Ok...Here I go with a new political thread...

I really didn’t want to do it, but with Bernie getting in today, the Venezuela speech yesterday and Dems saying Bernie is too far Left...I just had to.

The Venezuela speech yesterday in Miami was spot on. It told of ‘socialism’ that is not taught in schools/college any longer.

And then Bernie this morning...wanting to ‘transform this country socially and politically’. I am sorry, but exactly ‘transform’ this country into exactly what? They never say how to pay for it or what ‘transforming’ exactly looks like. Wow.

Then all the ‘progressive’ Dems that are compaigning for 2020 are running away from Bernie’s policies that they have so far been backing?!?! Then you have Warren talking about a ‘wealth’ tax to pay for Pre-K care! Good grief, does anyone know what a wealth tax exactly is and who it hits? It hits everyone. And Harris’ comments yesterday on how to pay for Medicare for all, was so stupid. 

My gosh...I cannot believe things have went this far, this quick. The Dems want to say we won’t be Venezuela. But just ask Venezuelans what they were told 20 years years ago and see where they are at today.

Socialism ends up in the same spot every time. It is a tried and true FAILED system. However, it keeps getting tried as the ‘new’ people/leaders keep thinking they are THE ultimate ‘smart’ ones (elitists) and can build a better ‘mouse trap’.

Oh I know !!!! I love that ALL the dems are jumping in !!!! It makes the party look like they can’t agree and all 10,000 of them have different direction for this country. I hope we get trump another 4 years !!

If you remember right, Obama ran on the premise of "fundamentally changing America" and Dem voters jumped on it.  He did manage to screw up our health care, set the Middle East on fire, and fund Iran's nuclear program. 

If I remember correctly, you’re a teacher.

Is Socialism being taught in schools for what it actually IS and DOES to a country of 350 million people?

I know it is NOT being or has been taught to my niece that is 17. She thinks Socialism is great.

I try and stay out of political conversations, but I have to comment after I listened to Bernie today.  How does he plan to pay for all of these things and has he thought about the ramifications? It is easy to say things like we need to raise minimum wage and have free college for everyone because it sounds great to help people.  If we raise minimum wage, the cost to make/sell those products has to go up to cover the wage increase so then it costs more to live so really no one got a raise.  If we make college free to all, then the value of a college educated person to a company is diminished, so now you have to have a Masters Degree in order to set yourself apart from everyone else so it still costs someone a lot of tuition money if you want to get ahead.  Life shouldn't be about making sure that everyone is given the exact same things.  It should be about working for something that you want.

I am. High School teacher yep. I don’t teach the government or economics classes however. But i am in that department. The sad truth is , here In Commifornia , is that most of the teachers in our department are very much far left !!! I cannot say exactly what they teach BUT they preach “ free everything “ is a right and our country needs to let everyone in with open arms. Lol. There are a few of us conservatives that see each other in the halls and blow steam. Lol we have to be very very careful of how we approach these topics. When a kid brings it up , I am good at letting them vent free everything and I simply show them facts with no opinion or judgement. It’s a hard hard battle here. Lol. 

To me, in my opinion, Obama was a big pre-cursor and ‘smooth operator’ to this whole ‘movement’. He was really ‘slick’ about it. There was a ‘mask’ then, now that has been ripped off and they are proudly ‘protesting’ or ‘professing’ it, take your pick.

Hence, the ‘title’ Progressive/Democratic Socialist. Gentle and easy steps, the ‘Overton Window’.

I do remember Obama making that statement when he was Inaugurated. I got a chill up my spine. I was like ‘fundamentally transform’ this Country into what?!?!

They NEVER say exactly what that transformation IS or ACTUALLY looks like.

Like I said, ask Venezuelans WHAT they were told 20 years ago (pretty similar) and SEE where they are now. 

But yeh right... Trump is the Facist/Dictator/Autocrat.

The left only hears the word FREE logic has nothing to do with it.

A big ole ‘Yep’ to that.

