Gas high........Joe low

You’re a black kid from Oakland? I had no idea 

I just turned 40 so I guess I'm not a kid anymore but you get what I mean.

I hear catch phrases that make people mad, that incite and stir the pot from Trump fans, but I never get details or specifics just catch phrases then lashing out with anger when asked for details...that is a Trump move and shows a lack of ability to explain specifics, the reason is there are none.

What did Trump do that was anti establishment? I am not interested in something that is anti DNC or anti a partisan approach, that is not anti establishment that is anti the partisan approach you disagree with.

To me term limits, not belonging to NATO etc is not anti-establishment it is part of an agenda which is opposing a different agenda. Removing campaign contributions and lobbyists, now THAT is anti-establishment. 

All the things Trump championed is for the GOP agenda or his own and against someone elses..its still one agenda vs another, it is not anti-establishment. And what DID he do exactly except spend too much time golfing or on twitter or harassing someone that dared to stand up to him? His focus was golfing, his family, avoiding tax reporting, shading information that was against his image...he did very very little but made a ton of noise.

So specifics please without the usual Trump temper tantrum we see in this very thread.

He didn’t start any new wars (first President since Carter) — anti-war — military industrial complex — globalism — establishment 

Drug price rules — pharmaceutical industrial complex — establishment — Establishment Biden froze 

NATO — made NATO member states pay their way instead of subsidizing NATO

Incentivized companies to build manufacturing facilities in US

NAFTA, killed TPP, oil, immigration — especially illegal, climate change — Paris accord, tariffs 

The establishment supports globalism and Trump was the first anti-globalist to get his point across. Only anti-globalists and anti-establishment candidates will become the GOP nominee in the near future at least.

Shined the spot light on brutal globalist war hawks regardless of party — McCain, Graham, Romney — destroyed them as far as the new GOP base is concerned  

Well thanks for answering and not slumming as you often do..its not too rough to have a discussion and be civil.

The war avoidance I am not sure that was anything more than situational, it isnt like there was a direct opportunity and he declined to get involved, the macro environment was tame for war so that is great but I dont see that he did anything specific.

I wish he had tackled the drug pricing issue, he promised he would but no way did he do anything, nothing was done there and still nothing has been done.

NATO fair share is kind of silly, yeah its a talking point but the military complex got all they wanted for funding with Trump, I consider NATO in the same sub category as military spending CIA etc so that fair share is like me leaving a 10.50 tip instead of a 10 buck tip, it is so minor that we spent more money talking about it and complaining about it than we saved. It costs money to pursue tangents, it takes time and money so is the goal to claim a victory or save money?

Build in America...well Trump incentivized for sure by giving corps a tax freebie allowing them to onshore money they had been storing for decades to avoid taxes, he huffed and puffed and claimed some victories but in reality outside claiming a win, what was the impact? Did the impact last and did it make a change which we see now or was it temporary? I know he claimed a few things and then a few of them fell apart or didnt come to fruition but the claim already happened and we move on, but to me that huff and puff was a zero.

NAFTA, what changed? Can you tell me the impact of whatever he claimed to have done that still exists? He made a commotion about what a bad deal it was but I do not recall anything of significance that came from his noise outside him demanding things then going golfing for a while. NAFTA is a corporate freebie issue, that to me means nothing happened because corps dont let things happen politically no matter who is in the seat.

Immigration is not a nice topic, I do not like making up boogie men to pit one against another, to point fingers at woes from one group of people and ignore other groups who are harming and because they are legals then who cares...it is not an easy topic but the cost and benefit from his attempted policies is another nothing burger, it never could be and I feel it was a ploy to divide and to win an election, but he really did not do anything and even if he had put up a massive wall it would not have an impact IMO.

Tariffs are paid by the least...so if you want to take profits from corps via a tariff then the end user is the one who pays for it.. I also saw much more smoke than fire regarding tariffs , what has the net result been from this issue? We are too reliant on cheap goods from that region, not just China but many other countries and putting a tariff on China just means they make it there and ship it to another country to be delivered. It really did not do much, it is a noise maker which goes nowhere. If you want to make an impact on China there are other better ways to do so, but that was not his intention IMO...

