Eurointelligence has an interesting article about the vanishing center in Germany. The US is no different, and arguably worse.
Squeezed Left and Right
Let’s briefly discuss Germany before turning attention to the US.
Please consider Squeezed Left and Right.
There has been a shocking poll in Thuringia, the only German state run by a prime minister of the Left Party, and also a stronghold of the AfD. The poll is about the impact of a potential new party led by Sahra Wagenknecht, the most flamboyant of all Left Party MPs, who has fallen out with her colleagues over Ukraine and immigration. She is pro-Russia and anti-immigrant, positions that put her much closer to the AfD than the Left Party.
The poll puts her in the lead in the state at 25%, followed by the AfD at 22% and the Left Party at 18%. German journalists have focused on the extent to which she could cannibalize the AfD’s vote. What they did not point out is the far more worrying statistics that two thirds of the people polled in Thuringia are supporting extremist parties. Even if the centrist parties all join up, it will not be possible for them to form a government.
As Die Welt pointed out, the nomination of Rackete could be a problem for the Greens, who have come under increasing criticism from left-wing action groups. Die Welt writes that the strategy of the Left Party is no longer to portray itself as the left-wing alternative of the SPD, but as a left-wing alternative to the Greens. There are a lot of frustrated environmentalists in Germany.
The only constant in German politics right now is the disappointment with the government, and the weakness of Friedrich Merz.
Let’s now turn our attention to the US, starting with Democrats. Don’t worry, Republicans are next.
How Biden Compares With Past Presidents
Congratulations to president Biden for polling better than Jimmy Carter.
The irony is obvious. Inflation is higher under Biden than any president since Carter.
US Centrists, Where Art Thou?
President Biden campaigned as a centrist and a healer. He has been neither. He is the Progressive’s wet dream candidate, so much so that the majority of Democrats do not want him to run.
For starters, Biden nominated an outright Marxist for comptroller of the currency.
Biden’s Bank Regulatory Nominee Espouses Helicopter Money and Praises the Old USSR
Please note Biden’s Bank Regulatory Nominee Espouses Helicopter Money and Praises the Old USSR
Joe Biden’s nominee for the Comptroller of the Currency Saule Omarova on oil, coal and gas industries: “We want them to go bankrupt if we want to tackle climate change.”
The People’s Ledger: How to Democratize Money and Finance the Economy
Click on the link and Download the report. It’s a doozie. Straight out of the Marxist handbook.
She proposes ending banks and giving everyone a direct account at the Fed to stimulate the economy.
Saule Omarova calls her idea a “People’s QE”. She is so bad, not even Senate Democrats could rally behind her.
Sorry Starbucks, you Can’t Close That Store
Next, consider Starbucks Is Stuck on Union Time
A ruling last week from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) holds that Starbucks broke labor rules last year when it closed a store in Ithaca, N.Y. The complaint was brought by Workers United, which represents employees there and has organized more than 300 Starbucks stores since 2021. The ruling from an NLRB judge validated the union’s claim that the store closure was an attempt to punish workers for joining up.
But the holding gives little weight to what happened in between. By April employees had informed regional managers that a grease trap behind the shop, shared with other stores in the strip mall, was leaking into Starbucks and “emitted a strong odor.” Another cause for scrutiny was frequent absence and lateness among the staff, which the ruling concedes weren’t addressed by local shift managers. “There were no standards being followed,” Starbucks management notes.
Imagine having a business and whether or not a location is making any money or has safety problems the government forces you to keep that store open.
This is Biden’s NRLB in action. I hope Starbucks takes this case to the Supreme Court and the court crams it straight down his throat.
Speaking of court cases, team Biden just cannot stay on the right side of the constitution.
Supreme Court Strikes Down Student Debt Cancellation, Cites Nancy Pelosi
On June 30, I commented Supreme Court Strikes Down Student Debt Cancellation, Cites Nancy Pelosi
The US Supreme Court wisely struck down President Biden’s executive power garb that usurps powers granted by the Constitution to the legislative branch of government. The 77-Page Supreme Court Decision was 6-3.
A paragraph on page 23 (PDF page 28) caught my eye.
… (quoting Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U. S. 243, 267–268 (2006)). As then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi explained: “People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.” Press Conference, Office of the Speaker of the House (July 28, 2021).
If you thought Nancy Pelosi never made any sense, you stand corrected.
I believe student debt cancellation is a very bad idea. But the debate is moot because it does not matter I think or you think, simply because student debt cancellation is blatantly unconstitutional. The founders of the US wisely created three branches of government.
The Executive Branch is supposed to carry out the law. And the Constitution gives Congress, not the President, the power of the purse.
President Biden openly and willingly flouted the law, so much so, that even Nancy Pelosi agreed.
