Total posts: 97
Posted in:
Just because an opinion is popular doesn't inherently mean its correct. Opinions can also change over time. Popular presidents can later be realized to be bad. Unpopular presidents can be appreciated later in time.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
from confidence in the government
How do you prove this is mainly because of the president? How do you isolate this 1 variable when there are 3 separate branches of the federal government (executive, legislative, judicial)
the high average standard of living relative compared to today
This really has nothing to do with the president's decisions. The economy a market affected by the decisions of millions of people. It's not a banana republic where the president waves a wand and the economy is fixed. The cost of education, housing and food has been going up for decades.
And this is not just an American problem. This has been true in other developed countries too. Are those Biden's fault too?
And this is not just an American problem. This has been true in other developed countries too. Are those Biden's fault too?
a sense of patriotism and hope for the future
Vague/hard to measure. And subjective. I can't speak for other people but I can say personally, the wars in the middle-east during Obama's term, and the uncertainty of when they would end, or even what the win conditions were, have dampened my patriotism.
The hope part is true, but mainly in the first 2 years. People had high expectations of Obama, but after the first 1-2 years of his presidency, that faded away. This is not Obama's fault. No one could've lived up to that expectation. But it just goes to show that hope is fleeting.
A general sense of ease and harmony.
Hard to measure. But what does this have to do with the president? Some presidents preside over tougher times than others. That doesn't prove that the president's policies or actions were responsible for it.
Created:
Posted in:
Fact. Because, in many instances, decades ago, African Americans were denied opportunities to get a mortgage for a house. Even if they had the money and income to do so....
The fact that they can buy houses now is irrelevant now. Because they missed out on the best time in all of human history to buy a house. Anyone who bought a house in the 70's or 80's, they'd easily see the house go up 10x value by now.
So, yes, they can buy a house now that prices are over-inflated but missed one of the biggest opportunities in American history to accrue wealth.
There are many black people who are renting now that would actually be owning property and passing property onto their children if racism didn't exist.
Created:
Buy the major coins (i.e. bitcoin). Alt-coins are high-risk.
Buy low, sell high. Buy down, sell up. Buy after corrections. Never FOMO.
Don't put the majority of your investing into cryptocurrency. Maybe 10-20% if that, but diversify the rest into other things (i.e. index funds, business, real estate, collectors items, etc). This way, if crypto booms, you profit, but if it crashes, you don't lose most of your life savings.
Created:
-->
@Tejretics
I'm not claiming current inflation is primarily due to excessive government spending. But certainly some of 2021’s inflation was.
Reasonable take. But my question is, what other time period was the United States supposed to pass large pieces of domestic legislation?
In 2010-2016 when Republicans had majorities over Obama and blocked literally everything?
In 2016-2020 when Trump was president?
In 2023-2024 when Democrats likely lose the Senate while Republicans likely lose the house, and basically neither party is able to do anything?
It's unlucky that 2021-2022 is the one period where inflation is occuring, but it's also the only window of time in 10+ years where it's even possible to pass big bills.
Created:
Posted in:
Biden pulled out of Afghanistan too early, and, by cutting aid flows to Afghanistan, has since been an absolute failure there.
What exactly is your position on this? How exactly should he have withdrawn?
I'd be willing to do a debate challenge with you on this.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
say with conviction that Biden is a better president than Obama
Definitely. Obama's expansion of the Afghanistan war and airstrikes were a major downside. Financially. Morally. And it wasn't even successful. Bush's war turned into Obama's war.
Biden has a similar platform domestically as Obama without the foreign policy baggage.
Created:
Posted in:
Yeah, it seems like college degrees can benefit in the long-run. But in the short to mid-term, like the first 10 years, someone could be working a basic job to pay off lots of debt while they work their way up the career ladder.
Created:
Posted in:
Damn. When TWS is telling you to cite credible sources, shit is real. haahhaa
Created:
Yes, true, but that's changing the topic.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
Being better educated is beneficial to society. You can contribute and participate more in public discussions.
Collectively, yes. But on an individual level, there still needs to be an incentive to make a decision. If someone perceives something as beneficial to society but harmful to the individual, they may not do it.
You raise children that will probably go to college too.
This is basically the American dream. To become part of the top 40% of earners, and then raise kids to become in that top 40%. And the main goal is to preserve the existence of the middle and uppermiddle class.
If this is the lifestyle a person prefers, they should pursue it. It's not necessarily wrong. However, this is essentially an argument that people have a moral duty to meet society's expectations and serve other people.
Created:
-->
@Shila
I hope the economy doesn’t slip into a recession.
It will. Recessions always happen every decade or so. It's an inevitability of the business cycle.
I just hope it does quickly. If the recession can start in 2023 and recover during 2024 that would be perfect for Biden.
But if the recession starts in 2024 and ends in 2025, we might get President DeSantis.
But if the recession starts in 2024 and ends in 2025, we might get President DeSantis.
The democrats will be blamed for overstimulating the economy with all those handouts.
