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Re: Current Events Thread
Yeah, there are ways to fix this. When I looked into the idea of subsidizing wages I was shocked to learn it was something Nixon wanted to do before Watergate.
Yeah, he was considering implementing a sort of prototypical UBI. It's not a new idea, I don't get why it isn't at least experimented with in a country like the US. It's the kind of thing I'd think could be worth trialling in Alaska or Hawaii because the issue of a someone just hopping across statelines and using their UBI spending power in a different state is less likely to be an issue.
- TheSundanceKid
- Rep: 30
Re: Current Events Thread
I’m going to disagree with the anti minimum wage increase. Wages haven’t gone up in years. A Big Mac costs less in Denmark than in the US.
The rich ain’t getting taxed fairly in the US.
A lot of corporations have sold out there country and people yet get tax breaks and still charge (if not more. For a product no longer made in the US).
I’ve had this argument before. Companies that have outsourced and moved operations overseas because they want to get even more of a return should be taxed like hell.
Trickle down economics is bullshit.
Nixon was the best Republican President in the later half of the 20th Century.
Companies like Apple and Amazon shouldn’t be getting tax breaks like they are.
Paying people a livable wage isn’t abhorrent. It’s the morally right.
America’s light is dimming only because of excessive greed, a lack of domestic production, a lack of middle class jobs, and a lack of unions.
Also, it’s counter intuitive in protecting America and her national security by not having the means to produce goods at home. Relying heavily on China. China isn’t America’s friend. Maybe corporate America’s. But if freedom, and human rights are truly what the West values. We need to get off the trajectory we are on.
North America is the most fortunate continent. We have two oceans that protect us. And an abundance of resources.
I don’t think the greatest generation would like what the collective West has become. That stood up and fought for an end of tyranny.
I’m rambling. But I’m passionate about this.
It’s a national security issue too.
Again I go back to the Carl Sagan quote: “Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”
Re: Current Events Thread
That Sagan quote is one of his best.
I’ve had this argument before. Companies that have outsourced and moved operations overseas because they want to get even more of a return should be taxed like hell.
I've been an advocate for this since the 90s when Clinton started the mass exodus of jobs going overseas.
It still blows my mind that Obama gave corporations tax incentives to move their factories to China, Malaysia, etc.
He was supposed to do the exact opposite.
You're right....it is a national security issue. They don't care though.
Even our medicine is outsourced. They should be tarred and feathered for this alone.
We will ship tons of fruit/veggies to China, they'll cook and can it, then ship it back here to be stocked in stores.
That is obscene. There should be factories everywhere here canning these goods. Ships mass polluting (for decades) so they don't have to pay Americans.
The 50s to the mid 90s allowed millions of Americans to work these types of jobs and they could support their families. These corporations were still making money.
I've said it for years...as we were entering the endless corruption in the 2000s, we needed a Roosevelt type figure to keep these people in check.
Our politicians...from Obama to McCain, Hillary, etc. always tell us these jobs aren't coming back. They're right...but it's because they along with their corporate masters don't want them to come back.
This country could've had a MASSIVE boom in the 21st century with the tech revolution... especially when the smart phone era started.
All of the world's smart phones are mostly made in China. That is a travesty.
Their convenient excuse is if they were made here they would cost thousands. Bullshit...the market would dictate the pricing and more than likely they'd cost what they do now.
Anyone remember paying thousands for TVs, VCRs, and stereos in the 80s? Of course not.
They act like they scrape by making these products yet Apple alone has 200 billion in cash reserves. Yes....200 billion.
A company with more cash reserves than most countries barely pays any taxes and in fact gets tax breaks to make this shit over there.
Our politicians and corporations keep the plebs distracted with identity politics and a hyperpartisan culture that has turned politics and news into entertainment.
They know exactly what they are doing.
As they rape and pillage the world's treasure and resources while it literally burns, they laugh at our stupidity and they no longer bother hiding their disdain for the American people.
It's one of the reasons that the Trump era was such a disappointment. The public willing to take a risk on an outsider and it wound up being him. He was worse than the swamp he claimed to loathe.
We needed an outsider to shake things up. Now the pooch is screwed.
I don’t think the greatest generation would like what the collective West has become.
The greatest generation along with the boomers set us on this path.
What they did to this country is unforgivable.
Re: Current Events Thread
I can’t say I’ve become more liberal. I just know I’m anti trump...and anyone associated with him.
But populist seems more trumpish these days and therefore i can’t do that either. Also populism is lowest common denominator bullshit like popular music.
Re: Current Events Thread
I can’t say I’ve become more liberal. I just know I’m anti trump...and anyone associated with him.
But populist seems more trumpish these days and therefore i can’t do that either. Also populism is lowest common denominator bullshit like popular music.
Trump was not a populist 
Re: Current Events Thread
mitchejw wrote:I can’t say I’ve become more liberal. I just know I’m anti trump...and anyone associated with him.
But populist seems more trumpish these days and therefore i can’t do that either. Also populism is lowest common denominator bullshit like popular music.
Trump was not a populist
What was he then? He called himself a populist.
- TheSundanceKid
- Rep: 30
Re: Current Events Thread
That Sagan quote is one of his best.
I’ve had this argument before. Companies that have outsourced and moved operations overseas because they want to get even more of a return should be taxed like hell.
