Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Once upon a time,,, the party that supported capitalism and democracy had a left and right wing. They were called the Democrats and the Republicans. The members of both parties were mostly politicians, not statesmen but they took care of the country and themselves.,,and often worked together to keep the system rolling. The Democratic wing of the capitalist part still exists,,, supporting the rule of law,, capitalism and democracy. The right wing of the capitalist party no longer exists. It has been replaced by the cult of maga,,,, which exploits racism,, sexism, xenophobia, transphobia and homophobia while replacing democracy with a dictatorship. Some of the 1% ers who could care less about culture wars support maga just so they will longer have to pay any taxes or comply with any regulations to their enterprises. Perhaps the most surprising part of this sad story is the vast majority of those supporting maga are voting against their own economic interests and their life will be undeniably worse under the regime they are hoping for.
Once upon a time,,, the party that supported capitalism and democracy had a left and right wing. They were called the Democrats and the Republicans. The members of both parties were mostly politicians, not statesmen but they took care of the country and themselves.,,and often worked together to keep the system rolling. The Democratic wing of the capitalist part still exists,,, supporting the rule of law,, capitalism and democracy. The right wing of the capitalist party no longer exists. It has been replaced by the cult of maga,,,, which exploits racism,, sexism, xenophobia, transphobia and homophobia while replacing democracy with a dictatorship. Some of the 1% ers who could care less about culture wars support maga just so they will longer have to pay any taxes or comply with any regulations to their enterprises. Perhaps the most surprising part of this sad story is the vast majority of those supporting maga are voting against their own economic interests and their life will be undeniably worse under the regime they are hoping for.
Well said. Or, to summarize, there's the Uniparty and then there's MAGA.
It's interesting how those who every other day call this country a s---thole and bannana republic are the loudest ones wrapping themselves up in the flag on July 4 and praising so-called 'American Exceptionalism.' Irony is truly dead, apparently.
I appreciate that the owner and moderators of this board have not stopped this discussion. Thank you. And I appreciate that for the most part the participants have been respectful and not resorted to childish name calling.
And to tie it together can we speculate how the fairness and transparency of a rules based market system would end if the FED, the SEC and Justice Department were all run by maga stooges? The end of the rule of law would end investing as we know it. Happy Birthday America.
...Of course, a civilized society is going to need to employ a TRULY progressive tax scheme. (Though we never seem to be able to DO that.) We will never have perfection, never have total equality. And needless to say, there will always be a number of people who are not lazy or make stupid decisions; no, they are born unable to compete. They are mentally deficient. We can't just leave them behind, in the dust.
Washington is hopelessly wasteful. I suppose it's true of State gov't, too. There are issues that can't be solved just by throwing more money at the problem. And I'm inclined to favor a re-write of our laws, in order to reclaim and exercise the COMMON GOOD again: I have the HOMELESS problem in mind, particularly...
...The ones who most need the help are currently ENABLED by law to refuse it. My starting premise reads like this: "If you refuse to see or cannot see that the way you are living is beneath your own innate human dignity, the rest of us are not so blind. So, you're coming in." Where you can at least get meals and live like a human being with a bed and some privacy and protection from the elements. And no, you can't just leave the next day, or whenever you feel like it. There needs to be an evaluation as to your readiness. And maybe there are places that might also offer classes to such people? Maybe GED? Maybe even more? Psych. counseling, too. The fact that so many of the homeless are veterans only tells me what a gaping hole there is in the effectiveness of the VA. It's a scandal. (And NO: you can't keep the dog, while you cannot even meet your own needs. And NO: you can't keep that rooster as some sort of pet. Whatever possessed you to make a leash out of twine and keep a feral rooster?!) *We have feral chickens all over the place here, in Hawaii.
Agreed: if "woke" started with good intentions, it's gone haywire by now.
@crash i worked at the VA for 8 years. The most frustrating experience in my life, based on quality of care. But I got paid. In private practice I would gladly have taken care of veterans ( and Title 19) if they had a system set up to pay me. The VA never did. Title 19 even in CT offered us 20% of our usual fee and then couldn't understand why we would not accept their patients with open arms.
Unfortunately there is enough blame for everybody. The bureaucracy paints all doctors as money grubbing creeps so wont pay them. The private sector is willing to abandon their principles if there is cash involved.
a number of NE states have reduced the Veteran homeless population to very low numbers. It can be done if you are willing to spend the money.
The “Rule of Law” concept which has been the standard of U.S. law until now has just been replaced by a new “Rule of Whatever the Supreme Court Says the Law is Today” concept. It looks as if the present majority of the “supremes” wants to defenestrate the executive branch mechanisms for regulation, and transfer that power to themselves. “Supreme” indeed. Unregulated capitalism run rampant at the whim of the president and the "supreme" court. The “law” will be what they say it is (subject to change, of course, without prior notice).
Sounds good, yes? Shouldn’t be any problem at all. Hey, if it works for Xi Jinping in Hong Kong and Vladimir Putin in Russia it should work just fine here too.
Baseball Fan should really appreciate the irony in that.
Continuously usurping as much power as possible, Scotus are the puppet masters. The rest of the world are the audience.
@old_Joe, The above is from a couple of days ago. You and I are on the same page.
People give power to elected officials and when elected officials are dysfunctional, the courts usurp power. The next step in that evolution is military take over - luckily I think I will not live long enough to see that. Good luck to those that come after us.
Having said that this Scotus so far seems interested only in usurping power. Let us see how it misuses that power, in addition to imposing their ideology on the population. The Scotus has a shady past, some of which outright dehumanized sections of population. So, the current one is not all that bad when evaluated in the context of its long history but definitely not as good as its recent past.
