The First 100 days

Discussion in 'West Mall' started by theiioftx, Nov 10, 2016.

  1. BrntOrngStmpeDe

    BrntOrngStmpeDe 1,000+ Posts

    We also all get hurt buy China undercutting, dumping, IP theft and currency manipulation. That pain is the death of a thousand cuts that has slowly creeped up on us. No one wants the tariffs to be permanent, but putting the screws to China seems to be the only way they will modify their approach. Is there pain to us, yes, but there is more pain to them. In my experience, the guy that is going to run out of oxygen first, will be the one to tap out of the mutual choke hold.
     
  2. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    I thought this was pretty impressive

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Monahorns

    Monahorns 5,000+ Posts

    I think anyone in the working class is enjoying the economy compared to the last 10 years. Those numbers reflect that.
     
  4. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    how are the trillion dollar annual deficits coming along? As I recall that was a kind of big deal when Obama was running them up.

    Good thing we never have to pay for them in the future, right?

    Right?
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  5. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    By the way, this deal let Trump/Mitch get three Federalist Society judges past Feinstein/Kamala Harris and onto the 9th Circuit.
    There is hope for the world yet
     
    • Like Like x 1
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2018
  6. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    LOL. You are fake news. Like you guys suddenly care about budgets. Get out of here with that shyte.


    [​IMG]
     
  7. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    who are the you guys you refer to/

    I haven't voted for a democrat for president in recent cycles.

    ANd when they are in control you comics point it out as one of the traps for the future.

    When are the Republicans going to address the matter? Or just bring it up when Dems are doing it.

    This can't go on forever and passing more tax cuts doesn't seem to improve things.

    You are a gifted comic but keep averting your eyes from dangers in front of us.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  8. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    as for fake news, are you saying there are no such deficits? Or that they just don't matter when the right people run them up?
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  9. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Heh. That's OK man. I needed the good laugh with the way the Texans are playing. I guess you win since I laughed so hard you sent iced tea out my nostrils
     
  10. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Speaking of spending, a bill was introduced in the House to fully fund the Wall -- $16 billion for a "physical barrier" with the remaining going for "personnel, technology, sensors, and other supplementary resources" -- $23.4B total
     
  11. Monahorns

    Monahorns 5,000+ Posts

    huisache, I am with you on that. That is one of the worst points of Trump's era so far, spending is up not down. It will all fall apart someday, but who knows when and who knows how? Until then make what you can and save it away.
     
  12. Mr. Deez

    Mr. Deez Beer Prophet

    Trump ran on opposing entitlement reform, boosting defense, boosting veterans benefits, and boosting infrastructure. If those are treated as givens, that's not going to be good for the deficit, and it really is a disgrace. Yes, it was bad when Obama and the Democrats ran big deficits early in his term, but it was far more defensible, because the economy was in the tank and revenue was down. None of that is the case now. The economy is strong and revenue is up. We're just spending money like crazy people.

    What's worse is that nobody cares. The GOP obviously doesn't care, because if they did, then they wouldn't do it. The Democrats only pretend to care. They'd take back the tax cuts for political reasons not for budgetary reasons, and then they'd do Medicare for All and free tuition. That plan would make a $1T deficit look like chump change.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  13. Phil Elliott

    Phil Elliott 2,500+ Posts

    I'd like to see some action taken on the deficit, but, I've wanted that since Reagan was president, and I've just given up.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  14. ProdigalHorn

    ProdigalHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Most of the hispanics I know are pretty adamant about LEGAL immigration, and don't particularly like allowing people to enter illegally. They're also a lot more socially conservative in general, and the progressive whackiness does not play well with them. Conservatives need to be out in the Latino communities of Texas and throughout the Southwest (including So Cal) making their case, because they have a good one.
     
  15. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    I agree and have long felt this way. I was saying the same about folks in the Midwest/Rustbelt and union workers (excluding teachers unions) for a long time. Seems like Trump got to them in 2016 and is still holding them now. So maybe this group is next? Woke Hispanics would send them into convulsions.

    If so -- and I was just wondering about this today by coincidence -- what will the Dems do about it? What if they get to a point where they realize they cannot win elections? Or at least cannot win elections in enough states for it to matter? How will they react? Clearly they will not just lay back and take it (like Rs did for a long time).

    I think we have already witnessed part of their scheme -- register illegal aliens to vote. What else can they do? I suspect they may try to change the law, or interpretation of the law so that certain votes dont count (ex - all registered gun owners must be "crazy" and we cant let crazy people vote). Maybe a serious challenge to Electoral System? Or maybe they will change try to change they way congressional seats are disbursed? I have seen them lately attacking Senate apportionment (saying it's a racist system designed to perpetuate white privilege).
     
