Mandatory retirement of politicians at 70. A good idea? - Page 6 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15272914
Biden has done a horrible job as President. Seriously. Name one thing this man has done.

1. Inflation which hasn’t been seen since the 1970’s.

2. A disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

3. Millions, literally millions of illegal aliens have poured over the southern border. Millions of mostly illiterate people who are going to be a burden on America who will never bother to speak English.

4 A fentanyl crisis which has killed countless people.

5. More concerned about the sexually abnormal and transsexuals than normal human beings.
#15272919
senor boogie woogie wrote:2. A disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.


Actually, withdrawing from Afghanistan is no easy feat. The US stirred up a hornet's nest and it's a shame that we couldn't make peace over there. But, the lesson is to not go searching for trouble and not disturbing what we know very little about. I doubt the military knew exactly what they were getting into when the war in Afghanistan started. They thought it would be quick and easy. I don't think it's fair to blame a president for "disastrous" withdrawal of troops. The situation over there is a disaster. The US has a way of picking fights with others. The US made a mess of things in Iraq as well. It was relatively peaceful under Saddam Hussein.

1. Inflation which hasn’t been seen since the 1970’s.

Btw, inflation always exists. It goes up and down. Managing inflation is not easy and presidents are usually not well-informed on economics. Economics is hard to understand for most people.

This page from the RBA in Australia explains in fairly simple terms. https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resour ... ation.html

How can you control inflation if you cannot control demand? Demand is constantly changing. Market behavior is hard to predict and manage. It is not like pressing a button to make inflation go down. Sorry, doesn't work that way!

3. Millions, literally millions of illegal aliens have poured over the southern border. Millions of mostly illiterate people who are going to be a burden on America who will never bother to speak English.


Hate to break it to you, but illegal immigration has always been an ongoing struggle for the border police in the US. It depends on situations in other countries. Those "aliens" have reasons for wanting to escape their homeland and no one can stop them from wanting to escape. Some come from dictatorships and those people really fear for their lives. They want a safe place to live.

4 A fentanyl crisis which has killed countless people.


There has been a drug problem in the US for decades. Today it's fentanyl but in the 90s, it was drugs like ectasy and LSD. In the US, it's easy to get these drugs if you know suppliers and of course, there's always money to be made.

5. More concerned about the sexually abnormal and transsexuals than normal human beings.


This issue is a cultural issue and it's more like a movement, like the civil rights movement. No one can silence the activists. Those people are voters as well so it's important to include them and let them feel heard.

Name one thing this man has done.


Given Americans stimulus checks. There were 2 runs of the stimulus checks for tax payers. I got 2. I think they were for taxpayers who made less than 75 grand a year.

Given stimulus checks to businesses who were suffering during the early years of the pandemic particularly businesses in the tourist and hospitality management industries. Airlines got some help as demand for flights was very low in 2020 until 2022. Without the checks, many businesses would have failed.

There was also the Paycheck Protection Program.
https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/lo ... on-program

So many Americans accepted these handouts yet still they complain. We basically got free money during the pandemic, remember? I even got several free boxes of COVID rapid tests through the post office.
#15272925
@MistyTiger

MistyTiger wrote:Actually, withdrawing from Afghanistan is no easy feat. The US stirred up a hornet's nest and it's a shame that we couldn't make peace over there. But, the lesson is to not go searching for trouble and not disturbing what we know very little about. I doubt the military knew exactly what they were getting into when the war in Afghanistan started. They thought it would be quick and easy.


I agree with you for the most part. I too also doubt that the military or our political leaders at the time fully and truly appreciated what we were getting into Afghanistan, nor understood or truly understood our adversaries at that time whose strategy centered around drawing us into Afghanistan to get us to spend a bunch of money to ultimately financially exhaust us in a long drawn out protracted conflict. When I was in Afghanistan it was a mess. There is a reason why Afghanistan has been dubbed the "graveyard of empires." You had to have been there to see what I am talking about.

