Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Second rate reporter says what?

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

White supremacy is terrorism.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

In my day, never was longer.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

The revolution will be supervised.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

A consequence of cucumbers

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

No one could have predicted…

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

This really is a full service blog.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

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Performative Outrage Open Thread: But *My* Privacy!!!…

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ETA:


I agree the WaPo Editorial Board is wrong, but I don’t agree the protestors are:

The rightwingers are gonna throw tantrums regardless, I say make ’em own it…

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  2. 2.

    Josie

    “It tries to bring direct public pressure to bear on a decision-making process that must be controlled, evidence-based and rational if there is to be any hope of an independent judiciary.” https://wapo.st/3M247av

    Sorry, Guys, but that horse already left the barn.

  3. 3.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    it’s a bad idea because the likeliest outcome is judges climbing up on the cross and screaming they’re the real victim here, rather than effecting positive change

    Why is this the “likeliest” outcome? Why can’t this effect positive change?

  5. 5.

    Cacti

    If you can’t take the heat, don’t accept the lifetime appointment or the public salary.

  6. 6.

    hueyplong

    So this is the FoxNews sequel to Portland being burned to the ground 23 times in 2020?

  7. 7.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    OT:

    I’m worried inflation is going to completely kill us this fall. GDP has already contracted, rates are only starting to be raised, and we’re only two quarters away from being officially in a recession if GDP continues to contract. I’ve read economic analyses that say that high inflation is likely to stick around for awhile and that this will complicate the Fed’s attempt to do a “soft landing” and avoid a recession

  8. 8.

    Cacti

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Why is this the “likeliest” outcome? Why can’t this effect positive change?

    And even if it does make them whine, so what?

    The oppressor class always whines when the oppressed step out of line.

  10. 10.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The neighbors serving the protestors little charcuterie plates and a nice merlot is just…. /chef’s kiss/

    I can just imagine the Labor Day block party: “Oh, Carole, I love this tapenade!” “Oh, thanks Sam. I’ve been exchanging recipes with the protestor who made the sign of you as Torquemada”

  14. 14.

    debbie

    What’s actually problematic, WaPo, is lying under oath. Editorialize that one.

  15. 15.

    LAO

    @Josie: I read an interesting piece today, I think it was in the Post — but I can’t find it — that since the right wing gained a 6-3 super majority in SCOTUS, people no longer believe in the Court’s impartiality.

  16. 16.

    Splitting Image

    I’m going to lay down a marker and say that if the Republicans do manage to pass a national ban on abortion, then number one, no mainstream journalist whatsoever will call them out for their purported commitment to “States’ Rights”, and number two, it won’t take a month to discover that a Republican politician took his wife on a junket to Canada and paid for a little operation no longer legal in the U.S. The New York Times will write an opinion piece equating this hypocrisy with that of a rich Democrat fighting for higher wages for the working class.

    Heck, Doug J could write it now and save them the trouble.

  20. 20.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I think our betters are starting to get scared their bullshit really did call down the whirlwind this time.

  22. 22.

    JR in WV

    @Raven:

    Fuck LBJ and his little toy Richard M. Nixon too.

    I came along a little after you did, and Tricky Dick drafted me. Bastard!!

  23. 23.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Again OT:

    There’s a lot of knowledgeable folks on the Bogleheads forum.

    Was wondering what you guys think of some of the takes here on the Fed’s monetary policy: Thread

    willthrill81

    Unless/until the Fed gets serious about increasing interest rates (i.e., at least to somewhere close to the rate of inflation), we’re going to continue to see much higher inflation than we’ve seen for the last 40 years.

     

    DB2

    I know what you mean, but with the amount of debt out there, it would probably cause a great depression. The debt was relatively low in the 70s and so interest rates could be raised to the inflation rate. The Fed has painted themselves in a rather interesting position with this QE experiment which “worked” in disinflationary times, but now with so much debt, they are stuck.

