FT has always had a left wing bias, and I say that as a subscriber.
What's really fascinating in the article that tweet links to is the clickable chart of GDP, GDP per head, average earnings, and productivity.
All of which stalled in 2008 in the GFC, under Labour's watch, and have flatlined ever since.
Of course, the Conservatives have had 14 years to do better, but those charts suggest that the structural problems with the economy stem from a global crisis, rather than Conservative mismanagement. It's notable that there's no Brexit blip on those charts, though there is a COVID one. Again, suggesting factors outside of a national government's control.
I'd love to see five years of Labour government where GDP, GDP per head, earnings and productivity rise. I fear, however, that something in the economic system as we know it broke in 2008, and Labour won't fix it either.
I think there’s something wrong in the productivity figures for us, and other similar nations that don’t make widgets. But undeniably there’s a growth issue nonetheless.
Noteworthy that US productivity hasn't flatlined since the GFC:
The data suggests that Europe, and I include the UK in that, has failed to recover from the 2008 GFC, while the data suggests the US has.
I'm not an economist, so I'm not sure why that's the case, I can only point to the figures and suggest it's a problem to which the Conservative party have no answers, but isn't a problem actually caused by the Conservatives.
UK & Europe: austerity. USA: Uncle Sam: spraying money about. Turns out Keynes was right.
Yet, US public services are worse than those of most rich world countries. For them, austerity is permanent.
There’s a lot in that. People focus too much on their healthcare. The rest is crap too. Nothing ever bloody works, and just when you think their capitalism would help, it turns out then are corporatists. I was amazed when a mate of there told me what cable tv and phone cost him, compared to what you get here when Sky and Virgin compete, just to give one example.
@rcs1000 might have more accurate information, but as I understand it, food prices are now eyewatering in their supermarkets and restaurants.
There's a fairly extensive set of Youtube "American reacts to" videos about food prices in the UK (and also Europe).
There's another set about food quality.
Then first thing that American politicians try and do, if fix a market. As PJ O’Rourke observed, when buying and selling is controlled by politicians, the first things bought and sold are… politicians.
A favourite was when Tesla started selling directly. In a number of states, there are *laws* that only dealers can sell cars. The dealers complained that Tesla was refusing to share with them - they’d paid their political contributions and everything and now some bastard thinks he doesn’t have to give them their vig….
🗳️ Projection @IpsosFrance de la composition de l'Assemblée après les élections législatives :
⚫️ RN et alliés : 230 à 280 sièges 🔴NFP : 125 à 165 sièges 🟠Ensemble : 70 à 100 sièges 🔵LR et DVD : 41 à 61 sièges 🟣DVG : 11 à 19 sièges ⚪️Autres : 22 à 30 sièges
We might get the crazy situation where centre right parties in France ask for their supporters to vote for the left / far left, the socialists, communists and the greens next week in various parts of France.
Could you imagine Rishi Sunak coming and say vote Jezza Corbyn and George Galloway.
I don’t think they can. Have you seen some of the French far left positions? They are much crazier and probably nastier than le pen, and of course tainted with anti Semitism
🗳️ Projection @IpsosFrance de la composition de l'Assemblée après les élections législatives :
⚫️ RN et alliés : 230 à 280 sièges 🔴NFP : 125 à 165 sièges 🟠Ensemble : 70 à 100 sièges 🔵LR et DVD : 41 à 61 sièges 🟣DVG : 11 à 19 sièges ⚪️Autres : 22 à 30 sièges
Polling pretty good - RN perhaps very lightly worse but it is MOE stuff
RN will only win a handful of seats outright tonight as you need 50,% to win. Next week in the runoffs the non RN supporters will rally as it were behind the other candidate so no chance of RN majority
No that was a different France. The far left in France are insane
According to the BBC, candidates may withdraw before the second round, and stategic withdrawals are likely to be part of the negotiations before the second round.
FT has always had a left wing bias, and I say that as a subscriber.
What's really fascinating in the article that tweet links to is the clickable chart of GDP, GDP per head, average earnings, and productivity.
All of which stalled in 2008 in the GFC, under Labour's watch, and have flatlined ever since.
Of course, the Conservatives have had 14 years to do better, but those charts suggest that the structural problems with the economy stem from a global crisis, rather than Conservative mismanagement. It's notable that there's no Brexit blip on those charts, though there is a COVID one. Again, suggesting factors outside of a national government's control.
