The Many Faces of US Politics...

[whitey]

Trump gets another Supreme Court Pick-Kennedy retiring

Just heard Chris Matthews-he's apoplectic 😤

Well yeah... the stolen Supreme Court seat has left this rather significant don't you think?

We've ploughed this ground before

Garland should have been given a hearing, but the Democrats own behavior under prior Republican  administrations is partly to blame for McConnell getting away with it

Which Republican Supreme Court nominee did a Democratic Senate deny a vote to?

They strongly advocated it TWICE under 2 separate Republican presidents.

But didn't actually block any votes.

They didnt, but (imho) given the rhetoric employed especially by Schumer among others they would have in a heartbeat (no pun intended)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nSCeHEOThZM

Here is the Biden quote.

""Mr. President, where the nation should be treated to a consideration of constitutional philosophy, all it will get in such circumstances is a partisan bickering and political posturing from both parties and from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. As a result, it is my view that if a Supreme Court Justice resigns tomorrow, or within the next several weeks, or resigns at the end of the summer, President Bush should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not — and not — name a nominee until after the November election is completed.""

He was not going to block a hearing or a vote. He said clearly that if a vacancy arose then Bush should get to nominate a replacement.

Haha.....well he could hardly block a vote or a hearing if the then President followed this wondeful advice and "not name a nominee"

What Joes doesnt say is what he would have done, had the sitting president gone ahead and put forward a nominee

You and J70 think that it was all talk and they wouldnt have blocked him

I, on the other hand, fully believe that they would have had the situation arisen

[Gmac]

Harley Davidson CEO Matthew S Levatich says:

"Our decision to move some of our operations is 100% based on President Trumps tariffs. Mr. Trump knows nothing about economics and even less about trade. The man is a moron."

no one is buying there motorcycles there profit and sales are way down the last couple of years but blame trump instead of fixing the company which has been faltering for a few years.

Médian wages allowing for inflation are at 1975 levels. People do not have money. Why do you think so many voted for Trump? And he is f**king them over

and this only started happening since trump became president? According to CNBC wages went up 2.7% in 2017 most since the Great Depression

Most since the Great Depression.? For f**k's sake.
Wages went up by over 5% a year in the 50s
Trump said the tax cuts would generate growth of 3 to 4% per year.
Now the OBR estimates max 1.9%.
Why? Because all the money goes to the rich who are riding everyone else.

the last collapse or depression

[dec]

I, on the other hand, fully believe that they would have had the situation arisen

That is your belief.

What you said was "They strongly advocated it TWICE under 2 separate Republican presidents." They did not advocate for denying a hearing to a nomination.

[whitey]

I, on the other hand, fully believe that they would have had the situation arisen

That is your belief.

What you said was "They strongly advocated it TWICE under 2 separate Republican presidents." They did not advocate for denying a hearing to a nomination.

I'm missing your point

They advocated against them even naming a nominee.  How can you give a hearing to someone if you block the prior step which is them naming a nominee?

[omaghjoe]

The economy is indeed an important underlying factor but we live in a democracy with supposedly a sovereign people not a sovereign economy. Not everything is the economy as cultural battles are also at play here.

The relationship between economic growth and population change was always a finely balanced trade off and once it goes akilter there seems to be rather extreme self righting mechanism that kicks into gear. Quite often the nature of the economic need and the numbers for migration is concealed or buttered up for the receiving populace which again undermines the trust between the various classes.

The right love to point to Japan as a nation that has chosen to preserve its ethnicity over economic growth. They have a shrinking population, a large but rather flat economy and are looking into automation to manage the shrinking workforce problem.

The USA ain't Japan though so i don't know how they plan to manage that one and I don't think they'll be showing up to pick fruit anytime soon either

I beg to differ...