Free Money and Resultant Inflation
The three rounds of fiscal stimulus are clearly visible. The first two were enacted under Trump. The third was sponsored by President Biden and approved by Congress.
The third round of stimulus was totally unwarranted and helped set off the biggest rise in inflation since president Carter. The Fed also played a big role. Also the Fed should have seen this coming, but didn’t.
For discussion, please see A Reader Asks “Does an Increase in Money Supply Cause Inflation?”
The Other Side of the Political Coin
Trump is crass and as polarizing as Biden.
But it’s not just Trump who’s polarizing. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbot both signed extremely restrictive abortion views, wildly out of touch with views of the American public.
DeSantis brags about that at Florida.Gov, Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Heartbeat Protection Act
“We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “I applaud the Legislature for passing the Heartbeat Protection Act that expands pro-life protections and provides additional resources for young mothers and families.”
While other states like California and New York have legalized infanticide up until birth, Governor DeSantis has enacted historic measures to defend the dignity of human life and transform Florida into a pro-family state
There’s the two extremes in one paragraph. It’s a case of anything goes, vs almost nothing at all.
Broader Support for Abortion Rights Continues Post-Dobbs
On June 14, 2023, Gallup reported Broader Support for Abortion Rights Continues Post-Dobbs
- A record-high 69% say abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy. The prior high of 67% was recorded last May after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization draft was leaked, showing that the court planned to nullify constitutional protection for abortion.
- Most Americans oppose abortion later in pregnancy, but the 37% saying it should be legal in the second three months of pregnancy and 22% in the last three months of pregnancy are the highest Gallup has found in trends since 1996.
- Gallup’s oldest trend on the legality of abortion finds 34% of Americans believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances, nearly matching last year’s record-high 35% and above the 27% average since 1975. Another 51% currently say abortion should be legal under certain circumstances, while 13% (similar to the all-time low of 12%) want it illegal in all circumstances.
- Fifty-two percent of Americans say abortion is morally acceptable, matching last year’s all-time high. This is 10 percentage points above the historical average since 2001.
Extreme Republican positions on Abortions almost cost Republicans the House in the latest midterms. Despite that obvious fact, DeSantis went ahead anyway.
What About Immigration?
The Democrat position is an open door policy, complete with free housing, medical care, and other assistance. DeSantis went the other way in extreme fashion.
Will Florida’s Immigration Crackdown Cause a Spike in Food and Shelter?
On July 3, I asked Will Florida’s Immigration Crackdown Cause a Spike in Food and Shelter?
Florida’s illegal immigration crackdown started on July 1. An exodus of workers is underway. A Florida produce packing company owner asks “How are we going to run the farms?”
Without migrant workers picking crops, food prices in the US would soar.
Is there no middle ground here? Is there no room for gainfully employed workers who will do a job that no US citizens want?
Driving needed workers out of Florida is not going to do Florida or the nation any good. Isn’t there something between “anything goes open borders” and “send them all back no matter how productive they are or how long they have been here“?
Bombing Mexico
Both parties support endless wars and constant US meddling, but Republicans are far more extreme.
To stop the drug trade, NY magazine reported Trump Wanted to Fire Rockets Into Mexico and Pretend Like the U.S. Didn’t Do It.
Politico reports GOP Embraces a New Foreign Policy: Bomb Mexico to Stop Fentanyl.
In recent weeks, Donald Trump has discussed sending “special forces” and using “cyber warfare” to target cartel leaders if he’s reelected president and, per Rolling Stone, asked for “battle plans” to strike Mexico. Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) introduced a bill seeking authorization for the use of military force to “put us at war with the cartels.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said he is open to sending U.S. troops into Mexico to target drug lords even without that nation’s permission. And lawmakers in both chambers have filed legislation to label some cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a move supported by GOP presidential aspirants.
Twice Accused
I have twice been accused, in the same day, of being extreme Right and extreme Left. If I split this post in half and did it in two pieces, I am pretty sure I could do it again.
The fact of the matter is, I don’t like any of the candidates.
For starters, I would like to see the constitution upheld. Bombing or sending US troops to Mexico is a belligerent act of war that constitutionally requires such a declaration.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 11: [The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To declare War,
But here we are causally proposing bombing or sending troops to Mexico without Mexico’s permission. Yes, that’s extreme.
I am a Libertarian. I believe in small government, minding our own business, staying out of wars, and not giving a damn if two men or women want to get married.
But I draw the line at forcing people with different religious views to bake cakes for gay couples.
The Choices
It appears we may be heading for another Trump-Biden showdown that a huge majority doesn’t want. Any semblance of the middle is dead, on nearly every issue.
