I have restrained myself mightily so far this political year, but the campaigns have become so juicy, so nutty, so deliciously crazy that I can no longer resist a political commentary.
It is now likely that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be our two choices in November. I say likely, not certain, because Trump could still do something so totally goofy that people will question his sanity, and Hillary could be indicted for putting 22 top secret emails on her private server and sharing the information with members of her personal staff over cocktails.
I know Hillary Clinton’s supporters think that President Obama will never let his Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, indict his former Secretary of State and allow Bernie Sanders to become the Democratic candidate for President, but I recently heard this sexy conspiracy theory that sounds like it is from the mind of Kevin Spacey.
Obama thinks Hillary is vulnerable because of the $22 million in personal speaking fees she has raked in since 2014, her inept inauthentic campaign, and of course her lurking indictable offense. At the pregnant moment, the theory goes, maybe late June before the Convention, Obama tells Loretta Lynch to bring the indictment. By that point Bernie’s campaign will have floundered with his money just about gone. Obama comes to the rescue and asks lovable Joe Biden, who chose not to run because of his grief over his son’s death, to step in for the good of the country to defeat the dreaded Donald Trump. What a gorgeous theatrical scenario. Biden runs a short, enthusiastic campaign and sweeps to the Presidency.
A little crazy but the ingredients are there to make it happen.
******
Ok, it sounds bizarre today, but this is the campaign from the schizo ward. Consider these recent developments. The Koch brothers who have given hundreds of millions of dollars to right wing candidates told a press interviewer that they would consider coming out for Hillary Clinton. I read this and immediately thought the world was flat.
But then things got even screwier over the weekend. At the yearly Correspondents’ Black Tie Dinner, Barack Obama did a Saturday Night Live style comedy skit with former Speaker of the House, John Boehner about what it is like to be out of office and irrelevant. The videotaped skit ended with the two men alone in a theater discussing the plusses and minuses McDonald’s all day breakfast, then Boehner digs into his pocket and offers Obama a cigarette (which he never smokes in public view). Two guys who always seemed to hate each other sharing a smoke in an empty auditorium on the President’s video.
******
The Republican campaign is winding down with Ted Cruz pinning his hopes for the nomination on the Donald’s remarks about transgender people using public bathrooms. The Cruz campaign in Indiana lost all traction when Bobby Knight came out for Trump, and Cruz called a basketball hoop a “basketball ring.” This was worse than Trump talking about “two” Corinthians. Basketball is religion in Indiana and the preacher’s son got it wrong.
******
The irony of the campaign so far is that Bernie Sanders could have had the Democratic nomination. Coming out of nowhere, he had the energy behind him and Hillary Clinton, a terrible candidate, fumbling through the motions. Bernie did talk about the $225,000 Clinton speaking fee from Goldman Sachs, but between Bill and Hillary they raked in $153 million in documented fees including $675,000 from beloved Goldman Sachs between June and October in 2013.
For some reason Sanders has said nothing about the potential indictment of Hillary, possibly because he wants to be Vice President, or he is just waiting for the Obama-Lynch move against Madame Secretary and he wants the nod instead of Biden.
******
In ending this commentary, I return to Obama’s comments in his John Stewart routine. He said Donald Trump’s knowledge of foreign policy was rather impressive – “Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina, and Miss Azerbaijan.” The Donald tweeted back – “it was just lies.”
I wonder what lies just ahead.
Question 1: Why has Trump gained such traction?
Question 2: Who will be the next President?
33 Comments
Trump has gained traction because America has not had a real leader since Reagan. Trump is telling people what many of them are waiting to hear and many misinformed Americans believe that Trump has leadership qualities, He is their perception of hope for their country.
He has done an excellent job in billing himself as the leader of the WASP electorate. Unfortunaltely something is very wrong in America when out of 340 million people Trump and Clinton are your best choices to lead your country, Bernie Sanders would be the best of the 3 but I think that will never happen in a million years. Trump is going to win this one and as the saying goes be careful what you wish for.
I guess you prefer the Communist?
Remember Bernie is in favor of up to a 90% tax rate for the wealthy.
