# Real Time with Bill Maher **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367 "2023-10-10T21:03:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/241 "2023-12-13T17:36:29Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > That would require a conspiracy comprising all of the retailers in the city. If only _most_ of the retailers are raising their prices, and it’s for bullshit reasons, then any individual retailer is highly motivated to keep their prices low and gather all of the customers for themselves. As soon as one retailer does that, all of the other overpriced retailers will suffer, compelling them to lower their prices to remain competitive against that one retailer who wouldn’t buy into the conspiracy. Yes, if Walmart and Target agreed to raise their prices by twenty percent they would lose business because everyone would simply go shopping at KMart and Montgomery Ward and Ames and Woolworth and Zayre. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/242 "2023-12-13T17:49:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Yes, if Walmart and Target agreed to raise their prices by twenty percent they would lose business because everyone would simply go shopping at KMart and Montgomery Ward and Ames and Woolworth and Zayre. Now, now, that’s not Walmart’s playbook. First you engage in predatory pricing, significantly under-pricing the smaller retailers at a level the little guys cannot sustain. Then, when they’re out of business, you raise prices 20%. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/243 "2023-12-13T18:06:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Yes, if Walmart and Target agreed to raise their prices by twenty percent they would lose business because everyone would simply go shopping at KMart and Montgomery Ward and Ames and Woolworth and Zayre. Cute, but even if Walmart and Target are the only retailers in town, it would require a formal (albeit secret) price-fixing collusion for them to agree with each other to keep prices high, and the Justice Department takes a dim view of such anticompetitive practices. If they’re not explicitly working with each other, each will be incentivized to lower their prices to gain a bigger market share. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/244 "2023-12-13T19:06:35Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Cute, but even if Walmart and Target are the only retailers in town, it would require a formal (albeit secret) price-fixing collusion for them to agree with each other to keep prices high, and the Justice Department takes a dim view of such anticompetitive practices. And God knows, Walmart and Target would never do anything _illegal!_ ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/245 "2023-12-13T19:29:26Z")
The worse the perceived danger of shopping at a retail storefront gets, the more Amazon stands to benefit. Just sayin’… ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/246 "2023-12-13T19:41:28Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > And God knows, Walmart and Target would never do anything _illegal!_ If you only have two retailers involved, you might be able to keep the conspiracy hidden for a while. But if you have every retailer in San Francisco involved, it won’t stay secret for long. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/247 "2023-12-13T20:43:17Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Cute, but even if Walmart and Target are the only retailers in town There a lot of other department stores in your town? > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > it would require a formal (albeit secret) price-fixing collusion for them to agree with each other to keep prices high, and the Justice Department takes a dim view of such anticompetitive practices. We all remember how the Justice department broke up Microsoft. > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > If they’re not explicitly working with each other, each will be incentivized to lower their prices to gain a bigger market share. Selling the current amount of products at twenty percent higher prices makes more profit than selling a larger share of products at their current prices. People have to understand that the principles of free market capitalism only work when you have a free market. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/248 "2024-01-06T14:22:11Z")
(sorry I know this is going back a bit in the thread) > [@wolfpup](#): > > There is no evidence that his statement was a “dog whistle” to appeal to wingnuts on the far right, which appears to be a baseless fiction constructed by the same Maher-haters who choose to ignore the qualifier “basically” in “SF has basically legalized shoplifting”, focus only on the last two words, and accuse Maher of “lying”. He was repeating a common FOX talking point pretty much verbatim, in a segment criticizing how “extreme” the left has become. Am I on crazy pills here? This is clearly either a deliberate attempt to pander to a particular audience or, more likely in my view, his views have shifted in that direction. He buys all the stuff about cancel culture and vaccines uncritically too. > [@wolfpup](#): > > As I said before, Maher famously commented on the rightward shift in American politics by saying that “Democrats have moved to the right, and Republicans have moved into a mental hospital”. Yep, in 2009. And yet now he seems to reserve more criticism for the left – essentially, the right might be bad, but the left made them that way. [“The left has gone super crazy with lots of shit that the average American just never voted for”](https://dailycaller.com/2022/11/04/bill-maher-burr-republicans-sweep-midterms-left-wokeness/). (2022) Do you agree with him that since 2009 it is the _left_ that has changed the most and become the more nuts? ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/249 "2024-01-06T20:21:05Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Do you agree with him that since 2009 it is the _left_ that has changed the most and become the more nuts? For Maher, it’s not a question of who is more nuts. {The Repubs have moved so deeply into the asylum that nobody can accuse them of going more nuts.) .It’s a question of why the Dems- who are still capable of being rational- are letting their less-rational wing go more nuts… Example: gender identity. Maher has often pointed out that ,believe it or not, most people still enjoy “gender reveal” parties,and still happily send cards anouncing “It’s a boy”, or “It’s a girl”-- because they know what the difference is between a boy and a girl. And they do not want to be told by progressives that they should cut the balls off their baby boy, because he once played dress-up in his mother’s clothes. The Budwieser beer boycott should be a lesson. Sure, it began with the deplorables, based on their redneck racism; but it spread wider, and included some ordinary folks, who might have been swing voters persuadable to vote for Biden. But they’re offended by the progressives, and so they remain with Trump That’s why Maher criticizes the left. They are scaring away the swing voters whom they desperately need. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/250 "2024-01-06T20:25:55Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > And they do not want to be told by progressives that they should cut the balls off their baby boy, because he once played dress-up in his mother’s clothes. Yeah, I hate when they do that. And all those poor, ball-less baby boys, running around without their, well, balls. Fucking progressives. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/251 "2024-01-06T20:30:14Z")
