Nearly 1 In 5 Millennials Consider Joseph Stalin And Kim Jong Un ‘Heroes’

[Padme]

This thread makes me think about David Bowie

 

[Pishy]

1 minute ago, Padme said:

This thread makes me think about David Bowie

 

Me too

[Ace Nova]

4 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

Can you explain why you say that?

What about Iceland? Fucking dragging them over the coals pleading with them "Don't do it! Don't you dare punish the people who ripped off your country and people! It will collapse the world economy!" That didn't happen and they're doing rather well, aren't they?
 

 

It's 4:30 AM here, I need to get to bed soon but I'll try to answer you before I pass out...lol

The U.S. Banking Crisis was caused by the real estate housing bubble in the U.S.  In the mid 2000's the real estate market exploded in the U.S.  Millions of people (myself included) saw the rapid increase in housing pricing and felt that if they didn't buy a house as soon as possible, then they wouldn't be able to afford one if the prices continued to increase...so it caused a certain "hysteria"...millions of people applied for mortgages. Lenders (Banks) were doing so much business that they loosened the qualifications needed to get a mortgage, especially for the secondary market (Secondary market are people that don't have perfect credit and are typically working class folks).  Many of the mortgages that were approved in the secondary market were approved for beyond the amount the person could afford to pay.  Some were done intentionally by the lender but many times it was also done intentionally by the borrower or the borrower's mortgage broker.  There were also a ton of variable rate, balloon notes, etc type of loans done where the payment amount increases if the interest rate increases over time, etc.  Many mortgages were done for 100% of the home's value with little to no money down.

Long story short, as the economy weakened, many folks could no longer afford to pay these loans off.  That spiralled into the Banking and economic crisis of 2008.  The banks at this point had no choice but to begin to foreclose on these properties in order to recoup their losses.  As the foreclosures began, the housing market collapsed....as much as 50%-60% in some areas.  So a house that was worth $300,000 just a few months earlier was now worth $150,000.  Some of the mortgages were insured by AIG and others by Fannie May/Freddie Mac (Backed by the U.S. Government).  In order to prevent millions and millions of people from losing their homes (most of them working-class folks)  agreements, "bailouts" were reached with the banks that incentivised them to modify these people's mortgages to current home values.  So yeah, they technically were bailouts but millions and millions of working-class people benefited from them....and basically prevented another great depression.   

There's more to it than this....but that's the gist of it and as good as I can do at 5 AM.

[Len Cnut]

21 minutes ago, Padme said:

This thread makes me think about David Bowie

 

It makes me think of The Butthole Surfers:

 

[Ace Nova]

1 minute ago, Oldest Goat said:

@Kasanova King Thanks for bothering. What about the car companies being bailed out?

I worked in the car business at the time.  As a result of the housing market and banking crisis, the auto industry took a nosedive in sales.  Not because people did not want to buy cars but because banks were no longer giving out car loans.  Yes, the same major banks involved in the housing/banking crisis were also the primary and secondary auto loan lenders.  My dealership went from selling 300+ cars a month, 99% of them financed (just about everyone finances their cars in the U,S.) to selling barely 60 cars a month in less than a year's time.  The banking crisis had a domino effect that crippled the U.S. economy.  If the major automakers were to go out of business it would have spiralled into the loss of millions of jobs in the U.S....again, possibly causing another great depression.  The government loaned them money to keep them afloat. 

The loans were paid back, with interest, within a few years...so it's not like the "naysayers" say they "bailed them out".  Yeah, the government technically did...but it was paid back, with interest and saved millions of jobs. 

[Dazey]

7 hours ago, Kasanova King said:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/11/03/millennials-think-socialism-would-create-great-safe-space-study-finds.html

 

Nearly half of all U.S. millennials believe the greatest safe space of them all would be living under a socialist regime.

That’s according to a new study from research firm YouGov and Washington, D.C.-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, which surveyed over 2,000 people regarding their views on socialism and the communist political system. The biggest takeaway from the study was that one out of every two millennials surveyed said they would rather live in a socialist or communist country over a capitalist democracy like the U.S.

“Millennials now make up the largest generation in America, and we're seeing some deeply worrisome trends," Marion Smith, executive director of the foundation said in a statement to Fox News. "Millennials are increasingly turning away from capitalism and toward socialism and even communism as a viable alternative.”

Nearly 45 percent of millennials polled said that they would prefer to live in a socialist country compared to the 42 percent who said they preferred a capitalist one. Another 7 percent said that the preferred living in a communist country above all. The findings show that the percentage of millennials who prefer socialism over capitalism if a full 10 points higher than that of the general population.

