Don't get me wrong here, But I LIKE Donald Trump.

[red750]

I see he has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering a peace deal between Israel and the UAE. His head will  be so big it will explode.

[old man emu]

USD$11 is currently AUD$15.10. 

Under Australian Fair Work pay scales the  hourly rate for a full time retail employee at the lowest scale is AUD$21.41 (with increases for Saturdays, Sundays, Public Holidays and overtime). Add to this 4 weeks' paid annual leave (equal to $3255)  , 5 work days' sick leave (equal to $856), employer superannuation contribution, and Public Holiday leave and you have pretty reasonable money. However, we all know that things are more expensive in Australia than the USA.

[old man emu]

9 hours ago, onetrack said:

the Trump re-election crew have already spent $800M

There's an old saying, "Money's made round to go round, and made flat for stacking". $800 million is indeed a lot of money, but while we might concentrate on who had the money to spend, we forget that by spending the money, the country's economy get's the benefit of it. We have laughed at the misuse of the term "trickle-down economics", but by spending this money (and I include the other mob), money has flowed down to the lowest sectors of the economy. It's put bread on the table of the machinist who made the "MAGA" baseball cap. It's bought new shoes for the printer who produced the campaign "How To Vote" pamphlets.

 

Trump and Biden didn't stack that money and withhold it from the economy. They have traded it for things they wanted and in the process have allowed others access to money to trade for the things they wanted. Also, Trump and Biden did not simply magic that money from thin air. It was donated from the other sources of income production carried out by people who did some work. 

 

People will say that spending so much money to get elected is amoral. That the money should have gone to the poor, the homeless, the disadvantaged. But in fact, it did, in a round about way. People assist the poor by donating from the money their occupations generate. Greater demand for products creates a whole series of jobs, which can eventually house the homeless and provide services for the disadvantaged. 

 

Remember that for every front line soldier there is a vast number of people providing the support needed for the soldier to do the job. The same applies for every citizen of nations like the USA and Australia.

[Old Koreelah]

1 hour ago, red750 said:

I see he has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering a peace deal between Israel and the UAE. His head will  be so big it will explode.

A terrific deal for Israel, which agreed to (temporarily)suspend their program of stealing land from Palestinains.

[onetrack]

OME - I think the greatest problem with the spend associated with electioneering is that it generates no real, tangible wealth.

Vast amounts of the money go on useless, short-life signage, marketing gimmicks (what good will a Trump badge be, after he's gone?), advertising, talk-fests, and reams of flyers and paper that is all binned within weeks.

The money goes on TV advertising, promotional tours, and producing unlimited amounts of hot air. Politicians are noted for being the greatest money-wasters in the nation.

 

If the money being spent on electioneering was spent on tangible benefits such as better housing for low-income earner and the homeless, mental health facilities, general health system upgrades, cheaper and more environmentally-friendly energy generation, increased water security and supply, and better transportation infrastructure - then America would be far better off.

The backlog of major infrastructure replacement in America is frightening, with many major roads and bridges built in the 1930's to 1950's, many important buildings in need of replacement, many school buildings dilapidated, and public transport systems also in need of major upgrades. But all Trump can talk about is how he's made America Great Again. There are many ways of saying "Great", and the sarcastic statement, "Great!!", that you receive when someone is unhappy, kind of best explains "Great", in the Trump storyline.

 

https://www.governing.com/columns/washington-watch/The-Looming-Infrastructure-Crisis.html

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by onetrack

[old man emu]

I agree that all governments have a duty to attend to the welfare of their people, and as well as ensuring housing, health and education, there is a great need for maintaining infrastructure in its many forms to enhance economic activity. However, you must remember that the apart from the Eire Canal, which was funded by New York State, the major infrastructure construction in the USA during the 19th Century was done by the private sector for its own use (railroads), or to sell the conveniences it provided( water and electricity). Then in the 1910's The Federal Government attacked Big Business for monopolising the infrastructure, and broke major organisations down. Over the next one hundred years, those smaller organisations were sold, merged or bankrupted so that no one seemed to want to acknowledge ownership of infrastructure. If no one owns it, no one fixes it.

