Where is/can Donald Trump take US (sic)?

[luutzu]

1) Trump got in because he was better than hillary. Trump offered an alternative to mainstream establishment.Trumps alternative was seen as better than the establishment in clinoton.People like the underdog anti-establishment as the establishment is bureaucratic,inefficient and corrupt. That is why Obama beat Clinton in the democratic nomination, he was underdog African american non white establishment.

2) Inequity has been with society since civilisation

3) Hopefully technology increases efficiency which rises the tide for all boats and leads to economic growth. Inequity will not be solved but life is better than in the past mainly due to technology not equity. Unfortunately automation is part o that equation, which will eventually lead to erosion of the concept of work. Who/what controls the technology will be the key factor.

4) Us politics is interesting and flows through to the rest of the world and financial markets whether that is sentiment or actual economic outcomes .Trump was treated unfairly by the media like Hanson that is part of the reason for their popularity as the underdog. If the media gave them limited attention, then that would limit the fuel to the fire. Obama bailed out banks and was weak, he could have sacrificed his career to do the right thing but was to weak at the important time to reform the financial sector and bust some heads.Instead he chose to look after his self interest. Alot of people should have gone to jail and had their money confiscated, laws changed regulators punished for failure as well. Hilary is also corrupt with many scandals and financial backers bankrolling her, that is why people voted trump.

You know how much people hate the establishment when they believe a patholigical liar like Trump over the same all bs from Clinton and other republican politicians.

I don't think anyone is expecting an equal society where all people are rich and poor alike.

It's more of an equal opportunity. An equal start in life.

So when education are affordable to the poor, they can advance themselves through studies and training. When yo make education unaffordable to most but the very rich, that's tilting the table. Not only is that unfair, it mean the country is losing a lot of potential talent and ability the poor kids whose parents can barely afford food let alone a $50K loan for some higher learning that might not get them hired because their address is wrong.

Then there's healthcare. If getting a serious illness could bankrupt the entire family... wtf chance do people have to regain anything after that?

As to technology... if you look at many of today's technology at work... they're mostly to replace workers, not to empower them.

Besides the PC and some wrench and power tool, most machineries and robotics are designed to keep labour on its toe. Don't ask for too much, don't raise your voice or be replace by these bad boys.

As to a rising tide lifting all boats and yachts and canoes... we're assuming we're all on the same high sea when in reality, we're on a lake while our water are being pumped out to lift the yachts.

This is not rhetoric. Just follow every budget and see if there's the shifting of wealth from the poor to the rich.

 

[howardbandy]

It beats the $hit out of me why, on this forum, we are paying so much attention to American politics when we should be more concerned about what is going on Australia.

I got the hint from the title of the thread -- containing both "Trump" and "US" -- which suggested to me that the thread is Intended to be about American politics.

 

[howardbandy]

Thanks Howard for your rant / post when I visited the US in the mid 80's I was shocked at the disparity in wealth and in your face people living on the streets.

I couldn't see how a wealthy country like the US could be so?

I now read commentators talking about the disappearance of jobs but isn't it just a clear case of of wealth distribution?

I think the disparities in wealth distribution are a serious problem. Recent articles showing that a few people own as much wealth as half the people in the world point out how lopsided it is. Perhaps the masses will rise up ala the 18th century French Revolution. We live in Oregon -- which has a slightly liberal political tilt and a benign climate -- both of which contribute to living on the street. So we see a lot of informal tent cities. When I was a child, then living in Wisconsin, two things were different than now. Each community had publicly supported facilities devoted to help indigent and mentally ill people; living on the street was described a "vagrancy" and was a misdemeanor crime. Closing mental health facilities puts people who should be in treatment on the street and we see them regularly. Some are scamming, but most are truly very ill and destitute. It is not a pretty life. A friend who is a professional social worker describes the details -- including that the elapsed time for any woman of any age between the time she sets up a street dwelling to the time of her first rape is less than 48 hours. And the rapes continue. In my opinion, the tent city people will not be effective warriors against wealth distribution.

I believe that automation is the more serious problem as it relates to income and wealth distribution. For example, a welding shop of a few years ago employed ten skilled "journeyman" welders. Most of these welders went through an on-the-job apprenticeship of about seven years before qualifying and earning journeyman qualification. Wages were good enough to support themselves and their family. Robotic welders are faster than people and produce higher quality welds. The shop replaced eight of the welders with two robots and one robot technician. The robot technician might have been promoted from the previous work force. Two of the previous welders stayed on. Employment drops from ten to three; "problems" such as sick leave and union activities related to the people are reduced; product quality improves. As measured by labor statisticians, productivity increases and is seen as a good thing. The welding company makes more profit, all of which goes to the owners. Those lost jobs will never come back.

