Miscellaneous news items that don't warrant their own thread

[BDKJMU]

[UNI88]

Rumor has it that that's what donald "john" trump pays hookers to pee on him.

[UNI88]

The Bankruptcy of Bidenomics

Biden's economic policies gave us three years of excessive, wasteful, and poorly targeted federal spending.
...
Bidenomics was, at heart, a philosophy of throwing money at programs, people, political allies, and favored constituencies. That spending contributed directly and significantly to the rapid rise in inflation that helped fuel voter dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Thanks to misallocation, poor implementation, and self-contradictory regulatory requirements, the substantive public payoffs to that spending have been weak at best and counterproductive at worst.
...
Yet there is little evidence Biden's spending binge left the American economy better off. It's not just that the spending contributed to inflation, pushing up prices on everyday necessities. The Fed responded to the inflation by raising interest rates, and that has gummed up the economy in many ways.

[GannonFan]

The Bankruptcy of Bidenomics

Biden's economic policies gave us three years of excessive, wasteful, and poorly targeted federal spending.
...
Bidenomics was, at heart, a philosophy of throwing money at programs, people, political allies, and favored constituencies. That spending contributed directly and significantly to the rapid rise in inflation that helped fuel voter dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Thanks to misallocation, poor implementation, and self-contradictory regulatory requirements, the substantive public payoffs to that spending have been weak at best and counterproductive at worst.
...
Yet there is little evidence Biden's spending binge left the American economy better off. It's not just that the spending contributed to inflation, pushing up prices on everyday necessities. The Fed responded to the inflation by raising interest rates, and that has gummed up the economy in many ways.

Absolutely nothing in this is shocking or hasn't been gone over in detail before on these boards. Biden and Dems tried out modern monetary theory on a macro scale and it was an abject failure. This of course won't stop some future administration trying to do the same thing and encountering similar dismal results.

[kalm]

The Bankruptcy of Bidenomics

Absolutely nothing in this is shocking or hasn't been gone over in detail before on these boards. Biden and Dems tried out modern monetary theory on a macro scale and it was an abject failure. This of course won't stop some future administration trying to do the same thing and encountering similar dismal results.

FDR did similar with long lasting success.

Reagan dramatically increased spending as well.

Results are a mixed bag and of course there are some failures and corruption but that’s the nature of the beast with a massive economy.

[UNI88]

Absolutely nothing in this is shocking or hasn't been gone over in detail before on these boards. Biden and Dems tried out modern monetary theory on a macro scale and it was an abject failure. This of course won't stop some future administration trying to do the same thing and encountering similar dismal results.

FDR did similar with long lasting success.

Reagan dramatically increased spending as well.

Results are a mixed bag and of course there are some failures and corruption but that’s the nature of the beast with a massive economy.

Mixed bag is being generous. Results were horrendous and but are working their way toward simply poor.

[kalm]

FDR did similar with long lasting success.

Reagan dramatically increased spending as well.

Results are a mixed bag and of course there are some failures and corruption but that’s the nature of the beast with a massive economy.

Mixed bag is being generous. Results were horrendous and but are working their way toward simply poor.

Sure. But it also depends on time frame.

[GannonFan]

Absolutely nothing in this is shocking or hasn't been gone over in detail before on these boards. Biden and Dems tried out modern monetary theory on a macro scale and it was an abject failure. This of course won't stop some future administration trying to do the same thing and encountering similar dismal results.

FDR did similar with long lasting success.

Reagan dramatically increased spending as well.

Results are a mixed bag and of course there are some failures and corruption but that’s the nature of the beast with a massive economy.

I don't see the comparison with FDR being a good one. With FDR there was a real, systematic failure of the economy prior to him taking office. And in reality, nothing he did really fixed any of that and we needed a world war to basically reset the table and the economy. Sure some of his things were great in the long term, but he was dealt a decidedly broken economy and he was trying to nurse it back to health.

Biden didn't have that at all. Prior to the pandemic, we actually had a pretty well-functioning economy. Unemployment was way down across the board, real incomes were rising, and things were pretty good all things considered. And even with the pandemic, those things were still relatively true. The biggest impediment is that we purposely shuttered much of the economy in response to the pandemic. Right or wrong, or somewhere in between, that's what happened. Once we started opening back up, the same fundamentals that were in place before the economy started to, haltingly, come back.

