2022 US Midterms

[Doc]

That's true and is weirdly aided and abetted by impoverished and undereducated GOP voters who believe voting for "pro-business" policies will result in their own enrichment. Any day now, Cletus is going to strike opportunity and ascend to the 1% Club!

What is the wealth concentration outside these regions, where a small landed gentry class dominates local business and the rest face a dearth of opportunity for growth?

Actually most people in the GOP vote for economic growth. And pretty much every one votes for having money in retirement. Yet looks like most are going to loose most of their retirement in the next months. Even Social security is at risk. Mostly because of crooks living in the California and NYC. The Democrats are now the party of the 1% They are all too happy to take millions from them. FTX for example gave democrats as much as $70 million dollars for 2022. SBF promised a billion for 2024. And the dems covered up the fraud for him. Face it Zack you are supporting an organized crime syndicate.

Yeah, about FTX: FTX billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried funneled dark money to Republicans.

Yeah that is what SBF claims. Though funny how it was so well known he spent over 90% on Democrat and promised to give the Democrat a billion dollars for the 2024 election.

[Nonc Hilaire]

Why isn’t SBF in jail? That’s the question.

[Doc]

Why isn’t SBF in jail? That’s the question.

So he won't Epstein himself?

[crashtech66]

The Guardian has lost track of what they were guarding.

[Typhoon]

- Anti-LGBT discrimination

Interesting that this item starts your list as it is hardly a significant concern for the majority of Americans according to polls.

LGBT acceptance is not only the mainstream position (particularly among younger generations), it has been cemented as a fundamental human rights issue. People have the right to be attracted to whichever gender they please and the state cannot discriminate against such relationships.

If it's now mainstream and well within the Overton window, then why does the US media and you keep going on about it.

On the other hand, it is understandable that people would be put off by:
assertions that there are more than two biological sexes - genders, contrary to science
claims that "people", not just woman, can become pregnant and breast feed
men who have gone through puberty competing as "women" in women's sports and winning against women who have dedicated years of training
in other words, the ongoing denigration of women and motherhood
placing LGBTs on a pedestal which deriding 97% of the population, heterosexuals.
claims that being male - masculinity - is "toxic"

The debate about gender identity is clearly still in flux but it will clearly not stabilize at 19th century Western norms. That's wishful thinking. For all the hysteria, conservatives have utterly failed to articulate why gender self-identification is harmful (particularly in contemporary highly-atomized societies) and the practice has always existed to some degree in various parts of the world.

If some poof wants to prance around in women's panties, well, who cares.

However, in which century and in which society was it believed that men menstruate, lactate, bear children?
That the term "mother" is offensive and should be replaced by "birthing-person"?
That female students should face censure and expulsion at universities for stating that "women have vaginas"?
Contrary to all biology.

Women have fought very hard to be able to participate any sport of their choosing, only to have mediocre biological male athletes declare themselves trans and beat women athletes. If the women athletes protest, then they are labeled "transphobic" and are punished.

Boys vs Women Athletes

In democratic nations, the right to vote is a right accorded to only citizens of such nations.
Providing proof that one is a US citizen in order to be able to vote is "disenfranchisement". How bizarre.
In Japan, every citizen, age 18 and above, is mailed a voting card which they present at a polling station. Simple.
Vote counting is done within 24 hours.

Talk about missing the point. That's laughably reductionist and naive. The US has a long history of disenfranchisement and its seemingly permissive voting laws exist as a check on that tendency, which is still alive and well.

History is the past. The Voting Rights Act was passed in the 1960's.
What evidence, as opposed to political rhetoric, is there that voter suppression is currently widespread in the US.
Demanding that anyone can just show up and vote is a rather liberal use of the term "permissive".
And holds one's citizenship cheap

Compared to other developed nations, the US has very violent subpopulations.
For example, blacks constitute about 14% of the population, black males about 7%, yet are responsible for over 50% of violent crimes and murders according to the FBI. The majority of violent crime is inner city black-on-black crime in cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans, etm., all of this have had a Democratic lock on local and state politics for decades. By comparison, homicide as a leading cause of death is not even in the top three for whites, asians, and hispanics.

