The All Things Political Topic - Politics is the entertainment division of the military industrial complex

[Gromnir]

46 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

Yeah, obviously the vibe one gets is dependent on one's environment.

But to take one concrete example: there's this financial advisor called Dave Ramsey who isn't all nonsense although I wouldn't exactly rely on him, either. Anyway, he's one of those guys who insist that everybody in the government and the White House are fools no matter what their party, but America is still the undisputed #1. And that seems like something of a contradiction to me.

am o' the opinion the contradiction is not all that meaningful, and in any event it isn't quite the contradiction it appears. am suspecting that since 1787, the fed government has been seen by many americans as those bums in washington. sure, we talk about fed stuff on these boards, but the real issues which impact most americans happen at the local and state level, and the fed is ordinarily a source o' bewilderment and consternation. amercian exceptionalism, whatever that is and regardless o' how important you might think it to be, is far less tied to american feelings about our national government than is true elsewhere. in fact, since before 1787 and the ratification o' the Constitution, americans were disappointed with the fed government. 

also, as with taxes and healthcare and other issues, am gonna caution against oversimplification on american tribalism. working class whites voted reliable democrat until relative recent. post civil war southern blacks voted republican until jfk. catholics were overwhelming democrat until the mid/late 70s. a whole lotta 2023 maga nincompoops voted for obama in 2008 'cause he offered change and hope. americans become more reliable republican voters as they age, though again, be wary o' the generalization 'cause such is less true today than previous. doctors, up through the mid/late 90s, overwhelming voted republican, but is now reversed and a similar if not so dramatic trend has occurred for those with advanced degrees o' any kind save mba.

*shrug*

(edit) fyi, there wasn't a washington dc until 1791, but we thought it were unnecessary to explain that the capital o' the US fed started in philadelphia, and were also at york, princeton, trenton and... annapolis?

HA! Good Fun!

Edited October 16, 2023 by Gromnir

[uuuhhii]

not sure if it is uniquely usa thing

supremacist everywhere seem to behave similarly

[xzar_monty]

34 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Google tells me that he is a radio personality and author of a book on finances but Ive never heard of him before now. Unfortunately, I dont think many Americans will ever get past step #2: Dave Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps - Ramsey (ramseysolutions.com) Ive already been doing step #4 for decades so I guess I can feel pretty good about that.

Yeah, he's not someone you ought to have heard about.

I don't do and haven't done the baby steps as such, but I've never had any debt other than the mortgage[*], and that was paid off a long time ago. Also, over here we don't have to worry about paying for our children's education, so that makes things quite a lot easier, and most of us don't have to invest in our retirement in the American sense, either, although of course saving helps, no question.

[*] Financial rule #1: with the exception of your house, never buy anything that you don't have the money for right away.

[Gfted1]

40 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

...and most of us don't have to invest in our retirement in the American sense...

European companies dont offer 401k or similar? What happens after retirement?

[Gromnir]

34 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

[*] Financial rule #1: with the exception of your house, never buy anything that you don't have the money for right away.

‘Turbulence ahead’: Nearly 4 in 10 Americans lack enough money to cover a $400 emergency expense, Fed survey shows

includes emergency medical. mary lou retton is in the news 'cause o' her emergency medical problem and her family were crowd sourcing to raise money for treatment. 

am not sure what happened to the money she earned over the years, but regardless she did not have med insurance when admitted to the hospital. how many other folks in texas is able to raise hundreds of thousands through crowd sourcing efforts to pay hospital bills?  

even ignoring medical, try and replace septic tank, water heater, hvac for $400.

financial rule #1 is one emergency cost away from impossible for more than 1/3 of americans.

HA! Good Fun! 

[Azdeus]

28 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

European companies dont offer 401k or similar? What happens after retirement?

Dunno about the rest of Europe, but here a part of your taxes gets placed in state run funds, the employer pays a part of your wage into another fund and then you can save privately aswell if you're well off enough.

I honestly haven't bothered looking into it, my pension is at 300 ish dollars so I'm going for the Gyttorp special pension.

[xzar_monty]

32 minutes ago, Gromnir said:

includes emergency medical. mary lou retton is in the news 'cause o' her emergency medical problem and her family were crowd sourcing to raise money for treatment.

