"I was also envious of being able to juke from a cheese shop to a wine shop to a bakery to a bodega to get dinner.
#9 | Posted by Danforth"

I assume by this you mean dumpster diving at 2AM.

"Trump's dreadful economy will crush Americans buying power, forcing more people into poverty and making do with less.
#8 | Posted by ClownShack"

Under Joe Biden - real wages (wage increase - inflation) were NEGATIVE -------. Biden made your life unaffordable. Thus far under Trump - REAL WAGES ARE INCREASING. Of course, you don't want to talk about the actual data, you want to project out some doom and gloom because the Democrats are incapable of debating with actual facts.

"#6 | Posted by ClownShack"

I never mentioned Trump in this discussion. Perhaps your housing would be more affordable if you didn't allow Trump and I to live rent free in your head.

In general, the service outside of high end restaurants and hotels is pretty ---- in Europe. That said, the less Americans eat out and continue to get fatter and fatter, the better. It is way healthier to cook at home, and if you have a family, meals together inside the house actually bring the family together. So much of what we do today is outsourcing the raising of kids to 3rd parties. That includes moms that don't cook dinner, kids that don't cut the lawn, and dad's too useless to do normal house repairs. The higher costs go, the more people revert back to doing things themselves - so, Biden's out of control inflation may have that long-term benefit.

"#59 | Posted by Danforth"

Wrong again ------- - but at least you are trying to have actual facts this time rather than just lying like you normally do.

"" loans to people that would not otherwise qualify - mainly non-white poor people."
Nonsense. It was McMansions that broke the system. Not the folks defaulting on the cheapest homes around.
#53 | Posted by Danforth"

It was called the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and specifically forbid lenders from using all the traditional underwriting criteria because it was 'racist' - 'racist' things like income level, income verification, credit history and savings history.

The default rate was not among 'McMansions' - it was among the urban poor using sub-prime loans that they could not afford and the banks were not allowed to reject. Sub-prime delinquency rates were nearly 30%. Those were not buying McMansions in the suburbs - that was the urban poor buying their ---------.

Things that are already generally accepted as facts should not be questioned. It just makes the person asking look dumb and wastes the time of the person responding.

"#10 | Posted by LegallyYourDead"

LOL. Federal prosecutors have over a 99% conviction rate for cases that go to trial. Jack Smith's conviction rate is utterly embarrassing.

He had 7 major cases and blew 5 of them (including Trump). That is a 29% conviction rate - he should have been tossed out of his role a long time ago based on utter incompetence and his political bias. Hell, a large part of the reason why the US government does not have a 100% conviction rate is JACK SMITH.

You were just dumb enough to put your trust in him - that is not on Jack Smith - that is on you.

"Is what generated September 29th 2008 the result of policy excellence?
#44 | Posted by redlightrobot"

No - it was the fault of the government forcing banks to give loans to people that would not otherwise qualify - mainly non-white poor people. Because of this, demand was artificially high - which pushed up housing prices for everyone. Predictably, they failed to make their repayments resulting in mass foreclosures and a major drop in house prices for everyone.

If you want an actual parallel, you are better served by comparing this to the student loan crisis. Again, government gave loans to people that are unlikely to pay it back resulting in mass defaults.

Trump and his tariff policies have literally nothing in common with what you are implying. Further, with the cratering energy prices due to Trump policies and the Saudis running huge deficits, it is likely that we could actually see a bit of deflation in things like food prices or other energy intensive activities.

McDonald's is the top grossing hamburger seller in the US - must mean their product is not garbage compared to In-N-Out or ShakeShack by the logic of some -------- on this website.

"#33 | Posted by Danforth"

So you bought $10K in Apple products - like, you purchased 10 Macbook Airs...sure you did? And yes, the iPhone is a utter garbage.

As for my shoes - I buy US made bespoke shoes -------. That is why I don't go to your deep blue -------- cities - I don't want to step on your feces or drug needles and dirty my shoes. Same goes for my clothing.

"#28 | Posted by ClownShack"

How many more replies are you going to make not addressing the question -------? Which of policies I named above were not supported by the Dems under Clinton?

The Dems weren't corporate owned under Clinton - but they are owned by Globo-Homo now.

"#30 | Posted by Danforth"

So you stocked up on your cheap Chinese made crap - gotcha. Let me guess, you intend to use these in your 'tax preparer' cosplay. First of all, I doubt you even have a net worth of $10K to spend so your 20% APR on the credit card you used to buy that crap will end up being more expensive than any tariff impact would have been. Great financial work their Buffett.

"#24 | Posted by ClownShack"

Keep trying to push your Globo-Homo on people - keep losing elections -------. Every word I wrote is true which is why you don't even attempt to counter it - you just spew nonsense.

"Today's Democratic Party represents corporate America, their policies are the same as they were during Clinton's administration."

