Political Discussion

[mrjoshuamccormack]

This is maybe the best argument against "Latinx" that I've seen so far, and something I hadn't considered before now:

I hadn't really looked into the history of the term:

“White people did not make up Latinx,” he says. “It was queer Latinx people... They are the ones who used the word. Our little subgroup of the community created that. It was created by English-speaking U.S. Latinx people for use in English conversation.”

\\\
So apparently it was never meant to be a Spanish word.

from Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms

 

[gouis]

I hadn't really looked into the history of the term:

“White people did not make up Latinx,” he says. “It was queer Latinx people... They are the ones who used the word. Our little subgroup of the community created that. It was created by English-speaking U.S. Latinx people for use in English conversation.”

\\\
So apparently it was never meant to be a Spanish word.

from Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms

Interesting. Maybe not surprising given the use of "folx" by some of the same groups.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announces second special session of state legislature

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday called for a second special session of the state legislature to begin this weekend, after Democratic lawmakers fled the state to block a restrictive voting bill.

www.cnn.com

To no surprise Greg Abbott called for a second specially session today. It will start 12 hours after the previous one ends.

In addition to the voter suppression, the filing for the special session also shows he trying to pass a bill that would ban mask mandates in schools.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

 

[nolalady]

Best healthcare in the world thanks to no universal health care!

Mirror, Mirror 2021: Reflecting Poorly

The United States trails far behind other high-income countries on measures of health care affordability, administrative efficiency, equity, and outcomes.

www.commonwealthfund.org

The top-performing countries overall are Norway, the Netherlands, and Australia (Exhibit 1).

The next three countries in the ranking — the U.K., Germany, and New Zealand — perform very similarly to one another (Exhibit 2). The U.S. ranks #11 — last. Exhibit 2 shows the extent to which the U.S. is an outlier: its performance falls well below the average of the other countries and far below the two countries ranked directly above it, Switzerland and Canada. In fact, the U.S. is such an outlier that we have calculated the average performance based on the other 10 countries, excluding the U.S. (see How We Measured Performance). The U.S. is last on all domains of performance except care process, on which it ranks #2.

 

[RenegadeMonster]

Speaking of healthcare @nolalady , I had my physical last week and talked to my doctor about labs. I can't afford them. Until my deductible is met, I owe 100% of the bill due for labs.

When talking about this with my doctor there is no such thing as "preventative labs" anymore. It's something the insurance industry had made sure to eliminate. Labs can't be preventative because if they find anything, it's a preexisting condition.

Most insurance companies have also done away with "annual labs" and they generally bill the patient for 20% for all lab services in a co-insurance format. My insurance unfortunately, makes me pick up the entire tab until my deductible is met.

Last time I had my annual labs my bill was more than $400.

Yup, we have the best healthcare in the world

 

[Chucktshoes]

You have some actual data on this?

My viewpoint is admittedly based on anecdotal evidence. I spent the last year and a half seeing story after story of government imposed mandates closing and driving small business owners out of business. From gyms to restaurants and beyond, folks who at least wanted to attempt to serve their customers who wanted to patronize them were prevented from doing so sometimes at gunpoint by local and state orders.

The pandemic absolutely was going to result in economic fallout and damage, but I still maintain that government lockdown orders exacerbated that damage.

I do find it interesting for all of the hate for Bezos, the Waltons, and other megacorps, there seems to be a lot of folks dead set on actions that will only continue to make them stronger as they are the ones who have come out of the last year economically better than they went into it.

 

[Dtknuckles]

My viewpoint is admittedly based on anecdotal evidence. I spent the last year and a half seeing story after story of government imposed mandates closing and driving small business owners out of business. From gyms to restaurants and beyond, folks who at least wanted to attempt to serve their customers who wanted to patronize them were prevented from doing so sometimes at gunpoint by local and state orders.

The pandemic absolutely was going to result in economic fallout and damage, but I still maintain that government lockdown orders exacerbated that damage.

I do find it interesting for all of the hate for Bezos, the Waltons, and other megacorps, there seems to be a lot of folks dead set on actions that will only continue to make them stronger as they are the ones who have come out of the last year economically better than they went into it.

The unemployment rate in Tx is slightly lower than California.

Unemployment Rates for States

www.bls.gov

Despite severe restrictions CA still outpaced Tx in gdp for 2020, by a lot.

