Trump’s cabinet picks disagree with him in key areas such as the deficit, trade, foreign policy, and climate change.
Those divergent views will pose a challenge for the incoming administration.
- The president-elect’s pick for budget director, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R., S.C.), has opposed raising the debt ceiling, but Mr. Trump has proposed steep tax cuts and large increases in defense and infrastructure spending that many economists believe will cause the deficit to grow.
- Several of his cabinet selections backed a trade deal negotiated by President Barack Obama with Asian nations, which Mr. Trump opposed and has vowed to abandon.
- His choice for the State Department, Rex Tillerson, has said he believes science proves climate change is being caused in part by human behavior, something Mr. Trump in the past has called a “hoax.”
- Wilbur Ross, his selection for commerce secretary; Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who’s been tapped to become ambassador to China; and his selection for defense secretary, retired Gen. James Mattis, have all spoken favorably of the Obama administration’s proposed trade deal with Asian countries, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Mr. Trump has promised to end this trade deal as part of his initiative to redraw U.S. trade rules.
- His pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has called a federal policy that forces increased use of ethanol and other biofuels into the U.S. fuel supply “unworkable” and backed a 2013 lawsuit challenging the measure. But, before the first caucuses during his early Republican primary fights, Mr. Trump told Iowans supporting the ethanol mandate he was “with you 100%.”
- Gen. Mattis, who is revered by many in the military, has other foreign policy views that differ from his prospective new boss. He has been sharply critical of Russia’s intentions in Ukraine, while Mr. Trump has deflected criticism about Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he wants to improve U.S. relations with the Kremlin.
Tim Naftali, the former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library who teaches history at New York University, said it isn’t out of the ordinary for presidents to appoint cabinet members with differing viewpoints.
What is unusual about the incoming Trump administration, he said, is that his core White House leadership team doesn’t have the administrative background that’s useful in managing policy differences.
“The key here is not the fact that these are smart, successful people who view the world differently,” Mr. Naftali said. “That’s not new. It’s the fact that the center of the operation has absolutely no experience managing policy differences.”
Add in Trump’s propensity to tweet anything and everything and one has to wonder how long some of these people will last.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
” one has to wonder how long some of these people will last.”
Exactly what I was thinking. I expect to hear some more of “You’re fired!”, something The Donald has lots of experience at.
Trump is an autocratic business tycoon. They will reflect his wishes or be replaced. Simply as that.
You are right about DJT … but it won’t be that simple to replace.
All these cabinet picks (and many others) need to be confirmed by the Senate. Republicans only have a narrow margin (52 R senators) … and with Ds likely to vote en masse against … it will be herding cats for the Republicans to get consensus. A lot of political capital could be wasted replacing. Not to mention what the All Important Stock Market would do if – heaven forbid – the goldman sachs nominee at Treasury were fired.
Firings won’t be at a whim … of course, DJT might have to learn that the Hard Way.
I believe that Trump has had a great deal of experience with the words “You’re fired.” He has already used them on a former NJ governor. This story is baloney…
Chris Christie did NOT even hear the words you are fired, he just disappeared.
Yeah, because all those policy wonks from the past have done such a great job. Really?
Trump is simply a marionette, if he doesn’t toe the line HE will be replaced by Pence. I’m sure they will have no qualms offing him.
Any bets how long Trump will last??
did we have another Narcissist as President before him??
Obama is so narcissist that he thinks he could have beaten Trump and he says it in public throwing Hillary Clinton under the bus one last time.
Actually, he probably could have. I’m convinced Bernie Sanders could have. Hillary Clinton was a flawed candidate from the beginning. She lacks the charisma that Obama and her husband have. She has no capacity to work a large audience and generate the kind of enthusiasm that Obama did. A large part of the “Obama coalition” as well as many Sanders supporters stayed home on Nov 8th. You can count me in the latter group, I voted down ticket, but not for Trump or Clinton.
The Clinton voters that I know fell into two camps. The first, and by far the majority, were voting for her because she wasn’t Trump. The other because they “wanted to be part of the historic moment”. That doesn’t exactly constitute “a movement”.
