President Trump is on the attack.
Trump is after House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell in an escalating feud.
Who is right?
Blame Game
Let’s kick the debate off with a review of the Reuters’ article Trump blames Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell for debt ceiling ‘mess’.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday congressional leaders could have avoided a legislative “mess” if they had heeded his advice on raising the U.S. debt ceiling, renewing criticism of fellow Republicans whose support he needs to advance his policy agenda.
Trump said he had advised Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan to link passage of legislation raising the debt ceiling to a measure on veterans affairs that he signed on Aug. 12.
“I requested that Mitch M & Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval,” Trump said a in Twitter post.
“They … didn’t do it so now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling approval. Could have been so easy-now a mess!” he added, referring to Democrats.
The Treasury Department, already using “extraordinary measures” to remain current on its obligations, has said the limit on the amount the federal government may borrow must be raised by Sept. 29.
Relations With McConnell
Trump also reiterated his criticism of McConnell on Thursday over the Senate’s failure in July to pass a bill to replace Democratic former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, legislation opposed by Republicans since it was enacted in 2010.
“The only problem I have with Mitch McConnell is that, after hearing Repeal & Replace for 7 years, he failed! That should NEVER have happened!,” Trump said in a tweet.
McConnell offered muted criticism of Trump on Thursday, saying he was “a little concerned about some of the trade rhetoric” by the president and others.
Trump has repeatedly condemned trade deals he believes are bad for American workers and for the U.S. economy. On Tuesday he cast doubt on any deal emerging to improve the North America Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. “We’ll end up probably terminating NAFTA at some point,” he said.
“Trade is a winner for America,” McConnell told a gathering of Kentucky farmers and lawmakers. “You may or may not know this, but of all the current free trade agreements that we have with the various countries all around the world, if you add them all up, we actually have a trade surplus.”
Who is right, Trump or McConnell?
OK, who is right?
The answer: McConnell is mostly correct when he states that he is “a little concerned about some of the trade rhetoric”.
McConnell should be more than a “little concerned” about Trump’s inane trade policy. We all should be very concerned.
However, Trump is correct about Obamacare, Paul Ryan, and the deficit.
Speaker Ryan is totally useless.
What Does it Take?
What the heck does it take to get some leadership in the House and Senate to actually get something useful done?
No Answer
I have no answer to what I just asked. My expectation is that taxpayers get the worst of both viewpoints.
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An ideal trade agreement can fit on a napkin: Effective immediately, all tariffs and all subsidies, on all goods and services ends today.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
The repubs certainly are a big disappointment. I heard that after Jerk McCain killed the Obamacare repeal bill, he boasted about how he loved making things difficult for The Donald. Why do the repubs let him keep calling himself a republican? They need to “impeach” him from their party.
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It’s a small (but powerful) club and we ain’t in it. Recall how they typically put up the next in line for president, regardless of if they are the best person for the job, or even if they know the person can’t win. This is one reason they hate Trump. He is like the first black admitted to a previously all white country club….because they were forced to. Trump cut in line, showed no respect or deference to their hierarchy, and threatens to open the gates to all kinds of riffraff.
They are a bunch of arrogant asses and they need to go, and Trump just got there. He is illuminating them for what they are and they are looking for cover like roaches after turning on the lights.
Regardless of policy or agenda, they will not allow this to stand. They want no others going trump on them.
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Welll said
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And the worst part about it is they seem willing to start a war within their own country to guarantee not only Trump’s failure, but our inability to elect another Trump in the future.
However, I don’t think they are intentionally trying to start a war, they’re just doing what they always do: politicizing things in an attempt to woo votes. For them it’s a game. They’ve lost touch with the fact that *because* the Federal Government reaches so deeply into the lives of everyday citizens, *everything* matters – it isn’t a game to the man on the street. If they didn’t possess so much power, most people wouldn’t really care. But that’s not the case.
