Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

So wrong.  Too obvious to bother. 

All three, or one in particular?

I'll admit, I'm impressed that my jaded view of politicians as ineffective and overselling what they can do is met with such resistance. 

Oh I totally agree with you that politicians get far too much blame and far too much credit.

but inflation is heavily influenced by government spending, tax policies, and monetary policy. Those things are controlled by politicians.

as for crime, over the medium or longer-term prosecution and sentencing have a huge impact in those things are controlled to a high degree by politicians. Just look at Oregon’s governor looking to give clemency to many many felons. And so much crime today is turning out to be repeat offenders or people who are awaiting court dates or people who were released early.

lastly, what’s going on at the border is highly influenced by policies and laws which again I constructed by politicians. 

now the part that you said about getting too much blame or blaming someone else, and taking too much credit, and having slogans etc.


You couldn’t be more correct.

I noted the first part because inflation is heavily tied to interest rates, and those are not in the hands of our elected officials. I also put a lot of weight in the workings of the massive free market economy and how it ebbs and flows. I put much more weight on those to factors than the work of squabbling pols.

I'll not dig too much into the second one. I've not seen a ton of highly conclusive evidence on the subject. But I've seen a lot of individual stories. Other folks put a lot more stock into those. It's of course two issues, one of due process (which I have more thoughts about) and of long sentences, which comes down to the math of how many people who wouldn't commit more crimes serve how many more years to ensure some people won't commit the specific crimes they commit (setting aside some reality they'll likely still commit crimes no matter when they're released). On the second one, I have less faith than some, mostly because some have A LOT of faith, but am not gung ho against the idea. The world of sentencing is also super odd and niche, and I only have a cursory sense of its structure. 

For the border, I said most do not affect that. And that's true. It's a national issue, and that means it's in the hands of a pretty small set of elected politicians and a pretty small subset of the politicians I vote for. 

I should say this, my main point was that pols will promise me many things. And I think they will promise much, much more than they can deliver. They'll also promise results in areas they have almost no handle on. It is their way. 

I noted the first part because inflation is heavily tied to interest rates, and those are not in the hands of our elected officials. I also put a lot of weight in the workings of the massive free market economy and how it ebbs and flows. I put much more weight on those to factors than the work of squabbling pols.

I'll not dig too much into the second one. I've not seen a ton of highly conclusive evidence on the subject. But I've seen a lot of individual stories. Other folks put a lot more stock into those. It's of course two issues, one of due process (which I have more thoughts about) and of long sentences, which comes down to the math of how many people who wouldn't commit more crimes serve how many more years to ensure some people won't commit the specific crimes they commit (setting aside some reality they'll likely still commit crimes no matter when they're released). On the second one, I have less faith than some, mostly because some have A LOT of faith, but am not gung ho against the idea. The world of sentencing is also super odd and niche, and I only have a cursory sense of its structure.

For the border, I said most do not affect that. And that's true. It's a national issue, and that means it's in the hands of a pretty small set of elected politicians and a pretty small subset of the politicians I vote for.

I should say this, my main point was that pols will promise me many things. And I think they will promise much, much more than they can deliver. They'll also promise results in areas they have almost no handle on. It is their way.

That’s pretty well said. 

So, turns out the "270 doctors sign letter demanding Spotify condemn/censor Joe Rogan!" bs the media/cable news was spewing non-stop 24/7 about a week back- yeah...only 87 of the people who signed the letter/petition whatever you want to call it were actually medical doctors. About 100 were Ph.D.s or Ph.D. candidates and the rest nurse practitioners, veterinarians, dentists, psychologists, physicians' assistants, medical students, couple of engineers, and even a podcast host. So real headline should've been....270 people sign a letter demanding Spotify condemn/censor Joe Rogan, and only 87 of them were actual medical doctors. And they wonder why they are losing their audience and subscribers in record numbers. Lol.

Also...gigantic LOL @ Neil Young. Neil Young at his advanced age had a true get off my lawn moment- and demanded Spotify either remove Joe Rogan's podcast or his music from their platform. Sure thing Neil, they'll remove the biggest podcast on planet earth that has been a ratings and subscriber bonanza for them ASAP, just to keep your shitty music that no one listens to on their platform.

Spotify removed all of Young's music within hours. They said bye Felicia, don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

Rogan's podcast has been a smashing success for Spotify, it's the biggest podcast in the entire world and the episodes average around 11-12 million daily views per episode- and countless hundreds of millions more downloads per month. Vast majority of listeners/downloaders which are in that prized 18-49 demo. Neil Young probably got 500 streams a day in that key demo- if that.

By the way, it's obvious to me now why CNN has had this weird hate-boner for Rogan. Jealousy, envy, and fear at it's finest. His show gets like 12-13 times the daily viewership of CNN's top rated show. And his show is 2-3 hours long. Theirs is an hour. CNN has lost 90% of it's ad revenue in the key 18-49 demo. They are f**ked and it's guys like Rogan that are kicking their asses. TV is honestly dead, only boomers watch it- the key 18-49 demo has completely abandoned tv- only thing anyone that isn't a boomer watches these days on tv is live sports.

So its to Spotify's credit that they didnt bow to this pressure

Isnt this kind of a turn around from the normal actions by social media

Is Spotify truly this fair or is it just money

would they have done the same thing if the party involved wasnt a big money maker

So its to Spotify's credit that they didnt bow to this pressure

Isnt this kind of a turn around from the normal actions by social media

Is Spotify truly this fair or is it just money

would they have done the same thing if the party involved wasnt a big money maker

yeah, it's about the money. isn't it always about the money? Joe Rogan has been a f***king cash cow and giant smashing success for them. they ain't ever getting rid of him. his Spotify deal is up in I think a year and a half- and his next deal is going to be stupid big. wouldn't shock me if it was like $250-300 million.

We had a year more or less where we couldn't spend on much.  Then government have many of us money, I even got one check.  So, folks are flush with cash for a change, and what to do with it?  Travel is one thing.  Dining out, entertainment, stuff from Amazon, buy buy buy.  Rental car agencies sold off their fleets back in April 2020 saturating the used car market and prices came down, now they are buying back.  Rental car prices are way up and the cars are crappy, one valet told me one came in with a space saver spare on the car, they said it was their last vehicle.  Oil prices are impacted by global events and OPEC production as well as demand.

If Russia does attack Ukraine, we'll see higher oil prices as Europe tries to pretend to have sanctions on Russia, which they can't really effect very well at all.  I expect more asymmetry in said attack that a direct invasion, but obviously I don't know.