US Politics Thread 2021-24

[Skybird]

Another new old chapter in the endless political soap called "Gerrymandering or How To Corrupt Majority Voting Systems And Turn The Meaning Of Democracy Upside Down".



It does not speak for the electorate that it allows this to be done again and again and again - instead of chasing the offenders with eggs and stone throws to the beach and further into the sea.



My name for this is very simple: election rigging.



https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...flor-rcna24317

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by Skybird

My name for this is very simple: election rigging.

What do you call it when it is a Democrat state? Or is it only rigging when Florida does it?

Where's your comment about New York's gerrymandering a few weeks ago? Can you link it to me?

[Threadfin]

While you look for your cries of election rigging over New York's gerrymandering, I'll help you out.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/poli...drawn/3625499/

This was so blatantly partisan that a judge ruled it unconstitutional.

I'm sure you would cry rigged! if you knew about it right? But I bet it didn't make the WaPo.


I'm mistaken, it is in the Washington Post


https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...ic-drawn-maps/


My concern here isn't whether you believe this is election rigging, you can hold whatever position you choose. Myaim is to point out the hypocrisy of only complaining when it suits you. If you posted about New York then I will stand corrected.

[Skybird]

I complained about gerrymandering already in the Trump, Obama and Bush years.

Some of you guys really must stop to imply or imagine that truth is defined only along party borders.

Gerrymandering is being tried iny many other "democracies" as well, but as far as I can tell by far not on this excessive level than is the case in the US. And in combination with the unique voting system in the US it causes even worse consequences.

Sometimes I think the whole voting system in the US was designed from beginning on with the idea of manipulating elections on mind.

But then, I have a problem with the whole idea of general elections. I am with Jason Brennan on this. IMHO one should not call it voting but vommiting system. Its like a defect toilet. The bad stuff never flushes away but swims on top and then spills over. Still, people stand in line to take a deep breath and smell of the mess, and then compain afterwards.



Who casts a vote, has no right to complain, that simple it is. He gave his legitimasing and his consent for what follows in lie and in deed.

[Threadfin]

All that matter is if it is legal within the current laws. As in the New York case if it isn't it will be struck down.

If you don't like the law change the law. Complaining that it is election rigging is missing the point.

I'd be more concerned that people are worried the new map 'carves up a black district'. Say what?

Black voters are not a monolith, although one party treats them that way.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

All that matter is if it is legal within the current laws. As in the New York case if it isn't it will be struck down.

Russia has "current laws" defining what is legal and what not, too. Chin a has them. North Korea and Iran. Even the Third Reich had "current laws".

Laws can not only get abused, and they can not only be injust by design - they can even command for injustice becoming a civil and official duty. They cna be made to allow the state abuse and state-done violence and corruption.

If you don't like the law change the law. Complaining that it is election rigging is missing the point.

No, it is exactly the point. The laws often are at the very core of the problem, and have been intentionally designed to allow such abuse.

However.

[Skybird]

Bets still can be placed.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinio...tion-rcna24298

[August]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Who casts a vote, has no right to complain, that simple it is. He gave his legitimasing and his consent for what follows in lie and in deed.

Harsh critics are often talented, intelligent, and productive people. Unfortunately, they have a flaw that compels them to disparage others – almost, at times, as though they are diagnosing an illness in need of eradication. It seems they’re living according to the famous quip by Mark Twain: “Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.”
In the language of the self-help and recovery movements, these folks are often suffering from a disorder known as, “If You Spot It, You Got It [IYSIYGI].”

It works like this: You notice that colleague X has what is, in your mind, is an affliction. You then take it upon yourself to castigate him for his affliction — irrespective of whether or not it impairs his on-the-job performance or has a negative effect on group morale.
What makes this dynamic so ugly is that unbeknownst to the person under attack, the critic is being driven to criticize by a repressed-and-intolerable feeling that he’s “got” what he deplores in others.[/quote]


Sound familiar?




https://hbr.org/2014/03/why-are-some-people-so-critical

[Skybird]

Like in Europe, son in the US: inflation galopping. Just that the plundering morons at the ECB sleepwalk even longer than those at the FED.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung:


Inflation is slipping away from the USA. Now interest rates must rise faster

America's central bank has screwed up. It took up the fight against inflation too late and far too hesitantly. Now the pace must be stepped up, even at the price of a recession.

Jerome Powell is becoming increasingly uncomfortable. The head of the U.S. Federal Reserve has to watch inflation in the U.S. climb ever higher, to 8.5 percent by now. Powell has therefore indicated that he will increase the pace of interest rate hikes. Instead of the usual triple steps of 0.25 percentage points, the key interest rate is likely to be raised by 0.5 percentage points at the next monetary policy meeting. Such a step is "on the table," Powell said on Thursday.

On the stock markets, where one has become accustomed to the cheap money, the announcement comes admittedly badly. But more decisiveness in the fight against inflation is called for. In the U.S., a sense of loss of control is spreading. Prices, unimpressed by the central bank's actions so far, seem to be rising unchecked. Public discontent is growing. A survey shows that almost one in five Americans considers inflation to be the country's most pressing problem.

It need not - and should not - have come to this. To partially relieve the central bank, it must be admitted that higher interest rates cannot solve supply chain problems; nor can monetary policy solve supply shortages of energy goods or food. But the monetary authorities are by no means innocent of the price surge. They have effective instruments at their disposal to curb demand - provided they are willing to use them.

