The Biden Presidency - 2020

[RainMaker]

Romney comes out admits what most people with two brain cells knew, TikTok was banned at the behest of Israel. Other members of Congress stated this in recordings with No Labels as well. Imagine that helps any 1st Amendment challenges.

“Why has the PR been so awful?… typically the Israelis are good at PR—what’s happened here, how have they and we been so ineffective at communicating the realities and our POV?… some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok.” pic.twitter.com/vBzuahukfs

— austerity is theft ���� (@wideofthepost) May 5, 2024

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

This is a really positive research paper on the benefits of student loan cancellation. It found that people who received help were able to buy homes, cars, and other necessities in life. It allowed them much more financial freedom and mobility.

A First Look at Student Debt Cancellation - Jain Family Institute

If I was running for President, I'd probably be promoting the shit out of this to lure younger voters instead of chastising them.

There is no doubt that taking $6,666 from every tax payer in the U.S. (assuming $1 trillion dollars in debt default multiplied by 150 million U.S. taxpayers) would allow for at least a few of those students to buy a house or a car.

[molson]

There's a lot of different types of student loan forgiveness, but one angle of it that's not mentioned a lot is that the PSLF public service forgiveness was a Bush-era program that seemed simple - make qualifying payments for 10 years while working in public service and the rest is forgiven.

But the implementation was so botched under Obama and Trump that very few people actually got the benefit of the deal they signed up for - the private loan servicers kept changing and then lost documentation of payments, borrowers were encouraged to go into non-qualifying payment plans, applications submitted would just never be reviewed, it was an administrative mess. Biden's administration basically put the onus on government to "count" more months in more circumstances, particularly when the loan servicers dropped the ball in doing so.

It took me 16 years to get forgiveness when they promised 10, but, I was sure happy to get that email.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Dutch

There is no doubt that taking $6,666 from every tax payer in the U.S. (assuming $1 trillion dollars in debt default multiplied by 150 million U.S. taxpayers) would allow for at least a few of those students to buy a house or a car.

Or start businesses. Or have families. Or the other million or so things that having some financial freedom provides not just to them, but the eco ony as a whole.. It's a far better solution than just accumulating interest which is devastating for a strong economy.

If you're concerned about the amount, I would say stop spending trillions on endless wars in the Middle East or propping up defense contractors funding unwinnable wars on the other side of the globe.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Or start businesses. Or have families. Or the other million or so things that having some financial freedom provides not just to them, but the eco ony as a whole.. It's a far better solution than just accumulating interest which is devastating for a strong economy.

If you're concerned about the amount, I would say stop spending trillions on endless wars in the Middle East or propping up defense contractors funding unwinnable wars on the other side of the globe.

Loan Forgiveness basically falls under Education, The $1 trillion dollars in estimate loan forgiveness equates to about 10 years of total funding of the Department of Education.

I'm not thinking shutting down the DoE for 10 years is a great idea...but maybe it is?

The DoD, as you eluded to, could be shut down for about 14 or 15 months to achieve the $1 trillion dollars. I'm not thinking that's a great idea either.

But eventually, we're going to have to make those hard decisions. I'm more and more convinced that overspending our income tax revenue by 130% every year (or whatever we're doing these last 5 years) is more bad than good.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Loan Forgiveness basically falls under Education, The $1 trillion dollars in estimate loan forgiveness equates to about 10 years of total funding of the Department of Education.

That's an incredibly rudimentary way of looking at the expense. As the study posted and many others show, there are immense benefits to our economy by paying for college educations and providing loan forgiveness.

If people are not in massive debt, they're able to buy a home, cars, and other things. They can start a family and pay for all the expenses that come with that. They pay taxes on those things, their purchases create jobs for people who in turn also pay taxes. The economy flourishes when most of the middle class' income isn't earmarked for interest on a decades old debt. You have to factor that into your figures.

Not to mention the societal benefits. More education leads to less crime. So you'd actually be safer and can spend less on prisons and other things in the criminal justice system.

