Avskum wrote:Skimming the wiki on populism, it seems there are many different definitions, and some researchers seem to dislike the term because it can mean almost anything.
OK, let's define it here as policies which make sense to an average person, regardless of whether they make sense to the experts. You know, like minimum wage or rent ceilings or banning Huawei in the name of security.
Avskum wrote:1 million dead from his awful COVID response. Almost 3 times as many deaths per capita compared to my country
You know, USA did not do so bad with COVID compared to other countries. I mean, it had 11% excess mortality in 2020. Compared to my country, that is Croatia, Croatia had 17% excess mortality in 2020. And that's in spite of the fact that the USA has significantly more commorbidities (meat consumption is significantly higher in the USA).
I am not sure what would be a good COVID response. If anything is obvious from the data, it's obvious that what governments do has little or no effect on the virus. That could be because what governments order has little effect on what people do. I mean, shutting down most businesses does not appear to result in people staying home. Despite of all the lockdowns and business shutdowns, the number of people who died in traffic accidents increased in 2020, rather than having decreased (as almost anybody would expect).
What does appear to help significantly with COVID is having a good health-care system. Sweden is known for having a good health-care system and it had only 2% excess mortality in 2020. A huge difference from Croatia (17% excess mortality in 2020) or the USA (11% excess mortality in 2020). And that's in spite of the fact (or maybe even partly because of the fact) of Sweden having no lockdown. Other Nordic countries are also known for having a good health-care system and they had negative excess mortality in 2020. And they also were rather liberal in their COVID response.
Avskum wrote:tax cuts to billionaires
Which are probably a good thing. No rich people means no jobs. Banks get the money from people who already have money, and with no rich people there would be no rich banks from which entreprenours can take the loans.
Avskum wrote:worsening race relations
I don't know what you are talking about.
Avskum wrote:reversal of climate change efforts
If you are talking about Paris Accord, that was basically an agreement to do nothing. Getting the US out of it makes no difference to climate. It's a scam to make people think world leaders care about climate. Denouncing it is probably a good thing.
Avskum wrote:constantly feeding conspiracy theories and lies
Well, that's unfortunate. But Bernie Sanders is also constantly lying about Norway being socialist. It's hard to tell what is more damaging.
Avskum wrote:lowest approval rating of any president since recording began
I don't know what you are talking about.
Avskum wrote:There's virtually zero chance Bernie would have done worse.
I have no idea what Bernie might have done had he were the president at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. My guess is that civil liberties would be even more damaged for little or no decrease in mortality, but, once again, it's hard to tell.
Avskum wrote:He's basically advocating for policies that are already mainstream in (parts of) Europe and have shown to have good outcomes.
Just... no.
Avskum wrote:It's also pretty clear he's a good person who actually cares about others.
I also think he has good intentions. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Avskum wrote:Unlike Trump, who is a giant narcissistic asshole.
I agree that Trump is probably mentally ill.
Avskum wrote: Employers and landlords will suck as much blood as they possibly can get away with.
I think basically all economists agree that rent ceilings are a bad policy. Now, about a minimum wage, it's slightly more complicated. Some economists think that job market is an oligopsony and that a small minimum wage can increase employment. But I think that basically no economist would agree that nation-wide 20$ minimum wage would be a good thing.