 

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

I think the greatest problem with the spend associated with electioneering is that it generates no real, tangible wealth.

 I have to disagree to a point with that. It is true, as you say, that the money was spent on ephemeral things, and not much will remain after next year. There will be no new housing, new hospitals or new computers in schools, however, the people who produce all that ephemera will have received payment for doing so. Therefore, they will be able to purchase things from other producers - shoes, clothes, tools to do a better job, maybe even avgas to go flying. The $800M will be going round, not laying under a politician's mattress only good for silverfish food.

[willedoo]

Link didn't work and there doesn't seem to be any way to delete a post.

Edited September 10, 2020 by willedoo

[Admin]

Trump says today regarding the US Bushfires and Global Warming that the world will cool down...perhaps it is the same as injecting yourself with disinfectant to beat Covid...is he such a visionary?

[Marty_d]

50 minutes ago, Admin said:

Trump says today regarding the US Bushfires and Global Warming that the world will cool down...perhaps it is the same as injecting yourself with disinfectant to beat Covid...is he such a visionary?

Apparently after he made that comment and someone said "I wish science agreed with you", the idiot said "Well, I don't think science knows actually".

 

And this is the man in the highest office of the most powerful (for now) nation on earth.

[onetrack]

Of course, the weather is going to cool down - Winter is coming in the Northern Hemisphere!

[red750]

Good Cop Story

 

The police department in the small hill country town of Kerrville, Texas, reported finding a man's body last Saturday, in the early evening, in the Pedernales River near the state highway-87 bridge. The dead man's name would not be released until his family had been notified.

 

The victim apparently drowned due to excessive beer consumption while visiting "someone" in Fredericksburg. When he was found, he was wearing black fishnet stockings, 10 inch spiked heels, a red garter belt, a pink G-string, purple lipstick, dazzle dust on his eyelids, 2 1/2 inch false eyelashes, and a Trump T-shirt.

The police removed the Trump T-shirt to spare his family any unnecessary embarrassment.

 

Police do care.

[red750]

[Jerry_Atrick]

Has anyone watched the summations (or the whole) Trump/Biden debates?

 

I looked at both CNN and Fox news summaries.. And, I am afraid to say, I think it is going to be close - with maybe Trump taking the chocolates... Why? Because, although to any sane person, he is a chump, neither showed leadership but what was clear is that Trump has aggression and Biden is too, nice. OK, most, if not all, people on this forum are thinking people.. even when we have differing points of view, the reasoning is largely though our, and I will concede for myself, on a mixture of fact and emption/values (although I try to base it on fact as the main factor, everyone has confirmation bias). But, most of the population are not thinking people and they react to emotion (which we all do) and bias/values more than fact.. that appears to be a sad fact..

 

Looking at both the CNN and Fox news wrap, Biden came across as a little weak... and Americans, like most countries, don't like to be pushed around. My fear is that after these debates, Biden's lead in the polls will erode enough.. According to CNN and NY Times, 6/10 perople think Biden won the debate, but I would put the thinking people in their audience, so I will wait for more "scientific" polls to come out. Either way, given the BS Trump spouted, that is not a great result.

 

The big concern - Biden is a great deputy - a great deputy does not necessarily make a great leader. Trump is no leader, but aggressive and the non-thinking people will mistake that for leadership (or simply prefer to have a president that won't be pushed around).

 

Interesting days coming...

 

[old man emu]

During the part of the debate about the new Supreme Court Justice, Trump simply exuded confidence that he would still be President after the election. His comment was along the line of "after the election we'll have plenty of time  ..." That's what American males want - a President with confidence. However, American females see him as a bully and misogynist. This is an election that will be won or lost over Thanksgiving dinner.