And what everyone seems to forget is that the inherent danger when playing the “identity politics” game is that if you do happen to trigger a conflict, there are no uniforms…other than skin color. At that point, it won’t matter if you’re a white antifa or white supremacist…or a black republican or a BLM member…
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The behavior of the established parties pretty much guarantees the next election will be 100% “Trumps” (not necessarily people who support Trump — but rebel rouzers and trouble makers).
The Tea Party, Bernie the senile Socialist, Trump … all part of the same trend.
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He isn’t illuminating anything. THEY will sacrifice some things in order to make it appear something is being done. Ultimately, they are all controlled cutouts and nary a thing does get accomplished. This drama is all created, not unlike a hollywood script. Their allegiance is only to one entity. Pity the fools who believe that Trump is their savior.
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You heard?
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YEP !! SEVEN years of saying if only given a chance they would repeal and replace…..and can’t giterdone………
WEAK SISTERS !!!!!
Only thing keeping the “R’s above water is that the stooopid Democrats are running HARD LEFT, away from the vast majority of the voters……
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True dat BillyBob, the evil party still manages to stay even worse than the stupid party.
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effectively, there is only one party
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Trump was elected for pretty specific purposes and it is the Republicans stopping his agenda, and everyone who voted for him knows it. They are pissing about “wasting” money on a wall, when it is the PEOPLE who voted for Trump that want it. We’ve seen trillions pissed away on war and every Pipedream imaginable, AND WE WANT OUR DAMNED WALL, even if it is a waste. These people were NOT elected because we are too dumb to figure things out, they were HIRED to do our bidding. Period.
I will never accept that they are our betters, if anything they are our “lessers” as most of us would never stoop to the levels typical to their trade.
Time for them to accept that THEY WORK FOR US, and they were NOT hired to be our brain, our heart or our conscience.
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One good thing, trump seems to know the effective pressure points, and maybe that will work, but if you follow the fight to its logical path, at some point we have Trump holding certain people by the balls with a large pair of pliers, and some others pasting targets on the Donald’s temporal zone. Let’s guess where that goes. I’ll be making the popcorn for sure,
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I have more respect for whores than most of our politicians. We have a few good ones but there are so few they can’t accomplish anything.
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Noone ever has nor ever will, do anybody elses bidding.
If only people could grow up enough to recognize something that simple and obvious, perhaps they would advance beyond the level of two bit stooges, cheering and pumping their fists for whatever useless hacks claiming that he will do “our” bidding…
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are you saying politicians don’t do the bidding of their paymasters?
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Only to the extent it serves their own interest.
No different than a for profit corporation. Or a non profit one, for that matter.
If McDonalds could get away with it as there were no other sellers of food out there, they’d charge starvation causing prices for their wares.. Just as de facto regulated monopolies in the “health care” and “real estate” rackets do. They don’t care if that causes people to croak or suffer. Politicians are no different. Nor are any government department of bureau. Every one of them perfectly happy to have people starve to death, as long as they get “their” pensions.
And, also just as wrt corporations, the only thing that causes them to behave, and in fact do a great job serving people, is people’s ability to route around them and leave, if they don’t behave. Just as American governments weren’t all that bad as long as there were a frontier people could bolt for. (Of course, towards those whose skin color prevented them from packing up and leaving, those same governments were just like any old regular, abusive, enslaving government…..)
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I agree but we are all responsible to someone and it’s about time these assholes understood WHO they are responsible to.
Without a doubt we should never assume that anyone will put their interests above ours, but Jesus, this level of transparent indifference to their employer’s wishes is surely grounds for dismissal.
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Jefferson’s quip about a revolution a generation, enabled by a 2nd amendment that was not hollowed out, was supposed to make sure the “assholes understood WHO they are responsible to.”
The guys with the biggest guns are always the masters. And the rest slaves. No amount of childish cackling about “rule of law”, and “thiiingz are diiiferent noooow” will ever change that. The Founders knew that. As did the rest of the population. Hence the 2nd.
