2020 US Presidential Election

[Christiaan]

There will be a referendum in Berlin next month on expropiating (or better said "buying back") property from corporations that act as landlords of thousands of apartments:

"After collecting more than 350,000 petition signatures, their proposal — which targets corporate landlords with more than 3,000 apartments each — will be voted on in a local referendum in September. Polling suggests nearly half of Berliners support expropriation, which would force the companies to sell their properties to the city government at a "fair" price."

And this is the real estate bubble that the ECB has been ignoring for a few years already:

"The market capitalisation of Europe's publicly listed residential property sector has grown from €3.5bn in 2006 to nearly €85bn at the end of July this year, according to the European Public Real Estate Association."

That sounds like really good news! Now it's the Berlin Council's job to implement it. It should indeed be a human right to have a roof above your head, not just some exclusive option for the few people who can afford it.

Here's perhaps an interesting article from Jacobin Magazine about how grassroots organising effectively changed the conversation of privatisation in Berlin's housing market. It's really an inspiration of how we can globally tackle this issue.

Stopping Berlin's Rent Madness

 

[Luman]

Don't you think that Joe Biden is actively working to create policies that work for the middle class? I've seen many speeches of your president, during which he often mentions that the middle class needs to be rebuild as the main engine of America's economy. So it seems to me that he is really taking this issue seriously.

Biden is incapable of taking anything seriously or caring about anything to do with the citizens of this country. We currently have a death rate from COVID-19 that is as bad as when there was no vaccine, and he ignores the entire issue. He allowed a million unvaccinated, undocumented aliens into the country to spread COVID-19 to more people. Forget about this man, his intentions are not good.

 

[Christiaan]

Maybe a market driven housing market would work efficiently if the market had not been previously intervened by central banks and governments.

To me, selling thousands of previously publicly owned houses to funds like Blackstone sounds like govenment intervention, and this did happen in Spain, thousands of social houses were sold to those funds.

Same here. There was, until quite recently, even a special office at the foreign affairs department, which actively networked with foreign investment groups to buy houses in my country.

Keeping interest rates insanely low is also market intervention. Central banks are actually making up inflation, they are cooking the data, and that's really serious. They are constantly and consistently underestimating inflation to try to justify their absurd politics.

100% agreed, but what would actually justify CB's policy? I know next to nothing about the current economic situation.

Think of Vienna, for instance, the UN is there, the OPEC is there, and Austrians in general earn nice salaries. Real estate is pricey, but prices does not reach crazy levels, relative to salaries.

Isn't Vienna one of the most exceptional cases where most houses are property of the local government? I've read somewhere that the Austrian Social Democratic Party is been quite successful in maintaining this policy at the local level.

 

[Juan]

100% agreed, but what would actually justify CB's policy? I know next to nothing about the current economic situation.

There is nothing that can justify central banks' policies right now.

- In 2018 for central banks the economy was not performing well enough, even if it was booming.

- In 2019 for central banks the economy was not performing well enough, even if it was booming.

- Central banks have been cooking inflation data for the last 7 years.

The main objective of central banks is keeping inflation in check, and in order to do so they need to raise interest rates. They try to postpone this indefinitely due to the huge public and private debt. The world is now more indebted that during the 2007 bubble.

Isn't Vienna one of the most exceptional cases where most houses are property of the local government? I've read somewhere that the Austrian Social Democratic Party is been quite successful in maintaining this policy at the local level.

Yes, and that means that public policy can foster cohesion and a more egalitarian society, and it is possible at the same time to maintain nice salaries (like Austrian salaries).

 

[Luman]

Biden is the worst president in decades. His VP should be working in a Taco Bell, but she's too old to sleep with the manager to get a job.

 

[Exit]

Biden is the worst president in decades. His VP should be working in a Taco Bell, but she's too old to sleep with the manager to get a job.

She's pretty

And probably just as smart as Biden...?

 

[Luman]

She's pretty

And probably just as smart as Biden...?

If she is "just as smart as Biden", which isn't saying much, she would not have had to sleep with somebody to get ahead in politics, which is exactly what she did.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

So, the main gist is that the middle class is actually squeezed by both lower class and the rich? I thought that the poor in the US are actually in a very bad position. The relatively low minimum wage, the food stamps, long lines in front of food banks & no health coverage are giving me the impression that Joe/Jane average is having a hard time.

Yes.

