caulfield12

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/201...-history-216200 Does the White working class actually vote against its own self-interest?

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sylvest...-005142705.html Sly Stallone....this one seems a bit dubious, 31 year old allegation of rape by a 16 year old in Vegas hotel. Charges were never filed.

69% of electricity in China is generated from coal. Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei are all more than 90 percent reliant on coal for energy, Tsinghua’s research showed. 80% in India. A series of studies by Tsinghua University, whose alumni includes the incumbent president, showed electric vehicles charged in China produce two to five times as much particulate matter and chemicals that contribute to smog versus petrol-engine cars. Hybrid vehicles fare little better. “International experience shows that cleaning up the air doesn’t need to rely on electric vehicles,” said Los Angeles-based An Feng, director of the Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation. “Clean up the power plants.” China plans to convert the grid to renewable fuel or clean-coal technology as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2020. That will speed the green impact of electric vehicles, said environmental science professor Huo Hong at the elite Tsinghua university. But that goal will be “really difficult to achieve.” Tsinghua’s studies call into question the wisdom of aggressively promoting vehicles which the university said could not be considered environmentally friendly for at least a decade in many areas of China unless grid reform accelerates. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-po...g-idUSKCN0V51BH Wind power takes the longest amount of time to pay off return on investment...geothermal is more commonly discussed as a solution in other areas of the world, like India. So we’re back to what Jimmy Carter was attempting to push in the late 1970’s (solar), along with wind and likely natural gas. The problem is there was so much of a rush into this area (solar) a decade ago that both the US and China produced way too many panels and supply outstripped demand. So how to make solar more popular again...giving rebates/discounts for purchases of electric cars or solar panel installation can help, but is it enough? Finally, another aspect not being taken into account is the technology apps ramping up electricity usage related to Bitcoin mining.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 31, 2017 -> 10:17 AM) I watched lost city of z. Not that they are so similar, but just wanted to point out it was a much better movie than the covenant and the covenant was terrible. The Revenant?

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, I Tonya, Jumanji, Brawl on Cell Block 99, The Florida Project, Lady Bird....all worth checking out. Didn’t like The Disaster Artist or Downsizing as much as I’d hoped to. Alexander Payne doesn’t have many misfires, but at least the vision was grandiose and Hong Chau stole the movie.

AT&T Credits Trump for Bonus Its Union Already Negotiated AT&T promised $1,000 in bonuses because of the GOP tax plan on Wednesday. But the union representing AT&T workers bargained for that bonus earlier this month. https://www.thedailybeast.com/atandt-credit...eady-negotiated In the meantime, they’ve made redundant thousands of workers, again. https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0SO8z7ZRUh...u09CHBIiDbJlEU- And were just awarded the $46.5 billion First Responders contract...AT&T/Time Warner merger still pending.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 29, 2017 -> 10:50 PM) Seriously, you provided a bunch of random blurbs without numbers or support that didn't address my argument at all. I totally agree it would be a radical departure - in favor of workers and in opposition to the financial industry. And anything that is slightly in that direction is something I think would be a general benefit over the next few years. http://therealnews.com/c.php?c=171229&...7color:%20#000; Obama chose Wall Street over Main Street As long as the Democratic Party is controlled by the Obama/Clinton/Tom Perez wing, it likely won’t happen. It would require a younger version of Sanders/Warren or a non-crazy Howard Dean...that would be able to beat back the combined might of Wall Street and Silicon Valley donations. Or they would have to win a three way split vote as an independent, like Ross Perot threatened to do before imploding in 1992. The problem is you have to be in the very middle of the electorate or far to the left, peeling off enough Democrats and the Bernie Bros Millennial coalition. A centrist but populist campaign might not be enough of a draw to motivate the liberal/young voters unless that politician was incredibly charismatic.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alleged-swatting...-223700818.html

