Walker88

I guess it's because some of us believe in democracy and rule of law, and if the traitor trump somehow cheats his way into the WH again, everything I know of my country, and everything better people than you or trump sacrificed to build over the last 250 years goes up in smoke. I appreciate posting here is voiding into the wind, but it relieves the anger and frustration built up listening to that a$$hole or his ignorant, brain addled, loser goobers who have zero clue about what US ideals are, and who want to stop the work-in-progress that the US is. "weaponization", whataboutism, etc. are the straws of losers who think trump can turn their failure of a life into a success and get back at all the people who have achieved success in life. He sold them a fantasy, and so in need are they to salvage their miserable existence that they embrace his siren song and gulp down his Snake Oil.

Actually, those are people who accepted the election outcome. They did not concoct a scheme to appoint fake electors. They didn't claim Hugo Chavez rose from the grave, programmed an Italian satellite, and then had it alter voting machine votes. They didn't call SecStates where HRC lost telling the SecState to "just find me [enough votes to cheat and win]". They didn't host a presser at Four Seasons [home & garden] next to a porn shop selling adult toys (one-stop shopping for trumpers). Contrast that with trump, rudy, sidney, cheesbro, eastman, etc.

It's also illegal to follow an illegal order, so no way Meadows was acting in his capacity as a Federal employee. Nor was anyone else.

"stunning lack of imagination"? How can you say that! Why donny came up with those 'who coulda thunk that' nicknames like "Sleepy", "Low IQ", "Low Energy", "Shifty", "Pocahontas", etc. Imagine with that kind of cleverness how successful trump could have been on the Vaudeville Circuit or in the Catskills in the 1940s and 1950s. donny coulda been a contenda! You know, "many people are saying nobody makes up better nicknames then donny". His wit is only matched by his intellect. Who but donny could have suggested injecting Lysol or sticking a UV light up one's butt to cure Covid? I mean, where's the Nobel Prize in Medicine? He's a stable genius, you know.

Do you know how votes are counted in the US? I assume you don't, which is why you made your silly statement. For your homework, learn how votes are counted. Learn the safety procedures involved in getting ballots to counting centers. Learn when absentee ballots (like the one trump, ivanka, jared and others used to vote) are opened and counted. There's no mystery if you know how it's done. Ignorance of the procedure is fertile ground for embracing conspiracies and nonsense.

Maybe it's time you give up the shibboleth of 'weaponization'? You still cannot explain: ---Why trump stole TS/SCI, SAP, Codeword, HCS and RD docs, then lied about returning them. ---Why trump pressured Raffensperger to 'just find me 11.780 votes' AFTER Raffensperger told trump 3 recounts and investigations showed zero fraud. The ONLY explanation is trump meant "cheat for me" ---Why trump told Cohen to pay off Stormy, and then book it as a business expense ---Why trump told his goobers to come to DC on 6 Jan, as "it will be wild !", when 6 January was merely a pro forma certification of an election and such an activity had been done dozens of times in US history without ever being "wild" ---Why trump was intimately involved and approving of the fake elector scheme to subvert US democracy (according to (R) witness testimony under oath before a grand jury Sane people call what DoJ has done as 'following the rule of law' Cultists call it 'weaponization'.

Popcorn futures are limit up.

