American Death Spiral Approaches Nadir

From: koswix18 Jan 2021 10:46
To: fixrman 20 of 58
You poor deluded fool.
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)18 Jan 2021 22:37
To: fixrman 21 of 58
You might find this an interesting take on it:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/17/were-on-the-verge-of-breakdown-a-data-scientists-take-on-trump-and-biden
 
Quote: 

“We’ve seen growing immiseration for 30 to 40 years: rising levels of state debt, declining median wages and declining life expectancies. But the most important aspect is elite overproduction” – by which he means that not just capital owners but high professionals – lawyers, media professionals and entertainment figures – have become insulated from wider society. It is not just the 1% who are in this privileged sector, but the 5% or 10% or even 20% – the so-called “dream hoarders” – they vie for a fixed number of positions and to translate wealth into political position.

“The elites had a great run for a while but their numbers become too great. The situation becomes so extreme they start undermining social norms and [there is] a breakdown of institutions. Who gets ahead is no longer the most capable, but [the one] who is willing to play dirtier.”

From: fixrman20 Jan 2021 02:28
To: koswix 22 of 58
If anyone would know a deluded fool, I'd say it would be you.

You know nothing about me, not to mention what you don't know about America.
From: fixrman20 Jan 2021 02:41
To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 23 of 58
Actually it is rather interesting. If I had to boil it down: the college elitists, instead of pissing and moaning about not "making it", should get their noses out of the air, get off their asses and go out, get their hands dirty and work for a living. Nobody handed me jack squat; everything I have has been earned and paid for by me by the sweat of my brow, and the callouses of my hands,

When I didn't know something, I asked questions. I have never paid for anything that I could do for myself, and If I didn't know how to do it, I asked somebody who did know or researched the answer.

It is true that necessity is the mother of all invention. When my wife and I were young, we didn't have money to pay plumbers, electricians, HVAC guys and home handy men, so I had to do it. I also was fortunate to have a skill in automotive repair, so we didn't pay for that either.

Bottom line is, there is no free lunch. If you want to succeed, you had better get out there and do it. They can get busy livin' or they should get busy dyin'.

I am sick and tired of listened to entitled crybabies who want things given to them.

Sorry for the rant. Time for a beer. Cheers!
From: Dave!!20 Jan 2021 09:32
To: fixrman 24 of 58
>> " I am sick and tired of listened to entitled crybabies who want things given to them. "

Hate to be blunt, but the biggest and most entitled crybaby in America is called Donald Trump...

And he never did get that election given to him as he wanted...
EDITED: 20 Jan 2021 09:34 by DAVE!!
From: milko20 Jan 2021 10:50
To: ALL25 of 58
 I've no particular regard for the Democrats or Joe Biden - I do have high hopes for the likes of AOC in future, if their party doesn't manage to pull off what Labour's right just did to the left in the UK. But it's just really sad that so many of the American working class were taken in by the corny con-artist Donald Trump and his coterie. I totally understand the anger but still struggle to understand how they thought (and even still think!) that this was the way to go.  
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)20 Jan 2021 22:01
To: fixrman 26 of 58
Quote: 
When my wife and I were young, we didn't have money to pay plumbers, electricians, HVAC guys


Well. When my wife and I were young, we didn't have plumbing or electricity let alone HVAC, we had to fend off sabretooth tiger attacks with our bare hands.  :'C 

From: Manthorp21 Jan 2021 02:15
To: fixrman 27 of 58
This is absolutely in line with Pol Pot and the re-education of the bourgoisie through labour. Congratulations, Fixrman you are an old skool ideological Communist.
From: fixrman22 Jan 2021 15:28
To: milko 28 of 58
Yeah, you are right, Milko. While no fan of Don Trump personally, I really hated the fact that the country got working again, unemployment was the lowest in 50 years, the stock market was doing well pre-pandemic, and America got trade deals that made sense for America, instead of the lop-sided import-mostly deals we had before.

Boy was that horrible.
From: fixrman22 Jan 2021 15:29
To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 29 of 58
I admire your ruggedness.  (nod)
From: milko22 Jan 2021 16:48
To: fixrman 30 of 58
yeah, our lot can juke the unemployment stats with loads of non-jobs that leave people struggling in poverty too, it's great.