Originally Posted by Dutch

But eventually, we're going to have to make those hard decisions. I'm more and more convinced that overspending our income tax revenue by 130% every year (or whatever we're doing these last 5 years) is more bad than good.

It's weird how the "we need to make tough decisions" folks always pop up when it's something like food assistance or education. Didn't see you comment on the $100 billion we just gave out for a deadend war. Something that provides Americans with next to no actual measurable benefit. Or the trillions spent in Iraq and Afghanistan. How about the $2 trillion on a plane that can't fly in the rain?

Agree we need to be concerned about our debt. There's about a million things I'd cut before student aid which have immense tangible benefits to this country. Or I'd just have wealthy people actually pay taxes. Here's another $150 billion just by enforcing existing laws.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

That's an incredibly rudimentary way of looking at the expense. As the study posted and many others show, there are immense benefits to our economy by paying for college educations and providing loan forgiveness.

If people are not in massive debt, they're able to buy a home, cars, and other things. They can start a family and pay for all the expenses that come with that. They pay taxes on those things, their purchases create jobs for people who in turn also pay taxes. The economy flourishes when most of the middle class' income isn't earmarked for interest on a decades old debt. You have to factor that into your figures.

Not to mention the societal benefits. More education leads to less crime. So you'd actually be safer and can spend less on prisons and other things in the criminal justice system.



It's weird how the "we need to make tough decisions" folks always pop up when it's something like food assistance or education. Didn't see you comment on the $100 billion we just gave out for a deadend war. Something that provides Americans with next to no actual measurable benefit. Or the trillions spent in Iraq and Afghanistan. How about the $2 trillion on a plane that can't fly in the rain?

Agree we need to be concerned about our debt. There's about a million things I'd cut before student aid which have immense tangible benefits to this country. Or I'd just have wealthy people actually pay taxes. Here's another $150 billion just by enforcing existing laws.

I feel like you go off the rails in the trump vs biden thread but I agree with everything in this post.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Dutch

But eventually, we're going to have to make those hard decisions.

Republican-speak for "Why should others have it better than me?"

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

Republican-speak for "Why should others have it better than me?"

That’s not what I’m saying at all.

[Qwikshot]

https://www.politico.com/interactive...nding-tracker/

Biden’s big bet hits reality
By JESSIE BLAESER, BENJAMIN STORROW, KELSEY TAMBORRINO, ZACK COLMAN and DAVID FERRIS
05/08/2024 05:00 AM EDT
Joe Biden hung a portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt above the Oval Office fireplace when he entered the White House — the first time in nearly 60 years that the place of honor has gone to the architect of the New Deal.

Then Biden launched a spending spree whose impact would rival that of any president since.

But Biden’s attempt to secure an FDR-style legacy is running short on time.

A POLITICO analysis shows that hundreds of billions of dollars that Congress approved at Biden’s urging remain unspent heading into his November rematch with former President Donald Trump. If Trump wins, he could take a wrecking ball to Biden’s greatest legislative achievements: four laws containing $1.6 trillion in loans, grants and tax credits meant to green the economy, revive the country’s manufacturing base, repair its roads and bridges and challenge China for technological supremacy.

It's clear that Democrats have a messaging problem because Republicans hate Democrats.

The country mouth breathers mistake culture war achievements for actual achievements.

While some on this board hate Biden because of his Israeli support, or just that he's a Democrat, the real truth is that Democrats provide legislation to actually make the country better; Republicans cannot platform on that because they have no achievements other to carpetbag on Biden legislation (that they predominantly didn't vote for).

Truth is: I'd vote Republican if they took an interest in reducing the deficit by proper taxation methods (not just cutting programs like welfare, and social security).

They were taken over by Jesus freaks in the 80s and now they have Trump and I'll never vote for such idelologies. So I'm backing the blue because morally it's better and if they actually were to gain a super majority in the House, Senate and White House, they could blow past the racist, backwards, white trash mouth breathers (who really are the cudgel for the ultra rich to use) and get this country back on track for the future rather than looking at the Boomer past and saying that was when we had it best.