LOL.
During Clinton, the majority of the Dems supported tariffs and opposed free trade and NAFTA
During Clinton, the Dems were against illegals as the unions didn't want the wage destroying impacts
During Clinton, the Dems were against Gay-Marriage, forget about the current trans insanity
During Clinton, the Dems wanted to lock up criminals - remember the 'super predator' comments?
During Clinton, the Dems wanted to collect the 'peace dividend' by shrinking the military
During Clinton, the Dems wanted reform the welfare state by adding work requirements

Either your memory is total ---- or you are completely dishonest. The Dems took a complete about face on all of these issues - and they are being punished at the ballot box for it.

"Americans are tired of that."

The Democrats lost on your progressive, far left platform. The GOP won on MAGA - which is basically the Clinton platform. So, you should rethink that.

"We want what nations like Canada, Australia, and European nations have. Our tax dollars going help Americans."

Australia is collapsing in line with China's collapse. Their huge string of positive GDP growth was fueled by being the natural resource provider to China. Those days are ending and the Australian housing market is starting to collapse as a result. The advantage that Australia has is that the people have resisted the influx of illegals and other foreign workers which collapse wage structures.

As for the EU and Canada - both are dying and falling further and further behind the US in GDP. Canada is utterly reliant on the US with 20% of their economy being linked to US trade - and those days are ending. Europe has killed itself by killing entrepreneurship. They don't have a single tech company of note. They have morphed into a theme park for middle class American tourists.

"Unfortunately conservatives have fallen beholden to oligarchs.
#22 | Posted by ClownShack"

Keep telling yourself that ------- - and be continually surprised why the working class is voting GOP.

"Trump's ruining the America, stupid.
#22 | Posted by ClownShack"

We will have to wait and see if the grammar Karen Redial will come to comment on this.

"Same thing happened to Republicans in 2008.
It's what gave birth to the short lived Tea Party.
#17 | Posted by ClownShack"

Correct - and it led to the collapse of the old GOP (Corporate GOP, religious nutjobs, and NEOCONs) and its takeover and total reformation into MAGA and bringing the party back to the mainstream with conservative, working class Dems and Independents flocking to it. The coalition completely changed.

You should hope the same happens to the Dems. But, you want to do the opposite and run further to the left.

"Any nuclear war would also destroy Russia, even without US participation,
#17 | Posted by Zed"

Yes, it will. And the Russians will accept that before accepting defeat from NATO or Europe. That is not in the best interest of the US or the world. But, that is what Ukraine wants - and I should clarify - what ZELENSKY wants, not the Ukrainian people. Zelensky is not making it out of this alive and he knows it.

"What happened to the greatest negotiator in the world ending this within 24 hours?"

He did for the US - at the end of the day, that is what really matters.

"And you act all indignant and surprised
#15 | Posted by jpw"

The only surprise is how ------- liberals want the killing to continue. At least Trump is trying - Biden threw fuel on the fire. That is what Europe is doing now. If they want to do this, we cannot stop them. It is sad - but, it is not our concern.

"#17 | Posted by jpw"

Yes - I don't understand the subject as demonstrated by my comment directly related to the post and showing why it is not a reliable reading by quoting the other statistic globally quoted on the US service sector - not to mention the one that is more closely aligned with the official government statistics on economic activity.

Just because you have a cush job washing beakers for $15/hour - does not mean you are informed to even talk on this subject.

"She shamelessly lied for over two years and now wants to distance herself from the party she lied for?
#15 | Posted by BellRinger"

Black women vote for the Dems at a 92% clip.
Lesbians also voted for the Dems at a 92% clip.

So, the fact that a double-DEI is now abandoning the party should set off alarm bells. Throw in that she willfully lied and looked like and idiot doing it for Biden - and she is still abandoning the party - should scare the ---- out of Democrats.

"#13 | Posted by REDIAL"

Thank you again for your great value add for the conversation. I know what I, and I think everyone else on this website really wanted, was a grammar Karen. Thank you for providing this valuable service. It is way, way more important than debating the actual data.

"More like signs of stocking up before the schittt hits the fan.
#12 | Posted by Danforth"

Stocked up on services? Take your pretend financial analyst skills along with your debunked cosplaying 'tax preparer' skills somewhere they have not already been repeatedly exposed and debunked.

Zelensky's actions will likely force Putin's hand to now demand an unconditional surrender of Ukraine and its partitioning and/or full annexation by Russia. Europe will probably find that unacceptable but also fighting a war that they cannot win without Russia nuking the entire continent. In no conceivable world will Europe or NATO roll tanks into Moscow to force Russia's defeat. It will nuke the world first.

So, the very goal of Europe escalating CANNOT be achieved unless they want the world to end.

"#10 | Posted by REDIAL"

I copied and pasted but edited out the 'flash reading' and did not update the "from" to "to" (good catch and a great value add to the conversation), which was 53.2 for the month. So, it improved greatly month over month and even surprised to the upside from the flash reading. All signs of expansion.