If the economy is strong but prices are up, is it really inflation?

Is it possible that costs have been artificially low but now have corrected? For a couple of reasons:

1. Wages have gone up due to higher demand for workers
2. Some of the tariffs that Trump put in place have driven up cost
3. Higher demand for low inventory items
4. Sanctions on Russia

I don't see higher interest rates solving these problems. Sure it might drive down the price of houses and used cars. But day to day stuff won't be driven down by higher rates.

Everyone is comparing what we are going through to 1982. But it's much different. I remember a lot of people getting laid of in 1982.

Could Trump's current level of support reflect the lack of real pushback from Democrats?

Did we do enough over the last 4 years? I know we had a lot of strong condemning statements. We took back the House in 2018. But did we really do enough?

In a month in a half Republicans have shown more pushback against Biden than we did in 4 years of Trump. Granted, it's half-assed and stupid. But it's out there for their supporters to see.

Why didn't we pass and continue to pass multiple articles of impeachment? Why didn't we question his legitimacy? Why didn't we point out that he was ruling against a majority of the people everyday?

The House could have shut down the government.

We could have protested harder. From day 1 of his presidency.

Even now, we seem content to let the clock run out and hope nothing bad happens.

We shouldn't be negotiating with covid relief. We should demand the original bill get a senate vote. And our leaders should be on tv 24/7, running ads about how Republicans want us to starve. But we aren't. We are letting Republicans get away with a watered down bill that does little to nothing of substance.

If Barrett doesn't recuse from election cases the House should investigate ethics violations

I suggested this a few threads but wanted to throw it out there for thoughts. I think typically such an investigation would be DOA but in this instance, given the timing around her nomination and confirmation (and recent comments by Trump and McConnell) I think it brings up interesting questions.

And I think given some of Thomas's wife's recent Facebook posts, he should have to recuse as well. And we could open an ethics investigation against him as well.

These types of hearings could lay the groundwork work for legislation to maybe change the way the SC operates.

We need a running cost of Trump's medical care. Everyone needs to see how expensive this is.

Because he is going to recover and discuss how easy it was. But people need to understand what this type of care costs.

Presidents don't have co-pays or high deductible policies.

The irony of all of this is that the Senate had the opportunity to remove him as President

They could have ended our national nightmare. Even lightweight Pence would have done better managing the Pandemic. And the Republicans could have had a fresh new candidate for president.

But they opted to keep him around. My hope is that the voters punish them justly.

If Biden wins, he needs to appoint a committee to investigate the 2016 election

We need a thorough investigation into the election to determine if Trump's election was legitimate. To what end did Russia interfere?Were votes changed? Were other actors illegally interfering?

And if there is solid evidence that votes were changed, we need to determine how to remediate the harm that was done. I don't know what that looks like. But I think for starters, we need look at Trump executive orders and appointees. And then we need to look at laws.

I honestly don't know how you undue four years of illegitimacy but if there is evidence--strong evidence--that votes were changed, we need a national discussion about how to undue the harm of the illegitimacy.

How do you defer payroll tax?

Does that mean I don't have taxes deducted each pay period but I will still owe those taxes?

If that's the case, how do I opt out?

Who talks like this? This motherfucker is crazy!

The role of police needs to be redefined

For too long there has been this blanket protection for police. We've given them the benefit of the doubt, always saying it's a tough job or it's a thankless job or they are putting their lives on the line for our safety. And this is all true. But it shouldn't be used as an excuse or a shield.

Police offers choose their career. And they should be held to a higher standard. Not shielded with excuses. And if they can't live up to the higher standard, they should go find another profession. It seems in almost all cases where there is excessive force, we find out there were prior complaints. Warning signs, really.

We should hire police officers more selectively. Pay them much more. And hold them accountable. Those that show signs that the job is too much should be dismissed.

Went to Maynard's today in very red southwest Michigan and 99% of the customers wore a mask

I was pleasantly surprised. It will eventually become the new normal like wearing a seat belt. People screamed from the hills when those laws started. But now a very high percentage of people put on their seat belt without even thinking about it.

And really wearing a mask follows the same argument as wearing a seat belt. It's a safety precaution. It's really that simple.