Posts Made By: Russ Carroll

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

I guess he's not used to people responding to his threads.

Responding? He should be nearly orgasmic if anyone even reads them.

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Primarily I thought he could have done a better job with the covid thing.....that and he has come down on the wrong side of several issues that I would rather have seen go the other way. Of course there are no perfect politicians. I still voted for him. 

If he has Presidential aspirations, he could be a contender.

I wonder who this will help more in the GA run off now that the Dems already control the Senate?

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Walker is absolutely the next to the last person I would vote for.....it is a lesser of two evils situation so I have to hold my nose and vote for him despite what Rod and company thinks lol.  I think who is the last person I would vote for is implied. 

I think this answers my question about who is advantaged now. Turnout for Walker, where the Senate is not in play, is probably going to be a lot worse than for Warnock.  

Most conservative media opposed Trump running again, and you see some pushback from elected GOP officials, but here is the problem: DeSantis, Cruz, Graham - they are not, nor have they ever been, afraid of Donald Trump. They are afraid of Greg and Richard and the 30% of Americans that would literally vote for Trump if he shot someone on 3rd Ave. 

As a result, a fractured GOP primary season without a dominant front-runner is likely to produce another Trump nomination. Until this death grip on our compatriots here is lifted, Trump is the GOP, and we are in for another dreadful 4 years of a Democratic presidency.

Originally Posted by James Brown

2.  You are misreading Greg and possibly Rich.  Greg has stated that he is a "lesser of two evils" guy, so he'll vote for Trump over Biden.  That is all, he dislikes Trump for a lot of good reasons.  So do many Greg-like voters.  I would bet my 21 mm Ethos  against a donut that Greg would vote for Cruz or DeSantis over Trump in a primary.  Rich recently said that DeSantis was rapidly becoming his favorite politician.   So I think Rich would possibly vote for DeSantis over Trump.  

I wish you were right, but I don't believe it. Greg and Rich might even say they would vote for DeSantis over Trump, but I think when the time came to vote, Trump would get their vote in a primary. I had hoped that Desantis antics (bashing Disney, unkind comments, etc.) would be enough red meat for the Greg and Rich's of the world, but just look at their behavior on these forums? The more guttural and in-the-gutter the attack on the libs destroying the free world, the better to them IMO. I don't even know if they realize this, claiming to be much more pragmatic than that. We'll see...

PS I apologize in advance for talking about you in the 3rd person (Greg and Rich). I was not trying to slight you in any way. I'm just trying to make a point in the context of our group.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

A couple of questions if you don't mind:
1. Would vote a Trump-DeSantis ticket?
2. Other than inflation/gas prices, what bothers you so much about having another 4 year Democratic presidential term?

If Trump were on the ticket, I would even vote for Bernie Sanders if that's who the Dem's picked.

I'm a true-blue conservative as you know, Rod. I actually blame both R's and D's for the inflation we currently have - the Federal Reserve has more to do with it than either one IMO.  Both parties spend like drunken sailors, it's only what they spend on that is different. That being the case, I'd rather have a healthier business community to try and keep the golden goose from getting drowned by either party.

BTW, I think Biden get's a D- on how he handled Afghanistan withdrawal, but an A on his intervention in Ukraine. Ronald Reagan would be very proud of the US response to the red menace.

Very sad news. I too had several pm interactions with him. He will be missed.

Originally Posted by James Brown

SS of course.  There is no real trust fund, if I understand the system correctly.  The young workers of today fund the retirement payments made today.  If we get to the point where the economy shrinks dramatically, the whole thing fails.

SS and Medicare are both a retirement plan and welfare. Almost nobody in the US could afford the medical care Medicare provides and is more welfare than paid benefit. The costs for it far outstrip the lifetime contributions individuals make, and it isn't even close.

SS on the other hand is a bad benefit for those that have paid fully into it over their work life and welfare assistance (or whatever you want to call it) for those that have not. The returns are horrible if you look at it as a paid-in retirement plan. A 401k would provide far more benefit on contributions made over ones lifetime.

Congress likes to conflate the two as a benefit "we paid for", which is just not true. Separating subsidy from  benefit would at least be intellectually be honest and maybe cause real reform at some point. 

We all are socialists when we hit 65 and receive a medicare card.

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

"We all are socialists when we hit 65 and receive a medicare card."
But we're all happy capitalists,  like our employers or ourselves, who pay through the nose for our healthcare, right?...

Well, capitalism isn't the problem, it's the provider of wealth. Attacking it means less money for safety net programs. The cost of medical care is another story all together.