At the end of the day after so many hours of work, how many of you actually care about politics to the point where you make it a focal point of your life - call your self upside down leftist or who gives a hoo haa right wing conservative.
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Not I. I laugh hysterically at people who argue Right vs Left, Republican vs Democrat , etc. All politician TYPICALLY don't serve in the general populations best interest and they're full of hypocrisy.
My favorite one is when right wingers yap on about abortion (I stand in the middle of this issue) but they're ok with allowing 23 million people to lose healthcare.
I'm sort of in the middle on abortion as well . . . but I find your second point to be somewhat ignorant:
a) People who are anti-abortion truly believe that abortion = murder. Can't equate that with "losing healthcare" which;
b) 23 million aren't going to lose healthcare, this is extremely misleading and could be a case study for "why you shouldn't simply parrot the mainstream media headlines"
Fine. Republicans make efforts to cut food stamps and welfare programs. Ok it doesn't "kill" the family but it certainly harms them when they're barely getting by on food.
Ok fine, 23 million don't lose healthcare. But just out of curiosity, have you forgotten how terrible healthcare was before Obamacare was passed? Obamacare is terrible but had the right intention, but health insurance was such a fucking mess before.
Yes I understand that healthcare costs money and yadda yadda. I guess if I wake up one morning needing surgery I'm SOL.
I don't go out of my way to follow politics or the news. I know what my values are and if a place starts becoming too unaligned with them, I'll just find a new place.
knowledge or interest in politics (Originally Posted: 03/22/2012)
I was just wondering how much people know about politics and how interested you were. In general how much do you guys keep up with this stuff and actually care.
I personally do not understand politics at all. I know the two main parties but no idea what they really stand for except the 1-2 main ideas. I do not understand what left wing right wing all the terminology.
I love politics!! I have actually had the blessing to live in different countries and love looking into how the political systems work. However, with so many republican primaries I have kind of lost interest. Will look more into it when they finally decide the front runner.
Its always fun to discuss politics with people who actually like to dabble into and who keep an open mind about it.
It's good to know, kind of like sports (which honestly, I need to follow more) for the sake of conversation; this stuff comes up! Even from an interview perspective, though, I was asked a bit about TARP and the Greek debt crisis, so at the very least, it's worth paying attention to the stuff that especially relates to banking/markets/whatever else your desired job revolves around.
Stay ignorant. When you understand politics+world economics, then you look at what the people in charge of our country are doing (both parties) it becomes incredibly depressing.
left wing - liberal, want government involvement in the economy; support general idea of taxes; don't want morals legislated (i.e. religion completely out of government laws)
right wing - conservative, want no government in the economy, abolish taxes, want to have religion in government
libertarian - want government out of everything (kind of a weird mix of the two, but tends to be republicans)
In my early 20s I worked for/with: * both major parties (GOP/DEM) * a bunch of smaller ones(libertarian, green, socialist) * fringe groups (private intelligence networks, CSM, various int'l groups)
In a lot of cases, I wasn't even on the record because I'm just not a 'joiner'...I just found the ideas, the work, and the people to be interesting. I realized that ultimately, we vote once in a while and the rest of the time it's a rich man's game, or at least if you want to really make some kind of dent. So, I decided to spend the next few decades in business and move back into that area later in life: but not to run for office, I'm more interested in all of the behind the scenes stuff, and the idea side. I still scan the news every day, read CRS reports, and generally keep up with the broad pulse of things, but I'm a lot more focused on my own success and my family's than trying to fix the world or helping some worthless asshole become influential.
This is pretty accurate. Libertarian = closet republican, Liberal = closet democrat ....they usually agree with the general lines of thinking but are smart enough to know the stump party lines are for children.OP, take a U.S. Government course at a local college if you can. A lot of times, people are suffering from massive illusions about even the most basic of topics, or are playing to that ignorance for the benefit of their own agenda. You'd be totally shocked at the sheer selfishness / insanity / blind ambition / stupidity of some of these people, and you don't want to ever be led down the garden path like a damn chump. Knowing the basic structure of how the system functions is extremely useful, and also prevents you from being snookered by the million and one snake oil salesmen, extremists, opportunists, liars, thieves, crooks, and kooks in the political sphere.
It's also just interesting. If I came from money, I'd just get a Phd in politics and work for a think tank, but I don't.
I like learning about the issues. I don't give a shit about politicians. They're basically eloquent corporate/lobbyist puppet whores who care more about appealing to the masses and getting re-elected than actually speaking/learning the truth and doing the right thing.
Don't become a politician. If you want to follow it, don't discuss it at work.
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Shit like this bothers me. You ignore the guy with the opposing viewpoints so that you can circle jerk with your like-minded buddies and reinforce each others own beliefs? I'm not trying to single you out or anything, it's something that way too many people do. I had a roommate who was just like that.
Definitely get yourself informed. It plays a big part in the market. It's must know information as far as I'm concerned.
Agreeing with what UFO said, I think it's pretty important to understand the structure and function of the political systems, at least from a theoretical point of view. Then when you look a what's actually going on you realize how off it is.
Personally I don't like politicians in general, maybe it's my cynicism talking but I think most of them from both sides, at least on the high level, are a load of fucking crap. I just wish they could be real, and not sound like they're trying to get votes / approval / etc. But alas, doing that these days is pretty much political suicide. Still kind of wish someone would reenact Matt Damon's speech from Adjustment Bureau, though.
