Re: Trump vs. Clinton: Godwin's Law Has Already Been Fulfilled!
We should be clear about something here: not even Bernie Sanders, Socialist as he may be, has been talking about creation of an egalitarian society. I would agree that that is not a realistic objective. The poor will always be with us, absolutely and proven by history.
What seems to be needed at this moment in time in America, and maybe in Canada too to some degree, is a reversal of the trend of the last 15 years or so. A closing of the record-level wealth gap. The issue at this stage isn't whether the people at the low end of the scale deserve a handout.... the issue is whether society can continue to function normally if the wealth gap continues on its current trend, or even just stays where it is.
The thing that happened with Jerry Springer last night on CNN is just a tiny illustration of the brewing anger. We all know about gun violence, now trending back up after long-lasting declines. Another telling statistic: in the U.S., road rage incidents are growing almost exponentially. And yet another: home sales statistics just can't get near where they were before the financial crisis. People are much more locked into their current homes than ever before (a few choice locations may be an exception to this). This forces people to take low-wage service jobs because they can't relocate to get the jobs they are really qualified for. Another telling statistic: the sales of what are called "tiny homes" are exploding. Again, this reflects that people can no longer move up as in the past, and in response, they are deciding to move DOWN to help their savings and simplify their lives.
(The real estate market in most of USA is very revealing: supply is growing in the middle- and high-end, and is stagnant at the low-end. But demand is almost exclusively at the low-end. There's a serious disconnect between what sellers want to sell and what buyers can afford to buy.)
A counteracting force is the growth of startup companies by young people. This is a natural reaction to the stagnation in the job market... if all you see is low wage service jobs, and you're into technology, come up with an idea and start your own company. This is a healthy trend... until everyone runs out of ideas. How many variations on the theme of Facebook can actually be supported? Latest trends indicate a tightening up in the venture capital markets, which could be telling us that new and VIABLE ideas are drying up. We can only hope that science will create some new technologies and new openings.
All this added together may not indicate a current crisis -- rather it may indicate an IMPENDING crisis. Bernie Sanders would probably disagree... Sanders is really the only high-level politician who seems to recognize the extent of the problem and its potential consequences. If Trump gets elected and the trends continue, Sanders could come to be seen as a genius visionary, and his defeat to Clinton could be looked back on as a tragic turning point in American history.
I agree with you, Tom, about Obama. The reason that Hillary would likely do more to shrink the wealth gap is because Sanders just hammered out an agreement with her to do just that -- to implement some of Bernie's choice policies, including ones on student debt and climate change and rule changes for Wall Street. Hillary had to agree in order to get the support of Sanders' supporters. So Bernie's influence will be felt if Clinton gets elected.
Also, Tom, to your point about politicians being affected by changing circumstances. That's a very good point that almost never gets mentioned. I also think it's another reason to prefer Hillary to Trump. The latter is highly reactionary. He could react to an incident in the South China Sea with China's military by launching us into war. I know you think Hillary is a warmonger, but really? More so than Trump? Maybe so with Russia; Trump seems very friendly towards Putin. But China, North Korea, Iran.... Trump is very very likely to start something with any one of them. And Trump is very likely to NOT defend NATO allies as well as Israel.
Originally posted by Tom O'Donnell
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We should be clear about something here: not even Bernie Sanders, Socialist as he may be, has been talking about creation of an egalitarian society. I would agree that that is not a realistic objective. The poor will always be with us, absolutely and proven by history.
What seems to be needed at this moment in time in America, and maybe in Canada too to some degree, is a reversal of the trend of the last 15 years or so. A closing of the record-level wealth gap. The issue at this stage isn't whether the people at the low end of the scale deserve a handout.... the issue is whether society can continue to function normally if the wealth gap continues on its current trend, or even just stays where it is.
The thing that happened with Jerry Springer last night on CNN is just a tiny illustration of the brewing anger. We all know about gun violence, now trending back up after long-lasting declines. Another telling statistic: in the U.S., road rage incidents are growing almost exponentially. And yet another: home sales statistics just can't get near where they were before the financial crisis. People are much more locked into their current homes than ever before (a few choice locations may be an exception to this). This forces people to take low-wage service jobs because they can't relocate to get the jobs they are really qualified for. Another telling statistic: the sales of what are called "tiny homes" are exploding. Again, this reflects that people can no longer move up as in the past, and in response, they are deciding to move DOWN to help their savings and simplify their lives.
(The real estate market in most of USA is very revealing: supply is growing in the middle- and high-end, and is stagnant at the low-end. But demand is almost exclusively at the low-end. There's a serious disconnect between what sellers want to sell and what buyers can afford to buy.)
A counteracting force is the growth of startup companies by young people. This is a natural reaction to the stagnation in the job market... if all you see is low wage service jobs, and you're into technology, come up with an idea and start your own company. This is a healthy trend... until everyone runs out of ideas. How many variations on the theme of Facebook can actually be supported? Latest trends indicate a tightening up in the venture capital markets, which could be telling us that new and VIABLE ideas are drying up. We can only hope that science will create some new technologies and new openings.
All this added together may not indicate a current crisis -- rather it may indicate an IMPENDING crisis. Bernie Sanders would probably disagree... Sanders is really the only high-level politician who seems to recognize the extent of the problem and its potential consequences. If Trump gets elected and the trends continue, Sanders could come to be seen as a genius visionary, and his defeat to Clinton could be looked back on as a tragic turning point in American history.
I agree with you, Tom, about Obama. The reason that Hillary would likely do more to shrink the wealth gap is because Sanders just hammered out an agreement with her to do just that -- to implement some of Bernie's choice policies, including ones on student debt and climate change and rule changes for Wall Street. Hillary had to agree in order to get the support of Sanders' supporters. So Bernie's influence will be felt if Clinton gets elected.
Also, Tom, to your point about politicians being affected by changing circumstances. That's a very good point that almost never gets mentioned. I also think it's another reason to prefer Hillary to Trump. The latter is highly reactionary. He could react to an incident in the South China Sea with China's military by launching us into war. I know you think Hillary is a warmonger, but really? More so than Trump? Maybe so with Russia; Trump seems very friendly towards Putin. But China, North Korea, Iran.... Trump is very very likely to start something with any one of them. And Trump is very likely to NOT defend NATO allies as well as Israel.
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