Random thought/idea Thread

[famicommander]

Houston Rockets owner has thrown his hat into the ring for a WNBA franchise. He'll almost definitely get it if he's serious. Huge market, WNBA legacy franchise (played there from 1997-2008 and won 4 titles from 1997-2000), billionaire owner, arena situation not a concern. It's a no-brainer.

[pie]

This video reminds me other NPC's like famicommander, GBG, etc ...they don't know why they are voting for Kamala

[famicommander]

I'm not even voting, dingus, and if I were it would be for Chase Oliver.

You're so far up Trump's ass that you can't even conceive of the fact that the people who don't support him come from a wide variety of political affiliations and philosophical viewpoints.

You'll find that in general a democratic socialist, a liberal, a neoconservative, and a libertarian have very few beliefs in common. But they all used vastly different value systems to come to the independent conclusion that Donald Trump is awful. Maybe reflect a bit on why that might be.

[GBG]

Sept 20, 2024 19:00:35 GMT -5 famicommander said:

I'm not even voting, dingus, and if I were it would be for Chase Oliver.

You're so far up Trump's ass that you can't even conceive of the fact that the people who don't support him come from a wide variety of political affiliations and philosophical viewpoints.

You'll find that in general a democratic socialist, a liberal, a neoconservative, and a libertarian have very few beliefs in common. But they all used vastly different value systems to come to the independent conclusion that Donald Trump is awful. Maybe reflect a bit on why that might be.

I truly hope you don’t live in a swing state. Your vote for Oliver is like a half-vote for Trump since it’s not going to Harris. If in Colorado, your vote won’t make much difference. But if you’re in Arizona or Nevada, for example, it matters.

Wasn’t familiar with Oliver, so I looked up his wiki. The two policy positions that stood out were:

Healthcare
Oliver opposes the Affordable Care Act.[44] He wants to phase out Medicare for younger Americans.[45]

Social Security
Oliver has called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme".[46] He wants to phase out Social Security for younger Americans.[47]

Whoa. There is no need to phase out the two most popular government programs for your generation. Relatively easy funding solution will solve SS’s starting in early 2030’s, and while Medicare is tougher to fund, it is solvable and the nation ought to figure it out. All advanced nations take care of their citizens heath in one way or another. American seniors would be subject to the whims of the for-profit marketplace and many will die that don’t die now under Medicare. You are many years from needing it, but at some point, all citizens living long enough will (except the wealthy).

[TNF]

I feel sorry for people who are too stupid to know when they're voting against their own, or their loved one's, interests. The end.

[famicommander]

Social welfare programs are unsustainable in the long run. They're all ponzi schemes and the s**t will hit the fan eventually, especially as demographics become less favorable over time. The popular thing to do for most governments is to simply not classify the costs of these programs as debt. But they are debt, because they're long term commitments made that we don't actually have the funding for. The present day value of US unfunded liabilities from medicare, social security, medicaid, and federal pensions alone is approximately equal to the current dollar value of all the money in the world combined. Think about that. We have promised our current citizens about 80 trillion dollars in benefits; all the money in the world combined is worth roughly 83 trillion dollars right now. And most western nations have unfunded liabilities of similar scale relative to their actual productivity and population.

We could cut military spending to zero and we still wouldn't really be able to afford the woefully inadequate programs we already have. And we both know we're not cutting military spending, and we both know expanding access to these programs would drastically increase their costs.

We can't just continuously kick the can down the road. You can't even inflate your way out of this unfunded liability crisis because the payments are due in installments over numerous decades.

The sad fact is we're already bankrupt and the entire western world is essentially living on payday loans. People think these programs work in other countries, but in reality there just hasn't been a long enough timescale for the inherent problems to manifest. Especially since so many of these countries with these programs have their defense essentially handled by the US.

I have lived my entire life under the assumption that there won't be any programs to save me. I don't begrudge anybody for taking advantage of the programs that do exist, but it doesn't take a genius to understand that without a continuous population growth you're eventually going to run out of productive bodies.

[GBG]

US is not going bankrupt. The $80 trillion in unfunded liabilities is largely (not completely) offset by “unrealized future assets” on the other side of the ledger, ie the payroll and income tax revenues from the income of future earners. IOW, that scary $80 trillion number is gross number, not a net number.

Neither is Social Security going bankrupt, Things aren’t nearly as simple as that. Here is an article from Pete Peterson foundation, which is center-right.

www.pgpf.org/blog/2024/08/9-facts-about-social-security-and-the-need-to-strengthen-it

The funding gap, if not addressed by 2033, will result in a 21% cut to benefits. Social Security will be there for younger generations as the article details. Many fixes exist to eliminate the funding gap, such as raising the full retirement age, increasing the income cap subject to payroll tax, possibly with a donut hole as the Biden administration has recommended, and so forth (eg see below article). One can google for all the ideas that exist, but make no mistake, SS will survive. It’s known as the “third rail in politics” for a reason.

www.bankrate.com/retirement/social-security-funding-solutions/

[scooter]

Sept 20, 2024 21:44:14 GMT -5 GBG said:

US is not going bankrupt. The $80 trillion in unfunded liabilities is largely (not completely) offset by “unrealized future assets” on the other side of the ledger, ie the payroll and income tax revenues from the income of future earners. IOW, that scary $80 trillion number is gross number, not a net number.

