US Politics

[dbc]

Is that how China has eight political parties?

One can call it anything, but any system can only be judged by the results that it delivers.

well the two party system is the consequence of voters not willing to dilute their votes on a party that is unlikely to have any influence. Our system of governance is far from perfect, I was in Dubai when 911 happened, I was in the school library when a Jordanian friend jumped in celebration, hugged those huddled around her screen. I had no clue what had happened, so I approached her screen and saw images of a plane hit the World Trade Center, I initially thought it was an accident but when I saw a second plane hit, I knew it was deliberate, My first reaction wasn't anger, it was disbelief I hadn't realized that we were so hated in some parts of world and I couldn't understand it,

I had soccer practice latter that day and my coach looked at me with concern and sympathy, That's when I broke down,I couldn't believe the people I thought my friends didn't take a second to process my feelings. A few days later, the Jordanian friend pulled me for a chat, apologized and revealed she was Palestinian and narrated tales from her childhood that shock me to the core.

I hoped that our leaders would introspect and address the root cause-the hatred people felt in their hearts, But what transpired weeks, months and years later shook my faith in America, I expected dramatic changes in our foreign policy, I expected a through investigation, a trail and justice for those that died that day. What actually transpired was GITMO, the Patriot Act and wars, more suffering more hatred.

I realized later that the politicians were pandering to the masses, there was wide spread support for retribution, the who or what didn't matter, Would proportional representation and a multi-party system have led to a different outcome? No, ultimately the uneducated masses fed on a steady diet of misinformation and lies are swayed by the people with the money to influence public opinion. That is our democracy warts and all,

 

[VCheng]

well the two party system is the consequence of voters not willing to dilute their votes on a party that is unlikely to have any influence. Our system of governance is far from perfect, I was in Dubai when 911 happened, I was in the school library when a Jordanian friend jumped in celebration, hugged those huddled around her screen. I had no clue what had happened, so I approached her screen and saw images of a plane hit the World Trade Center, I initially thought it was an accident but when I saw a second plane hit, I knew it was deliberate, My first reaction wasn't anger, it was disbelief I hadn't realized that we were so hated in some parts of world and I couldn't understand it,

I had soccer practice latter that day and my coach looked at me with concern and sympathy, That's when I broke down,I couldn't believe the people I thought my friends didn't take a second to process my feelings. A few days later, the Jordanian friend pulled me for a chat, apologized and revealed she was Palestinian and narrated tales from her childhood that shock me to the core.

I hoped that our leaders would introspect and address the root cause-the hatred people felt in their hearts, But what transpired weeks, months and years later shook my faith in America, I expected dramatic changes in our foreign policy, I expected a through investigation, a trail and justice for those that died that day. What actually transpired was GITMO, the Patriot Act and wars, more suffering more hatred.

I realized later that the politicians were pandering to the masses, there was wide spread support for retribution, the who or what didn't matter, Would proportional representation and a multi-party system have led to a different outcome? No, ultimately the uneducated masses fed on a steady diet of misinformation and lies are swayed by the people with the money to influence public opinion. That is our democracy warts and all,

Thank you for explaining your point of view, but, as you said, this is our democracy, warts and all. Surely, for the many lapses in foreign policy, some of which you mention, there are many other successes there too, as well as in most other areas, particularly domestic.

 

[dbc]

Thank you for explaining your point of view, but, as you said, this is our democracy, warts and all. Surely, for the many lapses in foreign policy, some of which you mention, there are many other successes there too, as well as in most other areas, particularly domestic.

sure but these successes occur when public opinion is neutral on the issue and the system is given the time and space to function as designed.

 

[VCheng]

sure but these successes occur when public opinion is neutral on the issue and the system is given the time and space to function as designed.

I would say the system is working exactly as designed. Just like in just about any other country. Pakistan, UK, China, the Middle Eastern monarchies et al. and so on.

