Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump approval up to 49% in the latest Gallup. Wow

[iam416]

Meh. November is an eternity away. Based on our conversations, I'm not sure why you're surprised. The Ds are going hard after him.

He'll bounce down and settle back to this normal 45 (or whatever it is for Gallup).

But, that economy thing should still worry you -- especially if your boy Bernie wins the nomination.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Speaking of the economy, the markets as expected have shrugged off the breathless, doomsday reporting on the coronavirus. I don't write about 50 point jumps or even 100 point jumps. There's a lot of volatility built in to trading these days. But a 400+ point jump in the US markets and a 600+ jump in the Chinese Stock Exchange are noteworthy upside trends.

I keep reading about the "end of the bull run," something needed to happen to stop it and the coronavirus came along to do that, blah, blah, blah. Despite the depressing hand wringing about the widening of the income gap (it's really not that large depending on what figures one uses), the world is years, maybe months away from the apocalypse caused by global warming (and I'm not a denier, there is such a thing and the science supports that view), turmoil in the ME, the global and US economies keep humming along.

Why is that? Global inhabitants are 100X better off than they were 100 years ago and even 20 years ago. They have money and are spending it .... on TVs, phones, computers, transportation, household goods and travel. A good deal of global growth is due to a generally deregulated and unfettered market economy - Capitalism with a capital C - where risk taking investments are made by risk taking entrepreneurs who make a lot of money - and should - for their entrepreneurial approach. Encourage that with sound policy to enable it and the global economy will continue to grow with the an increasingly better off global citizenry. Gravitate to the appealing voice of free shit and entrepreneurial approaches will dry up because regulation makes risks not worth declining rewards. It "takes a village?" Yes it does. A village of capitalists.

Sure, there are troubling levels of poverty but those of us lucky enough to be born and raised in the US to become productive, income earning folks can't and shouldn't get so caught up in that circumstance that we roll over to the re-distributive policies of any of the multitude of countries liberals praise. None of that shit, NONE of it, would work in this country, stifles growth in Europe in countries that have too much of it and that includes all the free shit liberals in the West are advocating for of late.

Moreover, the plight that poverty striken and economically disadvantaged citizens find themselves in are the result of corrupt governments whose officials are stealing their countries resources blind. And guess what? Most of those country's governments came to power with promises of socialist governments and the free shit that goes along with it. Lots of it. Cuba, Venezuela ..... hello!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Speaking only for what's going on China, I believe they announced a massive stimulus yesterday?

[iam416]

Global inhabitants are 100X better off than they were 100 years ago and even 20 years ago. They have money and are spending it .... on TVs, phones, computers, transportation, household goods and travel. A good deal of global growth is due to a generally deregulated and unfettered market economy - Capitalism with a capital C - where risk taking investments are made by risk taking entrepreneurs who make a lot of money - and should - for their entrepreneurial approach. Encourage that with sound policy to enable it and the global economy will continue to grow with the an increasingly better off global citizenry. Gravitate to the appealing voice of free shit and entrepreneurial approaches will dry up because regulation makes risks not worth declining rewards. It "takes a village?" Yes it does. A village of capitalists.

Sure, there are troubling levels of poverty but those of us lucky enough to be born and raised in the US to become productive, income earning folks can't and shouldn't get so caught up in that circumstance that we roll over to the re-distributive policies of any of the multitude of countries liberals praise. None of that shit, NONE of it, would work in this country, stifles growth in Europe in countries that have too much of it and that includes all the free shit liberals in the West are advocating for of late.

Moreover, the plight that poverty striken and economically disadvantaged citizens find themselves in are the result of corrupt governments whose officials are stealing their countries resources blind. And guess what? Most of those country's governments came to power with promises of socialist governments and the free shit that goes along with it. Lots of it. Cuba, Venezuela ..... hello!

I'm not even sure there are "troubling levels of poverty" and I'm entirely certain that the levels of poverty, whatever they are, are consistent with your "100X better off" sentiment.

It's a rather amazing time to be alive.

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's a rather amazing time to be alive.

Not for the fair people of Altoona or Lima it ain't. ECONOMIC ANXIETY

[iam416]

idea

[iam416]

Not for the fair people of Altoona or Lima it ain't. ECONOMIC ANXIETY

True. Relative wealth being what it is, there's always winners and losers, relatively speaking (unless you go with Marxism, then there's just losers). Folks in Lima and Altoona have slid toward the back of the back a bit. They're still several furlongs ahead of the good people of Lorain.

[iam416]

That said, I'd still rather be born in Lima, Ohio than Lima, Peru. Fuck the Incas.

[Dr. Strangelove]

True. Relative wealth being what it is, there's always winners and losers, relatively speaking (unless you go with Marxism, then there's just losers). Folks in Lima and Altoona have slid toward the back of the back a bit. They're still several furlongs ahead of the good people of Lorain.

The monetary system has completely collapsed in Lorain and particularly pretty seashells washed up on the shore, or bits of precious glass, have begun to be used as currency.

[iam416]

And what point does Lorain City government simply dissolve with a declaration of mob rule?

[Whitley]

Okay, I think that this is where everything stands with Iowa (as far as I know as of right now)

4 days before the Caucus, the Des Moines Registar ran a story on the app

---Iowa and Nevada are using this app.

---When asked about the app. The person (assuming spokesperson) refused to give any information. This included the name of the 3rd party that tested the app citing concerns that people would go after them. This app was to be put on precint captains personal cell phones (gee can't imagine no issues there).

This company (Shadow) was spun out of a dark money PAC. There were rumors that Robby Mock (HRC 2016 campaign manager) was involved with the app but he has denied that. Iowa, Nevada and Mayor Pete campaign have paid money to Shadow. TBF, Mayor Pete campaign might have paid Shadow for something else but it is not a very good look.

CNN reporting that the problem was a major coding error not with the data streams uploading.

Bernie Sanders camp released the data from where they had captains on the ground (40%) so take this with a grain of salt but here are the numbers they have. Only numbers I have seen of real note:

Bernie 29.66%
Mayor Pete 24.59%
Warren 21.24%
Biden 12.37%
Kloubacher 11%

Huge grains of salt, but those numbers are about (percentage wise) what the scant numbers were that were released before the app problems (but only around 2% were reporting). From the 40% released by the Bernie campaign (again grain of salt), it looks like Biden who was struggling beforehand is just not connecting with voters and the electable argument takes a real big hit if he is going to come in a distant 4th place (maybe 5th place if Kloubacher does well in other places in Iowa). 2 of the top 3 are progressive politicians.

[Dr. Strangelove]

And what point does Lorain City government simply dissolve with a declaration of mob rule?

Never. We have appointed a shaman as City Manager who shall lead by interpretation of chicken entrails.

[iam416]

Never. We have appointed a shaman as City Manager who shall lead by interpretation of chicken entrails.

Ah. The Nelsonville Approach. Shrewd.

[Cody_Russell]

If Biden comes in 4th in Iowa, get ready for the establishment panic.
Then maybe my prediction from last summer, Buttigieg, has a shot in this primary.