Who would non-Americans vote for in Nov?

[Ken4fb]

This is the only real answer... Anyone who doesn't vote for me this November, watch your back

I wouldn't mind you doing a strap on with me.






Before you tell us to get a room, yes we will do that at some point, so no need to remind me that.

 

[Keihan]

So I don't get to submit an answer on this one???

I'd say, hold your horses because there's the real possibility that the cast of candidates may change. Trump's re-election bid is imploding and if he doesn't change course quickly and drastically, and the polls show him losing by double digits, there are rumors floating around that he may just say FUCK IT and drop out...rather than face the humiliation of being defeated. He's that egomaniacal. And then Joe Biden, at some point, will have to come out of hiding and do actual interviews and debates, and the world will get to see how seriously demented he is. A month ago he was regularly forgetting which office he's running for. Last week he mixed up Obama and Trump, apparently thinking Barry was still in the Oval Office. This week he confused some random female staffer for his wife. It's all downhill from here.

It could very well end up being Pence VS [insert name of random black woman here].

I'd vote for Pence. I actually worked with him a decade ago (not trying to name drop) and he's a genuinely nice guy. Otherwise, I might just end up writing in some random name on the ballot or voting for the (I) pothead like I did in 2016. Mr. Garrison and Caitlin Jenner, maybe.

 

[Desktop]

Candidates are all older & Corona is still raising in the US. We never know who could catch Corona before November.
I’m surprised politicians haven’t caught it. (Not trying to wish it upon anyone)

 

[Frenchy]

I’m surprised politicians haven’t caught it. (Not trying to wish it upon anyone)

... because it’s all a conspiracy by Politicians themselves controlled by Illuminati controlled by Reptilian ETs of course

 

[AMcguyver]

... because it’s all a conspiracy by Politicians themselves controlled by Illuminati controlled by Reptilian ETs of course

 

[hundreddollarman]

... because it’s all a conspiracy by Politicians themselves controlled by Illuminati controlled by Reptilian ETs of course

I FUCKING KNEW IT

 

[Durg50]

I'd vote for Pence. I actually worked with him a decade ago (not trying to name drop) and he's a genuinely nice guy.

I read an interesting article a while ago that sums this kind of thing up, and just how polarized politics and ethics are in the US.
To a lot of the world, anyone who actively stops poor people getting free healthcare just isnt someone they can even begin to debate with, their world views and sense of right and wrong are just so different. It would be impossible for a lot of people to call anyone who doesnt want free healthcare for the population a ‘nice guy’ no matter how charming etc he is.

 

[Juliet]

I read an interesting article a while ago that sums this kind of thing up, and just how polarized politics and ethics are in the US.
To a lot of the world, anyone who actively stops poor people getting free healthcare just isnt someone they can even begin to debate with, their world views and sense of right and wrong are just so different. It would be impossible for a lot of people to call anyone who doesnt want free healthcare for the population a ‘nice guy’ no matter how charming etc he is.

I think a lot of people are open to universal/socialized healthcare, but disagree on how it should be done, taxes, etc.
I don't think Americans are less ethical than the rest of the world... politics are kind of a shit show everywhere, and the US is a huge country so the situation varies a lot state by state
Then again I'm not into politics so much so I could be totally off on this.

 

[Jenkins55]

I’d be a Bernie Bro and vote for him or whoever Bernie supports. Currently just a “no-Trump” camp. But who is the president is less important than getting money out of politics.

 

[Keihan]

I read an interesting article a while ago that sums this kind of thing up, and just how polarized politics and ethics are in the US.
To a lot of the world, anyone who actively stops poor people getting free healthcare just isnt someone they can even begin to debate with, their world views and sense of right and wrong are just so different. It would be impossible for a lot of people to call anyone who doesnt want free healthcare for the population a ‘nice guy’ no matter how charming etc he is.

I once did some business with a young guy from Denmark, who was going to school in the U.S. and, due to the nature of our business, had to turn over all of his financial documents to me. As we were chatting, he was showing me his bank statements and explaining how the government basically pays his way through college here in the U.S. (I think they were giving him around $40k USD per year). I was shocked, and mentioned to him that a growing millenial wing of the Democratic party thinks that our government should give us a free education and health insurance, just like in Denmark.

