Trump as tragicomedy

[Don]

4.1% GDP. Unemployment at 3.9%.

Pretty, pretty, good.

[stuper1]

We've never seen an administration this corrupt.

You should check on the personal wealth of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Then compare that against what they did in practical terms to deserve that wealth. As far as I know neither of them invented a better mousetrap or ran multinational corporations. They're just bloviating politicians, but somehow they have accumulated immense wealth . . . makes one wonder.

[Mark Leavy]

I'm with you on ol Bill, but Obama appears to have a decent accounting for his wealth. Writing books can be lucrative, apparently.

snip - grifters, adulterers, etc...

I do a lot of reading. And I have read the Obama books.

Did you conclude that the book royalties were reasonable market compensation for the writing? I have read better - but I don't presume to understand the market.

I tend to be somewhat cynical and I always suspect that compensation to politicians for books, speeches, art sales, real estate deals and board seats are more graft than payment for value.

But, then again, I'm cynical.

[Kriegsspiel]

Nothing corrupt about that. Publishers probably know that people will read a former president's book, no matter how big a piece of shit it is. The same effect can be seen in TV, which will air anything featuring a Kardashian.

[Xan]

Yeah. Once you reach a certain level of fame, for whatever reason, you can write a book or hit the "speakers circuit" and just rake it in for doing nothing other than bloviating.

[stuper1]

It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.

I can picture someone writing this about Trump's speaking style.

[Maddy]

Yeah. Once you reach a certain level of fame, for whatever reason, you can write a book or hit the "speakers circuit" and just rake it in for doing nothing other than bloviating.

Except that nobody really cares about the book or the speech. It's simply a pretext for the quid pro quo that flows to the politician who understands who's in charge and who doesn't buck the system.

[moda0306]

Yeah. Once you reach a certain level of fame, for whatever reason, you can write a book or hit the "speakers circuit" and just rake it in for doing nothing other than bloviating.

Except that nobody really cares about the book or the speech. It's simply a pretext for the quid pro quo that flows to the politician who understands who's in charge and who doesn't buck the system.

I realized this with regards to speeches, but aren't book royalties pretty directly related to your sales? IOW, not nearly as much a hidden way of rewarding establishment politicians but actual public interest in the book?

Not that this interest isn't built on the ridiculous "hero-worship" of the American Presidency, and worthy of a different kind of skepticism, but it seems less-likely to be a result of obvious corruption.

[Xan]

Yeah. Once you reach a certain level of fame, for whatever reason, you can write a book or hit the "speakers circuit" and just rake it in for doing nothing other than bloviating.

Except that nobody really cares about the book or the speech. It's simply a pretext for the quid pro quo that flows to the politician who understands who's in charge and who doesn't buck the system.

I realized this with regards to speeches, but aren't book royalties pretty directly related to your sales? IOW, not nearly as much a hidden way of rewarding establishment politicians but actual public interest in the book?

Not that this interest isn't built on the ridiculous "hero-worship" of the American Presidency, and worthy of a different kind of skepticism, but it seems less-likely to be a result of obvious corruption.

I think often most of the money from these book deals comes as an advance.

[ochotona]

Death panel... United Healthcare

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/08/15/heal ... index.html

[boglerdude]

^ how would that situation play out in England/Canada/France

Also, thats why im in the PP. Never know when you might need to drain it all.

[ochotona]

^ how would that situation play out in England/Canada/France

Also, thats why im in the PP. Never know when you might need to drain it all.

Healthcare must always be rationed. Otherwise each person would demand infinite resources.

Would you rather the rationing be done by a panel which includes doctors and medical ethicists which is trying to allocate limited resources to do the most for the most people, or,

By a CEO a$$hat who wants to make his numbers so he can make another $25 million a buy a Bentley for his mistress?

[Xan]

^ how would that situation play out in England/Canada/France

Also, thats why im in the PP. Never know when you might need to drain it all.

Healthcare must always be rationed. Otherwise each person would demand infinite resources.

Would you rather the rationing be done by a panel which includes doctors and medical ethicists which is trying to allocate limited resources to do the most for the most people, or,

By a CEO a$$hat who wants to make his numbers so he can make another $25 million a buy a Bentley for his mistress?

Isn't that true of everything? The mechanism we have for "rationing" absolutely everything else is the price mechanism. In healthcare that mechanism has been badly broken.

[moda0306]

^ how would that situation play out in England/Canada/France

Also, thats why im in the PP. Never know when you might need to drain it all.

Healthcare must always be rationed. Otherwise each person would demand infinite resources.

Would you rather the rationing be done by a panel which includes doctors and medical ethicists which is trying to allocate limited resources to do the most for the most people, or,

By a CEO a$$hat who wants to make his numbers so he can make another $25 million a buy a Bentley for his mistress?

Isn't that true of everything? The mechanism we have for "rationing" absolutely everything else is the price mechanism. In healthcare that mechanism has been badly broken.

The price mechanism works great when markets are efficient. Would you consider health services, insurance and drug markets to be efficient?

Why do you think government works better in some areas than others? (I don't mean that snarky... just something I think about a lot)

[Maddy]

One of the greatest things about the free market approach is that it forces consumers to weight the value of the services they want against the value of competing goodies. Seems sensible enough: People are more likely to get what they want when they--not some arbitrary panel applying an arbitrary set of standards--are calling the shots. The morbidly obese person who's required to pay for that coronary bypass is now challenged to evaluate the actual costs of his lifestyle choices. If he opts for McDonalds, why should society care? Similarly, the 81-year-old needing a new kidney might rethink the importance of a few more years of life if the trade-off is that he will have nothing to leave to his children.

