Stoking the fire creating fear and division

[flowerseverywhere]

Some things I have heard or seen lately

a friend said DeSantis, Fl Governor signed a law banning heat and water breaks for outdoor workers
what really happened is he signed a bill prohibiting local governments from making laws that make it mandatory. Not that I agree with it, but the original statement is a far cry from the actual law.

a local gun store/shooting range has a sign “Stock up now, be ready for the election”

so what does that imply? I know people, both Democrat and Republican, who think there will be riots, looting, violence etc. and the national guard is going to arrest political enemies and so on.

someone told me she is afraid if Trump is elected her Jewish grandchildren will end up in concentration camps.

Another friend is worried about her brother. He hinted at getting out and hiding with friends and their families on a remote property and protecting themselves from the government if Biden wins. When pressed he made light of it.


is it the media? Social media? Rumors getting out of hand?

since it will be hurricane season I will have my normal emergency stock on hand. We prepare for ten days of food, water, flashlights etc. but doubt we would ever be even that long with no food, water or electricity without being able to evacuate. Also even now we fill our tanks with gas when half full because the panic when a hurricane forms is something that makes us avoid doing it then. I just don’t know how we have gotten to a place where some of our citizens have such extreme opinions.

Or maybe I’m the one who is crazy… but I don’t think so.

[Tradd]

Buying guns and ammo before elections goes back to when Obama running. It’s nothing new.

As for the rest, I know some people have added to their emergency supplies here in the Midwest as storms are getting more severe. I added a couple of rechargeable fans, a couple of lanterns that are rechargeable/solar, and a good backup battery pack for iPhone/iPad/Kindle. I got a Jackery 300 last year.

I’m the sort of person that almost always keeps gas tank at half or more.

I’ve started keeping around $100 cash on me, just in case. I’m usually all Apple Pay.

[Rogar]

I was looking into some uTube features on investing and John Bogle of Vanguard theories on index investing. Somehow I got onto their feeds on the collapsing economy. Sources seemed to be a mix of gold and silver bugs, a mix of some sort of financial extremists, and Trump types who are convinced the economy is terrible and Trump is the savior. I don't know how representative they are of public opinion or fear, but sure there are a lot of economic doomsayers.

[iris lilies]

Still, the Desantis law is stupid as represented here. Legislating bodies shouldn’t be making laws to keep other legislating bodies making laws. Too much lawmaking.

As for looting, violence in the streets, rioting – – well yeah. What is new about that? We have seen plenty in the past few years so yes, I predict there will be protests that turned into rioting upon election of the next president or sometime following that event. anyone want to bet against me? you will lose.

Trump saving the economy: I no longer pay attention to the Dow, but I happened to catch on the radio the other day it was at 40,000. good Lord, it wasn’t all that long ago that I was happy when it was at 20,000. Those of us old folks who have investments have been doing well. The youngsters, who have to somehow make it in the rising world of real estate costs are having a hard time tho.

[jp1]

Florida state legislators claim they don't want a patchwork of laws around the state. Yet they don't have and aren't considering a statewide standard. So yeah, the Miami Dade County law that was being considered didn't ban heat and water breaks, it banned local governments from mandating them.

The state rep that sponsored the bill said she's in favor of good jobs where breaks will be given. Apparently she doesn't live in realityville because there will always be unskilled minimum wage jobs that need to be done and unskilled workers that will fill them. I guess in her mind because those workers don't have the skills to get "good" jobs they deserve to have bad working conditions. Sounds like a "the beatings will continue until morale improves" type situation.

[pinkytoe]

If only we gave the same energy to being civilized and kind to each other...makes me think we actually enjoy being hostile.

[jp1]

If only we gave the same energy to being civilized and kind to each other...makes me think we actually enjoy being hostile.

I wish we could be more civil too. But it’s not going to happen as long as business leaders, and their supporters in legislatures and governors’ mansions think that water breaks for people working outdoors in extreme heat should be optional. There is nothing civil about that belief at all.

[ToomuchStuff]

There's a lot of only wanting to see your viewpoint and they do that via media, social media, friends, etc. Using fear is nothing new, from WWII where we had internment camps for Japanese, to Bush II and the patriot act, to all the Ammo sales any time people think an antigunner is going to be in office (which in this case could be either candidate as NRA supports DJT, who banned a non firearm item as a firearm and years ago said his views were along Democrats).

"Legislating bodies shouldn’t be making laws to keep other legislating bodies making laws. Too much lawmaking."
Didn't we start that with this item called the bill of rights and another called the Constitution?

[Rogar]

Trump saving the economy: I no longer pay attention to the Dow, but I happened to catch on the radio the other day it was at 40,000. good Lord, it wasn’t all that long ago that I was happy when it was at 20,000. Those of us old folks who have investments have been doing well. The youngsters, who have to somehow make it in the rising world of real estate costs are having a hard time tho.

Among the economic doomsdayers I experienced in my brief utube exploration were those predicting a collapse of the real estate market due to overpriced properties at higher interest rates, with a financial crisis similar to 2007. Something I can at least sort of imagine, although supply and demand seem to keep prices so high and there are still people who can afford to buy things at existing prices. I think the troubles can begin if there are loan defaults. I don't think that has anything to do with Bidens policies or Trumps fantasies of fixing things.

If one can believe the mainstream news, there is something called doomscrolling where people become obsessed with dire predictions and amplification of negative news items. It certainly fuels the fire to have a leading presidential candidate garnering the news daily with gross negativity like the US is the worst country in the world and lies like, “If you vote for Biden, it means no kids in school, no graduations, no weddings, no Thanksgiving, no Christmas and no Fourth of July together,” ... While you and I know this is just bluster and bravado, he has a dedicated following.

[catherine]

The Dow is not the greatest stand-alone metric of economic health, because so many people can't even afford to put much money in their 401k's, if they even have them. It might signal the financial health of the upper classes, but that divide, as you allude to, IL, is pretty sharp these days. I think raising the minimum wage has helped a bit, but as Rogar said, when half the people can afford to pay inflated prices for basic things like food and housing, but the other half simply can't, to me that's a dysfunctional economy.

On a slightly different note, I was watching CBS Sunday Morning about a band of Silicon Valley billionaires buying up 60,000 acres of farmland in CA with the intention of building a planned community. They're fighting the residents, who are skeptical that this new town will be affordable for middle class people.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/califor...solano-county/