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Random musings

Sigh. You hear what you want. I don't find much positive about the Democrat's message nor their outcomes.
Our Democrats today are VERY MUCH aligned and organized like the Oligarchs in Russia. They are slowly (gaining speed) eroding what is good about our country and organizational structure, only for their own power and $$. Pelosicovitch is prime example #1. In Russia, if you run a campaign against Putin, they will simply have you killed.... by accident..... OH WAIT.. And there are useful idiots all around, that know that they can't explain what they are seeing, but are damn sure that, "Nothing to see here, please disperse".
I will say, Biden was at least smart enough to stay away from windows above the ground floor.
 
For the most part Leftists/Dems love politics. Winning elections is the only they're good at. That and being grifters.
Thus the career politicians like Kam and Tampon Tim. They don't believe their bullshit either but governing isn't the name of the game.
Only winning the election. Conservatives/Republicans put up with politics and politicians and would like to be rid of them if they wouldn't steal everything but the kitchen sink if you turn your back on them.

Lets do a little test here......what are the "inspiring solutions" of which you speak, that have been forth by the Harris/Walz team? What plans, specifically, have they put forth that will make society better, safer, and happier? Abort baby abort? If need be, you can study Kam's answer to the question of what Harris plans to do on her 1st day in office for inspiration.
RkDp.gif
 
No doom and gloom hoot. This is THE best two months of the year coming up. Football in full swing this weekend. Soccer off and running. Fall beers. Pumpkin season. Halloween the best holiday of all. Scare fest!! SKANK FEST!!!! This is our time hoot.
MM66, love your upbeat message.

Good to come to The Cooler and get a friendly response even though we don't necessarily share the same political outlook.

Getting along with each other on what is really important such as enjoying Fall sure beats arguing over politicians. Politicians who in the final analysis are overrated when it comes to being really important.
 
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MM66, love your upbeat message.

Good to come to The Cooler and get a friendly response even though we don't necessarily share the same political outlook.

Getting along with each other on what is really important such as enjoying Fall sure beats arguing over politicians who only think they are important.
That’s what this board is for hoot. Argue politics with strangers. Spare your friends.
 
Sigh. You hear what you want. I don't find much positive about the Democrat's message nor their outcomes.

Appreciate the response Crazy and respect it. If I was a power campaign manager it would drive me to try to figure out how and why the message or the message style is failing. At a minimum I'd want to enable everyone to understand the desired goal of the message or policy even if they disagree.

I believe identifying common goals should be fairly easy which gets us into discussing solutions. I'd love to have the two parties get to that level where we mainly can agree on the relevant issues and choose between offered solutions.

It's why Goat's comment last night really connected with me when he said something like 'Kamala acknowledged a housing issue which is great to see even though her solution to it might not be the best, I appreciate that she verbally and publicly identified that it existed'.

That utopian belief gets us discussing problem solving...which is much more entertaining a discussion than focusing on comic insulting techniques, otherwise owning the other.

An example for me was Bernie driving Medicare for All. I agreed it's waaay too expensive to implement as he suggested even with our insane budgets but his purpose is to take our healthcare from a debilitating expensive/potential financial ruin for all of us (backed by data that identifies unfortunate healthcare expense is a major cause of financial ruin and bankruptcy which leads to massive depression, etc) to effective healthcare environment like in most high end developed countries.

My man Pete got ripped by the Bernie Bros because he said we needed a path to Bernie's view compared to going all in at the start like gangbusters which Bernie was pushing. So he proposed a 'Medicare Who Wants it' as an option to start which would have been something like 80% less expensive to implement than Bernie's while also not kicking private insurance workers out of their jobs like Bernie didn't cover. Also based on how we know that Medicare has been highly accepted and beloved, by just lowering the age qualification would allow everyone to choose if they wanted, securing the ultimate goal of every American citizen having good coverage that helps them succeed (there's talk of how many genius entrepreneurs are not following their dreams and strengths because the coverage options) and reduce the financial anxiety while also encouraging citizens to get better care while providing health care workers more contentment in the work that they chose to do.

