How Long Until DU Bans Me?

[The Duke]

I'm now posting at Democratic Underground, under the name California Man, and I wonder how long it will take them to ban me.  I'm respectfully disagreeing with the Stalinist vermin as per my Constitutional rights.

[Moooooo]

I'm now posting at Democratic Underground, under the name California Man, and I wonder how long it will take them to ban me.  I'm respectfully disagreeing with the Stalinist vermin as per my Constitutional rights.

Umm. Im a member and donor (5 bucks LOL).  If they ban you for simply disagreeing I will email and PM the moderator.  If your being rude and disrespectful thats a different story.

[Moooooo]

By the way, Ive seen the same type of experiment done at FreeRepublic.  A member from DU created an account and posted in a SS thread.  He wasnt rude, arrogant, or disrespectful.  How long did he last?  1 post.

[A18]

Hmm... can I get a link to your posts?

[Moooooo]

Hmm... can I get a link to your posts?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3452511#3452778
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3452658#3452744
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=114&topic_id=15157#15452
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=3018050#3018117
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=141&topic_id=8958#8994

[Moooooo]

John, I see you posted in a SS thread.  What did you think about the first post? 

"This is why I suggest doing NOTHING about this Soc. Sec. "shortfall"

First, I realize that the actuarial assumptions behind the estimate is that we will have a sharp recession soon followed by economic growth over the next thirty years AVERAGING 1.6% ANNUALLY.

Is 1.6% a low growth rate? The growth of GDP in 2003 was 3.1%. So think of how well you would be living and how you would be drawing down your savings if the country were in that sort of doldrums for thirty years.

Most people would say that it is pretty unlikely our economy is going to tank so dramatically, but that isn't my point.

My point is that if the economy sucks THAT bad for THAT long, our country is going to be going down the tubes in every area of life you can think of. The least of our problems is going to be pensions, and nobody, including me, is going to object to cutting back on the old folk. Why would we save to ensure that old people are the only ones left untouched by the demise of the United States as we know it?

Indeed, no matter how much we save, the fact is that if the US is in a long term period of low growth, we are going to steal the money and use it for other things without much controversy.

The adjustment in that state of the actual emergency of such low growth is "benefits reduced immediately by 22 percent, to make the system whole on a permanent basis.", say Snow, our Secretary of Shill.

Sounds okay to me, since everything, from defense to health to education to the food on the table is going to be reduced for everybody if we get there.

To the extent we avoid the worst case scenario, we avoid and would not want to cut SS benefits. If the economy follows the estimates Bush uses when planning the budget, for example, there will never be a shortfall. If the economy continues the growth of the last thirty years, there will be no shortfall.

And if the economy doesn't, then let the short fall where it may.

The proposed cures are worse than the disease. Do nothing."

[The Duke]

What I posted: "The assumptions the actuaries make aren't very important because of the way revenues are collected and benefits are calculated.

The only way higher GDP growth leads to higher revenues for Social Security is if the growth manifests itself in higher wages. But higher wages mean higher benefits, since benefits are indexed to track with wages.

This is why ecnomists don't spend much time criticizing the actuaries 1.9% growth rate prediction, it hardly matters anyway."

An addendum here: What would Democrats say if the actuaries predicted ganbusters growth rates?  They'd probably say Bush  is using government bureaus which are supposed to be independent of to promote his economic record.  Can't win for losing.

[dazzleman]

Nick, I think you're tragically wrong on social security.  Quibble over assumptions all you want, but the ratio of workers to retirees is falling on a continual basis.

Once you're working a while, you may see things differently.  You will be carrying a huge tax burden to pay for a program that is headed for collapse.

Social security as it currently stands is breaking faith with the young people of this country.  Groups like AARP want to keep it as it is because they don't care about the future.  Young people should.

[muon2]

Nick, I think you're tragically wrong on social security.  Quibble over assumptions all you want, but the ratio of workers to retirees is falling on a continual basis.

