The wholesale looting of America: Unchecked by norms or political prudence, it’s smash-and-grab time for the GOP. by reaverfan

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

The wholesale looting of America: Unchecked by norms or political prudence, it’s smash-and-grab time for the GOP.

POSTED BY: REAVERFAN
UPDATED: Sunday, March 10, 2019 12:14
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VIEWED: 1977
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Thursday, March 7, 2019 2:11 PM

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/19/16786006/looting-of
-america?fbclid=IwAR1cCjzhK2mtYQTFMzXQfAMnIy0KgWQg2jDf0PxASpxLpj7OonZo9H7bGuQ

Over the course of 2017, both in Congress and in the executive branch, we have watched the task of government devolve into the full-scale looting of America.

Politicians are making decisions to enrich their donors — and at times themselves personally — with a reckless disregard for any kind of objective policy analysis or consideration of public opinion.

A businessman president who promised — repeatedly — that he would not personally benefit from his own tax proposals is poised to sign into law a bill that’s full of provisions that benefit him and his family. Congressional Republicans who spent years insisting that “dynamic scoring” would capture the deficit-reducing power of tax cuts are now plowing ahead with a bill so fast that they don’t have time to get one done, because it turns out they can’t be bothered to meet their own targets.

Meanwhile, in the background an incredible flurry of regulatory activity is happening out of public view — much of it contrary to free market principles but all of it lucrative for big business and Trump cronies.

Throughout the 2016 campaign, the political class talked a lot about “norms” and how Donald Trump was violating them all. He brushed off fact-checkers, assailed the media, went on Twitter tirades against his critics, and dabbled in racism. Since taking office, his norm busting has spread. Members of Congress who under other circumstances might be constrained by shame, custom, or the will of their constituents have learned from Trump’s election that you can get away with more than we used to think.

Norm erosion is real, and it matters. Economists Daron Acemoglu and Matthew Jackson of MIT and Stanford have written about how rules are only effective when they are backed up by social norms “because detection relies, at least in part, on whistle-blowing.” Their Spanish colleague Patricia Funk emphasizes that in a variety of contexts, “the strength of the social norm of ‘not committing a crime’ is shaped by social interactions.”

These scholars are all considering deep, long-lasting differences in cultural norms, but we also know from experience that norms can sometimes shift dramatically in unusual circumstances. Sometimes a blackout or other disaster prompts a few people who would ordinarily be too cautious to break store windows in broad daylight to become more brazen. And the normal course of ordinary life flips into reverse, as those with some inclination toward bad acts recognize a moment of impunity and grab what they can, while those who would ordinarily be invested in upholding order are afraid and stay inside. The sheer quantity of bad acts makes it impossible for anyone to hold anyone accountable. Soon, a whole neighborhood can be in ruins.

Or a whole country.

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Thursday, March 7, 2019 2:13 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

What do you care? The world is going to end in ten years anyway.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Thursday, March 7, 2019 2:17 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Would really love to see those speeches the Clintons gave to all the big banks.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, March 7, 2019 2:19 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

However, for those who believe that the world will continue in one fashion or another, I'm just simply going to point to the $17 TRILLION dollars that the too-big-to-fail banks got under Obama, and the lack of jail time for all of those banksters who committed fraud on the American people ... and on each other.

Let's keep a sense of proportion about this, m'kay?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Thursday, March 7, 2019 3:28 PM

REAVERFAN

Deflect when you have no argument. Russian Trolling 101.

Also,
How Wall Street’s Bankers Stayed Out of Jail
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/how-wall-streets-
bankers-stayed-out-of-jail/399368/

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Thursday, March 7, 2019 3:56 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Why do you care? The world will end in ten years anyway.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Friday, March 8, 2019 8:22 PM

REAVERFAN

Then deflect some more. Russian Trolling 101.

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Friday, March 8, 2019 11:29 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr

We need a reset.

Sumbudy, maybe me, winz in 2020 with a mission to clean house. Make examplez uv the growing number uv miscreants hoo are currently chopping Uncle Sam down.

----------------------------
DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early

http://www.7532020.com .

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Saturday, March 9, 2019 8:51 AM

THG

Quote:
Originally posted by reaverfan:

Deflect when you have no argument. Russian Trolling 101.

Yep

T

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Saturday, March 9, 2019 9:23 AM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...

Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:
We need a reset.

Sumbudy, maybe me, winz in 2020 with a mission to clean house. Make examplez uv the growing number uv miscreants hoo are currently chopping Uncle Sam down.

You have my Ax!

‘The immorality of this president infects all of government and…goes beyond government.’

