2024 General Election - Trump vs Kamala Harris

[Guest]

Challenge: talk about an actual solution to a problem without acting like a fucking fool that can only spam the word "marxist". 

 

If the grocery bill is two times higher, how do we fix that? 

 

Why do prices even go up while wages and other things stay down? 

 

Surely the solution is to empower the profit makers to make more profit, right? 

 

You can't bitch about grocery prices and then cry socialism at the hint of someone trying to fix the problem when the reality is you have no solution and don't even want action to be taken. It's unreal. 

 

 

[OILERMAN]

Just now, Bink said:

Challenge: talk about an actual solution to a problem without acting like a fucking fool that can only spam the word "marxist". 

 

If the grocery bill is two times higher, how do we fix that? 

 

Why do prices even go up while wages and other things stay down? 

 

Surely the solution is to empower the profit makers to make more profit, right? 

 

You can't bitch about grocery prices and then cry socialism at the hint of someone trying to fix the problem when the reality is you have no solution and don't even want action to be taken. It's unreal. 

 

They don't have real policy to fix it. They are in fact on corporations side. "Give me money and I'll deregulate" And honestly their strategy is effective

[OILERMAN]

 

[begooode]

2 hours ago, reo said:

 

 

This is who he is.

 

 

 

 

Trump's anxiety over his bald spot not only results in cartoon hair, but also is a much higher priority than showing a modicum of respect to soldiers making the ultimate sacrifice.  But repubs pretend that's okay now, because all of a sudden Character doesn't Count anymore.  Weird.

 

Edited August 17, 2024 by begooode

[tgo]

This is nuts - just an insanely huge ad buy - never seen anything even close to this. 

[Justafan]

5 hours ago, ChesterCopperpot1 said:

Price gouging laws already exist. 

What laws are you referring to? 

[Justafan]

2 hours ago, Bink said:

Challenge: talk about an actual solution to a problem without acting like a fucking fool that can only spam the word "marxist". 

 

If the grocery bill is two times higher, how do we fix that? 

 

Why do prices even go up while wages and other things stay down? 

 

Surely the solution is to empower the profit makers to make more profit, right? 

 

You can't bitch about grocery prices and then cry socialism at the hint of someone trying to fix the problem when the reality is you have no solution and don't even want action to be taken. It's unreal. 

 

 

Here’s another challenge: Let’s listen to what actual economists have to say.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Business/harris-unveils-economic-plans-inflation-housing-economists/story?id=112892305

 

"Most of the inflation over the past few years has been caused by increases in costs," Steven Hamilton, a professor of economics at George Washington University, told ABC News. Hamilton acknowledged that price increases for some groceries may owe to corporate concentration, but said it doesn't stand as a primary cause of overall inflation.

"You have to be careful not to cherry pick," Hamilton said.

 

"If they have $25,000 more to spend on a house, they'll submit bids up to $25,000 higher for the home," Jones said. "That policy in particular is a bad idea because it won't bring the price of housing down."

 

From the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/16/kamala-harris-economic-plan-2024/

 

Megan McArdle: President Joe Biden promised, improbably, to bring back loads of manufacturing jobs. Harris is promising, even more improbably, to simply command things to be other than what they are. I have been cringing watching intelligent commentators who know better pretend that maybe there’s something to this price-gouging plan. Like, who can really say whether inflation is caused by an excess of money sloshing around the system, or by corporate greed? Gotta hear both sides!

 

 The Biden administration has been pushing this line since the avian flu epidemic raised the price of eggs. It failed, both politically and economically. Concentration in the meatpacking business is high for certain products, but arguably that holds down consumer prices, as massive processors are able to squeeze suppliers. If you broke up Tyson and Perdue, chicken farmers might get a little more breathing room, but chicken prices would rise.

 

 I mean, it’s pretty clear what would happen: We would get fewer lifesaving drugs. Pharma is already moving R&D away from the stuff that’s most likely to get price-controlled and toward other products. You can argue that’s good because we waste too much money extending lives, but I don’t think it’s a mystery what happens when you reduce the return on a product that requires billions of dollars in upfront investment.

 

 

[OILERMAN]

Trump’s just gonna cut the price of everything in half

 

Seems like an easy decision 

[Justafan]

8 minutes ago, OILERMAN said:

Trump’s just gonna cut the price of everything in half

 

Seems like an easy decision 

Trump’s plan is to run up the deficit and impose tariffs which will exacerbate the problem. 

[rns90]

15 minutes ago, OILERMAN said:

Trump’s just gonna cut the price of everything in half

 

Seems like an easy decision 

There is no way anyone with actual brain cells believes this is remotely possible.  It's just so obviously false and not a realistic option.

 

Edit: forgot to add that headhunter and Merc are counting on a dude who runs businesses into the ground like crazy as some sort of savior for the economy.  Can't make that stuff up.

Edited August 17, 2024 by rns90

[ctm]

2 hours ago, tgo said:

This is nuts - just an insanely huge ad buy - never seen anything even close to this. 

 She has 175 staffers on her digital team.

 

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/08/politics/harris-social-media-tiktok-dg/

[OILERMAN]

39 minutes ago, Justafan said:

Trump’s plan is to run up the deficit and impose tariffs which will exacerbate the problem. 

He literally said he’d cut the price of things(notably gas) in half 

[nine]

1 hour ago, Justafan said:

What laws are you referring to? 

I don’t know the specific laws….but I know for a fact that several years ago during a sudden hurricane-related gasoline supply-chain disruption (Katrina, maybe?)  a small locally-owned gas station a mile or so from my house jacked up their prices to something ridiculous….like $7-8/gallon.

 

Within 12 hours, the local authorities shut them down….and the station remained closed for at least 2-3 years before eventually reopening under new ownership. 
 

Gasoline is obviously far more regulated than food…..but given the way prices have stayed at pandemic/national emergency levels a couple years after the emergency ended, I can easily see the government taking measures and demanding that corporations provide justification for such sustained price inflation.  
 

It’s a safe bet they haven’t doubled or tripled their employee payroll…and I’m guessing an excuse of “filling the pockets of senior executives and shareholders” probably won’t cut it.  

[Justafan]

1 minute ago, OILERMAN said:

He literally said he’d cut the price of things(notably gas) in half 

Yeah, Trump is a delusional moron in addition to all of his other delightful character traits. 

[Justafan]

1 minute ago, nine said:

I don’t know the specific laws….but I know for a fact that several years ago during a sudden hurricane-related gasoline supply-chain disruption (Katrina, maybe?)  a small locally-owned gas station a mile or so from my house jacked up their prices to something ridiculous….like $7-8/gallon.

 

Within 12 hours, the local authorities shut them down….and the station remained closed for at least 2-3 years before eventually reopening under new ownership. 
 

Gasoline is obviously far more regulated than food…..but given the way prices have stayed at pandemic/national emergency levels a couple years after the emergency ended, I can easily see the government taking measures and demanding that corporations provide justification for such sustained price inflation.  
 

It’s a safe bet they haven’t doubled or tripled their employee payroll…and I’m guessing an excuse of “filling the pockets of senior executives and shareholders” probably won’t cut it.  

If others can provide that gasoline for cheaper they will and that station would quickly have to lower prices or lose business. Unnecessary price gouging is disastrous for most businesses. This idea that ALL of the businesses in America colluded to price gouge all of the groceries all at once is one of the most ludicrous lies I've heard in my lifetime. 

 

There are exceptions to everything and times when it makes sense for the government to step in but those times are rare and certainly shouldn't be a focal point of economic policy for a presidential campaign.