He started laughing, "Those fucking idiots have no idea what they're talking about." He then went on a rant, and don't blame me if this is offensive: "Our entire country is the size of one American state. Same with our economy. We are all white. We all work hard. We are proud of our country. And we know that the insurance and education isn't 'free' because we're going to be paying up the ass and taxed to death on everything we make for the rest of our lives and again when we die. That would NEVER work in America."

I never forgot that conversation, because it pretty accurately sums up why it wouldn't work in America. All those whining pussy millenials who want free this, and free that...they have zero intention of paying anything back. They want their free insurance and free tuition and their solution to paying for it is just tax the living shit out of any successful person. They want it free, they aren't paying for shit now or later, and if you don't agree you're a racist/misogynist/fascist/something-ist and they're gonna burn down your political campaign headquarters and call it social justice.

I'm perfectly happy paying a hell of a lot more for my healthcare than in any other country and also having superior healthcare and medical technology (compared to the dogshit I experience living in Japan), but I do think we should take measures to lower the cost of healthcare. Medical malpractice and tort reform (removing bloodsucking lawyers/lawsuits from cost figures) would make an astronomical impact on the cost of insurance, but that wouldn't be politically expedient to a growing political movement that wants to erase modern American history.

 

[Durg50]

All those whining pussy millenials who want free this, and free that...they have zero intention of paying anything back. They want their free insurance and free tuition and their solution to paying for it is just tax the living shit out of any successful person. They want it free, they aren't paying for shit now or later,

The average millennial is like 30 something with a mortgage and kids now. Pretty sure a lot of them are contributing tax now.
Im from a country with universal healthcare and it works fine, we are not ‘all white’ and certainly dont all ‘work hard’ (your danish friend sounds a bit racist tbh) and the majority are happy to pay taxes to help (in part) those less fortunate. Of course we have benefit scroungers and fucking SJWs that think because their whole personality and skill set is pink hair and a nose ring with an ambigous sexual orientation they deserve special treatment and to get shit for free, but they are a loud minority.

 

[Rusty Trombone]

All those whining pussy millenials who want free this, and free that...they have zero intention of paying anything back. They want their free insurance and free tuition and their solution to paying for it is just tax the living shit out of any successful person. They want it free, they aren't paying for shit now or later, and if you don't agree you're a racist/misogynist/fascist/something-ist and they're gonna burn down your political campaign headquarters and call it social justice.

Bit of an Alanis Morissette moment there my friend.

 

[Keihan]

Of course we have benefit scroungers and fucking SJWs that think because their whole personality and skill set is pink hair and a nose ring with an ambigous sexual orientation they deserve special treatment and to get shit for free, but they are a loud minority.

But that's exactly the group I'm referring to, at least in America, and I think a lot of those idiots have been riled up particularly by the rhetoric of people like Bernie Sanders. Those are the ones vandalizing college campuses and inciting riots and getting all the air time because they make the most noise. Think about Bernie's most common pitch: "The working class of America deserve [insert free shit here] and the MILLIONAIRES, and BILLIONAIRES are going to pay for it!!" Of course he dropped the "millionaires" part last year after it was revealed that he owns like three or four multi-million dollar homes, but that's the kind of class-warfare sentiment he's been very successful at sowing. There is a sub-set of young people, particularly under 30, who really do think that they shouldn't have to pay or contribute anything and everything should be free for them and that it's perfectly fine to pay for it by taxing "rich" people because "rich people don't pay taxes."

Before Trump's tax reforms in 2017, the top 50% of taxpayers in America paid 97% of the taxes. The lower 50% paid the remaining 3%. The richest of the rich, the top 1% of Americans, paid almost 40% of the taxes. I am by no measure rich, but in my good six-figure years (during Obama), between state, fed and capital gains I was paying well over 40% tax on my income and profits. It is simply and patently false that the wealthy "don't pay their fair share," as Bernie likes to put it. And with Trump's tax reforms, the rich are paying even more taxes and the middle-class (by a very generous standard) saw their taxes decreased by the largest amount in over a generation. I'm back down in middle-class territory now and I'm taking home an additional $3k/year due to Trump's reforms, and I spend every nickle of that on selfish pleasures. Not a surprise that we had one of the strongest economies in history before the virus hit.

