jdreyer wrote on Nov 7, 2024, 15:55:
I wonder if the spike in ammo was caused by panic buying in anticipation of a Harris victory. That should come down in a few days I would imagine.

I...don't think that's the entirety of it. Many of my liberal friends and acquaintances are stocking up this week. A few have reached out to me for advice on what pistols I recommend for a first time owner as well. Naturally I am pushing training and safety classes.

jdreyer wrote on Nov 7, 2024, 15:55:

Burrito of Peace wrote on Nov 7, 2024, 08:49:

<fistbump>

Thank you.

I don't ever recall paying as little as $1.50 for a dozen eggs and the last time I saw gas at $2.00 was...a long time ago. I am not disputing the facts, I just don't remember them being at those prices. I realize those are national averages so regional prices are all over the map.

What is obvious to me is that every business sector used COVID as an excuse to instigate massive greedflation. Well above the natural rate of inflation.

But because the US is a corpotocracy, neither party did a damn thing about it because it would upset the businesses that bribe lobby them.

Ironically what I saw this morning was a two day spike in the price of ammo. Hovering ~18% jump since Tuesday night.

Yes, at first it was COVID-induced supply chain failures. But the corporations realized that people would pay a lot more for things, and kept jacking prices, price gouging. Corporate profits in 2023 were the highest they've been in decades. The problem is the average voter doesn't understand how global trade and just-in-time inventories work. They just see expensive prices and lash out. There's nothing they can do to corporations, so their only outlet is the ballot box. IIRC, Biden made some noise about making a special tax on corporations for their behavior, but I don't think anything came of it.

I wonder if the spike in ammo was caused by panic buying in anticipation of a Harris victory. That should come down in a few days I would imagine.

Like I keep saying here, too, so much is driven by the lack of competition.There are just so few choices not owned by a handful of companies, or by Private Equity, who cares little about share and only about profitability.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Nov 7, 2024, 08:49:

<fistbump>

Thank you.

I don't ever recall paying as little as $1.50 for a dozen eggs and the last time I saw gas at $2.00 was...a long time ago. I am not disputing the facts, I just don't remember them being at those prices. I realize those are national averages so regional prices are all over the map.

What is obvious to me is that every business sector used COVID as an excuse to instigate massive greedflation. Well above the natural rate of inflation.

But because the US is a corpotocracy, neither party did a damn thing about it because it would upset the businesses that bribe lobby them.

Ironically what I saw this morning was a two day spike in the price of ammo. Hovering ~18% jump since Tuesday night.

Yes, at first it was COVID-induced supply chain failures. But the corporations realized that people would pay a lot more for things, and kept jacking prices, price gouging. Corporate profits in 2023 were the highest they've been in decades. The problem is the average voter doesn't understand how global trade and just-in-time inventories work. They just see expensive prices and lash out. There's nothing they can do to corporations, so their only outlet is the ballot box. IIRC, Biden made some noise about making a special tax on corporations for their behavior, but I don't think anything came of it.

I wonder if the spike in ammo was caused by panic buying in anticipation of a Harris victory. That should come down in a few days I would imagine.

Shteve wrote on Nov 7, 2024, 12:01:
It'll be interesting if Trump does go ahead with his proposed tariffs on imports. Then you'll see some rather hefty price increases, especially on tech.

Like I said earlier, I just don't see it impacting most tech. Trump will listen to people asking for exceptions if they treat him right. So it won't hurt Apple. It won't hurt Lenovo. It won't hurt anyone backed by his VC friends. It will hurt anyone without political capital.

It'll be interesting if Trump does go ahead with his proposed tariffs on imports. Then you'll see some rather hefty price increases, especially on tech.

Yep. I said it before, I'll say it again. I'm glad I'm in my early 60s, not my early 20s. The long term effect of his judge appointments from his first term have only started to be felt (overturning Roe). Now he gets another four years of it. People in their early 20s will be feeling the pain of his tenure when they are in their 60s.

