Election 2020 - Page 23 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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User avatar
By jimjam
#15033331
blackjack21 wrote:Most popular music today sucks


It's not music. it is, simply, noise. "Real" music, IMHO, is an expression of the human soul, the human spirit via musical instruments. Good music transpires as a result of talent with a musical instrument combined with a free and powerful spirit and …………….. chance/luck. A prime example is the miracle of Woodstock 1969 which I had the amazing luck to have attended while you were just a babe.
User avatar
By BigSteve
#15033332
jimjam wrote:It's not music. it is, simply, noise. "Real" music, IMHO, is an expression of the human soul, the human spirit via musical instruments. Good music transpires as a result of talent with a musical instrument combined with a free and powerful spirit and …………….. chance/luck. A prime example is the miracle of Woodstock 1969 which I had the amazing luck to have attended while you were just a babe.


I knew it. I just knew it.

Fuckin' hippies...
User avatar
By jimjam
#15033336
BigSteve wrote:I knew it. I just knew it.

Fuckin' hippies...


:lol:

I also went jogging in Red Square, Moscow ………….. that makes me a hippie/commie ………… absolutely rock bottom :eek:

Actually I attended Woodstock all by myself and didn't care for hippies as a whole. They derided conformity while, at the same time, enforcing their own brand of conformity.

If you feel a need to stereotype me, put me in the non predatory capitalist box.
User avatar
By Drlee
#15033337
A prime example is the miracle of Woodstock 1969 which I had the amazing luck to have attended while you were just a babe.


I was in Guatemala but a friend had asked me if I wanted to go. Arizona to Woodstock. He went and came home with a stray girl. She had never been much out of New York and got scared shitless at the wide open desert here. She got over her fear and they are still married though it took them two kids and 10 years to make the plunge. I have never been with them that they didn't mention it.

In those days Tucson was a counter-culture mecca unless you grew up here. Then it was just home.
By Presvias
#15033342
Looks like Tramp (Cyrillic derived spelling), is trying his level best to make himself look like an utter prat..

- Makes distasteful remarks about the 'flamingo dancer', the Fed, polls etc at the most inopportune moments on this day.
- Restates claim that he was at ground zero..again, today.
- Invites Taliban to camp david..today.

Unbelievably...there's even more.

And it's not fake news, it's sourced from videos of him, and his own feckin' tweets.

Good luck winning the election with that ^^^^
User avatar
By BigSteve
#15033347
jimjam wrote::lol:

I also went jogging in Red Square, Moscow ………….. that makes me a hippie/commie ………… absolutely rock bottom :eek:


Red Square is on my bucket list. I want to photograph St. Basil's Cathedral at night. I'm hoping to get there next year. I figure I can take some photos and then have clandestine meetings with high level Kremlin officials that I can deny any knowledge of at a later date...

Actually I attended Woodstock all by myself and didn't care for hippies as a whole. They derided conformity while, at the same time, enforcing their own brand of conformity.

If you feel a need to stereotype me, put me in the non predatory capitalist box.


My cousin Vinny (I really have one) went to Woodstock. I was a strapping young man of 7, so it wasn't likely I was going to attend. I've been to the site, though; four years ago. It's pretty impressive, and they've got one Helluva' museum there. You can also stand where the stage was and look out over the grounds. It's a lot smaller than you'd think.

One of the recording engineers, Eddie Kramer, is a friend of mine. He and his crew produced the music heard in the movie "Woodstock", and they also compiled the three disc set from the concert. Henry Diltz, who's one of my photographic heroes and a sort of mentor to me, was the official photographer for the festival.

Interesting side note: My Dad used to live in Wallkill, New York, which was the original site chosen for the festival. The town council shot down the idea, though. A year before he died (2014), my Dad introduced me to someone who cast a "nay" vote on allowing the festival to be in Wallkill.

"In hindsight? Worst fucking decision we ever made."
User avatar
By jimjam
#15033361
BigSteve wrote:I want to photograph St. Basil's Cathedral at night.


I was there in 1971 at the VERY start of my interest in photography. I had with me a Kodak Instamatic ( :eek: ) which I asked a local passerby to use to catch this pic.

Image
User avatar
By JohnRawls
#15033363
Drlee wrote:So John. Question. Suppose I could borrow a large sum of money for my consulting business utilizing these absurdly low interest rates. Why would I not want to do that and let investment and inflation repay the loan? (Assuming they remain in balance.)



From your mouth to God's ears. I repeat myself all to frequently when I assert that we ought not discount the propensity of Democrats to lose an election by alienating the fly-over states. That is what Biden is all about.

If I were Pelosi or the chairman of the DNC, I would take AOC and her cohort of newbies into the cloak room and have a come-to-Jesus meeting. I would tell them to STFU until after the election. I would tell them that the only time they can open their mouths is in support of the candidate's every talking point. I would take away the ability of the republicans to run against them as best I could. The fact of the matter is that Trump, et al, are going to run against AOC and her buddies and not whoever the democratic nominee is. And they absolutely should.


