May 16, 2021

Many GOP politicians cannot believe that the Party lost.

I understand that. They cheat so much, and at every level, so they cannot believe that all of that cheating and voter suppression and purging of voters did not result in a victory for Trump.

May 4, 2021

I see many articles where businesses are complaining of a shortage of workers.

In reality, what we are seeing is a shortage of pay for the work expected. It is that simple. The issue is not that unemployed workers make too much on unemployment, it is that employment pays so little.

May 3, 2021

My Covid-19 experience.

In late March, I went to the care clinic doctor with what I assumed was a sinus infection. No fever, but a heavy feeling in the sinus area. The doctor did not suggest, nor did I ask for, a Covid19 test.

In early April, I was still dealing with the issue. Until I fainted at home, and the care clinic suggested going to the hospital.

Covid19 positive. 12 days in the hospital, receiving antibody plasma, various drugs for infection, and oxygen for my pneumonia. After 9 days on what they call high flow oxygen, I was really and truly ready to go home. The doctor said that they could not send me home until/unless I was on low flow.

3 days later, after gradually reducing to low flow, I had a talk with the doctor. She said that I was her first patient to go from high flow to release in 3 days, and we talked about lifestyle and general health. She started by saying that it was obvious from my overall condition that I exercise regularly. And I do, running and lifting every week. 45 years of working out and running. The doctor said that, and my attitude, was the reason I was walking out at all.

The thing is, I never had a temperature, and I became infected between the first and second shot, when I assumed that I had partial immunity.

Please everyone, get the shots. And if you can, exercise.

Finally, what would really make me feel better right now would be seeing Trump in court.

Stay safe.

Guill

February 23, 2021

Please, help me to figure this out.

If 70% of the GDP is composed of consumer spending, any increase in wages for the bottom 90% will lead to increased GDP, higher revenues for government, lower debt and deficits, and better long term outcomes for business.

And even what is not spent directly on goods and services could go to reducing indebtedness, and increased savings for short and long term purchases. All positive things.

And it is true that higher wages will mean that a prototypical greedy sociopathic capitalist, call him Beff Jezos, does not get as rich as fast, but this is a good thing because there are not enough greedy sociopaths to stimulate the economy.

What I need help with is not the economic benefits of an increased wage, and call it a living wage, but with understanding why so many workers keep siding with the 1% who are attacking the rest of us?

February 18, 2021

Rush Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And that makes sense.

Rush Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And that makes sense.

Consider that Donald Trump awarded the medal to him.

Limbaugh, like Trump himself, was free of any good human characteristics.

He had no sense of shame, no sense of decency, no sense of what it is to be a functional human being.

And Limbaugh poisoned so much of the debate with his vicious, misogynistic, and racist hate speech.

February 16, 2021

Apologies to George Santayana.....

Those who cannot remember the past are inclined to vote for GOP candidates.

February 16, 2021

I have never voted for a GOP candidate in my life.

I have never voted for a GOP candidate in my life. Mainly because I am a values voter.

I value freedom, and liberty, and democracy, and equality. So for those reasons, I cannot vote for a Party that values none of those things.

Convince me that I am wrong, but be warned, I am perfect, and thus cannot be wrong.

February 14, 2021

Trump's greatest accomplishment?

Making his sheep think that they are wolves.

Convince me that I am wrong.

February 14, 2021

Consider "the Hastert rule", and its impact on politics.

From Wiki:

Dennis Hastert was the first Speaker of the House to use this as the only criterion for allowing a vote on legislation. And the effect of this was to eliminate the idea of compromise. Under Hastert, and Newt Gingrich, and Paul Ryan, only GOP ideas could be voted on.

So when pundits call for reaching out, and bipartisan compromise, remember that the GOP operates under the idea that any compromise really means that Democratic lawmakers must adopt the GOP position.

February 14, 2021

How can we reach out to Trump voters?

As I see it, the main issue is that many Trump voters fell for his fantasy of making America great again. That fantasy is based on a vision of the US that never really existed, except, perhaps, in country music videos and revisionist history, but it is an appealing one for conservatives who long for that imagined, but imaginary, past.

And many of these voters know, on a certain level, that they are not doing well, and that their children will do even worse. So when the con man came along with his vision of that perfect past, and promised to bring it back, they believed because they needed to believe.

My view is that Biden and the Democrats must go big. Spend trillions on the Green New Deal, and extended unemployment, and job training, and child tax credits, and student loan forgiveness, and watch the productive economy grow.

The GOP opposed the original New Deal, and the result was Democratic control for many years.

And as we also know, many voted for Trump because he is a racist. Reaching those people might be impossible.

Thoughts?

PS Happy Valentine Day.

Edited to add: Pass a voting rights act to prevent vote suppression.