Beamer wrote on Nov 7, 2024, 08:59:
Really, the damage he can do, aside from all the racism and sexism people now feel comfortable showing (see: people on Twitter claiming the other f word is back in style) is what he can do to our institutions.

Betsy Devos tried to take out the department of education. She wasn't competent, and Trump didn't have the full power, and she failed. That department needs an overhaul, because no child left behind is the disaster most agreed it would be, but it is a good thing overall.

His people learned from this, and people such as Vance, Musk and Kennedy are exceptionally clear that they want to dismantle as much as possible. Kennedy keeps tweeting about how anyone at the Department of Health that thought vaccines were better than ivermectin needs to be purged, and Trump keeps tweeting that Kennedy will have this authority.

That's literally a century of knowledge that will disappear if we dismantle these institutions. These institutions are largely what has separated us from other nations, but they get in the way of, well, usually grifting and scamming, so people want them gone.

That's what we won't be able to get back.

Sane people know this.

But the MAGAts don't care. They want to squat in their own shit and be happy with the idea that someone somewhere else now is somehow worse off than them. The fact that they are also objectively and materially worse off is of no consequence to them. So long as they can take glee in someone else's misery. They're misery mongers first, last, and always.

By and large, they are also incredibly ill-educated and they are violently proud of that fact. They think a lack of knowledge equates to "common sense". Moreover, few of them have passports and many have never left their own state, let alone their country. So calling their experience "local" is polite. Provincial and limited would be more apt. They'll use this faux "common sense" to set policy and restructure the US regardless of the stunning lack of logic, reason, and rationality in their actions.

I believe we're heading in to a A Canticle for Leibowitz future.

Really, the damage he can do, aside from all the racism and sexism people now feel comfortable showing (see: people on Twitter claiming the other f word is back in style) is what he can do to our institutions.

Betsy Devos tried to take out the department of education. She wasn't competent, and Trump didn't have the full power, and she failed. That department needs an overhaul, because no child left behind is the disaster most agreed it would be, but it is a good thing overall.

His people learned from this, and people such as Vance, Musk and Kennedy are exceptionally clear that they want to dismantle as much as possible. Kennedy keeps tweeting about how anyone at the Department of Health that thought vaccines were better than ivermectin needs to be purged, and Trump keeps tweeting that Kennedy will have this authority.

That's literally a century of knowledge that will disappear if we dismantle these institutions. These institutions are largely what has separated us from other nations, but they get in the way of, well, usually grifting and scamming, so people want them gone.

That's what we won't be able to get back.

jdreyer wrote on Nov 6, 2024, 21:20:
Probably regional pricing. I've moved even further away from the center of things, so undoubtedly supply chain costs have increased. Also, that store has no competition being the only one within five miles, and tends to have higher than usual prices. That said, eggs were $1.50 on average in the US in Jan 2020, rising to $4.82 Jan 2023. So regardless of how expensive they are for me personally, the US experienced major sticker shock with eggs during COVID to the tune of a 3x increase. That's why I brought up eggs. And the same thing happened to gas prices, going from an average low of $2.00 per gal in 2020 to a high of $5.00 per gal in June 2022. These kinds of price shocks stick with people and give the impression of at best an unresponsive government, and at worst directly responsible for the price hikes. All these prices have come back down, as has the inflation rate, but the impression remains. Studies show it takes several years for people to adjust to new prices, such is their impact.

<fistbump>

Thank you.

I don't ever recall paying as little as $1.50 for a dozen eggs and the last time I saw gas at $2.00 was...a long time ago. I am not disputing the facts, I just don't remember them being at those prices. I realize those are national averages so regional prices are all over the map.

What is obvious to me is that every business sector used COVID as an excuse to instigate massive greedflation. Well above the natural rate of inflation.

But because the US is a corpotocracy, neither party did a damn thing about it because it would upset the businesses that bribe lobby them.