 

The odd thing is that Trump doesn't seem to have done anything really stupid, as one would expect of a person who acts as he does. He hasn't escalated any war - and his party is the war-mongers' party. He's blustered a  lot, but has been prepared to stand up to foreign trade attacks.  He's definitely a WASP with a strong Puritanical outlook on a work ethic (in others). At least he hasn't stood on a podium waving an M4 assault rifle over his head quoting the Second Amendment.

[onetrack]

Of all the piXX-weak politicians they could find, the Democrats had to pick Biden. He's not a President, and never will be. Trump will be in again for another 4 years, because Biden has no vision, and wouldn't inspire any voter.

 

Remember that a lot of blacks, underemployed, and people who should vote against Trump, still vote for him.

[old man emu]

12 hours ago, onetrack said:

Of all the piXX-weak politicians they could find,

the Republicans had to pick Trump.He's not a President's podium!

[pmccarthy]

But he is a mass debater.

[old man emu]

52 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

But he is a mass debater.

It goes further than that. He includes mass debating amongst the other attributes of a wanker.

 

The Democrats seem to be the party of the people with modern ideas, the members of Gen X & Y. They have a different view of society, embracing the things that Boomers started in the late 60's and 70's. The oldest Gen X'er  would be 55 years old. That's kindergarten age in traditional politics. Why couldn't the Democrats have chosen their candidate from a younger pool?

[willedoo]

He's also a winner and that's all the Republicans care about.

 

My bet is on Trump for the simple fact that just when everyone thought the Democrats could not possibly pick a worse candidate than Killary, they went and picked one almost as bad. In the event that Biden does win, there's always the possibility Clinton will be back as Madam Secretary and Harris takes over the Presidency in a year or so. I can't see Biden being able to go the distance.

[Yenn]

I wonder if Biden will make it to 3 November. If he doesn't, then the democrats may be in with a chance, but otherwise I reckon Trump will win and everyone else will lose.

It has long been a fact that the Yanks are very good at lying, in fact they are world champions. They are so good at it that they don't even expect to hear the truth, so cannot see anything wrong with Trump.

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, Yenn said:

It has long been a fact that the Yanks are very good at lying, in fact they are world champions. They are so good at it that they don't even expect to hear the truth, so cannot see anything wrong with Trump.

Yes, this and the UK elections are stark educations in the frailty of the human psyche.. Desensitisation to the ludicrous - people say, "Yeah, we expect as much from them... we look past..."  Don't know who said it, but elections are [hopefully] for the selection of the least incompetent.. Unf, the public go along... I think its called demockery...

 

Anyway, a quirky synopsis:

 

[nomadpete]

At last there is a Covid 19 infection in USA that matters....
My sympathy goes out to a innocent virus condemned to a struggle for survival within such a hostile host.

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, nomadpete said:

At last there is a Covid 19 infection in USA that matters....
My sympathy goes out to a innocent virus condemned to a struggle for survival within such a hostile host.

Yes - they have 200,000 deaths already - for the first time I'm hoping for one more!!

[nomadpete]

There's an irony here - it looks like the biggest covid denier probably caught covid from one of his fellow deniers !

I'm worried for his opponents health though - although Mr Biden usually wears a mask, he unfortunately wasn't wearing one during the so called debate, when he was within spittle range of a blathering covid carrier.

[Jerry_Atrick]

As much as I don't like the guy, nor what he stands for, like I feel about most people, I don't wish an untimely death on him (although I can hear that some will think it timely). [edit] Nor would I have wished an untimely death of the > 200k lives lost in the US to COVID - and yes, we can call blame - but is it really just DT or the fact that America is America that has a significant contributory factor in all this?).

 

In fact, according to his niece's book, probably like most maniacs, there is a story hehind it that provides at least an understanding of why he is the way he is... It doesn't ameliorate the outcomes of his actions (or inactions), nor justofy his presidency (or ther offices of life), but to wish someone dead - is a little harsh for me.

 

Anyway, as much as I find American comedy and talk shows a little less than their genre, I had a few laughs at this follow up from above (especially god putting the US on mute)...

 

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Jerry_Atrick