So where did you dig this up from ? I went back through November in
this thread and did not see it. Not saying I didn't write it but when
and where and in response to what would be good to know.

I did find this one though in the process of backscrolling from November 7, 2024 ...

 kurtster wrote:
There are dozens of comments across the threads that the Kurtster's primary issue was the price of things.  Inflation.  Biden's failed policies, and the promise of lower costs thanks to Trump's vision, bargaining prowess, and willingness to drill.Well, a whole 6 weeks into Trump 2.0, and it appears as though inflation under Biden is going to look like the "good old days" real soon.

For the first time since October 2020, bond markets are signaling expectations of higher inflation in the coming years.  For those of you counting at home.... market indicators of higher inflation last occurred under Trump 1.0.  At no point in the Biden term did the markets project higher inflation.  It was all built in when he arrived.  Any suggestion that it was "Bidenomics" that caused the pain is more party politics, and not factual reality.

The shift this week is evident in the movement of bond prices and yields, particularly in the Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) market.  The 5-year breakeven rate is now at 2.7%, up from 2.4% at the start of 2025 and 1.95% last summer.  While bond yields are not considered good predictors of future inflation, the current trend suggests that investors are pricing in higher inflation expectations.  All those kitchen table economists are about to find out they fucked themselves... but at least Elon is in line for a new contract.

I'm guessing we'll hear nothing from Kurt... until he posts another meme about how DOGE is fixing government waste.  The MAGAverse is going to find out the hard way what it's like to have no money and a completely dysfunctional government.

rgio wrote: 
Yep.  This is what happens when you keep kicking the can down the road.

Who allowed all of this to happen again ?  Who created this dependency on illegal labor by allowing it in and getting rooted into the system ?

There are going to be many people hurt in the process of fixing the mess.  Pretty much everyone is affected and will suffer when it is all said and done.  Does that mean that we should not ?

Again another democratic party created mess.  Just like DACA was illegally created by Obama signing a document he had no power to do so.

Just like Biden buying votes by forgiving student debt, which he did not have the legitimate power to do so.

This is how the democratic party stays in power by creating messes and then saying that only they know how to fix the mess.

This time it may be nearly impossible.  So you all say we should just say give up and not even try ?  Because it is too hard, or too late ?

If so, then you really do not give a rat's ass about this country and do not think that it is worth preserving anymore.

Once again, no borders, no country.  This is the policy y'all have supported and this is the result of your support of this policy.

Sorry, not, but to repeat myself, Trump is the bad tasting medicine no one wants to take.

The one thing that triggered this whole round of inflation was Biden on day one killing the pipeline and reversing all the rest of Trump's energy policies.  Gasoline was thrown on the fire with "The Inflation Reduction Act".  The immediate jump in energy costs is what started this "transitory" inflation.

Trump simply restarting "Drill, Baby, Drill" will drastically reduce inflation. And quickly.  Are Trump supporters the only ones who understand that energy costs is the largest driver of determining the immediate cost of a single product or service ?  Cheap reliable energy is what built this country and gave us an economic advantage over everyone else.

I think where the dissonance lays – we are materially well off but unhappy – is that most us know there is something inherently wrong with our society’s economy and politics – whether conscious of it or not. And instead of truly addressing these to improve the lives of the common person, we the fill hole in our being and economy with consumption. I remember when conspicuous consumption was a dirty word, now it’s an economic model.

Too many go to work for companies they despise. We all work to some degree in some pseudo totalitarian type state where we have little emotional attachment…under the threat of at will employment. We do this for our families, but even a mafia thug loves their family. Perhaps more in there are 20s are getting this, with their roaming lifestyles... I know a young man in his 20s, graduated top of his high school class, studied engineering at a top 10 university...but quit that path and now grooms dogs, because he likes dogs. Most people shake their heads and say, "what a shame" when they should be shaking his hand and asking him where he got the courage?

I used to say that phrase, capitalism sucks, but not as bad as the other economic systems. It's becoming clear that that is no longer true, but just taking a bit longer to suck as much. Same for our politics. 

You made an argument (or more accurately an assertion) about the 99%.

Well, I'm not trying to argue anything.

Nope, I argued your number is off-the-charts delusional.

(...) Let me get this straight, you appear to be a socialist maybe even a communist, but you also argue the US consumer needs more stuff?