And then came the progressive era……… And with it, ever greater disparity in armament between those who were supposed to be servants, and those who were supposed to be masters…… Hence, where we are today. A population of nothing more than simple slaves. To the likes of Paul Ryan, Chuck Schumer, Obama, Trump and whatever sleazeball has preferential access to them…
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… of all the current free trade agreements that we have with the various countries all around the world, if you add them all up, we actually have a trade surplus.”
… The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with Venezuela was $454 million in 2016.
…. and on and on. Now what is it (shells moving around and abracadabra…}
Let’s move on to our panel of experts:
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Moe knows.
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I thought cameras were banned from Fed Reserve meetings.
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The “Oh crap” moment came for me when sanctions against Russia passed by essentially 100% of congress. If that doesn’t tell you it’s hopeless nothing will. Stick a fork in it. Our goose is cooked.
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I picture Eisenhower rolling over, and over in his grave, He warned us over 56 years ago and now CONgress is totally infiltrated. Meanwhile the MSM has most of the public in a tranzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
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The power vacuum in Washington, D.C. is center stage for the entire world to enjoy—at our peril…
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Trump and the republicans were elected in 2016 to do THREE things:
1. Build the Wall
2. Repeal obamacare
3. Get out of the Paris Accords, TTP and NAFTA (or heavily modify in America’s favor)
That is all they need to do. Everything else is gravy (like Supreme Court picks)
It would be a yuge breath of fresh air to actually see politicians KEEP campaign promises. And they would win 2018 in a landslide.
Somehow, RINOs and fake republicans think blocking Trump doing these three things will help them…
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I’ve been watching closely and maybe, just maybe, he is going to accomplish his promises by destroying both the repubs and the dems. Just seems like it with all the pep rallies he has. Stay in touch with the voter base and push against the narrative and the crappy politicians. Eventually he draws attention to CONgress and the people focus.
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#3 on your list is largely accomplished. Paris accord was just stupid, anti-US nonsense that no competent president would have even entertained. TPP was written by and for large global corporations like Apple that don’t pay taxes but think other people should.
NAFTA is a good idea in concept, but poorly implemented. If it can be modified to be a two way street (actual free trade in both directions), it could be a great thing.
#1 — a wall isn’t needed. Just create a withholding tax on all remittances to Mexico, and make the illegals file tax forms if they want some of their money back. If California taxpayers want to pay for schools out of their own pockets (no federal subsidies) — lets see how many weeks it takes them to go bankrupt. Even Gov Moonbeam is starting to realize his fantasy spending isn’t going to work.
Obamacare should be repealed, but with losers like Ryan and McConnell it will probably just collapse instead. Until there is true cost control in health care, this free lunch fantasy is going to crash head on with the military industrial complex AND the elderly entitlement complex.
Will Washington DC give up their military industrial complex spending? Will Washington DC give up their entitlement complex spending? Both those systems are broke. Will Washington DC formally default on Treasury debt?
McConnell and Ryan are both smoking crack. An economy growing 5-6% per year (ahem, many would argue a lot less) cannot support spending that grows 30% per year. That is math, not politics.
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I agree that we shouldn’t need the wall in a rational world, but ain’t. The current immigration levels are transitory and would easily reverse with any change of winds in Congress. We have been fighting over immigration reform for years and the reason nothing has happened has been due to the FACT that regardless of law, only those parts that any administration chooses to enforce, will be. Reforms that create a path for legalization are fought primarily because it is seen as a magnet for more illegal immigration because we KNOW that enforcement will not prevent them from coming. A WALL is not subject to the whims of political winds and is the ONLY means of advancing true reform.
It is stupid. It is wasteful. It is depressing, and it is absolutely indicative of our failed and corrupt government. Politicians apposed to it are not doing so based on ANY principle, only because keeping this divisive chaos going keeps them in power. Solutions are easy to figure out, but problems exist because they are fulfilling the needs of some.