Trump and Biden arguably deserve each other, but the country doesn’t. Unfortunately, no other candidate from either party is much different than those two.
This post seems entirely political. It’s not.
Regulatory madness, free money policies, push for unions and free healthcare for all are highly inflationary.
So are endless military action and unjustified wars. And both parties embrace terrible protectionist polices and excess military spending.
Here Are Your Choices
- Bombing Mexico vs Letting Everyone In
- Abortion on Demand vs No Abortions
- More Military Spending vs More Military Spending
- More Sanctions vs More Sanctions
- Weaponizing the Dollar vs Weaponizing the Dollar
Happy with your choices?
Lesson of the Day
Also consider Lesson of the Day: If You Weaponize the Dollar and Confiscate Assets, Expect Retaliation
The country is about as deeply split as it was shortly before the civil war. The difference is as irreconcilable now as it was then. Either one side or the other will completely crush the other or the country will split. No war but complete disgust for each side.
The problem with being libertarian is they are pacifists. They live in some version of the world that doesn’t exist even in alternate realities. It is like being a vegetarian and thinking a tiger or lion isn’t going to eat you because you are vegetarian.
Trump is the only candidate talking about getting us out of Ukraine. Biden could be negotiating peace but he is not. A hoot that the left is so pro-war these days.
They’ve been pro war for a very long time. Obama got us into Libya and Syria. Pretty much wherever the Saudis wanted us to fight Shia’s.
Apparently you don’t know about Bidens payoffs from the Ukraine.
“poll after poll shows America is pro life”
Er, you are selective either in your sampling of polls or in your definition of pro life.
69%, Gallup says, favor some abortion access.
Or perhaps you are referring to the majority of states that have abandoned capital punishment?
Yes funny how many godly folk oppose abortion, but not the death penalty or bombing the hell out whatever people are Americas main enemy this week.
mish, i believe you miss the obvious, though quite ugly truth. democracy works. our representatives from local congresspeople to presidents are perfect reflections of the people. we are an war mongering nihilist empire from bottom to top. men like you, (and me) and the few libertarians and greens are only 1% in last general election. in 2016 we were like 3%. democracy works, past 2500 years. the truth is our fellow citizens are the problem.
There’s an abundance of hyperbole on both sides.
The latest example is the grilling of Kennedy over his statements about how Jews and Chinese suffered less. Maybe they did. Who knows? But a few things….
A) No democrat in the house cares one iota about his comments. They just want him to drop out. And the notion that Chinese or Jews are being attacked because of comments like this is absurd. Reminds me of when CNN and MSNBC were trying to push a narrative about white people attacking Asians. They scoured the internet for video evidence. Found nothing. And then they showed videos of blacks attacking Asians while running a story about whites attacking Asians. And people fell for it.
B) You can disagree with him. He’s probably wrong. That’s not the problem. No democrat cares about spreading falsehoods. The problem is he thinks he’s right. He’s willing to tell what he thinks is true, even if it hurts his election chances. He has scruples. People with scruples are a lot harder to bribe and/or blackmail into doing things. They’re less likely to lie for their advantage. His problem is he’s way too honest.
I think Biden will be forced out. If he refuses, the democrats can always have the DOJ put Hunter in jail for decades. There’s a mountain of evidence against him.
My gut feeling is Gavin Newsome will get the nomination. Ideally they would pick a black woman, but then they would have to pick Kamala. She’s unelectable. To them, anyone would be better than Trump.
The notion that the center is somehow virtuous and reasonable is a farce. The Overton window has been shifted so far left that the center is now an extremist leftwing position. Donald Trump is a big city liberal Democrate, yet somehow he is framed as an extreme right winger. Why because he is New York City brash and a little uncouth? Or perhaps because he believes a country should have boarders. But he was all in on the tranny stuff. The fact that it is now main stream to have books in grade school teaching kids oral sex and that young children are encouraged to have life altering sex reassignment treatment says all there needs to be said. It’s now time to push back and say he!! no!
This way to the iceberg… Life moves forward, not backward. Just bc you do not understand or agree with the youth today does not mean you are right and they are wrong. And rocknroll is music, grandpa!
Rick,
Changes is coming. It’s just not what your think.
Those are beat ups to make angry people angrier. But anyway they aren’t left v right they are libertarian v authoritarian
During a debate on abortion last year in the Green Mountain state, conservatives argued that we were legalizing the right to abortion through 9 months. I suppose technically that could happen in very rare circumstances – life of mother/child at risk. But medical doctors explained that this is a medical procedure and there are medical standards and under those standards abortions are not done beyond I think 20 weeks. (I am not sure that is the number but in that area) Obviously there are exceptions – but they are rare and would occur because of some extreme circumstances. So like much of the right and left debates we are often fed bad information so we can’t even have reasonable debates
I never understood why anyone would tow the line for any political party. There is going to be something one does not agree with but people still vote for things they object to thinking…well…at least most of it is fine. No. It’s not fine if you disagree with it. So why are they voting for it…meh.
