Politics

[sgt_zim]

Everything has a topper. Posted on my living room wall is a 50 TRILLION dollar note from Zimbabwe. Its there to remind me what can happen with bad fiscal policies.

The Zimbabweans were pikers.

here is a 100 quintillion (10^20) Pengo printed in Hungary in 1946

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

America would be fine in this so called global economy if they were isolationist in action.

Those who don’t believe so are just parroting the communist narrative. For the uninformed that’s the democrat narrative. Kick all foreign companies out, sorry Rigby, stop importing foreign goods and services, and return to America first, foremost, and always.

Hmm, I work for a company that sells its products all over the world. Were that to end, I'm quite certain that if I still had a job, I'd know plenty of colleagues would not.

 

[Neophyte]

New jobs will be created by not having foreign products here.

When we have only American made, while we wouldn’t be exporting and the profit margins for things like automobiles would be less, it would force companies to expand their production in to other areas to meet consumer demand. We did it in WWII. Ford expanded into making tanks and GE into firearms for example.

So Ford will start making product X as well as automobiles since we can no longer import X. Guess what? The jobs lost by exporting would be regained. As for going back to horse and buggy days I wouldn’t mind it. Horses and dogs are better than most people.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

His first term has nothing to do with it. It is a different world and challenge now. I can only go by what Vance has said recently and Trump alluded to previously (see my post previously for the exact quote), which is to force Ukraine to capitulate to Russia.


I know prices on some consumer goods have gone up. Some have stayed about the same. Economic indicators though, show improvement.

I went through my Amazon purchases for the last 8 years. 24 3oz can of cat food was $35.76 on Jan. 2017, $35.76 on Jan. 2021 and $37.99 today. Price on a lot of items have not changed much over the years.

Well I'm sure glad your cat is eating well and hasn't suffered.....

While we most certainly had high inflation, it wasn't ludicrous in comparison to what has been seen in other countries. And the inflation rate is now back under control. But what did that require? Of course the answer is the Fed raising the cost of borrowing by increasing interest rates. In the past the result of this has usually been a recession.

So far it seems we've avoided that....so far, I think it remains to be seen if we'll really realize the so called soft landing. What is in arguable is the impact that it has had on the housing market.

We had such low rates to being with, many homeowners such as myself (a 2.75% mortgage) simply are not selling their homes to jump back into a 6 point something interest rate. This has resulted in less supply in the market of homes which has kept housing prices high.

I moved to the Phoenix area some 23 years ago. I had to move a little bit away from work to find affordable housing for my salary. If I were considering coming here now, it would probably be considered for a short period of time as I'd have to live so far from my office I wouldn't do it.

I sincerely feel sorry for the younger generation entering the job market and just starting their adult lives.

And that's not all of the much more important and required costs of living that are considerably higher and not likely to go through any deflation back to a more expected price for more normal inflation.

 

[sgt_zim]

New jobs will be created by not having foreign products here.

When we have only American made, while we wouldn’t be exporting and the profit margins for things like automobiles would be less, it would force companies to expand their production in to other areas to meet consumer demand. We did it in WWII. Ford expanded into making tanks and GE into firearms for example.

So Ford will start making product X as well as automobiles since we can no longer import X. Guess what? The jobs lost by exporting would be regained. As for going back to horse and buggy days I wouldn’t mind it. Horses and dogs are better than most people.

The US became an economic juggernaut thanks in no small part to 100% free trade between the several states. That put us in a position to dominate world trade on the heels of WWII, when all of Europe was still a smoldering slag heap; as were Japan and S Korea.

Closing markets to international trade will harm us, not help us.

Your proposition addresses symptoms, not causes. End the moronic income tax, especially the uber moronic corporate income tax, and watch what happens.

 

[Wheels]

His first term has nothing to do with it. It is a different world and challenge now. I can only go by what Vance has said recently and Trump alluded to previously (see my post previously for the exact quote), which is to force Ukraine to capitulate to Russia.


I know prices on some consumer goods have gone up. Some have stayed about the same. Economic indicators though, show improvement.

I went through my Amazon purchases for the last 8 years. 24 3oz can of cat food was $35.76 on Jan. 2017, $35.76 on Jan. 2021 and $37.99 today. Price on a lot of items have not changed much over the years.

