Market politics

[defc0n]

I prefer someone with the right ideas but much older than someone younger with terrible ideas, like GWB. Ofcourse those are not the only choices - you can have older people with terrible ideas like Biden & Trump

We should remember that the (one of the) best President ever was wheel chair bound.

At age 42 he became president, the age when you’re likely in your prime. Wheelchair is irrelevant so I appreciate the help proving my point!

 

[EVNow]

At age 42 he became president, the age when you’re likely in your prime. Wheelchair is irrelevant so I appreciate the help proving my point!

Being in good mental condition is important. Your age and physical issues are not important.

BTW, FDR was 51 when elected as POTUS and died @ 63.

 

[defc0n]

Ah Theodore was 42.

 

[wdolson]

As we all know, one term of a presidency lasts 4 years. At that age and beyond, any resemblance of energy and health can vanish at pretty much any moment. Younger people that are in their prime are more deserved for the role. Obama was a great age for a 2 term president. The nation shouldn’t ignore the elephant in the room here with candidates at these ages.

President of the United States is one of the most stressful jobs in the world. Trump is stressing for different reasons than other presidents. Normal presidents stress over the weight of office. I'm sure most have some conscience issues about the calls they needed to make. Most presidents have literally made decisions that got people killed.

Trump is under stress, but being a malignant narcissist he has no conscious. He wants the world to praise him and wants them to ignore all his crimes. He's putting a lot of effort to stuff 5 tons of crimes into a one pound box. He is a walking billboard for how much stress kills normal people. Up until now he stressed very little about his life and even though he eats like a 15 year old with no parents around, he's managed to do that for 40 years past when it would catch up with most people. Up until now his crimes have flown under the radar and he was able to buy his way out of lawsuits. He stressed very little because his universe revolved around him.

By the time someone gets into their 70s, they may be in great health, but it can turn south at any time and very suddenly. My parents got through their 70s with no major health problems and my father didn't shut down his business until he was 85. But many of their friends took sudden turns for the worst in their health starting in their 70s. My father told me he got tired of going to funerals. At this point (99) all his contemporaries are gone.

My father was as healthy as Biden when he was his age and Biden my make it through 4 years, but considering the stress, he may need to step down or it may kill him and I'm sure he knows this. I read Barack Obama tried to talk him out of running pointing out the stress of the job. But maybe Biden sees a greater cause and believes he's the best chance of taking out Trump? The polls support that thus far.

To please the base Biden will have to pick someone more progressive and younger than he is for VP. It will also likely be a woman of color. And chances that she ends up president are higher than most other presidents. So the progressives may not get their fondest wish in 2021, but Clownigula (Clown-Caligula) will be gone and someone far more reasonable will take his place. Then there is a good chance Biden will have to step down and his more progressive VP will take his place.

The damage by 2021 will be so severe the first few years of the next administration is going to be spent just repairing the damage as much as possible. Some of the damage will be impossible to repair quickly (like replacing all the expertise in the federal agencies lost). There will be no time for any major legislation to move the country in a progressive direction.

Dreaming about building a palace is nice, but before that can even be started the crater you want to build it on needs to be filled in and the infrastructure that's going to serve it needs to be rebuilt. Biden may or may not be the absolutely perfect choice for that task, but he's not all that better than most of the rest of the field at that. The country will be moving left as the older generations die off and the Millennials and later move into positions of power. It will happen, but there is little that can be done in that direction until the damage is repaired.

 

[SPadival]

A ego maniac with limited mental capacity.....that is most likely declining...is not someone who should be in office.

I am genuinely confused on whether you are referring to Trump or Biden LOL

 

[Intl Professor]

Your age and physical issues are not important.

BTW, FDR was 51 when elected as POTUS and died @ 63.

As a principle I agree with you. I'll be 83 next week, Zeus permitting, and feel mentally fit but after 80 physically falling apart, and am reminded FDR was advised by his doctors he was dying during his 4th presidential re-election campaign.

