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  • Originally posted by astralis View Post
    DOR,



    the definition of "center-right" have been completely scrambled, it's really not useful anymore in defining things.

    for instance Bush was very much a traditional center-right person domestically, but of course was a neocon foreign-policy wise. and neo-conservatism had a bunch of ex-Democrats because it was essentially liberal internationalism on aggression and steroids. don't know if this counts as "hard right".

    Obama was to the left of Clinton but just by a few ticks, mostly on evolving cultural mores.

    and of course Trump is in his own league of weirdness, taking old-left protectionism with the language of paleo-conservatism, but actually passing the old center-right tax breaks of Paul Ryan.

    if anything, Trump has decisively shown how even the right-wing these days is quite open to previously lefty talk.
    So, a question of definition.

    I consider budget blow-outs and debt doubling by way of tax cuts for the rich and slashing social services as a token fiscal geasture to be common among the more populus and aggressive GOPers.
    Reagan, W, DJ.
    Middle of the road, in my book, seeks balance — in foreign policy (talk more, bomb less), in fiscal policy (e.g., halve the deficit), and in social policy (tinkering, not setting fire to existing rules).
    Leftist want confiscatory tax rates for the purpose of redistributing wealth (haven’t seen one of those in ages).
    Trust me?
    I'm an economist!

    Comment


    • Originally posted by Oracle View Post
      Oh good, the last adult in this "administration" of juvenile kleptomaniacs is probably gone.

      Hm, I wonder what Trump's latest delusional claim will be about someone on his way out.

      Oh look at this: "I think he's sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth"

      Donld Trump. Thinks that James Mattis. Is sort of a Democrat. Are you f--king KIDDING me?

      Zraver, you still want to defend this cancerous excuse for a President? When is enough going to be enough?

      Oh wait, his "policies". Sorry, I forgot about those.
      “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

      Comment


      • Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
        Oh wait, his "policies". Sorry, I forgot about those.
        Point of order TH, technically I don't think 'tweets' can be counted as a policies.
        Last edited by Monash; 15 Oct 18,, 05:30.
        If you are emotionally invested in 'believing' something is true you have lost the ability to tell if it is true.

        Comment


        • Originally posted by zraver View Post
          You're nuttier than Kanye. You think a man who revitalized NATO defense spending, wants to compete with Russian LNG in Europe and sent lethal arms to the Ukraine is a Putin puppet.
          I am not sure I understand what you mean here. Are you saying that Trump managed to get NATO countries to agree spending they had already agreed on in 2014? Nor do I think Trumpkin wants to do anything for Ukraine; it was his campaign that changed the platform at the Convention I recall. It is mostly Congress which has passed these stronger measures but just like NATO spending target that were agreed in 2014 you have invented a myth that credits an egotistical imbecile for these 'achievements'. Trumpkin has made nearly zero 'deals'; he tears up deals, insults everyone, meets them and then says they're 'great' then claims he has made everything 'better'. Nothing is actually achieved - he just fills the room with his own hot air - usually from his rear end.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by snapper View Post
            I am not sure I understand what you mean here. Are you saying that Trump managed to get NATO countries to agree spending they had already agreed on in 2014? Nor do I think Trumpkin wants to do anything for Ukraine; it was his campaign that changed the platform at the Convention I recall. It is mostly Congress which has passed these stronger measures but just like NATO spending target that were agreed in 2014 you have invented a myth that credits an egotistical imbecile for these 'achievements'. Trumpkin has made nearly zero 'deals'; he tears up deals, insults everyone, meets them and then says they're 'great' then claims he has made everything 'better'. Nothing is actually achievwed - he just fills the room with his own hot air - usually from his rear end.
            GOPers inventing a myth?!?
            Next, you’ll be saying they’re really just deeply misunderstood fiscal conservatives.
            Trust me?
            I'm an economist!

            Comment


            • It would not be true. The US deficit increased with the tax bill. Trumpkin is not a fiscal conservative and the GOP Congress members are more self interested sycophants than conservatives when it comes to spending - so much for the 'Tea Party'.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by Monash View Post
                Point of order TH, technically I don't think 'tweets' can be counted as a policies.
                I don't think the things that come out of his mouth can be counted as "coherent" either.
                “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

                Comment


                • Originally posted by DOR View Post
                  So, a question of definition.

