Random presidential thoughts

oddity -

am i mistaken or were you the person who said earlier - maybe oso or waybread- i confuse you three sometimes -

Trumps trade deals would default US? or something like that?

Please correct me if I'm mistaken?

Trade deals are what make or break the bank. You end trade deals with all those bogus countries who are pleased to do US in, you generate mfg and production in US and YES - you isolate the country's GNP and DNP and you re-structure how you share with the world, based on U.S. getting the lion's share of it's own worth and not partying it out to other countries.

History of U.S. goods has for at least a century plus had been good quality, fair prices - and our dollar held it's own in the world economy and we didn't have to go knocking door to door on the folks who we've given money to ask for it back or to beg for some additional.

Until the NAFTA Clinton's arrived with big fat open purses and nothing in them.

The funny thing about gov't - when you start running it like a business, it starts to look and yield like one should - strength, profit, stock and a bustling economy.

When you run it like a non-profit - you start to look like a beggar.

The only thing I have to say about this presidential election is that I hope the ones who have too much and the ones who have nothing can work a deal amongst themselves, while the ones, like me and my clan, who have something humble but want to hold onto it - Vote for Trump.

America is obese in fat and government and it's time for a survival weight loss plan.

waybread said:

David, since I don't see elections as a Punch and Judy show ruled by the military industrial complex, I can't answer your cynical question. In fact, a general election, in which ordinary people's votes count just as much as a plutocrat's, is one of the times when raw power is mitigated.

And there have been many elections decided by a tiny vote margin.

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I don't see it as cynical, but rather observational. Those close elections are important to maintain the illusion. But we still have local, state, and Congressional, which is why I vote for those and believe my vote counts. Just the Presidency. And Congress does have an impact. Except when it comes to things like that obscene "Iraq War".

Kitchy said:

oddity -

am i mistaken or were you the person who said earlier - maybe oso or waybread- i confuse you three sometimes -

Trumps trade deals would default US? or something like that?

Please correct me if I'm mistaken?

Trade deals are what make or break the bank. You end trade deals with all those bogus countries who are pleased to do US in, you generate mfg and production in US and YES - you isolate the country's GNP and DNP and you re-structure how you share with the world, based on U.S. getting the lion's share of it's own worth and not partying it out to other countries.

History of U.S. goods has for at least a century plus had been good quality, fair prices - and our dollar held it's own in the world economy and we didn't have to go knocking door to door on the folks who we've given money to ask for it back or to beg for some additional.

Until the NAFTA Clinton's arrived with big fat open purses and nothing in them.

The funny thing about gov't - when you start running it like a business, it starts to look and yield like one should - strength, profit, stock and a bustling economy.

When you run it like a non-profit - you start to look like a beggar.

The only thing I have to say about this presidential election is that I hope the ones who have too much and the ones who have nothing can work a deal amongst themselves, while the ones, like me and my clan, who have something humble but want to hold onto it - Vote for Trump.

America is obese in fat and government and it's time for a survival weight loss plan.

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Newsflash: Governments are not businesses, they are non-profits (or should be). Their 'business' is to serve the people of the country.

It wasn't me who said that, Kitchy, but his proposed fiscal policies do not make sense.

Bring back jobs to America by slashing corporate taxes? That's not all that would have to be slashed. You'd need to get rid of those pesky health and safety regulatory boards and lower wages to $5k per year or so for factory workers. And hope you don't need to import anything from anyone to make what you make. Even then, hope that someone somewhere in America will be able to afford American goods. Even afford American groceries. The poor and working class will be hit hardest. Yeah, that's not you personally, yet, but it will go up-chain, so don't think you don't need to worry about it.

But you do. The whole point of international trade is to sell stuff you have to people who want it, and in return, buy stuff from them that you want. Everybody wins. Also, the US trade deficit is trivial, given the size of the US economy.

Trump has stated that the US should play with its debt the way he's played with his (four bankruptcies and counting). Do you know why so many countries invest in the USA? They see it as stable. If Trump starts his financial shenanigans, they won't. If he's further trying to kill international trade (why would anyone do that????), you will become isolationist, and nobody will invest in you anymore.

Then things will start to get really bad. You'll no longer be a superpower, and being a superpower, even financially, is why you get such a better shake than most countries do. Because you do, in case you haven't looked recently.

Well, hey, look at it this way: With global-warming wellunder way,by the time we've really become a Banana Republic, we'll actually be able to grow bananas!

Oddity said:

Newsflash: Governments are not businesses, they are non-profits (or should be). Their 'business' is to serve the people of the country.

It wasn't me who said that, Kitchy, but his proposed fiscal policies do not make sense.