Yeah, horrible. That sort of stuff just can't happen in Scandinavia. Seems obscene that your life can be destroyed by a medical emergency.

I once spent an evening with an American student who knew she was coming to Finland to study and (rather shrewdly) skipped checking her teeth until she arrived because she knew she had something that needed fixing and also knew that over here it would cost her less than the equivalent of 20 bucks.

I mean, I'm not saying the Scandinavian system is perfect but it sure is a lot better than the one over there. My sense is that as much as the American system develops initiative, as it well should, it also destroys an awful lot of people because there are no safety nets. The safety nets over here, on the other hand, tend to make some people too passive, which is a genuine problem that is not easy to fix. I mean, if you're taken care of, some temperaments will simply subsist on that and not make much of an effort it make anything of their lives.

[Gfted1]

8 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

Dunno about the rest of Europe, but here a part of your taxes gets placed in state run funds...

This sounds similar to Social Security.

8 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

...the employer pays a part of your wage into another fund...

And this sounds similar to 401k. But neither earns interest or invests in stocks? It just a flat "you get out what you put in"? Pensions were phased out long ago here in the US.

[Azdeus]

8 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

This sounds similar to Social Security.

And this sounds similar to 401k. But neither earns interest or invests in stocks? It just a flat "you get out what you put in"? Pensions were phased out long ago here in the US.

There is interest atleast, but it varies with age from what little I know, between stocks and just plain interest, and if you show any interest yourself you can make some changes in what funds to choose and stuffs like that. All I know for sure is that I have to work full time until I'm 80 before my pension is the same as my rather pathetic wage is.

[Gfted1]

Ok, "pensions" sound just like 401k. Now for some unsolicited advice, DO IT! Its probably something like; the company will contribute a certain percentage up to a certain percentage that the employee contributes (for example, $1 for every $1 an employee contributes up to 3% of their salary, then 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2% of an employee's salary). It doesnt sound like a lot but it has three strong benefits; #1 its pretax, #2 the company matching contributions, #3 its making money for you. It will start out like a pea rolling downhill, then gain mass as it progresses, finally becoming a large self sustaining money printer. You have the benefit of youth so now is the time to get on board. I wasnt kidding about my retirement funds outperforming my employment earnings and since its tax exempt I honestly dont even notice the 15% missing from my check.

[Pidesco]

The difference is that the financial risk in pensions is taken by the employer, while in 401ks that burden is on the employee. Guess why a lot of the US has moved to 401k. Spoiler alert: it's not because of the return on investment.

[Azdeus]

8 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Ok, "pensions" sound just like 401k. Now for some unsolicited advice, DO IT! Its probably something like; the company will contribute a certain percentage up to a certain percentage that the employee contributes (for example, $1 for every $1 an employee contributes up to 3% of their salary, then 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2% of an employee's salary). It doesnt sound like a lot but it has three strong benefits; #1 its pretax, #2 the company matching contributions, #3 its making money for you. It will start out like a pea rolling downhill, then gain mass as it progresses, finally becoming a large self sustaining money printer. You have the benefit of youth so now is the time to get on board. I wasnt kidding about my retirement funds outperforming my employment earnings and since its tax exempt I honestly dont even notice the 15% missing from my check.

You don't get to determine how much of your wage gets offset for the pension fund, that's regulated via collective agreements and the government. What you can do is fiddle around with the specific funds that your money is placed into, high risk, low risks, specific stocks and things like that. You can save privately for pension aswell, but that is your net wage one is talking about. If it wasn't for the fact that the union is ****blocking me and my coworkers we could get a 1000$ raise (The wage of a yard jockey working in the harbour is about 1000$ higher than what I earn) and the fact that the ****ing government privatized my employer (Leading to not having access to much better pension funds) I could have afforded to spend 15% out of my pocket to save for pension.

There is a guaranteed pension that you get based of the tax one which is, today, about 1000$ per month. Which honestly isn't survivable, it definetly won't be survivable considering the sociopolitical and environmental ****storm that is going to hit even way before I'm able to access my pension money. Around the 2050's, this will likely be a true newsreel

 

[Gfted1]

1 hour ago, Pidesco said:

The difference is that the financial risk in pensions is taken by the employer, while in 401ks that burden is on the employee. Guess why a lot of the US has moved to 401k. Spoiler alert: it's not because of the return on investment.