Once you're working a while, you may see things differently.  You will be carrying a huge tax burden to pay for a program that is headed for collapse.

Social security as it currently stands is breaking faith with the young people of this country.  Groups like AARP want to keep it as it is because they don't care about the future.  Young people should.

I agree, the worker/retiree ratio is critical. Productivity gains and wage gains will be unlikely to keep pase the the rate of change due to demographic shifts. The advantage to predict there is that we know who has been born and will retire over the next few decades. Unless the typical worker works well into their 70's that ratio will continue to fall.

The only relief for the US is that we may see the effects after many other countries do. Immigration gives us a significantly younger population than birth rates would predict. Europe is already dealing with the problem. China will be very hard hit in a few decades as their one child policy results in a shrunken workforce to support retirees born before 1970.

[Moooooo]

Nick, I think you're tragically wrong on social security.  Quibble over assumptions all you want, but the ratio of workers to retirees is falling on a continual basis.

Once you're working a while, you may see things differently.  You will be carrying a huge tax burden to pay for a program that is headed for collapse.

Social security as it currently stands is breaking faith with the young people of this country.  Groups like AARP want to keep it as it is because they don't care about the future.  Young people should.

Dazzleman.  Thats not my response.  I C&P'd that quote.  I wanted to get Fords opinion.

When it comes to SS I am still undecided.  I havent made a strong opinion one way or the other.  Im going to wait for an actuall bill to be proposed and debated on before I jump to conclusions about the privitization of SS.

[ilikeverin]

eaking faith with the young people of this country. Groups like AARP want to keep it as it is because they don't care about the future. Young people should.

Too bad   I refuse to not care about the poor, cute 'ol old people!

[Moooooo]

Well, I guess I was wrong.  It looks like "California Man" is dead.  They deleted all of his posts except one.

[Jake]

Wow, disgusting.  FreeRepublic and DU are insane.  I joined FR as a joke a few months ago and posted as an extreme liberal. I lasted two days.  I've yet to try it a DU.

[Gabu]

I guessed "five seconds", do I win?

[dazzleman]

Well, I guess I was wrong.  It looks like "California Man" is dead.  They deleted all of his posts except one.

Just as I thought.  So much for the pretense of liberal tolerance and openness to opposing ideas.  At least extreme conservatives don't claim this type of tolerance as their hallmark the way liberals do.  This is kind of like when televangelist Jimmy Swaggart got caught with a prostitute, after condemning Jim Bakker for doing the same thing.  It tells us a lot about the true state of liberal America, and it's very ugly.

[opebo]

This is kind of like when televangelist Jimmy Swaggart got caught with a prostitute, after condemning Jim Bakker for doing the same thing. 

Hiring prostitutes is a lot like masturbation.  When people deny it you just have to laugh.

[Gabu]

Well, I guess I was wrong.  It looks like "California Man" is dead.  They deleted all of his posts except one.

Just as I thought.  So much for the pretense of liberal tolerance and openness to opposing ideas.  At least extreme conservatives don't claim this type of tolerance as their hallmark the way liberals do.  This is kind of like when televangelist Jimmy Swaggart got caught with a prostitute, after condemning Jim Bakker for doing the same thing.  It tells us a lot about the true state of liberal America, and it's very ugly.

Given that Fidel Castro won a poll against Bush with something like 96% of the vote, I really doubt Democratic Underground can be taken as representative of, well, pretty much anything that has a substantial number of members.

[Citizen James]

Well, I guess I was wrong.  It looks like "California Man" is dead.  They deleted all of his posts except one.

Just as I thought.  So much for the pretense of liberal tolerance and openness to opposing ideas.  At least extreme conservatives don't claim this type of tolerance as their hallmark the way liberals do.  This is kind of like when televangelist Jimmy Swaggart got caught with a prostitute, after condemning Jim Bakker for doing the same thing.  It tells us a lot about the true state of liberal America, and it's very ugly.

Given that Fidel Castro won a poll against Bush with something like 96% of the vote, I really doubt Democratic Underground can be taken as representative of, well, pretty much anything that has a substantial number of members.

