Time to stock up on popcorn.

[richard1rst]

With the upcoming tariff induced price hikes coming along with the inevitable USPS price increase I suspect these boards are going to explode.

I do like a good train wreck.

[chapeau-noir]

Most media is owned by the right. The NYT is toothless as is WaPo.

But propaganda is propaganda- the "left" has no monopoly- and why would I believe the stuff coming from the regressive right, anyway? It's all lockstep.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@deltiologist wrote:

 @meme6253 and @chapeau-noir

Reality is hard for both of you to accept.  What I enjoy most is that the GOP pretty much has the POTUS locked up for the next 12-16 years.  There's no way dems have anyone to challenge JD Vance.  So it's years and years of saltiness from the left.  You can't even wait until the man is in office before dumping your hate on the world.

---

"Every accusation is a confession".  Cheers! 😉

[lakefor94]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Most media is owned by the right. The NYT is toothless as is WaPo.

But propaganda is propaganda- the "left" has no monopoly- and why would I believe the stuff coming from the regressive right, anyway? It's all lockstep.

---

@chapeau-noir 

I should have spelled it out better. 

Most all the major TV news outlets and especially the local news. NBC, CBS, ABC and then CNN, MSNBC. Add BBC, PBS and toss in NPR.

Left news has the monopoly, no doubt.

[chapeau-noir]

CNN has gone to the right. MSNBC sanewashes, NPR, BBC do not have the love affair with Trump that apparently is what is required for "journalistic truth" in our post-fact world, true. They weren't crazy about Biden, either. Curious how the "too old to be president' drum beat has gone, eh?

Fact is, in our post-truth "alternative facts" journalistic landscape, anything not Pravda-style "journalism" is deemed "fake" and to be silenced.

[fbusoni]

@movieman630 

The sum total of your ideas above -- all of which I agree with incidentally -- point in the direction of a more isolationist stance.   

(The USA already is isolated geographically -- we must spend tens of trillions to project power across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  Can you imagine what would happen if all that revenue was pumped back into our society and economy?)

Defense contractors, energy conglomerates, the banking and IT industries, and e-commerce giants like eBay and Amazon (among others) have a powerful incentive to ensure the USA does not move in an isolationist direction.

Never mind our new president and his close friends.

Needless to say, THIS is where the money-in-politics phenomenon is going to get very interesting.

If there's anything professional politicians hate more than an uncomfortable status quo, it's change and the uncertainty it engenders.

Quite frankly, I do not anticipate any radical or fundamental change in the next four years. 

And neither do I believe does our president-elect.   Although he will certainly put on a good show.

[movieman630]

What it will come down to is have people had enough of the billionaires not having enough.

[lakefor94]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

CNN has gone to the right. MSNBC sanewashes, NPR, BBC do not have the love affair with Trump that apparently is what is required for "journalistic truth" in our post-fact world, true. They weren't crazy about Biden, either. Curious how the "too old to be president' drum beat has gone, eh?

Fact is, in our post-truth "alternative facts" journalistic landscape, anything not Pravda-style "journalism" is deemed "fake" and to be silenced.

---

Offering up some criticism of Biden and his administration is not a move to the right. It is an attempt at journalism. The newest CNN leader will still have to figure out how to stay relevant. Journalism would be a solid starting point.

CNN/MSNBC could only prop up a broken president and administration for so long until viewers don't want to hear it anymore. Viewers moved on.

Trump will give them plenty to report on. Just what the CNN/MSNBC rating doctors ordered. They needed Trump as bad as any other left news outlet to draw in more viewers.  Harris was not going to bring back viewership. They have a chance now.

[chapeau-noir]

I have no problem with criticism - it's the intolerance of it that troubles me. Odd, though, that the fact that the US economy, with all of the problems, having recovered the best in the world is "broken", but whatever.

IAC, I think pretty much all of us want a decent, prosperous life, and if Trump delivers on even some of these promises, that would be great. You see, I've always been country over party.

ETA: I doubt CNN will be relevant - cable news is the product of a rapidly aging generation, and it's not really the future, anyway.

[richard1rst]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

I have no problem with criticism - it's the intolerance of it that troubles me. Odd, though, that the fact that the US economy, with all of the problems, having recovered the best in the world is "broken", but whatever.

IAC, I think pretty much all of us want a decent, prosperous life, and if Trump delivers on even some of these promises, that would be great. You see, I've always been country over party.

ETA: I doubt CNN will be relevant - cable news is the product of a rapidly aging generation, and it's not really the future, anyway.

---

@chapeau-noir

Agree with that. Even the main stream media are laying people off and losing viewers. The Joe Rogan podcasts get an audience of around 11 MILLION on a regular basis. And all those other popular podcast are offering news and information not filtered by corporate political donor types intent on bending their bias.

Social media, whether you agree with its accuracy or not, is where the younger generations seem to be getting the bulk of their information. And then there are all those "influencers". Again, it doesn't matter whether they are accurate or not - it matters that they are getting the audience.

Where is the Walter Cronkite of this generation. Remember him "The most trusted man in America".

[johnrj1226]

You must  have thoroughly enjoyed the  last 4 years.

[moondogblues]

"Again, it doesn't matter whether they are accurate or not - it matters that they are getting the audience."

