BerniePragle

Federal Spending > Federal Income = Printing Money (I think) The federal government takes money from the middle class and gives it to BOTH the poor and the rich. Someone (I wish I could remember who) said a number of years ago that the great accomplishment of the rich was to get the middle class to direct their anger downward rather than upward. You used the phrase "income redistribution", so I suspect you're already aware of the one direction. The other direction consists of the government handing "our" taxes to Big Oil, Defense Contractors, drug companies, the trucking industry, and many, many more under the guise of "job creation". A large portion of that money is then given to top management in the form of huge salaries, bonuses, et al. The concept of wealthy individuals and corporations taking their own money and using it to create new/more business has become a thing of the past. It is now expected that all a (prospective) business has to do is talk about "creating jobs" and the government coffers spill open. Either way, as the old phrase goes, That's no way to run a railroad. I very vividly remember The Former Guy's first press conference addressing the shutdown due to Covid. (I remember it because it interrupted The Price is Right, pretty much the only tv I watch, which pissed me off.) He very emphatically said how "we" will take care of our wonderful, terrific, fantastic hotels, cruise lines, resorts, airlines, etc. No mention of you, me, or Bobby McGee. I think that said a lot about his priorities. No surprise, that's been his whole life. I'm sure that he's been the first one in line for some of that good ole gobmint money his whole life. The big mystery to me is why the middle or lower class would think he has the slightest interest in doing anything for them???

Is it not a true statement that anytime the government hands anybody (individual, company, welfare) money for doing nothing, that devalues the dollars you and I already have in our pockets? More dollars "in circulation", no more goods or services in the system. Hence inflation. And, there was a lot of that during Covid. I suspect that some money policy gymnastics were implemented so that the inflation happened under The Next Guy's watch. Or maybe there is naturally that long of a lag. One thing that's very important to keep in mind... EVERYTHING; prices, interest rates, the stock market, inflation are all controlled by a bunch of rich people, always have been. It would be extremely naive to think they would not be manipulated in such a way as to maximally benefit the people that control them. Duh.

Exactly. You know I'm an extremely simple guy. Ultimately there is one IN bucket and one OUT bucket. The Federal government doesn't have enough coming into the IN bucket to offset the OUT bucket. The fix is more coming in or less going out, or preferably both. When it's that simple, even I can understand it. As I've said before, way more things are not understood by making them too complicated than by making them too simple. I don't think I've ever been BS'd by someone making things simpler. That's especially important to remember when dealing with any forms of government.

Wow. In another "X" years, we can debate which are the top ten chatbots that do the best job of ranking NCAA wrestlers over the last 50 years. What a thing to look forward to, huh? I should say you guys can debate... By then, my clicker may be 6 ft under. BTW, I've yet to see one of those chatbots that I'd rate as anything but worthless.

Tax breaks for rich guys and corporations. Increasing federal debt. Whoda thunk?

I bitch and blame. I also try my best to not vote for the turds who are part of the system in place in NYS and Washington. I will give you a couple of more recent examples: Tom Reed was a staunch Republican, which served him well here in rural Upstate NY, representing NYS-23 (where my wife and I live) from 2010 to 2022, when he resigned over an admitted sexual assualt during an official function. His go-to move was to paint his opponents as "Extreme Ithaca Liberals", even if they were not from Ithaca. (You kind of have to know this area to understand.) https://www.ithaca.com/news/reed-campaign-revives-ithaca-liberal-tag-in-new-ad-campaign/article_4f27ce4a-1f2b-11e8-9ff2-3f1430282a8f.html He of course pounded the usual Conservative drums. BTW, he was Trump's relection campaign manager (just for this area?). He owned a medical debt collection agency, which he later "turned over to his wife" to get around conflict of interest problems. I'm sure that he bankrupted numerous of the people who still voted for him because he told them what they wanted to hear. He now is a lobbyist in Washington. Cool, huh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Reed_(politician) His last two Democrat opponents were: Tracy Mitrano, a computer science professor at Cornell https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitranoassociates/ John Plumb, BS, MS Physics; PhD Aerospace Engineering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Plumb I think that if we voted more for people with a background like John Plumb and less for the same old medical debt collector that gets dangled in front of us time and again, we may have less of a back-biting $hitstorm in DC? I tried and it didn't work, so I'll just continue to bitch, blame, and vote for someone who isn't a part of the problem.

