Trump Is an Ideological Authoritarian

#152
#152
1972 Grad said:
I guess it's not a good thing to have fewer people on food stamps, fewer people unemployed, wages going up, etc.
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Why are you giving him credit for these things? SNAP benefits and unemployment were already on the decline. Wages are going up? It's hard to find reliable 2018 data, but this is from the BLS. Pretty sure wages aren't keeping up with inflation:

_99758087_4-wages-nc.png


What has Trump even done to make these things better? His number one priority has been to improve trade deficits and they're getting worse. What has he actually done to directly improve unemployment besides spend like a Keynesian?
 
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#153
#153
n_huffhines said:
Why do I need more of a point than "Trump is an ideological authoritatian"? Why do I need to elaborate and tell y'all how to feel about it? Why does it bother you so much that I am saying this?
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It bothers them because they now it's true, yet they choose to look the other way. Trump has taken the Office of the Presidency into the sewer and his supporters have followed him down the rabbit hole.
 
#154
#154
1972 Grad said:
I guess it's not a good thing to have fewer people on food stamps, fewer people unemployed, wages going up, etc.
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Things are not as rosy as you claim.

Trump's Numbers, April 2019 Update - FactCheck.org

The average monthly gain under Trump so far is 197,000 — compared with an average monthly gain of 217,000 during Obama’s second term.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics now figures the rate was 4.7 percent when he was sworn in. The most recent rate, for March, is 3.8 percent.

It had been as low as 3.7 percent in September and November of last year. That was the lowest since December 1969.

The jobless rate has been at or below 4 percent for the most recent 13 months on record. It hasn’t been that low for that long since a 50-month streak ending in January 1970.

The historical norm is 5.6 percent, which is the median monthly rate for all the months since the start of 1948.
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Labor Force Participation — Despite the abundance of jobs, the labor force participation rate — which went down 2.8 percentage points during the Obama years — has remained little changed under Trump.
.....

Since Trump took office, the rate has fluctuated in a narrow range between 63.2 percent and 62.7 percent. It was 63.0 percent in March — up just 0.1 percentage point from where it was the month Trump took office.
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The economy grew only 2.2 percent during his first year, and 2.9 percent for all of 2018, according to the BEA. It spurted briefly to a 4.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter of 2018, prompting Trump to proudly claim credit. But it then fell back to a 3.4 percent rate in the third quarter and a 2.2 percent rate in the final quarter.
....
Most economists believe this year’s growth will be less than last year’s. CBO’s most recent economic outlook, issued Jan. 28, projects real GDP growth falling to 2.7 percent this year and 1.9 percent next year. And the even more recent median forecast of the Federal Reserve Board members and Federal Reserve Bank presidents, issued on March 20, projects only 2.1 percent growth this year and 1.9 percent in 2020.

Other leading economists tend to agree that economic growth is slowing. For the business and university economists who offered an annual GDP forecast to the Wall Street Journal’s monthly economic survey in March, the average prediction was for 2.1 percent growth this year and 1.7 percent next year. The National Association for Business Economics’ March survey was only a little more optimistic, producing a median forecast of 2.4 percent growth for this year and 2.0 percent in 2020.
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#155
#155
1972 Grad said:
Yep, things are a lot worse than a couple of years ago.
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Every single economic indicator is on the same trajectory it was before Trump took office. Fact.
Obama created more jobs in his last two years than Trump did in his first two years. Fact.
 
#157
#157
n_huffhines said:
Why are you giving him credit for these things? SNAP benefits and unemployment were already on the decline. Wages are going up? It's hard to find reliable 2018 data, but this is from the BLS. Pretty sure wages aren't keeping up with inflation:

_99758087_4-wages-nc.png


What has Trump even done to make these things better? His number one priority has been to improve trade deficits and they're getting worse. What has he actually done to directly improve unemployment besides spend like a Keynesian?
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Then, you Democrats should run on things getting much worse.
 