                  I consider budget blow-outs and debt doubling by way of tax cuts for the rich and slashing social services as a token fiscal geasture to be common among the more populus and aggressive GOPers.
                  Reagan, W, DJ.
                  Middle of the road, in my book, seeks balance — in foreign policy (talk more, bomb less), in fiscal policy (e.g., halve the deficit), and in social policy (tinkering, not setting fire to existing rules).
                  Leftist want confiscatory tax rates for the purpose of redistributing wealth (haven’t seen one of those in ages).
                  Gotta love this...

                  https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/econo...cit/index.html

                  The federal government is running up its credit bill again.

                  The deficit rose to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018, up 17% from last year, according to final figures released Monday by the Treasury Department. That's the largest number since 2012, when the country was still spending massively to stimulate an economy struggling to recover.

                  Government receipts were flat this year from last year. Corporate tax collections fell $76 billion, or 22%, due to the Republican-backed tax cut. But that drop was more than offset by increased revenues from individual and self-employment taxes. The fiscal year ended September 30.

                  Spending rose 3% over the previous year, fueled in part by increases to the defense budget agreed upon in September 2017 as part of a deal between Republicans and Democrats to head off a government shutdown. Social Security and interest on the federal debt also contributed to the increase.

                  The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank that warns of the dangers of rising debt levels, said the deficit could reach $1 trillion as soon as next year. That would still be below a high of $1.4 trillion reached in 2009, but in a vastly different economy.

                  "Those elected to Congress this year will face stark and difficult choices to put the debt on a downward path and protect our nation's social programs from insolvency," said Maya MacGuineas, the group's president. "It's no longer a problem for the future."

                  The White House has steadfastly defended its policies, arguing that the yawning gap is a reason to cut deeper into social programs to balance out increases to the military budget. It's a long way from the Republican stance under President Barack Obama, when the GOP-led House demanded about $1 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years in exchange for a debt ceiling increase, leading to years of painful automatic reductions to federal spending.

                  White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, a notable debt hawk while he was a congressman, said the numbers underscored a need to cut spending.

                  "The president is very much aware of the realities presented by our national debt," Mulvaney said in a statement. "America's booming economy will create increased government revenues — an important step toward long-term fiscal sustainability. But this fiscal picture is a blunt warning to Congress of the dire consequences of irresponsible and unnecessary spending."

                  His comments echoed remarks by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week in an interview with CNN suggesting that Democrats' resistance to cutting government spending on education, health care and other social programs was to blame for deficit increases.

                  "People are going to want to say the deficit is because of the tax cuts. That's not the real story," Mnuchin told CNN. "The real story is we made a significant investment in the military which is very, very important, and to get that done we had to increase non-military spending."

                  Not many non-military spending categories increased, however. Outlays for the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy and Education all decreased, while Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs increased slightly. The Agriculture Department saw a 7% bump from last year.

                  The deficit figure is in line with what the Congressional Budget Office, the official government scorekeeper of federal fiscal policy, projected earlier this month. In June, the CBO projected that the deficit would rise to 9.5% of GDP in 2048.

                  Also in June, the federal debt — which aggregates annual deficits over time — stood at 78% of gross domestic product, the highest level since right after World War II. Updated figures were not immediately available on Monday.

                  As interest rates rise, servicing that ballooning debt could pose challenging. Treasury spent $522 billion last year paying interest, up 14% from the year before. That's more than the cost of Medicaid, food stamps, and the department of Housing and Urban Development combined. But it is smaller as a percentage of GDP than it has been historically.

                  In late September, the House passed a bill that would extend individual tax cuts that are currently are slated to end in 2025, at a cost of $631 billion over a 10-year window.

                  Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the year the CBO projected the deficit would rise to 9.5%.

                  Comment


                  • Ezra Klein writes a bit more about what i talked about earlier, with an interesting historical twist.

                    https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...-supreme-court

                    ===
                    This is one argument you hear for the system as it exists today: America is built of compromises between big and small states, between urban centers and rural areas, between those who sought more democracy and those who feared it, and those compromises must be honored in perpetuity.

                    But another way of thinking about our founding compromises is to think about the fears that led to them. The threat to the United States of America has always been disunity. At the time of the founding, the strongest and most politically important identities were state identities, and the central tension was between those who feared the (white, male) public and those who trusted it, and so we built a system meant to calm those divisions.

                    Today, the strongest and most politically important identities are partisan identities. We don’t talk about big states and small states, but about red states and blue states. If there is a threat to American unity, it rests not in the specific concerns of Virginians or Alaskans, but in the growing enmity between Democrats and Republicans.


                    A simple thought experiment reveals how the fundamental units of political competition in America have changed. Imagine a bill to make DC and Puerto Rico into full states, giving them representation in the House and Senate. Would Wyoming and Vermont vote the same way on that bill, because the inclusion of two small states would add to the power of their small-state bloc? Or would they vote differently because the inclusion of the two new states would add to the power of the blue-state bloc at the expense of the red-state bloc? The question answers itself.
                    There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                    Comment


                    • It is a very rere thing when a deficit is spending generated; historically, it’s all about revenue. In other words, Mnuchin is lying.

