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Trump Dictatorship and All Things Politics

“conservatives”: we must stop helping Africans with aids and kill PBS.

Also “conservatives”: we must pass tax cuts for billionaires who help buy us elections, build a gigantic Berlin Wall between us and Mexico, and deport millions of brown people who are poisoning our nation’s blood.

Deep derp

And tbh, it’s been this way for most of my adult life sadly. Trump uses populist rhetoric but governs as Republicans have hoped to govern for years. Namely, use government to crush all opposition, reward billionaires who win them elections, keep working class voters distracted, and run a mafia like kleptocracy where government is used as the private piggy bank for the privileged.

Honest question, how are democrats supposed to get their message out when billionaires bought off by Republicans control all major media outlets and social media platforms? Guys, places like Hungary or Russia don’t just “happen” by accident. There are deliberate choices made by political and business leaders that create these illiberal democracies. We are clearly one now. Even if the Democrats came out with an incredible platform and had a fantastic leader to deliver it, who would even know now with the current media environment we’re in? Especially when you consider 40-45 percent of the country is completely unreachable automatically.
 
The Thriller said:
You’re actually not conservative fiscally. You may or may not be a trumper but you’re not conservative. If you were fiscally conservative you’d look at *what is actually costing us the most* the entire USAID budget is less than .01 percent of the entire budget of the federal government.

So while killing Seasame Street might feel good it’s not going to impact the actual deficit and ongoing national debt alone. I’m also old enough to know that this isn’t anything new from the GOP. Anyone else remember when Romney promised to kill “Big Bird” in 2012? Even back then republicans were focused on killing PBS and NPR as a way to save money while turning a blind eye to the things that drive up our deficit the most, namely tax cuts and Medicare.
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Problem with PBS and NPR is that they non partisan institutions of quality journalism. They must go. The right tries the same thing here with the ABC but the situation is different the ABC is one of the most trusted organisations in the country.
 
No
gandalfe said:
This chart doesn't quite go back that far, but... (High of 130.4 % in Mar 2021 and a low of 31.8 % in Sep 1974)

View attachment 18011

US Government Debt: % of GDP, 1969 – 2025 | CEIC Data

US Government debt accounted for 124.0 % of the country's Nominal GDP in Dec 2024, compared with the ratio of 123.1 % in the previous quarter.
www.ceicdata.com www.ceicdata.com
Click to expand...
No doubt, it has gotten out of control and both parties have contributed. I was simply noting Reagan didn't start the problem (although it got worse).

But this chart shows how out of hand it has gotten, and shows we need to get it under control.
 
TheGoldStandard said:
No

No doubt, it has gotten out of control and both parties have contributed. I was simply noting Reagan didn't start the problem (although it got worse).

But this chart shows how out of hand it has gotten, and shows we need to get it under control.
Click to expand...

1986 was the year that Regan lowered the top marginal tax rate to 28 percent. have a look at that graph again....
 
Rubashov said:
1986 was the year that Regan lowered the top marginal tax rate to 28 percent. have a look at that graph again....
Click to expand...
I fully understand what Reagan did. The 70% tax rate in the 70s was hurting growth. Reagan's plan was to combat stagflation, and it worked in that regard, but he largely overcorrected which led to a larger deficit. And every president since has upped the debt. Hard to fully judge Trump or Biden for COVID and adjacent year spending. There was a lot of waste that both parties agreed to. PPP was a joke. My old firm had a normal year for income, but they still received $7MM in PPP funds. I have dozens of clients that took PPP money, and only one of them truly needed the money to stay afloat.

Trump, excluding COVID spending, had record spending. Biden made what Reagan did seem like pocket change. And revenue was higher than ever. It is a problem on both sides. If Trump could get us back to what Bill Clinton did it would be a miracle.

The problem is we keep adding programs and spending without revenue to support it. So yes, the needed cuts will hurt for those that rely on them, but sacrifices are needed.
 
TheGoldStandard said:
I fully understand what Reagan did. The 70% tax rate in the 70s was hurting growth. Reagan's plan was to combat stagflation, and it worked in that regard, but he largely overcorrected which led to a larger deficit. And every president since has upped the debt. Hard to fully judge Trump or Biden for COVID and adjacent year spending. There was a lot of waste that both parties agreed to. PPP was a joke. My old firm had a normal year for income, but they still received $7MM in PPP funds. I have dozens of clients that took PPP money, and only one of them truly needed the money to stay afloat.

