News Us politics - read first post before comment

[scout86]

I paid for college myself, with a combination of loans, grants, and work. It was doable, back the day. Less so now, I suspect. But, I was accepted into veterinary school during the reign of Reagan & Bush the First. I was pretty low income, eligible for a lot of financial aid, but the government, in its infinite wisdom, had cut the amount of aid available. It was first come first served. I was late to the table and got virtually nothing. Could have gotten conventional loans, but would have had to be paying on them while i was in school and I knew THAT wasn't going to work. I gave it a shot anyway. It was a spectacular train wreck. (There was a lot of other stuff going on as well. Let's just say it's a wonder I didn't manage to get myself killed.) Anyway, it upsets me that part the proposed budget includes cut backs in aid for students. To me, this is short sighted beyond all comprehension.

As is blowing off climate change.

Something I rarely hear people talking about is the value of something in a person's life to make THEM feel productive. If we replace workers with machines, what do we do with the workers? Everyone can't be a computer programmer or an engineer. But everyone needs something to do. A way to earn a living. Something to give meaning to life. I'm not sure video games are the answer.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Everyone can't be a computer programmer

Computer science degree AND certifications. That's what is looked for. More the certs then the degree but still. Money, money, lots and lots of money. There are ways to get some free and less but still, loads of money.

 

[Deleted member 41765]

This I can say with the most certainty of all, NOT ALL THAT IS BEING VOICED HERE IS REALITY. I realize it doesn't make it easier for anyone, but it is based on perception but not a true understanding of the complexities of the process. That isn't ignorance, but it isn't educational either.

I find this comment condescending, and disrespectful. I also think it based on your own perception of said reality. Also, it pisses me off. @She Cat I do get the degree of rage you mentioned!!

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Everything being discussed here is on the fringe of fact but doesn't really get to the meat of the issue. It is what the media presents to the public but not what occurs behind closed doors or what is a reality.

Not true. I spoke of Florida wages vs price of living. What I stated was fact. I live in Florida.

You can read all you would like about American banking, economy, and such but unless you are/were in the upper level trenches, you have no idea. You are being spoon fed a line that may be a partial truth but isn't the WHOLE TRUTH.

My step brother is in upper level banking.

See, what you are assuming is that we all are gaining info from media and, for me, that isn't true. I don't watch media. I research many different ways. I find the truth. I am always researching in search of truth. About everything.

Stop assuming.

 

[scout86]

I'd like to just add that I feel a little bad that, at least right now, @Rumors is in this alone here. I don't like the feeling like we're ganging up on someone, and I really do want to try to understand opposing views.

I'm both fascinated and a bit concerned that the banking industry seems to be plotting in secret. That can't be good! (Can it?)

Maybe someone can explain the latest health care 'solution' to me. We have a situation where most people can't afford to go to the doctor and also can't afford insurance. (And businesses seem to be struggling to provide good health insurance for their employees.) So, there have been some government subsidies. But these either cost too much or are morally objectionable, depending on who you're talking to. (Because everything should be totally free market capitalism and health care isn't a right, it's a privilege.) So, we're going to solve the problem by cutting government funding for health care. Oh, and giving some tax breaks to the wealthy too. To me, not only does that not solve the problem they said they wanted to solve, it didn't even seem to address it.

I've usually called this kind of thing the Republican version of a war on poverty, but social Darwinism works too. I just wonder if it's an unintended consequence, or the actual plan. :mad:

 

[Friday]

I'm both fascinated and a bit concerned that the banking industry seems to be plotting in secret. That can't be good! (Can it?)

Everyone plots in secret.

That's why industrial & corporate espionage exists right along with political espionage.

That it happens? Isn't really something to be concerned about. Unless you're operating at that level there's really nothing one can do, on a pragmatic basis. Which isn't suggesting apathy. There are a bazillion and one ways in which people are always trying to find out what other people know, what they're doing, why they're doing it, and how to affect the outcomes of those things to their advantage. Also, not necessarily a bad thing. It completely depends on whether or not you agree with their aims. One of those bazillion ways, for example, include oversight laws. Couple of other related fields are investigative journalism & police. Most people want laws that protect them, police to enforce them, and journalists to tell them all about it. Doesn't mean your interest will always align with any group, but just highlighting that a group working to further it's own wants isn't fundamentally a bad thing.

Also...Generally speaking anyone who wants to operate at that level? Can. In a wide variety of functions & capacities. So if it's something that's important to you? You can set yourself at it. Or support those who do.