Similar employment reducing automation is taking place throughout industries and services. Artificial intelligence applications are better than MD-level neurologists at interpreting MRI, CATscan and Xray results. AI legal assistants are better than trained attorneys at searching, interpreting, and applying case law. Siri-type cell phone applications understand any speech from any person without specific training. And, importantly, Siri draws on data bases to interpret and answer questions. One smartphone app lets the user put the phone up to a sign in a shop window, say a Korean grocery, recognizes the foreign characters, and tells the phone's user what is on sale at what price.

A few years ago truck drivers were highly paid members of the middle class. Jobs that could be learned in a few months, required little education, and supported a family for a lifetime. The US is now licensing over-the-road semi-trailer trucks to be completely driverless.

Measures of a country's economy, such as GDP, have traditionally been the product of the number of people employed times the productivity per person. There was a relatively narrow range of the profit added due to the productivity of each person. We continue to measure productivity of an economy as a kind of "value added" metric. The range has greatly expanded -- from say 200 welds per day to 2000 welds per day -- and the profit per weld has remained relatively constant. So GDP rises, but people are not better off.

Automation is the primary driver (no pun intended) of increased productivity. A very small percentage of the people displaced from middle class jobs with reasonable wages have the ability to profit from the automation. Most of the income and wealth goes to a very small portion of the populations.

Whether each of our social, fiscal, and political leaning is left, center, or right, these changes are inevitable. As the say goes, resistance is futile. The only option we have is to adapt as best we can.

For traders, that direction is machine learning.

Best, Howard

 

[SirRumpole]

Whether each of our social, fiscal, and political leaning is left, center, or right, these changes are inevitable. As the say goes, resistance is futile. The only option we have is to adapt as best we can.

It's also the job of governments to ensure that the transition is smooth. If companies are making more profits at the expense of the workforce then company taxes will need to rise in order to retrain those people who have been made redundant. The reverse seems to be the case in the US and elsewhere, cutting corporate tax as much as they can and not compensating the consumer who buys the product.

 

[howardbandy]

It's also the job of governments to ensure that the transition is smooth. If companies are making more profits at the expense of the workforce then company taxes will need to rise in order to retrain those people who have been made redundant. The reverse seems to be the case in the US and elsewhere, cutting corporate tax as much as they can and not compensating the consumer who buys the product.

Sir R --

Why can't you be our president?

 

[SirRumpole]

Sir R --

Why can't you be our president?

Not born in the USA .

I think Americans are wonderful people if you get the right government, but at the moment I'm really glad that I am where I am.

 

[Junior]

You never hear this brainless group criticizing Obama or Hillary Clinton.......How one sided and biased can you get?

If Clinton had won the election then we would be critiquing her policies and performance. She didn't. She lost and is irrelevant in the scheme of things.

Hence we discuss Trump.

I scanned through his budget proposals. I applaud spending cuts, given their Debt to GDP is climbing to epic proportions last seen at the end of WWII. The problem is, that the evil bastard is spending the lot X 2 on defence.

This spending is under the guise of 'defeating ISIS' which presumably involves bombing the **** out of the middle east which will no doubt drive more men into the hands of violent extremists.

 

[basilio]

What is the view of Washington re Trump ? This analyis bears thinking.

Robert Reich's dead-on accurate assessement

By Keith Pickering
Saturday Mar 18, 2017 · 5:26 AM AUSEST
588 Comments (587 New)
475


Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, still has a lot of friends in Washington on both sides of the aisle. He recently took a trip back to the capitol city and tweeted his spot-on accurate assessment of the nation and the administration.

1. Washington is more divided, angry, bewildered, and fearful — than I’ve ever seen it.

2. The angry divisions aren’t just Democrats versus Republicans. Rancor is also exploding inside the Republican Party

3. Republicans (and their patrons in big business) no longer believe Trump will give them cover to do what they want to do. They’re becoming afraid Trump is genuinely nuts, and he’ll pull the party down with him.

4. Many Republicans are also angry at Paul Ryan, whose replacement bill for Obamacare is considered by almost everyone on Capitol Hill to be incredibly dumb.

5. I didn’t talk with anyone inside the White House, but several who have had dealings with it called it a cesspool of intrigue and fear. Apparently everyone working there hates and distrusts everyone else.

6. The Washington foreign policy establishment — both Republican and Democrat — is deeply worried about what’s happening to American foreign policy, and the worldwide perception of America being loony and rudderless. They think Trump is legitimizing far-right movements around the world.

7. Long-time civil servants are getting ready to bail. If they’re close to retirement they’re already halfway out the door. Many in their 30s and 40s are in panic mode.

8. Republican pundits think Bannon is even more unhinged than Trump, seeking to destroy democracy as we’ve known it.

9. Despite all this, no one I talked with thought a Trump impeachment likely, at least not any time soon — unless there’s a smoking gun showing Trump’s involvement in Russia’s intrusion into the election.

10. Many people asked, bewilderedly, “How did this [Trump] happen?” When I suggest it had a lot to do with the 35-year-long decline of incomes of the bottom 60 percent; the growing sense, ever since the Wall Street bailout, that the game is rigged; and the utter failure of both Republicans and Democrats to reverse these trends — they give me blank stares.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/3/17/1644611/-Robert-Reich-s-dead-on-accurate-assessement

 

[DB008]

Dead on accurate assessment hey? LOL!!!