     

    willthrill81

    Pick your poison: out of control inflation or a recession that might lead to a depression.

     

    garlandwhizzer

    Alan Greenspan also believes we’re entering a period of stagflation: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/al … tagflation

    Greenspan and Summers don’t have 20/20 vision into the future–no one does–but when smart seasoned economic observers, even with spotty track records in the past, make such statements, it’s a possibility that investors should consider. The problem with inflation and stagflation is that, once well established, they can become self sustaining due to price-wage self-sustaining upward spirals that feed on themselves. Personally, I believe it is a very real risk going forward perhaps one chance in three over the next few years for stagflation likewise for recession. There is a lot of risk out there now, more IMO than we’ve faced since 2007-9.

    The FED now faces a very difficult tightrope walk. Raise rates and reduce money supply too much, too quickly and we fall into recession, perhaps a severe one. Raise them too slowly, too little and high inflation inflation persists. If we get to the point where economic growth disappears from the damage of higher rates but inflation persists, we’re in stagflation. At that point there’s only one cure, massively high rates which kill credit and stop lending and precipitate a severe recession with high unemployment. That is a hard and politically very unpopular step to take, so it can be long delayed. It took many years of half measures for example in the 1970s before Volcker arrived at the FED and prescribed the hard medicine.

     

    garlandwhizzer

    Clearly the optimal time to prepare for anything including inflation, particularly unexpected inflation, is before it happens. TIPS, I bonds, MMF and shorter duration in general reduces the damage that sudden severe spikes in inflation inflict on the bond portfolio. We are currently in the quickest and most severe bond bull market in history. With 11 years of all time low Treasury yields from 2009 – 2020, we were in a Treasury market bubble not as bad as the dot com bubble in equity, but comparable. The FED tried everything including QE to creat 2% inflation and hadn’t been able to do it. Some argued that inflation was dead and buried for good. Then we met the toxic combination of chronic excessive monetary and fiscal stimulus, Covid supply chain disruptions, the Great Resignation, the Ukraine War, and decreasing trade and employment globalization–all these factors got the inflation ball rolling and push it faster.

    Getting out of this mess, will take years, a few or many, and it may include a recession, a bad stock bear market, but hopefully not stagflation.

    What do they mean by “chronic excessive monetary and fiscal stimulus”?

  25. 25.

    oldgold

    I recommend:

    1. Mothballing the Supreme Court Building. The building. which is supreme, has added to the false and dangerous notion the Justices are something other than political hacks in black robes.

    2. Moving  the Court back to where it started and, given its history, where it belongs – in the basement if the Capitol. 

    3.Cutting the Courts budget by 2/3rds. When I read this past week about all their staff it sickened me. If we made them work, perhaps they would retire like normal people.

  27. 27.

    JR in WV

    @LAO:

    …since the right wing gained a 6-3 super majority in SCOTUS, people no longer believe in the Court’s impartiality.

    Oh my god…. imagine that!

  31. 31.

    Ohio Mom

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Over the years you will get used to the roller coaster we call our economy.

    I’m sure I’m forgetting some of the highlights but I remember living through stagflation, inflation, the oil shortage, the recession in the early 1980s, the 1987 stock market crash, a recession in the early 2000s, the Great Recession of 2008, and of course whatever name you want to give to what we are living through now.

    God, that’s a depressing list.

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    I keep thinking about the ordinary people on city councils and school boards being stalked and screamed at AT THEIR HOMES  by crazy right wingers over masks and other Covid prevention measures, and I have ZERO sympathy for these people over the “horror” of peaceful protests on the sidewalk. For God’s sake, some of the crazies wanted to kidnap and execute the governor of Michigan for having the audacity to tell them to do something they didn’t want to do!  Fuck these snowflakes! They can dish it out  but they sure can’t take it.

  36. 36.

    LAO

    @JR in WV: I was just confirming that indeed, the horse has left the barn — no need to shut the door.

