The Many Faces of US Politics...

[J70]

The unemployment calculations leave out a lot of people who have fallen out of the stats. The rate is closer to 10% . Blue collar Americans know the economy is in trouble. They live it.
Fox is insane but the liberal channels do not serve the public interest very well either.

Again, is it different to how it's always been calculated?

Labour force participation rates are also published. They're down 3% over the past 8 years. Half of that drop is simply down to the relatively large baby boomer cohort starting to retire, the rest to the economic downturn. So it was going to start dropping somewhat anyway. The economic situation made it more severe when some people simply gave up.

[seafoid]

The unemployment calculations leave out a lot of people who have fallen out of the stats. The rate is closer to 10% . Blue collar Americans know the economy is in trouble. They live it.
Fox is insane but the liberal channels do not serve the public interest very well either.

Again, is it different to how it's always been calculated?

Labour force participation rates are also published. They're down 3% over the past 8 years. Half of that drop is simply down to the relatively large baby boomer cohort starting to retire, the rest to the economic downturn. So it was going to start dropping somewhat anyway. The economic situation made it more severe when some people simply gave up.

It is not different  I think the problem is the calculation is no longer suitable for what is happening in the economy. Normally low unemployment pushes up wages. But not now. So the economy is stagnating. Same in the UK. Statistics are political. 

The labor participation rate is not just about boomers  The Fed can't generate growth either. It is very messy.

[joemamas]

Voter rigging rampant in Texas. Soros voting machines in 16 crucial states. We are going to get yet another selected President.

FFS

No more than the infamous butterfly ballot in Palm Beach in 2000, a bunch of old fvcks don't know how to operate a voting machine

Not the same thing at all!

On the one hand you have a bunch of technology-challenged old geezers who mistakenly pull the lever for Buchanan.

On the other, you have the paranoid, fact- and logic-free memes, such as this Soros voting machine, which repeatedly spread through the gullible right wing like an infection.

They did a test run in Palm Beach and had a bunch of kids in Junior Infants take part in a mock election and if I recall correctly 100 % of them were able to figure out how to vote properly

You can just never admit that some Dems are just as fvckin stupid as some Republicans....I knew you'd get your hair on fire about the butterfly ballot....that's why I threw it out there../.LOL

What are you talking about??

That old people are idiots when it comes to technology is news to no one, nor is it a partisan issue.

Nor indeed is intelligence, and I have never made that claim.

What is a partisan issue is that there is a reactionary, paranoid, right wing section of US society who are being served by an equally paranoid right wing media and political complex. There is no liberal, Democratic counterpart or equivalent.

Yes, I'm sure you can pull up some idiotic utterance or fringe movement from somewhere, but there is no equivalent that has mainstream acceptance and incorporation on the left to anywhere remotely close to the degree it does on the right.

Bill Maher is not paranoid but he is full of shit. Unemployment is not 5%. 14 m new jobs are not good jobs. The economy is not going well. Obama was not a good president.
I think US media has different levels of venality. RTE would be better than any US channel in terms of the public interest. And RTE is mediocre.

Bill Mayer is a comedian who is full of shit sometimes and on the money other times. What he isn't is a major politician indulging conspiracy theories like Jade Helm, birtherism, Muslims, outrage over faked videos, science etc. etc.

As for Obama's presidency, time will tell, either way. He inherited a world of shit and unprecedented GOP obstruction.

I don't what you're on about with the unemployment rate thing. Is that a conspiracy? Is it being calculated differently to how it was done in the past?

Not to let the facts get in the way of a good story, but didn't the democrats have a majority in congress during this time, and if I am correct was that not when Obamacare was passed.

on a separate point, I believe that unfortunately, a lot of the jobs that are being created today are not high paying jobs, I believe technology and more so increased regulation are the major reasons for this. It is not a good long term situation, in fact it is bad when the divergence between the well off and the less well off continues to increase. However, if you believe that you can tax yourself to prosperity or regulate yourself to prosperity, you are delusional.

Despite Interest rates being at zero for past five years, GDP growth is still below 2%. Cannot blame 2008 2009 for all that. I think there is a serious lack of confidence by businesses both big and small and that is causing a serious lack of new business investment. They would rather increase dividends or do stock repurchase programs rather than expand in the U.S.

