kcar wrote: 
I remember when the Berlin Wall went up (I was in 4th grade and it was all over the Weekly Reader for a very long time for those that remember it) and the constant reminders of the Airlift and our commitment to a Free Germany during that time.  Right before the Cuban Missile Crisis.  And when it came down, all in my lifetime.  I have some German heritage.  I remember Kennedy's speech at the Brandenburg gate just before he got shot.  Willy Brandt was the Mayor of Berlin and would soon become chancellor.  I saw Dr Strangelove in the theatres when it came out in 1964.  The reunification.  Yes, I do pay attention and care who is chancellor.  The preceding was off of the top of my head.  Germany is the largest and strongest economic force in the EU.  I think every American should have more than a passing interest in what goes on in Germany.  It matters a lot.  But that is just me.

I also took three years of German in high school after taking three years of Spanish in grades 6 thru 8.

¡ Hasta lumbago, mein Hair !

Edit: Besides seeing Dr Strangelove in that time, I also saw the original On The Beach, The Seventh Seal when it finally made it to the states and Mondo Cane in the theatres when they were new, while watching Mario Savio launch the Free Speech Movement a few blocks from home on the UC campus in Berkeley, the rise of the original Hell's Angels, Angela Davis and the Black Panthers.  Not your ordinary grade school experiences for a pre teen.  What were you doing in grades 3 thru 6 ?  Besides watching reruns of Scooby Doo ...

 kurtster wrote:
 

Kurt: what do you know about German politics? Do you give a crap who gets elected Chancellor of Germany? Do you read up and get worked up about 26 year-old German laws? 

I'm thinkin' no. The vast majority of Americans will admit ignorance on the above issues, just as you do if you're being honest. 

So pardon me if Ohmen's interest in American politics and long screed against the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act don't make much sense to me. Again, Ohmsen has no skin in this game. It's quite reasonable to think that Ohmsen is being paid to post here, perhaps just to sow confusion and doubt about American democracy and politics. Again, I'm not the only one who thinks Ohmsen is getting paid to post here. 

"Wrong, and neither have most black American men forgotten."

Riigghht! I'd forgotten about your staunch and full-throated support of Black Americans in this forum. Kurt, the guy obsessed with BLM as a domestic terrorist force and who worried more about buildings than people in this year's demonstrations. 

That 1994 law might weigh more heavily on Black men's minds more than other Americans', but they're supporting Biden more than Trump—even though they don't lean Democrat as much as Black women do. 




Move over, soccer mom. America’s presidential campaigns have a new coveted voter: Black men. Both Republicans and Democrats are courting this demographic, for reasons that seem tied to recent voting patterns. According to Pew Research Center, 64 percent of eligible Black women and 54 percent of eligible Black men voted in 2016. Black women overwhelmingly (98 percent) favored Hillary Clinton, but among Black men, she won 81 percent. Trump got 14 percent — still a relatively small percentage, yet an improvement on the 11 percent that, according to NBC exit poll data, Mitt Romney won in 2012.

In addition, Pew found that Black men (77 percent) are less likely than Black women (87 percent) to identify as Democrats. And according to Gallup, Trump’s approval rating is 8 points higher (19 percent vs. 11 percent) among Black men than it is among Black women.

 kcar wrote:
 

I am concerned too.   Could it be that Team Trump is paying to send both of us to this webpage to spread the truth?

Hey Ohmsen, we should coordinate our posts, so there's no overlap.

 kcar wrote: 
Wrong, and neither have most black American men forgotten.

OBTW ...  Still fighting WW II are you ?  Your xenophobia appears to be showing, eh ?

And what about our other well informed German resident, noenz ?  While he is a Kiwi, he is also well versed in American politics, yet you don't have a problem with him ?

 Ohmsen wrote:
 

Actually, Ohmsen, I've also come to suspect that you're being paid to post here. 

You're German, right? I can't imagine any German without some professional motivation having your posted knowledge about Joe Biden's hand in the writing and passage of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. And you were quite passionate about criticizing Biden for his grandfatherly image that belied his work on passing the law's harsh punishments for convicted criminals. 

If you really are German, you don't have any skin in the 1994 law, Joe Biden's record on crime or this presidential election. Most Americans have quite forgotten that law and that era in American history. Yet you seemed quite worked up about it.

Sorry I didn't bother debunking your bogus claims that Hunter is funneling Chinese money to his dad or that Joe had Ukrainian prosecutor Shokin fired to kill an investigation into Burisma. I can shovel only so much BS away per day. 

You've been very careful about gradually mixing in your politically oriented posts with posts on music, photographs, etc. But it's not clear at all why you care about American politics. 

Comrade Ohmsen wrote:
 
Comrade Ohmsen, It is time to throw in the towel on the presidency.   No matter how hard the Trump movement has tried to rewrite the laws of nature.

Now, you might get lucky.   The Republicans may hold the Senate so they can obstruct the Democrats and Save America!

My question to you Comrade Ohmsen is are you receiving a pay cheque from Caracas, Venezuela?  Is it good money?   Did you negotiate benefits?  

Look at this from the perspective of Latin American Neo-Marxist leftists.   The Trump movement is a wet dream come true for those professing anti-freemarket, anti-capitalism, and anti-American imperialism views.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:



This election's over, whichever way it goes. I think you can take a break now.
 

Maybe a few people here could stop being a news feed for election stuff? I"ll be happy to stop my little bit but I don't think I'm the worst/best at it here.