[GrantDawg]

Meanwhile, in an act that will appease no one:
The U.S. paused a weapons shipment to Israel, Washington’s first formal rebuke of its ally’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza https://t.co/DAUBarZ8px https://t.co/DAUBarZ8px— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 8, 2024

[Thomkal]

yes yes Speaker Johnson even though we have no way of knowing how many (or even if there are any), we all know that its happening so we need this law to make something that is already illegal, against the law:


https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1788231185174311165

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

yes yes Speaker Johnson even though we have no way of knowing how many (or even if there are any), we all know that its happening so we need this law to make something that is already illegal, against the law:


https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1788231185174311165

We can't find any. Instead we keep finding things like this.

Kim Taylor sentenced to eight months for voter fraud

[Ksyrup]

We all know Bigfoot exists, but we have absolutely no evidence to prove it. But we all know it, intuitively, otherwise how/why does Discovery Channel exist?

[Thomkal]

Oh and i forgot they are all voting for Democrats too somehow...

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Oh and i forgot they are all voting for Democrats too somehow...

Bigfoots vote Democrats?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

yes yes Speaker Johnson even though we have no way of knowing how many (or even if there are any), we all know that its happening so we need this law to make something that is already illegal, against the law:

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1788231185174311165

We all know, intuitively, that Speaker Mike Johnson rapes children. He wedges a Bible into their jaws and holds them down while they wordlessly scream—their terror finally fully arousing him. But it's not something that's easily provable. https://t.co/JH2eIjwGy4

— man it’s a hot zone, (@Mobute) May 8, 2024

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Bigfoots vote Democrats?

They're illegal aliens, aren't they?

[Kodos]

It's no fun, being an illegal alien...

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Atocep

We can't find any. Instead we keep finding things like this.

Kim Taylor sentenced to eight months for voter fraud

That seems like an incredibly light sentence. We know why but still, that's crazy.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Kodos

It's no fun, being an illegal alien...

Don't blame me. I voted for Kang!

[Thomkal]

So remember that big Foxcomm plant and investment into Wisconsin that Trump heralded and it never really happened. on the same land today, Biden announced a plant and investment by Microsoft.



https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1788208027243302966

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

So remember that big Foxcomm plant and investment into Wisconsin that Trump heralded and it never really happened. on the same land today, Biden announced a plant and investment by Microsoft.



https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1788208027243302966

and they will do nothing to message this in the state the election likely hinges on.

They are so bad at messaging.

[RainMaker]

Kind of why running an 82 year old who has trouble with public speaking is not a great strategy.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Kind of why running an 82 year old who has trouble with public speaking is not a great strategy.

Compared to a 77 year old fucking moron who is racist and wants to be a dictator or the one with a worm in his brain...I'll be picking Biden.

[thesloppy]

The brain worm is dead. Come on!

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

Compared to a 77 year old fucking moron who is racist and wants to be a dictator or the one with a worm in his brain...I'll be picking Biden.

Just saying you can't complain about your message not getting out there if your messenger is too old and mentally shot to do it. Someone like Obama would win this election by 100+ electoral votes with the same policies.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

The brain worm is dead. Come on!

Seriously, there was not anybody that could have ran as a third party candidate that wasn't this level of crazy?

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Yes, finally. Some excitement next week!

Marjorie Taylor Greene to try to oust Speaker Johnson next week : NPR

Okay, so it happened.

A buildup over 3+ weeks but pretty anti-climatic.

Forty-three members voted against blocking Greene’s measure to remove Johnson from his post – including 11 Republicans and 32 Democrats.

[RainMaker]

Can someone explain the synthetic meat thing that some states are banning? Is it meant to just ban competition for the meat industry? Does Impossible Burgers or veggie burgers fall in that category or is it just the cell-cultured stuff?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Can someone explain the synthetic meat thing that some states are banning? Is it meant to just ban competition for the meat industry? Does Impossible Burgers or veggie burgers fall in that category or is it just the cell-cultured stuff?

