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Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

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Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#61

Post by gruez »

throw0101a wrote: post #39
westernmostcoy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not within his power to do.

> That's not within his power to do. Trump has the power to do anything that people (especially Congress) does not push back against. > 1. Do not obey in advance. > Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what i…

>Trump has the power to do anything that people (especially Congress) does not push back against.

Elections are run at the state level, so it's not like Trump can direct state agencies to stop counting mail-in ballots. That said, the fact that elections are run at the state level, and the fact that only a handful of swing states matter means it only takes a few pliant election officials to change the outcome of the election. eg. if Georgia's governor caved in 2020.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#62

Post by shortrounddev2 »

jacobolus wrote: post #30
shortrounddev2 wrote: post #10

We should have something like the federal reserve, but for trade policy. A board of governors nominated and confirmed by the senate in 8 year rotations. Politicians cannot be trusted to craft economic policy. I am dubious that they should be crafting fiscal policy either since theyve shown they cant be trusted with that either

This is power explicitly reserved for Congress, which is being extra-constitutionally seized by the President (on the pretext of "national security") with no public support. The problem here is electing a lawless president and putting the Congress in charge of a GOP which is full of unprincipled cowards from top to bottom, not the institutional framework.

If the answer to a lawless president is a cowardly and corrupt congress, then god help us. Economic policy simply cannot be trusted to politicians whose only incentive is re-election and serving campaign donors

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#63

Post by lawlessone »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #51
jcotton42 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump has tried to do plenty of things that aren't within his power, like ending birthright citizenship by executive order.

Has he "ended" it? Does he have the discipline, intelligence, and patience to do the work to end things legislatively or just make executive orders that will be tied up in courts for years and rescinded as soon he's out of office?

>and rescinded as soon he's out of office

If

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#64

Post by hippo22 »

cheema33 wrote: post #34

This needs to be repeated. Tariffs are a tax on ordinary citizens. Unlike regular taxes, tariffs are not progressive and therefore benefit the wealthy. These are the sort of things the poor and middle class voted for. To make the rich, richer. And then turn around and complain that rich are getting richer and they are getting poorer.

Do you think that cigarette taxes should be repealed then?

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#65

Post by imglorp »

westernmostcoy wrote: post #20
jleyank wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember, he’s ending mail-in ballots…

That's not within his power to do.

It's his standard procedure over and over again; works great for him.

Talk it up. If it keeps him in the headlines, great.

Throw it against the wall and see if it sticks. If he gets sued, fine, there's a decade of suits piled up in the queue, no problem. If there's an injunction, maybe ignore it and try anyway (queue full). If he's truly blocked, it's the commie judges and he'll make that better soon. OTOH if he gets away with that, more outrage and more PR for him, success.

Early stage fascism thrives on outrage fatigue to slim opposition. Do three more outrages today. Repeat tomorrow.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#66

Post by fzeroracer »

monero-xmr wrote: post #60
actionfromafar wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another reason is the weird fetish for pumping the spoils of the strong dollar into medical middlemen and tax cuts for billionaires.

I see an argument for tax cuts everywhere. Taxes are literally brakes on financial transactions. The number 1 way to slow down your economy is to tax every transaction possible as highly as possible. It is an interesting thought experiment to eliminate income and sales taxes, and try to only finance the government via tariffs. How we redirect money to the medical system is so completely insane it must be the #1 place…

> I see an argument for tax cuts everywhere. Taxes are literally brakes on financial transactions. The number 1 way to slow down your economy is to tax every transaction possible as highly as possible. It is an interesting thought experiment to eliminate income and sales taxes, and try to only finance the government via tariffs.

Then you don't actually see an argument for tax cuts everywhere. What you want is a tax that you agree with, that disproportionately affects people you don't care about.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#67

Post by monero-xmr »

favflam wrote: post #57
monero-xmr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see why we should allow 0% imports but be shut out of exports. Yes yes according to some chart this is actually a good thing but I find it unfair. For centuries the theory was mercantilism which is the highest imbalance of trade in your favor is good. The last century was Keynesian “deficits don’t matter” where taken to its conclusion, the worst possible imbalance is good, because that means they have to rein…

My middle school 7th grade civics class told me that this conversation happens in Congress in Congressional hearings. I get to hear my Rep ask questions. There is a Congressional research office that acts as a kind of neutral arbiter of truth allowing for evidenced based instructions. Then, after weeks or months, a consensus builds and Congress passes a law and tells the President what to do (hence Congress=Article O…

Trump is able to this this because the other branches of government are not stopping him, because his party has control and he is a very strong executive.

A prior historical US example would be FDR, who my teachers growing up simply adored, who strong armed many aggressive executive policies through and radically reshaped America for a century.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#68

Post by ModernMech »

westernmostcoy wrote: post #20
jleyank wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember, he’s ending mail-in ballots…

That's not within his power to do.

It is if you live in a state controlled by a GOP governor and legislature. Trump also doesn't have the power to gerrymander Texas, yet he commanded it, and then it happened. Which means he actually does have the power.

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#69

Post by scoopr »

CalRobert wrote: post #6

You can still send letters- this is a big deal but it’s not -quite- as bad as I first thought since my ballot is mailed in from abroad…

While technically true, f.ex. Finland has stopped all mail shipments[0]. I guess the airlines were not set up to dealing with the hassle of making sure all the shipments are “allowed”. Or maybe just lazy, dunno really.

[0] https://www.posti.fi/en/latest-news-at-posti/%20/news/trump-...

Re: Temporary suspension of acceptance of mail to the United States

#70

Post by jacobolus »

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #62
jacobolus wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is power explicitly reserved for Congress, which is being extra-constitutionally seized by the President (on the pretext of "national security") with no public support. The problem here is electing a lawless president and putting the Congress in charge of a GOP which is full of unprincipled cowards from top to bottom, not the institutional framework.

If the answer to a lawless president is a cowardly and corrupt congress, then god help us. Economic policy simply cannot be trusted to politicians whose only incentive is re-election and serving campaign donors

That's true for every aspect of US government and society; having policy set by an elected legislature answerable to the people is how democracy works. If you want things to function better, start electing people who behave honorably and act in good faith and start demanding accountability from your representatives when they don't.

(Also, don't get your hopes up about the Federal Reserve in the current climate. Just like the Supreme Court or the FBI or the EPA or the NIH, the Federal Reserve is only as good as the people in charge, and Trump is doing what he can to seize control and abuse its powers for personal gain.)

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