Bring back jobs to America by slashing corporate taxes? That's not all that would have to be slashed. You'd need to get rid of those pesky health and safety regulatory boards and lower wages to $5k per year or so for factory workers. And hope you don't need to import anything from anyone to make what you make. Even then, hope that someone somewhere in America will be able to afford American goods. Even afford American groceries. The poor and working class will be hit hardest. Yeah, that's not you personally, yet, but it will go up-chain, so don't think you don't need to worry about it.

But you do. The whole point of international trade is to sell stuff you have to people who want it, and in return, buy stuff from them that you want. Everybody wins. Also, the US trade deficit is trivial, given the size of the US economy.

Trump has stated that the US should play with its debt the way he's played with his (four bankruptcies and counting). Do you know why so many countries invest in the USA? They see it as stable. If Trump starts his financial shenanigans, they won't. If he's further trying to kill international trade (why would anyone do that????), you will become isolationist, and nobody will invest in you anymore.

Then things will start to get really bad. You'll no longer be a superpower, and being a superpower, even financially, is why you get such a better shake than most countries do. Because you do, in case you haven't looked recently.

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My husband earns 40k a year - we have some investments which aren't taxed and a property sold 2 years ago that was capital gains taxed at 40% of profit - to the tune of a 40 k tax bill not to mention obamacare at 540$ per month which we used once for 4 hours and still have a bill remaining 3500 of 7800k that we're paying.

This is a continuation plan for Bill-Obama-Hillary Clinton - tax the people in the middle until you break them for good.

Trump is the antithesis of that.

The Real People in US have gotten so used to not having anything, that now they believe that anyone who has even a little, should share it equally.

FTS.

If Trump is elected, and has his way, which is unlikely because Congress will be hostile, take heart. There will be plenty more Americans with nothing.

Oddity said:

If Trump is elected, and has his way, which is unlikely because Congress will be hostile, take heart. There will be plenty more Americans with nothing.

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[IMO] Both Donald "Punch" Trump and Hillary "Judy" Clinton will carry out the agenda of the MIC in foreign-policy. Congress will pretty well determine Domestic. But Congressional races are so much less entertaining.

katydid said:

Why wouldn't he funnel his campaign business expenses into his own companies if he has them? He stayed at his own hotels and hired his own planes and his son's restaurants? Why wouldn't he want to stay in his own hotels and fly in his own planes? I certainly would.

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Because campaign donations are normally given to the campaign. It goes into a separate coffer than your personal funds. They don't go to your own pocket or to your son's winery.

Kitchy, please re-read my post #303. I think you missed it.

On international trade protectionism: it has never worked in the past, so it's unclear why Trump believes it should work now. The problem:

1. You enact barriers on imports and protections for your workers and products. (I think this is your position.)

2. Your trade partners don't take this lying down. They protect their products and enact barriers against your products. Tit for tat. So you export less of your products. In economic terms, the demand for your products declines.

3. This hurts American workers, because if they cannot export what they make, inventories build up, they make less, and get laid off.

4. The US does not make or mine a lot of goods and raw materials that it needs. We manufacture hardly any fabric or clothing in the US. We don't produce a lot of strategic minerals in adequate quantities. Some of those cheesed-off trading partners manufacture/mine things we need. They have bargaining chips.

5. Conceivably the US could become more self-sufficient in products we don't make much anymore, but this is a process of some years to reboot. Goods would become more expensive to consumers, because our labor isn't as cheap as it is in many other countries.

6. The US is engaged in many trade agreements, notably the WTO. I think the economists' consensus is that overall NAFTA has had a net benefit to the US, but only mildly so.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/nafta-20-years-later-benefits-outweigh-costs/ (This from the Wharton School of Finance.)

One wonders why, if NAFTA were so outrageously beneficial to Mexico, so many of its citizens want to move to the same country that sent its jobs south to their country.

Also, you might feel more comfortable with the Libertarian party's tax plan than with Trump's. At least the Libertarians don't have the flip-flop of the week.

Kitchy said:

The Real People in US have gotten so used to not having anything, that now they believe that anyone who has even a little, should share it equally.

FTS.

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Kitchy, a lot of "real people" support Clinton, Sanders, or small parties like the Greens and Libertarians.

So David, you actually believe that the military-industrial complex fraudulently rigs the presidential elections, but not the down-ticket elections? Your hard evidence for this is..... ?

waybread said:

Because campaign donations are normally given to the campaign. It goes into a separate coffer than your personal funds. They don't go to your own pocket or to your son's winery.

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The donations ARE going to the campaign. And the campaign requires lots of air travel and lots of hotels and restaurants.