Anyway my point being, I get that we need an improved health care solution especially with the massive amounts of boomers entering their caregiving years. So what discussions are we having and what solutions are being thrown out there other than from Bernie who made this the center point of his campaign and why he got pretty popular especially from young Dem voters.

Identity a legit and agreed issue to solve and present those solutions.

I would love if our government and ecosystem would evolve into that vs what we have right now. The rejection of Trump in my opinion originally comes from not offering this but then the Jan 6th television spectacle cemented the 4chan fever dream.
 
That’s what this board is for hoot. Argue politics with strangers. Spare your friends.

MM66, think you can agree.

Exchanging political ideas is one thing, but labelling and calling each names is simply devisive and counter productive.

P.S. X (formerly Tweet) posts are like getting a Hallmark Card in place of a personally handwritten letter.
 
Appreciate the response Crazy and respect it. If I was a power campaign manager it would drive me to try to figure out how and why the message or the message style is failing. At a minimum I'd want to enable everyone to understand the desired goal of the message or policy even if they disagree.

I believe identifying common goals should be fairly easy which gets us into discussing solutions. I'd love to have the two parties get to that level where we mainly can agree on the relevant issues and choose between offered solutions.

It's why Goat's comment last night really connected with me when he said something like 'Kamala acknowledged a housing issue which is great to see even though her solution to it might not be the best, I appreciate that she verbally and publicly identified that it existed'.

That utopian belief gets us discussing problem solving...which is much more entertaining a discussion than focusing on comic insulting techniques, otherwise owning the other.

An example for me was Bernie driving Medicare for All. I agreed it's waaay too expensive to implement as he suggested even with our insane budgets but his purpose is to take our healthcare from a debilitating expensive/potential financial ruin for all of us (backed by data that identifies unfortunate healthcare expense is a major cause of financial ruin and bankruptcy which leads to massive depression, etc) to effective healthcare environment like in most high end developed countries.

My man Pete got ripped by the Bernie Bros because he said we needed a path to Bernie's view compared to going all in at the start like gangbusters which Bernie was pushing. So he proposed a 'Medicare Who Wants it' as an option to start which would have been something like 80% less expensive to implement than Bernie's while also not kicking private insurance workers out of their jobs like Bernie didn't cover. Also based on how we know that Medicare has been highly accepted and beloved, by just lowering the age qualification would allow everyone to choose if they wanted, securing the ultimate goal of every American citizen having good coverage that helps them succeed (there's talk of how many genius entrepreneurs are not following their dreams and strengths because the coverage options) and reduce the financial anxiety while also encouraging citizens to get better care while providing health care workers more contentment in the work that they chose to do.

Anyway my point being, I get that we need an improved health care solution especially with the massive amounts of boomers entering their caregiving years. So what discussions are we having and what solutions are being thrown out there other than from Bernie who made this the center point of his campaign and why he got pretty popular especially from young Dem voters.

Identity a legit and agreed issue to solve and present those solutions.

I would love if our government and ecosystem would evolve into that vs what we have right now. The rejection of Trump in my opinion originally comes from not offering this but then the Jan 6th television spectacle cemented the 4chan fever dream.
The problem is you set up an alternative universe that is detached from reality as you’re starting point. The narrative that developed countries are able to offer healthcare for all without major trade offs is false. Europe is quickly turning into a third world shithole compared to U.S and it’s because of the amount of government spending and regulations. Europe’s largest economy Germany has grown in 6 years. Some charts below.









There are numerous other examples of Europe falling further and further behind. The reality is capitalism is the only way to help people out and lift them out of poverty. Socialism doesn’t work. It’s why we’re not going to come to an agreement. The problem is the Federal Government needs to be cut in half.

 
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MM66, think you can agree.