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#161
#161
1972 Grad said:
Then, you Democrats should run on things getting much worse.
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Things are average for the lower and middle classes. For the wealthy investment class Trump has been a Godsend.

But there will be a price to pay for his largess when it comes to the tax cuts, and I am not referring only to the debt going up -- a fact that alleged fiscal conservatives fail to mention when touting Trump.

I continue to be of the opinion that the path to sustained economic growth is not to turn people with a billion dollars into people with two billion dollars. It is to spur economic growth in the middle class, which will lead to greater demand.

Trickle up, not down.
 
#162
#162
lawgator1 said:
Things are average for the lower and middle classes. For the wealthy investment class Trump has been a Godsend.

But there will be a price to pay for his largess when it comes to the tax cuts, and I am not referring only to the debt going up -- a fact that alleged fiscal conservatives fail to mention when touting Trump.

I continue to be of the opinion that the path to sustained economic growth is not to turn people with a billion dollars into people with two billion dollars. It is to spur economic growth in the middle class, which will lead to greater demand.

Trickle up, not down.
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Well then, you should run on income redistribution...….no, wait. That's what you've been doing for years.
 
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#163
#163
lawgator1 said:
Such fancy words are not necessary. Trump is just a blowhard, cheap, douchebag. Even his supporters I think at this point are beginning to realize that their strutting Emperor has no clothes.
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So what. The biggest thing we need to address right now is border security, and the Dims aren't about to do anything to help out. Beyond that, there's not a damn thing that Congress is going to do that doesn't work to further break the bank. If Trump keeps the Dims in a lather and too flustered to do anything, then job done because they sure aren't going to do anything useful. Trump hasn't been making world apology tours, and a lot of places have started electing more people like Trump ... in case you missed it. Face it your side tried hard at the globalism BS, came up short, and the tide is turning.
 
#165
#165
lawgator1 said:
Things are average for the lower and middle classes. For the wealthy investment class Trump has been a Godsend.

But there will be a price to pay for his largess when it comes to the tax cuts, and I am not referring only to the debt going up -- a fact that alleged fiscal conservatives fail to mention when touting Trump.

I continue to be of the opinion that the path to sustained economic growth is not to turn people with a billion dollars into people with two billion dollars. It is to spur economic growth in the middle class, which will lead to greater demand.

Trickle up, not down.
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Maybe the lower classes aren't doing well because they are unskilled, and unskilled workers have a whole lot more competition now from south of the border. I guess Obama made everything rosy for the lower and middle class? The fact is that many try to live beyond their means, due to advertising creating demand for unnecessary goods, and people trying to keep up with the Joneses.
 
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#167
#167
lawgator1 said:
Things are average for the lower and middle classes. For the wealthy investment class Trump has been a Godsend.

But there will be a price to pay for his largess when it comes to the tax cuts, and I am not referring only to the debt going up -- a fact that alleged fiscal conservatives fail to mention when touting Trump.

I continue to be of the opinion that the path to sustained economic growth is not to turn people with a billion dollars into people with two billion dollars. It is to spur economic growth in the middle class, which will lead to greater demand.

Trickle up, not down.
Click to expand...

How do you spur economic growth in the middle class?

Stop putting people in groups and do what's best for the individual. The path to sustained economic growth is so simple. Cut taxes for everybody. Cut budgets in every part of government by at least 50%. Gut regulation. Open up trade. Open up legal immigration. Watch the economy boom.

Hands on, top-down management of an economy is an extremely difficult task and we all know government isn't very good at effectively managing most/all things.
 
#168
#168
lawgator1 said:
The Trump tax cuts were wealth distribution and I don't hear you whining about them.
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Tax cuts are hardly wealth redistribution. Tax cut are just the opposite ... people actually keeping more of what they earn rather than have it stolen by government and reallocated. Of course, maybe you really are one of those people who don't believe you make what you earn.
 
