Politics US Edition (2021-vol 2)

[Elerond]

1 minute ago, BruceVC said:

Thats good to know....that French company must be very unhappy with the Finnish authorities for getting them to pay for the delays ?

Elerond if I was you I would avoid going to France for the next 15-20 years...just lets things cool down for a while 

I would think so, considering that they sold their nuclear reactor business in 2017.

"In June 2016 Areva's restructuring plans were made public, including the sale of the majority of its reactor business to EDF in 2017, excluding the Olkiluoto 3 EPR under construction in Finland which will remain with Areva SA. In December 2017, Areva and EDF signed agreements on the transfer of Areva NP's nuclear reactor operations."

[ComradeYellow]

U.S. - China Relations, Explained (msn.com)

Yeah because the U.S. is TOTALLY a "Democracy tm".  It doesn't matter which party you vote for, U.S. policy remains the same.

China may be a 1 party state, but at least their government has pollsters who track public opinions and can change their policies according to popular opinion.  Nothing like that exists in the U.S.  Greedy people run the show.

Why the U.S. hates China is completely ideological based in years of Cold War anti-Communism.  That's it, nothing more.  The powers to be want a corporate state like fascist Italy.

[rjshae]

4 hours ago, ComradeMaster said:

China may be a 1 party state, but at least their government has pollsters who track public opinions and can change their policies according to popular opinion.

I wonder what "popular opinion" they are tracking, because it isn't Hong Kong, Tibet, or the Uyghurs.

[Zoraptor]

Yep, it isn't polling in the western sense. The policies they change and pay attention to are things like the price of pork or rice and whether people think they're too expensive, and any other simmering economic tensions since it's far more likely that they'll get significant regime threatening dissent due to economic reasons. Taiwan/ HK/ Xinjiang are more prestige problems after the century of shame, not existential threats. Their only existential threat is when the majority Han starts protesting because they're hungry or not getting the life improvements they expected.

Pretty similar for Russia too, Putin will change policies to please his voting base, those who fundamentally want a different approach can't be appeased but are also a small minority overall, so can be simply suppressed instead.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/featured-cpac-speaker-said-judaism-complete-lie-and-referred-jewish-people

Update (2/22/21): CPAC has cancelled Young Pharaoh’s scheduled appearance following the publication of this article. Young Pharaoh’s information has also been removed from CPAC’s website. The theme of this year’s gathering is “American Uncanceled.”

lmao

[Bartimaeus]

(note: apparently this guy is sort of the worst, but that's not my fault)

Edited February 23, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Gromnir]

21 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Don't know. But speaking for myself I have nine real estate lease contracts including one that is a limited partnership between three land owners and another in a small business and you better believe I have a real estate lawyer going over every clause before I agree to any of it. Even the ones I control. I figure I'd rather pay her a few hundred bucks now to keep me out of trouble than a few thousand later to get me out a jam because I didn't have an expert read the contract. 

At the end of the day it's all about contracts. You only get what you agreed to buy and pay for what you agreed to pay for. When you buy a car you sign a contract with the lien holder. You agree on the payment, interest and term as well as extras and default provisions, insurance responsibility, etc. It's all in there and they can't decide to jack up the interest later unless that is in the contract. This deal is nuts. They are agreeing to a variable price per kWh that can actually go up AFTER you have use it. That's like Outback calling you the next day and saying the price of the steak you had last night has gone up since you left the restaurant, please remit! Maybe this kind of service should not be allowed. But it is and I wonder why anyone would take that deal.

But I also wonder why people buy timeshares for much the same reason. 

trying to reimagine a failure o' government regulation is what we would expect from gd, but after the recent faux pas with suggesting the victims o' the recent texas cold weather and resulting power failure 'coulda better prepared if they had 5-gallon propane stoves (*snort*) we woulda' expected at least a short period o' restraint from misguided championing o' free market forces.

in this country, public utilities is not subject to same contract law gd suggests controls. is precise 'cause the consumer has few reasonable alternatives to the utility providers in their area that the government regulates such relationships. for example, arguable negligence on the part o' utility providers to winterize after receiving warnings from the fed after the cold weather o' 2011 would not be a viable excuse to raise power cost rates 100x in any state in the  US, save for texas. just 'cause the utility provider put language into their boilerplate when a person seeks to get the electricity turned on in their new apartment does not mean customers should be subject to pay for the mismanagement of the power company... except in texas.

is a public utility, so ordinary contract law does not control... save for fact texas has largely ignored their responsibilities. different rules for public utilities, for what we hope is increasingly obvious reasons. 

