I wish Hillary had laid out a snappy one liner to describe her vision for America. I know the problems are complicated and she described a number of areas she will focus on to deal with that complexity. But when 25% of voters still are not sure President Obama was born in the U.S., you need a pithy statement that people can identify with. I don't have one to suggest, but with all her high priced talent on her staff you would think someone could come up with something.
As for Donald Trump, his microphone was working fine. I heard every word he said clearly, although on more than one occasion I was unable to understand the thoughts that he was trying to convey. Instead, I was saying, " What is his policy?"
I did hear Donald Trump admit that he doesn't pay any taxes and that to do so would be stupid. I have a friend in the real estate business who told me this might be the case because he would own buildings that throw off a lot of depreciation. Of course, that is why Trump wants to be President. If there are estate taxes, those buildings will have to be sold to pay the taxes on his estate and his heirs will have less wealth. If he is President, he has pledged to eliminate estate taxes.
So his run for President is all about his personal wealth, because his economic policies tearing up trade agreements would endanger every one else's wealth.
We manufacture just as much as we did 30 years ago. It is just done with less people (more automation) and in different industries that are located in different parts of the country. Those industries are part of the global economy and compete well within it.
You can't go back in time, and if you want to, well you know who else wants to: ISIS and Vladimer Putin.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Sunday Quick Takes 9/25/16
I have discussed how I don't understand how accurate polls can be taken. Yet, somehow polls repeatedly show Trump's voter support within the margin of error with Clinton barely leading. All the while Trump continues to lie. The New York Times came up with 31 substantial lies he made in statements within the last week. They ignored items where he merely stretched the truth beyond a measure of reality. In other words, they cut him some slack and only tallied the most egregious lies.
Trump is a habitual lier and that puts in the same league as Putin and Assad, both of whom use lies to systemically provide cover to their egregious acts of using military force to achieve their authoritarian political aims. And Russian leadership is rooting for a Trump victory because they know he will not push them on cleaning up their rotten democratic processes. And Assad is probably rooting for a Trump victory because Trump has promised to carpet bomb ISIS and Al Nusra. While that will undoubtedly result in civilian deaths, it will leave Assad in power and that is all he cares about. Like Putin, he doesn't give a rat's ass about his civilian population.
Which leaves me wondering how the GOP voters can support a lying Putin Assad sympathizer? You can only imagine how the GOP media machine would be ripping a Democrat if they put forth similar beliefs. Apparently stuffing the Supreme Court so that it allows voter discrimination and actively protects business from regulation is more important than anything else that is normally a requirement to be President.
Meanwhile, two more policeman (one a female, one an African American) kill unarmed African American males because their fear that they might have a weapon overcame their rationality and they fired their weapons. I understand the police have a difficult job and that their lives are in danger every minute of every day. But Black Lives Matter too and you would think police and their supporters would want sufficient controls on weapons so that police are not in fear all the time.
The 2nd Amendment preserves the right to weapons that were technologically modern in 1786, not what we have today.
This country is definitely going in the wrong direction and my belief in that has everything to do with the GOP, not the Democrats. And I don't see any way the next election will improve things.
Trump is a habitual lier and that puts in the same league as Putin and Assad, both of whom use lies to systemically provide cover to their egregious acts of using military force to achieve their authoritarian political aims. And Russian leadership is rooting for a Trump victory because they know he will not push them on cleaning up their rotten democratic processes. And Assad is probably rooting for a Trump victory because Trump has promised to carpet bomb ISIS and Al Nusra. While that will undoubtedly result in civilian deaths, it will leave Assad in power and that is all he cares about. Like Putin, he doesn't give a rat's ass about his civilian population.
Which leaves me wondering how the GOP voters can support a lying Putin Assad sympathizer? You can only imagine how the GOP media machine would be ripping a Democrat if they put forth similar beliefs. Apparently stuffing the Supreme Court so that it allows voter discrimination and actively protects business from regulation is more important than anything else that is normally a requirement to be President.