If the economy was doing great and everyone felt they were benefiting I predict there would be no rise of Alt-right (course we never know for sure). Immigration has been huge into American for decades, immigrants were broadly welcomed as everyone felt things were going great so they weren't disgruntled and had no need to blame or scapegoat

Ireland is a good example were most people are benefiting and so no one is getting the blame.....yet

The perception of benefiting is the important thing people usually compare it to the previous generation and you'd have to say in America & UK its going backwards. Ireland its definitely improving.. in terms of material benefit at least which is the easiest to measure.

Japan is a good example of what happens when a fully industralised economy workforce starts to shrink, course there is other factors like crippling soverign debt for Japan. But most of the industrial countries seem to be heading towards these two fundamentals also.
Time will tell but I reckon Japan's economy is a precursor to the rest of the world as the entire World is becoming industrialised and population growth is dropping off....unbelievably there has been little societal upheaval prob due to the rate of employment holding up.... maybe it is also due to few immigrants in their society and a willingness to accepting their fate.. either way I dont think Western society will hold up the same way, especially America where people have been ingrained into the belief of improving your lot over successive generations

[J70]

Trump gets another Supreme Court Pick-Kennedy retiring

Just heard Chris Matthews-he's apoplectic 😤

Well yeah... the stolen Supreme Court seat has left this rather significant don't you think?

We've ploughed this ground before

Garland should have been given a hearing, but the Democrats own behavior under prior Republican  administrations is partly to blame for McConnell getting away with it

Which Republican Supreme Court nominee did a Democratic Senate deny a vote to?

They strongly advocated it TWICE under 2 separate Republican presidents.

But didn't actually block any votes.

They didnt, but (imho) given the rhetoric employed especially by Schumer among others they would have in a heartbeat (no pun intended)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nSCeHEOThZM

Here is the Biden quote.

""Mr. President, where the nation should be treated to a consideration of constitutional philosophy, all it will get in such circumstances is a partisan bickering and political posturing from both parties and from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. As a result, it is my view that if a Supreme Court Justice resigns tomorrow, or within the next several weeks, or resigns at the end of the summer, President Bush should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not — and not — name a nominee until after the November election is completed.""

He was not going to block a hearing or a vote. He said clearly that if a vacancy arose then Bush should get to nominate a replacement.

Haha.....well he could hardly block a vote or a hearing if the then President followed this wondeful advice and "not name a nominee"

What Joes doesnt say is what he would have done, had the sitting president gone ahead and put forward a nominee

You and J70 think that it was all talk and they wouldnt have blocked him

I, on the other hand, fully believe that they would have had the situation arisen

It suits your argument not to give the benefit of the doubt as to what they might have done. Do you have comments from OTHER Dems at the time? Republicans at the time? How serious an actual threat was this?

Basically, unless you add some serious context, you don't really have a clue - you're just  making another false equivalency (but by all means expand to support your claim... if you really care... I don't). On the other hand, there is no doubt whatsoever about what the GOP actually did do, with close to a full year left in Obama's term.

[whitey]

Joe Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee at the time and Schumer was one of the most senior members of the Democraric leadership.

Its impossible to know what they would have done, but they said what they said and its come back to haunt them.

You dont think they wouldnt have blocked a nomination.....I think they would

I said last year that blocking Garland was wrong and it was a huge gamble by the Republicans, but its paid off in spades. 

As I also said last year, most Republicans I know (east coast, fiscally conservative, socially moderate) would regard the Trump Presidency as completely worth it if gets in two Supreme Court Justices even though they, like me, cant stand him.

[LeoMc]

Harley Davidson CEO Matthew S Levatich says:

"Our decision to move some of our operations is 100% based on President Trumps tariffs. Mr. Trump knows nothing about economics and even less about trade. The man is a moron."

no one is buying there motorcycles there profit and sales are way down the last couple of years but blame trump instead of fixing the company which has been faltering for a few years.