Creating ones own circumstances as much as possible is the best solution. I didn’t vote for decades. It has next to no impact on my life. I do not care about abortion, guns, mandated vaccines, gays, trans or nudies in kids books.
I’m not marrying someone pro abortion, will always own a gun no matter what, never taking a vaccine not approved with staunch research and if they were teaching my kid CRT or sexual stuff they get home schooled. Nothing they can do. I create my own circumstances. Not Trump, not Biden and not anyone and there is not much they can do about it because I do not live in debt for one and have lived long enough to know the US government does not look out for me. I look out for me and my family.
At last, actual sense. How uncommon. Except for letting the schools have any say at all, I can’t argue with anything you said. It’s my own practical philosophy, you just had a nice little label for it. Create our own circumstances. And yes we do. Though the slaves wish it weren’t so.
Bombing Mexico vs Letting Everyone In
BS! Ron DeSantis isn’t going to start bombing Mexico. He’s going to build a wall and try to get as many states as possible to actually put teeth behind using e-Verify. He’ll also work to overhaul legal immigration within reason. What he’s not going to do is mass Amnesty and allow all these illegals to continue to soak up government monies. The hypocrisy of NY State over their declaration of being a sanctuary state & then bitching about have to spend so much money to house & feed illegals is just beyond comparison.
Abortion on Demand vs No Abortions
Six weeks is a little extreme IMO, but who really cares? Abortion is not illegal. If a person has to travel to some other state to get an abortion after 6, 8, or 12 weeks, then so be it. Maybe they’ll learn a lesson. Ending Roe v Wade was the right thing to do.
More Military Spending vs More Military Spending
I bet Ron DeSantis would find the right generals & SecDef to start holding the military accountable for the excessive budget, fraud & waste. Certainly, this is probably a two-term ordeal to really see changes in action.
More Sanctions vs More Sanctions
Again, STOP whining about sanctions & tariffs & start throwing spit balls with solutions! Again, Ron DeSantis will do what it takes to take on China. Again, this is definitely a two-term agenda to see real change. Decoupling pharma, rare earth metals and everything solar power related are massive day one needs to get started.
Weaponizing the Dollar vs Weaponizing the Dollar
I support high interest rates, if that’s what you call weaponizing the dollar. I also support statutorily banning the Fed from buying or selling any treasuries 7 years or longer. They have NO business f’ing with the mortgage rates & the long-end of the yield curve.
Libertarians crack me up with their small government, wise founders, and the Holy constitution talk. This government started out small; but it’ll be different this time. The wise founders were so loved by the people that when the entirety of Philadelphia formed a lynch mob to pay their respects to them, no other city would welcome them. So they got a malaria infested swamp. When you read the Holy Constitution, note the part about landowners only voting. Shay’s Rebellion, in which the banks and the wealthy had taken everyone else’s land and really caused a ruckus, had only just been settled. To the favor of those who held the reins of power. Who would have thunk it? This landowners only voting really was just rubbing salt into the wound. Don’t worry, the slaves weren’t forced to loosen their chains. I’m sure doing the exact same thing as before will most definitely provide a different result. It’s really hard to take this clown world seriously.
Nicely done.
Well done.
Well, let’s see what you left out of the article. Who is pro/con on these topics?
– Irreversible genital mutilation of minors
– There are lots of genders, and they can be changed at whim. Definition of a woman is even impossible for a Supreme Court Justice
– Putting pornography into school libraries, saying anyone against it is supporting censorship
– Teaching America is a fundamentally racist, irredeemable country
– Weaponization of federal agencies to shut down dissent, like school board meetings. Using FISA Courts and “anti-terrorism” laws on a political basis (Flynn, for example)
– Affirmative Action, and saying anything, anywhere (except sports) is due to racism if it doesn’t exactly match demographics
– If you do not agree with any of the above, you should lose your job,access to banking, and any access to polite society. Sitting in a restaurant and minding your own business? Too bad, you have wrong views so “get in their face” and run them out, and get the restaurant shut down for good measure.
I could go on, but basically the democrats have not only left their crazies off the leash, they are now running the democratic party, along with supporting a neo-Maoism that tries to use terror and censorship to shut down dissent (see Kennedy hearings just last week).
I don’t think there is a “middle ground” until the democratic party pivots back to the middle, but there are no signs of that.
Tucker is laughing….