                      Spending takes a long time to kick in, years or even decades in the case of social services.
                      Revenue can rise once income is earned (rarely retroactively), but can fall off a cliff very fast if new deductions or rates are applied to tax bills about to come due.

                      Or, in the case of 2009+, when the economy tanks.
                      Trust me?
                      I'm an economist!

                      Comment


                      • ''October 15, 2018: The federal judge S. James Otero dismissed Daniels' defamation lawsuit against President Trump. The judge also ruled that Trump is entitled to receive attorney's fees from Daniels.[101] Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti immediately appealed to the Ninth Circuit court.'' From Wiki.

                        I understand the starlet received quite a few $ from donors,which now will likely go to Trump.I am rather amused of this .
                        Those who know don't speak
                        He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36

                        Comment


                        • * will go to Trump's -lawyers-. and Avenatti points out that's just the minor lawsuit against Trump, the other far bigger case is the NDA one.

                          so per usual the lawyers are Winning.
                          There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by astralis View Post
                            z,



                            winning tactical victories at the expense of a strategic defeat makes no sense...-especially- if the conditions that you draw here are correct. if the country is center-right and the left has no message, then the GOP could just win on the strength of legislative victories alone. the Supreme Court would then naturally fall into a rightward shift because the GOP would continually win the Presidency.

                            IE, confident parties don't take escalatory risks.
                            Depends on how you define strategic. In 66 key house races the Dem generic ballot lead is now a 1pt GOP lead. So the GOP has at least an outside shot of keeping Dems gains below the magic number 23. The Left just keeps pitching underhand to the GOP. From talk of overthrowing the government by Baldwin, PV videos showing Dem politicians admitting to lying to voters about what thier really believe, to actual riots in Portland and Ms Whiter-than-White Warren doubling down on claiming to be an Indian, to the brutal attacks on Kanye for straying off the political plantation, the implosion of the Mueller probe... The Senate now looks to gain GOP seats. The GOP is setting up to remake not just SCOTUS but the lower courts as well including the 9th. If the economy can stay strong then Trump is going to be a 2 term president which means by 2024 the Courts will no longer be a liberal refuge. Ditto if minority employment keeps making gains. Trump already out performed Romney with minorities, fatter wallets will only make his appeal greater. Since only 8% of the country is hard left I don't think the court packing is going anywhere. The Left built a coalition that cannot survive without friendly courts able to dole out indulgences like a medieval cardinal.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by astralis View Post
                              Ezra Klein writes a bit more about what i talked about earlier, with an interesting historical twist.

                              https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...-supreme-court

                              ===
                              Ditto why the Dems resist real electoral college reform where the votes would be aportioned by who won the congressional district with the popular vote winner getting the 2 for the senators. The Left would lose far more from rural areas of California and and New York than it would gain in urban areas elsewhere. So its not really red v blue. Its urban v everyone else. The 16 election map showed just how completely Hillary won the urban core and lost every thing else.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by astralis View Post
                                Ezra Klein writes a bit more about what i talked about earlier, with an interesting historical twist.

                                https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...-supreme-court

                                ===
                                A better think-piece would be admonishing Americans to calm the hell down. Wisconsin has 2 democratic senators and is near parity in Wisconsin's upper house, and held the governor's mansion prior to Scott Walker.

                                There's a legitimate gripe with the way the House is structured. It's supposed to be a pro-majoritarian institution, so you shouldn't have to win a generic ballot by more than 5% to win a majority in the house. There's no legitimate gripe with either the Senate or the Presidency, because neither one is designed to grant victory to someone who wins the majority of votes and neither one was ever intended to be. The Electoral College is a damned weird institution as it stands, and could probably use reform, but it's straight-up ridiculous to assume that whoever wins the popular vote should necessarily win the Electoral College. The system will forever and should forever be designed to disincentivize running up the count in certain areas and force you into an extremely broad-based coalition. What it should not to is incentivize only running in certain states, and that will make the institution MORE majoritarian, but it's still not going to be a popular vote system.

                                Also, "win" the popular vote? The hell does that even mean? The only Presidents who have won majorities of the vote in the last several cycles are Obama and Dubya in 2004. No one else "won" anything, you don't "win" unless you get 50%+1. And that's leaving aside the substantial number of people who DON'T vote at all.
                                "The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood"-Otto Von Bismarck

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