    I’m a federal criminal defense attorney — I’m well aware that the federal judiciary is not impartial.

     

    ETA: not sure why I took your comment as a personal attack.  I’m way too high strung this evening.  All of this shit is really bringing me down.

  37. 37.

    Splitting Image

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): 

    Was wondering what you guys think of some of the takes here on the Fed’s monetary policy

    Some of those takes are grounded in the assumption that no rich person can ever have their taxes raised, ever. The available options for the government must be taken with this in mind. The Fed’s actual monetary policy, on the other hand, ought to regard confiscatory taxation rates as a really good idea whose time has come.

    What do they mean by “chronic excessive monetary and fiscal stimulus”?

    Tax and Spend Democrats taking hard-working Americans’ money and giving it to Those People. Or in other words, the COVID stimulus packages but not the Bush and Drumpf tax cuts, which are perfectly appropriate monetary and fiscal stimulus.

  38. 38.

    Cacti

    @Soprano2: Since Roe v. Wade was decided, the “pro-life” movement has murdered 11 people, and attempted the murder of 26 others.

  43. 43.

    sanjeevs

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The U.S. (and most of the RoW) has had low interest rates for a long time.

    Individuals and Corporations have loaded up on debt at low rates. If you wanted to buy a house in the last 15 years or so, you had no choice.

    Now Fed Interest rates are at .75%. Inflation is running almost 10 times that.

    Most economists would say that to snuff out inflation we need to raise rates above inflation. But that means a 10 fold or so in Fed rates.

    This would lead to mortgage payers and corporations having to pay large single digit multiples of current interest payments.

    Most cannot do this. They would go bankrupt.

    Hence the dilemma for the Fed (and most Central Banks in the world).

  46. 46.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Splitting Image:

    Honestly, you’re probably right about all of that. As knowledgeable as these people are on investing/finance, I imagine these people, most of whom are high income, high net worth people who are very frugal, are probably on the conservative side economically

    I don’t know, the fact that inflation wasn’t “transitory” like Powell and others asserted, has left me questioning things

  48. 48.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Ohio Mom:

    There’s a rule on those forums where politics aren’t allowed to brought up, but yes that’s a good point

  49. 49.

    Ohio Mom

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): When I was your age, I was too busy thinking about boys to care about the larger world; your interest in politics and the economy is both a blessing and a curse for you.

    I can tell you some of the things that have helped me cope with the vagaries of life: friendships; seeking the small pleasures found in art, music and nature; working in groups for change; therapy; an antidepressant; and on and off, religious thought (there are a lot of beautiful ideas in religion even if the institutions don’t do much for me). You’ll note I didn’t list a life’s work, I never did find a profession that stuck.

    Anyway, keep looking for your ballast, its out there and will give your life structure. I’m pulling for you.

  50. 50.

    Bobby Thomson

    One of the spouses of a Justice (if not that justice himself) of this awesome ever-s0-rational court conspired to overturn the election (as did the author of the draft opinion) and five of them committed flat out perjury, but yeah, protest that they themselves signed off on when it was just for Planned Parenthood staff is a bridge too far.

    I’m just shocked that Schumer absolutely nailed both the law and the politics of this while Biden and Psaki shit the bed.

  51. 51.

    Ohio Mom

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): What Splitting Image said @37. It’s what I would have liked to have said but didn’t put the effort into.

    Anyway, what writers like the one you quoted leave out can be as important as what they put in, in terms of figuring out their biases and how big a griain of salt you should take them with.

  52. 52.

    LAO

    Well, this made me happy.  I have a transgender nephew and his family lives in CT.

    HUGE! Connecticut is the first state to pass a safe-state law for transgender and abortion refugees from criminalizing states like TX/AL/AR.Bars summons/subpoenas/compliance with out of stte warrants and allows those charged to sue for damages!It's long and there's lots here! pic.twitter.com/NL17r2So1b— Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) May 11, 2022

  55. 55.