 

[IFocus]

Thanks for the nice summary Howard I remember when Regan closed all those public institutions that looked afer the mentally ill etc.

 

[luutzu]

Interesting interview on American Imperialism and the Fate of Rome.

A great quote from Mark Twain.

 

[howardbandy]

Not born in the USA .

I think Americans are wonderful people if you get the right government, but at the moment I'm really glad that I am where I am.

Hi Sir R --

Sorry for the confusion. "Why can't you be our president?" is a rhetorical question asked of anyone who seems to have a reasonable approach to the problems we are all facing. I hear it asked of some person several times every day -- without regard to whether they actually qualify to be elected.

Please accept the question as a compliment.

Best, Howard

 

[SirRumpole]

Hi Sir R --

Sorry for the confusion. "Why can't you be our president?" is a rhetorical question asked of anyone who seems to have a reasonable approach to the problems we are all facing. I hear it asked of some person several times every day -- without regard to whether they actually qualify to be elected.

Please accept the question as a compliment.

Best, Howard

Yes I know Howard, thank you.

We Australians sometimes have an ironical sense of humour that takes others a while to recognise.

All the best with your efforts, you would make a good President yourself.

 

[qldfrog]

10. Many people asked, bewilderedly, “How did this [Trump] happen?” When I suggest it had a lot to do with the 35-year-long decline of incomes of the bottom 60 percent; the growing sense, ever since the Wall Street bailout, that the game is rigged; and the utter failure of both Republicans and Democrats to reverse these trends — they give me blank stares.

That is my real worry: after brexit, Trump...No lesson learnt.The major political parties, there, here, in Europe are so far removed from the real life and people they are supposed to represent that the only way out becomes radicalism in the form of right or left wing movement; A real control on tax rort, fair treatment for all,controlling migration, proper unbiaised news [so neither ABC nor fox news] and ending the corruption (loose term but a lobby group for me is corruption) would allow democracy to survive in the western world but no lesson learnt, let's blame the Russians..would be hilarious if not so sad.
Keeping the status quo is not an option anymore

 

[luutzu]

Yes I know Howard, thank you.

We Australians sometimes have an ironical sense of humour that takes others a while to recognise.

All the best with your efforts, you would make a good President yourself.

No, Howard would make a great teacher or a tyrant. He wouldn't cut it as president in the current us democracy.

There's the enlightened prince. You'd want those kind of people to have absolute power. Then hope that once they retire they select another enlightened prince.

Today's president are all psychotic sellout. They know what they are put there for and who's buttering their bread.

So you have Paul Ryan putting into office and given a couple of serious chance at becoming president/vp... and the douche recently said that healthcare is not a right... it's not a right to be given from the gov't.

It is a right if you have money and freedom of either feeding your family or pay top dollars for medicine and medical care. But to have the gov't run that insurance policy where everyone's health is provided for when they need it.. .that's "giving too much power to the gov't"...

And ignore the part where a gov't run healthcare system is funded by taxpayers and provided to all members of Congress. That's some weird exception to the logic of freedom and fluff.

 

[luutzu]

Even Tucker, on Fox, find TrumpCare hard to believe.

 

[Knobby22]

Even Tucker, on Fox, find TrumpCare hard to believe.

Hey, Ryan's got a nice face that looks caring. He will make a good President one day.
Tucker on the other hand looks a bit like Jack Black,

 

[luutzu]

Hey, Ryan's got a nice face that looks caring. He will make a good President one day.
Tucker on the other hand looks a bit like Jack Black,

That's why he was picked by some billionaire to do his bidding - Singer if I remember right.

A good looking wholesome face to sell bs to people. I mean, Tucker was wondering out loud, going off script a bit there, about why those making over $220K a year should get more tax cuts but those earning below that get zero, see their premium rises that they either pay or get off insurance.

Ryan's response? Mehhh... Freedom, liberty.

 

[Tisme]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-21/us-to-ban-electronics-on-certain-flights/8372358

The US Government is temporarily barring passengers on certain nonstop US-bound flights from bringing laptops, iPads, cameras and some other electronics in carry-on luggage.

Key Points:

• Ban revealed by Royal Jordanian Airlines
• Unclear exactly which countries will be affected by the ban
• Similar ban tried in Britain in 2006 led to increased theft from baggage

The ban was revealed Monday in statements from Royal Jordanian Airlines and the official news agency of Saudi Arabia.

A US official said the ban would apply to nonstop flights to the US from 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

 

[luutzu]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-21/us-to-ban-electronics-on-certain-flights/8372358

There'll be an added-on service, for a price, where potential terrorists can pay up and have their laptops and hardware stored properly in the cargo area.

Kinda like certain airport offering express check ins. Just sign up, declare yourself and non-terrorist and go.