The Phileas Club 101 – Trickle… Err, Supply Side Economics

 

On this episode we talk about:

  • The “anti-bubble” theory
  • More mandatory vaccines / Death of Johnny Hallyday in France
  • The tax bill has passed in the US
  • Rarissimas scandal / Forest fires in Portugal
  • And more!

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Comments

  1. Patrick, to your statement about the removal of the fine for not getting healthcare, was a bad idea. Your right the healthcare in the US is broken. However, speaking for someone who chooses to be fined vs. paying for the high-cost healthcare. With Obamacare, my family of 3 would have paid $1500 a month. I was only able to find a part-time job because the University I worked for did not want to pay for healthcare for me to be full time. So my monthly healthcare out of pocket paying full price was $600 a month. With that $1500 a month healthcare I still would have been $300. So with Obamacare, my out of pocket monthly health cost would have $1800 a month. FOR ME, it was worth being fined because it was still was cheaper. Now with the new tax program that cuts the fine was great. This fine was mostly hitting people like me. Making the poor poorer. I consider myself a Republican. I find my views are like Tony’s. A lot of other like me have that view (like Tony) We are to the right but not to the far right. We would like healthcare. We would support a national plan. However, Obamacare was NOT that answer. Thanks for having Tony on the show. There is strong left feelings on your show and Tony on the show adds a little balance to the ideas. Thank you, Patrick.

  2. It was a lot of fun to listen to this episode alone in my car where I could scream at Tony every time he lied or spread misinformation.

    I wish you’d had someone to correct his lies, but it was fun nonetheless.

    • Randy, I wish you could understand what we’re trying to do here.
      There are already a million places for people to “call out the lies and misinformation”; I don’t think anyone is not getting the other side of these issues. If there weren’t, then maybe that would be a concern for the way this show goes too. But there are, so I’m not worried people are going to hear what I or Tony or anyone else on the show says and just go with it without ever seeing it questioned. And what 2016 has shown us is that those constant forceful arguments don’t really convince anyone. If anything, they reinforce people’s divides and opposition. If we don’t learn from this, we’re doomed to repeat it over and over again. I think many do that, and it’s not gone super well in 2017.
      I also think you’ve missed the tree for the forest, if I may say: Tony was not really for the idea of universal healthcare a few months ago. But over the course of our calm discussions, I feel he’s come to believe that it is indeed a valuable concept, if well executed. To me, that is significant change, that maybe wouldn’t have happened for him otherwise.
      And I get things from him as well. If I didn’t take the time to listen, his side would just be the trolls (or angry people) I see on Twitter. How is that good? Thanks to our conversations, I understand how his side feels (even if I don’t agree with what he says or if I think he’s plainly wrong, which I never fail to say mind you). I understand he’s just a guy trying to do what he believes is right. I don’t agree with his version, but I at least understand where he’s coming from. I could yell at him that he’s spreading falsehoods, but what would that achieve? How would that help? Do you think I would convince anyone listening that isn’t already convinced? Do you think conservatives would hear this and somehow change their minds because I’m “calling out” Tony, when they haven’t changed their minds hearing all the experts and friends and people on social media and on other podcasts? The only thing it would achieve is that it would make me feel better for a moment, and then I’d go back to feeling sad and helpless. I’m sorry this show is not doing what you think it should do Randy, but I simply don’t think what you’re suggesting would be helpful. Again, if it never happened anywhere else, then it would be important to do it. But it does happen EVERYWHERE else, and it’s not helping.
      I understand why you’re angry, but I fear you’re getting too angry. What I feel from you these days seems to be mostly rancor… I might be too if I was living in your country and seeing what’s happening to it, but I do wonder how much that darkness is affecting you, in a very Star Wars way. You might think I’m joking, but I’m not: I do think anger can be a necessary release for frustration, but too much of it isn’t healthy, even when (especially when) it’s forced on us by events like the ones you’re going through.
      I don’t know what the answer is. What I do know is that I don’t think your way is working. So I’m trying a different one.

      • Colby Dempsey says:

        I am just coming to this podcast so I know I am late to the party. I see what you are trying to say when it comes to having a calm discussion, but I think why we lefties get so riled up is that the statements that Tony were making were verifiably false in many instances. For example, when he says the poor pay no taxes in the US, that is true in the fact they do not pay the federal income tax, but after sales taxes, local taxes and other fees, even the poorest people pay anywhere from 8%-13% of their income in taxes. Compare that to the tax returns of former presidential candidate Mit Romney, who at his highest, paid about 11% of his income in taxes. If you believe in the principal of shared relative burden, the poor actually have a much higher tax burden.

        Also now 7 or so months after the airing of this podcast, much more nuance has come out. For instance the bonuses announced by Wal Mart, only went to 20 year management employees. They are also cutting 3500 Wal Mart jobs and closing a couple hundred Sams Club stores. There are also reports from Bloomberg that about 92% of the additional corporate revenue obtained by the tax cut went to stock buybacks and not reinvestment.

        I like that you are taking a new approach of trying to come together,but I also think that exploring the nuance also matters.

  3. Hi Patrick, I am biologist i in Italy and what i can tell you is you are pretty wrong about vaccines : first, babies don’t need eleven valency in vaccines, it’s just useless because the immune system is not complete until two years old, second aluminum in vaccines is pretty dangerous for littles kids it can cause autism in some case but in the most case it’s can cause some immune desease later.
    You should inform yourself intead of just give your basic idea.

    • It’s funny that your email address uses French and your IP is from France… I’m sure you have a great explanation for that too (let me guess: you’re really a biologist in Italy but you’re on Christmas vacation in France? 🙂

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