Real GDP by state U.S. 2022 | Statista

California, Texas, New York, and Florida each contributed over a trillion dollars to the United States GDP in 2022.

www.statista.com

Per capita infection rate in CA are lower than Texas.

U.S. states with the highest COVID rates 2023 | Statista

As of Mar. 2023, two U.S. states had COVID rates higher than 42 cases per 100 population. Maryland had the lowest rate of cases.

www.statista.com

Same is true for the death rates.

U.S. COVID death rate by state 2023 | Statista

As of March 2023, Arizona had the highest COVID death rate in the U.S., with 455 deaths per 100,000 population. Hawaii had the lowest death rate.

www.statista.com

 

[Chucktshoes]

The unemployment rate in Tx is slightly lower than California.

Unemployment Rates for States

www.bls.gov

Despite severe restrictions CA still outpaced Tx in gdp for 2020, by a lot.

Real GDP by state U.S. 2022 | Statista

California, Texas, New York, and Florida each contributed over a trillion dollars to the United States GDP in 2022.

www.statista.com

Per capita infection rate in CA are lower than Texas.

U.S. states with the highest COVID rates 2023 | Statista

As of Mar. 2023, two U.S. states had COVID rates higher than 42 cases per 100 population. Maryland had the lowest rate of cases.

www.statista.com

Same is true for the death rates.

U.S. COVID death rate by state 2023 | Statista

As of March 2023, Arizona had the highest COVID death rate in the U.S., with 455 deaths per 100,000 population. Hawaii had the lowest death rate.

www.statista.com

Citing the straight GDP isn’t helpful. California has long outpaced Texas GDP by a significant amount. That doesn’t mean a whole lot. Even a 2019-2020 comparison of gdp %growth wouldn’t be a true tell. You’d have to do a longer term comparison of trends in a multitude of data points to get an accurate picture. Things like population changes, per capita changes, business openings/closings, etc before you could really determine the economic effects of the lockdowns. It’ll be even more complex to isolate the effects on small business.

Until that type of complex analysis is done we’re all just going off of anecdotes, gut feelings and personal biases.

 

[Dtknuckles]

Citing the straight GDP isn’t helpful. California has long outpaced Texas GDP by a significant amount. That doesn’t mean a whole lot. Even a 2019-2020 comparison of gdp %growth wouldn’t be a true tell. You’d have to do a longer term comparison of trends in a multitude of data points to get an accurate picture. Things like population changes, per capita changes, business openings/closings, etc before you could really determine the economic effects of the lockdowns. It’ll be even more complex to isolate the effects on small business.

Until that type of complex analysis is done we’re all just going off of anecdotes, gut feelings and personal biases.

You are right percent change would be a better measure of gdp. And a more complex study should be done.

Be done where all states were included to show trends rather than two isolated, but initial comparison doesn’t suggest that government was the problem.

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Citing the straight GDP isn’t helpful. California has long outpaced Texas GDP by a significant amount. That doesn’t mean a whole lot. Even a 2019-2020 comparison of gdp %growth wouldn’t be a true tell. You’d have to do a longer term comparison of trends in a multitude of data points to get an accurate picture. Things like population changes, per capita changes, business openings/closings, etc before you could really determine the economic effects of the lockdowns. It’ll be even more complex to isolate the effects on small business.

Until that type of complex analysis is done we’re all just going off of anecdotes, gut feelings and personal biases.

The funny thing is, cities like Austin and Miami have made large inroads in the technic industry mostly at the expense of Silicon Valley due to lower cost of living and a more “business friendly” environment (lower taxes, less regulation, etc…) but beyond creating more revenue within the state it also attracts more people, and these people tend to be younger and more liberal, these people will vote for more liberal policies and policy makers that will pass laws that increase regulation and taxes, this along with major ethnic demographic shifts in both Texas and Florida will eventually land them closer to California than Arkansas and Alabama.

 

[Chucktshoes]

You are right percent change would be a better measure of gdp. And a more complex study should be done.

Be done where all states were included to show trends rather than two isolated, but initial comparison doesn’t suggest that government was the problem.

That’s my point, the raw data doesn’t show anything one way or another. Attempting to extrapolate anything out if it is more revealing of personal biases than any true conclusion. The data that would answer the question at hand simply doesn’t exist.

