Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Alfredo Viegas

The GOP failed to hold the House from WW2 until Gingrich.   Prior the republicans held significant political dynastic power from the Civil War until Wilson and then ultimately FDR...   the question I am posing here is - will this time similarly usher in a long period of political demise for the GOP?   Back in 2008 the GOP led by the Bush/Romney part of the party concluded it needed Hispanic voters to remain in the demographic foot race with Dems... that opinion did not work out and instead it was the unorthodox Bannon gambit on disenfranchised non college white men that worked brilliantly with Trump...   but that strategy is age limited given that group's demographic decline...

As for the economy, sorry to say that food and raw materials are easily sourced globally.  If California were to be it’s own country it would probably grow at a faster rate than remaining tied into the USA...   red states like Kansas or Kentucky would not be economically viable as stand alone countries...   so one could say that most small population red states are at risk of continued economic decline unless they can upgrade their service economies and to do that they probably have to lean more to the left to attract those people and businesses...

Seriously?  I'm not sure you are fully considering the magnitude of the US food, mining and energy industries.  Who could "easily" replace those resources globally? 

I personally don't think the GOP is entering a period of decline.  Heck, I don't even think the GOP is on the ropes.  In 2020, other than Trump losing, the Republicans did pretty good in the House, the governor's offices and the various statehouses.  You and I can probably agree that there were plenty of reasons to vote against Trump other than  dissatisfaction with Republican policies in general.  We'll know a lot in 2022, when we see how the midterm House races turn out.  

Jim

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

I meant any critical vote will have to get his ok or it ain’t happening 

Roger. 

I hope it doesn't come to it, but I wonder who would be the actual Senate Majority leader in a 50/50 scenario?  Since Harris has the tiebreaker, I reckon it would be a D, but which D?

Originally Posted by Alfredo Viegas

US farming contributed 0.6% gdp. All US food industry was 5.2% which includes restaurants. Mining contributed 2% to US GDP and oil and gas industry contributed 7.9%. 

these are all yesteryear industries (except for restaurants!) Yes we still need them but increasingly you can source externally and they are not value additive from a globally competitive standpoint, with the exception of USA farming I would say.  (US lifting costs for natural gas are also globally competitive) 

If we return to the Ricardian free trade view of the world then many of these low value industries we can more effectively resource external to the USA and instead focus more on higher value services which ultimately means higher salaries and better standard of living.  Other countries (China) are pursuing this upgrading of their economies.

In any event I think it’s the angst that many voters feel about future job prospects that makes them fearful and as Dem candidate Andrew Yang so correctly pointed out - the villain- is technology.   

Hi Alfredo:

My point is different.  Ag may only account for a small percentage of the GDP, but it is foundational.  We all gotta eat.  This is true, even as we have industrialized and then moved into a highly tech-based and services-based economy.    If US food production were removed from the world equation, perhaps we could import a replacement quantity of food.   Imagine however, the US as the world's largest food exporter replaced by the US as the world's largest food importer, by a lot.  The starvation this would cause elsewhere would be astronomical.  As evidenced by the starvation that exists in many regions today, even though we produce and export a lot of food. Same analysis for mining and energy.  This would cripple the lucrative tech and services sectors.

Also, your observations could be pointing toward a robust resurgence for the GOP.  There have been several articles about how the GOP is now the party of the workers and the blue collar set.  The Ds are becoming the party of the elites in the tech and services sectors, who inhabit big cities in big states.  Matt Tabbi of Rolling Stone has been exploring this theme for quite a while.  Here is his most recent:  https://taibbi.substack.com/p/which-is-the-real-working-class-party-cc3

Votes are not apportioned by GDP.  They are apportioned by population.  Whichever party captures the votes of the working class is likely to remain viable for a very long time.  

Jim

Originally Posted by Alfredo Viegas

I am hopeful that a Biden administration can put Humpty Dumpty back together, and I hope that Biden will toe a center line policy.    We will see. 

Me too!

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Hey Patrick, its not me that has the evidence, it is all around you.  Because you choose to ignore it, is of no matter to me.  The courts will deal with it.

Here's one bit of evidence, dead people voting.  I don't know dead people go to the polls, however the facts support it.  

Dead people are voting in person.  That's a darned Neat Trick!   

There is a growing list right now, coming out of a lot of states that Prove that dead people voted.  That's called fraud. It isn't an error.

Well it might be for the left who willfully ignore it like you.  

Sure, the dead vote in ones and twos.  Do you have any evidence that they voted in significant numbers this election?  Also, old people tend to bias R.  Most dead people were old before they died.  Why do you reckon the dead would vote D?

Jim

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

F'ing A it is:
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-discussed-replacing-electoral-college-with-loyalists-nyt-2020-11?fbclid=IwAR3AD9GZgKotLIX5Ll3TKAXjoErWQhPNFGHbampzOW4HfOUxoRQFi1UxTOI

Hi Russ:

The NYT article is just anxiety porn for the lefty loyalists.  Perhaps the most accurate line in the entire article:

"It was not a detailed conversation, or really a serious one, the people briefed on it said. Nor was it reflective of any obsessive desire of Mr. Trump’s to remain in the White House."

DJT is apparently coming to grips with his loss, he'll not go graciously I suppose, but he'll go when the time comes.  Between now and then, outlets like the NYT can't help but stoke the ginned-up anxiety of their fans, whom the lefty press has been frightened for years with fantasies of Trump refusing to step down.  

Jim

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

Trump would destroy Democracy if he could, for all you Fascists out there:


 https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-discussed-replacing-electoral-college-with-loyalists-nyt-2020-11?fbclid=IwAR3AD9GZgKotLIX5Ll3TKAXjoErWQhPNFGHbampzOW4HfOUxoRQFi1UxTOI

"The Times' sources stressed that though Trump had asked about the plan, he did not seem to entertain it seriously."

Hi Russ:

You've questioned several times whether I take the threat posed by Trump seriously enough.  On the contrary, I've often wondered why you seem to buy into the more outrageous and fantastic tales about Trump and his strategies, especially when the tales are foisted upon the public by Trump's enemies in the press and contradicted in the very articles pushing them. 

We agree that the US is better off with Trump out of the Oval Office.  We disagree completely on whether he is a threat to the United States.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

North Carolina's hospitalization have increased dramatically and there are NO MORE ICU BEDS IN UTAH! Well, I don't know about you but I sure as covid hell don't want 'em flooding next to me.  If I can wear a frigging mask when I'm outside, so can those Covid denying dumbshits...

There is a shit-show coming to a county or town near you Rod.  The virus is doing what viruses do.  The picture below is the left hand side of a dramatically increasing bell curve, starting about a month ago.  Have you guys quit wearing your masks?

The soaring infection rate in CO is worse, and to the best of my ability to observe, CO is being pretty good about distancing and mask wearing.  I am not saying that mask wearing is ineffective.  The curves could be a lot steeper.  The virus is doing what viruses do, in a free country anyway.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Prediction: Trump will resign, Pence will pardon him:
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/525845-prediction-trump-will-resign-pence-will-pardon-him

The purveyors of silly anti-Trump anxiety porn are running on overdrive today.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

He's definitely a threat to national security by refusing to partake in an orderly transition of power.

Trump is sure as hell being petty about the transition, but it is going to happen whether he likes it or not.

https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-al-gore-elections-b622c6d946d320508a4d6756fb279b93

Jim