Hillary has spent most of the last 20 years arranging the party organization to quash opposition to her candidacy. She learned from her loss to Obama that any opposition has to be crushed as early as possible. She did this by stacking the DNC with her faithful (bought and paid for). So anyone of stature who hinted at a run against her was quietly told they could expect no more support ($$$) from the DNC and would get the primary challenge of their lives in their current office if they went ahead.
Regardless, this pissing match between Obama and Trump is juvenile and should be beneath the dignity of the highest office in the land.
Trump has surrounded himself with oligarchs.
Maybe he will fire them all once he is inaugurated.
I expect many changes in Trump’s administration over the years. He gets the people he needs for whatever the situation at the time dictates.
If something or someone isn’t getting the desired result, he moves on. That includes not only people, but policy.
He’s a master at getting into people’s heads, and staying there, rent free. He has his opposition, including entire nations running around with their hair on fire.
Guess who the fireman will be at the right moment.
It becomes apparent that Trump is pushing ahead with the bush clinton bush obama direction when you see Nancy Pelosi jump onto the Trump Train over his Infrastructure planss. Same scheme that Chicago used to sell its parking meters to a private entity. Its an old Russian oligarchs trick called privatization that they used on Ukraine and Republicans adopted back in the 80s. Everything will belong to large corp I ratipns and citizens will have no control. Not good.
Putin is hated by american elites because he STOPPED the privatization of everything and actually took over 50+% control of the most significant oil companies to russian government through corporate restructuring after confiscating the oil interests of Khodorkovsky after Khodorkovskys corruption and bribe and tax evasion conviction.
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ALL the privatizations in Russia during drunk-Jeltsin were full of corruption and cheating but instead of jailing every billionaire oligarch with ill-gotten gains Putin made the richest of them Khodorkovsky an example and bought out many strategic assets from oligarchs who had gotten them through corruption and fraud after Khodorkovsky was sentenced as an example that a billionaire oligarch can lose everything and end up in prison.
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The corrupt and criminal oligarchs were eager to sell and enjoy being billionaires instead of trying to squeeze even more billions out of their wealth and risk getting their corruption and scams prosecuted and end up like Khodorkovsky.
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Putin also takes transit fees from all oil and gas leaving Russia to russian government and buys russian voters votes by giving them welfare from the money earned from oil and gas transit fees and earned from russian government interest in oil and gas companies and oil and gas fields.
Putin is buying russians votes with welfare just like democrats do in the USA with the only difference being that democrats buy the votes with increasing government debt and Putin buys his votes with oil and gas income that russian government gets.
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Trump made very Putin like comments in his election campaign by saying that the Keystone Pipeline should be built but that US government should get part ownership of the pipeline and part of the profits of the pipeline.
This is exactly the russian model for taking part of the oil and gas money through transit fees that the government gets and Ukraine government used to also earn these transit fees for gas pipelines running through Ukraine so it is an accepted model in Europe that government should get part of profits.
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In USA all profits have been previously given to the private sector so a little bit of lobbyist money to get something approved and built and private sector gets everything and the country gets nothing and the only way to pay welfare and government operation is to get into more and more debt.
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The previous US model where private interests get all the profits and US government gets nothing despite the projects not being possible without huge involvement by US government is the oligarch model.
In US the oligarchs are just called bankers and billionaires…
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I hope Trump does not follow the privatize everything model that lobbyists are lobbying for…
If you want to watch a privatization scandal in its early stages, take a look at the sewer collapse north of Detroit. I just found out that the sewers were privatized in 2012 into private corporation that is buried in corporate layers. The County Commissioner has lost his bid for reelection and took all the vital information off line and cites and townships have lost vital info needed to do repairs. I’m betting the FBI will be involved soon.
As long as the Corporatists appointed by the Corporatist in Chief toe the Corporatist line, all will function smoothly,,,,at the expense of small business sole proprietors, worker bees and taxpayers.
