Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 8:48:59 GMT
Interesting comment by a tame expert interviewed just now on R4 about the import tariffs trump is likely to place on Chinese (and other) goods.
He suggested that because China needs to maintain its export markets, their reaction to import tariffs might be to lower the cost of the goods to compensate for the additional tax and so maintain their competitiveness in foreign markets. in other words, it might simply create a revenue stream for the US government at the expense of the Chinese government.
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Nov 14, 2024 8:50:41 GMT
alec I'm sure the democrats would have loved to have focussed on bread and butter issues in this election. The only reason 'identity politics' played as much of a role as it did was because there was a moral imperative to counter the extremist, dangerous rhetoric from the other side threatening established rights. It was, as it almost always is, the right who get the 'identity' bandwagon rolling, forcing a response. They gambled that enough Americans would see that that it was necessary to call that out due to the apparent emergency nature of the situation. They were wrong, too many Americans just shrugged off Trumps and co's rhetoric and refused to either take it seriously, or, more likely care, which is pretty unnerving in itself. What else would they be willing to shrug off? As it turns out the best approach would have been to just ignore it but that would have been morally questionable and they couldn't have known so many voters appear to have lost their moral compasses. Obviously there will be cases when it is necessary to address identity culture issues. Unfortunately it can also be an opportunity to have a go at people for being “uneducated”, “masculine”, “racist” if they are talking about rates of immigration, and to try and signal being caring while glossing over economic inequality resulting from from their favoured liberal economic policies. Some people very concerned with identity politics, also quite often seem also to be intensely relaxed about economic inequality (unless it’s the ruling class having more than the middle class), about deindustrialisation, inflating house prices, privatisation leading to high energy and water prices, driving down wages with more immigration and losing working class jobs via offshoring (while middle-class jobs are protected et cetera et cetera.) People cherry-picking concerns so long as they don’t reduce middle class advantage. (They also may not mind reducing democratic accountability via hiving more stuff off to non-elected bodies and locking in more of their policies of inequality etc etc.) |
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 8:58:24 GMT
Interesting comment by a tame expert interviewed just now on R4 about the import tariffs trump is likely to place on Chinese (and other) goods. He suggested that because China needs to maintain its export markets, their reaction to import tariffs might be to lower the cost of the goods to compensate for the additional tax and so maintain their competitiveness in foreign markets. in other words, it might simply create a revenue stream for the US government at the expense of the Chinese government. What, so China throws away Billions and looks weak? |
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 9:01:00 GMT
alec I'm sure the democrats would have loved to have focussed on bread and butter issues in this election. The only reason 'identity politics' played as much of a role as it did was because there was a moral imperative to counter the extremist, dangerous rhetoric from the other side threatening established rights. It was, as it almost always is, the right who get the 'identity' bandwagon rolling, forcing a response. They gambled that enough Americans would see that that it was necessary to call that out due to the apparent emergency nature of the situation. They were wrong, too many Americans just shrugged off Trumps and co's rhetoric and refused to either take it seriously, or, more likely care, which is pretty unnerving in itself. What else would they be willing to shrug off? As it turns out the best approach would have been to just ignore it but that would have been morally questionable and they couldn't have known so many voters appear to have lost their moral compasses. Obviously there will be cases when it is necessary to address identity culture issues. Unfortunately it can also be an opportunity to have a go at people for being “uneducated”, “Masculine”, “racist” if they are talking about rates of immigration, and to try and signal being caring while glossing over economic inequality resulting from from their favoured liberal economic policies. Some people very concerned with identity politics, also quite often seem also to be intensely relaxed about deindustrialisation, inflating house prices, privatisation leading to high energy and water prices, driving down wages with more immigration and losing working class jobs via offshoring (while middle-class wages are protected et cetera et cetera.) People cherry-picking concerns so long as they don’t affect middle class advantage But that sounds like both sides., the right is pretty happy with much of that Dems more likely just lost because they were in power during the cost of living crisis and people (or lots of them) have forgotten how poor Trump was/is. |