And then there's all that cutting-edge newfangled stuff that the everybody supposedly wants. But how sure are we, really, that anybody really wants all that technology? You could offer me $200,000 worth of chemo with all the promises in the world, and I'd turn you down flat. Actually, I'd run like hell. Imagine what would happen if people were actually given a choice (think an insurance "cafeteria plan" where you could opt out of particular expensive interventions) or if people were candidly advised that they could write an advance directive that goes beyond end-of-life stuff. I'll bet you dollar to donuts that neither the medical industry nor the insurance lobby would allow it to happen.

[dualstow]

When I saw this thread was active, I thought for sure it would be about this classy rebuke.
You can’t say *this* man suffers from TDS.

Revoke my security clearance, too, Mr. President

By William H. McRaven
August 16 at 2:44 PM
William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014. He oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Dear Mr. President
...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... 08a33c91b9

[Cortopassi]

I have gone from wanting him to drain the swamp, to voting for him, to cringing at tweets, to yelling at the TV, and finally just wanting him to go back home and let somebody else do this job. This is a non-stop reality show nightmare.

[dualstow]

I have gone from wanting him to drain the swamp, to voting for him, to cringing at tweets, to yelling at the TV, and finally just wanting him to go back home and let somebody else do this job. This is a non-stop reality show nightmare.
<snip>

I am more frustrated with his supporters than with Trump himself. I understand why a segment of the population voted for him out of hopes for better jobs, healthcare, etc, not racism. And a lot of those people are now disillusioned. It's the subset that continues to defend him that I don't get.

Btw, I'm halfway through Lawrence Wright's 'God Save Texas', a great book by an excellent journalist (and lifelong Texan). There was a page or two on Alex Jones and his influence on Trump. I hadn't realized that all the "lock her up" stuff began with Jones. I've got a problem with his supporters, too.

[Kbg]

I usually don't come to this part of the board...but I think a couple of things are obvious.

1. Healthcare in the US is broke, period, full stop.

2. People would rather argue about their political views as to how healthcare "should" work rather than solve the problem practically.

I spent most of my adult life in US socialized medicine (military medicine) and now I am in the private sector and frankly I don't find the private sector approach all that great and in many ways its worse. One thing I miss is that I used to get an email saying I needed to come in for some basic preventative thing (shots, annual check up, blood work, whatever) as the records had all been digitized. Now I have to do crap like find my paper copy shot records (from my military days), go to the internet to find out how often you need boosters, make an appointment and hand update my old paper record...seriously I find this ridiculous.

My personal take is if someone wants cutting edge medical technology the private sector is better (if and it is a BIG if, your insurance company will approve it). If you want the basics done well, my experience with socialized medicine is that it was way better.

I think the real thing is accountability. There are the VA nightmare locations you read about, but there are some mind blowing great VA locations as well. Whether government or private, accountability is lacking in many areas.

Personally I'd love to see a fly off...let CA go fully socialized and let TX go fully private and let's see what happens.

[hardlawjockey]

I have gone from wanting him to drain the swamp, to voting for him, to cringing at tweets, to yelling at the TV, and finally just wanting him to go back home and let somebody else do this job. This is a non-stop reality show nightmare.
<snip>

I am more frustrated with his supporters than with Trump himself. I understand why a segment of the population voted for him out of hopes for better jobs, healthcare, etc, not racism.

Can you give an example of the racism you are talking about? I hear this all the time but I don't see the evidence for it.

[dualstow]

I said not racism.

[ochotona]

1. Healthcare in the US is broke, period, full stop.

AND

2. Pensions in the US are broke, period, full stop.
3. Long Term Care in the US is broke, period, full stop.
4. Post-secondary education financing in the US is broke, period, full stop.
5. Consumer protections from corporate rip-offs and scams is broke, period, full stop.
6. Child-care is broke, period, full stop.

This is truly the United States of Fork You. My daughter wants to marry a European man and not live in the US... I can see why.

[Cortopassi]

I said not racism.

C'mon, he's a 70+ year old guy. I fully expect there is a tape as Omarosa (as much as she is two-faced and hypocritical) said of him saying the n-word.

I don't think it is necessarily racism, but certainly bigotry and meanness.

You're a great person while you are useful, but then are kicked to the curb and shoved under the bus when you aren't useful anymore, with a whole slew of derogatory statements by Trump. I can't imagine what it's like to work for him, or why anyone does unless they are seeing it as a means to an end.

I just saw a clip of Obama at a state dinner with the previous French president on a show. I actually felt longing for those Obama (hell even Bush) days when, maybe he wasn't your cup of tea, but damn at least he was generally graceful, poised, and presidential.

[ochotona]

My daughter wants to marry a European man and not live in the US... I can see why.

Not sure what you mean; Europe is further down the road of decline than the US is by virtually any measure.

She spent this summer at an engineering internship in Switzerland. Theoretical measures aside, she saw no suffering. She was not in Greece. She's applying to the same university (Federal Polytechnic @ Laussanne) for grad school. Nothing beats what you see with your eyes, versus what you read on the Interwebs.

[Xan]

Not sure what you mean; Europe is further down the road of decline than the US is by virtually any measure.

She spent this summer at an engineering internship in Switzerland. Theoretical measures aside, she saw no suffering. She was not in Greece. She's applying to the same university (Federal Polytechnic @ Laussanne) for grad school. Nothing beats what you see with your eyes, versus what you read on the Interwebs.

Well, Switzerland is hardly representative of the EU...

In fact it's not in the EU at all, is it?