HA! Good Fun!

ps statistic speaking, if a person intends on owning a home for five years or less, apr mortgages make perfect sense. is indeed a form o' legalized gambling, but such is hardly unique in our economy, and in that span o' time, the cost o' choosing wrong is likely small. if property becomes functional unsellable, and owner is complete upside down, then the risk were bad, but such is not necessarily a problem with apr. is perhaps surprising how many home owners sell in five years or less. keep in mind the average length o' home ownership is eight years, so...

 

[Guard Dog]

2 hours ago, Gromnir said:

trying to reimagine a failure o' government regulation is what we would expect from gd, but after the recent faux pas with suggesting the victims o' the recent texas cold weather and resulting power failure 'coulda better prepared if they had 5-gallon propane stoves (*snort*) we woulda' expected at least a short period o' restraint from misguided championing o' free market forces.

in this country, public utilities is not subject to same contract law gd suggests controls. is precise 'cause the consumer has few reasonable alternatives to the utility providers in their area that the government regulates such relationships. for example, arguable negligence on the part o' utility providers to winterize after receiving warnings from the fed after the cold weather o' 2011 would not be a viable excuse to raise power cost rates 100x in any state in the  US, save for texas. just 'cause the utility provider put language into their boilerplate when a person seeks to get the electricity turned on in their new apartment does not mean customers should be subject to pay for the mismanagement of the power company... except in texas.

is a public utility, so ordinary contract law does not control... save for fact texas has largely ignored their responsibilities. different rules for public utilities, for what we hope is increasingly obvious reasons. 

HA! Good Fun!

ps statistic speaking, if a person intends on owning a home for five years or less, apr mortgages make perfect sense. is indeed a form o' legalized gambling, but such is hardly unique in our economy, and in that span o' time, the cost o' choosing wrong is likely small. if property becomes functional unsellable, and owner is complete upside down, then the risk were bad, but such is not necessarily a problem with apr. is perhaps surprising how many home owners sell in five years or less. keep in mind the average length o' home ownership is eight years, so...

 

I got the impression from the paper these were not public utilities in the sense of most power providers. They were being described as "wholesalers" which made me think this was some kind of competitive enterprise to public utility. After all the crazy electric bills were not happening to everyone. There is no such a thing where I live but this is Texas we're talking about. Much like Florida things exist in Texas that could only exist in Texas. But, that was just my impression. I don't know exactly what a power "wholesaler" is. 

[Gromnir]

46 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

 There is no such a thing where I live but this is Texas we're talking about.

exactly. there is no such thing in tennessee, or ohio, or arizona or anywhere else in the us, save texas. 

electricity falls under the umbrella covered by puc/puct. electricity and water in texas is "regulated" by puc. the thing is, texas has chosen to functional not do regulation. electricity and water are public utilities from a legal pov and they is s'posed regulated. as an individual in texas, you may take comfort in knowing that electricity and water is indeed public utilities with the legal status such provides consumers, but if texas won't actual regulate, what then?

the reasons for the regulation o' utilities is even more obvious than is need for bank regulation and the reasons for needing regulation o' public utilities is same in texas as tennessee. gd trying to negotiate a contractual relationship with a power or water company is laughable-- is a take it or leave it scenario and if gd is a memphis apartment dweller, what are his alternatives, eh?  as we has seen, electricity and water is too damn important to allow economic actors focused on the quarterly report to be complete in charge o' safety and maintenance standards. the inevitable post mortems will reveal how more than a few o' the texas power providers were negligent, but so what? in many places the providers is literal the only game in town. the power companies cannot be allowed to fail. a few individuals might be punished, but the power providers will likely go forward, business as usual. 

and let's pretend for a moment that electricity and water is not public utilities in texas. does change in designation sudden give consumers more bargaining power? does change make more likely a consumer will be free from the possibility o' having to cover the losses o' a power provider when the provider acts negligent or reckless? 'course not. providers have individual service agreements (again, is a public utility, so should not think o' as an ordinary K) with consumers and wholesalers. the providers write into their agreements with consumers that those power users will be the people who bare the cost o' increases in power costs. change identifier should not change gd willingness to recognize the manifest unfairness o' the consumer/provider relationship. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog]

My provider is a Co-Op, meaning a not for profit public utility. The price per kWh is fixed at like $0.11 and to raise they have get approval from the state. That is how most public utilities work including Texas. In THIS case,  if I’m understanding this correctly,  the entity is a reseller. In other words not a public utility rather a private entity that is offering a better rate without protection from what just happened. In THIS case it’s customers left the public utility to buy power from the same infrastructure at a reduced price. Or am I misunderstanding this situation? Like I said we don’t have anything like this here.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

https://abc13.com/ercot-lawsuit-can-i-sue-winter-storm-power-outage-texas-electrical-grid/10362037/

After a historic winter storm in Texas knocked out power to millions and left dozens dead, officials who manage the state's grid, the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas, say they aren't responsible in court because they have sovereign immunity to legal cases.

