Trump Watch: The Conservative Condition

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Tiassa, Aug 10, 2022.

  1. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    IS Trump more popular than Biden?
     
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  3. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    Perhaps marginally, depending on which poll you look at.

    This really speaks to sorry state of US politics right now.

    Americans seem to be gearing up to trade in democracy for authoritarianism. Well, half of them. The other half are probably still sane.
     
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  5. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    Either Trump or Biden, they will treat China as enemy.
     
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  7. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    Hardly surprising, since China is sabre rattling over Taiwan, building up its military and making threats against America (and other nations).

    Americans should take a long hard look at the Chinese government and ask themselves whether they want an equivalent for the United States. This is what authoritarian regimes do.
     
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  8. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    Republican will beat Democrat in Senate and Congress.
     
  9. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    Results in so far seem to be defying the pre-election polling.

    This is very far from the GOP landslide that the MAGA crowd were hoping for.

    It's certainly not clear right now that the GOP will take control of the Senate.
     
  10. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    It's not even absolutely clear that they'll take over the House, although that's very likely. It also looks like (electional denier) Keri Lake won't be governor of Arizona. Herschel Walker may not be in the Senate. It's a good outcome for the Democrats in any event.
     
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  11. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    Keeping those 2 out of any position of authority is good for the whole country.
     
  12. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    In general, the highest profile Trump-endorsed candidates seem to have underperformed in these elections.

    I am pleasantly surprised to find that a near-majority of Americans are not quite ready to be led into a dictatorship with eyes shut, just yet.
     
  13. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    I'm going with mildly relieved.
    What does it tell us when so very nearly half of a country's population is willing to support the party that is out to destroy its form of government?
    Maybe the civil war that's been on the back burner for 150 years won't heat up again this weekend.... maybe just a couple of routine mass shootings.
    Then the red state administrations go back to their election retro engineering to unamended Constitutional specifications, and the blue reps make a doomed attempt at running the country, and most Americans go back to preening as the poster children of Democracy.
    Oh, yes, and news media will keep on showing that incredibly tiresome face in all phases of a 2 decade hissy fit.
     
  14. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    The Republicans need to lose the paranoia, tearing down of government institutions and need to leave religion and opinions on abortion as a personal matter.

    The Democrats need to lose the business and the rich scapegoat thing, elevate successful people rather than tearing them down and focus more on the middle-class instead of excessive excuse making for the poor (harsh I know).

    Promoting ideas like "greedy corporate profits are 50% of the reasons we have inflation" is just stupid.
     
  15. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    What are the real reasons?
    Or what is smart to say are the real reasons?
     
  16. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    The real reasons for inflation are the same reasons that apply all over the world. Companies are supposed to maximize profits and competition keeps that in check. Companies trying to maximize profits 5 years ago didn't cause inflation and that's not the reason now.

    It's the aftermath of governments stimulating the economy during Covid while shutting down production which is pretty much the definition of inflation (too many dollars chasing too few goods). It's supply-chain disruptions caused by Covid and it's the war in Ukraine affecting gas supplies and transportation costs.

    At this point all you can do is try to slow down the economy (Fed raising rates), hoping that supply chain disruptions get back to normal and the hope that gas prices come back down.

    The disconnect is talking about corporate profits when the overall economy is bad. That's talking about apples and oranges. Grocery stores, banks and gas companies can pass on increased costs during inflation so they may do well. Other companies can't and they don't do well.

    In other times gas companies and grocery stores may do poorly. No one talks about "corporate greed" then. That's because there is no connection between a particular business and the overall economy.

    If everyone is dying, funeral companies will be posting "record profits". Does that mean they have anything to do with people dying? No. Of course not. Does that mean that their pricing is too high? No. What is "too high" for a company's pricing. They price what the market will bear.

    Grocery stores have low profit margins. They make pennies on the dollar. The logic of these articles would suggest that grocery stores should reduce their profit so that a box of cereal isn't so expensive. Their profit is only a penny or two. If they sold it for no profit (which they can't do) it would still seem expensive due to inflation. They can't reduce the price by a dollar, they don't make a dollar profit on it.

    The whole premise is just stupid (uninformed and not logical).
     
  17. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    So not even 50% then?
    Anyway, it's good to know that corporate profits are kept in check by competition.
     
  18. pjdude1219 The biscuit has risen Valued Senior Member

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    you argument would be a lot better except for the fact that less than half of the price increases are coming from covering increased cost. what a surprise you are lying once again to defend the powerful harming the weak. unfortunately for you people aren't as stupid as you'd like them to be.
     
  19. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    In a healthy free market this would be the case. It's why most governments make cartels and "price-fixing" illegal, and try to avoid monopolies developing. Ocassionally, though, you get a situation where supply just doesn't have a hope of matching demand, and all suppliers can make a vast profit for a while (or in the case of oil and gas, due to the barriers to entry for supplying, probably for quite a while, but that's not common) until others get in on the act of supplying, which brings the market back to near level between supply/demand. So, yeah, competition is a key means of keeping prices low and profits in check. At least in a healthy free market.

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    Where are you getting that information from? Do you have a source?
     
  20. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah, defending the powerful harming the weak, that's my thing...or could there be more...?
     
  21. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    In a which what now? Never seen one a dem!
     
  22. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    It is literally true but unhelpful. (And it's actually closer to 90%.) Greed is what runs the economy. If someone can gouge consumers they will.

    An economy with flexible supply and demand curves - and laws against anti-competitive practices - can largely avoid this. Under those conditions, greed keeps prices down - providers want to undercut the competition to maximize their market share and hence profits. But for some commodities (gas for example) the demand curve is very inflexible, and thus during supply shortages suppliers can (and will) make as much money as they possibly can. That is the primary driver for inflation in those sectors.
     
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  23. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    8,857
    You're an engineer. There aren't enough engineers and there are plenty of retail clerks. You make more than you need to live. Are you being greedy by making as much as you can instead of taking less so that your companies product or service can be less expensive which helps the retail clerk to have a better life?

    Oil companies couldn't give oil away a couple of years ago. Should the public have subsidized the oil companies during that time? Was the public too greedy to do that?

    Yes, food and gas are relatively inelastic in terms of demand. The war in Ukraine affects the gas price and Covid stimulus and government shut downs is driving inflation as well.

    Corporations are doing what they have always done and yet we've had little inflation for 40 years.
     

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