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Posted
12 hours ago, Hermanator said:

These oligarch cunts are just trolling us now

Screenshot_20250410-164155_Chrome.thumb.png.fa6899b9b7a55ce3ef219604bed4bd56.png

Try reading the headline in a sarcastic tone and picture Dimon rolling his eyes. 
 

It won’t make you feel better overall, but it’s less rage inducing. 

Posted
8 hours ago, aggie08 said:

Damn. I really talked myself into the younger generation, that has grown up with the internet, being slightly less gullible to naked propaganda on social media.

Why would you think that?

The internet has made people even less able to tell a good source of information from a bad one than they were in previous generations.  

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Posted
19 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Where is the deal part of this?  What deal was made with any country or corporation, using these tariff proclamations as negotiating tactics?

if I walk into a room, turn off the light, then turn it back on after a little grumbling, I did not make a deal. 

It’s a Faustian art of the deal.

Posted
3 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Why would you think that?

The internet has made people even less able to tell a good source of information from a bad one than they were in previous generations.  

This is exactly correct.  My son's college age friends come around and sometimes we end up talking politics.  These are smart kids and are a mix of races and religions (African American, Hispanic, Indian, Korean, Jewish, etc...) and many of them site things they see on the internet as truth when it's just right-wing propaganda.  Good kids but they have zero clue what they are talking about but believe it's the truth.  Some of these kids voted for Trump for this reason and it is crazy and quite sad.  The public education system in this country has failed us (done on purpose by the GOP to keep the rubes in line).  

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Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

This is exactly correct.  My son's college age friends come around and sometimes we end up talking politics.  These are smart kids and are a mix of races and religions (African American, Hispanic, Indian, Korean, Jewish, etc...) and many of them site things they see on the internet as truth when it's just right-wing propaganda.  Good kids but they have zero clue what they are talking about but believe it's the truth.  Some of these kids voted for Trump for this reason and it is crazy and quite sad.  The public education system in this country has failed us (done on purpose by the GOP to keep the rubes in line).  

Right.  It used to be that a platform to speak on a subject had to be earned, with degrees and credentials and testimonials from other subject matter experts.  Now anybody can have a forum to speak as if they know what they're talking about without having to prove it.  See David Avocado Wolfe, health and nutrition guru with no education on health or nutrition, who thinks that chocolate is an octave of sun energy (no shit).  See Jenny McCarthy educating an entire generation of shitter researchers on the real cause of autism, and these vapid housewives listen because she's pretty and they've heard her name before.  That's all it takes.

It's the worst irony ever that the greatest storehouse of information in human history has made us irredeemably stupid.

 

Edited by TexArcher
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Posted

Tons of factors over many decades got us here, but social media/internet is the main piece that quickly turned us into dogshit and allowed this fat orangutan to take over the country. 

The lack of regulation and guardrails killed us. Information and truth is meaningless now. 

 

 

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Posted
This is exactly correct.  My son's college age friends come around and sometimes we end up talking politics.  These are smart kids and are a mix of races and religions (African American, Hispanic, Indian, Korean, Jewish, etc...) and many of them site things they see on the internet as truth when it's just right-wing propaganda.  Good kids but they have zero clue what they are talking about but believe it's the truth.  Some of these kids voted for Trump for this reason and it is crazy and quite sad.  The public education system in this country has failed us (done on purpose by the GOP to keep the rubes in line).  

Gen X equivalent - “Do you believe everything you see on TV?”

We have failed to teach critical thinking for decades.
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Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:


Gen X equivalent - “Do you believe everything you see on TV?”

We have failed to teach critical thinking for decades.

Not wrong on that point at all.

Encouraging young people to question and be a member of the resistance (to challenge, to learn, to try and figure things out) is tricky as it can play with our own insecurities, but it can change the world.

Edited by Mrs Whiggins
grammar
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Posted
2 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

I still chuckle at statements people have had for decades now that "when the olds die off, the GOP will be finished"

I was hearing this back in the 90's.   It's 2025 and I'm still waiting.

 

 

 

 

The young frat kids in my neighborhood still have their Dipshit Moron sign in their yard.  Along with their F150 Raptor with the 1776 license plate.  It's just performative bro bullshit.  They have no idea how anything works.  Maybe they will get wiser as they get older, but I don't have a ton of hope.

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Posted
Just now, Biff Tannen said:

The young frat kids in my neighborhood still have their Dipshit Moron sign in their yard.  Along with their F150 Raptor with the 1776 license plate.  It's just performative bro bullshit.  They have no idea how anything works.  Maybe they will get wiser as they get older, but I don't have a ton of hope.

I just saw a poll regarding tariffs, and young working class white males had a favorable view of them. I suspect the neighbor dudes, if collegiate (in which white college educated males polled tariffs as unfavorable by a larger margin) may get wiser but it will depend upon how effective the GOP kool-aid is at dulling their brain cells.