 

[dbc]

I would say the system is working exactly as designed. Just like in just about any other country. Pakistan, UK, China, the Middle Eastern monarchies et al. and so on.

Well the point I was making is that no system of governance is perfect since we humans aren't perfect,
At the time I had this childish notion of a Switzerland type referendum mechanism but only those that proved their knowledge and understanding on the public policy question would be permitted to vote.

But then is that true democracy? With the growing maturity of AI, we may not be far from that future.
The machine can handle the assessment of the individuals understanding of the core issue and then grant the right to vote upon the policy question,

 

[Developereo]

I realized later that the politicians were pandering to the masses

Only at the council level.
Things change drastically at the national level, especially foreign policy.
You probably already know about the book 'Manufacturing Consent' by Noam Chomsky. It is in invaluable read.

 

[dbc]

Only at the council level.
Things change drastically at the national level, especially foreign policy.
You probably already know about the book 'Manufacturing Consent' by Noam Chomsky. It is in invaluable read.

Fundamentally it's SIG's funded by individuals or a collective.
But they too must first win the public over, which they often do with their deep pockets.

 

[VCheng]

Well the point I was making is that no system of governance is perfect since we humans aren't perfect,
At the time I had this childish notion of a Switzerland type referendum mechanism but only those that proved their knowledge and understanding on the public policy question would be permitted to vote.

But then is that true democracy? With the growing maturity of AI, we may not be far from that future.
The machine can handle the assessment of the individuals understanding of the core issue and then grant the right to vote upon the policy question,

I agree with you that no system designed and run by humans is perfect, and indeed the US system is far from perfect. But no one has been able to demonstrate a better system in the results achieved, no matter how noble the claims. Seems perfectly acceptable to me by that yardstick.

AI may be more hype than reality for quite some time yet, but we shall soon see, perhaps within my rapidly dwindling life time remaining.

 

[RabzonKhan]

This corpse of a man has no business being POTUS. I hope he doesn't run again, surely the dems have someone better they can offer the American people.

That was funny, he is old and I’m concerned about his age, but I don’t think he is senile. Look, occasional mishaps and isolated incidents can happen to anyone that is not indicated of cognitive decline.

I’d rather focus on his policies and accomplishment than on speculation about his health.

Biden’s accomplishment:

Over 13 million jobs created since he took office, with unemployment near 50-year low.

Bipartisan, Chips and Science Act, providing funding to produce semiconductors chips for automobiles, laptops, cellphones, etc. here in the US rather than continuing to rely on China.

American Rescue Plan, provided financial relief during pandemic, extending unemployment benefits and helping small businesses.

Bipartisan, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, invests in roads, bridges, clean water infrastructure and broadband, that will create millions of jobs.

Inflation Reduction Act, helps combat climate change and reduces healthcare cost for prescription drugs.

Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, an important gun control legislation in decades.

Ended America’s longest war in Afghanistan and Yemen.

Overturned Trumps Muslim travel ban.

Rejoined the Paris agreement on climate change.

And oh yes, how can I forget, the Dow Jones industrial Average hit a record high on Wednesday and prompted critics of Trump to remind him of previous comments he made about the stock market. During the 2020 presidential debate Trump warned voters that the market would crash if Biden won.

 

[Developereo]

Biden’s accomplishment:

It is customary for the incumbent to run unchallenged but, even so, if the DNC were not so terminally corrupt, Sanders or Warren would have a good shot at the nomination.

But, of course, the DNC corruption makes the Pakistani corrupts blush with jealousy.

 

[RabzonKhan]

It is customary for the incumbent to run unchallenged but, even so, if the DNC were not so terminally corrupt, Sanders or Warren would have a good shot at the nomination.

But, of course, the DNC corruption makes the Pakistani corrupts blush with jealousy.

America is not ready for a socialist president. If Bernie and Warren can’t even win Democratic primaries, I don’t think they can win the general election.