Maher doubled down on his antivax bullshit in a recent interview with Seth McFarlane. It did not go well for Bill. > **[Fact-Checking Bill Maher During Seth MacFarlane’s Interview](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/5/2215667/-Fact-Checking-Bill-Maher-During-Seth-MacFarlane-s-Interview?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web)** > > Bill Maher recently interviewed Seth MacFarlane on his podcast and openly spread vaccine misinformation. “I would think this country did not allow for natural immunity to be considered. And I know this is a subject dear to your heart. Like, even if... ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/252 "2024-01-06T20:44:22Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > And they do not want to be told by progressives that they should cut the balls off their baby boy, because he once played dress-up in his mother’s clothes. All kidding aside, this raises a pretty serious question. _What the fuck is wrong with you?_ ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/253 "2024-01-06T20:54:36Z")
I gotta say that is a staggering level of ignorance. You know I was just thinking to myself why the fuck do people get so invested in their opinions about things they clearly know nothing about? Here’s a good example. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/254 "2024-01-06T21:10:29Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > He was repeating a common FOX talking point pretty much verbatim, in a segment criticizing how “extreme” the left has become. You keep saying this. But this was one “New Rules” segment, and the criticisms directed at the far left here were, in my view, mostly valid. For instance, the two Democratic Congresswomen quoted really did say the crazy stuff he quoted – word for word. It’s not surprising that the same stuff will also be on Fox News, but these criticisms of Maher imply that this is all he ever talks about, which is very far from the case. For instance, let’s look back at the main topics of the “New Rules” segments in the last four shows of the 2023 season: - Nov 17: About know-nothing opinionated dumbasses on social media - Dec 1: Blasting Republican theocracy, including imbeciles like Boebert and Mike Johnson - Dec 8: Defending YouTuber “Mr. Beast”, who was criticized for alleged self-serving exploitation because he’s been using his YouTube proceeds and income from sponsorships and other ventures to help the disabled and the needy and other philanthropies. I don’t know enough about this to have a position on it, but at any rate that was the main topic. - Dec 15: About the conflict in Gaza There’s lots to legitimately criticize Maher for, like his stance on medical science in general and vaccines in particular. Criticizing him for attacking the left is not one of those things. > [@Mijin](#): > > Do you agree with him that since 2009 it is the _left_ that has changed the most and become the more nuts? If he ever said that, he’s wrong. Republicans have become so completely irrational and counterfactual that such a position is untenable. What he’s lamenting in my view is that Republican lunacy is a great opportunity for Democrats to become the dominant party, but they’re being held back by a few of their own extremists – not just crazy politicians, but things like supposedly “progressive” college students protesting in support of Hamas. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/255 "2024-01-06T21:28:40Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > What the fuck is wrong with you? Well, it’s well-known that chappachula is a fucking monster. A disgusting hateful bigot, not much different than Nazis with their blood libel in WW2. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/256 "2024-01-06T21:37:34Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > What he’s lamenting in my view is that Republican lunacy is a great opportunity for Democrats to become the dominant party, but they’re being held back by a few of their own extremists – not just crazy politicians, but things like supposedly “progressive” college students protesting in support of Hamas. Curious then that if you ask at least one of this board’s self described ‘progressives’ they’ll happily tell you what’s holding the Democrats back from becoming the dominant party is that they’re listening to folks like Maher and not listening to the ‘’‘crazy politicians’‘’ and the ‘’‘supposedly “progressive” college students protesting in support of Hamas’‘’. Can’t be that the truth is somewhere in between. ---
**Author:** ![Guapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@Guapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guapo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/257 "2024-01-06T21:55:55Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Curious then that if you ask at least one of this board’s self described ‘progressives’ they’ll happily tell you what’s holding the Democrats back from becoming the dominant party is that they’re listening to folks like Maher and not listening to the ‘’‘crazy politicians’‘’ and the ‘’‘supposedly “progressive” college students protesting in support of Hamas’‘’. Yeah, if only Biden would announce his pronouns, support reparations, and make the military vegan he would be a shoo-in for another term. ---
**Author:** ![P91noX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@P91noX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P91noX)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/258 "2024-01-06T22:37:37Z")
Yeah, his takes on medicine are woefully ignorant. This touches on the broader point that someone can have deep knowledge about one aspect of life and no knowledge of another. This is obvious on its face but I see a lot of comments online like “you can’t possibly listen to X; he’s a moron. Just listen to his take on Y.” I’m definitely glad that he’s getting pushback on his vaccine take, and I do get angry whenever I see him talk about medicine on his show, but being ignorant about medicine (and transgender issues) doesn’t make him wrong about everything (nor does it make him less entertaining). I like that his jokes have some bite. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2024, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/259 "2024-01-07T00:15:49Z")
> [@P91noX](#): > > I’m definitely glad that he’s getting pushback on his vaccine take, and I do get angry whenever I see him talk about medicine on his show, but being ignorant about medicine (and transgender issues) doesn’t make him wrong about everything (nor does it make him less entertaining). I dislike Maher a lot but no, he’s not wrong about everything. He’s probably not even wrong about most things. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2024, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/260 "2024-01-07T01:53:02Z")
Absurd straw man. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367.md?page=14)