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Author Topic: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa  (Read 466631 times)

Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10460 on: May 15, 2021, 01:02:57 pm »

Specifically here, I'm referring to the Republican idea that legislatures should *ignore* the state's popular vote and send electors for Trump anyway, or the idea that Pence should have refused to certify and thrown it back to the House where Republicans have a state-number advantage.   
First off, you have that backward.  It was democrats in Democratic controlled states that have decided to vote for democrats even if the votes were in favor of Republicans.  Also, you've forgotten how Hillary and Democrats tried to get Trump electors to vote for her.  As it turned out, more Clinton electors voted for Trump than Trump electors voted for Hillary. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-last-shot-bid-thousands-urge-electoral-college-to-block-trump-at-monday-vote/2016/12/17/125fa84a-c327-11e6-8422-eac61c0ef74d_story.html

Faithless electors in the 2016 United States presidential election

In the 2016 United States presidential election, ten members of the Electoral College voted or attempted to vote for a candidate different from the ones to whom they were pledged.[1] Three of these votes were invalidated under the faithless elector laws of their respective states, and the elector either subsequently voted for the pledged candidate or was replaced by someone who did.[2][3][4] Although there had been a combined total of 155 instances of individual electors voting faithlessly prior to 2016 in over two centuries of previous US presidential elections, 2016 was the first election in over a hundred years in which multiple electors worked to alter the result of the election.[1]

As a result of the seven successfully cast faithless votes, the Democratic Party nominee, Hillary Clinton, lost five of her pledged electors while the Republican Party nominee and then president-elect, Donald Trump, lost two. Three of the faithless electors voted for Colin Powell while John Kasich, Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders, and Faith Spotted Eagle each received one vote. The defections fell well short of the number needed to change the result of the election; only two of the seven defected from the winner, whereas 37 were needed to defect in order to force a contingent election in Congress (a tally of less than 270).[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_electors_in_the_2016_United_States_presidential_election

James Clark

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10461 on: May 15, 2021, 01:10:05 pm »

Again, I'm not talking about faithless electors (though I agree that electors should be bound by the will of their state's governing laws).  I'm talking about Republican state legislators that wanted to disregard the popular vote and instead appoint Trump president via sending electors that would subvert the will of the state's population, so stop throwing false equivalencies at me :)

Here's the telling thing - I'm not saying anything that people like Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy weren't saying on January 7th.  Now they've changed their tune and want to "move on" because Donald Trump won't go away, and the Republican base is cool with his lies.  (75% of those idiots think the election was fraudulent.) 
« Last Edit: May 15, 2021, 01:15:27 pm by James Clark »
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10462 on: May 15, 2021, 01:13:28 pm »

Sure, and in general I share your concern.  What we've seen for over a decade now though is that maybe those concerns are misplaced - I really don't know.  What I do know is that I'm more comfortable fixing the immediate problem and then fixing the fallout later.  Sort of like you don't hold off on radiation even though it'll cause cancer in 30 years, because it'll cure the cancer that you have today, today...
Consuming by printing more money doesn't help.  It just reduces the value of money as more money is chasing fewer goods and services.  That's especially hurtful to middle and lower-income families.  Their income doesn't go as far any longer.  It also shrinks the economy causing more unemployment. Also, a lot of the money winds up in China and other countries because we're not producing the goods that the money is buying.  Then, next year and for years that follow, we have to pay more in taxes to pay back the additional debt, like an extra credit card you tapped out.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. 

Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10463 on: May 15, 2021, 01:22:30 pm »

Again, I'm not talking about faithless electors (though I agree that electors should be bound by the will of their state's governing laws).  I'm talking about Republican state legislators that wanted to disregard the popular vote and instead appoint Trump president via sending electors that would subvert the will of the state's population, so stop throwing false equivalencies at me :)

Here's the telling thing - I'm not saying anything that people like Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy weren't saying on January 7th.  Now they've changed their tune and want to "move on" because Donald Trump won't go away, and the Republican base is cool with his lies.  (75% of those idiots think the election was fraudulent.) 
Hillary tried to do the same thing in 2016 to get electors assigned to Trump to change their vote to her.  See my earlier post. It's BS when either side tries it.  It's just that the biased press doesn't mention it much when democrats do it. As far as Trump, I think he's done or would hope so.  I would like to see another person, younger, brighter, a governor, along the lines of Florida's DeSantis.  Someone younger and less senile than I am.  :)

Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10464 on: May 15, 2021, 01:32:40 pm »

And they can't order more cars, because the car manfacturers were shortsighted as well and didn't order enough computer chips from chip foundries who need 2 years to ramp up their production. True, this is not an example of a classical inflation, but prices were raised excessively nevertheless and they will never return to the pre-pandemic levels.
I was reading that some car dealers are charging more for last year's model than the new one because the delays to get a new model take so long. Meanwhile, because we haven't driven as we usually do over the last year because of the pandemic, we'll have close to 10,000 unused miles on my car's lease when it ends in December. It may pay to buy it from the leasing company and resell it at a higher price if things stay as they are now. 

