Biden promises there will be a cure for cancer if he’s elected

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

Jim,
It's not poverty that is the problem, it's the shrinking of opportunity for people.
Its because nearly all the benefits of economic growth have been captured by large corporations and their shareholders.
Controlling the flow of capital so that you can capture incrementally more is how you win and the middle class has no chance in that game.
If you do it long enough you control the banks, the means of production and distribution and the government. Forty years ago when I was in my twenties I could call the loan officer at the local bank and get a loan, today that same bank is part of a large corporation with little involvement in the community. That holds true for almost everything we buy today, from fishing equipment to groceries and clothes.
This happened in the Gilded Age and history is repeating, it does that.
Corporations buy up profitable small businesses, reduce management costs per unit and buy more small businesses.
Then they start on each other.
The number of publicly traded corporations has been reduced greatly in the past twenty years, roughly by half.
Corporations have been gobbling up their competition for the past twenty years. The easiest way to control the market is eliminate your competition and the easiest example is any of the FAANG who buy anyone who could compete.
The vast majority of shares are held by the wealthiest people in the US. After-tax corporate profits have doubled from about 5 percent of GDP in 1970 to about 10 percent, even as wages as a share of GDP have fallen by roughly 8 percent. And the wealthiest 1 percent’s share of pre-tax income has more than doubled, from 9 percent in 1973 to 21 percent today. Taken together, these two trends amount to a shift of more than $2 trillion a year from the middle class to corporations and the super-rich.

"It's not poverty that is the problem, it's the shrinking of opportunity for people"

Agreed 100%.

"Its because nearly all the benefits of economic growth have been captured by large corporations and their shareholders"

Too much energy is dedicated to enriching large corporations and shareholders. I wouldn't say "nearly all". There are too many people who move up the economic ladder for me to buy that "nearly all" of the benefits go to big business. But I agree that too many politicians prioritize bib business over families, I agree 100%.

[Sea Dangles]

The system works if allowed to. Nobody wants to give away money to the clingers. You can get a great education in public or private or Catholic high school. There is always plenty of money for the underprivileged to attend ANY school. In this area at at least. These are great times but some want to fret. There will not be free education soon but Liz Warren is advocating....
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[Pete F.]

So Americans are better educated than ever
The gap between the wealthy and middle class is greater than ever
The wealthy control Congress
There’s no issue
And if you think there is your a socialist
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[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

So Americans are better educated than ever
The gap between the wealthy and middle class is greater than ever
The wealthy control Congress
There’s no issue
And if you think there is your a socialist
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It's difficult to have a conversation with you. You put words in peoples mouths. You go to extremes. You veer off in different tangents. Maybe, when you attempt to respond or converse, you are actually talking to yourself. Sort of having a conversation running through your brain that gets triggered by various words mentioned by those you presumably respond to but which somehow get transfigured into a different context than that which was proffered. A context that satisfies some impulse to be right, to defend some point of view--which might suddenly take on a different shade or different direction.

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by detbuch

It's difficult to have a conversation with you. You put words in peoples mouths. You go to extremes. You veer off in different tangents. Maybe, when you attempt to respond or converse, you are actually talking to yourself. Sort of having a conversation running through your brain that gets triggered by various words mentioned by those you presumably respond to but which somehow get transfigured into a different context than that which was proffered. A context that satisfies some impulse to be right, to defend some point of view--which might suddenly take on a different shade or different direction.

Didn't know I was having a conversation with you, but you certainly seem to think you have clairvoyant abilities.

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

Didn't know I was having a conversation with you, but you certainly seem to think you have clairvoyant abilities.

It was a general statement based not on clairvoyance, but on observation of your deking, dodging, changing subject, and responding to words that were not spoken--as in your last response to Dangles.

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by detbuch

It was a general statement based not on clairvoyance, but on observation of your deking, dodging, changing subject, and responding to words that were not spoken--as in your last response to Dangles.

Thank you for your diligent policing of the internet, it's obvious Dangles needs your assistance.

[Pete F.]

Scott,
The result is the same if corporations or government control the banks, the means of production and distribution and the government.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

Scott,
The result is the same if corporations or government control the banks, the means of production and distribution and the government.

Yet I have a mortgage on my home at only 3.5%. Is the bank screwing me? I don't think so.

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

Scott,
The result is the same if corporations or government control the banks, the means of production and distribution and the government.

Not if, but when. Corporations can't control without government acceptance, approval, partnership, sanction, rubber stamp. Actually, on the other hand, government can control without corporate approval.

The symbiotic relationship between corporations and government, in which government is the ultimate regulator, and upon which corporations must acquiesce, is the progressive model (as is also the case in other forms of authoritarian regimes).

