EPTUS Politics Mega-thread - Page 615
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Now that we have a new thread, in order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a complete and thorough read before posting! NOTE: When providing a source, please provide a very brief summary on what it's about and what purpose it adds to the discussion. The supporting statement should clearly explain why the subject is relevant and needs to be discussed. Please follow this rule especially for tweets. Your supporting statement should always come BEFORE you provide the source. If you have any questions, comments, concern, or feedback regarding the USPMT, then please use this thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/website-feedback/510156-us-politics-thread | ||
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JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On August 16 2018 02:59 Stratos_speAr wrote: Johnson sticking with Trump is going to tank his chances in the actual election. Trump isn't exactly popular here. I just don't see how a Republican is going to win the governor's seat anytime soon in MN. As for anyone trying to trivialize a blue wave for November, Democratic turnout in the primaries crushed Republican turnout yesterday. Several records were set for primary turnout overall. If that trend holds, there isn't a competitive house race the Republicans can hope to win, per NPR. | ||
KwarK
United States42955 Posts
On August 16 2018 03:24 JimmiC wrote: I thought this might interest you. In an attempt to stem the tides of hyper inflation and other issues, they are knocking 5 0's off their currency and tying it to a new crypto currency they are backing with their oil called the Petro. I hope it helps it is getting so bad their that people can not get water, as they have not maintained the pumps. (or its the government story of right wing terrorists wrecking them and they have yet unnammed or implemented plan to fix it.) https://cointelegraph.com/news/venezuela-to-use-petro-as-unit-of-account-for-salaries-goods-and-services Their oil reserves aren’t secured by an independent party and the Petro isn’t issued according to an independent algorithm. What they’ve done is rename the Bolivar, putting it on a blockchain doesn’t make it any less government issued and government backed. The Petro is a joke that arrived a year too late for the crypto bubble. They should have committed and used beanie babies for tokens. | ||
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
On August 16 2018 04:03 KwarK wrote: Their oil reserves aren’t secured by an independent party and the Petro isn’t issued according to an independent algorithm. What they’ve done is rename the Bolivar, putting it on a blockchain doesn’t make it any less government issued and government backed. The Petro is a joke that arrived a year too late for the crypto bubble. They should have committed and used beanie babies for tokens. It's kind of the same as a reverse stock split. You can pretty it up, but doesn't change the fact the asset it represents is still a dumpster fire. | ||
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JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
Elizabeth Warren has a big idea that challenges how the Democratic Party thinks about solving the problem of inequality. Instead of advocating for expensive new social programs like free college or health care, she’s introducing a bill Wednesday, the Accountable Capitalism Act, that would redistribute trillions of dollars from rich executives and shareholders to the middle class — without costing a dime. Warren’s plan starts from the premise that corporations that claim the legal rights of personhood should be legally required to accept the moral obligations of personhood. Traditionally, she writes in a companion op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, “corporations sought to succeed in the marketplace, but they also recognized their obligations to employees, customers and the community.” In recent decades they stopped, in favor of a singular devotion to enriching shareholders. And that’s what Warren wants to change. Warren came out with a plan for overhauling corporate governance. It requires corporations above a certain size ($1 billion in revenue) to give 40% of board seats to employees, which would likely result in more money going to employees and being reinvested in the business rather than being spent on dividends and stock buybacks. I've criticized Warren a fair bit for her grandstanding, but this is the best and most substantive stuff that's come from her in some time. The numbers/ implementation need some tuning, but I actually really like the concept, which mirrors the system in place in Germany. The $1 billion revenue threshold can be gamed pretty easily for one. I'm also not sold on the 40% of board seats. Maybe some sort of preferential tax or other regulatory treatment for corporations who give their employees a voice would be better than an outright law. There are a couple other bits which I really like, such as requiring board (so including the employee reps) and shareholder approval for political expenditures, which would effectively neuter Citizen's United. Vox Article Summary from Warren's website | ||
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Gorsameth
Netherlands21774 Posts
On August 16 2018 06:35 ticklishmusic wrote: Businesses would just find a way to redefine 'employee' and make sure its not actual working people who ask for better benefits for the workers over lining their own pocketsWarren came out with a plan for overhauling corporate governance. It requires corporations above a certain size ($1 billion in revenue) to give 40% of board seats to employees, which would likely result in more money going to employees and being reinvested in the business rather than being spent on dividends and stock buybacks. I've criticized Warren a fair bit for her grandstanding, but this is the best and most substantive stuff that's come from her in some time. The numbers/ implementation need some tuning, but I actually really like the concept, which mirrors the system in place in Germany. The $1 billion revenue threshold can be gamed pretty easily for one. I'm also not sold on the 40% of board seats. Maybe some sort of preferential tax or other regulatory treatment for corporations who give their employees a voice would be better than an outright law. Vox Article Summary from Warren's website | ||
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
