Here’s this week’s comedy/news bit on Bill Maher’s “Real Time” show. His topic is voters who can’t seem to agree on a Presidential candidate, and how they should be voting for Kamala Harris. Maher avers that if Harris loses, it will because of “progressophobia,” which he calls “Steven Pinker’s term for the liberal fear that of ever admitting when things are actually good.”
Maher’s point is that salaries and the economy are “great”, as he says, and that the perception that they’re not is not a reason to vote for Trump. The predicted recession didn’t happen (note the very salacious==and somewhat tasteless–joke about Trump’s sexual proficiency, followed by a not-bad imitation of Trump himself. I love the “in this reality, if you can’t get bacon, you’ll die” statement, mocking one recent assertion of Trump. One statement I don’t get, though, is this one: ” I don’t know if Kamala worked at McDonald’s, but she’s not Flo from Progressive.” Help me out here.
It’s basically an endorsement of Harris, saying that although she’s not perfect, and is mostly campaigning by dissing Trump rather than advancing her own plans, Maher finishes by saying, “‘I’m not Trump’ is still a really great reason.”
Excellent. High on common sense. Thank you Jerry for bringing these to us almost every week.
Maher says- it’s a government, not an insurance company. Flo is a character the Progressive insurance company uses in their adverts. So he is emphasizing that “what is she doing for me ” is the wrong question bc Harris is running for president, not running a private insurance company providing services for customers.
I thought it was a bit of a stretch, but it did get some laughs. Probably more because of the visuals than the wit of the joke.
Progress is a religion developed by crackpot priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Phenomenon of Man.
de Chardin is the gnostic who can see the correct Nature of humanity and how it will develop towards its “Omega point”, also generally put forth as the “End of History” – as gnostics of Leftism like Hegel and others write.
That is, no one but those with the gnosis – progress consciousness, perhaps (my phrase, not necessarily de Chardin’s term) – have the correct knowledge of towards what and how society/”man” will “progress”.
Come on man, that seems kind of a stretch that kamala is thinking about progressive ideas as a religion
Since you mentioned it, Our Lady of the Immaculate Election at the Church of Perpetual Sublation is brainwashed from birth in the gnostic and Hermetic religious cult called Communism.
It and de Chardin’s are both theosophical in nature, and have no strict orthodoxy to them – they are cult religious.
But all I was expressing is this gnostic dimension to what I previously felt good about personally, namely “progressiveness”.
I’d say she’s steeped in it.
This comment struck a chord for reasons you probably weren’t intending. It recalls my hopes in the early 90s when Francis Fukuyama picked up on that Hegelian idea in his famous book. In my late teens then, I saw a bright future of relaxed democracy and peace, which felt reasonable after seeing the USSR disappear.
I remember travelling to East Germany for an international sporting competition shortly after the Berlin Wall ended, and among the athletes, our sense of hope was overwhelming. It felt almost magical. Of course, we were youthful and naive, but we felt like the world was on the brink of a new and better era. Not long after, I read Fukuyama’s book and was even more convinced.
What on earth happened?
My kids are now the same age, and I feel guilty telling them about the optimism we felt then. This is from the Moscow Monsters of Rock in September 1991; look at the freedom and hope of the faces in the crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W7wqQwa-TU . There may be consolation in knowing that the future looked bright but turned to crap. Maybe it looks crap now but will turn good?
Sure. The End of History. We went to “the monsters of rock tour” in Detroit. It was Metallica, Megadeth, Van Halen, Dokken and I feel like I’m leaving somebody out… Such a different time. Thanks for the memories. Let’s hope things roll back around.
Even if it eventually turns good, the killed people will stay dead.
I recommend reading Enlightenment Now by the just cited Steven Pinker for a science based look at exactly what you’re talking about.
Spoilers: I did get better. Much better. You don’t need to apologize for your optimism then. You only need to stick to the facts and science.
Satire?
That the economy is not in recession (assuming the administration is cooking the numbers) is not the same as it being “great.” Inflation is still well above where it was, as reflected in food prices, especially, and job growth is lethargic, with most new jobs actually being part-time.