What happens if the employer fund tanks?

[Azdeus]

45 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

What happens if the employer fund tanks?

Well, Alecta that handles my employers pension fund invested in Silicon Valley Bank, so they lost 600 million dollars. Soooo that money is gone. Unless I misremember things they ditched Swedish Handelsbanken and some other bank for SVB just a couple of months prior.

Edit; I misremembered, 600 million is just what they lost from SVB investments, they also lost an additional 1.4 billion on other bank investments that they made. They have mange over 100 billion dollars though, so it's "marginal" according to them.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Azdeus

[Lexx]

This is exactly why stock market is not very popular around here. It requires the numbers to always go up, but that's just not how the market works. Too big a risk for my taste.

[Gromnir]

3 hours ago, Lexx said:

This is exactly why stock market is not very popular around here. It requires the numbers to always go up, but that's just not how the market works. Too big a risk for my taste.

given the kinda funds involved, the numbers always go up as long as you take a long enough view. over the course o' a worker's career, assuming +40 years, you got what amounts to a guarantee o' substantial growth... unless the apocalypse happens and then none o' your investment plans  matters anyways, right? however, there is gonna be peaks and valleys, and a person retiring can't necessarily wait five years to recover from a major cratering which impacts even the most diversified portfolio and occurs at just the wrong time for a person who don't have time enough remaining to take a long view. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gorth]

My retirement situation is a bit complicated... part superannuation earned while living in Australia, part pension earned while living in Denmark. No idea how it's going to work out in the end exactly, as both major sources are pro-rata adjusted for how long I live(d) in each place. Probably 50/50 Danish pension, Australian superannuation

 

Edit: I wonder if Mauritius would be a nice place to settle down and enjoy a pension some day

[Gromnir]

14 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Edit: I wonder if Mauritius would be a nice place to settle down and enjoy a pension some day

mauritius?

 

am having a rough understanding that modern pirates is not much like those we learned about from gilbert & sullivan, but that shouldn't prevent @Gorth from living out his secret pirate king fantasy and retiring to mauritius.

HA! Good Fun!

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, Gorth said:

My retirement situation is a bit complicated... part superannuation earned while living in Australia, part pension earned while living in Denmark. No idea how it's going to work out in the end exactly, as both major sources are pro-rata adjusted for how long I live(d) in each place. Probably 50/50 Danish pension, Australian superannuation

 

Edit: I wonder if Mauritius would be a nice place to settle down and enjoy a pension some day

Mauritius is an amazing  country and definitely worth retiring to if you can

It has friendly people,beautiful beaches and its very well managed and governed . Its got lots  of outdoor activities but its a small island. It doesnt have the busyness of a large city but I dont think that will concern you. It does have all the shops and restaurants you will need

Its also a nice cultural mix of French, Chinese, Indian and the local peoples culture 

But very nice place to live 

 

Edited October 17, 2023 by BruceVC

[ShadySands]

My retirement plan is the same as most people I know, die before retirement age.

Local politics but we have a 3 way race for mayor. That sucks for me because now I actually have to look into the candidates instead of doing what I normally do and just vote the opposite of a super conservative neighbor. This neighbor once told me they knew the election was stolen because they've never seen anyone in a Biden hat.

Wasn't the first time I'd heard that, just didn't expect it in real life.

City actually has a ton of info available this year and I didn't have to do much digging.

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by ShadySands

[Bartimaeus]

17 hours ago, ShadySands said:

This neighbor once told me they knew the election was stolen because they've never seen anyone in a Biden hat.

That particular line was something said by Trump himself in the wake of the 2020 election, so no surprise to see morons parroting it. I'm so sorry that all of us don't treat politics akin to cheering for our favorite sports team...or as if Biden were the head of our cult religion, .

[Gromnir]

18 hours ago, ShadySands said:

This neighbor once told me they knew the election was stolen because they've never seen anyone in a Biden hat.

