Political Discussion

MikeH said:
As a lifelong NYer it is SO bizarre to see the complete 180 in public sentiment toward Cuomo this past month or so. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it right now—he has been handling a lot of things very well as of late, but the guy was extremely disliked prior to COVID. It’s just strange.
Click to expand...
His policies still absolutely suck, but he's definitely showing leadership through this crisis. But... didn't he cut Medicaid funding? Fuck Cuomo, but fully fuck the federal administration 100 times over.
 
Twentytwo said:
I guess you find out who the real leaders are in times of crisis. He’s passed with flying colors in my opinion. I don’t know whether he’s a good governor or not since I don’t live in New York but I’ve been impressed with his leadership and realness. He’s a straight shooter without being an asshole.
Click to expand...
Yes. I think he has handled this one crisis well and shown leadership. But behind the scenes while this is happening, he is cutting Medicaid by 2.5 billion and keeping the current levels of state education funding which is a de facto cut since state education costs are rising. He has also had tons of corruption in his administration involving pay to play and other things of that nature.
 
Lee Newman said:
What’s the bandanna for? Ironic style choice?
Click to expand...
My body. My fashion choice.

Apparently Kentucky had big protests to reopen the government and then saw their highest single-day increase in Covid cases...

I really do understand the desire for people to get back to normal and reopen everything. Lots of people are losing their jobs, have mortgage payments and bills to pay, etc. If the government had their shit together and did what many other nations are doing by temporarily halting rent and mortgage payments, giving frequent stimulus checks, and more, people wouldn't be protesting. But a one-time $1,200 check isn't going to cut it. And when a ton of the small business bailout money is going to huge chains like Ruth's Chris and Shake Shack (who is returning the $10 mil they got supposedly) and most of my local stores can't get access to any of the small business loans, then of course people are going to panic and want things to go back to as normal as possible. There are people working at local shops near me who don't want to go to work but have to because if they stop going and lose their job, they will no longer receive health insurance for themselves and their families. It's absolutely insane.

I am a small business owner but I'm extremely lucky since my fiancée's job is stable, we get healthcare through her and even though most of my work has suddenly dried up, we are still okay between the two of us. We are supposed to get married at the end of August but unsure now if things will be better by then so we'll have to make a decision on whether or not to postpone. Luckily, all of our vendors are being extremely flexible so we won't lose money if we postpone. I know many others are not as lucky. We are trying to support our local businesses as much as we can since so many of them are struggling, but some have already been forced to close as none of them can get access to the small business loans.
 
Last edited:
MikeH said:
Yes. I think he has handled this one crisis well and shown leadership. But behind the scenes while this is happening, he is cutting Medicaid by 2.5 billion and keeping the current levels of state education funding which is a de facto cut since state education costs are rising. He has also had tons of corruption in his administration involving pay to play and other things of that nature.
Click to expand...

As someone living in New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy it really just takes the bare minimum of an elected public official actually working for their constituents during a crisis to change the public perception. I doubt Cuomo will burn through the goodwill he's built up as fast as Christie, but it'll happen eventually.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
If nothing else it's probably a signal of how starved we are for officials who exhibit basic competencies.
Click to expand...
crazy that we were seeing some people on the internet a few weeks ago pining for GWB getting us through 9/11. Like, did they forget literally everything else he did?

Also, Trump would coast to re-election if he acted even a little bit competent in handling everything.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
RIGHT?! Like if he put even a minimal amount of effort into acting like a normal human being? The ONE day he did that, the day he spoke at the briefing about having a talk with Barron about the pandemic (which, first off, is that the only time you can think of Trump even mentioning Barron, much less having any kind of interaction with him at all? But I digress...), people were like "Oh, he finally gets it, he's going to be serious about this and get it together," and the very next day he was back to blaming the media.

He doesn't have to care. He doesn't even have to *be* competent. But if he could even pretend to be for more than a few minutes at a time, he'd have a much easier time.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I really expected this to happen. All he had to do is keep his mouth shut, read some prepared statements about solidarity and caution and defer to the experts. That's it. But he just can't. That's never been more clear than in this time.
 
dhodo said:
Yeah, I really expected this to happen. All he had to do is keep his mouth shut, read some prepared statements about solidarity and caution and defer to the experts. That's it. But he just can't. That's never been more clear than in this time.
Click to expand...
He has fired most of the "experts" and replaced them with sycophants and yes men who are loyal to him and just as crooked.
 