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#169
#169
lawgator1 said:
The Trump tax cuts were wealth distribution and I don't hear you whining about them.
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And Trump and his cronies promised the Tax Cuts would pay for themselves, of course the right wingers bought into the narrative despite overwhelming data to the contrary. Meanwhile, $1.9 Trillion in the hole later..............crickets.
 
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#170
#170
n_huffhines said:
How do you spur economic growth in the middle class?

Stop putting people in groups and do what's best for the individual. The path to sustained economic growth is so simple. Cut taxes for everybody. Cut budgets in every part of government by at least 50%. Gut regulation. Open up trade. Open up legal immigration. Watch the economy boom.

Hands on, top-down management of an economy is an extremely difficult task and we all know government isn't very good at effectively managing most/all things.
Click to expand...


In theory you are of course correct. Obviously, lower taxes for everyone would spur growth. But we do not have that luxury. We have to pick and choose our battles. Not surprisingly, Trump decided to give the investment class more money. That has caused the stock market to boom, and of course all sorts of trickle down proponents have been, falsely, claiming that the money will filter down to the middle class and spur demand and sustained growth.

Just not happening. The wealthy grow wealthier. The middle class tread water. This is no way to run an airline.
 
#171
#171
TN Ribs said:
And Trump and his cronies promised the Tax Cuts would pay for themselves, of course the right wingers bought into the narrative despite overwhelming data to the contrary. Meanwhile, $1.9 Trillion in the hole later..............crickets.
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How much of that $1.9T is a reduction in withholding? We could do absolutely nothing ... not one damn new piece of legislation, and the deficit would increase because of the previous legislative and regulatory albatrosses hung around our necks. All that social engineering is the gift that keeps on giving ... like herpes or even more true, a huge snowball rolling down a very long snow covered slope. The question is simply whether we get mowed down by the snow boulder or the avalanche it triggers.
 
#172
#172
lawgator1 said:
In theory you are of course correct. Obviously, lower taxes for everyone would spur growth. But we do not have that luxury. We have to pick and choose our battles. Not surprisingly, Trump decided to give the investment class more money. That has caused the stock market to boom, and of course all sorts of trickle down proponents have been, falsely, claiming that the money will filter down to the middle class and spur demand and sustained growth.

Just not happening. The wealthy grow wealthier. The middle class tread water. This is no way to run an airline.
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The dirty secret is that there's effectively no such thing as a middle class tax cut since the CBO says they already only pay an effective rate between 3-8% and 1/2 of America pays nothing.
 
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#173
#173
lawgator1 said:
In theory you are of course correct. Obviously, lower taxes for everyone would spur growth. But we do not have that luxury. We have to pick and choose our battles. Not surprisingly, Trump decided to give the investment class more money. That has caused the stock market to boom, and of course all sorts of trickle down proponents have been, falsely, claiming that the money will filter down to the middle class and spur demand and sustained growth.

Just not happening. The wealthy grow wealthier. The middle class tread water. This is no way to run an airline.
Click to expand...

Maybe we should consider something sensible for a change. A relative flat tax for everybody and get rid of all the deductions and other loopholes. Then Buffett wouldn't have to complain about his poor secretary paying a higher rate than he pays.
 
#174
#174
GAVol said:
The dirty secret is that there's effectively no such thing as a middle class tax cut since the CBO says they already pay an effective rate under 5% and 1/2 of America pays nothing.
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If the CBO got that right, somebody owes me big time.
 
#175
#175
GAVol said:
The dirty secret is that there's effectively no such thing as a middle class tax cut since the CBO says they already only pay an effective rate between 3-8% and 1/2 of America pays nothing.
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I believe its more like high 8s at around 100k, and about 12 % at 200k, but I get your point. Still, if the average tax liability is 8k, giving them a 2-3k annual cut, and restoring slightly higher rates for the over 500k bracket to pay for it = a broader recovery, more sustainable.
 
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