What are the key issues of US Election 2024?

[QvQ]

That is not the right number. The Consumer Price Index has increased by ~90% since 1998.

That is based on the bag of groceries purchased in 1990 for $20. Now that bag costs $80. And any shopper who bought a bag of groceries in 1990 and one yesterday can attest to that reality. I could guess at the inflation for groceries since Biden took office. I paid abt $300. Now my bill is $400 to $450. The government admits the price of groceries is 44% higher in the last 3 years.

Outside extraordinary events, the size of government spending is fairly smooth. It increases (in dollars) or decreses a few percent in any pair of consecutive budget years. There is a hesitancy to cut or increase by large amounts.

Since 2007, extraordinary events and ordinary events have resulted in Trillions of dollars in increased government spending. Or am I just imagining that National Debt?

As for Feudalism being dead for centuries, it is still the form of government for most of the world. In it's more antiquated forms, it existed in Russia until 1917 and in China until 1948. Feudalism is a system of government that exists in many countries of the world today.

Systems of government and economics of same are easily learned by doing some research.

 

[Hans Blaster]

That is based on the bag of groceries purchased in 1990 for $20. Now that bag costs $80. And any shopper who bought a bag of groceries in 1990 and one yesterday can attest to that reality. I could guess at the inflation for groceries since Biden took office. I paid abt $300. Now my bill is $400 to $450. The government admits the price of groceries is 44% higher in the last 3 years.

Groceries aren't priced by "the bag". Every bag contains individual items and the CPI measures the increase in those items (and other non-food items). "inflation" is more than the price of groceries. Stop guessing about economic numbers.

Since 2007, extraordinary events and ordinary events have resulted in Trillions of dollars in increased government spending. Or am I just imagining that National Debt?

And they don't recur. That's the point.

As for Feudalism being dead for centuries, it is still the form of government for most of the world. In it's more antiquated forms, it existed in Russia until 1917 and in China until 1948. Feudalism is a system of government that exists in many countries of the world today.

Systems of government and economics of same are easily learned by doing some research.

Feudalism has no connection to *our* economy. Period.

 

[mindlight]

I thought that I would re-visit the initial question regarding the top issues of the 2024 presidential election campaign.

1) DEMOCRACY
Republicans continue to campaign on the stolen 2020 election, that January 6th was OK, and that Trump is a victim.

If Trump is running, and constantly campaigning from outside a courtroom, Democrats will hope to make this the only issue.

2) THE BORDER
Democrats are unwilling to want to act to change the status of the situation at the Southern border.

3) ABORTION
Republicans continue to support a ban on abortion, often with no real allowance for exceptions.

4) PERSONAL FEELING OF ECONOMIC STABILITY
The issue is not the economy which is the best in the world and continues to set to be strong with low unemployment.

5) BIDEN's AGE
This issue is really about the vice president. After all, Trump is only four years younger. The issue is not about generational change of leadership, although nominating someone other than Trump would give the Republicans an easy victory.
=====================
NON-ISSUES
Almost no one votes for president based on the national debt, the environment, or any foreign issue (unless US troops are dying in large numbers).

Regarding your claim of a stolen election, the conservative supreme court and All neutral bystanders disagree. I find it scary that you either believe this or push it regardless of whether it is true. The claim is an obvious lie.

Regarding isolationism being a non-issue you appear to have no idea how The US economy works. 90% of high functioning chips come from Taiwan. Chips are more important than oil right now. NATO has prevented WW3 for more than 7 decades.

You appear to be pursuing policies that will split the USA and could result in a civil war. This will only benefit Russia and China.

 

[QvQ]

Groceries aren't priced by "the bag". Every bag contains individual items and the CPI measures the increase in those items (and other non-food items). "inflation" is more than the price of groceries. Stop guessing about economic numbers.

Government: 20% grocery inflation,. And the price of gasoline is also up 69%. Inflation is cumulative and since Biden took office it is officially 17%. Yes, it is 4% this year however that is in addition to 17%. Even if it were zero, people still have to pay that 17%.