  16. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Even Variety concedes Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes was no match. Trump "won every segment of the interview because he was utterly unable to brook doubt"

    " .... And, like Melania Trump’s utterly-on-message, relentlessly forward-moving TV interview, the President’s interview had effectively the same impact as a rally; it allowed him to bulldoze his chief enemy, the media, while airing his own points at ceaseless length. The lesson the media has evidently not learned yet is not to be sitting right there when he does it.

    ...... the interview seemed governed by two motives, both of which played into the hands of a media-savvy President whose refusal to play by typical rules of engagement has been at the center of his rise.

    First, Stahl seemed to want to conduct a definitive interview with Trump summarizing his presidency so far. In so doing, she skittered across the map of global and domestic issues, seeming to touch on every topic under the sun, from the ultra-current — the fate of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi — to the more long-range. Questions about, say, North Korea, tariffs on China, climate change, and NATO were met with long bursts of Trumpian verbiage, spilling out so fast they seemed barely able to be edited. What fell away in editing, or what was barely allowed to happen in the time allotted, were many follow-ups.

    And when follow-up questions did happen, they seemed to fall into the interview’s second trap: Trying to crack the code of Donald Trump, human being. “I wish you could go to Greenland,” Stahl mused in the brief portion of the interview dealing with climate change, “watch these huge chunks of ice just falling into the ocean, raising the sea levels.” Trump shouted her down, predictably unmoved by Stahl’s evident passion about a story imbued with dread. He won every segment of the interview because he was utterly unable to brook doubt — and, at this point, a broadcast dealing with a president who cannot face facts must be armed with real facts of their own. Stahl asked Trump about “the scientists who say [the effects of climate change are] worse than ever,” but was unprepared to cite one; knowing, now, that the human factor will not work on Trump, a broadcaster should be prepared to cite hard facts in a face-off with the President....."

    ‘60 Minutes’ Was Outmatched by Trump (Column)
     
  17. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    If there is a new punk band out there looking for a cool bandname, "Horseface and Her 3rd Rate Lawyer" is available.


    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2018
  18. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

     
    • Like Like x 1
  19. Sangre Naranjada

    Sangre Naranjada 10,000+ Posts

    I can think of nothing more fitting for that horrid witch than to run and lose...again. I don't care if it happens in the primaries or the general. What another sound rejection by the good people of the USA would do to her psyche, well, it is precisely what that hag deserves.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  20. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    I too am concerned that Republicans seemingly only care about the deficit when a Democrat is President. Didn't the Tea Party/Republicans force the sequester through in order to attack the deficit?

    The other thing that is interesting is why tax cuts seem to automatically increase the deficit. Do we hoard the increases on our paychecks? Why doesn't the extra money in our pockets not work on the economy the way QE did? Is it not enough? Should taxes have been lowered further? Are we saying priming the pump only "saves" the economy at the cost of higher government debt?

    To me, the only real way to get out of the debt problem other than seriously large (draconian) budget cuts which all seem to be politically impossible. Clinton ran a surplus and it seemed he had to driving factors: 1) The peace dividend from the end of the cold war 2) The industrial boom of the internet build-out, Y2K, computers on every desk top and home (see Dell's boom).

    Have we had an industrial boom other than smartphones? Are we now just churning/refreshing upgraded products and only seeing growth because of confidence in the future? And if the economy is booming, why are we not seeing the deficit fall? Is it the tax cuts?

    It's complicated.
     
  21. militaryhorn

    militaryhorn Prediction Contest Manager

    Government spending for discretionary dollars isn't the problem...sort of. Yes, we need a balanced budget plus a surplus but the real issue which will not be addressed by either party is the interest on the debt and must pays, i.e. Social Security, Medicare and other services the government doles out.


    Realistically, we need to stop grant monies (but we can't because businesses aren't going to spend that kind of money on research), figuring out how to make Social Security fund itself (Ha!), lowering medical costs (my idea is make medical services post actual prices for their services which creates competition).

    And...what nobody wants to hear, create a separate tax just for paying down the debt, i.e. a national sales tax.
     
  22. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    A national sales tax would be interesting to work down the debt but I just believe the earmark will be diverted and spending will remaining out of control. I'd also like them to earmark SS 100% to the liaibility side and truly separating the remaining budget so we have transparency and hopefully solvency. But I will say I am tired of the Republicans beating the Democrats over the head about the deficit then not living up to their rhetoric when they have the power.