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 29, 2017 -> 04:13 PM) You are completely backwards. The US Debt is a certain dollar amount. If you allow a run of 4% inflation it actually cuts the net value of the US Debt. Similarly, inflation reduces the total dollar value of a wage, so it would make higher minimum wages less of an impact on businesses. You're conflating inflation due to a growing economy with "The Republican business tax cuts". The tax cuts will be one contributing factor to inflation but not nearly as large as "an economy close to full employment". Yes, $20.6 trillion....more or less. And if we increase our inflation rate by a factor of 1.35, it’s going to become increasingly expensive to issue bonds to finance that debt. Why would foreign countries (35% of current bond holders) accept the same rate of return as they’re currently receiving, which is incredibly low? If inflation hits, it will also be seen through increasingly high interest rates on bank loans for mortgages/car loans/small business loans, which will serve to dampen the economy. And we have been at around 4% unemployment for quite some time without appreciable inflation, but that’s largely due to wages not keeping up with productivity gains over the last 35+ years. One could argue that increasing inflation would be used as an excuse for companies to lay off workers as they turn more and more to AI/AR/autonomous technologies in order to maintain profit margins. It will also make our exports slightly less competitive. In summary, government debts and deficits do matter. The currently fashionable notion that government debts do not matter to inflation ignores the important role of expectations regarding the long-term path of real output and base money in the determination of the price level. On a final note, the point that should be of most concern to policy makers is that once these long-term expectations regarding output and base money shift, it may be very difficult to bring them back to more previous levels and therefore difficult to control inflation. While the current market view is that central banks are omnipotent in their control of the global economy, the fact is that it is almost impossible for a central bank, at least singlehandedly, to control an outbreak of inflation that is created by reckless fiscal policy. The only way to control this type of inflation once it occurs is for fiscal and monetary policy makers to work together. Inevitably, this involves an end of the “good times” as fiscal deficits are reduced, the monetary base is brought under control and interest rates are raised. http://www.themoneyenigma.com/government-d...-fiscal-policy/ Another problem is assuming you can increase it by a factor of 1.35, from 1.7 to 4.0, then magically stop it there...instead of it continuing to spiral upwards. In the end, the government always has tried to set that inflation band at 2%...doubling it to 4% would be a pretty radical departure and have mostly negative consequences for the economy.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 29, 2017 -> 04:01 PM) I do not believe that dramatically raising inflation rates would lead to a recession and I think there's a strong economic argument for running it at 4% for the next 10 years. The fact that this would directly and hugely benefit me as a new homeowner is worth adding. It’s going to dramatically increase US debt payments/bond interest (one of the reasons $600-700 billion budget deficits have been sustainable for the last decade)...and hurt seniors who are living on fixed incomes if they don’t receive COLA increases (unlikely), and we know basic wages for workers aren’t going to keep up, either. So if the middle class and poor are going to even worse off in terms of buying power, where’s that additional aggregate demand coming from when the corporations are getting 2/3rds of tax cut benefits? And won’t some businesses also cut back employee numbers in reaction to increased minimum wages in 18 states...so that the net overall wage gains are muted? Will they cut back profits or simply pass on higher restaurant/food prices to consumers? And retail/shopping malls are already struggling without factoring in higher wages for workers. It’s beneficial to borrowers with fixed lower rates, though. You’re also assuming Trump won’t interfere with new Fed chair...many are predicting the stock market run can extend to 2020, like Mark Zandi. Trump’s only path to re-election is keeping that 3-4% gdp going through that time, in all likelihood. Anything to directly imperil that reality is going to be in jeopardy.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/29/news/econo...vice/index.html Trump still doesn’t understand how US Postal System works...seems mostly upset it’s enabling Amazon/Bezos to get richer and richer (and continue attacking him through WaPo.) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump...-142233815.html Or that dramatically and intentionally raising inflation won’t lead to a recession

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 28, 2017 -> 09:48 PM) Not a bad post Illini. At least you are trying to get me. I do disagree with your opening and closing sentences though. You don't have my position down completely. Thanks Kagaku. Finally somebody acknowledges Greg's point! Thank u sir. That's all I'm trying to say. I have noticed it more this year, much more in my experience. That's all. I did not try to make this a majestic issue for Trump. I've given Trump some props for it, yes. By doing that I'm now a Trump lover. Some people on this board are very intolerant of others' positions. Thank u for recognizing that greg actually MIGHT have noticeda difference this year. The others are very intolerant. They are calling me a liar at worst; a simpleton who is incapable of noticing differences at best. Thank u. How do you know what I experienced in terms of noticing a change? Do you say I'm flat out lying? Why would I do that on a message board. Do u suggest I am incapable of observation? How come some of you don't like to discuss issues just jump on the person (me) with the non-majority viewpoint? How many real hardcore Republicans do you know of in Kansas that were hesitant to say Merry Christmas when Obama was President...if there really was a war on Christmas, wouldn’t there have been at least one incident in a country of 300+ million over the period from 2009-2017 where a person who said Merry Christmas was attacked or even jailed???

QUOTE (KagakuOtoko @ Dec 28, 2017 -> 08:38 PM) I hope Trump's golf courses get destroyed by a global warming induced disaster. Wouldn't that be rich. http://www.newstimes.com/technology/busine...is-12449774.php Trump will build a wall in Ireland to protect his golf course from climate change...