Where Biden made his fatal flaw with the economy was 1) either not realizing that other than pandemic-related shutdowns being in the way, the economy was on very solid ground and would continue to be once we pulled those restrictions away (there were already plenty of signs of this being the case in the fall of 2020, so months before Biden even took office, hence why there was actual warnings from economists not to overcharge what was a seemingly well fueled economy) or 2) knowing that the economy would be fine once restrictions were lifted, but not wanting to miss an opportunity to try to make societal changes that wouldn't be passable in normal circumstances blazed ahead on a reckless spending spree of historic proportions blindly trying to reshape America the way he thought it should be.

Clearly, he failed utterly. Spending at the historic levels he did, and as I said, almost recklessly spending it, just resulted in taking a strong economy and overheating it. Inflation is always, at its core, a money supply money, and that's what Biden put into place. Modern monetary theory says that there's no limit to government spending and the more the better, but we have proof that's not the case. Inflation was let out of the barn by the spending and became uncontrolled. And kalm's right, the market and the players in it fuel inflation, but that's only once it gets going. We knew from our history not to let it get away from us and then we just go ahead and stupidly make it happen. We're still dealing with it today - almost everything costs significantly more today than when Biden took office, and as a result real incomes/wages are lower now than before. And the sad part is, this was all self-inflicted - we didn't have to spend wildly, the economy had come back just fine. But Biden and the people around him thought they had reinvented economics and there was no limit to government spending. Turns out, they were wrong.

[Caribbean Hen]

Inflation still has a pulse so I’ll keep loaning to Janet for now

SP 500 on a nice ride but for how much longer?

[kalm]

FDR did similar with long lasting success.

Reagan dramatically increased spending as well.

Results are a mixed bag and of course there are some failures and corruption but that’s the nature of the beast with a massive economy.

I don't see the comparison with FDR being a good one. With FDR there was a real, systematic failure of the economy prior to him taking office. And in reality, nothing he did really fixed any of that and we needed a world war to basically reset the table and the economy. Sure some of his things were great in the long term, but he was dealt a decidedly broken economy and he was trying to nurse it back to health.

Biden didn't have that at all. Prior to the pandemic, we actually had a pretty well-functioning economy. Unemployment was way down across the board, real incomes were rising, and things were pretty good all things considered. And even with the pandemic, those things were still relatively true. The biggest impediment is that we purposely shuttered much of the economy in response to the pandemic. Right or wrong, or somewhere in between, that's what happened. Once we started opening back up, the same fundamentals that were in place before the economy started to, haltingly, come back.

Where Biden made his fatal flaw with the economy was 1) either not realizing that other than pandemic-related shutdowns being in the way, the economy was on very solid ground and would continue to be once we pulled those restrictions away (there were already plenty of signs of this being the case in the fall of 2020, so months before Biden even took office, hence why there was actual warnings from economists not to overcharge what was a seemingly well fueled economy) or 2) knowing that the economy would be fine once restrictions were lifted, but not wanting to miss an opportunity to try to make societal changes that wouldn't be passable in normal circumstances blazed ahead on a reckless spending spree of historic proportions blindly trying to reshape America the way he thought it should be.

Clearly, he failed utterly. Spending at the historic levels he did, and as I said, almost recklessly spending it, just resulted in taking a strong economy and overheating it. Inflation is always, at its core, a money supply money, and that's what Biden put into place. Modern monetary theory says that there's no limit to government spending and the more the better, but we have proof that's not the case. Inflation was let out of the barn by the spending and became uncontrolled. And kalm's right, the market and the players in it fuel inflation, but that's only once it gets going. We knew from our history not to let it get away from us and then we just go ahead and stupidly make it happen. We're still dealing with it today - almost everything costs significantly more today than when Biden took office, and as a result real incomes/wages are lower now than before. And the sad part is, this was all self-inflicted - we didn't have to spend wildly, the economy had come back just fine. But Biden and the people around him thought they had reinvented economics and there was no limit to government spending. Turns out, they were wrong.

Of course the circumstances were different. The larger point is that public spending has a track record of creating both short term emergency relief and long term growth.

One of the main reasons the Fed was created (along with managing inflation) was for economic relief during a crisis.