Powell and his team lacked this willingness. Their policy has not smoothed out the economic cycle, but intensified it. The Biden administration's billion-dollar stimulus policy was flanked by a similarly generous monetary policy. The result of this juxtaposition was a massive overheating of the economy. For example, an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows that monetary policy in the fourth quarter of 2021, when the threat of inflation was already abundantly clear, was more stimulative than at any time in nearly 50 years.

In other words: At a time when the government was letting a veritable rain of money rain down on the U.S., consumer demand was rising sharply thanks to easing Corona measures, companies were desperate for workers and prices and wages were rising sharply, the central bank was giving the economy an additional boost. The consequences of this procyclical policy can be seen today: a rapid loss of purchasing power of money and a tarnished credibility of the monetary guardians.

Smart monetary policy takes small steps and avoids shock-like jumps. But this requires looking ahead and addressing problems as they begin to emerge. In the recent past, however, America's central bank has never been able to bring itself to take such preventive measures. This is now taking its toll. Because the bank can no longer afford the ideal of a gradual approach, but must accelerate the pace; this is made clear by Powell's speech.

America's central bank is in a critical phase. It must prevent inflation from taking on a life of its own, penetrating all the cracks in the economy and causing the wage-price spiral to get out of control. The longer inflation remains at a high level, the greater the danger of such a decoupling. Interest rates must therefore rise rapidly to a level that no longer has a stimulating effect. If this were to trigger a recession, it would be a price we would have to be prepared to pay. After all, there are no alternatives to controlling inflation.
------------------------------
Reader's comment by T. W.

Historically, inflation today would be at the level of 40 years ago. It is more correct to say that the interest rate on credit balances was always higher than inflation back then, too. Today, with 8% inflation, the saver has a penalty interest rate of -0.5%. His taxed savings are now reduced annually by almost 10%. This is new and rather reminiscent of Weimar conditions with their social explosives and disincentives. This development was and still is crystal clear predictable. Just because self-proclaimed modern economists and money theorists declared inflation to be a relic of bygone eras only two years ago, unfortunately nothing changes in mathematics, physics and human sociology. In the end, we will always get the receipt for our life's lies. Because the truth does not simply go away, if we lie to ourselves smilingly the world. The sudden onset of inflation should be a wake-up call to re-examine many other principles of life and society that have been turned upside down in the recent past, before our livelihood completely blows up in our face in the medium term.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[les green01]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I complained about gerrymandering already in the Trump, Obama and Bush years.

Some of you guys really must stop to imply or imagine that truth is defined only along party borders.

Gerrymandering is being tried iny many other "democracies" as well, but as far as I can tell by far not on this excessive level than is the case in the US. And in combination with the unique voting system in the US it causes even worse consequences.

Sometimes I think the whole voting system in the US was designed from beginning on with the idea of manipulating elections on mind.

But then, I have a problem with the whole idea of general elections. I am with Jason Brennan on this. IMHO one should not call it voting but vommiting system. Its like a defect toilet. The bad stuff never flushes away but swims on top and then spills over. Still, people stand in line to take a deep breath and smell of the mess, and then compain afterwards.



Who casts a vote, has no right to complain, that simple it is. He gave his legitimasing and his consent for what follows in lie and in deed.

person who don't vote don't have the right to gripe and moan the person i vote for might not win as long as my vote is counted but then i guess we had a king once best thing we did was send him packing the consitution is beautiful written by guys who was thinking way ahead even conviction of states where enough states does that it voids the feds congress,president can't do nothing

[Skybird]

Wrong. Those who vote have no right to complain. They voted for what they legitimised to happen. And they should and could have known what it was they were getting.



Read Jason Brennan, "Against Democracy". Heck, I posted about him already many years ago. His diagnosis is, like woht Hans-Herrmann Hoppe, spot on, and irresistable. Its his alternative that he offers where I - like with Hoppe - I havbe my doubts that it nis so realistic and possible. Both writers excel in diagnosing and putting the fingers into the wounds that should be so absolutely obvious by now - but for many people still are not: I wonder why, I dont get it.

[mapuc]

I haven't been voting since 2002 and I do not moan- Only thing I do is pointing fingers at those who has voted and are now moaning and complaining.

Markus

[les green01]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Wrong. Those who vote have no right to complain. They voted for what they legitimised to happen. And they should and could have known what it was they were getting.



Read Jason Brennan, "Against Democracy". Heck, I posted about him already many years ago. His diagnosis is, like woht Hans-Herrmann Hoppe, spot on, and irresistable. Its his alternative that he offers where I - like with Hoppe - I havbe my doubts that it nis so realistic and possible. Both writers excel in diagnosing and putting the fingers into the wounds that should be so absolutely obvious by now - but for many people still are not: I wonder why, I dont get it.

guess we are going have to disagree i was raise my voice is my vote tell you one thing i'm not bowing down to some king or a dicator or being told i got to do this or that or work a certain job or whatever or live my life a certain way most us politicians have their heads up their backsides that a fact

[Buddahaid]

I'm OK with that, it's when they get their heads up my backside I get upset.

[Reece]

I don't blame you, would be rather kinky not to mention painful, however most politicians can kiss my ass!!