1996 Nader 2000 Nader 2004 Nader 2008 Nader And damn proud of it.

The Two Party System is the greatest threat to America. Unaffiliated. What a great word. We need LOTS more of this. For anyone old enough to vote in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, whom did you vote for? The candidate I voted for in those 4 elections did NOT have an R or a D after his name and got a whopping 2%, 4%, etc. A vote for either of the clowns they will prop up in front of us in 2024 is meaningless.

Do we have much bigger problems in our society than murder and robbery by guns? Of course. The school shootings, mall shootings, etc are merely the "canary in the coal mine" for much bigger problems we have in our country. I agree that the vast majority of this is due to lax or even non-existent parenting. Much of that is caused by the parents themselves having had little to no positive role model(s). That will only worsen. Another big problem we have in this country is the unbridled pursuit of profit by companies with no regard to the effect their product has on our society. There are countless examples of this. With regard to the subject at hand, two pop to mind. The entertainment industry, feeding our children violent movies and video games is one. Also without a doubt, the gun and ammo manufacturers is another. ANYONE who doesn't believe the NRA is spinning numbers to absolve these companies is very naive. Another problem we have is lack of education in critical thinking. Very few people anymore have any basic thought process that could help them to figure out who's BSing them regardless of "sources". (Hint: 99% of the time, follow the money.) This is only exacerbated by the speed with which mis-information is spread by social media. I'm 99.999+% sure the YT video linked here over and over as "proof" of something fits perfectly into that. I'm 70 years old and have a lot of perspective. Make no mistake...This "I present something as fact and then it's up to you to disprove it or it IS fact" thought process is a product of the internet and can only lead us down the proverbial rabbit hole. We all need to do better than that. I have advanced a couple of suggestions on trying to help with the gun murders and robberies but ultimately after the mandatory name calling by both sides they are always met with the Second Ammendment Stonewall and my forehead slap. The solution to the REAL problems in our country are beyond my pay grade.

Yeah, boy. From your standpoint, I can certainly see how this is true. One of my (original) sayings seems apropos here: There are people for whom Logic is not a close friend. Not even a casual acquaintance. Deal me out. “There's none so blind as they that won't see.” ― Jonathan Swift

If you are actually interested in learning something about Classical Logic, the non-NRA sort, so you don't look so foolish: An original short story by Lewis Carrol: https://web.mat.upc.edu/rafael.cubarsi/intro/What the Tortoise Said to Achilles.pdf The distilled version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Tortoise_Said_to_Achilles Note: Lewis Carrol's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He was a respected mathematician and one of the preeminent logicians in history. I realize that doesn't compare to having a YouTube channel, but...

I know I'm going to regret joining the foray, but here goes... That is NOT how logic or respected journalism works. You don't say "Blah, blah, blah. Now prove me wrong." If I were to say "The moon is 30 million miles away from the earth, now prove me wrong", what would you do? Get out a tape measure and "prove" me wrong? No, if I were not an idiot, I would consult NASA or other respected sources (Buckle your seat belt, that doesn't include some Joe Schmo on YouTube) before I opened my mouth to begin with for the distance. I would also make sure that my source of information on the distance was not someone or some organization that profited by disseminating mis-information for a bunch of sheep to slurp up. You do realize that the gun and ammo manufacturers that now call the shots at the NRA stand to make tons of money by spreading mis-information??? Same as I'm not going to believe Ford (or whoever) about the accuracy of their data on the reliability of their vehicles. I would consult some organization with no horse in the race (Consumer Reports). Well, I would if I either weren't an idiot and/or weren't simply looking for data to support my decision to buy a Ford anyway because my Pappy had Fords and his Pappy before him had Fords.

Dake always leaves me scratching my head. I've only seen a few Hayden Hidlay interviews, but he seems like a very intelligent, thoughtful kid, always upbeat. I'd think he makes Mom and Dad proud.

Double post. Sorry.

Williamsport, PA. Right at WAHS's Magic Dome. Get there early. Vaguely central amongst Pittsburgh, State College, and the Lehigh Valley. Easy trip for lots of moms and dads.

AKA: Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind's made up.

Many times when I've been trying to get one of those %*&#ing blister packs open, I've wanted to talk to one of those guys. I don't know whether I need to use a chainsaw or a stick of dynamite. The thing that you actually bought breaks the first time you try to use it, but the package it came in would survive the nuclear holocaust. I suppose if it included design of all the automation, logistics, and such involved in efficiently getting product from the receiving dock onto the UPS truck (plane?) on the scale they're doing, that would be a very complicated process. Heck, I've been studying the most efficient way to make a salad for about 40 years.