 

By comparison, over half of baby boomers polled favor capitalism, compared to 26 percent who support a socialist system.

 

The report also found that one in five Americans in their 20s consider former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin a hero, despite his genocide of Ukrainians and Orthodox priests. Over a quarter of millennials polled also thought the same for Vladimir Lenin and Kim Jong Un.

 

One of the most troubling findings of the report is that over 40 percent of Americans believe that there should be restrictions placed on the First Amendment and free speech to ensure that anything being said is not “offensive.”

The survey also uncovered that a basic working knowledge of communism among all Americans is lacking.

Seven out of 10 Americans do not know the definition of communism as it is most often confused with socialism. The same amount also underestimates the number of people who have been killed by communist regimes.

"This troubling turn highlights widespread historical illiteracy in American society regarding socialism and the systemic failure of our education system to teach students about the genocide, destruction, and misery caused by communism since the Bolshevik Revolution one hundred years ago,” Smith said.

 

 

I read as far as "Fox News"

 

[Ace Nova]

11 minutes ago, Dazey said:

I read as far as "Fox News"

 

Fox News is less right-leaning than CNN is left leaning.  How can anyone ever get the "full picture" if they don't listen to all media sources....not just the ones that cater to their political ideologies? 

[Gracii Guns]

Ah, McCarthyism for a new century. 

 

[AtariLegend]

13 minutes ago, Kasanova King said:

Fox News is less right-leaning than CNN is left leaning.  How can anyone ever get the "full picture" if they don't listen to all media sources....not just the ones that cater to their political ideologies? 

Fox News is a Murdoch hate outfit that's main purpose is influencing public opinion instead of reporting news. That's what he does in most of western politics. From The Sun/The Times, to Fox News. 

You're attempt to defend Fox News by going on about CNN says it all about your mentality. You really cannot be taken seriously.

FYI Not sure what North Korea, Soviet Union have to do the Labor party.

2 minutes ago, Gracii Guns said:

Ah, McCarthyism for a new century. 

 

Gracci did you ever vote for or campaign for the Green Party?

[Ace Nova]

8 minutes ago, AtariLegend said:

Fox News is a Murdoch hate outfit that's main purpose is influencing public opinion instead of reporting news. That's what he does in most of western politics. From The Sun/The Times, to Fox News. 

You're attempt to defend Fox News by going on about CNN says it all about your mentality. You really cannot be taken seriously.

FYI Not sure what North Korea, Soviet Union have to do the Labor party.

Fox News has some guys like Hannity and Tucker Carlson who are clearly Conservative and let people know it.  But most of the others are either moderates or slightly leaning right.  Guys like Sheppard Smith are moderate...and even break from the "right" on a regular basis.

If you want to live in a far left nutter bubble, to each his own.  Like they say, ignorance is bliss. 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Kasanova King

[AtariLegend]

Just now, Kasanova King said:

If you want to live in a far left nutter bubble, to each his own.  

You mean with most of the 95.6% of the world's population that doesn't live in America?

[Gracii Guns]

12 minutes ago, AtariLegend said:

Gracci did you ever vote for or campaign for the Green Party?

I've never voted Green. I worked on a local campaign flyer for a byelection for them, which to an extent, I do regret. But everyone has a price, and they were unsuccessful anyway. 

[AtariLegend]

1 minute ago, Gracii Guns said:

I've never voted Green. I worked on a local campaign flyer for a byelection for them, which to an extent, I do regret. But everyone has a price, and they were unsuccessful anyway. 

It's still the equivalent of working for Kim Jong-un though, to use the KK/Murdoch definition. I mean if Labour is an "extreme far left" party that wants turn us in a dictatorship, then Caroline Lucas is practically Joseph Stalin.

[Gracii Guns]

10 minutes ago, AtariLegend said:

It's still the equivalent of working for Kim Jong-un though, to use the KK/Murdoch definition. I mean if Labour is an "extreme far left" party that wants turn us in a dictatorship, then Caroline Lucas is practically Joseph Stalin.

What point are you making? Of course firm rightwingers aren't going to hold people at the other end of the spectrum in high esteem. 

[Ace Nova]

1 hour ago, AtariLegend said:

You mean with most of the 95.6% of the world's population that doesn't live in America?

95% of the world are not on the far left...lol.