Their

Their Their

[seafoid]

Harley Davidson CEO Matthew S Levatich says:

"Our decision to move some of our operations is 100% based on President Trumps tariffs. Mr. Trump knows nothing about economics and even less about trade. The man is a moron."

no one is buying there motorcycles there profit and sales are way down the last couple of years but blame trump instead of fixing the company which has been faltering for a few years.

Their

Their Their

There is no their there

[J70]

Joe Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee at the time and Schumer was one of the most senior members of the Democraric leadership.

Its impossible to know what they would have done, but they said what they said and its come back to haunt them.

You dont think they wouldnt have blocked a nomination.....I think they would

I said last year that blocking Garland was wrong and it was a huge gamble by the Republicans, but its paid off in spades. 

As I also said last year, most Republicans I know (east coast, fiscally conservative, socially moderate) would regard the Trump Presidency as completely worth it if gets in two Supreme Court Justices even though they, like me, cant stand him.

Well, you're about to get your money's worth. Hope you enjoy it. This country is about to change even more for the worse for women, minorities, working class, consumers and the environment.

[seafoid]

Harley Davidson CEO Matthew S Levatich says:

"Our decision to move some of our operations is 100% based on President Trumps tariffs. Mr. Trump knows nothing about economics and even less about trade. The man is a moron."

no one is buying there motorcycles there profit and sales are way down the last couple of years but blame trump instead of fixing the company which has been faltering for a few years.

Médian wages allowing for inflation are at 1975 levels. People do not have money. Why do you think so many voted for Trump? And he is f**king them over

and this only started happening since trump became president? According to CNBC wages went up 2.7% in 2017 most since the Great Depression

Most since the Great Depression.? For f**k's sake.
Wages went up by over 5% a year in the 50s
Trump said the tax cuts would generate growth of 3 to 4% per year.
Now the OBR estimates max 1.9%.
Why? Because all the money goes to the rich who are riding everyone else.

the last collapse or depression

Here's something for you

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2018/0628/973939-us-economy/

But personal consumption expenditures, a measure that tracks spending by individuals, grew at a sluggish 0.9% for the quarter, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2013.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-trial-runs-for-fascism-are-in-full-flow-1.3543375

[screenexile]

So much winning!!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/25/trump-team-rebukes-u-n-saying-it-overestimates-extreme-poverty-in-america-by-18-million-people/

[heganboy]

$4 a day
Literally less than a cup of coffee per day.
Apparently this is a new acceptable measure of poverty in the United States in 2018. Those "experts" really have their shit together...

No wonder the country is fucked.

[seafoid]

$4 a day
Literally less than a cup of coffee per day.
Apparently this is a new acceptable measure of poverty in the United States in 2018. Those "experts" really have their shit together...

No wonder the country is fucked.

A.The US is neo Victorian


1. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jun/29/americas-outcasts-women-trapped-in-cruel-cycle-of-exploitation

Don't have the link-FT quote fRom 2011
2. "Robert Gordon of Northwestern University ... shows that in the past quarter-century the US labour market has become markedly more exceptional –more organised around the "disposable worker".  Management thinking and declining unions have driven friction ever lower, while employment subsidies and regulation have made Europe's labour markets stickier. The Great Recession and its surge of long-term unemployment are a severe test of what was once seen as a distinctive US economic strength."


3. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/may/13/he-was-gone-fentanyl-and-the-opioid-deaths-destroying-australian-families

In the US, where opioid abuse has sparked a public health crisis, fentanyl is at the front line of overdose deaths. Opioid overdoses increased by about 30% across the US in just 14 months between 2016 and 2017, and fentanyl deaths shot up by 540% between 2013 and 2016.

According to the the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of deaths caused by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl jumped from 3.1 per 100,000 in 2015 to 6.2 per 100,000 in 2016. In October last year the US president, Donald Trump, declared it a public health emergency.

4. According to the FT oil price rises wiped out the bebefit of the tax cut for the poorest 40%.

The economic system is very simple. Money is transferred from everyone else to the very top. The people at the bottom are in despair. And they voted for Trump. More shafting.