This is really sad and I’m sorry it happened. But this is exactly what happens when critical government services get cut, the people who rely on them end up paying the price. It’s only going to get a lot worse as hurricane season brings more storms.

44 minutes ago, Matt! said:

There are solutions, but neither party seem willing to seriously pursue them. For example (nordics comparison):

• Raise the federal minimum wage and tie it to inflation. Strengthen labor unions to give workers more negotiating power and leverage.

• Implement universal health care or at least a strong public option and cap prescription drug prices to reduce overall costs. in the Nordic countries, healthcare is publicly funded and available to all, with tightly controlled drug prices. In America, a vial of insulin can cost $100-$300 (just checked and its mind boggling) without insurance. In contrast in Sweden, thanks to price regulation and universal healthcare system, patients pay a maximum of about $25-ish total per year for all their prescription medications.

• Cancel/reduce student debt and make higher education more affordable and accessible. Ror example in the Nordic countries, university is tuition-free and and students receive monthly support to cover living costs, so they can focus on studying instead of drowning in debt.

• Reform the tax system. Raise taxes on extreme wealth, capital gains, and high incomes and most importantly !___close the loopholes used by corporations and the ultra wealthy___!.

• End corporate lobbying through complete campaign finance reform. In the Nordic countries, political campaigns are publicly funded and very strictly regulated, which helps keep corporate influence out of politics and ensures elected officials are accountable to the people, not corporate/private money.

US politics is super corrupt and sick (biggest donor is wall street no matter which side wins) So common sense aid doesn't go through. Also Americans are effectively in debt and broke, as is the federal government . The middle class is funding their lifestyles with debt and the future is unclear.

Those points you posted help a lot but in the US are extremely difficult to execute. They ultimately do not solve the underlying structural problems in the US system. This is why social welfare is a band-aid to the core systems.

Basically what happened in the US is the economy shifted from the real economy to the bullsh*t economy (finance, information tech, services, predatory health care sector among many) which made life very difficult for the bottom 99%. My parents' generation had a much easier life and much higher purchasing power.

Here is a general history of what happened in the US (I didn't write it but it summarizes many of the key disasters):

🇺🇸 Stages of the U.S. Debt-Inequality Cycle

Stage 1 – Financialization (1970s–1990s)
- Shift from industry to finance
- Deregulated credit markets
- Wealthy gained through assets, others took on debt


Stage 2 – Privatization & Wage Stagnation (1990s–2008)
- Public goods became expensive
- Wages stayed flat, productivity rose
- Households relied on borrowing to survive


Stage 3 – 2008 Financial Crisis
-Mortgage collapse exposed systemic debt
- Banks got bailouts, people lost homes
- Rich recovered, poor fell deeper into debt

Stage 4 – Unequal Recovery (2009–2019)

- Low rates inflated assets, not wages
- Debt collection and predatory lending thrived
- Millennials and Gen Z fell into deeper debt traps


Stage 5 – Pandemic Relief (2020–2022)
- Temporary aid: checks, rent moratoriums, loan pauses
- Relief delayed, not erased, debt obligations
- Wealthy gained from asset bubbles


Stage 6 – Debt Saturation (2023–2025)

- High inflation and rising rates
- Credit card and student loan debt surge
- AI and automation worsen income gaps
- Deepening financial strain for households

1 hour ago, Matt! said:

This is really sad and I’m sorry it happened. But this is exactly what happens when critical government services get cut, the people who rely on them end up paying the price. It’s only going to get a lot worse as hurricane season brings more storms.

Oh never mind. It's all fake news.

22 minutes ago, Jade Bahr said:

!!!!!!

Uh oh.

On 6/28/2025 at 9:31 AM, Matt! said:

So much for the "Iran respects us very much".

Iran/China/Russia/North Korea's main agenda is to steadily roll back American geopolitical power. They see the massive debt & social problems in the US and see the writing on the wall.

China/Russia's (and much of the rest of the non-western world's BRIC) dream is for the US dollar to no longer be the world's reserve currency. They are not in a position to make it happen in the short term but in the long term they already jump started the process with the war in Ukraine by putting pressure on the US-Europe to rearm and exhaust their inventory. A big part of the power of the US dollar is faith in the power of the hegemonic American military and navy.

If this faith is shattered by declines in credibility (as the US has suffered in the Ukraine, Afganistan, Iraq, Houthis etc) the "CRINKS" have progressed on their strategic goal.

Iran's strait is one of the most important energy trade routes for China (the rest of Asia- Japan, south korean, taiwan etc) so if Trump continues attacking Iran, the Chinese have to support Iran like they supported Russia. Overall it can be seen that the "CHRINK" agenda is to force the US to respond to multiple crisis points.

The US is currently preparing for potential war with Russia and China at the same time, and adding Iran would overstretch things even further.

Trump's theatrics shows that he wants to exploit a small tactical win as much as possible to increase US military credibility by a percentage point.

This is exactly the problem.

"tHeRe’s A rEaSoN As TrUmP tOlD mE tHaT tHeRe’s No WiNdMiLlS iN cHiNa" is a blatant lie and no one dares to question him. If you simply just pull out your phone and Google "Windmills China," you’ll find studies and evidence that China is actually the world leader in wind power generation. Just another classic Donald lie.

Electrek

China debuts a record-smashing 26 MW offshore wind turbine

China's Dongfang Electric Corporation has rolled out a 26-megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine, the world’s largest in both capacity and size.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_offshore_wind_farms_in_China

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/11/china-building-twice-as-much-wind-and-solar-power-as-rest-of-world-report

The amount of wind and solar power under construction in China is now nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined, a report has found.

Research published on Thursday by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), an NGO, found that China has 180 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar power under construction and 159GW of wind power. That brings the total of wind and solar power under construction to 339GW, well ahead of the 40GW under construction in the US.

The researchers only looked at solar farms with a capacity of 20MW or more, which feed directly into the grid. That means that the total volume of solar power in China could be much higher, as small scale solar farms account for about 40% of China’s solar capacity.

The findings underscore China’s leading position in global renewable energy production at a time when the US is increasingly worried about Chinese overcapacity and dumping, particularly in the solar industry.

Statista

Global installed wind power capacity additions 2024| Stat...

China added approximately 79.8 gigawatts of wind power capacity in 2024.

And the stupidest part is, no matter how many globally published studies are available, his supporters still choose to believe his lies and dismiss the factual evidence as "fake news". And this isn’t just about one topic, it happens basically daily. You can point them to credible, nonpartisan sources, encourage them to do their own research and the information is right there. But they still choose not to believe it. They’d rather stick to the lie.

Edited just now1 min by Matt!
added more ranting