Trump, excluding COVID spending, had record spending. Biden made what Reagan did seem like pocket change. And revenue was higher than ever. It is a problem on both sides. If Trump could get us back to what Bill Clinton did it would be a miracle.

The problem is we keep adding programs and spending without revenue to support it. So yes, the needed cuts will hurt for those that rely on them, but sacrifices are needed.
Click to expand...
Your firm not needing those loans doesn’t mean it was a joke. Why did they apply for them then? If they weren’t needed then they paid the loan back. So no harm no foul, right? Perhaps you’re missing some key pieces of information because I’m not understanding why this program could be deemed a “joke.” Just because your firm didn’t then them doesn’t mean others didn’t.

My wife works in finance at one of the largest banks in America. Believe me, without those loans, some of the largest and most influential employers in Utah would’ve gone under (not to mention all the many smaller businesses that were desperate for this cash). From hardware manufacturing businesses in Ogden and Layton to food joints in Bountiful to essential oils in Lehi and PG, to salt lake based firms that built medical equipment for amputees, she worked with them all and they needed those loans or else they’d lay off hundreds. This was pretty common throughout the industry. These loans saved businesses throughout the country during a once in a lifetime pandemic. It wasn’t perfect but perfect isn’t the enemy of good or great. It was an extremely helpful program that saved hundreds if not thousands of businesses directly and indirectly impacting millions of people in our economy.

You really need to get out more and listen to some different voices. Like seriously, you sound like a pretty ignorant and arrogant person who’d be difficult to work with.
 
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TheGoldStandard said:
I fully understand what Reagan did. The 70% tax rate in the 70s was hurting growth. Reagan's plan was to combat stagflation, and it worked in that regard, but he largely overcorrected which led to a larger deficit. And every president since has upped the debt. Hard to fully judge Trump or Biden for COVID and adjacent year spending. There was a lot of waste that both parties agreed to. PPP was a joke. My old firm had a normal year for income, but they still received $7MM in PPP funds. I have dozens of clients that took PPP money, and only one of them truly needed the money to stay afloat.

Trump, excluding COVID spending, had record spending. Biden made what Reagan did seem like pocket change. And revenue was higher than ever. It is a problem on both sides. If Trump could get us back to what Bill Clinton did it would be a miracle.

The problem is we keep adding programs and spending without revenue to support it. So yes, the needed cuts will hurt for those that rely on them, but sacrifices are needed.
Click to expand...

Clinton did nothing, he benefitted from the same economic windfall that Australia did; the rapid industrialisation of China and the associated increases in trade revenues. You cannot get out of this debt cycle without a significant structural increase in government revenue, who is best placed to carry that burden? Austerity will not work. ,

There's good reason for conservative government to ruin the states tax base, it leads to the inevitable disintegration of the post war social contract and welfare state. The same new deal the lead to what has been referred to as the golden era of capitalism, one of the few times in history where social mobility was a real thing.
 
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TheGoldStandard said:
No

No doubt, it has gotten out of control and both parties have contributed. I was simply noting Reagan didn't start the problem (although it got worse).

But this chart shows how out of hand it has gotten, and shows we need to get it under control.
Click to expand...
It's actually arguable if it's a problem at all until the 80's. Many economists believe that responsible fiscal policy means reasonable use of credit to shore up necessary parts of society and government. It's the same argument about investment and paying off debt. If the debt costs more than you can make in the investment you are money ahead paying off the debt. Right now my car loans are at 3.85%. I am money ahead to put the extra $1500 we got this month to paying off the top credit card or even investing in my mutual fund account where I've been getting 15%+ rather than pay extra to the car loan. But once we passed the 1.0 mark debt to GDP ratio we started losing. Lots of economic theory around this topic.
 