I'd love to see five years of Labour government where GDP, GDP per head, earnings and productivity rise. I fear, however, that something in the economic system as we know it broke in 2008, and Labour won't fix it either.
I think there’s something wrong in the productivity figures for us, and other similar nations that don’t make widgets. But undeniably there’s a growth issue nonetheless.
Noteworthy that US productivity hasn't flatlined since the GFC:
The data suggests that Europe, and I include the UK in that, has failed to recover from the 2008 GFC, while the data suggests the US has.
I'm not an economist, so I'm not sure why that's the case, I can only point to the figures and suggest it's a problem to which the Conservative party have no answers, but isn't a problem actually caused by the Conservatives.
UK & Europe: austerity. USA: Uncle Sam: spraying money about. Turns out Keynes was right.
Yet, US public services are worse than those of most rich world countries. For them, austerity is permanent.
There’s a lot in that. People focus too much on their healthcare. The rest is crap too. Nothing ever bloody works, and just when you think their capitalism would help, it turns out then are corporatists. I was amazed when a mate of there told me what cable tv and phone cost him, compared to what you get here when Sky and Virgin compete, just to give one example.
@rcs1000 might have more accurate information, but as I understand it, food prices are now eyewatering in their supermarkets and restaurants.
There's a fairly extensive set of Youtube "American reacts to" videos about food prices in the UK (and also Europe).
There's another set about food quality.
Then first thing that American politicians try and do, if fix a market. As PJ O’Rourke observed, when buying and selling is controlled by politicians, the first things bought and sold are… politicians.
A favourite was when Tesla started selling directly. In a number of states, there are *laws* that only dealers can sell cars. The dealers complained that Tesla was refusing to share with them - they’d paid their political contributions and everything and now some bastard thinks he doesn’t have to give them their vig….
Without defending US auto dealers, are *laws* something you and/or Musk can simply ignore, as opposed to laws which you (if not Musk) would consider legit?
A very well hung Parliament. The French will never allow the far right (Le Pen) to win. They'll always hobble around the 40% mark. The majority don't like Fascists
We might get the crazy situation where centre right parties in France ask for their supporters to vote for the left / far left, the socialists, communists and the greens next week in various parts of France.
Could you imagine Rishi Sunak coming and say vote Jezza Corbyn and George Galloway.
Depends on the alternative. Even if the choices are Devil and Deep Blue Sea, one still has to choose.
According to the BBC, candidates may withdraw before the second round, and stategic withdrawals are likely to be part of the negotiations before the second round.
I think it’s likely that RN will be the biggest party after the 2nd round. But an absolute majority is surely beyond their reach
What they do then god knows. Can macron rally accept Bardella as premier?
🗳️ Projection @IpsosFrance de la composition de l'Assemblée après les élections législatives :
⚫️ RN et alliés : 230 à 280 sièges 🔴NFP : 125 à 165 sièges 🟠Ensemble : 70 à 100 sièges 🔵LR et DVD : 41 à 61 sièges 🟣DVG : 11 à 19 sièges ⚪️Autres : 22 à 30 sièges
Polling pretty good - RN perhaps very lightly worse but it is MOE stuff
Yes, an incredibly good result for the pollsters. Almost bang on. RN a tiny bit below, Ens a bit above, left wing accurate.
A very well hung Parliament. The French will never allow the far right (Le Pen) to win. They'll always hobble around the 40% mark. The majority don't like Fascists
Cue my now traditional browsing to see what was voted for in the commune of St Vincent des Pres, 71250. In the Euros Macron’s lot won in our ultra woke Burgundian village but only just. RN were 4th.
A very well hung Parliament. The French will never allow the far right (Le Pen) to win. They'll always hobble around the 40% mark. The majority don't like Fascists
The French are always claiming things like that. And their women are the sexiest as well. Its all faff.
A very well hung Parliament. The French will never allow the far right (Le Pen) to win. They'll always hobble around the 40% mark. The majority don't like Fascists
40% is still a fair chunk of the electorate though…. Starmer might not even reach that here on Thursday. And Le Pen is polling ahead in the next Presidential.
🗳️ Projection @IpsosFrance de la composition de l'Assemblée après les élections législatives :
⚫️ RN et alliés : 230 à 280 sièges 🔴NFP : 125 à 165 sièges 🟠Ensemble : 70 à 100 sièges 🔵LR et DVD : 41 à 61 sièges 🟣DVG : 11 à 19 sièges ⚪️Autres : 22 à 30 sièges
Good luck getting a majority out of that kind of result, should it transpire next week, which locks out Le Pen.