Well I agree Trump needs to stop tweeting everything. When Obama says he would have defeated Trump n a presidential election, and if this was a bait, it damn sure worked as it makes Trump look immature and even childish to respond to Obama’s remark. Mish I agree with u that the corporate tax should b cut to zero. In addition all these regulations that r reducing productivity-I mean there r still so many disincentives for corporations to hire Americans even with a zero tax rate-environmental regs, health care regs just to name a few. In addition if a “perfect” simplification of the tax code was made-if there is such a thing-and a”perfect” health care plan was to b put into place-if there is such a thing- we still would have a really hard time increasing growth because of too much public, private debt throughout the country and the world. In addition we still have the many cultural problems of violence. drugs, pornography, and corruption with no respect for traditional values r the rule of law. Trump needs a new slogan like “we r all n this together” if we r ever going to solve these many daunting problems we Americans face at this point n our history. And well I haven’t even mentioned the many challenging geopolitical problems we face that Trump’s cabinet picks r going to have to help him with.
Obamas goal with his statement was to build his legacy with the claim that he would have won and also undermine Trumps legitimacy as president.
Obama was also happy to throw Hillary Clinton under the bus for one last time.
“I would have won Trump” is the childish statement that completely lacks dignity.
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Would any other outgoing president make such a NARCISSISTIC claim as Obama?
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I am happy Trump made clear that he thinks Obamas narcissistic statement is total B*llsh*t.
Trump stops with his statement Obamas narcissistic statement from becoming the common wisdom thrown at Trump for the next 4 years,
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If a republican would make a statement like Obama just did after a woman candidate had just lost he would be accused of MISOGYNY.
Obama was an still is for a couple weeks the NARCISSIST-in-chief.
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You left out Labor secretary Andrew Puzder who was a huge supporter of AMNESTY and bragged that his california employees (illegal immigrants) were more eager to work and thankful for the job than americans in other parts of the country.
Puzder is also a fanatic in regards to automation and would like to automate everything if possible.
Further Puzders Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s restaurants pay crappy wages of 8 dollars an hour and Puzder would like to crash wages even further if possible for whole of USA (hence the fanatical demands for AMNESTY).
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Trump promised higher wages, Puzder wants to crash wages.
Trump promised NO AMNESTY and A WALL, Puzder was lobbying for AMNESTY and keeping OPEN BORDERS.
Trump promised more jobs, Puzder would like to automate the existing jobs.
Trump won because he gave working americans hope of being respected after democrats disdaining them, Puzder thinks americans are LAZY.
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I have NEVER seen a cabinet appointment who has a history of thinking everything the president talked about is total crap and there should be completely opposite policies by government from what the president promised.
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Either Trump is CLUELESS and got played by lobbyists and Romney and Paul Ryan (amnesty fanatic) and Trumps own Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (architect of the 2012 autopsy which recommended Republicans should become the party of AMNESTY to win future elections)
OR Trump has been FAKE from the start.
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If Puzder is made Labor secretary that will be the first election promise Donald Trump breaks…
What is the big deal with immigration? It seems to be more important than the economy, foreign policy , social policy and Obamacare. It riles people up so much. I dont understand how 11 million (illegal) can threaten 265 million citizens?
In California, it is common to be told to pres 1 for English, on business answer machines. The California Voters Pamphlet has information in a dozen languages.
Illegal immigration pushes wages lower for tens of millions of americans because illegal immigrants will work for the minimum wage or even less and because they are illegal they will also work extra hours for free.
If an american is not willing to work for the minimum wage the company hires an illegal immigrant so companies only need to offer minimum wage jobs.
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Illegal immigration takes at least 10 million jobs from americans meaning 10 million americans are unemployed because of illegal immigrants.
Now clueless people would say “these are jobs americans will not do” completely obivious to the fact that without illegal immigrants these jobs would still need to get done so the companies would have to pay at least minimum wage and most of the time over minimum wage and give wages for all the actual hours worked to AMERICANS working these jobs to get employees because these are jobs that need to get done.
But since companies employ illegal immigrants for low wages the americans stay unemployed.
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Illegal immigrants also take AWAY funds from schools because teaching illegal immigrants children costs money so because illegal immigrant kids need schooling there is NOT money in the budget to better educate those AMERICANS with learning problems so for example many black americans are just pushed through the school system without learning enough because there is NO money to give them tutors and extra help in education because the illegal immigrant students take all that money.