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Post by colin on Nov 14, 2024 9:01:38 GMT
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 9:02:18 GMT
indeed, solar activity is a factor… some argue that we are on the verge of drifting into another ice age? ❄️☃️ That was what I was taught at school in the 1960s. I came up with the idea of building a chain of nuclear reactors piping hot water between themselves along the Scottish border to keep the glaciers back. The geography teacher wasn't impressed.  Back in the 1960s the extent of public subsidy in the nuclear 'cheap energy' program was not explained. Nor that the only reason we created it was as a support to the nuclear weapons programs. (though there was also interest as propulsion systems for naval vessels). When we had our own nuclear accident at Windscale in 1957 it got deeply under reported. There were even suggestions at the time of the Chernobyl fire that radiation detected then in Wales was the result of the much earlier Windscale fire rather than the new one. |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 9:04:53 GMT
Across the water, official confirmation that the Republicans now control the three arms of Federal Government. Also comments Trump might have to appoint his new ministers in recess because the republican congress would not approve them. Republicans are not automatic Trump supporters. |
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Nov 14, 2024 9:05:15 GMT
Obviously there will be cases when it is necessary to address identity culture issues. Unfortunately it can also be an opportunity to have a go at people for being “uneducated”, “Masculine”, “racist” if they are talking about rates of immigration, and to try and signal being caring while glossing over economic inequality resulting from from their favoured liberal economic policies. Some people very concerned with identity politics, also quite often seem also to be intensely relaxed about deindustrialisation, inflating house prices, privatisation leading to high energy and water prices, driving down wages with more immigration and losing working class jobs via offshoring (while middle-class wages are protected et cetera et cetera.) People cherry-picking concerns so long as they don’t affect middle class advantage But that sounds like both sides., the right is pretty happy with much of that Dems more likely just lost because they were in power during the cost of living crisis and people (or lots of them) have forgotten how poor Trump was/is. Indeed Pete. The left wing economic voice is relatively absent. Instead we tend to have two approaches. Both are right-wing favouring capital, ok with driving down working class wages, offshoring jobs, inflating price of essentials etc. But one side will offer more welfare benefits, minimum wage etc. but overall the ladder is being pulled up still. That said, things are shifting left a bit compared to before. For example, the Democrats have now been trying to create more jobs in the green sector. Kamala Harris was talking about a prices cap on groceries. But it is still quite a long way off post-war arrangements... (Incidentally, further to this, the cost of living crisis was in part a consequence of right-wing policy in years gone by. A failure to do the left-wing thing and sufficiently secure low energy costs and food supplies. Or to do enough subsidy when such things hit). We are now doing similar to the Dems: investing more in Green tech jobs, supposedly also aimed at lower energy prices, And we did an energy subsidy at the height of the crisis (though I would argue we needed more). There is also supposed to be a mass house building programme to bring down property prices. How far this all goes in practice of course remains to be seen... |
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domjg
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Post by domjg on Nov 14, 2024 9:20:26 GMT
I think it's worth remembering that all conquering as he may appear at the moment, Donald Trump is not the Republican party. Many traditional republicans dislike him greatly but tolerate him because of his apparent electoral usefulness (questionable as any republican would probably have won this time) and the grass roots not being able to get enough of him (echoes of Johnson).
Trump isn't really a republican (and in fact was a registered democrat not that long ago) but these elections were not won just by Trump, a party of one. In winning the Senate and House the Republican party has also won on it's own merits and the appointment of John Thune as Senate leader is an early sign of muscle flexing on it's part and the new confidence they feel in themselves. They're no longer reliant on Trump and they're already showing it.
The fact that they now control everything and the contradictory and 'interesting' nature of some of Trump's appointments sets the scene for some epic republican infighting I suspect.
