Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[Harry Bosch]

Ah, you silly boy. The only people that benefit from increased productivity in the US is the CEO and investor classes.
View attachment 21480

That class often gets very butthurt when anyone else gets anything.

American Airlines gave its workers a raise. Wall Street freaked out. - Vox

“This is frustrating. Labor is being paid first again,” wrote Citi analyst Kevin Crissey in a widely circulated note. “Shareholders get leftovers.”

No, Chipotle isn’t paying workers too little.

But this one had another problem: the wages of the generally low-paid people who staff Chipotle’s locations. While the company has aggressively cut down on the number of hours per employee as its sales have fallen, analyst Gregory Francfort noted, “We believe further gains from trimming hours will prove difficult which limits the opportunity to get labor below 27 percent of sales even if traffic recovers.” Simply put, Francfort is down on the stock because Chipotle can’t lower the percentage of every dollar of revenue it spends on labor.

So anything more than 27% is intolerably high for the investor class.

Wall Street considers a wage or any expense as "intolerable" when it is substantially higher than it's competition. The 27% labor rate of sales is simply a benchmark in their industry. Maybe Mcdonalds is at 22% and burger king is at 30%. The typical engineering firm probably has a higher benchmark for example.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC superhero alter ego shut down by DC comics

The publisher issued a cease-and-desist to a small comics company barring it from selling covers of the freshman Democrat in attire resembling that of Wonder Woman, according to comics sites. ...

According to comicbook.com, DC Comics urged Devil’s Due Comics not to distribute the 250 planned copies of the special cover with AOC wearing a metallic tiara and blue skirt — and standing over a knocked-out red elephant. Copies with different covers were not challenged.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force: New Party Who Dis? – Devil's Due Comics - "Grab a hamberder and cup of covfefe and prepare to enjoy this read! "

Sanders, Warren battle for Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement

Ocasio-Cortez, 29, has insisted she is not planning to make an endorsement anytime soon — and has not been giving any hints.

“I’m very supportive of Bernie,” she said on a Yahoo podcast last month.

“I also think that what Elizabeth Warren has been bringing to the table is truly remarkable.”

2020 elections: ’One of the most important endorsements in America right now’ - POLITICO

“She is excited about both of their campaigns and the ideas they are putting forward,” said Corbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez. He added that the congresswoman isn't planning to endorse soon.

Khanna put it similarly: “I know [Ocasio-Cortez] has very strong positive feelings toward Sen. Sanders. I know she also has positive feelings toward Sen. Warren.”

Sanders and Warren aren't the only candidates wooing AOC. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro have also made overtures to the first-term phenom.

...
Khanna said he was told that Ocasio-Cortez would decide sometime before New York’s primary next year, well after voting is underway. By then, it will likely be clear whether Sanders or Warren has a better shot at the nomination.

...
But there are differences in their ideologies that could influence Ocasio-Cortez. While Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist like Ocasio-Cortez, Warren has said she is a “capitalist to my bones.”

...
In a CNN interview last week, Ocasio-Cortez said she was entertaining the idea of endorsing someone in the primary, but “it’s not going to be for a while."

Good that she's avoiding doing so this early in the game. With 24 candidates in the race and a year to go before the end of the primaries, it is rather premature to endorse any one candidate.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I watched AOC grilling the Gilead drug company people. She zeroed right in on the problem.

She's good at holding the fire to those who need it. She's not so good at offering effective ideas.

A 15% cap in interest rates would be tremendously effective at boosting the buying power of the lower and middle class without raising wages. And as we all know, when members of the middle class experience an increase in their ability to buy the goods and services they want and need, the entire economy gets a boost.

You're committing the usual leftist sin of thinking that stomping out bad options will magically make good options appear. In reality a 15% cap in interest rates would mean credit was simply unavailable to those who are poor credit risks.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The loans typically come with high fees — the average annual percentage rate equates to nearly 400%, according to the CFPB. But a 2016 report from the Center for Responsible Lending found that payday interest rates in states can reach as high as 662%.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-you-desperate-and-considering-a-payday-loan-there-are-other-less-dangerous-options-2019-02-08

"over 15%" indeed.

Payday loans are extreme risk and have high origination costs (the labor is pretty much the same regardless of the size of the loan. Small loans mean the labor cost is a much higher percentage), cap them at 15% and they'll simply disappear.

What they should do is take steps to curb the abusive practices.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

A 15% cap in interest rates would be tremendously effective at boosting the buying power of the lower and middle class without raising wages. And as we all know, when members of the middle class experience an increase in their ability to buy the goods and services they want and need, the entire economy gets a boost.

Wouldn't the economy get an even bigger boost if there was an increase in productivity and everyone benefits?

Ah, you silly boy. The only people that benefit from increased productivity in the US is the CEO and investor classes.

View attachment 21480

Repeating this ad nauseum doesn't make it relevant.