    Ohio Mom

    @Gin & Tonic: When my mother died in the late 1980s, she left us municipal bonds with interest rates in the mid-teens. It’s hard for me to type that and not feel like I’m exaggerating or lying, it seems impossible to me now.

    Remember when savings banks used to give away dish sets and such to lure you to open an account?

  56. 56.

    Ken

    @LAO: I do hope Chief Justice Roberts is lying awake nights, fearing that he’ll end up remembered for Dred Scott II: Return of the Fugitive Slave Act.

  59. 59.

    LAO

    @Ken: I think he may.  But in the end, doesn’t matter what he hopes his legacy will be because I think (hope) that history will not be kind.  It doesn’t make up for the massive damage and the pain and misery his court will usher into the world — but I do think that it will bother him.

  60. 60.

    Alison Rose ???

    It’s May, which ought to be “Why does it feel like mid-summer when it’s only supposed to be Spring” season in Northern California…and we just had a thunder-lightning-hailstorm.

    I hate everything.

  63. 63.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @schrodingers_cat:

    No, I was trying to get your (and others’) takes on those opinions because this inflation episode has left me questioning stuff. Those people I quoted sounded like they knew what they were talking about and it seemed to fit better than “inflation is transitory/no big deal”

    But of course, as folks here have pointed out, those posters have their own biases as well

    @Jackie:

    @WaterGirl:

    @Gvg:

    I’m sorry I worry so much and express it. If I made 100k/year I probably wouldn’t feel so pressured. It’s the fact that I make so little, along with the difficulties of getting ahead in today’s world, that sets me on edge. Plus all of this insane talk of raising taxes on the bottom half of Americans, sunsetting SS, Medicare, etc makes me think I’m going to end up with nothing.

    Earlier today after work, I got to thinking about what Adam Silverman has predicted will happen and how right he’s been so far, along with my own personal situation and I wondered what I actually have to look forward to. As long as I can remember, I’ve always been fairly stand-offish and people don’t seem to really warm up to me. I’m not invited to things often. People like me and are friendly, but nothing is usually very deep.

    I’m not sure if I’m asexual or not, but it likely leads to me never marrying, never having children and possibly dying alone. Add in the likely future GOP fascism, political instability (can’t imagine that will be good for investing), lack of SS/Medicare, I’m not sure I have what it takes to survive it

    I have these thoughts sometimes

  65. 65.

    eversor

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    A lot of the 40 and under crowd is utterly convinced that there will be no social security or medicare and nothing will be done about global warming.   Only the 100k+ crowd is confident about the future.

    “Bring on the meteor” has gone from being a joke to a full on life philosophy.

  66. 66.

    Gvg

    @sanjeevs: I have a fixed rate mortgage. So do most home owners. I guess some corporations refinance constantly and would be hurt by rising rates but I don’t think that is that many of them. What happens is that fewer homes get sold and people buy smaller houses for the money. Corporations don’t expand as much which does slow the jobs market but we currently have an employment shortage.

    i don’t get what you are saying.

  67. 67.

    Eolirin

    @eversor: Yeah, being part of that age group, I find that attitude intensely infuriating, especially with the 20 somethings. We have the power to tip elections if we stay involved, and that power gives us the ability to make sure that never happens.

    We have agency. We should use it better.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    Acyn
    @Acyn
    · 6h
    Daines on Abortion: Why do we have laws in place to protect the eggs of a sea turtle or the eggs of eagles…

    I think it’s great we’re hearing so much from the leaders of the anti-abortion movement.

    Today they’re grappling with the question “are women even human?”

  70. 70.

    Ruckus ??

    @Ohio Mom:

    The advantage of decades is that you’ve been through a lot of government crap that few people can do anything about and that often the people that can do the exact opposite thing necessary because it benefits them rather than the over all economy or whatever situation being discussed. The experience is one that gives us a perspective of selfish people, like conservatives who think they have to have complete control over everyone else otherwise someone may actually enjoy a moment or two in their lives. That enjoyment often comes from conservatives having their butts kicked (even figuratively!) and being shown once again how fucking stupid they are. About everything.