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 9:24:53 GMT
Look, my belief is that farming subsidies should focus on smaller scale, dare I say it "traditional" nature farming methods. The EU CAP was specifically designed to favour small scale farmers. Latterly it was revised because it was seen as a violation of GATT, a simply state subsidy of an industry. Biggest effects historically have been industrial, and nowadays down to privatised water companies inability to process waste water. There is totally no reason why ten farmers with 200 acres each will be less polluting than one farmer with 2000 acres. Big company farmers are more likely to follow rules than family farmers, whether that produces a better or worse result is hard to say. Depends on the quality of the rules. As with the British Dukes who still own such a large proportion of Uk land and never pay tax on it when it switches generations. For centuries. |
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Post by shevii on Nov 14, 2024 9:31:49 GMT
The penny starting to drop here in a couple of letters to the Guardian. Note that the Harris referred to is John Harris, who wrote an article which generated these responses - www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/13/why-the-left-is-losing-respect-and-electionsIt's almost as if Harris was reading UKPR2. He's right. The 'left' has majored on identity based prigishness towards those who don't use the correct language or show visibly the correct emotions. Most people across the political spectrum are pretty laid back about social identity issues, with some major exceptions, but its far too common for those with some mild sentiments to be labeled alongside the real offenders, even though the opinions are private and don't lead to any real world negative consequences. Ironically one of the letters accuses Harris (article writer) of using the same tropes that's it's hard for well educated people to bring themselves down to an understanding of the working classes (paraphrased). But again, name the names and examples comes to mind and are we describing "the left" or "liberals"? I didn't see Bernie Sanders fretting over pronouns- he campaigns on working class issues and in my humble opinion, fishing in the same swing demographic, would have beaten Trump in 2016 with a more persuasive argument. Labour made a conscious effort to avoid stuff like "can a woman have a penis" level of debate and, while they got a huge majority, they got 34% of the vote and have Reform breathing down their neck in many of their Red Wall seats. This argument is perhaps more relevant to the remain/leave dynamics and remain was distinctly centrist and liberal not left especially, and at times did seem to patronise the leave voters for being thick socially conservative Northerners. |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 9:45:34 GMT
But I’m not sure how many who are so keen to see productive assets possibly built up over a lifetime and more having to be sold off have actually built up productive facilities like that themselves. Be interesting to know... Theres nothing special about a family farm. They dont each have unique working methods. Lop off a chunk of land from one farm and add it to another, and most likely nothing much would change with the land use. Its very different to eg someone who has built up expert knowledge about electronic music making. Theres lots of people who would take on a farm and it would continue operating exactly as before. Its really not cutting edge technology but solid established knowledge. Mostly the debate is about which option will generate most return. So are we allowed to use nicotinoid bee poisons or not, so what impact does that have on the crop likely to do best this year? |
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Nov 14, 2024 9:48:10 GMT
I think it's worth remembering that all conquering as he may appear at the moment, Donald Trump is not the Republican party. Many traditional republicans dislike him greatly but tolerate him because of his apparent electoral usefulness (questionable as any republican would probably have won this time) and the grass roots not being able to get enough of him (echoes of Johnson). Trump isn't really a republican (and in fact was a registered democrat not that long ago) but these elections were not won just by Trump, a party of one. In winning the Senate and House the Republican party has also won on it's own merits and the appointment of John Thune as Senate leader is an early sign of muscle flexing on it's part and the new confidence they feel in themselves. They're no longer reliant on Trump and they're already showing it. The fact that they now control everything and the contradictory and 'interesting' nature of some of Trump's appointments sets the scene for some epic republican infighting I suspect. Trump is in some ways an old-style Republican before they got taken over by the neoliberals, like the Tories got taken over by neoliberals here. In particular his favouring tariffs, not something traditionally loved by the neoliberals. Similarly, before being captured by neolibs and eurolibs the Tory party here used to be more in favour of tariffs than the Liberals. |
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Post by shevii on Nov 14, 2024 9:59:53 GMT
alecI ought to add that there is a balance to be had on these things anyway. If you completely ignore or are seen to shy away from these issues then you tend to lose voters who do care about these things. The Green and independent vote is probably a combination of factors and mainly to do with bread and butter issues on taxes and public services but if you ignore Palestine, trans rights, equality issues etc then people who might have been in your camp can look elsewhere or not vote, especially if the rest of the offer doesn't seem great. Blair had a leaflet for just about everything in 1997 but this time Labour made the decision to ignore certain issues because they played badly with their target voter.