“Inflation is still well above where it was”
I think it is more accurate to say that prices are well above where they were, but the current rate of inflation is just about at the Fed target.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1394307/monthly-inflation-vs-core-inflation-us/
Job growth is more complex, but considering that Biden has added about 10 million more jobs than did Trump in the pre-pandemic period, I’m not sure what justifies the “lethargic” label. As for part-time
“According to the latest monthly estimate, about 17 percent of workers in the US are part-time (technically 16.9 percent, but like I said, the data is a bit noisy, so let’s not get overly precise). Given the historical data, this actually looks like a very normal number. It’s lower than almost the entire period from 1980-2019, with the exception of the tail-end of long economic expansions.”
If the number of part-time jobs has increased recently, it is mainly because part-time jobs were worst hit during the pandemic, and they are returning to their normal levels.
https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2023/10/11/is-the-job-growth-driven-by-part-time-workers/
Flo from Progressive has her own Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flo_(Progressive_Insurance)
Hi Jez
Well, Harris’ campaign had been emphasizing the positives, but the undecideds are apparently unconvinced. So she had to switch to the danger that Trump poses. That might be a better strategy because it seems to be motivating a large female turnout, the majority of whom are probably voting for her, while men, who are more likely Trump supporters, are not voting in large numbers.
Why did I vote for Harris? Because she’s not Trump and he is.
Same here, in my opinion most Americans are decent although flawed people so almost any other American would be better than trump.
As apposed to progressophilia, an irrational love of change, or how many times and ways can we reinvent the wheel. A square wheel does not work, a round wheel does. You can improve on the round wheel, but you can’t really change the concept and have it work.
Going through some of my files, I found a coupon dated January 1984 for a loaf of bread, price 10 cents. The average price for a loaf of bread now is between $2.50 and $3.00. Translated into reality, our money is basically worthless, the biden/harris economy has destroyed 25 – 30% of our wealth, the economy sucks.
Except it doesn’t, the numbers show a solid economy. Unemployment is steady at 4%. Stock market at all-time high. Wage growth has exceeded inflation, which is now down to less than 3%. In real terms, bread is no more expensive now than then.
I don’t know what the 10 cent coupon represents. I do know that multiple sources give a price of 60-70 cents per loaf in the 80s. Bread currently in the $2.50-3.00 range corresponds to an average increase of 3.5% per year. Inflation is currently much lower than that.
You’re testerical. Calm down and recheck those figures.
“Translated into reality, our money is basically worthless, the biden/harris economy has destroyed 25 – 30% of our wealth, the economy sucks.”
Keep in mind that the primary catalyst of inflation in 2021 was the supply chain disruptions that started under Trump. If anything, the “biden/harris economy” has brought inflation down. As for your money being worthless, keep in mind that prices for goods and services have been rising since, well, 1776, but we tend to ignore the fact that wages and salaries have been rising as well. What was your salary in 1984? Was it the same as your salary in 2024? If so, you’ve been in the wrong business.
Larry 1984 was 40 years ago
Your $$ are not worth less
The world has changed.
When i was young a movie ticket was . 25 coffee the same
Cars cost $2000
Workers earn more since 1984
Homes cost more
It ain’t Biden and Harris it’s new time Forty years ago you didnt have a library in your pocket!
I have spent the last 2 weeks working a polling location in Arkansas. I can tell you that there is a certain percentage of our voters whose only criteria for voting for a candidate is that the candidate is a Republican. I don’t think there is any policy that Kamala Harris could espouse that would change their minds. A couple of anecdotes, one older lady was checking in to vote and she said ‘I used to be a Democrat, now I am a Republican, I am not sure when that happened…’. I had a relative who ran for Justice of the Peace in a nearby county. She walked door to door and talked with people, only to hear ‘Oh, you are a Democrat? Well I couldn’t vote for you’. Policies? No need to discuss policy, I vote Republican. I can’t tell you how many disabled people I saw come to the polling place, struggling to walk, struggling to stand. While I did not see their votes, I suspect many checked the box for Trump. Even though Trump would be happy to dismantle the ACA. I am sure religious tradition plays a large role in these decisions, and that is hard to break through. Kamala Harris could station Sylvester Stallone at the Mexican border with an AK-47 and bomb Tehran tomorrow, it would not change minds. None of the above excuses any poor policy decisions of Kamala Harris, but there is really nothing she could do, I think, to sway these voters.
