Political Digression Thread -- Save UP! Move the politically focused stuff here

[elrodvt]

19 minutes ago, atlrvr said:

 

So, I actually do agree with the last part.  The first part irritates me because it's a tired trope that most CEO's are lazy and incompetent, and implies that most corporations are successful despite woeful management, which seems disingenuous.

But, like I said, I don't disagree with the last point, and I actually care far more about economics than I do politics.

Breaking up large corporations and therefore reversing the implied efficiencies of scale is a great way to increase frictional costs (otherwise known as the need for more well paying jobs).  If we agree the benefits of globalism at the expense the lower and middle class aren't worth it, I agree the appropriate steps are to break-up the large corporations.

The people of the U.K. support that hypothesis by voting for Brexit in most parts of the country (clearly non global elite London) and I can't wait to see Brexit in effect testing my economic theory that there will be a rise in median wages, and less income disparity overall.

I didn't say MOST CEO are lazy or incompetent. I know they work their asses off and operate in a pressure cooker environment. You don't need to be incompetent or lazy to not do a GREAT job though. Many CEO would fall into the mediocre bucket in my view and only the super stars should be rewarded with those huge salaries and stock based compensation.  Mediocre CEO's being paid top $  is far too often the case though. Do you agree? 

Furthermore, changing the topic a bit, tying compensation almost completely to stock price should stop as well. It has really skewed the market and resulted in untold layoff's all in an attempt to artificially inflate stock price. The whole leveraged buyout crap.  What about tying it to employee salary growth and employee count as more important attributes of a superstar CEO. Sure stock price needs to be a component just not the primary one. Maybe with a more balanced way of evaluating CEO performance we would not end up with superstar CEO (according to the media) like Jack Welch who essentially ran their companies into the ground: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/business/ge-jack-welch-immelt.html .

I worked at IBM for decades. We had a few stars in C level but mainly average or mediocre performers. But you sure wouldn't know that by looking at their compensation!

[atlrvr]

I'm resisting generalizations, just because I don't think it's appropriate.  Not all CEOs should be measured the same fFir examples, the CEO of a high growth tech firm has different objectives than the CEO of a mall-centric fashion retailer, both of which are different from IBM's CEO(s) attempts to shift from a hardware to SaS competitor.  

Similarly, the "capitalist" notion that a company exists purely for profits vs the "socialist" view that large institutions should exist to support people, both are missing the reality in the middle that both are necessary for long term equilibrium.

So...after that rambling, I agree in principal that longer term objectives as opposed to short term stock price goals would be more idealistic metrics for CEO comp.

[davidclt]

5 hours ago, atlrvr said:

^^^ wait, we're vilifying CEO's now where the median wage of their employees (of which there are more than 250k represented above) is approximately 10% above the US median wage? 

No, I'm vilifying the health insurance companies where I have to beg for scraps of health care coverage and almost every claim has some issue with payment to my provider. I'm vilifying the system that rewards CEOs for profits earned by taking in premiums and finding reasons not to pay claims. I'm vilifying a system that has "covered" and "not-covered" providers and you often can't know who's not covered until it's billed and not covered. I'm lamenting that some treat healthcare as just another thing to shop for like an appliance or electronic equipment.

[elrodvt]

Wouldn't it be something if our elected leaders could have an intelligent conversation like this??

[Cadi40]

On 8/19/2020 at 8:53 AM, urbanlover568 said:

Early voting IS absentee voting LMAO. Calling trump a Dictator. The hysterics are laughable. 

Quote me if I'm wrong but Early voting is not the same thing as Absentee voting, they're similar concepts but they're not the same thing. In past years you've needed a reason to cast an absentee ballot, for early voting you don't need any excuse.

EDIT: I'm just now seeing this post was made roughly a month ago, I apologize for the late response. I don't enter this thread often to protect my mental health and rage LOL.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Cadi40

[kermit]

Dan Forest continues to reject the science around mask wearing.

Quote

Forest also declared that students and teachers shouldn’t be required to wear masks at school. “I don’t think that there’s any science that backs that up,” he said.

He is literally campaigning on the platform of "I don't care if you or your family die" and "my personal freedom to not wear a mask is more important than the economy getting back open" What a guy.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article245798515.html

Edited September 17, 2020 by kermit

[kermit]

 

 

[nicholas]

On 9/15/2020 at 7:52 PM, davidclt said:

Nope, you are wrong. I like civil society where we treat all people with dignity and respect.

We are currently the most wealthy nation in the world with health care costs spiraling out of control, declining lifespans, increasing inequality, stagnant wages, executive compensation is at all time highs (enabled by fiscal policy which enables and then by extension makes boards excessively compensate and protect executives. We don't live in a capitalist society.

I think this thread is getting close to jumping off the rails with the sweeping personal and party attacks by a few users (not you though lol).

Personally, I don't see much difference between today's Republicans and Democrats, at least at the federal level.  Sure, every now and then they'll both throw a bone towards some special interest group (2A supporters/living wage advocates, etc), but ethics and morals quickly get washed away by billions of dollars spent lobbying politicians every single year.  Abundantly wealthy multi-national corporations get all sorts of ridiculous incentives and tax breaks, and then once the sh!t hits the fan they get bipartisan-supported billion dollar bailouts.  If it turns out an executive has done something wrong, he'll get a severance package worth well into eight digits, but the rest of us plebs are left just scratching and clawing our way through.  Sure, we'll get some faux-virtue signaling from a few millionaire politicians when times get tough, but talk is cheap and they can say basically whatever they want from the comfort of their gated and patrolled places of residence with no fear of losing their jobs.  Nobody even knows how long the tax code is anymore, or what it says.  We just have the fortunate few up at the very top, the slightly more numerous laggards at the bottom, and then everyone else in the middle gets sold out to support the extremes of the system.