He has yet to define exactly what wealthy is.
The more appropriate term is socialist; and I think most educated people DO prefer this. Some use the words “communism” and “taxation” as poison words; but the real conversation should be about properly pooling resources for the benefit of all.
Look at Norway. They have it figured it out.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is spiraling out of control by funding the few and the powerful.
Put your ego aside for a moment; as I am guessing that you are not one of the .01% that I am referring to.
Peace.
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A…. (substituting grades for dollars – something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
It could not be any simpler than that.
There are five morals to this story:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Two quotes:
Socialism is the gradual and less violent form of communism
Vladimir Bukovsky
The goal of socialism is communism.
Vladimir Lenin
Lloyd I think you mentioned an article a few weeks/months back that did an excellent job of explaining the phenomenon of Trump, and to a lesser degree Sanders – Edsall’s “Why Trump Now” in the Times. I thought it was a very worthwhile read.
Uncle Joe will continue Our Greatest Presidents lead.
A better choice would be Eric Holder for President to continue moving this country in the positive direction Mr. Obama started.
Obama has laid the foundation for the destruction of this great country!
Hillary getting in will only assure that the process is completed……
click here for bumper sticker
Click here to see that lovable Uncle Joe and his gaffes
I remember my dad trying to choose “the lesser of two evils” in the 1968 Nixon/Hoover race. This race is that multiplied by Infinity.
I think you may mean Humphrey, as in Hubert H.?
Yes, Humphrey. My childhood memory failed me….
Leo,
Hoover, as in Herbert. Check your history.
Trump will be President!
He speaks from the heart, no PC filter, no hidden agenda.
WYSIWYG
Everyone says “Who is he?”
Read his book in his own words: “The Art of the Deal”
Nothing has changed, he is who he is,
AND he gets things done!
On time and UNDER Budget.
He will build a wall, and it will be a beautiful wall with a door.
A country is defined by its borders and people.
The establishment, regardless of who is in power, is a club, and they all keep WASTING OUR MONEY.
WE ARE BROKE!
The Government deficit is over ONE HALF TRILLION DOLLARS and rising.
forbes
The National Debt is 20 TRILLION DOLLARS and rising.
State pension funds are underfunded and under performing, soon to be broke.
Social Security Disability fund is BROKE.
Social Security Insurance will be Broke in the coming years.
OBTW – we have to bail Puerto Rico out. Can you say mismanagement?
So ALL of the other candidates have a roundabout way of saying lets take ALL of these people who cannot speak English, have NO marketable skills, and are here ILLEGALLY, and make them citizens so we can give them more government benefits that we have no way to pay for.
This is at a time when the lowest skilled, lowest paid are Striking and protesting for $15 per hour.
I hope all that post here realize that with our rapidly expanding technology in automation, CNC, robotics and self driving vehicles, that 50% of lower wage jobs will be eliminated in the coming years, including may of yours. Have you noticed that you are producing more product with less staff?
We need to do something and Trump is the only one with the NERVE, resolve and willingness to do it. He has children and grandchildren and is truly scared for then and the future of this country.
So what do we have after 8 years of “Hope & Change”
Race riots – Baltimore, Ferguson, etc…
OPEN Southern border – 50 million ILLEGALS
(no one noticed that the number has been 12 million for over 20 YEARS!)
ISIS is in every state
Pres. Obama is sending more troops to Syria, imagine that.
The mid-east is a MESS – and Trump doesn’t understand foreign policy?
It was Trump who said CONSISTENTLY, Stay out of the Middle East from day one…
We have yet to reach 3% growth in the last 7 years.
Highest amount of part time workers
Highest number of families on public assistance
Approximately 52.2 million (or 21.3 percent) people in the U.S. participated in major means-tested government assistance
NO wage increases over the past 7 years
Highest health insurance costs
Highest amount of adult children living in parents basement.
Highest student loan debt .
The “stimulus” was to fix our infrastructure, it is worse than ever. Our bridges, roads, schools and grid are crumbling.
The radical Islamic attacks, Oh excuse me that was just “Workplace Violence”.
