American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Lindsay Graham has announced he has COVID.

Thoughts and prayers.

[Dion]

This is so sad

#### you Trump!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1422371099002777604

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Lindsay Graham has announced he has COVID.

In this case, I'm rooting for Covid.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Yes, I'm not denying that. It is exploitation. The exploitation happens wherever there is demand and the demand is now in post secondary degrees.

As for wages, that's the market rate. We have to be competitive and if we cannot offer more salary than we offer perks, like healthcare, vacation, addition education etc..

But we can tell by the trends that every job we post, we get over qualified people. I called it 'breaking ties'. If you have hundreds of equal applicants, how do you break ties? You have to raise the bar higher and higher.

My first accounting job I ever got was during my 2nd year of my undergraduate degree over 20 years ago.I would not qualify for it today as full 4-year degrees now apply for that type of job. And soon, 4-year degrees will not be enough, you'll have to have experience, or promise more schooling, or rock the interview. As a candidate, you have to win tiebreakers.

So you refuse to ensure your employees can at least meet the poverty line even though they have higher education simply because “this is what the market will bear”?

Seems weak. Also, call BS on the whole “gotta compete” angle. Brutal exploitation of accountants and I don’t understand that profession. It’s the only one that gets treated like indentured servitude until some magical extra letters.

I don’t understand how accounting has been allowed to get away with this type of blatant rampant abuse while other professions have been fine. Engineering is similarly cultish with their stupid designations but even they get paid a living wage.

It’s not illegal to pay your people more and you’re exploitation of labour shouldn’t be celebrated. Your new employees you expect to be thankful for new jobs can’t even afford a basic basket of goods. Think about that.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

As for wages, that's the market rate. We have to be competitive and if we cannot offer more salary than we offer perks, like healthcare, vacation, addition education etc..

So you’re against education, against free education, but you offer free education as a means to attract the talent your company needs? And then you admit that you consider education as a requirement, many times being the most important facet of the resume, and use a candidate’s education as the first tie breaker? Finally you also admit that in the future more education is going to be required and those with advanced education will be the individuals who get the jobs, especially the best jobs. You should do an accounting of what you’re saying and look at the bottom line.

Whenever you need someone to step in and completely destroy their own argument, and the argument against a point, along comes Girly. Never change Girly Sports.

[GirlySports]

I'm not even making an argument, I'm telling you how the hiring works. It's a trap and a scam. There are too many degrees and more degrees are needed. But kids still want to be CAs.

And we are already paying above market to try and get people away from working practically for free at the Big 4. As Mr. Coffee said, accounting is toxic. The CA-merge really made it even worse.

I'm not against free education but it seems impossible with the current structure. And you can't just say blow it all up. Things are really entrenched.

[rubecube]

Good stuff.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1422594668110430214

[Coach]

It’s still America.

Bootstraps and things.

[Macman]

Quite the allegations against Governor Cuomo.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...ral-law-502274

[Macman]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Lindsay Graham has announced he has COVID.

He also said that he was thankful to have been double vaccinated.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I'm not even making an argument, I'm telling you how the hiring works. It's a trap and a scam. There are too many degrees and more degrees are needed. But kids still want to be CAs.

But it doesn’t need to be, problem is folks like yourself try to justify it and act as though because it’s “just the way it is” means it’s the way it has to be.

And we are already paying above market to try and get people away from working practically for free at the Big 4.

You’re paying slightly above minimum wage(assuming there is no overtime, which I doubt is the case), try not to pat yourself on the back too hard.

As Mr. Coffee said, accounting is toxic. The CA-merge really made it even worse.

It sounds like your company is toxic.

I'm not against free education but it seems impossible with the current structure. And you can't just say blow it all up. Things are really entrenched.

I don’t think the system needs to be “blown up”, but I do think there needs to be major changes to post secondary education in many countries. With that being said, your posts may have made the strongest arguments for why “blowing up” the system might not be the worst idea in the world.

[rubecube]

This is gross, too.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1421203982605750272

EDIT: On the other hand, this is good.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1422660923643269123

[Cali Panthers Fan]

You know Rube, I wish you would offer more than a glib one liner to describe policy decisions like that. You know it's far more complex than just calling it gross.

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden...6195b692015605

WHAT SET OFF THE PROTESTS?

Cuba’s government blames hardships on U.S. sanctions that it calculates cost the island $5.5 billion last year, though the figure is strongly disputed by its critics. It also claims the U.S. government and its enemies in the U.S. of using social media tools such as Twitter to send messages organizing the street protests.

Critics blame the government’s failure to shake up the eternally dismal state-run economy. While the government has created a series of broader openings for small-scale private businesses, they remain tightly controlled and limited. Cuba also has relied in recent years on tourism — income that has been devastated by the global pandemic — and on aid from ally Venezuela, which has declined along with Venezuela’s own economy.

A move this year to combine the country’s two sorts of currency into one also caused sharp inflation.

Okay, so let's say that everything about the hardships of Cuba is because of American sanctions. On the other hand, the people themselves say it isn't sanctions themselves, but a poorly run country that is to blame, and many are calling for an overthrowing of an authoritarian regime.

The slightly cynical but positive side in me says he is issuing sanctions to pressure the government to make substantial changes in policy or perhaps creating enough tension in the population to make wholesale government changes.