  71. 71.

    Jackie

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You chose to not follow your nursing education for reasons – leaving you earning close to minimum wage. At your age I was a divorced mom of two very young children – working crazy hours at minimum wage. I guess I just didn’t have the time or energy to run around screaming the sky is falling that you do. This was in the late ‘80s when inflation was way worse than now. Unemployment was horrible, so you hung on to the job you had.

    You are single. You can change jobs for higher wages. You can go back to school. You have CHOICES. Yet, you choose to gloom and doom and divert every post you’re on to whataboutism gloom and doom.

  73. 73.

    Suzanne

    @LAO: My cousin is a state rep in Connecticut and she helped pass that bill.

    It’s weird having a politician in the family.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    I don’t even want to know why Republican Senators were debating women’s “eggs” today, and comparing us to sea turtles. I don’t want to know about that law.

  75. 75.

    Mike in NC

    Like Dr. Fauci, far-right wing Supreme Court justices need to personally pay for 24 hour a day private security for themselves and their families. Alito needs to learn to sleep with one eye open.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I’m not sure if I’m asexual or not, but it likely leads to me never marrying, never having children and possibly dying alone. 

    I’m a catastrophizer, too. It’s lies. It’s over sensitive pattern recognition, failure to appreciate confounding variables.
    Some cognitive behavioral therapy to recognize when you’re doing it would be helpful.

  77. 77.

    LAO

    @Lyrebird: thanks. Not the same article but a similar analysis. It’s really shocking to me how the SCOTUS approval numbers have dived  not because it’s undeserved but because I fear that people aren’t paying attention.

     

    @Suzanne: Rock on to your cousin! She’s using her power for good not evil. I love it!

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @LAO:

    It was this poll, but they’ve been tanking for a while.

    A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that Americans’ confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has collapsed over the last 20 months — a period that began with former President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans installing a 6-3 conservative majority ahead of the 2020 election and culminated last week with the leak of a draft opinion signaling that five GOP-appointed justices plan to overturn Roe v. Wade.

    Time to come out and yell at us some more about how credible they are. That’s how you gain credibility- you petulantly demand it.

  79. 79.

    caring & sensitive

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I had a partner in my law firm whose affectionate nickname among the other partners was “The Prince”.  It was an abbreviation for the Prince of Darkness because he could see the dark cloud in every silver lining. You remind me of him

  80. 80.

    the pollyanna from hell

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I have the social skillset of a badger or porcupine. I have scores of friends because I showed up every week at a UU church with all the other atheists, agnostics, humanists, Buddhists, and pagans.

  81. 81.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jackie:

    My reasons boiled down to the fact that I realized I wouldn’t be very good at it. I kept trying to convince myself that I would grow into it and I never did.

     I guess I just didn’t have the time or energy to run around screaming the sky is falling that you do. This was in the late ‘80s when inflation was way worse than now. Unemployment was horrible, so you hung on to the job you had

    The entire GOP weren’t out and out fascists willing to completely tear down democracy and the very foundations of our society, or willing to engage in pogroms, like Adam Silverman has warned us could happen in the the not-so distant future. This isn’t the same and they’re only getting worse

    You are single. You can change jobs for higher wages. You can go back to school. You have CHOICES. Yet, you choose to gloom and doom and divert every post you’re on to whataboutism gloom and doom.

    Sure I do. I can take out student loans worth thousands of dollars or tens of thousands of dollars and spend the next two-four years of my life on a degree that may or may not result in gainful employment. It’s true I could get another job that pays better at a distribution center or something, but I don’t want to pigeonhole myself either. I just don’t know what to pursue, y’know?

    I guess the bottom line is I’m afraid to fail and make a bad decision that could impact the rest of my life. I know life is full of risks, but I want to take smart risks.