And they don't recur. That's the point.

The recurring theme is subsidizing and stimulating. The fact that this is a recurring "extraordinary" is a clue to basic instability. That infrastructure bill is nothing more than a depression era works program.
Since 2008 "American consumers do not have the purchasing power to sustain economic expansion."
Instead of Americans running up their credit cards and using their homes as ATMs as happened in 2008, the government is dumping cyber money hoping to prime the economic pump.
It is an interesting question whether these stimulus will work. But then, when all else fails, there is always the mighty economic engine: war and the military industrial complex.
The system is fundamentally unstable.

The statement: "Feudalism has been dead for centuries" hardly qualifies as a scholarly opinion. And the subsequent flat statement that feudalism has nothing to do with our economy is based on the same level of knowledge about the subject. A person could claim democracy has been dead for centuries because democracy ended with ancient Athens. That would hardly lend credibility to that person knowing much about history or systems of government.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Government: 20% grocery inflation,. And the price of gasoline is also up 69%. Inflation is cumulative and since Biden took office it is officially 17%. Yes, it is 4% this year however that is in addition to 17%. Even if it were zero, people still have to pay that 17%.

The first half of those numbers have no time reference. How should we know what you mean?

The recurring theme is subsidizing and stimulating. The fact that this is a recurring "extraordinary" is a clue to basic instability. That infrastructure bill is nothing more than a depression era works program.

Some evidence would be good here about this "recurring" aspect. As for the recent infrastructure bill, we have vastly underinvested in our infrastructure for decades. We badly needed to try to catch up.

Instead of Americans running up their credit cards and using their homes as ATMs, the government is dumping cyber money hoping to prime the economic pump.

We don't have cyber money yet. Hopefully this "digital currency" nonsense will die a hard death, soon.

It is an interesting question whether these stimulus will work. But then, when all else fails, there is always the mighty economic engine: war and the military industrial complex.
The system is fundamentally unstable.

Why don't you just say you want less government spending, or is this some sort of argument about stimulus?

The statement: "Feudalism has been dead for centuries" hardly qualifies as a scholarly opinion. And the subsequent flat statement that feudalism has nothing to do with our economy is based on the same level of knowledge about the subject. A person could claim democracy has been dead for centuries because democracy ended with ancient Athens. That would hardly lend credibility to that person knowing much about history or systems of government.

I'm not an economist or historian, but I do know what feudalism is and it has never existed in the United States, so speaking of it drops your credibility a few notches.

 

[USincognito]

The inflation rate under Biden is 17.1%. officially.
The price of bananas 58 cents now 72 cents. That is an inflation rate of 24%.

Meat, what I buy was always under $3lb. Now $4.97
That is an inflation rate of 65%

So average the two, that is a grocery inflation of 45%.

Tell us exactly how those things were directly caused by President Biden.

 

[USincognito]

Bumbling and stumbling into war all the while smirking because war is stimulating to the economy through the military industrial complex. Yes, definitely multi-tasking.

What war are we "bumbling and stumbling" into?

 

[USincognito]

Maybe so.
It worked for in the days of the pyramids. Now Phoenix has a huge public works project. $260,000,000 taxi way at the airport. Isn't exactly fixing the crumbling infrastructure. I am still driving on the shoulder of the road to avoid the potholes.

Ah, so the Federal government paves potholes in city streets now?

The public library is a Quonset hut that has a few books.

Sounds like the city or the county needs to spend some money for an upgrade in your area. I'm not sure a library counts as "infrastructure" per se.

But what the heck, the next public works projects are electric charging stations and trains.

There you go. Trains are literal infrastructure.

 

[QvQ]

The first half of those numbers have no time reference. How should we know what you mean?

Since Biden took office

Some evidence would be good here about this "recurring" aspect. As for the recent infrastructure bill, we have vastly underinvested in our infrastructure for decades. We badly needed to try to catch up.

