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Cont: The Biden Presidency (3)

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Delvo

Дэлво Δε&#
Delvo
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North Tonawanda, NY
How much people drive and what they drive aren't things that people can just change on a dime. The former would require moving from one home to another or changing from one job to another, and the latter would mean getting rid of one vehicle and getting another. These are things people need to plan for and wait years for. In fact, they keep getting harder to do every year.

But yes, the fact that some things (housing, transportation, education) have risen so radically in price over the years has to mean that some other things (gas, food, clothes) must have become relatively smaller fractions of our total spending.

Posted By: jimbob
 
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I shed as many tears for people who can't sell their oversized SUV as I do for those who recently bought beachfront property: they made a deliberate decision to ignore all economic and ecological indicators.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
rising gas prices should put an end to the "privat monster truck" insanity that has been the US car market in recent years.
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acbytesla said:
Recent years? Try the last 30.
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Not that it matters, but while standing on a street corner with my aunt about 20 years ago, a large chromed monster truck pulled up to the light and revved the engine, honked and waved to my aunt (an attractive woman). She jumped to the curb and yelled through the window to the driver, "Nice truck, sorry about your dick!".

He revved the engine and took off as the light changed to green.

I miss my aunt sometimes. :)
 
kevbo said:
Not that it matters, but while standing on a street corner with my aunt about 20 years ago, a large chromed monster truck pulled up to the light and revved the engine, honked and waved to my aunt (an attractive woman). She jumped to the curb and yelled through the window to the driver, "Nice truck, sorry about your dick!".

He revved the engine and took off as the light changed to green.

I miss my aunt sometimes. :)
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That reminds me of the old joke about what's the difference between a cactus and a Corvette.

With the Corvette, the prick is on the inside.


Your aunt sounds cool.
 
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kevbo said:
Not that it matters, but while standing on a street corner with my aunt about 20 years ago, a large chromed monster truck pulled up to the light and revved the engine, honked and waved to my aunt (an attractive woman). She jumped to the curb and yelled through the window to the driver, "Nice truck, sorry about your dick!".

He revved the engine and took off as the light changed to green.

I miss my aunt sometimes. :)
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I think I'd have liked your aunt.

My husband retired from IT almost a year ago. One of the first things we did was reassess whether we really needed two cars. We decided we didn't, so we sold his car (wish we'd kept it a few months longer...we probably would have gotten another 2-3 grand for it.). Our only car now is my Subaru Outback but we needed an SUV because my husband needs to haul sheets of plywood and other building supplies because he does remodeling side jobs now. But we drive so little that we only have to fill the tank up about every six weeks to eight weeks.
 
kevbo said:
Wow. Can you take anything on face value? Would you like my daughter, who was with me to verify my account? Or are you just being a contrarian?

I simply expressed a personal accounting of how some people see the rise in gas prices without them giving it much critical thought, and you turn it into a question of my honesty. (Grow up.) I replied to him in a calm, measured voice to avoid escalating the situation. Then left.

You on the other hand, I am done with. Just like a said, I leave. Not worth it.

ninja'd by Stacyhs

Thank you, Stacyhs
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Good idea not to get confrontational. That happened to my brother at a gas station and the MAGAt attacked him. My brother taught hand-to-hand combat to the newbies while in the National Guard so he subdued him quite quickly.
 
xjx388 said:
Gas prices, at the level they are now, are not really much of a concern to most people right now…

Let’s be real: my car used to cost around $36 to fill…now it costs around $48. Yeah, that’s an increase, but it’s not a catastrophe, like some people are making it out to be.
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“Some people” are barely scraping by as is, struggling to pay rent, utilities, health insurance, whatever. A 25% increase in gas prices can be a real “concern” for them - and maybe a catastrophe if juggling other expenses results in bills not paid and utilities cut or foreclosure/eviction looming.

Your post just comes across to me as a bit elitist - or at least coming from a position of privilege.
 
Fast Eddie B said:
“Some people” are barely scraping by as is, struggling to pay rent, utilities, health insurance, whatever. A 25% increase in gas prices can be a real “concern” for them - and maybe a catastrophe if juggling other expenses results in bills not paid and utilities cut or foreclosure/eviction looming.

Your post just comes across to me as a bit elitist - or at least coming from a position of privilege.
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Yeah, there's a huge difference between the people where increasing gas prices just mean a slight reduction in their available discretionary money and for those that are barely making it having their situation further strained.

For better or worse this country is built around using a car to get around, with only a few exceptions. It's all well and good to point and laugh at short-sighted suburbanites that are paying through the nose to fill up their KillDozer 3000 Super Duty they use to drive their kids to football practice, but there's plenty of working class and poor people in this country who are already doing what they can to minimize their transportation costs who have no options but to eat this price hike. It's not like the average working stiff can go out and buy a $60,000 EV off the lot.