Meanwhile, two more policeman (one a female, one an African American) kill unarmed African American males because their fear that they might have a weapon overcame their rationality and they fired their weapons. I understand the police have a difficult job and that their lives are in danger every minute of every day. But Black Lives Matter too and you would think police and their supporters would want sufficient controls on weapons so that police are not in fear all the time.
The 2nd Amendment preserves the right to weapons that were technologically modern in 1786, not what we have today.
This country is definitely going in the wrong direction and my belief in that has everything to do with the GOP, not the Democrats. And I don't see any way the next election will improve things.
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
More on Why You Cannot Reason With Trump Supporters
Before I get to the last article in The New Republic, one only has to read Jennifer Rubin's column of yesterday to realize how far from traditional GOP policies Donald Trump is campaigning. As I learned studying Economics and more so in business school, the strength of capitalism as the best allocator of labor and capital to the point of greatest return is creative destruction. That is why my economic beliefs will sometimes agree with traditional GOP ideas and sometimes with traditional Democratic ideas. Nothing the government does should get in the way of that creative destruction. Yet, it is precisely on that point that Donald Trump is campaigning. He wants to inhibit creative destruction by killing trade treaties and supporting people who do not want to move or learn new things.
Link to Jennifer Rubin's column
Again I don't have access to The New Republic website to put links into this column so I urge you to buy the October 2016 issue on a newsstand.
The last article examines the writing of two people who have studied the Tea Party/Trumpists. They are mad about a lot of things and the result is the perversity that they will support someone who voices that anger even though the substance of his policies will not undo the environmental damage they are angry about, will not bring back jobs that were destroyed by advances in technology, and require that people they perceive as getting favorable treatment from the government be discriminated against in some form by policies they want. They remember verbal slights and do not forgive them and they do not trust the government even when they benefit from rules and actions of the government. They perceive a loss of honor and dignity in their life and want to restore it. Because they blame the establishment of both political parties, they will vote for Trump no matter the illogic of what he is saying nor his unfitness to hold the office of President.
It is both a depressing article and a scary one. We can only hope that significant voters for Hillary are going unrepresented in polls because such people don't answer robo calls. I don't want intolerance, narcissism, ignorance and illogic to become a winning campaign strategy and I certainly don't want a Putin admirer to be our President.
I am also hoping that the New York Attorney General indicts Trump for illegal dealings with his charity, but I suspect some underling will be the signer of the documents and therefore the one who takes the fall for that. I suspect Trump limits all his instructions to underlings in verbal form.
Oh Vey!!!
Link to Jennifer Rubin's column
Again I don't have access to The New Republic website to put links into this column so I urge you to buy the October 2016 issue on a newsstand.
The last article examines the writing of two people who have studied the Tea Party/Trumpists. They are mad about a lot of things and the result is the perversity that they will support someone who voices that anger even though the substance of his policies will not undo the environmental damage they are angry about, will not bring back jobs that were destroyed by advances in technology, and require that people they perceive as getting favorable treatment from the government be discriminated against in some form by policies they want. They remember verbal slights and do not forgive them and they do not trust the government even when they benefit from rules and actions of the government. They perceive a loss of honor and dignity in their life and want to restore it. Because they blame the establishment of both political parties, they will vote for Trump no matter the illogic of what he is saying nor his unfitness to hold the office of President.
It is both a depressing article and a scary one. We can only hope that significant voters for Hillary are going unrepresented in polls because such people don't answer robo calls. I don't want intolerance, narcissism, ignorance and illogic to become a winning campaign strategy and I certainly don't want a Putin admirer to be our President.
I am also hoping that the New York Attorney General indicts Trump for illegal dealings with his charity, but I suspect some underling will be the signer of the documents and therefore the one who takes the fall for that. I suspect Trump limits all his instructions to underlings in verbal form.
Oh Vey!!!
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Trump Supporters are on Venus, Every One Else is on Mars
It has become apparent to me that true of Donald Trump and everyone else are speaking two different languages: Different concerns, different priorities, different ways of seeing the world and there can be no convincing of the other side in the virtue of what you believe.