The question is a bit vague honestly. Are you the only worker? Are you trying to expand or what are you planning to do with this money? How large is the risk? What are the benefits? What is the co-efficient between them? Are there pending work that you can't do right now for some reason without this loan? How easily is the investment available in your field?

In a perfect world, there is no downsides to this besides the fact that if everybody did it at the same time and tried to become self-employed/business owner of some sort then 90% will fail simply because everyone can't be self-employed or a business owner. There is not enough consumption to make everyone a businessman. Also as i mentioned before, the modern system where this happens, how do you really show that you deserve the investment? You show great efficiency.

You are thinking of a situation where you take a loan -> expand -> grow revenue and costs -> you are succesfull?(Lets say you built the exactly same studio as you already had) The bank doesn't give a shit about that actually. Your business is not investors/banks asset but the stream of money is. What the bank/investors give a shit about is how efficient are you at staying alive and your overall ability to produce value. (Money stream to the bank and investors) If you are very efficient with low costs and high revenue on a smaller scale compared to larger costs with the same relative revenue just on a bigger scale then although the 2nd enterprise is riskier for investment if something happens. So it will be harder to get investment. In a sense it boils down to question of risk benefit of sorts for the investors/banks. The house is baggage for a bank, they do not want your house, they want their stream revenue. Example:

A) Enterprise with 800 000 in costs and 1 000 000 in revenue. They make 200 000 profit.
B) Enterprise with 4 500 000 in costs and 5 000 000 in revenue. They make 500 000 profit.

Excluding the enterprise size question(Add couple more 0s if it makes it simpler), Enterprise A is more safe to invest in to. It has higher margins. The chances of bankruptcy is lower. So assuming that both work in the same field, the first enterprise will be able to get investment easier. It kinda forces B to cut down on costs to stay competitive in investment regard. Theoretically it also makes no sense for enterprise B to expand in size anymore until they reach the same margins/efficiency as enterprise A because their credit/investment will be pricier. So long term Enterprise A will overtake B i guess.

That is how I look at it right now. Now in a situation that i proposed such situations will obviously also happen but it would be very hard to cut down on the costs or more specifically labour costs because everyone would be in the same boat. So instead of fucking the worker, they would need to find other ways to increase efficiency. Or will need to expand in size instead of increasing efficiency if they can't find any other solutions. Usually the simplest solution is to higher cheaper manpower or overwork it and not create new technology/processes/systems.
User avatar
By JohnRawls
#15033565
@BigSteve @Drlee @Code Rood @blackjack21

Here is an article that I run in today, kinda practically describing what i wrote about in the last couple of pages. If you are going to read it then think of this a systemic issue or issue of practices that are linked to each other right now and not as a one off example. It is pretty close to what I was talking about but it goes a bit further than just capital-labour relationship because it is an example: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... regulation
User avatar
By Drlee
#15033652
Excellent article and absolutely spot on.

I am not sure how this notion that lowering taxes on the wealthy will result in their investing in "better" businesses. It makes no sense at all. Will any of the recommendations in the article come to pass? Probably no time soon. What might happen is legislated higher wages. A step forward but one that most modern so-called conservatives are simply not smart enough to understand.

The death of America's great corporations is a real tragedy. The current generation has no respect for any of them. Even Apple is fighting for its own soul. I saw today that their announcements for their new smart phones were riddled with references to their (better than their alternatives) security and privacy features rather than any assertion that they are better.
User avatar
By Hindsite
#15033690
Trump promises 'substantial' middle-class tax cut in Baltimore speech to GOP lawmakers

President Trump told Republican lawmakers Thursday that "sometime this year," he will announce a "substantial tax cut for middle-income folks who work so hard."

"We are working on a tax cut for the middle-income people that is going to be very, very inspirational," the president told House Republicans at their annual retreat in Baltimore. "It's going to be something that -- I think it's what everyone's really looking for."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump- ... lting-city
User avatar
By JohnRawls
#15033705
Hindsite wrote:Trump promises 'substantial' middle-class tax cut in Baltimore speech to GOP lawmakers

President Trump told Republican lawmakers Thursday that "sometime this year," he will announce a "substantial tax cut for middle-income folks who work so hard."

"We are working on a tax cut for the middle-income people that is going to be very, very inspirational," the president told House Republicans at their annual retreat in Baltimore. "It's going to be something that -- I think it's what everyone's really looking for."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump- ... lting-city


As i mentioned, it doesn't solve anything. A tax cut is only that, a tax cut. The problem is not that middle class or upper classes are over taxed. The problem is that the wages of the middle class don't grow and a tax cut is at best a one of thing. It doesn't solve any systemic issues.