Maxine Waters wasn’t. The Democrat politicians smearing Matt Taibbi, IRS and FBI whistleblowers and RFK Jr., weren’t laughing, either. Odd though, that Democrats used to say that whistleblowers need to be protected. Apparently, they want some people held above the law, after saying no one is above the law.
I work at a public school (mostly to stay busy), and all my kids are public school age, and I have yet to meet a transgender kid (I know they exist, but the percentages are so small that our 3500 kid district doesn’t seem to have any), or run into any pornography in the library.
Hell, if there was any porn in the library the kids would never know. Only the nerdiest 1% ever go there. The majority are on their phones trading nude pics of themselves.
I’d love to have the problem of kids encountering inappropriate material at the library… that would mean they were reading actual books.
I guess my point is, what kind of whackadoodle cares about the issues you mention? People I know care about jobs/pay, cost of groceries, whether their kids will make the sports team, affording a house, etc. The stuff you’re talking about just… doesn’t register. I don’t personally give a rat’s ass about a tenth of a percent of entitled kids deciding to change their gender, just like I don’t care about the vague possibility that a kid will see a boobie in a library book.
I can confirm what you are seeing with regards to kids and porn. They get it from the internet via their phones.
This weekend my family went to visit friends in Tampa and their 9 year old let slip that he knows what Only Fans is from being shown it from older kids. My own teens have known what it is for at least a couple of years.
yes
Personally, I wish your experience was much more widespread. In our local district of similar size, my two kids personally know 4-5 transgender kids. It’s a mostly upper upper middle class community (i.e., 5%ers) and fairly socially liberal. Two ways to think about it: the inherent misgendered is allowed self expression (that is otherwise oppressed in less affluent (=educated/*indoctrinated, depending on your political bias) communities, OR there is a welcoming environment here that allows understandable gender confusion (at the pre-pubescent and pubescent stages) to be openly expressed.
However, I have a friend in the south whose daughter knows several transgendered kids who “came out” in very unwelcoming socially oppressive communities, suggesting a motivation far different from simple “confusion”.
In other words, it’s too early to conclude, more data and experience is needed.
All of the things you reference come from the Democratic party pandering to Blacks, feminist women and the LGBTQ crowd.
Those 3 blocks of voters disproportionately vote Democrat. Pretty much every other block of voters is split between Republican and Democrat. That’s why the party is controlled by those groups now because it must cater to them to stay in power.
“– If you do not agree with any of the above, you should lose your job,access to banking, and any access to polite society.”
Perhaps round them up, send them to special camps….
/
Their is no center per se in politics. There are politicians that are more willing to compromise but overall politicians are on the right or the left of the mainstream with a few exceptions. To wit: Ronald Reagan was a conservative and Teddy Kennedy was a liberal. Gerald Ford was a conservative and Tip O’Neal was a liberal. Bill Clinton was a neoliberal, ergo conservative and Jimmy Carter was a neoliberal, ergo a conservative. Obama was a neoliberal, ergo a conservative and JFK was a liberal. LBJ was a liberal and George H. W. Bush was a conservative. W was a conservative and Trump was unique but definitely on the right. Pelosi is a neoliberal, ergo a conservative and McConnell is a conservative.
The Left has largely disappeared from American politics. Ted Kennedy was the last liberal. The so-called squad speak with forked tongue. They tout liberal principles but when voting on economic issues that matter they fall in line with the neoliberal Democratic Party.
American politics doesn’t represent the the bottom 90%. The PACs, SuperPacs and dark money govern this country. Money in politics is the mother’s milk.
Our politics in the US won’t change till Citizen’s United is overturned and public financing of elections is the law of the land. Lobbyists can lobby but their influence through fundraising also needs to be neutered.
Poll after poll in the US reflects that most Americans prefer pro-life, some form of gun regulation, higher taxes for the top 10% but none of these are ever put on the president’s desk for his signature or veto. This is done on purpose. It is all about divide and conquer.
“The Left has largely disappeared from American politics. ”
Then who keeps making it ever more difficult to exercise my Second Amendment rights?
It’s more accurate to say the Left has decided they like Corporate money too.
Neither the theocrats nor the Left are willing to just leave me alone.
Siliconguy, The far Right has defined the 2nd Amendment and successfully within the GOP along with the over the top assistance from the gun lobby and by proxy the NRA to be a maximalist position. Prior to decisions by the High Court in the 2000s, and ascendancy of W to the WH, there was a modicum of regulation ( e.g., regulation of assault rifles). I still recall in the 90s that George H.W. Bush a mainstream conservative economically and politically but a moderate to conservative on social issues turned in his card carrying NRA membership due to the NRA’s over the top support of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Most Americans are in favor of gun regulation per a poll from Fox News.
https://mikethompson.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/fyi-fox-news-poll-shows-overwhelming-support-commonsense-gun-violence#:~:text=81%20percent%20–%20Legal%20Age%2021,Require%2030%2Dday%20Waiting%20Period
“poll after poll shows America is pro life”
Er, you are selective either in your sampling of polls or in your definition of pro life.