ETA: It's always struck me as odd how personal vehicle ownership has been treated as some great American freedom rather than what it really is for many people, an expensive burden.
 
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xjx388 said:
Gas prices, at the level they are now, are not really much of a concern to most people right now. If the price was actually a concern, I’d expect to see people changing their driving habits right about now.

Instead, I see a whole lot of bitching about the prices but not much actual change in behavior. Traffic is the same as it ever was. People are still driving ridiculously gas-guzzling vehicles.

Seriously…has anyone seen less traffic on their local streets? Or is everything pretty much the same as it was a few months ago but with more bitching?

Seems to me that “gas prices,” are more of a talking point against Biden (somehow) than an actual burden on most people I see on the streets.

Let’s be real: my car used to cost around $36 to fill…now it costs around $48. Yeah, that’s an increase, but it’s not a catastrophe, like some people are making it out to be.

What’s funny is that I see the complainers being mostly my conservative friends. What? You can’t handle an extra few bucks at the gas station? I thought you were all self-sufficient and stuff? You own a business, but don’t seem to have developed the skills to roll with changes in supply? Weak.
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I can recall when gas was well above this level after the 2008 collapse and I knew folks were skipping weekend events in my hobby because of the distances and expense, but that was also because several folks had lost jobs as well. That might be where folks cut back, but given that events are just restarting after COVID it’s probably not going to have that much effect.
 
Fast Eddie B said:
“Some people” are barely scraping by as is, struggling to pay rent, utilities, health insurance, whatever. A 25% increase in gas prices can be a real “concern” for them - and maybe a catastrophe if juggling other expenses results in bills not paid and utilities cut or foreclosure/eviction looming.

Your post just comes across to me as a bit elitist - or at least coming from a position of privilege.
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Well, my post was meant in the context of the complaining I see (which is coming mostly from my conservative friends) and how Biden is supposedly to blame for all this.

Of course I'm aware that there are some people this is going to hit hard and I'm not trying to minimize that.
 
He's only been above 50% in the days since the SOTU... which was a bit odd because SOTUs don't usually do that. I predict that he'll soon be back where he was before the SOTU unless he starts doing his job differently.
 
Delvo said:
He's only been above 50% in the days since the SOTU... which was a bit odd because SOTUs don't usually do that. I predict that he'll soon be back where he was before the SOTU unless people think he's doing his job differently.
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tweaked.
 
Delvo said:
How much people drive and what they drive aren't things that people can just change on a dime. The former would require moving from one home to another or changing from one job to another, and the latter would mean getting rid of one vehicle and getting another. These are things people need to plan for and wait years for. In fact, they keep getting harder to do every year.
.....
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Not necessarily. People who work together might car pool. Public transportation isn't great, but in a lot of areas it is available, particularly for people who work daytime weekday jobs. And we've seen during the pandemic that a lot of people can work at home. Suppose somebody suddenly lost his license or wrecked his car? I suspect he'd find ways to get around.
 
Bob001 said:
Not necessarily. People who work together might car pool. Public transportation isn't great, but in a lot of areas it is available, particularly for people who work daytime weekday jobs. And we've seen during the pandemic that a lot of people can work at home. Suppose somebody suddenly lost his license or wrecked his car? I suspect he'd find ways to get around.
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Public transportation could and should be better. Want to make a difference in fuel consumption and costs? Then increase residential density and improve public transportation. The original EV.
 
Venom said:
tweaked.
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It is truly telling how polls will show that most people, disagree with the direction of the country, disagree with Biden's handling of the economy or international issues, while on the same polls agreeing with every single thing he's doing about them by large margins.
 
tyr_13 said:
It is truly telling how polls will show that most people, disagree with the direction of the country, disagree with Biden's handling of the economy or international issues, while on the same polls agreeing with every single thing he's doing about them by large margins.
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There was a recent poll on "What has Biden done that you agree wit?" and supposedly, "Nothing" was the most popular answer.

I wonder, considering there are republican politicians boasting about how their constituents are going to benefit from some specific aspect of the infrastructure bill, even though they voted against it.

More than half of the country doesn't think the infrastructure bill was a good thing? Yeah, right.

Either they are lying or they are idiots.
 
pgwenthold said:
There was a recent poll on "What has Biden done that you agree wit?" and supposedly, "Nothing" was the most popular answer.

I wonder, considering there are republican politicians boasting about how their constituents are going to benefit from some specific aspect of the infrastructure bill, even though they voted against it.

