Hardkill

Well, with regard to inflation being a top priority for voters, according to top economists who are really on point, if you look at the on the ground real most of actual inflation is behind us and there have already been major drops on prices on commodities, shelter prices, and transportation costs, costs of services, and oil and gas prices. The headlines and prints are largely not showing the true current rate of overall inflation in real life in the US. They are mostly telling us what happened to inflation last year because of the way the BLS calculates inflation reports have a major a lag effect to them. Plus, according to Paul Krugman “September, consumer prices were 15 percent higher than they were on the eve of the pandemic. However, average wages were up by 14 percent, almost matching inflation. Wages of nonsupervisory workers, who make up more than 80 percent of the work force, were up 16 percent. So there wasn’t a large hit to real wages overall, although gas and food — which aren’t much affected by policy, but matter a lot to people’s lives — did become less affordable.” Yet, gas prices again have gone back down to relatively normal levels, and in fact when adjusting for inflation are below what they were during Obama’s 2nd term as president. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/opinion/the-truth-about-americas-economic-recovery.html Furthermore, have lately been hitting the message hard to voters on how big corporations are in part responsible for inflation in our because of their price gouging methods, given the unusual record high profits all these corporations made over the past couple of years. One more thing. Michael Moore said this three days ago: ”I can tell from my mailbag, just 11 days out from the election, that many of you are going mad. Even more of you have sunk into a deep depression. Nonstop polls, punditry and journalistic pomposity telling you every single hour all the ways the Dems have blown it, lost it, and how the Repugnants are soaring like eagles! Yes, you are told, you might as well sleep in on Election Day because this baby is over. It is all a lie. They have no clue what they are talking about. They tell the story they want to tell. If it doesn’t fit their narrative, it’s not in the story. You are being misled, bamboozled, hoodwinked, scared to death, and made to believe that the economy has imploded when the factual truth is that wages are up, unemployment is at the lowest in half a century, more jobs have been created during this presidency than any other president in their first two years, inflation has slowed, the economy grew 2.6% last quarter, and everyone on Social Security is going to get a whopping 8.7% increase in their monthly checks in the coming year. So what is really happening here? I’ll tell you what’s happening: Your leg is being seriously pulled — so hard that if you don’t stop listening to (and believing!) all this bullshit, you’re going to lose more than a leg. TURN THE TV OFF! No cable news for the next 11 days! No reading the daily newspaper! TURN OFF THE NEWS ALERTS ON YOUR PHONE! What’s the point of letting them drive you insane?” Remember, he’s the guy that has correctly predicted more big elections than the mainstream media outlets have. https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/midterm-tsunami-truth-30 So, let’s get out and rally as many other people as you possibly can to vote together with you for every Democratic candidate for every single race. If we are able to mobilize enough people in the country to vote for all Democrats up and down the ballot, then we can actually win the midterms big!

I previously overlooked another vid from him about the midterms:

The polling averages and many pundits out there have lately been saying that it's now looking like the Democrats are going to lose the House and might only be able to barely hold the Senate with a 50-50 split again. However, Michael Moore is actually predicting the opposite. He was one of the very few people in 2016 who correctly predicted that Trump would win the GOP nomination for president. Afterwards, he predicted that Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election. He then predicted that Trump would not last as president for more than 4 years. About a few weeks before the 2020 General Election Day happened, he predicted that Biden and Democrats would defeat Trump and the Republicans. Now, he's saying that contrary to what many pundits are currently saying and what a lot of polls have lately been showing, the Democrats are going to win both the House and Senate races big. He says that many of the polls and pundits are wrong because they are not actually seeing or realizing what's truly happening with many voters on the ground throughout the whole country. His opinion is that those polls and pundits are not truly realizing how many people there are out there who are absolutely outraged at the Republican Party. Furthermore, he saying that even though inflation, crime, and immigration issues, and Biden's approval rating still being underwater have all become serious political headwinds for the Democrats in the upcoming midterms, that the majority of voters in the US actually are more upset about the overturning of Roe vs. wade and how increasingly threatening Republicans have become to American Democracy. Here's an article that just came out today by The Guardian on his prediction on the midterms in an interview they had with him: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/23/michael-moore-democratic-party-win-midterm-interview Also, this is what he said about a few weeks ago regarding the midterms: He is a little crazy and weird, but he has been a truly dedicated political activist for most of his life, was elected to a public office at the age 18, is very intelligent and very knowledgeable, and has had a really solid track record of correctly predicting the outcome of a number of big elections that most people and most news outlets in the US had incorrectly predicted in the past.