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

That particular line was something said by Trump himself in the wake of the 2020 election, so no surprise to see morons parroting it. I'm so sorry that all of us don't treat politics akin to cheering for our favorite sports team...or as if Biden were the head of our cult religion, .

is not as if we got any hard data, but am suspecting those maga hats helped biden more than the trump campaign. am thinking that people who buy maga hats is already diehard trump voters. the campaign contribution from hat sales is a nice bonus for trump, but he ain't getting new voters from hat sales.

converse, am betting that for every X number o' hats sold, a democrat who wouldn't have otherwise voted is inspired to do so. in some cases all it takes is one dork in a maga hat acting like an arse to convince people to vote not trump, but seeing those red hats in crowds numbering hundreds and thousands adds a heaven's gate/moonies/children of the corn vibe to trumpy spectacles as the adherents parrot the nonsense o' their beloved leader.

as bartimaeus implies, there is a creepy cult quality to trumpism which is driven home by the willingness o' acolytes to adopt a uniform and mindless quote scripture. ritualistic abandoning individuality is swell if you join the usmc, and it makes for great horror film fodder...

but in real life, ordinary people is reasonable afraid o' cultists in red hats.

admitted equal disconcerting as the maga swag from our pov are the following head coverings:

Spoiler

 

and

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gromnir]

Takeaways from AP’s reporting on who gets hurt by RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine work

In June 2019, Kennedy and his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, visited Samoa, a trip Kennedy later wrote was arranged by a local anti-vaccine influencer.

Vaccine rates had plummeted after two children died in 2018 from a measles vaccine that a nurse had incorrectly mixed with a muscle relaxant. The government suspended the vaccine program for months. By the time Kennedy arrived, health authorities were trying to get back on track.

Kennedy was treated as a distinguished guest and met with the prime minister and other officials. He also met with anti-vaccine activists, one of whom wrote on Instagram that the meeting was “profoundly monumental ... for this movement.”

A few months later, a measles epidemic broke out in Samoa, killing 83 people, mostly infants and children.

Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist from New Zealand who worked on the response, told AP that local and regional anti-vaccine activists took their cues from Kennedy.

“They amplified the fear and mistrust, which resulted in the amplification of the epidemic and an increased number of children dying. Children were being brought for care too late,” she said.

In an interview for a forthcoming documentary, “Shot in the Arm,” Kennedy said he bears no responsibility for the outcome.

...

on the downside, adopting a code is mostly theatre as each Justice would need voluntarily interpret and follow whatever ethics rules were adopted by the Court. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gromnir]

the following likely belongs in the funny thread, but oh well...

HA! Good Fun!

[Gromnir]

Trump attorney Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia election subversion case

“This is a really big breakthrough for the prosecutors,” CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said on “News Central.”

“And it’s so important to understand there is no such thing as halfway cooperation. If you’re a prosecutor, you would not enter into this deal with Sidney Powell unless you had been thoroughly convinced that A, she is telling the truth, B. she is going to be able to testify for you credibly in the way that you can put in front of a jury, and justify and see she is not going to be splitting hairs,” added Honig, a former federal prosecutor.

am tending to think this news is not the big breakthrough being suggested, but am offering nothing save conjecture based on trump campaign treatment o' powell. keep in mind that trump called powell crazy and worse on more than one occasion. the fact sidney were advancing unsupported conspiracy theories were helpful for trump, but am not sure she were part o' the inner circle o' accused insurrectionists. the lawyers who put trump in obvious and considerable jeopardy are jeffery clark, kenneth chesebro (sp?), john eastman and rudy giuliani. am just not sure how much info was entrusted to powell, though clear she did have interactions with rudy, so maybe that is a thread worth tugging? maybe.

this is how rico cases ordinary unravel for defendants-- one nogoodnik at a time. even so, am not expecting sidney to be pivotal as a prosecution witness and am uncertain if her plea will be isolated or if it inspires other defendants to reach out to fani willis.

edit: 'cause the internet allows for misunderstandings, am gonna state what we ordinarily wouldn't think needs be stated: we do not believe sidney powell deserves to be harmed and we would be appalled if somebody did attack her.  the movie scream messed with our head a bit and now whenever we hear "sidney," we instant recall the "hello sidney" phone call from the first scream movie, but we couldn't find a good and short clip from the original flick.

...

shouldn't  make a difference, but am admitting that now that sidney will be available as prosecution witness, am even more concerned with her health and well being. shouldn't make a difference.

HA! Good Fun!

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Gromnir