My niece is in NY...so not that much different (or worse) than CA.

Exactly

I'm a teacher in Iowa.  I don't know how other schools do it, but ours teaches socialism for what it is.  They give the facts about all types of govt.  They don't push one or the other down the kids' throats. 

Our Gov't teacher actually does a pretty cool lesson about Socialism that makes the kids share their grades (giving A kids points they worked for away to F kids so they pass.)  The kids that have A's hate it...of course the ones with F's like it, until you take them back away. lol 

That is exactly my point... they NEVER do say exactly how to pay for what they deem as a Right. If they do, they do ‘class warfare’ and say ‘tax the rich’.

I am sorry, but the Top 1% already pays for 37% of the taxes and the Top 5% pays for just over 50% of the taxes. Get to the Top 10% and it is more. The top 10% is like at/over $150K in yearly household salary.

So, exactly what is a ‘fair share’? No one will actually give that number either. That is why I said Harris’ comment yesterday on how to pay for ‘Medicare for all’ was just plain stupid and void of the actual numbers/economics.

i am sorry, but there is NOT enough money on the planet (let alone the United States) to pay for everything that the Dems/Progressives/Socialists DEEM as a Right.

A big welcome and hope you return!

He’s an idiot...I.D.I.O.T. and that finger he points and shakes all the time,along with his general appearance, gives him a truly mad man look. Yep...idiot...bonafide and certified...in my humble opinion, of course.

Margaret Thatcher:  The trouble with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money.

A big ‘thank you’ for the ‘grades’ comment. 

I also told my Mom a couple weeks ago exactly that on how to explain Socialism to her granddaughter/my niece...and it was a big ole ‘no’ she didn’t like that and it wasn’t fair!

My niece/her granddaughter got quite indignant about it. And my niece was told by my Mom to transform her grades into money and that is Socialism.

And then...my niece shut up.

It is a great analogy for teenagers that have no idea (or a remote clue) what is or what Socialism does.

Special request to those of you with really small font.  Please increase it. Pretty Please?  I have old eyes and sometimes the effort to read that little tiny font is more than I can take.  I already have bi-focals. I have trouble with middle distances. 

LOL, I am so gald that you said something about the tiny words, I was going to say something but I thought just shut up Roxie you are the only one with this problem of reading the tiny words, glad I'm not the only one after all,,  so yes please increase the size of your fronts would make my eyes be happy

I second this!!! lol

A few people use cursive and while it's very pretty, I can't read it well. I tend to skip those responses on the threads lol!

I have a few family members on fb that are Bernie fans. These are people older than me still working fast food and touting that they "deserve" to feed their families in they work 40 hrs a week. 

Nevermind the fact that trade school or even college would have been cheap for them years ago when they were starting out due to their income, they didn't want to put in the work. They "deserve" that $15/hr, the smart phone, electronics and everything else just like everyone else and we all "better" stop discriminating just bc they work an entry level job! *eyeroll*

Their solution when you point out that EMTs do not make 15 per hour or that they will now be making as much as a more skilled worker? Oh just pay them more too, they deserve it. (Which I agree, but instead of paying people more to flip burgers, I'd be all for first responders being paid more....but that requires more taxes, which they hadn't thought about. Anyway.) So when you say don't you realize that when lost of people start getting paid more, the cost to produce goods will go up, prices will go up, this thing called inflation will happen very quickly and you're back to square one and demanding more money to work at McDs....their response? Companies should not raise their prices in response to the minimum wage increase. That's unethical, don't you know? They should make less profit and treat their workers better and keep prices the same for the consumer. 

It's laughable, really. They have NO flipping clue how the economy works, how inflation works, or the ramifications of what they're demanding. It really ticks me off.

Icing on the cake is when one said cousin accused me of being an elitist bc they "just know" my husband and I have to pull in 6 figures and we have "no clue why it's like." Okay, then. 

Sorry about the rant. I've just had enough of socialists on my fb arguing with me. I've blocked a lot of people lately! 