Oil is a sucker topic, people think that the cost of gas is more important than the impact of that choice, I think fracking is awful it destroys the water table and causes earthquakes and ecological damage that is not worth the gain at the pump, Keystone did not help the US it is a false flag it only helps Canada and China, we gain nothing and take all the risk. What I find funny is how Americans are angry at high gas prices and outraged at 5 bucks a gallon, but in the UK and most of Europe they have it much worse and have been paying multiples of our prices yet they modify behavior to not be so dependent on gas, their transportation infrastructure gives them more options where we want that Ford 350 truck to drive to work and are not really motivated to modify consumption or behavior, so I would rather not allow fracking but make driving gas guzzlers more expensive but higher gas economy vehicles less expensive...so give more freebies for electric OR higher MPG vehicles and motivate people to make better choices. Americans are very lazy, very entitled and unmotivated to sacrifice consumption and it is why our savings rates are so low and we are unable to handle economic ups and downs like we should.

Globalism is capitalism, there is no reason to be isolationist, it does not work and has never worked I dont see how generalizing globalism as some horrible thing makes any sense, Trump is a divider of people, he puts people against each other and causes abuse and a lack of community. I do not think that trying to put down other politicians or groups accomplishes much..Trump spent the majority of his term stomping on people and making stupid decisions and comments..his focus was on himself and his family, it is the last thing this country needs.

Trump wasn’t perfect but he had the balls and the microphone to set up the foundation for the movement. 

Globalism isn’t capitalism. 

@I_Need_A_Detox

 What foundation? What movement? Can you even explain this commentary in the terms of reality?

You're correct my brother, "Trump wasn't perfect" and on the other hand, you're in-correct, he was a

"ball-less" president, who used a microphone like a 'carnival barker' luring in people to see a 'live' freak show 

The reasoning behind Trumps presidential WIN, was contributed by voters as myself, with you, and your political views secondary to the claim. 

it's very quite simple, and it's fortunate that millions of true blooded 'independents' voted for Trump, ONLY because they could not sleep at night thinking about Hillary and Billy bob running the USA, just like I voted for Obama (gave my support for the first Black president) instead of Romney (not only would I have a hard time sleeping, I'd have religious nightmares)

President Joe Biden (79)

Nancy the inside trader Pelosi (82)

Mitch the bitch McConnell (80)

Chuck the LGBT liberator Schumer (72)

Donald the 45th President USA Trump (79)

These dinosaurs have to go ASAP, they continue to fuck- America, our great system, our dynamic way of life, tarnish, and taint Washington DC, We as Americans have now bestowed our country, and put it in the hands of 'old' have brain dead  politicians that keep getting re-elected by old people, simply because they their selves are old!! 

later tox

America First, MAGA, use American tax dollars on things that benefit Americans, border security, pro business, bring manufacturing back to the US, fuck the fake racism/transgender/men can get pregnant/CRT narrative, fuck the globalists, fuck the establishment, fuck the fake climate change loudmouths that fly around on private jets, fuck the fake news/globalist propaganda, fuck wars, fuck government/federal overreach etc 

That movement 

Ron DeSantis (43) 

@I_Need_A_Detox

All of your points are not anti establishement they are just pro GOP and Trump agenda, it is not unique to Trump in the slightest. And of course globalism is capitalism because who controls the power when the world has no political barriers? Of course the power is controlled from corps, and corps as we know them derive from capitalism.

Border patrol is a divisive lousy topic, it pits people against each other, it is the modern day caste system from England that puts one class above another and makes another group seem less than human and not deserving of respect. I would appreciate the need for isolation if there was ANY focus on the "legals" who are sucking more from society than illegals ever do and not just making visual enemies for the sake of political posturing.

Manufacturing cannot return, corps make peanuts manufacturing here and in the past when we were making goods the prices are so bad that there was not enough sales and profits. The reason why manufacturing went away is the same pro business platform you support...corps seek profits, you cannot have pro corps and pro US manufacturing and low prices/no inflation. Those do not work together in any way or form.

Trump was not original, or unique and there is no such thing as anti establishment outside of removing the money changers from the temple and that will never happen.

In capitalism, the role of the government is low. In globalism, the role of the government is high. 

Pits people against each other? Why are you silent on things like BLM, Critical Race Theory etc? 

It seems as if you don’t have a problem, or won’t speak up, if pitting people against each other is going to further the political agenda that you believe in. 

Trump is not stronger than the movement. 

CRT= the thing that isn't a thing but is the worst thing ever according to people who have no idea it isn't a thing.    Got it!