Neither is Social Security going bankrupt, Things aren’t nearly as simple as that. Here is an article from Pete Peterson foundation, which is center-right.

www.pgpf.org/blog/2024/08/9-facts-about-social-security-and-the-need-to-strengthen-it

The funding gap, if not addressed by 2033, will result in a 21% cut to benefits. Social Security will be there for younger generations as the article details. Many fixes exist to eliminate the funding gap, such as raising the full retirement age, increasing the income cap subject to payroll tax, possibly with a donut hole as the Biden administration has recommended, and so forth (eg see below article). One can google for all the ideas that exist, but make no mistake, SS will survive. It’s known as the “third rail in politics” for a reason.

www.bankrate.com/retirement/social-security-funding-solutions/

Thanks for that. Some younger folks — perhaps motivated in part by a degree of ageism (the derisive “boomer” bit) — seem invested (pun intended) in the idea that the likes of social security is doomed and won’t be available to help them and that helps inform their disengagement from practical politics, moving them to support fringe parties/candidates that were not governing in the US 100 years ago or 50 years ago or 20 years ago or today and won’t be 20 years from now either. It’s a cop-out.

Social security and other social welfare programs have their challenges to be sure, but social security has been here since 1935. It has mostly eradicated senior poverty in the US (which was endemic prior to its implementation) and has successfully lifted 100+ million older Americans out of poverty. If it’s a “ponzi scheme”, it’s the biggest and longest lasting one in history. Declining birth rate is a challenge, but the world has no shortage of people, so a declining domestic birth rate can be ameliorated with immigration.

Social security and Medicare and the vast majority of labor and anti-discrimination laws were passed primarily by Democrats over Republican opposition. I don’t over-intellectualize my vote — since my grandparents arrived in the United States as immigrants in the very early 1900s, the Democratic Party has done far more good for most Americans than has the Republican Party. By doing so, Democrats have earned my vote. And we have a two-party system in which those parties do not have to form coalition governments with smaller parties as in parliamentary systems, so I’m extremely skeptical that votes for “third parties” influence the major parties in our current political era. I think it’s a binary choice and that believing otherwise (“my vote for the furry party candidate is going to influence the Democrats and the Republicans”) is folly.

[GBG]

To the above I’d add that SS is not a “social welfare program”. It is an insurance program, established and mandated by the government. A sort of “old age insurance”, which almost all advanced countries have in one form or another. The employed (even the self-employed) pay into the program with every paycheck, and it is matched by the employer. After 40 years of work, it adds up to a lot. The trouble with the SS program is that people are living a lot longer now than they did when it was established in the 1930’s. And birth rates are down, as scooter mentioned. These facts are why the funding for the program needs to be adjusted for benefits not to be cut. But it sure won’t go bankrupt. People wouldn’t stand for that.

Yes, it’s the liberals in the Democratic Party, going back to FDR, who have done so much good for the common person. Whether it’s SS, Medicare, public works projects during depression such as the Hoover Dam and Golden Gate Bridge, consumer protections, FDA, SEC and securities laws that came out of that agency, and I could go on. It is indeed liberals who have bettered people’s lives and increased the security of households nationwide. Even Republicans of the past had their “liberal moments” such as Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway system, or Nixon’s EPA.

The GOP is unrecognizable now. Nothing like the moderate pro-business party of the 1950’s or 60’s. It’s an authoritarian cult of personality that has no plans to improve the lives of our citizens.

[BBBbbb]

That time of the year when Ben Simmons drops videos of him shooting.

[Dante]

Sept 18, 2024 18:13:40 GMT -5 Dante said:

1st amendment



end of joke.

[GBG]

The Newsroom was a great series and that’s an iconic scene from first episode. It’s also over 10 years old. What’s your point?

[Dante]

Sept 22, 2024 20:11:46 GMT -5 GBG said:

The Newsroom was a great series and that’s an iconic scene from first episode. It’s also over 10 years old. What’s your point?

That your government and both parties in 2024 are more closer to communism than democracy. Your society lacks identidy and unity. Just an outsider point of view. 


Censorship, propaganda led media, colective brainwashing. Simply disgusting.

As a child and a young man, i was looking at USA as something like heaven on earth (or at least the best country in the world to work and live in). Now? I look it as a laughing stock, like a giant comedy show, soap opera, and more and more "chest bumping", which frankly scares me, to have one of the largest nuclear power force in the world be led by people who would not be anywhere close to power 30 years ago in USA.

