Trump supporters have misunderstood who the 'enemy' is

[eclipsenow]

Great video — please watch this 8 minute video if you're going to comment on this thread.

 

[Andrew77]

Great video — please watch this 8 minute video if you're going to comment on this thread.

Total garbage, built on ignorance and stupidity.

This country was built on a limited government. By every economic measure, that standard of living grew the most, and grew the fastest, before the high taxes and heavy regulations of the 1930s and onward.

Trade has been great. In the 1930s, when we enforced heavy protectionism, the result was an economic disaster. The worst this country ever had.

Further, this guy sits around talking about how he was in Michigan in the 1990s, and claiming trade wasn't benefiting anyone, because Michigan was crashing.

Was Michigan crashing in the 90s? Was Detroit falling apart? Yeah, it was. But not because of trade, or because of lowering taxes, or because of deregulation. Maybe he missed it, but the country as a whole, was booming and growing throughout the 90s, when global trade was growing.

Michigan was crashing because Michigan was being run by unions and Democrats, which drove the city and half the state, into the ground.

Rising tides, did lift all boats, provided the captain of those boats wasn't drilling out the bottom with a donkey button on his shirt, then moronically wondering why it was sinking, and then complaining that it as international trade and lower taxes that was wiping out their boat.

This guy is an idiot. Don't listen to this brainlessly ignorant video. What trash people are fooled by these days.

 

[Redac]

Some of the middle section of the video wasn't too bad, particularly with regards to what he calls the "richsplaining" that has gone on for quite a while. Most of the rest of it is just stupid at best.

 

[eclipsenow]

Yes, I guess it was a quite broad ranging discussion. What I focussed on were not so much his misguided views on trade as I support international trade. It is more that big corporations don't have the good of their fellow citizens in mind — they only focus on us as 'consumers', not citizens. They get by on the cheap, bleat complaints about any environmental regulations or new taxes, and generally reduce life to a set of economic equations. Life is about meaningful work, time with family and friends, and a quality city design and environment. But big corporations have maximised their P&L around cookie cutter suburban development that destroys community, creates isolation, maximises the sheer infrastructure costs to build a town plan that's 10 times larger than it should be! (I'm a New Urbanist.) But we are not just consumers. We are citizens, and it is time to recognise that we need government and stop just assuming the 'consumer' line. Take Obamacare. I hear redneck conspiracy theorists shouting "It's Communism!" and just shake my head and laugh. American healthcare is the most expensive in the world and yet doesn't deliver as good an outcome. For what? Unparallelled low levels of tax? For comparison, Australia has 'socialised' health care. If I break my arm or have a gangrenous finger or need emergency eye-surgery or chemotherapy, our government supplies it. My own son had cancer, and it probably cost Australia around $250k to save him. But do we force our families to sell their homes to save their family members? No. Our government has nationalised essential medicine, and uses that in a bidding strategy to buy the market's lowest prices in bulk. Our citizens are healthier and live longer lives than Americans and at half the cost! Why? Because your 'free market' approach means your medical goods and services can charge whatever they want. The doctors have structured it this way. List of countries by total health expenditure per capita - Wikipedia Oh yeah, and back to the tax situation — have we totally wrecked our economy? How much more tax do we pay than Americans? Only 1% more tax. 1%! Call me a communist and put me up against the wall! ;-) That's why I'm proud to be OrdoLiberal: Civil Rights, Social Justice and State funded welfare in a Market Economy.

But I do agree with you on trade. That's part of the Market Economy that I love and protect.

 

[Halbhh]

Great video — please watch this 8 minute video if you're going to comment on this thread.