Exchanging political ideas is one thing, but labelling and calling each names is simply devisive and counter productive.

P.S. X (formerly Tweet) posts are like getting a Hallmark Card in place of a personally handwritten letter.
Yep. That’s why I don’t reduce myself to it.
 
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The problem is you set up an alternative universe that is detached from reality as you’re starting point. The narrative that developed countries are able to offer healthcare for all without major trade offs is false. Europe is quickly turning into a third world shithole compared to U.S and it’s because of the amount of government spending and regulations. Europe’s largest economy Germany has grown in 6 years. Some charts below.









There are numerous other examples of Europe falling further and further behind. The reality is capitalism is the only way to help people out and lift them out of poverty. Socialism doesn’t work. It’s why we’re not going to come to an agreement. The problem is the Federal Government needs to be cut in half.

System. Link. Overload.
 
The problem is you set up an alternative universe that is detached from reality as you’re starting point. The narrative that developed countries are able to offer healthcare for all without major trade offs is false. Europe is quickly turning into a third world shithole compared to U.S and it’s because of the amount of government spending and regulations. Europe’s largest economy Germany has grown in 6 years. Some charts below.









There are numerous other examples of Europe falling further and further behind. The reality is capitalism is the only way to help people out and lift them out of poverty. Socialism doesn’t work. It’s why we’re not going to come to an agreement. The problem is the Federal Government needs to be cut in half.


Appreciate the response also. Seems that driving global financial numbers is the critical most important game you want to play (which we currently already are the global economy that provides smooth security which helps us be safe from attacks) in which the concern from me is that means by going full hard core over that we're going to have a large amount of desperate and pissed off people living miserable lives which means our societies are more anxious and dangerous if we don't consider it in how our government responds, and nobody wants that.

The trap door that opens would be say for example I came into high power and wanted to run the country like I would my profit business. The first thing I'd do is identify those people and things that aren't contributing and possibly draining the business and fire them, remove from life or at a minimum cut them off and make them deal with it

For example if you're retired and not working than you aren't contributing to the desired revenue productivity while also draining by using expensive programs like Medicare and SS. So what would motivate me not to think like a Nazi and make everyone prove their worth and if you can't do that or can't be productive, I'll have you deported or just killed easing the financial burden of health care expenses taking care of all of these old, non productive geriatrics that are going to die and need to die.

Obviously that's pure nonsense but if we use heavy financial results along with debt reduction than that's a different mindset like my extreme example. Only difference in my example is my scape goat is all of us when we get into old age vs marginalized groups that have been used my entire life. When we can be the scapegoat, that points out the flaw of that mindset. Nobody wants that life stress.

So yeah, I believe firmly that government should be business friendly but not making critical decisions over generating revenue. I've got over 20 years of corporate experience where generating revenue led to many abhorrent executive decisions that resulted in layoffs, deaths, environmental issues, etc because the goal is generating revenue and it's human nature to do whatever is needed to accomplish that and fine, that's part of the business world but I believe is a terrible mindset for governing.

I don't believe that's government's purpose. For me government is to basically be a watchdog that ensures a society that removes barriers that impact the quality of life from a society perspective. Rounding up the homeless and throwing them in jail is a terrible quality of life.

Lastly, Germany has one of the most admired universal health system so I would use your examples as data that we are smart enough to figure out and accomplish both.

Also I personally had an amazingly gorgeous and enjoyable Rome and Florence trip and I definitely wouldn't call it a shit hole like you did, but my only 2024 experience was gorgeous wine country and Roman walking social experiences and historical architecture. Which is interesting how much gorgeous architectural structures were built before the new world was found out by Europe and centuries before Oil dependency was a thing. There was a ton of graffiti I'll admit which dirtied the social spots a little more than in the past but Rome was still breathtaking.
 
