Current events discussion

[Eggs 5,000+ posts]

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

No offense to Californians but when comparing cost or economics, Cali should be excluded from the rest of the United States as it is almost a independent country itself. Take Cali out of the national average and tell me what you get for gas Rob... for food, rent, salaries... ya follow?

 

[Old_Slapper]

OK. We're making some headway. $2.80 is a big jump from the $1.86, and much more accurate of the average prices.
The median income in CA in 2017 was $70K, and it is now $90K. That's a 23% increase.
If gas went from $2.8 to $4.5, that's an 18% increase.
So income went up 5% more than gas.
Maybe not for YOU specifically, but for California as a whole.

View attachment 61153


OK. So Trump's plan was to reduce taxes on the big guy the most, and just a little bit for the average Joe, with the idea that the money will be pumped into the economy ten-fold, and America would rejoice.

But, trickle-down has never worked before. And it failed again.
So, we're going to give it another shot and hope it works THIS time?


I know plenty about overhead costs and how they factor in to the final price of a product. I asked you many posts ago to tell me what percentage of manufacturing costs lie in energy. You couldn't answer.
It varies from 4-12% depending on the product.
So let's assume it's 6% average.
A product that costs $100 to make will have $6 in energy costs.
If that goes up 25%, it's now $7.50 in energy. So the mfg cost is $101.50
Let's go crazy, and assume the Mfgr keystones their item price to the retailer. So, the retailer paid $200, but now pays $203.
The retailer hits their 40% GPM and sells it for $333. BUT they now have to sell it for $338 because of that 25% in energy cost spikes.
The retail price of that item went up by 1.5% due to a 25% increase in energy costs.

Now we are getting somewhere. Energy is just one item. Then you have the business taxes, medical expenses, property taxes, licensing, regulatory costs, etc... It is ridiculous on how much regulations increases the cost of production.

Since you seemed to indicate energy is a massive portion of the cost of goods, what is Trump going to do in order to make oil cost less to produce?
We know that he forced a price increase in order to protect local producers from low prices, so what will he do in order to reduce their costs so that they can afford to offer lower prices?

The claim is far more than millions, but it is also said that the world benefit of what they are doing could be in the trillions. Definitely one of those things that seems to swing with whatever narrative people want. There is no denying that things are changing, and that we are part of the cause, but no one will believe it if they are told not to.
We as humans have the right to destroy the planet as we choose. It's OUR planet. Until it decides to eradicate us because we fucked up the balance of this bigass biodome we live in.

This is true, but the US is the causes the least amount of pollution. On top of that, all of these tree huggers will scream and shout at all of these rallies that they just jumped on a plan and flew to. It is not a secret that the Paris Accords mishandles the money we give them. We are the biggest contributor and the money ends up going to some country who doesn't use the money for what it is meant for.

This is a big one. Does he just tell them to stop having wars, or else? Do we just nuke all warring factions back to the stone age? Do we pick a side, defeat the enemy, then defeat the side that we picked so we can control them? What's the plan for this?

Trump is a great negotiator. Although the left doesn't want to believe it, other countries respect him. Under him, China didn't try to move in on Taiwan. Russia has always threatened Ukraine, except when Trump was in office. North Korea was threatening to bomb the US and South Korea. Not under Trump. Trump got North and South Korea to sit in the same room together. This is because All these countries know that Trump means business. Look at ISIS. Trump told them to knock it off, but ISIS kept poking him. So, Trump dropped a MOAB on their a$$ and that was the end of that.

Who does it get handed off to, and exactly what regulations are we talking about?
It sounds like he wants to increase regulation if he is going to somehow step in and directly control the free economy to bring everything into a balance that we are all happy with.

If you have ever worked in a manufacturing plant, you will see some of the dumbest government regulations. Do you know that OSHA is now regulating the use of O2 refrigeration systems like they regulate ammonia systems? Really??? They are stating that not regulating O2 in a system can be extremely dangerous. LOL... go figure...

There are too many regulatory divisions. There's OSHA, EPA, ARB, CUPA, WRB, etc... the list goes on, and most of them are over the same exact thing.

They sure do. Does he have a plan this time?
For some reason, deportations rose massively under Biden, but not under Trump.
Did he just put all eggs in his flawed "build a wall" plan, and have no backup for when it inevitably failed?
How does he plan to curb it this time around?

Right now, as we speak, all of the 12+ million illegal immigrants are receiving financial support from our government. This includes medical, education, food stamps, debit cards, etc... That money is coming from our pocket. You and I are paying for that, and we will do this for the rest of their lives. The wall only failed because Biden stopped it. The wall isn't designed to completely stop people. It's there to deter them. Just like locking the doors on your car, or putting a fence around your yard. Also, the plan to keep them in Mexico is also a big deterrent.

If you be honest, life during Trump's presidency was not bad. The only thing that was bad was the constant riots and attacks from the left that made it seem bad. People were not complaining about inflation, their personal income, being able to buy a house or car, or buying groceries. The reason why so many people switched from voting left to voting right, is due to experiencing all these issues under Biden and Obama.

Sure, Trump will not be perfect while in office, but he will be much better than the current presidency.

