Let's make fun of Trump, bash him, etc. while we can!

[David Horn]

(01-21-2019, 11:40 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: I don't work in manufacturing and I'm not a manufacturing/blue collar worker who would normally vote Democratic. I'm a professional/skilled tradesman who owns and operates a small business who would normally vote Republican. I'm not one who is/has been complaining as you say. Although, I have listened to the complaints of those who expressed concerns over the years and my solution was very similar to what Trump has been doing to change existing trade deals and addressing illegal immigration which hurts middle class workers and the working poor the most. I'm bullet proof as far as a cheap illegal coming in and replacing me or eliminating my job. I'm also pretty bullet proof as far as the global economy goes as well. Right now, my primary issues are ILLEGAL immigration and HEALTHCARE costs.

If you ask anyone who really understands trade, you'll find a consistent position that trade is a net benefit to the US. You'll find the same for employing immigrants. Both cases can be proven mathematically. In both cases, the overall amount of economic activity in the US increases, with the side benefit of immigrant labor vastly improving the actuarial problems with both Medicare and Social Security -- even if they get to claim benefits themselves later. The real issues are off-shoring, which is possible because big business has gotten tax breaks rather than penalties for doing it, and automation, which eliminates entire classes of jobs. In short, the jobs are going to low-pay areas, then vaporizing. Trump's policies have made that even worse, by letting big business reclaim their off-shore earnings on the cheap, with 99% of the benefit going to shareholders and management.

None of that is effected by illegal immigration, and healthcare costs will never be brought under control until the government takes over and demands fairness.

Classic-Xer Wrote:At what point did the Democrats stop voting the way Democrats should have been voting or used to vote instead of voting on behalf of the interests millionaires and billionaires (Big Business and wealthy foreign interests associated with the global economy and wealthy movie stars and the wealthy heirs of old robber barons or industrialists and voting on behalf of welfare recipients and voting in favor of more welfare programs and supporting the expansion of welfare programs.

Supporting the interests of big business used to be the GOP mainstay, not the Democrats, but all that changed under Nixon and, later, Reagan. Throw in the "New Democrats" under the Clintons, and interests of business have been the prime focus of both parties. I think that's finally changing. Notice the departure date on my earlier posted chart. That's when it started, and it didn't just affect factory workers. It affected everyone in the country, with the top decile getting ahead and the rest falling behind.

Classic-Xer Wrote:Now, if you were able to use/apply  some common sense reasoning and you were able to use or apply an objective (non partisan) view and/or take of things, you could easily determine that the two are connected to each other politically and view them as being a major Democratic problem as far as it's primary political interests are concerned. So, what happened under your nose that you weren't aware of as far as the Democratic party or left wing politics goes? I've had no interest in the Democratic party or left wing politics my entire adult life as you can see by my views and my posts. I have Democratic voters for friends ( the majority of whom are affiliated with trade unions or affiliated with a labor union or affiliated with their parents party that they haven't come to grips with the fact that it no longer shares the same values and beliefs as them). 

Here You lose me, because you seem to favor a return to much more liberal economic policies by the Democrats, yet you complain they are too left wing. Are your issues with Democrats more cultural? No one is more leftie on economics that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, yet her entire economic platform is focused on a return to the policies that predate the Nixon-Reagan era. Here's a good article by two leading economists that discusses that in enough depth to see the whys and wherefores.

Classic-Xer Wrote:I'm not a avid fan of Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter or Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity or any of the major conservative talk show hosts these days. Although, I would most likely agree with most of their views pertaining to the liberals (blues)/ the majority of the Democratic party these days. The Democratic voters are going to have a choice/ decision to make now or in the not so distant future relating to their future and the future of their children. The American right has already decided which direction it's going and the direction that it's chosen isn't in the direction socialism, fascism or  Communism. As I've mentioned before, the blues have issues they better figure out ways to resolve among themselves pretty quick or they're going to learn first hand what it was like when left wing utopian societies like those of Nazi's, Bolshevik's and so forth came crashing down around them. So, as you see, I share your view as far as the end result.  Hint: If our wages (Republican/conservative/classical liberal voters) were flat, you'd have more support from those on the American right these days.

If anyone is marching toward Fascism, its the Trump administration. I have no idea where you get the idea that you have an ally there. Trump is 100% about himself, and he'll lie, cheat and steal if it gets him something he wants … which is primarily money. And when exactly did the anti-Communist right start to love Russia so much?

And fyi: the Nazis and Fascists were anything but left wing. They were, and still are, as far to the right as you can get. For that matter, they share a love of autocracy with the old Communists. In no case were any these utopian.