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My man Pete got ripped by the Bernie Bros because he said we needed a path to Bernie's view compared to going all in at the start like gangbusters which Bernie was pushing. So he proposed a 'Medicare Who Wants it' as an option to start which would have been something like 80% less expensive to implement than Bernie's while also not kicking private insurance workers out of their jobs like Bernie didn't cover.
Such an option would be the effective end of private health insurance. Once there is a free option on the table, no one is going to pay in to an employer plan or purchase a private plan.

Some may stick initially if their plan is higher quality than M4A, but in the matter of a couple decades pretty much everyone would bounce. Now Medicare would have the burden of not just taking care of the sick and elderly like they do already, but also the young and generally more healthy. Expenditures would explode, while income wouldn’t unless you’re willing to increase Medicare taxes as well.

It’s actually a rather stupid suggestion from Pete.
 
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Our Democrats today are VERY MUCH aligned and organized like the Oligarchs in Russia. They are slowly (gaining speed) eroding what is good about our country and organizational structure, only for their own power and $$. Pelosicovitch is prime example #1. In Russia, if you run a campaign against Putin, they will simply have you killed.... by accident..... OH WAIT.. And there are useful idiots all around, that know that they can't explain what they are seeing, but are damn sure that, "Nothing to see here, please disperse".
I will say, Biden was at least smart enough to stay away from windows above the ground floor.
LOLOLOL @Bedwetters for Trump Have we had bunk reassignments on the USS Aloha?
That may be weak sauce, but I will admit that it has made me laugh.

Permission to board @Bedwetters for Trump , Please sign in at the DNC headquarters on the very very lower port deck.
 
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For the most part Leftists/Dems love politics. Winning elections is the only they're good at. That and being grifters.
Thus the career politicians like Kam and Tampon Tim. They don't believe their bullshit either but governing isn't the name of the game.
Only winning the election. Conservatives/Republicans put up with politics and politicians and would like to be rid of them if they wouldn't steal everything but the kitchen sink if you turn your back on them.

Lets do a little test here......what are the "inspiring solutions" of which you speak, that have been forth by the Harris/Walz team? What plans, specifically, have they put forth that will make society better, safer, and happier? Abort baby abort? If need be, you can study Kam's answer to the question of what Harris plans to do on her 1st day in office for inspiration.

Put simply, they want to strengthen the middle class by identifying and removing the barriers that keep them stressed and anxious.

They believe in lifting up and utilizing the leveraging might of Worker Unions by stating and understanding how important a Union is in negotiating value. That whole capitalism thing where you let the market figure out a workers value. We all know that a union worker has much more strength and leverage for its value in negotiating than a single isolated worker. I mean we do everything we can to bail out and fiscally support corporations that maybe we should turn some concern and care towards the citizens who are crucial for generating those corporate revenues?

They want drive a more affordable healthcare system as again, we are the only major advanced country that doesn't have an affordable system. Actually I believe we have the most expensive from health care to medicine cost. That would help relieve a financial barrier for everyone, but particularly the middle class.

So yeah, keep staying economically friendly and strong but acknowledge that middle class and marginalized groups aren't living the American dream these days.

Actually we've historically entered another gilded age. Not saying that's wrong but the last time we had that level of class difference led to probably the most miserable living time in our history. Progressives like to point out that it was post Gilded Age, post depression that kick started our economic dominance.

Another example is I'm personally not a big proponent of raising corporate taxes but, I do believe that they shouldn't be lower than personal rates of those getting a paycheck. During Eisenhower the corporate rate was crazy high, like almost 50% I think. The argument for that high rate was it rocket fueled legit trickle down theory. It motivated corporations to reduce their overall revenue by investing and spending in their business which meant more jobs, more factories, more spending to lower that revenue claim that was going to be taxed. It motivated businesses to have control on how to invest their revenues vs just giving it to the government.

Trickle down came with the lowering of rates. In that case it removed the initiative to spend the revenue and led to more pocketing.