These days most good jobs are salaried, not hourly, and thus are not part of that graph.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Every Morehouse Class of 2019 student is getting their student debt load paid off by their commencement speaker. This could be the start of what’s known in Econ as a ‘natural experiment.’ Follow these students & compare their life choices w their peers over the next 10-15 years.… https://t.co/8EaxuZxSNn" noting deray on Twitter: "Billionaire Robert F. Smith to pay off Morehouse grads' student debt. (The gift has been estimated at $40 million.) https://t.co/Xm5k46FV5y" noting Billionaire Robert F. Smith to pay off Morehouse grads' student debt
"Natural experiment" - that's something that acts like an experiment even though it is out of the control of its researchers. I like how she knows her way around the practice of science.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "It’s important to note that people shouldn’t be in a situation where they depend on a stranger’s enormous act of charity for this kind of liberation to begin with (aka college should be affordable), but it is an incredible act of community investment in this system as it is. "

 

[Patooka]

You're committing the usual leftist sin of thinking that stomping out bad options will magically make good options appear.

Most people tend have the batshit crazy notion that stomping out bad options is worthwhile because they are bad options. Otherwise feed your kids bleach, there is no guarantee that not doing this means they definitely will do well at university.

 

[angelo]

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/11/ocasio-cortez-a-new-depth-of-stupidity.php.

 

[marc]

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/11/ocasio-cortez-a-new-depth-of-stupidity.php.

1. Don't do blind links

2. The article shows how ignorant the person responding to AOC is, rather than showing any mistake by her.

 

[Derec]

2. The article shows how ignorant the person responding to AOC is, rather than showing any mistake by her.

Comparing victims of Holocaust to illegal economic migrants inundating our southern border is as idiotic as it is insulting to the victims of Holocaust.

 

[marc]

2. The article shows how ignorant the person responding to AOC is, rather than showing any mistake by her.

Comparing victims of Holocaust to illegal economic migrants inundating our southern border is as idiotic as it is insulting to the victims of Holocaust.

And here you are repeating the ignorance of the article. She is not talking about 'illegal economic migrants'. She is talking about asylum seekers, which is perfectly legal, escaping violence and crime back where they were from.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/11/ocasio-cortez-a-new-depth-of-stupidity.php.

Nothing like hiccuping more old blog posts of the same info... over and over and over... in an attempt to make it look like new material.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The loans typically come with high fees — the average annual percentage rate equates to nearly 400%, according to the CFPB. But a 2016 report from the Center for Responsible Lending found that payday interest rates in states can reach as high as 662%.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a...e-are-other-less-dangerous-options-2019-02-08

"over 15%" indeed.

Payday loans are extreme risk and have high origination costs (the labor is pretty much the same regardless of the size of the loan. Small loans mean the labor cost is a much higher percentage), cap them at 15% and they'll simply disappear.

What they should do is take steps to curb the abusive practices.

But are the really extreme risk? While a good amount of loans default, isn't this after the loans have been effectively paid off via interest? IE, the payday store collected $200 in interest on a $100 loan... in less than a year. So even losing the $100 principle, they made 100%.

 

[Derec]

And here you are repeating the ignorance of the article.

No, I am exposing the dishonesty of AOC and other open border activists.

She is not talking about 'illegal economic migrants'. She is talking about asylum seekers, which is perfectly legal, escaping violence and crime back where they were from.

Reality check: these are economic migrants who have realized (after that same strategy was practiced by illegal migrants into Europe for years) that bogus "asylum" claims can help them avoid getting deported for years. Long enough to make several anchor babies and thus make deportation unlikely even when their bogus asylum requests are eventually denied.

High crime rates are not a legitimate grounds for asylum. Neither is lack of well-paying jobs. Asylum is supposed be a way to protect people who are being persecuted in their home countries, not facilitate mass migration from the poor countries into richer ones.

 

[marc]

And here you are repeating the ignorance of the article.

No, I am exposing the dishonesty of AOC and other open border activists.

By being dishonest about AOC and the opposition to Trump/Republican policies. (hint: there are actually very few people interested in 'open borders', and I don't know of any actual politicians in favor of it)

Reality check:

 

[Worldtraveller]

A 15% cap in interest rates would be tremendously effective at boosting the buying power of the lower and middle class without raising wages. And as we all know, when members of the middle class experience an increase in their ability to buy the goods and services they want and need, the entire economy gets a boost.

Interest rates are mostly tied to risk. For example, an individual seeking a secured loan who has good credit and verified cash flow might can probably get a loan today right around 4.75%. An unsecured loan to a person without verified cash flow but good credit score might be around 11 or 12% A person without a good credit score who needs fast emergency money to tide over until the next payday is going to be much higher (probably over 15%). If you cap the rates, the banks will just tighten the risk pool and not make the emergency unsecured fast loans. That might be painful for people who are desperate. Might be better for them in the long run. Either way, I don't see it as helping the middle class much.

You probably believe that supply and demand are what really drive the market too.