Apple reporting their first revenue decline
Retailers closing stores everyday.
The war on coal – where are these people working now?
How is that great company Solindra? that made off with $1/2 million of our money?
I could go on, but I would hit this blog’s HTML character limit.
I hope you take some of these things into account and use your right to vote wisely!
And for those of you in the Bernie camp, at least he is an honest Communist.
Remember in the words of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher “…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. The Socialists always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”
Boenher just called Ted Lucifer in the flesh; Donald is Satan having a bad hair day and Hillary is the devil with the red dress on. We are not going to hell, we are already there i guess. Great point that we can’t find something better to represent this great country of ours. The report on Congress approval this morning was at 6% rating. Yeah! it is getting hot here and it has nothing to do with Al Gore predictions. LOL
Rick,
Don’t believe everything you read (The Art of The Deal). Before reality TV Mr Trump was famous in NYC for writing a new book shortly after he bankrupted another company. Self-promotion is his biggest talent. If elected he will be a a failed one term President (if we are lucky and he doesn’t drag the country down with him). I have no doubt he believes everything he says, i just have zero confidence he can execute any of it…
I was born, raised, educated, live and work in New York City.
Do you know about the Wollman Rink?
The rink was an emblem of civic dysfunction. Formerly a jewel in the crown of Central Park, a supporting star in films like Love Story and half a dozen others, Wollman Rink had fallen into disrepair. And what was worse was that the city seemingly had no idea how fix it. Shuttered for repairs in 1980 by the Koch administration and set to be restored at the cost of $4.7 million, by 1985, the rink was $12 million over budget and still not ready.
Bronson Binger, a visionary landscape architect and preservationist who served as the city’s assistant commissioner of capital projects, hoped to turn Wollman into “the kind of thing you would see at Buckingham Palace,” according to Julia Vitullo-Martin, who also served as an assistant commissioner in the Parks Department during the Wollman Saga, and is now a senior fellow at the Regional Plan Association. Touring the in-flux facility with a television reporter that summer, Binger pledged that the rink would be up and running by Thanksgiving. And if it’s not, the reporter asked? If it’s not, Binger said, I will resign.
It wasn’t, and he did.
The Koch administration, meanwhile, was being consumed by a massive corruption scandal. Turning the project over to Trump was a way to break the political logjam and to rid himself of the cascading bureaucratic mishaps, even as Trump released a letter he wrote to Koch decrying “incompetence” that ”must be considered one of the great embarrassments of your administration.” (Koch meanwhile railed to anyone who would listen that Trump was a “blowhard” and a “supreme egotistical lightweight,” according to Soffer, his biographer.)
In allowing Trump to build the rink, Koch didn’t exactly capitulate—Trump had originally wanted to pay for the renovation himself, covering his costs by running the rink and an adjacent restaurant. In the final deal, the city paid for the renovation, and the profits were all donated to charity.
Trump had Wollman Rink up and running by November 1, TWO MONTHS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE and $775,000 UNDER BUDGET. Skating stars like Dorothy Hamill, Scott Hamilton, Dick Button, and Aja Zanova-Steindler glided across the ice at the ribbon cutting, with Button declaring the new rink to be like skating on velvet.
“This serves as an example of what New York, the wealthiest city in the world, can do in terms of saving money—if things are done right,” Trump said. “If we could just plan and execute, it would be billions and billions of dollars that would be saved.”
That in my humble estimation is results, that I have seen with my own eyes.
With his ego, Failure is NOT an option!
David
Regarding the bankrupcies;
Can you blame him for legally using the laws available to his advantage?
He invested over $1 billion in these properties which he later surrendered to banks to cover personal guarantees and satisfy the banks terms. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a reorganization process. This form of bankruptcy is commonly used in business to allow an orderly and fair process to pay creditors and keep the business open. In many cases, the banking institutions behind the troubled debt prefer businesses to follow this route as it is managed by a federal court and provides certain tax benefits to all parties. This process is anything but running away from your debts.