Trump’s speech to the Venezuelan-Americans was the most direct, scathing rebuke of socialism I’ve ever heard.  Reagan had a number to his credit, and his speech was Reaganesque, in that regard, but Trump pulled no punches.  It was obviously intended to be more than an attack on the socialist-Marxist regimes in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela.  It was clearly intended to be directed to the Democratic Socialism that is taking the Democrat Party by storm.  

I can't believe I missed this speech.  These seldom get by me.....must have fallen asleep.  On the subject of $15 min. wage, there was a  couple interviewed the other day who run a Subway sandwich shop.  They were forced to raise employees wages.  They had to lay off, cut hours and raise prices to make ends meet.  None of this was going well for them.

Minimum was never designed nor expected to be a long term career position! It was designed for folks starting out to gain experience! 

I am sorry. I am so very guilty of this.

I keep trying to change the font size, but then it doesn’t submit. I have old eyes too. And I don’t like it either. 

I’ll try to do better.

Good to know I'm not the only pair of "old" eyes here.  I too have trouble with tiny font especially if it's a long narrative. 

Okay...where is the font size under the new format? I keep seeing bold, italic, all kinds of other stuff; but not font size. I keep hitting buttons, but I am not getting what I want.

Dang...I am getting old.

It sucks.

Go to settings and I think you change it there. And apparently color cause I'm blue now

This. But I see so many argue that college or trade school is too expensive for some and they shouldn't be "punished" with low wages their whole lives bc they couldn't afford to get a higher education. 

No. You don't NEED a higher education first of all. My husband is in construction management....has his degree. Project manager for a heavy civil construction company....the union guys (carpenters, operators, electricians) make darned good money and when they work any bit of overtime, more money than my husband who is in charge of the job. It's good work. And to get into the union school doesn't cost all that much, really. Around here it's finding an employer that would sign you up, and going to their school for a week twice a year. So you lose wages twice a year but you expect it, and should save. My point? It doesn't cost anything but sweat equity and time really, but people are lazy. 

Not to mention that community colleges are inexpensive and low income families can get grants. 

So call me a jerk, but the arguement that learning a trade or going to school isnt financially feasible for everyone is just a bug cop out. No one wants to put in the work anymore. 

I'm a bookkeeper for a union construction outfit.  Since we're a small company that grosses less than $5 million in sales we are on a "private works" scale.  85% of prevailing wage (full scale). Our journeymen make $31.99/hour. On top of that they have pension, health & welfare (Ins), the company pays 100% of that.  We also pay into an apprentice training program & drug free program. Benefits above wages cost another $16.96/hour. 

We had a couple of guys that were hired as laborers that decided they wanted to get into the union.  They started out as apprentices after an interview to place them at the level of knowledge they were at. One of them started at level 3. As they work their way up, they get a nice wage and their insurance and pension kicks in at level 3 and up.  The apprenticeship training program they get into costs them nothing. They go to school for a week out of every quarter to learn more about all the things they need to know on their way to being a journeyman.  They go up a level with an increase in wage each time. I think that's a pretty sweet deal.  The down side is having to travel to jobs away from where you live.  Most of our guys live within an hour. But we are in a city of about 50-60K people so it's not like traffic is horrible like Portland. 

I saw pictures of Bernie's three homes this morning.  They're all expensive looking and beautiful.  I especially like the cabin and I want it.  He needs to share.

Journeymen here make about that. Or, that's what they made 7 years ago when my husband was in the union putting in field work before transitioning to management. 

Heck, they started out at just under 20/hr back then. I agree. Pretty sweet deal, and it doesn't cost someone big bucks to do it. Pay your dues, go to school twice a year for 5 years, and you've got a really nice gig. 

But these people don't want that. They just want everything handed to them. 

Yes, thank you!

The Font size was under settings!

I was finally good for something on here

i  think that anyone like bernie wild eyed chick from ny  all who think socism is great needs to go to venazula for 3 months

then vist china  see how well borders work by trying to visit north korea