At different times, I've lived in places and around people where the scene is both overwhelmingly left and overwhelmingly right. My one takeaway from this is that there are very smart people on both sides of the political fence; and when you make generalizations on either side based on just one or two dumbasses that are the most publicly known, as has been hinted at already in this thread, you're most likely going to be wrong.
I think many people who live in an area that is overwhelmingly Democratic or overwhelmingly Republican tend to develop myopic points of view because of the political environment that's around them. I swear, I think some people lean one way or the other just because it's what everyone else is doing.
So I'm open to talk about ideas from either side but have my own opinions too. Just be very careful when you start to find yourself generalizing. Guess I somewhat did too much of that regarding politicians already. Oops.
All that being said, I still appreciate the American political system for the mere fact that it's figured out how to transfer political power from one leader to the next without much issue, and without the fear of military coups. Shit really goes far to stabilize a country. African rebels take note.
I really enjoy politics. I am a political science minor, and if I wasn't so passionate about investing, politics would be my second career choice. I'm very interested in foreign policy and international relations and that would probably the area I would focus on more
I used to be a hardcore activist. President of the Young Republicans in college, did the talk show circuit, CPAC, attended Tea Party rallies, etc.
Then I left NYC for Texas where income tax doesn't exist, business is booming, cost of living is low, and gun rights are a thing. Now I barely keep up with politics.
I think it depends on your area and the issues there.
Politics (Originally Posted: 09/27/2008)
I know this site isn't about politics. However after the lackluster debate last night I was wondering what bankers thought. After all there was very much talk about Wall Street and bankers.
Let's ignore or assume they are the same on all other issues, who is better for the future of the American economy?
Is it better to have tax breaks for corporations or for the middle class. Which one will stimulate the economy better?
There, two questions so if you post please give me two answers.
Well, make it three, who will be better for the banking industry? Specifically the ibanking industry?
I wouldn't say its about corporations vs. middle class. I would say its moreso about, ridiculous government pandering towards lazy, unmotivated, socialists-at-heart vs. get up, get out and get something...to a further extreme than ever in American history.
Where have all the real conservatives gone?
As far as banking, I'm too much of a novice in regards to the field to try and educate anyone, but Obama plain scares me in regards to everything having to do with the capitalist/entrepreunerial ethic.
My thoughts exactly. As much as people want to believe that everybody is a hard working citizen and that poor people are poor because of "bad luck", that's just simply not true.
This country was built on competition and being rewarded for hard work/success. I don't want to see that change.
Obama scares you?
You must not have heard McCain say that he would enact a spending freeze on everything except defense and veterans affairs. Utterly delusional.
Living in NYC and working in banking = very little. This pisses a lot of people off too, which is even funnier. I'm registered as Other - Libertarian in NY, which confuses people.
I used to care and was fairly active in my participation. Today I equally hate them all regardless of what D/R/U/L letter follows their names. I firmly believe there is not one representative in DC today that actually gives a fuck about the people they "represent".
yup, all they really care about is staying in office.
Politics is dumb. I hate the people that hub around their favorite politician whether it's D Trump, Hill Dog, or Berning pants and confirm each other's biases. When people present little fact and a bunch of, what ifs and I thinks, I know I'm in the wrong conversation. But I can't help to see how far people are willing to go and want to show them something different. There's so many idiots in the world. And I believe only thing one can do is look at facts, conduct an analysis, and make a conclusion. But people miss facts, suck at analyzing, and this end up with superfluous conclusions all the time. Not saying I'm always right but then I guess that's where arguments are born. Biases kill it. It's like that fake rapper, hot fire spitta or whatever, your point is as strong as the cohort backing you. Obviously some spoonfed shit is more well rounded given the number of people all reading the same bs, so little analysis can do well in bolstering a false argument.
I'd say I'm pretty politically active, however I never label myself as a democrat or republican because I really vary, issue by issue. I think being politically active keeps me sharp and at least lets me understand the problems of our country and what measure our representatives take in tackling those issues.
I'd like to think of myself as a centrist/moderate and I really look for bipartisan work across the US. This, in my opinion, is the most effective way in getting things done in congress (compromise). With such a large country and so many differences from state-to-state, it becomes too difficult to really focus on things that work for everyone.
Used to in college and shortly thereafter -- campaigned for Kerry/Edwards in NH.
Then went to work and didn't have time. Now I don't because it's just stupid and full of hysterics AND i don't have the time.
As said above, the only thing politicians care about is staying in office. They don't actually care about the "people."
I'm so middle ground with all of my political views I'd never make it through a whole rally.
I'd imagine my experience as such: • (Just getting to a rally): "Alright, I'm ready to do some good in the world! Let's march!"
• (After 5min): "These guys are passionate.. like really passionate... But that's alright I like passionate people."
• (After 10min I hear someone scream "Mexican's are degrading this country!"): "Well, that's a bit of a blanked statement. I'm not sure I really agree with that in it's entirety. Maybe some under specific circumstances (like criminals) but surely not ALL Mexicans."
• (After 15min I hear, "Less people would have cancer if Russia didn't meddle in the election, KILL THE RUSSIANS!") "That's really uneducated... let's all calm down here people, no need to lose our cool"
• (After 20min I hear "Mitch McConnell looks like a Tortoise!") "Hahah I can see that, but what does that have to do with anything?"
• (After 25min a fight breaks out between opposing parties over which phylum of tortoise carries more resemblance to the Kentucky Senator and I've left)
I don't really care much anymore. It used to be enjoyable for me to talk about it and debate with people, and I would get fairly intense about what I was arguing about, but nowadays it just wears me out.
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