69%, Gallup says, favor some abortion access.
Or perhaps you are referring to the majority of states that have abandoned capital punishment?
Rick, I misspoke when I wrote pro life. Clearly, based upon my earlier comment one could infer that I misspoke and meant pro choice. In any event I stand corrected on what I wrote.
The latest Gallup Poll has the majority of Americans siding with the pro choice movement.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/244709/pro-choice-pro-life-2018-demographic-tables.aspx
The higher the income stream and the higher the level of education the more pro choice they are.
Mish, this post is close enough to recent similar ones by Denninger and Kunstler.
Sorry. It’s way too late. Bring on the collapse.
Seems to me like we want others to tell us how to think, and they gladly will. We have become a black and white society. One extreme or the other. I don’t have a clue why. Is it laziness to just accept where the masses are going on any particular issue. Even in congress, individual congresspeople are told what to say. It is not country first. It is PARTY first, and if you don’t conform you will be out on your ass. Happens day one when you first arrive. Bottom line—–don’t think for yourself. We will think for you.
What will snap us out of this? Something very messy and that is too bad.
I believe we should live in color, and not black and white. Forget the binary this or that opinion. THere are shades that one can consider. But it is so much easier to put our head in the sand until it is forced to come up for some air.
“This post seems entirely political. It’s not.” What it is is an argument for learning to get along and respect one another’s views…the only one of its kind that I have seen on the Internet.
I applaud the author and these sentiments. The notion that there is such a thing as a normal distribution curve implies that the majority should join me in such applause. Apparently, as a species, we’re just not there yet.
The article and the solicited replies are like giving a dog bone. Not very illuminating. Dogs like bones.
America is dying. The presidential election is irrelevant. As will all the presidential elections after that. America is a threat to global freedom. Along with China, it will continue to destroy the planet.
We need a mass movement to wisely integrate the particles of truths in the opposing economic and political theories which truths implement a thirdness greater oneness of truths, workabilities and highest ethical considerations of that duality.
For that you have to discover the core of the core problem and create policies that will effectively resolve that problem.
“For that you have to discover the core of the core problem and create policies that will effectively resolve that problem.”
Remove bribery, A.K.A. “Money is speech”.
re: “The third round of stimulus was totally unwarranted”
Money flows, the volume and velocity of means-of-payment money, rose to all-time highs in November 2020. Presently, we have the drawing down of inventories, of bank-held savings, a fall in the demand for money propelling the economy up until the 4th qtr. of 2023.
“Article I, Section 8, Clause 11: [The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To declare War,”
Does NATO override that?
I don’t think anything’s changed. The lobbyists still control politics.
Yes
>> Without migrant workers picking crops, food prices in the US would soar.
Food prices have already soared, so this doesn’t matter, these people are net costs and enabling a future one party state for the Democratic party to lord over. It’s time to replace farms with more single family housing, we do not need labor intensive farming as it’s an unimportant sector of the economy and not very productive. Agriculture stands to benefit from additional automation anyways. We need manufacturing, finance, services, and software but not agriculture.
You assume the average porker American is even capable of that work. They aren’t.
Of course. Americans can’t do hard work or even serve in a watered down military. This country was developed by tough, hardened settlers, not by the morbidly obese. We will go the way of Rome, sooner or later.
First & foremost priority for my vote is my wallet, I suspect that’s the norm.
Republicans have been promoting welfare for the wealthy as “job creating” & “trickle-down” for 50 years, and when it finally backfired with exploding debt they turned on the middle class.
If that means I have to accept “woke” to avoid living in squalor, so beit, I cannot vote Republican after what my family went through in 08.
This is likely the reason politics has become so polarized, a single politician can easily be the final vote for policy that ruins me, forcing me to choose one side only, regardless of social ideology.
Democrats will cause hyperinflation, they will literally shut down the economy to get to their way and then print trillions and give it out to their supporters, ban fossil fuels without adequate replacements, while flooding the country with immigrants and not building any housing. You will live in a pod and eat bugs once they have reached the end of their agenda.
“Democrats will cause hyperinflation,…”
Perhaps, and where it has become a firmly binary option, I respond with “Republicans WILL cause middle class squalor”
Recalling Ryan’s “Path to prosperity” – 75 years of middle class squalor to preserve “job creating” tax cuts.
It’s one or the other, period, no middle ground…choose your poison.
.
