Quote from: sharpshot on March 21, 2016, 05:24

Bernie Sanders might be almost as bad for the US as Trump.  High taxes on the rich looks like a good idea but it doesn't work because they get around them and don't pay them.  He wants to spend more and wont be able to get more in.  So the US would soon be in a mess, as the debt is already $19,135,778,280,520 (will be more by the time you read this ).  No idea why people would want to implement something that has already been proven not to work?  As the great philosophers Benny Andersson, Bj�rn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson wrote "The history book on the shelf, is always repeating itself"

What's been proven not to work is the Republican idea of cutting taxes for the rich and increasing spending on the military - we did that under Reagan, and Bush II did the same thing on steroids and it was a disaster for the debt both times.  Bush I called Reagan's plan "voodoo economics" and when he tried to make things better was voted out of office.  Now his sons and all of the Republication candidates have embraced voodoo economics as their main platform - I guess due to the backlash against Bush I, even though what he did was working (and got even better under Clinton and now Obama).

Before Reagan, the rich paid more of a fair share of taxes and the economy seemed to work pretty well.  As far as I know the US has never tried the kinds of things Sanders is proposing so there is no way to know whether it will work.  I have been very skeptical about whether he can come even close to paying for some of the things he wants - free higher education, expanded social security, etc - but a couple of independent economic analyses have said that his education plan might work (although I am still skeptical).  Of course that assumes that Congress would cooperate and help out instead of actively trying to sabotage everything as they have done against Obama the past seven years.

For economic policies, all of the Republicans are proposing the same old voodoo economics that we know doesn't work.  Sanders is proposing something entirely different and wants to make radical changes that would be almost impossible to get through Congress with very unpredictable results - we could make some analyses based on other countries, particularly Europe, but trying such things on a larger scale here would be a huge experiment that very few would be wiling to test.  That leaves Hillary as proposing to mostly continue the policies of Obama and make some incremental changes.  For some reason I have never liked Hillary and the Clintons are just too enamored of their celebrity status for my taste.  She hasn't driven a car in 20 years - totally out of touch with real life for most of us, despite what she tries to say.  Not driving may be true of many top members of Government, I don't know, but the idea of someone who always has a driver seems very elitist to me.  However, she is the only one in the middle between the extremes of the Republicans and Sanders so to me seems to be our best choice among the available options.  I have been on her side since she survived 11 hours of grilling by Grand Inquisitor Gowdy during the Benghazi show hearings in Congress - the Republicans went way over the top on that one wasting over $5 million in taxpayer dollars for no benefit except to further their political goals.  Such nonsense does not happen (or at least not very much) when the Democrats are in charge of Congress - they usually actually try to govern, unlike their Republican counterparts nowadays.

I'm from the UK and all my family is from the UK, but last year my brother and his family became US citizens... so they're able to vote for the first time this year. My sister in law is big into her politics and she's campaigning for Bernie this year. She goes on his rallies and holds open house type things. All very exciting! I think he should have somehow incorporated Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street in his marketing campaign. He missed a trick there.

As for Trump, I don't really know enough about the guy to have a fully informed opinion. He does seem a bit like some kind of comedy villain in a pantomime though. Although worryingly... people are cheering when he comes on stage, rather than the expected booing.

 

Quote from: Symbiostock Broken on March 18, 2016, 02:32

Yep, credit card fraud, so its not as uncommon as you make it out to be. Sorry to rain on your parade but fraud is everywhere, no one is excluded and neither is Symbiostock.

Why do you mention Symbiostock? I use GRFX...

Quote from: Microstockphoto on March 16, 2016, 18:15

Minscer, Trump lies the most of all candidates http://2016-presidential-candidates-fact-check.silk.co/

In God We Trust that we will not get that nut case running the country, Hilary for me, basically because she is a decent woman. all politicians are crap but lets not go with the worst possible option since bush. Trump makes Bush look like Einstein.

I would say that Trump uses a lot of hyperbole. There are lies like Bush getting into a trillion dollar war and there are lies like Trump claiming his book is a bestseller. And his claim about true employment numbers being closer to 18-20% isn't that far from the truth.

Let's not talk about Bush. He has caused more damaged to this country than any recent president in memory. Trump is not even close to as dumb as Bush.

Looking at the presidential race with a European perspective but also having experienced a couple of elections while living in the US I think that Trump has one simple advantage over most of his competitors (both Republican or Democrat):

He has no background in politics and he speaks his mind.

No matter how crazy his ideas are, he just speaks the way he feels and it looks genuine and authentic. Something the other candidates do not show!!!

Ever since I somewhat followed the presidential elections in the US I felt like all candidates are not "real". They didn't look, talk and present themselves as a natural person rather than something that their advisors tell them to be.

Political correctness gone mad if you will. Always being careful what to say. Trying not offend anyone (which obviously is impossible).

Trump on the other hand loves to offend, to be difficult and nasty. He surely f$%&ed up many businesses and pi$$ed off many people on the way but still he managed to build a little empire. He is definitely not an economical loser.

Anyhow, IMO as long as there is no other candidate standing up like a genuine, authentic person who also says things that not everybody likes, this may be a big wake up call for America.

I'm not saying that Trump would be a good president but so far it shows that he is doing something right.