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Stay Gold, America

blog.codinghorror.com

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Re: Stay Gold, America

#181

Post by archagon »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #160
angoragoats wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if there were a handful of fraudulent votes occurring with voting by mail (which I have yet to see a shred of evidence for), it allows many more people who can’t afford transportation, who work multiple jobs, or who otherwise can’t get to a polling place to vote, when they otherwise couldn’t. This is especially important in places like the south, where Republican-controlled governments have conducted widespread…

Between kids away at school, a friend who stayed with us for a time, and my invalid mother, my wife and I could have mail-in voted for six people last cycle. I mean, we literally had their ballots sitting on our kitchen counter. All we had to do was forge their signatures (which we didn't do). Having to show an ID to a poll worker to get a ballot is a higher bar than signing something. I mean, look, I get the argumen…

All it takes is one of your kids complaining to land you in prison (after the forged signature is verified). Seems like a really poor value proposition if you’re voting differently from your kids/friend/etc.

Re: Stay Gold, America

#182

Post by throwpoaster »

coldtea wrote: post #166
throwpoaster wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is only true if you consider absolute instead of expected value and cherry pick statistical outcomes. Successful business people start multiple businesses. Social class and economic class are different. Few successful welders go to the opera.

> Successful business people start multiple businesses. Which is irrelevant to the points discussed, no? Nobody claimed successful business people don't start multiple businesses. > Social class and economic class are different. Few successful welders go to the opera Social mobility in the context of this discussion is about getting better jobs and making more money. It's not about becoming an aristocrat or going to…

> Nobody claimed successful business people don't start multiple businesses.

Yes they did. Statistics were cited about business failure rates, which were one-shot rates.

> Social mobility in the context of this discussion…

Then you are talking about economic mobility, and the data cited in support of arguments about social mobility is a category error.

Re: Stay Gold, America

#184

Post by micromacrofoot »

gadders wrote: post #167
micromacrofoot wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

abortion rights did amazingly well even in states that supported trump... the other issues are: * child hunger * veteran support * censorship * financial literacy so I guess the unpopular ones in your eyes are... * civil rights * lgbtq rights * immigration hard to give a blanket "democrat wishlist" when more than half are generally favorable across party lines

Going through the list: * child hunger - Global rather than US-focussed. * veteran support - OK * censorship - Ish. The campus free speech stuff looks OK, but there is the usual culture war "book banning" by preventing sexually explicit material been shown to young children. * financial literacy - OK * civil rights - a lot of it looks like the Soros-funded lenient DA stuff * lgbtq rights - I think the main flashpoint…

right, so hardly a "democrat wishlist" then

Re: Stay Gold, America

#186

Post by fifilura »

lapcat wrote: post #126
docdeek wrote: post #9

>> Whatever the reasons, 42% of adults living in America had no say in the 2024 election. The vote failed to represent everyone. The 2024 election had a turnout of about 59% of the voting age population. Since 1972, only one presidential election had higher turnout than that (it was 2020). If the 2024 vote didn’t represent everyone, then most every election for the last half century has been even worse at representin…

A lot of people don't vote because they feel that in our American plutocracy, no matter who wins the elections, the elected leaders always cater to the needs of their financial benefactors rather than to the needs of their constituents. The outcome is never good for the public. This is not to say that the candidates are exactly the same but rather that the candidates are simply different forms of corruption, controll…

Seeing it from the outside, i can understand.

There was a lot of Musk/Thiel billions here, Kamala spending surge there, George Clooney, Taylor Swift.

(And now this guy who will spend more millions)

Wasn't the intention that you could not buy a democratic election?

The real winners here must be Ad providers (google/facebook) and television networks.

Re: Stay Gold, America

#187

Post by j7ake »

imacomputertoo wrote: post #55
coldtea wrote: post #7

> We are at an unprecedented point in American history, and I'm concerned we may lose sight of the American Dream The understatement of the year. From all I read, hasn't it been dead and burried for decades? (Of course not for some founder who hit the jackpot like Jeff). "Evidence indicates that in recent decades social mobility in the United States has declined, and income inequality has risen.[7][8] Social mobility…

people have been saying the American dream is dead my entire life. I'm tired of hearing it. I'm also tired of people saying the American dream is about becoming a billionaire. It's not. It never has been. It's always been about having the opportunity to improve your wealth and living standards. Sometimes that means just leaving something better for your children, much like the Italian and Irish immigrants did That Am…

The poor in America are way worse off than similarly affluent countries like Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore.

Re: Stay Gold, America

#188

Post by finnthehuman »

apexalpha wrote: post #120
docdeek wrote: post #9

>> Whatever the reasons, 42% of adults living in America had no say in the 2024 election. The vote failed to represent everyone. The 2024 election had a turnout of about 59% of the voting age population. Since 1972, only one presidential election had higher turnout than that (it was 2020). If the 2024 vote didn’t represent everyone, then most every election for the last half century has been even worse at representin…

Isn't this just the FPTP system? I mean what point is there in voting R in California or so. You'd have to be a dogmatic believer of civic duty to stand in line for hour just to vote R or D in a state that will go the other way with 30% difference...

> Isn't this just the FPTP system? I mean what point is there in voting R in California or so.

The problem is that it's also "what point is there in voting D in California?"

All this great shit the D's talk about never seems to manifest in the states they solidly control.

(Also, if you're hung up on the fact I'm bagging on the home team, that's just the state the parent poster mentioned, mentally invert R and D and substitute a southern state).

Re: Stay Gold, America

#189

Post by throwpoaster »

jongjong wrote: post #151
throwpoaster wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making the perfect the enemy of the good?

How are they good? They literally helped my competitors to out-compete me using free money from a money printer. I had to work hard for my money to buy stuff from the same markets; whose prices they drove up using free money. If you factor out ignorance, it's as evil as it gets. And yes, if you're living paycheck-to-paycheck, you are competing in the market against homeless people for limited goods. That's the modern…

Wow, I just meant that “collapse the fed” is too big an ask for most people.

Re: Stay Gold, America

#190

Post by throwpoaster »

627467 wrote: post #39
BriggyDwiggs42 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if I assume you’re right, upward mobility and ease of starting a business are quite different things.

My thinking has been that society only pays attention to the mechanisms that favour upward movement while completely neglecting how to push down - from the top. Maybe because of naive concepts like "enlarging the cake for everyone" or - more likely - the top won't allow the protections they raised to be lowered.

How is “enlarging the cake” (usually the metaphor is “pie”) naïve?
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