“Democrats will cause hyperinflation,”
And Republicans HAVE ALREADY caused hyperinflation. Just as Democrats have.
“they will literally shut down the economy to get to their way and then print trillions and give it out to their supporters”
And, again, Republicans AND Democrats, been doing nothing but, for the past 5 decades. The trillions upon trillions in wealth that BOTH parties have AGREED to being forcefully transferred; FROM once productive people and enterprises who produced the wealth. TO complete nothing, net-negative, useless, rank morons who currently possess it all. All in the form of “home price appreciation” and “asset appreciation.” At a scale which so completely (to the tune of at least two orders of magnitude) dwarfs whatever little roundoff pet differences there may be between the two parties; as to render those “differences” pretty much entirely irrelevant.
America is cooked, done and over with, specifically because ALL it’s once meticulously built up capital, was taken, by force of debasement, from people who created valuable enterprise, and handed to complete idiots collecting rent and asset gains. As well as those who recived “income” from those “gains.”
To the point where the whole country is now owned, hence ran, by nothing but such pure, 100% never-created-anything-of-value dilettante idiots. It’s been survival of the dumbest (because hence most dependent on The Fed and Government) for so long now, that dumbest is, literally, the only one left standing in ANY boardroom and executive suite.
None of which changed even in the slightest, regardless of which idiot-party was nominally in charge over some arbitrary 4 year period. So called “Welfare”, nor “Faith Based Charities” don’t even register as round-off. Effectively ALL government’s forced wealth transfers, have been effected by way of the “asset” channel (easier and less contentious that way, since the less-than-bright aren’t paying attention and can be led astray by all manners of “culture war” irrelevancies). All the rest of the so called “programmes”, regardless of nominally championed by which “party”, combined don’t even add up to a mosquito wing flap.
Thank you Stuki Moi
Politics is all about rewarding donors and enhancing personal power. Tax cuts are great but let’s balance the budget first. lol.
The country deserves who it votes for. Every 4 years, there is a flawed but sane candidate on the ballot who would respect the Constitution, and who could act as an umpire between the two major parties. They never wind up even attracting double digit numbers.
Biden is pro-establishment, pro-status quo. That’s a conservative by definition. He’s easily the most conservative Democratic president ever.
The U.S. has only one party – the Uni-party. Democrats and Republicans pose as opposing factions but they both cooperate in fully supporting the interests of the elite and powerful rather than the common person.
It’s too late for centrism.
Secure the borders.Energy independence.
Reindustrialization. They’re national security threats.
Trumpaphobia, race, gender, climate, and feticide.
They’re a subversion of sane society.
I am deeply sorry to say that our country, as we have been brought up to “know” it, is done.
It is not “them”….the polititians, the left, the right….it us us. We have met the enemy, and he is us.
We are using ourselves and our country up. Look at the obesity, the addictions, the debt, just to name a few.
Rome did it. The Soviet Union did it. A blind man could see that’s where we’re headed.
I dread the upcoming presidential election. Hopefully somebody sane and palatable to the voting public can work their way to the forefront, but I’m not betting a cent on it happening. Everything is so divisive now between the two parties, each at opposite ends of the spectrum. The ‘savior’ of each party is just preaching to their choir. They will be demonized by the opposite side.
I live in the swing state of Florida and in the I-4 corridor which is viciously fought over every 4 years. I need to leave my phone off of the hook. I have no need for 30 political robo-calls per day.
God help us!
It’s gonna be codger vs tantrum codger, just like last time, but with older codgers and more tantrums.
I don’t think any future President in next few years will have approval ratings much different from Bidens or Trumps. We’re too polarized as a result of gutting of Civics, history and government not being taught in schools and the toxic effect of partisan media, misinformation and social media BS. So IMO approval ratings don’t mean much.
As far as student debt. Congress passed the 1965 Higher Education Act which clearly states that power is granted in a section of the Higher Education Act of 1965 that says the secretary may “enforce, pay, compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand, however acquired, including any equity or any right of redemption.” The SC chose to ignore that clause for political reasons.
I’m 66 years old and until Trump I had never voted a straight Party ticket but did so in 2020 mainly as a protest vote. If Biden gets the new proposed rules pushed through on anti-trust rules and actually starts to enforce them I’ll probably do the same in 2024. Ironic thing though is that would benefit the rural Red areas economically but they’ll still hate him because he’s a Democrat.
Ironic your post on there being no center followed the religious zealotry, bickering, virtue signalling and all that came with the EV posting. Also on point were the first few comments on this article already setting up for a Hatfield/McCoy post blog comment section. Long gone are the early 2000s days of the globaleconomicanalysis blogspot comment section or view points expressed there. I miss them and fear they will never return. But my optimism comes from a Mishism – that which cannot go on forever will not.