I had no idea it would be so easy to pull off the biggest heist in world history - just do it in public and no one will notice. An amazing story.

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Saturday, March 9, 2019 9:42 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

lol

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, March 9, 2019 10:26 AM

THG

Quote:
Originally posted by captaincrunch:
Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:
We need a reset.

Sumbudy, maybe me, winz in 2020 with a mission to clean house. Make examplez uv the growing number uv miscreants hoo are currently chopping Uncle Sam down.

You have my Ax!

‘The immorality of this president infects all of government and…goes beyond government.’

I had no idea it would be so easy to pull off the biggest heist in world history - just do it in public and no one will notice. An amazing story.

And my Bow

T

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Saturday, March 9, 2019 4:08 PM

REAVERFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by captaincrunch:
Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:
We need a reset.

Sumbudy, maybe me, winz in 2020 with a mission to clean house. Make examplez uv the growing number uv miscreants hoo are currently chopping Uncle Sam down.

You have my Ax!

And my sword!

I gotta go buy a sword, first.

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Saturday, March 9, 2019 4:39 PM

THG

Wonder if there are any Lord of the Rings fans here?

T

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Sunday, March 10, 2019 7:57 AM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Wonder if there are any Lord of the Rings fans here?

Huge. Quick take: Jackson did the books justice imho, Gollum and the Nazgul in particular - those would have been easy to mess up. The Hobbit trilogy went a bit off the rails but I still enjoyed them. Special mention to Elijah Wood - he was born to play Frodo.
This is taking me back...Did you ever see the Hildebrandt Bothers paintings? They did LOTR calendars - I was a big fan of their style - some of it looks a bit corny now after the films went in for a more realistic approach (great idea). For a long time the only decent visualizations of the books, so they were great to have.

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Sunday, March 10, 2019 8:39 AM

THG

Not sure If I've come across the Hildebrandt Bothers paintings. I'm going to look them up.

The Hobbit did go a bit off track for me. I have a hard time dealing with to much darkness. Like when the good guys go bad.

T

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Sunday, March 10, 2019 9:28 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Not sure If I've come across the Hildebrandt Bothers paintings. I'm going to look them up.

The Hobbit did go a bit off track for me. I have a hard time dealing with to much darkness. Like when the good guys go bad.

T

Yeah. I could see why that would be hard for you to watch. A little too much like looking in a mirror for you these days, huh?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, March 10, 2019 11:36 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

What I liked about LOTR: I think Jackson did a great job visualzing the hobbits, elves, and men and - particularly the Nazgul and Sauron, the ever-seeing eye. The ents? Not so much. Gimli was played for too much comic effect.

Scenes I thought very effective: When Sam goes wading into the river after Frodo and almost drowns, and Boromir's death scene. The concept of honor and honorable death was made very real in that scene. The director's cut of the second movie, altho longer, feels so much shorter because it's more interesting.

BTW Sean Bean, who played Boromir, has a number of death scenes in a lot of movies; in fact there are a number of "death scene reels" on YouTube; unfortunately some of the best need a sign-in but look for "Sean Bean Death Reel" and "Top 10 Sean Bean Deaths" (Watch Mojo).

Bit of trivia: They used real forged weapons in LOTR and of course had a sword-master teach the warriors the art of sword-fighting. He said that Viggo Mortenson was the best student he's ever had and could have been a for=real swordsman. The scene where an Uruk-hai throws a dagger at Aragorn, who knocks it out of the air with his sword. The stuntman did that over and over and over and over and apparently failed many times with that stunt, until Mortenson insisted in trying it himself (over the objections of Jackson; think of the risk and filming delay if Mortenson should get injured!) and clocked it out of the air on the first take.

Read the books many many years ago, and couldn't imagine anyone taking that on as a movie successfully, but Jackson did.

One last comment: The entire scene with Tom Bombadil was missing. I understand why: It was very sideways to the main story, but Tom Bombadil not only did not disappear with the Ring, he made the RING disappear. At least, until he made it reappear. He refused to take the Ring from Frodo, leaving Frodo to carry out his mission.

BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED TOPIC.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Sunday, March 10, 2019 12:10 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

One last comment: The entire scene with Tom Bombadil was missing. I understand why: It was very sideways to the main story, but Tom Bombadil not only did not disappear with the Ring, he made the RING disappear. At least, until he made it reappear. He refused to take the Ring from Frodo, leaving Frodo to carry out his mission.

BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED TOPIC.

Gandalf forgot a very simple option when the fellowship decided to destroy the ring.
"Can you imagine us walking the entire way? One of us might have died!"

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, March 10, 2019 12:14 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

OMG too funny!!!!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

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