Covid was an economic crisis and it’s still altering the economy in many ways. The degree and duration of that relief is arguable…i’ll grant you that. But the soft landing and quick turn around were both helped by government intervention. There is also the suggestion that a big chunk of the recent inflation was based on profiteering rather than simply emergency bailout $’s creating artificial demand.

Lastly, the pre-Covid economy wasn’t necessarily sustainable. Tax cuts paid with a credit card was straight out of the Reaganomics playbook. IE: Covid didn’t care that we were already in debt or that wages were being outpaced by growth and inflation in key categories like higher Ed and healthcare costs. Low unemployment and a rising stock market are not the only metrics for the overall economy and economic health of the working class.

[Caribbean Hen]

I don't see the comparison with FDR being a good one. With FDR there was a real, systematic failure of the economy prior to him taking office. And in reality, nothing he did really fixed any of that and we needed a world war to basically reset the table and the economy. Sure some of his things were great in the long term, but he was dealt a decidedly broken economy and he was trying to nurse it back to health.

Biden didn't have that at all. Prior to the pandemic, we actually had a pretty well-functioning economy. Unemployment was way down across the board, real incomes were rising, and things were pretty good all things considered. And even with the pandemic, those things were still relatively true. The biggest impediment is that we purposely shuttered much of the economy in response to the pandemic. Right or wrong, or somewhere in between, that's what happened. Once we started opening back up, the same fundamentals that were in place before the economy started to, haltingly, come back.

Where Biden made his fatal flaw with the economy was 1) either not realizing that other than pandemic-related shutdowns being in the way, the economy was on very solid ground and would continue to be once we pulled those restrictions away (there were already plenty of signs of this being the case in the fall of 2020, so months before Biden even took office, hence why there was actual warnings from economists not to overcharge what was a seemingly well fueled economy) or 2) knowing that the economy would be fine once restrictions were lifted, but not wanting to miss an opportunity to try to make societal changes that wouldn't be passable in normal circumstances blazed ahead on a reckless spending spree of historic proportions blindly trying to reshape America the way he thought it should be.

Clearly, he failed utterly. Spending at the historic levels he did, and as I said, almost recklessly spending it, just resulted in taking a strong economy and overheating it. Inflation is always, at its core, a money supply money, and that's what Biden put into place. Modern monetary theory says that there's no limit to government spending and the more the better, but we have proof that's not the case. Inflation was let out of the barn by the spending and became uncontrolled. And kalm's right, the market and the players in it fuel inflation, but that's only once it gets going. We knew from our history not to let it get away from us and then we just go ahead and stupidly make it happen. We're still dealing with it today - almost everything costs significantly more today than when Biden took office, and as a result real incomes/wages are lower now than before. And the sad part is, this was all self-inflicted - we didn't have to spend wildly, the economy had come back just fine. But Biden and the people around him thought they had reinvented economics and there was no limit to government spending. Turns out, they were wrong.

Of course the circumstances were different. The larger point is that public spending has a track record of creating both short term emergency relief and long term growth.

One of the main reasons the Fed was created (along with managing inflation) was for economic relief during a crisis.

Covid was an economic crisis and it’s still altering the economy in many ways. The degree and duration of that relief is arguable…i’ll grant you that. But the soft landing and quick turn around were both helped by government intervention. There is also the suggestion that a big chunk of the recent inflation was based on profiteering rather than simply emergency bailout $’s creating artificial demand.

Lastly, the pre-Covid economy wasn’t necessarily sustainable. Tax cuts paid with a credit card was straight out of the Reaganomics playbook. IE: Covid didn’t care that we were already in debt or that wages were being outpaced by growth and inflation in key categories like higher Ed and healthcare costs. Low unemployment and a rising stock market are not the only metrics for the overall economy and economic health of the working class.

Covid didn’t do it

We stupidly did it to ourselves

[kalm]

Of course the circumstances were different. The larger point is that public spending has a track record of creating both short term emergency relief and long term growth.

One of the main reasons the Fed was created (along with managing inflation) was for economic relief during a crisis.

Covid was an economic crisis and it’s still altering the economy in many ways. The degree and duration of that relief is arguable…i’ll grant you that. But the soft landing and quick turn around were both helped by government intervention. There is also the suggestion that a big chunk of the recent inflation was based on profiteering rather than simply emergency bailout $’s creating artificial demand.