But once you are there and you see the terrain and how all of the surrounding countries were meddling in Afghanistan (its been that way since the beginning of time) and then you had all these warring tribes who constantly fight each other, a radically different culture that blows away most Westerners, thrown in the mix various terrorist factions in Afghanistan on top of the various tribes in Afghanistan and then the different consequences from the different eras that Afghanistan suffered through, it was a mess to have to deal with. You really had to keep it together to navigate your way of out Afghanistan and survive. You really did. In my opinion, Afghanistan is very much a slow-working death trap for any occupying army.
#15273018
MistyTiger wrote:There has been a drug problem in the US for decades. Today it's fentanyl but in the 90s, it was drugs like ectasy and LSD. In the US, it's easy to get these drugs if you know suppliers and of course, there's always money to be made.


To be fair, that point is actually accurate. It's definitely not on Biden alone, nor is the overall catastrophe called the War on Drugs, but overdoses in the US are a runaway train of escalating clusterfucks that can not be compared to drugs from earlier decades. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are killers unlike any other.

Synthetic Opioids a Major Driver of Overdose Deaths Across the Country

Potent synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, which significantly increase the risk of overdose and death have been a critical factor in the recent rise in overdose mortality. Synthetic opioids are more likely to be illicitly manufactured and can be used intentionally or unintentionally — and unknowingly — combined with other drugs.


In 2012, synthetic opioids were involved in 6 percent of 41,502 overdose deaths. That figure quickly climbed to 18 percent of 52,404 deaths in 2015, 51 percent of 70,630 deaths in 2019, and then 66 percent of 106,699 deaths in 2021. Provisional data suggest this will edge even higher for 2022.


Source

Wouldn't matter whomever was president right now. Shit, Trump likely snorted enough cocaine in the 80s and 90s to kill a small village. :lol:
#15273021
MadMonk wrote:To be fair, that point is actually accurate. It's definitely not on Biden alone, nor is the overall catastrophe called the War on Drugs, but overdoses in the US are a runaway train of escalating clusterfucks that can not be compared to drugs from earlier decades. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are killers unlike any other.





Source

Wouldn't matter whomever was president right now. Shit, Trump likely snorted enough cocaine in the 80s and 90s to kill a small village. :lol:


I see your point. However, a drug overdose is still an overdose...a loss of a life. Drug addiction has been a problem in the US for decades. If you look at older countries like England, you can see that the population has struggled with drugs like opium and of course, people are still addicted to cocaine and heroin worldwide.

There needs to be a working solution that deals with addiction and clogs up the drug trafficking/drug dealing pipeline. How many thousands of people profit off of selling drugs? And anyone could be a drug seller if they know how to get started and they know the right people.
#15273035
Researching this, there are five US Senators over the age of 80 and two who will be 90 this year (Grassley and Feinstein) Grassley has been in office since 1980 and just got re-elected just this last year. So he will be around until he is 96.

Then there were two senators, the lte John McCain and Edward “Ted” Kennedy who were both around 80 and both had brain cancer….again…BRAIN CANCER and did not retire or resign their positions.

For myself, I am in my 50’s and struggle with my mortality and am not looking forward to my death, or death. If I was in my 80’s, I would be thinking about spending time with my family and loved ones, or take a trip I have always wanted to take, or do something I want to do. Because I am going to die soon! It doesn’t matter if I am 88 and the best doctors say I am in excellent health. I’m 88 years old, I’m going to die soon!

Which makes me wonder what is it about this job that people want to do it and keep doing it until they are old and dead. A couple of years ago in my home state of Tennessee a former Governor named Phil Bredeson who was 70 ran and lost his senate election. Bredeson is a Billionaire. Why at 70 does he want to do this? I asked my father and he told me it is all about money. I can see that, but the man is a Billionaire! And most of the Senators are millionaires or close to that.

Whatever you think of her, but Nancy Pelosi is in her 80’s. She doesn’t need the job. She is also at least a multimillionaire. She doesn’t need the job and she is old. Not only that, she is a face of the party and gets a lot of criticism. I mean, the old bay could die tomorrow for all I care but if she was my mother, I would have been happy she lost her job as Speaker and is now just a Congress person. She needs to retire and come home.

I think there are two things at play with older people who don’t want to quit politics….