In California, New York, Massachusetts and several other States, the middle class have become virtually indistinguishable from welfare-independent where they often live rent free in the same style of house as many middle class.

Food stamp recipients with also free everything including medical and rent and with receiving a State check each month have more disposable income than someone earning sixty five to eighty grand a year.

For the middle class health insurance premiums for family are expensive, housing is expensive and all taxes are very high.

For middle class retired, pensions are taxed and social security payments have a hurdle with escaping being taxed.

California rich and government with many social program employees need for many to be dependent on them. Money is being made off renting apartments and homes with a high free renting allowance for welfare-independent.

I'm not against welfare-independent, but the middle class, elderly on social security/pension and those disabled after working years are getting squeezed.

It's very difficult for someone truly disabled to get disability because they are often not out and about placing money back into the system.

 

[PeteJ]

There will be a referendum in Berlin next month on expropiating (or better said "buying back") property from corporations that act as landlords of thousands of apartments:

"After collecting more than 350,000 petition signatures, their proposal — which targets corporate landlords with more than 3,000 apartments each — will be voted on in a local referendum in September. Polling suggests nearly half of Berliners support expropriation, which would force the companies to sell their properties to the city government at a "fair" price."

And this is the real estate bubble that the ECB has been ignoring for a few years already:

"The market capitalisation of Europe's publicly listed residential property sector has grown from €3.5bn in 2006 to nearly €85bn at the end of July this year, according to the European Public Real Estate Association."

Every Western country has their governments collaborating with corporations, mainstream media, public education and public health to implement communism/authoritarianism or a totalitarian society. Most people won't be able to buy houses. You will have to pay rent. Both governments and corresponding corporations will dictate how much money you get, if anything. This is so obvious but so many have their heads in the sand.

 

[Juan]

Every Western country has their governments collaborating with corporations, mainstream media, public education and public health to implement communism/authoritarianism or a totalitarian society. Most people won't be able to buy houses. You will have to pay rent. Both governments and corresponding corporations will dictate how much money you get, if anything. This is so obvious but so many have their heads in the sand.

Maybe the political change will start in Germany. There are elections soon, and renters are strong there. They will have their say.

 

[Christiaan]

Maybe the political change will start in Germany. There are elections soon, and renters are strong there. They will have their say.

I hope so too. The Greens were in poll position until fairly recently, but the leader of this party, Annalena Baerbock, made quite some mistakes (lying about her CV, plagiarism in her book) and now the CDU (christian democrats) of milquetoast candidate Armin Laschet is slowly gaining more ground.

A centre-left government of SPD-Die Grünen-Die Linke is in my view the best way to correct the problems of environment (see recent tragedy in places nearby the Rhine) and housing market, but chances are that CDU will still give way to private developers & big business once they win the next federal elections.

 

[Christiaan]

Biden is incapable of taking anything seriously or caring about anything to do with the citizens of this country. We currently have a death rate from COVID-19 that is as bad as when there was no vaccine, and he ignores the entire issue. He allowed a million unvaccinated, undocumented aliens into the country to spread COVID-19 to more people. Forget about this man, his intentions are not good.

Well, from where I'm standing, Biden does a lot to promote things like wearing masks. It's mostly the fault of Republicans on state level to ban mask mandates. People like Florida's 's Governor Ron DeSantis have blood on their hands. But yeah, we've already established in this thread that most Republican politicians and common sense don't mix well together.

 

[PeteJ]

Maybe the political change will start in Germany. There are elections soon, and renters are strong there. They will have their say.

Lol. Not a chance. You have to stop voting, since there is no choice - for starters.

 

[Juan]

I hope so too. The Greens were in poll position until fairly recently, but the leader of this party, Annalena Baerbock, made quite some mistakes (lying about her CV, plagiarism in her book) and now the CDU (christian democrats) of milquetoast candidate Armin Laschet is slowly gaining more ground.

A centre-left government of SPD-Die Grünen-Die Linke is in my view the best way to correct the problems of environment (see recent tragedy in places nearby the Rhine) and housing market, but chances are that CDU will still give way to private developers & big business once they win the next federal elections.

I hope a new German government can influence the ECB to come back to rationality and raise interest rates for the eurozone. Have a look at the data:

Beware fairy tales about inflation

"But reality is messier than fairy tales. In the second quarter, prices rose at rates not seen in decades. In the US, the annualised rate of core inflation rose to 8.1 per cent, its highest level in any quarter since 1982. Across the OECD advanced countries, the inflation rate in the quarter rose to a level not seen since 1995 and even in inflation-obsessed Germany, annualised inflation increased at its fastest pace since the early 1990s post-unification boom."