Sovereign immunity is the legal principle that protects some governmental agencies from lawsuits because allowing the suits would disrupt "key government services" when money is spent on litigation.

Previous courts have upheld ERCOT's immunity, claiming that despite it not being an official government agency, it is a critical part of the electric industry. If a court were to find ERCOT monetarily responsible for any action it takes, it could essentially bankrupt the system, leaving Texas and its power grid without central management.

Emphasis mine. So much for personal responsibility. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/22/texas-power-grid-extreme-weather/

Pretty good read.

[Gromnir]

gd ain't getting what am saying. in every state in the US, electricity and water is subject to regulation because they is identified as public utilities, even in texas. doesn't matter who is doing the selling, water and electricity is subject to public utility limits. observe that texas has not chosen to impose limits on particular sellers does not change the fact water and electricity provided to consumers is subject to legal regulation as a public utility. texas makes a distinction 'tween sellers o' electric service, but all such sellers is providing access o' a public utility.

again, texas choice to not regulate ignores the basic and fundamental recognition that sale o' electricity and power is subject to laws encompassing public utilities, even in texas. compare to gd negotiating a K with those who want to use his land is not apples to apples for reasons we has already stated precise 'cause electricity service is a public utility... period.  particular after texas problems, should be obvious why regulation o' public utilities is warranted. caveat emptor don't cut it when we mention public utilities. for the ordinary consumer to read the reams o' boilerplate in a consumer purchase agreement and come to conclusion that a texas apartment dweller is responsible for brobdingnagian short term leaps in price resulting from the failure o' the service provider to winterize facilities strains credulity, but such is gd's position.

am gonna note gd hired a lawyer to review "every clause" o' his lease agreements. did you do the same with your electricity service agreement? 

HA! Good Fun!

ps as an aside, real property law is also not strict speaking K law. 

[ComradeYellow]

15 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

(note: apparently this guy is sort of the worst, but that's not my fault)

The problem with the American public in a nutshell.

[Malcador]

17 hours ago, KaineParker said:

https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/featured-cpac-speaker-said-judaism-complete-lie-and-referred-jewish-people

 

 

lmao

Why are they cancelling him ?!

[ComradeYellow]

Do they not realize that Communists and Zionists don't mix?  Ben Shapiro is like the scum of the Earth.  People really need to get their facts straight before posting nonsense.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

24 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Why are they cancelling him ?!

They must first cancel to uncancel.

[Raithe]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/california-judge-allows-states-net-neutrality-law-to-go-into-effect?

Quote

This month, Texas became a cautionary tale when upon a severe winter storm, the state’s power grid was knocked on its heels. Millions of residents there were left without electricity and heat for days while other citizens were hit with shocking five-figure electric bills. This happened in large part because Texas lawmakers have pursued energy deregulation for decades. The hope was that more competition in the energy sector would spur better pricing and more choice for consumers, and while there have been benefits to this approach, the huge winter storm in Texas showed what happens at times of structural stress. Without cops on the beat, perhaps few should count on the reliability of cheap energy.

The Texas energy crisis apparently caught the eye of U.S. District Court Judge John Mendez. On Tuesday, during a hearing over California’s net neutrality law, the George W. Bush appointee drew a straight line. “Let’s say SB-822 is enjoined,” he told an attorney for the telecom industry. “And [thanks to the recent repeal of federal net neutrality rules], there is no power by the FCC to regulate your clients. Why shouldn’t a court be concerned if there is no regulation over ISPs?”

By the end of the hearing, Judge Mendez had made up his mind. California’s net neutrality law would be allowed to take effect. The judge rejected a push for an injunction from a telecom association whose members included AT&T, Verizon, and Charter.

