I'm very skeptical of claims that Putin is having pain inflicted on him and being sanctioned strongly enough to hurt him

[georgephillip]

We need to break up the US Oligarchs too. I believe breaking up Microsoft led to Google.

Imho, we tend to forget markets, money, and billionaires are all creations of the politically constructed laws and institutions that structure economic activity in a given state.
One moment, please...

In 1982 there were 13 billionaires.
In 2020 there were over 600.
Billionaires didn't appreciate their marginal utility to society over those 38 years as much as they bribed corrupt Democrats AND Republicans for favorable tax and trade policies.
They should all be taxed into extinction starting with those in the "defense" industries.

The U.S. Defense Industry's War Stimulus

 

[sealybobo]

Imho, we tend to forget markets, money, and billionaires are all creations of the politically constructed laws and institutions that structure economic activity in a given state.
One moment, please...

In 1982 there were 13 billionaires.
In 2020 there were over 600.
Billionaires didn't appreciate their marginal utility to society over those 38 years as much as they bribed corrupt Democrats AND Republicans for favorable tax and trade policies.
They should all be taxed into extinction starting with those in the "defense" industries.

The U.S. Defense Industry's War Stimulus

That's great for those 587 billionaires. Republican way probably does create more billionaires. But at the cost of workers.

Compare back then GM was the USA largest employer. They paid well. A blue collar man could raise a family of 4 on those wages. Today the largest employer is Walmart.

A lot of Walton's in America now true but there are also a lot of Walmart workers in America. No longer are we Manufacturing. Those jobs were good paying jobs.

But hey, I'm in sales. I'm college educated. I don't have blue collar kids. So fuck it. My brother is rich too his kids go to the best schools free.

You encourage your kids to not go to school and go become a skilled tradesmen. A race to mediocre.

 

[daveman]

What's sad is 60% of America agrees with us but 75% of USMB members are republicans. They love Rush and Fox more than we love MSNBC. And a lot of us are dupable. Trump conned a lot of us. He used wedge issues perfectly. Well, not perfectly because he lost.

Can you imagine if he would have played it moderately? Not divided us? Not stoked the flames? If he was sincere and his justices were moderates? OMG even I would have loved him. Why didn't he go that route?

Same reason Putin doesn't go that route. Makes me appreciate George Washington. They wanted to make him king he said no. He wasn't a meglomaniac.

Leftists hated Trump before he did anything. Y'all hated him because he prevented Queen Hillary's coronation. Leftists were talking openly about impeachment before Trump even took office.

The hate and division came solely from your side.

 

[daveman]

You encourage your kids to not go to school and go become a skilled tradesmen. A race to mediocre.

Explain, please?

 

[toobfreak]

Biden is making that claim right now, but he is by no means the only one. Putin will be a wealthy oligarch until he either dies

Putin is worth something like 200-300 billion dollars. He could buy and sell Trump at least 60X over. Nothing our Biddum Buffoon hand-puppet has done is bothering him one bit, but I fear Putin has a BIG surprise in store for the USA now that the Useless Fuck Biddum has totally bought the farm into a war that was none of our business except to protect the Biddum Crime Family.

 

[Roudy]

USSR collapsed because of a long, expensive occupation of Afghanistan

Same thing that will happen in Ukraine

That's what you want to believe, but no.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

The sanctions aren't bothering Putin a bit. Many of his trading partners won't agree to sanctions anyway.

 

[georgephillip]

Compare back then GM was the USA largest employer. They paid well. A blue collar man could raise a family of 4 on those wages. Today the largest employer is Walmart.

And it wasn't only unionized jobs that paid a living wage fifty years ago. A single minimum wage job (40 hours/week) paid me enough in 1967 to cover my entire monthly apartment rent with enough left over to pay off and maintain a used car.

Today in the same community, a single minimum wage job won't pay enough to keep a roof over your head; however, some Americans have done very well over that time period:

Charts of the Week: Federal debt, middle-class income, rental housing distress

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

 

[rightwinger]

That's what you want to believe, but no.

Coming from someone who believes Reagan caused the collapse of the USSR

 

[sealybobo]

Explain, please?

When we say college is too expensive you say go become a plumber.

 

[Roudy]

Coming from someone who believes Reagan caused the collapse of the USSR

He created the conditions that brought about the collapse of the USSR by rolling back the failed policies of weakness and appeasement of Democrats before him. I’ll take the opinion of Thatcher and the Russians themselves over a Leftist robot hack.

Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In her eulogy to Ronald Reagan at his funeral, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whom Reagan worked very closely with during his tenure in office, said, "Others hoped, at best, for an uneasy cohabitation with the Soviet Union; he won the Cold War — not only without firing a shot, but also by inviting enemies out of their fortress and turning them into friends. ... Yes, he did not shrink from denouncing Moscow's 'evil empire.' But he realized that a man of goodwill might nonetheless emerge from within its dark corridors.

In Russia, Reagan rememberedfor helping bring down Soviet Union

He stunned the Soviet Union with his tough rhetoric, calling it an “evil empire” whose leaders gave themselves the “right to commit any crime.”

www.nbcnews.com

In Russia, Reagan remembered for helping bring down Soviet Union​

He stunned the Soviet Union with his tough rhetoric, calling it an “evil empire” whose leaders gave themselves the “right to commit any crime.”

Ronald Reagan’s determination to destroy communism and the Soviet Union was a hallmark of his eight-year presidency, carried out through a harsh nuclear policy toward Moscow that softened only slightly when Gorbachev came to office.

He is vividly remembered in Russia today as the force that precipitated the Soviet collapse.

