What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

We need an eyebleach generator.

[Valmy]

Delete post, ban user. 

[HVC]

Delete post, ban user. 

Body shamers

[Admiral Yi]

Yi:

1) From 2000-2020, the annual inflation rate reached 3 percent only 5 times.  That supports the claim that 3 percent inflation is not "low" by 21st century standards, at least as of COVID. 

Very well.  Strike low from my post and replace with not high.

2) Argument 2 was not about real wages but the absolute price level.  People don't think in terms of real wages, they are paid in money wages. That's the "money illusion" at work. If wages go up, that is perceived as a much-deserved raise.  If prices go up, that as perceived as taking away the value of that deserved raise. Price expectations are based on experiences of price levels not real wage levels.

Nominal wages deflated by the price level, that's exactly what real wages are.

[Jacob]

Delete post, ban user. 

Body shamers

In the future, I would appreciate some sort of indication of what the link is about.

[Jacob]

The Board of Public Broadcasting (which runs PBS among other things) has apperently voted to dissolve itself.

PBS is finished.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Local stations that receive more donations and relied less on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will survive, while those that don't, won't.

[grumbler]

The Board of Public Broadcasting (which runs PBS among other things) has apperently voted to dissolve itself.

PBS is finished.

PBS was already finished.  When it has no money, it has no way to pay salaries, rent, etc. let alone subsidize rural public radio stations.

[mongers]

The acid test will be in a few months, maybe even weeks when trump attacks a democratic country and Western leaders have to choose on which 'side' of the current fence they come down on.


Though saying that, it's not improbable that action against Greenland is imminent, perhaps even within 48 hours. 

What the Danish PM said implies very serious concern, though the way that was couched 'in terms of NATO ending' might egg trump on, oh and also because it was said by a woman will nark him.

[PJL]

The US isn't a country anymore, it's a gas station masquerading as a country.

[garbon]

The US isn't a country anymore, it's a gas station masquerading as a country.

That strikes me as not true.

[The Brain]

The US isn't a country anymore, it's a gas station masquerading as a country.

That strikes me as not true.

[Cal] The food isn't nearly as good.[/Cal]

[HVC]

The US isn't a country anymore, it's a gas station masquerading as a country.

That strikes me as not true.

The US isn't a country anymore, it's a gas station masquerading as a country.

That strikes me as not true.

[Cal] The food isn't nearly as good.[/Cal]

Plus gas stations usually buy their oil, not steal it

[OttoVonBismarck]

As per the earlier convo, I realized a long time ago the affordability crisis isn't something that appears to correlate that much with traditional economic data. Sitting in a position of economic privilege it's not something I super well understand, but the best working understanding I developed of it in the past few years is there are certain key expense centers that for families stand out as far more important than others. If these are felt to be too high to easily afford with a "normal" job, people are going to be upset.

CPI should capture at least some of that, but I think because the public weights the importance of different expense centers very differently it's something the political class has whiffed on--first Biden's guys and now Trump's guys.

My suspicion is a huge portion of the angst people feel is simply housing expense, which is part of CPI, and has been so high for so long that a decrease in the rate at which that expense is growing is unlikely to make people feel better.

I suspect there's probably some other "key commodities", but it also appears influencers and such can promote which of these commodities people focus on so much (like the price of eggs during Biden's Presidency, something that has always been so cheap they've never caused me go give them a thought, like whether a dozen eggs are $3 or $10, that's so cheap it feels like it shouldn't matter, but apparently in 2024 it did.)

TLDR I think this is a "sentiment and vibes" based thing, and that's why the political class has not handled it well, one could also argue it's possibly overstated, but if the nucleus of it is really about housing affordability that is a core issue affecting people's lives.

[garbon]

something that has always been so cheap they've never caused me go give them a thought, like whether a dozen eggs are $3 or $10, that's so cheap it feels like it shouldn't matter