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The problem is that once Congress endorses one group ignoring withholding (and taxes in general) — everyone starts to do it.
For all the socialist rhetoric and flower power speeches out of California… one of the most popular topics on Youtube now is how to retrofit a van to be a “stealth RV”. This allows freeloaders (citizens, not just illegals) to live in California without paying rent or property tax or really anything else. The van can be registered out of state, so even auto taxes are optional.
What can Gov Moonbeam say? Its OK for illegals to do it, but citizens should live by the law? His own support base already called BS on that dumb idea.
And as more and more people hear about the freeloaders, and more and more people hear about Apple Computer evading taxes… why shouldn’t everyone do it?
No democrat politician (and very few republicans) can complain about tax evasion from one group while endorsing it in another group. If Congress wasn’t so out of touch with reality, they would have figured this out long ago.
Congress is telling its constituents to ignore the law (and Congress)… and the danger is more and more people are listening.
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I wouldn’t say “Congress is telling its constituents to ignore the law.” Remember the “war on cash?” That appears to be their latest big countermeasure. Problem is, instead of acknowledging that overall tax burdens and government spending are too high or specifically cracking down on the worst offenders, our lawmakers are once again crafting a net that entangles everyone. One would think they could eventually understand that their corrosion of individual economic liberty is killing the “dynamism” economists claim to value. Youtube videos showing how to avoid property tax by living in a “stealth RV” are the economic equivalent of rats fleeing the ship. Lawmakers, wake up! This is your fault.
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Trump is a guy with a 38% approval rating but you would never know that based on the comments here. Mish’s blog is one of the places where the true believers in the messiah gather and exhort one another in prayer. It’s very entertaining.
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I would be very careful to draw too much from the so-called polls. They are a joke. There propose is to drive behavior not measure it.
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I would avoid beating around the bush and just tell it like it is:
Media opinion polls are absolutely worthless.
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Everything has a purpose. They do not choose to “inform” us because they love us. Our challenge is to stay informed while avoiding manipulation and indoctrination.
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Like millions of Americans, I choose to cancel cable TV because it is neither entertaining nor intelligent.
Like millions of Americans, I stopped subscribing many years ago to garbage newspapers written by imbeciles with childish opinions and a complete lack of facts.
Anyone who relies on mass media is misinformed at best.
If you pay for a subscription to Dennis Gartman’s “investment letter”, you get a rather handy contra-indicator. He is usually wrong. If you pay for the NYTimes or WaPo, you get the childish rants of people indoctrinated in left wing colleges. Its not even intelligent propaganda.
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Gartman….usually wrong…..HAHAHAHA….Yep!
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Trump with the 38% approval rating is disagreeing with guys who have a dismal 16% approval rating (Congress), so it shouldn’t be too surprising people are still cheering for Trump. I recall plenty of criticism regarding some of Trump’s recent decisions, especially from our host.
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Maybe he should form his own party? With 38% he would likely be the leader of the country. IMHO both the Democrats and Republicans have outlived their usefulness. It’s time for change.
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By this time it should be clear to the observant that the dems and the pubs wear different colored jerseys for show but play on the very same team.
We gave the pubs the House, the Senate and the White House and the traitors still can’t approve a piece of conservative legislation.
That’s not incompetence or disorganization. That’s deliberate. They are aiding and abetting the progressive movement to steer the nation farther to the left.
The dems will sweep the elections in 2018, recapture the Senate majority and grab 20 seats or more in the House.
All by design.
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Yes they are both corrupt and only serve their own power, but the difference is that Republicans only claim ideology to achieve their power…an ideology if allowed to come to fruition, would actually diminish their power, whereas the left’s ideology is actually in support of their power and and as that power grows, actually advances their ideology.
Republican politician success portends their ends.
Progressive politician success portends more centrally controlled collectivist POWER.
