Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Evidence of Trump - Russia conspiriacy

By his behavior you can understand.  Trump just refused to implement sanctions against Russia passed by both the House and the Senate almost unanimously as a punishment for Russian interference in the elections of 2016.  This is a violation of his executive duties. Congress is the Legislative Branch - they write the laws - and the President leads the Executive Branch - he executes the laws.  Except, this tyrant in training has decided he doesn't have to.  

Why?

Pretty straightforward, it seems to me - because Trump can't impose sanctions on Russia because Russia and Trump have conspired in the Russian interference in the election of 2016, and Russia owns Trump - some form of blackmail that Russia has on him, or they can bankrupt him or cost him billions by demanding payment on massive debts he owes Russia or Russians.  

Where is the Republican Party?  Where is the Republican controlled Congress?  Have they no decency? no honor? no conscience? no outrage at the usurpation of their own powers? Our democracy is crumbling and the elected Republicans are complicit.  

The United State is supposed to be about the rule of law, not the rule of tyrants.  The Republican Party has lost its way.

The astonishing thing to me is that some of my conservative friends voted for Trump because they thought Hillary was too corrupt.  But the depths of depraved corruption of this nitwit has never been seen before in my lifetime, and I am pretty old.


 

Friday, January 19, 2018

They don't play well together, part 2

The Republican controlled government is about to shut down.  What a surprise!  This group is about as cooperative and collaborative as their Great Leader - Mr Trump. They only reach across the isle to give the other side the finger. 

Pretty discouraging.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

They don’t play well together

One thing you can certainly say about the fiercely independent/pull yourself up by your bootstraps/you’re on your own/don’t expect any help from me/I did it my way/I don’t owe anything to anybody/good luck to you but get out of my way conservatives is if they do not play well together.  How could they? Their highest value is the individual. Cooperation is barely in their consciousness. 

It is particularly pleasant to watch Bannon and Trump and Mercer and McConnell and a number of conservatives and Republicans attack each other over the revelations of Trump’s pathetic infantilism of the Wolff book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump Whitehouse”.

They all deserve each other. And America deserves better.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Trump vs Obama stock market comparison

Trump supporters, and semi-supporters, tout the stock market growth of the last year as proof that Trump is a pretty good president after all.  Because, you know, you can say all kinds of stuff about what a demented goof ball this guy is, but just look at what's really important - the NUMBERS.

OK.  Here are the numbers:

S&P 500 progress:
  •  1/1/09 - 865.98 - Obama's comes into office
  •  1/1/10 - 1123.58 - a growth of 29.7% - Obama's first year
  •  1/1/11 - 1282.62 - a growth of 14.2%
  •  1/1/12 - 1300.58 - a growth of 01.4%
  •  1/1/13 - 1480.40 - a growth of 13.8%
  •  1/1/14 - 1822.36 - a growth of 23.1%
  •  1/1/15 - 2028.15 - a growth of 11.3%
  •  1/1/16 - 1918.60 - a loss of 05.4%
  •  1/1/17 - 2275.12 - a growth of 18.6%
  •  1/1/18 - 2689.15 - a growth of 18.2% - Trump's first year in office
So, the S&P grew at almost the exact the same rate in Trump's first year as Obama's last year, and grew by significantly less than Obama's first year.  

I think that Obama's handling of the terrible financial crash of 2008 is responsible for the excellent stock market performance the first year and over the course of his eight years - a total growth of the S&P of 162.7%.  I am sure that this significantly outperforms those countries who panicked and instigated austerity rather than stimulus in response to the Great Recession.

Trump thrills some conservatives with his attacks on safety, environmental, and health regulations.  And these conservatives seem to believe that the way to grow the market is to attack these regulations.  The data don't support that belief.  And Trump and the Republicans are failing in their duty to protect the people of this nation.