He probably has a better idea of how much the supermarket is worth than any individual products within it. Not knowing the price of things you never buy isn't being out of touch. If he didn't know how much a Windows licence was that'd be an issue.

It's much more fun to watch wealthy politicians struggle with prices since they are actually supposed to know these things.

If Musk was a country, I'd move there...they get amazing stuff done...amazingly. Kind of like how the so-called "Greatest Generation" did but with the whole Country backing them. "We do this because it is hard".

Where is that Country now? Eating it's young...
Crippling NASA decades ago (whom are still heroic), bleeding our infrastructure out, and feeding the overly-wealthy again and again and again.

Of course, there's a line.

If some dude patted my behind, I probably wouldn't take it as sexual.

It's about context. I am not generally in a situation where there is a power dynamic working against me.

If a mate jokingly patted my behind, I probably wouldn't care.
If my boss patted my behind, I'd certainly tell him that's not ok.

But if I felt it WAS creepy and especially if I felt whoever it was a) might do it again and b) was frequently in a position to do so to vulnerable people... yeah, I'd report it.

I wouldn't try to have them convicted of rape because that's not what they did.

I still want to know whose life is being "ruined" over "nothing".

Weinstein? Spacey? It's certainly not nothing and their lives are far from ruined. They're still incredibly wealthy people living (admittedly a little less now) comfortable lives. Are their reputations sullied? Yep, and deservedly so. They've certainly gotten off easier than their victims.

Aziz? Ok, that's a bit more nuanced.

First, is his life "ruined"? Eh, not really. His reputation has taken a hit, but plenty of people have actually come out in support of him.

Second, was what he did "nothing, or at most an innocent misunderstanding not corrected"? Well, it wasn't Weinstein-level harassment and it certainly wasn't rape. We can all agree on that. But was it "nothing"? Would you be ok with someone treating you like that? Do you really think what he did was acceptable behaviour?

He shouldn't go to jail for it, definitely. And there are far worse people out there... one of them is in the white house.

In all honesty, I think he's been unlucky to end up as the cautionary tale of how not to treat your date. Maybe "Grace" could have handled it better.

But on balance, if I have to choose between his actions and her actions, I think his are worse.

Interesting narrative - but maybe a bit too simplistic. "the boomers have all the assets" - really? is Bezos a boomer, how about Mark Z? There are some wealthy boomers, as there have always been wealthy individuals in the older generation - but lots of boomers are doing their best to survive on Social Security - maybe because they yielded to the siren song of consumerism. (a statement as simplistic as the claim that boomers have all the assets...). Technology has destroyed lots of middle class jobs - the working community displaced by technology is, as they always have, struggling to adapt. Some have adapted better than others. But the simplistic mantra of free college/university for all is a fraud when too many illiterates are being graduated from high school and too many parents are totally unconcerned that their children continue to advance in primary and secondary school with completely inadequate skills....
That's the thing with simple answers for the world's problems, they're usually wrong...

@newtboy

That's always the way with these people.

Trump's "tough on crime" really means he's tough on street-level crime and minorities. Billionaire bankers stealing from the poor are A-OK with him!

You know what the biggest type of economic crime in America is? At over double all other property crimes combined (auto crime, burglary, larceny, and robbery).

It's wage theft, where wealthy employers simply refuse to pay their employees at the level required by law or contract. The biggest proportion of wage theft is refusing to meet minimum wage standards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_theft

A Mitt Romney fan, eh? You should probably read this article, which absolutely guts the myth that only half of income earners pay taxes.

As far as the top 1% paying 40% of the taxes, I agree that is atrocious--they are supposed to be paying almost ALL of it! See, when the income tax was introduced with the 16th Amendment, it was primarily meant to be a tax on the rich. The federal tax rate for middle-class people was meant to be around 1-2% whereas the tax rate on the rich was around 7%. You can see the original 1913 tax form here.

Of course, since literally the income tax's inception, the federal government has continuously been shafting the middle classes while reducing the tax burden of the wealthy. It's about as American as apple pie by this point!

The big problem is that the government relies more and more on income tax to fund federal projects. Take a look at the graph in the article I linked to at the start of this comment and note how corporate taxes keep going down while income and payroll taxes keep going up.

It doesn't help at all that most of America's biggest businesses have offshore tax havens where they can avoid paying taxes (think Ireland for Apple, Inc., though that hasn't worked out so well for them thanks to the EU being less corporate cock-sucking than the U.S. government).

So, to solve America's tax deficit problem, the solution is pretty clear--tax rich people more (as was intended), tax corporations more and cut off their tax havens, and maybe give a tax break to the people who actually need and deserve it--the middle and lower classes.

But of course all of that sounds suspiciously like socialism, which as we all know is the devil incarnate and about as un-American as naming your kid Stalin.

Bob, I wholeheartedly disagree with your assessments, but it begs the question....if you thought the nation was in such dire straits, why did you so blindly support the bankrupting idiot baby that's made it exponentially worse while creating and reinforcing so many divisions, making it nearly impossible for Americans to work together while also obliterating our international leadership positions?