OTOH Le Pen + centre-right = Maj. Any chance at all that the latter might go for it?
🗳️ Projection @IpsosFrance de la composition de l'Assemblée après les élections législatives :
⚫️ RN et alliés : 230 à 280 sièges 🔴NFP : 125 à 165 sièges 🟠Ensemble : 70 à 100 sièges 🔵LR et DVD : 41 à 61 sièges 🟣DVG : 11 à 19 sièges ⚪️Autres : 22 à 30 sièges
Polling pretty good - RN perhaps very lightly worse but it is MOE stuff
BFM/Elabe has different figures, 260-310 for RN, others all worse off. So possibility of a majority.
Melenchon has just asked all 3rd place NFPs to withdraw, if Macron does the same that could help significantly.
FT has always had a left wing bias, and I say that as a subscriber.
What's really fascinating in the article that tweet links to is the clickable chart of GDP, GDP per head, average earnings, and productivity.
All of which stalled in 2008 in the GFC, under Labour's watch, and have flatlined ever since.
Of course, the Conservatives have had 14 years to do better, but those charts suggest that the structural problems with the economy stem from a global crisis, rather than Conservative mismanagement. It's notable that there's no Brexit blip on those charts, though there is a COVID one. Again, suggesting factors outside of a national government's control.
I'd love to see five years of Labour government where GDP, GDP per head, earnings and productivity rise. I fear, however, that something in the economic system as we know it broke in 2008, and Labour won't fix it either.
I think there’s something wrong in the productivity figures for us, and other similar nations that don’t make widgets. But undeniably there’s a growth issue nonetheless.
Noteworthy that US productivity hasn't flatlined since the GFC:
The data suggests that Europe, and I include the UK in that, has failed to recover from the 2008 GFC, while the data suggests the US has.
I'm not an economist, so I'm not sure why that's the case, I can only point to the figures and suggest it's a problem to which the Conservative party have no answers, but isn't a problem actually caused by the Conservatives.
UK & Europe: austerity. USA: Uncle Sam: spraying money about. Turns out Keynes was right.
Yet, US public services are worse than those of most rich world countries. For them, austerity is permanent.
There’s a lot in that. People focus too much on their healthcare. The rest is crap too. Nothing ever bloody works, and just when you think their capitalism would help, it turns out then are corporatists. I was amazed when a mate of there told me what cable tv and phone cost him, compared to what you get here when Sky and Virgin compete, just to give one example.
@rcs1000 might have more accurate information, but as I understand it, food prices are now eyewatering in their supermarkets and restaurants.
There's a fairly extensive set of Youtube "American reacts to" videos about food prices in the UK (and also Europe).
There's another set about food quality.
Then first thing that American politicians try and do, if fix a market. As PJ O’Rourke observed, when buying and selling is controlled by politicians, the first things bought and sold are… politicians.
A favourite was when Tesla started selling directly. In a number of states, there are *laws* that only dealers can sell cars. The dealers complained that Tesla was refusing to share with them - they’d paid their political contributions and everything and now some bastard thinks he doesn’t have to give them their vig….
Without defending US auto dealers, are *laws* something you and/or Musk can simply ignore, as opposed to laws which you (if not Musk) would consider legit?
Tesla were selling direct - which was legal in many states. This started the attacks by the dealers. In addition, in the states where they judged that online sales broke the dealer laws, Tesla launched campaigns to overturn them.
Tesla didn’t ignore the laws - they couldn’t.
The fascinating bit was some of the justifications by the dealers. In their minds, they were owed a percentage of the sales price of cars. Like Queen Liz giving the Earl of Essex a monopoly (tax) on the import of sweet wine.
🗳️ Projection @IpsosFrance de la composition de l'Assemblée après les élections législatives :
⚫️ RN et alliés : 230 à 280 sièges 🔴NFP : 125 à 165 sièges 🟠Ensemble : 70 à 100 sièges 🔵LR et DVD : 41 à 61 sièges 🟣DVG : 11 à 19 sièges ⚪️Autres : 22 à 30 sièges
I think we can be confident that Paris is going to be besieged.
Republicans won’t be voting Left to keep out RN in round 2. And centrists will be breaking 50/50 or abstaining.
People are clinging on to the pattern of the RN going backwards in the second round when they were a distant third or fourth overall so it was their vote getting squeezed, but that doesn't apply when they're starting from first place. The are certainly going to win more votes in the second round.