1. It makes them money and influence.

2. It’s fun and easy.

3. (Bonus) Some old people think if they keep at working, they won’t die. It doesn’t work that way but it doesn’t stop them from trying.
#15273038
Retirement age should apply not only to regular citizens, but the people who rule over them, by their mandate. If 65 is the age of retirement, then politicians should have to retire as well.
#15275328
I guess I will come out of self-imposed (because of senior bashing mainly) pofo retirement and speak to this.

senor boogie woogie wrote:Researching this, there are five US Senators over the age of 80 and two who will be 90 this year (Grassley and Feinstein) Grassley has been in office since 1980 and just got re-elected just this last year. So he will be around until he is 96.


People are not in office because the want to be. They are in office because the people of their constituencies elect them. If you have a beef it is not with the politicians it is with the people who elected them. But I see, like so many (probably) republicans you do not believe in democracy. You want to put limits on the choices people are allowed to make. You do not trust the electorate. You are a fascist.



Then there were two senators, the lte John McCain and Edward “Ted” Kennedy who were both around 80 and both had brain cancer….again…BRAIN CANCER and did not retire or resign their positions.


Do you have any evidence that their disease affected their performance. I thought not.

For myself, I am in my 50’s and struggle with my mortality and am not looking forward to my death, or death. If I was in my 80’s, I would be thinking about spending time with my family and loved ones, or take a trip I have always wanted to take, or do something I want to do. Because I am going to die soon! It doesn’t matter if I am 88 and the best doctors say I am in excellent health. I’m 88 years old, I’m going to die soon!


Well. Several points. If you are 88 your life expectancy is 6 years.

I am 72. My normal life expectancy is 86. Based on my exercise and diet, a medical evaluation puts my life expectancy at more than 100 years. My biological age is 53.3

Which makes me wonder what is it about this job that people want to do it and keep doing it until they are old and dead. A couple of years ago in my home state of Tennessee a former Governor named Phil Bredeson who was 70 ran and lost his senate election. Bredeson is a Billionaire. Why at 70 does he want to do this? I asked my father and he told me it is all about money. I can see that, but the man is a Billionaire! And most of the Senators are millionaires or close to that.


Because of power. Money is about power. Until you learn that you will always be confused.

Whatever you think of her, but Nancy Pelosi is in her 80’s. She doesn’t need the job. She is also at least a multimillionaire. She doesn’t need the job and she is old. Not only that, she is a face of the party and gets a lot of criticism. I mean, the old bay could die tomorrow for all I care but if she was my mother, I would have been happy she lost her job as Speaker and is now just a Congress person. She needs to retire and come home.


Because you disagree with her voters? Because you want to run her life? Because you, a typical powerless person who has never tasted the wine of power thinks her choices are bad. If she was a doctor working with poor people would you tell her to retire? For whose benefit?

I think there are two things at play with older people who don’t want to quit politics….

1. It makes them money and influence.

2. It’s fun and easy.


If you think that it is easy to hold high elected office you need to think again.


3. (Bonus) Some old people think if they keep at working, they won’t die. It doesn’t work that way but it doesn’t stop them from trying.


Well, time for school.

A 2016 study of about 3,000 people, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggested that working even one more year beyond retirement age was associated with a 9% to 11% lower risk of dying during the 18-year study period, regardless of health.

A 2015 study of 83,000 older adults over 15 years, published in the CDC journal Preventing Chronic Disease, suggested that, compared with people who retired, people who worked past age 65 were about three times more likely to report being in good health and about half as likely to have serious health problems, such as cancer or heart disease.


Using my data as an example....

If you, my friend, smoke and are overweight at your age of 50, my life expectancy, at my current age of 72 is longer than yours.

This is your morning wakeup call.
#15275331
[quote="Drlee


This is your morning wakeup call.


[/quote]

"As McCain’s turn to vote arrived, the Senate clerk nodded at him. The Arizona Republican paused, then gave a dramatic thumbs down, eliciting gasps from the Democratic side of the chamber and grim looks of resignation from the GOP leadership that had spent the past few hours trying to get him to change his mind.

The vote left the GOP plan to repeal Obamacare in tatters. And yet, for a senator who ran for president as a “maverick” candidate who wouldn’t be bound by party-line votes or political pressure, it seemed fitting. And the visual of McCain’s thumbs-down moment will linger as one that defined him — and was perhaps his last major legislative impact, coming just weeks after his devastating glioblastoma diagnosis."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/08/27/iconic-thumbs-down-vote-that-summed-up-john-mccains-career/

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