The new UK government has vowed to re-nationalize the railways as a priority.
Also, Thames Water - the scandal ridden private water utility company that regularly releases raw sewage into the nations waterways - has once again threatened bankruptcy because doing its job interferes with making profits. The Tory government used to roll over and give them a bailout - which was then used to pay bonuses and dividends - but the new government said “lol, ok”. Actually, what they said was, if you go bankrupt we’ll just buy you out of receivership for 50p and do the job properly ourselves.
Utilities essential for life and wellbeing - such as water, gas, electricity and (these days) internet - should not be left in the hands of those whose motive is profit first, profit only, profit forever. That should be like the center point of any Democratic campaign.
The biggest single factor driving the moderates and undecideds to the right, and the biggest reason for the rise of a Donald Trump is peoples’ dissatisfaction and lack of confidence in the government’s ability to efficiently manage the funds and responsibilities they have now. So you think a strategy of “well, we just need to put more on their plate” is a winner?
People on the right love the military, the police, the fire department, Medicare and Social Security - all of which are run by the gubmint. These are those “government jobs” that the right has turned into a boogieman.
When the government takes on new tasks, it hires the staff required to perform those tasks.
They consider the military, police and fire to be essential. Healthcare, education electricity, and especially internet, they don’t. People in Houston are right now saying “yeah, it’s bad now, but can you image how much worse it’d be if this were government run?” I’m not saying they are right, I’m saying doubling down on “were from the government and we’re here to help” is not a winning campaign strategy when people are so pissed at the government that embrace an idiot like Trump.
Inflation has gone negative, the stock market continues to set records daily, job creation and unemployment continue their remarkable run, but Biden is too old and infirm to do the job that he’s already doing very well.
The polls have moved barely a smidge since before the debate. But what has changed is:
Trump was crowned king by SCOTUS
More Epstein court documents were released showing that Trump blew up Epstein’s phone on a regular basis and was Platinum Elite on Epstein’s “Lolita Express”
Project 2025 became famous
It’s almost as if this whole thing is just an effort by the MSM to amplify one thing to change the narrative about a whole lot of other things.
The economy Biden inherited was near collapse. Stocks were falling, inflation was raging and unemployment was sky high. Putin’s invasion exacerbated all three, particularly inflation due to oil prices. All of it handled deftly by the Biden Administration along with the vast strengthening of NATO as Biden actually got the >/= 2% defense investment from the allies instead of the threatening and bloviating of Trump. Without Biden, we would be looking at WWIII in Europe with Poland and Romania threatened if not already engaged in hostilities and a fractured if not defunct NATO.
But Biden had a bad TV appearance, which is, of course, much more important.
People don’t realize much of anything. That doesn’t stop them from complaining that the government is bloated and inefficient. So much so, they’ll support someone like Trump who has the IQ of a carrot because “he’s not a politician”.
I am not an educated person but I like to think of myself as intelligent and caring.
I identify as a moderate. I am much more left leaning than right, but my beliefs on different issues end up on both sides.
That said, one of my strongest beliefs is that regulation and competition are crucial.
I skimmed over both Project 2025 and the GOP platform and found the word “deregulation” all over both.
My wife has no knowledge or interest in such things and usually gets frustrated at me if I ask her or even mention anything political to her.
But last night I asked her what she, as a representative of the masses of citizens and voters who aren’t informed, what she thought about government regulations and anti-trusts.
She basically said America is the land of the free and businesses and all people should not be restricted in their ability to the American dream and making a profit. If a company charges too much people can just do business somewhere else instead.
And thats the problem. She does not consider regulations contribute to there being options and competition.
The average, uneducated voter thinks unregulated free enterprise is a foundation of freedom and part of the American dream. They may agree with the Republican ideas simply because of this and are ignorant of how that negatively impacts the lower and middle class because of corporate geeed.
These are things that scare me about this election.
If you’re in Houston, Not CenterPoint is not an option. All the deregulation and privatization has done is create an incompetent and unaccountable vampire of a company to which we are all required to be customers.
There are four companies who make about 95% of all the food products in a grocery store.
The theory of market forces in the real world is a myth.
The average American voter is completely ignorant of what effect regulation has on their lives
They have been brainwashed all their lives with “freedom”, “American dream”, “free enterprise” are good and “government controls and regulations” take away from them.
‘Government regulations are a serious impediment to free enterprise,’ said Lewis Carmichael, age 8, between puffs of a cigarette as he was entering the coal mine for his daily shift.
Remember how Rudy Colludi’s defamation case was summarily judged against him because he fucked around during the discovery process? And then he was hit with over $100 million in damages? And then he filed bankruptcy?
Well, he’s been fucking around in bankruptcy, not complying with requirements and over-spending his allowance like a moody teenager. It’s so bad that the bankruptcy judge is about to throw out his case because he’s not really trying to restructure his debts, he’s just trying to avoid paying them.
For months, Giuliani has submitted confusing and conflicting reports to the court about his spending and earnings. His creditors have accused him of providing false and misleading information about his assets, and they claim he is using bankruptcy to avoid paying up.
“I’m leaning toward dismissal, frankly, because I am concerned that the past is prologue,” said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane, who added that he will make a final ruling Friday.