I hope that someone who believes higher tax rates on the rich will help people living paycheck to paycheck---and now, not in some past Golden Age when the US was the world's major manufacturer---can explain how. Do the math. How much additional revenue would be gained? How would it be dispersed to help those living paycheck to paycheck? How would the budget deficit be impacted? Also, if those living paycheck to paycheck suddenly got some sort of stipend, would they save it, pay off debt, or shop and spend even more? As I have written, I do not know the answer on how to address: 1) The level of public and consumer debt 2) The rapid rise over two decades of home prices relative to wages/income 3) The increasing obviation of labor pricing power 4) The Ponzi Scheme that is Social Security and pensions at a time when the age pyramid is inverting 5) The impact AI is going to have on even white collar jobs Yes, some nations have higher tax rates. How will they face tomorrow? Germany is in Recession, and masks much of its public debt in municipalities. Japan is a basket case, despite extremely high max tax rates. The UK is likely in Recession. The EU banking system 'solved' 2008 by printing money, handing it to banks, telling banks to load up on sovereign debt, then booking gains to mask bad debts and NPLs. That was great for a while. Spanish rates fell from 7% to under 1%, so the Spanish Govt could borrow more. Italy enjoyed the same benefit. Banks 'profits' and minimized reserve requirements on the sovereign debt they bought made their capital structure look better and less leveraged. Now rates are rising, and the massive EU banking system (double EU GDP, as opposed to the US banking system being only 80% of GDP) still carries lots of NPLs. As rates rise, sovereign debt will be more expensive to service. Banks will see their capital structure change as their sovereign bond holdings fall in value. 2008 was postponed. It is upon us again. While the US banking system was bolstered after 2008 when Obama forced banks to slash leverage, issue new equity, and sell off bad debt, things are deteriorating at the public level. For more than a decade, rates were near zero. As US debt matures and is rolled over, it is reissued at current rates, which are not longer near zero. Each 1% upward shift in the Yield Curve adds a few hundred billion$ more to the yearly deficit. Rates are 300 pips higher than 2018, so the rise in debt servicing costs exceeds nominal GDP growth. What is the limit of debt/GDP? How much can higher tax rates on the rich ameliorate that? Enter AI and human labor eradication. I look at the numbers. I look at personal income at various levels using the data BEA produces. I simply cannot make 2 + 2 = 5. What's worse is I think we're going to have to find a way to make 2 + 2 = 7 or 9. Lots of folks offering opinions here. In a big picture sense, what's the answer? I do not see one. Not in the US, not in the EU, not in Asia. Anybody?

I disagree. There have been times when increasing taxes on the rich helped, owing to the particular circumstances of the time. Clinton took advantage of his time. Such conditions no longer exist. The combination of globalization, technological innovation, labor obviation and the coming tsunami from AI, render Clinton's solutions useless. I have never been a proponent of using the term 'this time is different', but today it is time for that phrase. There is no solution. I don't even think Andrew Yang's idea of a monthly stipend to all citizens will help. I hope I'm wrong, but the math does not add up. We've carried this gambit as far as possible. but to use another overused term---Perfect Storm---a world that is globalized, where debt is around $280,000,000,000,000 and rates are rising, where bad debts have been masked by generous accounting and (previous) near-zero rates, where the Ponzi Scheme of pensions and Social Security is being hit by an inversion of the demographic pyramid, and now AI is coming to play PacMan to even white color jobs, says we are getting hit with a Perfect Storm.

Not sure this is another answer, but it is real world.... I spent many years working in Japan. I made a lot, so I was in a tax rate of---IIRC---75%. Maybe it was only 70%. I just know it was the highest rate. Japan still had massive budget deficits despite those tax rates. In fact, among G7 nations, the debt/GDP wasn't even close. Japan was Greece, albeit with more smoke and mirrors. Today, the Japanese economy is a basket case financially. Its population is becoming an inverted pyramid, while its pension system is massively underfunded. (I could write a long tome on the peculiarity of Japanese accounting that allowed this underfunding to happen and remain somewhat invisible.) Japan could go to a 99% max tax rate and they still wouldn't be able to make ends meet. They are just the canary in the coal mine, as we all have the same thing coming.

