Political Discussion

nolalady said:
So they've cut 2 year community college for everyone and now they are going to cut nutrition to the poorest children. This seems like the perfect way to compete with China. I guess the only thing that our kids should learn is how to say "Do you want fries with that?" in Mandarin.
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How do you decide that other stuff in the bill is more important than those things? You know, things that would actually benefit people who need it.
 
dbarila said:
I guess I'm used to thinking like someone with a conscience.
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The problem is campaign finance. In an environment where there is little and weak regulation election campaigns have become increasingly complex and expensive. It requires huge finance from the uber rich. No matter how principled you set out to be you owe them once in office if you ever want to be re elected.
 
dbarila said:
How do you decide that other stuff in the bill is more important than those things? You know, things that would actually benefit people who need it.
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Pramilla Jayapal was on the local Seattle news today (she leads the Progressive Caucus) and was saying their current hope for paring down the bill to the 1.9 Trillion price tag is to keep as many things in the bill as possible but then not make them all permanent. So example, allow for the free Junior College for the next 5 year. Once the 5 years are up it would be up to Congress to vote to keep it going. I know the jaded amongst us would likely see this as a half measure that likely would hit the chopping block once the next GOP Congress rises to power but keep in mind that once these programs exist any elimination of them is essentially a tax on the middle and lower class. It’s a lot harder to end these programs once they exist especially if they are proven popular than it is to completely remove them from the package and hope Congress will get to them some time down the road.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Not to mention there is another robot called "Flippy" being heavily invested in right now. It can automate cooking of burgers and fries.

By the time the kids are old enough to have jobs, automation would have taken over.
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Yeah, there is a burger place in Seattle the just began using Flippy and the owner claims that he will hire the same about of people he will just have them focus on different areas of running the restaurant which is of course bullshit, check back in 5 years.

www.google.com

Meet 'Flippy': The robot that's cooking burgers at this Shoreline restaurant

The autonomous robot by Miso Robotics will be grilling up burgers and fries at CaliBurger's new Shoreline location.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
dbarila said:
How do you decide that other stuff in the bill is more important than those things? You know, things that would actually benefit people who need it.
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Other than we rule with capitalism and socialism is inherently evil in our country I have always wondered this. Why is it the things that would make the most difference to people, basic education, social safety nets and whatnot that are always on the chopping block.

Why not defense contracts or other things that only benefit the wealthy or special interest.

I know the answer is money. But is there more to it?
 
RenegadeMonster said:
Other than we rule with capitalism and socialism is inherently evil in our country I have always wondered this. Why is it the things that would make the most difference to people, basic education, social safety nets and whatnot that are always on the chopping block.

Why not defense contracts or other things that only benefit the wealthy or special interest.

I know the answer is money. But is there more to it?
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This is the most dangerous question, right here.
 
dbarila said:
How do you decide that other stuff in the bill is more important than those things? You know, things that would actually benefit people who need it.
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The defense budget didn't get cut at all, even though we are "no longer at war". I believe we kept in the funding for Israel's Iron Dome defense system. We are also getting no prescription drug legislation because Sinema is being paid off by lobbyists.

Ever since the late 80's, we've been obsessed with next quarter and only next quarter because CEO compensation started being tied to the stock value. Since then, our politicians have been unable to think about what will happen in 10 or 5 years, and instead focus on financially leveraging things to benefit the most for next quarter. Things like investing in children and education who's benefits will not materialize next quarter, seems to be too hard for their brains. So we are stuck in a loop of short sightedness that becomes increasingly bought and controlled by corporate interests who are only concerned with stock dividends--each quarter. Our government is incapable of seeing past that, because with the neoliberal doctrine of making governments more like businesses, our officials increasingly take cues from the corporate world; thus perpetuating this cycle.
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Pramilla Jayapal was on the local Seattle news today (she leads the Progressive Caucus) and was saying their current hope for paring down the bill to the 1.9 Trillion price tag is to keep as many things in the bill as possible but then not make them all permanent. So example, allow for the free Junior College for the next 5 year. Once the 5 years are up it would be up to Congress to vote to keep it going. I know the jaded amongst us would likely see this as a half measure that likely would hit the chopping block once the next GOP Congress rises to power but keep in mind that once these programs exist any elimination of them is essentially a tax on the middle and lower class. It’s a lot harder to end these programs once they exist especially if they are proven popular than it is to completely remove them from the package and hope Congress will get to them some time down the road.
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I really think this should be their strategy. Give people 2 years of CC free, continue the child tax credits, and I've even heard that some people are proposing funding M4A, but only for 2 years. Then let people vote on whether they want these programs to continue by voting Dems back in power. This, to me, is the only way Dems don't get steamrolled by the GOP at mid-terms.
 
I found out a little more about Flippy the Robot:

The robot can cost up to $3,000 a month. Miso expects to participate in a dozen pilots with top restaurant chains in the next few months.
www.cnbc.com

Restaurants prep for long-term labor crunch by turning to robots to work the fryer, shuttle food to tables

Restaurants that are struggling to fill jobs are beginning to turn to robotic solutions to ease staffing challenges and to speed up operations.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com

So fry cook at( $15/hour * 40 hours a week * 52 wks/yr)/12 = $2,600.

I realize there is a false equivalency here because the robot can obviously work longer hours than the human, but I really do wonder what start up costs + maintenance costs add up to in the service life of this robot and if they aren't trading one set of problems for another.
 
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