Why do Republicans suck?

mooray said:

Just because it's too simplified for my liking. Building wealth has an important element to it, which is frailty(inverse of strength). So when you have a downturn, people that are in frail positions(i.e. low equity), are wiped out. And people that were in stronger positions(i.e. high equity) and able to lick their wounds and move forward, so they're both in the same category of "homeownership", but on different economic planets.

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THis is why I said there would have to be like 10 charts to really get a good look at wealth.

Homeownership was just one category that I again would point to a very real 91 million (pretty sure that was the number from above) homes added is very real wealth gains. Regardless if there is a economic collapse (like in 200 and that wealth that was being built up was lost by the people who did overextend themselves when faced with a job loss. Someone will make some money off of it. And all those transactions add up to the fact that wealth is increasing.

mooray said:

My perception is that people are far more willing to extend themselves today and, if true, that reflects "wealth" very inaccurately.I definitely thought about it, which I thought my example covered the increase-but-maybe-not thing, so it still doesn't address "wealth", imo.

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Id just say that there are far more opportunities for people to extend themselves with credit today. Technology has made the ability to micro target not rely on a bottle neck at the bank.

mooray said:

Curious what the connection was to student debt and mortgage?

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I was just doing some mental math and it regurgitated out into my post I think mainly.

If I thought clouded it: Debt, Wages avg based on education level, mortgage, and think that is basically how I landed there.

mooray said:

Something I was thinking about that could bring us through the backdoor, npi, is...do we agree that wealth is mostly zero sum? Obviously not completely, but mostly, or a significant portion?

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Yeah I disagree with wealth being zero sum, hard.

We add to wealth when we work to produce stuff.

mooray said:

If yes, then I'd ask, in regard to the first chart showing the decline of total wealth from the 50th-90th percentiles, where do we think that loss comes from? Income? Real estate? Savings/retirement/investments?

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I think thinking of it as a 'loss' is incorrect.

The only loss is the share of the gains, but those are still gains.

The last 60 years the rich have been slowly milking back all that money that the government used to build up the suburban/rural infrastructure (roads/sewage/schools/etc) at a faster and faster rate due to them getting away with it.

I agree there would have to be ten charts to get a better picture. When someone tells me the middle class is doing better, I'm definitely skeptical. I don't know many people that feel that way, that they get more for their money, or that their education was affordable, or they it's easier to save money, or that wages are inline with home values, or that benefits have improved, or that jobs are as plentiful as they were....basically all the things that make a person think they're doing "better". But, I'm in California and I wouldn't say we're the median of these references.

If the chart doesn't represent loss, what would the chart itself represent? Actually...I suppose I could go lookup what exactly it is they're saying is in decline...

Ah jeez of course it's a mess. You got five years to figure this out with me?


I guess those are supposed to paint some sort of picture, but Fred does say assets and liabilities...

The DFAs integrate two data products produced by the Federal Reserve Board: the Financial Accounts of the United States, which provide quarterly data on aggregate balance sheets of major sectors of the U.S. economy, and the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), which provides comprehensive triennial microdata on the assets and liabilities of a representative sample of U.S. households.

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So I gotta interpret that as a real and direct loss.

mooray said:

I agree there would have to be ten charts to get a better picture. When someone tells me the middle class is doing better, I'm definitely skeptical. I don't know many people that feel that way, that they get more for their money, or that their education was affordable, or they it's easier to save money, or that wages are inline with home values, or that benefits have improved, or that jobs are as plentiful as they were....basically all the things that make a person think they're doing "better". But, I'm in California and I wouldn't say we're the median of these references.

If the chart doesn't represent loss, what would the chart itself represent? Actually...I suppose I could go lookup what exactly it is they're saying is in decline...

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Yeah but what are they comparing it to?

Their ideal from my point of view is a time when their parents/grandparents were able to take advantage of a period of time where the wealthy were being taxed about 90% and the government was paying companies to build the suburbs.

I think of the landowners at that point a lot like these crabs.

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The people who had their land for generations in ideal spots got to sell their land for development of towns/cities and a lot of money that they then got to use to grow their generational wealth.

mooray said:

Ah jeez of course it's a mess. You got five years to figure this out with me?

https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/scf20.pdf

https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20210610/z1.pdf

I guess those are supposed to paint some sort of picture, but Fred does say assets and liabilities...



So I gotta interpret that as a real and direct loss.

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Until the pandemic it was less, but it was still positive. growth in the family net worth.

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I really don't know what comes next though with the rent issues due to the stopping of evictions. But the middle class will still grow, but we got to do better for 100% of our population and not just send people off with a bus ticket out of town when they fall on hard times.

hanimmal said:

I really don't know what comes next though with the rent issues due to the stopping of evictions. But the middle class will still grow, but we got to do better for 100% of our population and not just send people off with a bus ticket out of town when they fall on hard times.