What is truly amazing since Donald Trump wants to roll back the global economy through which many have prospered (and he will not roll back technology which is what has cost many of his economic believers their life style) and yet the establishment GOP will vote for Dangerous Donald because he will nominate politically correct GOP Supreme Court Justices. That is more important to the GOP than anything else:
This election should be about serious issues: tax reform, Social Security/Medicare funding, Security in a world where guns and bomb making materials abound, rising sea levels, 11 mm undocumented members of the economy who are critical to our level of GDP, and war refugees & the decline in movement toward democracy in any number of countries including Russia, China, the Middle East.
Instead it is about trivia. Now some of this trivia is important to the everyone else crowd, but it does not matter to the Trumpists. So Dangerous Donald will not conform in those areas. But what Dangerous Donald does understand is the Trumpists are tired of political correctness and will support anything he does to end political correctness. It is a circular loop that cannot be broken just like there can be no compromise with the GOP because the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus made compromise a four letter word unless they get exactly what they want, which is what the Democrats cannot and will not allow if they have any political power to deploy. All these people view politics as a zero sum game. You win, I lose, I win, you lose.
Of course the entire theory of modern political economy (including trickle down economics) is that everyone benefits from a bigger pie, even if those benefits are uneven, and people should be satisfied with their improved situation. That is why income inequality is the root cause of much of this anger, but when technology and globalization are the root causes of this inequality, how is shrinking the pie, which is what Dangerous Donald wants to do, going to help anyone?
The New Republic, has an excellent examination of the people advising Dangerous Donald. It is really terrifying to think these people could be advising a President. They believe in false conspiracies, they believe in using lies to manipulate public opinion, they believe in power politics and that what is good for the rich is the best thing, and they believe authoritarian government benefiting cronies (i.e. Putin's Russia) is a good thing to emulate.
I don't have an on-line account at The New Republic, so you will have to get one or buy the magazine to see how terrifying a Donald Trump presidency would be. In my 45 years of voting, I have never been so afraid of the other candidate winning and I am stunned that the GOP establishment believes the Supreme Court's philosophy is more important than international relations (the U.S. could become a pariah state under Donald Trump) and global peace and prosperity (I really believe Donald Trump could destroy the global framework on which our personal savings are valued).
Yet I know that I could not convince a Trump supporter to change their mind because I am on Mars and they are on Venus.
I usually feel better after writing this blog, I do not feel better. I am truly afraid for our nation and the world.
What is truly amazing since Donald Trump wants to roll back the global economy through which many have prospered (and he will not roll back technology which is what has cost many of his economic believers their life style) and yet the establishment GOP will vote for Dangerous Donald because he will nominate politically correct GOP Supreme Court Justices. That is more important to the GOP than anything else:
This election should be about serious issues: tax reform, Social Security/Medicare funding, Security in a world where guns and bomb making materials abound, rising sea levels, 11 mm undocumented members of the economy who are critical to our level of GDP, and war refugees & the decline in movement toward democracy in any number of countries including Russia, China, the Middle East.
Instead it is about trivia. Now some of this trivia is important to the everyone else crowd, but it does not matter to the Trumpists. So Dangerous Donald will not conform in those areas. But what Dangerous Donald does understand is the Trumpists are tired of political correctness and will support anything he does to end political correctness. It is a circular loop that cannot be broken just like there can be no compromise with the GOP because the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus made compromise a four letter word unless they get exactly what they want, which is what the Democrats cannot and will not allow if they have any political power to deploy. All these people view politics as a zero sum game. You win, I lose, I win, you lose.
Of course the entire theory of modern political economy (including trickle down economics) is that everyone benefits from a bigger pie, even if those benefits are uneven, and people should be satisfied with their improved situation. That is why income inequality is the root cause of much of this anger, but when technology and globalization are the root causes of this inequality, how is shrinking the pie, which is what Dangerous Donald wants to do, going to help anyone?
The New Republic, has an excellent examination of the people advising Dangerous Donald. It is really terrifying to think these people could be advising a President. They believe in false conspiracies, they believe in using lies to manipulate public opinion, they believe in power politics and that what is good for the rich is the best thing, and they believe authoritarian government benefiting cronies (i.e. Putin's Russia) is a good thing to emulate.