Comrade Ohmsen wrote:

This election's over, whichever way it goes. I think you can take a break now.

 Ohmsen wrote:
 

yawn

rgio,   

The resource companies I invest in — example, oil & gas exploration companies in Colombia — have to have all their ESG ducks in order.  There has to be solid support all the way from the poorest campesinos in the region  to the highest level of the central government and the national security forces.  Otherwise, a company runs the serious risk of costly hold up or simply not being able to do anything.

It is good business.   Reducing carbon emissions is always good business because it reduces operating costs.  In some circumstances, reducing climate emissions can improve health outcomes due to the correlated reduction in small particulate matter emissions.

The environment and health do not have to be in contradiction, in some kind of zero-sum game with company profits and economic returns.  That is the old way of thinking.    

In the modern economy, workers are educated and increasingly valued for the ability to autonomously solve problems.  That kind of human capital is not easily or cost effectively replaced.  You have to treat your workers right.

If the company's operations reduce the water table, pot-hole up the roads and / or generate huge amounts of dust, the locals will get angry and if not careful the company might face road blocks or a public agency-imposed moratorium or withdrawl of the license.   Or worse yet, local folks will bitch and moan loud enough that sympathizers will take the complaints to Neo-Marxist guerrillas in the region who may then feel compelled to hurt the company's interests.  

ESG, taken seriously, is some of the best insurance that companies can buy in a rapidly  changing, uncertain world.  

 kurtster wrote:
 


haresfur wrote:

kurtster wrote:


So is it true democrats are rooting for more CV 19 deaths to make sure that Trump doesn't get re elected ? I'm sure that I can find something to back that up if I look hard enough. If that's the way y'all want to roll here ...

WTF kurt? That sort of "is it true..." rhetoric is just a way to throw out some innuendo and pretend it is real.

And the answer to your question is, "no."

 kurtster wrote:
 

But this is what the Trump presidency has been like: warning people about how bad things will be. 

 R_P wrote:
 
"And you could use my words against me and you'd be absolutely right."

 The Incumbent Limbo Dance Champion wrote:

Some records are almost impossible to break...

 buddy wrote: 
At your service, bra !

 Steely_D wrote: 
Well based upon the bar set in the Trump thread, things have a long way to go before sinking to that level in here.  It is very well established that you can say anything you want about Trump and his supporters over in there with no objection other than by me or KK.

Biden sure as hell ain't no saint and is just as creepy as Trump or more so when looking backwards at his history in which he has been on both sides of every issue at least a couple of times.  He is demonstrably racist as well, with a long history of video clips to prove that point.

Be prepared for a veritable shit storm over President Biden since you all cannot call those disapproving of his policies racist because he isn't black just for openers.  This will be a whole new ballgame going forward.  You all will reap what you all have sown over in there.

Remember, the bar going forward will be what has been established in the Trump thread.  Speaking for myself only, it will be very hard to sink as low as some of you have gone over there.  I won't try, either.  Just making the shoe fit should be enough for me.

 R_P wrote:
 

Straight out of the Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma"  I advise all to check it out.  It's worth watching and helped me understand these adamant people and their theories.  Well a little better, anyway....lol

Michele Bachmann Warns That Joe Biden Will Make America Communist Within 100 Days

 westslope wrote:
 
Some really interesting comments.

The OECD is a great example of fairness, rulemaking, and an attempt to establish rules that are reasonable.  The rules have been established as a way to hold large corporations (and smaller ones too) accountable to the people who support their organizations.  If Facebook earns $1B in France from ads to French people, then they should pay corporate tax in France on that money, not be able to send it to the inter-company IP management entity set up in Ireland or Grand Cayman to avoid corporate income tax.  Europeans (IMO) deeply believe in that fairness and understand the policies and reasons much better than Americans.  

Americans, on the other hand, are always looking to pay less than their share.  The less a company pays in taxes, the more the value of the stock, the larger the payouts for the executives.  The measurements are all short term.  Almost nothing happens anymore in large corporations for the extended future, as the leadership won't invest (and reduce their profits/bonuses) for potential they won't get paid for.  We've lost our way.

Change to US corporations is still decades away.  The good news is that the pace of change has accelerated.  In 1965, the average tenure of S&P 500 companies was 33 years.  By 2026, it's expected to be around 14.  If younger leaders prioritize ESG as you point out, the older people are leaving the arena and change can happen fairly quickly.  The next generation (I think...) is a bit less greedy.  They were too young for the Gordon Gecko speeches.

 R_P wrote:
 
Yes.   The overall material standards of living are outstanding by both historical and international standards.   It could be argued that Nordic social democracies  do capitalism extremely well, some would argue even better than the USA because economic property rights, individual and collective, are more secure.  The socio-economic outcomes are outstanding.

As a general rule, the better people cooperate, the better the economic outcomes.  Designing market institutions that work requires cooperation.  

Trump's zero-sum take on capitalism along with the nepotism, cronyism and corruption is but one vision of capitalism.  The international liberal order as represented by the OECD and negotiated freer trade deals are all about reducing the scope for the kind of thuggish, mercantile capitalism Team Trump would like to practice.  

While Trump tries to drag the USA back to a glorious era of Mafia-style capitalism, corporations are increasingly committing to ESG.  Environmental - Social - Governance.  It is a long ways from perfect but transparency and accountability have improved considerably.