I don't think Americans are selfish, or overly greedy. And believe me, most of my friends in Japan were British, which means I've heard enough times, "HOW THE FUCK CAN YOUR COUNTRY NOT PROVIDE PEOPLE WITH HEALTHCARE?" It's just that socialized government takeovers have never worked and will never work in America. Economically, culturally, we're not built that way. Look no further than Obamacare for proof of that. He basically tried to nationalize healthcare, stomp out uncooperative private insurance companies, end patient choice of provider and then threaten Americans into paying into his new system under threat of penalties and jail-time and bullied SCOTUS into ruling this was constitutional by defining his new insurance plan as a "tax." It failed, miserably. And Obamacare is one of the prime reasons Trump is president.

But...don't mind me. I'm an old political hack. Can't help myself. Even when I'm drunk I can parrot GOP talking points as easily as I can play with myself. These days, all I really care about is when we're getting a fucking vaccine so I can book my tickets to Tokyo and get ready to pull down my pants in Kabukicho. And that's about as bi-partisan as anyone can be.

 

[Keihan]

Bit of an Alanis Morissette moment there my friend.

The girl I lost my virginity to back in sophomore year loved Alanis Morissette. And after what I put her through, she was playing that nasty hag's hate music all day long after she dumped me embarked on sevearl years of therapeutic soul-searching. It's 25 years later and she still won't talk to me. Fuck it, she's fat and ugly now.

 

[namae]

But that's exactly the group I'm referring to, at least in America, and I think a lot of those idiots have been riled up particularly by the rhetoric of people like Bernie Sanders. Those are the ones vandalizing college campuses and inciting riots and getting all the air time because they make the most noise. Think about Bernie's most common pitch: "The working class of America deserve [insert free shit here] and the MILLIONAIRES, and BILLIONAIRES are going to pay for it!!" Of course he dropped the "millionaires" part last year after it was revealed that he owns like three or four multi-million dollar homes, but that's the kind of class-warfare sentiment he's been very successful at sowing. There is a sub-set of young people, particularly under 30, who really do think that they shouldn't have to pay or contribute anything and everything should be free for them and that it's perfectly fine to pay for it by taxing "rich" people because "rich people don't pay taxes."

Before Trump's tax reforms in 2017, the top 50% of taxpayers in America paid 97% of the taxes. The lower 50% paid the remaining 3%. The richest of the rich, the top 1% of Americans, paid almost 40% of the taxes. I am by no measure rich, but in my good six-figure years (during Obama), between state, fed and capital gains I was paying well over 40% tax on my income and profits. It is simply and patently false that the wealthy "don't pay their fair share," as Bernie likes to put it. And with Trump's tax reforms, the rich are paying even more taxes and the middle-class (by a very generous standard) saw their taxes decreased by the largest amount in over a generation. I'm back down in middle-class territory now and I'm taking home an additional $3k/year due to Trump's reforms, and I spend every nickle of that on selfish pleasures. Not a surprise that we had one of the strongest economies in history before the virus hit.

I don't think Americans are selfish, or overly greedy. And believe me, most of my friends in Japan were British, which means I've heard enough times, "HOW THE FUCK CAN YOUR COUNTRY NOT PROVIDE PEOPLE WITH HEALTHCARE?" It's just that socialized government takeovers have never worked and will never work in America. Economically, culturally, we're not built that way. Look no further than Obamacare for proof of that. He basically tried to nationalize healthcare, stomp out uncooperative private insurance companies, end patient choice of provider and then threaten Americans into paying into his new system under threat of penalties and jail-time and bullied SCOTUS into ruling this was constitutional by defining his new insurance plan as a "tax." It failed, miserably. And Obamacare is one of the prime reasons Trump is president.

But...don't mind me. I'm an old political hack. Can't help myself. Even when I'm drunk I can parrot GOP talking points as easily as I can play with myself. These days, all I really care about is when we're getting a fucking vaccine so I can book my tickets to Tokyo and get ready to pull down my pants in Kabukicho. And that's about as bi-partisan as anyone can be.