I don't have an on-line account at The New Republic, so you will have to get one or buy the magazine to see how terrifying a Donald Trump presidency would be. In my 45 years of voting, I have never been so afraid of the other candidate winning and I am stunned that the GOP establishment believes the Supreme Court's philosophy is more important than international relations (the U.S. could become a pariah state under Donald Trump) and global peace and prosperity (I really believe Donald Trump could destroy the global framework on which our personal savings are valued).
Yet I know that I could not convince a Trump supporter to change their mind because I am on Mars and they are on Venus.
I usually feel better after writing this blog, I do not feel better. I am truly afraid for our nation and the world.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
The GOP Abandon's Character as a Qualification
Long time readers know I long ago identified Donald Trump as being unfit for President because of his leading the birther movement. This movement did nothing but falsely declare President Obama to be an illegitimate President whose actions could be ignored by said believers.
This is why I want to see Donald Trump's tax returns. Like all corporations, as he himself has stated, he pays the least in taxes that he can get away with. That is why his tax returns are being audited. His accountants probably push the edge of the envelope as far as they can on items of judgement and allow the auditors some gimmes and get away with some other stuff that is the staff of litigation. I do not believe Donald Trump pays more than 10% to 15% of his income in taxes and he may well pay even less.
Those readers with a good memory will remember the impeachment proceedings agains Bill Clinton revolved around his character. The GOP tried to convince Americans that character was a criteria by which Presidents should be judged. I certainly believe that character is a consideration but so is policy. And what the GOP is now saying is vote for a thoroughly dishonorable human being because he will appoint GOP thinking people to the Supreme Court and complete the politicalization of the Supreme Court. Which has probably always had one foot in politics and one foot in the law.
But one thing is clear. In supporting Donald Trump GOP voters are abandoning good character as a criteria and endorsing an individual who will lie to achieve his ends and whose only motivation is enriching himself.
Anyone who thinks he will bring jobs back to their community with a reduction in taxes for the wealthy and there heirs and a reduction in regulation should remember that those jobs started to disappear when George Bush was President and those same policies were in place. Globalization and technology are unrelenting capitalist forces that march onward and you either are successful competing with that or you lose. And Donald Trump will not change any of that.
This is why I want to see Donald Trump's tax returns. Like all corporations, as he himself has stated, he pays the least in taxes that he can get away with. That is why his tax returns are being audited. His accountants probably push the edge of the envelope as far as they can on items of judgement and allow the auditors some gimmes and get away with some other stuff that is the staff of litigation. I do not believe Donald Trump pays more than 10% to 15% of his income in taxes and he may well pay even less.
Those readers with a good memory will remember the impeachment proceedings agains Bill Clinton revolved around his character. The GOP tried to convince Americans that character was a criteria by which Presidents should be judged. I certainly believe that character is a consideration but so is policy. And what the GOP is now saying is vote for a thoroughly dishonorable human being because he will appoint GOP thinking people to the Supreme Court and complete the politicalization of the Supreme Court. Which has probably always had one foot in politics and one foot in the law.
But one thing is clear. In supporting Donald Trump GOP voters are abandoning good character as a criteria and endorsing an individual who will lie to achieve his ends and whose only motivation is enriching himself.
Anyone who thinks he will bring jobs back to their community with a reduction in taxes for the wealthy and there heirs and a reduction in regulation should remember that those jobs started to disappear when George Bush was President and those same policies were in place. Globalization and technology are unrelenting capitalist forces that march onward and you either are successful competing with that or you lose. And Donald Trump will not change any of that.
Friday, September 16, 2016
The Decline in Patriotism & Partisanship's Responsibility For It
This is a complicated subject and I am probably not going to do it justice.
David Brooks in today's column addresses the decline in patriotism that has been present in the U.S. since its founding as a British colony. It is measured by polling the question of how proud you are of the U.S.A. Today only 52% are extremely proud and among those 18 to 29 only 34% are extremely proud.
Brooks writes that the Puritans used self examination as a means of purification and their belief that they could create a just society based on the moral premise that all men are created equal gave people who lived here a sense of purpose and an ideal to live up to and it bonded everyone together in a manner that created a unifying civil religion.