*The poll was conducted by Marquette and is available here:

https://law.marquette.edu/poll/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MLSPSC25PressReleaseNationalIssues.pdf

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Posted
9 hours ago, Hefeweizen said:

Apparently my cohort sucks.  I’m squarely in the middle of GenX at 52.  This actually checks out pretty well. 

I've come to accept this, as painful as it may be.

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Posted
The young frat kids in my neighborhood still have their Dipshit Moron sign in their yard.  Along with their F150 Raptor with the 1776 license plate.  It's just performative bro bullshit.  They have no idea how anything works.  Maybe they will get wiser as they get older, but I don't have a ton of hope.

I don’t think they do.
Posted
1 hour ago, C-Man said:

As a former working journalist — in sports, mind you — I thought the worst legacy that Trump’s presidency was going to leave (unfortunately, destroying American Democracy is now on the table) was that he single-handedly destroyed legitimate media in this country with his constant barrage of “fake news” bullshit. It ruined all trust in legacy media, which I admit didn’t help itself a whole bunch.

Worse, Trump completely co-opted and inverted the meaning of “fake news”. It used to be exactly that, untrue/unsourced stories from outlets with no journalistic standards (and eventually, bots spreading straight up lies).

Trump gets his tiny hands on the term and now it basically means “any story that the legacy media prints that’s in any way negative to Trump”. Meanwhile, the actually fake news sources that the term was meant for are where half the country now gets their news. 

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Posted
11 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

 

I like that approach. Keep your prices constant and adjust the fee as needed to cover the tariffs. It’s similar to how FedEx and UPS have utilized fuel surcharges.

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Posted
1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

The young frat kids in my neighborhood still have their Dipshit Moron sign in their yard.  Along with their F150 Raptor with the 1776 license plate.  It's just performative bro bullshit.  They have no idea how anything works.  Maybe they will get wiser as they get older, but I don't have a ton of hope.

I imagine it's pretty easy to be a prick to others and not care about money when mommy and daddy pay for everything.

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Posted
12 hours ago, aggie08 said:

. I really talked myself into the younger generation, that has grown up with the internet, being slightly less gullible to naked propaganda on social media.

Why in the hell would you think that?  If all you’ve ever been exposed to is propaganda, you’re going to fall for it worse. 

Posted
12 hours ago, Hefeweizen said:

Apparently my cohort sucks.  I’m squarely in the middle of GenX at 52.  This actually checks out pretty well. 

We are deplorable garbage. 

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Posted
15 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

We are deplorable garbage. 

I used to consider most people as kind at heart and some part of me still wants to go with that, but lately it's been tough. Empathy as a weakness? (geez doesn't that soundbite tweet feel like it was ages ago?) It also sounds so straight out of Putin's mouth it makes me want to puke. People who didn't vote for this mess are going to be hurt by it in more ways than economically and won't have the $$ to climb out of it.

Posted
3 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

The young frat kids in my neighborhood still have their Dipshit Moron sign in their yard.  Along with their F150 Raptor with the 1776 license plate.  It's just performative bro bullshit.  They have no idea how anything works.  Maybe they will get wiser as they get older, but I don't have a ton of hope.

When I see 1776 or We The People on a flag, shirt or tattoo, I’ve seen everything that I need to see about that person. Stereotypes exist for a reason.

the basic idea being that it’s 2 types: one who has never or will never sacrifice anything. Or someone that has sacrificed (military service) and that’s their entire personality. I respect the latter, to a point, but everything out of their mouth is about their service.

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Posted
20 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

When I see 1776 or We The People on a flag, shirt or tattoo, I’ve seen everything that I need to see about that person. Stereotypes exist for a reason.

the basic idea being that it’s 2 types: one who has never or will never sacrifice anything. Or someone that has sacrificed (military service) and that’s their entire personality. I respect the latter, to a point, but everything out of their mouth is about their service.

You should hangout with triathletes. lol

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Posted
23 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

When I see 1776 or We The People on a flag, shirt or tattoo, I’ve seen everything that I need to see about that person. Stereotypes exist for a reason.

the basic idea being that it’s 2 types: one who has never or will never sacrifice anything. Or someone that has sacrificed (military service) and that’s their entire personality. I respect the latter, to a point, but everything out of their mouth is about their service.

wrap around Oakleys. Fishin shirt. He dudes.

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Posted
6 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

I still chuckle at statements people have had for decades now that "when the olds die off, the GOP will be finished"

I was hearing this back in the 90's.   It's 2025 and I'm still waiting.

 

 

 

 

It's because it's not a unique species that dies off. It's an evolution of young -> old, liberal -> GOP. The key is to mute the metamorphosis and delay and curb the effects of the inevitable march of time.