 

[VCheng]

America is not ready for a socialist president. If Bernie and Warren can’t even win Democratic primaries, I don’t think they can win the general election.

Couldn't FDR be regarded as socialist in many of his major programs?

 

[Developereo]

America is not ready for a socialist president. If Bernie and Warren can’t even win Democratic primaries, I don’t think they can win the general election.

The question of whether the Democratic primaries were fair or not is up for debate. But you right, they are perhaps a bit too socialist.

I like the joke by Charles Krauthammer that Bernie went to the USSR on his honeymoon and never came back...

 

[VCheng]

Inflation is a big point against President Biden's claims of economic performance during his tenure, and this issue will likely remain an important point generally in judging the Democrat's performance overall.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/27/economy/inflation-2023-impacts-americans/index.html

Inflation is nearly back to normal. But high prices have changed Americans’ lives​

By Alicia Wallace, CNN
6 minute read
Published 6:30 AM EST, Wed December 27, 2023

A customer shops for eggs at a H-E-B grocery store on February 08, 2023 in Austin, Texas. Egg prices spiked following a deadly avian flu affected supply.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Eagan, Minnesota CNN —

The winter holidays typically make for busier times at The Open Door Pantry food shelf here in this Twin Cities suburb.

And sure enough, on the Monday before Christmas, the day’s food appointments were chock-full. In the back warehouse, nearly 100 volunteers quickly and methodically sifted through thousands of pounds of freshly donated food.
But the activity isn’t simply a seasonal surge: The daily appointments are booked solid through the end of January, and demand has been overwhelming for The Open Door’s other community-based food distribution events.

While 2023 was the year that meaningful progress was made on slowing down painfully high inflation, 33 months’ worth of fast-rising prices took their toll on many Americans, especially those with lower incomes.

To that point, this year also marks a record year for food pantry visits in Minnesota and beyond — in many cases, by a country mile.

“The years of inflation, they stacked on top of each other,” said Jason Viana, The Open Door’s executive director. “We were seeing the impact of [rising wages], but inflation wiped all that out.”

Turning the corner?​

In 2022, the US saw inflation spike to levels not seen in four decades, and the Federal Reserve was in the throes of a historic rate-hiking campaign to cool it back down.

At the start of this year, inflation had moderated some — the Consumer Price Index had cooled to 6.5% in January 2023 from its 9.1% peak in June 2022. However, the US economic outlook was clouded by ongoing fears that the aggressive Fed campaign would lead to a downturn.

Those dire predictions did not materialize.

It currently appears that the Fed has turned the corner on its lengthy battle to bring down inflation without the economy careening into a recession.

The labor market remains strong, which has helped to fuel consumer spending and keep the broader economic engine churning. The housing refinancing boom of previous years and the resurgent stock market have made many — but certainly not all — households wealthier.

“It’s been a difficult few years, but I do think that in 2023, the situation is improving for households as inflation has slowed and as wage growth has remained above the pre-pandemic trend,” said Gus Faucher, senior vice president and chief economist of the PNC Financial Services Group.
But he also noted that many lower-income Americans are still struggling.

“The types of prices that went up in 2021 and 2022, they tend to carry more weight for lower-income households, and they obviously had less of a cushion to start with.”

The latest reads on inflation show that the pace of price hikes has cooled substantially.

The Consumer Price Index measured 3.1% annually in November, and the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index not only came in even lower at 2.6%, but also declined monthly for the first time since April 2020.

But there’s still a long way to go before inflation is where the Fed wants it.

The earlier price increases became pervasive and “sticky,” meaning that once prices go up, they don’t easily go down. That’s making it that much more difficult to bring consumer costs back to their levels before recent jumps.
For much of this year, Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that the return of inflation to the central bank’s 2% target could be long and bumpy. To that end, the Fed’s latest economic projections don’t have the core Personal Consumption Expenditures price index settling in at 2% until 2026.

Soaring fuel costs, surging food prices​

Although the speed of price hikes has gotten better, that’s not to say it’s been pleasant by any means.