Rubashov said:
Clinton did nothing, he benefitted from the same economic windfall that Australia did; the rapid industrialisation of China and the associated increases in trade revenues. You cannot get out of this debt cycle without a significant structural increase in government revenue, who is best placed to carry that burden? Austerity will not work. ,

There's good reason for conservative government to ruin the states tax base, it leads to the inevitable disintegration of the post war social contract and welfare state. The same new deal the lead to what has been referred to as the golden era of capitalism, one of the few times in history where social mobility was a real thing.
Click to expand...
He passed OBRA, reduced spending and raised taxes on the top 1%. No doubt we walked intona strong economy, but he implemented good economic policy.
 
So I think I can see clear picture of orange Hitler plans based on last few days events and how his puppet Kellogg said that Europe will not be involved in talks with Russia about Ukraine. He wants Canada and Greenland but being in NATO makes matters complicated. He will sell Ukraine to Russia and Taiwan to China and will make sure USA leaves NATO to weaken Europe vs Russia. Without USA in NATO Russia then will hit Ukraine again to cut them off Black Sea and connect to separatists in Transnistria in Moldova and possibly hit Baltic states to connect to Kaliningrad enclave. USA in the meantime will take Greenland and Canada. N. Korea hitting and taking over S. Korea is not out if question too given how orange turd adores Kim Yong Un.
World War 3 is very very real possibility now unless remaining decent americans will do something about it. Think about it. MAGATS crying about leftism and communism yet their clown is telling now Denmark is bad, Canada is bad, Panama is bad, EU is bad, but Russia is great, China is great, N. Korea is great..... Reagan must be rolling in the grave now.
 
LogGrad98 said:
It's actually arguable if it's a problem at all until the 80's. Many economists believe that responsible fiscal policy means reasonable use of credit to shore up necessary parts of society and government. It's the same argument about investment and paying off debt. If the debt costs more than you can make in the investment you are money ahead paying off the debt. Right now my car loans are at 3.85%. I am money ahead to put the extra $1500 we got this month to paying off the top credit card or even investing in my mutual fund account where I've been getting 15%+ rather than pay extra to the car loan. But once we passed the 1.0 mark debt to GDP ratio we started losing. Lots of economic theory around this topic.
Click to expand...

LogGrad98 said:
It's actually arguable if it's a problem at all until the 80's. Many economists believe that responsible fiscal policy means reasonable use of credit to shore up necessary parts of society and government. It's the same argument about investment and paying off debt. If the debt costs more than you can make in the investment you are money ahead paying off the debt. Right now my car loans are at 3.85%. I am money ahead to put the extra $1500 we got this month to paying off the top credit card or even investing in my mutual fund account where I've been getting 15%+ rather than pay extra to the car loan. But once we passed the 1.0 mark debt to GDP ratio we started losing. Lots of economic theory around this topic.
Click to expand...
True, and I generally make purchases using the same analysis.

When we basically have run negative balances since Kennedy (other than a year under Johnson and a few under Clinton) it is hard to argue that ever increasing debt is a good policy.

It would be akin to you taking more debt than income for 50 years, continuing to borrow and arguing it is good fiscal policy. It may give you a great quality of life, but if that debt would pass to your heirs, you are doing it at their expense...

If you can borrow at rates lower than you can invest, it is not a bad proposition, but only if you have enough projected income to repay the debt.
 
MVP said:
So I think I can see clear picture of orange Hitler plans based on last few days events and how his puppet Kellogg said that Europe will not be involved in talks with Russia about Ukraine. He wants Canada and Greenland but being in NATO makes matters complicated. He will sell Ukraine to Russia and Taiwan to China and will make sure USA leaves NATO to weaken Europe vs Russia. Without USA in NATO Russia then will hit Ukraine again to cut them off Black Sea and connect to separatists in Transnistria in Moldova and possibly hit Baltic states to connect to Kaliningrad enclave. USA in the meantime will take Greenland and Canada. N. Korea hitting and taking over S. Korea is not out if question too given how orange turd adores Kim Yong Un.
World War 3 is very very real possibility now unless remaining decent americans will do something about it. Think about it. MAGATS crying about leftism and communism yet their clown is telling now Denmark is bad, Canada is bad, Panama is bad, EU is bad, but Russia is great, China is great, N. Korea is great..... Reagan must be rolling in the grave now.
Click to expand...