 

[Worldtraveller]

Ah, you silly boy. The only people that benefit from increased productivity in the US is the CEO and investor classes.

View attachment 21480

Repeating this ad nauseum doesn't make it relevant.

These days most good jobs are salaried, not hourly, and thus are not part of that graph.

No, what you're saying is irrelevant. I don't know whether this chart's data pulled from salaried, hourly, or both, but the basis is still the same. I'm not going to do your homework for you, because you're not worth it, but there are plenty of studies that show the salary converted to an hourly equivalent and the results are identical. So you're just blowing smoke, as usual.

 

[J842P]

Ah, you silly boy. The only people that benefit from increased productivity in the US is the CEO and investor classes.

View attachment 21480

Repeating this ad nauseum doesn't make it relevant.

These days most good jobs are salaried, not hourly, and thus are not part of that graph.

No, what you're saying is irrelevant. I don't know whether this chart's data pulled from salaried, hourly, or both, but the basis is still the same. I'm not going to do your homework for you, because you're not worth it, but there are plenty of studies that show the salary converted to an hourly equivalent and the results are identical. So you're just blowing smoke, as usual.

Yes, any study I've seen which shows this same result merely *normalizes* total income by hour. I'm pretty sure this graph is simply taking data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which doesn't just sample from people who are earning an hourly wage, it samples from wage/salary earners and asks how many hours they work a week and how much they earn total and then normalize by hour.

So Loren's claim, is as usual, merely a reflection of his persistent ability to deny any empirical facts that contradict the neat and tidy models he has decided are unadulterated truth.

 

[lpetrich]

Mayor AOC? New York newspaper floats idea of congresswoman succeeding de Blasio | Fox News noting the New York Sun: Mayor Ocasio-Cortez?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "DC Consultants: “Hm, Medicare for All is an insanely popular proposal. Maybe we should try policies that guarantee healthcare to all people.” Walmart, Exxon, & Wall St corps who rely on underpaying people, cutting benefits + skirting taxes for excess profit: No DC Consultants: [url]https://t.co/2GvGLbjLcI… https://t.co/oQ5H4ynWPp"[/url] noting Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Twitter: "Shocker: Walmart, Exxon don't want #MedicareForAll. These companies have fought against health & wellbeing of working Americans for decades. Their opposition just tells me we're on the right track. https://t.co/AOiNQ1BVzd"

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Shout out to @RepJayapal for leading on Medicare for All. Her leadership on #M4A in the House has made it stronger than ever, and she also secured its first-ever hearing in the bill’s history. "

Alessandro Molon on Twitter: "It was a great pleasure meeting you, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez! Estamos juntos na defesa da Amazônia, em iniciativas pelo desenvolvimento sustentável de nossos paÍses e na oposição a governos que representam retrocessos à luta contra as desigualdades. We stand together!… https://t.co/UqKM6BrQ6B" noting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Obrigada por ter vido, Dep, Molon! Brazil’s stewardship of the Amazon places a critical part of the world’s climate security in their hands. It was great to meet w the Congressional leader of Brazil’s progressive coalition to discuss bringing #GreenNewDeal principles abroad … https://t.co/gTSyOaBpeZ" noting Alessandro Molon on Twitter: "Acabo de sair de uma ótima conversa com a deputada norte-americana democrata Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC, em seu gabinete, em Washington D.C.. Como Líder da Oposição, estabelecemos pontes para fazer frente aos desafios modernos, reduzir as desigualdades e defender a democracia!… https://t.co/k9PX4wq4YO"

I am only fluent in English and autotranslator, so I consulted Google Translate:

GT (Portuguese): We are together in the defense of the Amazon, in initiatives for the sustainable development of our countries and in opposition to governments that represent setbacks in the fight against inequalities.

AOC: Obrigada por ter vido, Dep, Molon! = (correction) Obrigada por ter vindo, Dep, Molon! = (Portuguese) Thank you for coming, Dep, Molon!

GT (Portuguese): I have just had a great conversation with the United States Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC in her office in Washington, DC As Leader of the Opposition, we have established bridges to meet the modern challenges, reduce inequalities and defend democracy !

 

[Arctish]

A 15% cap in interest rates would be tremendously effective at boosting the buying power of the lower and middle class without raising wages. And as we all know, when members of the middle class experience an increase in their ability to buy the goods and services they want and need, the entire economy gets a boost.

You're committing the usual leftist sin of thinking that stomping out bad options will magically make good options appear. In reality a 15% cap in interest rates would mean credit was simply unavailable to those who are poor credit risks.

No, it means the small, locally owned banks and credit unions will get all the customers needing small loans and modest credit allotments until the big banks devise a new way to pump and dump them.

Meanwhile, having less of their hard earned cash going to service debt means those folks will have more money to spend on upgrading their current life situation. They might be able to afford a home or buy new furnishings or patronize restaurants more often or buy new boots instead of trying to salvage an old pair with Shoe Goo. And as I'm sure we all realize, the more demand there is for goods and services, the more the economy expands.