 

[Juan]

Nothing in BoE act about its role in inflating asset bubbles:

Bank of England Act 1998
Part II, Clause 11

Objectives.
In relation to monetary policy, the objectives of the Bank of England shall be—

(a)to maintain price stability, and

(b)subject to that, to support the economic policy of Her Majesty's Government, including its objectives for growth and employment.

 

[Luman]

Well, from where I'm standing, Biden does a lot to promote things like wearing masks. It's mostly the fault of Republicans on state level to ban mask mandates. People like Florida's 's Governor Ron DeSantis have blood on their hands. But yeah, we've already established in this thread that most Republican politicians and common sense don't mix well together.

There you go with the divisiveness, while people in my country are dying.

Biden is a failure, plain and simple. He and his mentally deficient cackling cohort have not lowered the infection and death rate of COVID-19, despite having the vaccines, and this is the bottom line. On the one-year anniversary of their administration, there will likely be twice the number of dead from COVID-19, as there was when they started. They are killing people, plain and simple, by refusing to solve this problem of people at risk, many of whom are old and feeble, who have not taken the vaccine.

 

[Luman]

Hi Greg, thanks for all this information about the current state of the middle class (& people with disability) in the US.

So, the main gist is that the middle class is actually squeezed by both lower class and the rich? I thought that the poor in the US are actually in a very bad position. The relatively low minimum wage, the food stamps, long lines in front of food banks & no health coverage are giving me the impression that Joe/Jane average is having a hard time.

Don't you think that Joe Biden is actively working to create policies that work for the middle class? I've seen many speeches of your president, during which he often mentions that the middle class needs to be rebuild as the main engine of America's economy. So it seems to me that he is really taking this issue seriously.

Nobody is on food lines in the United States, this is ridiculous. Food stamps, which under 10% of households receive, are for people with too many children, and/or on relief or welfare, such as those who are unable or unwilling to work. Everybody in America is entitled to affordable health care for free if they cannot afford it (paid for by the taxpayers). The only people who earn minimum wage are employed at unskilled jobs that anybody could do. Unemployment in America is now 5.4% as of August 2021. By contrast, the unemployment rate in the E.U., as of June 2021, is 7.1%.

We could do better, of course, but Biden is not my idea of the type of President that can improve this country's economy.

 

[Juan]

Lol. Not a chance. You have to stop voting, since there is no choice - for starters.

Maybe if people demonstrates before the ECB and there is violence there will be changes.

In Spain, in 1992 people did set fire to one of the Regional Parliaments.

 

[Juan]

while people in my country are dying.

There were more people dying when Trump kept denying COVID-19 and saying it would go away "like a miracle". The guy does not have a future as a teller.

 

[Juan]

Pace of US inflation steadies at 13-year high in July | Financial Times (ft.com)

13 year high! Powell needs new glasses to see inflation. Powell, look, it's there! It's called inflation and your job is to contain it raising interest rates.

 

[Juan]

Some credit for Joe Biden. At least Biden sees what central bankers insist on ignoring: rampant inflation.

White House calls on Opec to boost production to contain fuel prices
Biden administration says higher prices at pump threaten global recovery

 

[Christiaan]

There you go with the divisiveness, while people in my country are dying.

Biden is a failure, plain and simple. He and his mentally deficient cackling cohort have not lowered the infection and death rate of COVID-19, despite having the vaccines, and this is the bottom line. On the one-year anniversary of their administration, there will likely be twice the number of dead from COVID-19, as there was when they started. They are killing people, plain and simple, by refusing to solve this problem of people at risk, many of whom are old and feeble, who have not taken the vaccine.

Why are you taking this personal? I'm talking about Republican officials capitalising on division & discontent in the country.

Ever since Mitch McConnell and fanatically far-right Republicans took their seat in Congress, it's all about owning the libs (Mitch McConnell mentioned he wanted to make Obama a one term president), criminalising Latin Americans as rapists and drug dealers (Trump's words), sowing confusion & fear about science-backed issues like climate change and vaccine strategies against COVID-19 (Trump mocked people for wearing masks and people like Ron DeSantis & Greg Abbott are actively working on sabotaging the mandatory mask order) . And the list goes on and on.