The corporate rate is so low these days that it's a strategy for business owners, particularly the gilded owners to pay themselves a low claimed salary but then they are really paying a much lower corporate rate vs the rate that that business paid it's workers. Again not saying to jack up the corporate rate like during Eisenhower's administration but, being so low that gilded billionaires are using it to pay them more in their pockets while paying less in taxes and tax rate compared to middle class.

I wish the Dems would communicate that better vs the tactic of screaming billionaires don't pay taxes like you do which technically is true when it comes to tax rate but, identifying why billionaires are giving themselves their own low salaries to take advantage of the low corporate rate is much more effective at getting consensus.

Anyway, curious what are the problems you think the right is identifying and solving that the dens aren't?

FYI Dems do have Border solutions and interest. Biden had a hard on for the border fix to be bipartisan and codified through Congress. Killing migrants as they come here is not a viable solution for Dems but we need to figure this out because as (and this is a Dem identified event) the earth gets hotter it's likely going to lead to much more immigration movements. For example the thought is there are locations in the sun belt and mexico that are just a couple Celsius increases from being inhospitable which is going to lead to groups of people moving north.
 
Such an option would be the effective end of private health insurance. Once there is a free option on the table, no one is going to pay in to an employer plan or purchase a private plan.

Some may stick initially if their plan is higher quality than M4A, but in the matter of a couple decades pretty everyone would bounce. Now Medicare would have the burden of not just taking care of the sick and elderly like they do already, but also the young and generally more healthy. Expenditures would explode, while income wouldn’t unless you’re willing to increase Medicare taxes as well.

It’s actually a rather stupid suggestion from Pete.

That was kind of his point to Bernie who was proposing going all in. Pete's was to offer it as an option for those that want and need it but keep it competitive for private coverage to exist, co exist believing it will eventually be the preferred choice if it generates the advantages that are being sold. If it doesn't than we still have the private option.

If Bernie got his way and it was a disaster like the start of the ACA, now we've made the situation much worse and left few options. Competitive options are very good things which lead to proper innovations in the industry (favorite example is the relationship between the Postal service and private delivery companies. They both encourage efficiency innovation like overnight deliveries which the USPS wasn't even considering while the size of the USPS has leveraged it to generate affordable pricing between the three. It's like an almost perfect example of a private and public entity influencing each other).
 
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For example if you're retired and not working than you aren't contributing to the desired revenue productivity while also draining by using expensive programs like Medicare and SS. So what would motivate me not to think like a Nazi and make everyone prove their worth and if you can't do that or can't be productive, I'll have you deported or just killed easing the financial burden of health care expenses taking care of all of these old, non productive geriatrics that are going to die and need to die.

Thought for a minute you were @JamieDimonsBalls .
 
Such an option would be the effective end of private health insurance. Once there is a free option on the table, no one is going to pay in to an employer plan or purchase a private plan.

Pete's was to offer it as an option for those that want and need it but keep it competitive for private coverage to exist, co exist believing it will eventually be the preferred choice if it generates the advantages that are being sold. If it doesn't than we still have the private option.

Yeah, Pete's proposal was essentially the "private option" that HRC and BHO originally proposed. It wasn't free, you paid a premium just like you do with private insurance.

The intriguing part to me was that if it was priced right and the actuaries were accurate, it would have strengthened Medicare, by bringing in younger, healthier people who would have been paying in more than they would have been costing the system. But of course, Big Insurance wasn't about to let that happen.
 
That was kind of his point to Bernie who was proposing going all in. Pete's was to offer it as an option for those that want and need it but keep it competitive for private coverage to exist, co exist believing it will eventually be the preferred choice if it generates the advantages that are being sold. If it doesn't than we still have the private option.

If Bernie got his way and it was a disaster like the start of the ACA, now we've made the situation much worse and left few options. Competitive options are very good things which lead to proper innovations in the industry (favorite example is the relationship between the Postal service and private delivery companies. They both encourage efficiency innovation like overnight deliveries which the USPS wasn't even considering while the size of the USPS has leveraged it to generate affordable pricing between the three. It's like an almost perfect example of a private and public entity influencing each other).
No. Medicare only functions today because it is paid for by people who are contributing to private plans as well. What you’re proposing is in no way market competition. It’s a government undercut of a massive portion of the economy.

