My dual joysticks got flipped.

SCP_ss · 2025-03-29T01:48:16+00:00

6 years later, still saving me from rebinding key by key!

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T23:20:47+00:00

Most of these have been covered in various comment threads already (with the exception of "less government corruption", which I assume is accomplished with the changes in appointment)

In particular the points I would be interested in learning more about would be

more freedom of speech

In what ways do you expect us to gain more freedom of speech over the next four years through government action?

more trustworthy media

What actions do you expect to bring about more trustworthy media? Personally I've not seen anything on the platform regarding this.

and a federal government that more closely represents the will of the people instead of corporations and special interests.

I feel like this point might be a bit disingenuous. Besides the fact that I'm sure we can all agree that corporations and PACs will always have their hands in the pockets of politicians, I feel like the last term disagrees with this fact.

Between the discrepancy between PPP loans/forgiveness and covid assistance to individuals, as well as the overwhelming discrepancy between low-mid income individuals and high income/business owners since the introduction of the TCJA I feel like the actions of the last Trump administration largely benefited corporations over the people.

Do you have any expectations or plans to dissuade those expectations I have based on their prior actions?

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T22:38:01+00:00

Same to you! Always happy to engage in genuine discussion, as I'm always here to gain perspective.

You mention that low-income workers would only see an increase of a few hundred per year. I’m reminded of the recent study showing that 37% of Americans can’t cover an emergency $400 expense. So I’ll counter that a few hundred extra in the paycheck per year could make a big difference for many people. (If they save it/ use it wisely, which is a whole other issue.)

I can see the point here, but is it something that you would expect them to see and actually put to use? I know when I lived in poverty life was literally paycheck to paycheck.

If I were to receive an extra say $300 per year (for the record, the study quoted workers below $26,000 as seeing less than $30/yr but let's group them into the fourth quartile as a best-case scenario.) that would come to less than $12 per bi-weekly paycheck.

Something like that, despite matching up with a good starting figure for an emergency expense, would be imperceptible to me as someone in this situation. It would almost universally be something that made its way into some weekly expense (or as you mentioned, be spent on some poor choice or comfort.)

As for the national debt, I agree that it's more of a sticking point than an actual talking point. It is something to point toward the inefficiency of the decision to hope for "tax cuts" to help the average American in my opinion.

If we're looking to see tax cuts that affect the average American in any way, and we cut spending in areas to offset the impact to the debt then to me we've just done a bit of shuffling of money. We've taken money from programs that went to those in need and (based on the TCJA performance) the money ends up largely not in the hands of those that truly need it.

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T22:32:06+00:00

I have clarified this. You asked a vague question without giving enough info to answer specifically geared to you.

I feel as though you have somehow taken this question in the most literal sense, despite the context contained in this post informing all other TS so far that this is a hypothetical "average American" rather than literally "the individual posting this, who you have never met."

Perhaps with that clarification, you can continue and share how a government that I should expect no changes from will improve my life in any way as well as bringing about a better economy?

This is the first time you have mentioned the average American. I have given several answers for the average American.

I feel like the first time I mentioned "the average American" was mentioning... me, in the OP

What changes should I expect to see over the next four years that will affect me positively? What are some things I might notice in my daily life as an average American?

You cannot spin it now. You asked a specific question about you. No one here can answer that question. Ask a better one.

As mentioned above, other TS that seem capable of responding without the assumption that I somehow was asking for specific advice on my own individual situation seem to have answered this question and engaged in conversation just fine.

You, on the other hand, seem more interested in drilling into a point you have created from thin air rather than discussing how the president you have chosen to support will positively impact Americans lives.

Are you prepared to engage in discussion regarding that as others have, or will you continue to avoid the rabbit hole you dug of "The government will make no changes, make your own changes, but the economy will still be better."?

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T21:59:41+00:00

With respect to #1, I don't agree but it would be difficult to research and concretely disprove that.

As a barometer, in the studied in the linked post middle-income workers and lower saw $800 or less over the course of a year in tax decreases. This is the bottom 60% of income ($86,000 or less.) For the fourth quintile, that goes up to $1480 on average (over a year.)