You now admit he's not qualified to lead (never was), but you put him in the most important position of responsibility and leadership possible....now you want to blame his utter failings on previous administrations, not his constant lies and total ineptitude that you zealously defended and excused!? No sir, blame yourself.

As to the "agenda", those Hollywood values (you know, honesty, inclusion, diversity, freedom to be who you are, personal liberties, anti corporate personhood,...) are shared by a VAST majority of Americans....they are American values.
Why am I not surprised you don't get that?

As to their debasement, that starts with lies...lies like the ones you defend and applaud, like Trump lying about the tax plan because, as you privately said, if he told the truth he couldn't have passed a tax plan that benefits the wealthy like himself immensely and hurts the people who can least afford it while bankrupting the treasury as a set up to kill programs for the poor. You defended that lie privately....are you too ashamed to do so publicly?

I was gonna go with:

Trick queston - Independently wealthy.

It is funny... you would think that the ultra wealthy would really benefit from hding their agenda of greed... yet they just can't ever get enough and it is thust revealed.

It would be interesting to find out if the wealthy families who own corporate media are also invested heavily in arms manufacturers.

*related=https://videosift.com/video/Eisenhower-warns-of-the-military-industrial-complex

The American system is stacked toward the wealthy.

He inherited 200 million in NYC condos in the early '80s. If he'd held on to them, they'd be worth an estimated 12 billion today. If he'd sold and put the money in indexed stocks, he'd be worth 10 billion today. By his own most generous estimate he's worth 8 billion today (and less biased estimates have him out of billionaire status entirely).

Trump filed for bankruptcy four (I think, might have been more) times, each time structuring his debt so the shareholders got screwed and he got away clean.

He's accepted hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sweetheart loans from Russian banks. Every American bank has him blacklisted.

He's screwed contractors, employees, and practically everyone he can for years.

He's stiffed debt collectors for decades.

He's paid no taxes for decades.

In spite of all those benefits, he's still managed to lose approximately 90% of the massive wealth he inherited. Yeah, brilliant person.

BTW, every time I hear about the Dunning Kruger effect, I think of you and all the other Trumpites, Bob. It's worth giving some critical thought, if you can manage it.

@bobknight33
unsure if you are gloating that you uncovered some deep,dark secret,and are exposing some political conspiracy.

or are just re-iterating what i already posted.

for years i have seen you promote and tout the validity and necessity of the tea party for those who may be disgruntled with the mainstream republican party.

a party that started with modest means,but is now funded by some of the most wealthy and influential political players in our country:the koch bothers.

they even changed their name to the freedom caucus.
and they nominate candidates,and come out to support them.

so how is the tea party,which broke away from the establishment republicans to promote a politics that is more in line with the constitution,ANY different from the people who are sick and tired of corporate,establishment democrats? who ALSO have decided that enough is enough and have banded together to nominate their own candidates,and support those candidates to represent THEIR politics and ideological philosophies.

how,exactly,is that different?

because while you may disagree with justice democrats politically,and i suspect you do,you should also be proud that they are taking a stand and sticking up for their beliefs.

are you SO unaware of your own bias,prejudice and hyper-partisanship as to not recognize when a group of people are doing the EXACT same thing as your tea party did?

be careful bob,your bias and hypocrisy are showing.
and you are becoming a partisan hack,attacking any and everything that is contrary to your own politics,even when in reality it is performing the very same thing that you state to admire.

so what is more important to you?
honesty,integrity and sticking to your moral values?
or political affilliations?

because i can disagree with someones politics,and still admire and respect them standing up for their values.(that includes you bob).

i gather this is something you are incapable of doing,because in bob's world"politics trumps everything else,end of discussion.

if you want to sully your eyes a bit,check out what the justice democrats are seeking to do,and what their base philosophy is:
https://justicedemocrats.com/platform

*promote
*quality

I think that by standing with Hillary instead of with Bernie, she signaled that she's willing to play ball with the party establishment that Hillary was a product of. That is, a party that would prop up a candidate who would "say anything, and change nothing," and govern for corporations and the wealthy, etc.

The Democratic Party imploding in on itself over Bernie's popularity was a major factor in getting Trump elected. In a way, Trump could never have become president without Hillary....

I really like Warren, but I worry that the DNC would neuter everything they can from what she's stood for and spoken out about during her political career; I worry that they would make her words hollow.

It seemed to me that the longer explanation was meant to illustrate the fact that the Government allowed itself to be hoodwinked into this scheme to further enrich the wealthy and put the Government into debt. Rather than simply taxing the wealthy like it should have been doing in the first place.

Yep, better protect the wealthy, they've had it so bad lately, and the poor are just handed everything for doing nothing.
Also, better end family planning services, because we want more, more dangerous abortions to happen, but must be certain we don't pay a penny of public funds for them.
So far, their plan seems certain to raise costs for everyone while making about 10000000 people uninsured and returning to insane hospital costs to cover the uninsured who can't pay and 6+ hour emergency room wait times.
Doesn't anyone notice that tiny Cuba, with no money, has some of the best medical care in the world for free? If they can do it, why does the right think America is incapable? We aren't as smart as Cubans? We shouldn't be as healthy as Cubans? What?