A very well hung Parliament. The French will never allow the far right (Le Pen) to win. They'll always hobble around the 40% mark. The majority don't like Fascists
Cue my now traditional browsing to see what was voted for in the commune of St Vincent des Pres, 71250. In the Euros Macron’s lot won in our ultra woke Burgundian village but only just. RN were 4th.
France are a country of protest. And they can protest in the happy knowledge that the Le Pens will never actually rule.
FT has always had a left wing bias, and I say that as a subscriber.
What's really fascinating in the article that tweet links to is the clickable chart of GDP, GDP per head, average earnings, and productivity.
All of which stalled in 2008 in the GFC, under Labour's watch, and have flatlined ever since.
Of course, the Conservatives have had 14 years to do better, but those charts suggest that the structural problems with the economy stem from a global crisis, rather than Conservative mismanagement. It's notable that there's no Brexit blip on those charts, though there is a COVID one. Again, suggesting factors outside of a national government's control.
I'd love to see five years of Labour government where GDP, GDP per head, earnings and productivity rise. I fear, however, that something in the economic system as we know it broke in 2008, and Labour won't fix it either.
I think there’s something wrong in the productivity figures for us, and other similar nations that don’t make widgets. But undeniably there’s a growth issue nonetheless.
Noteworthy that US productivity hasn't flatlined since the GFC:
The data suggests that Europe, and I include the UK in that, has failed to recover from the 2008 GFC, while the data suggests the US has.
I'm not an economist, so I'm not sure why that's the case, I can only point to the figures and suggest it's a problem to which the Conservative party have no answers, but isn't a problem actually caused by the Conservatives.
UK & Europe: austerity. USA: Uncle Sam: spraying money about. Turns out Keynes was right.
Yet, US public services are worse than those of most rich world countries. For them, austerity is permanent.
There’s a lot in that. People focus too much on their healthcare. The rest is crap too. Nothing ever bloody works, and just when you think their capitalism would help, it turns out then are corporatists. I was amazed when a mate of there told me what cable tv and phone cost him, compared to what you get here when Sky and Virgin compete, just to give one example.
@rcs1000 might have more accurate information, but as I understand it, food prices are now eyewatering in their supermarkets and restaurants.
There's a fairly extensive set of Youtube "American reacts to" videos about food prices in the UK (and also Europe).
There's another set about food quality.
Then first thing that American politicians try and do, if fix a market. As PJ O’Rourke observed, when buying and selling is controlled by politicians, the first things bought and sold are… politicians.
A favourite was when Tesla started selling directly. In a number of states, there are *laws* that only dealers can sell cars. The dealers complained that Tesla was refusing to share with them - they’d paid their political contributions and everything and now some bastard thinks he doesn’t have to give them their vig….
Without defending US auto dealers, are *laws* something you and/or Musk can simply ignore, as opposed to laws which you (if not Musk) would consider legit?
Tesla were selling direct - which was legal in many states. This started the attacks by the dealers. In addition, in the states where they judged that online sales broke the dealer laws, Tesla launched campaigns to overturn them.
Tesla didn’t ignore the laws - they couldn’t.
The fascinating bit was some of the justifications by the dealers. In their minds, they were owed a percentage of the sales price of cars. Like Queen Liz giving the Earl of Essex a monopoly (tax) on the import of sweet wine.
Then why the editorial comment re: "laws"?
Would note that Elon Musk is NOT adverse NOR shy, about lobbying politicos to get what he wants.
Also note that the heyday of USA corporate lobbying, influence peddling & outright bribery, was during the post-Civil War "Gilded Age" when business regulation at federal AND state level was essentially non-existent. What WAS on offer, where tax breaks, land grants and other goodies.
@MattW I can see votes cast...by someone...in a booth. I predict someone will win to become Prime Minister...a man, I see a man. I am getting a very strong signal, it may be a Sky dish or perhaps a power tool...ooooo
🗳️ Projection @IpsosFrance de la composition de l'Assemblée après les élections législatives :
⚫️ RN et alliés : 230 à 280 sièges 🔴NFP : 125 à 165 sièges 🟠Ensemble : 70 à 100 sièges 🔵LR et DVD : 41 à 61 sièges 🟣DVG : 11 à 19 sièges ⚪️Autres : 22 à 30 sièges
Good luck getting a majority out of that kind of result, should it transpire next week, which locks out Le Pen.
OTOH Le Pen + centre-right = Maj. Any chance at all that the latter might go for it?