LesPalenik

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10465 on: May 15, 2021, 02:48:02 pm »

One more consequence to the high car rental prices and shortages - many flight cancellations if you can't get a car at your planned destination.
Instead, the RV rentals and gas companies will get more business, since most vacationers will drive instead of flying.
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10466 on: May 15, 2021, 03:23:53 pm »

How do you drive to Hawaii?:)

LesPalenik

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10467 on: May 15, 2021, 04:13:25 pm »

How do you drive to Hawaii?:)

You swim. Or make a change this year and drive to Yukon.
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chez

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10468 on: May 15, 2021, 06:23:16 pm »

I checked rentals in Oahu for July 17-24 through AARP Avis and they have no cars available.  That's pretty cheap.  :)

Got a minivan ( there will be 5 of us ) through Costco for the first two weeks in October on Kauai for $1280. Not that bad...but my last trip in Croatia the car rental cost me $245 for two weeks.
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chez

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10469 on: May 15, 2021, 06:26:53 pm »

Rental companies sold off much of their inventory due to travel being basically nonexistent.  Now they have 10% of the cars they did before, and can't keep up with demand.  Hence availability problems and crazy prices.  Also not inflation.

The other big problem is there is only two real companies now that supply the car rentals under different names. This is especially true in Hawaii...very little competition and so easy to set the rates high between these two competitors.
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chez

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10470 on: May 15, 2021, 06:29:08 pm »

Inflation is the expansion of the money supply as we have had under Trump and now Biden and before both as well.  Prices going up or down can occur because of inflation and/or other reasons.  Most experts predict that inflation is causing price increases.  I think the 4.2% and .9% just published is just the start of a period of higher prices caused by inflation. I hope the president and congress now see it coming and will lower their insistence on huge giveaway and infrastructure programs.  If you haven't lived through the 1970s and early 1980s as I did and experienced runaway prices and less economic productivity and jobs (called "stagflation"), you're in for a huge shock.

Bought my first house in 81 with a mortgage rate of around 18%. Yeh, those were the days.
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chez

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10471 on: May 15, 2021, 06:31:38 pm »

And they can't order more cars, because the car manfacturers were shortsighted as well and didn't order enough computer chips from chip foundries who need 2 years to ramp up their production. True, this is not an example of a classical inflation, but prices were raised excessively nevertheless and they will never return to the pre-pandemic levels.

That's so true. Prices will come down...but not to what they were prior to the pendemic. Greed rules today's business.
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Chris Kern

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10472 on: May 15, 2021, 06:33:43 pm »

Rental companies sold off much of their inventory due to travel being basically nonexistent.  Now they have 10% of the cars they did before, and can't keep up with demand.  Hence availability problems and crazy prices.  Also not inflation.

I believe the recondite technical term is "supply and demand."  Or, if you prefer, market economics.

LesPalenik

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10473 on: May 15, 2021, 07:26:37 pm »

I believe the recondite technical term is "supply and demand."  Or, if you prefer, market economics.

I would call it a poor, haphazard planning.
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James Clark

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10474 on: May 15, 2021, 09:10:57 pm »

I believe the recondite technical term is "supply and demand."  Or, if you prefer, market economics.

I have been assured - probably here on these very Internets - that the Republican Party is in favor of such things, and that they are self correcting.  How can they possibly have a problem with what's happening?
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10475 on: May 15, 2021, 09:59:32 pm »

... There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Unless you're Amazon and want to open a new warehouse with taxpayer help.
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Robert

LesPalenik

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10476 on: May 15, 2021, 11:14:08 pm »

How about a few predictions? What will the Covid virus death total be in the US when we finally fully open, possibly next summer or fall. (Or, if you're not from the US, give us the current tool and your country, and what you think it will be at full opening.)

I'm thinking somewhere between 575,000 and 600,000 in the US.

UPDATE: By Sunday, May 16 2021, the Covid death total in US will exceed 600,000. That's over 86,000 deaths in 2.5 months since March 1.
According to worldometer stats, Friday's total was 752, Saturday's 499.

Projecting 400-450 additional deaths on an average for the remaining 229 days of the year, the total US toll by year end could reach 700,000.
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10477 on: May 15, 2021, 11:27:11 pm »

The other big problem is there is only two real companies now that supply the car rentals under different names. This is especially true in Hawaii...very little competition and so easy to set the rates high between these two competitors.
I;ve counted over two dozen including the large national ones like Avis, Hertz, Budget, National etc. Then there are loads of local rental places.
https://www.google.com/search?q=car+rental+hawaii&oq=car+rental+ha&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i131i433j0l3.12544j0j7&client=tablet-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#trex=m_r:1,m_t:gwp,rc_q:car%2520rental%2520hawaii,rc_ui:2,ru_gwp:0%252C6,ru_q:car%2520rental%2520hawaii,trex_id:UNzB3c

Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10478 on: May 15, 2021, 11:29:19 pm »

That's so true. Prices will come down...but not to what they were prior to the pendemic. Greed rules today's business.
Competition limits higher pricing.  No one is forcing you to buy Leica.

Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #10479 on: May 15, 2021, 11:35:36 pm »

I have been assured - probably here on these very Internets - that the Republican Party is in favor of such things, and that they are self correcting.  How can they possibly have a problem with what's happening?
It was the government that shut down the economy.  Now it's going to screw it up even more by printing more and causing huge price increases.  It rather than free markets will decide where huge amounts of money will be spent adding to the misallocations.  It's socialism not capitalism that's making a mess out of it.
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