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Dec 18, 2017 -> 04:09 PM) Or they attached significant prospect compensation. Getting Buehler or Verdugo and sending back a Matt Rose or some college player who performed poorly at Great Falls would probably make the Sox interested. Let's not have another Tatis, Jr. fiasco.

http://www.startribune.com/twins-miguel-sa...pher/467009293/ Also, fwiw, watching the documentary Ballplayer: Pelotero will provide some further background...not that going from dirt poor to the most famous “commodity” on the island is ever an acceptable excuse for entitlement. Michael Ynoa is also a part of the story, as he eventually received the biggest bonus out of that Dominican signing class.

The 'Thank You, President Trump' ad was a terrible Christmas present https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/trump-m...-164730007.html

Apple’s repatriated earnings unlikely to go towards additional hiring or wage hikes...not stated is the disappointing status of worldwide IPhone 8 sales looming over the company. http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/27/technology...form/index.html

I don’t even think the majority of non African Americans understand Kwanza as a cultural celebration and not religious holiday in any way threatening to their Christian beliefs or that it’s NOT some type of BLM outreach/recruiting program where whites are disallowed. So Greg as a black man would disabuse some of those notions.

The White Sox try to never be on the wrong side of those pitching contracts...and the lessons of the Danks and Contreras deals probably stick with them as well. $100-150 million invested in an Arrieta, that might even take the White Sox out of the running for one of the big names next year, or they'd have to go for the "fall back" options like a Josh Donaldson (compared to Machado/Arenado), which have typically blown up in their faces ala Dunn/LaRoche/Rios/Cabrera (veterans in their early 30's).

http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/26/news/econo...ains/index.html Those first 3-4 paragraphs are a pretty compelling argument why tax cuts aren’t going to be a great boost to consumer spending...most of the growth will take place on the corporate profitability side of the ledger. Don’t see how that’s going to increase job/wage growth, since productivity and salary gains have been decoupled since the early 1980’s.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/2017-tug-tribali...-100004695.html 2017, the year of political tribalism Interesting article about the polarization and zero sum game nature of politics under Obama and Trump.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 26, 2017 -> 12:35 AM) I dream of America where you could (I won't; like I said I'm trained well and will never go there again) say "Merry Christmas" and the other person could laugh politely and say "Thank you," back to you, then quickly say in an equally friendly tone, "I actually am Jewish and celebrate Hannukah." And then I smile and say well I certainly wish you a happy Hannukah and we both feel good and go on our merry ways. Or vice versa and a person who is Jewish says Happy Hannukah to me and i say, "Thank you, but I celebrate Christmas" and we both smile and chat and go on our merry ways. Instead, I can only imagine the backlash in saying Merry Christmas to somebody who is an atheist or another religion that does not recognize Christmas or Happy Hannukah to somebody who does not celebrate Hannukah. Do you realize how PC the world is? Like I said, Midway Airport today was full of raging angry people who just wanted an excuse to scrap with somebody. there was no holiday spirit in the air, just anger. Trump is the first person to take this on by the horns and tell people to say Merry Christmas. By the way, I'm all for ending Christmas as a gift giving extravaganza. Christmas has little to no religious meaning in the secular world anymore. You can't imagine the spoiled kids I saw this Christmas accepting gift after gift, NFL and NHL jersey after jersey and I yes saw some signs of brattiness of the kids wanting more more more. It's become a ridiculous gift giving extravaganza (I know gifts have been given for years but I feel like part of being a truly entitle Millenial was being showered with so many gifts year after year. I feel each kid in a family should be given one gift in terms of a fun game or toy and some clothes and the family unit take part in a volunteer project instead, then if they are Christian, go to church and worship the true meaning of the holiday. Yes I can say the highlight of Christmas for me was church, the music and the excellent homily from the pastor. I'm sick of the gifts and spoiling the kids year after year with gift after gift. How bout change the culture. Yeah right. Chrstmas is 85 percent gift giving/hoarding and 15 percent religious (taking into consideration the amount of people who believe at all and if they believe the fact they do something about it on Xmas Day). Do any of you agree with me at the gluttony and monstrocity of a gift giving holiday it has become now that more and more people do not believe and/or practice faith?? But it’s great for GDP growth! In all seriousness, have you even read once online of someone actually being attacked for saying Merry Christmas to another person? Honestly, I have never even thought about it. And if I did, I think I would be more annoyed that people were ostentatiously going out of their way to wish a Merry Christmas to the point where I would probably identify the majority as overbearing Trump voters. So I’d probably just say Happy Festivus or Happy FBI/J Edgar Hoover Celebration Day back if they were too obvious in their political zeal. The volunteer thing is fine, as long as you (meaning the country) doesn’t force everyone to participate. (As an aside, you should watch Captain Fantastic and see how the father in that movie deals with the Christmas issue, and the polarizing effect on his kids). Here in China, 95% celebrate by buying discounted goods online or going out to eat without having a clue about the meaning of the actual holiday.