I'd also love to see that. I've told my wife many times that would cut down on many of these idiotic challenges. I've also said the same thing for years on the swing appeal play in baseball. If the batter merely flinches his hands, the catcher wants an appeal to the base ump. If the base ump says no swing, I think it should be another ball added to the count. That would cut down on that. Keep the match/game moving!!!

If I'm not mistaken, @BobDole was one of the builders of our new home a few months ago. In light of that, I AM a fan.

This is older than me (by a whisker). Nielson has been collecting and selling this data since 1950. This is just Nielson Ratings on steroids. I didn't know social media made money this way. I thought they made money by selling medical and legal advice on their platforms. I thought I had found a secret way around the billing system at the law firm of Facebook, Instantgram, and Tweety. Say it isn't so.

I'm quite sure that our core values are pretty similar, even when you're sober, lol. I suspect that when it comes to our principles and what we value in life and other people, we're very similar. I've told many people, that I differ politically with, that exact same thing. I've also said on here that BOTH political parties have successfully divided us over issues that are not terribly important to me in order to stay in power and fill their pockets with money, and their benefactors' pockets with money. Politically, I'm quite sure we're different. I guess you have a party that's doing what you want in Washington. For me, they both are bought-and-paid-for, with zero integrity. Maybe the late Senator @BobDole would like the details. They sure help explain his problem with technological boobs representing us in DC. This is but one situation. I'm sure there are many others from "both sides". Tom Reed was a staunch Republican, which served him well here in rural Upstate NY, representing NYS-23 (where my wife and I live) from 2010 to 2022, when he resigned over an admitted sexual assualt during an official function. His go-to move was to paint his opponents as "Extreme Ithaca Liberals", even if they were not from Ithaca. (You kind of have to know this area to understand.) https://www.ithaca.com/news/reed-campaign-revives-ithaca-liberal-tag-in-new-ad-campaign/article_4f27ce4a-1f2b-11e8-9ff2-3f1430282a8f.html He of course pounded the "They're gonna take your guns" drum. Those two moves were pretty much all he needed. BTW, he was Trump's relection campaign manager (just for this area?). He owned a medical debt collection agency, which he later turned over to his wife to get around conflict of interest problems. He now is a lobbyist in Washington. Cool, huh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Reed_(politician) His last two Democrat opponents were: Tracy Mitrano, a computer science professor at Cornell https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitranoassociates/ John Plumb, BS, MS Physics; PhD Aerospace Engineering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Plumb The difference in integrity between Reed and Mitrano or Plumb could be subjective (not by me though). The difference in technical competence is not. Don't you suppose that if we voted more for people with a background like John Plumb and less for the same old medical debt collector that gets dangled in front of us time and again, we may have less of a back-biting $hitstorm in DC? Certainly, we'd have less blank stares when technical issues were being discussed. Again, don't equate technology with social media and such nonsense. There are many, many technical issues that have little to nothing to do with the public's use of computers.

Edgar Winter slays it on the sax here. At 3:30 he says "Let me show you how it's done".

If you want a future in politics, don't cross the Orange Man. BTW, He's not a politician, lol.

I have long thought that the vast majority of the laws that needed to be made were made in the first 20 or so years this country existed. You don't murder someone, you don't steal someone's property, etc, etc. Anymore I think their primary objective is screwing the middle class by implementing all sorts of legal(?) shenanigans. I've long thought "we" would be better off electing representatives that couldn't find their way to Washington, than electing the same turds that we elect over and over. Technology laws are no different than nearly all laws coming out of Washington. I think it's generally accepted that our representatives in Washington know very little about the laws they make. They are written and worded by lobbyists who work at the behest of corporations who benefit from the laws being made. Who would be naive enough to believe these clowns know the nuts-and-bolts about the economy, finance, science (of which "technology" as used here is only a small sub-set)? I can assure everyone that the representative here in NYS-23 for way too long never received my vote. He's only gone now because he resigned over an admitted sexual assault during an official function. He now works as a lobbyist in Washington. Great system, huh? If you'd like Nailbender, I can tell you what party he represented, how he kept getting elected, and the resumes of a couple of the candidates of the other party that he defeated over the years. However, you won't like it.

If we only allowed congress to act on things they understood, they'd get nothing done. Actually that's not such a bad idea. Almost as bad as old fogies who don't understand "technology" is the youngins who equate TikTok with technology. I'd kinda say TikTok would be the pimple on technology's azz.