This is a quote from Sept 2008 "Americans do not have the purchasing power to sustain economic expansion.
Nothing has changed. The government propped up the banks and since then has been subsidizing and stimulating to paper over the fact.
The system is unstable..
The Infrastructure Bill is targeted to photo ops, creating employment and infrastructure in certain areas. When it is all said and done, the Infrastructure is still going to need the same repairs. An old story: In one State, the Highway was under construction in a city. An old truckdriver said the highway had been under construction in that city for all of the 30 years he had been driving. He joked that "the Governor's brother in law, a contractor didn't want to work out of town" as the rest of the States highways were pot holed disaster. So there is a beautiful new taxi way in Phoenix. It doesn't quite cover the rest of the more mundane infrastructure that needs "catched up." But it does create employment and provide the politicos with photo op and "look what we done for you" pats on the back. That is a Public Works Project.

We don't have cyber money yet. Hopefully this "digital currency" nonsense will die a hard death, soon.

Yes, I am referring to the fact that I doubt those trillions of dollars bills are actually printed physical objects. I could say "Mere entrees on a Balance Sheet. Social Security, for instance, is deposited directly into online accounts. So many of governments payments are simply transferring $000 into digital accounts. the ultimate fiat money.

Why don't you just say you want less government spending, or is this some sort of argument about stimulus?

This thread is basically about the issues.
I don't think the government can do less spending. The first thing to determine is what sort of government entity is the US government today.
Now people claim Republic or Democrat or Socialist. And one side claims: Autocrat Dictator if Trump is elected. The other side claims, Dissolved into chaos if Biden is re-elected.
So what is the US government actually?

I'm not an economist or historian, but I do know what feudalism is and it has never existed in the United States, so speaking of it drops your credibility a few notches.

I am a historian. I am not an economist but I understand economic systems that exist in various forms of government. In my analysis, the American Government is Feudal. It is who has the power and controls the wealth, in any system.
In America is the Agencies, the Administrative Branch. It includes the Executive but then kings and presidents come and go.


Consider that the American consumer does not have the purchasing power to grow the economy. Don't know if piles more fiat dollar dumped into the economy will somehow grow the economy out of that. The government has stepped in to try to keep the economy afloat and it has cost a bundle. We will see if government can spend our way to prosperity.

 

[USincognito]

What is DEI?

A white grievance boogie man.

 

[USincognito]

Regarding your claim of a stolen election, the conservative supreme court and All neutral bystanders disagree. I find it scary that you either believe this or push it regardless of whether it is true. The claim is an obvious lie.

Regarding isolationism being a non-issue you appear to have no idea how The US economy works. 90% of high functioning chips come from Taiwan. Chips are more important than oil right now. NATO has prevented WW3 for more than 7 decades.

You appear to be pursuing policies that will split the USA and could result in a civil war. This will only benefit Russia and China.

You've completely misunderstood what he wrote. He wasn't advocating any of those positions. For instance, he was merely noting that Republicans continue to parrot false claims about the 2020 election and are running on that as crass appeal to their base.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Since Biden took office

Thanks.

This is a quote from Sept 2008 "Americans do not have the purchasing power to sustain economic expansion.

So we start with a blind quote about what was the case 15 years ago (at or just before the economy collapsed).

Nothing has changed. The government propped up the banks and since then has been subsidizing and stimulating to paper over the fact.
The system is unstable..

And then went to a claim that those conditions continue without giving any support to the claim.

The Infrastructure Bill is targeted to photo ops, creating employment and infrastructure in certain areas. When it is all said and done, the Infrastructure is still going to need the same repairs.

Because we are several trillion dollars behind in replacing wornout infrastructure. That bill was just a drop in the bucket. Hopefully we can start catching up.

An old story: In one State, the Highway was under construction in a city. An old truckdriver said the highway had been under construction in that city for all of the 30 years he had been driving. He joked that "the Governor's brother in law, a contractor didn't want to work out of town" as the rest of the States highways were pot holed disaster.