Gee, I wonder why that might be? What is it about the black experience in the US that has caused this situation? Sounds like social reform and restitution policies are urgently needed here!

Since the Civil Rights Act, the US has spent billions on social reform policies - attempts at social engineering.
Positive discrimination, under the euphemism of "affirmative action", has been in place for decades.
Hard to see how the solution for failed policies is more of the same.

It's not an issue of money, but one of culture.
A culture that denigrates the values that made the US a highly successful nation.

Whitey liberals has caused great harm by promoting and reinforcing these beliefs.

White_Culture_at_the_Smithsonian.jpg (173.64 KiB) Viewed 1995 times

At some point one has to stop blaming the now ancient past for one's failures and take responsibility.

There is no helping a society or sub-culture that is not absolutely determined to help itself.

The American obsession with and mythology of guns is something of a mystery to foreigners.
While the rare mass shooting makes the news, the usual body count is comparable to a typical Chicago weekend [or Baltimore, or St. Louis, or New Orleans, etm.]. The most common weapon used is a stolen or unregistered handgun. The leading cause of death for US black men between the ages of 15 and 34 is homicide. About 50% for US black males age 15 to 19. All according to the US CDC. Not by whites, not by asians, not by hispanics, not by the police, but at the hands of other black men. An abject reality studiously ignored by the US MSM.

Another right wing myth. Have right wing propaganda outlets completely co-opted your online experience? Gun violence in black communities is discussed constantly. What lit the right wing media bubble on fire in recent years was an increasing spotlight on other forms of systemic racism experienced by blacks, namely pervasive police brutality and sentencing discrimination.

You assume that I only read the "right wing" Anglosphere media.
Well, top marks for consistency. Consistently wrong.

Please provide a link to the US left wing media that discusses gun violence in urban black communities.

Police brutality?

Gallup | Black Americans Want Police to Retain Local Presence

Most [blacks] (81%) want police to spend same amount of or more time in their area

Sentencing "discrimination"?

Blacks are arrested for over 50% of homicides and robberies yet constitute only about 14% of the population [FBI UCR]
Well, black males, so about 7% of the population committing over 50% of homicides and robberies.

The rise of "robber baron capitalism" started in the 1980's and has gone on during both US Democratic and Republican admins.
The rare repeal of an Act of Congress, in this case, the Glass-Steagall Act - separation of commercial banking and investment banking - was signed into law by Clinton. Both US Democrats and Republicans are actively involved in private equity.

This is ancient history at this point. You conveniently neglect to mention the Affordable Care Act under Obama. Have you forgotten how that played out on the Spengler forum? Or the Consumer Protection Bureau? How about local Democratic leadership on everything from labor law to climate policy?

Slavery and Jim Crow far more ancient history, yet you cite them as excuses for current behaviour.

The US health care system is a mess, both parties enact laws written by and for healthcare lobbyists.

I had no idea US Social Security has been eliminated. One learns something new every day.

You really need to get back into the real world and listen to what GOP candidates have been agitating for.

"Real world". A bit rich for someone who writes in consultant platitudes.

Please provide a link to support your claims.

"Woke" politics is a form of secular religion. Promoting it in public schools while failing to educate students, inner city students graduating innumerate and functionally illiterate, seems insane to an outsider.

Secular "religion" has existed since the inception of the nation state and certainly since the creation of the public education system. Theistic religious indoctrination is another matter entirely.

Indoctrination is indoctrination, regardless of whether it is traditional religion or reworked and repurposed Marxism.

Indoctrinating kids that Western culture is uniquely evil, while praising turd world, pardon me, third world cultures
is no way to build a successful nation from a collection of immigrants.

Anyways, the public schools are failing in their original primary mission: to produce educated citizens who can think and become productive members of society. Notably in the Democrat run inner city schools, with students graduating innumerate and functionally illiterate.

The rise of the "military industrial complex" and its influence started with the Vietnam War and has continued across both US Democratic and Republican admins.

Ok. We're talking about today. Increasing defense spending is a key pillar of the GOP platform.

Yeah, right.

Reuters | U.S. Senate passes record $858 billion defense act, sending bill to Biden

Polls show that the majority of Americans, being descendants of immigrants themselves, are open to legal immigration.
However, charactering the flood of illegal immigrants at the southern border as "xenophobic" is bizarre at best.
Every nation reserves the right to decide as to who can qualify as an immigrant.