Cell cultured stuff is my understanding. It's 100% about protecting the meat industry.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by RainMaker




wow brutal

[bronconick]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Seriously, there was not anybody that could have ran as a third party candidate that wasn't this level of crazy?

To run as a third party candidate requires crazy. To run for public office now probably requires crazy.

[JPhillips]

Which G-7 leader has the highest approval rating?

Hint: It rhymes with low ridin'.

[RainMaker]

Bad news for EVs and free markets.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbc...amp/rcna151748

[RainMaker]

When the communists beat you in capitalism. And so much for that whole climate change thing.






[PilotMan]

It's silly to say that China beats the US in capitalism. The tweet doesn't support that statement either.

[PilotMan]

It's odd to me that I've been signed up for so many far right mailing lists. Every couple months a new one pops in. I would wager a guess that's it's because I send emails to my congressmen, and since all of them are republicans, someone is selling email addresses to political operatives.



I generally don't unsub them either, they just show up a few times a day, and it's not regular R's either, it's the super far right, like Epoch and others. I've learned that the vaccinated are really in for it. So much bad news for them. I've thought about creating a spreadsheet, just to see in one spot, the nature of the information the spew.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

It's silly to say that China beats the US in capitalism. The tweet doesn't support that statement either.

China is kicking our ass in EVs which is why we're having to put large tariffs on them to protect American companies, despite the devastating effects it'll have on climate change.

Not sure what stage of capitalism we're in when we just continuously ban foreign companies because they do things better than us.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

It's odd to me that I've been signed up for so many far right mailing lists. Every couple months a new one pops in. I would wager a guess that's it's because I send emails to my congressmen, and since all of them are republicans, someone is selling email addresses to political operatives.

I generally don't unsub them either, they just show up a few times a day, and it's not regular R's either, it's the super far right, like Epoch and others. I've learned that the vaccinated are really in for it. So much bad news for them. I've thought about creating a spreadsheet, just to see in one spot, the nature of the information the spew.

You can be added to right-wing mailing lists in a number of ways. Some of these groups are incredibly aggressive at buying lists (even using date from breaches). It's been a problem for years. Companies like Google tried to put the political spam into spam folders and got hauled in front of Congress for their troubles.

So there's not much you can do to avoid it. Unsubscribing won't do anything and might actually get you spammed more since they now know it's an active e-mail address. They'll continue breaking the law and there is really no one that can stop them.

Just checked my inbox and there's an e-mail from Kristi Noem and Lara Trump today. This is a personal e-mail account I've never used for anything political.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

China is kicking our ass in EVs which is why we're having to put large tariffs on them to protect American companies, despite the devastating effects it'll have on climate change.

Not sure what stage of capitalism we're in when we just continuously ban foreign companies because they do things better than us.

You can't yell at a cat because it's not a dog. So now you're advocating for State run capitalism? There's no comparison because it's not capitalism. If you want the US to swap to China's style of state run capitalism then advocate for that. But whining about one thing not being the other isn't an argument.



Also, complaining about the US not being totally committed to capitalism doesn't make it a failure either. There's a long history of government protections as well as advocating and advancing industries to it's own benefit. Again, it's a silly comparison.

[JPhillips]

I get Trump and MAGA texts recently. It sucks.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

You can't yell at a cat because it's not a dog. So now you're advocating for State run capitalism? There's no comparison because it's not capitalism. If you want the US to swap to China's style of state run capitalism then advocate for that. But whining about one thing not being the other isn't an argument.

What form of capitalism bans businesses at the behest of inferior businesses in return for political donations? What type of capitalism uses tax dollars for credits to make a company's product cheaper? And what form of capitalism spends billions to build up a company's infrastructure for them at taxpayer expense?

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Also, complaining about the US not being totally committed to capitalism doesn't make it a failure either. There's a long history of government protections as well as advocating and advancing industries to it's own benefit. Again, it's a silly comparison.

Abandoning the semblance of a free market isn't the issue here (we know American doesn't really care about that), it's turning our back on fighting climate change which was a key part of someone's Presidential campaign.