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The illegal immigrants right now take scholarship money and free education money and affirmative action extra places away from black AMERICANS so illegal immigrants kids are studying for free in american universities and colleges instead of black americans.
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Illegal immigrants are one of the reasons hospital costs are so high because every hospital that has an emergency room is required by law to treat every person going there so when illegal immigrants get really sick they get to ER and it costs a lot to treat them and since the hospital is required by law to treat them the costs get passed to the american customers of said hospital so if american goes to that hospital they will be forced to pay in cash enough to pay for all the free treatments or if they pay with health insurance their health insurance is required to pay for all the free treatments so that is why health insurance costs are through the roof.
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The about 10,000 dollars an american family pays for the birth of one child is NOT paid by the illegal immigrant. They give birth for FREE so the Smith family paying 10,000 dollars for the birth of their baby is actually paying for the Rodriquez and Gonzalez families having a baby so without illegal immigration the smith family would pay 3,333 dollars but since they are paying for Rodriquez and Gonzalez whose babies the hospital is required by law to give free births the hospital needs to charge Smiths 10,000 in order for the hospital not to go bankrupt.
With regards to health insurance the process is the same the american family just pays more for health insurance when their health insurance partially covers the costs of birth because the hospital bills more for the births because of illegal immigrants.
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Illegal immigrants are also entitled to EBT food stamps (SNAP) so many millions are getting these and it is all money the americans are paying in their taxes or money their children will have to pay back for the portion that is funded by the ever increasing US government debt.
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There are many state welfare programs also and with California being the most generous millions of illegals are in there and since taxes pay for this welfare given to illlegal immigrants that is one of the reasons california taxes are so high.
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Then there is the section-8 subsidized housing which illegal immigrants are also using and because money does not grow in trees the illegal immigrants using this program means that the money they use is away from americans using this program so there are NOT enough funds to support americans and the waiting lists for Section-8 are up to 3 years long so the homeless american veteran you see living on the street is probably living on the street because he does not have money to pay his own apartment and he can NOT get the money because section-8 waiting lists are either closed or they have up to 3 year waiting times because the burden illegal immigarnts put on Section-8 housing.
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Then there is the fact that there are many violent Mexican and Salvadoran and Guatemalan and Honduran gangs committing crimes and selling drugs so illegal immigarnts bring increased crime and increased amount of drugs available so society and maerican youth are ravaged by crime and drugs.
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Then there are the many horrendous rapes and murders committed by illegal immigrants like the gang-rape and killing with a hammer of 64 year old american army veteran Marilyn Pharis by illegal immigrants Victor Aureliano Martinez Ramirez, 29 and Jose Fernando Villagomez, 20.
Also since the border is NON-EXISTENT between US and Mexico the murderer of young woman Kate Steinle in San Francisco was deported 5 times from US but still came back and because San Francisco is a sanctuary city they released him from lockup despite his other crimes and he ended up shooting Kate Steinle dead in San Francisco pier a few days after San Francisco authorities had released him despite him committing other crimes earlier and being an illegal immigrant that should have been deported like he was deported 5 times before.
San Francisco let Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez kill Kate Steinle because San Francisco is a sanctuary city.
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There are tens of other reasons why illegal immigrants are harmful to the US and all americans including african americans, asian americans and hispanic americans and LEGAL immigrants but I hope the points above are enough to convince even the most open borders leftist that borders need to be controlled and illegal immigrants need to be removed.
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ALL ILLEGAL immigrants must be removed and a wall built to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and already deported people and drugs to USA.
My two cents:
1. Most Republican Presidents have had to alter the socialist economic policies followed by Democratic Presidents to get the economy to fire on all cylinders once again. By the time the correction has manifested itself, the population having felt the pain of the correction, vote once more for Democrats and this cycle goes on almost like clockwork. The exception to this rule is probably Bill Clinton who conducted himself more like a Corporatist Republican rather than a Democratic Liberal.