Or maybe you rely too much on the WSJ (Murdoch's Fox for folks with stocks)?

You wouldn't have Trump in power if "99% of the US population has little about their material lives to complain about."

Surveys based on individual perception, perhaps not reality? eg, more dissonance
Anecdotal sure, but I dont see many starving, malnourished people in the US, while obesity is a large issue, especially among the lower income groups.
Perhaps your key objective to always find fault with the US? Twist perceptions, without regard to real truth?

Disneyland? Disney World?

I think your points go back to my point about 99% of the US population has little about their material lives to complain about, even if they live paycheck to paycheck.

I agree that working conditions suck... at least the party of the worker is back in power.

Your young friend dared to groom dogs... he's in the MAGA pipeline for believing immigrants and the Dems are to blame for his inability to buy a house.  At least he doesn't have student loans (oh...nevermind... MAGA didn't like that forgiveness BS either).

We learned 120 years ago that democracy and capitalism coexist best when there are regulations and controls.  Somewhere in 80s and 90s we decided the only thing that matters is personal wealth. 

I grew up a pretty hard-line conservative, especially about money.  I used to joke that I'd be OK paying the most taxes in America.  At some point, the idolatry of wealth needs to be reigned in, and we need to accept that once someone reaches a billion dollars, they should pay an inordinate amount of taxes.  The system that is built to support failure needs to recover its costs from those that benefit the most.  Instead, we let them control everything and then wonder why things aren't getting better for the masses.

i think part of her perspective/frame is that she has been in school fairly recently and was afraid to speak freely
also, she is a young accountant
maybe lacks nuance that comes with life experience
i did peruse some of her other videos in which she takes aim at don's books
her review sounded firm but fair

usually when a political party suffers they have lost touch with the moderates and/or pandered to fringe elements
yeah biden was clearly not in any condition to go another four years (and dems should have had a primary) 
polis from colorado, shapiro from penn or torres from ny would have been more popular picks for president or vp for harris

For the swing voter, like the one in the video. the key issue where the dems lost was the border/homelessness/crime. They first denied it was an issue, and then did little to address it. And of course, f'ing up the primaries did not help.

Too many go to work for companies they despise. We all work to some degree in some pseudo totalitarian type state where we have little emotional attachment…under the threat of at will employment. We do this for our families, but even a mafia thug loves their family. Perhaps more in there are 20s are getting this, with their roaming lifestyles... I know a young man in his 20s, graduated top of his high school class, studied engineering at a top 10 university...but quit that path and now grooms dogs, because he likes dogs. Most people shake their heads and say, "what a shame" when they should be shaking his hand and asking him where he got the courage?

I used to say that phrase, capitalism sucks, but not as bad as the other economic systems. It's becoming clear that that is no longer true, but just taking a bit longer to suck as much. Same for our politics. 

We could have chosen Star Trek, but we picked Blade Runner instead.

I agree that denial of the issues was a major problem, especially when combined with the non-stop association of blame that Republicans have mastered and Democrats are just "too smart" or "too nice" to respond in kind.

Immigrants are taking your jobs!  You're unsafe because of immigrants!  Joe Biden has destroyed the economy!  You can't afford groceries because of Biden!  Gas prices are high because Biden stopped all drilling!

None of this is factually true, but if you're unhappy with the price of things, and only one side is providing reasons... sooner or later you begin to believe them.

As crazy as it sounds.... Bidenomics (a horrible name) actually worked.  The facts don't lie....

Strong Economic Growth: GDP grew by more than any other developed country.
Low Unemployment: The unemployment rate has remained below 4% for 27 consecutive months, the longest stretch since the 1960s.
Job Creation: The economy has added more than 13 million jobs, including nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs.
Wage Growth: Wages for lower-income workers rose 7.8% from early 2020 to mid-2023, reducing inequality.
Inflation Reduction: Inflation has fallen for 11 straight months and has come down by more than half.
Manufacturing Boom: Inflation-adjusted manufacturing construction spending has grown by nearly 100% in just two years.
Clean Energy Job Growth: The clean energy workforce added nearly 300,000 jobs in 2022 alone, with growth in every state.
Record Business Formation: There were more than 10 million applications for new small businesses filed in 2021 and 2022, the strongest two years on record.
Poverty Reduction: The poverty rate fell in 2020 and 2021, reaching the lowest level ever recorded.
Expanded Healthcare Coverage: The number of uninsured Americans hit an all-time low of 7.2%.