It's your country, on one hand i dont care who is your president (all 3 of them Trump,Biden,Kamila are not worthy of that burden and responsability to the world not just USA which is the title of USA president)  but i am afraid that because of some stupidity we end up in nuclear war and world end, that's my point.

[GBG]

The only place I could find this on YouTube right now. Take two hours and watch it. It may clarify the way one of the presidential candidates should scare the hell out of you and who he surrounds himself with…

youtu.be/qhOhu0P1ASE?feature=shared

[JB]

looks like I was right and Netanayhu was indeed planning on setting the region on fire right before the election so Trump can position himself as the "law and order" candidate that will "fix everything on day one". when in reality Trump has promised his donors he will let Netanayhu Gaza-fy the West Bank.

so Biden and Harris provide Israel the weapons to commit a seemingly endless number of war crimes which has now extended to another nation, shield them from international law in the process which is greatly diminishing US standing around the world (a boon to Vladmir Putin's war effort) and Israel thanks them by conspiring with their political opposition so Trump can win. that's a great mutually beneficial relationship.

[GBG]

Sept 23, 2024 9:10:00 GMT -5 JB said:

looks like I was right and Netanayhu was indeed planning on setting the region on fire right before the election so Trump can position himself as the "law and order" candidate that will "fix everything on day one". when in reality Trump has promised his donors he will let Netanayhu Gaza-fy the West Bank.

so Biden and Harris provide Israel the weapons to commit a seemingly endless number of war crimes which has now extended to another nation, shield them from international law in the process which is greatly diminishing US standing around the world (a boon to Vladmir Putin's war effort) and Israel thanks them by conspiring with their political opposition so Trump can win. that's a great mutually beneficial relationship.

Nobody in America really has this issue at the top of their list of concerns, though. Unless it impacts Americans directly, ie blowback in the form of terrorist reprisal attacks on our soil, the outrage that we supply Israel with weapons that enable Netanyahu to escalate his war to include Lebanon as a means to help Trump doesn’t register with vapid undecided voters in PA. I’m as against what Netanyahu is doing as you are, but I believe others in America are mostly asleep on this issue, for now.

[JB]

you keep mentioning the hypothetical low-information undecided voter in PA when Kamala needs to worry about the Greens eating into their vote-share, particularly in swing states.

I'll tell you who does care about Netanayhu extending his genocidal campaign to Lebanon: black people, young people, progessives, Arabs and Muslims. the Democratic base, in other words. Kamala can very easily lose this election by depressing her own turnout by continuing her Biden-lite routine.

[GBG]

Sept 23, 2024 14:04:24 GMT -5 JB said:

you keep mentioning the hypothetical low-information undecided voter in PA when Kamala needs to worry about the Greens eating into their vote-share, particularly in swing states.

I'll tell you who does care about Netanayhu extending his genocidal campaign to Lebanon: black people, young people, progessives, Arabs and Muslims. the Democratic base, in other words. Kamala can very easily lose this election by depressing her own turnout by continuing her Biden-lite routine.

Gaza and Netanyahu ranks around 5th among the issues Gen Z cares about. The size of the voting cohort that would sit home or make a protest vote against Harris is very small, and outweighed by the number of pro-Israel center-right or even staunch conservatives in swing states who might listen to the Cheneys and vote for Harris. So she loses a few votes on the left end of the spectrum and picks up many more votes from right of center voters who are tired of Trump and want a normal strong leader who upholds traditional American values overseas. That’s the objective analysis you should be making, but instead you inject your personal opinions about this war and its affect in battleground states.

Politics is about tradeoffs. Triangulation was the term used about Bill Clinton, and I think it very much applies now as well. I agree with you on Gaza/Netanyahu. But I don’t let it cloud my political analysis.

[famicommander]

Logan O'Connor takes a major hometown discount. Signs a 6 year extension with the Avs (so he's signed for 7 more seasons including this one) at only 2.5 million per season. Trenin just got 3.5 million on the open market and O'Connor is straight up better across the board.

He must really love it here. 6 seasons with the Avs already in the bank plus he spent his college career at DU and his minor league career with the Eagles up in Loveland.

So that's a third line wing spot penciled in for the rest of the decade.

[famicommander]

Charlie Blackmon has announced his retirement.

He had been the longest tenured player for the Rockies. He was drafted by the team in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft. He spent three years climbing through the minor leagues until his June 2011 debut. He spent his entire career with the team and made 4 All Star teams, won 2 Silver Slugger awards, 1 batting title, and 1 triples title.

Seems likely he'll be the third player to have his number retired, after Walker's 33 and Helton's 17. Blackmon doesn't have a HOF resume like the former two, but he's every bit as deserving of the number retirement. A Rockie to his core.