Archive 2017-2019 Political Thread

[KoD]

Is the purpose of starting a business to be able to give workers health insurance and benefits ? No. The purpose is to make money. As much as you can. Providing benefits attracts good people and hopefully success. But, the first agenda is to make money for the people that took the risk and those that helped by investing.

Yes, you're absolutely correct. Profits come first to most corporations, therefore we shouldn't trust they'll take their increased revenue and invest it in the way that benefits citizens over themselves. Such as offering healthcare or investment options - especially in markets where competition isn't a companies concern.
This brings me back to what I personally see as the heart of Republican vs. Democrat ... Who do you trust more with the money and power to do the most good for the population? Corporations or the Government?
It's sad and unfortunate we live in a time where you can't put your faith in either. No doubt both government and corporations can lay claim to tremendous achievement in their own respects.. looking at the little picture from my prospective, I'm glad to have a tax cuts for the next several years. I need it. Looking at the big picture from my perspective, I hope the tax break doesn't have terrible consequences for people and families outside my bubble of reality.

 

[Kory]

When we have history of governments' gaining excessive power and going usurpatious around the world resulting in the death of millions upon millions of innocent people...I sure will never place my faith in a powerful central government. Their existence should be solely for the protection of our rights and the prevention of infringement upon them. And we don't have to look very far back...

 

[David in SW Blount]

I don't mind paying taxes to help people out who need it. When you have a high paying, professional job it's easy to say that those opportunities are available for everyone who will work for it. But in no way do we all start from the same step on the ladder. Also, when you're making the big bucks in a white collar office job, think about all of those invisible to semi-invisible people who support the construction and maintenance of the office and make low salaries. There's a common sense balance in there between too much entitlement for people who really don't want to work and the "every man for himself" mindset on the libertarian side.

Looking at where family income ranges fall on the percentile scale has been very eye opening to me. When you live in areas covered by miles and miles and miles of suburban homes, it's easy to think that's the typical American lifestyle. It really isn't; suburbia just takes up lots of square mileage.

 

[Kory]

I don't mind paying taxes to help people out who need it. When you have a high paying, professional job it's easy to say that those opportunities are available for everyone who will work for it. But in no way do we all start from the same step on the ladder. Also, when you're making the big bucks in a white collar office job, think about all of those invisible to semi-invisible people who support the construction and maintenance of the office and make low salaries. There's a common sense balance in there between too much entitlement for people who really don't want to work and the "every man for himself" mindset on the libertarian side.

Looking at where family income ranges fall on the percentile scale has been very eye opening to me. When you live in areas covered by miles and miles and miles of suburban homes, it's easy to think that's the typical American lifestyle. It really isn't; suburbia just takes up lots of square mileage.

I suggest people who don’t realize some of the extreme poverty in America take a ride down to the Black Belt of Alabama. Just an hour south of Tuscaloosa, I was shocked at the incredible poverty down there. Hard to get a grasp when you live right off campus of UA...a school with a $1.4 billion endowment. I grew up in suburban New Orleans and attended a Catholic school. I didn’t realize how incredibly lucky I was to be born into the middle class.

But I think we need a more holistic approach than just the idea of throwing more money into a broken system. Why does this extreme poverty exist? And why have the policies of the last several decades have failed those highly impoverished people? We can’t keep doing the same thing. It isn’t working and I don’t think it’s because there is a lack of taxpayer money.

 

[gangstonc]

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/...dopoulos.html?referer=https://t.co/hip2eHsoj8

The start of the investigation wasn’t the Steele Dossier.

 

[Jacob]

I realize Trump has a list of faults a mile long, but until the left regains some sense of rationality, they are only going to help re-elect him in 2020.

 

[Derek00]

Not sure if this belongs in the politics section, but I thought this was a nice reminder that the entire planet isn't a dumpster fire. Good news to start the year off:

http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news...f-man-who-vandalized-their-building/893988116

 

[Mike S]

 

[Mike S]

 

[Kory]

Unemployment among black workers is at its lowest since at least the early 1970s, when the government began tracking the data.