I like that it's trying to figure things out. Not just going with the flow of some kind. In the end we need greater wisdom though to really help us see through all the various illusions. That from Christ. I liked the video even though I disagreed with parts. Many 'rich corporations' for instance mostly want what's best for the nation (not all!), but very many. Not perfectly, but well enough. Some though are more predatory, like banks at times have been, but generally most successful corporations are doing as much or more good, in social influence terms, than bad. It's not hard though to find an example of bad actions, and GS is a good example of that too often in the recent past. Regarding the bigger picture though -- wages -- the key fact that matters is automation. Including little automation, in all sorts of types like software for offices and machines in restaurants increasingly helping make work more and more productive...leaves human workers without that much bargaining power. But Trump has one or 2 things right regarding what to do for our economy (which was already large better before he came in, and was like a real gift to him that way) -- to make trade deals for the U.S. a little more fair (though one can argue he largely just wants to re-brand our trade agreements with giant 20 foot tall letters, like on the side of one of the TRUMP buildings. Showy. But some improvements, and we need to see what's going to be done about trade predatory China.)

But, here's ya another take on the American situation, trying to get at the human condition here, deeper stuff, and where it leads, and what we want, that came to me last night
America

 

[SolomonVII]

Democrats are for higher taxes, and leftists figure that business is evil and bigger government is wonderful.

We have heard it all before. Humorist Andrew Klavan has a impish line to the question “when ya gonna stop mansplainin’” .... “When you stop women understandin’”.
Marxistsplainig of the world of success as oppression produces some pretty rotten results actually.
Overall, big business is not the enemy of big government. The two collude with each other, such as Obamacare where private insurance companies had big dreams of being funded by young people, whether they got the product or not.

 

[eclipsenow]

Many 'rich corporations' for instance mostly want what's best for the nation (not all!), but very many.

But are big corporations really the best way to provide our goods and services? There are many other models around the world that appear more stable. The argument for the Stock Market is that it is a more exacting and efficient means of spreading capital. But sometimes various psychological factors come into play, spook the thing, and there's a massive tumble... to what effect? Why create Corporations that are beholden to 'shareholders' that must not only make a good product but a big profit every time to pay back the shareholders? Then part of the stock market reward psychology is which company is growing the fastest. Why does it have to grow?

The following video is about 3 minutes and describes the German Mittlestand, small to medium sized family owned businesses that make stuff, and why they are so radically different from other manufacturing corporations around the world. German companies are often family owned. If they were publicly owned, they would have a duty to increase the profits for their stock-market shareholders. This incentivises risky growth strategies that can backfire and leave companies confused as to their mission, employees burned out, or even bankrupt the corporation. But being family owned, German companies can focus on the careful economic management of their businesses. They are happy to produce a good product or service for life, and as the video shows, rather than cause stagnation has instead lead to stability and innovation. Many Chinese products you buy have German parts in them. They are one of the world's largest exporters. More on Mittlestand below.

The German Mittelstand economic model bypasses the need for university or college, which is wise in an era where 40% of university grads never use their degree and are left with a high student debt! In Germany, high school graduates start 2 days work and have 3 days training. They get to taste the work itself and discover what kind of industry they want to work in through actual experience. The company allocates actual basic work to their new employees, yet also have an incentive to treat them well as the trainee is studying 3 days a week for a higher level job. Work engagement and morale are high, and many people end up working for the same company for decades, even for life! This next video is about the German economic story, but the vocational training is covered 7 minutes in.

Some though are more predatory, like banks at times have been, but generally most successful corporations are doing as much or more good, in social influence terms, than bad.

Lehman brothers, the 2008 GFC, wall street money traders that run currency attacks on developing nations... fossil fuel corporations funding anti-science climate scepticism that's stunting action on climate change...

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Total garbage, built on ignorance and stupidity. This guy is an idiot. Don't listen to this brainlessly ignorant video. What trash people are fooled by these days.

It's important to remember that this guy being wrong about 80% of his content doesn't make the polar opposite theories of economics 100% right, by default.

Rising tides may have lifted all boats at one point...but we have concrete data showing the vastly skewed shift in the concentration of new wealth that would definitively show that the rising tides we've had, haven't lifted all boats equally.

Deregulation has hurt many sectors. For instance, Reagan's economic deregulation of banking industry was the culprit behind the savings and loan crisis of '89. In fact, there have been a couple recent examples showing the pitfalls of banking deregulation.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Big Business these days is not right wing at all...

...and if the influence of Big Business is a concern just remember in 2016 which party nominated the base's favorite candidate, and which party rigged the primary in favor of Big Business's choice.