I am very glad that Lula won, but I hope that Bolsonaro will not be able to pull off a coup of any kind.

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to say here on this thread. Not only do we need liberals and progressives, we need to persuade and work together with as many moderates as possible. That includes moderate liberals, very centrists, and even moderate conservatives. As James Carville said before, Democrats and liberals gotta be practical and strategic in order to win the real political power.

I can tell you as someone who has always been well above average looking that I only had girls in middle school, high school, and somewhat in college compliments my looks and some of them were into me to the point of even asking me out and then asking me to be their boyfriend. However, the girls who asked me out and wanted me to be their boyfriend were ones I was not attracted to because to me they were barely average looking. After my college years, I stopped getting compliments on my looks from random girls and I actually never lost my virginity until I was 27 turning 28. Some of reasons include having been always socially behind due to having Asperger's, never really tried asking out the girls that I was attracted to because I was way too shy, overthinking like crazy on how to socialize with other, had very unrealistic expectations with dating and sex, played video games too much, got heavily involved in a lot of sports and fitness activities, watched too much porn, spend too much time also surfing the web for other stuff, didn't have any good dating coaches or PUA experts available to help me develop my social and seduction skills, etc.

Far left ideology is ideal, but not practical. A lot of times you won't be able to elect progressives or even moderately liberal candidates into office. That's why I believe in making actual progress by voting for conservative Democrats, very moderate Democrats, very moderate independents, center-left Democrats, center-left independents, progressive Democrats, and progressive independents depending on which candidate will be the most viable left-leaning one in any particular election. Also, Republicans need to vote for a lot more moderate Republicans. Furthermore, too much of far left politics only worsens the political polarization between the left and the right. Not only, will this mean even more political violence. It also will also mean even more political gridlock, which will lead to Congress and state legislatures all around the country becoming less productive and more unable to pass major beneficial laws for the people. That's what happened during the Gilded Age in the late 1800s. Contrast that period with the early 20th century progressive and the mid 1900s, when Congress passed floods of new historic laws and constitutional amendments that kept tremendously improving the lives of Americans throughout the entire country. However, since the late 70s to early 80s our country has become increasingly polarized, which has lead our country back to the similar kind of gridlock problems we had during the Gilded Age. If our country basically elected a lot more political leaders into office who are neither not staunch conservative establishment Republicans nor MAGA Republicans, then America would actually end up making a tremendous amount of progress on both productive bipartisan consensus and moving towards leftism. That's why I think Democrats and progressives need to work on framing progressive policies like the Green New Deal, universal health care, and banning big money and corporate lobbying from politics as something that is moderate and is also aligned with traditional American values. For example, instead of telling moderates and conservatives in America that we need to have Medicare for All, a single-payer system which sounds to them like a form of socialism, why don't we try to have them sold on a universal healthcare proposal that would be framed as a good old American way of giving every American a real solid opportunity to having healthcare? It should also be framed as a universal healthcare proposal that would grant everyone in America freedom from all private tyranny. Freedom from having to be tied down to a miserable job in order to keep the health insurance you need. Freedom from the terrible price gouging done by the health insurance cartel in the US. The proposal could be called something like Freedom Care or the National American Freedom Care Act. Furthermore, we actually need to work more on persuading more from the other side. We're never going win most of the people from the opposite side, but we should be able to win over a good amount from that side. Plus, we of course need harder on persuading many more swing voters. All of that together would make a major difference electorally for Democrats, help heal the divisions in our country, and help push America more towards the left.

Yeah, that's what I've been thinking. That's why according to more recent news, a lot more liberals and minorities have been taking up arms:

Thank God, Paul Pelosi made a successful recovery. Though, I hope he doesn't end up with any serious complications from this. Btw, this is what Michael Moore has to say about this: https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/midterm-tsunami-truth-31

Leo mentioned in "When Does The Left Go Too Far?" part 2 vid, that some things that need to be deregulated, especially when they are outdated. What are some specific or actual examples of regulations that definitely need to be removed? Moreover, what regulations are there that can be safely removed without it leading to unintended long-term negative consequences for countless people like what happened with the 2008 financial crisis after about 3 decades of limited government intervention in the US economy and the deregulation of many businesses, banks, and the stock market in America?