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Just watched one of my favorite Deep Space 9 episodes, Past Tense. The crew are sent back in time to, gulp, 2024 only to find America separated by class, with those out of work or homeless sent to walled off "sanctuary cities" that were anything but.

I could see the upcoming rent crisis leading to a situation like that with the next Fascist president. Maybe 2024...

Now here is the leading candidate in the Republican party for the next Presidential race. ( After Trump/no shit)
Yea, the guy whose incompetency has created a Death camp out of Florida (#1 in the Nation for infections/death)
No masks for it's children in school?
Why the fuck not.
Fucking imbeciles elected someone just like them, another imbecile.

Jimdamick said:

Now here is the leading candidate in the Republican party for the next Presidential race. ( After Trump/no shit)
Yea, the guy whose incompetency has created a Death camp out of Florida (#1 in the Nation for infections/death)
No masks for it's children in school?
Why the fuck not.
Fucking imbeciles elected someone just like them, another imbecile.

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He knows better than the experts and is sucking the arse of the worst of the republican base, WTF is this clown to argue with medical experts in the middle of a pandemic. Even when the lives of young children are involved it makes no difference to these maniacs, politics as usual. There are probably enough morons in Florida to reelect this idiot, in spite of all this shit and death. Well the people who he's pandering to that don't like vaccines and masks, are about to be hammered with delta, all the liberals will be either laughing or crying over their stupidity.

DIY-HP-LED said:

Even when the lives of young children are involved it makes no difference to these maniacs,

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Just saying, in this land of litigation/lawsuits, if my chiild became infected, I'd sue every fucking person involved, like the teacher/ Principal/Superintendent & especially DeSantis for Criminal Negligence & Manslaughter (if the child dies)
I'd bet that there would be a shitload of Lawyers lining up to take the case Pro Bono & they could win.
DeSantis & his big mouth & the BS he spews, all recorded, would/could give a jury or judge something to think about.
It's just a thought.

Sucker Carlson whispers.

Read this, the author hit's the nail on the head, and his core message is that the Republicans really fucked themselve this time around.
Let's just hope more Americans wake the fuck up and read the obvious writing on the wall, that the GOP is basically a carnival act, but instead of making you laugh (I actually laugh alot listening to them), they're actions are killing people, not some misbegotten person in a war thousands of miles away, but Americans at home (at least they're mostlly Republicans, which God forgive me for saying, is fine with me)

Republicans' anti-government chickens have finally come home to roost (msn.com)

Jimdamick said:

Read this, the author hit's the nail on the head, and his core message is that the Republicans really fucked themselve this time around.
Let's just hope more Americans wake the fuck up and read the obvious writing on the wall, that the GOP is basically a carnival act, but instead of making you laugh (I actually laugh alot listening to them), they're actions are killing people, not some misbegotten person in a war thousands of miles away, but Americans at home (at least they're mostlly Republicans, which God forgive me for saying, is fine with me)

Republicans' anti-government chickens have finally come home to roost (msn.com)

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Pretty much sums things up and generally what folks have been saying and observing on the threads. These crazy cocksuckers are out to kill themselves with covid now and once they got the ball rolling, it's hard to stop. For many of these clowns to tell their base to get vaccinated would be like telling them Trump lost the election. When the minister turns atheist, he doesn't share his epiphany with the congregation cause they will fire him!

This is a well written/astute commentary.
Donald Trump rallies the troops in Phoenix: Unfortunately, that's not a metaphor (msn.com)
This is a snippet of it & unfortunately true.
Republican strategist Steve Schmidt offered these observations about Trump's rally this weekend in Arizona

Ignoring Trump is not an option. Looking away is not an option. Trump is the 2024 presumptive nominee of the GOP. His insanity, conspiracy theories, rage, grievance and lying are dangerous. His words tonight teemed with menace and intimations of violence. Yet, he remains unchallenged except @Liz_Cheney and @RepKinzinger will defy him. He is in complete and total command of the Republican Party and he is waging war on the idea of American democracy. We are at the most dangerous moment in this nations history since the Civil War. Trump is unstable, unfit and addled yet he could be the 47th President. If that happens, we lose the country. We lose our democracy.

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Schmidt is 100% right.

AFTER POLICE TESTIMONY TO THE 1/6 COMMITTEE, IS IT TIME TO DECLARE THE GOP A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION?

The Capitol Police officers who testified on day one of the House Select Committee investigating Trump's attack on America repeatedly invoked the words "terrorist" and "terrorism" to describe what they - and this country - went through on January 6. Does that not mean that The Department of Homeland Security should declare the group behind the attack, the one still defending it, the one trying to obstruct the investigation, a "Terrorist Organization"? Isn't that group The Republican Party?