The US Hamster Wheel

[AtomKraft]

Come back Cackers.

You're missed!

[Boac]

The Chump has said he is likely to close the US border if Mexico does not do more to stop migrants reaching the United States. What took him so long?

Too busy, I guess, with a plumb-line in the Great Lakes

"I support the Great Lakes, always have. They're beautiful. They're big, very deep, record deepness."

Huh? Obviously his 'Star' education did not include FACTS.....

[John Hill]

Alternative facts!

[BenThere]

Too busy, I guess, with a plumb-line in the Great Lakes

He's a multi-tasker, Boac.

[Boac]

Close.

[Seenenough]

The MeToo issues are striking a little close to home it seems.

[Boac]

Can any Chumper confirm this is the latest 'policy' position?

The border with Mexico will not be closed.
Republicans will not soon present a replacement for the Affordable Care Act.
He doesn't actually think the Mueller report on Russian election interference should be publicly released.
His nominee to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement is his nominee no longer.

Many are confused, particularly the Chump?

[Boac]

One of the few blessings of dementia for the sufferer is that they often are not confused because they do not know they are confused, which, presumably, is some consolation for the Chump.

He has now told American Jews that Benjamin Netanyahu is "your prime minister".

[Slasher]

IMO it would be a big mistake for the US to intervene militarily because:

- the bloody Venezuelans brought it on entirely by themselves. They wanted socialism...well they got it. Put up or shut up. Let the buggers sort it out themselves, then make deals with whatever rises out of the ashes.

- this would be an excuse for the anti-US brigades (e.g. your K&C and Hill types) to rant endlessly that it's another example of US 'imperialism'.

- there is no evidence of any Venezuelan expansionist policy. Thus there is no case for a military option.

Which leads me to state that

- with the US debt crisis it cannot afford nor justify any military action unless it directly links to a severe detriment of North American Security.

The world is wisely keeping away from any direct interventionism in Venezuela as it should.

[John Hill]

Would someone please explain to our resident mazophiliac that Venezuela has oil and he would be fooling himself if he thinks the US oil barons are not slavering at the prospect of getting their hands on it.

[Undried Plum]

This time it's his DHS person, Kirstjen Nielsen.


Is the Chump in some kind of a competition with Theresa May to see who is the most inept and who can lose the most cabinet colleagues in the shortest time?

[BenThere]

John Hill, the US isn't slavering over Venezuelan oil whatsoever. We're currently producing more oil and gas than we can transport or get rid of on the market, and current forecasts and analyst projections are that there's a lot more oil in our ground than anywhere in the world and we have exponentially advancing technology to produce at dream levels. Your thesis is flawed in today's environment.

I heard from a friend on facebook from way back in my days at the University of Oklahoma that one of our buddies bought a couple thousand acres of semi-arid flat land and set up an irrigated cotton farm along the West Texas-New Mexico border for a couple of $100 per acre. Now he's in the middle of the Permian Basin, America's richest fracking play for oil and natural gas, raking in $1 million/month or so in royalties. And I never regarded the guy as all that smart, just another Okie farmer. What do I know?

As I read the US opinion tea leaves the motivation for any sort of intervention in Venezuela is to alleviate the sufferings of Venezuelans under the regime of your Socialist heroes, nothing more.

I lean toward Slasher's view. Venezuelans fell for Socialism's seemingly noble intentions to vote the scourge into power. Now they are desperately feeling the consequences. But US intervention has consequences as well that mitigate against any kind of heavy hand. My vote is to try to get humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan people without any military commitment. Venezuela took the Socialist plunge of their own accord. The Chavez-Maduro regime vilified the US at every opportunity, eerily similar to the Never Trumpers. I suppose we'll all see how it works out, but I often think the other side will never be convinced.

Maybe the next time Socialism is tried it will turn out well, but so far it has batted .000.

[llondel]

Maybe the next time Socialism is tried it will turn out well, but so far it has batted .000.

Socialism works really well until it runs out of other people's money.

Not that rampant capitalism is good either, that runs out of people with the money to buy your products, given the number of mergers and near-monopolies that come into being, forming an effective corporate state.

The best is somewhere in between, let people work harder and get more money, but provide a safety net for the unfortunate that is good enough to catch them but not too deep they can't climb out, and not too padded that they don't want to.

[Undried Plum]

This time it's Randolph Alles, Head of the Secret Service.


Chump is definitely winning the game against Treeza this week.

[Slasher]

The best is somewhere in between, let people work harder and get more money, but provide a safety net for the unfortunate that is good enough to catch them but not too deep they can't climb out, and not too padded that they don't want to.

You're referring to Social Democracy llon which is completely different from Democratic Socialism. SD works within Capitalism whereas DS is solely to do with Communism.

[llondel]

I like to call it "capitalism with a conscience".

[Slasher]

Or what I call "Capitalism that gives a sh!t".

[BenThere]

The truth is that Capitalist societies have engendered the best economic results for their constituents while Socialist societies are and always have been moribund or worse.

The US has gradually socialized, transferring the responsibility of caring for the less fortunate from private charity to government. We used to have all sorts of charitable organizations, Lion's Club, Kiwanis, Rotary, et al, that gathered a community's successfuls to figure out ways to make things better, like building playgrounds, shelters for homeless, etc. But they were mostly dirty old white men and fell out of favor.

Call me heartless but I think the old way of charitable sharing and giving was more compassionate and efficient than the government taking that has replaced it. Now, you give the government your 50% if you're successful and it wastes it without thinking things through, to the detriment of a sustainable society.

Today, it's all about the votes of producers vs. takers.

[Slasher]

Dunno if you have the Salvation Army in America Ben, but in Oz it does bloody good charity work and it helps out the people who rightly need it. No ***** no scams no politics. I've been sending it a donation check during its annual Red Shield Appeal for yonks.

[Slasher]

Are old ugly black hags suffering from narcissistic dementia allowed to maintain office by the Constitution?