Maybe we just need to state the obvious thing here that the GOP is the one sowing division in the US and it's way overdue that they are held accountable for their actions. History will not remember them kindly for what they did to your beautiful country.

 

[Christiaan]

Yes.

In California, New York, Massachusetts and several other States, the middle class have become virtually indistinguishable from welfare-independent where they often live rent free in the same style of house as many middle class.

Food stamp recipients with also free everything including medical and rent and with receiving a State check each month have more disposable income than someone earning sixty five to eighty grand a year.

For the middle class health insurance premiums for family are expensive, housing is expensive and all taxes are very high.

For middle class retired, pensions are taxed and social security payments have a hurdle with escaping being taxed.

California rich and government with many social program employees need for many to be dependent on them. Money is being made off renting apartments and homes with a high free renting allowance for welfare-independent.

I'm not against welfare-independent, but the middle class, elderly on social security/pension and those disabled after working years are getting squeezed.

It's very difficult for someone truly disabled to get disability because they are often not out and about placing money back into the system.

Thanks again, Greg, for giving me a ton of insights

What I find odd, is that the government actually has to step in to cover certain expenses of the working class, while tax rates for businesses are reduced in the Trump era & are not coerced to increase the minimum wage. Doesn't this create the situation in which the poor working class remains largely dependent on the state while also lacking opportunities to move up the social ladder?

I think that Joe Sanberg (entrepreneur & former Democratic candidate in California) makes an interesting point about the indexation (vs. production rate) of the minimum wage in 1960 vs. the current state of the wage now vs. what it should have been. It would all make the difference between living on food stamps vs. being able to afford food & maybe even more than that. What do you think, Greg?

 

[Luman]

Why are you taking this personal? I'm talking about Republican officials capitalising on division & discontent in the country.

Ever since Mitch McConnell and fanatically far-right Republicans took their seat in Congress, it's all about owning the libs (Mitch McConnell mentioned he wanted to make Obama a one term president), criminalising Latin Americans as rapists and drug dealers (Trump's words), sowing confusion & fear about science-backed issues like climate change and vaccine strategies against COVID-19 (Trump mocked people for wearing masks and people like Ron DeSantis & Greg Abbott are actively working on sabotaging the mandatory mask order) . And the list goes on and on.

Maybe we just need to state the obvious thing here that the GOP is the one sowing division in the US and it's way overdue that they are held accountable for their actions. History will not remember them kindly for what they did to your beautiful country.

Forget Trump and the others you named, that is not what my post was about. Do you agree that you were totally wrong about food lines, health insurance, etc. and that the United States has a lower unemployment rate than the E.U., and many other so-called successful countries?

 

[Luman]

There were more people dying when Trump kept denying COVID-19 and saying it would go away "like a miracle". The guy does not have a future as a teller.

This is B.S. We had no vaccine when Trump was in office. There were close to 400,000 dead when Biden and that idiot VP were sworn in, in January 2021, and now the number is 217,000 more for a total of 617,000 dead - despite the availability of a vaccine, which the CDC (Center for Disease Control) said would not be available until the summer of 2021, which Donald Trump beat by at least six months.

Biden and that woman have failed to lower COVID-19 infection and death rates, despite the vaccines and they have no interest in doing so.

 

[prowlinacage]

@Luman, dang, man. You really got a thing for VP Harris, don't you?

 

[PeteJ]

Maybe if people demonstrates before the ECB and there is violence there will be changes.

In Spain, in 1992 people did set fire to one of the Regional Parliaments.

Wasn't there violence in France, Yellow jacket protests and such?

France is already close enough to police state status. There's not enough people resisting.

 

[PeteJ]

There were more people dying when Trump kept denying COVID-19 and saying it would go away "like a miracle". The guy does not have a future as a teller.

Swedes didn't die out. What about Sweden who DIDN'T do any COVID-19 measures?

 

[Christiaan]

Forget Trump and the others you named, that is not what my post was about. Do you agree that you were totally wrong about food lines, health insurance, etc. and that the United States has a lower unemployment rate than the E.U., and many other so-called successful countries?

Ok, first we talked about divisiveness and now it's like you try to move to other topics as if creating divisions by Republican politicians is a complete nothing burger.