For them, but not you or me or most people. 
From: fixrman23 Jan 2021 00:26
To: Manthorp 31 of 58
If you think I am a Communist, you clearly need to look up the definition. I am, however, Conservative; a registered Republican. I discovered a few years ago that the criticism of Liberals is misplaced. Liberals are not the problem, but Socialists and Communists are.

You are mistaking my disdain for the lazy for an admiration of a dictatorship of the proletariat, which is false on the face of it. I believe in free markets, individual rights, freedom of religion... Read the Constitution and Bill of Rights - that's what I believe in. If that makes me a Communist, then the Forefathers were Communists, therefore you are a Communist, because some of the ideals our country was founded on came from the influences of England. I've always heard the English invented indiscretion, so they must have invented other things too (being so old and all that) , therefore must have invented Communism. I am part English, so I can say that.  :-B
From: fixrman23 Jan 2021 00:36
To: milko 32 of 58
Were they juking the stats when Obama was POTUS?

I get it: You hate Trump, America, Republicans, Conservatives, Methodists, Baptists... anything else?

Let me ask you this: Is there anything about America that anybody actually likes? Why is is that every time there is an issue of any type with America, you folks here denigrate America to the nth degree?

Why is it that you lot think you are so perfect and everybody else is wrong? Because you aren't - but shades of the elitist Lefties over here.
EDITED: 23 Jan 2021 00:36 by FIXRMAN
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)23 Jan 2021 14:29
To: fixrman 33 of 58
I thought liberals are communists and socialists?
From: milko23 Jan 2021 22:54
To: fixrman 34 of 58
Yes, they were doing the same with the stats under Obama. Probably before too, although the likes of Uber and many others started around then I’d guess. 

Did you notice I said we’ve the same problems here? It seems not. 

here’s what I like about the USA: the landscape, the vast differences, pretty much all the people I’ve met there and abroad on a individual level... I’d have to sit for a good while longer than I feel like doing to list it all out. I don’t really care what religion somebody has so long as they don’t try to tell others how to live, it is a bit of a shame that fundamentalist christians often do that, same as its a shame when fundamentalist anythings do. People talk about American failings because they affect the rest of the world too, way more than for example our shitty Brexit thing which must be amusing to everywhere but won’t likely do them much damage. 

I think Obama was a tragically missed opportunity to do a lot better, plenty of shit happened under his watch. Far too much appeasing Republicans there, plus more drones, blah blah. 

what always startles me is how Conservatives who aren’t rich businessmen seem to have a complete blind spot on how many Conservative policies and politicians work to keep them down. But any suggestion of doing something to make that better causes an angry reaction about elites and communists. It’s fucking weird! Far from my area of expertise so I can’t really begin to explain it. You have really shitty healthcare that costs you more for worse outcomes, but fight so very hard to stop anybody fixing it! 

anyway, good luck. This topic seems to be making you a lot angrier than anybody else so I don’t really want to yank your chain, peace!
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)24 Jan 2021 16:10
To: milko 35 of 58
Quote: 
the likes of Uber and many others


"sharing economy" -- the cruellest joke of predatory capitalism.

From: Manthorp24 Jan 2021 18:58
To: fixrman 36 of 58
Bless you fixrman, you sweet little thing. For a troll, you're shit at recognising trolling.
From: fixrman25 Jan 2021 02:52
To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 37 of 58
My cousin and her husband came here to Pennsylvania a while back with an international job he had. As usual, eventually topics came around to politics, and he explained to me that only in America is "Liberal" a dirty word. Well, we've been sort of conditioned here to believe that, but with research, I discovered he was right. True Liberals are not the problem, but here in America, most people have come to accept that Liberals are Socialists and Communists, but that is not necessarily true, just like America is not a democracy.

Most Americans, quite frankly, are pretty ignorant to most of the operations of the three branches of government, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and have forgotten or never learned much of our history, Fortunately for me, I had a great teacher in 12th grade who taught American Political Systems/Current Urban Problems. I would doubt that anything like that is even taught any more, but it should be.

To my way of thinking, Liberals and Conservatives should not be enemies of each other, because both principles were important in determining our system of government. along with best principles of English law and other borrowed political systems.
 