These four reorganizations were a minimal amount in comparison to the entire Trump organization. I imagine you would have preferred him closing each casino, firing everyone, sell everything at a fire sale, payoff creditors and walk away? That is not good business for anyone.
Madam Secretary Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is happy to remind you that she, too, has “struggled” and knows what “dead broke” feels like. “If you — you have no reason to remember, but we came out of the White House not only dead broke but in debt,…We had no money when we got there and we struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelsea’s education, you know, it was not easy,”
BUT, I am sure she will balance the budget within a year by giving speeches for hire, and trading cattle futures…
“Top Secret emails?” The facts don’t support that conclusion.
See Feb 4 Washington Post ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/02/04/how-did-top-secret-emails-end-up-on-hillary-clintons-server/).
“Classified Information?” Probably, but it is not clear that they were classified at the time they were in her emails. According to the story, a number of these emails were marked as “Classified” at a later date. The article also indicated that the Secretary of State, in many cases, has the power to decide what is Classified and what isn’t. And here’s an interesting finding noted in the article…
“Update: NBC News reported that the State Department Inspector General concluded that classified information also had been transmitted over the personal email account of Colin L. Powell and also the personal accounts of aides to Condoleezza Rice.”
And anyone who has handled Classified information knows how the government loves to put this brand on all kinds of content, much of which is already in the public domain or is totally harmless.
Yes
And as Madam Secretary Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton said of one DEAD Ambassador and three DEAD Navy Seals:
“What difference does it make”
Rick,
Guess you enjoy taking a phrase out of context. Here’s the actual quote…”With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” she said. “Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator.”
The “what difference, at this point, does it make?” had to do the the motivation of those doing the killing. There was no disrespect to those killed.
I have no problem with people supporting or not supporting one candidate over another. And no problem with calling someone down for actual faults. Every politician has plenty of them. However, it does bother me when “the other side,” whichever side it happens to be, chooses to fabricate faults or distort quotes.
This is a fact and can’t be taken out of context. Hilary “fell” hit her head and conveniently QUITE her job as secretary of state right before she was to testify before the grand jury. Is that who you want to hire as Commander in Chief? Seriously!
Morrie Goldman
I had the distinct honor and priviledge to speak with the U.S. Army Ranger, Kris “Tanto” Paronto who was there the night of September 11, 2012, when terrorists attacked the US State Department Special Mission Compound.
He told me that this was planned, there was NO relation/retaliation to a video, and the entire chain of command was aware of this.
Speaking in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi former Secretary of State Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton attempted to claim she didn’t blame the September 11, 2012 attack on a YouTube video.
“Where did the false narrative start? It started with you, Madame Secretary,” Ohio Republican Jim Jordan pressed Clinton.
“I referred to the video that night in a very specific way. I said some have sought to justify the attack because of the video. I used those words deliberately, not to ascribe a motive to every attacker but as a warning to those across the region that there was no justification for further attacks,” Clinton said.
Jordan also pointed out that while Clinton was telling the American people a video was to blame, she was emailing her family, the Libyan government and the Egyptian government about a terror attack. At the same time the Obama administration was arguing the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty and Information Management Officer Sean Smith were a result of a spontaneous protest that got out of control, not the result of a terror attack.
“We know that the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack, not a protest,” Clinton wrote to the Egyptian prime minister the night of September 11, 2012.
The administration, of which the Madame Secretary was an integral member continued the video narrative.
click here to see Hillary blame a video she knows had nothing to do with the attack at the memorial service as the FOUR DEAD BODIES are brought home
click here to see her blame a video days after the senseless PRE-PLANNED attack
click here to see a montage of the administration continue the LIE about a video.
BUT, when you are 56 days out from a presidential election, you say anything.
Will this time around be any different?
Ford used to do that all the time!
Lloyd,
You always make me think, and I always enjoy your writing and the comments you stir up. Please keep doing it!
Here’s a conspiracy theory for you. Trump has conned his way into becoming the
Republican presidential candidate in order to ensure that Hillary wins the election.