Conservatives can’t succeed except when progressives experience wholesale failure, and the moment conservative principles pay off, the progressives are back at attacking that success and the arrogance of success drives a return to “the madness”. Recall…that YOU didn’t EARN that success, and therefore owe tribute to those that ENABLED it.
It is a sick and depraved system that relies on success to enable it’s entitlement programs, while disparaging the success that funded it. It has advanced to the point that true individual success is rare, motivating corrupt success, that that IS only enabled by government, businesses either directly funded or protected by government, directly by law or covert corruption.
Our political system does not work because the only viable success for it MUST come at OUR expense.
Our free capitalist system relies on all sides of commerce to win, but increasingly our system, due to it’s laws that motivate fraud, rely on only one side winning, and then use the increasing crowd of losers as a political force to murder off even more of the remain few independent uncompromised businesses.
This IS Atlas Shrugged
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No one is going to sweep Congress on 30% obamacare increases. Both parties will be punished.
Trump is a Republican in labels only — as the RNC, Ryan and McConnell have made clear. He’s a renegade or maverick or troublemaker.
That is who is going to sweep Congress in 2018. There will be gridlock the likes of which the US has never seen before. Nothing will get done. Every crackpot idea in the world will be floated, lots of screaming and yelling…
and Uncle Sam won’t have the money to do any of it. So it won’t matter one bit.
Obamacare gets repealed (and entitlements get scaled back, military spending too) or else the US government descends into irrelevance like dozens of failed empires before it. And yup, that means your precious Social Security check fades away too (you will still get a check, it just won’t buy anything).
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Media opinion polls are like the back end of a digestive track (staying PG13)….
Remember how those same opinion polls said the fugitive Hillary was going to get 85% of the vote?
@John Smith, you just made a fool of yourself by quoting such discredited nonsense. Who knows if Trump will lie like Obama and Bush (no one can lie like Hillary) — but quoting media opinion polls is just stupid
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If you support corrupted establishment swamp dwellers who care nothing about ordinary Americans who elected them to office then McConnell and Ryan are right.
If you support challenging the status quo of more for them and less for you then Trump is right.
The media is a very powerful force. The continuous Trump bashing brainwashes a large faction of the American public. Most people don’t take the time to investigate the underlying story. They buy what they’re told on the 6 ‘o clock news.
Trump does represent real change. That’s why he’s being attacked tooth and nail.
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We elected Trump to drain the swamp (or at least try to)… no one with a brain cell in their head expected the swamp to go quietly
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“Effective immediately, all tariffs and all subsidies, on all goods and services ends today.”
I would like to see an article with images showing how this would work (not remember if there has been such?). With logic the trade would be unbalanced since all or most of the stuff would be manufactured in cheaper countries. Might work if the salaries and all expenses would be the same allover the world. Hope that is not the aim here since we all would be working on the living wages of some poor Asians in a sweatshop.
I just don’t get it how abolishing all import taxes and the rest would benefit the normal man. I would be greatful to understand the logic behind it to value the argument myself. Since just words or numbers are hard to decipher, I wish such an article would come with tables and other helpful images.
Has this ever been tried anywhere and how did it work? The tax havens come to mind but they are benefiting NOT having taxes like others so they are leeches of a kind.
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In 1900 we funded 90%of our federal budget with protectionist tarrifs and had a positive trade balance. We can pretend it wouldn’t work but there is proof that it has and could. My first choice would be for Americans to actually behave protectionist in their purchasing, but given that has proven impossible, law is our only protection.
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The average man benefits from having as many things available as possible, as cheaply as possible.
Ditto, the average company benefits from having available as many inputs as possible, as cheaply as possible. As this enables them to produce things as cheaply as possible. Hence be as competitive as possible.
Now, as many companies as possible, each being as competitive sa possible, is what causes them to need more workers. Underpinning sustainable increases in the demand for labor. Which is what causes the average man’s wages to rise.