The proper comparison with Denmark, or anywhere else, is not only how much your taxed, but importantly what you get in return. Are you happy with the public infrastructure and services you pay for? Are you getting value for money? I have not lived in Denmark or the USA, but to an outsider it looks like Danes are better looked after. Americans seem to be focused on making lots of money to take care of themselves - using money to wall them off from the "have nots". Avoid public institutions - pay for excellent healthcare, pay for excellent schools, pay for excellent universities, buy an expensive house on the good side of town - and then live a two speed life where you mix with the "haves" and the "have nots", and try to avoid the later as much as possible.

 

[Keihan]

Americans seem to be focused on making lots of money to take care of themselves - using money to wall them off from the "have nots". Avoid public institutions - pay for excellent healthcare, pay for excellent schools, pay for excellent universities, buy an expensive house on the good side of town - and then live a two speed life where you mix with the "haves" and the "have nots", and try to avoid the later as much as possible.

I would say that's a pretty accurate and insightful summary of life in America. And it's really the point my Danish client was trying to make. His country is a small, homogeneous country where everyone works hard to contribute, receives a lot from the government and pays back a lot in return. Not unlike Japan, for that matter. America is a fucking free-for-all, the greatest experiment in free market capitalism and Social Darwinism in history. The brilliant get rich, the weak fall through the cracks and hope the rich are charitable enough to throw them enough crumbs to survive. I've read all those studies that suggest that socialist northern European countries have the happiest populations, while the average measure of happiness in America is remarkably lower, and I would absolutely agree with those studies...but in the midst of all of that and our greed and ability-based economic model, we also managed to build the most powerful economy and military in the history of the world. So go figure...there's a price for everything.

But I have my own biases. My grandfather came over from Japan as a semi-literate 9yo penniless child to work for 25-cents a day in agricultural fields, and before he died had built one of the richest and most successful corporations in the state. And he had nothing but contempt for Japan. He would go back occasionally to flaunt his wealth to his rural buttfuck relatives (he was an arrogant guy, to be sure) but there was one lesson he insisted on making sure we remembered: Japan is a country for fucking losers, where you can bust your ass your entire life and never get rich. And America is the greatest country in the history of the world because everything is made of money and any man with brains and balls who works hard can die a millionaire. Therefore, if you're in America and can't get rich, you're either lazy or stupid and a fucking loser and should commit harakiri because you're an embarrassment to your family.

I think if he were alive today, he'd definitely be a Trump supporter.

 

[Frenchy]

I would say that's a pretty accurate and insightful summary of life in America. And it's really the point my Danish client was trying to make. His country is a small, homogeneous country where everyone works hard to contribute, receives a lot from the government and pays back a lot in return. Not unlike Japan, for that matter. America is a fucking free-for-all, the greatest experiment in free market capitalism and Social Darwinism in history. The brilliant get rich, the weak fall through the cracks and hope the rich are charitable enough to throw them enough crumbs to survive. I've read all those studies that suggest that socialist northern European countries have the happiest populations, while the average measure of happiness in America is remarkably lower, and I would absolutely agree with those studies...but in the midst of all of that and our greed and ability-based economic model, we also managed to build the most powerful economy and military in the history of the world. So go figure...there's a price for everything.

But I have my own biases. My grandfather came over from Japan as a semi-literate 9yo penniless child to work for 25-cents a day in agricultural fields, and before he died had built one of the richest and most successful corporations in the state. And he had nothing but contempt for Japan. He would go back occasionally to flaunt his wealth to his rural buttfuck relatives (he was an arrogant guy, to be sure) but there was one lesson he insisted on making sure we remembered: Japan is a country for fucking losers, where you can bust your ass your entire life and never get rich. And America is the greatest country in the history of the world because everything is made of money and any man with brains and balls who works hard can die a millionaire. Therefore, if you're in America and can't get rich, you're either lazy or stupid and a fucking loser and should commit harakiri because you're an embarrassment to your family.