Once everyone is on Medicare you essentially have a single payer system. You crash 10% of the economy because Health care Payers and the millions they employ (United, Cigna, Kaiser, Centene and others) go out of business. Are they all supposed to go work as administrators for Medicare now?

Obviously taxes then skyrocket to meet the associated costs of everyone now being on Medicare.

People have poor health outcomes and large expenditures in the U.S. completely backwards. They somehow think it’s a function of not having a state run health care system. In reality health care in the United States is so expensive because we’re unhealthy and the demand is astronomical.

And we’re not unhealthy because people fall through the cracks and don’t have regular access to primary care physicians. We’re unhealthy because we’re sedentary, eat processed, high sugar crap and paper over all ills with a pharmaceutical intervention (which in turn drives up health care costs even more).

Germans, Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, simply live a healthier life style than we do. Their food is not filled with unnatural, cancerous crap, and they are active. Not because they can get in to see their primary care physician without having to pay for it. Our system would be more accurately described as sick care.
 
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Appreciate the response also. Seems that driving global financial numbers is the critical most important game you want to play (which we currently already are the global economy that provides smooth security which helps us be safe from attacks) in which the concern from me is that means by going full hard core over that we're going to have a large amount of desperate and pissed off people living miserable lives which means our societies are more anxious and dangerous if we don't consider it in how our government responds, and nobody wants that.

The trap door that opens would be say for example I came into high power and wanted to run the country like I would my profit business. The first thing I'd do is identify those people and things that aren't contributing and possibly draining the business and fire them, remove from life or at a minimum cut them off and make them deal with it

For example if you're retired and not working than you aren't contributing to the desired revenue productivity while also draining by using expensive programs like Medicare and SS. So what would motivate me not to think like a Nazi and make everyone prove their worth and if you can't do that or can't be productive, I'll have you deported or just killed easing the financial burden of health care expenses taking care of all of these old, non productive geriatrics that are going to die and need to die.

Obviously that's pure nonsense but if we use heavy financial results along with debt reduction than that's a different mindset like my extreme example. Only difference in my example is my scape goat is all of us when we get into old age vs marginalized groups that have been used my entire life. When we can be the scapegoat, that points out the flaw of that mindset. Nobody wants that life stress.

So yeah, I believe firmly that government should be business friendly but not making critical decisions over generating revenue. I've got over 20 years of corporate experience where generating revenue led to many abhorrent executive decisions that resulted in layoffs, deaths, environmental issues, etc because the goal is generating revenue and it's human nature to do whatever is needed to accomplish that and fine, that's part of the business world but I believe is a terrible mindset for governing.

I don't believe that's government's purpose. For me government is to basically be a watchdog that ensures a society that removes barriers that impact the quality of life from a society perspective. Rounding up the homeless and throwing them in jail is a terrible quality of life.

Lastly, Germany has one of the most admired universal health system so I would use your examples as data that we are smart enough to figure out and accomplish both.

Also I personally had an amazingly gorgeous and enjoyable Rome and Florence trip and I definitely wouldn't call it a shit hole like you did, but my only 2024 experience was gorgeous wine country and Roman walking social experiences and historical architecture. Which is interesting how much gorgeous architectural structures were built before the new world was found out by Europe and centuries before Oil dependency was a thing. There was a ton of graffiti I'll admit which dirtied the social spots a little more than in the past but Rome was still breathtaking.
Once again we don’t agree on what would happen. The U.S. federal government spends close to 6 trillion dollars each year. For comparison Germany’s entire economy is around 6 trillion. There would still be plenty of money for welfare and etc.

The issue between the left and right is you believe more government and spending is going to fix the issues we have. We believe it’s causing the issues and is only going to make them worse.