He made three decisions in that year (or earlier) which are suspect. The first has wrongly been criticized by Republicans: Yalta, where substantial concessions were made in favor of Stalin regarding the future of Eastern Europe, including how to treat Germany after the war. (The Americans were far in advance of the Russians in thinking and planning after the war. It started and finished with what the U.S. wanted. Boundaries of the zones were pretty much like what happened so even they were remarkably prescient. Reparations were another matter as the Americans were wisely wary of repeating the debacle after WWI.) A warning, I could get into the weeds quickly here so will try to be brief. Expansion of Russian territorial reach was inevitable due to the course of the war. Despite Colonel Eisenhower's plan to fight mostly in Europe, that didn't happen. Against advice to the contrary from the Joint Chief's, FDR went for all of Churchill's efforts to delay Operation Overlord, the invasion of France, except for a remake of the Gallipoli campaign. FDR was fully aware of the dangers as prominent Polish Dems in Chicago unsuccessfully argued caution in dealing with Stalin. As early as Stalingrad it was really only a matter of time before Russian armies would win that territory. To their credit, both Churchill and Roosevelt argued against it because Stalin was demanding it from the beginning, even before Pearl Harbor. To sweeten Stalin's ire, General Marshall promised opening a second front in 1942. Later he had to walk that back, as "only a projection."

A very able colleague who specializes in U.S. diplomatic history says Roosevelt made a tremendous mistake in not preparing the American people for the strategic decisions that might have caused many lives of US servicemen if things had gone another way. Further, I believe FDR made a tremendous mistake in choosing Truman as VP and even compounded it by keeping Harry in the dark about what was going on. In discussions as Truman was being sworn in he asked Eleanor if there was anything he could do for her. She said, "No Harry. What can I do for you?"

Edit: A moral for our times. VPs are important. Another reason ah lakh mayah Pete (as Tallulah Bankhead might say—for those who remember Ike), is he seems on the fly to anticipate perspectives Warren and her staff work out in a detailed plan on the issues.

 

[EVNow]

As a principle I agree with you. I'll be 83 next week, Zeus permitting, and feel mentally fit but after 80 physically falling apart, and am reminded FDR was advised by his doctors he was dying during his 4th presidential re-election campaign.

He made three decisions in that year (or earlier) which are suspect.

Exactly - it is not the age - but health (mental and physical health) that is important. Afterall FDR was only 63, but shouldn't have run for the 4th term.

As to bad decisions - we have to also look at bad decisions he made earlier (like imprisoning all the Japanese).

Anyone who can withstand the rigors of modern campaign - to me - has proven physical health. Proper medical records would also be useful (not the one pages by the quack).

Ability to participate in debates and answer questions during interviews (including relatively unfriendly ones) are good at determining mental fitness. For eg. Biden has not done many interviews and doesn't mingle among journalists and voters. That is suspect. I'd say same for Trump - but he as been suspect for sometime.

Another reason ah lakh mayah Pete

Hard pass - a guy who says he went "there" to kill brown people. We don't want another neocon is Dem mask.

 

[Curt Renz]

MarketWatch - 70 minutes ago: U.S. stock futures weaken as tariffs go into effect

 

[DragonWatch]

@winfield100 ~ about the draft. Sorry, but your comment was deleted; not sure by whom or why.

The older I get, the more I learn of my fellow country boys who would be men. My philosophy then, was: "I would not be a man until I reached the age of twenty-seven." Dropped that mantra when I got married at twenty-four. Still believe it though.

I think my thoughts about those that put an effort into avoiding the draft is similar to my pointed political philosophy presented to my college Computer Science students within the first three weeks of the course. I told them that as long as they attended all my classes, took the tests, and tried; they most likely would walk away with a “B.” Additionally, I had no problem giving them all “A’s” if the earned them. I was a part-time instructor, what were they going to do fire me? My follow-on statement was, “what matters is what you do with that “A.”

@winfield100, over the years I have had people willingly attack me; you did not! Two such people include my brother-in-law, and the third husband of my first girlfriend. My brother-in-law served in the reserve or national guard; the other used a chemical compound to raise his blood pressure before his physical ~ thus both avoided the draft and combat. During Vietnam, reserves were almost never called up or sent into combat. Just ask George W. All three resent me for who and what I stand for ~ period. I did recently get payback on my brother-in-law; rescued his 2 year old lab from him ~ Brandi, dog, now resides with my two grandchildren (whom I affectionately call my GrandPups). Brandi was the typical hunting dog that would not hunt, and would never live a respectable life inside smothered with love. The dog rode in style in Xena, Model X, from Sacramento to Olympia. That dog cost $2K (breeding & training), and I got away with just paying $65 for the recently purchased bag of dog food.

