The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
pmayo says:
Since someone brought up outsourcing in the last thread, I was thinking "what's our return?" In short, what does the government, and, by extension (hahahaha, see I'm trusting that taxpayers actually benefit) the taxpayer get back in return for bailing out the Big 3? I say the government makes this loan contingent on the cessation of outsourcing, or, at the very least, some outsourcing. Force automakers to bring back those jobs. We give you the money, you repatriate the jobs. It makes the union happy, it makes the taxpayer happy, and it makes the auto exec pay for his rampant greed and stupidity.
Kulkuri says:
The thing I don't understand is that if the cost of medical insurance is more than the cost of steel per car, why hasn't the Big 3 pushed for universal health?? That is the reason the work is going to Canada (heartbeat of America, Camaro is built there) and Mexico where they also have universal health. The studies I've seen show that it would cost less for Big Business to pay into a universal health system than what they are paying now for medical insurance. The insurance companies must have one helluva lobby!! Wait, was I talking socialized medicine, that's bad, crony Kapitalism is good!!
j says:
@ pmayo
I don't know if preventing outsourcing would be beneficial; actually I fear that it might backfire. On the one hand you would be giving them a help to right the sinking ship and on the other hand you would be handicapping them from using any and all tools possible to get things moving in the direction of profitability.
Perhaps a better way to get the execs to put their back into their work is to tie their pay directly and completely to the company's success. If GM loses 1% market share then Wagoner forfeits 50% of his salary.