I spent about month in Italy. The cities are great, have a ton of history, and great food. Rome was awesome, as was Venice. I still remember a great meal I had in Florence with a young lady from South Africa. Nothing like downing a bottle or two of wine with every dinner.

The shithole comment was towards everyone else living there. Get outside the cities. The rest of the people live like bums (in comparison to us). They don’t have air conditioning, live in houses the size of garages , don’t own cars, and have stopped having children. I’m being slightly hyperbolic, but the average home in Europe is like 700 sq feet compared to like 1800 in the US. There some crazy stat where the average American in Alabama is better off than 2/3s of Europeans. We clown on Bama people for being rednecks and they’d be upper class in Europe🤣
 
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For example if you're retired and not working than you aren't contributing to the desired revenue productivity while also draining by using expensive programs like Medicare and SS. So what would motivate me not to think like a Nazi and make everyone prove their worth and if you can't do that or can't be productive, I'll have you deported or just killed easing the financial burden of health care expenses taking care of all of these old, non productive geriatrics that are going to die and need to die.

Let's be clear - this is precisely the cause of a significant amount of risk and financial strain in modern Western societies. People started living much longer lives and spending considerably more time in a state of societal cost drain. It's only going to get worse before it gets better.

Demographics are causing catastrophic economic problems in Japan, Europe and soon to be the U.S. Boomers had far less kids than prior generations, didn't save enough to cover their own long-term costs and built more wealth than any generation in history.

We could use the life expectancy drop.
 
No doom and gloom hoot. This is THE best two months of the year coming up. Football in full swing this weekend. Soccer off and running. Fall beers. Pumpkin season. Halloween the best holiday of all. Scare fest!! SKANK FEST!!!! This is our time hoot.
Ah, Halloween..... the holiday where girls dress up as slutty as they can and aren't judged. Naughty nurse. Sexy witch. Cat suits. Vampire choppers (just remember to have them take them out)

It's a lecher's dream!
 
They probably all have iPhones in Manhattan though. Nobody in rural Nicaragua has a smart phone
Like hell they don't! We support an orphanage in Jos, Nigeria, and our sponsored kids have smart phones. They message me all the time (they're not supposed to, but I don't mind).

Trust me - they aren't as backward as you think.
 
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The problem is you set up an alternative universe that is detached from reality as you’re starting point. The narrative that developed countries are able to offer healthcare for all without major trade offs is false. Europe is quickly turning into a third world shithole compared to U.S and it’s because of the amount of government spending and regulations. Europe’s largest economy Germany has grown in 6 years. Some charts below.









There are numerous other examples of Europe falling further and further behind. The reality is capitalism is the only way to help people out and lift them out of poverty. Socialism doesn’t work. It’s why we’re not going to come to an agreement. The problem is the Federal Government needs to be cut in half.

My wife still works part time and most of her calls are with Eastern European counterparts or Chinese.

Her foreign counterparts (and mine) used to be Germans, Brits, and French. Some Spanish.

Of course, all the techies are still Indian.
 
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Like hell they don't! We support an orphanage in Jos, Nigeria, and our sponsored kids have smart phones. They message me all the time (they're not supposed to, but I don't mind).

Trust me - they aren't as backward as you think.
Nigeria is closer
To the US than it is to Congo, Rwanda, etc…. When it comes to economic prosperity
 
Appreciate the response Crazy and respect it. If I was a power campaign manager it would drive me to try to figure out how and why the message or the message style is failing. At a minimum I'd want to enable everyone to understand the desired goal of the message or policy even if they disagree.

I believe identifying common goals should be fairly easy which gets us into discussing solutions. I'd love to have the two parties get to that level where we mainly can agree on the relevant issues and choose between offered solutions.

It's why Goat's comment last night really connected with me when he said something like 'Kamala acknowledged a housing issue which is great to see even though her solution to it might not be the best, I appreciate that she verbally and publicly identified that it existed'.