I think if he were alive today, he'd definitely be a Trump supporter.

he lived in a different era ... I’m not so sure its as easy to « get rich by working hard » in America as it used to be. The social elevator is broken. And you have trust funds kids who also think they should not have to work and guess what, they really don’t work and enjoy a great life. How fair is that? Im not a socialist in any way, always voted against them in fact, but too much inequality in the system will kill the system. You’re very close to that point now, in the US

 

[Tabanico]

The brilliant get rich

The already rich, and sometimes the lucky, get rich.

In my last job we worked with an agency who would nickel and dime us for EVERYTHING. Like we would agree a price; then they'd do the job, and come back and explain that they had to spend so much more so could we please pay them extra. In the end we tried to just give them extra at the START of the job; but they would still come back and ask us for more. But they had to, because in America there are no safety nets, everyone is trying to screw you, and so you need to make hay while the sun shines and hope the sunset never comes.

I would vote for anyone but Trump by the way. I am pretty sure almost any of the other candidates would have the intelligence to see the need to rebuild government and try to repair the damage done by Trump's dismantling of all of the major government agencies.

 

[newbie]

I would say that's a pretty accurate and insightful summary of life in America. And it's really the point my Danish client was trying to make. His country is a small, homogeneous country where everyone works hard to contribute, receives a lot from the government and pays back a lot in return. Not unlike Japan, for that matter. America is a fucking free-for-all, the greatest experiment in free market capitalism and Social Darwinism in history. The brilliant get rich, the weak fall through the cracks and hope the rich are charitable enough to throw them enough crumbs to survive. I've read all those studies that suggest that socialist northern European countries have the happiest populations, while the average measure of happiness in America is remarkably lower, and I would absolutely agree with those studies...but in the midst of all of that and our greed and ability-based economic model, we also managed to build the most powerful economy and military in the history of the world. So go figure...there's a price for everything.

But I have my own biases. My grandfather came over from Japan as a semi-literate 9yo penniless child to work for 25-cents a day in agricultural fields, and before he died had built one of the richest and most successful corporations in the state. And he had nothing but contempt for Japan. He would go back occasionally to flaunt his wealth to his rural buttfuck relatives (he was an arrogant guy, to be sure) but there was one lesson he insisted on making sure we remembered: Japan is a country for fucking losers, where you can bust your ass your entire life and never get rich. And America is the greatest country in the history of the world because everything is made of money and any man with brains and balls who works hard can die a millionaire. Therefore, if you're in America and can't get rich, you're either lazy or stupid and a fucking loser and should commit harakiri because you're an embarrassment to your family.

I think if he were alive today, he'd definitely be a Trump supporter.

I gotta say it, most of what you post on TAG seems exaggerated or just made up. Or maybe you just got so comfortable bullshitting people working in politics that you're that way even when telling the truth, I don't know, haha

 

[Tabanico]

Of course we have benefit scroungers

Interestingly, I'm pretty sure that most of the research in the UK at least suggests that most of the people collecting benefits are actually working. Which suggests that the reason they are collecting benefits is because they are not being paid a fair wage. When you consider that in conjunction with the stratospheric discrepancy between the way board-level executives are compensated and the average employee is compensated, it is clear that the government is basically subsidising the rich by allowing them to pay people a substandard wage and getting the state to pick up the tab. Then those highly paid executives squirrel away their taxes offshore (and avoid paying corporate taxes by flouting tax legislation) so I would disagree with the statement elsewhere in the thread that the rich are paying their share.

 

[Frenchy]

I gotta say it, most of what you post on TAG seems exaggerated or just made up. Or maybe you just got so comfortable bullshitting people working in politics that you're that way even when telling the truth, I don't know, haha

Or maybe just living in a media bubble where all the info is explained the way you want to see it

 

[Keihan]

I gotta say it, most of what you post on TAG seems exaggerated or just made up. Or maybe you just got so comfortable bullshitting people working in politics that you're that way even when telling the truth, I don't know, haha