On August 16 2018 06:38 Gorsameth wrote: Businesses would just find a way to redefine 'employee' and make sure its not actual working people who ask for better benefits for the workers over lining their own pockets Which is why I said the implementation and such need to be tuned. Employers already engage in a lot of fuckery to avoid having to provide health insurance, like making employees just under the fulltime threshold or hiring a lot of temp labor. | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On August 16 2018 06:35 ticklishmusic wrote: Warren came out with a plan for overhauling corporate governance. It requires corporations above a certain size ($1 billion in revenue) to give 40% of board seats to employees, which would likely result in more money going to employees and being reinvested in the business rather than being spent on dividends and stock buybacks. I've criticized Warren a fair bit for her grandstanding, but this is the best and most substantive stuff that's come from her in some time. The numbers/ implementation need some tuning, but I actually really like the concept, which mirrors the system in place in Germany. The $1 billion revenue threshold can be gamed pretty easily for one. I'm also not sold on the 40% of board seats. Maybe some sort of preferential tax or other regulatory treatment for corporations who give their employees a voice would be better than an outright law. There are a couple other bits which I really like, such as requiring board (so including the employee reps) and shareholder approval for political expenditures, which would effectively neuter Citizen's United. Vox Article Summary from Warren's website This isn't a bad frame work for a plan if it could ever get implemented. Anyone who works in an industry connected public entities of this size how dysfunctional they are. They need a change at the shareholder/governance level to prioritize long term gains, rather than quarterly numbers and unrealistic growth. | ||
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screamingpalm
United States1527 Posts
On August 16 2018 03:24 JimmiC wrote: I thought this might interest you. In an attempt to stem the tides of hyper inflation and other issues, they are knocking 5 0's off their currency and tying it to a new crypto currency they are backing with their oil called the Petro. I hope it helps it is getting so bad their that people can not get water, as they have not maintained the pumps. (or its the government story of right wing terrorists wrecking them and they have yet unnammed or implemented plan to fix it.) https://cointelegraph.com/news/venezuela-to-use-petro-as-unit-of-account-for-salaries-goods-and-services Interesting, thanks! I think that knocking zeros off of the currency will do nothing to solve the fundamental issues of fixed exchange rates and pegging, but it should help some minor problems. I recently read an article by an American living there that talked about the nightmares he had with the exchange rates and accounting issues and needing to wait around for purchases to clear for basic stuff. I think a complementary currency is definitely a good idea. It is basically the same policy prescription MMT economists put forth for Greece to rebuild and stimulate the economy. Will be interesting to see if it works out, but I think this is the best option for a nation that has fixed exchange or has a peg to a foreign currency or commodity (or otherwise not monetary sovereign) and allows for policy space and other tools that can help boost a local economy. This is an idea that MMT economist Dr Fadhel Kaboub recently addressed in a presentation for domestic solutions using complementary currency to target struggling and underperforming communities. There are various ways to accomplish this, but one way is to use it for green energy projects- or non-profits (which ties in to his talk about a federal job guarantee). The problem with the Petro, of course is being pegged to a commodity. The entire presentation is absolutely outstanding if you have the time, and covers a wide range of economic issues, but the relevant part begins @ 1:14:30. farvacola might also be interested as I believe he said he is in Ohio (I didn't know that Ohio ranks #1 in predatory pay day lending). + Show Spoiler + | ||
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lastpuritan
United States540 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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Sermokala
United States13984 Posts
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zlefin
United States7689 Posts
On August 16 2018 08:01 lastpuritan wrote: what do you guys think about the current relations with turkey? potus is expected to broaden the sanctions today while qatar made a big investment to help tr. us markets had a small sink earlier, both nations implemented high tariffs on their products whilst stating their strategic partnership will not be affected. (to keep things cool in syria i guess) I think things are going poorly; though I haven't tracked the issue too closely. from what little i've heard, the current kerfluffle has more to do with the leaders positions/nonsense than any sort of reasonable underlying basis. more generally: I'm displeased with the turns turkey is taking; but don't see a lot of great options for dealing with it. | ||
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Toadesstern
Germany16350 Posts
On August 16 2018 08:14 Plansix wrote: Both countries have strong arm leaders who like to act like they can do whatever they want while also having intern connected economies and interests. it's kind on interesting to look at to be honest. Trump and Erdogan are shockingly similar in a lot of ways so you'd expect them to get along with each other. Especially with Trump supposedly only respecting the same kind of strong-arm kind of people as he is. Or well, I get why they don't get along despite being so similar after all that's happened but there's some kind of irony there that makes it weird to look at. | ||
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lastpuritan
United States540 Posts