Yes, keep in mind, Ivanka converted to Judaism when she married Kushner, that's part of the reason for Trump's historical position. Think about the famous song "Happy Holidays" or how many people wish that to each other...it's NOT because they're afraid to say "Merry Christmas!" it's because Christmas and New Year's are one week apart, so they're just lumped in together so you don't have to make two greetings about each specific holiday. Of course, after Christmas, everyone says "Happy New Year/'s" and not "Happy Holidays," right??? I think if you heard a majority of people saying "Happy Holidays" after X-Mas, you'd have a point. And then this whole thing about Starbucks having "neutral" holidays cups so as to respect all religious traditions and beliefs...well, separation of church and state is an integral belief of the Founding Fathers, is it not?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 25, 2017 -> 06:50 PM) I also would like to thank Trump for bringing back Christmas. Say what you want, but I've noticed it this year. Now that Trump said it's OK, Southwest Airlines, store employees, etc., Starbucks have been saying Merry Christmas to me. I've noticed cause I now get to say it back and I like it. I will say for some reason at Midway today people were in s***ty moods. I got yelled at for getting tripped while getting into space No. 31 in the A group on SW and nicked somebody's boot and said, "Sorry." She was furious that I nicked her and she was in space 31 instead of her 35 which I didn't say anything of course as I don't care bout that. Then somebody at the Avis rental place yelled "I was here first!" and I wasn't even trying to go ahead of them. I'm a little puzzled at the Scrooge like behavior today. But anyway, there was a war on Christmas. I haven't said Merry Christmas to a stranger in years til this Christmas since it's now OK to do so. Don't discount the P.C. in America. It's very very bad and this is one thing Trump did that was OK. In the end, the main thing that matters to people is whether their economic situation is improving or deteriorating. Everything else is just window dressing. We can post links to videos of Obama saying "Merry Christmas" (I think there are like 37 of them)...but the Fox News/Limbaugh view on this will prevail for those who want to perceive things through that "culture wars" prism. I'm sure Starbucks hasn't changed a single official company policy since Trump was elected. As far as the misery of air travel these days, that's just par for the course. I travel quite frequently and it has seemingly gotten worse and worse every year the last decade, and I'm lucky enough not to have to deal with US domestic airlines like Spirit, Frontier, United, Delta, US Air, etc., very often.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 25, 2017 -> 03:43 PM) I see what you are doing here, trying to get Trout on the cheap so to speak. You are not putting Eloy in there and you are putting in some guys who "could" conceivably bust soon (Avi, Rodon, Cease, Rutherford, Collins, Burdi), in effect shortchanging the Angels. This is also ridiculous. Our scouts must love these guys so again, giving up on the rebuild for one player is ridiculous. Some of you slay me. Either do the rebuild or don't. Why would you trade so many guys for one player? If you want one star, why did we get rid of Sale, Q? Now that we're doing the rebuild, do the rebuild, don't trade away all these top prospects. Angels would snicker at this particular offer cause it's obvious you're trying to slip Avi, Rutherford, Collins and Burdi in the deal who all could be major busts while throwing them a bone in Robert as Cease also could bust. My package for Trout, who is only under contract thru 2020, which would mean you'd lose him pretty soon anyway: Abreu (whom I love), Cease and Tim Anderson (this would require us drafting a shortstop this year and acquiring an acceptable but not high dollar free agent if we reach contention and need a ss with Timmy gone. I think the Sox could survive my trade and keep the rebuild on track. I was gonna throw Burger in there. I guess I could add him if we keep Davidson around. I might have been exaggerating on the high side, but that's certainly a starting point "ask" on their point...we're not going to get away with the lesser package here that you're responding to. Trading Rodon at this point in his injury rehab makes little sense, as well. Abreu/Avi aren't critical to the competing Sox teams unless we sign them to extensions, Fulmer's a throw-in with "potential" (still)...but you're right, those first three players are the core of the rebuild, and not including them would force us to include a good number from our second tier prospects to compensate for that. With the way the Angels are currently constructed (win now), it doesn't make ANY sense to trade Trout unless they were having financial problems as a franchise, which is highly unlikely under Moreno.