Not my circus. Not my clown.

[Say it aint so]

What makes me laugh is that his supporters seem to LITERALLY believe all politicians "lie as much as him so why can't he lie?"

I kind of don't blame Trump.
If he knows he can lie with impunity right in people's faces without repercussions let lone a dent of any loss given his supporters, then let the constant lying roll on.

 

[Say it aint so]

What about it?

Those countries or the penguins?

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Really?

Yes.

 

[bèlla]

It makes no logical sense why medications manufactured in the United States cost Americans more than they are sold for overseas. In what world does that make sense?

The same applies to food. A lot of it is sold overseas and back to us. There was a good piece on the issue from farmers in Illinois. They admitted the real costs we should be paying and how they’re forced to send it elsewhere. All of them acknowledged we grow enough to feed everyone and usually have a surplus.

~bella

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Wrong. The country has become frustrated with democrats because they are not doing enough to resist Trump's tyranny. The overwhelming voice is for Democrats to fight more to the left, to fight harder for basic decency in government as they have in the past, as opposed to accepting Trump's madness.

That is ridiculous. How much further to the left can democrats go?

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Those countries or the penguins?

Both.

 

[BCP1928]

That is ridiculous. How much further to the left can democrats go?

The social liberal left or the labor left? I know they overlap to some extent, but the social liberal left is about finished.

 

[A2SG]

OF COURSE DEMOCRATS ARE DIVIDED BECAUSE THE ONLY THING UNIFYING THEM IS THEIR SHARED HATRED. PARTICULARLY, THEIR HATRED FOR TRUMP!. If you take that away, they have nothing. Come 2028, when Trump leaves office, the DNC will collapse because the single thing holding them together will be gone. Now compared to to conservatives, we are unified on love. Love for God, country, family, and humanity.

If you think the Democratic party being disorganized or not unified under a single guiding principle (like, say for example, providing tax breaks for billionaires), is somehow new or newsworthy, then I'd like to point out a century old quote:

-- A2SG, hardly a new phenomenon.....

 

[eclipsenow]

It’s like this, the companies go to the countries and say “we want X amount of $s for these medications” and the countries negotiate a price they think “fair”.

Think of it as Americans “subsidizing” healthcare in other countries. They get cheaper drugs because the bulk of the pharmaceutical profits are back home, in the “rich” country.
And the world thanks you.

I have a study that analyses this issue and proves the opposite.

But first - you have not accounted for your overall health costs? This includes Big Pharma, Insurance and hospitals. After decades of McCarthyism and now Trumpism they're now so scared of "Communists" that they won't do the sensible thing that the rest of the OECD does that brings down OECD prices.

Your government has failed to cover all Americans with a Medicare card, failed to provide at least 51% of hospitals as government owned and operated - or 80% as it is in the UK with their NHS, and failed to co-ordinate bulk medicines and medicals to bring the price down. There are no economies of scale this way.

Decades across the OECD have shown that 'the market' does not provide healthcare efficiently! The majority of this should be government!

YOUR PRIVATE INSURERS? The start of "The Incredibles" did a good enough job of showing what goes on there. It's all about profit - and CEO's skimming off the cream. Shiny showrooms and marketing campaigns and advertising budgets and celebrities also add to the inefficiencies. A government department doesn't have to be fancy.

HOSPITALS are not focused on healthcare - their focus is profits for their shareholders. EG: "Need and extra scan for that broken leg? An x-ray is good - but we can look at a second and third option - just to be sure..."

BIG PHARMA just runs the place! For-profit private hospitals often have CEO's who are mates with for-profit Big Pharma and make supply deals for name brand rather than generic. Back door deals etc to secure that next round of meds & funding - and then they'll slap each other on the back down at the country club. After all - they are CEO's and deserve their yacht or Swiss chalet for their skiing holidays!

The study​

The following study analysed exactly this issue - whether all that extra Big Pharma cash in America resulted in extra innovation and new drugs being developed at a disproportionate GLOBAL scale!

​

​

Conclusions. Higher prescription drug spending in the United States does not disproportionately privilege domestic innovation, and many countries with drug price regulation were significant contributors to pharmaceutical innovation.

US Pharmaceutical Innovation in an International Context - PMC

Objectives. We explored whether the United States, which does not regulate pharmaceutical prices, is responsible for the development of a disproportionate share of the new molecular entities (NMEs; a drug that does not contain an active moiety ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[eclipsenow]

Because Democrats are that awful. You'd think that the Democrat approval ratings would have said it all. You think Republicans are bad? You need to come to terms with the fact that Democrats are worse.

Wow - can't possibly reply to this Gish-Gallop of overwhelming data and evidence! I'm glad you swamped us with solid information - otherwise I might have thought this was personal opinion.

Americans call Trump's win an overwhelming one.

Australians see it at a more comprehensive level. See - we have compulsory voting here. It's a civic duty and you get a fine if you don't. That means, we tend to ask - "How many extra votes did Trump get over Kamala as a percentage of the entire adult population?" When you realise a third don't vote, a third voted for Kamala, and a slither of a fraction more voted for Trump - that's maybe 65% of the population that did NOT vote for Trump.