In other words, immigration is an area that's ripe for compromise, making conservative xenophobia even less excusable. Conservative scapegoating of immigrants is widespread and the general position is that immigrants are an "expense."

Again, no differentiation between legal and illegal immigrants.

A number of major industries have recently left Chicago due to the rise in violent crime.
What rational person would want to live in a dangerous sh*thole?
I lived in Chicago during the time of peak violent crime / murder in the early 1990's, the difference from today was the probability of being mugged and / or shot walking along, say, the "Magnificent Mile" was effectively zero. This from someone who considered Chicago their second home.

Even you are forced to admit: the crime wave peaked in the early 1990's. Big cities are safer than they were then and remain desirable places to live. That's why rents are skyrocketing in big cities: demand continues to outstrip supply. And before you cite NIMBYism, New York has been on a building spree for the past decade and it still isn't enough to meet demand. Paradoxically, remote work policies have caused an influx of young people into the city who otherwise would not have been able to be employed locally.

Major corporations have departed from Chicago due to personal safety issues. Tyson Foods, Boeing, Caterpillar, and Citadel to name a few.

SILive | Where are out-of-state millennials putting down roots? Hint: It’s not New York City

Due to asset inflation in housing prices and rising interest rates, young people cannot afford to purchase homes. Hence, the rental demand and rising cost.

Even you are forced to admit: the crime wave peaked in the early 1990's. Big cities are safer than they were then and remain desirable places to live.

Define "forced".

That's a lovely rationalization, however, reality is a bit different.

us-firearm-death-trend.jpg (27.49 KiB) Viewed 1986 times

It's not whitey, asians, or hispanics that are shooting blacks. And it's certainly not the police. Rather it's young black men shooting each other. Homicide being the leading cause of death for young black men ages 15 to 34. Not even in the top three for the other groups.

As always, it's the black community that suffers the most from white liberal fantasy policies such as "defund the police" and woke prosecutors that refuse to prosecute serious crimes.

AP | Baltimore homicides stubbornly high despite new initiatives

[Doc]

That's true and is weirdly aided and abetted by impoverished and undereducated GOP voters who believe voting for "pro-business" policies will result in their own enrichment. Any day now, Cletus is going to strike opportunity and ascend to the 1% Club!

What is the wealth concentration outside these regions, where a small landed gentry class dominates local business and the rest face a dearth of opportunity for growth?

Actually most people in the GOP vote for economic growth. And pretty much every one votes for having money in retirement. Yet looks like most are going to loose most of their retirement in the next months. Even Social security is at risk. Mostly because of crooks living in the California and NYC. The Democrats are now the party of the 1% They are all too happy to take millions from them. FTX for example gave democrats as much as $70 million dollars for 2022. SBF promised a billion for 2024. And the dems covered up the fraud for him. Face it Zack you are supporting an organized crime syndicate.

Yeah, about FTX: FTX billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried funneled dark money to Republicans.

Nov 17, 2022
Maxine Waters just blew a #kiss to #SamBankmanFried
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qD7key_DRI
6qD7key_DRI

[Heracleum Persicum]

.

NR
Deflation Is Here
The United States is now in deflation.

The U.S. is in deflation when current housing-market prices are incorporated into inflation figures. The CPI converts housing costs, including for owner-occupied homes, into rental equivalents. That’s to reflect the consumption costs of living in a home and not the investment costs of buying one, since the CPI is supposed to measure consumption. CPI housing costs are reported for all home residents, so, since rents typically adjust once a year, each month of CPI data reflects an average of one-twelfth of the change in current housing-market costs. CPI housing data thus lag the current housing market by about a year.

The chart below compares Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI housing costs, known as “rent of shelter,” with an index of housing rental costs from Zillow.

..

While official statistics don’t yet reflect housing-cost declines, the Fed is well aware of them and of deflation in goods prices, which have declined 2 percent annualized since July 2022. But, to achieve its overall inflation goal, the Fed is focused on service prices and the wage increases that drive them.

Container rates collapsing

Consumers buying less