The goal of the Biden administration has been to get a $25k EV to market. It's central to their plan to see widespread adoption of EVs to combat climate change. They've offered subsidies and credits to help achieve that. It's a huge part of his landmark infrastructure bill.

But Detroit failed miserably to make it happen. China has succeeded at that and builds an EV that can meet that price point. Banning that shows he doesn't care about climate change. It was all about handouts to automakers. And this is just another bailout in a long line of bailouts for that industry. And consumers suffer the consequences having to pay more money for an inferior product.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I get Trump and MAGA texts recently. It sucks.

Ajit Pai really did a number on the FCC and is largely responsible for all the spam text messages and robocalls we receive.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

What form of capitalism bans businesses at the behest of inferior businesses in return for political donations? What type of capitalism uses tax dollars for credits to make a company's product cheaper? And what form of capitalism spends billions to build up a company's infrastructure for them at taxpayer expense?



Abandoning the semblance of a free market isn't the issue here (we know American doesn't really care about that), it's turning our back on fighting climate change which was a key part of someone's Presidential campaign.

The goal of the Biden administration has been to get a $25k EV to market. It's central to their plan to see widespread adoption of EVs to combat climate change. They've offered subsidies and credits to help achieve that. It's a huge part of his landmark infrastructure bill.

But Detroit failed miserably to make it happen. China has succeeded at that and builds an EV that can meet that price point. Banning that shows he doesn't care about climate change. It was all about handouts to automakers. And this is just another bailout in a long line of bailouts for that industry. And consumers suffer the consequences having to pay more money for an inferior product.

Why do you think China succeeded? Why is Temu successful? The state subsidizes the product to grab the market. It doesn't need to make a profit if it's getting market share. State owned capitalism isn't the same as the state offering incentives to private companies to bring a product to market. Protectionist behavior has its place. What makes you think that only automakers benefit? I know I don't know everything about the auto industry, but I know enough to know that there are gains made across the board that aren't just handouts to businesses. I have a hard time believing the reasons for such actions are as simple as you say.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Why do you think China succeeded? Why is Temu successful? The state subsidizes the product to grab the market. It doesn't need to make a profit if it's getting market share. State owned capitalism isn't the same as the state offering incentives to private companies to bring a product to market. Protectionist behavior has its place. What makes you think that only automakers benefit? I know I don't know everything about the auto industry, but I know enough to know that there are gains made across the board that aren't just handouts to businesses. I have a hard time believing the reasons for such actions are as simple as you say.

What are you talking about? BYD is a public company. You can go buy shares in it tomorrow if you'd like. A huge chunk of the company is owned by American investors like Warren Buffett. They raised their money through an IPO and they're profitable on their own without the state's help.

Their crime is making a cheap EV that people like. Something American companies have been unable to replicate and don't want on the market (margins aren't as big as those giant ass trucks or luxury sedans). Plus a product that threatens to hurt the oil and gas industry.

And even if this was some secret plot by the Chinese to subsidize cars for Americans, who cares? If China wants to cover the costs for us to get cheap cars that are better for the planet, I'm all for it. Saves us taxpayers a ton of money and gets us off oil.

[RainMaker]

And Temu is sort of successful because they cut out the middle man. They found a more efficient way to sell the cheap Chinese crap that Amazon has been overpricing for years. Kind of how capitalism is supposed to work.

They're also based in Boston and publicly traded on the NASDAQ. You can own a piece of the company too. I get that people are upset that another Chinese company is doing things better than American companies, but maybe American companies should do better.

[Lathum]

Not sure where this belongs

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/s...hot-rcna152348

[flere-imsaho]

You can't be this naive, RainMaker. There are plenty of ways for a state to advantage a private company that don't necessarily show up on the company's books.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

You can't be this naive, RainMaker. There are plenty of ways for a state to advantage a private company that don't necessarily show up on the company's books.

I'm aware. The government banning competitors is an example of a state giving an advantage to a private company.

Still don't know why you as a consumer would want to pay more for an inferior product. Or why we are making decisions that exacerbate climate change.