Political Discussion

Indymisanthrope said:
That's not going to completely solve the issue you're describing, since not everyone receiving the stimulus funding actually needs it to pay for those cost of living expenses. For those who are out of work, sure: people with higher rent need more stimulus. But if I'm still working in Indiana and you're still working in Boston, and we're both making enough to cover our rent/mortgage, *then* why would you receiving more than me be an equitable solution?
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For me it's because my good paying job in the higher rent area has me living paycheck to paycheck to just pay bills. I have to work side gigs on top my full time job to get by. Those side gigs don't exist right now. So my income is less. However, since I'm still working my full time job I don't quality for any unemployment and the stimulus is all I get. For many people living high cost of living areas, the side gig economy is crucial. It's how they get by.

I know the point you are trying to make. And it does make sense. But it's not always as simple as that.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
Interesting (short) thread, relevant to some of the discussions that were happening here a few weeks ago.

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Yes!

On a not totally unrelated note: I'm disappointed, but not surprised given the pseudo-dream/drama state everyone is living in, that the Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler insider trading crimes aren't getting more play in the press. I hope that people circle-back to it before it gets completely lost with the pandemic.

Also:
Has everyone seen this Biden ad?

I don't really understand the strategy of trying to convince people that Trump sucks because Trump voters are going to be Trump voters. That being said, the ad is pretty-tight and appropriately damning
 
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jaycee said:
Yes!

On a not totally unrelated note: I'm disappointed, but not surprised given the pseudo-dream/drama state everyone is living in, that the Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler insider trading crimes aren't getting more play in the press. I hope that people circle-back to it before it gets completely lost with the pandemic.

Also:
Has everyone seen this Biden ad?

I don't really understand the strategy of trying to convince people that Trump sucks because Trump voters are going to be Trump voters. That being said, the ad is pretty-tight and appropriately damning
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It may not sway those entrenched in the Trump Train, but it's absolutely spot on and it should be out there........politics aside, it shows him for what he is.
 
AnthonyI said:
It may not sway those entrenched in the Trump Train, but it's absolutely spot on and it should be out there........politics aside, it shows him for what he is.
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Yeah totally agree. My questioning is more about the Biden campaign strategy. If the strategy is to motivate those waffling it doesn't make much sense to me because how much of the populous is really waffling or going to flip? - not many - and if it's about motivating an enthusiastic electorate it feel like preaching to the choir... but maybe consistent reminders about how awful the Trump presidency, etc. are is necessary... certainly the polls seem to be going in Trump's favor recently despite the complete fumbling of the pandemic response.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
One of the things people have said is we need an index of cost of living by region, and take it into account when issuing aid like this. This currently does not exist and could be very helpful.

I heard one person give an explanation of why this will absolutely not happen anytime soon. Reason being is this index could be used to for employees being moved by their employers to different cities across the country the index could be used to show the employer the cost of living is higher where they are being forced to move to keep their job and be used to help them negotiate a raise. Currently in situations like this, employers do not want to give cost of living raises to employees they consolidate into different offices.
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The Government already does this when deciding how much to pay Federal Employees with Locality Pay.

Edit: Look up "General Schedule Locality Pay Tables"

Edit 2: They could easily say the base coverage for the bill is $X and apply their Locality factors based on your address. They don't want to.
 
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Indymisanthrope said:
I thought it was good insight, but I'm not sure how to take the comment that black academics' endorsements of progressivism were "way off base." I think they are views that are in some conflict, but this language seems to want to further drive a wedge between intellectualism and the more pragmatic concerns of everyday people. I see that as a gap that needs to be bridged somehow, not a reason to dismiss the cognoscenti altogether.
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Agree that the gap needs to be addressed, but also mostly agree with the sentiment that academics can be one step removed from the motivations and needs of those outside of the intellectual-sphere.

To me, the specific pragmatism lens being discussed is something that 'the progressive policies are the medicine we all need to take crowd' needs to rectify to build a coalition to truly address equity. Social well-being is a difficult concept for Americans to understand and trust in general, but especially if your country, including your allies, have continually put up barriers to limit your progress.
 

Hours after President Trump signed a stimulus bill that includes $25 million for the Kennedy Center, its president, Deborah Rutter, told the National Symphony Orchestra that paychecks would end this week.
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I suspect much will be the same across many businesses as well. There is no requirement in the bill that requires companies accepting relief from to actually keep employees on the payroll. Thankfully they did get no stock buybacks added in.
 
Jan said:
www.theguardian.com

The missing six weeks: how Trump failed the biggest test of his life

The president was aware of the danger from the coronavirus – but a lack of leadership has created an emergency of epic proportions
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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This:

“The US response will be studied for generations as a textbook example of a disastrous, failed effort,” Ron Klain, who spearheaded the fight against Ebola in 2014, told a Georgetown university panel recently. “What’s happened in Washington has been a fiasco of incredible proportions.”

Jeremy Konyndyk, who led the US government’s response to international disasters at USAid from 2013 to 2017, frames the past six weeks in strikingly similar terms. He told the Guardian: “We are witnessing in the United States one of the greatest failures of basic governance and basic leadership in modern times.”
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One of the things I picked up in the above article is a lot of it has to do with ideology.

Republican governors believe stay wide stay at home orders to be wildly inappropriate and government being too intrusive.

Missouri's governor believes that "it is going to be personal responsibility" that wins the struggle against the virus. Texas governor says "In times such as these, you always have experts who believe they know best for everybody, You have some folks who think that government ought to take over everything in times of crisis — that they, as government officials, know better than individual citizens."

Overall they feel that what might be the right call for large urban areas is not the right call for smaller counties with fewer cases at this time.


In other words, they believe it's the citizens personal decision whether or not they decide to stay home and practice social distancing. That for the most part is not always a decision. For many it's not a choice whether or not they have to go into work. In many red states even where jobs could allow for working at home, workers are expected to show up at the office. Working from home is not an option when the business has a conservative mindset. So it's life as usual for many people in red states.
 
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