Brook's focus on the column is addressing imitators of Colin Kaepernick and the importance of the ritual of showing respect when the National Anthem is played to the sense of we are all in this together.
What he misses is the reality that partisanship on the part of political leaders resulting in a failure to address problems that a sufficient minority of people believe in causes disillusionment in those people for the ideals that this country is built around.
So when Black Lives Matter believers are insulted as not caring about the lives of police, which I do not believe to be the case because there are many African American police, the Black Lives Matter sympathizers might have a problem saying they are extremely proud of their country.
And I could go on with almost any other issue that is important to some significant minority of citizens. The gridlock in Washington policy making with the only discussion being the running down of the righteousness of the concern represented by those points of view, instead of debating possible ways in which we could address the problem while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
Zika funding for the CDC comes to mind how this develops. Conservatives want to put Planned Parenthood out of business so they take every opportunity to try to prevent them from getting Federal Funds. Yet a substantial % of the population likes planned parenthood and does not want to get the Zika virus. This unrelenting focus almost certainly prevents those scared of Zika and Planned Parenthood supporters from saying they are proud of their country.
Donald Trump and the popularity of the Kardashian culture in general generates angst in me about this country. It is difficult to be proud of that and it might effect my answer to that question if polled, but I can still visualize ways in which I can be a responsible citizens.
I wil stop here but I guess the real issue is what is patriotism in a country of 300,000,000 and voluntary military that only needs a 1.3 mm people.
David Brooks in today's column addresses the decline in patriotism that has been present in the U.S. since its founding as a British colony. It is measured by polling the question of how proud you are of the U.S.A. Today only 52% are extremely proud and among those 18 to 29 only 34% are extremely proud.
Brooks writes that the Puritans used self examination as a means of purification and their belief that they could create a just society based on the moral premise that all men are created equal gave people who lived here a sense of purpose and an ideal to live up to and it bonded everyone together in a manner that created a unifying civil religion.
Brook's focus on the column is addressing imitators of Colin Kaepernick and the importance of the ritual of showing respect when the National Anthem is played to the sense of we are all in this together.
What he misses is the reality that partisanship on the part of political leaders resulting in a failure to address problems that a sufficient minority of people believe in causes disillusionment in those people for the ideals that this country is built around.
So when Black Lives Matter believers are insulted as not caring about the lives of police, which I do not believe to be the case because there are many African American police, the Black Lives Matter sympathizers might have a problem saying they are extremely proud of their country.
And I could go on with almost any other issue that is important to some significant minority of citizens. The gridlock in Washington policy making with the only discussion being the running down of the righteousness of the concern represented by those points of view, instead of debating possible ways in which we could address the problem while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
Zika funding for the CDC comes to mind how this develops. Conservatives want to put Planned Parenthood out of business so they take every opportunity to try to prevent them from getting Federal Funds. Yet a substantial % of the population likes planned parenthood and does not want to get the Zika virus. This unrelenting focus almost certainly prevents those scared of Zika and Planned Parenthood supporters from saying they are proud of their country.
Donald Trump and the popularity of the Kardashian culture in general generates angst in me about this country. It is difficult to be proud of that and it might effect my answer to that question if polled, but I can still visualize ways in which I can be a responsible citizens.
I wil stop here but I guess the real issue is what is patriotism in a country of 300,000,000 and voluntary military that only needs a 1.3 mm people.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Sunday Musings 9/11/16 Civility in Language
I am struck by how anger can overwhelm common sense in this political campaign. The Cable TV culture which Donald Trump has used to feed his need for narcissistic approval while camouflaging what he really believes has gotten under Hillary's skin to the point when she is in front of her true believers she has lost control of her common sense button.
Now I do not believe that common sense thrives in the Cable TV culture. Doing the outlandish is what draws people into watching it, improving ratings and advertising rates and increasing the pay of the reality TV starts. This is clearly the playbook of Donald Trump but I wish Hillary would simply put a lid on her language and remember that every voter is deserving of respect, even if you don't like what they are saying.