Our country has its roots in the draft and those that do not serve. If I recall correctly, from high school history, wealthy boys could for three-hundred bucks, buy a proxy to serve in their place during the Civil War. Remind you of someone with a bone spur? During the revolution the rich cowards went home until the War was over and won.

@winfield100, I have no problem with what you said; and take no offense. My personal hang up is my fellow track athlete that did high jumping in the same pit I worked on my long jump. He was killed in Vietnam just before I graduated. @winfield100, you have been given that “A,” and I think based on what I have read of your comments, you are in my “good” column

I smell a new constitutional amendment coming along here, no service, no run for office

I know I am slow to respond, but felt you deserved a positive comment. And, public.

FYI ~ I am a retired (should have faded away) soldier.

 

[Intl Professor]

People talk about identity politics like it's just something we need to live with. We should be trying to tamp that down rather than feed it. It not only makes it more difficult to sort out a filed like this, it creates more tribalism, which is toxic to the unity of the country.

Couldn't agree more. The problem is even worse in the nature of language.

The CSUS Ethnic Studies Department for the diversity GE required course in my wife’s Gerontology Major is entitled “Cross-cultural Aging in America.” She just finished the first assignment Friday which was designed to open up the hidden biases we all have.

After watching Zakaria’s White Nationalist special Sunday and reading some of the NY Times series on the influence slavery has had on our institutions I am more sensitive to the points you make. Toxic indeed!

The word race should be eliminated. We are speaking of varieties of people as though they are spaniels or springers or Labradors. We are not distinct breeds which the word implies. Different, sometimes with shades in common, but nothing else. Zip!!

More later on the power of speech to create reality.

 

[Curt Renz]

I was drafted into the US Army in 1968, rose to sergeant, sent to the Vietnam War, received medals, and was honorably discharged in just under two years. This after taking a semester off from college to earn tuition money. But General Westmoreland told President Johnson he needed more bodies, so no excuses were accepted. I was opposed to the draft, and still am, but performed to the best of my ability what I was told was my duty. Fortunately, I did not have to shoot anyone. In 1980 I met and rebuked Westmoreland.

The North Vietnamese were no threat to American soil. If there were to be a battle to prove the superiority of economic systems, it should have been fought in the marketplace, and not by young men being forced to kill each other. Nowadays, it does seem to be that the marketplace has become the more influential factor. That’s good.

We were supposedly fighting to preserve freedom for ourselves and others, but the draft was the antithesis of freedom. It was involuntary servitude of the worst kind: kill or be killed. If citizens feel a war is worth fighting, but do not want to go themselves, they should be willing to be taxed by whatever additional amount is required to entice others to volunteer for the military. That would be the capitalistic way, and the freedom loving way. It’s what we’re doing now. Let’s hope it continues.

 

[Intl Professor]

Breaking news about reality, the nature of social media, and market meddling. Sorry for the lengthy read but the subject is mightily meaty or meatly mighty, your choice. (Play with words explained at end. How's that for a tease?)

Here is a twitchily titled report of interest essentially showing the transition from the quantum world to the macro is not instantaneous.

Quantum Darwinism spotted in diamond spins – Physics World

“However, quantum Darwinism is not the only game in town. Adán Cabello, a theoretical physicist at the University of Seville in Spain, argues that the latest experiments ‘offer only schematic versions of what a real environment consists of,’ and that other approaches can reveal crucial insights into the emergence of classical reality. For example, he says, he and colleagues at the University of Stockholm have shown how to make measurements on trapped ions while still preserving some of the system’s quantum coherence. This, he says, shows that measurement ‘is not an abrupt transition but rather the result of a dynamical process governed itself by quantum mechanics’”.

I can’t find a clear statement in the article, but it appears over the transition to the macro environment different outcomes are tried until one finally matches the environment in a stable fashion. So far as I can tell the answer is as though nature has the same problem matching reality as those who study the variability of social media and, of course, the President's flippery.

