Go Joe, Go!

[Gunnar]

It appears rather obvious that ajax finds comfort and solace in the B.S. worldview he's adopted for himself. It's almost as though Hannity and Carlson have create a padded bunker of terror for him to exist within, protecting him from the reality that would actually make him feel better about life were he to be convinced of it.

Makes sense to me!

I honestly am at a loss for how to see Republican voters as anything but idiotic gullible rubes.

Ditto!

[canpakes]

I really hope that the establishment Republican party can get on board with economic nationalism and putting American citizens and working people first. I'd like to see loyalty between us as Americans and as Republicans.

If you want that, then why do you waste your energy sucking up to a conman who’s family sells products that are nearly all manufactured in countries that are not named ‘the USA’? You choose to bow down to someone that is literally the antithesis of what you claim to believe or want.

Even most of his real estate deals happen in other countries. : D

Trump has been scamming you for years now, and you continue to take it in the backside from him because he tells you that he’s ‘got your back’. In this case, that phrase doesn’t mean what you think it does.

[Gunnar]

I think that Ajax is compelling evidence of the often observed phenomenon that the last to accept the reality of a con are those who are the primary victims of it. And the more egregious the con, the more resistant they are to acknowledging the fact, and thereby admit to having been foolish enough to fall for it. And this doesn't even necessarily mean they are inherently stupid. The more intelligent the victims of a scam are, the more ingenious they can be at inventing rationalizations for denying it was a scam. Being intelligent doesn't always preclude being foolish.

[Analytics]

The answer to the question is that the money comes from deficit spending, and some of that deficit can be made up by increasing the tax rate on the wealthiest Americans.

Why not increase the tax rate before spending the money to save interest charges?

According to mainstream economic theory (a.k.a. Keynesian economics), countries should balance the budget over the economic cycle rather than the calendar year. The idea is that when there is an economic downturn you increase spending and lower taxes in order to stimulate the economy, and when the economy is up to full speed you decrease spending and increase taxes in order to pay off the debt.

If you really cared about the national debt, why do you support Republican efforts to lower taxes when the economy is at full strength and there is already a deficit?

An interesting side note. Why is the death toll from COVID so much lower in Africa. Tanzania was at zero. Do they have a lot more money to throw at COVID? Why do African Americans in the US suffer so much more from COVID than their cousins in Africa?

In January, I happened to spend several days in sub-saharan Africa with a world class epidemiologist. He said Africans tend to have a much stronger immune system than Americans and very rarely show symptoms of COVID when they contract it. Their stronger immune systems are attributed to repeatedly fighting against malaria, fighting against other diseases, and living in less sanitized living conditions. Also, he claims that on the rare occasion that an African dies of COVID, the death is typically attributed to something else. This is because there is so little funding for testing. As a specific example, he claimed it is impossible to contract malaria in Mali at this time of year, yet according to the death certificates, there is a huge spike in malaria deaths. He hypothesized these are really COVID deaths being misdiagnosed as malaria deaths.

[Gadianton]

According to mainstream economic theory (a.k.a. Keynesian economics), countries should balance the budget over the economic cycle rather than the calendar year. The idea is that when there is an economic downturn you increase spending and lower taxes in order to stimulate the economy, and when the economy is up to full speed you decrease spending and increase taxes in order to pay off the debt.

Sure, but he could reject Keynesian economics on account of it's liberal undertones, mainstream or not. But New Keynesian, Monetarism, Real Business Cycle Theory, and even dumb-dumb-dumb Austrian business cycle theory are all agreed. In fact, it's such a dumb point it doesn't really require an economics answer. Of course raising taxes during a recession isn't going to fix the recession. That's like saying if lost in the wilderness we might debate whether or not burning your last kindling to produce a smoke signal is a good idea, but we probably won't debate whether or not stripping naked and laying in the snow will help.

If you really cared about the national debt, why do you support Republican efforts to lower taxes when the economy is at full strength and there is already a deficit?

