Socialism Chatter

 It was a good piece on Political Insider today....topic?  "It’s Easy Being A Socialist In A Country You Don’t Have To Escape From."

The general problem with absolute socialist countries....is that you reach some level where you have burned through the company-owed money, and go to private money....then wake up to realize there's no one much to finance your 'gifts' to the public.  From that point on....you are in Venezuela.

You can always claim some success with marginal socialism....like Finland, Iceland or Germany....where you talk socialist a lot but your entire landscape is capitalist in nature.

I was in a office once where the topic came up....where would we escape to....if we could up and leave the US.  No one really voiced Mexico or Canada.  In fact.....most voiced places like the Philippines, Australia, Italy or Greece.....more for the scenic stuff and hospitality....than the economy business.

I've always been of a mind that giving some idiot kid (age 20) four months of time to travel around the globe...would bring 90-percent of people to the reality that it's hard to find a better economic place to live, than the US.  I will admit....if it were just for scenery or food....I'd be in Italy in a heartbeat.

Chatter on This $10,000 Credit

 Yesterday, apparently some journalist had a chance to ask VP Harris how the college debt cancellation of $10k...would be financed.  She had no answer.  I won't say she was 'lost' but obviously....no one much in the White House has openly discussed the matter with her. 

Eventually, someone will ask the question....from the White House staff around President Biden/VP Harris.....who has such college loan effect on themselves, and did they exercise undue influence on the President.  At that point, the game will shift.

But there are three key questions that will be coming out in the weeks to come:

1.  If President Biden gave a $10,000 credit this year.....could he give another 2nd $10,000 credit next year?

2.  If President Biden can give this type of credit, why couldn't he do the same thing for farmers on farm loans or equipment loans associated with the farms?

3.  Finally, can President Biden even give a simple three-minute talk on this subject that makes logical sense?  

The 'Happy' Discussion

 There's a great read over at RealClearScience this AM, and I recommend it.  Writer?  Ross Pomeroy, and the topic is: "Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals". 

Various studies have been done, and Pomeroy talks about this situation....where a liberal guy/gal....seems to be more unhappy, than a conservative guy/gal....on average.

It's not something that I've really spent much time worrying about.  Yeah, I probably noticed this more than 20 years ago, but it's not worth my effort to yank on this topic and get all disturbed by the unequal nature of it.

My view of the discussion goes to three key topics:

1.  Generally, on the unhappy scale....a liberal person is just a bit more unhappy....feeling the world is against them, or they weren't treated right, or their advancement in life was hindered.  

Then they want to talk about this....sitting at a bar or pub....sipping a whine, beer or cocktail.  They'd also use a bit of cannabis or narcotic to cover their disappointment.

2.  The liberal person generally has the attitude that things can be resolved, reshuffled, or corrected.  This usually means selling their disappointment to a group....on a small or grand stage.  

Other liberals will stand there.....maybe on a 50-50 trend at that point, but will buy into the 'gimmick' (meaning more people thinking this way than when the first guy stood up).   

3.  Finally, there is this behavioral thing....which liberals seem to be a magnet for.  This include use of drugs and alcohol, spending too much time in isolation or limited groups, not getting enough quality sleep, chronic and substantial lack of activities, and finally having a zigzag path on outcomes. 

I'm not saying conservatives are gifted or special, or on a happiness path.  It's just that they seem to avoid living in the past and always looking for a better future.  They expect that improved future....more than the liberal guy/gal.

I'll end this commentary with a belief....if you are looking for 'something'....you will probably find it.  If you just cruising along and not really hyped up one way or another....whatever comes will be just another adventure.  Adventures make for a more interesting life.

The Lesser Pain of Student Loan Debt?

 Lets say that you finished college in 2018....with $65,000 in debt.  I looked up the monthly payment plan of an average guy (not an engineer or rocket scientist)....which the ball-park figure is $220 a month on this loan. So yearly, you might be paying back $2,640.  

Even if 'Uncle' President Biden gave you $10,000 to cover the $55k remaining on your debt....you still owe $45k, and can figure eighteen more years of a monthly payment (unless Aunt Cassie or Dad bailed out some of this).

So this is what is bothering me.  Once you admit that President Biden has this 'power' of just wavering off $10,000.....why couldn't the next idiot in 2026 stand up and state his/her power to waiver the remaining money (1-trillion dollars)?  

It's a scary thing to think about.  It's not so much what Biden might do to wreck the economy, but the next step in this overall gimmick.  

For you folks who got some portion of your $100,000 trimmed off?  My advice....have a bottle of booze and celebrate....knowing that he cut four years of your twenty years of pain.  Then go back to work tomorrow....hoping for another miracle to occur.

Semi-Whatever

 This week....President Biden made several interesting quotes:

“The MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and economic security,”

“MAGA Republicans are a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace....(repeating the phrase)....embrace....political violence. They don’t believe in democracy.”

“America is at a genuine inflection point.”

“It occurs every six or seven generations in world history.”

“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy.   It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the....(rambling) I’m going to say something (more rambling).....it’s like semi-fascism.”

What is semi-fascism?  Well.....it's semi-Nazism, semi-dictatorship, semi-right-wing dictatorship, semi-totalitarianism, semi-absolutism, semi-authoritarianism, semi-autocracy, semi-despotism, semi-jingoism, semi-one-party system, and semi-xenophobia.