Ironically what I saw this morning was a two day spike in the price of ammo. Hovering ~18% jump since Tuesday night.

The finger pointing is useless. Ya‘all best get ready for the incoming shit show.

And arguing with fascist fans will not get you anywhere. They love a good boot on their neck as long as it has a US flag on it while it strangles them.

Dipshit dems put the centrist carbon copy of Biden up, who literally could not clarify a single one of her policies out of fear of alienating some obscure part of what ever base she had was precisely why fascism won. We didn't want more Biden. We wanted more freedom. Now we are doomed, and the child rapist will never face any consequences for his many crimes. Shit will get shittier, more expensive, and less prosperous. RIP USA, even if we're able to have a single election ever again.

Thanks, bigots.

It's surreal.

Half the female population has eagerly voted for Trump and the GOP -consequently for GOP chosen justices- that have instituted a very real and increasing "death by untreated pregnancy problems" in the future of their sisters, daughters and granddaughters.

Likewise for males, but really that's their wives and mothers of their children problem.

The presidential elections have gotten way out of control. The president was just one cog in the wheel of the government, but since 9/11 has been given increasingly more power, and thanks the recent supreme court rulings pretty much have the the freedom to do whatever they want, without consequence, as long as they call it an official act, possibly even assassination of a political rival.

From my observation it's because politics has become more of a sport. The political parties are acting like rivals and only doing things to win one for their team or to spite the other team rather than doing their fucking jobs and working together to get shit done. Most people are die hard team red or blue and don't even know who they're voting for, and the presidential election is like the Super Bowl of this sport.

Several years ago, ballots were printed without the party affiliations next to the candidate's names, and people lost their shit because they didn't know who to vote for. I didn't even notice because I have never felt any connection to any political party and I know who I'm voting for before I go to the poll. There are issues that are important to me and I vote with whatever politician supports those issues. I also strongly believe we need term limits, so if I have no preference for either candidate, I vote for the non-incumbent.

I think all ballots should eliminate the party affiliation so people have to know who their voting for instead of ticking everyone with a D or R next to their name, and adopt a better voting system, like the Unified Primary system.

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a family member about the (then) upcoming election. We had a similar conversation back when it was Trump vs. Hillary. Neither of us liked either candidate. Even though she agreed she would rather have Kamala (and Hillary) instead of Trump, she voted for a 3rd party candidate knowing they had no chance because she could not bring herself to vote Democrat, but she can't explain why.

We grew up together, our parents never forced any religion or politics on us, yet she's super religious and a die hard republican. I'm an atheist and apolitical, and yet every time we discuss politics, we agree on pretty much everything, yet she will still vote for a republican that stands against everything she believes instead voting for a democrat that she agrees with. It's not just her, many of my friends are the same way. I do live in a red state, so I believe that it's something akin to peer pressure that makes them vote republican even though when we talk about issues, they should be voting democrat at least some of the time.

cappy wrote on Nov 6, 2024, 21:47:
Packard Bell (now-defunct) sold a lot of 486SX computers back in the day to folks who didn't know the difference between SX and DX and would not know what an FPU/math coprocessor was. And that's perfectly fine.

I don't think most software of the time utilized math coprocessors anyway did they?

Cutter wrote on Nov 6, 2024, 20:36:
"It was decided by low information "swing" voters"

Right, because anyone who isn't on your side must be an obvious moron. Gee, isn't it strange how the people you insult by calling them idiots don't want to vote for your party? And maybe you live in some exclusionary bubble where prices haven't drastically increased on EVERYTHING in the last four years, but that isn't the case for most people. Food and rent are much too high for most people. Most can no longer afford to buy a house or new car. Poverty has been growing by leaps and bounds. The homeless abound and keep growing. Foodbanks everywhere have been closing because the demand is too high! And that's all compounded by the millions upon millions of illegal aliens the Dems invited in, or maybe illegal aliens don't need food and places to live. They also keep wages depressed for actual citizens. War and instability is everywhere. Then throw in trying to force the radical left woke agenda on everyone and what the hell do you think was going to happen? None of these things were a problem under Trump. In 4 short years we went from peace and relative prosperity to everything going in the shitter, and the Dems controlled Congress for two years and still failed to get anything done - which is why they lost in the midterms. No, it was decided by a bunch of arrogant liberals who think they always know better than everyone else and actually don't.