Well, given that DU is little more than dyslexic reactionaries, I'm hardly suprised.

Besides, doesn't free speech fall under the libertarian/authoritarian axis?   Now, go see if you can get yourself banned from a libertarian site.

[The Duke]

DU, by rule, bans all non-liberals.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It just goes to show you how warped the Democrats are.  Not representative of a large group of people?  They have 68,000 users!

What did I say that gave me away?  I said a few thinhgs in my 12 hours of DU life, before they snuffed me out like a fetus:

1. The 1.9% projected growth rate for the economy on which social security projections are based doesn't have a significant effect on the predicted date of Social Security's bankruptcy since only higher wages would increase benefits anyway, and higher wages leads to higher benefits since they are indexed to each other.

2. Someone said Bush's approval rating was 42%.  They had no citation.  I cited Rasmussen's tracking poll, which has him at 49%.  Someone called Rasmussen a GOP hack, to which I rteplied that he oversampled Democrats in 2004, having a 39D-35R weight when the actual result was 37D-37R.

3. I said the fact that Kerry won the exit poll raw data does not prove he won the election.

4. I said that the surrender that Saddam Hussein allegedly offerred before the 2003 invasion was unenforcable, and Bush was right not to believe that Hussein would be willing to hold free elections and hand over his WMD.

5. I said that the California Democrat's defeat of Schwarzenegger's pension overhaul was actually bad for Democrats, since now he will look at other items for budget cuts, like education and health care.

6. I said Carville was a better strategist that Shrummy, and that Democrats should listen to his advice on social security.

Does anyone believe that a rational group of people would ban me for that?

I challenge a moderate Democrat to go to FreeRepublic and post, I guarantee if you're as measured as I was, you'll last a lot longer than I did at DU.

[Moooooo]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It just goes to show you how warped the Democrats are.

[??????????]

Yes, sadly communists have badly infiltrated the Democratic party. We really need another patriot like McCarthy to clean the country of the filth that is in it. Starting with Barbara Boxer and her ilk.

[Gabu]

It just goes to show you how warped the Democrats are.  Not representative of a large group of people?  They have 68,000 users!

Define "large".  According to exit polls, if I recall correctly, 20% of Americans define themselves as "liberal" and around 37% of Americans define themselves as "Democrat".  Regardless of whether you trust exit polls or not, the numbers have to be at least around 10-20% and 30-40%.  Given that the current population of America is 293,027,571, that means there are 29,302,757 - 58,605,514 liberals and 87,908,271 - 117,211,028 Democrats.  In other words, Democratic Underground, if every single member is American, accounts for roughly 0.2-0.1% of liberals and 0.07-0.05% of Democrats.

Real representative.

[Blue Rectangle]

Does anyone believe that a rational group of people would ban me for that?

yes you deserve it John D. Fart.  Your a repuke like the chimperor and alan greenslime.

[The Duke]

It just goes to show you how warped the Democrats are.  Not representative of a large group of people?  They have 68,000 users!

Define "large".  According to exit polls, if I recall correctly, 20% of Americans define themselves as "liberal" and around 37% of Americans define themselves as "Democrat".  Regardless of whether you trust exit polls or not, the numbers have to be at least around 10-20% and 30-40%.  Given that the current population of America is 293,027,571, that means there are 29,302,757 - 58,605,514 liberals and 87,908,271 - 117,211,028 Democrats.  In other words, Democratic Underground, if every single member is American, accounts for roughly 0.2-0.1% of liberals and 0.07-0.05% of Democrats.

Real representative.

Obviously, not everyone who thinks like this is on DU.  But since they have one of, if not the, largest memberships of any political board, its fairly representative of the Deaniac Dems.

Does anyone believe that a rational group of people would ban me for that?

yes you deserve it John D. Fart.  Your a repuke like the chimperor and alan greenslime.

JJ?  Is that you?

[WalterMitty]

ford, you are a keynesian.  the du folks should love you.