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domjg
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Post by domjg on Nov 14, 2024 10:09:58 GMT
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic but one positive that I think has come out of the last couple of weeks is... the perception of American democracy and democracy in general in the wider world (don't laugh).
It might sound counter intuitive to us but for many, esp in the developing world and living under authoritarian regimes themselves the clear nature of Trump's win, the lack of any trouble on the streets or claims of fraud, the beginning of the transition and Biden and Trump making nice in the White House showcase American democracy as functional and healthy, with a clear vote leading to a clear and apparently smooth change.
This is far from the chaos that Xi Jingping especially likes to characterise democracy as representing and will maybe make more people in countries like China who may not have considered it before wonder why if a clear change of government can work that well even with all the hard rhetoric leading up to it then why can't they have the same.
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Nov 14, 2024 10:41:02 GMT
But I’m not sure how many who are so keen to see productive assets possibly built up over a lifetime and more having to be sold off have actually built up productive facilities like that themselves. Be interesting to know... Theres nothing special about a family farm. My mother grew up on a farm, and others in her wider family had farms. When I was young we would fly over and stay, and I would get introduced to farming life. Even aged eight they had me milking cows (not very well), making honey, driving the tractor though my feet couldn’t reach the pedals. Me and my cousin would huff and puff dragging the milk churn on the trolley up the rather steep hill to the dairy. Everyone knew each other and traded with each other… it’s not just a job but a way of life that you build up over the years. And you can indeed do unique things - the honey might be quite unique and you can make things from what you farm to unique recipes. People take their cars to France to get wine from particular vineyards. Particular cheeses etc. Even aspects that aren’t as unique might be things you wish to preserve and do your bit to promote, like organic farming. (And it can be the same with a recording studio. You may buy equipment other people have, but in unique combinations and use it in unique ways. Have it customised in particular ways. You would have rooms with a particularly nice and unique sound. Particular vintage microphones… in turn these places can become community hubs for musicians etc.) But I’m not sure how many who are so keen to see productive assets possibly built up over a lifetime and more having to be sold off have actually built up productive facilities like that themselves. Be interesting to know... Theres nothing special about a family farm. They dont each have unique working methods. Lop off a chunk of land from one farm and add it to another, and most likely nothing much would change with the land use. Its very different to eg someone who has built up expert knowledge about electronic music making. Theres lots of people who would take on a farm and it would continue operating exactly as before. Its really not cutting edge technology but solid established knowledge. Mostly the debate is about which option will generate most return. So are we allowed to use nicotinoid bee poisons or not, so what impact does that have on the crop likely to do best this year? Farming isn’t like learning history at school. It’s very practical involving a lot of trial and error and learning the hard way. And once you’ve had a lifetime learning that stuff, and building up the necessary resources, there is a certain efficiency in passing it on to your offspring, who have grown up with it. Instead of starting all over again from ground zero… |
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 10:57:31 GMT
But that sounds like both sides., the right is pretty happy with much of that Dems more likely just lost because they were in power during the cost of living crisis and people (or lots of them) have forgotten how poor Trump was/is. Indeed Pete. The left wing economic voice is relatively absent. Instead we tend to have two approaches. Both are right-wing favouring capital, ok with driving down working class wages, offshoring jobs, inflating price of essentials etc. But one side will offer more welfare benefits, minimum wage etc. but overall the ladder is being pulled up still. That said, things are shifting left a bit compared to before. For example, the Democrats have now been trying to create more jobs in the green sector. Kamala Harris was talking about a prices cap on groceries. But