4 ms·

It's interesting that conspiracy theorists nowadays are looking for hidden plans for how the government might be working in our best interest, in spite of appea

It's interesting that conspiracy theorists nowadays are looking for hidden plans for how the government might be working in our best interest, in spite of appearances

simmerup 2y ago
Low interest rates isn’t in the common persons interests, it’s in the interests of those who own and those who have relationships with people close to the money faucet
- pjc50 2y ago
  Low rates very much in the interests of people who want to get mortgages. (Interestingly, because of the very long mortgage duration, US homeowners are very insulated from interest rate shocks. But it will show up in consumer credit, car payments etc.) Low rates are also expansionary for the economy in general.
  - Ekaros 2y ago
    Actually I think moderate rates are best for mortgages. Low rates just push prices and thus down payments to sky as have been seen. And that is no good. Moderate rates keep prices at cost of building. In the end monthly payment is what matters.
pjc50 2y ago
The weird thing is how conservatives get to play both the "federal government is inherently evil" and "look at all the stuff we're doing with our power over the federal government" cards at the same time, often for the same events.
- pwatsonwailes 2y ago
  Not mutually exclusive. "We're incredibly powerful and government is evil" and "we're absolutely going to use governmental power now we have it to fuck shit up that we don't like", is totally a position those in government can take. The key is in the idea of governance and who's governing. Any and all governance which has happened by those the people in power don't like (basically the other team) is what is labelled bad. The only question is, ultimately, is their governance sane and sensible? From the perspective of the greatest good for the greatest number of people. And no. No it isn't.
- milesrout 2y ago
  What a stupid strawman. The claim is "the government is too powerful, that power is easily abused, it wastes your money on pointless 'woke' things, and we are cancelling it all".
  - bmicraft 2y ago
    If they're so concerned about abuse, why are they abusing it more than anybody else?
- roenxi 2y ago
  Is it weird to be consistent? The "federal government is inherently evil" is a principle that doesn't magically go away when small-government people get in to power. The argument never was nor will be that [this thing] is bad when [the wrong people] do it; the argument is that [this thing] is bad. There isn't an expectation that a right wing government will somehow transcend the realities of government. The ideal social contract with the politicians - from the liberal part of the right wing - is that they do whatever it is that motivates them to take on the job and that is tolerated to some extent - but in exchange they shrink the size and scope of the government bureaucracy. Obviously the ideal is a distant dream at this point, but the principle lingers. It is the only realistic option.
  - const_cast 2y ago
    > The "federal government is inherently evil" is a principle that doesn't magically go away when small-government people get in to power. In my experience it’s exactly this. The principle vanishes quickly, because none of those “small government” people were really so. The primary small government faction in the US is conservatives. They’ve been, for a few decades now, VERY large government. Bordering on fascist. They just lie, because it’s easy and none of their constituents care. You have better odds of hell freezing over than conservative constituencies holding their representatives accountable. When you’re in that situation, you’d be stupid not to lie. To expand on this, shrinking the bureaucracy isn’t shrinking the government. Because, if you had read the agenda in project 2025, you’d know that the intention is to then concentrate those powers in the president. That’s not smaller gov, that’s bigger. You’re creating a monarch.
    - tastyface 2y ago
      I’m not sure why this comment was killed. Completely accurate assessment. Republicans are only “small government” until states try to do something they don’t like. (Support trans athletes or undocumented immigrants? Have fun getting all your federal funding pulled.) And the monarchy of the executive is something they’ve been eagerly proselytizing for years: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory
- ryandvm 2y ago
  As always, Republicans are their own best argument for limited federal government.
Gibbon1 2y ago
Some guy that writes about politics wrote something that stuck with me 'a lot of people think they are in on the grift'
NikkiA 2y ago
Conspiracy theories have always just been a form of confirmation bias. They theorise what matches the reality they want to have.
candiddevmike 2y ago
> in spite of appearances Or disappearances, in some cases

It's interesting that conspiracy theorists nowadays are looking for hidden plans for how the government might be working in our best interest, in spite of appearances

simmerup 2y ago

Low interest rates isn’t in the common persons interests, it’s in the interests of those who own and those who have relationships with people close to the money faucet

pjc50 2y ago
Low rates very much in the interests of people who want to get mortgages. (Interestingly, because of the very long mortgage duration, US homeowners are very insulated from interest rate shocks. But it will show up in consumer credit, car payments etc.) Low rates are also expansionary for the economy in general.
- Ekaros 2y ago
  Actually I think moderate rates are best for mortgages. Low rates just push prices and thus down payments to sky as have been seen. And that is no good. Moderate rates keep prices at cost of building. In the end monthly payment is what matters.

pjc50 2y ago

The weird thing is how conservatives get to play both the "federal government is inherently evil" and "look at all the stuff we're doing with our power over the federal government" cards at the same time, often for the same events.

pwatsonwailes 2y ago
Not mutually exclusive. "We're incredibly powerful and government is evil" and "we're absolutely going to use governmental power now we have it to fuck shit up that we don't like", is totally a position those in government can take. The key is in the idea of governance and who's governing. Any and all governance which has happened by those the people in power don't like (basically the other team) is what is labelled bad. The only question is, ultimately, is their governance sane and sensible? From the perspective of the greatest good for the greatest number of people. And no. No it isn't.
milesrout 2y ago
What a stupid strawman. The claim is "the government is too powerful, that power is easily abused, it wastes your money on pointless 'woke' things, and we are cancelling it all".
- bmicraft 2y ago
  If they're so concerned about abuse, why are they abusing it more than anybody else?
roenxi 2y ago
Is it weird to be consistent? The "federal government is inherently evil" is a principle that doesn't magically go away when small-government people get in to power. The argument never was nor will be that [this thing] is bad when [the wrong people] do it; the argument is that [this thing] is bad. There isn't an expectation that a right wing government will somehow transcend the realities of government. The ideal social contract with the politicians - from the liberal part of the right wing - is that they do whatever it is that motivates them to take on the job and that is tolerated to some extent - but in exchange they shrink the size and scope of the government bureaucracy. Obviously the ideal is a distant dream at this point, but the principle lingers. It is the only realistic option.
- const_cast 2y ago
  > The "federal government is inherently evil" is a principle that doesn't magically go away when small-government people get in to power. In my experience it’s exactly this. The principle vanishes quickly, because none of those “small government” people were really so. The primary small government faction in the US is conservatives. They’ve been, for a few decades now, VERY large government. Bordering on fascist. They just lie, because it’s easy and none of their constituents care. You have better odds of hell freezing over than conservative constituencies holding their representatives accountable. When you’re in that situation, you’d be stupid not to lie. To expand on this, shrinking the bureaucracy isn’t shrinking the government. Because, if you had read the agenda in project 2025, you’d know that the intention is to then concentrate those powers in the president. That’s not smaller gov, that’s bigger. You’re creating a monarch.
  - tastyface 2y ago
    I’m not sure why this comment was killed. Completely accurate assessment. Republicans are only “small government” until states try to do something they don’t like. (Support trans athletes or undocumented immigrants? Have fun getting all your federal funding pulled.) And the monarchy of the executive is something they’ve been eagerly proselytizing for years: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory
ryandvm 2y ago
As always, Republicans are their own best argument for limited federal government.

Gibbon1 2y ago

Some guy that writes about politics wrote something that stuck with me 'a lot of people think they are in on the grift'

NikkiA 2y ago

Conspiracy theories have always just been a form of confirmation bias. They theorise what matches the reality they want to have.

candiddevmike 2y ago

> in spite of appearances Or disappearances, in some cases