Greenland is unlikely, my bet is Panama. Trump will sell out every US trade and security partner before the end. Who knows where it ****ing leads.
 
TheGoldStandard said:
He passed OBRA, reduced spending and raised taxes on the top 1%. No doubt we walked intona strong economy, but he implemented good economic policy.
Click to expand...

How many weeks did Clintons tax increase last and how many extra loopholes where put in as part of the deal to get it through congress? I bet as soon as they repealed the tax increase the loopholes stayed, thus having a bigger impact on the health of the budget going forward.
In this same period we retired most of our government debt, now our economic circumstances were different but our government revenue was significantly stronger, the conservative government then set about a string of tax cuts to ruin government revenue and limit policy options for their opposition.

No more great societies when society has no money. Private wealth, public squalor.
 

TheGoldStandard said:
It would be akin to you taking more debt than income for 50 years
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This would be a really dumb thing to do especially if you could have way more income at any time you want and you just kept saying no thanks, I dont want more income. Like the USA has been doing for decades.
 
But of course

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's team reportedly invited a prominent right-wing extremist and conspiracy theorist to travel with him and other Pentagon officials on their trip abroad this week.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec was invited to travel with Hegseth's team to Germany, Belgium and Poland.

Posobiec, who’s been known to associate with white nationalists, was key in spreading the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory falsely accusing prominent Democrats of engaging in pedophilia. But his list of extremist bonafides extends far beyond that. Posobiec promoted the phrase “white boy summer” — which had become a rallying cry for white supremacists — at a far-right event held for then-candidate Donald Trump. And at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Posobiec said his goal is to end democracy.

"We are here to overthrow it completely," he told the audience. "We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.”

I should also note: Vice President JD Vance, then a senator from Ohio, wrote a glowing review of Posobiec's 2024 book, in which the author portrayed liberals as "unhumans."

Needless to say, the guy who pines for the end of democracy and attempts to dehumanize millions of Americans is not the kind of person who ought to be granted the privilege of traveling with the U.S. military.

Hegseth has faced condemnation for having his own links to right-wing extremism, and he’s complained about the military’s efforts to root out extremism from the military. His team's reported offer to Posobiec to tag along with the Pentagon sends the message that the armed forces welcome bigoted and conspiratorial extremists to join their ranks.
 
But of course. Transactional relationship: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...1&cvid=6d35b513fbda42aedad4f99a206c57c8&ei=80

The alliance was months in the making: Eric Adams wanted out from under criminal prosecution, and the Trump administration wanted a big-city ally on illegal immigration. Now both camps are scrambling to contain the fallout from the Justice Department’s decision to make the New York City mayor’s bribery case go away.

Though Adams is averting prosecution, it came with some heavy costs. The Justice Department reserved the right to bring a case against him after the 2025 mayoral election, and it made clear that one of its central reasons for dropping the prosecution was so Adams could better focus on fighting illegal immigration. That left some New York leaders, including Democratic members of Congress and Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, calling for his resignation and warning that the conditions leave the mayor compromised.
 
Apparently trump thinks trump is breaking some laws
Donald Trump on Saturday made a statement that stunned onlookers.

Trump posted the following comment on his social media:

"He who saves his Country does not violate any Law."

Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, saying, "L'etat c'est moi." A translation suggests the phrase means, "I myself am the nation."

Jamelle Bouie, an American columnist for The New York Times, said it was "the single most un-american and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an american president."

Writer and actor ‪Bill Corbett said, "Trump making an excellent argument for his own assassination."

"Good one, dummy," Corbett added.

‪Bill Kristol‬, a conservative anti-Trump voice, said, "We're getting into real Führerprinzip territory here."

Tech reporter ‪Matt Novak chimed in, "Dude is quoting Napoleon now."

"When do we get to the exile portion of the Napoleon timeline?" he asked Saturday.

Leah McElrath, a writer and political commentator, asked, "Has Trump ever paraphrased Napoleon before or is this a Musk thing?"

From, 'That Justice be Done', 1945""Do we mean the justice of Dr Hans Frank Nazi minister of justice who said,'The law is an instrument in the hands of the Fuhrer for the realization of national socialism, anything which benefits our nation is just.'"
 
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