 

[Ace Nova]

1 hour ago, AtariLegend said:

It's still the equivalent of working for Kim Jong-un though, to use the KK/Murdoch definition. I mean if Labour is an "extreme far left" party that wants turn us in a dictatorship, then Caroline Lucas is practically Joseph Stalin.

No idea where you got that.  Never said anything about the Green Party. 

[soon]

The binary nature of US political discourse is ridiculous.  It says that if one doesnt believe in Capitalism then they believe in State Socialism or State Communism (as indicated already usually understood as one in the same).

NA was founded, both philosophically and physically, with Capitalism as the guiding force.  The Old World had their cultures and families and infrastructures already in place and the nature of industrialized capital had to come to some sort of an agreement with ongoing cultures.  Where we live, sleep, eat and work in NA are in many cases designed only for the flow of capital, including its "human resources."  There are no human touches, culturally relevant architecture, visible history, natural beauty.  Sometimes no sun light.  Sometimes we live and work in food deserts, ffs.

Capitalism is unbridled here (as it is everywhere, but as Im saying its got different advantages here - a clean slate to fill 100% with its own voice).  It has been so called "crony capitalism" since day one.  So when a young 'Merican says they dont believe in capitalism, what they're saying is that they understand that this iteration of later stage capitalism is nothing short of ecocide and the human are just collateral damage to a mechanism driven by psychopaths and bad ideology.  Knowing that fact shouldnt coerce someone into believing in State Communism but thats the type of binary that the USA perpetuates.

Of course, par-econ and localized economies, co-ops and CSA's, small business and skill sharing, barter and time share, neighbourhood collectives, up-cycling, tool libraries and other resource centres, one could go on and on are examples of free market approaches that dont commit ecocide as the core of their existence.

[Ace Nova]

1 hour ago, Oldest Goat said:

LOL "My bag of shit contains slightly less shit than your bag...in my opinion!"

lol....it's the only way I can make someone brainwashed by the left understand....

[Padme]

3 hours ago, Oldest Goat said:

@Padme am I included in your mockery?

Nah, I just saw the title and that weird ass poll/news. And The lyrics came to my mind 

[Chewbacca]

They'll grow up eventually. Being raised on Brazil I was Indoctrinated at school into hating the US as the big villain of the world. I never listened to it, of course. Mostly because I saw first hand how the left wing destroyed this country, South america (it did a pretty good job on destroying Venezuela - and Cuba) and well... pretty much everything it touched. That's why I became right wing.

Man the left wing here is fucked up I think we could just start calling it right and wrong wings.

[SoulMonster]

2 hours ago, Kasanova King said:

Fox News has some guys like Hannity and Tucker Carlson who are clearly Conservative and let people know it.  But most of the others are either moderates or slightly leaning right.  Guys like Sheppard Smith are moderate...and even break from the "right" on a regular basis.

If you want to live in a far left nutter bubble, to each his own.  Like they say, ignorance is bliss. 

Why not go for a baanced media, why follow anyone who is obviously catering to a particular political agenda? 

[Ace Nova]

Just now, SoulMonster said:

Why not go for a baanced media, why follow anyone who is obviously catering to a particular political agenda? 

There aren't any.  Not on TV.  The closest is the BBC..and I watch them too.  The only right leaning (major) media in the US is Fox News.  The rest are left leaning.  Some more than others...but mostly left leaning. 

So I watch them all to get a complete picture then I come up with my own opinions/conclusions.

  And FYI, I get just as fustrated with Fox News at times as I do CNN...specifically when I know they are being blatantly biased. 

[Ace Nova]

And I'm not sure how people not liking Fox News has anything to do with the study.   If people could put their prejudices aside, they would see that Fox News had nothing to do with the study...they just reported it. 

[Padme]

44 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

They'll grow up eventually. Being raised on Brazil I was Indoctrinated at school into hating the US as the big villain of the world. I never listened to it, of course. Mostly because I saw first hand how the left wing destroyed this country, South america (it did a pretty good job on destroying Venezuela - and Cuba) and well... pretty much everything it touched. That's why I became right wing.

Man the left wing here is fucked up I think we could just start calling it right and wrong wings.

Well the far right dictators also destroyed South America. Far right and far left it's the same shit with different smell.

[Ace Nova]

1 minute ago, Padme said:

Well the far right dictators also destroyed South America. Far right and far left it's the same shit with different smell.

I agree.  The far left and the far right both have the same train of thought...except with opposite political ideologies.  Makes me bang my head at times. 

There are forums I post in that if I use a link to CNN they have the same reaction that some of the people here did when I posted a link to Fox News...it's crazy.