Apparently RN have endorsed a number of LR candidates, but with LR getting low numbers it might not give them very many
If I understand this correctly the next French election will be determined by Macron supporters on whether they detest the Left more than the Hard Right:
Why is Starmer also going to bring in Sunaks Crazy plan for more business for drug dealers by banning anyone born after 2009 from buying cigs?
Labour's natural instinct is to regulate, tax, or ban. In this respect, the present Conservatives haven't been much better.
I don't envy politicians of any stripe confronted with the problem of what to do about the stubborn hardcore of smokers we still have in this country. Tobacco is a wretched habit that does nobody any good and still places a huge burden on the tottering healthcare system.
I suppose it's a tightrope walk, trying to disincentivize the habit without ending up creating another illegal drug racket for the police to try to cope with. Jacking up the tax on cigarettes even further, to try to price society out of buying them one segment at a time, is probably the least worst option.
Why is Starmer also going to bring in Sunaks Crazy plan for more business for drug dealers by banning anyone born after 2009 from buying cigs?
Labour's natural instinct is to regulate, tax, or ban. In this respect, the present Conservatives haven't been much better.
I don't envy politicians of any stripe confronted with the problem of what to do about the stubborn hardcore of smokers we still have in this country. Tobacco is a wretched habit that does nobody any good and still places a huge burden on the tottering healthcare system.
I suppose it's a tightrope walk, trying to disincentivize the habit without ending up creating another illegal drug racket for the police to try to cope with. Jacking up the tax on cigarettes even further, to try to price society out of buying them one segment at a time, is probably the least worst option.
I'm a libertarian, so if people want to smoke, as far as I'm concerned that's their business - same as if they want to take heroin, do coke, get a tattoo, nipple piercing, whatever - their body, their choice.
I also don't believe the state should pay for the consequences of it.
I have finally tracked down the article that idiot Hitchins was quoting about ‘Russia being provoked.’ It was not easy because not only was what he quoted rather inaccurate but it was so ripped out of context anyway as to actually reverse the meaning of what was said.
Here are Kagan’s very precise words:
Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact
The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by Purim’s inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.
This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying the exact opposite.
So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.
FT has always had a left wing bias, and I say that as a subscriber.
What's really fascinating in the article that tweet links to is the clickable chart of GDP, GDP per head, average earnings, and productivity.
All of which stalled in 2008 in the GFC, under Labour's watch, and have flatlined ever since.
Of course, the Conservatives have had 14 years to do better, but those charts suggest that the structural problems with the economy stem from a global crisis, rather than Conservative mismanagement. It's notable that there's no Brexit blip on those charts, though there is a COVID one. Again, suggesting factors outside of a national government's control.
I'd love to see five years of Labour government where GDP, GDP per head, earnings and productivity rise. I fear, however, that something in the economic system as we know it broke in 2008, and Labour won't fix it either.
I think there’s something wrong in the productivity figures for us, and other similar nations that don’t make widgets. But undeniably there’s a growth issue nonetheless.
Noteworthy that US productivity hasn't flatlined since the GFC:
The data suggests that Europe, and I include the UK in that, has failed to recover from the 2008 GFC, while the data suggests the US has.
I'm not an economist, so I'm not sure why that's the case, I can only point to the figures and suggest it's a problem to which the Conservative party have no answers, but isn't a problem actually caused by the Conservatives.
UK & Europe: austerity. USA: Uncle Sam: spraying money about. Turns out Keynes was right.
We haven't had austerity.
The US has been busily using its global muscle to agglomerate wealth to itself. Its campaign to get other countries to raise their Corporation Tax is one example - you'll remember Biden snarling about Truss's mini-budget where she planned to reverse the planned increase. It has also intervened in UK energy projects like the coking coalmine. We also know it has been influential in Western sanctions against Russian oil and gas, advantaging its own oil industry.
That's what you get to do when you're the world's most powerful country. You're the biggest piranha in the tank and occasionally you take a chunk out of those less fortunate. The EU, and to a greater extent the UK, are deeply in the US thrall, and we should expect these disparities in economic performance until we find a way out of it.
Why is Starmer also going to bring in Sunaks Crazy plan for more business for drug dealers by banning anyone born after 2009 from buying cigs?
Because, like Sunak, he's an (upper-)middle-class Hampstead twat who thinks politics is about indulging the shibboleths of that wastrel group instead of trying to get 67 million people to share the same space without killing each other. Fuck him and his authoritarianism.
Comments
A favourite was when Tesla started selling directly. In a number of states, there are *laws* that only dealers can sell cars. The dealers complained that Tesla was refusing to share with them - they’d paid their political contributions and everything and now some bastard thinks he doesn’t have to give them their vig….