The more cynical side in me is saying he is doing so to gain Latino voters in Florida for the next election.

Either way, if the end result is a loosening of authoritarian control of a poor country, or a wholesale government change leading to eventual progress for the people, is that not a good thing overall?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Okay, so let's say that everything about the hardships of Cuba is because of American sanctions. On the other hand, the people themselves say it isn't sanctions themselves, but a poorly run country that is to blame, and many are calling for an overthrowing of an authoritarian regime.

Which people are these? There are plenty of Cubans who are supportive of the regime or at least the ideology behind the regime. There are also some Cubans who believe that the CIA may be stoking the current round of unrest.

That narrative doesn't usually play on CNN, MSNBC, an FOX, but there are independent outlets out there who are reporting on it.

The slightly cynical but positive side in me says he is issuing sanctions to pressure the government to make substantial changes in policy or perhaps creating enough tension in the population to make wholesale government changes.

How many times has this ever happened in the history of sanctions? The goal is almost always to cause unrest by hurting the general population in the hopes of influencing a regime change. It's very much an "ends justify the means" approach to foreign policy.

Either way, if the end result is a loosening of authoritarian control of a poor country, or a wholesale government change leading to eventual progress for the people, is that not a good thing overall?

The end result the U.S. has always been looking for is for the communist regime to fall and a U.S.-friendly regime to rise that is happy to sell off its resources and exploit its people so U.S. companies can turn a profit.

[GirlySports]

I wish it could change too, I am not happy about it either. It has really changed for the worse over the last 20 years or so. But between accounting regulations, accounting standards, CPA experience requirements, salary freezes, it is really a tough situation. I am not defending anything or patting myself on the back. I am just explaining the reality of an area like accounting and how it has been exploited by universities and regulatory boards. Can the government intervene, well, they have frozen salaries so that is not a good start. (To give a small clue, my company is non-union government) We have had a salary freeze since 2014. So they are making the problem worse.



Back to the point at hand. If we were to give tuition relief, who are we giving subsidies to. Is it a flat rate across the board, is it by demand, who decides. There are many, many moving parts.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

You know Rube, I wish you would offer more than a glib one liner to describe policy decisions like that. You know it's far more complex than just calling it gross.

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden...6195b692015605



Okay, so let's say that everything about the hardships of Cuba is because of American sanctions. On the other hand, the people themselves say it isn't sanctions themselves, but a poorly run country that is to blame, and many are calling for an overthrowing of an authoritarian regime.

The slightly cynical but positive side in me says he is issuing sanctions to pressure the government to make substantial changes in policy or perhaps creating enough tension in the population to make wholesale government changes.

The more cynical side in me is saying he is doing so to gain Latino voters in Florida for the next election.

Either way, if the end result is a loosening of authoritarian control of a poor country, or a wholesale government change leading to eventual progress for the people, is that not a good thing overall?

I'd guess it's very political given Trump's success in Florida. Being hard on Cuba seems political advantageous among Cuban Americans.

That is a cynical view as you say as I don't know much of anything about the issue itself.

[direwolf]

More insane shenanigans during the last days of the Trump presidency.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-offici...ry?id=79243198

Top members of the Department of Justice last year rebuffed another DOJ official who asked them to urge officials in Georgia to investigate and perhaps overturn President Joe Biden's victory in the state -- long a bitter point of contention for former President Donald Trump and his team -- before the results were certified by Congress, emails reviewed by ABC News show.

The emails, dated Dec. 28, 2020, show the former acting head of DOJ's civil division, Jeffrey Clark, circulating a draft letter -- which he wanted then-acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue to sign off on -- urging Georgia's governor and other top officials to convene the state legislature into a special session so lawmakers could investigate claims of voter fraud.

The draft letter states: "While the Department of Justice believe[s] the Governor of Georgia should immediately call a special session to consider this important and urgent matter, if he declines to do so, we share with you our view that the Georgia General Assembly has implied authority under the Constitution of the United States to call itself into special session for [t]he limited purpose of considering issues pertaining to the appointment of Presidential Electors."

Clark attached the draft letter in an email to Rosen and Donoghue telling them "I think we should get it out as soon as possible."

Donoghue responded a little more than an hour later shooting down Clark's request to sign on to the draft letter.

"There is no chance that I would sign this letter or anything remotely like this," Donoghue said. "While it maybe true that the Department 'is investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President' (something we typically would not state publicly) the investigations that I am aware of relate to suspicions of misconduct that are of such a small scale that they simply would not impact the outcome of the Presidential Election."

Donoghue closed his email response by stating that, while he was available to speak to Clark directly about his request, "from where I stand, this is not even within the realm of possibility."

[chemgear]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1422907914113716227

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by direwolf

More insane shenanigans during the last days of the Trump presidency.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-offici...ry?id=79243198

And about the only that has happened since has been Republicans punishing the people who stood in their way from making this occur.

Essentially the hope is that the next candidate isn't Trump and isn't as shameless as Trump.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

Essentially the hope is that the next candidate isn't Trump and isn't as shameless as Trump.

Given how incompetent Trump was, how many opportunities he missed to increase his likelihood of re-election and the number of people who voted for him anyway, you're basically relying on the people running the Republican Party's internal machinery to prevent the next candidate from being either him again or a worse version of him by ensuring that the only options are establishment figures.

... So yeah, don't hold your breath or anything.