Two Editorials Reflection On Election and Media

[Shiranu]

I'm sorry you've drank the kool-aide. I hope it's not incurable. Best of luck in your recovery.

[Baruch]

That line of thought is based on the idea that people would have voted along the same party line.  The people who stayed home are irrelevant.  They stayed home because they either
1. did not care
2. did not like Clinton
3. did not like either option

Though my list is not all inclusive, it does cover the basic point that Clinton was not inspiring enough to create a voter turn-out, even with the potential of Trump becoming pres.  They came out in droves for Obama, even in states where polls predicted a landslide, such as MN, and MI.

DNC is god-incarnate ... so how could they have F-ed up? /sarc

[Shiranu]

Btw, didn't spend much time in the classroom so I am probably a terrible example of the indoctrinations of the schools. Was too busy in ISS, boarding schools and private schools...

[Cavebear]

That line of thought is based on the idea that people would have voted along the same party line.  The people who stayed home are irrelevant.  They stayed home because they either
1. did not care
2. did not like Clinton
3. did not like either option

Though my list is not all inclusive, it does cover the basic point that Clinton was not inspiring enough to create a voter turn-out, even with the potential of Trump becoming pres.  They came out in droves for Obama, even in states where polls predicted a landslide, such as MN, and MI.

Clinton inspired ME!  I like competence and experience.  I don't need inspirational speeches (though I liked hers).

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Probably not going with the flow, but I knew Trump was bullshitting about his wall, Mexicans being all criminals and rapists, but also saying he was bringing back all the coal mining jobs in WV..  People love to talk about Clinton and triangulation, but Trump did that in spades,. triangulating to people's worst fears correctly painting a picture of dysfunction in Washington, and people's desire to see the system burn down and become reinvented. Sadly they picked a guy who wants to become the dictator and nothing will be reinvented for the good. Obama suffered 8 years of obstruction from the party that wants to strip away the last vestiges of any kind of safety net for the very people who voted them into power. They paint a rosey picture of 1950s Leave it to Beaver life almost 70 years after the fiction..At the same time Democrats put all their eggs into the big cities almost completely forgetting the millions of smaller towns and cities along the way.
Oh, people were duped alright. The safety net that had been sustaining most of them had already been stripped away during the 80s, 90s and beyond so people who didn't even qualify for food stamps were left with nothing and now believe that the party that did the stripping is going to magically somehow bring them back the great factory jobs currently being done by low paid workers in China. Of course many Democrats were complicit in that job shift, but nobody ever bothered to connect the dots to how exactly those jobs left to begin with.
What nobody ever tells anyone, and they won't is that even if all the manufacturing jobs return and everyone gets paid top dollar wages to produce them those wages wouldn't be enough to be able to afford any of the crap we currently buy from China. Does anyone realistically believe that a $100 cell phone would still cost $100 if it were assembled in Springfield Ohio by people making $20 per hour? Does anyone realistically believe that America high school kids are going to line right up to pick crops in the hot sun so a head of lettuce will still cost a buck? In the new fantasy economy the price of everything would go up 100 fold, but nobody wants to connect those dots. After all, connecting dots is hard work. 

[Nonsensei]

I'm curious as to how long we have to wait before it stops being considered mere scaremongering and transforms into deep, unmitigated regret.

[Baruch]

Don't worry, you survived without cell phones, and you can again.  Food on the other hand, you can't survive without.  I hope when you are starving, that Seri and Uber can help you out ;-)

[chill98]

They paint a rosey picture of 1950s Leave it to Beaver life almost 70 years after the fiction..At the same time Democrats put all their eggs into the big cities almost completely forgetting the millions of smaller towns and cities along the way.
Oh, people were duped alright. The safety net that had been sustaining most of them had already been stripped away during the 80s, 90s and beyond so people who didn't even qualify for food stamps were left with nothing and now believe that the party that did the stripping is going to magically somehow bring them back the great factory jobs currently being done by low paid workers in China. Of course many Democrats were complicit in that job shift, but nobody ever bothered to connect the dots to how exactly those jobs left to begin with.

I remember being duped via "gotta support the democracies of India/Pakistan", as they began with shipping textile jobs to those countries.  I remember the commercials begging people to support the Union Label with the textile workers begging people to continue to buy american. 

And what did these two governments do with this boon?  Invested in their military, joining the nuclear weapon club.  And we didn't use our market power to reign in these endeavors.  Both countries are still considered 'developing??!!'. 

What nobody ever tells anyone, and they won't is that even if all the manufacturing jobs return and everyone gets paid top dollar wages to produce them those wages wouldn't be enough to be able to afford any of the crap we currently buy from China. Does anyone realistically believe that a $100 cell phone would still cost $100 if it were assembled in Springfield Ohio by people making $20 per hour? Does anyone realistically believe that America high school kids are going to line right up to pick crops in the hot sun so a head of lettuce will still cost a buck? In the new fantasy economy the price of everything would go up 100 fold, but nobody wants to connect those dots. After all, connecting dots is hard work.

Ah yes, china.  We are paying for their military improvements also.  And we are seeing them flex their muscle near their borders right now.   Democrats sold out on basic human rights globally with these trade deals.  The very things we extol as the basic tenants of democracy we neglected in the application of these trade deals.  Do you stop and ask yourself why?  Apparently not as long as your salad is fresh.

A few years back I pursued the cost of food via illegal immigrants.  At that time I used the data on what an average immigrant picked under the paid by piece field work they were doing.  To increase their wage to $10 per hour would cost .30 per quart of pickles.  Lettuce was even cheaper at .05 - .10 per head of lettuce - depending on how many per hour harvested.  100 heads per hour is a typical average. 

One can look at the car deals.  GMC shipped many jobs to mexico and paid workers between $1 and $5 per hour.  You did not see that reflected in the price of your vehicle when shopping.  And when the workers in Mexico tried to unionize, the Mexican government sent in the military to squash the effort. 

Enjoy your salad!

[Cavebear]

I'm curious as to how long we have to wait before it stops being considered mere scaremongering and transforms into deep, unmitigated regret.

About 6 months, I suspect.  The 2018 elections may be interesting.  Numbers are bad for the Democrats, but overwhelming revulsion for Trump's incompetence may overcome that.