“Consumers remember a couple of years ago when they could buy something for quite a bit less,” said Kayla Bruun, senior economist with market research and analytics company Morning Consult. “Food prices are a very visible [piece] and something you’re buying very frequently, and there’s a lot of awareness of what those prices are, maybe second only to gas prices.”
She added: “That’s what sticks in their mind the most and what they cite as what bothers them the most. Housing is the other thing I would point to that is a continued strain.”
More than 90% of the items tracked in the Consumer Price Index are more expensive than they were in February 2020, with most price increases landing north of 20% and some (fuel and margarine) approaching 55%, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.

Food prices are nearly 25% higher.

Gasoline prices for full serve and self serve are displayed at the Union 76 gas station ahead of the Labor Day weekend on August 28, 2023, in Beverly Hills, California.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

However, audio-visual buffs might be the only ones rejoicing as televisions and electronics hardware are among the scant few categories that have actually seen prices decrease since before the pandemic.

“Even as your inflation rates slow, prices are still well above where they were ahead of the pandemic,” said Shannon Seery, an economist with Wells Fargo. “Households are still grappling with that. Obviously, a slowing price growth environment is beneficial, but when you have the price growth we’ve had over the past few years, it kind of compounds on itself.”

That layering effect of inflation compounded with decades-high interest rates as well as the expiration of pandemic emergency measures further squeezed households’ budgets and forced many to rely on food donations, Merissa Piazza, a senior policy analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, wrote in a November blog post.

“Low-income households are particularly vulnerable to these increases because they spend a greater share of their income on food,” she wrote.

As such, food banks have seen spikes in demand, Piazza wrote, using the Greater Cleveland Food Bank as an example. Pandemic-era visits peaked in August 2020 and bottomed out in January 2022, then ratcheted higher to surpass the pandemic total in August 2023.

‘Absolute hope’ for relief​

Minnesota food shelves are on track to log a record 7 million visitors this year, said Colleen Moriarty, executive director of Minnesota Hunger Solutions. In 2022, there were 5.5 million food shelf visits across the North Star State.

Among those visitors were Apple Valley, Minnesota, residents Paul Mentzos and Abbella DiNoto, who were put in contact with CNN Business through The Open Door Pantry.

“I’ve been barely getting by, by the skin of my teeth, for the last three years since Covid,” said DiNoto, 50, who said she is a disabled veteran on a fixed income. “With the cost of food, the cost of everything going up, I’m getting to the point where I have zero money left over at the end of the month.”

DiNoto said she has racked up credit card debt to cover unexpected expenses.

“This month, I could not pay any of my bills,” she said. “And my debts and my bills are mounting, and now I’ve got late payments hitting me and all these credit card fees, and now my minimum payments have gone up, and I’m hurting bad.”

Clients shopping in The Open Door's Eagan Pantry on January 10, 2023.
Courtesy Mikell Melius

Mentzos, 71, spent 43 years of his life driving a taxi around the Twin Cities and raised four children, two of them as a single father, he said.

“I’m very accustomed to being, well, the word would be ‘poor,’” he said. “I’ve been there where I had to cut corners just to eat, and rob Peter to pay Paul.”

He added: “You’ve got to watch every dollar you spend. You’re going to the store with a calculator and watch out so you’re not embarrassed at the checkout because you have overrun [your money.]”

With the expiration of additional Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and the rising prices, Mentzos has had to rely on food shelves more lately.

Inflation is expected to let up further through 2024, a year that could see some relief as well on the interest rate front.

Such a combination could give Americans more breathing room and hopefully be enough to bring those who are struggling the most back from the brink, said The Open Door’s Viana.

“If inflation can stay down, and wages can continue to grow, there is absolute hope that families will be able to get back on their feet and require less support,” he said.

 

[RabzonKhan]

BREAKING: Supreme Court makes announcement we’ve been waiting for​