And that is why Trump got elected.

I have enjoyed this thread.  I have been a bit appalled by some of the remarks.  I just want to say a few things as a buyer now, though I was a seller for over a decade.

Think about all the things that are imported...that do not grow here...are not made here.  Not talking about slave labor components or phones, we can all live with out those.  Think spices...cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg.  90% of our garlic is now grown in China and is now tasteless so maybe needs to be brought back to Gilroy CA.  But how many of us can afford 50,000 bucks for a car or more?  Think firewood and heating, yup I sound like a survivalist.  I'm probably a blend of that plus hoarder (used to be called stocking up) plus common sense.  If the power goes out I may need a candle or two.

Tariffs...hey, soybeans.  China now buys them from Brazil.  And our tax payer dollars bailed out the farmers here.  Won't go into the details about the suicides and lost farms.

Lumber and steel...let's talk Canada and why housing went up so high.  Tariffs again.

The excuse that we need to bring manufacturing back here?  How long to retool a rusting factory and train the new employees?  And at what expense and who will pay for it?  How about we lean on the other country/countries to upgrade their labor practices, instead of just slapping a tariff on it.

My point here is that there is a huge picture in place here and around the world.  A vindictive felon is not the answer.  I hate to sound political...but I foresee the next 4 years as that we are on our own.  My own instincts are now buy what we need before the tariffs hit and then hunker down and wait it out.  If we needed a new **bleep** buy it now.  New car, buy it now.  Etc.

I have also seen reports that thrift shopping is up, so sales here may get better also.  Especially after Jan 20.

Good luck to us all.

[fbusoni]

I remember watching Walter Cronkite during the Vietnam war in the 1960s.  He would end his broadcast every evening with a tally of dead and wounded from both sides.   I was 5 or 6 and remember being perplexed at the lopsided numbers.

When I worked for the intel community, one of our principle sources of information were translations into English of foreign news broadcasts (from literally all over the globe).  CIA ran what was then known as the Foreign Broadcast Information Service and it was nothing short of miraculous.  It still exists today but goes by another name.

But by far the most reliable information -- at least for me -- came from primary sources: leadership speeches, official communiqués, transcripts of parliamentary meetings, etc.   The sort of thing that C-SPAN provides in very, very limited quantity.   C-SPAN is truly a gift; I wish it had a lot more funding.

The problem with primary sources of course is that one has to know the context of what is being said.  And these days, when the strength of the collective short-term memory of the US electorate is just a notch above that of a school of sardines, people really need to be spoon fed.   

We in the USA do NOT like to think... we've never really had to, what with being surrounded by vast oceans, militarily impotent neighbors, and no history of living under foreign military occupation.   

My son recently married a young woman from Ukraine... she came here to work after the 2022 war commenced.   At age 27, she is more attuned to the world around her than any American (outside my former profession) I have ever met.   That's what happens when you grow up in a country that shares a border with neighbors that want to annihilate you / with whom you have been in conflict for centuries.

Speaking of Joe Rogan... I recently subscribed to YouTube Premium ($18 a month) and saw Joe Rogan for the first time a few nights ago.   (Yeah, I'm a dinosaur, but that's another story).   I was highly impressed.

I also saw some left- and right-wing twerps with their skinny jeans and blazers three sizes too small, giving their accounts of the "news," and almost wretched.

If that is the future, heaven help us all.

[fbusoni]

---

@moondogblues wrote:

I hate to sound political...but I foresee the next 4 years as that we are on our own.  

---

@moondogblues 

You do not sound political -- merely realistic.

I'm 65 and have never, EVER held out one iota of hope that a politician of ANY party would ever do ANYTHING for me. 

And of course, I have not been disappointed. 

I am, quite frankly, amazed when I see my fellow Americans attend political rallies and get animated by political speechifying.    Testimony, I suppose, to the insatiable human thirst for comfort and reassurance.  Sad.

We are most certainly on our own.   Always have been and always will be.   To think otherwise is, as I see it, to be hopelessly naive.

And the best we can do under such circumstances is to take care of ourselves and those few people in our lives who we cherish.   If everyone did so, the world would be a much better place.

[powell-collectibles]

I’m trying to figure out how this relates to eBay, other than making a few eBay sellers feel important.  Didn’t they get rid of the soapbox for a reason?

[fbusoni]

---

@powell-collectibles wrote:

I’m trying to figure out how this relates to eBay, other than making a few eBay sellers feel important.  Didn’t they get rid of the soapbox for a reason?

---

eBay, like any other endeavor, is merely a microcosm of life -- working with people, comporting oneself appropriately, taking and managing responsibilities (something you have discussed if I recall correctly), planning and thinking ahead, meeting deadlines, digesting information from multiple sources, interpreting facts, hearing other views, learning, etc..

I thought everyone knew that.

The good news is that most here can think multidimensionally... and most appear to enjoy conversations and discussions that extend beyond the humdrum of packaging materials, UPS surcharges, and eBay algorithms.   Seems to me that that's what makes online forums such as this an interesting place.   Hearing and reflecting on other's experiences, whether directly related to eBay or not, is why I participate here.

Meantime, no one is stopping you from "feeling important," whatever that means.