If the candidate OWNS his own hotels and his own jet, why wouldn't he use those in his campaign? Is he supposed to rent a jet when he has his own in the hangar? Is he supposed to rent hotel rooms every night for the entire crew, when he owns dozens of hotels himself? WHO WOULD DO THAT? That would be a stupid thing to do.

I see nothing wrong with hiring his own businesses to help him run the campaign. it would have been silly to hire a jet when you own one that is sitting idle.

TRUMP, CLINTON LAUNCH PERSONAL ATTACKS IN DUELING SPEECHES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p92E_OlijJQ

Katydid, the problem is with campaign donations going to Trump's own companies and family members with no apparent or necessary connection to the campaign. It isn't just jet fuel to fly his plane. It's things like his vacation home.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2777961/trumps-campaign-spends-6-million-with-trump-companies/

While this self-payment isn't strictly illegal, it certainly smells like a conflict of interest, defined as "a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity."

I don't know if you donated to Trump's campaign, but you'd possibly prefer to think your dollars helped get his message out, not that they supported his lavish lifestyle, and effectively to make a profit on donations.

If Clinton did something like this, the Trumpistas would be in an uproar.

Bernie Sanders supporters were not very welcome in a meeting of New York Democratic delegates. The Bernie backers found they’re mic cut when they tried to speak, and one was hit with a cane by an elderly man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74UQn8kcT90

“I, Moumita Ahmed co-founded Millennials for Bernie Sanders.
I was chosen to go to the DNC in July as an at-large delegate.
We met with New York delegates yesterday 10 a.m. in Midtown at a union space
things went awry really quickly after Christine Quinn got up on stage
and declared only ONE candidate cares about poor people
and that that candidate was Hillary — as if Bernie never existed.” https://usuncut.com/resistance/bernie...

waybread said:

Katydid, the problem is with campaign donations going to Trump's own companies and family members with no apparent or necessary connection to the campaign. It isn't just jet fuel to fly his plane. It's things like his vacation home.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2777961/trumps-campaign-spends-6-million-with-trump-companies/

While this self-payment isn't strictly illegal, it certainly smells like a conflict of interest, defined as "a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity."

I don't know if you donated to Trump's campaign, but you'd possibly prefer to think your dollars helped get his message out, not that they supported his lavish lifestyle, and effectively to make a profit on donations.

If Clinton did something like this, the Trumpistas would be in an uproar.

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That so called 'article' from the internet was very one-sided. Apparently you came away from it believing that he used campaign donations to pay for 'a vacation home. 'That article wrongfully implied that. I guess none of you realized that Maralago Estates was used as his campaign headquarters in May. he hosted events there, press conferences, donor dinners, and put up some of his employees and crew.

That article or blog that you linked was very misleading. And even then, it admitted that nothing he did was illegal.

That 'blog' is the Associated Press, which is a major news organisation. Not that they always get it right, but it's not a fly-by-night.

JUPITERASC said:

Bernie Sanders supporters were not very welcome in a meeting of New York Democratic delegates. The Bernie backers found they’re mic cut when they tried to speak, and one was hit with a cane by an elderly man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74UQn8kcT90

“I, Moumita Ahmed co-founded Millennials for Bernie Sanders.
I was chosen to go to the DNC in July as an at-large delegate.
We met with New York delegates yesterday 10 a.m. in Midtown at a union space
things went awry really quickly after Christine Quinn got up on stage
and declared only ONE candidate cares about poor people
and that that candidate was Hillary — as if Bernie never existed.” https://usuncut.com/resistance/bernie...

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Apparently, the Democrat Party under leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz promoted one candidate (Hillary Clinton) over another, which doesn't seem ethical and too partisan, and she made the party delegates have a biased preference for Clinton instead of Sanders.

And lately, conservative pundits point to the recent economic decline of post-Hugo Chavez Venezuela is "what Bernie wants for America": er, not true, in part Maduro the successor of the Chavezista movement hasn't done a good job in management of the more Soviet-style centralized economy. Nothing to do with Bernie Sanders or what his ideas are, just anti-democratic socialist propaganda by Trump, Rush Limbaugh and RW talk radio, and the GOP.

If Trump weren't so dangerously close
to being the next president
his campaign would be hilarious

WHAT IF DONALD TRUMP IS JUST AN ELABORATE PRANK? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qIQbydyHwc

I think anyone who has watched and read about Trump over the past 30+ years would agree he is not a prankster. He doesn't eff around. He has voiced his opinions on politics and government and national/world economy for at least as long in those 30 years, from his first book to news to interviews to whomever was listening - he knows all the countries that are players and he knows the history of how they deal. He also put a bid for presdential race prior to this one.

Why would anyone believe or even try to purport that it's a prank?