🗳️ Projection @IpsosFrance de la composition de l'Assemblée après les élections législatives :
⚫️ RN et alliés : 230 à 280 sièges
🔴NFP : 125 à 165 sièges
🟠Ensemble : 70 à 100 sièges
🔵LR et DVD : 41 à 61 sièges
🟣DVG : 11 à 19 sièges
⚪️Autres : 22 à 30 sièges
It’s not over until it’s over.
https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1807475083687997783
What about your dad?
https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/i09167776/jean-marie-le-pen-monsieur-durafour-crematoire-merci-de-cet-aveu
What they do then god knows. Can macron rally accept Bardella as premier?
I suddenly have a funny feeling about all this
40% is still a fair chunk of the electorate though…. Starmer might not even reach that here on Thursday. And Le Pen is polling ahead in the next Presidential.
France looks very polarised.
That said, it can't be right that Pickford has had more possession than any other single England player.
OTOH Le Pen + centre-right = Maj. Any chance at all that the latter might go for it?
Melenchon has just asked all 3rd place NFPs to withdraw, if Macron does the same that could help significantly.
(Various police forces hated that concept, which is why it was dropped, the match ending at a totally random time).
Tesla didn’t ignore the laws - they couldn’t.
The fascinating bit was some of the justifications by the dealers. In their minds, they were owed a percentage of the sales price of cars. Like Queen Liz giving the Earl of Essex a monopoly (tax) on the import of sweet wine.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/29/labour-poll-general-election-conservative/
Republicans won’t be voting Left to keep out RN in round 2. And centrists will be breaking 50/50 or abstaining.
NEW THREAD
Would note that Elon Musk is NOT adverse NOR shy, about lobbying politicos to get what he wants.
Also note that the heyday of USA corporate lobbying, influence peddling & outright bribery, was during the post-Civil War "Gilded Age" when business regulation at federal AND state level was essentially non-existent. What WAS on offer, where tax breaks, land grants and other goodies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age
65-85 elected on first round.
150-170 head-to-heads in second round.
285-315 three-way contests.
Projected to qualify.
RN 390-430
NFP 370-410
Ensemble 290-330
LR/DVD 70-90.
I suppose it's a tightrope walk, trying to disincentivize the habit without ending up creating another illegal drug racket for the police to try to cope with. Jacking up the tax on cigarettes even further, to try to price society out of buying them one segment at a time, is probably the least worst option.
I also don't believe the state should pay for the consequences of it.
Here are Kagan’s very precise words:
Although it is obscene to blame the United States for Putin’s inhumane attack on Ukraine, to insist that the invasion was entirely unprovoked is misleading. Just as Pearl Harbor was the consequence of U.S. efforts to blunt Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland, and just as the 9/11 attacks were partly a response to the United States’ dominant presence in the Middle East after the first Gulf War, so Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–Cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe. Putin alone is to blame for his actions, but the invasion of Ukraine is taking place in a historical and geopolitical context in which the United States has played and still plays the principal role, and Americans must grapple with this fact
The thrust of the article is that Putin was provoked by Purim’s inability to deal with how much the Russians were hated in their traditional sphere of influence, as demonstrated by the collapse of the Yanukovych government and the desperation of Eastern European states to join NATO as a guarantee against a relapse. He argues that the key provocation was how the United States’ response was clumsy and chaotic leading Russia and now China to think they could keep getting away with their crimes.
This was of course seized on by Kremlin propagandists and anti-American twits like Hitchins who claimed Kagan said the US provoked the invasion of Ukraine - when in fact he was saying the exact opposite.
So basically - Hitchins either lied, or is so stupid he should not be allowed near a keyboard. Or both, of course.
Full article here (free with registration):
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-04-06/russia-ukraine-war-price-hegemony
The US has been busily using its global muscle to agglomerate wealth to itself. Its campaign to get other countries to raise their Corporation Tax is one example - you'll remember Biden snarling about Truss's mini-budget where she planned to reverse the planned increase. It has also intervened in UK energy projects like the coking coalmine. We also know it has been influential in Western sanctions against Russian oil and gas, advantaging its own oil industry.
That's what you get to do when you're the world's most powerful country. You're the biggest piranha in the tank and occasionally you take a chunk out of those less fortunate. The EU, and to a greater extent the UK, are deeply in the US thrall, and we should expect these disparities in economic performance until we find a way out of it.