This is a great point. I'm pretty sure there is no way out of it. Even if you reject that lowering taxes would lead to inflation, since you might believe inflation is a monetary phenomena only, you would still be panicking about the size of the national debt, and that would be the ideal time to chip away at the problem. It's worse, because Ajax has been complaining about Bill Gates and the elites lately, and we've even pointed out to him that it's worse than he thinks since Gates and Buffet spend their money internationally rather than on the Texan working class, but yet he still fell all over himself for giving Gates and Buffet huge tax cuts by Trump.

In January, I happened to spend several days in sub-saharan Africa with a world class epidemiologist. He said Africans tend to have a much stronger immune system than Americans and very rarely show symptoms of COVID when they contract it. Their stronger immune systems are attributed to repeatedly fighting against malaria, fighting against other diseases, and living in less sanitized living conditions. Also, he claims that on the rare occasion that an African dies of COVID, the death is typically attributed to something else. This is because there is so little funding for testing. As a specific example, he claimed it is impossible to contract malaria in Mali at this time of year, yet according to the death certificates, there is a huge spike in malaria deaths. He hypothesized these are really COVID deaths being misdiagnosed as malaria deaths.

This is your best point. A real answer to a flippant and ideologically-driven question. Ajax is devoid of the ability to actually learn anything or research anything. Time after time, he's on the receiving end of great information like this that he really can't respond to, and it's provided by his ideological opponents. It never occurs to him for a moment that he and others like him who don't know anything and don't try to improve that situation are fighting for full and unmitigated control over the nation that they hope to "make great" by sound-bytes, and ideologically-driven rants. Today's right-wing is more like a suicide cult than a political party.

[Themis]

In January, I happened to spend several days in sub-saharan Africa with a world class epidemiologist. He said Africans tend to have a much stronger immune system than Americans and very rarely show symptoms of COVID when they contract it. Their stronger immune systems are attributed to repeatedly fighting against malaria, fighting against other diseases, and living in less sanitized living conditions. Also, he claims that on the rare occasion that an African dies of COVID, the death is typically attributed to something else. This is because there is so little funding for testing. As a specific example, he claimed it is impossible to contract malaria in Mali at this time of year, yet according to the death certificates, there is a huge spike in malaria deaths. He hypothesized these are really COVID deaths being misdiagnosed as malaria deaths.

Covid 19 also takes a much larger toll on the elderly, which Africa has much less of compared to the rest of the world. They have one of the youngest populations, and the young don't get covid 19 as often or show symptoms.

[Gunnar]

An interesting side note. Why is the death toll from COVID so much lower in Africa. Tanzania was at zero. Do they have a lot more money to throw at COVID? Why do African Americans in the US suffer so much more from COVID than their cousins in Africa?

In January, I happened to spend several days in sub-saharan Africa with a world class epidemiologist. He said Africans tend to have a much stronger immune system than Americans and very rarely show symptoms of COVID when they contract it. Their stronger immune systems are attributed to repeatedly fighting against malaria, fighting against other diseases, and living in less sanitized living conditions. Also, he claims that on the rare occasion that an African dies of COVID, the death is typically attributed to something else. This is because there is so little funding for testing. As a specific example, he claimed it is impossible to contract malaria in Mali at this time of year, yet according to the death certificates, there is a huge spike in malaria deaths. He hypothesized these are really COVID deaths being misdiagnosed as malaria deaths.

That makes a lot of sense to me. Would you agree that the following is also a significant part of the answer to that question?

Mainly because despite their greater poverty and because of their past experience dealing with local outbreaks of serious disease like Ebola, they had a much more rational and responsible response to the COVID-19 threat than Trump did.

What explains Africa’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

[Jersey Girl]

This thread was intended to be about the successes of the Biden administration. Now the focus is ajax ajax ajax ajax ajax ajax ajax
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Who is simply a less obvious subgenius.

Chumps.