it is still quite a long way off post-war arrangements... (Incidentally, further to this, the cost of living crisis was in part a consequence of right-wing policy in years gone by. A failure to do the left-wing thing and sufficiently secure low energy costs and food supplies. Or to do enough subsidy when such things hit). We are now doing similar to the Dems: investing more in Green tech jobs, supposedly also aimed at lower energy prices, And we did an energy subsidy at the height of the crisis (though I would argue we needed more). There is also supposed to be a mass house building programme to bring down property prices. How far this all goes in practice of course remains to be seen... I don't think bringing down house prices down should be a policy as such, it should be a bonus that may happen if more social housing is built (and needs to be built). |
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 10:59:10 GMT
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic but one positive that I think has come out of the last couple of weeks is... the perception of American democracy and democracy in general in the wider world (don't laugh). It might sound counter intuitive to us but for many, esp in the developing world and living under authoritarian regimes themselves the clear nature of Trump's win, the lack of any trouble on the streets or claims of fraud, the beginning of the transition and Biden and Trump making nice in the White House showcase American democracy as functional and healthy, with a clear vote leading to a clear and apparently smooth change. This is far from the chaos that Xi Jingping especially likes to characterise democracy as representing and will maybe make more people in countries like China who may not have considered it before wonder why if a clear change of government can work that well even with all the hard rhetoric leading up to it then why can't they have the same. The trouble in America is coming later, just around the corner. Once Trump is again sat in the Oval office then his revenge will start. |
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Nov 14, 2024 11:02:37 GMT
Indeed Pete. The left wing economic voice is relatively absent. Instead we tend to have two approaches. Both are right-wing favouring capital, ok with driving down working class wages, offshoring jobs, inflating price of essentials etc. But one side will offer more welfare benefits, minimum wage etc. but overall the ladder is being pulled up still. That said, things are shifting left a bit compared to before. For example, the Democrats have now been trying to create more jobs in the green sector. Kamala Harris was talking about a prices cap on groceries. But it is still quite a long way off post-war arrangements... (Incidentally, further to this, the cost of living crisis was in part a consequence of right-wing policy in years gone by. A failure to do the left-wing thing and sufficiently secure low energy costs and food supplies. Or to do enough subsidy when such things hit). We are now doing similar to the Dems: investing more in Green tech jobs, supposedly also aimed at lower energy prices, And we did an energy subsidy at the height of the crisis (though I would argue we needed more). There is also supposed to be a mass house building programme to bring down property prices. How far this all goes in practice of course remains to be seen... I don't think bringing down house prices down should be a policy as such, it should be a bonus that may happen if more social housing is built (and needs to be built). Well, yes we probably differ on that in some ways Pete! Inflated house prices can not only cause great hardship, great stress as people have to work harder and more jobs to pay rent or mortgage, health difficulties because stressed and don’t have enough money or time left over to look after themselves, but also make it increasingly difficult for people nowadays to afford to have children. Or money or time, left over to care for other family members. Not enough money left to save in a pension or maybe save for a house themselves. And they also massively inflate prices of other things (causing more hardship) as businesses have to cover big rental costs, and also make manufacturing uneconomic in competition with other countries with cheaper rents. And they can provide a lot of privilege, and inflates government costs as the cost of housing benefit escalates greatly.… but we agree that more housebuilding is a way to bring down house prices. (It may not if we keep having high rates of immigration though) |
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Post by colin on Nov 14, 2024 11:25:19 GMT
