I wonder how long before people don't go to these events.
The Trump Presidency | Biden Inaugurated
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And I'm amazed how stupid his voters are. He's not hiding it, he's been saying from day 1 he's gonna do just that. And they lap it all like lamb to a slaughter.
Basically, cut tax from the rich, make you pay for health. Here take my money
He quadrupled the debt under his tenure.
The culture of debt started indeed during his tenure:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S
But it wasn't just tax cuts-- spending during his time in office reached 25% of GDP!
Mainly was military spending.
Exactly.
Could be-- the Star War reached its peaks during that decade, but that doesn't change the fact that spending in the 1980s was very high too (which some people choose to forget sometimes).
But, my main point is that since he took office, we started to move to higher and higher debt levels, and never really looked back (with the exception of improvements in the second half of the 1990s). The culture of debt started in the 1980s.
EDIT: an increase in debt can sometimes be justified; Reagan, GWB and Obama all had to deal with recessions, and so it's important to keep that in mind. But, all of these talks about "fiscal responsibility" by the GOP are unfounded.
And that's a bit rich coming from a neoliberal like Reagan.
Reagan had at least two main goals in his mind: 1) the collapse of the USSR, 2) changing the thinking of people about economics and the role of government.
The USSR did indeed collapse, and so at least the high debt of the 1980s led to something positive. However, the problem here is that Reagan cut tax rates at the same time that spending was rising. That was a bad combination, just like the 2003 tax cuts that happened concurrently with the rise in spending (the Iraq War). If it was just spending, it would be much better budget-wise.
Besides that, we ended up with a rise in inequality and a slow rise in income. Now, personally, I don't think that inequality per se is a major problem. Instead, it's the stagnant/slow rise in real income that cause hardships (it's one thing to have an increase in the incomes of low-income families and faster increase in the income of high-income families. It's another thing to have only the incomes of the high-income families rising).
And, his characterization of the government as the "problem" generated, over time, all the mistrust in the government... until we got where we are now!
That's actually a really interesting point.
Inequality per se isn‘t a problem if those on the wrong end have a decent standard of living. In 2015 there were still 13.5% of Americans under the poverty line...
According to at least one person on here they should just work harder.
I think the causal factor is that the GDP slowed down.
Conservative flapping gums, like Ben Shapiro and others, literally believe if you're poor in the States, it's all your fault. Why? Because America is the greatest country on earth with so much opportunity available to all.
These types of people get a remarkable amount of airtime.
Holding McCain to a different standard than the other Repubs is just silly. He's a lifelong conservative who is not going to vote against policies he has supported during his entire political career.
I agree, and that’s the problem that we’re having. There is not enough rise in real income for at least half of the country, which causes 1) more inequality, 2) standard of living are not rising as they should.
That's just part of it (and I mentioned that in my second post here).
There is one more point that concerns me about the tax bill that passed the Senate yesterday: if we slide into a recession in a year or two, then it will be harder to cut taxes again to stimulate the economy. That will really tie the hands of policy makers when we get there.
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Imho the low income is due to there's not much job available hence supply is bigger than demand.
Most consumer goods are made in china, to be honest not many manufacturers can produce goods in america anymore.
In indonesia the minimum wage is only like 300 usd (per month), clothing manufacturers for sure can't employ americans valued at i dont know.... 2.5k / month minimum wage? And that's before taking account of benefits etc.
And most of the middle level management jobs are being replaced with computers, systems, multimedia, the pie of jobs is getting smaller. No jobs no income, no income no buying power, no buying power no sales, no sales no job, and the vicious cycle continues.
People aren't afraid of low wage, they're afraid of no job they'd take any shit jobs they can find
Hmm, which raises the question of who exactly is going to be buying those automated system produced products/services, if people aren't working and earning money?
Trump 
Has someone reported Kushner might be cutting a deal then?
A few things:
Kushner has been implicated by Flynn.
Kushner had a meeting with Mueller last month.
When Kushner’s name came out yesterday, there was a quick leak that it was KT Macfarland not Kushner.
I very much doubt he’d flip on his own father in law but he definitely seems like like a spineless prick so I wouldn’t rule it out.
Is it really so hard to stick to real sources? "Palmer report" is another one of those fake news sites.
It’s not really a source is it? It’s just an opinion/observation tweet.
That Twitter account spreads all sorts of fake news.
You only need to spend a couple of minutes researching the "Palmer report" to realise its a sham and any sensible person would steer clear of it.
And i guess most of them voted for Trump, especially white.
They would all feck anyone over to save themselves or to get ahead. There is no morals or loyalty with any of them. That could apply to most rich/powerful people. That's why it's refreshing to find the decent ones who care and actually give their own money rather than setting up a foundation in their name and using other peoples donations.
It's also why these modern gangsters are so despised and would suffer badly if they ever went inside. True gangsters like the Krays or the old school Mafia all lived by codes and they all had strict rules. They were cnuts, dangerous, nasty cnuts, but they all followed rules. That shit is gone with these modern day billionaire gangsters.
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must-watch gif
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Even Inspector Gadget could have worked this one out. I'm loving the fact his Twitter account looks like being his downfall. That and sacking Comey. I hope this moves quickly now because it's gone past being an embarrassment for the GOP and the country. Now it's time for damage control as soon nobody in the world will take him seriously or believe a word he says and they wont want to deal with a criminal who is in bed with Putin.
The Kush knows damn well The Donald would flip him in an instant to save his own ass (and his daughter/sons).
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It's because of a combination of the general respect he gets from liberals, which was dialed up to 11 after the ACA vote, and because of the moral black hole represented by this:
Never mind holding McCain to a different standard, let's just hold him to the same standard, anyone voting for this tax bill is a sack of shit.
A totally pointless tweet. We knew McCain's positions well before these bills were drafted up.
That doesn't change how to judge them - as morally repulsive acts.
That's just ridiculous to be honest. John McCain has always been derided ever since he chose Sarah fecking Palin. He's been made fun of many times over and yes, he voted down healthcare reform and he was praised for it. He's a Republican senator and he has always voted along party lines. Teamtumor and all that crap is offensive in my view.
You can thank the Republicans as a whole for that - not McCain as if he's supposed to be some sort of terminal savior of left wing policies.
Can't argue with that.
David Frum has an interesting insight. He said that the GOP had a Faustian deal with Trump in order to pass the Tax Bill. Once Trump's signature is on the Bill, they will not be so supportive or neutered towards him.
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