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5 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

Exactly who would be interested in reading his taxes, again?

 

This is getting kind of petty.

Those wanting to jail him for his tax-related crimes. The state of New York has spent years wanting to get him behind bars. This could help with that.

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Trump's taxes?  No, I'm more worried about this.  Not that I wouldn't mind an excuse to make Trump answer for his corruption, but I'm far more worried about not having the democratic process derailed.

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3 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

Doesn't the IRS have an division for this?

The IRS for many years has been deliberately underfunded and understaffed so they can't do much about it themselves. They're defanged against people like Trump.

Edited by Acacia Sgt
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On 7/31/2021 at 5:15 AM, Armchair General said:

Exactly who would be interested in reading his taxes, again?

 

This is getting kind of petty.

What's your point here? The congress is getting trump's tax returns because it wants them and has fought a years-long legal battle to obtain them. Obviously they're interested in reading them.

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On 7/30/2021 at 6:06 PM, Excellen Browning said:

Leave it up to Sinema (and Manchin) to blow up a wildly popular bill that would do much to improve a lot of lives.

Tell me, how is this 3.5 trillion dollar bill going to be paid for exactly? Biden can't print more money without increasing inflation, and the American public aren't going to be happy with a tax hike. 

In other news, California governor Gavin Newsom is apparently in hiding from the media, as several chat shows and radio shows have invited him to defend his record on air, but he's not returning their calls. I can only guess that his record is so bad that he can't defend it, and that he'd get destroyed if he did.

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15 minutes ago, NinjaMonkey said:

Tell me, how is this 3.5 trillion dollar bill going to be paid for exactly? Biden can't print more money without increasing inflation, and the American public aren't going to be happy with a tax hike.

I can't tell you how the bill is going to be financed, because very little about the 'american families plan' reconciliation bill is actually known.

What I can tell you is that what you're describing here is not how things actually work, at all. The government does print money, but what finances public works and investment is mostly public debt. The sort of thing the right gets very angry about going up when someone else is in charge, then keeps quiet about when it goes up massively under their administration. The funny thing about national debt for countries like the US is that interest on them is near zero. And, like with all investment, the question is whether or not there will be a good return on investment.

The answer to that question is absolutely, unequivocally, yes. A lot of parents are stuck at home because they can't afford to pay for daycare, per example. Along the same lines, investment in good, free/cheap education is always a good investment, and one that's desperately needed.

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I never really trust the ''How will we pay for this a good argument'' because people tend to stop worrying about it when its their time in power. None of those Republicans whining how expensive it is to enact programs America desperately needs were concerned about the budget when they had the chance to give the ultra rich a tax cut, or when they wanted to waste millions for a vanity wall. And fair is fair, Democrats who complained about that one on the basis of costs alone probably forgot all about that argument now Biden is in power. 

Edited by Etrurian emperor
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3 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

Tell me, how is this 3.5 trillion dollar bill going to be paid for exactly? Biden can't print more money without increasing inflation, and the American public aren't going to be happy with a tax hike.

They probably could actually. It's a bit of a...major issue with the global system of economics. Most countries can't just print as much wealth as they want due to inflation, but because the USD is the global currency of international trade that has loads of currencies that peg their value to it, the US can just print a tonne of money without any serious inflation, because they don't just inflate the dollars in the USA, they inflate basically all wealth on the planet, which doesn't counteract the amount of new USD printed. In a way it means they're basically stealing the wealth of the other nations of the world. Just last year the US printed 3 trillion dollars to combat COVID with no ill effects, though a recession might still be on the way for other COVID related reasons, but yeah, the main point is that being the economic powerhouse of the world that other nations must bend to, the US is free to create more dollars when they want. Because they can share that inflation with everyone else (while still keeping the free money).

That all being said considering the USA just finished printing 3 trillion last year, it's probably not a great idea to go and do it again this year, but they probably could next year. Really COVID has thrown a major spanner in the works of everything. Like I said, real chance there's a looming recession coming (though again, maybe not, no one knows how the hell this thing is going to effect the world because it's never happened before).

Edited by Jotari
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19 minutes ago, Jotari said:

They probably could actually. It's a bit of a...major issue with the global system of economics. Most countries can't just print as much wealth as they want due to inflation, but because the USD is the global currency of international trade that has loads of currencies that peg their value to it, the US can just print a tonne of money without any serious inflation, because they don't just inflate the dollars in the USA, they inflate basically all wealth on the planet, which doesn't counteract the amount of new USD printed. In a way it means they're basically stealing the wealth of the other nations of the world. Just last year the US printed 3 trillion dollars to combat COVID with no ill effects, though a recession might still be on the way for other COVID related reasons, but yeah, the main point is that being the economic powerhouse of the world that other nations must bend to, the US is free to create more dollars when they want. Because they can share that inflation with everyone else (while still keeping the free money).

That all being said considering the USA just finished printing 3 trillion last year, it's probably not a great idea to go and do it again this year, but they probably could next year. Really COVID has thrown a major spanner in the works of everything. Like I said, real chance there's a looming recession coming (though again, maybe not, no one knows how the hell this thing is going to effect the world because it's never happened before).

I thought we were already in a recession? Considering how there's a minor shortage of workers and the forced closure of some businesses.

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If the rich actually paid their fair share of taxes then they could've easily gotten the money.

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/leaked-irs-documents-confirm-the-rich-dont-pay-taxes/

As it is, they seek tax cut after tax cut and then they don't even pay them in full anyway.