Every administration is a different world with different problems to deal with. Of course it's a different world now. We have a war that Biden, Boris Johnson, the Administrative State and NATO wanted even though Ukraine and Russia were willing to come to terms a couple months after the Russian invasion.

Regarding Trump's first term, Trump deescalated the saber rattling with North Korea. Not just by showing an irrational nut a little respect and humanity but by putting pressure on China to reign Kim Jung Un in. How did he influence Xi, by shooting off 59 cruise missiles at Syria for using chemical weapons on their own people while Xi was setting down to dinner with Trump at Mar a Lago. While Trump was working to withdrawal from Afghanistan and Taliban snipers were killing American troops, Trump shows Baradar photos of his house telling Baradar the sniping had better stop and no attacks should be made against withdrawing troops and it worked. Did Putin try to push Trump around in his first administration. No probably due to uncertainty on what Trump would do. Did Putin push Bush around. Of course, he invaded Georgia. Did Putin push Obama around. Of course, he took Crimea. Even got Obama on a hot mic telling Medvedev he would have more flexibility after the election. Did Putin push Biden around. Of course, he invaded Ukraine. Seems that Trump is the only American President this century that Putin is afraid of. Seems Trump's first term has everything to do with how he will deal with foreign affairs if he has a second term.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

New jobs will be created by not having foreign products here.

When we have only American made, while we wouldn’t be exporting and the profit margins for things like automobiles would be less, it would force companies to expand their production in to other areas to meet consumer demand. We did it in WWII. Ford expanded into making tanks and GE into firearms for example.

So Ford will start making product X as well as automobiles since we can no longer import X. Guess what? The jobs lost by exporting would be regained. As for going back to horse and buggy days I wouldn’t mind it. Horses and dogs are better than most people.

Even if that were so, you'd really want to live through that transition? I don't.

Do you have any idea how many cars Ford makes for the overseas market?

 

[Red Leg]

America would be fine in this so called global economy if they were isolationist in action.

Those who don’t believe so are just parroting the communist narrative. For the uninformed that’s the democrat narrative. Kick all foreign companies out, sorry Rigby, stop importing foreign goods and services, and return to America first, foremost, and always.

What you describe is a utopian impossibility.

The world you seem to aspire to has not existed since December 7, 1942 if it ever existed at all. After all, the Revolution, the undeclared war with France, the Barbary Pirates conflict, the War of 1812, the War with Mexico, the War with Spain, the First World War, the Philippine incursion, the Boxer Rebellion, and not counting WWII, the Cold War and a host of minor actions were all largely predicated upon this country's enduring critical national interest in unfettered access to international markets.

I wonder how many of our fellow correspondents, perhaps including yourself, would be made destitute by such a “plan.”

 

[Neophyte]

Even if that were so, you'd really want to live through that transition? I don't.

Do you have any idea how many cars Ford makes for the overseas market?

I’d rather go through the transition than leave it for another generation to endure.

When Texas leaves this bungled up Union I’m moving to Texas. We’ve saddled future generations, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and probably great great great grandchildren, with a problem that is our’s to fix. Not their’s!

Better we fix our mistakes and the mistakes of our parents than kick the can down the road.

 

[Neophyte]

What you describe is a utopian impossibility.

The world you seem to aspire to has not existed since December 7, 1942 if it ever existed at all. After all, the revolution, the undeclared war with France, the Barbary pirates, the War of 1812, the War with Mexico, the War with Spain, the First World War, the Philippine incursion, the Boxer Rebellion, and not counting WWII, the Cold War and a host of minor actions were all largely predicated on unfettered access to international markets.

I wonder how many of our fellow correspondents, perhaps including yourself, would be made destitute by such a “plan.”

You keep saying, “impossible.”

I say possible.

Your mind is closed and unwilling to consider any change. Sad really. As for being destitute I’ve been there before and homeless for the short term right now. I’d rather be destitute or dead than live on my knees. Better to bear the hardship than take the yoke of tyranny.

 

[Neophyte]

Keep voting for communist and rino’s and you all will feel the yoke of tyranny.

 

[Red Leg]

You keep saying, “impossible.”

I say possible.

Your mind is closed and unwilling to consider any change. Sad really. As for being destitute I’ve been there before and homeless for the short term right now. I’d rather be destitute or dead than live on my knees. Better to bear the hardship than take the yoke of tyranny.