More than half of the country doesn't think the infrastructure bill was a good thing? Yeah, right.

Either they are lying or they are idiots.
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What makes you think they're not both?
 
Aridas said:
There is a third option in play, though, I think, that involves gullibility and information control.
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Which could be a subset under 'stupid' as information is easily obtained if it's looked for by those not living in an echo chamber.
 
tyr_13 said:
It is truly telling how polls will show that most people, disagree with the direction of the country, disagree with Biden's handling of the economy or international issues, while on the same polls agreeing with every single thing he's doing about them by large margins.
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What does that mean? That we should follow the party devoid of answers outside of tax cuts and blaming evey problem on the Democrats? Biden came into office with solutions that have been obstructed by the Republican party and two Democrats.

I agree with citizens who say we're not going in the right direction. We haven't been for 11 years. Presidents without a Congress willing to make changes can do little.

The problem isn't Biden. It's McConnell.
 
acbytesla said:
What does that mean? That we should follow the party devoid of answers outside of tax cuts and blaming evey problem on the Democrats? Biden came into office with solutions that have been obstructed by the Republican party and two Democrats.

I agree with citizens who say we're not going in the right direction. We haven't been for 11 years. Presidents without a Congress willing to make changes can do little.

The problem isn't Biden. It's McConnell.
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The problem isn't just McConnell. It's the infrastructure that put and keeps him in power without real consequences for the harm that he and the rest have and are causing.
 
Aridas said:
The problem isn't just McConnell. It's the infrastructure that put and keeps him in power without real consequences for the harm that he and the rest have and are causing.
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I agree 100 percent. The structure of the American government is a failure for most of us.
 
Aridas said:
The problem isn't just McConnell. It's the infrastructure that put and keeps him in power without real consequences for the harm that he and the rest have and are causing.
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I also agree. The need for accountability is... to quote a former president that hasn't been... bigly.
 
dudalb said:
If the Ukraine falls, Biden's numbers are going to crater.
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I suspect the right wing in this country is going to have a lot of trouble scoring political points about the Ukraine situation, no matter how badly managed by Biden, while the MAGA base is so loudly and gratuitously cheerleading for Putin.

Normally the opposition party could make a lot of hay in such a scenario, but I think the public is very aware on how divided the right is on the issue.
 
SuburbanTurkey said:
I suspect the right wing in this country is going to have a lot of trouble scoring political points about the Ukraine situation, no matter how badly managed by Biden, while the MAGA base is so loudly and gratuitously cheerleading for Putin.

Normally the opposition party could make a lot of hay in such a scenario, but I think the public is very aware on how divided the right is on the issue.
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Maybe, but I would not bank on the Putin cheerleaders not reversing their course and claiming, like their fearless leader, that they have always thought that way. And after all, as we see in interviews of truck protestors and other MAGA sorts, a significant number are unaware when they say opposite things at the same time. Morons will do what they do, and other morons will follow.
 
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thaiboxerken said:
It's an inevitable fate for any country that worships at the altar of capitalism.
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I strongly believe in capitalism. But it has inherent flaws that must be dealt with. The problem is unfettered capitalism. It must be augmented by good government.
 
acbytesla said:
I strongly believe in capitalism. But it has inherent flaws that must be dealt with. The problem is unfettered capitalism. It must be augmented by good government.
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I agree, but I also believe capitalism's goal is to make money, no matter what. Because of that, government regulation/augmentation, will always come to an end.
 
bruto said:
Maybe, but I would not bank on the Putin cheerleaders not reversing their course and claiming, like their fearless leader, that they have always thought that way. And after all, as we see in interviews of truck protestors and other MAGA sorts, a significant number are unaware when they say opposite things at the same time.
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You mean like this?

He said-he said: 10 times that Trump has contradicted Trump
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bruto said:
Morons will do what they do, and other morons will follow.
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You mean like this? WARNING: Exposure to this may produce brain bleed.

 
Something the Biden admin doesn’t get much credit for and you don’t hear about much: they have been really good about acquiring and distributing the monoclonal antibody treatments and the newer antivirals. They’ve also been very active in coming out with the “test-treat” -test positive; get treatment on the spot- initiative which should be rolling out soon.

Kudos for that.
 
thaiboxerken said:
It's an inevitable fate for any country that worships at the altar of capitalism.
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Technically we could have a more representative government and could reduce the pressure on politicians to bend to lobbyists. We could limit funding and control the election ads and so on a bit better.

But the country is so based on the setup of the senate (and slavery) and then the post civil war amendments, that it was guaranteed a minority (GOP) can run the country even if they do not get the president. Even there the electoral college ruins it for a popular leader. The winner taka all rule should be tossed. It would need an amendment.
 
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