The reality is that most voters are not highly engaged and are not following all aspects and details of both candidates' campaigns and platforms - or even care about most aspects and details. They're either unaware or at most vaguely aware, because most people don't have the time, energy, or interest. That's a simple fact. So they vote according to what concerns or interests them the most and for a candidate (or more often simply the Party) that seems better able to reflect their main concerns or interests.

Granted, "low information voters" has certainly been used by some highly-engaged voters as a way of looking down. But it absolutely is an accurate description of *any* election for the majority of voters. And especially once we move below the level of President and U.S. Senator and Representative. Most voters are going to know virtually nothing about either Party's candidates running for State-level Senator or Representative, or Justice of the Peace, etc. Maybe they saw an ad on television or got a flyer and that's about it. Or they just vote straight-slate sight-unseen which has been very common for the past 20+ years.

It's no different than car-buying. There is a minority of car buyers who carefully evaluate and compare all aspects of several potential cars, pricing, options, etc. And then there is everyone else who will only buy a particular make, or prefer a color, who don't care what options are included as long as they can drive the car off the lot, don't price shop between dealers, etc. Doesn't mean they are dumber than the highly-engaged buyer. Most folks just don't have the time or interest to do all of that tedious research.

Ditto for computers. A minority of enthusiasts like to research and build computers and plan out all the components. Meanwhile, Dell and Apple and Asus and lot of other manufacturers have sold a massive number of computers to "low information" folks at Best Buy and other retailers. Packard Bell (now-defunct) sold a lot of 486SX computers back in the day to folks who didn't know the difference between SX and DX and would not know what an FPU/math coprocessor was. And that's perfectly fine.

Cutter wrote on Nov 6, 2024, 20:36:
"It was decided by low information "swing" voters"

Right, because anyone who isn't on your side must be an obvious moron. Gee, isn't it strange how the people you insult by calling them idiots don't want to vote for your party? And maybe you live in some exclusionary bubble where prices haven't drastically increased on EVERYTHING in the last four years, but that isn't the case for most people. Food and rent are much too high for most people. Most can no longer afford to buy a house or new car. Poverty has been growing by leaps and bounds. The homeless abound and keep growing. Foodbanks everywhere have been closing because the demand is too high! And that's all compounded by the millions upon millions of illegal aliens the Dems invited in, or maybe illegal aliens don't need food and places to live. They also keep wages depressed for actual citizens. War and instability is everywhere. Then throw in trying to force the radical left woke agenda on everyone and what the hell do you think was going to happen? None of these things were a problem under Trump. In 4 short years we went from peace and relative prosperity to everything going in the shitter, and the Dems controlled Congress for two years and still failed to get anything done - which is why they lost in the midterms. No, it was decided by a bunch of arrogant liberals who think they always know better than everyone else and actually don't.

Did you read beyond the first sentence? I literally said they're not stupid. And the rest of your argument is a repeat of everything I've said in this thread.

The people that decided the election are low information voters. They don't know what Project 2025 is. They aren't really paying attention to Trump's convictions. They don't believe the GOP when they say they'll end abortion (as one Trump voter whose fetus developed without a head and couldn't get an abortion in her state discovered). They don't know what "universal healthcare" even is. It's not that they're stupid, they are just busy with their lives: work, family, hobbies, etc. and don't pay attention to politics. What they "know" is that prices are 20% higher on average than 2020 and they're mad about that.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Nov 6, 2024, 19:57:
The eggs thing I don't really understand. Is it regional?