I thought that Leo's entire 2 part vids series on "When Does The left Too Far?" was excellent. He made a lot of valid points as to how and when it becomes a serious problem when someone takes any kind of ideology to such an extreme, whether it be right-wing extremism, left-wing extremism, or even extreme centrism. The only point he made in that series that I definitely disagree with Leo on is when he essentially said that he agrees with the idea of American citizens being allowed to defend themselves with guns in case the US government one day ever becomes truly tyrannical. Worrying about a such possible government take over of everything ever happening in the US is so ridiculous because something like Socialism, Communism, or Totalitarianism will never happen in this country. Certainly not with any of our lifetimes. Monarchy is also certainly never coming back to America. Furthermore, no other developed countries in the world allow their citizens to buy guns of any kind at all and their countries have had much less gun violence per capita than the US has ever had. Now, maybe guns would be needed to fight the right wing fascists in the US, but even Leo doesn't believe that our country will ever get taken over by fascism. So, I don't see how Leo point's on this makes sense. Moreover, if banning all assault weapons in our country won't work, then what should be done to reduce the gun violence problem in the US?

I know you said that in your vid, "When the Left goes too far: Part 1," that you are concerned with the idea of a company having a 4 day work week because you say that that could cost that company many valuable hours of productivity, which would cause that business to be less competitive than other businesses who have all of their workers do the usual 5 day work week. However, I think that a 4 day work week would really help every worker in the business get the sufficient amount of emotional and mental recovery they need to be fully refreshed and feel even more motivated to work even harder and better the following week. Furthermore, I really believe that it will help reduce or eliminate workplace burnout. It sounds counterintuitive, but couldn't that actually make a company be even more competitive by working smarter and not longer?

Great... Now, the whole world is going to have another major problem that will have unforeseen consequences.

I guess we are really going to have see what happens and pray for our country not to get taken by right-wing authoritarianism. I am also very worried about what the right wingers will do to social security, medicare, and many other social safety nets and rights if the Republican party takes control of the House, Senate, and Presidency by 2024.

Yeah, I don't see what Leo has done that would be signs of him of having bipolar. He hasn't done anything that has been out of the ordinary impulsive. I haven't seen his mood swinging at all from being overly energetic to being severely depressed, or vice versa. He hasn't ever made any outlandish or highly exaggerated claims about things that sound irrational or maybe even sound conspiratorial. Also, as far as I know about him, he doesn't seem to have any kind of maladaptive coping behaviors that would decrease stress and anxiety in the short-term, but actually would increase stress and anxiety in the long-term such as gambling, binge eating, consuming any tobacco products, excessive alcohol use, taking any illegal drugs, sex addiction, etc. Yes, he does take psychedelics frequently, which I think is supposed to be illegal in the US. However, their has been growing amount of legitimate scientific and medical research that does seem to show that psychedelics might be very beneficial as long as you know how to use them, and I am inclined to believe that Leo seems to know how to use them properly.

Well, Michael Moore believes that this time the voters are most concerned with abortion rights and democracy being threatened.

If they do win this election, then would you begin to consider moving to another country?

When? During the 19th century, when people such as factory workers and children were forced to work that much? That indeed was a very unhealthy and very unjust situation for all of those people? What about being to make a least a million dollars through legitimate means? Or getting a high status job of any kind or becoming a famous celebrity (which I know is like 1 in a million chance of ever happening)? Or creating something inventive or innovative for your society or for the whole world?

