That is the point of the Jan 6th hearings? Who still doesn’t know what happened? It was disgusting and awful and disgraceful and nauseating and every other possible negative adjective. What is the goal? So that we don’t forget how bad it was? Should we repeat the hearings this time next year so that we continue not forgetting? Should we also have some hearings on Japanese American internment camps just so we don’t forget how bad that was?
To me, they are just a cynical ploy to try to get voters to get angrier about Jan 6th than the self-imposed economic nightmare our government has sentenced us to.
In regards to gas prices, there are price controls on milk and somehow we haven’t come to a civil war over it.
For lots of people that don’t live in urban areas, walking/biking/public transit aren’t viable options. Punishing them with crippling gas prices as if they have done something wrong doesn’t make sense to me.
What are we supposed to do with people in the suburbs while we let them die? Perhaps some of that $55 billion we sent to the Ukrainian war black hole could have been used to pay for some infrastructure and public transit.
You have my favorite avatar out of everyone so this bums me out a bit.
Considering, we had a president and other powerful politicians actively trying to overthrow a presidential election (voting might be a kind of important to our democratic-republic) and risking the life of the VP, I'd say we might reacting a little too meekly. Finding out exactly what Trump and his cronies did is important. Especially, considering a good portion of the US still thinks the election was "stolen" despite millions and millions of tax dollars being spent on election "audits." I hope Garland is watching and actually brings the law into this.
As for economic hell, I think we are all old enough to remember the 2008 recession. This feels nothing like that. What are the key metrics that equal "economic hell" for you? Unemployment is low, wages have risen, retail buying is increasing, people are purchasing more services, new orders of goods are rising, the deficit is much lower this year than last year, GDP is increasing, and so on. (see
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/ECONI-2022-05/pdf/ECONI-2022-05.pdf).
The stock market went down (this shit is a fucking scam owned primarily by the very few) and crypto went down (I couldn't care less and I think I remember crypto advocates telling me about "digital gold!" and "no fiat currency").
Gasoline and consumer goods have gone up in America and around the world as production is behind demand. Not ideal but I'm not convinced this equals economic hell in conjunction with all the positive aspects of the economy right now.
As for not walking or riding a bike in America. I went from 2007 until 2021 without a car. A few of these years were in small town America, a few in mid-sized city in mid-western America, one year in the sunbelt, and some time in LA, and the rest of the time outside of the US in places that are easier for people without cars AND they have cultures that are about getting off their asses.
When it comes the task of moving one's body from point A to point B, Americans are lazy, wimpy, and selfish. In the sunbelt, everyone complained, "It is too hot to ride a bike here." This was bullshit. The weather was perfect for 9 months out of the year. This excuse was complete bullshit. Life was hard in small town USA without a car. But, there is no reason anyone should need to fill the tank more than once or twice a month. The town was a 7 minute drive from end to end (worst place I ever lived).
In Finland people ride their bikes when it is -10 degrees, they walk 30 minutes to work in the snow, in the north of Finland I saw people take their sleds to the supermarket, people in Russia walk in freezing weather, but Americans won't get off their fat asses to ride their bikes in 60 degree weather. American culture has its high points, but our aversion having to move is not one of them. My sibling would drive to Trader Joes even though it was 1.5 blocks from her home. My mom drives to the supermarket even though it is 2 blocks from her house. My colleagues wouldn't walk to work cause it was uphill (despite it only being a 15 minute walk). The university students in the small uni town I lived in wouldn't walk to school. 19 years old and too fucking lazy to walk 12-20 minutes in the snow.
I don't think it is a "punishment" for the people in suburbs to pay the price of the cost of gas/oil. I have no interest in subsidizing them, their poor zoning laws, low density housing/their NIMBY response to multi family homes, and so on. They built their way of life off of the idea cheap gas would last forever. Even though since the 70s or the high has prices of 2008, they should have known that they were living on borrowed time. The suburbs were designed poorly and people bought into them because they were cheap, offered more space, and etc. They starved the cities of tax money and now want everyone else to cry that they have to pay for their ridiculous way of life? What happened to the "personal responsibility" "bootstrap" mentality of the 'burbs?
I really don't understand what the fuck Americans have been thinking for the past 50 years. Our love affair with the car is beyond stupid.
I think of this clip from an interview between a Saudi official and a British Journalist:
"Doesn't this new massive increase of the price of oil, mean a change in the world balance of power?
"Yes...You have to adjust yourself to the new circumstances."
40:54