And his approval has gone down drastically since elected - as he continues to open his mouth and embarrass the office.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Wow - can't possibly reply to this Gish-Gallop of overwhelming data and evidence! I'm glad you swamped us with solid information - otherwise I might have thought this was personal opinion.

Americans call Trump's win an overwhelming one.

Australians see it at a more comprehensive level. See - we have compulsory voting here. It's a civic duty and you get a fine if you don't. That means, we tend to ask - "How many extra votes did Trump get over Kamala as a percentage of the entire adult population?" When you realise a third don't vote, a third voted for Kamala, and a slither of a fraction more voted for Trump - that's maybe 65% of the population that did NOT vote for Trump.

And his approval has gone down drastically since elected - as he continues to open his mouth and embarrass the office.

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-does-trump-s-approval-rati-0T5BbhPOSjuZFW0sDCbSDw

 

[Say it aint so]

Both.

What about China, India, and Brazil uniting in actions detrimental to the American farmers?
This:

ND farmers losing ground in trade war: 'This is a mess'​

Kansas farmers struggle amid trade war, but there could be hope​

‘Tidal wave of problems’: With harvest here, Trump’s trade war pushes some US farmers to the brink​

Trade wars cost billions at soybean harvest season​

...I could go on and on. The Penguins? Their farm trade agreements are still the same.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

What about China, India, and Brazil uniting in actions detrimental to the American farmers?

What about it?

 

[doubtingmerle]

What about it?

One would have thought a conservative would care about the interests of American Farmers.

Maybe not.

 

[RileyG]

Does your prescription now cost $100? No problem. If you believe Trump, you will not only start getting it for free, but you will get paid $900 every time you get the prescription!

Because that is what a 1000% cut in prices means.

MSN

Not my circus. Not my clown.

There's one medication that would cost me $600 that my insurance denied, because I do not have diabetes, but have to use it for kidney function. I don't think that has anything to do with Trump, though.

sigh

 

[RileyG]

It makes no logical sense why medications manufactured in the United States cost Americans more than they are sold for overseas. In what world does that make sense?

I don't understand it, either.

 

[doubtingmerle]

That is ridiculous. How much further to the left can democrats go?

Democrats could push harder for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Obamacare, environmental programs, USAID, food stamps, progressive tax policies, unions, and other vital causes. All these are Democratic programs that are being challenged. Democrats could do more to resist the Trump administration. These are the criticisms I hear of Democrats. I rarely hear that they should lean more towards the Trump program.

You cannot equate the criticisms of Democrats for being too centrist with criticisms of the right for going too far toward Trump. Democratic voters often reject the party's move to the center. Republican voters often reject the party's shift to the extreme right. Both are pushing to the left.

 

[eclipsenow]

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-does-trump-s-approval-rati-0T5BbhPOSjuZFW0sDCbSDw

Perplexity? Please no!
First - it was in your account - so I could not access it.

Second - what data set was it trained on? All that propaganda from the Fox loudhailer of Trump's every brain blurt?

Third - from my vantage as an Australian under the Westminster Parliamentary system - Americans care way too much about who their President is - and not enough about what their policies are. So Biden getting crazy old on his last watch was triggering because:-

• it seems the American population do not care about policies enough,
• those that do care about policies seem to have been deceived by the Trump narrative that immigration is a threat to America - where the statistics show them to be more law abiding and contribute more to the economy than they take,
• AND Kamala's actions SOUTH of the border were preventing the push factors that sent people from Central and South American countries, as immigration stats started to slow,
• As an Aussie raised under Westminster I just got cranky at your whole system. How dare the Democrats let it get that bad! Why was he the candidate they sent to represent them in the first place? Personality politics is bad enough in our system - but in your system where you try to let 'the people' (or is that big corporate donors?) elect an individual president - the personality politics seems to drown out policies a lot of the time.
• In Australia the party selects the leader - so we save a stack of money by avoiding basically having a second election. And if the leader says or does something truly stupid - the party will take stock of the polls and hold a leadership spill - and offer someone else as leader. The party polling systems somewhat reflect the popularity of various leaders - rather than the toxic personality politics of a public election system.

So when I see the statistics below (from Reuters) - I have a bunch of caveats and concerns around why Biden was left to let the Democrats ratings drag like that through 2022 and 23. But when you compare it to Trump - "Lions and Tigers and Bears - Oh my!" Why isn't Trump still up in the 50's or high 40's like Biden was during the honeymoon year?

Because he's Trump - that's why! Look at the first term!

 

[Oompa Loompa]

One would have thought a conservative would care about the interests of American Farmers.

Maybe not.

What do they have to do with my statement about Trump unifying people? In other words, "What about it?"

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Democrats could push harder for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Obamacare, environmental programs, USAID, food stamps, progressive tax policies, unions, and other vital causes. All these are Democratic programs that are being challenged. Democrats could do more to resist the Trump administration. These are the criticisms I hear of Democrats. I rarely hear that they should lean more towards the Trump program.

You cannot equate the criticisms of Democrats for being too centrist with criticisms of the right for going too far toward Trump. Democratic voters often reject the party's move to the center. Republican voters often reject the party's shift to the extreme right. Both are pushing to the left.

In the words of Donald Trump to Zelenski, democrats do not have the cards.