Why are we killing babies? Pregnancy is a preventable disease.
Why do you want to dip your nose into someone’s private business? If you have so much spare time, why don’t you get a hobby or read a book?
Like so many things, pregnancy is largely preventable. But instead, our policies let problems fester, then we try to “fix” them after the fact. How? By killing babies, trafficking children, playing hot potato with immigrants, fentanylizing people and destroying lives via unnecessary wars.
So was climate change.
Climate change is not preventable.
Minoan Warming, post Minoan cooling. Roman Warming, post Roman cooling. Medieval Warming, Little Ice Age. Modern Warming.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/07/long-forgotten-frozen-soil-sample-offers-a-warning-for-the-future/
That is not really a good title, the summary is that 400,000 years ago half of Greenland was green. Sea level was 20 ft higher.
Except fetuses are not babies, they are fetuses. A fetus is a literal parasite inside and dependent upon an actual human’s body. The actual human is in charge when it comes to deciding what to do about parasites and fetuses growing inside of them. Most arguments against abortion are religious. So we’re going to decide on what women can do with their bodies based on the word of an imaginary ghost made up by people that want to elevate their feelings to indisputable absolute truths?
The God fetish of God being male, being above female, woman from a rib, despite being created in His image, that is unseen, to inspire faith in belief. Meanwhile criminals like Putin run and kill at will. I’m suppose to believe in the end, our free will allows this, and that they’ll be a reckoning for it? The innocent who die in this? So I’m lost if I don’t worship Him? And that’s the Christian side of it. Everybody’s motivation to invoke God in politics and reason to rule over one another to dominate people and their money (while subjecting them to religious rules). Just the tip of the iceberg. A mess I wish were simpler.
Sometimes a threat is the best deterrent. Trump was the king of threats. Look at the border under the threat of bombing vs now. Illegal immigration and drugs are much worse now than under Trump. North Korea got better under the threat of Trump. No war in Ukraine under the threat of Trump too.
I’ll take crass over incompetent any day of the week.
Wrong on immigration numbers but you’ll never admit it.
Mish, I wish you would stick to economics. Biden is not the progressives wet dream and in any event that is not why so many Dems do not want him to run. He is too old.
While the center is disappearing, I think it’s mostly due to each camp forcing their base to vote “against the other guy”. Terrorism in politics.
Also, given DeSanrtis view that slavery gave blacks the ability to better themselves, you seemingly missed that canard in today’s discussion.
Stick to roasting the Fed.
The opinion polls for post-war presidents show a pattern of general disapproval of presidents over time. This trend may very well end in civil war given how established the trend (3-4 generations) is. Independent voters are the last remnants of the political middle holding things together. Unfortunately a control system bouncing form one extreme to another is not very effective.
This is a concerted effort over a period of generations to polarize the politics. Funded by Koch Bros.on one side and Soros on the other. Incredibly fractured governments mean the corporation is the only directional force left. Funding polorizing characters on the left like AOC, and on the right like MTG. You get deathmatch government all day long. Everyone in government is a juvenile deliquent or a crook(Biden’s). The system wants Trump to run because he is polarizing and the center cannot game ground. The logical center also is the most commonsense voting block and therefore a threat to corporate control. Very few people in government believe that democracy works and are trending to killing off representative government wholesale. It’s all on purpose to cut us out of government.
Representative government doesn’t work, Democratic forms are government are absolutely terrible because they obfuscate power. Too many people think of government as the seat of power but it’s only a piece. Even when Trump won, he had no power to execute much of anything. The media, corporations, and institutions refused to go along with him, they are entirely captured by the ‘Progressive’ world view which has done nothing but march leftward for well over a century.
And here we are. The simple truth. Give monkeys the right to vote, get a government system who’s most effective skill is manipulating monkeys to support that government.
That answer is obvious, don’t give monkeys the right to vote, make them earn it by illustrating some semblance of the capacity to understand the world using logic. Logic,the one we used to teach to college students. . .
Sigh.
Trump had in fact all the power with republican control for two years in both houses. He simply was too incompetent to do anything with it. He blames anything but himself for that failure but that’s what happened. Biden got a lot more done even with the senate evenly divided, whether you like what he did or not.
Because what Donald Trump wanted to do is also dependent on the bureaucracy, which is massive and will not do anything against it’s self-interest. They just sandbag for 2-4 years until the next election.
Yup and even immigration numbers down and a judge quashed that effort along with GOPher lawsuits. so who you want to blame?
Gerrymandering results in polarized congressional districts with the only fear is of being primaried by someone further to the left/right.
Representatives become Senators, Senators become President/VP/Cabinet Members. Those in the middle are not represented in current system.