    You know, I have two children; one 21 and in college, the other 14. My biggest concern is not climate change, the debt or terrorist attacks; it is their medical insurance and/or medical costs in the future. I don't know enough about it to intelligently argue the merits of the ACA but I am in favor of retaining the portability (pre-existing conditions) along with the right to keep our kids on our plan until they are 26 years old.

    But I have no idea how to give ALL Americans access to affordable health insurance. I'm 60 years old and have had insurance benefits since I began working my first corporate job in 1982. It had a bearing on my life's choices and I managed myself so I could have insurance. I recall HIPPA (if that was it) and how insurance was portable as long as you didn't have a break in coverage longer than 59 days. I now work for a public company and my insurance premiums for myself and my two children under a very good PPO is $216 PER MONTH! It's subsidized by the corporation (possibly 80%) so that benefit right there is why I'm still working. I could dial it down salary-wise and find something to do with myself but insurance is the deciding factor; especially for my children.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  23. Mr. Deez

    Mr. Deez Beer Prophet

    It was actually a Mutually Assured Destruction mechanism that was supposed to force Congress and the White House to reach a budget deal. The deal never came together, which triggered the mechanism.

    Don't confuse correlation with causation. The deficit often increases in the wake of tax cuts, but if you look at the revenue side of the equation there's almost never an actual drop in revenue. It's almost always a spending problem.

    The extra money helps the economy in a lot of ways. Yes, there's a priming of the pump in which consumers spend money and create additional demand for goods and services, which boosts the economy. However, the really big impact is that higher income individuals and businesses have extra money to invest in new products, services, etc.

    You had a few factors in play. First, the technology sector of the economy exploded, and the groundwork for that had been laid for many years. It was a big enough of an impact to counter the negative impact of the 1990 and 1993 tax increases. Second you had investment tax relief in 1995 such helped even further. Third, the GOP leadership in Congress took their promises to hold the line on spending seriously, so they made it a priority at least to a point. Fourth, the entitlement dumpster fire wasn't in our face yet, though it was foreseeable. Finally, Bill Clinton was more dedicated to his cock (and therefore staying in office) than he was to a liberal policy agenda, so though he put up some resistance to the GOP for show, he went along with 90 percent of it. Most of the spending discipline happened, as did the investment tax relief, and Clinton kept Alan Greenspan at the Fed.

    Because we're spending a hell of a lot more money now. If revenue goes up $20B but spending goes up $120B, the deficit will go up.
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  24. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

    Mr D
    I have a rudimentary understanding of how our economy works.
    I did know enough to laugh at the Libs who sputter the tax cuts caused the deficit to rise
    but this ^^^^ is a great tutororial. I can't tell you how much I learned.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  25. BrntOrngStmpeDe

    BrntOrngStmpeDe 1,000+ Posts

    I've always maintained that Hispanics and Blacks are actually about 80% in line with the conservative message. They only thing the GOP needs to do to get a higher percentage of minority voters is figure out how to talk about Anti-Affirmative action and border control in a way that doesn't sound racial.
     
  26. Mr. Deez

    Mr. Deez Beer Prophet

    Thanks. What's sad is that i rarely hear Republicans discuss this stuff with any depth at all. Revenue is almost never talked about.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  27. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

    You would think that Repubs would be happy to point out revenue is up considering the Dems screamed loud and long that the tax cuts would result in a severe loss of revenue
    But then R's would have to address spending and they do not want to go there.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  28. VYFan

    VYFan 2,500+ Posts

    The deficits are very bad, and yes, each dollar now counts just as much as during the Obama administration. Many things Obama did were clearly causing increases; have any Trump policies done so? The main thing to discuss, I suppose is the tax cut—has it actually raised the deficit? So, I agree that Rs don’t mention debt these days, but is the increase we now see just structural or because of new policies? Actual question, not rhetorical.
     
  29. Monahorns

    Monahorns 5,000+ Posts

    If anyone is serious about the deficit there are only 3 things that matter: Social Security, Healthcare spending, Military.

    These things will never be addressed because: "it kills old people", "it kills old and poor people", "war is the health of the state".
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  30. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    @Mr. Deez

    Good stuff. I was being more rhetorical than literal in my questions but your response was good to read. The thing I was really asking is this: Why do the Democrats get away with saying tax cuts cause deficits when the numbers are so readily available? I've not seen any numbers since the cuts were enacted. It should be simple as there are two numbers: Revenues & Spending. If I were a Republican strategist I'd be pushing these numbers out there constantly assuming you are correct.
     

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