2020, the election campaigns have begun

[hazard]

Eh, Pence is pretty terrible too.

OTOH, from all appearances he's not nearly as incompetent as a leader.

[robkelk]

OTOH, from all appearances he's not nearly as incompetent as a leader.

Which is exactly why I'd rather it was him running for President.

[Rajvik]

Rob, i honestly didn't see a thread on the 2020 political race, maybe you could point it out, not that i don't believe you because i can have and do at times overlook things, but when i started this thread, i did so because i didn't see one on the subject.

[Star Ranger4]

You still think Bernie is a commie. Only in the USA. *Gigglefit.*

Depends on who you ask, really.  At this point all I care about is that he and Biden are a) not Hillary and B) NOT THE ORANGUTANG

[robkelk]

Rob, i honestly didn't see a thread on the 2020 political race, maybe you could point it out, not that i don't believe you because i can have and do at times overlook things, but when i started this thread, i did so because i didn't see one on the subject.

I would have sworn I started one, but all I can find now is the thread about the 2018 midterms.

My apologies.

[classicdrogn]

There was one for the Australian elections; that may have stuck with you from glancing across the subforum thread list without the tidbit of the region.

[classicdrogn]

It occurs to me Bernie could use this for ads, RIAA willing, though it does seem to be true that the anti-president's own-goals do a better job of campaigning for him than making a big media splash himself. I'd still expect some activity on that front at least in the weeks before the election to keep his name in the spotlight. (And yes, he is from a working-class background, Jewish immigrants who GTFO from Europe in WWII in fact.)


Fortunate Son / Creedence Clearwater Revival

Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they're red, white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer "More! More! More!" yoh

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, one

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no no no
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son, no no no


Songwriter: John C Fogerty
Fortunate Son lyrics © The Bicycle Music Company

[robkelk]

"Fortunate Son" is very much an anti-war anthem, and not for using in politics by anybody who might need to order troops into battle while remaining behind the lines. I think that Biden is smart enough to know that.

[Rajvik]

Not a problem Rob, we all make mistakes.

[classicdrogn]

RE song: Yeah, that's fair. Bad as it is, the protest crackdowns are not yet at the level of actual military action.

[robkelk]

This is as good a place as any to put this, and (considering it has information that might possibly affect how some people vote in less than a hundred days from now) a better place than many.

Even the loonie is rising against the U.S. dollar as the Fed faces currency threat

No one will be surprised if Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell uses part of his news conference on Wednesday to scoff at the idea of the U.S. dollar losing its place as the world reserve currency.

But even as he scoffs, the comments this week by strategists at global finance giant Goldman Sachs that "real concerns around the longevity of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency have started to emerge," will certainly be in the minds of everyone listening to the Fed's latest plans.

...

[Jinx999]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53573083

Talks about Biden.

[hazard]

Well, I suppose there's worse things than the world reserve currency ending up in European hands again.

More likely, we're going to see multiple contenders, US dollar, EU euro and Chinese yuan I'd suspect.

[Star Ranger4]

Umm. My mom is really scared about what it means if the USD looses its place at the benchmark. I think she expects we'll wind up in the position Germany was in between ww1 and 2

[Dartz]

Hyperinflation will erase all medical and college debt.

You still owe 15,000 on a car at 5.6% p.a. - means you own less and less if inflation goes above that figure because your debt doesn't check in response.

[Labster]

I remain unconvinced. Currencies fluctuate all the time. This is just alarmist, based on someone’s guess at the future. And a bit f a debt jubilee would be good for the world, not sure why American conservatives are so against ideas from the Bible.

[hazard]

Umm.  My mom is really scared about what it means if the USD looses its place at the benchmark.  I think she expects we'll wind up in the position Germany was in between ww1 and 2

Unless the federal government severely mishandles the situation that is unlikely. You'll probably see some major devaluing if it does happen suddenly enough, but it's more likely for the USD value to slowly drop over a decade or two as currency reserves become available for sale instead of being kept in vaults as, well, a reserve.

And that's if the USD indeed loses its global currency reserve monopoly. I'm not so certain of that happening.

[Jinx999]

Was mentioned on the Covid, thread, but it should be here as well.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53597975

He's got zero chance of actually pulling this off (I really hope), but he's laying the groundwork for legal or dangerously loonie challenges to the results if he loses the election.

[robkelk]

He doesn't have the power to postpone the election -- only Congress can do that, and CBC Radio is reporting bipartisan support for leaving the election on the date where it's currently scheduled.

Besides, his term ends at noon Eastern time on January 20, 2021. If he doesn't win reelection before then, he's out by default. Does he really want to postpone the election?

[hazard]

Congress could theoretically extend his term, although IIRC that time is determined in the Constitution so that's an interesting legal conundrum.

They're not going to extend his term by the way, or shift the date of the election to a point after the 31st of December at the latest. It takes time to prepare new congresscritters, and the only people in Congress who could take seat as the new president of the USA in case there is no election are the senators whose seats weren't up for election.

Or, you know, unelected bureaucrats. That'll be popular.

[robkelk]

Congress could theoretically extend his term, although IIRC that time is determined in the Constitution so that's an interesting legal conundrum.

They'd only need a Constitutional amendment, in that case.

Think they can get 2/3 of the states to agree to a Constitutional amendment within six months?

(Think they can get 2/3 of the states to agree to a Constitutional amendment, period?)

[Labster]

Speaking of ⅔, you guys got trolled again by Trump. No one wants to delay the election, it got shot down by Moscow Mitch a couple hours later which is basically the end of it. But even the tweet ended with '???', a classic troll move, as if cutely asking a question. A question that would be answered "no" by every county elections official in the country, because it turns out that organizing an election is time-consuming and planned far in advance. But no, Trump discarding norms of democracy is not news.

No, the important ⅔ is that our America's economy is ⅔ of what it was in March. The quarterly GDP fell by 32.9%, meaning a third of the economy evaporated due to the plague. And we didn't even improve our situation in that time. This is the news Trump wants you to ignore. Despite massive socialism on the part of the government, they still can't keep the economy afloat.

[robkelk]

Is he trolling, or setting up a situation where he thinks (incorrectly, IMHO) that he can quit the election campaign without embarrassing himself?

That's what this analysis is speculating. The analysis looks to me to have a lot of wishful thinking in it, but four years ago I thought any analysis that said Trump was going to get elected had a lot of wishful thinking in it. There's no telling what people in the USA are going to do in their elections any more.

[Black Aeronaut]

Trolling? I doubt it. Given what he's done and gotten away with so far, I think he honestly believes he can cancel the election, and damn what the Constitution says - he's already lit that document on fire and tossed it out the window long ago.

If anything, he's trying to drum up grassroots support in favor of cancelling the election.

Mark my words: it is very likely that there's going to be a bunch of ultra-right-wing nut jobs that will try to bar access to polling stations by force of arms.

[hazard]

Well, that's pretty damn illegal.

If the government is doing it.

Not so sure about citizens, but I think there's laws about that too.