Quote: 
I thought liberals are communists and socialists?
Who told you that, Rush Limbaugh? I'm not even sure he believes that, but it apparently makes him successful on the EIB Network to say so.
 
From: fixrman25 Jan 2021 03:33
To: milko 38 of 58
Quote: 
Did you notice I said we’ve the same problems here? It seems not. 

I guess I did. Sorry for that. I've been pretty busy at my new job since early November, so sometimes I do miss things nearer the end of the day because I am pretty worn out. I'll have to watch that in the future.
 

Quote: 
I don’t really care what religion somebody has so long as they don’t try to tell others how to live, it is a bit of a shame that fundamentalist christians often do that, same as its a shame when fundamentalist anythings do.

You talking about the Bible Thumpers? Yes, they do have a rather Church-Ladyish way about them; often they are also quite hypocritical, as was the guy I worked with years ago who would tell people what they shouldn't do, but there was always a good reason why he should be allowed to do a similar given thing.
 

Quote: 
I think Obama was a tragically missed opportunity to do a lot better, plenty of shit happened under his watch. Far too much appeasing Republicans there, plus more drones, blah blah. 

I'm not sure Obama did much appeasing at all to Republicans, after all, he had about 22 months total when the Democrats had the balance of power. He just took his eye off the ball, and was too busy with Fast and Furious, Solyndra, and the Obamacare debacle. We don't have National insurance here because Big Insurance and Big Pharma are too powerful. You do know that those two wrote Obamacare, right? Insurance companies were never going to let a bunch of lawmakers tell them how to make their bajillions, neither would Big Pharma. I tried buying Obamacare, but it was going to cost me 260% more than what I was paying, and for all that, I was responsible for the first $12,000 dollars in office visits. Sorry, but I am not paying out over $7,000.00 and then have to shell out up to 12 grand more just to subsidise people who don't have insurance. I don't know what the answer could be, but it wasn't Obamacare.
 

Quote: 
You have really shitty healthcare that costs you more for worse outcomes, but fight so very hard to stop anybody fixing it! 

If that's the case, why do we have so many people coming here from foreign countries for healthcare? I know it is true, because I did medical transports for five years, and people who spoke not one word of English were getting free rides and free medical care: dialysis, COPD treatments, diabetes care, hypertension/heart disease, government-provided wheelchairs, and custom transportation to specialists all over the area, particularly in Philadelphia. As a matter of fact, one of the oldest hospitals in Philadelphia (Hahnemann), because of its patient load of mostly government-paid services, closed because they couldn't survive. In many cases, they came from quite affluent neighbourhoods.
 

Quote: 
This topic seems to be making you a lot angrier than anybody else so I don’t really want to yank your chain, peace!

Not at all, but I am passionate about the country I live in. I don't mind at all having discussion in the political vein, but I do detect quite a bit of a superior attitude from some, who - despite not living here all their lives - seem to think they know an awful lot about America and Americans, and like to lump all Americans into the same category. Well, we are all different, and I do not appreciate the labelling by some who think they know all the American ills, with the seeming attitude that England is perfect, I'm not angry with any of you, but I don't understand the British habit of looking down your noses at Americans. I don't feel that way at all about the British, probably because I am British in part - my mother having been born in Southampton in 1943, coming here in '47. My grandmother told us wonderful stories of her time in England, and I would love to be able to revisit sometime, see her home town and track down my great-grandfather Thomas Holmyard's (Mad Thos) stone carvings. He also carved some quite elaborate picture frames in rosewood which I l would love to see, if possible. I'm told that one of them actually is hanging in one of the cathedrals, and I'd like to verify that and see it.

Anyway, the problem with politics is it is too political, and the politically connected have their own, separate life from the rest of us, their own rules. They are robbing us blind, only fighting for their own survival. That's why Trump won in 2016, because he was an outsider. Well, Biden ain't an improvement, even if he isn't a brash talker. Biden is up to his ears in cronyism, and his debt to foreign governments will not serve America well - if he even remembers the arrangements.






 

From: fixrman25 Jan 2021 03:38
To: Manthorp 39 of 58
That's a bit childish, isn't it - are you that bored?

I made a nice shortbread this afternoon, with berries on, glazed with a nice pot of preserves. Like some with your tea? Maybe a hobby would be good for you.