 

[Chucktshoes]

The funny thing is, cities like Austin and Miami have made large inroads in the technic industry mostly at the expense of Silicon Valley due to lower cost of living and a more “business friendly” environment (lower taxes, less regulation, etc…) but beyond creating more revenue within the state it also attracts more people, and these people tend to be younger and more liberal, these people will vote for more liberal policies and policy makers that will pass laws that increase regulation and taxes, this along with major ethnic demographic shifts in both Texas and Florida will eventually land them closer to California than Arkansas and Alabama.

Yes and no. A sizable contingent of those who are fleeing places like California and New York are the less liberal citizens who feel they no longer have representation. They are likely less inclined to vote for the same kinds of policies which they were fleeing. Some will be idiots and flee those places without understanding that when they vote for liberal politicians they are voting for the conditions that caused them to flee in the first place. Lather rinse repeat.

Analyses of voter trends in 2016 amd 2020 has proven that both partisan sides of the “demographics is destiny“ argument are wrong. Donald Trump captured more Black and brown voters than any Republican presidential candidate in decades. So while I don’t pretend to know what the future holds on the front, the prevailing wisdom that those cities will drag those states left shouldn’t necessarily be taken as the gospel.


That reminds me. I want to throw this prediction out now while it’s on my mind.

The Democrats are going to lose the house in 2022.

 

[Dtknuckles]

That’s my point, the raw data doesn’t show anything one way or another. Attempting to extrapolate anything out if it is more revealing of personal biases than any true conclusion. The data that would answer the question at hand simply doesn’t exist.

No your point was that government caused the problem and you came to that conclusion without any attempt to back up that assertion.

 

[Chucktshoes]

No your point was that government caused the problem and you came to that conclusion without any attempt to back up that assertion.

Jesus fucking christ.

I was referring to the post you directly quoted.


Also, I didn’t say it was the sole cause of the economic issues. In fact I did grant that the pandemic was absolutely a cause. My assertion is that the government exacerbated the problem through its actions.

From the beginning I admitted that my conclusion was based on anecdotal accounts. I didn’t attempt to back it up with data because the data doesn’t exist. The data doesn’t exist currently to either support or disprove my assertion.

 

[yukbon]

In other news, woke white people need to stop saying Latinx

No Preferred Racial Term Among Most Black, Hispanic Adults

Most Black and Hispanic Americans do not have a preference when asked which term they would rather people use to describe their racial group.

news.gallup.com

I hate hate hate "latinx" and mock anyone using it well past pettiness and into boorishness. It's like saying halapeeno instead of jalapeño. Spanish is a gendered language (and ñ is not n) and just because you're lazy doesn't mean you can change the rules of the language.

 

[yukbon]

Interesting. Maybe not surprising given the use of "folx" by some of the same groups.

Never understood that; folks is already gender neutral. It seems like an dumb attempt at attention grabbing.

 

[yukbon]

Yes and no. A sizable contingent of those who are fleeing places like California and New York are the less liberal citizens who feel they no longer have representation.

Man if you're leaving NY and CA for Austin and Miami because NY/ CA was too liberal and you want something that represents your conservative values, you are in for Bad Time.

The Democrats are going to lose the house in 2022.

Agreed. Mostly because they're not inspiring huge turnout or unified action. Biden is doing well but they need something splashy that will motivate people to get out and actually vote. Say what you will about racist spreadnecks but they are definitely motivated (mostly by spite, even against their self interest).

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

That reminds me. I want to throw this prediction out now while it’s on my mind.

The Democrats are going to lose the house in 2022.

I would say this is currently the expected result. The party in power usually loses seats during the midterm. If the GOP doesn’t take back the house in 2022 it would be a pretty big upset and also would likely put a nail in the coffin of MAGA as an influential portion of the GOP. Also, states that lost seat vs states that gained seat following the 2020 census favors GOP controlled states which will allow them to gerrymander districts further. It’s why many on the Left are trying to hammer through as much as possible over the remaining year and a half before Speaker McCarthy starts only allowing show votes on repealing Obamacare, banning trans athletes and Critical Race Theory from schools nationwide and cutting taxes…Oh, and all the “investigative” hearings on Hunter Biden’s laptop and all the “election fraud”.

 

[Chucktshoes]

Man if you're leaving NY and CA for Austin and Miami because NY/ CA was too liberal and you want something that represents your conservative values, you are in for Bad Time.

Haha. Fair point. I should have been clearer that I wasn’t necessarily referring to those cities in particular, but the larger trends as a whole relating to those demographic shifts.