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic but one positive that I think has come out of the last couple of weeks is... the perception of American democracy and democracy in general in the wider world (don't laugh). It might sound counter intuitive to us but for many, esp in the developing world and living under authoritarian regimes themselves the clear nature of Trump's win, the lack of any trouble on the streets or claims of fraud, the beginning of the transition and Biden and Trump making nice in the White House showcase American democracy as functional and healthy, with a clear vote leading to a clear and apparently smooth change. This is far from the chaos that Xi Jingping especially likes to characterise democracy as representing and will maybe make more people in countries like China who may not have considered it before wonder why if a clear change of government can work that well even with all the hard rhetoric leading up to it then why can't they have the same. Its a nice thought , but very optimistic i fear. The idea of a successful revolt against the Chinese Communist Party seems very far fetched and any sign of retrenchment on /withdrawal from Ukraine's efforts to retain independence will not make Xi any less inclined to take Taiwan. As for Russia, a successful acquisition of a chunk of Ukraine , with a neutered rump of that country , all agreed by the democratic west will be a sure sign that democracies have no answer to the demands of autocratic regimes. As it is, Russia is rapidly replacing western influence across the Sahel :- carnegieendowment.org/research/2023/02/russias-growing-footprint-in-africas-sahel-region?lang=enand Africa in general www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9grpyejg1oNo wonder countries like Brazil, South Africa, India, Turkey, Malaysia etc are moving into Putin's sphere and away from The West:- www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/23/putin-world-economy-bloc-brics-summitThat BRICS summit by the way was attended by the ludicrous António Guterres,a signal if ever one were needed of the UN's pointlessness. |
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Post by guymonde on Nov 14, 2024 11:36:15 GMT
Indeed Pete. The left wing economic voice is relatively absent. Instead we tend to have two approaches. Both are right-wing favouring capital, ok with driving down working class wages, offshoring jobs, inflating price of essentials etc. But one side will offer more welfare benefits, minimum wage etc. but overall the ladder is being pulled up still. That said, things are shifting left a bit compared to before. For example, the Democrats have now been trying to create more jobs in the green sector. Kamala Harris was talking about a prices cap on groceries. But it is still quite a long way off post-war arrangements... (Incidentally, further to this, the cost of living crisis was in part a consequence of right-wing policy in years gone by. A failure to do the left-wing thing and sufficiently secure low energy costs and food supplies. Or to do enough subsidy when such things hit). We are now doing similar to the Dems: investing more in Green tech jobs, supposedly also aimed at lower energy prices, And we did an energy subsidy at the height of the crisis (though I would argue we needed more). There is also supposed to be a mass house building programme to bring down property prices. How far this all goes in practice of course remains to be seen... I don't think bringing down house prices down should be a policy as such, it should be a bonus that may happen if more social housing is built (and needs to be built). As I've said before (perhaps ad nauseam) building social housing is essential but the current model is doomed to continuing failure. Council rents are too low to be sustainable. Indeed the service charges that primarily cover maintenance costs onmy privately owned flat are more than the rent on a similarly-sized council flat. The result is there is very high demand for social housing where there is sufficient income to keep the properties sound. Hence repeating horror stories about mould, leaks, failing services etc. Reeves has put rents up a miniscule amount and I believe has reduced the discount on right to buy. Where I am, if you buy your council flat after 10 years, despite it being capped at £130K, the discount is a great deal more (actually double) than the rent you've paid over 10 years |
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Post by leftieliberal on Nov 14, 2024 11:42:34 GMT
steve has gone very quiet about the final results in the House of Representatives, after clinging on to the faint hope that the Democrats could still win. CBS, the BBC's USA partner, has called the 218th seat for the Republicans, meaning that they now have control of all branches of the US Government. Don't be surprised if they try impeaching Biden and Harris (and probably Mike Pence as well). Trump's desire for revenge will know no bounds.