Here is one huge reason we need medicare for all.

Why hospitals are facing financial ruin and furloughing staff during the coronavirus pandemic - CNN

The article has said rural hospitals have been really struggling over the last couple years. Cuts to medicare and and older population have many on financial edge. Rural hospitals are closing or filling for bankruptcy.

COVID-19 has produced the perfect store to push them over the edge.

With elective procedures suspended and much lower rates of COVID-19 they can't afford to stay open.

The video portion of the article talked about a hospital who filed for bankruptcy late last year. When COVID-19 hit and elective procedures were suspended they had to furlough a good portion of their staff. Today they got word from their owners that they are too close.


Rural hospitals could close at alarming rates due to COVID-19 and the combination of the above scenarios.
 
Trump signed an executive order today temporarily stopping all immigration for an unspecified period of time.

He is saying he is doing this to protect American Citizens from potentially being exposed to COVID-19. He thinks the immigrants are bringing and spreading COVID-19 which does not align with what the health experts are saying.

Democrats and the media are reporting that he is doing this to appeal to his base and that it's an election year. It does not help at all with slowing the spread.

Other republicans agree with Trump's order and say the democrats and the media are just trying to stir the pot for political reasons.
 
Harvard's relief money
Trump threatened Harvard University, saying the institution took coronavirus funding "meant for workers."
Trump was responding to a question about how the federal government would retrieve funds from large companies securing loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, which were supposed to be for small businesses. "Harvard's going to pay back the money. They shouldn't be taking it. ... I'm not going to mention any other names, but when I saw Harvard, they have one of the largest endowments anywhere in the country, maybe in the world, I guess. And they're going to pay back that money."
Facts First: Harvard did receive funding from the coronavirus relief money, but Trump didn't distinguish between two separate sources of federal funding within the CARES Act coronavirus package -- the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund and the Paycheck Protection Program. The relief fund is primarily meant to provide financial relief grants to students. The paycheck program is a set of loans meant for small businesses, which Harvard never applied for or received.
Click to expand...

Why is Trump going after Harvard?
 
MikeH said:
Nope. He has instead seen this as a time to stoke fear, try to get even on people who were "mean" to him and make himself and his cronies wealthy.
Click to expand...
The unfortunate bottom line is that he knows all he has is his hardcore base, questionable if that alone can get him reelected, but none the less, in his head he's sticking to "what got him here". None of the Republicans are going to stand up to him or question him, they're just going to go hide until the smoke clears. It doesn't seem like there is any other way of removing him from office and he, along with his supporters, suffer from amnesia when it comes to the things he says and does.

So until there's a way to cork his pie hole and or "illuminate" the masses that feel he can do no wrong, it's The Don circus from here until November.......regardless of who and how many get hurt or how much the country as a nation gets turned inside out.
 
Here is something you will find really maddening.

www.usatoday.com

Chase and other banks shuffled Paycheck Protection Program small business applications, lawsuit says

The move meant that Chase would collect larger processing fees, nearly $6 billion in total. The suit follows similar allegations against Wells Fargo.
www.usatoday.com

In the suit filed on Sunday, a cybersecurity firm and event planning company accused Chase Bank of prioritizing small business borrowers who were seeking larger loan amounts rather than processing the government-sponsored loan applications on a first-come, first-served basis as advertised.

The move meant that Chase and other banks would collect larger processing fees – nearly $6 billion in total – by frontloading the queue with businesses seeking higher loans, according to the lawsuit.

The businesses seeking lower loans were deprioritized, so many didn't get the aid they were entitled to, the lawsuit filed on behalf of small businesses said.


Eighty percent of PPP loans processed through Chase went to businesses with less than $5 million in revenue. About half went to small businesses with less than $100,000, the bank said.

The proof of Chase prioritizing larger borrowers lies in numbers provided by the Small Business Administration, the lawsuit alleges. In the past three days, before the PPP loan money ran out, banks allegedly processed loan applications for $150,000 and under at twice the rate of larger loans.

This would suggest that banks prioritized applications for the largest loans early on, otherwise "the percentage change of applications submitted in the last three days of the program would be consistent among all application types," the plaintiffs claim.
Click to expand...


Essentially it was rigged in favor of larger business who take out larger loans because it's more profitable for the bank. They were given priority over small business. Loans were not handled in a first come first serve basis. Also explains why the money ran out so quick.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top