2024 Elections: One Last Chance for Democracy

[RaceBoarder]

No I'm not. I'm explaining reality to you, using actual facts.

You can't afford where you live? Cut your effin' expenses. What's that effin Monster drink that you HAVE to have cost, $3? Every frickin day! Just one, or do you get two?

Get another job. Enough with the 'side gig' ****, get a real effin job. Maybe one where you have to work with your hands, or do actual physical labor. Maybe where you gotta work 10-12 hours a day. Those pay pretty well from what I hear. Them shiftless immigrants got no problem doing those jobs.

I mean, bootstraps, right? That's what the Repubs tell you the answer is.

You realize I'm already working 40+ hours in a warehouse, right? And it's one of the higher paying jobs in my area at around $50k/year, right? So $50k not being "livable" isn't a problem to you?

But yea, I can save $8.50/week ($34/month) by cutting energy drinks. That will allow me to cover a $150/month rent increase.

You're the one arguing for all the talking points the R's make. It's literally the "Avocado Toast" argument.

[dxmnkd316]

So bringing the inflation from 10% down to 2 wasn't enough for you? Unemployment dropping from 6-7% down to 3-4% wasn't enough?

What more did you want, Joe to drop $500 in your bank account every month? Jesus effin Christ.
????

For the record, I am in favor of UBI and CTC

[trixR4kids]

Gee IDK maybe the federal government could raise the min wage once in the past few decades to compensate? Oh wait Kamala wasn't going to do that. Obviously you can't have widespread deflation across the entire economy but building public housing and figuring out ways to decrease the cost of rent would do wonders, the dems haven't cared about that since FDR though. And lol if you think any normal human being would get mad about figuring out ways to lower rent or combat price gouging, maybe on MSNBC which is clearly your only source of news.

And if Spartan is too dumb to figure out the difference between a swing state and a non-swing state I can't help him lol.

[dxmnkd316]

btw why would Americans vote for Democrats up & down their ballots but not for POTUS? Supposedly 90% of counties saw an increase in R voting share yet Trump received fewer votes than in 2020? The said thing is that everyone will now be afraid to explore the possibility something nefarious happened because of 2020.

We don't have full returns yet.

[Slap Shot]

https://x.com/AmandaMarcotte/status/1854906041877619197

Ipsos/Reuters poll from last month also proves my point. The more ignorant of basic facts you are, the more you're likely to vote Republican.

[dxmnkd316]

Explain rent being 30% more in my area over the last 4 years. Explain groceries, as a whole, costing 30% more. Explain cars being 30% more.

All while my wages are up 15%.

And yes, I understand why all this is. The point I was trying to make was that for white males under 45, this point WAS NOT made clear to them before last Tuesday. And that is why we are in the predicament we are currently in. Again, you talk down to people less educated than yourself and get ticked when they don't listen to you.

I honestly can't explain that because my monthly groceries (which I track religiously with quicken), are literally the same as they were pre-pandemic.

They DID spike during 2021 but have come down since.

[trixR4kids]

You realize I'm already working 40+ hours in a warehouse, right? And it's one of the higher paying jobs in my area at around $50k/year, right? So $50k not being "livable" isn't a problem to you?

But yea, I can save $8.50/week ($34/month) by cutting energy drinks. That will allow me to cover a $150/month rent increase.

You're the one arguing for all the talking points the R's make. It's literally the "Avocado Toast" argument.

Stop eating avocado toast (in this case consuming caffeine lmao), get a 3rd job and work 24/7, live 3 hours away from your warehouse and commute every day (so that you have to buy a new car more often which you can totally now afford with 3 jobs), and viola you can now afford to "live"!

[dxmnkd316]

Gee IDK maybe the federal government could raise the min wage once in the past few decades to compensate? Oh wait Kamala wasn't going to do that. Obviously you can't have widespread deflation across the entire economy but building public housing and figuring out ways to decrease the cost of rent would do wonders, the dems haven't cared about that since FDR though. And lol if you think any normal human being would get mad about figuring out ways to lower rent or combat price gouging, maybe on MSNBC which is clearly your only source of news.

And if Spartan is too dumb to figure out the difference between a swing state and a non-swing state I can't help him lol.

Damn Biden and Kamala for not raising the minimum wage unilaterally!

[dxmnkd316]

No I'm not. I'm explaining reality to you, using actual facts.

You can't afford where you live? Cut your effin' expenses. What's that effin Monster drink that you HAVE to have cost, $3? Every frickin day! Just one, or do you get two?

Get another job. Enough with the 'side gig' ****, get a real effin job. Maybe one where you have to work with your hands, or do actual physical labor. Maybe where you gotta work 10-12 hours a day. Those pay pretty well from what I hear. Them shiftless immigrants got no problem doing those jobs.

I mean, bootstraps, right? That's what the Repubs tell you the answer is.

I don't think this is the message to go with.

[RaceBoarder]

I honestly can't explain that because my monthly groceries (which I track religiously with quicken), are literally the same as they were pre-pandemic.

They DID spike during 2021 but have come down since.

You've made zero cuts/zero changes to your grocery buying (including buying the same net amount to account for smaller packaging) and still have the same bill?

[trixR4kids]

She didn't even campaign on it genius. And yes with a majority in the senate they could've raised the federal minimum wage. Also you do realize the president has certain emergency powers they can use to to lower prescription drug costs, curb monopolies (part of why the cost of everything is so high), cancel student debt etc? You probably don't because the dementia addled dinosaur we just had can barely read a teleprompter without a cocktail of about 10 different uppers but that's who you voted for in the primary (and a large part of why Kamala lost) so don't blame me.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

I don't think that high rents are so much corporate price gouging as it is the cascading effects of high demand, increases in maintenance costs and property tax rates, failure to approve & build sufficient housing stock over the past 20 years (in large part due to NIMBYism from fear of renters), and longstanding consumer & developer bias towards SFHs in suburbs across the United States since 1950.

I'll concede there may be some padding/gouging by large property management companies who have profit targets they're expected to meet. By and large though, we simply need to build more MFH for young people and smaller households. We also need to change the perception that you've failed as an American if you don't own a strip of land between you and your immediate neighbors.

[Spartanforlife4]

And if Spartan is too dumb to figure out the difference between a swing state and a non-swing state I can't help him lol.

*psst* every state is a non-swing state until it is.

Michigan voted as blue or bluer than Minnesota from 92-12. Then suddenly it was a swing state again. If you want Minnesota to become the same then continue not voting or voting for whatever third party candidate that ends up having pictures of dinners in Russia come out later.

[trixR4kids]

If Kamala can't win MN then she would've won like 5-6 states total. At which point you have a far bigger issue than one voter in MN.

[LynahFan]

I’m getting a sense that the electorate is just interested in punishing the incumbent party. 81M Americans came out to vote against Trump because they were ****ed about Covid (even though by any sane expectation, Democrats in powers would have imposed even more restrictions). This time, people were ****ed about inflation and American support of the genocide in Gaza - again, even though all reasonable expectations would predict that Trump will be *far* worse on both of those issues than Biden has been.

The electorate only looks backward, not forward.