[Didymus Much]

Re: Hello Everyone

...I really was there...

Care to post your DD 214?


Go ahead, be the first person I've encountered who can joke about Iraq and who was actually there.

[graphicw]

Re: Hello Everyone

And Trump can't wait to make it even worse, by going further into debt for giving yuge tax cuts to everyone (and you can bet business taxes will be slashed even more), all the while increasing military/security expenditures (which he'll have to, to keep a lid on all the brushfires his diplomatic efforts will ignite).

Re: the UK (which I've never even visited), why would Vlad be bothered with the trifling distraction of a wet rock off the coast of Europe when his plans to install such a ridiculously easily manipulated douche in the White House are coming good? Putin may not be directly running the US from the Kremlin, but he'll be pulling Trump's strings from the first week of February, at the latest.

I happen to like the cabinet selections he is making thus-far. I believe he is going to do a wonderful job. It will not be as difficult to get America out of it's financial problems as most people think. Slap tariffs on the foreign made products from countries where a living wage is not paid and that will go a long way into solving the problem. It would also make us competitive again since a company has to at least come close to paying a living wage here and they will be forced to bring work back to the US or risk tariffs being placed on their foreign made products. Tariffs would not be needed for European products since those countries actually pay a wage that is on average higher than the US. Offshoring of assets, cash and production have cost both the US and Europe dearly hence the reason that we are completely broke.

Don't be so quick to believe media misinformation. Vladimir Putin will not be pulling Donald Trump's strings. If anything, it will be the other way around. Hillary Clinton would have been far more likely to have not only lit up brushfires but set the whole world on fire if she got her way. She was talking about setting up a no-fly zone in Syria. The Russians would most certainly refused to abide by it and you already know where it would have went from there. At least in the case of Trump, he would rather make deals with countries rather than goto war with them. I do not see much of an issue with him in power and think we may be getting a second chance at things here on this side of the pond because it certainly has not been very good here for the last eight years.

[graphicw]

Re: Hello Everyone

Care to post your DD 214?


Go ahead, be the first person I've encountered who can joke about Iraq and who was actually there.

Go figure, you use British slang and yet know what a DD 214 is. I can post it, but any personally identifiable information will be redacted.

[Des]

Re: Hello Everyone

Re: the UK (which I've never even visited), why would Vlad be bothered with the trifling distraction of a wet rock off the coast of Europe when his plans to install such a ridiculously easily manipulated douche in the White House are coming good? Putin may not be directly running the US from the Kremlin, but he'll be pulling Trump's strings from the first week of February, at the latest.

I hardly think the amiable and wholly platonic friendship between the leaders of the two greatest nations on earth amounts to string pulling. There is a lot these two giants among men can learn from one another.

PS: The military and government workers of Soviet Canuckistan pledge an oath of allegiance to the prune, and the prune's face is on the Canuckistani twenty peso bill. Ergo, Canucks are Brits.

[Didymus Much]

Re: Hello Everyone

I happen to like the cabinet selections he is making thus-far. I believe he is going to do a wonderful job. It will not be as difficult to get America out of it's financial problems...

Huh? A coherent, well thought-out response, absent of spelling errors, only a few rather minor grammatical errors, and so nearly free of those "typos"?


Ok, smart guy, who hacked your account?




As for your points, I'll tackle the simple one first: tariffs cut both ways. Slap them on, and Joe can't afford his new big-screen TV imported from wherever. No problem, make one in America, you say. Oh, right, either Joe can't afford to buy one made in the States, or you have to pay the people making the TV the same low wage that the foreign workers now receive. And then Joe can't afford that TV on his now much diminished paycheque.

[Didymus Much]

Re: Hello Everyone

Go figure, you use British slang and yet know what a DD 214 is...

Citizen of the globe, I am.

Handy with Google, too.

...I can post it, but any personally identifiable information will be redacted.

And there we have it. Big claims, no proof, take the word of the complete anonymous on the internet.

Wanna buy a bridge?

[Basilissa]

Re: Hello Everyone

It was an attempt at humor. A Jihadist killed my spell check while I was in Iraq.

It must be a Windows thing. I don't get it.

The not so humorous part is that I really was there and did not enjoy the place one bit.

OK. Whatever you say, sweetie.

[Des]

Re: Hello Everyone

Wanna buy a bridge?

Is it a drawbridge? I've been asking Brother Mayor Hold about getting the permits to build a moat around my place in case the Freehold walls should be breached. I feel exposed and vulnerable ever since they took the anti-aircraft rifles away from me after that accidental mishap with FM's van.

[graphicw]

Re: Hello Everyone

Huh? A coherent, well thought-out response, absent of spelling errors, only a few rather minor grammatical errors, and so nearly free of those "typos"?


Ok, smart guy, who hacked your account?




As for your points, I'll tackle the simple one first: tariffs cut both ways. Slap them on, and Joe can't afford his new big-screen TV imported from wherever. No problem, make one in America, you say. Oh, right, either Joe can't afford to buy one made in the States, or you have to pay the people making the TV the same low wage that the foreign workers now receive. And then Joe can't afford that TV on his now much diminished paycheque.