Now I will admit that getting throngs of people saying "Lock them Up" and referring to me would make me angry, but we expect more from our candidates for President. We expect them to be calm and rational. Hillary was calm when she disparaged 50% of Trump's supporters, but that was an irrational statement made in the thrall of being the center of attention within a group of people who think similarly. Not unlike why Donald Trump gets the audience chanting "Lock her Up".
But I believe most voters know people who are supporting or will vote for the candidate of the other party. They understand that a lack of civility in language and process has made Congress dysfunctional. And if the President does not lead us in civility, then there is no hope for ending the dysfunctionalty.
While I have written blog postings in anger, because I am always hoping that what I write will convince RedStateVT to support one of my positions, I try to keep my language civil and respectful of what the other side is saying. That is why I am disappointed in Hillary's language the other day and incredibly impressed by President Obama's ability to be civil in the face of incredible incivility towards him by many in the GOP.
As for Donald Trump, I have written many words about his lack of morality in how he has pursued increasing his personal wealth. It is this lack of morality combined with his uncivil language that make the potential for him to win this election completely foreign to my way of thinking. I am incredibly stressed out by this potential. I don't understand how any person who cares about civility could vote for him, but I know that this will happen.
Now I do not believe that common sense thrives in the Cable TV culture. Doing the outlandish is what draws people into watching it, improving ratings and advertising rates and increasing the pay of the reality TV starts. This is clearly the playbook of Donald Trump but I wish Hillary would simply put a lid on her language and remember that every voter is deserving of respect, even if you don't like what they are saying.
Now I will admit that getting throngs of people saying "Lock them Up" and referring to me would make me angry, but we expect more from our candidates for President. We expect them to be calm and rational. Hillary was calm when she disparaged 50% of Trump's supporters, but that was an irrational statement made in the thrall of being the center of attention within a group of people who think similarly. Not unlike why Donald Trump gets the audience chanting "Lock her Up".
But I believe most voters know people who are supporting or will vote for the candidate of the other party. They understand that a lack of civility in language and process has made Congress dysfunctional. And if the President does not lead us in civility, then there is no hope for ending the dysfunctionalty.
While I have written blog postings in anger, because I am always hoping that what I write will convince RedStateVT to support one of my positions, I try to keep my language civil and respectful of what the other side is saying. That is why I am disappointed in Hillary's language the other day and incredibly impressed by President Obama's ability to be civil in the face of incredible incivility towards him by many in the GOP.
As for Donald Trump, I have written many words about his lack of morality in how he has pursued increasing his personal wealth. It is this lack of morality combined with his uncivil language that make the potential for him to win this election completely foreign to my way of thinking. I am incredibly stressed out by this potential. I don't understand how any person who cares about civility could vote for him, but I know that this will happen.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Amen, Why GOP Obstuctionism is Bad for the GOP
I couldn't have said it better. We need two parties working together to solve problems and move the country forward.
Link to an Excellent column by Norman Ornstein
Link to an Excellent column by Norman Ornstein
Friday, September 2, 2016
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Donald Trump Receives Endorsements
Before I go off to golf in the NYC borough of Queens, which will require me to battle traffic going to the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament and Mets traffic on the way home, I want to thank Nicholas Kristof for assembling a list of who supports Donald Trump for President.
ISIS and other Jihadists
North Korea
The Ku Klux Klan
Russia
China (PRC that is)
American Freedom Party
American Nazi Party
The National Enquirer
Now as Mr. Kristoff says that list of strange endorsements does not mean that all Trump supporters believe what these people believe, but you do have to wonder why such a list of authoritarian, non-democratic entities do support Trump. A President whose goals are supported by such entities cannot be one that is good for human rights, world peace and economic stability.
ISIS and other Jihadists
North Korea
The Ku Klux Klan
Russia
China (PRC that is)
American Freedom Party
American Nazi Party
The National Enquirer
Now as Mr. Kristoff says that list of strange endorsements does not mean that all Trump supporters believe what these people believe, but you do have to wonder why such a list of authoritarian, non-democratic entities do support Trump. A President whose goals are supported by such entities cannot be one that is good for human rights, world peace and economic stability.
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