First, I know full well the Laffer Curve was always a joke. Nobody knows its actual shape, and even if someone could plot it, the curve is likely also dynamic and changes over time. The Laffer Curve was just a cheap trick Republicans used to justify Reaganomics. As for taxing the rich now, it won't help, because the problem as it exists today is nothing compared to what's coming. This isn't the 1990s. I like Clinton, and he 'succeeded' by doing 2 things: one was sitting back and letting the internet bubble run its course. That resulted in massive tax revenues, though much of that was capital gains on IPOs. (When the IPO Bubble blew up, the solution was to make credit easy and let everybody build 'wealth' through property, which led to house prices rising 300% while wages rose only 20%. Great until it blows up, which it did in 2008). Second, Clinton's SecTreas Ruben figured a way to borrow from the Social Security Fund and Military pensions so that the debt was off balance sheet. The budget wasn't actually balanced, but it looked good. Every POTUS since has done the same thing (which is why the yearly reported budget deficit never matches the actual increase in National Debt....under trump the National Debt grew by $7,800,000,000,000 while the yearly deficits added up to less.) Another difference from the Clinton Era is that the world is much more globalized. Labor has lost a lot more pricing power, so the needs of those who earn less are much greater---or the percentage living paycheck to paycheck is much greater---so that the tax increase on the wealthy to do what Clinton did would be so great as to disincentivize people or make them move their wealth and businesses offshore. Much of the exporting of jobs to Mexico, China, etc. was related to Clinton's tax increases. Nothing is done in a vacuum. Every act has consequences, most of which are only apparent after the fact. The thing that will exacerbate this most of all, however, is AI. With all the job losses coming, the rich could be taxed at 100% (and assume they keep working, which they would not) and still the needs of the obviated would be so great that no budget could be balanced. This is unprecedented in all of human history. As I wrote, I have no solution because I do not think there is one. Taxing the rich could work when there was much less globalization, less technological innovation, and no AI. Clinton took advantage of his time, and wisely so. That time is gone. We will see social disruption on a scale I would rather not imagine.

Tell us what can be done? Labor has lost pricing power. The world is competitive. Darwinian Socialism is with us, meaning if a person doesn't have a marketable skill---something not everyone can do---that person has no pricing power. The inflation that is only a part of the problem is a direct result of the $24,000 per American in new debt the previous President inflicted on the country. The problem of labor's loss of pricing power is not new. The initial 'solution' was encouraging people to build 'equity' in property. We had the 3-income household up until 2008---Dad, Mom and Home Equity loans. That has led to a three-fold increase in the price of the average home in the US (and rise in rents commensurate) while incomes are up only about 20% (this over a 20 year period). That asset bubble and easy credit worked until 2008. There is no solution. Taxing the rich won't help. Society is on the brink of a crisis never seen before. Labor has lost enough pricing power just due to globalization. Globalization isn't exactly exporting jobs, either; it's moving them to a way station on the path to oblivion. Technology has replaced labor, and AI is only going to make it worse. One estimate done by a US Think Tank puts jobs losses due to AI at 47% of all jobs. Poof! There are not new jobs coming along, or retraining to give folks a skill. This is not the McCormack Combine, which---though it decimated agricultural labor---sent people into the factories of the Industrial Revolution. The article is about the US, but this issue will be everywhere. Many people will be obviated. Totally unnecessary. We can't all cut each others' hair and do each others' nails. Nations are going to have to consider a basic stipend to allow the obviated to live. People will have to find meaning on their own, because for most it will not come through a job. Do you have a solution? I don't. I'm glad I was smart enough never to produce kids, because their world is not going to be pretty. If there is any bright spot, it is that fertility rates are tumbling. Most nations are now below the replacement rate (that rate is slightly above 2 kids per couple). Some nations---e.g., South Korea---are so low that not even half of a couple is being replaced. That is bad for pyramid pension structures and social security, but good for labor.

trump is a greater threat to US democracy and rule of law than any of the jihadis in the tribal regions of Pakistan or Afghanistan that we were given authority to eliminate. Ideally---since we cannot fire a Flying Ginsu at him---the law will take care of the traitor and put him away for the rest of his miserable life. As for his cult, they can slither back under the rocks from which they crawled.