[Chap]

This thread was intended to be about the successes of the Biden administration. Now the focus is ajax

The problem is that the whole ethos of the MD board is (appropriately enough for a board whose primary topic is Mormonism in its broadest sense) "opposition in all things". Its participants are not on the whole (apart from a select few in Terrestrial, and those who choose to post in Celestial)) here because they want a seminar where we all get to talk about topics of common interest as informed and mutually respectful citizens, interested in learning from others' points of view. Many of us are here, to varying degrees, because we have a taste for a kind of no-contact cage fighting with people who probably regard our points of view as misguided, pernicious, and possibly even mendacious.

Why? Well, for me at least it gives me a break the time during a day that I mostly spend carefully evaluating evidence and argument, and slowly constructing structures of cool rational persuasion. And talking, at least by proxy, to a raving MAGA hat wearer or a QAnon believer is just good fun.

The only problem is, as I have often pointed out, that if we get too good at the cage game, our opponents retire hurt. That's what seems to have happened to subgenius. The only ones who survive are those who neither attend to counter-argument or just don't care much about it, so long as they get to go on posting. So on the Terrestrial forum we are left with mentalgymnast, and down here we have ajax18.

These people are precious resources for our amusement. They are an endangered species. Be grateful to them for sticking around!

[Analytics]

That makes a lot of sense to me. Would you agree that the following is also a significant part of the answer to that question?

Mainly because despite their greater poverty and because of their past experience dealing with local outbreaks of serious disease like Ebola, they had a much more rational and responsible response to the COVID-19 threat than Trump did.

What explains Africa’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Before I answer that, let me say that when I was in Mali, I had the privilege of meeting some of the top epidemiologists in that country and that they are clearly top-notch scientists and fine human beings. I have every reason to presume their counterparts in Rwanda are the same.

Here is what I saw first-hand in Mali.

First, the country had extremely strict travel requirements. If you do not have a negative COVID-19 PCP test from blood that was drawn within 72 hours of showing up at their border, they will not allow you to enter the country. Further, they also require a negative COVID-19 PCP test drawn within 72 hours in order to leave the country. (PCP tests are the more accurate tests that are more expensive and take at least 24 hours to process).

I've traveled pretty extensively in Latin America and have a pretty good first-hand understanding on the economic situation is in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and even Bolivia. Compared to the other countries on that list, Bolivia is very poor. But compared to Bolivia, Mali is very poor. The poor, rural areas of Mali are poorer than the poor, rural areas of Bolivia. And the nice, big cities of Bolivia (i.e. Santa Cruz and La Paz) are much nicer and wealthier than Bamako. Bamako is extremely dense and crowded. It makes Mexico City seem like a place with plenty of elbow room and pristinely clean air and spotlessly clean streets.

The reason I bring that up is to point out that for something approaching 99% of the population in Mali, asking them to socially distance, work at home, wear a mask, take COVID tests, contact tracing, etc., is totally unrealistic. For the rural population, soap is a luxury they rarely have access to and almost never get in the habit of using to wash their hands. When I was getting my COVID test to leave the country I was surrounded with an elite segment of the population that presumably were all traveling internationally. And we were in a crowded waiting area for hours waiting to get the test and very, very few of us were wearing masks.

One of the epidemiologists there that was hosting us gave each of us a few boxes of N-95 masks which we were instructed to wear any time we were near people who weren't members of our group. We assumed that the members of the group were safe because we had just past the PCP test, and we were told to assume that every local we met was carrying the virus without symptoms. Even with those precautions, two members of my group of 9 people contracted COVID in Mali and got very sick.

That is what I saw.

My interpretation is that two of us getting sick there despite having sore ears from wearing N-95 masks all day was consistent with what the epidemiologist said--COVID is in fact rampant there. As Themis correctly stated, the population there is very, very young. The locals have built up an immunity to the rampant diseases there, and the hypothesis that their strong immunity from their living conditions makes them resistant to COVID is consistent with what I saw.

I believe their governments are doing everything they can do to keep their populations healthy, but when they don't have the resources to ensure that everybody has access to water (note I didn't say "clean water", I just said "water"), it's unrealistic to expect them to be able to do much to fight a pandemic, regardless of how well grounded they are in science and best practices.