As a social scientist I am attracted to John Archibald Wheeler’s "Participatory Anthropic Principle" (PAP), a version of a Strong Anthropic Principle.[79]

Source: John Archibald Wheeler - Wikipedia

In our endless dialogue of complaint about the interaction of FUD, stock manipulations, and the surprises of the last two elections, imagine the importance of communication and his further comment: “In 1990, Wheeler suggested…information is fundamental to the physics of the universe.” According to this "it from bit" doctrine, all things physical are information-theoretic in origin….” Same source.

And the original citation above seems to confirm by experiment “in short, that all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and that this is a participatory universe.[80]” Again, same source.

As Pirsig put it in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, we are the measurers of all things. Just as the universe creates us we create it. How that is possible can be explained by another recent argument by theoreticians.

http://www.sci-news.com/physics/quantum-time-order-07548.html

“The sequence of events can become quantum mechanical,” said co-author Dr. Igor Pikovski, a physicist at Stevens Institute of Technology.

“We looked at quantum temporal order where there is no distinction between one event causing the other or vice versa.”

For over thirty years I’ve been skeptical about behavioral scientists. Before the curtain at a stage play I engaged conversation with a stranger in the seat next to me. The comely lass turned out to be a psych major Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis bubbling, even frothing, about her research based on repainting the stripes on tropical fish. Finally in order to control things I asked: “And why did the fish go to such trouble to get you to cloth them?”

Glad to see physicists are beginning to challenge the arrow of time hypothesis and causality. We do have digestive tracts, you know, so we are apt to be biased.

 

[wdolson]

Couldn't agree more. The problem is even worse in the nature of language.

The CSUS Ethnic Studies Department for the diversity GE required course in my wife’s Gerontology Major is entitled “Cross-cultural Aging in America.” She just finished the first assignment Friday which was designed to open up the hidden biases we all have.

After watching Zakaria’s White Nationalist special Sunday and reading some of the NY Times series on the influence slavery has had on our institutions I am more sensitive to the points you make. Toxic indeed!

The word race should be eliminated. We are speaking of varieties of people as though they are spaniels or springers or Labradors. We are not distinct breeds which the word implies. Different, sometimes with shades in common, but nothing else. Zip!!

More later on the power of speech to create reality.

If I'm asked "race" on a form, I always answer "Other" and write in "human". There is only one race of hominids left. We killed off all the others.

We have ethnicities. Some people who think of themselves as "races" aren't all that different genetically. The Irish and English think of themselves as separate groups, but my 23 and Me results can't distinguish between the two other than the mitochondrial DNA.

This afternoon I was talking with a friend about Asians. She was talking about how different they were, but she was talking about immigrant Asians who had spent part of their life in another country. I grew up in a heavily Asian community with a mix of immigrants and those born American. The American born were just as American as the white and Hispanic neighbors born in the US. (We also had a large Hispanic population, whites were a small minority.)

People are people. The differences we see between groups is more cultural than anything else. There are a few minor physical differences that matter in the real world (for example many Asians have more flexible hips than Europeans which allows them to squat comfortably for long lengths of time, it also makes a difference with some martial arts movements), but we have far more in common than we are different. Academically if we gave true equal opportunity and equal nutrition to every ethnic group we would probably see an equal mix of success in education and the work world.

I was drafted into the US Army in 1968, rose to sergeant, sent to the Vietnam War, received medals, and was honorably discharged in just under two years. This after taking a semester off from college to earn tuition money. But General Westmoreland told President Johnson he needed more bodies, so no excuses were accepted. I was opposed to the draft, and still am, but performed to the best of my ability what I was told was my duty. Fortunately, I did not have to shoot anyone. In 1980 I met and rebuked Westmoreland.

The North Vietnamese were no threat to American soil. If there were to be a battle to prove the superiority of economic systems, it should have been fought in the marketplace, and not by young men being forced to kill each other. Nowadays, it does seem to be that the marketplace has become the more influential factor. That’s good.

We were supposedly fighting to preserve freedom for ourselves and others, but the draft was the antithesis of freedom. It was involuntary servitude of the worst kind: kill or be killed. If citizens feel a war is worth fighting, but do not want to go themselves, they should be willing to be taxed by whatever additional amount is required to entice others to volunteer for the military. That would be the capitalistic way, and the freedom loving way. It’s what we’re doing now. Let’s hope it continues.

