Trump Redux: The Death of Democracy, or Overblown Hyperbole?

[Weekender]

Biden economy being pretty good is worthless when talking to the everyday worker because they are feeling it hard with common expenses. Whatever is happening they just want something different and to be able to afford stuff. Saying the economy is good while inflation is terrible did no good for the Dems along with Harris saying she wouldn't do anything different from what Biden did. She needed to throw his ass under the bus.

They might "feel" worse but there aren't any economic indicators that say they're actually doing worse. So why do they feel that way? That must be the question lots of Democrats are asking themselves right now.

[Jwb]

Status quo liberal politics is on the ropes worldwide.  It's certainly not just the US.

Also, I think the inflation is more the issue than anything weekday. People didn't have a negative perception about the economy in early 2020. Covid is really when it all shifted.

And it's not getting better. Assuming that doesn't change,  eventually it will be associated Trump and hopefully hurt his popularity.

[SGR]

They might "feel" worse but there aren't any economic indicators that say they're actually doing worse. So why do they feel that way? That must be the question lots of Democrats are asking themselves right now.

But there were economic metrics that could explain why people were doing worse, and why they felt they were worse off. In the link specifically; (3. Inflation, 7. Interest Rates, 8. Housing Prices, 10. Consumer Sentiment). But it was all largely downstream from inflation. It's not like this was some grand mystery and the Democrats had to crack the Enigma machine to figure this out and respond to it more effectively in their messaging.

Jwb is right though, if the inflation doesn't get better and prices don't come down fast enough, that which served as an asset to the Trump campaign will quickly become a Republican albatross in 2026 and perhaps even 2028. In some ways, it might have been better for Dems if Trump had won in 2020. He'd have been tied to the political consequences for all the economic blowback of COVID, supply chain issues, and stimulus spending. And in that alternate reality, the Dems would've likely had a real primary in 2024 and not nominated Joe Biden. Hindsight as they say is 20/20 though. Who knows.

[Psy-Fi]

I don't really disagree with what they're saying,  but how can Cenk and Ana really criticize anyone else's strategy for dealing with MAGA? They have less room than anyone to talk. 

Up until the election Cenk was running with "Trump is a fascist" and then as soon as he won Cenk declares victory for "populism" and goes on an apology tour of right wing podcasts and events kissing the ass of MAGA based on the utterly naive idea that he was going to be able to find common cause between the *populist right" and the "populist left" and work together on issues they both supposedly care about. Have you ever heard of a dumber plan from someone who's been doing this shit for like 20 years?

I'll occasionally watch a video of theirs but I don't follow them outside of that YouTube channel. Wasn't aware of him sucking up to the opposition after the election. 

Can't say that I disagree with anything they said in that video, though.

[Lexi Darling]

DHS quietly eliminates ban on surveillance based on sexual orientation and gender identity

Because every day under this administration is Fuck with LGBT People Day, and every bully's celebrating.

[Weekender]

Status quo liberal politics is on the ropes worldwide.  It's certainly not just the US.

This is true, but it does not necessarily follow that Trump is related to trend worldwide.

[Weekender]

But there were economic metrics that could explain why people were doing worse, and why they felt they were worse off. In the link specifically; (3. Inflation, 7. Interest Rates, 8. Housing Prices, 10. Consumer Sentiment). But it was all largely downstream from inflation. It's not like this was some grand mystery and the Democrats had to crack the Enigma machine to figure this out and respond to it more effectively in their messaging.

Jwb is right though, if the inflation doesn't get better and prices don't come down fast enough, that which served as an asset to the Trump campaign will quickly become a Republican albatross in 2026 and perhaps even 2028. In some ways, it might have been better for Dems if Trump had won in 2020. He'd have been tied to the political consequences for all the economic blowback of COVID, supply chain issues, and stimulus spending. And in that alternate reality, the Dems would've likely had a real primary in 2024 and not nominated Joe Biden. Hindsight as they say is 20/20 though. Who knows.

Article is paywalled.

There's no precedent for prices coming down in a healthy economy. What you hope to see is wages rising to meet inflation. And that is exactly what we were seeing towards the end of Biden's 2nd term and even into today.

Ironically all Trump has to do is nothing and he'll look pretty good.

[SGR]

Article is paywalled.

There's no precedent for prices coming down in a healthy economy. What you hope to see is wages rising to meet inflation. And that is exactly what we were seeing towards the end of Biden's 2nd term and even into today.

Ironically all Trump has to do is nothing and he'll look pretty good.

Fuckin' paywalls. Weird, there was no paywall for me the first time I looked at the article, but it got paywalled on subsequent visits. Here's an archived link, but unfortunately, the graphs themselves don't appear to be present in the archived.

To the underlined, there is precedent for prices coming down in a healthy economy. Since eggs are the item du jour these days as a proxy for prices, this chart shows eggs reaching a peak of nearly $3/dozen in Sep/2015, after which they quickly dropped to $2 or less/dozen until Feb of 2022, and they haven't been $2 or less since. You can see other goods/services on the chart too. Some prices remain relatively static, others fluctuate. To your point though yes, you generally want rising wages to deal with price growth/inflation. Mark Perry has an interesting chart that's made its rounds before:



What you mostly see is that trade-sensitive manufactured goods experienced a price decline over time relative to inflation and wage growth. Remember how ridiculously expensive large CRT TVs used to be? And if you wanted a big-screen plasma in 2004, you'd be shelling out thousands and thousands of dollars. Inflation is simply an average. Prices of individual goods can still come down, even during inflationary periods, depending on market forces.

Regardless, even if inflation continues to cool and we see steady wage growth, if Trump continues long-term to be aggressive/stubborn with his tarrifs, prices for some items will continue to go up.

[SGR]

Zelensky calls US-Ukraine minerals deal a 'framework' as it emerges agreement has no security guarantees

[Trollheart]

Right. Can anyone seriously see this working? You're so pissed off at Trusk that you will betray your country and go to work for China or Russia?


CNN Exclusive: US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say


Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security, targeting those who have been fired or feel they could be soon, according to four people familiar with recent US intelligence on the issue.

The intelligence indicates that foreign adversaries are eager to exploit the Trump administration's efforts to conduct mass layoffs across the federal workforce – a plan laid out by the Office of Personnel Management earlier this week.

[SGR]

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1895528400997216480

[Psy-Fi]

^ Need a Three Stooges GIF for that one.

[Auroras In Ice]

Trump and Vance are such monumental pieces of shit.

[Marie Monday]

Yeah good on zelensky for refusing to be bullied into giving them their way

[Weekender]

Trump and Vance are such monumental pieces of shit.

This x100.