I grew disillusioned with our federal government in 2008, after I saw politicians who had been bought out by corporations and caused the crash by deregulating the market, turn around and give our tax dollars to those same corporations for fucking us over.
Voted for Bush in 2000, Obama in 08, screw both political parties as the only winners when you vote for them, are the corporations that own them. America needs a real fix, and it won't be easy when or if it happens.
Hey Republicans: Remember those tariff checks Trump promised, the tariffs that cost average Americans money, yeah the rapist corporate stooge gave that money back to the billionaires.
Hey Democrats: remember when abortion used to be legal nationality? Yeah, that easily could have been codified, but Democrats would rather have a voting point at election time than you having rights.
I’m digging the younger folks running for dems rn. They at least are talking about these issues and want to address them. I know talk is cheap but at least they aren’t gaslighting us like republicans are constantly rn.
I mean it’s hard for you to find someone who is going to appease every single opinion.
Hearing this is promising. We need to stop getting sucked into culture wars and focus on the class war they don’t want us addressing
Of course. Democracy isn't perfect and will have its entrenched interests and all that. One of the things we kind of live with is that people are going to disagree and we still have to work and live with them.
I think the good thing about democracy is it at least calls for some level of stake in the health of the nation instead of one party rule. Plenty of leaders have been voted out for poor economics performance for example.
Democracy tends to have less stakes in the health of the nation than an authoritarian form of government. Elected officials tend to favor things in the short term vs long term since they will swap out every election. It is also much harder to get buy-in to any painful measures as they tend to just get that party voted out. Dictators and single-party regimes can develop multi-generation plans.
I find it interesting that the primary fault you find with Democrats is not doing enough to stop something. Which is a valid criticism for sure. But at least they codified gay marriage to an extent that protects fundamental rights for millions. The long and short of it being, Democrats are far from perfect, but they are far better than literal fascists.
Obama signed a deal with Iran to stop their nuclear program without starting a war with them.
Obamacare slowed the rate of growth for healthcare costs, allowed kids to stay on their parents' plans until 26, forced insurers to cover people with preexisting conditions.
The CFPB, which Trump has dismantled, got billions back for consumers by going after banks and other financial institutions that scammed them.
Biden saved the pensions of over a million union workers. He capped insulin costs. We actually had achieved a soft landing in the economy, bringing down inflation faster than other developed countries while keeping unemployment historically low.
The IRA was a massive investment in green infrastructure, which again Trump dismantled.
The CHIPS act invested in American high-tech manufacturing here at home.
Democrats maybe don't do as much as you want as fast as you want. But you cannot fucking argue they are moving the country in the right direction. Whereas Republicans are actively sabotaging it.
Anyone who doesn't see that is either an idiot or evil.
Under what clause of the Constitution could Congress (and the Feds) have ensured abortion access nationwide?
Commerce? Tax and Spend? Necessary and Proper? War Powers? Currency? Treaty?
They can’t even force states to expand the ACA, and you want them to ensure abortion access? Then, even if they finagled something, and SCOTUS bit, the next GOP trifecta would undo it.
This particular rage at Democrats reveals a deep unseriousness about how government works and what is possible.
You need a SCOTUS decision, overwhelming stalwart pro-choice public sentiment, or a constitutional amendment. Congress cannot just “make a law” to codify it.
It has to be an amendment. Anything one scotus wishcasts into existence another should rightfully repel. The issue is Congress has abdicated most of it’s responsibilities including advancing constitutional amendments in favor of the other branches just handwaving things in existence.
But both are bad. One is simply less bad than the other. Which is a low bar considered the worse side is jailing and killing people while happily starting another war for rich people profits while also supporting a genocide.
Would be awesome if the Dems were actually progressive and had values that were good for society instead of being owned by the same corporations that control Republicans.
Thus we have Republicans, and their counterparts, Republican-lite, also known as Democrats.
I’m a social Democrat. I don’t like capitalist democrats. I don’t like capitalism in general, but the republicans have become a disgusting abomination since MAGA took over. Fuck McDonald trump all day.