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c-a-r-f-r-e-w
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Nov 14, 2024 11:49:35 GMT
I don't think bringing down house prices down should be a policy as such, it should be a bonus that may happen if more social housing is built (and needs to be built). As I've said before (perhaps ad nauseam) by my counting this is only the third time you’ve mentioned it guymonde (and one of those was at my request if I recall correctly) - given that it seems people often miss a lot of posts this seems far from unreasonable, might need to say it again in future, and by board standards it barely registers on the scale, which incidentally is measured in “Covids”: the rate at which Covid is mentioned on the board. (It used to be measured in “Thoriums”, but sadly that got eclipsed a long time ago. It’s possible that “Musks” or “Trumps” may become the new standard in future) (given the critical importance, it’s amazing how little property prices and what to do about them gets discussed anyway) |
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 12:29:32 GMT
I don't think bringing down house prices down should be a policy as such, it should be a bonus that may happen if more social housing is built (and needs to be built). As I've said before (perhaps ad nauseam) building social housing is essential but the current model is doomed to continuing failure. Council rents are too low to be sustainable. Indeed the service charges that primarily cover maintenance costs onmy privately owned flat are more than the rent on a similarly-sized council flat. The result is there is very high demand for social housing where there is sufficient income to keep the properties sound. Hence repeating horror stories about mould, leaks, failing services etc. Reeves has put rents up a miniscule amount and I believe has reduced the discount on right to buy. Where I am, if you buy your council flat after 10 years, despite it being capped at £130K, the discount is a great deal more (actually double) than the rent you've paid over 10 years and yet I know of working people who struggle to pay their council rent. |
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 12:31:25 GMT
steve has gone very quiet about the final results in the House of Representatives, after clinging on to the faint hope that the Democrats could still win. CBS, the BBC's USA partner, has called the 218th seat for the Republicans, meaning that they now have control of all branches of the US Government. Don't be surprised if they try impeaching Biden and Harris (and probably Mike Pence as well). Trump's desire for revenge will know no bounds. Is it 2/3rds they need of each house to impeach? |
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 12:40:37 GMT
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 12:49:40 GMT
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Post by guymonde on Nov 14, 2024 12:52:44 GMT
As I've said before (perhaps ad nauseam) building social housing is essential but the current model is doomed to continuing failure. Council rents are too low to be sustainable. Indeed the service charges that primarily cover maintenance costs onmy privately owned flat are more than the rent on a similarly-sized council flat. The result is there is very high demand for social housing where there is sufficient income to keep the properties sound. Hence repeating horror stories about mould, leaks, failing services etc. Reeves has put rents up a miniscule amount and I believe has reduced the discount on right to buy. Where I am, if you buy your council flat after 10 years, despite it being capped at £130K, the discount is a great deal more (actually double) than the rent you've paid over 10 years and yet I know of working people who struggle to pay their council rent. Of course, but that is primarily because there are many people living on poverty wages. I recently observed that the 'national living wage' is no such thing. But bear in mind that people on benefits (round here) will receive rent allowances which are far in excess of council rent. The government will pay £229 pw to a private landlord, compared with council rents of £127 pw and market rent of about £390 pw. It is all quite crazy. |
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Nov 14, 2024 13:04:21 GMT
steve has gone very quiet about the final results in the House of Representatives, after clinging on to the faint hope that the Democrats could still win. CBS, the BBC's USA partner, has called the 218th seat for the Republicans, meaning that they now have control of all branches of the US Government. Don't be surprised if they try impeaching Biden and Harris (and probably Mike Pence as well). Trump's desire for revenge will know no bounds. The Supreme Court's ruling that Presidents have immunity for virtually everything applies to Biden as well, so ironically he is pretty safe even after 20 January. And Pence is not in office so can't be impeached. I suspect that the focus will be much more on policies to further enrich big business and billionaires by shredding already weak environmental and employment protections and generally wrecking government. |
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Post by graham on Nov 14, 2024 13:21:25 GMT
steve has gone very quiet about the final results in the House of Representatives, after clinging on to the faint hope that the Democrats could still win. CBS, the BBC's USA partner, has called the 218th seat for the Republicans, meaning that they now have control of all branches of the US Government. Don't be surprised if they try impeaching Biden and Harris (and probably Mike Pence as well). Trump's desire for revenge will know no bounds. The new Houses of Congress do not take office until January 2025 - by which time both Biden and Harris will be leaving office. |
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