So, cheaper goods, higher wages….. As seen everywhere where trade and competition is free, compared to where they are not. North vs South Korea, Hong Kong vs pre Deng China, West vs East Germany etc….
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I get the idea that prizes are lower due to competition. However, when automation and robots are taken into the equation that spells unemployment. When one is unable to find a job and has no income or only option is to take very low-paying job, that is not working as a beneficial change.
Adidas moved its production from Asia back to Germany and opened a new fully automated factory. No need for laborers.
How about that as an image of future? My only question is, are the customers going to be robots as well? Others are soon out of jobs and not able to afford a pair of shoes.
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Unless the companies operating in your country, as in the ones primarily bidding for labor in country, face lower costs of “everything” aside from straight up productive labor, than their competitors anywhere else; they won’t be in a position to optimally compete. Hence won’t be hiring as many people, and bidding up wages as high, as they would if they were more competitive.
There are no alternate ways to sustainably higher labor demand than more competitive industry. You may be able to “create more jobs” by banning import of everything that goes into building a car, so that lots and lots of people can get hired to hand carry things around, but those jobs won’t be well paying ones……
The onus is on “straight up productive labor,” though. And that’s where America, and the West, is failing. It doesn’t matter how low trade barriers are, if an ever shrinking pool of productive laborers have to feed the wealth and consumption of ever greater numbers of dead weight politicians, lawyers, administrators and other leeches. Plus an even more outsized army of generally self serving halfwits, who believe it’s governments’, central banks’ and legal systems’ role to hand them massive welfare redistribution in the form of “asset appreciation.” As in, steal enough from those who produce, to not only pay for the depreciation of some house that sits there decaying and being worn down, but to, in addition, even provide the illusion that the shack actually “goes up in vaijue.” The increase in consumption this value increase enables, have to come from somewhere. And it sure ain’t the guy sitting on his rear “making money off his house…” Or stocks, or any other pumped up “asset” for that matter. Instead, it is simply stolen. From those who produce. And from the competitiveness of otherwise productive companies, which prevents them from being as competitive as otherwise. Hence from hiring as many, for as much, to do more productive work.
The above, ever more entrenched in our “ownership society”, asset pumping, financialized dystopia, is where the money goes, that renders US companies unable to compete sufficiently to bid up wages in lockstep with efficiency improvements. Not to China nor to any other imaginary hobgoblin the bankster classes benefitting from the redistribution keeps drumming up. Chinese workers, like workers most places, generate more value than they take out in the form of consumption over a lifetime. Hence, by even the simplest of three year old’s logic, does not make anyone poorer.
The same certainly can not be said for the leech army that has entrenched themselves in western societies under guise of “ownership societies” in the decades following Nixon’s full retard moment. None of whom does anything productive, as in none of whom put anything into the value pot. Yet all of whom are now, under enforcement by government, consuming what others create at an ever greater rate. Those are the guys to point the blame, and honestly ideally guns, at. But of course those include virtually all the middlebrow dopes that people have been indoctrinated to believe are their “leaders.” So instead, the pliant, indoctrinated masses do as told, and point their fingers at whatever imaginary hobgoblin they are told to blame. Whether that be some Chinese, Mexican or power tool containing a microchip. While, just as instructed to, ignoring the army of thieving, less-than-zero, utterly expendable garbage next door, generally across a gated community fence.
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I suspect this is really about Russia and Trump being upset that McConnell didn’t do more to protect him from the investigation
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All the balls are in President Trump’s court.
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“Speaker Ryan is totally useless”
Just doing exactly what’s expected of him since his colleagues begged him to accept the position vacated by John Boehner.
Ryan knows more about Obamacare than anybody you could name. It’s why Romney chose him as a VP running mate. He actually reads the bills he votes on. He actually knows what the ACA says, what’s in it and what is not. For that issue to be dead in the water with as much political power the public has granted to the GOP has to come down on Paul Ryan.