California enacted SB-822 soon after the FCC during the Donald Trump years pulled back from classifying broadband as a "telecommunications service" subject to regulation under Title II of the Communications Act. The state decided to provide the country's strongest protection against ISPs blocking and throttling traffic while going even further than the FCC ever did by attacking a practice known as "zero-rating," whereby a telecom data provider doesn't count the consumption of its owned content against an individual subscriber's data plan. Meaning, if you’re an AT&T subscriber, you can watch as much HBO Max content as you wish without it counting towards your cap.

****

Edited February 24, 2021 by Raithe

[ComradeYellow]

Partnering with India can balance out Chinese power (msn.com)

.....This is what we've come to.  Openly advocating for siding with a fascist country to "balance out Chinese power".   This is the end game of neoliberalism.

[rjshae]

1 hour ago, ComradeMaster said:

Partnering with India can balance out Chinese power (msn.com)

.....This is what we've come to.  Openly advocating for siding with a fascist country to "balance out Chinese power".   This is the end game of neoliberalism.

You play the hand you're dealt.

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, ComradeMaster said:

Partnering with India can balance out Chinese power (msn.com)

.....This is what we've come to.  Openly advocating for siding with a fascist country to "balance out Chinese power".   This is the end game of neoliberalism.

I dont ever feel my week is normal without a post from Comrade that highlights his ideological inconsistency and blatant hypocrisy 

You have  an issue with the country India which is an excellent and reliable economic partner because it is " fascist " yet you are fine with one party state of China that is involved in the mass rape and " re-education " of the Uighur Chinese Muslims in camps ?

India is a Democracy and Modi was elected Democratically  yes their is a rise of Hindu nationalism in some parts of India but its a small issue compared to the autocratic reality of the CCP 

India is an excellent choice for investment and understands the benefits of the free market, to quote from your article 

From the macroeconomic standpoint, India has over a billion population and a growing middle class. Over the past five years, the Narendra Modi administration in India has been enacting reforms in land, labor and bankruptcy laws, opening up the socio-capitalist economy to the global markets. The reforms in these sectors have made the economy an attractive proposition for American private equity and asset management firms from Blackrock to Blackstone to diversify and grow their portfolio of investments in the economy.

 

[Guard Dog]

3 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I dont ever feel my week is normal without a post from Comrade that highlights his ideological inconsistency and blatant hypocrisy 

You have  an issue with the country India which is an excellent and reliable economic partner because it is " fascist " yet you are fine with one party state of China that is involved in the mass rape and " re-education " of the Uighur Chinese Muslims in camps ?

India is a Democracy and Modi was elected Democratically  yes their is a rise of Hindu nationalism in some parts of India but its a small issue compared to the autocratic reality of the CCP 

India is an excellent choice for investment and understands the benefits of the free market, to quote from your article 

From the macroeconomic standpoint, India has over a billion population and a growing middle class. Over the past five years, the Narendra Modi administration in India has been enacting reforms in land, labor and bankruptcy laws, opening up the socio-capitalist economy to the global markets. The reforms in these sectors have made the economy an attractive proposition for American private equity and asset management firms from Blackrock to Blackstone to diversify and grow their portfolio of investments in the economy.

 

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:

I miss Seinfeld, I am not a big comedy person but I use to love that show 

[Boeroer]

India has a region where people either elect the local socialists or the communists - and it's the region with the best overall figures afaik. Calling India fascist is pretty wild, even if rising nationalism is a concern. But then you need to call all western democracies who currently see a surge of right wing populism and nationalism fascist countries. That would include Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Germany as well I guess...  

My wife is a rel. high ranking diplomat with the German Foreign Ministry (currently with a minister of the social democrats - so basically a younger Bernie Sanders ;)) - and while Germany doesn't share the US' general attitude towards China, our governmant also has its own insights and concerns. What China's leaders do is def. not all honest, benevolent and altruistic... Thing is they do it quietly most of times: buying foreign companies for much more than they are worth (so every owner/shareholder says "Oh hell yes! YES!"), sucking up the know-how, rebuilding similar facilities in China and then closing the foreign company (sending the workers home). China then has all the knowledge and can produce way cheaper, selling the stuff back to foreign countries AND the foreign country has lost an asset AND the workers are angry and without jobs, turning to nationalists and right wing populists and so on and so forth. It's very effective and - one must admit it - smart. Also they really get **** done...   

[Guard Dog]

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

I miss Seinfeld, I am not a big comedy person but I use to love that show 

Second best sitcom ever. That was a great episode one of the best lines came at the end “Pinter’s parents didn’t even go”

Edited February 24, 2021 by Guard Dog