elledee

Those are all details and things the creepy hair sniffer is guilty of

robertv3

I would like to see someone like Elizabeth Warren as president.

If we had a different kind of voting system (maybe something like ranked choice, instant runoff voting) then I could vote for Warren as my first choice and Biden as my second choice. If Warren didn't win then my ballot would automatically be counted in the second round as a vote for Biden.

microphor Loc: Home is TN

Why? What about either of the people would garner your vote?

robertv3

Elizabeth Warren favors more stringent regulation of banks.

Warren and Biden have good credentials to be president. Biden has about a 40-year record of being in Congress. He has been known as one of the Senators who will work with other Senators including those of the opposite major political party. Warren has government experience as a U.S. Senator and was a law professor. The kinds of things she's for appear reasonable to me, and those which I have an opinion about seem good to me. I would quote from Wikipedia to illustrate. I didn't remember each item specifically but I had seen her general trend of the kinds of things she's for. I haven't heard her speak much for a while, but the times I did hear her speak, she sounded sensible and for the kinds of things I'm for. Bank regulation is one of the easy examples for me. I'm definitely for regulation of banks, more than they have been regulated in recent decades.

For whom would you vote, and why? Who would be your first choice; who would be your second choice?

microphor Loc: Home is TN

I will have to wait to see who announces, definitely not Biden. And although I like Warren as a person, both she and Biden, I see as part of the problem. I will not vote for a career politician unless I have no other choices. I don't see how our country is better off as a result of the people in office today. If there's one thing that Trump did to wake up this country, it's made us more cognizant of our career politicians, the deals they make to improve the quality of their lives while the working American carries much of the burden. My family is very diverse when it comes to ethnic groups, religion and politics it gives me a world view of what is going on in their "communities". Please tell me how my life as an American is better off under the admin we have today without saying "Trump did this and Obama did that". Just "How is my life as an American better off today then it was "say" 3 years ago?

robertv3

"My" life, or "your" life?

You say, "3 years ago". That was Dec. 2019. The big difference in my life between then and now was one of the relationships in my family, which isn't about being "an American". It was just something going on in the family, which might have happened in almost any place or time. But you say "my life as an American". I am a middle-class American who has worked steadily throughout my life and I have a good retirement income. Some Americans are like this. Aside from how I feel about the national leadership, not much has changed in my life as an American during the past three years.

I am a little further along in paying my mortgage, that's all. There is no war directly affecting me or my family. None of us have been seriously ill during the past three years. There has been no financial disaster directly affecting my family. We notice gasoline cost more for several months, but we've been able to buy what we need and we can drive as much as we need to, so it feels like nothing's changed.

We're three years further along toward climate disasters and global warming, but that has not affected me or my family directly yet. In fact I'm the only one of the four of us who even seems aware that something really bad is happening with the climate. Here in California there is some recognition of climate change in the state government and I'm happy about that. It's not enough but at least I expect it will make it easier to live in a better ecological way in the future, as compared with life in most other states. Similarly I feel better about what the national leadership says and does about several things (including but not limited to climate change) as compared with three years ago; but none of it has directly affected us other than just to feel happier and more confident about the national leadership.

And that's my life as an American now as compared with three years ago. Bigger changes will probably come in the next five or ten years. What's happened during the past three years, in the national leadership, will likely affect what happens five or ten years from now.

Now what is your answer to the same question you asked me?

microphor Loc: Home is TN

You mean the increases in cost of living hasn't affected you, how fortunate for you. . I guess your neighborhood hasn't been effected by the looters, how fortunate for you. I guess you weren't effected by the in increase in cost or repairs and upgrades to your property,how nice for you!

robertv3

You didn't answer the question. I did answer your question.

microphor Loc: Home is TN

I did answer your question! "I am waiting to see who is announcing other then Trump/Biden." AND "I'm hoping to have a choice other then a career politician. Perhaps I wasn't specific enough!

microphor Loc: Home is TN

[quote=microphor]I did answer your question! "I am waiting to see who is announcing other then Trump/Biden." AND "I'm hoping to have a choice other then a career politician. Perhaps I wasn't specific enough! Oh I thought you should know " "California has the highest ozone levels of any state, according to the American Lung Association's "State of the Air 2017" report on air pollution, which analyzed counties across the country based on levels of ozone and particle pollution. The situation in California is steadily improving, but the state still lags behind the rest of the nation." Maybe those other states that you don't hold in as high esteem as Cal, are actually doing a better job then you think they are".
https://www.epa.gov/air-research/air-quality-and-climate-change-research

robertv3

The question (to which I had just finished giving _my_ answer), and which I referred to as "the same question you asked me") is, exactly as you had originally posed it to me:

'"How is my life as an American better off today then it was "say" 3 years ago?'
Or:
If you claim your life is "worse off", then for you the question would be:
'"How is my life as an American worse off today then it was "say" 3 years ago?'

microphor Loc: Home is TN

Well Let me see. I haven't had a real vacation in the past 3 yrs which means I haven't got to spend time with family unless you count a funeral. That is directly related to cost of living increases, fuel cost, flight cost, hotels, ect. Had hoped to pay off my house this year and retire next year I'm 66, sure would have been nice. I've been accosted twice in a 3 day period of time by angry, homeless idiots in an area I have to travel through to get to work. Guess policing neighborhoods isnt a proprity anymore, that wasn't happening 3 yrs ago. The cost of my insurance premiums is up and I understand we are possibly facing another increase after the first of the year. I haven't bought steak to grill in months, use to have it once a week at least. Use to take long drives into the hills to get out of the city but fuel cost money and I might need it for a dozen eggs. At this point, I'm getting a little sarcastic because everybody who's had their eyes open know the working class are baring the brunt of this horrible economy which is projected to get worse in 2023.

robertv3

Thank you for that reply.

Almost everything you mention has to do with increased costs, or an increased cost of living. The one other thing you mention is being accosted by angry homeless "idiots" which wasn't happening to you 3 years ago. But I think that too might have to do with rising costs. Rising costs could lead to more people becoming homeless, and could lead to more homeless people becoming angrier. In connection with those people you guess that "policing neighborhoods isnt a priority anymore" and I think: that too might have to do with rising costs. In my town, for example, the police department says its funding is too low.

The main rising cost I've noticed is the price of gasoline, which doesn't affect my family too badly because we don't have to drive much. Our family has been able to ride out fluctuations in prices so I haven't had to pay much attention to that part of the news. The economics things I've noticed have included the bank crisis (and housing bubble beginning to burst) that occurred around 2008. (I think I recall it was going on in late 2007 and early 2008.) During the years after that I heard one co-worker (who I think had been financially better off than I was) lost her home. And I saw in the news that many people were losing their homes. It seemed to take several years for that to shake out. So when my co-worker lost her home, it was already several years after the 2008 banking crisis and housing bubble bursting. I didn't lose my home because I hadn't bought a home with land, yet, and I was able to keep up with my rent payments on my mobile home lot. And a member of my family didn't lose her home because (a) I gave her money to pay her mortgage and (b) she is shrewd enough to get around just about anything.

There seems to be some blame going on. Is that a theme for you? Do you blame somebody (Biden? Democrats?) for the costs that increased?

I didn't mind the mild sarcasm. I am sarcastic sometimes and deliberately simple (appearing naive) other times. By being simple I hope to obtain statements clearly expressed without hidden assumptions.

microphor Loc: Home is TN

Yes, I hold this admin responsible.