Without the mainstream media constantly bombarding us with images and talk of the Donald he would have fizzled a long time ago. The media has tried really hard to convince us it is a 2 horse race with Donald and Hillary the only candidates to consider. They are loath to say anything positive about Bernie. They must be scared of his ideas. Oh yeah, big media is owned and controlled by the super wealthy.
I’m not afraid of the honest socialist that has been singing the same tune for his whole life ruining the country. Congress will block him at every turn just like they have done to Obama. But I sure would like to see the puppets of the rich expose themselves in the process.
If Donald is elected the good ole USA will take quite a beating from the rest of the civilized world. They are already amazed at how stupid we are for even considering such a foul mouth self serving jerk to be presidential material. When The Donald wins, He wins not “We wins”. One thing he has said I do agree with is “we will get tired of all of this winning”. I am tired of all his winning already.
Listen to Bernie speak about his ideals at any political rally. You can find them online.
Decide for yourself.
Mike
please read my post above about the college professor (4th post)
“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
Alexis de Tocqueville
Some comedic relief on Hillary’s emails.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prls6Iz3B3E
You guys must be part of a very diverse group of middle-aged, white guys. That’s the only group I see supporting Trump. (I hope you told the missus who to vote for, but doubt she will follow your lead.)
The last republican we had in office almost tanked the country. You hoping Trump finishes the job, or counting on the fact that Trump isn’t a true republican?
Trump’s lies, insults, bankruptcies, boorish behavior, lack of policy details, etc. will lead to a blowout in November and the Dems taking over the House, Senate and Judiciary. Then you can all whine for another 8 years, while Texas turns Democratic.
BTW, Jesus Christ was a socialist.
Mike;
Trump is a New Yorker, where we greet one another with vulgarities, we are brash and in your face, but once you get to know us we tend to be good people, and now that Cruz & Kasich are out, he can now show the vast differences between him and the Madame Secretary. People will get to know him and make up there mind.
I am a practicing Christian, and I try to help those less fortunate.
HOWEVER Jesus was not a socialist, that is an interpretation used to promote socialism/communism.
“They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Mt 22:21 KJV
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.Mk 12:30-31 KJV
Jesus told us to take care of one another, NOT to live under a dictator (Caesar) to steal the fruits of our labor to redistribute it to those too lazy to get off their ass and work.
Regarding economies, I guess you are buying the media’s story about how wonderful things are.
Supporters of President Barack Hussein Obama II, insist that the Obama economy has been much more robust than Ronald Reagan’s.
President Reagan entered office in a period of high inflation which was stamped out by high interest rates that in turn led to the 1982 recession. His job-creation record after that may fairly be termed outstanding: nearly 20 million more Americans were employed when he left office than when the recession ended. Overall, including the recession on his watch, Reagan’s net job growth over eight years was 16.1 million.
Barack Obama entered office in different circumstances: He inherited a recession that was already well underway, which ended much earlier in his presidency than did the Reagan recession. consider the economic cycle like a bouncing ball, Obama entered office just as the ball was about to strike the pavement. The bounce, though, has proceeded in agonizingly slow motion. Some eight million jobs have been created under Obama since the mid-2009 end of the recession, with a net gain of about five million. Charting Obama and Reagan’s job-creation against overall U.S. population increases makes the picture look even worse for Obama, and the Reagan-era U.S. had a much smaller population. At any rate, more people have been added to the food-stamp rolls than the job rolls under Obama.
Reagan’s economy was so strong that, for the last three-quarters of his administration, Americans were flooding into the workforce. Under Obama, the opposite has happened, and those who have given up on working aren’t counted as unemployed. Even today, more than five years into the tepid recovery, labor-force participation remains at its lowest level since 1978. Don’t blame waves of retirement for that fact: the Census Bureau reported that, from 2005 to 2010, older Americans actually became more likely to be employed. The percentage of 65-69 year-olds remaining in the workforce jumped from 26 percent to 32 percent over a ten-year-period ending in 2012. Among those 70-74 the jump was even more startling: from 14 percent to 19.5 percent. Meanwhile workers in the prime of their lives have simply left the playing field.