The black unemployment rate of 6.8 percent in December was the lowest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking it in 1972, a year in which the rate ranged from 11.2 percent to 9.4 percent. In the 45 years the data has been tracked, the unemployment rate for black or African-American workers aged 16 years and older has never fallen below 7 percent.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/05/black-unemployment-rate-falls-to-record-low.html

 

[Kory]

On Friday morning, the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment numbers for December, bookending President Trump’s first year in office. While the number of jobs added was lower than many analysts expected — up 148,000 — it was a continuation of the trend of growth seen over the course of 2017.

With those numbers in hand, we can now compare Trump’s first year in office to his predecessors’. And in that comparison, Trump comes out looking pretty good.

Relative to the figure from January in each president’s first year in office (excluding those presidents who took office after a death or resignation), Trump saw one of the biggest percentage-point drops in the unemployment rate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-were-very-very-good/?utm_term=.2fed17285b93

 

[Kory]

The Trump administration’s regulatory rollback has ignited business and consumer optimism, driving economic growth at pace few anticipated. Having passed tax reform, Republicans are looking to pick up the pace by further encouraging businesses investment, cutting taxes for working and middle-class families, and eliminating the perverse incentives that drive our businesses, jobs and dollars to other nations.

While Democrats are mired in their disingenuous mantra on tax breaks for the rich, Republicans have focused their tax reform efforts on exactly the right goal: economic growth that benefits everyone. There was a time when Democrats understood the difference. As President Kennedy described it, economic growth is that tide that lifts all boats, putting the lie to the notion that class warfare is either desirable or inevitable.


The key to meaningful economic growth is business investment. During President Obama’s tenure, the regulatory state expanded, taxes increased and investment declined, hobbling economic growth and leading to predictions of prolonged stagnation. As recently as March, Obama administration economist Jason Furman was predicting a decade of GDP growth of “around 2 percent a year.” In May, Larry Summers, another former Obama economist, was comparing a belief in the Trump administration’s forecast of 3 percent GDP growth to believing “in tooth fairies and ludicrous supply-side economics.”


They were wrong. As the Trump administration deregulates at an historic pace, it is no coincidence that business optimism is hitting historic highs, driving both increased investment and greater GDP growth. Our economygrew 3.1 percent in the second quarter of this year and 3.2 percent in the third. It was the first time we’ve had two consecutive quarters of 3 percent or better GDP growth since 2014, and these were the first two full quarters under President Trump.

http://thehill.com/opinion/finance/...revitalizing-the-american-economy-under-trump

 

[KoD]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-were-very-very-good/?utm_term=.2fed17285b93

Good job numbers, but I feel like the change in unemployment during the first year of a president is the least relevant year to that particular president. I'd say it's more indicative of what kind of economy that president inherited.
Looking at a bigger picture, unemployment from day one of Obama's presidency until now:

But we all know there's more to this than unemployment rate.
No doubt that Trump's deregulatory actions have given the markets greater confidence, and hopefully with this new tax bill we'll see more companies hiring more & offering higher wages.

 

[KoD]

Quite the fascinating testimony from this Fusion GPS transcript released hours ago.

 

[Kory]

Dangerous precedent.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5255559/Trump-says-reform-Americas-libel-laws.html

 

[Derek00]

The hits keep-a comin'



Trump married Melania in 2005. This ordeal with Stormy Daniels apparently happened in 2006. I would say I'm curious to see how his evangelical supporters react to this, but in reality we're just going to see "FAKE NEWZ" all over the place.

 

[KoD]

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

 

[David in SW Blount]

The hits keep-a comin'



Trump married Melania in 2005. This ordeal with Stormy Daniels apparently happened in 2006. I would say I'm curious to see how his evangelical supporters react to this, but in reality we're just going to see "FAKE NEWZ" all over the place.

His evangelical supporters demonstrated very clearly in 2016 that this type of thing isn't a deal breaker for them. He can just bring in some of his evangelical pastor advisers to claim he's a changed man now, or they'll point out that God uses very flawed people to accomplish great things all the while none of his words or behaviors change in the slightest. Maybe, just maybe, if Trump was caught in a gay relationship they might change their tune.

 

[Mike S]

Trump is the golden calf

 

[Kory]