On August 16 2018 08:45 Sermokala wrote: I think Turkey is incredibly short sighted and they missed the greatest chance the nation has had in decades to improve its position by making a deal with the kurds over intervening in the civil war earlier and creating a Kurdistan. A pipeline from northern Iraq and maybe iran into Anatolia and then the med buffered by the Kurdish tribes being paid off would make turkey the super power of the muslim world. Instead Erogdan would rather blame the kurds for his countries problems and be internationally maligned for it. the problem with this idea is that the kurds have enormous territorial claims and have bad habits on paying taxes, since they carry a whole different ideology (smth mixed with many leftists views such as maoism and socialism) than the turks, who are usually ultra nationalistic and ready to go mental over their nation state ideology. it's pretty similar to france, as long as they're turkish kurdish, they're welcomed, but for the rest it's called treason in the eyes of an ordinary turk. apart from that, I really wonder where this will end with the US, turks are ready to become russia v2 just to maintain their sovereignty untouché.. both sides saying it'll have no effect on strategic partnership while the whole thing was because of these disputes they had on syria and nato. I think they're trying to delay it to make some time to go over risks and damage but it's inevitable. > it all started after july 15 coup, tr was expecting the states to show up first, but it was old wolf putin who called. red flag 1 > then TR demanded extradition of gulen, which was denied by the US leadership, highlighting the checks and balances won't allow that. red flag 2 - kinda ironic they request the same thing for Pastor Brunson atm but whatevs - > turkey feeling abandoned on patriot purchase, fastens s400 and nuclear plant projects with the russians, angering the US, risks its nato role. red flag 3 > the us in return, asks turkey to stop its syrian mission and focus on fighting isis, claims it will make a border force with the kurds against turkey. red flag 4 > erdogan goes nuts and urges states to drop its support to the kurds or else they will be forced to bury american patches together with the guerillas, and return the american flags themselves. starts huge campaign over the kurds, coming close to american held kurdish territories. red flag 5 > american soldiers posing with binoculars checking turkish positions, stating they're ready to defend themselves, congress offers to halt joint f-35 programme with the turks. red flag 6 > erdogan, struggling economical problems despite being re-elected, seeks help from china and brics. the red flag 7... pence starts tweeting right after chinese loan is confirmed, requesting immediate release of pastor brunson, who was already in jail for 2 years, heavy rumors about there was a secret agreement that the US will free Hakan Atilla, a state run turkish bank ceo who's in American jail for derailing Iran sanctions in exchange of american pastor, but Turkey rejecting it in the last minute, hearing there will be secondary wave of sanctions for Halkbank no matter what. none of these problems look like small disputes two allied nations would have and can fix easily, they indeed look like the last major problems you have with your wife before you totally divorce. I think one way or another Erdogan will try to harm US mission in Syria, he has no cards left to play economically, he can't free the pastor whether he's innocent or not and there's also limited damage the US can deliver to TR economically, so they'll go with freezing f-35 delivery. Turkish fm declared they will cleanse Idlib with Russia and Syria, hinting that it will enable future operations towards American held positions to completely shut down American involvement there. This step will probably end Turkish Nato membership? Here's where I can't predict what will be next, it can start a whole new age of wars that Russia always dreamed of and Erdogan will feel free to practise his neo ottomanism. (possibly towards Greeks and Germans) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/08/15/the-u-s-cant-afford-to-lose-turkey/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.42d087410c88 Though I disagree with the piece title, it's a good read. | ||
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Kyadytim
United States886 Posts
Masterpiece Cakeshop refused service to a transgender customer who wanted a birthday cake blue on the outside and pink on the inside, citing religious beliefs, and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission found that it was probably discrimination. Given the Supreme Court's previous extremely narrow decision which was functionally a punt on all of the issues in question, I'd expect that the ruling from the commission is written to avoid the language usage issues that sunk the other Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado round two is probably headed to the Supreme Court, and the cake in question is a birthday cake, not a wedding cake. I think that because the cake in question is more mundane, the potential scope of a non-punt decision is larger now than it was the first time around. | ||
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Sermokala
United States13984 Posts
I can see that the alliance is fractured under Erdogan but I think at the end of the day he can read a map and see that if he broke with the west and the USA he'd become a buffer state for russia and nothing more. Russia may want a friend in ankara but the last thing they want is kurds that don't like russia. | ||
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Sermokala
United States13984 Posts
On August 16 2018 11:00 Kyadytim wrote: www.washingtonpost.com Masterpiece Cakeshop refused service to a transgender customer who wanted a birthday cake blue on the outside and pink on the inside, citing religious beliefs, and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission found that it was probably discrimination. Given the Supreme Court's previous extremely narrow decision which was functionally a punt on all of the issues in question, I'd expect that the ruling from the commission is written to avoid the language usage issues that sunk the other Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado round two is probably headed to the Supreme Court, and the cake in question is a birthday cake, not a wedding cake. I imagine that any ruling that isn't a repeat of the first one in scope would have a wider impact than a non-punt the first time around would have had. The Supreme court tends to not do with repeat considerations of whats basically the same case. If it goes anywhere I'd expect a lower court to just use the precedent. | ||
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Kyadytim
United States886 Posts
On August 16 2018 11:03 Sermokala wrote: The Supreme court tends to not do with repeat considerations of whats basically the same case. If it goes anywhere I'd expect a lower court to just use the precedent. The Supreme Court decided the first case by ruling that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed hostility towards Phillips' religion based on the language of the commission's ruling, essentially punting on all of the actual questions involved in the case. As I mentioned already, I would be very surprised if the commission just issued a ruling that could be torpedoed on the same grounds. There is no precedent that can be used if the commission didn't do something really stupid. | ||
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