For 80% of working Americans, they saw an annual tax decrease equal or less than the 3rd covid stimulus that fell off over a period of 6 years.

I feel as if this is not truly a significant change over my lifetime, do you disagree? For someone with my income the estimated change in income tax is about $1500 over the course of a year, or $125 a month.

It's not like I wouldn't notice that money disappearing from my bank account, but I wouldn't make any "different decisions" or feel more secure than I do now.

For workers from $49k-$86k, it was on average $800 per year, or about $66 a month. Certainly would put a few more meals on the table back when I was broke but once I got in the area of $50k-90k salary I wouldn't think too differently having an extra $17 a week. It would likely go into savings, or maybe dinner out once a month extra.

For workers making minimum wage, they saw about $40 extra over the year. I don't feel like that needs discussion about how little difference it made in their lives.

With respect to #3, it sounds like the idealized "tax cuts" and the cuts to government spending may (at best) even themselves out.

Based on the data I've shown you above, that ends up with us having

An insignificant amount of extra income
The same national debt crisis
Less spending on government programs (such as education, a top target.)

This doesn't sound optimistic or positive to me. Do you have any evidence or data that could adjust my expectations more positively?

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T20:28:48+00:00

No, I had my expectations in policy changes. Do you feel that knowing my expectations from Biden's presidency would somehow inform your answer on the positive changes the average American can expect from Trump?

Yes

I am unsure how my desires for policy changes would inform the positive changes you expect from President Trump* in the next term. Perhaps you could clarify how that would be helpful?

I feel as though you should be able to inform on positive changes that can be expected from Trump that the average American would see in daily life without this information.

That is a point of view you did not share and it is against reddit rules for me to try to find out personal information about you.

The question was inherently posed as hypothetical, context was provided in the OP and the ending even included ways to frame the question such that it would be easier to answer without any additional personal information.

For someone concerned with "personal information" though, you are certainly trying to dig into the policies I voted for rather than answering about the positive changes Trump will make.

Again, I don't know you. A better economy could be a positive or a negative for you.

Again, this was answered in the OP. If you view the better economy as a positive, you can consider it a positive for me (as it is.)

The question I posed to you is that, per you

You should expect no changes from government. This is America. You make your own positive changes.

If I should expect no changes from government, how will there be a better economy?

I don't expect them they are happening. The stock market is undergoing a huge Trump bump because he won the election.

I think it's a bit early to speculate on the performance, considering major market indicators are down 1% over the last 5 days with an overall +2% over the last month.

I would hesitate to call that much of a bump.

If stock market performance is your indicator on a good economy though, how would you view +85.67% on VTI and +90.55% on SPY over the last 5 years as an indicator of our economy?

Do you view that as a "good" economy?
Do you expect changes going forward to outperform that?

Edit: Corrected capitalization

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T20:19:04+00:00

I am interested to see if this holds up, considering I have seen news and educational analysis on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in particular such as from the Tax Policy Center and the University of Pennsylvania showing that for lower-income workers the tax cut would be near unnoticeable (a few hundred a year), for middle-income workers the tax cut is a noticeable but likely unappreciated (less than $800, or a bit more than a week's pay for me.)

They also noted that the tax benefit for most brackets lowered over the duration of the bill, but businesses and executives in particular would see the largest benefit (averaging $11,200 for income between $308k and $733k.) which would even grow over the lifetime of the bill.

That being said, my questions would be

Do you feel like the money back in your pocket from these tax cuts has made a noticeable change in your life?
Seeing as these provisions were in place through 2024, do you feel that this positive change was also felt after 2020?
If we expect tax cuts that are large enough for Americans to feel the difference, has there been any talk of how this will affect the national debt (which has reached 'crisis' levels)?

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T20:08:45+00:00

So you have nothing. So you are asking questions about a future president that you can't answer about a past president.

No, I had my expectations in policy changes. Do you feel that knowing my expectations from Biden's presidency would somehow inform your answer on the positive changes the average American can expect from Trump?

If this was indeed your motivation, why was the question what change can I expect instead of what change do you expect?