How can it not?
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Running on the “success” of 30% premium increases and doubling of deductibles? We are talking about a government program that isn’t even viable for long — the economy has never grown 30% yoy. None of the Asian Tigers or Celtic Tiger or any other country has ever achieved the kind of growth needed to make Obamacare work.
Defying one’s support base for a program that “might” work may or may not be a problem in future elections… but defying one’s support base for a program that is mathematically guaranteed to collapse? That is just stupid
Ryan has no political future unless he gets Obamacare repealed.
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There are two problems associated with the US National Debt:
1) The debt of a monetary sovereign is inherently risk-free so it should yield no more than 0%* yet our National Debt, except for physical fiat, aka “cash”, has positive interest (interest on reserves(IOR)) or yields (e.g. 10 yr. US Treasury Bonds)!
2) The demand for fiat (aka “money”, cash and account balances at the central bank (aka “reserves” in the case of banks) – also part of the National Debt) is artificially suppressed in that, except for grubby, unsafe, inconvenient physical fiat, only depository institutions (aka “banks”) may use it in the private sector!
A third potential problem is the risk of price inflation in fiat as its supply, as it should be**, is increased. Correcting 2) should reduce this risk but correcting 1) might increase the risk since no one, including foreigners, would be able to buy welfare proportional to account balance with US dollars anymore (or hoard them at no cost***) but instead be induced to buy real US goods and services with them – thus decreasing the US trade deficit.
*to avoid welfare proportional to account balance, rather than need.
** Some increase in the supply of fiat is a moral and practical necessity to:
a) prevent the old from looting the young as the population grows but the supply of fiat doesn’t.
b) to counter actual deflation in the supply of fiat caused by negative yield/interest on all US sovereign debt (e.g. physical fiat (“cash”), private sector account balances*** at the central bank, US Treasury Bills, US Treasury Bonds).
*** US citizens, otoh, should be allowed to save up to, say, $250,000 negative-interest-free, in their new, inherently risk-free accounts at the central bank itself, alongside the banks and other private depository institutions. This means, of course, that government-provided deposit insurance and all other privileges for the banks, credit unions, etc. could (and should) be abolished.
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Go take a basic economics course or go move to Venezuela.
Nothing you babbled about is accurate
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Go take a basic economics course Medex Man
And be taught, for example, the discredited “loanable funds” theory of bank credit creation?
Do you still believe that theory yourself or are you advising me to learn
a falsehood?
Nothing you babbled about is accurate Medex Man
Well, we already know that economic text books are not to be trusted just from their teaching the discredited “loanable funds” theory of bank credit creation. And Steve Keen discredits economic text books much more in his book “Debunking Economics” so perhaps everything or nearly everthing you think you know that contradicts my comments is what is lacking in truth.
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“Speaker Ryan is totally useless.”
MOST of the Reps are. They’re RINOs because, due to our money dependent election process which is FAR too long by design in order to require huge sums of money which then insure all pols not able to fund their own campaigns are BOUGHT by the time they reach office, they are beholden to many of the very same moneyed special interests as the Dems.
The Reps are the mostly phony opposition who provide crumbs like gun rights protection (and Obamacare repeal… no, wait) but are little different than Dems on anything that relates to the status quo flow of vast sums of taxpayer funds and new debt accrued on their tab. Two sides of the same coin.
Come on, this is BLATANTLY obvious, but I suspect most people don’t want to face the facts because it means admitting that they as an individual are powerless and any chance whatsoever of real change would require an intelligent and informed voting public when that simply AIN’T going to happen. Look at how the VAST swamp has constantly attacked and obstructed the one guy who snuck through the corrupt party machine vetting process and who threatens the gravy train’s status quo.
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“insure” to “ensure”. WordPress’ no editing “feature” sux.
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Preach It!
