On 3/13/2020 11:40 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 10:47:30 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

I could never figure out why China as a potential adversary is the
primary source for aircraft components, auto industry parts and so
on.

===

Cheap, abundant labor combined with lax environmental policies have
led to very low production costs. That's a tough combination to beat
in a highly competitive global marketplace.



When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor it almost brought the USA to
it's knees.

It was the amazing manufacturing capacity we had that contributed
to the ultimate defeat of both Germany and Japan. Our allies, including
Russia, played major roles but no one else could match the USA in
overall manufacturing capacity.

Now we are in a pickle because we can't produce enough test kits
or face masks.

We should always maintain a certain level of manufacturing capacity
so we never get caught with our pants down again.

It's done in the high-tech weapons area thankfully. Companies
like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and others are critical
to national defense.

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On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 07:49:18 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:


Seema Verma is a member of the
Coronavirus Task Force under
VP Pence.

I thought she was a medical doctor or scientist like
other members of the Task Force but it turns out she
is not. She was appointed by Trump to serve as
as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the
agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and the insurance markets.

She should be canned from her position on the
Task Force, IMO. Her views and positions are
political in nature and not medical or scientific.

I watched an interview of her conducted by Martha MacCallum.
Martha is obviously very conservative in her political
views but she's a very tenacious interviewer and tries
to cut through political bull****.

She asked Seema Verma if the USA health system has the
resources .... beds, respirators, ICU facilities to
handle a potential spike in the number of people who
become ill with the coronavirus and require extraordinary
care.

Verma deftly ignored the question and went on and on about
how great Trump and Pence are and the great job the task
force was doing.

Martha tried several times to interrupt Verma and focus back
on her question but Verma ignored it over and over.

MacCallum became obviously frustrated with her and tried
again. Still, Verma refused to directly answer.

Martha finally ran out of the interview's allotted time and
ended it commenting that Verma never answered the question.

The American public needs to hear the truth, not a bunch
of political spin. Other members of the Task Force,
notably Dr. Anthony Fauci have been much more forthcoming
when asked questions and don't try to cover things up.

Seema Verma should be held accountable to speak truthfully
as well or get off the Task Force.

Verma may be an idiot but the idea of having a "lay" person in charge
of administering a medical program is sound. As a general rule,
doctors are horrible administrators. Most successful medical
operations are run by people trained in business administration, not
medicine.

I will agree with Harry on saying Trump has picked some of the dumbest
people on the planet to work in his administration, starting with his
SIL. Why would I expect Verma to be any different?

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 08:45:57 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/13/2020 8:40 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:
Mr. Luddite wrote:

Seema Verma is a member of the
Coronavirus Task Force under
VP Pence.

I thought she was a medical doctor or scientist like
other members of the Task Force but it turns out she
is not. She was appointed by Trump to serve as
as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the
agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and the insurance markets.

She should be canned from her position on the
Task Force, IMO. Her views and positions are
political in nature and not medical or scientific.

I watched an interview of her conducted by Martha MacCallum.
Martha is obviously very conservative in her political
views but she's a very tenacious interviewer and tries
to cut through political bull****.

She asked Seema Verma if the USA health system has the
resources .... beds, respirators, ICU facilities to
handle a potential spike in the number of people who
become ill with the coronavirus and require extraordinary
care.

Verma deftly ignored the question and went on and on about
how great Trump and Pence are and the great job the task
force was doing.

Martha tried several times to interrupt Verma and focus back
on her question but Verma ignored it over and over.

MacCallum became obviously frustrated with her and tried
again. Still, Verma refused to directly answer.

Martha finally ran out of the interview's allotted time and
ended it commenting that Verma never answered the question.

The American public needs to hear the truth, not a bunch
of political spin. Other members of the Task Force,
notably Dr. Anthony Fauci have been much more forthcoming
when asked questions and don't try to cover things up.

Seema Verma should be held accountable to speak truthfully
as well or get off the Task Force.


From wiki:

On August 20, 2018, Verma filed a claim requesting that taxpayers reimburse
her for jewelry that was allegedly stolen on a work-related trip to San
Francisco. Although she requested $47,000, including a $325 claim for
moisturizer and a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, she ultimately
received $2,852.40 in reimbursement.

Just another sleazy Trumpster.



It's a little disheartening to see her standing behind Pence during the
coronavirus task force briefings and occasionally being asked to speak.