Even though trillions of dollars of covid relief bills were signed during both Trump and Biden's terms.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Shila
That's really reductionist. Overall, yes, people with degree, on average, earn more.
But there are millions of people with degrees yet still have basic jobs. Earning the same, or only slightly more than people with degrees, but they have 20-60k in debt to pay off.
I'm not against college, but it needs to be done correctly - not just going for the sake of going.
Created:
Posted in:
This would be freelo. New mobile users would create debate challenges, but then do it low-effort and write short arguments with poor grammar/formatting.
Created:
Posted in:
With tuition costs increasing faster than wages, it's less of a value than it was decades also. Also, it's less effective at setting people apart. In the past, if you had a college degree, you were among a small percentage of people. Now, there are many people with them.
Imo, college is worth it if:
- You know what you want to do.
- You're majoring in something that's in demand (<10-20% of majors).
Rising tuition costs make high school performance more important. Someone with a high GPA in high school has access to scholarships. If I had an offer between taking a $200k loan to go to Harvard vs. going to a public university for free, I would easily take the latter.
Created:
Posted in:
I actually don't hate Trump's peace deal with the Taliban. The only positive thing I can say about Trump is that he was less hawkish on foreign policy than Bush and Obama.
But this issue is wholly resolved now with Biden getting leaving Afghanistan. With Biden, we have peace without any of the baggage Trump has.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@RationalMadman
Nothing of the sort. No corruption, no escalating any war. Just good old Biden and his racist gaffs, not to mention inability to hold a coherent speech but that never held Trump or Bush Jr. back.
1) Yes, all 3 presidents have had gaffes. Bush, Biden and GW Bush. But Biden didn't get us into a 2 trillion dollar war in Iraq. Nor did he try to overturn an election and start an insurrection.
2) Gaffes are literally at the bottom of the totem pole politically. All that really matters are your executive actions and legislative accomplishments. None of what you wrote here takes away from his accomplishments.
3) What happened 5, 10, or 20+ years ago isn't relevant. As president, I only judge them for what they do during their presidential term.
Created:
Definitely. Paul Volcker, fed chairman in the early 80's, aggressively reduced interest rates. It caused a sharp recession in 1983, but the economy recovered in 1984.
The question is: Do we do it quickly and have a severe but short recession? Or do it slowly, and make it take a really long time for the economy to get back to normal?
Created:
Posted in:
No amount of "Trump never said the n-word" cancels out the fact that he sides with hategroups.
Created:
I'm not generalizing, there are many Russians who are opposed to it. But there are also large portion of Russian people do believe in the Russian propaganda, and are part of the problem. It's polarized for sure.
This invasion didn't just happen all of a sudden. There was easily 2 decades of Putin accruing power and getting widespread approval amongst the public. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and poverty in the 90's, many Russians wanted a leader who was nationalistic and could portray a strong image.
Created:
Posted in:
31 years.
My criteria of best would include;
- Their legislation and executive actions are beneficial to the public
- Having the political skill to get his agenda passed (Of course, the president is not all-powerful and won't achieve everything they set out to do, they have to work with the confines of congress, but overall, how well the president has done with cards in the hand that they're dealt)
- Avoiding colossal mistakes (i.e. profound corruption, starting/escalating an avoidable war, etc.)
Created:
I also think male fitness influencers on youtube and instagram have sort of normalized the expectations being 180+ lbs of muscle, 8-pack abs and <9% bodyfat. Most people who attain that physique, do it seasonally for photo shoots but don't look like that year round. A lot of men are comparing themselves to people who take steroids or have exceptional genetics.
Also, I think many men have the misconception that they need to be super-buff to be attractive to women. Whereas many women prefer the toned/athletic but not necessarily meathead physique.
Created:
Height standards of men expected to be taller and women expected to be shorter are unfortunate. I'm 6'0"; I date girls of various different heights, but I do like taller girls. I've dated some women taller than me. I know this girl whose 6'2" but wrote she's 5'9" on Tinder. I loved her body, but felt bad that she was under pressure from society standards.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Mharman
That's an inherent thing in most/all pvp games though, and not the developers fault.
- When a game first comes out, few to no people know how to play it properly. Then people learn how to play it, and mistakes you could once get away with are now punished.
- Elo. A game with balanced matches will put you with opponents of your skill levels. As you win matches, you'll face better opponents.
Created:
Posted in:
My guy cites returnofkings as a source, no cap. Omg hahahah
Created:
Posted in:
I'll easily contend with progressives, conservatives and independents alike.
- Multiple presidents have intended to get out of the middle east and instead use resources to rebuild our own country's infrastructure. Biden is the only who actually did it.
- 100 accomplishments in the first 100 days.
- Biden passed significant pieces of legislation in a narrowly divided Congress. Most other presidents with significant legislative achievements have done so with a comfortable majority, but it takes political skill to negotiate with a 50-50 Senate.
- First president in history to pass significant legislation toward climate change.
- First president in history to actually pass legislation to negotiate drug prices with Medicare.