I think Trump will face the same challenges as other Republican Presidents but would have to traverse a far more difficult terrain owing to the current debt situation and the fact that he is a non-Establishment candidate. Whether he will succeed or fail is uncertain. But he will certainly have the cooperation of his cabinet picks or they could be fired at any time. His cabinet may try to sway his thinking somewhat and that is healthy exercise but Trump is no pushover like Obama. He knows he has to be tough to get his stated agenda pushed through.
2. Many in the cabinet may have voted/approved of the TPP/TTIP and the way trade is currently conducted with China. But they are now in the political field and realize that they have to change their stripes to survive. This should not be too difficult as TPP/TTIP are already deemed failures and China is also not in a position to go on the offensive since they need the US as much as the US needs them. So I don’t see too much of a problem here except some initial friction followed by compromises from both sides..
3. Many sincerely believe that Climate Change is, at best, an unproven science. There have been centuries when the earth has gotten cooler and then reversed and gotten warmer in major time cycles. These cycles are so long that it is impossible to lay a definitive cause for the warming cycle. In fact in the past warming cycle, there was no industrialization so to state the global warning is a man made phenomenon cannot be proved in its entirety although it is possible that burning of fossil fuels may somewhat affect the situation in the short term. Therefore Trump could be somewhat correct to believe it is a hoax and perhaps introduced as a tax by globalists to fund their cause.
4. The use of ethanol as a fuel supplement is really not necessary as its composition in the overall fuel trade is relatively small (<10%) . Moreover, it promotes growth of GMO crops that many do not want although admittedly direct ethanol use is very minute in the foods industry. Trump may change his mind on Ethanol if he needs to as he has flip flopped on several other occasions.
5. Mattis will fall in line with Trump on Russia. After all it is Trump who is the boss and not Mattis. I am sure Trump may have discussed Mattis's views on Ukraine before finally deciding to select him into the cabinet.
I would however agree that the team is inexperienced politically and will have to feel their way around hurdles. That may be the biggest challenge of all to overcome. If Trump selected established bureaucrats into his cabinet, control over them would be far too difficult. He has virtually no other choice.
Cabinet Apprentice.
It already happened to Chris Christie (and the lobbyists he brought in).
But Trump has a history of being able to herd cats.
How about – “keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?”
That’s the thought I had as the list progressed. Hopefully he hasn’t sold out. And he would be relying on Mike Pence, who knows the ropes.
EJHR good comment.
I never have nor do I now believe he will represent his voters. Politicians never do. Sure he will do some things for his voters like try to help with jobs and infrastructure jobs, but other then not it will be business as usual. He may even be at odds with the outrageous prices the MIC is bilking the people for their new weapon systems. He may stop many federal governmental departments from running the country thru regulation. I do not see much else he will do. He talks a good game with his plans but not going to happen.
Stop funding sanctuary cities may happen but in the end he will not do it and complain about it. Appeal the current Obamacare not going to happen.
My experience with running a Brigade in the military of approximately 5500 men plus attached support, I learned you have to surround yourself with good people even if they disagree with you. You cannot make good decisions with every subordinate being a yes man or woman. I think that is what he is doing. He is not stupid, even with his tweets which are done to piss people and the opposition off and nothing more. Trump got more free publicity then any other presidential runner and now elect in history, I think it is brilliant. This is PSYOPS at it best my friends. Disinformation being put out there and judging the publics and the opposition’s reaction is brilliant. Nothing is locked in stone.
We can call the man whatever we like and by all means I am not a fan but he is being smart using the media that hates him to find out what the country thinks in advance of his official policies once in office. Many think appointing rich people is just another oligarch and yet there is another way to look at it. These guys will not be bribed or bought off that’s for sure. I imagine we will not see the real thing until the man is sworn in. Most of what is going on is to garner public opinion and the opposition’s ability to fight back on the issues. He will pick his battles and is gathering his intelligence before the battles begin.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Nobody knows BUT
all that matters is what you believe. Despite all the leftist protests yelling Trump is not their president, University of Michigan, which tracks consumer confidence, has reported that we have reached a new 13 year high!!!