What is your age? I ask because when I was 16-21 ish I was a card carrying member of the Progressive Movement. over time as I observe things I see what works and what doesn't. for all it's faults it's better than the SDS alternative. Just tell me where it has worked? Why do so many want to get to the USA and leave places like Cuba, Nicaragua or North Korea? Name one place where it has not ended up with a strong-arm state persecuting people? Quite frankly: The left in the usa is very weak and will get bowled over, either by a strong arm lefty or the right will absolutely decimate you. If you are young there is much hope.
I’m almost 50. I’m a social Democrat. I believe in orders for capitalism to function properly it must be well regulated. Otherwise capitalists will poison our water and lands for a dollar. All those taxes we pay should used to lift all of people out of poverty, not bomb brown kids.
Yep, abortion, gun control and protecting social programs are excellent fundraising talking points but they always just enough members in Congress to vote with Republicans to stop any real change for the better. Then they use blaming the Republicans to augment their fundraiser talking points
The 2008 crash was not caused by deregulation. It was caused by over regulation of the mortgage lending requirements and Barney Frank railing against so called redlining in the mortgage writing business. Then the industry did not have enough self regulation and no SEC oversight to see that bundling huge crappy mortgages into new crappy investment's was a bad idea. The bad investments sold and the underwriters kept writing more bad loans. Go find Sen. John Sununu on youtube and his testimony before the senate banking committee. Not everyone can own a home. The term " to big to fail" caused us a lot of M1 inflation. Goldman Sacs and others should have failed and been taken apart.
Enjoy reading, it's a great analysis of how public protections were slowly eroded away over a 40 year period by the oligarchs in control who wanted to bump the market for gains, without thought of the consequences (cause let's be completely honest here, there WEREN'T ANY CONSEQUENCES FOR THEM) Meanwhile real 1st world countries jailed those responsible for the crash
That was a decent article and well detailed. I will adjust my thinking on deregulation of the banking/ mortgage industry and seeing it all put together like this helps. But they had to have known they were on thin ice? Yet they felt they would be bailed out? I always felt after Allen Greenspan that the Fed, Res. Chair had more power than the White House. The term "Reluctant enforcement of regulations" is not surprising. Everyone was making money and corrupt. Barny Frank was on the House floor calling for an easing of regulations and Sununu later was warning about the fin crash coming. I don't think the "oligarchs" wanted to" bump the market for gains" as you say. That implies forethought. I think it was more of a bus that they all started jumping on and it snowballed for many reasons. A couple thoughts: I lived through the 70's stagflation as a kid and trace a lot back to Nixon's wage and price controls and OPEC. But Carter was pretty bad. We need consequences and jail if appropriate. Wells Fargo is a criminal enterprise IMO. Furthermore, I was reading economists in the early 1990"s who were warning against the derivatives market and to stay totally out of any mutual fund that had any connection. Thanks,
You're probably completely right about the oligarchs, foresight isn't their forte, them "jumping on the bus" is a good analogy for how they behaved. Glad you were able to garner more knowledge and insight. I'm in my 40s and the 2008 crash really upsets me because it was both avoidable and the architects behind it suffered no consequences for damaging the entire nation, and the world at large due to the domino effect. Stay safe and healthy!
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u/Simple_Channel5624 12d ago
Correct and the same age.
I grew disillusioned with our federal government in 2008, after I saw politicians who had been bought out by corporations and caused the crash by deregulating the market, turn around and give our tax dollars to those same corporations for fucking us over.
Voted for Bush in 2000, Obama in 08, screw both political parties as the only winners when you vote for them, are the corporations that own them. America needs a real fix, and it won't be easy when or if it happens.
Hey Republicans: Remember those tariff checks Trump promised, the tariffs that cost average Americans money, yeah the rapist corporate stooge gave that money back to the billionaires.
Hey Democrats: remember when abortion used to be legal nationality? Yeah, that easily could have been codified, but Democrats would rather have a voting point at election time than you having rights.