The Progressive model is government regulatory control of banks and business and societal as well as individual "rights." All, of course, under the rubric of what is best for society--what is the most realizable utopia--as in your "progressive capitalism."

[Sea Dangles]

To some the glass is half empty.
Others act as the sky is falling.
Things look fine from my toilet. Retirement is looking better all the time. Kids have jobs with a great future. It has not been easy admittedly but this is a great time in America. Enjoy it.
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

To some the glass is half empty.
Others act as the sky is falling.
Things look fine from my toilet. Retirement is looking better all the time. Kids have jobs with a great future. It has not been easy admittedly but this is a great time in America. Enjoy it.
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I think the deck is stacked in favor of the powerful and connected to some extent. If I wanted to go to Harvard and be an executive VP at Goldman Sachs and have a summer home in Watch Hill, sure it helps if my family has connections, which we don't. But if I want to be upper middle class and still be home for dinner most nights and take my kids to Disney every few years, there are plenty of ways to do that. I think it's a little harder than it should be, but still within reach of most of us. You have to work hard, and it really helps to have good parents to set kids on the right path.

I've said this before, there is a family that owns the local Shell station and convenience store near my house, they came here from Liberia, literally with nothing. They now own that business, their kids are college graduates, one is in medical school. every town in the country has families with the same exact story, and many are refugees because they don't take anything for granted and are willing to work insanely hard to get what they want. If big business runs everything, how did they pull that off? The answer is love and hard work, but our grievance and entitled culture doesn't want to hear about such things.

[Pete F.]

How many owner operated gas/convenience stores have you seen in the past few years?
How many have been bought by corporations and now have hired help paid minimum wage or slightly above and a remote manager.
Is the gas or items less expensive at the corporate store?
Those anecdotes are getting fewer and fewer around here, there are a couple in this county where there were one or two in each town.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

How many owner operated gas/convenience stores have you seen in the past few years?
How many have been bought by corporations and now have hired help paid minimum wage or slightly above and a remote manager.
Is the gas or items less expensive at the corporate store?
Those anecdotes are getting fewer and fewer around here, there are a couple in this county where there were one or two in each town.

"How many owner operated gas/convenience stores have you seen in the past few years?"

I don't keep track. But many industries are being swallowed up by a small number of huge companies, you're right. This makes it harder to get ahead, but not impossibly so. There's fewer paths to independence, and smaller margin of error. And working for a large company is more demanding and less rewarding than it was in my father's time for sure.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

There's fewer paths to independence

what??? there has never been more diverse opportunity

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

How many owner operated gas/convenience stores have you seen in the past few years?
.

I thought leftists liked centralization?

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

I think the deck is stacked in favor of the powerful and connected to some extent.

ya think?

[Sea Dangles]

No more local hardware store...the list goes on. I am not sure how it gets back to Leave it to Beaver. Meanwhile the middle and even lower class enjoy creature comforts and even luxuries that used to be only for the rich. A lot of people don’t grasp the context here. Seriously,who even knows people who can’t afford phones or the internet?
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[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

No more local hardware store...the list goes on. I am not sure how it gets back to Leave it to Beaver. Meanwhile the middle and even lower class enjoy creature comforts and even luxuries that used to be only for the rich. A lot of people don’t grasp the context here. Seriously,who even knows people who can’t afford phones or the internet?
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I'd gladly go back to keeping a dime in my wallet.

[wdmso]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

I'd gladly go back to keeping a dime in my wallet.

The right dosen't understand how corporate America is in the game to limit choice funnel business in their direction via merger and hostile take over. Look at ATM cards hailed as great they were all free but like airlines once they saw they could charge for a seat or a bag or a hotel could charge for parking they all charge for the honor of using their product .... but some dinosaurs see iPhones and internet as luxury items that poor people have no business owning completely ignoring the world around them .. connectivity is a nessicity in today's world .. 40hr work week once paid the Bill's not anymore the federal min wage hasn't risen in 10 years . Even in this economy why do you think that is.. corporate Americas deep pocket and politics
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by wdmso

The right dosen't understand how corporate America is in the game to limit choice
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as opposed to, say, public sector labor unions, who as we ALL know, welcome the idea of choice and competition to keep costs down for the consumer. your union doesn’t do anything to gouge the consumer, no sir. The unions are all about keeping taxes as low as possible for their customers.

Your union gets liberals elected, who then reward you with benefits that dwarf what’s available in the private sector, and then those in the private sector have zero choice
but to pay the taxes to fund those lavish benefits.