Lastly, the pre-Covid economy wasn’t necessarily sustainable. Tax cuts paid with a credit card was straight out of the Reaganomics playbook. IE: Covid didn’t care that we were already in debt or that wages were being outpaced by growth and inflation in key categories like higher Ed and healthcare costs. Low unemployment and a rising stock market are not the only metrics for the overall economy and economic health of the working class.

Covid didn’t do it

We stupidly did it to ourselves

In a way, yes. And much of that happened years and decades before Covid struck.

[BDKJMU]

Shooting at Chief’s victory parade. Latest 1 dead, 18 injured.

But:

[kalm]

For those keeping track of the Ponzi scheme.

[houndawg]

FDR did similar with long lasting success.

Reagan dramatically increased spending as well.

Results are a mixed bag and of course there are some failures and corruption but that’s the nature of the beast with a massive economy.

I don't see the comparison with FDR being a good one. With FDR there was a real, systematic failure of the economy prior to him taking office. And in reality, nothing he did really fixed any of that and we needed a world war to basically reset the table and the economy. Sure some of his things were great in the long term, but he was dealt a decidedly broken economy and he was trying to nurse it back to health.

Biden didn't have that at all. Prior to the pandemic, we actually had a pretty well-functioning economy. Unemployment was way down across the board, real incomes were rising, and things were pretty good all things considered. And even with the pandemic, those things were still relatively true. The biggest impediment is that we purposely shuttered much of the economy in response to the pandemic. Right or wrong, or somewhere in between, that's what happened. Once we started opening back up, the same fundamentals that were in place before the economy started to, haltingly, come back.

Where Biden made his fatal flaw with the economy was 1) either not realizing that other than pandemic-related shutdowns being in the way, the economy was on very solid ground and would continue to be once we pulled those restrictions away (there were already plenty of signs of this being the case in the fall of 2020, so months before Biden even took office, hence why there was actual warnings from economists not to overcharge what was a seemingly well fueled economy) or 2) knowing that the economy would be fine once restrictions were lifted, but not wanting to miss an opportunity to try to make societal changes that wouldn't be passable in normal circumstances blazed ahead on a reckless spending spree of historic proportions blindly trying to reshape America the way he thought it should be.

Clearly, he failed utterly. Spending at the historic levels he did, and as I said, almost recklessly spending it, just resulted in taking a strong economy and overheating it. Inflation is always, at its core, a money supply money, and that's what Biden put into place. Modern monetary theory says that there's no limit to government spending and the more the better, but we have proof that's not the case. Inflation was let out of the barn by the spending and became uncontrolled. And kalm's right, the market and the players in it fuel inflation, but that's only once it gets going. We knew from our history not to let it get away from us and then we just go ahead and stupidly make it happen. We're still dealing with it today - almost everything costs significantly more today than when Biden took office, and as a result real incomes/wages are lower now than before. And the sad part is, this was all self-inflicted - we didn't have to spend wildly, the economy had come back just fine. But Biden and the people around him thought they had reinvented economics and there was no limit to government spending. Turns out, they were wrong.

Inflation is just part of the system, been happening my entire life. It isn't all bad, you get to pay off your mortgage with inflated dollars.

[houndawg]

For those keeping track of the Ponzi scheme.

First they loot it then they call it a Ponzi scheme

[Caribbean Hen]

For those keeping track of the Ponzi scheme.

First they loot it then they call it a Ponzi scheme

Take it the first day you’re eligible

[GannonFan]

I don't see the comparison with FDR being a good one. With FDR there was a real, systematic failure of the economy prior to him taking office. And in reality, nothing he did really fixed any of that and we needed a world war to basically reset the table and the economy. Sure some of his things were great in the long term, but he was dealt a decidedly broken economy and he was trying to nurse it back to health.

Biden didn't have that at all. Prior to the pandemic, we actually had a pretty well-functioning economy. Unemployment was way down across the board, real incomes were rising, and things were pretty good all things considered. And even with the pandemic, those things were still relatively true. The biggest impediment is that we purposely shuttered much of the economy in response to the pandemic. Right or wrong, or somewhere in between, that's what happened. Once we started opening back up, the same fundamentals that were in place before the economy started to, haltingly, come back.