That utopian belief gets us discussing problem solving...which is much more entertaining a discussion than focusing on comic insulting techniques, otherwise owning the other.

An example for me was Bernie driving Medicare for All. I agreed it's waaay too expensive to implement as he suggested even with our insane budgets but his purpose is to take our healthcare from a debilitating expensive/potential financial ruin for all of us (backed by data that identifies unfortunate healthcare expense is a major cause of financial ruin and bankruptcy which leads to massive depression, etc) to effective healthcare environment like in most high end developed countries.

My man Pete got ripped by the Bernie Bros because he said we needed a path to Bernie's view compared to going all in at the start like gangbusters which Bernie was pushing. So he proposed a 'Medicare Who Wants it' as an option to start which would have been something like 80% less expensive to implement than Bernie's while also not kicking private insurance workers out of their jobs like Bernie didn't cover. Also based on how we know that Medicare has been highly accepted and beloved, by just lowering the age qualification would allow everyone to choose if they wanted, securing the ultimate goal of every American citizen having good coverage that helps them succeed (there's talk of how many genius entrepreneurs are not following their dreams and strengths because the coverage options) and reduce the financial anxiety while also encouraging citizens to get better care while providing health care workers more contentment in the work that they chose to do.

Anyway my point being, I get that we need an improved health care solution especially with the massive amounts of boomers entering their caregiving years. So what discussions are we having and what solutions are being thrown out there other than from Bernie who made this the center point of his campaign and why he got pretty popular especially from young Dem voters.

Identity a legit and agreed issue to solve and present those solutions.

I would love if our government and ecosystem would evolve into that vs what we have right now. The rejection of Trump in my opinion originally comes from not offering this but then the Jan 6th television spectacle cemented the 4chan fever dream.
Ok, so we are having a constructive conversation. I think the thing that irritated me is how much you papered over the culpability of the Democrats in all of this rancor as well. I can tell you that Trump is an asshole, quite a few of his fans (particularly on social media) are people that I find as appealing as progressives (as in, not at all), and the party has done a poor job of articulating a position and then pushing for it. I think that a big reason Trump came to the forefront is exactly because the GOP had become the party of resting on its laurels while allowing the Democrats to set the conversation on everything. The GOP has problems.

That being said, so do the Democrats. They have also been shit talking about 45% of the country for going on 8 years now. For all the talk of "autocratic" measures we supposedly should fear from Trump, it has been them strong arming social media companies into censorship. Them using the former credibility of government institutions to outright lie about verifiable true things. Them discussing packing the courts when things didn't go their way. Them talking about throwing off 250 year old institutions because elections don't always go their way. Them refusing to enforce laws for their supporters in many jurisdictions around the country. Them that wanted to have our domestic police agencies follow around Catholics and parents for daring to protest against their social engineering plans. Them pushing things like school loan forgiveness while acknowledging they know they really can't do it.

I guess this is to say that this isn't a one way street and we have not even really gotten to talking about the effectiveness of proposed solutions. Both of these parties need yanked back, hard. I don't think that anyone is going to get anywhere with a kumbaya message by indicating that all of this is the cause of one party or one man. It isn't. People on both sides of the aisle need to stop blaming Trump for everything. He is only a product of the times.
 
Nigeria is closer
To the US than it is to Congo, Rwanda, etc…. When it comes to economic prosperity
Been all over southern Africa. Rural areas with no electrical power (unless you got a generator) and folks have small solar panels to power their smartphones and buy data a dollar at a time.

Smart phones are as ubiquitous as normal telephones ever were. Humans are socal animals and will find a way regardless of economic situation.

The only folks without smart phones at this point just don’t want them or are North Korean.
 
My primary and my urologist keep ordering scans and tests and whatever, trying to find something that will kill me. Sorry to disappoint, but so far I haven't given them any satisfaction. I'll let you know if/when that changes.

My dads PSA count has been steady too
 
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