Hello C3 Family!

Weekly Rant - Politics is Entertainment at Best

I was once obsessed with debates. I loved listening to Theists debate Atheists, Protestants debating Catholics, Conservatives debating liberals, and so on and so on. Then it hit me one day, debates are designed to find a winner, not the truth. 

I realized in my conversion from atheism to Catholicism that I was far better off reading the prominent writings from both camps then I was listening to 10-minute bouts of rhetoric from either side. Christopher Hitchens was an amazing debater who could hold the crowd listening to him in the palm of his hand, but he was wrong about everything.

This brings me to the most ridiculous of all forms of debates...Namely political debates. I mean sure, some independents will be swayed because Trump is too insulting, or Harris is too vague and non-committal. But we could all save ourselves two hours of agony by just going to the candidates' political sites for 10 minutes each, reading their policy proposals, and then making a decision. 

I know, I know, Harris has not detailed any policy proposals but that should make my above proposed deliberation process all the easier. 

The problem is Socrates was right when he said democracy was ridiculous (I am paraphrasing here). Socrates laid the criticism that we should only let people educated on issues vote on issues, but the obvious problem with that is, who determines who is educated enough to vote. There is no solution, so our founding fathers came up with the best possible system with lots of checks and balances that attempts to put the power in the hands of the masses.

This is all my roundabout way of saying the debate tonight is for entertainment purposes only and to call out the things that we all should already know if we were informed people. Alas, we are not informed people and do not know the things we should, and this is why we are voting for either a reality TV Star or a corrupt career Politian. Harris and/or Trump are not responsible for our problems, we are!!

The economy is the number one issue with voters according to all the polls. Trump or Harris will not solve your economic woes. One candidate may have slightly better policies than the other, but their reach is limited in a government $35T in debt. The real solution to economic woes is in the hands of the people. Namely: avoid predatory lending, rely on family over institutions, and stop feeding the secondary market. Yet, to do these things is requiring people to become far more informed about the world around us than we perhaps ever have been. 

Top Stories

• The S&P 500 had its worst week last week since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. The Nasdaq went spiraling as well all because slowing economic growth data has been coming out. 

• Up to 40 states could see gas prices dip below $3/gallon by thanksgiving. 

• Both sides of the political aisle are thinking about starting a nationwide sovereign wealth fund. This is where governments like Norway and Abu Dhabi take their economic surpluses and invest into start-ups, real estate, and the stock market. It is an idea that I am not completely opposed to if what we invest in is startups that need resources (Think: nuclear fission, quantum cryptography, and infrastructure building). I of course am against more dollars fueling the secondary market and other abstractions. YET, there is one big problem here. The US is $35 trillion in debt with no yearly surpluses since 2001. We are not akin to small economically thriving countries like Norway. Though what better way to get out of debt than to invest wisely?

• Only Fans, the adult content drive site has seen its revenue rise 20% in the last year to $1.3 billion. The adult content site has 4.1 million pornographers and over 300 million paying users. For all the good the internet could do, it is still predominantly used for porn and sexual depravity. 

• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to the cult classic movie raked in #110 million at the box office this past weekend for the second best opening in September ever. 

• RFK Jr. endorsing Trump has been a huge boost for the Republican nominee. The boost is mostly because RFK Jr. is really popular among Fitness/Wellness influencers (There is that word again 🙄) and the pair have said they are going to investigate the whole of the health and food ecosystem in America. 

• Big Lots, the cheap clothing store staple, has filed for bankruptcy. They claim inflation is the cause. 

• Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank President, told the EU in a widely awaited report the EU must increase investment by almost $900B or living standards will start to lag behind the rest of the 1st world. The report basically says that the EU must defend against Chinese competition and the EU must also invest in shared military defense measures as well as digital breakthroughs. In short the EU should stop relying on America for defense and China for goods.