As another poster just wrote: that local infrastructure is largely your problem to take care of. That it hasn't been really comes down to locals refusing to pay. For the really big things, the rest of us are willing to help out. In the case of the Sky Harbor taxiway bridge over the highway, the documentation clearly shows improved performance of a large airport where many Americans who do not live in Arizona transit.

So there is a beautiful new taxi way in Phoenix. It doesn't quite cover the rest of the more mundane infrastructure that needs "catched up." But it does create employment and provide the politicos with photo op and "look what we done for you" pats on the back. That is a Public Works Project.

See above. Second verse, same as the first.

Yes, I am referring to the fact that I doubt those trillions of dollars bills are actually printed physical objects. I could say "Mere entrees on a Balance Sheet. Social Security, for instance, is deposited directly into online accounts. So many of governments payments are simply transferring $000 into digital accounts. the ultimate fiat money.

Let me guess you also have a problem with fiat money...

This thread is basically about the issues.
I don't think the government can do less spending. The first thing to determine is what sort of government entity is the US government today.

It is a democratic republic just like the last 235 years.

Now people claim Republic or Democrat or Socialist. And one side claims: Autocrat Dictator if Trump is elected. The other side claims, Dissolved into chaos if Biden is re-elected.
So what is the US government actually?

We could do that analysis, but I don't know if you're ready to properly discuss it.

I am a historian. I am not an economist but I understand economic systems that exist in various forms of government. In my analysis, the American Government is Feudal. It is who has the power and controls the wealth, in any system.
In America is the Agencies, the Administrative Branch. It includes the Executive but then kings and presidents come and go.

And someone pays you for this anaysis?

Consider that the American consumer does not have the purchasing power to grow the economy. Don't know if piles more fiat dollar dumped into the economy will somehow grow the economy out of that. The government has stepped in to try to keep the economy afloat and it has cost a bundle. We will see if government can spend our way to prosperity.

I'm not sure where you are getting your economic analysis.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

One unspoken issue is the American people's distrust of the Democrat Party. It appears to many that they are weaponizing the courts and law enforcement to attack and destroy their opponents. They are engaging in election interference by intimidation and threatening voters with litigation if they dare speak up for Republicans or against Democrats.

 

[QvQ]

As another poster just wrote: that local infrastructure is largely your problem to take care of. That it hasn't been really comes down to locals refusing to pay.

And my reply to him and to you is that Federal Interstates go through Cities. That is not a local problem. Also US highways are federally funded.
Another truck driver story: A new driver had driven through KS City a few times and knew the interstate was washboard and potholed. Then one night the driver was Absolutely Amazed that road was smooth as glass. Even awakened the co-driver to admire the shiny surface, proclaiming that KC has finally fixed the road! The co-driver nearly fainted as the shiny surface was black ice and the neo truck driver was barreling right along on the wonderfully smooth "fixed" road.

It is a democratic republic just like the last 235 years.

I really like to think so. But I am more favoring Feudal as the power and wealth are vested in the Administrative Branch. Any system of government is analyzed on the basis of who has the power and who controls the wealth. I don't think the answer to a question about who has the power and controls the wealth in America would be Congress or the people. It is the Agencies, the Administrative Branch.

We could do that analysis, but I don't know if you're ready to properly discuss it.

There is a very large segment of the population who don't believe that the issues are relevant any longer. It can't be fixed. Maybe if Biden had not been President. Maybe, maybe...but the country has a bad feel to it generally. So discuss Trump vs Biden all you want. It doesn't matter who is in charge after the last election or maybe even before then. I think the tipping point is past.

 

[Pommer]

Feudal is an old system and it was fairly stable, however abusive and corrupt, for many centuries Capitalism attempted to leave the wealth in the hands of the producers to invest according to their judgement. Now who produces, what and how is increasingly according to government control. And who receives is also according to government control.

The “financial industry” is ~20% of our GDP, they “manufacture“ money, (the thing that isn’t at all “real” but a tool we use to keep track of “who’s doing what”).
That’s a good level to be at, any more and we’d lose our competitive advantage in manufacturing (real actual “stuff”) and slip further behind China.