Given the crisis that exists right now we need facts not politics.

Why would you expect facts from politicians in an election year?
I wouldn't pay much attention to Bernie or Biden either.
If you want facts, listen to Fauci. He seems pretty pragmatic about
this.

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 09:43:20 -0400, Keyser Soze
wrote:

On 3/13/20 8:45 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/13/2020 8:40 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:

Seema Verma should be held accountable to speak truthfully
as well or get off the Task Force.


Â*From wiki:

On August 20, 2018, Verma filed a claim requesting that taxpayers
reimburse
her for jewelry that was allegedly stolen on a work-related trip to San
Francisco. Although she requested $47,000, including a $325 claim for
moisturizer and a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, she ultimately
received $2,852.40 in reimbursement.

Just another sleazy Trumpster.



It's a little disheartening to see her standing behind Pence during the
coronavirus task force briefings and occasionally being asked to speak.

Given the crisis that exists right now we need facts not politics.


Having Mr. Empathy Trump in the White House doesn't help. It is obvious
when it comes to the concerns of ordinary people, he doesn't know
anything, he doesn't want to know anything, and he doesn't give a ****.
That flat-line talk he gave the other night from the Oval Office was a
classic, especially when contrasted with yesterday's presentations from
Bernie and Joe, both of whom actually care about Americans. Trump and
his family probably are trying to figure out how to make a buck from
corona.

Bernie and Joe only care about votes and they are stumping on this
virus right now. The only question is how far they can depress the
economy, Trumps strongest point up until now, without killing it
entirely.
I do think we will reach a tipping point soon where it might not come
back.
The biggest issue is debt (public and private) and if we just decide
it is OK to hit stop on the economy, debts are not being serviced.
That can make things go down hill really fast.

wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 09:43:20 -0400, Keyser Soze
wrote:

On 3/13/20 8:45 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/13/2020 8:40 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:

Seema Verma should be held accountable to speak truthfully
as well or get off the Task Force.


Â*From wiki:

On August 20, 2018, Verma filed a claim requesting that taxpayers
reimburse
her for jewelry that was allegedly stolen on a work-related trip to San
Francisco. Although she requested $47,000, including a $325 claim for
moisturizer and a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, she ultimately
received $2,852.40 in reimbursement.

Just another sleazy Trumpster.



It's a little disheartening to see her standing behind Pence during the
coronavirus task force briefings and occasionally being asked to speak.

Given the crisis that exists right now we need facts not politics.


Having Mr. Empathy Trump in the White House doesn't help. It is obvious
when it comes to the concerns of ordinary people, he doesn't know
anything, he doesn't want to know anything, and he doesn't give a ****.
That flat-line talk he gave the other night from the Oval Office was a
classic, especially when contrasted with yesterday's presentations from
Bernie and Joe, both of whom actually care about Americans. Trump and
his family probably are trying to figure out how to make a buck from
corona.

Bernie and Joe only care about votes and they are stumping on this
virus right now. The only question is how far they can depress the
economy, Trumps strongest point up until now, without killing it
entirely.
I do think we will reach a tipping point soon where it might not come
back.
The biggest issue is debt (public and private) and if we just decide
it is OK to hit stop on the economy, debts are not being serviced.
That can make things go down hill really fast.


Corporate borrowing over the last couple years has been huge, which could
also precipitate meltdown as well as the excess government borrowing. And
that is Federal, State, Local.

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 13:08:07 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/13/2020 11:40 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 10:47:30 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

I could never figure out why China as a potential adversary is the
primary source for aircraft components, auto industry parts and so
on.

===

Cheap, abundant labor combined with lax environmental policies have
led to very low production costs. That's a tough combination to beat
in a highly competitive global marketplace.



When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor it almost brought the USA to
it's knees.

It was the amazing manufacturing capacity we had that contributed
to the ultimate defeat of both Germany and Japan. Our allies, including
Russia, played major roles but no one else could match the USA in
overall manufacturing capacity.

Now we are in a pickle because we can't produce enough test kits
or face masks.

We should always maintain a certain level of manufacturing capacity
so we never get caught with our pants down again.

It's done in the high-tech weapons area thankfully. Companies
like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and others are critical
to national defense.

The problem is it is hard to maintain an unprofitable business. That
is one reason why our defense budget is so high. Most of it is
propping up the defense contractors we need if we want to be truly
secure.