On the contrary, I actually have spent a great deal of my professional life dealing with the real world and observing the long tendrils of history and economics - particularly from both the practical implementation and the exploitation of national power perspectives - two subjects that I can highly recommend to anyone. I simply have little interest in Utopian nonsense - whether Marxist or Jeffersonian. Neutrality acts - whether driven by appeasement (the anything is better than war crowd) or cultural isolationists like the Ming Dynasty have a way of concluding in bitter bloodbaths.

And Texas isn't going anywhere.

 

[Neophyte]

On the contrary, I actually have spent a great deal of my professional life dealing with the real world and observing the long tendrils of history and economics - particularly from both practical implementation and the exploitation of national power perspectives - Two subjects that I can highly recommend to anyone. I simply have little interest in Utopian nonsense - whether Marxist or Jeffersonian. Neutrality acts - whether driven by appeasement (the anything is better than war crowd) or cultural isolationists like the Ming Dynasty have a way of concluding in bitter bloodbaths.

And Texas isn't going anywhere.

It’s only Utopian because you seem to think it is.
Don’t be too sure about Texas or you might get the surprise of your life.

 

[sgt_zim]

The Zimbabweans were pikers.

here is a 100 quintillion (10^20) Pengo printed in Hungary in 1946

View attachment 633904

For the math challenged, that's

100,000,000,000,000,000,000 Pengo

For reference, there are roughly 10 trillion ($10,000,000,000,000) USD in circulation in the entire world. 100 quintillion is 7 zeroes longer than that.

 

[WAB]

America would be fine in this so called global economy if they were isolationist in action.

Those who don’t believe so are just parroting the communist narrative. For the uninformed that’s the democrat narrative. Kick all foreign companies out, sorry Rigby, stop importing foreign goods and services, and return to America first, foremost, and always.

I’m sorry but that is simplistic and naive. All commodities are priced and traded globally. As a member of the global community, we overproduce and export in some areas, and underproduce and import in others. The ship has sailed on isolationism. We do not have the capability to provide for our citizens without global trade. We no longer live in that world.

 

[jeanes]

No one I know in Texas is planning to leave the Union.

 

[WAB]

What you describe is a utopian impossibility.

The world you seem to aspire to has not existed since December 7, 1942 if it ever existed at all. After all, the Revolution, the undeclared war with France, the Barbary Pirates conflict, the War of 1812, the War with Mexico, the War with Spain, the First World War, the Philippine incursion, the Boxer Rebellion, and not counting WWII, the Cold War and a host of minor actions were all largely predicated upon this country's enduring critical national interest in unfettered access to international markets.

I wonder how many of our fellow correspondents, perhaps including yourself, would be made destitute by such a “plan.”

It’s beyond destitute, it’s dead. If we truly had to support our citizens by domestic production we would have to significantly reduce our population. We are players in a global economy and there is a fairy tale to think that we could exit it.

 

[bob meadows]

We can NOT recover from Trump's foreign policy short of an actual war in a future administration. Harris domestic policy can be recovered from. It is not one being more important than the other, but risks associated with each.

I have hedged against Harris Presidency having a free rein, that's why I had a long conversation discussing various strategies with my banker and estate attorney the other week. Right after election we will execute depending on the House and Senate makeup if Harris wins.

Someone mentioned that I should look forward to paying investment income being taxed as regular income instead of the current 23% or so. That is not an issue as there are strategies for it.

There is a whole industry based on minimizing taxes legally.

your whole concern is money, I have talked to my banker, my estate attorney, talking about taxes etc .
not one word about the decline of this country, not one word about this country being torn apart , not one word about anything except your money......I get it, when you have enough you become insulated to where all the crap going on doesn't affect you.

that's a good place to be. we can survive harris? we are not to far away from people boiling over....harris could put us over the top with what she will bring.....there is no recovering from that...bob

 

[Neophyte]

I’m less than an inch from the tipping point.

Once it was a Utopian fantasy that thirteen little colonies could overthrow the strongest army in the world.

As for certain posters here they love their money more than the country itself. I want to make it a better country. The communist party and their RINO sycophants don’t. They want to maintain the status quo even if detrimental to our country.

 

[bob meadows]

Keep voting for communist and rino’s and you all will feel the yoke of tyranny.

the opening shot over covid was/is nothing to what they will do if given free reign......they will rip this country apart for their control and power...I truly believe the USA is a powder keg....bob