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3 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

In other news, California governor Gavin Newsom is apparently in hiding from the media, as several chat shows and radio shows have invited him to defend his record on air, but he's not returning their calls. I can only guess that his record is so bad that he can't defend it, and that he'd get destroyed if he did.

Ha, yeah I don't think he has time to appear in your podcast, dude. Sorry.

The recall is such a pathetic sham. Can't win an election, so try forcing a do over. Right out of the same playbook as Stop the Count!

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9 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

Ha, yeah I don't think he has time to appear in your podcast, dude. Sorry.

I don't have one, dude. Sorry.

9 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

The recall is such a pathetic sham. Can't win an election, so try forcing a do over.

Or maybe people are upset about how Gavin has not dealt with the homlessness problem. Or the constant lockdowns affecting businesses. Or rising crime rates. Y'know things that ordinary people care about. After all, of the 2.2 million people who signed the recall petition, a quarter of them are either Democrat or Independant voters.

Edited by NinjaMonkey
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2 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

Or maybe people are upset about how Gavin has not dealt with the homlessness problem. Or the constant lockdowns affecting businesses. Or rising crime rates. Y'know things that ordinary people care about. After all, of the 2.2 million people who signed the recall petition, a quarter of them are either Democrat or Independant voters.

Guess what, Democrats/Independents don't do things in lockstep.  That's a Good Thing, by the way - lockstep is reserved for authoritarians, and America isn't authoritarian (and I will fight to keep it that way).

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2 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

After all, of the 2.2 million people who signed the recall petition, a quarter of them are either Democrat or Independant voters.

It's 1.7 million, but nice try. As for the second part, I guess we have to agree to disagree on just how "bipartisan" that figure is - if it's even true in the first place. And you probably don't know this, but recalls are a pretty seasonal thing in my state because of how lax the requirements are to start one compared to other states (most states in fact do not allow for this sort of thing in the first place). This latest one is the sixth recall attempt for Newsom since he took office two years ago. The guy before him had five attempts. And the guy before him had seven. This one narrowly passed its threshold of signatures, and the money to pay for sending out those ballots is coming out of my tax dollars. So you can see why it annoys me. This on top of every other way Republicans have been attempting to subvert the democratic process whichever way they can.

The last recall election I voted in annoyed me too. It was in early 2020 and a local councilwoman was facing heat from police for speaking out against their budgetary increase. They factually got their money despite her efforts, but went ahead with the petty recall anyway even though they had nothing to gain. She's out of office now. A month later, George Floyd was murdered. I wonder if the result would have been different if the election happened later in the year. 

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8 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

The last recall election I voted in annoyed me too. It was in early 2020 and a local councilwoman was facing heat from police for speaking out against their budgetary increase. They factually got their money despite her efforts, but went ahead with the petty recall anyway even though they had nothing to gain. She's out of office now. A month later, George Floyd was murdered. I wonder if the result would have been different if the election happened later in the year. 

Well I wouldn't say they had nothing to gain by ousting her. If she fought them on that issue they could assume she'd fight them on future issues. So I'd say it's less petty and more just...generally corrupt.

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Lmao

I don’t like Newsom on a personal level, but him not wasting his time entertaining the completely unserious right wing trolls is the smart move. Republicans have traded policy for posturing.

What he should be worried about is bringing the dems to the polls, because most Californians aren’t aware of how we do our recall elections.

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Regardless of how I feel about Newsom, he's still a better option than literally any Republican. Also, the recall effort was bogus anyway. Pretty sure a lot of it was fueled by right wing idiot conspiracies and people freaking out about COVID-19 and lockdowns.

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On 8/1/2021 at 6:43 PM, NinjaMonkey said:

Or maybe people are upset about how Gavin has not dealt with the homlessness problem. Or the constant lockdowns affecting businesses. Or rising crime rates. Y'know things that ordinary people care about. After all, of the 2.2 million people who signed the recall petition, a quarter of them are either Democrat or Independant voters.

Homelessness is a problem, and I agree that Newsom has not really done much about it. While there are some build up of tents and huts in the more remote parts of town, the homeless are generally out of sight and out of mind of the public here in Sacramento. And since they are out sight and confined to a few areas, the public here is pretty apathetic and they do not seem to really care that Newsom is not doing anything about it.

Most people are accepting of the lock downs as long as they get government support, so lock downs are not a huge deal unless you are a small business owner. Yeah, it is boring staying home all day, but you can still go outside and do outdoor activities like hiking, biking, barbecuing, etc. as long as you keep your distance. And people can also feel free to chill and hangout with friends as long as everyone is vaccinated.

No one here I know gives a fuck about crime rates. The increase is not really noticeable enough in my opinion for anyone to care. When I hear Republicans talk about crime, all I hear is just fear mongering and wasting tax dollars on policing.

As far as I am concerned, while not many people like Newsom, he is not reviled and hated like Republicans are. I despise Republicans after the shit they pulled four years ago and still continue to pull. And good riddance to the dumb fuck assholes who are leaving the state since most of them are Republicans, racists, and anti-vaxxers.

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With 69-30 votes, the watered down Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill passes the Senate:

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/567125-senate-passes-1t-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-in-major-victory-for-biden

Now let's see if the Democrats can pass the more proper one through Reconciliation...

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1 hour ago, Armchair General said:

What's wrong with wanting to leave Cali?

 

In my case, I'm looking for a cheaper place to live.

It seems like most who leave are leaving because of the politics.

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