If we remove California, Trump won the popular vote in the Nation. The consumer sentiment index reached a record high since 2004 at 98.2. This is what has been behind the Trump Rally.
If we cross the DOW 20,000 level and reach sustainable levels above that psychological number, we stand a good chance of bringing in the average investor who abandoned the market after 2007.
With a return of retail investors, then we stand a chance of pressing through the 23,000 level (the next major target) and then we may see a run that will try to reach 40,000.
Keep in mind, we are talking about a Phase Transition here. That means it will be fast and furious.
A lot of IF’s but it could happen 🙂
20,000,24,000,400000?
Based on what economic data?
Lol
Totally absurd…
Agree with some commenters above on “keep your friends close, enemies closer” — and would add that Reagan “hired” George Bush (the first one) as VP even though Bushie called Reaganomics “voodoo economics”. Read my lips: Bush knows politics, but doesn’t know sheet about economics or debt.
Having said all that: Trump doesn’t get to be President of the country he would like. He must play the hand he is dealt. The US government is nearly bankrupt, and huge unpayble promises lurk within two years of inauguration.
There is no way to fix the labor fiasco or stablize house hold income without repealing Obamacare. There is also no way to raise taxes high enough to make it work. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
People can try to handicap Congress all they like, but repealing Obamacare is not about politics its about survival. Period. Amen. Congress isn’t going to vote to repeal themselves.
Repealing Obamacare is very easy. Congress repealed it for themselves (and their staff) in less than 24 hours. Repealing it for the voters who are batsh!t angry can be done just as fast, its just a question of how much anger and social unrest it will take to force their hand. Sooner or later: its the economy stupid. Congress will bend.
The problem, which is likely to take up at least the first two years of Trump’s presidency, is what system to replace Obamacare with. They must get buy-in from citizens if the US government hopes to avoid the same fate as Italy, Greece and France.
Adults with 3yr old brains (San Francisco et at) think they can get something for nothing. Illegal aliens have nothing and are all to happy to take advantage of the clueless lefties.
Outside of Hilary-ville, the rest of the country thinks price is no object when it comes to their own care — the insurance company is paying ( or the con-artists in Washington, same thing). But the insurance company isn’t paying at all — the people paying the premiums are.
If academics bothered to read their own trash, they would know that treating health care (which is personal) as though it were a public good — its a recipe for disaster.
Getting American voters to understand that money doesn’t grow on trees and there is no such thing as a free lunch is going to occupy 110% of Trump’s time.
Plenty of cabinet members have gone to Washington with all sorts of silly agendas — but then a ‘crisis’ hits and they are forced to deal with it instead.
Trump gets to preside over the bankruptcy Obama caused. Period. Doesn’t matter what cabinet members believe or said. They will be cutting spending, eliminating programs that cost a lot but have never worked, and cutting government employee headcount… And I doubt any of them really signed up for that.
If the US government doesn’t fix its cashflow problems — then all the stuff Mish talked about doesn’t matter. Going to war against Russia or Ukraine or China or the EPA or the UN or anything else costs lots of money.
ISIS can’t threaten us, neither can Russia or China or whatever other sillyness. Mad Dog Mathis might want to fight them (with the army we can’t afford) — but that is the proverbial general fighting the last war. The enemy Mathis really fears has a calculator and a cashflow statement… Mathis has no idea how to fight bankruptcy.
The US government’s biggest threat going forward is the promises it made but cannot keep. That is our enemy whether any of us like it or not. Everyone will fight these unbearable promises, or the US will break apart.
The government of the United States is by far the most complex organization ever created in history. There are so many operating decisions that must be made on a daily basis no one person has the capacity to track even a fraction of them. This complexity gives cabinet secretaries a great deal of autonomy. This billionaire’s club Trump is putting together will make many thousands of decisions that will be too minor to be brought to “the boss” but will have great influence on the direction of the country.
These men Trump is surrounding himself with have egos the size of aircraft carriers. They are used to telling others what to do, not being told what to do. They will push on with their own agendas until things become high enough profile to get Trumps attention. By then, the direction will have been set and replacing them will too little, too late.