Since when are we talking about who's right and wrong here? I thought that this thread was created to talk about ideas and the merits of those ideas. If I'm proven wrong, I'll be more than glad to admit it. Nobody has the wisdom about how what kind of policy is best of people, or else we wouldn't be here conversing with one another here in the first place.

There are many articles about mile long food lines. Just have a look. It doesn't only concern, NY, it's really a nationwide problem and the huge hit against the lower class took place during the Trump era:

Food Lines a Mile Long in America's Second-Wealthiest State

Sign of the times: Mile-long line of cars outside California grocery giveaway

Long lines form at food banks across country ahead of Thanksgiving

And what about unemployment rates? It's good that the US has pretty stable rates. But let's be honest, most European states had more forcefully imposed lockdown rules than several American states like Texas & Florida. Of course this has impact on unemployment rates. It's a matter between protecting people's life as much as possible vs. protecting the economy and most European states chose for the first option.

Actually, it seems that most Republican run states are harsh for more than 2 million poor, uninsured people who fall in the coverage gap. It's the result of states that chose not to expand on Medicaid. It basically means that ''their income was above Medicaid eligibility but below the lower limit for Marketplace premium tax credits'' (KFF, 2019). This doesn't support your statement that people with very low/no income are eligible for (affordable) healthcare coverage, whatever the circumstances. And again, it's the Republican Party that hurts the people who need help the most.

Here's a link if you want to know more about it:

The Coverage Gap: Uninsured Poor Adults in States that Do Not Expand Medicaid

 

[Luman]

Ok, first we talked about divisiveness and now it's like you try to move to other topics as if creating divisions by Republican politicians is a complete nothing burger.

Since when are we talking about who's right and wrong here? I thought that this thread was created to talk about ideas and the merits of those ideas. If I'm proven wrong, I'll be more than glad to admit it. Nobody has the wisdom about how what kind of policy is best of people, or else we wouldn't be here conversing with one another here in the first place.

There are many articles about mile long food lines. Just have a look. It doesn't only concern, NY, it's really a nationwide problem and the huge hit against the lower class took place during the Trump era:

Food Lines a Mile Long in America's Second-Wealthiest State

Sign of the times: Mile-long line of cars outside California grocery giveaway

Long lines form at food banks across country ahead of Thanksgiving

And what about unemployment rates? It's good that the US has pretty stable rates. But let's be honest, most European states had more forcefully imposed lockdown rules than several American states like Texas & Florida. Of course this has impact on unemployment rates. It's a matter between protecting people's life as much as possible vs. protecting the economy and most European states chose for the first option.

Actually, it seems that most Republican run states are harsh for more than 2 million poor, uninsured people who fall in the coverage gap. It's the result of states that chose not to expand on Medicaid. It basically means that ''their income was above Medicaid eligibility but below the lower limit for Marketplace premium tax credits'' (KFF, 2019). This doesn't support your statement that people with very low/no income are eligible for (affordable) healthcare coverage, whatever the circumstances. And again, it's the Republican Party that hurts the people who need help the most.

Here's a link if you want to know more about it:

The Coverage Gap: Uninsured Poor Adults in States that Do Not Expand Medicaid

We have more unfilled jobs right now than people who want to take them. Many people are enjoying a vacation, courtesy of Unemployment Insurance benefits, and don't want to return work.

People wanted free turkeys for Thanksgiving, last October 2020 when COVID-19 was ravaging the country. This is not the same thing as food lines every day all over the country, today, which is not happening. I live in Brooklyn, NYC, and have never seen a single "food line" in my entire life here, or in my travels. Some charities restaurants and organizations give away food, for seniors. There are no "mile-long food lines" that I have ever seen, and I think that this is a very gross exaggeration, to sound sensationalistic.

I cannot open the NYT article, as I do no longer subscribe to it.

Although Obamacare is supposed to protect everybody, it is far from perfect, which many have found out. It needs to be revamped or scrapped, but right now nobody is thinking of that.

I cannot prove that my country is perfect, but there are no large food lines, the unemployment level is low, people are not starving, and most have health care. Noting works perfect, 100% of the time, for every single person, not here or anywhere else.

We are in very good shape. Being a capitalist country, there will always be a small percentage of people who have problems that seem unfair and severe, but they usually have options, eventually and certainly these are the stories that make people in other countries think that their problems are widespread.

Our main problem right now is a President and VP who have failed to lower COVID-19 infections and deaths, despite very effective vaccines that have been available since they took office. This is totally unacceptable.