Yeah, but can most people mentally and physically handle even a few years of an extreme amount of hours and days per week every week? I mean if everyone in the world then wouldn't the amount of people who end up with workplace burnout, diminished work performance, death from overwork, diminishing work performance, too much competition, etc. skyrocket all over the world like crazy? Also, don't you need to have above average natural talent in something in order to become truly successful at anything. I could be wrong, but I don't think that most people in the world have any natural talents for anything. Therefore, I still don't see how most people can become successful in life through hard work alone, even if they worked as hard as hell for many years. So, you no longer believe that you are most creative and connected to life on your off days? Or is it more nuanced than that and depends on each individual? Yes, China will have the largest economy in the world by around 2030, and yes other countries India, Russia, and Brazil have become very competitive, but America is by far the most powerful, most successful country, and the richest country in the world. It's still ruled by an authoritarian dictator, who lately has been coming off even more like a totalitarian ruler like Kim Jong-Un in North Korea. That's why the political elites in China cannot and will not even receive the constructive criticism from high quality independent journalism and public opinion that would provide such crucial honest feedback on what things the government needs to do in order to greatly improve their country. Xi Jinping and the other political elites probably only has yes men telling him what he wants to hear instead of telling him what he needs to hear because everyone else in China is probably afraid of getting severely punished or killed if they either speak out against them or point any mistakes they are making or tell them any bad news they don't want hear about. Also, their medical technology is still inferior to western nations. Plus, to my knowledge, the country doesn't have any where the amount of highly creative and highly innovative individuals that the US has. Moreover, their overall quality of infrastructure is not anywhere near as good as America's infrastructure. You even said that even big powerful countries such as Russia, Brazil, China, and India are still so underdeveloped that it will take them at least 50 to 100 years to maybe catch up to America. Russia has lately proven to not nearly as tough or as threatening as we thought before given how much they've already been struggling to even take over Ukraine, which quite frankly is turning out to be such a historic embarrassment of epic proportions. Also, because there's no real democracy there, political elites of Russia, particularly Putin, also only have yes men telling them what they want to hear. In fact, everyone in Russia has recently become terrified of telling Putin the mistakes he's been making. Additionally, this war is taking such a profound toll on the entire economy of Russia that top economists around the world have been saying that not only is Russia in a severe recession, but it will more than likely enter into a real economic depression. Btw, the country has already been having a significant brain drain in recent months. Furthermore, they have a worse overall quality of infrastructure than China does. https://fortune.com/2022/08/20/russia-brain-drain-young-russians-leaving-after-ukraine-war-putin/ India, does have some amount of real democracy, but I don't think that their democracy is nearly as high in quality as the US. Also, while the country's economy has undoubtedly become increasingly richer and larger at a very significant rate v the country is still much poorer than China and Russia. Not to mention that their level of infrastructure is actually much worse than either China's or Russia's level of infrastructure. Brazil has about the level of real democracy as India, but the country overall is still no better off than either China, Russia, or India, in any way at all. So, doesn't that mean that the US already so far ahead of every other country in the world in power, wealth, and overall success that there is absolutely no way that any other country will be able to take over America's spot as the number one superpower nation in the world for several decades? Even if America no longer became number one in the world overall, so what?

So, then Elon Musk was right all along about needing to work 80+ hours per week every week every year for the rest of your life in order to become truly successful? If that's so, then that makes me wonder what the point of living is?

Okay, I see your point there. But what about the idea how most successful people are not happy at all because of the excessive amount of work they constantly put in order to achieve the success they made? Furthermore, how does and ambitious, hard working individual supposed to know when to slow down or cut down the amount of hours he/she works before they suffer the consequences of the excesses and toxicity of stage Orange?

Actually, it looks like a growing number of companies in the US are trying this out and seeing how it will really work in the long run. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/04/business/four-day-work-week-risk-takers/index.html But what instead of having a 4 day work week should companies be doing to solve the issues of workplace burnout, quiet quitting, life dissatisfaction, mental and physical health problems from overworking, death from overwork, diminishing work performance, etc. all of which have becoming growing widespread issues in countries such as the US and Japan?

Nouriel Roubini. who's moniker is Dr. Doom, was one of the very few economists out there who accurately predicted the 2008 financial during the early 2000s. Now, he's predicting that the US and the rest of the global economy will in the next year or two enter into a financial crisis worse than the one that occurred during the 70s and early 80s. He actually predicts that this financial crisis we will be going through will be what he calls a stagflationary debt crisis, which he says is something that the entire world has never experienced before. Furthermore, he talked about how there have already been so many other negative things that have been going on this world within recent years including major backlash against free-markets and laissez faire policies, major backlash against trade and deglobalization, massive increase in wealth and income inequality, rise of extreme left and right wing populism in many countries, authoritarian regimes becoming increasingly popular, the war in Ukraine, climate change crisis, rise in deaths of despair all over the world, COVID still not being over, etc. Then, he said that all of things in addition to this upcoming stagflationary debt crisis will ultimately lead to such severe socio-political consequences throughout the whole world to the point that many countries across the globe including the US, many nations in Europe, China, India, Russia and what have you will each be on the brink of a civil war, violent insurrections and revolutions, secession, world war, and possibly worse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RYGWwn88wQ Is the end of the world really nigh or are these predictions way too over the top and he's just doing a lot of fearmongering?

Do you believe that successful CEOs, top lawyers, rich and famous showbiz celebrities deserve to make a lot more money than other high level professionals such as doctors, scientists, college/university professors, architects, engineers, elite level soldiers, members of SWAT team, fire chiefs, etc.?