Presidential Debate

Innula Zenovka

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I don't think a single part of his comment on wind was correct.

Since he took office, wind energy has increased 42%. Solar has increased 143% in the same period (from a much smaller starting point). Does anyone really think the power companies would do that if they were expensive? Of course not. Like any other business, they want to cut costs. Wind and solar are now the low cost producers. They are letting coal die because it is the high cost option.
Coal is a sunset industry, other than maybe for particular industrial processes. At least according to my cousin, who has made a great deal of money by advising governments and investors on this kind of thing, it's been impossible for the last 20-odd years to justify investment in coal-fired power stations on purely business grounds.
 

Cindy Claveau

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Since he took office, wind energy has increased 42%. Solar has increased 143% in the same period (from a much smaller starting point). Does anyone really think the power companies would do that if they were expensive? Of course not. Like any other business, they want to cut costs. Wind and solar are now the low cost producers. They are letting coal die because it is the high cost option.
Some or most of those companies are heavily regulated since they provide such an essential product to the public. In my old company, we had to present plans and projections to the state regulatory board before we were even allowed to break ground. And then, once it's abuilding we had to appeal to the commission regularly to get rate relief to pay for it.

In fact, my former company still runs a coal-fired plant. But it's 42 years old. They signed a 99-year contract with a Wyoming coal producer for soft sub-bituminous coal that burns cleaner and cheaper than most. Plans for an adjacent nuke were scratched due to costs.

It'll be another generation before they get serious about replacing plant infrastructure, but I'd bet money when they do it will be solar and/or wind.
 

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I don't think a single part of his comment on wind was correct.
It's funny to me when one of my quippy comments leads to a serious discussion. Especially a quippy comment on a Trump claim.
 

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One of these days I really want to find out just what "socialism" means to people in the US. Of course it could be I'm just an old fart with a fairly literal (and outdated?) understanding.
The US has totally no experience with socialism as we know it in other parts of the world.
And even there are many forms of socialism.

On this tiny spot of the earth called NL we have 4 different parties that you could call socialists.
The one most to the center are left oriented liberals.
We have one that is very much into the environmental issues, then there is the one that used to be the big leftish party comparable with Labour in the UK, and we have a more extreme left wing one, the one I tend to vote for.
 
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Jolene Benoir

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One of these days I really want to find out just what "socialism" means to people in the US. Of course it could be I'm just an old fart with a fairly literal (and outdated?) understanding.
It means "paying your taxes" to contribute to the common good for things like schools, roads, libraries, etc...We already know that he refuses to do that.

Should Trump Tower ever go up in flames you can bet he'd be on the phone with that "anarchist" NYC fire dept; that same city that he wants to punish by removing federal funding. It's also the same city that he and his circle didn't want to assist when Covid came on the scene.

In a just world, they'd let his tower burn, baby, burn, but they're better than him.
 

Soen Eber

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He likes things the old fashioned way. When his tower burns, we can have private fire companies slugging it out with and sabotaging each other for the right to put the fire out while it happens. He'll get the best rate for fire service that way.
 
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danielravennest

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One of these days I really want to find out just what "socialism" means to people in the US. Of course it could be I'm just an old fart with a fairly literal (and outdated?) understanding.
It means anything they don't like. Even Ayn Rand collected Social Security, so I guess she was a socialist too.

The problem with labeling stuff "socialism" is a lot of people are fine with moderate amounts of it, like preventing poverty.
 

danielravennest

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It means "paying your taxes" to contribute to the common good for things like schools, roads, libraries, etc...We already know that he refuses to do that.

Should Trump Tower ever go up in flames you can bet he'd be on the phone with that "anarchist" NYC fire dept; that same city that he wants to punish by removing federal funding. It's also the same city that he and his circle didn't want to assist when Covid came on the scene.

In a just world, they'd let his tower burn, baby, burn, but they're better than him.
I want New York State to seize it for back taxes and turn it into a homeless shelter.
 

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We did learn one thing: Trump knows more about wind than Biden.
He certainly breaks a lot of it - through his mouth, even!

I only watched part of the debate before other real life needs pulled me away. From what I saw, Trump was on his best behavior, though that didn't stop him from constantly spewing lies when it was his turn to speak. I'm thinking the threat of being muted got through to him. From what I saw, Biden was on point and didn't get rattled. I may try to watch the entire debate sometime this weekend, though the sight and sound of Trump on my screen makes me nauseous.
 

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In Mericuh it is used as a boogeyman to scare old and/or ignorant people to vote with conservatives.
Especially those who lived through the Cold War.
 

Innula Zenovka

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Some or most of those companies are heavily regulated since they provide such an essential product to the public. In my old company, we had to present plans and projections to the state regulatory board before we were even allowed to break ground. And then, once it's abuilding we had to appeal to the commission regularly to get rate relief to pay for it.

In fact, my former company still runs a coal-fired plant. But it's 42 years old. They signed a 99-year contract with a Wyoming coal producer for soft sub-bituminous coal that burns cleaner and cheaper than most. Plans for an adjacent nuke were scratched due to costs.

It'll be another generation before they get serious about replacing plant infrastructure, but I'd bet money when they do it will be solar and/or wind.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ocean

 

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Trump: Just go down and get the papers.

Reporter: What papers? Get them where?

Trump: You know, the papers. At the place.

Reporter: I don't know. What place?

Trump: The place with the thing.

Reporter: What thing?

Trump: The thing that holds the papers.

Reporter: But what papers?

Trump: Just go down and get them.


:kittyball::kittyball::kittyball::kittyball::kittyball::kittyball::kittyball::kittyball::kittyball::kittyball:

Abbott and Costello would be proud.