On things like these test kits, why would anyone have them laying
around for a disease we never knew existed? Even if we were making
kits here, it would take a while to turn the line around to make this
particular kit. It took a year to turn River Rouge from a car
manufacturer to an aircraft manufacturer and it was almost 2 years
before they were really cranking the B24s out in significant numbers

7:45 PMKeyser Soze
- show quoted text -
And christian
——-


I think you mean, rightie Christian fundie...

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 18:14:49 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 09:43:20 -0400, Keyser Soze
wrote:

On 3/13/20 8:45 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/13/2020 8:40 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:

Seema Verma should be held accountable to speak truthfully
as well or get off the Task Force.


Â*From wiki:

On August 20, 2018, Verma filed a claim requesting that taxpayers
reimburse
her for jewelry that was allegedly stolen on a work-related trip to San
Francisco. Although she requested $47,000, including a $325 claim for
moisturizer and a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, she ultimately
received $2,852.40 in reimbursement.

Just another sleazy Trumpster.



It's a little disheartening to see her standing behind Pence during the
coronavirus task force briefings and occasionally being asked to speak.

Given the crisis that exists right now we need facts not politics.


Having Mr. Empathy Trump in the White House doesn't help. It is obvious
when it comes to the concerns of ordinary people, he doesn't know
anything, he doesn't want to know anything, and he doesn't give a ****.
That flat-line talk he gave the other night from the Oval Office was a
classic, especially when contrasted with yesterday's presentations from
Bernie and Joe, both of whom actually care about Americans. Trump and
his family probably are trying to figure out how to make a buck from
corona.

Bernie and Joe only care about votes and they are stumping on this
virus right now. The only question is how far they can depress the
economy, Trumps strongest point up until now, without killing it
entirely.
I do think we will reach a tipping point soon where it might not come
back.
The biggest issue is debt (public and private) and if we just decide
it is OK to hit stop on the economy, debts are not being serviced.
That can make things go down hill really fast.


Corporate borrowing over the last couple years has been huge, which could
also precipitate meltdown as well as the excess government borrowing. And
that is Federal, State, Local.

You may have seen the same article I did (AP Wiseman,Condon &
Bussewitz). They peg the US corporate debt outside of the banking
sector at $9T and the total debt is more like $75T. With this
shutdown, they are scrambling to service that debt. $4T of corporate
bonds come due in the next 5 years so they better right the ship
pretty soon.

wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 18:14:49 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 09:43:20 -0400, Keyser Soze
wrote:

On 3/13/20 8:45 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/13/2020 8:40 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:

Seema Verma should be held accountable to speak truthfully
as well or get off the Task Force.


Â*From wiki:

On August 20, 2018, Verma filed a claim requesting that taxpayers
reimburse
her for jewelry that was allegedly stolen on a work-related trip to San
Francisco. Although she requested $47,000, including a $325 claim for
moisturizer and a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, she ultimately
received $2,852.40 in reimbursement.

Just another sleazy Trumpster.



It's a little disheartening to see her standing behind Pence during the
coronavirus task force briefings and occasionally being asked to speak.

Given the crisis that exists right now we need facts not politics.


Having Mr. Empathy Trump in the White House doesn't help. It is obvious
when it comes to the concerns of ordinary people, he doesn't know
anything, he doesn't want to know anything, and he doesn't give a ****.
That flat-line talk he gave the other night from the Oval Office was a
classic, especially when contrasted with yesterday's presentations from
Bernie and Joe, both of whom actually care about Americans. Trump and
his family probably are trying to figure out how to make a buck from
corona.

Bernie and Joe only care about votes and they are stumping on this
virus right now. The only question is how far they can depress the
economy, Trumps strongest point up until now, without killing it
entirely.
I do think we will reach a tipping point soon where it might not come
back.
The biggest issue is debt (public and private) and if we just decide
it is OK to hit stop on the economy, debts are not being serviced.
That can make things go down hill really fast.


Corporate borrowing over the last couple years has been huge, which could
also precipitate meltdown as well as the excess government borrowing. And
that is Federal, State, Local.

You may have seen the same article I did (AP Wiseman,Condon &
Bussewitz). They peg the US corporate debt outside of the banking
sector at $9T and the total debt is more like $75T. With this
shutdown, they are scrambling to service that debt. $4T of corporate
bonds come due in the next 5 years so they better right the ship
pretty soon.


I think different article. Do not remember numbers posted.