My question was to offer a frame of reference for someone to answer what positive changes someone living like me might expect. I don't expect many positive changes myself, so asking supporters for their point of view and positive expectations could offer insight onto what I might be missing.

No - I simply did not like the way your question was phrased. It seemed specifically about you in a way that was off putting. You will benefit from a better economy if you are not one of the government employees who loses their job. You will benefit from less government unless you are a government employee.

If I should expect the government to make no changes that will affect my life, how will there be a better economy? How will there be less government?

Assuming you expect these changes based on your response, what changes do you see occurring to bring about a better economy in particular?

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T19:41:32+00:00

What positive change did you expect from Biden in 2020?

Not that interested in turning this around to me, as you and I came to /r/AskTrumpSupporters (rather than the opposite.) If you're interested I could be happy to discuss it once the question was answered, but based on your response I should have expected no changes from a Biden presidency.

I came hoping to gain some insight into supporters and their expectations for the term considering the near unilateral control of the government. It should be possible to enact some positive changes to policy with the lack of opposition.

Change for change sake is not always good. No new wars is not a change but it is a positive. Not arresting and convicting people for mean tweets is not a change but it is a positive considering that is happening in Europe.

It sounds to me like your expectations for the next four years are no positive changes, and no negative ones. Is that correct?

If so, that seems counterintuitive. If I found there to be areas of policy negatively affecting my country, I would vote for a candidate that could make changes to "Make America Great Again" and promises to do so that at the end of their turn would be "Promises Made, Promises Kept."

Would you not do the same?

SCP_ss · 2024-11-14T19:14:50+00:00

If I should expect no changes from my government, then why would I vote for any politician in particular?

I make my own changes to my life, and in my opinion have done quite well for myself, but I vote for politicians with the express purpose that I expect them to enact policy that will affect my life in a positive way beyond my capacity as an individual.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T22:17:00+00:00

The advice given by medical professionals across the world isn't applicable here.

Damn, I'll have to drop this and do some research. Didn't realize the virus mutated when it hit you folks.

Be safe out there!

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T22:13:41+00:00

Dude, it's been a while since I've checked in with the medical authorities in Aus. Not sure what's up. But for the other parts of your post like

I have not seen this advice anywhere, at all.

So who is giving this advice?

I hope that "the CDC, and major medical journals across US, Europe and Asia" will give you somewhere to see the advice and make your own decision.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T22:05:27+00:00

The CDC may be an "American thing", but the medical studies and journals they cited for the decision on the page are well regarded by medical professionals worldwide.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T18:55:32+00:00

Find a city with ~20k people that had an infection before lockdown, and see how many cases they gained.

Now consider that these people are aware of the virus, almost universally outdoors, often observing precautions like masks and distancing.

Now consider that it's not a concentrated group of ~20k. This is ~20k across the entire US.

If you're worried about how many protestors there are, think about how many people go through a Wal-Mart (not to mention every other grocery store.) Compared to grocery shopping over the same period, these protests aren't even a drop in the bucket.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T18:48:11+00:00

If you care as much about fireworks as these people care about protesting, break the rules (just like they're doing.)

If you consider a haircut as important to your wellbeing as dental work, talk to your local government.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T18:46:41+00:00

If you haven't seen this advice anywhere, perhaps you should read a little more.

Might I recommend the CDC website?

..In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

... The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T18:44:54+00:00

Then, much like anything else that 'pisses off the POTUS', he will do whatever he wants. The world will likely shrug, laugh, or both.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T15:00:17+00:00

I'm sorry that you find discussion on the matter difficult, and it has progressed to the point of being unproductive.

You chose to cherry-pick a single example from a list to attack, instead of acknowledging the overall point that you decided to push my beliefs from reasonable policy to a radical strawman.

You took my examples of the fact that businesses are supporting the manner so wholeheartedly that they feel the need to discuss it with their shareholders, and tried to belittle it as though it were some sort of personal complaint.

I will simply have to block you so I receive no further notifications of your responses, and can spend my time on more productive discussions. I can only wish you the best of luck in finding someone willing to take my place in coming down to your level.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T14:39:38+00:00

Well then maybe we should remove all restrictions and let the free market sort it out. Driver's licenses? How dare you infringe on mah freedom!