    And I say none of this to denigrate your experiences you’ve mentioned above. In a lot of ways I do have it better than many. I suppose, maybe I have some personal things I need to work on. This political climate doesn’t help

  82. 82.

    Suzanne

    @LAO: She ran once and lost, but she ran again in 2020 and won. Her area is fairly red, from what I understand, but she is left/progressive. She’s very pragmatic and personable, though, which is appealing. She’s going to run for re-election.

  83. 83.

    Suzanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I guess the bottom line is I’m afraid to fail and make a bad decision that could impact the rest of my life. 

    But doing nothing to make a change is a decision of its own. And possibly a bad decision. Don’t think of it is a baseline or the devil you know.

  84. 84.

    LAO

    @Kay: My friends think I’m ridiculous but I’ve seriously lost sleep over worrying about SCOTUS, I can’t count the number of times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night filled with unbearable dread. And I’m a middle aged white woman, who’s ok financially, living in a true blue state. But I’m consumed by my anger. It’s not healthy.

  85. 85.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Suzanne:

    But doing nothing to make a change is a decision of its own. And possibly a bad decision. Don’t think of it is a baseline or the devil you know.

    And I know that’s true. And good advice : )

  86. 86.

    TheflipPsyd

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): i am more lurker than commenter here, but I wanted to say that I sympathize and empathize with your worries. The world  is crazy, unpredictable, and really scary now.  Worry and anxiety are normal emotions and events of the past years have traumatized most of us. When someone has been traumatized, generally they seek out ways to try to control their environment. People who tend to be worriers to start with often try to control their worry by thinking of every possible option or possibility, which can lead to cognitive overload and helplessness. Reading your comments these past weeks, I think you may be stuck in a cognitive pattern that is increasing anxiety and worry rather than easing it. No one knows what is going to happen. Think of the serenity prayer and cut yourself a break.  It takes great wisdom to know the difference between what we can change and what we can’t. My sincere advice to you, and everyone knows what advice is truly worth, so I know I could be totally off base, but maybe you need to focus on what you want for your own personal life rather than focusing on ” global” issues. That is, focus on what would make you feel good in your life, what would bring you contentment and oleasure.

    For example, in reading your comment, sounds like you would like deeper in person relationships. Balloon juice is a wonderful community, and it has been a godsend for most of us. But an online community only provides so much socialization. As a fellow introvert who has a history of social anxiety, I can say honestly that when I have pushed the boundaries of my own comfort levels, I have almost always gained. Sorry for stepping out of bounds, but my psychologist side has come out reading your comments these past weeks and as someone who has struggled with anxiety periodically, I wanted you to know what you’re feeling is normal.and that life can get better, especially when you figure out the things you can change and the things you can’t.

    ETA   editted for understanding because on phone.

  87. 87.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Suzanne:

    I never used to be like this either, not until a few years ago. Even during the early Trump years. I guess I just never realized the depths that Republicans would stoop to and the dangers that represented to myself and people I care about. I was also still in college at the time.

  88. 88.

    Jackie

    Goku, once again the last several posts prove the point: You’ve hijacked yet another thread to “it’s all about ‘what about me’.”

  89. 89.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jackie:

    Sometimes I just need someone to vent to. I can’t keep this stuff inside all the time.

    I’m sorry

  90. 90.

    GoBlueInOak

    @Raven: How about NOOOOO.

    Greatest President of the 20th century.  I’m willing to entertain he’s #2 behind FDR, but other than that…the Greatest.

    I’m sorry Vietnam broke your brain.  Get in line with the other countless wars of imperialism the U.S. waged.

  91. 91.

    Ohio Mom

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I almost think it a development stage of young people, to think Social Security will not be there when they are older. As my elders once told me, I will tell you: Social Security isn’t going away.

    As for your social issues: such is the life of people who are neurodivergent. That is your tribe, I have long suspected. Maybe go look for them and see if that is your corner of the world?