Created:
tws must be a troll account. theres no way an actual non-NPC would treat allnewspipeline.com as a valid source.
also was that website made in 2002, yikes.
Created:
Posted in:
If you're in the top half of earners, yes.
Created:
Posted in:
It's funny how a lot of people on the internet don't really care about chemistry, biology, medicine, physics, astronomy, etc.
But as soon as it's time to discuss gender, and have a discussion that might possibly marginalize transgendered people, it's time to bring out the gloves and lab coat, eh?
Created:
Posted in:
For the same reason that cars with bluetooth audio don't also have cassette tape players
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@IwantRooseveltagain
Does TWS stand for Total White Supremacy?
OMG hahahahahahahaha
Created:
Right now, people can get double vaccinated and then additional booster shots. They also have the choice to wear masks if they please. And over time, covid variants have gotten less deadly.
If Covid lockdowns was the reason you weren't going to the gym, wouldn't you be going to the gym currently?
If Covid lockdowns were the reason why you avoided meetup groups, travelling and other social activities, wouldn't you be doing them now?
I don't genuinely think people are afraid of covid. They're just accustomed to their 2020 lifestyle of staying home on social media and video games.
Created:
The Trump-style Republican that wants to turn the US into a corrupt banana republic and personality cult is bad.
But the Cheney-style of Republican that wants to indefinitely fight wars in the middle-east is no better.
Created:
Posted in:
-->
@Greyparrot
i love how just cite a 10 minute video from a random internet pundit like a source. haha
Created:
Nope, we're all weirdos and oddballs.
I'm an oddball, but I definitely aint no weirdo.
Created:
Posted in:
I like changes Blizzard made to OW2. 5v5 with less shields, less CC and no 2CP maps feels fast and fluid.
But the problem is the 3 years (2020-2022) of no content for OW1 that resulted in many players moving on from Overwatch, to the point where OW2 will have a much smaller base of people than OW1 did at launch.
Created:
Posted in:
Subjective of course. But I'll make my case:
- Eating at home saves money. If someone is looking to save up money for traveling, buying a car/house, emergency fund, or whatever it is, eating out less is often the easiest fix.
- Eating at a restaurant does not necessarily save time. You save time from prepping and cooking. But you lose time from the commute there, the commute back, waiting for the food, waiting for the check, and sometimes even waiting for a seat.
- Eating at home allows you to track macros and calories accurately. While popular chains have info posted, most restaurants in general don't. With how commonplace the use of butter and oil is in kitchens, it's very easy to underestimate calories when eyeballing. If your fitness and body composition are priority, dining at a restaurant should be limited.
- Lastly, it depends on what food you order. Many restaurants have foods that do use uncommon or "high-end" ingredients and/or require a lot of skill to prepare. But many entrees on menus are also things that are cheap to make, easy to make and use common ingredients. It doesn't make sense to go to a restaurant just to order things you could make yourself at home.
- At home, you can control the temperature, lighting, music that's playing, what's on television. And there are no screaming kids.
Created:
All that matters for losing weight is counting calories.
It doesn't matter whether you eat carbs or not.
It doesn't matter whether you intermittent fast or not.
All that matters is that you track what you eat and meet your calories/macros.
Created:
Pizzas can be had without cheese (i.e. tomato pies, vegan pizzas)
Pizzas can be had without sauce (i.e. white pies).
Therefore, neither cheese nor sauce are a hard requirement.
Created:
Hottest SCOTUS justice in American history. She may have ruined basic human rights, but I'll proudly say I have a crush on her. I love my pretty-eyed brunette irish girls.
Created:
Many Republican women want to use pro-life talking points while not wanting abortion to be banned. Can't have your cake and eat it too.
Created:
Posted in:
It was an monochromatic echo chamber (i.e. age 15-30, male, libertarian). But I liked it.
Created:
Posted in:
Online debating has been a hobby of mine for 15 years. I come back to it and take a break from it. It seems like a major pain point is how long it takes me to write arguments.
I could easily spend a half hour reading and digesting my opponent's argument, and thinking of counterarguments. 45 minutes writing. And then another 45 minutes proofreading. And that's easily 2 hours spent. On a piece of writing, that looks like it should've been written in 20 minutes.
And probably could've been written in 20 minutes if that word count were applied to any other type of writing (essay, blog, poem, short story, etc). Am I the only one that has this issue? Tips for improving at this?
Created:
Posted in:
They can, but not necessarily. Depends on the difficulty of the class. Getting a 3.7 in organic chemistry is not the same as getting a 3.7 in Introduction to American Government 101
Created:
Posted in:
To be honest. Most people don't have an extremely deep knowledge of the banking system or monetary policy. For every one person who has worked in the industry for decades and has learned a lot about it, there are 1000 people on the internet who get their opinions from pundits or cherrypick sources that confirm their biases.
Maybe the Federal Reserve overprinted. But what if they underprinted and a huge depression happened in 2020? I won't even pretend that I understand the nuance or the extent of the tradeoffs involved.
Created:
Posted in:
Me. Okay, probably not. But someday, maybe. :)
Created: