Civilized said:

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Steve Videtich said:

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Do you see this administration making the right decisions and policy to right the ship?

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They'll get some right and others wrong, same as every other administration.

I also don't know what you consider to be "right[ing] the ship"; if you're talking about the economy the ship is upright in the water, but tenuously so. Unemployment is down, GDP is back up, and consumer spending is back to pre-pandemic levels after contracting last year. But, continued economic growth and stability over the coming months is critical to keeping it upright and pointed in the right direction.

I agree generally with the lessons learned from the Great Recession, and with the general sentiment that doing too little to stimulate the economy was the greatest short-term risk during COVID. It was certainly greater than inflation risk, or greater than the risk of even greater deficit spending. Nobody cares about inflation or an imbalanced budget when you've got negative GDP growth and high unemployment.

My biggest concern right now continues to not be inflationary, it's that the economy wanes if consumers get spooked due to COVID not declining as rapidly or as linearly as we all hoped post-vaccine rollout. A third round of stimulus is likely not prudent monetary policy and is likely politically unpalatable anyway so there's not much of a safety net where we are. We need the economy to continue organically recovering, without the aid of further stimulus, and the fed needs to keep a close eye on inflation and adjust monetary policy accordingly.

That said, we're to the point in the recovery where inflation has to become an increasing focus, as does government spending.

I'm a builder and commercial landlord so I straddle the fence with the COVID economy. Demand for our single family and multi-family product has been extremely high throughout, for which I'm very grateful but our commercial office business has taken a real beating and will continue to do so until companies and people are comfortable being back in offices again. The office landscape may be forever changed and we don't need or expect it to return to pre-pandemic demand, but right now true office occupancy (actual butts in seats during the day) is not more than around 30%-40% of what it was pre-pandemic, and that's largely due to continued personal and corporate desire to stay home until COVID is further in the background. Office demand will continue to be artificially low until COVID is less of a worry for workers and companies.

I think vaccines are the biggest weapon we have to combat the economy potentially cooling or not recovering fully if consumer and corporate behavior are impacted by COVID later this year and into 2022. So I also am very supportive of the Biden administration's focus on and support for continued vaccine adoption.

I think the focus on infrastructure and getting a bipartisan bill passed was good in theory but the bill is much too broad and expensive.

I think a high focus on renewable energy development and jobs growth is productive but I don't see the need to cut our legs out from underneath ourselves with domestic oil production, which provides us economic and national security benefits.

Basically I'm not universally supportive of any administration's work or policy but I think Biden's gotten more broad-brush stuff right than wrong. Details matter though and we've got multiple concerns to address in coming months with vaccination, spending, inflation, etc.

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CNN on rising producer prices: “A key inflation index has hit a record high...Up 7.8 percent over the past year. That was more than economists had expected.” pic.twitter.com/WcPaHcVbdN

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 12, 2021

Steve Videtich said:

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I guess it's all a matter of point of view. Covid disrupted thing in a major way for the entire world. I don't care who was in office, things were FUBAR last year, for many reasons.

I understand your point of view in thinking things are correcting themselves. I guess where I differ is that this administration, in my opinion, has created many if the issues that we see in the economy, by decisions that they've made. Extending unemployment benefits and shutting down the pipeline have direct causes to the price of everything going up.

I guess my question is, why do we give credit for problems this administration has helped create? That's like robbing a convenience store for $500 and then asking for the $10,000 reward for turning yourself in.

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82TxPackFan said:

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packofwolves said:

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Anyone else catch Biden yesterday saying OPEC needs to increase oil production? At the same time he is restricting permits in the US and killed a US pipeline (but allowing a Russia pipeline).

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I guess he thinks that oil coming from the Middle East is not a fossil fuel.

What a ****ing moron - he is by far the biggest idiot I have ever seen, or heard!

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82TxPackFan said:

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packofwolves said:

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Anyone else catch Biden yesterday saying OPEC needs to increase oil production? At the same time he is restricting permits in the US and killed a US pipeline (but allowing a Russia pipeline).

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I guess he thinks that oil coming from the Middle East is not a fossil fuel.

What a ****ing moron - he is by far the biggest idiot I have ever seen, or heard!

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Quote:

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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Thursday that border patrol agents apprehended over 212,000 undocumented migrants in July, breaking the 200,000 threshold for the first time in 21 years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

During a stop at the border in Texas, Mayorkas commented that 212,672 migrants were encountered in July, a 13 percent increase over the influx of 188,000 migrants encountered in June. He acknowledged that the rapidly deteriorating situation at the border constitutes a crisis, calling it "one of the toughest challenges we face."

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Quote:

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Despite the worsening, spiraling crisis, Mayorkas indicated that the administration does not intend to modify its border strategy. "We have a plan, we are executing our plan and that takes time," he affirmed.

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PackFansXL said:

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https://www.nationalreview.com/news/number-of-migrant-encounters-at-border-surpasses-200000-for-first-time-in-21-years/

Quote:

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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Thursday that border patrol agents apprehended over 212,000 undocumented migrants in July, breaking the 200,000 threshold for the first time in 21 years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

During a stop at the border in Texas, Mayorkas commented that 212,672 migrants were encountered in July, a 13 percent increase over the influx of 188,000 migrants encountered in June. He acknowledged that the rapidly deteriorating situation at the border constitutes a crisis, calling it "one of the toughest challenges we face."

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Quote:

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Despite the worsening, spiraling crisis, Mayorkas indicated that the administration does not intend to modify its border strategy. "We have a plan, we are executing our plan and that takes time," he affirmed.

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The "pent up demand" continues to surge to new levels each month. Many of the migrants are COVID positive but the Biden administration just puts them on a bus and sends them all over the country. Biden continues to gamble with the health and safety of both US citizens and migrants.

Fellas, let's go double or nothing for August! - President Unity

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TheStorm said:

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/taliban-takes-kandahar

At least his foreign policy is as good as his domestic policy and handling of the southern border... but at least we still have one poster here that will think this is ok as well...

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Steve Videtich said:

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That is a major problem right now in this country! They are saying whatever they want to say and nobody in the media is calling them out in it. Psaki telling people the Trump was telling everyone to inject poison in their bodies. AOC saying she thought she was going to be raped and murdered. Biden telling everyone what a great job he's doing. Etc etc etc! It's so out of control and stupid people believe it all!

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Steve Videtich said:

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Packchem91 said:

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Steve Videtich said:

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That is a major problem right now in this country! They are saying whatever they want to say and nobody in the media is calling them out in it. Psaki telling people the Trump was telling everyone to inject poison in their bodies. AOC saying she thought she was going to be raped and murdered. Biden telling everyone what a great job he's doing. Etc etc etc! It's so out of control and stupid people believe it all!

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This, i 100% agree with.

Though I'm not sure it is that "stupid" people (though there is plenty of that), as much as it is "people who are just conditioned to want to believe it"? I think this latter part is an issue we face in general now....we'll believe just about anything, as long as it confirms what we already held as a belief.

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Stupid people may have been a little harsh, but us so frustrating to listen to blatant lies being told and the media just sitting there nodding their heads. In my opinion, that had been the biggest issue with this entire covid battle. There is so much info being put out that contradicts itself from both sides, people don't know what to believe. And they wonder why many are hesitant.

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PackFansXL said:

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The clear and dangerous side effect is more of our population completely distrusts our government and the news media. With the news media completely supporting one political party and going so far as to suppress stories that conflict with their chosen ideology, our nation is in grave danger of sliding unchecked into known weak forms of government such as socialism or communism. I know that sounds extreme but I never would have believed anyone predicting a sitting president telling the world that the USA is a systemically racist society. As I have said before, President Unity lies with impunity.

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PackFansXL said:

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The clear and dangerous side effect is more of our population completely distrusts our government and the news media. With the news media completely supporting one political party and going so far as to suppress stories that conflict with their chosen ideology, our nation is in grave danger of sliding unchecked into known weak forms of government such as socialism or communism. I know that sounds extreme but I never would have believed anyone predicting a sitting president telling the world that the USA is a systemically racist society. As I have said before, President Unity lies with impunity.

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PackFansXL said:

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https://www.nationalreview.com/news/number-of-migrant-encounters-at-border-surpasses-200000-for-first-time-in-21-years/

Quote:

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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Thursday that border patrol agents apprehended over 212,000 undocumented migrants in July, breaking the 200,000 threshold for the first time in 21 years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

During a stop at the border in Texas, Mayorkas commented that 212,672 migrants were encountered in July, a 13 percent increase over the influx of 188,000 migrants encountered in June. He acknowledged that the rapidly deteriorating situation at the border constitutes a crisis, calling it "one of the toughest challenges we face."

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Quote:

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Despite the worsening, spiraling crisis, Mayorkas indicated that the administration does not intend to modify its border strategy. "We have a plan, we are executing our plan and that takes time," he affirmed.

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The "pent up demand" continues to surge to new levels each month. Many of the migrants are COVID positive but the Biden administration just puts them on a bus and sends them all over the country. Biden continues to gamble with the health and safety of both US citizens and migrants.

Fellas, let's go double or nothing for August! - President Unity

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Quote:

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Perhaps most alarming is that the illegal surge continues to globalize. The share of Border Patrol arrests of illegals not from Mexico or the Northern Triangle countries of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) has doubled over the past six months, from about 15 percent in March to 29 percent in July. (See all the numbers here and here.)

In fact, the focus on the "Northern Triangle" might have to be modified. While Guatemala and Honduras are still major sources of illegals, El Salvador has been pushed out of fourth place among source countries of illegals; of the 57,000 arrests of non-Mexican/NTCA aliens, 17,000 were from Ecuador, 1,000 miles further south, far more than the 12,000 from El Salvador. Is Vice President Harris going to fix the "root causes" in Ecuador, too?

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Quote:

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My colleague Todd Bensman recently visited a smuggling hub on the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border and published a series of posts under the heading "A United Nations of Illegal Immigration," in which he described the open transit of people from Mauretania, Cuba, Senegal, Eritrea, and elsewhere. Many are Haitians who were firmly settled in Chile and Brazil, but who are taking Biden up on his invitation to, as Bensman put it, "apply for asylum and secure an economic upgrade."

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dogplasma said:

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Well, good news for Trump supporters: Today is reinstatement day again.

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dogplasma said:

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Well, good news for Trump supporters: Today is reinstatement day again.

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Big difference in how the experts talk about Democrats and Republicans with redistricting.

Dems “draw more favorable maps” vs. GOP “gerrymandering gains”https://t.co/MhlJPuSFc3 pic.twitter.com/1kVN4ixFDQ

— Michael McAdams (@M_McAdams) August 13, 2021