Yet Americans didn't think that was the case, including lots of Democrats.  They felt like the economy was in the tank.  It's not.  To compound the problem, they voted for someone who told them that he was going to raise prices... yet they didn't hear him say that.  He was going to punish China... yet all he's done so far is give the CCP extended access to your data?  Wasn't the Ukraine war supposed to end on Tuesday?  Project 2025...never heard of it... but so far chapters 4-15 have provided some great outlines for executive orders.

America is the guy who leaves his wife and family because he got a text message from an 18 year-old saying he was smoking hot and she wanted to have dirty sex with him in her sorority house, only to find out the text was from a 38 year old gaming dude looking to sell his PII in a dark chatroom.  Even when they find out...they don't tell anyone how stupid they were.

The hierarchy of needs is a reasonable way to consider the election, but the inability for people to evaluate reality and understand cause and effect are the real problems.  Voting for someone who says what you want to hear is only a good idea if they do what they say. The 1/3rd of the country that voted for Trump don't care and want to blame someone for their inability to make more money while everyone else charges them less.

herein lies the crux of the problem. All good news and should have put Biden/Harris in the drivers seat. Except they couldn't COMMUNICATE any of this effectively. Maybe if Biden talked to the press once a week instead of once a year the message might have filtered out into the country. Just like Trump, you keep saying how great things are OVER AND OVER AND OVER again till it starts to sink in, whether true or not true. Wait around for folks to discover this on their own and you get the results we just did. 

I agree that denial of the issues was a major problem, especially when combined with the non-stop association of blame that Republicans have mastered and Democrats are just "too smart" or "too nice" to respond in kind.

Immigrants are taking your jobs!  You're unsafe because of immigrants!  Joe Biden has destroyed the economy!  You can't afford groceries because of Biden!  Gas prices are high because Biden stopped all drilling!

None of this is factually true, but if you're unhappy with the price of things, and only one side is providing reasons... sooner or later you begin to believe them.

As crazy as it sounds.... Bidenomics (a horrible name) actually worked.  The facts don't lie....

Strong Economic Growth: GDP grew by more than any other developed country.
Low Unemployment: The unemployment rate has remained below 4% for 27 consecutive months, the longest stretch since the 1960s.
Job Creation: The economy has added more than 13 million jobs, including nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs.
Wage Growth: Wages for lower-income workers rose 7.8% from early 2020 to mid-2023, reducing inequality.
Inflation Reduction: Inflation has fallen for 11 straight months and has come down by more than half.
Manufacturing Boom: Inflation-adjusted manufacturing construction spending has grown by nearly 100% in just two years.
Clean Energy Job Growth: The clean energy workforce added nearly 300,000 jobs in 2022 alone, with growth in every state.
Record Business Formation: There were more than 10 million applications for new small businesses filed in 2021 and 2022, the strongest two years on record.
Poverty Reduction: The poverty rate fell in 2020 and 2021, reaching the lowest level ever recorded.
Expanded Healthcare Coverage: The number of uninsured Americans hit an all-time low of 7.2%.

Yet Americans didn't think that was the case, including lots of Democrats.  They felt like the economy was in the tank.  It's not.  To compound the problem, they voted for someone who told them that he was going to raise prices... yet they didn't hear him say that.  He was going to punish China... yet all he's done so far is give the CCP extended access to your data?  Wasn't the Ukraine war supposed to end on Tuesday?  Project 2025...never heard of it... but so far chapters 4-15 have provided some great outlines for executive orders.

America is the guy who leaves his wife and family because he got a text message from an 18 year-old saying he was smoking hot and she wanted to have dirty sex with him in her sorority house, only to find out the text was from a 38 year old gaming dude looking to sell his PII in a dark chatroom.  Even when they find out...they don't tell anyone how stupid they were.

The hierarchy of needs is a reasonable way to consider the election, but the inability for people to evaluate reality and understand cause and effect are the real problems.  Voting for someone who says what you want to hear is only a good idea if they do what they say. The 1/3rd of the country that voted for Trump don't care and want to blame someone for their inability to make more money while everyone else charges them less.