Take this for what it's worth, I spent a decade in politics where I posture, pretend, maneuver and bullshit almost 20 hours a day, and when you live that kind of life you need some sort of outlet where you can actually be honest. That's what TAG has become for me. Whatever I write here is, unfortunately, the honest, shameful truth, and if you take an honest, hard look it's really nothing that any human being would want to brag about. I'm a journalist turned educator turned political smut peddler turned scumbag investor, and whether it's banging a 60yo Chinese mamasan for the experience, to having a Puerto Rican girl piss on my ankles to beating off to new-half porn because I lack the balls to pull the trigger with Miran in person, rest assured that however fucked up my stories are, the unfortunate fact is that they are actual stories from over two decades of behaving like a degenerate meth addict bohemian and you should teach your kids now to ensure they don't follow a similar path. And with that said, it's time for my nightcap highball.

 

[just4fun]

I would say that's a pretty accurate and insightful summary of life in America. And it's really the point my Danish client was trying to make. His country is a small, homogeneous country where everyone works hard to contribute, receives a lot from the government and pays back a lot in return. Not unlike Japan, for that matter. America is a fucking free-for-all, the greatest experiment in free market capitalism and Social Darwinism in history. The brilliant get rich, the weak fall through the cracks and hope the rich are charitable enough to throw them enough crumbs to survive. I've read all those studies that suggest that socialist northern European countries have the happiest populations, while the average measure of happiness in America is remarkably lower, and I would absolutely agree with those studies...but in the midst of all of that and our greed and ability-based economic model, we also managed to build the most powerful economy and military in the history of the world. So go figure...there's a price for everything.

But I have my own biases. My grandfather came over from Japan as a semi-literate 9yo penniless child to work for 25-cents a day in agricultural fields, and before he died had built one of the richest and most successful corporations in the state. And he had nothing but contempt for Japan. He would go back occasionally to flaunt his wealth to his rural buttfuck relatives (he was an arrogant guy, to be sure) but there was one lesson he insisted on making sure we remembered: Japan is a country for fucking losers, where you can bust your ass your entire life and never get rich. And America is the greatest country in the history of the world because everything is made of money and any man with brains and balls who works hard can die a millionaire. Therefore, if you're in America and can't get rich, you're either lazy or stupid and a fucking loser and should commit harakiri because you're an embarrassment to your family.

I think if he were alive today, he'd definitely be a Trump supporter.

Seems the old adage is true, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

 

[Juliet]

I would say that's a pretty accurate and insightful summary of life in America. And it's really the point my Danish client was trying to make. His country is a small, homogeneous country where everyone works hard to contribute, receives a lot from the government and pays back a lot in return. Not unlike Japan, for that matter. America is a fucking free-for-all, the greatest experiment in free market capitalism and Social Darwinism in history. The brilliant get rich, the weak fall through the cracks and hope the rich are charitable enough to throw them enough crumbs to survive. I've read all those studies that suggest that socialist northern European countries have the happiest populations, while the average measure of happiness in America is remarkably lower, and I would absolutely agree with those studies...but in the midst of all of that and our greed and ability-based economic model, we also managed to build the most powerful economy and military in the history of the world. So go figure...there's a price for everything.

But I have my own biases. My grandfather came over from Japan as a semi-literate 9yo penniless child to work for 25-cents a day in agricultural fields, and before he died had built one of the richest and most successful corporations in the state. And he had nothing but contempt for Japan. He would go back occasionally to flaunt his wealth to his rural buttfuck relatives (he was an arrogant guy, to be sure) but there was one lesson he insisted on making sure we remembered: Japan is a country for fucking losers, where you can bust your ass your entire life and never get rich. And America is the greatest country in the history of the world because everything is made of money and any man with brains and balls who works hard can die a millionaire. Therefore, if you're in America and can't get rich, you're either lazy or stupid and a fucking loser and should commit harakiri because you're an embarrassment to your family.

I think if he were alive today, he'd definitely be a Trump supporter.

If you actually think having a powerful military and lots of millionaires is worth a huge amount of people "falling through the cracks" and suffering, I really don't know what to tell you. No facts or logic will convince you to have empathy. And your racism is pretty obvious.

 

[Simonka]

Seems the old adage is true, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

The apple might be covered with a thin layer of coke or amphetamine It sounds like that to me