"The Scotus has a shady past, some of which outright dehumanized sections of population..."
Dred Scott decision: "Justice" Roger B. Taney concluded that a black man had no rights that a white man must acknowledge. True, your statement above.
"So, the current one is not all that bad when evaluated in the context of its long history but definitely not as good as its recent past." Disagree. There has been a sea change on SCOTUS. Ideology is winning among them, vs. Rule of Law. The most obvious and egregious decision was giving the Trumpster a "get out of jail free" card. (Well, almost!) SCOTUS has grossly limited what Jack Smith can do in prosecuting The Orange Criminal, and the Orange Criminal can use that decision as a pretext to appeal every guilty verdict. It smells. It sucks.
I have seen their power grab. By doing so, they have drawn everyone’s attention on to themselves.
We are here - “Let us see how they use (misuse) the power, in addition to imposing their ideology on the population”. One way or the other, the next 4 years are going to be defining for the Roberts’ court.
I draw comfort from knowing that everyone that ever served or pandered to Trump felt Trump’s wrath at the first instance they chose not to comply to his ever increasing demands. Mike Pence is a shining example in the long, ever increasing list of those. How the Court behaves is beyond this forum’s control. But as an investing forum, what we can do is try to make money in any given situation (make lemonade!). To do so, we have to take an observational attitude.
Ah, OK. I think I understand: Scotus. We will all continue to invest, yes. Insofar as the Rule of Law no longer applies to EVERYONE, it will surely make a difference, esp. with non-US money coming in. The environment is simply (and bigly!) not the same here anymore.
Comments
It's interesting how those who every other day call this country a s---thole and bannana republic are the loudest ones wrapping themselves up in the flag on July 4 and praising so-called 'American Exceptionalism.' Irony is truly dead, apparently.
Washington is hopelessly wasteful. I suppose it's true of State gov't, too. There are issues that can't be solved just by throwing more money at the problem. And I'm inclined to favor a re-write of our laws, in order to reclaim and exercise the COMMON GOOD again: I have the HOMELESS problem in mind, particularly...
...The ones who most need the help are currently ENABLED by law to refuse it. My starting premise reads like this: "If you refuse to see or cannot see that the way you are living is beneath your own innate human dignity, the rest of us are not so blind. So, you're coming in." Where you can at least get meals and live like a human being with a bed and some privacy and protection from the elements. And no, you can't just leave the next day, or whenever you feel like it. There needs to be an evaluation as to your readiness. And maybe there are places that might also offer classes to such people? Maybe GED? Maybe even more? Psych. counseling, too. The fact that so many of the homeless are veterans only tells me what a gaping hole there is in the effectiveness of the VA. It's a scandal. (And NO: you can't keep the dog, while you cannot even meet your own needs. And NO: you can't keep that rooster as some sort of pet. Whatever possessed you to make a leash out of twine and keep a feral rooster?!)
*We have feral chickens all over the place here, in Hawaii.
Agreed: if "woke" started with good intentions, it's gone haywire by now.
i worked at the VA for 8 years. The most frustrating experience in my life, based on quality of care. But I got paid. In private practice I would gladly have taken care of veterans ( and Title 19) if they had a system set up to pay me. The VA never did. Title 19 even in CT offered us 20% of our usual fee and then couldn't understand why we would not accept their patients with open arms.
Unfortunately there is enough blame for everybody. The bureaucracy paints all doctors as money grubbing creeps so wont pay them. The private sector is willing to abandon their principles if there is cash involved.
a number of NE states have reduced the Veteran homeless population to very low numbers. It can be done if you are willing to spend the money.
Sounds good, yes? Shouldn’t be any problem at all. Hey, if it works for Xi Jinping in Hong Kong and Vladimir Putin in Russia it should work just fine here too.
Baseball Fan should really appreciate the irony in that.
People give power to elected officials and when elected officials are dysfunctional, the courts usurp power. The next step in that evolution is military take over - luckily I think I will not live long enough to see that. Good luck to those that come after us.
Having said that this Scotus so far seems interested only in usurping power. Let us see how it misuses that power, in addition to imposing their ideology on the population. The Scotus has a shady past, some of which outright dehumanized sections of population. So, the current one is not all that bad when evaluated in the context of its long history but definitely not as good as its recent past.
Dred Scott decision: "Justice" Roger B. Taney concluded that a black man had no rights that a white man must acknowledge.
True, your statement above.
"So, the current one is not all that bad when evaluated in the context of its long history but definitely not as good as its recent past."
Disagree. There has been a sea change on SCOTUS. Ideology is winning among them, vs. Rule of Law. The most obvious and egregious decision was giving the Trumpster a "get out of jail free" card. (Well, almost!) SCOTUS has grossly limited what Jack Smith can do in prosecuting The Orange Criminal, and the Orange Criminal can use that decision as a pretext to appeal every guilty verdict. It smells. It sucks.
I have seen their power grab. By doing so, they have drawn everyone’s attention on to themselves.
We are here - “Let us see how they use (misuse) the power, in addition to imposing their ideology on the population”. One way or the other, the next 4 years are going to be defining for the Roberts’ court.
I draw comfort from knowing that everyone that ever served or pandered to Trump felt Trump’s wrath at the first instance they chose not to comply to his ever increasing demands. Mike Pence is a shining example in the long, ever increasing list of those. How the Court behaves is beyond this forum’s control. But as an investing forum, what we can do is try to make money in any given situation (make lemonade!). To do so, we have to take an observational attitude.
I called them Scotus (not SCOTUS) for a reason.
We will all continue to invest, yes. Insofar as the Rule of Law no longer applies to EVERYONE, it will surely make a difference, esp. with non-US money coming in. The environment is simply (and bigly!) not the same here anymore.