No, I did not say that. You're mistaken or lying. I did say a few things about trump's economic mismanagement: His GDP growth rate was the lowest of any President since Herbert Hoover. Even before Covid, his quarterly GDP change was in the bottom 30% of all quarters since the end of WWII. Plus, he achieved that mediocre economy via massive debt, debt that exceeded any GDP change under him. The worst Depression since the 1930s was the 2008 Financial Crisis. Obama solved that and handed trump a growing economy and 4.8% Unemployment, down from a high of 10.4%. trump proceeded to run up the most massive deficit and new National Debt in US history, or $24,000 for every American. That was the subsequent cause of inflation. trump also took the growing economy and low UE Obama handed him, and produced genuine American Carnage (the phrase from his poorly attended Inauguration speech). trump left a Recession and 6.8% UE. Under Biden, the economy is growing and UE is at a 55 year low.

No, in case you missed it, trump LOST. That means "Most" do not support him. trumpers are such losers. Blubber butts, mediocre, talentless, low IQ, unsuccessful, sucking up to his false promises and fantasies, believing he can somehow manufacture a life for them other than abject failure. Sorry, the cult lost the Birth Lottery. Can't be fixed.

I think for many in the West, particularly the USA, Thailand is a "been there, done that" sort of thing. Many people who travel are looking for new experiences. There's much greater interest in South America, Europe remains popular, former Eastern Bloc countries are popular, and the adventurous are heading to Africa. China, as has been noted, is in deep trouble. Evergrande is bust, Country Garden is bust, millions of pre-paid condos are not going to be built, and the money paid---life savings, borrowings from Mom and Dad---is not coming back. UE in the 18-25 year group is 20%. Also, Covid prompted many Western companies to change supply lines and look for stuff closer to home, so China loses out there, too. A country built on cheap labor and RE as the base asset has outlived its usefulness. The BRI is looking to be an expensive boondoggle with little ROI, too, so there goes the much vaunted FX reserves. Japan has a demographic problem, a weak economy, and a falling yen. Visitor numbers look to be way down. Even Golden Week did not seem to bring the usual number of visitors; at least they were not as visible as in past years. Golden week used to bring in thousands of salarymen who spent daytimes on the golf course and nights in agogos, and also thousands of OLs wandering around "like they're in an Enya video" (line from The Big Short). For the last two decades or so, Thai officials have just assumed Thailand is infinitely and eternally attractive to non-Thais. As another poster noted, they suffer from CotU syndrome. Thailand is not the center of the Universe, and authorities have to realize it is up to them to find new ways to make the country attractive. Ask non-Thais back in their home countries what "Thailand" is, and the most common answers will be "bargirls" and "spicy food". I'm not sure one of those is an answer they want to hear. There will always be the sex tourists and old foreigners coming to 'live the dream', but even those demographics can be priced out of the market and lost to Cambodia or Vietnam. I don't work for TAT, and luckily so, because I don't have a good answer. Maybe they should go after the demographic that seems most common today, assuming it has room for more growth. That would be the Indian market and Middle East medical tourism. Absent that, 40 million is going to be the good old days.

I'm on Bob's side on this one, though the nationality of the people is irrelevant. It is simply rude behavior. Where do those who do not object draw the line? Would it be acceptable in a Michelin Star-rated restaurant? Take up 15 seats, order just water, and pull the main courses from a backpack? Nobody could pull that stunt in a NYC hi-so restaurant, so why is it okay in a Thai breakfast spot? Also, other potential patrons might be turned off by the display and choose another venue for their meal. "No outside food or beverage" means exactly that. If the wait staff didn't care, okay, but I doubt the owner would be indifferent.

Him? You mean Zeus? Or is it Thor? Maybe Allah? Yahweh? Pascal's Wager didn't note that there are not just two possibilities, as in Nothing or the Christian god. As for your Christian god, I really don't need a guy with such a miserable moral code. The guy's kid had 33 years to tell us that owning other human beings is wrong, but failed to do so. Plenty of his biographers spoke about treatment of slaves, but there was no ban on owning other human beings. Frankly, who needs that kind of deity.

