More questions are encouraged. I am enjoying this a fair bit.
Questions need not be political, though I'm certainly well within my comfort zone to the extent that they are.
AMA (YYW)
Posts
Total:
664
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@whatthef
>Why did it take you so long to get here?
Lots of reasons... but most of them are fairly inconsequential.
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@coal
I disagree. Populism is going to die. It's on life support now.
It never "dies". Will it be curbed for a few years? Perhaps.
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@coal
Do you really think loyal Republicans are going to flip on their party en masse over a long period of time?
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@KingLaddy01
>Do you really think loyal Republicans are going to flip on their party en masse over a long period of time?
I didn't say that.
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@coal
Then populism doesn't die.
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@coal
Why is your username 'coal' now?
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@Mharman
All of his whores say he gets that for being naughty in holiday season ;)
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@KingLaddy01
I think you're Triangle.
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@Mharman
>Why is your username 'coal' now?
I can't have a three-letter username.
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@coal
Triangle has an account. To say that, you are saying I should be banned.
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@KingLaddy01
>Triangle has an account. To say that, you are saying I should be banned.
So, you're not triangle, then?
Ok.
Well, then... Mharmon would be my other guess, but I know he also has an account as it stands.
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@coal
Why not "YDubbz" or "YDubs" or something like that?
Also, of all the things unrelated to your previous username, why "coal"?
I thought you were ColeTrain.
Also, of all the things unrelated to your previous username, why "coal"?
I thought you were ColeTrain.
the Jews:
yes?
no?
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@Mharman
I didn't have any particular reason... just went with what I went with. There wasn't some grander meaning behind it.
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@thett3
lol
you know the answer to that question
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@coal
How many months will it take to get 45k forum posts?
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@coal
If you were the president of the US, what would your policy agenda be? For example would you prioritize the environment, energy policy, urban poverty, relations with the middle east etc?
If you were a member of congress, what bill/resolution would you want to pass the most?
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@coal
Why did you not want to join DART originally?
Why did you end up joining DART?
Would it be possible for you to respond to this thread? https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/887
What are your thoughts on Ocasio-Cortez?
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@coal
Thoughts on Jerome Powell, and the Fed more generally?
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@KingLaddy01
Generation Z graduated from high school starting in 2010. They were more liberal than the Millennials were. You're thinking of the Generation after Gen Z. We'll be graduating starting in 2020.
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@Greyparrot
It'll take him three months.
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@blamonkey
>If you were the president of the US, what would your policy agenda be? For example would you prioritize the environment, energy policy, urban poverty, relations with the middle east etc? If you were a member of congress, what bill/resolution would you want to pass the most?
Consistent with my politics, as described in prior postings, i'd have many goals. But, the primary goals I'd have would relate to health care, college education, and infrastructure spending.
These would be enough to make me the enemy of the establishment in both parties.
Health Care: Single primary payer system, covering everyone and everything non-elective. Secondary markets for elective surgery. The way i'd do this is that I would have a baseline rate of reimbursement, which varied by region, and then allow hospitals to charge over and above that what they wanted. Secondary insurers could step in and fill the void, similar to how medicare reinsurers do now. To start, I would establish a national involuntary risk pool, and then overlapping the national pool, state level involuntary risk pools, and then overlapping the state level, local involuntary risk pools; the rate of reimbursement would be no less than 90% of what was a commercially reasonable charge for any given service, and the difference between whatever that paid and whatever the hospital or provider charged could be covered by secondary insurance similar to what you see with medicare now. Payments would be deducted from income tax, identically to how payroll taxes are deducted, at progressive rates. This gets us where we need to be without totally destroying the health insurance industry which, though bloated unreasonably, can't just be killed off in one foul swoop.
College: This one would make me the enemy of higher education. I would require that university administration costs (including salaries for all admin workers, presidents, etc.) be capped at no more than 15% of the total amount of money generated from tuition alone for all schools who wish to utilize federal student aid. I am still thinking about this idea, so it's not fully developed. I may change it later. I would also require post-graduate employment statistics to be considered and published publicly in evaluating a university's accreditation. Finally, I would forgive all outstanding student debt for all borrowers after 10 years. I have other ideas, but what's made the metaphorical university house on fire is the outlandish administrative costs and the equally outlandish tuition increases.
Infrastructure spending: This would be New Deal level infrastructure spending, to repair, replace, and restore American infrastructure on all levels. This would exist in the form of federal grants to states and major urban localities, as well as other financial products, to revitalize America from the top down. Think of it as a "five year plan".
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@coal
If not rehabilitation or retribution, what purpose would you like the criminal justice system to serve?
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@Tejretics
>Why did you not want to join DART originally?
A number of factors, none of which are really meaningful now.
>Why did you end up joining DART?
I had some time on my hands, and thought I might as well.
>Would it be possible for you to respond to this thread? https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/887
Yes. I will eventually do so in the thread. Realize though that you're asking some fairly involved and complicated questions, so it might take me some time to get to that.
>What are your thoughts on Ocasio-Cortez?
First and foremost, I should be clear that I don't inherently like or dislike her. To the extent that we're going to have progressives in the DNC, she is one of the better ones. I like her much, much more than Keith Ellison or Kirsten Gillibrand, or anyone like Keith Ellison or Kirsten Gillibrand.
Nonetheless, she is what should be appropriately described as a political novice and as a political novice she makes mistakes. Though, the mistakes she makes aren't ones indicative of malevolence or incompetence. Rather, they're the kinds of mistakes that a person who isn't used to the level of scrutiny involved in being a public figure tends to make when they become a public figure for the first time. In time, she'll learn. Of that I'm sure.
What I most like about her is the degree of emphasis she places on economic issues -- which is not insignificant by any measure. I especially like this because all the time she's spending talking about economics, is not time she's spending talking about identity politics. The criticism she has faced on her economic stances is wholly unmerited, and frankly the fact that she's getting the level of criticism over her economic stance outrageous.
A key point of comparison would be between her and Paul Ryan. AOC is barely more than a year older than me. Paul Ryan was about two years older than me when he was elected to Congress the first time. When Paul Ryan was elected, people called him a brilliant guy, because of the fact that he seemed to be able to speak with such a level of sophistication as it related to tax policy. Except, he wasn't speaking with anything even approximating sophistication. He was spouting off Randian nonsense, and quoting Atlas Shrugged like a sophomore at a group of college libertarians.
Cortez has an actual vision for how the relationship between the state and the individual ought to change, in favor of raising the standard of living that the lowest set of people in this country endure. It is brave and courageous, and Democrats should pay attention to her.
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@spacetime
>If not rehabilitation or retribution, what purpose would you like the criminal justice system to serve?
Minimizing unnecessary harm would be a good place to start.
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@coal
Do you have any book recommendations on foreign policy related issues? I'm specifically interested in military intervention and its effects.
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@coal
To reiterate an earlier question: thoughts on Jerome Powell, and the Fed more generally?
What is your short-version book review of Chomsky's Failed States? I assume you've read it, sorry if I'm wrong to assume that.
Have you come across the foreign policy views of economist Scott Sumner? General thoughts?
You've described yourself as a "libertarian socialist" on DDO. How do you think countries should achieve libertarian socialism?
You've also called yourself a "hawk" on DDO. While I understand this is a really broad question, what arguments convince you to be a foreign policy hawk? This one might be overbroad, so feel free to not answer if you think this'll take up too much of your time, or make it short.
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@Tejretics
These are great questions. I'll reply to them as I am able. Keep it up!
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@coal
<3