I am using a desktop to type on now rather than a phone. That makes a big difference in being able to lay out text correctly. I don't have the time to correct everything when typing on a phone. I have told you once before, I am not a grammar nazi.

At one time, all of the items of modern life were made here in America. Sure they had a higher cost, but people could still buy their appliances, radios and TV's. Most people willing to work had a shot at the American dream if they so desired. Now our economy is a service economy where the paychecks are nowhere near what the old manufacturing paychecks were when you adjust for inflation.

The tariffs wont hurt us much if the average person is position to obtain better employment. If we get our manufacturing and extractive sectors back, the area that I live in will definitely be on the upswing again as well as the rest of the rust belt. My grandfather and great grandfather both retired from the chemical industry and were able to provide a good living for their families. My grandfather was earning more on retirement while he was still alive than the average person working one of the new service jobs earned on their paycheck. True wealth comes from making things, not doing each other's laundry and cooking for one another.

[graphicw]

Re: Hello Everyone

It must be a Windows thing. I don't get it.



OK. Whatever you say, sweetie.

I guess that makes two of us that don't use Windows. That is good that you have made the wise decision to avoid Windows on your computer. You can choose not to believe me. I haven't anything to prove and should not be expected to give up personally identifiable information on a public forum. I would not expect that of you or anybody else.

[Elmer G. White]

Re: Hello Everyone

...True wealth comes from making things, not doing each other's laundry and cooking for one another.

There is only one form of True Wealth™ and that is totally independent of manufacture.

Matthew 6:19-20
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

The treasures for Heaven can be accumulated only by following the footsteps of Jesus. When True Christian™ communities gather Earthly goods it is only because in the sorry fallen Earth (Genesis 3:6), adequate funds in strong currencies are needed to spread the Gospel in the most efficient manner.

Even vile atheist authors acknowledge that True Wealth™ is decoupled from finances. As an example, I quote a storyteller called Mrs. Bujold.

All true wealth is biological.

However, please be warned that while the author apparently refers to offspring and active begetting (Genesis 1:28), the time of active procreating is drawing to a close (Revelation 22:20), and the best option is to follow Jesus (Ecclesiastes 12:13).




Yours in Christ,

Elmer

[graphicw]

Re: Hello Everyone

I am surprised that nobody knows the meaning of my avatar and profile graphics. I figured someone here with enough spiritual knoledge would know the meanings.

[graphicw]

Re: Hello Everyone

[graphicw]

Re: Hello Everyone

Mary does not understand the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and believes it to be "Jewish Hocus Pocus" More meaning to it than that. I already admitted I dabble in the occult.

[Didymus Much]

Re: Hello Everyone

...At one time, all of the items of modern life were made here in America...

Because everyone else's factories were piles of rubble. And that's what propelled the US's standard of living explosion in the 50s and early 60s. Exports (read: trade), which is what the Donald's trying to kill with tariffs.

...Sure they had a higher cost, but people could still buy their appliances, radios and TV's. Most people willing to work had a shot at the American dream if they so desired...

Because you supported your own economy by buying American. At first, it was the only choice (see above), but then foreign-made goods entered your market. They were usually inferior in some way, and when they became equivalent you still bought American because patriotism. It's when they became superior to your own products (see Japanese/German cars and electronics) or much cheaper for the same quality (see Wal-mart), self-interest took over your consuming, and buh-bye American manufacturing sector jobs.

...Now our economy is a service economy where the paychecks are nowhere near what the old manufacturing paychecks were when you adjust for inflation...

Everyone tells me that, but remember that tiny house your grandparents had (union job paycheques were never large) with 3-4 kids in each bedroom, and one car (unless Mom worked, too)? Now people are expecting to carry the mortgage on a 3500 sq. ft. place on the packet from their job as a barista (thanks, art/film/drama/history/psych/English "degree").

Good money's still out there, you just have to work for it like the rest of the world has been doing for the last 70 years. Holding your breath and waiting for the other guy to turn blue (tariffs) isn't going to work anymore. You won't buy X country's products? They don't care. The rest of the world is rich now, too; they'll sell it to them.

...The tariffs wont hurt us much if the average person is position to obtain better employment...

So where are these mythical jobs supposed to come from in your now even more f***ed economy?

...If we get our manufacturing...

Not gonna happen, as explained above.

...and extractive sectors back...

Which will be a LOT more expensive than the imports, even if you put that 35% tariff on them. So not gonna happen.

...the area that I live in will definitely be on the upswing again as well as the rest of the rust belt...

Rust Belt's dead (as a rust belt). Accept it, move on. For your own good. Even if the car factory comes back to town, it's only going to offer 10% of the jobs it used to (because automation).

...True wealth comes from making things...

Agreed, but those things do not have to made from steel on an assembly line. You can't compete in that market anymore (and the blame goes to all sectors of American society, IMO, the higher up the more responsibility).

"Make America a Mythical, 1962-ish Kinda Place Again" just didn't have the same ring, I guess. :shrug:

You know what really frightens me? It's when Donald finally realizes that he can't do 10% of the shit that he thinks he wants to, and says "f*** it, building's burning grab what I can head for the door", and kicks over the bucket of gasoline on his way out.