If that doesn't make sense?  Yeah....that's much what I said upon examination.

If you asked President Biden to go into detail, and explain to a 8th-grade kid?  I don't think he could do it.

I'm not saying he's pumping out BS, but it's clear....he's getting a script from some White House team who aren't really into the landscape, and prone to make up BS.

So on the morning of the 9th of November....when the mid-term results start to show...what's his comment with the House shifting over to the Republicans?  The fascists are winning?  

In the past hundred years.....this is probably....at present....the weirdest time to be alive and witnessing event. 

Civil 'Fracas' Version 2.0

 If you notice, I don't use 'Civil War'....believing that fracas is probably a more appropriate word.  So this is my scenario of where we go in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

The mid-terms will bring the Republicans into the House (majority of 10).  As January of 2023 arrives....a minimum of three different hearings will take place and center around President Biden, Hunter Biden, the misuse of the FBI, the $10,000 'gift' to college loan people, etc.  

By mid-2023, we will reach a point where three-quarters of the public believes there's something 'wrong' with President Biden.  Maybe two or three attempts will be made to edge him out, but I think through 2023 and 2024, he'll likely remain (just being seen less and less as time goes by).

Several staged (fake) protests will occur by early 2024, with Antifa/BLM at the front of the 'events'.

The election run-up in 2024 will be DeSantis or Trump versus Newsom.  Most everyone will regard Twitter as dysfunctional by November 2024.  

Election chaos will reign as various states can't complete their count, and disruptions occur on a massive scale.  In at least a dozen states....guns are pulled out upon law enforcement, and shootings (into the hundreds wounded/dead) will be reported by the news establishment.

President Biden, in this period from the election to Inauguration Day....orders a mass collection of weapons and activates all of the National Guard throughout the US.  His decisions create even more turmoil, and general refusal to cooperate.  In several states, the National Guard personnel refuse orders to confiscate weapons or to detain people.  

At least eight states are in open rebellion by the Inauguration.....suggesting they will go their own way or refuse 'orders' given by the federal government.  At least ten US Senators have hidden themselves and refuse to participate in Senate affairs.  The Supreme Court has vacated DC, and is in session at a US military facility in the midwest.

At least 500 National Guardsmen have been detained by the federal officials, because of their refusal to obey orders.  In one case....a thousand Guardsmen show up at the federal facility to release their members.

By mid-summer of 2025, the dead-count at this point is nearing 20,000 and the US economy is shutting down.  Half of the subway systems in NY City have been shutdown, with almost one-million residents having packed up and left because of safety issues in the city.  At least ten people per day are killed on NY City streets.

Food riots are now common by late summer 2025, with shortages noted in most states.  The airline industry has mostly shutdown, with fewer than thirty international flights a day arriving.  Stocks have lost 50-percent of their value at this point.  There is massive worry in DC that the Social Security fund will reach failure by the end of 2026, unless measures are immediately corrected. 

Toward November of 2025, it will be public knowledge that President Biden was suffering from various problems throughout the four years, and his wife (with help) hid the issues from the public.  The Senate promises to create new laws to prevent this sort of stuff from ever happening again.

By December of 2025, the FBI is officially dissolved into four sub-units.  None of the remaining units will be allowed to exist in DC.  More than 100 agents are under investigation.

2025 will conclude with more than 200,000 dead.  Most will be victims of random street shootings.  More than 4-million Californians will have left the state since January.  The cities of LA and SF will be unable to handle payroll for the police and fire protection....with massive lay-offs projected.

A legislative piece will be passed by the end of 2025 to have Facebook and Twitter turned off for a period of six months.  It'll be challenged to the Supreme Court, but they will readily agree it's legal.

2026 will be more of the same....with the federal government rationing food, and importing a massive amount in from Mexico.  

By mid-summer 2026, California, Oregon and Washington will be playing with legislation to exit the union. To the shock and surprise of locals.....at least one-third of California, with eastern Washington/Oregon suggesting they will exit their states, and remain part of the Union.  Federal forces arrive at some point to present a situation that you can't exit the Union.

My Review of 'Raised By Wolves'

 I sat and started watching a science fiction series this week called 'Raised By Wolves'.   So I would describe it this way:

1.  Mad scientist decides Earth has reached a level of destruction, and has launched a craft with two androids (programmed by him) and carry human 'eggs' to reproduce on 'Kepler-22b' (don't ask me where it is).  

2.  My description of Kepler-22b?  It's a crap-hole that resembles Gila Bend, Arizona.

3.  The two androids ('Mother' and 'Father') probably aren't programmed that well for this type of upbringing of kids.

4.  As Earth is being destroyed, a cult-group has also launched off and landed on on Kepler-22b.  On my cult-meter....1-to-10, I'd put these dimwits at a '8'.  

5.  Somehow, with limited text and story implications....they managed to make 18 of the episodes before ending production.  On content and potential (1-to-10)....I'd give it a '3'.  I admit, I've only gotten to episode 10 at this point, but it's fairly wasted time and effort.

6.  'Father's' humor?  He seems programmed with 1950s jokes.

On weird science fiction productions....it's about as weird as you can get.