 

[QvQ]

The “financial industry” is ~20% of our GDP, they “manufacture“ money, (the thing that isn’t at all “real” but a tool we use to keep track of “who’s doing what”).
That’s a good level to be at, any more and we’d lose our competitive advantage in manufacturing (real actual “stuff”) and slip further behind China.

Those are the traditional Financial Institutions.
However, I am understanding that the money the government pays for contracts, education, highways, grants, entitlements, foreign aid, all that money which is fueling the economy is not through the traditional financial institutions. It is merely a number that the Federal Reserve and the Congress agrees to. It could perhaps be considered "traditional" but monetized?
That is the "manufactured" money that is fueling the National Debt and perhaps inflation. Inflation is also subject to supply and demand so it is not so simple as monetary policy.

The government has increasingly inserted itself into supply and demand. Biden threatening to take Patents away from Pharma Companies unless they lower their prices. The Pharma Companies receive Government funding for research, Biden claims that gives him the power to set prices else he can use march in authority to take a patent away from a patent holder.
That is chilling to the American business community, a failure of the traditional Financial Institutions and an indication that Americans
consumers cannot pay for the research through the profit on the drugs.
What system of government is that?

 

[USincognito]

One unspoken issue is the American people's distrust of the Democrat Party.

Fascinating. Especially since no such party exists. Also you're violating the politics section rules by using that epithet.

It appears to many that they are weaponizing the courts and law enforcement to attack and destroy their opponents.

Indeed. The Conservisphere has trained it's audience into believing that any accountability, be it for violating TOS on social media or breaking the law, must be political persecution.

They are engaging in election interference by intimidation and threatening voters with litigation if they dare speak up for Republicans or against Democrats.

The is literally happening nowhere but in the imaginations of red hats.

 

[USincognito]

And my reply to him and to you is that Federal Interstates go through Cities.

If you replied to me, you must not have quoted me because it didn't show up in my notifications.

I live in north Dallas and most of the highways I drive on are fairly new 15-25 years since construction or major work), but I recently drove on the Arlington/Fort Worth side of I-30. This is a 60 year old highway and there was no need to drive in the breakdown lane because of potholes.

It's been well maintained for the almost 35; years I've found myself driving on it. I've encountered many potholes in Dallas, Plano and other northern suburbs.

 

[QvQ]

If you replied to me, you must not have quoted me because it didn't show up in my notifications.

Yes, @Hans Blaster mentioned that "another poster" said the Feds were not responsible for local roads. I should have, as a courtesy, searched for the post and made a @USincognito to alert you. Although not directly quoted, there was an inclusion of yourself in a post.
Thank you for reminding me to do that when addressing another poster's remarks or self outside quotations.

 

[Hans Blaster]

And my reply to him and to you is that Federal Interstates go through Cities. That is not a local problem. Also US highways are federally funded.
Another truck driver story: A new driver had driven through KS City a few times and knew the interstate was washboard and potholed. Then one night the driver was Absolutely Amazed that road was smooth as glass. Even awakened the co-driver to admire the shiny surface, proclaiming that KC has finally fixed the road! The co-driver nearly fainted as the shiny surface was black ice and the neo truck driver was barreling right along on the wonderfully smooth "fixed" road.

Anecdotes aren't evidence.

I really like to think so. But I am more favoring Feudal as the power and wealth are vested in the Administrative Branch. Any system of government is analyzed on the basis of who has the power and who controls the wealth. I don't think the answer to a question about who has the power and controls the wealth in America would be Congress or the people. It is the Agencies, the Administrative Branch.

There is a very large segment of the population who don't believe that the issues are relevant any longer. It can't be fixed. Maybe if Biden had not been President. Maybe, maybe...but the country has a bad feel to it generally. So discuss Trump vs Biden all you want. It doesn't matter who is in charge after the last election or maybe even before then. I think the tipping point is past.

What are you getting on about?