Prepay gas stations are just the ones where when you put your card in they authorize for a larger amount then you purchase, and then refund you, right? Pretty sure that's just done with debit cards though, I know Credit Cards are typically just charged in the amount that was done afterwards -- with maybe just an authorization for more if they're checking you can pay for gas.

Literally don't think I've ever seen a nonprepay gas station EVER.


Might not be able to call Hertz once these bankruptcy proceedings are done, lol.

...Facemask money laundering scheme?

This is about an order for buying 300M N95 certified masks -- Preshipping cost put the mask at around $3 each.

Do I think it would've made more sense to setup some factories in California to do this and put some people to work who need it? Yes. As these are all disposable masks that are going to be thrown out anyway, probably going to need a lot more then 300M in the coming year or year and a half b/c the state of California 40m people.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-06/gavin-newsom-releases-california-coronavirus-mask-contract

Are there a lot of questions regarding this contract, the price, delivery issues and so on? Yes. Does this point to some crazy money laundering Chinese scheme -- No.

"Your Order Will Ship Soon" ugh.... What in gods name was the content of this email? Pretty gross way of confusing regular people into thinking that they bought something from the campaign or from some random store.

I wouldn't say that this is just the Trump campaign doing this, or members of the GOP, I think that this is the norm for most campaigns and people in political positions trying to raise money. Especially on the scale of the President, where you need to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. I'm assuming that the RNC and DNC have to do the same sort of thing.

Not sure on if anyone else uses the "Your Order will Ship Soon" -- or something like this in terms of a very scammy tactic.

I think this is something that we forget from time to time. In the grand scheme of things, our opinion on here really does nothing. We're a subsection of a subsection of people who are really into cryptocurrencies and bitcoin as a whole. As a voting group we're literally a group of people that politicians don't even know exist.

Still interesting for all of us to talk here and have a good time.

I'm probably going to make a certain Trump bet at some point, may lose but we'll see ya know.

Nothing changes but many the military industrial complex gets tons of $$$$ to produce weapons of war and to provide for our large military. Stock prices go up and investors are happy. They keep investors happy by continuously lobbying the government to spend more money on war to pay them. It's a vicious cycle.

People also forget that it's not just the military industrial complex that likes the 'defense department' -- its the millions of Americans who are employed because of this system. I think one of the last estimates I read was like 6M Americans employed either directly or indirectly (private contractor) by the department of defense. (3m are employed directly by DOD)

Our economy heavily relies on this government spending. Could this money be shifted to other ideas? Maybe.

Not sure on why people think this is some sort of fraud. Biden is the favorite to win the 2020 election right now, that's just the fact of the matter.

Do I think betting on Trump is a good idea right now? Yes. I do personally still think that he's going to win as there is something that is going to change to bring these polls close come November. Plus -- He can lose the popular vote and still win the EC. Which pretty much means anything within 5% nationally in these polls means that the race is going to be competitive.

Not sure why we're going after people who just want to comment on American politics. Doesn't matter who they are.

Every so often I (and I think many on here, and in general) comment on other peoples politics and what is going on. I'm typically not dismissed just because I'm an American.

Do some non Americans not fully understand the issues here? Yes.

Do some non Americans understand the issues we're facing better then some Americans? Yes.



Totally agree with that, November is a LONG time away. Anything can happen.

Another +1 to that for SuchMoon.

The media really doesn't have to report on this, they're doing it because they know it will benefit THEM. When you write 'KANYE WEST IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT' on an article people are going to click on that link and you're going to get more ad revenue for doing so. No way around that.

If the media reported on every single person that was 'running' for President we'd spend all day going through state by state filling paperwork.

LOL.

Yeah, the guy is most likely joking OR using this as a publicity stunt to be able to get more public attention for when he drops an album or some songs.

Hasn't filed at all to be eligible to run as an independent in the states that he still can run in. He's not able to run in some states where the presidential filing deadline has already passed.

See here - https://pitchfork.com/news/kanye-west-says-hes-running-for-president-but-he-hasnt-actually-filed-any-paperwork/

This world is really something.

I doubt that the companies themselves are going to go over. Air travel is very essential and I doubt there's going to be another upstart airline company with the amount of regulations and capital required to start an airline.

Typically the 'kick in the nuts' last a year or two, then it all goes 'back' to normal. WH has also been floating the idea of giving out a tax incentive to travel...lol.. talk about a massive incentive to the airline and hotel industry (that I doubt is going to go anywhere) -- But just hearing about something like that is insane.

Any money that is being out to these businesses shouldn't be allowed to just be squandered by bonuses to CEO's, Vice Presidents, etc -- if anything, these bonuses should be going to employees who were putting their lives on the line in the middle of a global pandemic.

I still think both of these industries are going to bounce back.

PPP still has like another 130B in it, though they did just extend the amount of time that businesses will be able to apply for it. So they have sometime to disburse that, and wouldn't be surprised if that gets depleted to another half of 130B.

Not really sure on what should be done in regards to the extra $600 -- as it seems like regular unemployment benefits from states just wouldn't be enough. Fed is most likely going to step in and pay for all of the state benefits that were used during this time, as the unemployment system isn't made for EVERYONE to be unemployed at the same time. Just some, like any sort of insurance.

Easiest thing to do is direct cash payments, I'd have to heavily agree with you. Maybe tie it to something like COL on a state basis, though that yet again is just adding more hoops. I'd say just tie it to income levels and send out more cash.

They'll keep propping up Airlines and hotels and so on and so forth, lot of jobs there that the government has deemed too big to fail -- just like the banks in 2008. Not saying I agree, though I think we all know what they're going to do.


Slowly but surely.

Heh.

Obviously the Presidents plan is to continue to open the economy, so that still is happening in many states. Though there are some states that are rolling back openings (Texas and California) because of surging infections numbers.