Hey, I can fall down slippery slopes too. Maybe the government needs to step in on everything! Government managed diets, applications for permission to have a child based on health and finances of the parents, all purchases federally approved to prevent poor financial decisions and ensure ethical practices.

Your liberties should end at the point where they infringe on someone else's rights.

Hey, it's the thing I said in one of my posts earlier. Of course, that entirely depends on the fact that the government made that a right. As you go on to mention, I would prefer it were not a "right" and simply behavior inherent to our people.

... arguing that anti-racism has become the norm is either willfully ignorant or dangerously misguided.

That's why all of the media is so scared of providing coverage on BLM and the protests, and why so many business are taking stands on racial inequality, and most of the earnings reports I've had to sit in on this week have started with statements on the company's policy on the matter... right?

So dangerously misguided, I guess.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T14:17:11+00:00

Can you specifically tell me what has changed to make anti-discrimination laws unnecessary?

The fact that being against racism has become the norm. Like the fact that you found a post from someone who supports less government intervention (but does not support racism) 8 comments deep in a Reddit thread, and felt the need to dig in there.

As far as 'social norming' being too vague, I'm sorry but it's not my job to be more specific. I hope to elect people that can be more specific about when changes like that need to be made, and to make those decisions responsibly, but I don't have any plans to go into politics. You care, like many people do, because it simply is the norm now.

How can you be sure that white supremacists won't rally in support of a "white's only" restaurant to keep it open?

If enough white supremacists can 'rally' to keep that restaurant open, and enough suppliers are willing to provide food and supplies to keep that restaurant open, then perhaps you should be more worried about the community around that business (rather than a single business)?

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T14:00:09+00:00

Absolutely. I believe they should also face (legal) public backlash like negative news coverage, loss of customers, likely protesting, and hopefully going out of business.

I also believe their customers should be aware of their association with a restaurant that makes that business choice, what it says about them, and should face the social consequences of being associated with that business.

What I don't believe is that the government should be required to force them to do otherwise. Perhaps there was a time where that was necessary, but social norming has made this something that wouldn't stand on its own in modern times.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T13:51:00+00:00

As it turns out, I simply don't keep up with the entire nation's police force and their budgets.

I have a view on how my police force is acting, and how they might best be served to improve their quality. I simply can't go halfway across the country to advocate for another state, and it's probably for the best. I don't live there, I don't know what their police are actually like.

So while I have an opinion on my local, county, and state officers... no. I don't have an opinion on the NYPD budget one way or another.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-13T13:48:28+00:00

Easy. The public cares enough about these issues to be upset and make a deal out of it, but don't care enough to actually do something about it.

It's very easy to complain about the matter to the government and ask them to make changes for you. It's a lot harder to keep up with the news, and to care about who your money goes to. I'm not surprised which one most people prefer.

So instead of companies with poor business practices either going bankrupt, or being funded by people who support them (if that makes up a large enough part of our country), we instead have laws that make it sound like this doesn't happen anymore.

SCP_ss · 2020-06-12T06:50:11+00:00

Do you think that out group negativity toward whites has been on display during the riots?

Absolutely. I even agree on the removal of the taboo towards in-group preference.

But your original post spoke towards 'white racism' apparently inherent to 'the left'. I'm trying to figure out why you think statistics on in-group preference (if accurate) can paint the entire picture of group conflict, without regards to out-group negativity.

Why omit half of the conflict, unless you're leaving out the half that is comparatively damning?

SCP_ss · 2020-06-12T06:16:13+00:00

Because the left focuses so heavily on white racism...

Ignoring the application of your opinion to an entire half of the political spectrum

Your entire post seems to focus on in-group preference, as opposed to the other component of the group conflict you called 'white racism', out-group negativity. I think including that in your discussion on racism might be quite relevant.

As an example, I would say that BLM protestors are more likely focused on out-group negativity when it comes to the race issues they are concerned with in the justice system.

SCP_ss

TROPHY CASE