That's my rant for today anyway.

Edited September 22, 2020 by nicholas

[SgtCampsalot]

2 hours ago, nicholas said:

I think this thread is getting close to jumping off the rails with the sweeping personal and party attacks by a few users (not you though lol).

Personally, I don't see much difference between today's Republicans and Democrats, at least at the federal level.  Sure, every now and then they'll both throw a bone towards some special interest group (2A supporters/living wage advocates, etc), but ethics and morals quickly get washed away by billions of dollars spent lobbying politicians every single year.  Abundantly wealthy multi-national corporations get all sorts of ridiculous incentives and tax breaks, and then once the sh!t hits the fan they get bipartisan-supported billion dollar bailouts.  If it turns out an executive has done something wrong, he'll get a severance package worth well into eight digits, but the rest of us plebs are left just scratching and clawing our way through.  Sure, we'll get some faux-virtue signaling from a few millionaire politicians when times get tough, but talk is cheap and they can say basically whatever they want from the comfort of their gated and patrolled places of residence with no fear of losing their jobs.  Nobody even knows how long the tax code is anymore, or what it says.  We just have the fortunate few up at the very top, the slightly more numerous laggards at the bottom, and then everyone else in the middle gets sold out to support the extremes of the system.

That's my rant for today anyway.

The real "parties" in the US are:
1) Republicans &, 2) Democrats, which are essentially (literally?) two mafia families... one happens to espouse more overt hatred, but the other is far more insidious with how it controls the population... but they both circle the wagons when the peasants are storming the gates.

And what is essentially, 3) a Working Class/Populist coalition that has very little representation (at least at the federal level). Many local/municipal jurisdictions have this kind of representation, but they also must capitulate a lot to the larger two powers (which also tend to sway public opinion of them in their press).

What I see happening is the GOP eventually being pushed to the margins, the most powerful of the mafia families consolidating in the Democratic party, and an actual Working Class/Populist representation taking hold nationally.

We'll see how long this all takes.

[kermit]

Thom Tillis goes full Q Anon in a town hall today

https://www.salon.com/2020/09/24/exclusive-gop-sen-thom-tillis-embraced-qanon-conspiracy-about-covid-19-death-count-in-town-hall/

I would much prefer to be represented by a rational human

[videtur quam contuor]

One can take a boy out of the trailer but cannot take the trailer out of the boy.

[elrodvt]

^So many of the current crop of new republicans in congress are, to put it kindly, nut jobs.

I think it's going to take quite a while for the Republican party to recover from  Donnie.  Unfortunately we live in a state where the state government has been equally infiltrated by nuts. Until gerrymandering is fixed we may live with this for a decade or more. I really wish neither party had their hands in drawing districting lines. Add in the poor quality of education in rural areas and I sometimes feel it's hopeless.

Edited September 25, 2020 by elrodvt

[urbanlover568]

 

Video surfaces of Joe Biden calling troops 'stupid b********' during speech to service members

VIDEO, not "anonymous" sources.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/video-surfaces-of-joe-biden-calling-troops-stupid-beotchs-during-speech-to-service-members

Edited September 25, 2020 by urbanlover568

[Madison Parkitect]

Just ignore the troll.

[urbanlover568]

41 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Just ignore the troll.

Another liberal trying to silence those who they don't agree with. *shocking* If i'm a troll, why reply? #Hypocrisy

[urbanlover568]

"NOT A RACIST" Black Pastors PRAY and DEFEND President Trump In Atlanta

 

 

[SgtCampsalot]

Malcolm X famously said that "The [Black American] is the political football of American politics."

Weaponizing the internal dissent within a marginalized community in order to avoid accountability in dealing with your own community's issues is proactively acting in bad faith.

Edited September 26, 2020 by SgtCampsalot

[termus]

i think this vid explains it better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Jmw5o9ulA

[urbanlover568]

33 minutes ago, termus said:

i think this vid explains it better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Jmw5o9ulA

Here are a few of his other quotes...

 

“You can’t have capitalism without racism” - Malcolm X

 

"You show me a capitalist, I’ll show you a bloodsucker." - Malcolm X

[SgtCampsalot]

16 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

Here are a few of his other quotes...

“You can’t have capitalism without racism” - Malcolm X

"You show me a capitalist, I’ll show you a bloodsucker." - Malcolm X

When you're right you're right.

[urbanlover568]

3 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

When you're right you're right.

I embrace Capitalism and not Marxism. 

[SgtCampsalot]

12 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

I embrace Capitalism and not Marxism. 

Okay, you do you.

Edited September 26, 2020 by SgtCampsalot

[Nick2]

[urbanlover568]

 

MSNBC Host Has To Help Joe Biden Remember What He’s Talking About

https://youtu.be/KUk_ph-N3Dg

 

 

[SgtCampsalot]

Memes ruin this thread once a week.