Though the economic issues revolving around Corona have still devastated many businesses and peoples personal finances, so this is just another (and most likely) the last stimulus to help them out in this very tough time.

Congress and the President have both signaled that they're going to be bringing forth another stimulus package. Yep, that means the money printer is going to be brrrring again.

But in all seriousness, I do want to see what people on this forum/P&S community think about a stimulus package and where they think money should be appropriated.

I'd rather this money go directly to Americans that need this money the most, so I'd much rather direct payments for individuals (under the same thresholds as before) and an expansion of PPL (Paycheck Protection Loans) for small businesses.

What does everyone else think about this?

PS: I think that it is important to talk about the debt and the deficit when it comes to all of this as well. It's crazy to think that just through this Pandemic we've pushed forward a few trillion in stimulus packages that are going to just speed up the expansion of the debt.

Makes sense, this is something that they're dealing with as an issue in the states too. As it's very tough to tell people that they're unable to go back to their churches, as for many that is really their only sense of community (and it is obviously important as a religion to them too.)

Some states are enforcing strict social distancing in churches, clean up crews, and so on. That should be something that should be done in areas where health officials deem it possible.

Services being done outside, online, etc will all be able to work in helping people continue their faith during an especially troubling time like this.

+1 to that.

China, at the moment, relies HEAVILY on the exportation of goods to other countries. They'd take a real blow of a large number of the countries of the world with the biggest marketplaces (EU and US) told them that they're no longer be accepting their products into their countries.

That's not to take away from the fact that the EU and the US would also have to pay more for their goods (Smartphones, electronics, cheap goods, etc) but it's still something we'd have to remember. Can't just cut off trade with the largest nation when it comes to exportation and think you're going to shift supply lines pretty easily.

I think just the threat of this, and that being a credible threat, would help in forcing China to start adhering to IP and to not dump products (like steel) to attempt to kill American companies. Also they're hopefully open up their economy to the rest of the world.s

Most third party candidates have a lot of the big words talking about how they're going to unify us as one nation and all of this. They talk about how bad the two party system is and how it has led us down this path and pitted Americans up against their fellow Americans.

But most of them are only proposing like one or two issues that they want changed and there really isn't even ever a shot of them even passing those ideas. Think of someone like Andrew Yang (who I still consider as 3rd party) who pushed for UBI and at the time it had no real chance of passing.

Third party candidates really need to have that state level / national level infrastructure to truly be able to push for their ideas. There's no chance a 3rd party President is going to win -- not enough people would know about them (unless their personal persona was big enough for that) -- but there is a chance that a 3rd party could win in other races. Governor, Senate, State Legislatures, Congress, etc.

I can see the arguing in this thread about things, though I think it's very important to note that the only way we're going to figure out information is if Congressional oversight steps in and calls people in to speak. They need to request all of the info from the executive and subpoena as many people as possible to see if there is any merit.

There's nothing we're going to figure out by just infighting in the media and online regarding this. No one knows what is the truth and we're all just slinging mud about this.

We're going to have to sit around and wait for new info, that's all we can do.

He said he would appear for the Senate trial if subpoenaed.

For the House he explained that he wanted a judge to rule on it to provide him legal cover and was surprised when the democrats just dropped it and moved without him.

He thinks the democrats royally fucked up by rushing the hearings for political reasons (the Feb primaries) and having such a narrow focus and there should've been several other charges and also testimony about non-impeachable things he did as evidence of his mindset as a leader.  Basically any time he met a dictator he tried to cut a deal not because it was in the best interest of the country, but to increase his chances of getting reelected. He did favors for China and Russia like ending criminal prosecutions and going easy on sanctions because he wanted them to want him to win in November.

If you're a big Trump fan, and you want to remain one in good conscious - your only option is to assume that Bolton made all of this up.

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Horrible move by the democrats to not give him the legal cover that he wanted. Doesn't make sense to move on without the guy who is probably holding the treasure trove of secrets in his head.

That pretty much leaves us with two options in regards to this book.

1. It's made up and that's the reason that Bolton didn't want to step in front of Congress and speak about it. He's a smart guy so he made up the portion about legal cover and it all worked out for him. Bolton had a profit incentive with making this book, and disregarded the truth when making it.

2. The book is truthful (or mostly truthful) and Bolton really felt that he didn't have the legal cover required to sit in front of congress and speak. He felt like the DOJ was going to go after him big time if he went in front of Congress (not sure on the precedent here, but I wouldn't be surprised)

Tough times, and only congressional oversight is going to get to the bottom of all of this.

My friend this is not new for China doing all those things. They are Bullying other Country like what they are doing in Philippines. They are Bullying Filipino Fishermens and Squatting our Islands and Territories (near to Pag-asa Island) even We Won In UN Court.
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Oh yeah, I and I think everyone else here knows that. But I am happy that you're bringing up that this isn't new. This is kind of a thing that all countries with power will do at some point, though China will take it to an extreme as they want to be just like the US when it comes to being a superpower.

China will invest money into countries who need it, and then leverage those investments to force countries to do what they want -- maybe that is voting their way in the UN, supporting them in different disputes, etc.

Good point to bring up though, very important for people to notice that China bullying countries isn't isolated.

Not sure why you're talking about herd immunity right here, as that's not one of the 'phases' that we're supposed to be going through in regards to this virus. Herd immunity is great to talk about, until you notice that you need like 60-80% of the population to get the coronavirus for it to be effective. Not effective and would lead to many unnecessary deaths.

Masks, groups of people, and sanitizing are still very important. Unsure on what you think is important here when the Southern portion of the US (Florida, Texas, etc) are currently having surges in cases and we just broke the daily record for number of new cases in the US and number of new cases by percentage of tests has been steadily increasing.