    It’s way past my bedtime. I will skim Adam’s post and go off to dreamland.

    Tomorrow is another day, Goku and where there is life, there is hope.

  92. 92.

    GoBlueInOak

    @Gin & Tonic: OK Boomer.  Shall I explain to you what happened to real dollar home prices since you last didn’t need a pill to help you pee?

  93. 93.

    GoBlueInOak

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): They mean we’ve had central banks of the major economies GLOBALLY keeping short term inter-bank rates at or close to zero since basically the Great Recession.  We avoided inflation after the GR in part because we the bottom felt out so much and we had excess labor and industrial capacity that took years to absorb, such that it kept inflation in check.   On top of that, while the US had some stimulus early on in the GR (ARRA under Obama), it was relatively modest, and there wasn’t much after that.  Japan provided decent fiscal stimulus via infrastructure spending but the EU countries mostly pursued austerity.

    So we had a VERY slow recovery from the GR and thus not much inflation despite the monetary stimulus (the low central bank rates).

    Fast forward to the pandemic.  Central banks cuts rates AND – having learned lesson from the austerity policies of the GR –  governments also poured a lot of fiscal stimulus into the economy to avoid a recesssion/depression.

    Appears everyone over-corrected a bit, and now we have what will in all likelihood be a few years of transitory inflation.  Maybe even less than that.

    The only pieces that are the wild cards are: (1) energy prices which are mostly in the hands of autocrats in the Middle East plus Russia and (2) housing prices which are mostly in the hands of local politicians who are addicted to NIMBYism.

  100. 100.

    ColoradoGuy

    To Goku: Zero chance of Social Security and Medicare going away, short of a slide into full-scale Pinochet-style dictatorship. Why? The US dollar is the strongest currency in the world, with no competition in sight, and the Chinese currency isn’t even fully convertible, which is a requirement for international trade. The US government is free to print as many dollars as it wants, since the US currency is considered a refuge by institutional investors all over the world. Those dollars from the Federal government appear out of thin air, just as currency created by fractional reserve banking appears out of thin air.

    What really backs the dollar is the world’s largest and most dynamic economy, the world’s largest military, the world’s most secure borders, and a nation that has always had food security (and exports) for more than 240 years. That’s what backs it, not Fort Knox. The Federal government can pay for anything it wants, up to and including 2-front global wars, an interstate highway system, and fun things like moon shots.

    As long as you are free to travel and are single, you have more freedom than 90% to 95% of the people on Earth. That’s why millions of people want to emigrate here, and the USA and Canada are not facing the sharp demographic decline that is staring Japan, Russia, and the EU in the face.

    Shifting from the big picture to the personal, Community college is the fastest path out of minimum wage, and costs almost nothing except time. I dropped out of an expensive 4-year private college (due to poor work habits), found something I was good at, and finally finished my degree (while still working) ten years later at Portland State University, which is a pretty decent school. Oddly enough, what seemed so impossibly hard when I was 22 was super easy 10 years later.

    I also second the suggestion for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The brain can fall into unproductive and self-sabotaging ways of thinking just out of sheer habit, without you knowing it (depression creeps up very slowly), and CBT can be a useful kick in the ass to break out of a groove. Depression does not always cure itself, and can require outside agency (or an external shock) to break the pattern. Good luck!

  103. 103.

    Soprano2

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): This may be overstepping, but have you thought about being medically evaluated for clinical depression? I don’t know where you live, but in many places there are low cost options for getting help. I was clinically depressed when I was in my mid-20’s; in some ways, your posts here remind me of how I was then. I felt like I was in a deep hole and there was no way out. Getting help changed my life and put me in a much better place. Prozac was like a miracle for me.

  105. 105.

    planetjanet

    @eversor: We  have fought to defend Social Security and Medicare for over 50 years now.  We will continue to fight for it.  The danger from the other side never goes away.  You will have to carry on the fight and you can do this.

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