How about overall growth? GDP under Reagan was turbocharged compared to the Obama years. The Reagan years brought annual real GDP growth of 3.5 percent – 4.9 percent after the recession. In inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, GDP jumped from 6.5 trillion at the end of 1980 to 8.61 trillion at the end of 1988. That’s a 32 percent bump. As Peter Ferrara pointed out on Forbes, it was the equivalent of adding the West German economy to the U.S. one.
Under Obama, GDP up to June 30, 2014 has grown an anemic 9.6 percent, total . Reagan-era growth was far more than double the Obama rate.
Ah, but did all of that Reagan bounty trickle down to ordinary Americans, though?
Yes. Real (inflation-adjusted) median household income shot up some ten percent in the Reagan years. It has flatlined under Obama.
How about Reagan’s spending record? Contrary to myth, and despite the opposition of a Democratic House of Representatives for his entire administration, Reagan achieved a reduction in federal spending as a percentage of GDP. That’s including his famed military buildup often credited with ending the Cold War and hence delivering the “peace dividend” that helped dampen federal spending in the 1990s, in which Reagan economic policy largely stayed in place. Spending fell from 22.9 percent of GDP to 22.1 percent in 1989, whereas under Obama it has hit as high as 25 percent and has steadily hovered above 24 percent. Total accumulated debt was at 53 percent of GDP when Reagan left office. Today it is at 102.7 percent of GDP, a level unprecedented since WW II. The debt has exploded by 66 percent in the Obama years.
Does a president control the economy like a puppeteer? No, nor does a president have the power to spend; that’s a Congressional duty. Nevertheless, to argue that the economy is doing better under Obama than it did under Reagan is at best obtuse and at worst partisan hackery.
And BTW, GW Bush was a liberal, more than we know. He expanded government and entitlements and spent like a drunken sailor.
And BJ Clinton was fiscally conservative. He signed welfare, reform CUTTING entitlements, lowered the capital gains rate from 28% to 20%, we was also signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, locking up thugs and drug dealers.
HOWEVER, Hillery is no Bill Clinton, Bill will be in Chapequa with the energizer. 😉
Pretty easy to turn a destroyer around (Reagan economy), much more difficult to turn a battleship (Obama economy), so comparing Reagan’s economy to Obama’s is like apples and oranges. You can’t compare the two. Truth is, Reagan began deficit spending and started us down the path.
Obama halted the slide into oblivion and has reduced the 1.4 trillion yearly deficit he inherited from W to a yearly deficit of only .5 trillion.
How about comparing Bill Clinton’s economy to W’s?
Nobody’s saying this economy is great, but it’s a lot better than it would have been if Obama hadn’t saved the auto industry.
The problem with today’s economy is wealth is too concentrated. The rich guys just buy up all the small companies and once they have a monopoly, they take their marbles off-shore where there are no regulations, no healthcare to pay and no taxes. Or they hire part-time people for the same reasons.
Is this entire board made up of just socialists?
I guess the Capitalists are too busy working to pay taxes.
Tax Freedom Day is not until May 11th here in New York State, add some more days for being in New York City.
If you think wealth is too concentrated, then you are a socialist/communist. And if you think that the government can fix everything such as wealth re-distribution and control of banking and industry, you may have fascist tendencies.
The Obama economy is too big? So much of it is the government, not to mention inflation. Government Employees Outnumber Manufacturing Employees 1.8 to 1.
If you read my previous post, I said nothing good of the GW policies, and agreed with some of BJ’s.
So you mention part time workers, that is a direct result of Obamacare. This is what happens when a totalitarian government takes forces its people to buy a specific product (health insurance with NO options for a minimal, catastrophic, ob basic plan). And force employers to provide a benefit beyond the value of the employee. Just as automation is the answer to $15 min wage, Part-timers are the answer to the Obamacare employer mandate.
These are just another example of the “unintended consequences” of government meddling There is NO authority in the constitution for this with the exception of the Tenth Amendment.
The government helping the Auto industry and banking industry?
That is fascist. The Government should not be in the business of saving failed businesses or picking winners and losers. Who decides???
I guess Lehman Brothers did not have the correct political connections and donations…