I can get 18, extra large white eggs from my local HEB for $4.60.

Gas for my truck, 89 octane, is $2.87/gallon. I filled up two days ago. It's been pretty consistent at that price for over a year now.

Is it regional pricing? Local taxes?

I know jdreyer lives in a land of beauty where pretty much every thing is imported so I would expect prices to be higher.

Probably regional pricing. I've moved even further away from the center of things, so undoubtedly supply chain costs have increased. Also, that store has no competition being the only one within five miles, and tends to have higher than usual prices. That said, eggs were $1.50 on average in the US in Jan 2020, rising to $4.82 Jan 2023. So regardless of how expensive they are for me personally, the US experienced major sticker shock with eggs during COVID to the tune of a 3x increase. That's why I brought up eggs. And the same thing happened to gas prices, going from an average low of $2.00 per gal in 2020 to a high of $5.00 per gal in June 2022. These kinds of price shocks stick with people and give the impression of at best an unresponsive government, and at worst directly responsible for the price hikes. All these prices have come back down, as has the inflation rate, but the impression remains. Studies show it takes several years for people to adjust to new prices, such is their impact.

Cutter wrote on Nov 6, 2024, 20:36:
-snip-

Low-information doesn't equate to idiot and you thinking it does tells everyone you have a victim complex.

Everything you stated has been a variation of the same boogeyman that Republicans have used for a good century in some fashion... combining it with a new caste of fear-mongering loudmouths and you happily latch onto it like it's a royal feast.

I'm tired of the same shit, different bullhorn... and all you do is amplify the same stupid rhetoric you claim the 'radical libs' are doing.

Cutter wrote on Nov 6, 2024, 20:36:
"It was decided by low information "swing" voters"

Right, because anyone who isn't on your side must be an obvious moron. Gee, isn't it strange how the people you insult by calling them idiots don't want to vote for your party? And maybe you live in some exclusionary bubble where prices haven't drastically increased on EVERYTHING in the last four years, but that isn't the case for most people. Food and rent are much too high for most people. Most can no longer afford to buy a house or new car. Poverty has been growing by leaps and bounds. The homeless abound and keep growing. Foodbanks everywhere have been closing because the demand is too high! And that's all compounded by the millions upon millions of illegal aliens the Dems invited in, or maybe illegal aliens don't need food and places to live. They also keep wages depressed for actual citizens. War and instability is everywhere. Then throw in trying to force the radical left woke agenda on everyone and what the hell do you think was going to happen? None of these things were a problem under Trump. In 4 short years we went from peace and relative prosperity to everything going in the shitter, and the Dems controlled Congress for two years and still failed to get anything done - which is why they lost in the midterms. No, it was decided by a bunch of arrogant liberals who think they always know better than everyone else and actually don't.

I mean, we don't even have to take just your word for it. Bernie basically just said very similar things.
https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/1854271157135941698

"It was decided by low information "swing" voters"

Right, because anyone who isn't on your side must be an obvious moron. Gee, isn't it strange how the people you insult by calling them idiots don't want to vote for your party? And maybe you live in some exclusionary bubble where prices haven't drastically increased on EVERYTHING in the last four years, but that isn't the case for most people. Food and rent are much too high for most people. Most can no longer afford to buy a house or new car. Poverty has been growing by leaps and bounds. The homeless abound and keep growing. Foodbanks everywhere have been closing because the demand is too high! And that's all compounded by the millions upon millions of illegal aliens the Dems invited in, or maybe illegal aliens don't need food and places to live. They also keep wages depressed for actual citizens. War and instability is everywhere. Then throw in trying to force the radical left woke agenda on everyone and what the hell do you think was going to happen? None of these things were a problem under Trump. In 4 short years we went from peace and relative prosperity to everything going in the shitter, and the Dems controlled Congress for two years and still failed to get anything done - which is why they lost in the midterms. No, it was decided by a bunch of arrogant liberals who think they always know better than everyone else and actually don't.