Posted
15 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Good post, but Gates is a dumbass as well. 

 

Wasn't aware of that.  Last I saw on him, he was talking about clean water issues and his foundation's support for a treatment facility. 

Posted
1 minute ago, Nivek said:

Wasn't aware of that.  Last I saw on him, he was talking about clean water issues and his foundation's support for a treatment facility. 


On zoom from Epstein island?

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Posted
1 minute ago, Nivek said:

Wasn't aware of that.  Last I saw on him, he was talking about clean water issues and his foundation's support for a treatment facility. 

Well, he remains the self-interested, arrogant sumbitch he revealed himself to be during the M$ antitrust trial.

And he's not giving until it hurts.  His wealth continues to grow, very intentionally.

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Posted
7 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

I still chuckle at statements people have had for decades now that "when the olds die off, the GOP will be finished"

I was hearing this back in the 90's.   It's 2025 and I'm still waiting.

 

 

 

 

Those are the same dumbasses that have been preaching the changing demographics will turn TX blue.  Any day now, right?

Posted
3 hours ago, royiv said:

I like that approach. Keep your prices constant and adjust the fee as needed to cover the tariffs. It’s similar to how FedEx and UPS have utilized fuel surcharges.

Sadly, FedEx and UPS began to weaponize all surcharges during COVID and haven’t let off(I was sales/sales mgmt 26yrs them at FedEx).  The very definition of corporate greed cloaked as “supply chain issues” and “inflation”.  Corporate greed sucks.  But the Trump tariff needs to become a thing 

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Posted (edited)
21 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

 

As a recovering big "C" conservative... I'll take a stab.

We are poised to hit a couple of "not great" milestones in the next year or so.  We will in the near future 1) cross the 100% debt/GDP threshold and 2)have an annual outlay greater than $1T for interest payments on the national debt.  The $1T factoid is pretty much meaningless, except for the fact that we now have more than $1T that is not available to provide actual goods and services to our citizens.  The 100% debt to GDP ratio is concerning because it could be a trigger point for credit rating agencies to downgrade the US Govt's credit rating and shift to more negative outlooks.  

The biggest concern is that interest as a share of the budget keeps growing.  In 2024, 13% of the Federal budget went to service the debt.  By 2035, that will be up to 16% ($1.783T).  Again... that will be 16% of our budget not providing benefits to our citizens, because no one has the political will to keep spending in line with revenues.    

How far can we go and how big can the problem get before it becomes critical?  We don't really know... but we REALLY don't want to find out.

So here’s my question, and I remember arguing this point with you and others back in 2001 and 2003 w/r/t the Bush tax cuts. What happened as a result was not only predictable at the time but widely demonstrated to the point of certainty. 
So for people like you (and @Brisketexanand @Ghost of LL), meaning actual conservatives*, why did you fall for it? And why do Conservatives still fall for it? Was it because Republicans  then and now use the word “conservative” to describe funding tax stimulus with debt and Democrats and the press let them? Is it because people just don’t have an economic vocabulary to describe what they see with their own eyes?

I just don’t get it.

 

 

 

* to his credit, McCain opposed the cuts and made the same argument I did, for the same reasons. 

Edited by Bozo_Casanova
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Posted
14 hours ago, Hefeweizen said:

Apparently my cohort sucks.  I’m squarely in the middle of GenX at 52.  This actually checks out pretty well. 

At least we had some good movies. I honestly think the reason why Gen Xers like Trump more than other cohorts is because when we were growing up and becoming adults, Donald Trump was the brand most synonymous with money and success, fed to us since childhood. We grew up with him and at one point or another we all got sucked into that belief or took it for granted, at least a little. Tough to deprogram that. 

3 hours ago, royiv said:

I like that approach. Keep your prices constant and adjust the fee as needed to cover the tariffs. It’s similar to how FedEx and UPS have utilized fuel surcharges.

Yeah but that one swimmer 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

So here’s my question, and I remember arguing this point with you and others back in 2001 and 2003 w/r/t the Bush tax cuts. What happened as a result was not only predictable at the time but widely demonstrated to the point of certainty. 
So for people like you (and @Brisketexanand @Ghost of LL), meaning actual conservatives*, why did you fall for it? And why do Conservatives still fall for it? Was it because Republicans  then and now use the word “conservative” to describe funding tax stimulus with debt and Democrats and the press let them? Is it because people just don’t have an economic vocabulary to describe what they see with their own eyes?

I just don’t get it.

 

 

 

* to his credit, McCain opposed the cuts and made the same argument I did, for the same reasons. 

Because it's something that intuitively makes sense.  If you put capital back in the hands of the investing classes, it will be invested in such a way as to generate economic activity and all that comes with it (e.g., jobs).  And let's just be real honest about this--it's a theory that did work at earlier points in our history.  Kennedy's tax cuts in the early 1960s are widely credits with spurring economic growth.  Reagan's are more controversial, but they also are credited with causing an economic expansion.