You complain about atm fees and airline baggage fees, how about the increased taxes your neighbors are forced to pay, because your union gets crooked politicians to increase taxes to pay for your lavish benefits?

here in ct, our unfunded debts for union benefits are more than $35,000 for every human being in the state. That’s $175,000 for my family of 5. You think i should
be concerned about ATM fees? The banks are the problem?

you are correct, it used to be that one person working 40 hours a week would pay the bills. those days are pretty much gone, and i think that has been a disaster for families and children, an absolute disaster. i’m not sure the GOP caused it. how did conservatism cause that exactly?
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[Pete F.]

Trump made it worse.
The tax cuts of 2017 further turbocharged economic inequities through an act of fiscal profligacy which ballooned our deficit for the benefit of corporations and the wealthy—justified, yet again, by resuscitating the discredited notion that under-taxing “wealth creators” stimulated the economy while paying for itself.

The bill distributed more than 80 percent of its individual benefits to the top 1 percent of households; the bulk of the $150 billion rebated to corporations in 2018 funded shareholder dividends and stock buy-backs—which amounted to little more than a gift to the 10 percent of Americans who own 84 percent of all stocks. This lopsided largesse was possible only through creating a $1.5 trillion deficit over the next 10 years, generating a brief economic sugar high, which is already dissipating.

[Jim in CT]

WDMSO, Biden very specifically politicized curing cancer, and he clearly did so for his own benefit. Is that true or false?

I asked Spence the same question, but he’s still hiding.

Hopeful is one thing. Exploiting the desperation of people who are dying, is something else.

Biden comes with the obnoxious and outlandish behavior that Trump delivers ( not quite to the same degree), with none of the productive policy ideas. He also promised the VP slot to Stacy Abrams, who called the offer racist. Maybe he should
ask his VP pick if they are interested, before announcing them as the pick? Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

He also promised the VP slot to Stacy Abrams, who called the offer racist.

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that's awesome

[wdmso]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

WDMSO, Biden very specifically politicized curing cancer, and he clearly did so for his own benefit. Is that true or false?

I asked Spence the same question, but he’s still hiding.

Hopeful is one thing. Exploiting the desperation of people who are dying, is something else.

Biden comes with the obnoxious and outlandish behavior that Trump delivers ( not quite to the same degree), with none of the productive policy ideas. He also promised the VP slot to Stacy Abrams, who called the offer racist. Maybe he should
ask his VP pick if they are interested, before announcing them as the pick? Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Same response I gave dangles
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by wdmso

Same response I gave dangles
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let’s make this very, very simple.

Yes or no, did Biden politicize finding a cure for cancer for his own benefit, when he said “ if I’m elected i promise there will be a cure”.

dangles was absolutely correct. people who are angry with their lot in life, there’s a 95% chance they are to blame, and for the other 5%, 95% of those can blame
their crappy parents. if you want to know what the problem is, look in the mirror. i’d you want to know the solution, look to the african immigrants i know who obsessed over their children’s education and worked their butts off for 90 hours a week towards their dreams.


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[Sea Dangles]

It’s too bad you don’t seem to comprehend even the simplest of sentences Wayne. Seriously.

But thanks for making my point again. You wear out words like the “right” and his “base” while either ignoring or just plain denying that there are two parties. You don’t seem to understand why or how we got here. Keep pointing your finger at the party you despise and there are still 4 fingers pointing back at you. Some folks understand this while others just want to place blame on the other guy. That is you,a selfish person who struggles with words like unity and team. What exactly is the middle and lower class lacking in terms of what you consider to be only attainable by the wealthy?
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[wdmso]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

It’s too bad you don’t seem to comprehend even the simplest of sentences Wayne. Seriously.

But thanks for making my point again. You wear out words like the “right” and his “base” while either ignoring or just plain denying that there are two parties. You don’t seem to understand why or how we got here. Keep pointing your finger at the party you despise and there are still 4 fingers pointing back at you. Some folks understand this while others just want to place blame on the other guy. That is you,a selfish person who struggles with words like unity and team. What exactly is the middle and lower class lacking in terms of what you consider to be only attainable by the wealthy?
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And with this rant you act as if Republicans never were in office. In the last 100 years .. your good with how we got here. As usual it's based on feeling not actual facts ..
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[Sea Dangles]

Originally Posted by wdmso

And with this rant you act as if Republicans never were in office. In the last 100 years .. your good with how we got here. As usual it's based on feeling not actual facts ..
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We got here not because of Dems nor Republicans. This is our system at work, this is our country evolving. Get on board or get out of the way because your finger pointing solves nothing. But I am guessing it helps you sleep at night, knowing you did your part.
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[Sea Dangles]

Too late ,! He has already stated what he thinks is deserved. It will never be enough, must be helping O pass out cell phones. After all, they are now a necessity.
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