I've been an advocate for this since the 90s when Clinton started the mass exodus of jobs going overseas.
It still blows my mind that Obama gave corporations tax incentives to move their factories to China, Malaysia, etc.
He was supposed to do the exact opposite.
You're right....it is a national security issue. They don't care though.
Even our medicine is outsourced. They should be tarred and feathered for this alone.
We will ship tons of fruit/veggies to China, they'll cook and can it, then ship it back here to be stocked in stores.
That is obscene. There should be factories everywhere here canning these goods. Ships mass polluting (for decades) so they don't have to pay Americans.
The 50s to the mid 90s allowed millions of Americans to work these types of jobs and they could support their families. These corporations were still making money.
I've said it for years...as we were entering the endless corruption in the 2000s, we needed a Roosevelt type figure to keep these people in check.
Our politicians...from Obama to McCain, Hillary, etc. always tell us these jobs aren't coming back. They're right...but it's because they along with their corporate masters don't want them to come back.
This country could've had a MASSIVE boom in the 21st century with the tech revolution... especially when the smart phone era started.
All of the world's smart phones are mostly made in China. That is a travesty.
Their convenient excuse is if they were made here they would cost thousands. Bullshit...the market would dictate the pricing and more than likely they'd cost what they do now.
Anyone remember paying thousands for TVs, VCRs, and stereos in the 80s? Of course not.
They act like they scrape by making these products yet Apple alone has 200 billion in cash reserves. Yes....200 billion.
A company with more cash reserves than most countries barely pays any taxes and in fact gets tax breaks to make this shit over there.
Our politicians and corporations keep the plebs distracted with identity politics and a hyperpartisan culture that has turned politics and news into entertainment.
They know exactly what they are doing.
As they rape and pillage the world's treasure and resources while it literally burns, they laugh at our stupidity and they no longer bother hiding their disdain for the American people.
It's one of the reasons that the Trump era was such a disappointment. The public willing to take a risk on an outsider and it wound up being him. He was worse than the swamp he claimed to loathe.
We needed an outsider to shake things up. Now the pooch is screwed.
I don’t think the greatest generation would like what the collective West has become.
The greatest generation along with the boomers set us on this path.
What they did to this country is unforgivable.
Hell yes James!
Let’s not forget Bill Clinton repealed Glass–Steagall legislation. In turn leading to the 2008 housing melt down.
Democrats and the West need to get back to a Roosevelt type of thinking.
After Carter, every President has sold out the American worker. It’s not hard to see why people voted for Trump.
Nixon / Rockefeller Republicans are long gone.
Things do not go so well for the elite / countries that have such major wealth gaps.
It’s very hard to get a phone made not in China.
I know Sony makes some in Japan, and there is another company that I forgot about.
That’s why for most of my items I like buying from the West. Some like a phone are hard and electronics.
I know some TVs are made in Mexico. I bought a 2000 something that was made in Japan.
98 percent of the clothing I have would be from the US, Canada, Germany or France.
I’m fucked finding cheap New Balance shoes since a store I went to in Toronto renovated and don’t discount / carry the made in the US / UK ones
I read labels all the time now. Ocean’s tuna no longer canned in the US, so I moved to some brand canned in Italy.
Funny that when I went to Lewiston I could find a made in Canada car sponge, yet have never seen it up here.
We’ve got two Canadians held in prison because of some Huawei exec we’ve detained under house arrest. Yet my Prime Minister still hasn’t banned Huawei from 5G. Even after most 5 eyes countries have.
I can’t think of one shoe company that makes made in Canada shoes.
I know we used to have a big textile industry in the Greater Toronto Area and that’s almost all gone.
Two tier wages are another thing that some of these major corporations do. I know that’s the case in the auto industry up here.
Finding a made in Japan / US microwave is on my list right now. Amana seems to be the only one. Panasonic has a few.
When an artist like Tom Petty has his shirts made here that meant something. I remember Brian Wilson’s merchandise wasn’t made in the USA, and I was like fuck that.
Anyhow, I believe most people would rather buy American regardless of party affiliation. It’s an American, Canadian, et cetera issue. A service industry country isn’t something to strive for.
Sooner or later a FDR type of leader will come again. If not yikes.
If this pandemic isn’t a wake up call for us. I don’t know what the fuck will be.
Re: Current Events Thread
misterID wrote:mitchejw wrote:I can’t say I’ve become more liberal. I just know I’m anti trump...and anyone associated with him.
But populist seems more trumpish these days and therefore i can’t do that either. Also populism is lowest common denominator bullshit like popular music.
Trump was not a populist
What was he then? He called himself a populist.
He called himself a genius and the greatest President of all time, all of which were not true. He was a charlatan who jumped around ideologically. He was basically a corporatist if you could tie him to anything, but lusted after federal power.
Re: Current Events Thread
Trump was not a genuine populist.
It was a publicity stunt gone wrong. He didn't want to be president...he wanted to lose, bitch about Hillary stealing the election, and then cashing in with Trump TV.
He accidentally stumbled into history thanks to our garbage culture and since Trump TV could no longer happen, he turned his presidency into a huge grift and the cult of personality surrounding him, the media's obsession with him, and the fact his main accomplishment was a trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires allowed the grift to go unchecked.
Populist my ass.... although that was the initial perception.