 

[Old_Slapper]

The average company gives only 3% (already increased by 1% per year over your previous claim), yet the average wage increase has been over 4% for the entire Biden administration.
Perhaps your HR bulletin board is working with older numbers, maybe from the Bush era?


It absolutely did. What happened in 2020 that could cause that. What happened in previous eras that could cause it to drop, then surge, then drop, then surge? And who was POTUS when it started to drop in 2020?


I could show a graph of it doubling right after Trump took office, and hold at double until he left, but I thought we were discussing inflation under Biden.(?) Biden became POTUS in 2021...

So you increased your driving by 58%. Did you buy a big truck with big tires, and put 100 Trump flags on it to reduce your gas mileage to 4MPG, too ? I hear it's a great way to validate the complaints, oops -I mean "economic discussion", of gas prices being too high.

Much higher than YOUR income. By the numbers, you do not represent the average.
It happens.

The average pay raise is maxed at 3%. You would have gotten that if you read the whole paragraph.

The rest of your last argument is just you spewing garbage to make it look like you have a defense, but it's not working. For example, you should show different graphs, but they don't show the real numbers, like how we are truly affected.

By the way, I drive a hybrid, which I have been doing so for over 10 years, and an 800cc motorcycle. I do have an F-150 truck that I use to pull my trailer when my family, and I, go camping. In the past year, I think I put 3,000 miles on it. I'm not sure how you picture me, but I am nowhere close to how you picture me. I'm a regular guy who work in an office. I have a management position for the local government where I am involved in just about everything goes on around here. If you must know, I make WELL over $100k a year. How much I truly make, is none of your business. Just know I'm not a government freebie ******* loser. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, and the last time I even went to a bar was over 20 years ago.

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

Well, Biden ruined the economy with a swipe of a pen, so why make it better with a swipe of a pen. Take a look at what manufacturers are now looking to return manufacturing to America, now that Trump is coming back into office. Read up on the comments from the CEO of Chrysler.

Again, you will jump to pull crap out to defend the libs, but refuse to research to defend what a Republican says.

So tell us, what was Kamala's plan? She did say she had her hand in Bidenomics and was quite proud of it, but mentioned nothing on how she was going to make our financial life better.

By the way, Trump didn't say he was going to tell banks to lower their rates. He is going to get credit card companies to lower their rates.

Technically most CC companies are banks (ie Chase, Ally, Wells Fargo, et al). It is an interesting approach to interest rates, which are typically left in the hands of the free market and the Fed. Personally, I don't think a 10% cap on CC's is a good idea.

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

Although you completely failed to provide any info about the how/what/why of Trump's plan for waving his magic wans and making things better, I'll speak to your "lesson" on inflation:

Wage-push inflation happens when wages go up, followed by a demand for more goods as people have more disposable income, and additionally increased good prices due to rising cost of production. This demand causes prices to go up.
So, the wage increases precede the price increases.

But the economy is self-balancing. If all prices went up but wages didn't, demand would drop. This would force prices back down. OR, people would fight for higher wages so that they could afford to maintain their lifestyle. And that's what most working people do: fight for better wages, which makes goods more expensive, so they fight for more wages, which makes goods more expensive. And so on. Welcome to economics 101.


If you can reach your keyboard, go ahead and tell me what the plan is for Trump to magically fix everything, speak to your data cherrypicking, and explain how the price of gas is 25% higher for you now.

View attachment 61147

Eyeballing the first chart, I get median price of ~$2.25 during the Trump years and ~$2.75 during the Biden years. That's a 22% increase. Of course there is a psychological hang over from the $4-5/gallon days.

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

Sure, Trump will not be perfect while in office, but he will be much better than the current presidency.

Well he is following a guy suffering from dementia, so the bar isn't very high. In all fairness, I'd say Biden got dealt a shytty hand, but he sure didn't do himself or the nation any favors. I think Trump's legacy actually benefits from his terms getting split up. Biden had to suffer a lot of the fallout from the 2008 mortgage bailout & Covid.

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

Again, what was Kamala's plan?

Be Black, Be female.

 

[Old_Slapper]

Technically most CC companies are banks (ie Chase, Ally, Wells Fargo, et al). It is an interesting approach to interest rates, which are typically left in the hands of the free market and the Fed. Personally, I don't think a 10% cap on CC's is a good idea.

They all lead to a bank, but most are backed by retailer. 10% is pretty low, but not uncommon back in the day. The problem is, CC companies keep giving CC's to everyone and those of us who pay on time, end up paying for the ones who don't. It's the CC companies way of making more money. If the losers pay, cool, but if they don't, the CC companies still get their money. In other words, it's a scam.

 

[Speed Chaser]

Be Black, Be female.

allegedly

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

So the GOP enjoys a 3+1 seat advantage in the Senate. The GOP will have a similar advantage in the House. Will the DNC be stupid enough to push more voters to the GOP in the next 2 years. Will the libs/DNC continue to run on Orange Man/GOP is fascist, misogynist, racist, transphobic, **********, etc.

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

And we've been subverted. If you can convince people that men aren't men and women aren't women, you can convince them of anything.

 

[Eggs 5,000+ posts]

There are over 400 governments agencies so yeah

 

[Eggs 5,000+ posts]

Trim the fat on pork belly spending