Personally I don't think we should ever go to war unless there is some kind of existential threat to the country. That was the thinking in Vietnam with the domino theory, but that was a wrong take on what was going on. The last time there was a clear existential threat was the Civil War, the last time there was a clear existential threat from the outside was 1812, and the last time there was even a good argument for an existential threat was World War II.

But if the country is choosing to conduct an optional war, at minimum don't draft people.

 

[Intl Professor]

But if the country is choosing to conduct an optional war, at minimum don't draft people.

Better for the world that powerful countries have the draft then countries styling themselves democracies will find war less agreeable. I could sense on campus the limits of protest when Nixon got rid of the draft. Predictably, the pressure for sexual equality and against racism eased.

 

[Bet TSLA]

For those who want to understand just what a bunch of criminals we have in charge of our country right now, go read Proof of Conspiracy. The first fifty pages or so are available on Amazon.

 

[wdolson]

For those who want to understand just what a bunch of criminals we have in charge of our country right now, go read Proof of Conspiracy. The first fifty pages or so are available on Amazon.

My SO is a big fan of Abrahmson. We listened to a bit of the audio book but life got in the way and we didn't get further than a chapter or so in. We need to get back to it.

Woops, I was thinking of his first book Proof of Collusion. Proof of Conspiracy just came out. It's on our list though.

 

[JRP3]

Comedian Jimmy Dore on Biden's mistakes

 

[Fact Checking]

It's more likely a delay and appease tactic to wait out the Trump administration. So they can do what they are about to do to Hong Kong.

Art of war. Appear the opposite of what you intend to do.

While I agree, unless Trump has a re-election death wish, he'll probably take any deal he can get from the Chinese, and call it a win.

Because the first rule of Trump trade wars is:

"It's much easier to lie about the outcome of a trade war than to win against the Chinese."​

The same is true of lying about NHC hurricane track guidance (which is a federal felony BTW.):

Note the black circle drawn with a Sharpie to include Alabama. When a reporter asked Trump whether it was him who has drawn that circle, he answered: "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know."

Because had he not drawn that circle he clearly wouldn't know it, right?

The stable genius preparing all the best words for his criminal trial in two years?

 

[Artful Dodger]

The same is true of lying about NHC hurricane track guidance (which is a federal felony BTW.):

Note the black circle drawn with a Sharpie to include Alabama. When a reporter asked Trump whether it was him who has drawn that circle, he answered: "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know."

Meanwhile, National Huricane Center headquarters in Mar-a-Lago, FL has just released this dramatic new video airing Florida's scary brush with Dorian:

/S

 

[dmckinstry]

I was drafted into the US Army in 1968, rose to sergeant, sent to the Vietnam War, received medals, and was honorably discharged in just under two years. This after taking a semester off from college to earn tuition money. But General Westmoreland told President Johnson he needed more bodies, so no excuses were accepted. I was opposed to the draft, and still am, but performed to the best of my ability what I was told was my duty. Fortunately, I did not have to shoot anyone. In 1980 I met and rebuked Westmoreland.

The North Vietnamese were no threat to American soil. If there were to be a battle to prove the superiority of economic systems, it should have been fought in the marketplace, and not by young men being forced to kill each other. Nowadays, it does seem to be that the marketplace has become the more influential factor. That’s good.

We were supposedly fighting to preserve freedom for ourselves and others, but the draft was the antithesis of freedom. It was involuntary servitude of the worst kind: kill or be killed. If citizens feel a war is worth fighting, but do not want to go themselves, they should be willing to be taxed by whatever additional amount is required to entice others to volunteer for the military. That would be the capitalistic way, and the freedom loving way. It’s what we’re doing now. Let’s hope it continues.

I lucked out by timing and circumstance.
I joined the U.S.M.C.R. in the summer of '58 between my junior and senior year in high school. Got released with an honorable discharge(which for me was just a good conduct discharge) in summer of '53. I didn't accept the offer to re-up, which was for me and any fellow marines a blessing. I would have made an incredibly bad combat marine and would have likely died along with any others near me at the time. Being a moral coward, I would have only rejoined if I could have been garanteed a pilot position, where I wouldn'd have to see anyone I killed. At the time I qualified physically and mentallly, but who knows what could happen after that?