence. Could The US Lose The AI Race? | Insight - https://youtu.be/2HUCwsdftMU?t=340

IMHO, President Obama and President Biden, were strategic agents and major catalysts, for the initial and extended growth of AI, in America. That's what having a vision for your country is all about and a competent administration to execute and carry out that vision.

President Obama, Biden and Harris have VISION!