[whitey]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-calif-guard-bonus-20161027-story.html

I believe the military industrial complex is finally going to come under serious pressure.  I'm not at all surprised at this bullshit.

As the father of 2 boys I would actively discourage them from serving in the military. (And they have older cousins who they Idolise who fought in both Afghanistan and Iraq)

[muppet]

Not to let the facts get in the way of a good story, but didn't the democrats have a majority in congress during this time, and if I am correct was that not when Obamacare was passed.

on a separate point, I believe that unfortunately, a lot of the jobs that are being created today are not high paying jobs, I believe technology and more so increased regulation are the major reasons for this. It is not a good long term situation, in fact it is bad when the divergence between the well off and the less well off continues to increase. However, if you believe that you can tax yourself to prosperity or regulate yourself to prosperity, you are delusional.

Despite Interest rates being at zero for past five years, GDP growth is still below 2%. Cannot blame 2008 2009 for all that. I think there is a serious lack of confidence by businesses both big and small and that is causing a serious lack of new business investment. They would rather increase dividends or do stock repurchase programs rather than expand in the U.S.

Has anyone, ever, anywhere, claimed that 'you can tax your way to prosperity'?

However if you are going to show concern for 'the divergence between the well off and the less well off', then tax is the only real  mechanism we have to balance the problem.

As for this: "Despite Interest rates being at zero for past five years, GDP growth is still below 2%. Cannot blame 2008 2009 for all that."

See the Japanese crash of 1991. GDP and Interest rates have barely moved since. Also see the EU and Britain. All stuck in the mire due to economic crashes which followed property-related crashes. So I would agree blaming 2008, 2009 is, if anything, too simplistic. That was the crash, the problem was the build up to 2008.

[seafoid]

You can tax your way to.prosperity. They did it in the 50s. Taxed the rich and got them to STFU for a generation.

[muppet]

You can tax your way to.prosperity. They did it in the 50s. Taxed the rich and got them to STFU for a generation.

That is not 'taxing your way to prosperity', that is taxing someone else for your prosperity.

[theskull1]

Great rational discussion on the topic

Waking Up with Sam Harris
#49 — The Lesser Evil

https://soundcloud.com/samharrisorg/49-the-lesser-evil

[Gmac]

Fbi reopening email investigation

[muppet]

Fbi reopening email investigation

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/28/fbi-probe-newly-discovered-hillary-clinton-emails-and-reopen-inv/

'Trump hails news 'bigger than Watergate'.

What would definitely be bigger than Watergate is if he actually knew what the investigation was about!

[muppet]

https://twitter.com/cbsnews/status/792054330853564416

Now 'sources' saying that FBI wouldn't characterise it as 're-opening' the investigation. That after every news outlet in the world has put that in their headline and Trump is already stating it as a fact.

At this stage I am so fed up with the brainlessness of it all, that I want Trump to win. Too much of the US needs to learn the lesson very badly.

[whitey]

https://twitter.com/cbsnews/status/792054330853564416

Now 'sources' saying that FBI wouldn't characterise it as 're-opening' the investigation. That after every news outlet in the world has put that in their headline and Trump is already stating it as a fact.

At this stage I am so fed up with the brainlessness of it all, that I want Trump to win. Too much of the US needs to learn the lesson very badly.

There was a rumour circulating online last night that they were coming very close to recovering the 33k deleted emails......$hit may be about to get real very soon for Hillary

[heganboy]

some interesting opinions on this one.

(Not sure what it has to do with Russia though Donald.)

I think for the GOP this may help in some congressional races, but that the ship has sailed on the Presidency.

There have been so many attempts to find the smoking gun, that it is hard to believe that it is there at this point, no matter how much you want it to be.

The blood is in the water for the Dems, at this point Hillary has more of her money spent this month than the Trumpster. Will it be enough to tip senate and congress? Probably not

[muppet]

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/anthony-weiner-sexting-investigation

[Seamus]

The usual dumbed down suspects have replied, so dumb they even classify me as right wing when I clearly consider the Bush and Clinton Crime families as equals (partners in drug running in Mena, Arkansas and that's just for beginners). The Democrats and Republicans as one in the disguise of two, boy has Trump upset their little club.  Part of me hopes that evil Hillary wins, it's what these dumb asses deserve.