@Drlee
It depends on the politicians. This is not a situation that you can fix with 1 law. The problem is much more rooted in the whole system of finance and economy right now. Both R's and D's are pointless in this regard.(No hope i guess?) One party thinks that Tax cuts are the solution while the other thinks Racial politics are the solution. They are both wrong and miss the point.

For all the shit that Trump and AOC get, they both either instinctively or through analysis understand that something is wrong. Others are a bit clueless. May be Elizabeth Warren gets it but she is not a leadership candidate I think. She is more of an expert who has the knowledge and real solutions that she even has an idea that how to push through. The problem is that she is no Trump or AOC who are more proper politicians in sense of fighting for leadership. So basically the one that I think might be able to diagnose/analyse the problem and solve it is Elizabeth Warren. Problem is that she is not a proper politician like AOC, Trump, Biden, Hillary etc
User avatar
By BigSteve
#15033712
JohnRawls wrote:The problem is not that middle class or upper classes are over taxed.


Really?

Ask any intelligent middle class guy if he's taxed too much and I promise you he'll say yes...
User avatar
By JohnRawls
#15033738
BigSteve wrote:Really?

Ask any intelligent middle class guy if he's taxed too much and I promise you he'll say yes...


Simply not true, look at it from the standpoint that 1945 till 1980s was the Cold War economic era aka the American dream of sorts.

Taxes Rate for the Rich:

Image

Effective Tax rate on Corporations(Its even lower now):

Image

Effctive tax Rate on different percentiles/Quintilles:

Image

What this caused:

Image

The reason why Trump is around:

Image
User avatar
By BigSteve
#15033741
JohnRawls wrote:Simply not true, look at it from the standpoint that 1945 till 1980s was the Cold War economic era aka the American dream of sorts.

Taxes Rate for the Rich:

Image

Effective Tax rate on Corporations(Its even lower now):

Image

Effctive tax Rate on different percentiles/Quintilles:

Image

What this caused:

Image

The reason why Trump is around:

Image


I hope you didn't spend too much time researching all of that, simply because it does nothing to refute the point I made.

Ask any middle class taxpayer if they're taxed too high, and they'll tell you "yes".

Your pretty little drawings don't address that...
User avatar
By jimjam
#15033742
Hindsite wrote:Trump promises 'substantial' middle-class tax cut in Baltimore speech to GOP lawmakers

President Trump told Republican lawmakers Thursday that "sometime this year," he will announce a "substantial tax cut for middle-income folks who work so hard."

"We are working on a tax cut for the middle-income people that is going to be very, very inspirational," the president told House Republicans at their annual retreat in Baltimore. "It's going to be something that -- I think it's what everyone's really looking for."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump- ... lting-city

money talks, bullshit walks. where was this "substantial" tax cut for non billionaires in 2017?
User avatar
By JohnRawls
#15033743
BigSteve wrote:I hope you didn't spend too much time researching all of that, simply because it does nothing to refute the point I made.

Ask any middle class taxpayer if they're taxed too high, and they'll tell you "yes".

Your pretty little drawings don't address that...


Anybody will answer that they are taxed too high but that is a point of perception. Nobody likes being taxed. It does not mean that they are taxed too much in reality if you look at the data.

The main culprits here is the system that was telling you this for the last 40 years. With all the tax cuts for the last 40 years there hasn't been a substantial wage rise which was promised. (Trickle down effect)
User avatar
By BigSteve
#15033746
JohnRawls wrote:With all the tax cuts for the last 40 years there hasn't been a substantial wage rise which was promised.


My "wages" went up significantly. I wanted more money, so I busted my ass and earned it.

Nobody can promise a wage increase. Therefore, complaining about the lack of one, as if it's something that's expected, is silly...
User avatar
By jimjam
#15033749
But while Trump realizes that he’s in trouble, there’s no indication that he understands why. He’s not the kind of person who ever admits, even to himself, that he made mistakes; his instinct is always to blame someone else while doubling down on his failed policies.
User avatar
By Drlee
#15033751
I hope you didn't spend too much time researching all of that, simply because it does nothing to refute the point I made.

Ask any middle class taxpayer if they're taxed too high, and they'll tell you "yes".

Your pretty little drawings don't address that...


They actually do address it. I also think you miss the point. Try this son. What do you think would be the answer if you asked any middle class or service worker if they are paid what they ought to be paid compared to their owners and see what they say. Then ask them if they are getting the raises they deserve and see what they say. Then ask them if they have "it" as well as their parents do and see what they say. Then compare the minimum wage in 1969 to today and ask a minimum wage worker in Georgia (or just about any worker in Georgia if they deserve $15.00+ an hour and see what they say.

All of the indicators show that the American worker is getting well and truly fucked by the Republican party. The fact that so many are simply to frightened or not smart enough to know that is not my problem. But it is going to be the end of the republican party as we know it. Or I should say, as you know it. I remember when it was not a complete corporate tool.
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