Where Biden made his fatal flaw with the economy was 1) either not realizing that other than pandemic-related shutdowns being in the way, the economy was on very solid ground and would continue to be once we pulled those restrictions away (there were already plenty of signs of this being the case in the fall of 2020, so months before Biden even took office, hence why there was actual warnings from economists not to overcharge what was a seemingly well fueled economy) or 2) knowing that the economy would be fine once restrictions were lifted, but not wanting to miss an opportunity to try to make societal changes that wouldn't be passable in normal circumstances blazed ahead on a reckless spending spree of historic proportions blindly trying to reshape America the way he thought it should be.

Clearly, he failed utterly. Spending at the historic levels he did, and as I said, almost recklessly spending it, just resulted in taking a strong economy and overheating it. Inflation is always, at its core, a money supply money, and that's what Biden put into place. Modern monetary theory says that there's no limit to government spending and the more the better, but we have proof that's not the case. Inflation was let out of the barn by the spending and became uncontrolled. And kalm's right, the market and the players in it fuel inflation, but that's only once it gets going. We knew from our history not to let it get away from us and then we just go ahead and stupidly make it happen. We're still dealing with it today - almost everything costs significantly more today than when Biden took office, and as a result real incomes/wages are lower now than before. And the sad part is, this was all self-inflicted - we didn't have to spend wildly, the economy had come back just fine. But Biden and the people around him thought they had reinvented economics and there was no limit to government spending. Turns out, they were wrong.

Inflation is just part of the system, been happening my entire life. It isn't all bad, you get to pay off your mortgage with inflated dollars.

Of course inflation is always present. But the "good" inflation is the one that's relatively low (2-3%) and steady over a long period of time. Then it's predictable and reliable and consumers and businesses expect it. When you open the floodgates of government spending just because you want to and you spike inflation up to 9-10% in a super short period of time, that's what letting the horses out of the barn looks like. Then you get everyone spooked that the economy is off the rails, you can't predict what price surges will happen when. Good actors then start factoring in inflation to future orders to make sure their covered, but you also get the bad actors that kalmie brings up who see it as a chance to jack up profits - none of which happens if you just keep things steady in the first place.

[houndawg]

First they loot it then they call it a Ponzi scheme

Take it the first day you’re eligible

way ahead of you bro....

[houndawg]

Inflation is just part of the system, been happening my entire life. It isn't all bad, you get to pay off your mortgage with inflated dollars.

Of course inflation is always present. But the "good" inflation is the one that's relatively low (2-3%) and steady over a long period of time. Then it's predictable and reliable and consumers and businesses expect it. When you open the floodgates of government spending just because you want to and you spike inflation up to 9-10% in a super short period of time, that's what letting the horses out of the barn looks like. Then you get everyone spooked that the economy is off the rails, you can't predict what price surges will happen when. Good actors then start factoring in inflation to future orders to make sure their covered, but you also get the bad actors that kalmie brings up who see it as a chance to jack up profits - none of which happens if you just keep things steady in the first place.

if you can keep things steady. Sometimes the rest of the planet doesn't work that way and you can't do much about it

[GannonFan]

Of course inflation is always present. But the "good" inflation is the one that's relatively low (2-3%) and steady over a long period of time. Then it's predictable and reliable and consumers and businesses expect it. When you open the floodgates of government spending just because you want to and you spike inflation up to 9-10% in a super short period of time, that's what letting the horses out of the barn looks like. Then you get everyone spooked that the economy is off the rails, you can't predict what price surges will happen when. Good actors then start factoring in inflation to future orders to make sure their covered, but you also get the bad actors that kalmie brings up who see it as a chance to jack up profits - none of which happens if you just keep things steady in the first place.

if you can keep things steady. Sometimes the rest of the planet doesn't work that way and you can't do much about it

Well, lucky us, being the biggest economy on the planet, we tend to export inflation, not the other way around. The whole America sneezes and the rest of the world catches a cold. There was something we could do about this most recent inflation - this was self-inflicted, and people were warning about it before we even opened the spigot.

[Caribbean Hen]

Take it the first day you’re eligible

way ahead of you bro....

I’m not old enough yet but I would never ask how old you must be …

[UNI88]

way ahead of you bro....

I’m not old enough yet but I would never ask how old you must be …

He filed for SS benefits not long after Ida Fuller in 1940 ...

[Caribbean Hen]

I’m not old enough yet but I would never ask how old you must be …

He filed for SS benefits not long after Ida Fuller in 1940 ...

Haha

I asume she/he was the first?

[BDKJMU]

Racist hate crime and elder abuse.