Waddles is more like it. trump is, of course, obese, and he does waddle. Despite his typical whine of being 'indicated' by law enforcement, he is the guy who: ---stole highly classified documents that jeopardize national security and clandestine assets, and then lied about it ---was intimately involved in a plot to overthrow US democracy -fomented the terrorist attack on the Capitol on 6 Jan 2021, and spent 180 minutes on his fat a$$ watching it unfold and watching Capitol Police being beaten and injured (why did he call his goobers to DC and say "it will be wild !", if it is merely a pro forma certification done peacefully dozens of times in US history? YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE.) -Despite being told 3 recounts and an investigation into voting in Georgia found zero evidence of fraud, he still tried to pressure SecState Raffensperger to "just find me 11.780 votes", which has no explanation whatsoever except "Cheat for me". -Watched his long time bagman go to jail for following trump's orders to pay off Stormy Daniels -Sicked the IRS on both Andrew McCabe and James Comey in the same year -Tried (unsuccessfully) to remove the security clearance of John Brennan, because the former DCI was a critic...since his WH was incompetent, John never lost his clearance, even though trump said he had it pulled -Tried to pressure his AG to open investigations into Hillary and Biden -Withheld needed and already-approved military aid to Ukraine demanding that Zelenskyy first make up some fake material about Biden Yea, fat donny is waddling all duck-like.

Quite clearly the Democrats are now the Party of Law and Order, Rule of Law, and Democracy. The only other Party is a Cult, led by a convicted sex offender, convicted charity fraudster and a guy under 91 felony indictments for everything from stealing highly classified documents, paying off a pornstar, and trying to subvert and overthrow 250 years of US democracy.

What's the difference between 'near death' and actual death? Death. Anyone who has watched someone deteriorate mentally due to dementia/Alzheimers would have to live in a fantasy world to think consciousness is anything other than biochemistry. We are to believe that someone so gone, who recognizes no one, who hasn't a clue if they're dead, alive or a turnip, and who eventually forgets how to swallow, at the instant of death becomes fully cognizant again and in the prime of life? I fully accept that the life I have now is the one and only, and when my brain is starved for O2 and dies, everything that I am and ever was ends right there. Entropy wins. ALl the molecules that were me---including the ones that were part of the neurons that allowed me to enjoy, build memories, feel love and other emotions, get recycled into other bits of matter. That is what makes life so precious: it's finiteness.

You mean trump-appointed judge cannon in the stolen classified documents case, right? The only way trumpers will be happy if the judge is jeanine pirro and the jury is made up of the Freedumb Cockups in the US House.

I assume you are referring to trump's silly mugshot, where the bloated and out of shape butterball pretended he was some sort of fighter?

Been going to Vesuvio for years. It's the exact same recipe and exact same chefs as before the ownership change. Looking at their display case, it's even the same suppliers/ingredients. (I am told the only concession they make to local or non-Italian tastes is they have a Hawaiian pizza. Hawaiian is a favorite of Thai women.) There's a large group of Italian expats I see there if I go on weekends. If it's good enough for Italians, it's good enough for me. Nothing changed at all, except they now have a great wine list and an expanded beer list (BeerLao light and dark, Hoegaaden, Erdinger), plus a number of good wines by the glass (whereas before the ownership change, by-the-glass was horrid box wine.). In my many years of visiting Bangkok I've tried every pizza shop there is. The only one that compares with Vesuvio is Pizza Massilia if I want wood-fired Napoli style.

Did you read the article? "Jury selection" Courts do not adjust their schedules to suit traitors who are running for POTUS so they might avoid jail. It's called Law and Order and ALL are equal under the law, both of which trump hates, as he hates democracy. "Weaponization" of govt is when trump had the IRS audit both Andrew McCabe and James Comey. Attempted Weaponization of govt is when trump tried to get the DoJ to open investigations into Hillary and to Biden. Weaponization is when trump ordered his AG to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate the investigators (Durham) which turned up zero wrongdoing by CIA and only a single low level FBI employee, despite millions spent on Durham's boondoggle.