Doesn't mean you can just "want" to be meeting with top bankers (or whomever; from the local school board to governments, to multinational corporations) and get a seat at the table, with weight and influence to your voice. Some paths require decades of work, luck, & skill. Others are almost instantaneous. Completely depends in what capacity you set yourself towards. It's going to take someone a lot longer to become 1:7 Military Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon than it would take the same person to become a White House staffer, or White House Corespondent. All 3 of those groups? Are also going to be withholding information from each other. Virtually all of DC (and other Capitol cities) is trying to be "in the know". And every single one of the hundreds of bodies has their own organizational structures. Just like industries, businesses, organizations, militaries, etc. Doest really matter if were talkin the highest levels of government or the local school board. Organizational structures exist in all of them, (and all around them. From the playground mom who doesn't like how a family is treating their kid, to Human Rights Watch who doesnt like how a government is treating their prisoners.) The top of any pyramid? Is going to be doing things that the base, middle, and adjacent pyramids know nothing about.

Being aware that the vast majority of "getting shit done" happens in back rooms, between individuals, and is never publicized? Whether it's back channel calls between ambassadors, or over drinks at Max's bar mitzvah? Or it's board room, wardroom, pillow talk? Is just the way the world works. Because it's how people work.

 

[Rumors]

I'd like to just add that I feel a little bad that, at least right now, @Rumors is...

Hey.. I just wanted reply and let you know I don't feel ganged up on. Lol. Thank you for hearing my comments and taking them to heart. I am really tired tonight and I want answer you in depth but can't muster the energy. I am sorry.
I do want to say that it isn't/wasn't the banking system plotting in private but rather Wall Street that precipitated the cds crisis. Banks followed within the guidelines which the OCC or FDIC regulated them and then bundled and sold mortgages as securities, as they have always done, on a rating system, triple A's, double A's and so on. Where the criminal activity (in my opinion only) occurred is when they (AIG, JP MORGAN, WALL STREET) sold the credit default swaps, or CDS's, against those securities but weren't required by the SEC to rate them as insurance and in doing so they were not required to keep the losses they could incur in reserve.
I want to comment in depth on inflation bc it is a complex issue. There are so many facets to inflation that don't effect the everyday pocketbook but show up in GDP. In essence inflation doesn't always equal mac and cheese costing more. It can, however, mean that trade value on export goods can equal subsequent import giving more value to the dollar. I am by no means an expert on any subject but follow the industry regularly and fairly strong. Bloomberg report is generally playing somewhere close by...lol.
I'm sorry if I sound short. I have had a kick ass week and have one more day to go before I can breathe. Sometimes I forget that I have ptsd and it can come out of the blue and knock me on my butt when I am overwhelmed at home and at work... ugh.
Thank you again for trying to understand opposing views. I want to reiterate that I align fiscally with republican agenda, but socially I am far more liberal. I do know that the things that effect people at home they are passionate about like Obamacare, gas prices, cost of living increase, taxes, Medicare, disability, etc. They are complex issues. I love that ACA was supposed to provide affordable health care to all Americans. It didn't work out. Insurance companies are pulling out of the exchange so fast for private care it is becoming non existent. Next year where I live if ACA is still around, there will be NO INSURANCE COMPANY THAT OFFERS INDIVIDUAL COVERAGE so you will need to have a job with a commercial policy or you will be uninsurable. Worse off, you will be penalized. Something must be done. The system is broken. I haven't read the current plan that came out today. I will though. I read ACA and was appalled by the pork spending in the bill. Lordy.... no child or elderly person should be without health care period. Us middle aged people can figure it out but those two categories must be looked after... anyway...more later...

 

[Deleted member 41765]

Robert Reich: "The Senate’s bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act is not a healthcare bill. It’s a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, paid for by a dramatic reduction in healthcare funding for approximately 23 million poor, disabled, and working middle class Americans. America’s wealthiest taxpayers (earning more than $200,000 a year, $250,000 for couples) would get a tax cut totaling $346 billion over 10 years.

If enacted, it would be one of the largest single transfers of wealth to the rich from the middle class and poor in American history, at a time when the rich already have a higher percentage of the nation’s wealth and income than in over a century."

 

[Justmehere]

The current healthcare bill will not pass. Even republicans are bailing ship on it fast and furiously.

 

[Deleted member 41765]

Can I please hold you to that analysis? (i'm kidding, sorta)

 

[Justmehere]

AARP just came out against the bill, and a handful of conservative senators, and several right wing talk radio hosts, and the list of people on the right bailing from support of the bill is growing by the minute.

Poll numbers regarding support for the plan are dropping daily, amoung republicans, and even Trump himself is calling for working with the democrats and is refusing to commit to support for the bill. (White House won't commit to Trump support for Senate health care bill)

It is technically possible the bill could pass. It's rather highly unlikely. So yeah, you can hold me to it. ;) lol.

 

[Deleted member 41765]

It is the technical possibilities that I am wary of.