Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Anheuser-Busch is no stranger to being on the wrong side of social issues. Remember Carson King? On a fluke, he raised over $1M for a children’s hospital in 2019. Busch was offering to match the fundraising and even place Carson’s picture on Busch Light cans. Everything was good until a reporter found some racist tweets by Carson from 2011. Busch pulled the plug on the deal, with a good deal of backlash for doing so. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/22/us/carson-king-busch-beer-venmo-trnd/index.html
I remember that. I also remember that Aaron Calvin, the reporter who uncovered King’s ancient racist tweets (which King had done as a 16 year old) was himself exposed and fired from the Des Moines Register for his own offensive tweets:
Iowa reporter who exposed racist tweets fired for own tweets – BBC News
Seems Calvin’s own statements that mocked same-sex marriage, domestic abuse and included a racial slur. Cancel not, lest ye be canceled…
Remember when Bill Clinton had an “It’s the economy, stupid” sign on his desk? Dissatisfaction with the American economy and lack of hope in our economic future is now nearly felt by 7 out of 10 Americans.
And Joe Biden’s approval rating fell two points to 39% and his disapproval rating rose to 55%. Count me in the 55%.
Public pessimism on the economy hits a new high, CNBC survey shows
HSBC Bought the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank for 1 pound:
HSBC buys Silicon Valley Bank’s UK business, ending ‘nightmare’ for British tech
Here’s how Big Tech’s predatory culture fuels failures like Silicon Valley Bank:
Opinion: How Big Tech’s predatory culture fuels failures like SVB (mercurynews.com)
I think that phraseology is just marketing. They’ll play in the dirt easily and readily, like any other politician, and they choose the battleground whenever they can. Sometimes it backfires like crazy. Sometimes, it doesn’t. Sometimes, they underestimate (or overestimate) their constituents. Sometimes they don’t.
Candidly, I’d be on both ends of that graph. I used to be really proud to be American. Now…not really. Not most of the time.
A third point. Like Trump’s politics (for the most part), don’t like the guy. Would love DeSantis or Haley to be the nominee. Unfortunately, this only pushes Trump to the fore and emboldens him and his stature. Bummer.
+1
Same.
But I don’t see a candidate who has the charisma of Trump, and can sift the winning ideas and policies out of the personality chaff that Trump represents. Trump is fundamentally polarizing and unelectable, however much his ideas make sense. But DeSantis (or Haley, or Pence, or Youngkin, or Ramaswamy, or Cheney, or Noem, or…) doesn’t have the right mix. I don’t see any of them rising to the fore and beating the cadaver-like Biden, whose list of policy failures are arresting:
Rampant inflation with destroyed personal finances for Middle America. Border crisis and immigration chaos. Ballooning debt. Banking failures and banking crisis. Humiliating departure from Afghanistan and abandoning our allises and many billions of dollars’ worth of equipment there, to be taken over by the Taliban. Summer of domestic terror, defunding police departments and skyrocketing crime and violence in our large, Dem-led cities. Explosion of homelessness. Anti-American energy policies. Biden scandals with Hunter and his own retention of classified documents. Woke administrative state. No return to normalcy and portraying half the country — the Red half — as evil monsters (Biden took HRC’s “Deplorables” comment and really turned it into something).
I find this upsetting–will fly my flag more. one strange/ironic twist: Republicans and Democrats seem to value money equally.
I have a neighbor who hangs his American flag upside down. People from both sides of the political aisle tend to agree with the sentiment and they all think he sides with them.
BTW, begun drawing Social Security yet?
As noted, I won’t be drawing Social Security for
fiveseven more years. I did mention that, not only do I have to wait two more years longer than the generation before, but I also paid in at higher rates.What I neglected to mention was that, actuarially speaking, our live expectancy is considerably — considerably — shorter than that of our forbears. And here’s proof. In just a few years, the average American life expectancy has dropped by nearly three years. So in sum:
- My generation and I have to wait two years longer to get Social Security.
- We are paying in at a higher rate, and
- We will get it for three years less than the generation before us.
I get a dead link. You want a good microcosm of “free thinking” that does relate to Bari Weiss? Look at how Matt Taibbi has been treated since working on the Twitter files. You would think he is Rush Limbaugh based on the Dem reaction, and reality is he has been left-leaning for years.
There’s a number of left-leaning individuals who are expressing right opinions. Bill Maher’s been doing that for a while.
My favorite is dyed-in-the-wool lefty George Carlin’s take on political correctness (a term not invented by, but popularized by Josef Stalin):
Best line: “Political correctness is Fascism pretending to be manners.”
George Carlin – Political Correctness is Fascism Pretending to be Manners – YouTube
Perhaps in response to the multiple bank failures, continued inflation and yet another Fed increase, Biden’s approval rating in the most recent AP poll has dropped to 38%, his lowest since last July’s 36%. In January, it was 41%; in February, it was 45%.
Biden approval dips near lowest point: AP-NORC poll | AP News
- As you know, even non-FDIC guaranteed depositors were made whole. Predictably, other financial institutions with similar problems are clamoring for a two-year “holiday” to improve their balance sheets. Fed is unlikely to make it happen.
- To gpn’s earlier point about the bankers with enough vision and competence to become the 16<sup>th</sup> largest bank in the U. S. with a niche strategy…they tripled in size between 2019 and 2023. AND, please note that the Fed was issuing warnings and demanding a risk management plan to SVB in that same year, 2019. They also did it in 2020 and 2021, and in July 2022, they expressed serious alarm. WTF? Why was SVB allowed to triple I nsize, especially with their “niche” strategy?
- No bailout for bank investors, shareholders, bondholders.
- Even with that wind in their sales, no buyer was found. Silicon Valley Bank is in worse shape than I thought. They are trying to sell parts of it.
- Greg Becker and the former CFO were sued last Friday in NorCal District Court. Their legal defense team is from Orrick, two very highly-rated, highly thought of litigators.
- No domino effect…yet. First Republic Bank is teetering.
Two items: first, it is notable that Gavin Newsom lobbied the Federal government (White House and Treasury) like crazy to support Silicon Valley Bank…all while at least three of his wineries (and who knows how many other companies) were SVB clients, including Plumpjack, Odette and Cade.
Kimberly Guilfoyle slams Newsom on Silicon Valley Bank, California ‘nightmare’ (mercurynews.com)
The Fed had raised concern about Silicon Valley’s risk management profile back in 2019, upgraded their concern in 2020, put them on a watch list in 2021 and met directly with the bank in July, 2022 with their concerns. What’s interesting to me is that SVB was allowed to triple in size less than four years after the Fed’s warnings.
Fed Raised Concerns About SVB’s Risk Management in 2019 – WSJ
Dug a little into the Reagan info, and during his first three terms, the Republicans had control of both the House and the Senate. It was his Omnibus Budget Bill that pushed funding of the mentally ill to the states. Allegedly. As always, there is a lot more to what really transpired than what is conveniently put forth as fact.
Well, we’re each half correct. You’re correct on the Senate: Republicans had a 53-46 majority in the 97th Congress (1981-1983), but the Dems owned the House, 242-191.
In the 98th Congress (1983-1985), the Dems increased their advantage in the House to 269-164, typical for mid-term elections, they usually go against the party in charge in the White House. Republicans still owned the Senate, 55-45.
In the 99th Congress (1985 – 1987), the Republicans owned the Senate, but the majority tightened to 52-48, and they would lose the Senate in the 100th Congress. The Dems kept the majority at 252-181.
