What can we agree is improving in this country?

[Akita Suggagaki]

Phones? They are like computers in our pocket that bring us anything we want. They cost a fortune and yet everyone still seems to afford them.

 

[NxNW]

Apparently, you are unaware of the various polls and data that has already been posted on this forum myriads of times.

Polls are not data, and the data shows a strong economy.

 

[Vambram]

Polls are not data, and the data shows a strong economy.

The people don't believe that.

 

[NxNW]

The people don't believe that.

The state of the economy is not determined by belief, nor by false propaganda.

 

[Desk trauma]

The people don't believe that.

What was that saying about feelings that was so popular under the previous administration?

 

[Vambram]

The state of the economy is not determined by belief, nor by false propaganda.

Data is not going to be voting. The elections are supposed to be decided by the citizens when they vote. And your data that the Democrats in the Federal Government and in the media is not nearly as strong as you want it to be.

 

[Vambram]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/04/14/us/elections/times-siena-poll-registered-voter-crosstabs.html

Four Years Out, Some Voters Look Back at Trump’s Presidency More Positively

A new poll by The New York Times and Siena College finds that voters think highly of the former president’s record on the economy, but memories of his divisiveness largely remain intact.

www.nytimes.com

 

[probinson]

Yeah, I just did. These TVs are 4K. Man, what a time to be alive. I got a monitor (43") with built-in speakers and a remote in December 2022, cos I wanted a TV that did not have built-in smarts, but it costed $500, but the colors on the monitor are better than that of a TV.

Edit: Monitor name is LG43UN700T-B, where I have a DVD player and a Roku stick plugged into the back. When the Roku stick gets old, I can put a newer stick on the back of my monitor, as the monitor would outlive the software on these streaming sticks.

Eh, the Onn TV has pretty sub-par PQ. In particular, vignetting and the dirty screen effect is pretty awful on these low-end TVs (dark corners and inconsistent appearance of colors). Of course, many people don't care and are just happy to have a 55" TV. And the built-in smarts aren't really all that great. Super slow load times.

For my money, you can't beat the 55" Hisense U7.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hisense-55-class-u7-series-mini-led-qled-4k-uhd-smart-google-tv/6541864.p?skuId=6541864

This Mini-LED QLED can be had on sale for just a little under $500, and it offers outstanding PQ for the price. I put one of these in my bedroom back in December and I have been extremely satisfied with it. The black levels rival OLED on this thing. For my "smarts", I use the latest Apple TV 4K, as its performance is truly second to none. The Hisense U7 has built-in Google TV, but I much prefer the Apple TV interface and performance.

So yes, TVs in general are much better. I remember the very first 42" Philips Plasma TV back in 1997. That thing was $15k!

 

[AlexB23]

Eh, the Onn TV has pretty sub-par PQ. In particular, vignetting and the dirty screen effect is pretty awful on these low-end TVs (dark corners and inconsistent appearance of colors). Of course, many people don't care and are just happy to have a 55" TV. And the built-in smarts aren't really all that great. Super slow load times.

For my money, you can't beat the 55" Hisense U7.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hisense-55-class-u7-series-mini-led-qled-4k-uhd-smart-google-tv/6541864.p?skuId=6541864

This Mini-LED QLED can be had on sale for just a little under $500, and it offers outstanding PQ for the price. I put one of these in my bedroom back in December and I have been extremely satisfied with it. The black levels rival OLED on this thing. For my "smarts", I use the latest Apple TV 4K, as its performance is truly second to none. The Hisense U7 has built-in Google TV, but I much prefer the Apple TV interface and performance.

So yes, TVs in general are much better. I remember the very first 42" Philips Plasma TV back in 1997. That thing was $15k!

Plasmas are cool, even to this day, though OLED TVs are better, color and energy efficiency wise. Wow, you are a TV expert, but Hisense is Chinese-owned and made. Yeah, everything is made in China, but I'd rather buy a TV from a Japanese or Korean company. I prefer big monitors with remotes and built-in speakers at this point, as smarts can get slow as you said, and monitors do not have much software, except for color correction, volume and brightness. You can not easily replace the motherboard in a slow smart TV, but with a separate streaming device, you can pull out the old Roku or slow Apple TV, and plug in a brand new one. Apple is good, but is kinda overpriced, though their MacBook Air laptops are kinda cool. Right now, Apple is embroiled in a lawsuit with the US cos of anti-competitive practices.

 

[probinson]

Plasmas are cool, even to this day, though OLED TVs are better, color and energy efficiency wise. Wow, you are a TV expert, but Hisense is Chinese-owned and made. Yeah, everything is made in China, but I'd rather buy a TV from a Japanese or Korean company. I prefer big monitors with remotes and built-in speakers at this point, as smarts can get slow as you said, and monitors do not have much software, except for color correction, volume and brightness. You can not easily replace the motherboard in a slow smart TV, but with a separate streaming device, you can pull out the old Roku or slow Apple TV, and plug in a brand new one. Apple is good, but is kinda overpriced, though their MacBook Air laptops are kinda cool. Right now, Apple is embroiled in a lawsuit with the US cos of anti-competitive practices.

