Sig is actually the most intelligent and intellectually honest person on this site. He has his opinions (which are generally based on facts) and is very open to other people’s ideas (provided they give sound reasoning). Talking with someone like that is uncomfortable because it forces you to raise your game; but in the long run you are better for it. You learn stuff and your thinking skills get better.
It's a total aside, but lemme ask you something. Did your views change or did the window shift? I came here just shy of thirty years ago and straight off the boat felt that Republicans are my people. Their approach to life just felt right. Thirty years later my views are more or less the same, but somehow now I am a flaming liberal. Go figure.
Job market seems tight. There is a buzz that qualified workers are not keeping pace with jobs. Wages are up a little more than usual. Inflation easy above 2%. Consumer confidence is high. The fed actions are telling us that this is not the the same economy as the last 10 years. See a stair step rise to fed funds rates? A flat 10over2 treasury curve? If you consider tarrifs an equal headwind to the 'above' as the fed then you clearly bexcited by the beating drum. By the way...gentlemen....all the 'good' above is due to tax cuts...fiscal stimulus...what the fed was haplessly fulfilling/accomodating for years with the monetary policy. Why does all this have to be so personal, biased, emotional. Learn to check your emotions without turning red and spitting......NOW! go to your Room!
It is late 2018 so your 1.7% CPI has not been accurate for a while now. You truly don't see a difference in the data, prices, perception and actions? I cant be pegged into the two camps you all subscribe to and neither can my forward views based on anything I said....who cares...just saying.
Bit of both to be honest. I'm actually started out being tounge in cheek when calling myself a flaming liberal because any real liberal would consider me pretty conservative. As the party lurched right it did cause me to reexamine positions I had taken on because they were orthadoxy without personally researching them, and in that way moved to the left on things like preventing discrimination, helping children who grow up in extreme poverty, and the environment while remaining pretty conservative on things like trade (which now makes me liberal). However even then I share your frustration because on a question like if clean energy is better than coal pollution there's no conservative principal that would lead toward coal pollution. So even there I'm not sure I'm necessarily "liberal" by the definition a conservative like, say Teddy Roosevelt would use. As a related aside, apparently @themickey blocked me because I pushed back against his anti-corporation rant, so given the "if it makes liberals mad it must be good" mentality of the current right I must be somewhat good?
What took me to the other side (which, admittedly, is pretty bad too) is the reaction to gay marriage. It should be a perfectly private affair, who you marry and what you like to do in your spare time. Some people like tiramisu and some like pork rings.