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The problem may be improper incentivizing of politicians. How fast would a salesman complete sales if only paid by the hour. Politicians should be totally paid from any surplus remaining after all other bills are paid. If they tried to do that with higher taxes they would be voted out of office quickly. If they continued with the various handouts and giveaway programs there would never be anything left for their own pay. Hopefully enough people would be around to rat on bribes collected and received during political campaign season.
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Proposed tax cuts.
At this point no way legislation brought before October … or, iow, after FY2017 books closed. US government on track for a $700 billion deficit for current FY.
We’re talking TAX CUTS?!?
Lets see large scale SPENDING CUTS first … before tax cuts even broached.
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“We’re talking TAX CUTS?!?
Lets see large scale SPENDING CUTS first … before tax cuts even broached.”
Every politician knows the economy is running on debt expansion.
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If by “every politician”, you mean status quo-ers in DC and elsewhere. No argument.
It will work till it doesn’t. But the costs of servicing $trillion deficits and debt totaling into the tens of $trillions cements the US in low growth (at best) quagmire … at least “till it doesn’t” shows up.
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Who is in sync with the cycles of history? The peak and trough of a cycle are extremes. At the peak of a cycle everyone is fat and happy. At the trough, it is a polar opposite mood. It is not one big happy family. The winners and the losers are squared off against each other.
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BREAKING NEWS: “President Trump is on the attack”…
Come on: It’s what he does best, if he’s not too busy promoting himself.
And really, no need for Trump to play well with others…
Recall his campaign promise: “I ALONE can fix this”.
So, no reason to fully staff; no need for a functional government.
Just sit back and enjoy the unbelievable show:
it’s a “reality” side-show of epic proportions…
with Trump occasionally “acting” Presidential when he follows the script.
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Western governments are dysfunctional. The national mood is such that too many cooks are stirring the pot. Too many influences are being exerted on politicians. Thus nothing gets done since democrats and republicans cannot work together because their goals are so far apart.
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There has never been a “perfect” government, but I have to say that the US government and the US political system appear to be in disarray. The level of infighting has grown exponentially since Trump was elected.
It’s literally like listening to children bickering and name calling. “I’m building the wall even if we have to close down our government!”
It’s very sad when all parties involved (Democrats, Republicans, or the president) would rather harm the country than work together.
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“Work together or harm the country” is a false choice. US Federal government is, by design, intended to be a much smaller influence on daily life than it is today. It is, by design, intended to be paralyzed and unable to act unless there is a very strong consensus to do so. In recent administrations most federal politicians agreed on bigger government and more involvement in daily life. Given that track record, this latest discord has the potential to be a step in the right direction and it is in no way obviously “harmful,” despite our popular press portraying it that way. If they actually agree on something and that something ends up being yet another bad decision, then *that* will be potentially harmful.
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The US is already being harmed, by the resulting uncertainty alone. It is very difficult for businesses or individuals to plan for the future (say, expand your business) when you don’t know what’s coming in terms of; health care, taxes, trade agreements etc.
So they wait to make their investment and expand the business until more clarity appears. They could be waiting for the next 4 years and that IS harmful.
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The decision matters more than the wait.
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One of the easiest way to solve most of the problem that we, the people have with congress would be term limits..Yeah, I know I’m dreaming, the truth is, you’ll never be able to beat the hogs away from the feed trough..sometimes I think a armed revolt would do it, but the reality of that is, it probably would’nt turn out well, and probably break up the country. Not to mention a lot of people getting killed for nothing. I don’t know what the answer is.. I thing I’m sure of, is that at some point our ecomony is in for a huge shock, and when it happens, all hell is going to break loose, and, just as soon as the free shit army figures out that the EBT cards don’t work and the utilitys, rent, etc, are’nt getting paid, look for all the major cities in the country to go up in flames.. We, as a country are in for some rough times.. Hmmm, living off the grid and homesteading in Alaska, is starting to look appealing..
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