Pyrrhic Victory
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Pyrrhic Victory
1–10 of 180 posts
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#2I going to commit suicide. I refuse to work at any pace but my own, and I'll die before I let pieces of shit ride me like a mule and blame me for the labyrinth they drop me in.
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#3Two parts of this short and powerful piece really leapt out at me:
> all under the auspices of a hard line Republican administration
> Washington under any administration will have no choice but to bail out all the state and local agencies and every insolvent pension scheme wholesale
There are underlying problems being forced to the surface by COVID that go deeper than political parties. Somewhere between the 1970s and 2000s American politicians as a class (and possibly a supermajority of voters too) have accepted that running up debt literally does not matter.
The economy is brutal. It is a fabricated social concept built on trust right up until the moment it breaks out into the physical world and things that desperately need to happen stop happening because it doesn't make any economic sense.
The persistent bailouts are making losers of people who make good long term decisions. Sooner or later, nobody will be left who makes good long term decisions. Such people have been exorcised from the financial industry.
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#4One of my parents is a pensioner and their attitude towards money is that "I earned it, and so it's my money," regardless of whether that money is in their accounts or in their monthly check. They really do view all of that money which comes to them as being an entitlement which is already funded, and not part of an ecumenical system of money.
> I have very clear memories of the political battles of the 1980s and 90s when my parents’ generation were in their prime working age. They demanded two contradictory things from government. First, they wanted their taxes reduced dramatically. Second, they wanted all the perks and services they were already receiving.
I can't put it any better. The government, to my parents and collateral relatives (uncles and aunts), is simultaneously evil for taking Social Security taxes from paychecks, and also good for paying out Social Security to them, but they don't register the cognitive dissonance.
> So instead the gap was filled with debt, unrealistic future promises, attrition, and a can that was kicked down the road. Society went way out on the risk curve in search of “growth” that didn’t actually exist anywhere but on paper.
Yep. The idea that Social Security is paying it forward (or paying it backward) is just too tough.
> The meme will be simple and palatable. These were benefits that were earned from years of hard work. These are the deserving recipients of what is due them. That’s completely different from just handing out fake cash to random slackers and wastrels who squander the money on Netflix and Amazon Prime without contributing to society.
I can hear the sarcasm in the author's inflection. And I can also hear its stark effectiveness in my parent's complaints.
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#5A bit off topic but why are all the windows boarded? I haven't seen this practice in other parts of the world despite the fact that most stores are/were also closed long term.
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#6Two parts of this short and powerful piece really leapt out at me: > all under the auspices of a hard line Republican administration > Washington under any administration will have no choice but to bail out all the state and local agencies and every insolvent pension scheme wholesale There are underlying problems being forced to the surface by COVID that go deeper than political parties. Somewhere between the 1970s a…
>Somewhere between the 1970s and 2000s
I think you'll find it was precisely 1971.
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#7A bit off topic but why are all the windows boarded? I haven't seen this practice in other parts of the world despite the fact that most stores are/were also closed long term.
The BLM protesters and related events smashed, looted and burned a lot of retail locations a couple weeks ago. During/after most retail locations boarded up, even 10 miles from downtown SF.
This is not that unusual in the US, and happened in previous years in LA and Oakland.
It's not to close long term - it's to survive until the next day or week.
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#8A bit off topic but why are all the windows boarded? I haven't seen this practice in other parts of the world despite the fact that most stores are/were also closed long term.
The BLM protesters and related events smashed, looted and burned a lot of retail locations a couple weeks ago. During/after most retail locations boarded up, even 10 miles from downtown SF. This is not that unusual in the US, and happened in previous years in LA and Oakland. It's not to close long term - it's to survive until the next day or week.
They were also boarded up a month or two before the protests... At least in Seattle. It's loss prevention - don't leave merchandise visible behind windows if the entire street will be empty for months to come.
Edit - E.g. This business which was not out of the ordinary when it boarded up end of March. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-GT1hhgPZS/?igshid=12qp4pjwu2jv...
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#9Two parts of this short and powerful piece really leapt out at me: > all under the auspices of a hard line Republican administration > Washington under any administration will have no choice but to bail out all the state and local agencies and every insolvent pension scheme wholesale There are underlying problems being forced to the surface by COVID that go deeper than political parties. Somewhere between the 1970s a…
Well yeah I think even I bought into it at some point. The line would go "as long as our debt to GDP ratio stays relatively steady, we'll be ok"...but what happens if another great depression happens and the growth dips 10-15% and flat lines from there? Then your debt will grow faster than your GDP and eventually it will crush the economy. All the uncomfortable conversations about complex trade-offs and budget cuts have got to occur and nobody is wanting to have that convo.
I think it started in the 60s with the Vietnam War, the Space program and Johnson's great society programs. And then Nixon took us off the gold peg, and we were free to print as much as we wanted.
MMT is pretty scary to me. It's never really been tested long term at scale and mainly exists as a theory. But I know that's the end game for the Fed and that's the trajectory we're on.
Re: Pyrrhic Victory
#10One of my parents is a pensioner and their attitude towards money is that "I earned it, and so it's my money," regardless of whether that money is in their accounts or in their monthly check. They really do view all of that money which comes to them as being an entitlement which is already funded, and not part of an ecumenical system of money. > I have very clear memories of the political battles of the 1980s and 90s…
Social security taxes were never reduced. Income taxes have been through various taxation schemes but the total Federal tax revenue as percentage of GDP typically always hovers just under 20% regardless of tax legislation: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFRGDA188S