I'm not sure I'd call myself an "expert", but I do value good PQ.

My main TV is a 75" TCL Series 6 Mini LED in my living room. They don't make that one any more, but again, it was the biggest bang for my buck at the time. I also have a BenQ 4k Projector in my family room on a 120" screen. That thing impresses in the sheer size of the image and the PQ is pretty darn good in the dark. But as with any projection setup, it suffers from sub-par black levels.

When I buy a TV, I'm looking solely at PQ. I don't care about any of its smart features or even its sound quality as I rely on either my full Home Theater setup or a soundbar. As long as it can display a high-quality image and supports CEC, that's all I care about.

It's true Apple stuff costs more, but the experience is truly second to none. I have an iPhone, iPad, M1 MacBook Pro, Apple Watch and three Apple TVs. They work together seamlessly.

So to tie back to the thread topic, technology in general has greatly improved.

 

[AlexB23]

I'm not sure I'd call myself an "expert", but I do value good PQ.

My main TV is a 75" TCL Series 6 Mini LED in my living room. They don't make that one any more, but again, it was the biggest bang for my buck at the time. I also have a BenQ 4k Projector in my family room on a 120" screen. That thing impresses in the sheer size of the image and the PQ is pretty darn good in the dark. But as with any projection setup, it suffers from sub-par black levels.

When I buy a TV, I'm looking solely at PQ. I don't care about any of its smart features or even its sound quality as I rely on either my full Home Theater setup or a soundbar. As long as it can display a high-quality image and supports CEC, that's all I care about.

It's true Apple stuff costs more, but the experience is truly second to none. I have an iPhone, iPad, M1 MacBook Pro, Apple Watch and three Apple TVs. They work together seamlessly.

So to tie back to the thread topic, technology in general has greatly improved.

Yeah, tech has improved greatly. My LG 43UN700T-B monitor does not support CEC, but it does support HDMI and USB-C, and the colors are awesome. By the way, the CEO of Apple is gay, and gay folks are treated better in the US compared to the past. That is another potential improvement, or maybe a decline, depending on who you ask. For me, God told us to treat others nicely, so I am okay with gay folks, as long as the parade/pride stuff is toned down, by a lot (I am bi, meaning gals and some guys are attractive to me, but will remain celibate unless with a wife).

 

[NxNW]

Data is not going to be voting. The elections are supposed to be decided by the citizens when they vote. And your data that the Democrats in the Federal Government and in the media is not nearly as strong as you want it to be.

There you go again, talking polls when the the subject was what is improving, and the economy is undeniably improving.

 

[Vambram]

There you go again, talking polls when the the subject was what is improving, and the economy is undeniably improving.

There you go again, talking data that is suspect at best. Is the economy improving for the average family?
No, for the average family, the economy is definitely NOT improving.

 

[SimplyMe]

That is why i always laugh at people who say well a country in Europe is doing this and that. The population difference is so large, it is odd they see a small country and America adopting the same way they do government. Example health care it may work in Sweden, but America is not Sweden. Plus they do not have as many whose eating habits are horrendous and causing all this bad health to begin with.

You say this but basically every first world nation, other than the US, has some type of government paid health care for all. It doesn't just work in Sweden, but in Japan, Canada, etc -- despite the fact all the various countries are quite different, with different sized nation, different sized populations, different diets, etc.

 

[durangodawood]

Phones? They are like computers in our pocket that bring us anything we want. They cost a fortune and yet everyone still seems to afford them.

Blessing/curse. Not sure if people lives are improved by them on balance.
Convenience: plus
Mental health: minus

 

[driewerf]

That is also true. The gap between the rich and poor continue to grow. Biden isn't gonna do anything about this, and neither will a billionaire such as Trump. We need to wait for both of these politicians to grow even older, and then a new crop of politicians could get us out of this mess.

There is a simple answer for that: strong trade unions.

 

[Lost4words]

What is something many of us can agree on?

Gun crime increases year on year

 

[d taylor]

You say this but basically every first world nation, other than the US, has some type of government paid health care for all. It doesn't just work in Sweden, but in Japan, Canada, etc -- despite the fact all the various countries are quite different, with different sized nation, different sized populations, different diets, etc.

-
​

So how are these comparable

America 336,673,595
Canada - 39,038,143

Maybe you want to compare Canada with California - 38,940,231

 

[NxNW]

There you go again, talking data that is suspect at best.

What data is that?

Is the economy improving for the average family? No, for the average family, the economy is definitely NOT improving.

The economy applies to the country as a whole.

 

[SimplyMe]

-
​

So how are these comparable

America 336,673,595
Canada - 39,038,143

Maybe you want to compare Canada with California - 38,940,231

Did I say they were directly comparable? You appear to be building a straw man. What I'm saying is you have densely populated countries (much of North Western Europe, Japan, etc.), you have extremely large countries with smaller populations that are somewhat more diverse (Canada). You have South Korea, Germany, Spain, etc. Somehow all these diverse countries seem to have made government paid healthcare for all work. We aren't just comparing against Norway, or against Canada -- we have the entire First World (and even many second and third world countries) to use as examples of how it can work.