V useful, front line feedback. Thx
I think many Democratic voters are inclined to be the same, that is to vote for the party regardless. For both camps, there will be at least some issues that sway one to vote one way or the other, while not favoring everything that they espouse. Meanwhile there are friends and family. That is, there is a tendency to vote in the same party as your cohort.
Only one criterion, can they do the job.
Right now the rocky global canvas is prime.
Where Biden has failed in spades. All that “experience” and he hasn’t a clue.
These two wars are both shockers. Both should never have been been allowed.
But oddly both bring overreach born of delusion by two Old World fanatics and so both now offer the chance of rare historic sea change, to see off two arch foes of democracy, of common sense international relations. Leaving but one.
Trump gets it.
Domestically too the US needs overhaul, needs less government and a sensible not closed border.
Check Trump’s first term, deeds not words.
I don’t want to simply have my own opinions parroted back to me but It does ease my soul to hear another voice in the wilderness. Deeds; not words. I’m so glad I saw your comment because I feel like nobody gets it.
It’s a 107 year moment in one case and 76 years the other.
“Oh what joy it was to be alive!”
“Maher’s point is that salaries and the economy are “great”, as he says, and that the perception that they’re not is not a reason to vote for Trump.”
Wrong.
“Mr. Biden’s economy has been glorious—for affluent liberals. It’s been awful for the working class. Socioeconomic disparities have grown in recent years owing to the policies that were supposed to shrink them. The well-to-do got wealthier while the rest got poorer.” Allysia Finley in WSJ, 3Nov24
It’s important to note that Biden did not tame inflation. The Federal Reserve did, and Biden fought them every step of the way with excessive stimulus, high deficits, and refusal to collect student loan payments.
Yes, Trump also signed a large stimulus bill, which may or may not have been too large. But if it was too large, that was all the more reason for Biden not to do another round in 2021. The fact is that the 2020 stimulus was not immediately followed by skyrocketing inflation, and the 2021 bill was.
Inflation was also not a global phenomenon. Yes, it was high in the US and Europe, but that’s like two data points, because the EU has a common currency. Switzerland and East Asia had low inflation. Pure supply-side inflation is transitory: Prices go up, and then they go down when the supply issues are resolved. That’s not what happened in the US, where prices went up and stayed there. This is more consistent with demand-side inflation due to excess fiscal and monetary stimulus.
Correct, it’s about the prices, not inflation. Inflation is the rate of change only. High inflation occurred, which raised prices a lot, and then inflation leveled off, leaving prices high. Inflation is primarily driven by monetary policy (per Friedman, others), which means the government’s expansionist monetary policy (i.e., printing and handing out dollars) is the cause of this. High inflation is a tool to offset high government spending based on borrowing.
Regarding the amount of jobs that were added during the Biden administration: while the number may be correct, I’d argue that the fact that they were added based on a time after massive job losses occurred that were outside of the control of any administration, and that the creation was likely hindered rather than helped by government policy, is a claim that deserves an asterisk.
“Inflation is primarily driven by monetary policy (per Friedman, others), which means the government’s expansionist monetary policy (i.e., printing and handing out dollars) is the cause of this. High inflation is a tool to offset high government spending based on borrowing.”
This is simplistic high school economics, I’m sorry to say. Too much money chasing too few commodities. The issue, historically, in the real world is the underlying cause(s) — in this recent case we can point to supply chain issues that limited the availability of commodities in the presence of relative consumer wealth. Would you force consumers to send half of their income to the feds, to keep inflation down? Better to do what the Fed did: raise the price of money to limit borrowing by consumers and lower demand.