The difference is that by the 2000s, there are two many other investment options and strategies such that the capital didn't necessarily go to economic expansion in the United States.  And unlike in the 1960s and 1980s, taxes on the top brackets were already so low that reducing them further didn't really have much impact.  

Posted
1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

At least we had some good movies. I honestly think the reason why Gen Xers like Trump more than other cohorts is because when we were growing up and becoming adults, Donald Trump was the brand most synonymous with money and success, fed to us since childhood. We grew up with him and at one point or another we all got sucked into that belief or took it for granted, at least a little. Tough to deprogram that. 

Yeah but that one swimmer 

confused-confused-look.gif

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Posted
1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

At least we had some good movies. I honestly think the reason why Gen Xers like Trump more than other cohorts is because when we were growing up and becoming adults, Donald Trump was the brand most synonymous with money and success, fed to us since childhood. We grew up with him and at one point or another we all got sucked into that belief or took it for granted, at least a little. Tough to deprogram that. 

Anyone who watched him on Letterman in the 80s should have known better.

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Posted
Because it's something that intuitively makes sense.  If you put capital back in the hands of the investing classes, it will be invested in such a way as to generate economic activity and all that comes with it (e.g., jobs).  And let's just be real honest about this--it's a theory that did work at earlier points in our history.  Kennedy's tax cuts in the early 1960s are widely credits with spurring economic growth.  Reagan's are more controversial, but they also are credited with causing an economic expansion.
The difference is that by the 2000s, there are two many other investment options and strategies such that the capital didn't necessarily go to economic expansion in the United States.  And unlike in the 1960s and 1980s, taxes on the top brackets were already so low that reducing them further didn't really have much impact.  

It never really made sense. The companies or the wealthy don’t invest or hire people just because. They do so for profit.
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Posted

tenor(4).gif.aea936cf0b2444d503d44ed80f4429fb.gif

I shamefully admit I was a fan back then. It was when he tried and succeeded ruining the USFL that I became aware of what a dumbass he was becoming. 

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Posted
11 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Anyone who watched him on Letterman in the 80s should have known better.

Or listened to him on Stern.

Posted
1 hour ago, Ghost of LL said:

Because it's something that intuitively makes sense.  If you put capital back in the hands of the investing classes, it will be invested in such a way as to generate economic activity and all that comes with it (e.g., jobs).

Eh, It is certainly makes intuitive, logical sense stripped of any context (see below), but the caveats you would have to erect around are so numerous and interdependent that it would take a couple thousand words to even gloss the conditions when that would be a true statement. Otherwise the whole idea is just a shuck and jive and that’s been well established for 50+ years. It’s “Voodoo.”

even just the word “back” as used above is hugely problematic without conditions. 

and I don’t blame you btw, that’s why I asked about an economic vocabulary.  


 

1 hour ago, Ghost of LL said:

And let's just be real honest about this--it's a theory that did work at earlier points in our history.  Kennedy's tax cuts in the early 1960s are widely credits with spurring economic growth. 

Again, highly conditional. Marginal rates were super high (which you alluded to later), and the economy was stagnant, but more importantly we were literally on a completely different and much more restrictive monetary system. Again, it’s an intuitive comparison only if you don’t know or think about the fact that we literally don’t use the same money that we used then. 
 

1 hour ago, Ghost of LL said:

Reagan's are more controversial, but they also are credited with causing an economic expansion.

They aren’t controversial in economic circles. Nobody disputes that stimulus stimulates, and also nobody other than crackpots and politicians dispute that debt-funded stimulus during expansions that are directed towards asset price support doesn’t pay for itself via job creation or revenue. in other words, it’s just a tax on future productivity. That’s been understood for 50 years, outside of Republican politics. It was even understood in the Reagan White House. 

1 hour ago, Ghost of LL said:

The difference is that by the 2000s, there are two many other investment options and strategies such that the capital didn't necessarily go to economic expansion in the United States. 

Nope, it was asset prices the whole time- that’s why you could have a massive monetary expansion without cpi/ppi inflation. The vast majority never went into jobs. Had it gone into jobs, inflation would have been more of a problem from the 80s-2010’s

And that’s also why, btw, you saw a huge inflation spike when they did put the money in worker’s hands in 2021, combined with a supply shock. You had a bunch of money chasing not enough stuff, so prices adjusted, the unemployment rate dropped to nearly zero, and the economy boomed.

Like I said- it’s a shuck and jive. And they knew it at the time- this was crackpot stuff prior to Reagan, which is why Bush and old school fiscal conservatives were so horrified by it. But it was politically potent if you don’t know any better, and still is. 

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