 

[rightwinger]

He created the conditions that brought about the collapse of the USSR by rolling back the failed policies of weakness and appeasement of Democrats before him. I’ll take the opinion of Thatcher and the Russians themselves over a Leftist robot hack

With access to thousands of pages of Soviet records, oral histories and memoirs, we now know that the confrontational approach that defined Reagan’s first few years in office had very little, if any, impact on Soviet strategic decisionmaking. In fact, the antagonism of Reagan’s early presidency likely prolonged the Cold War by elevating hardline, anti-American voices over those of moderate reformers like Gorbachev.

Let’s stop revising history: Reagan didn’t win the Cold War

Most Americans are unaware that Reagan recanted his description of the Soviet Union as an “evil empire,” dismissing his confrontational rhetoric as a relic of “another time, another era.”

thehill.com

Another common refrain among conservatives is that Reagan simply “outspent” the Soviets. But Soviet defense spending remained flatthroughout the 1980s. More significantly, Gorbachev was unalterably opposed to increasing military spending; he fought a relentless campaign by the Soviet military-industrial complex to spend exorbitant sums in response to Reagan’s buildup.

 

[daveman]

When we say college is too expensive you say go become a plumber.

I agree. I've been advocating the skilled trades for years. Two years of community/technical college, and you walk out with minimal student debt and a job in the high 5 figures.

I took welding classes on the GI Bill after I retired. One night a soon-to-be-graduate of the program asked the instructor if he knew of any jobs. He called a former student who was welding gas pipeline in eastern KY. That guy said the company doesn't care if you have any experience; they want to see your certifications. That's all that matters anyway. Guy said they were starting out kids at $75K plus hotel plus per diem. If you had your own truck and rig, $100K.

That's damn good money for a kid right out of school.

 

[daveman]

With access to thousands of pages of Soviet records, oral histories and memoirs, we now know that the confrontational approach that defined Reagan’s first few years in office had very little, if any, impact on Soviet strategic decisionmaking. In fact, the antagonism of Reagan’s early presidency likely prolonged the Cold War by elevating hardline, anti-American voices over those of moderate reformers like Gorbachev.

Let’s stop revising history: Reagan didn’t win the Cold War

Most Americans are unaware that Reagan recanted his description of the Soviet Union as an “evil empire,” dismissing his confrontational rhetoric as a relic of “another time, another era.”

thehill.com

Another common refrain among conservatives is that Reagan simply “outspent” the Soviets. But Soviet defense spending remained flatthroughout the 1980s. More significantly, Gorbachev was unalterably opposed to increasing military spending; he fought a relentless campaign by the Soviet military-industrial complex to spend exorbitant sums in response to Reagan’s buildup.

You wept bitter tears when the Wall came down.

 

[Roudy]

With access to thousands of pages of Soviet records, oral histories and memoirs, we now know that the confrontational approach that defined Reagan’s first few years in office had very little, if any, impact on Soviet strategic decisionmaking. In fact, the antagonism of Reagan’s early presidency likely prolonged the Cold War by elevating hardline, anti-American voices over those of moderate reformers like Gorbachev.

Let’s stop revising history: Reagan didn’t win the Cold War

Most Americans are unaware that Reagan recanted his description of the Soviet Union as an “evil empire,” dismissing his confrontational rhetoric as a relic of “another time, another era.”

thehill.com

Another common refrain among conservatives is that Reagan simply “outspent” the Soviets. But Soviet defense spending remained flatthroughout the 1980s. More significantly, Gorbachev was unalterably opposed to increasing military spending; he fought a relentless campaign by the Soviet military-industrial complex to spend exorbitant sums in response to Reagan’s buildup.

You are entitled to your opinion. The thing about modern life and the internet is a biased person like you can always find something to support their ideology.

On the other hand, Thatcher had a front seat and was actually a partner to Reagan that witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union from beginning to end. I’ll take her word for it.

 

[Roudy]

You wept bitter tears when the Wall came down.

Yup, if you look at the history of the Democratic Party, the party of KKK and racism is now preaching us about tolerance. The party that befriended and defended the Soviets for decades, who’s presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is an unabashed communist who goes to the Soviet Union for his honeymoon (and other so called socialists like Warren) is accusing the GOP of being pro Russian. They have no shame.

 

[rightwinger]

You are entitled to your opinion. The thing about modern life and the internet is a biased person like you can always find something to support their ideology.

On the other hand, Thatcher had a front seat and was actually a partner to Reagan that witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union from beginning to end. I’ll take her word for it.

Thatcher was a Reagan Cheerleader. Of course she is going to say that.

The facts are that there was no Soviet response to Reagan’s threats of military escalation
Nothing Reagan did caused the USSR to go bankrupt. It was the result of decades of poor economic decisions.

What Reagan can be admired for is working with Gorbachev and not trying to take advantage of the crumbling Soviet empire

 

[Seymour Flops]

Thatcher was a Reagan Cheerleader. Of course she is going to say that.

The facts are that there was no Soviet response to Reagan’s threats of military escalation
Nothing Reagan did caused the USSR to go bankrupt. It was the result of decades of poor economic decisions.

Yet the American left continues to want the U.S. to emulate Soviet economic policies.

What Reagan can be admired for is working with Gorbachev and not trying to take advantage of the crumbling Soviet empire

The leftie media treated Reagan not much better than they treated Trump and they won't treat the next GOP president any better.

 

[rightwinger]

The leftie media treated Reagan not much better than they treated Trump and they won't treat the next GOP president any better.

Reagan had charm and wit, he was generally well treated (Except by Sam Donaldson)

Trump was an asshole and a bully. He got what he deserved