And They're Off! The Democratic Candidates for 2020

[drogulus]

I think the markets had hoped for a bigger cut, hence the disappointment. My feeling is that the Fed went for a mostly cosmetic adjustment to get Trump off its back.

     It was exactly the cut that was expected, wasn't it? Oh, I get it, Powell said not to expect more cuts unless blah blah etc.

[André]

Yes, rate adjustments are normally by increments of a quarter of a point. It's all in the Fed statement's wording. This time it is so convoluted and indecisive that no indication of future cuts can be deduced, which befuddled the markets. Uncertainty has increased by a quarter percent as a result. 

It would appear Mr Powell has mastered the trumpian linguo: « we'll see what happens »....

[drogulus]

Yes, rate adjustments are normally by increments of a quarter of a point. It's all in the Fed statement's wording. This time it is so convoluted and indecisive that no indication of future cuts can be deduced, which befuddled the markets. Uncertainty has increased by a quarter percent as a result. 

It would appear Mr Powell has mastered the trumpian linguo: « we'll see what happens »....

     Traders are very interested in this "uncertainty" thing, which affects them and produces this wobble in prices that tends to go away when they run out of panic, greed, interest, whatever.

     About the rate cut, the best interpretation is that it's CYA theater, and maybe an apology. Why oh why are we having policy based on "inflation expectations" in the middle of a yield curve inversion? But the thing is, Powell will never do what the Fed never does, admit not that they made a mistake, but that their assumptions about Philips Curveses, NAIRU, natural this and natural that are constantly revealed to be fantasies. Monetarism says implicitly that if a good economy operates at a given interest rate you can find that rate, set it and a good economy pops out. It not that Fedsters really believe it (that's a really hard thing to believe) but that they won't say it's wrong, that good economies are paid for.

     I hate Philips Curveses! If they were an independent factor like they are supposed to be you wouldn't have to make up a new one every cycle. It's not 5% any more? How low is it? Nevertheless, Fed wisdom will reset it to 5% or 6% for the next cycle. Watch them "expect" inflation again and again, watch it not show up. Watch the Concorde Fallacy take flight again and again.

[drogulus]

     

     I didn't get where I am today by going to cash now.

     How Elizabeth Warren won both nights of the Democratic debate

     She's an apex predator, that's how.

[schnittkease]

On "electability":

Bernie Sanders Is Now The Only Candidate with More Individual Contributions Than Trump

[Karl Henning]

On "electability":

Bernie Sanders Is Now The Only Candidate with More Individual Contributions Than Trump

That's a fine data point, but doesn't speak to whether he appeals to swing voters.

[71 dB]

Michael Bennet Gets SALTY With Cenk

This is a good clip about the healthcare debate in the US and what it is about.

https://www.youtube.com/v/fMESYzh6mYM

That's a fine data point, but doesn't speak to whether he appeals to swing voters.

Trump vs. Bernie polls suggests he appeals to swing voters enough to beat Trump with ease.

This "electability" debate is corporate media fearmongering progressives to create a narrative were especially Bernie is too left, but the reality is the other way around: Are the centrists candidates left enough to inspire people in this age of political populism and lefty ideas? Hillary Clinton certainly wasn't left enough and Trump's campaign rethoric sounded more left to many.

Most people who label themselves as conservatives are socially conservative, not economically conservative. These are poor people struggling economically. They want living wage too. They need affordable healthcare too. They want clean tap water and so on. They have seen Trump isn't delivering these things. Trump cuts taxes and regulations for the rich, destroys the rule of law and gives racism for the fans of white etnostate. That's it. Bernie has so much to offer for those who are not complete idiots. That's why Bernie would crush Trump.

Karl, you are someone with a doctorate (in music, but anyway  0:) ). I am amazed by how "corporate" your views are. If the corporate media is able to brainwash even intellectuals, what hope is there for the mankind? Maybe you have made so many millions with your unrecorded music that you are living comfortable and don't care what kind of brutal healthcare system your country has. Maybe your net worth is over 50 million and you don't want lefty politicians to impose wealth taxes on you? I don't know. It just looks like you believe the corporate narrative while ignoring all the left wing momentum of progressives. Didn't you notice how last year people like AOC and Ilhan Omar got elected to congress? Despite permanent financial disadvantage because these people don't take corporate money. People are sick of the corruption and want change. That's why there is a left wing momentum, even if the corporate media tries to downplay it as much as possible as an inconvenient truth.

[drogulus]

     
     In the name of religious diversity we should keep all options open for the veep slot:

     

     That's a nice familiy values touch with the kiddies.

[drogulus]

     We Dems (I'm a Dem for this purpose) should see if we could get some liberty love on our side in the war against drug takers. In furtherance of this noble goal I offer the thoughts of former Nixon drug warrior John Ehrlichman from the '90s:

At the time, I was writing a book about the politics of drug prohibition. I started to ask Ehrlichman a series of earnest, wonky questions that he impatiently waved away. "You want to know what this was really all about?" he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."

     

     Of course that's just, like, his opinion, man. But isn't he the right guy to have it?

[SimonNZ]

Who's in and who's out for the next Democratic debate

"So far, only seven out of 24 candidates appear to have met both grades: Former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren."


It looks like Klobacher just made the cut, too.

[schnittkease]

MSNBC's Ridiculous War on Bernie Sanders

[Karl Henning]

MSNBC's Ridiculous War on Bernie Sanders

By all means, hold their feet to the fire.

[71 dB]

MSNBC's Ridiculous War on Bernie Sanders

The corporate media doesn't like Tulsi Gabbard either. Too anti-war.
Bad for the profits of the military industry complex.
Since Tulsi called out Kamala's questionable record as a prosecutor in the second debate,
corporate media smears her "Assad, Assad, Assad..."

Pathetic... 

[Daverz]

The corporate media doesn't like Tulsi Gabbard either. Too anti-war.
Bad for the profits of the military industry complex.
Since Tulsi called out Kamala's questionable record as a prosecutor in the second debate,
corporate media smears her "Assad, Assad, Assad..."

Pathetic... 

Gabbard is a rather flaky conservative Democrat (she ranks 155th on a progressive voting score in the House).  She's been going on Tucker Carlson's White Power Hour lately.  The love for her on the UK left is rather odd.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/07/the-british-hard-left-embraces-tulsi-gabbard

EDIT: Gabbard has her revenge!  Since I posted this her web ads have been following me everywhere.

[71 dB]

Bill de Blasio signed TYT's Progressive Economic Pledge (Higher Wages, Medicare for All, Green New Deal, College for All, End The Corruption)

[71 dB]

REUTERS/IPSOS post debate 2 poll:

Top 5

Biden --- 22.4 %
Sanders --- 18.4 %
Warren --- 8.7 %
Harris --- 5.7 %
Buttigieg --- 3.9 %

[Karl Henning]

Take it from Democrats in red districts: Focus on beating Trump

[drogulus]

     After minutes of serious thought I've come to the profound realization that I don't like Joe Biden. It's not dislike, just lack of like.

[Karl Henning]

     After minutes of serious thought I've come to the profound realization that I don't like Joe Biden. It's not dislike, just lack of like.

That's fair

[drogulus]

     It looks like Hickenlooper is going to drop out and run for the Senate, where he stands a good chance against the incumbent.