Capitalism in an Adam Smith Wealth of Nations model or Free Market Austrian economics. Friedman or Sowell would say that adding regulation is taking freedom from the market. Trump wasn’t a threat to capitalism. 

Globalism is the connection of Government and Transnational Corporations. Trump was a threat to globalism. 

If you're a Corporation you want similar or same laws in all countries in order to easily do business or trade etc. But enough regulation so that you have a moat around your business, so that you can keep competition out and ensure high prices.

I’ll try to leave the conspiracy theory type stuff out of it but this also brings in the New World Order, The Great Reset, WEF -- Globalism from an ideological perspective also includes the managed decline of the United States in order to bring about a Global Government. Trump was a threat to this entire scheme. 

You come across as very intelligent and always seem to have your finger on the pulse. 

In a Senate hearing Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says "the critical thing is we become more dependent on the wind and the sun"

They chose this transition, and the pain is the point.

The destruction is intentional. The gas prices — they did that on purpose.

It’s already being branded as “an opportunity”. 

People like WallStreet will cheer this on, not because they’re bad people, because they don’t have a good grasp on how things work and they’ll blame the pleb. “You fat lazy people shouldn’t be driving F350’s anyways! $5 a gallon is cheap! Look what they’re paying in Germany and Hong Kong! We’re lucky!”. 

The globalists are the best at modern day propaganda. It’s by far their best tool. 

Look at the absolute hatred for Trump. Then MeToo. Kavanaugh. BLM. Covid. Ukraine. If the globalists want to spin a narrative they can do it successfully and QUICK. 

Adam Smith made a nice theory but given that we are not a lab experiment or a econ novel to discuss in a classroom, it fails. Greed makes Adam Smith's theory impossible. The idea of the silent hand of government is good but it fails because corps cheat, people cheat for greed and power and the government is forced into action when corps and people cheat each other and do harm.

I like Adam Smith as a theory but it is utopian and impossible, if you want the invisible hand of government then eliminate then corporation and political gain from private funds, make politics its own separate entity with no outside influence aside from protecting abuses which exist in society.

My comment about F350s is about lazy consumption approach that the US has, we want to be gluttonous but also we want to cry about high costs. If you dont like high gas prices then carpool, drive higher econ cars, make sacrifices and choices to maximize your time and need for gas. Its ok to have a F350 to drive to work at Microsoft in your single office job but dont get mad when gas prices go up and you have no recourse.

I support alternative solutions to oil versus giving subsidies for oil, yes that is true.

Anytime I'm the opposite of you I know I'm doing something right   

@BWS77

 What happened between you and Tox to make you follow him around like a woman scorned?

He take you out to dinner, break your back, and never call you again?

Apparently Tox called him a lesbian and he didn't care for it.

Got it. So BWS didn’t put out after the wine and dine.

I think they should bury the hatchet. It is Pride month after all 

“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”

I would have to take a deep dive into the subsidies to have a real opinion. At first glance I would guess that the government does it because they benefit from them financially in the big picture. 

A basic example is a developer wants to build a 1,000 unit complex that would send $5m annually to the city. If the developer strikes a deal with the city to only send $3m annually for the first 10 years that isn’t really a $20m tax break. The city has the option of $20m or $0 and must decide what is best for them and their budget. 

Severance taxes and other similar mechanisms, state oil and gas leases, local property taxes, and federal leases etc. I don’t believe the government is “giving” money to oil. I’m pretty confident they are “receiving” money from oil. 

Sen Debbie Stabenow (D-MI):

“On the issue of gas prices, I drove my electric vehicle from Michigan to here last weekend and went by every gas station and it didn’t matter how high it was.”

Yeah… go with this. Great message.

I think her point is similar to what I was saying about consumption habits in the UK and Europe, so she is right if you own an EV and have a cheap or free source of elec then the prices at the pump mean nothing. That is the decision she made for whatever reason and like any EV owner gas prices are not relevant. So my cousin in the UK who travels all over the place via transit has lived with gas prices exponentially higher than we have/had and they use transit or have "scootie" cars which are like a Nissan Versa for here and there travels. 

Americans want their gluttonous consumption and then complain when costs go up..well you have choices, make different choices. OPEC is a monopoly for supply, that as in the past presents a problem at times so are you going to shake your fist at the sky and keep driving your F350 or are you going to modify consumption and handle it?

They’re taxed at like 70% per gallon and they don’t have guns so their only move is to drive roller skates  

Sad!