sacto joe

mikethemartian said:

sdw2001 said:

foregoneconclusion said:

It's not much of a war. The tariffs haven't worked and raising them again isn't going to change that. The U.S. withdrew from TPP in January of 2017 and is still floundering around trying to get a replacement for it almost 2 1/2 years later.

The tariffs have abolsutely worked for the purpose they were intended:  Bringing them to the table.  Tariffs don't "work" for their own sake.  They do "work" when they are used as leverage.  

Sure because in poker bluffing works in the case where every other player knows with 100% certainty you are bluffing.

SpamSandwich said:

sacto joe said:

The Democrats are like a herd of cats. I've been one long enough to know. They aren't "playing" this at all.

As regards China, thou doth protest too much, methinks. China is so very, very far from being a true competitor to the US and the "free world" it isn't even a joke. Yes, they're pirates. In the larger scheme of things, that's their main weakness, and the only way they can get out of that box is to free their people. Anyone see that about to happen?

(crickets)

(The following is Off Topic, and possibly this post will get removed by the editors. Hope you get to read it before that happens.)

You and I are both intelligent enough to know what I mean by long game versus short game, and the inherent problem with playing the short game.

I'm 73 years old. Once upon a time, I thought of Republicans as the Noble Opposition. That went by the wayside a while back, but never quite so deeply into the weeds as it now has. Why? Because they've played the short game, and then the even shorter game, and now the even shorter game, searching out any and all ways to get the votes to give them power. To do what? Give power to the crazies?

I don't say that all Republicans are unprincipled. I have too many Republican friends to think that. But their party has sold its soul to the devil for a mess of pottage, to the point where they are no longer even close to being the party of fiscal conservatism they once were and that I once admired. How bad is it? It's so bad that the Democrats are now the fiscal conservatives!

I call myself a Democrat and a liberal, but a few decades back I was a moderate. And I really haven't changed. Kind of says it all....

You’re right about the underlying criticism, which in my mind is that both parties spend like drunken sailors when given the opportunity. The only thing that changes is what they’re spending our money on. If you’re familiar with the “Green New Deal” there is no way to claim superiority on this matter, other than the fact that the GND is just a wildly irresponsible proposal at this point, and not actual spending. Then if you start to include things like a Federal $15/hr. minimum wage and far-Left ideas like the “Universal Basic Income”... well, they’re all economically harmful, if not destructive.

apple ][ said:

sacto joe said:

Give power to the crazies?

If you believe that the democrat party of 2019 can be considered anything close to rational or normal, then I say "more power to the crazies".

seankill said:

sacto joe said:

The Democrats are like a herd of cats. I've been one long enough to know. They aren't "playing" this at all.

As regards China, thou doth protest too much, methinks. China is so very, very far from being a true competitor to the US and the "free world" it isn't even a joke. Yes, they're pirates. In the larger scheme of things, that's their main weakness, and the only way they can get out of that box is to free their people. Anyone see that about to happen?

(crickets)

(The following is Off Topic, and possibly this post will get removed by the editors. Hope you get to read it before that happens.)

You and I are both intelligent enough to know what I mean by long game versus short game, and the inherent problem with playing the short game.

I'm 73 years old. Once upon a time, I thought of Republicans as the Noble Opposition. That went by the wayside a while back, but never quite so deeply into the weeds as it now has. Why? Because they've played the short game, and then the even shorter game, and now the even shorter game, searching out any and all ways to get the votes to give them power. To do what? Give power to the crazies?

I don't say that all Republicans are unprincipled. I have too many Republican friends to think that. But their party has sold its soul to the devil for a mess of pottage, to the point where they are no longer even close to being the party of fiscal conservatism they once were and that I once admired. How bad is it? It's so bad that the Democrats are now the fiscal conservatives!

I call myself a Democrat and a liberal, but a few decades back I was a moderate. And I really haven't changed. Kind of says it all....

I agree with your statements in general about the repblican party but to say the democratic party is any different is either ignorance or arragance or both.