Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Reason link doesn't open. Reddit only looks at Stein, and admits Hil now wins Michigan. WaPo, that lib organ, defending the libs who voted wrong, misses the point. They have no proof that Hil wouldn't have taken more of Johnson voters than Trump. That's why i want to know why people voted for him. I find it impossible to believe someone who would go for Johnson would move to Trump w/o the option.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

you, and they, have the absolute right to your vote. and these other socks here that rail against disenfranchising the precious votes of others can hardly take the position you shouldn't have the right to pick.

Mostly I'm trying to understand the pick though, given the possible (now actual) outcome. I mean, I watched "Missiles of October." Kennedy talked with advisors for a few days about what to do about a nuclear issue. Trump sent out a tweet defining his policy. I just don't get how people smart enough to vote third party (at least it implies some thought as opposed to lockstep party voting) could not come to the conclusion that Hil was better than Trump.

But I certainly did not mean to offend you. Honest.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Almost all Johnson voters would've voted Trump. If Johnson was hit by a bus on November 7, Trump would've had a more resounding victory. No one wants to discuss that because it ends the debate entirely.

Quite literally almost every Johnson voter I know was a Republican who simply couldn't stand Trump.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I figured Trump risk was low, as he was a closet centrist.

I also view Balkanization as just a different variety of system. It's a new environment in which the table is reset. One always has to adapt to succeed. So I'll adapt to this. There's always a way to do well if you're creative. A lunatic's in charge? Well, then learn the new rules and angles, right?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

One of the things I like about the foreign policy community is they have guts to take a stand. Don't like Trump but couldn't vote for Hillary? That's the definition of putting party above country.

Where even the Robert Kagans of the world in the foreign policy arena said, we're Republicans, but we can recognize an existential threat even when its on our side, and recognize when you have to man up and vote for Hillary.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Don't. Like. Either.

Not willing to accept either.

Work with that position.

We were willing to accept the risk. Did we think he was this bizarre? Most of us, no. Are we concerned enough to regret our vote? Not enough of us to have gotten her elected had we voted for her. Not by a long shot.

Do we think this is an existential crisis? No. This is hysteria. The world will go on, and the checks and balances are working. Have a scotch. Calm down.

ETA: I expected people to react in an overwrought fashion. The country's polarized. God only knows the form of overheated reply we'd have seen from the other side if he lost.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Is President Buchanan among your favorites?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

atcq.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Translation: I live in an Ivory 1%Tower.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

All respect to Sebby's Rorty thing, but this is much more interesting.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Interesting questions, but it's like he's never thought about micro.

Maybe a little time breaking down the expenses of each kind of enterprise over time?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

That is more interesting than the Rorty thing. Far more tactile and testable.

I only have two thoughts on it, regarding causes...

1. Third Party Payment Structures

Anytime you have a disconnected third party paying for something, be it a consumer using a credit card which bills them a month after purchases, and with which they may carry a balance, or health care insurance, or a student loan lender wiring money to college once a year for tuition, costs explode.

People do not spend as prudently as they would with third party payment structures as they do when the money is coming out of their own pocket in the immediate. This obviously isn't some shocking revelation, and I certainly don't offer it as one. But like "cost disease," it's a thing we all see every day, we all recognize, and yet no one discusses... which is pretty odd.

2. Financialization

No underwriter would give an 18 year old $200k for a college degree in a normal market. But make that loan non-dischargeable and they will (btw, there's a load of dumb money investing in delinquent student loan portfolios, thinking one can squeeze blood from a stone... may their losses be staggering -- enough, ideally, to render them homeless).

Student loans are financialization of education. You have a clueless borrower, lazy lenders who think they can't lose, and education providers run by some of the least financially astute and cost-conscious managers alive.

A Proposed Fix:

A. Health Care insurance should be actual insurance.

Elective and preventative care should be the patient's responsibility, and on the patient's dime. Insurance should only cover acute and chronic illnesses upon their occurrence. When people have to pay for care out of their own pocket, prices will naturally drop for two reasons: (1) lack of third party payer funds pouring into the system; and, (2) no more cost inflation by providers to make up for insurance discounts (docs charging $1000 for a $50 procedure because they know the insurance only pays a nickle on the dollar for it).

The argument that people don't want to do this is not an argument. They're adults. They are required to be responsible for themselves. The argument it will cause people to forego preventative care has some merit. But I'm confident that that is preventative care costs drop radically, that problem will be minimized. Additionally, dollars for preventative care will be freed up by the decreased cost of the monthly insurance, rather than the ludicrous monthly payments currently made for a TPA masquerading as insurance.

B. Allow student loans to be discharged up to 50% in bankruptcy, and tie lending rates to actual likelihood of repayment

You want to borrow for a degree in modern dance or history? 10% rate. STEM? 4%. Let underwriters set those rates.

And as part of that adjustment to the bankruptcy code, put a clawback provision into the code allowing the trustee to recover up to 25% of the loan from the college or university to satisfy payment of other creditors. And put a five year statute of limitation on such clawback.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

So apparently folks at Mar a Lago, the Winter Den of Corruption, got to pose with the guy who carries the nuclear football.

Neat-o.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Translation: I get uncomfortable when the black people get militant on TV.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

You watch the Grammy awards? Loser.