The willing suspension of disbelief–confirmation bias

There is a concept in literary criticism, advanced I believe by Coleridge, termed the willing suspension of disbelief. It explains why people can read with enjoyment and appreciation fantasy or fantastic literature. Now of course it would apply to visual media. Last night there were two polar events. Donald Trump spoke to his base and made extravagant, unsupportable claims for his accomplishments. They loved it. Polls, to the extent that one can place any confidence in them, consistently show 90 some percent of those who supported Trump in the election continue to do so, notwithstanding  what others may say about his performance. There is another concept at work here, confirmation bias. People perceive what they expect or want to perceive.

About 100 miles away, there was the White House Correspondents annual dinner. At this dinner, the White House press solemnly and sanctimoniously talked about their importance. They discussed how they were besieged and in jeopardy. As far as I know, no one has curtailed there're ability to speak and write as they please. Their problem is that increasingly large segments of The population either don't believe them , or more likely, don't care what they say. At the same time, Samantha Bee was hosting a" Not the White House Correspondents" dinner. One of the things she pointed it out was the relentless silly group discussions held on CNN, an outfit that takes itself very seriously. Even those of us who take the press, Including the electronic media, as a valuable tool have had enough of the stupid panel discussion son CNN, MSNBC and Fox. These accomplish nothing generating confirmation bias on both sides of all questions. This is not likely to change.

So, the question is what can be done to improve things in Washington recognizing that for the next four years Trump is here to stay? The Democrats need to do something to nudge Trump in a slightly better direction. That will not happen by frontal attack. The Democrats need to take the best of what Trump has said and use it. Two things suggest themselves. First, democrats should agree that doubling the standard deduction for taxpayers is a good idea because it probably is. Second, democrats should remind Trump of his plan to repatriate at low rates corporate profits languishing offshore. Then he should be reminded there is bipartisan support for his plan to build infrastructure. And, repatriated funds provide basically free money to finance infrastructure. The final thing that Democrats could propose is to agree that certain tax cuts can stimulate the economy. Traditionally, accelerated depreciation and other tax benefits based on capital expenditures were agreed to by both parties to be effective. Democrats should urge Trump to not just give  indiscriminate tax cuts to corporations but to reward them for real stimulating measures such as capital expenditures increased hiring and innovative apprenticeship programs to prepare workers to participate in the modern economy. These are all things consistent with what Trump claims are his agenda and do not require confrontation with him. If the Democrats could convince moderate Republicans, such as Susan Collins and perhaps an independent such as Angus King to approach Trump with these proposals they might get somewhere. It would be useful if the Democrats involved could be somebody other than Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. As it presently exists, democrats are basically proposing nothing that might actually happen. All these marches and demonstrations are emotionally satisfying but it is highly unlikely they will accomplish anything.

Collection day

Donnie has announced that he intends to send South Korea a bill for about $1 billion to pay for the antimissile missiles we recently delivered. It is not clear whether South Korea actually asked for those missiles or how well they work but they are there. Donny was also going to send bills to various European countries for the dues they owed to the US for NATO. Just in time, he was told that's not how it works and that each country was only required to spend 2% of its GDP on various forms of military and defense costs. Donnie said that was the worst deal he'd ever seen negotiated.

Donnie also sent a bill to his new friend President Xi for room and board at donnie's resort, Mal de Mer. As a token of Donnie's friendship, the chocolate cake was on the house. President Xi is eligible now for the frequent guest discount and Donnie expects him to become a regular visitor assuming that he convinces Kim to give up his nuclear weapons. Donnie was asked whether a bill was being sent to Donald Junior and Eric for the security costs incurred on their frequent trips to foreign countries for photo ops at new Trump hotels. Donnie's scoffed at this saying the benefits to the American brand that accrues from these trips is immeasurable. Donnie hastened to add that he takes no part in this business, he just owns it.

Donnie was asked whether the government was providing security for Ivanka and Marla. Donnie responded "Who"?

It's simple–he is incompetent

The administration and it's head twit often blow smoke about how the the government about how the government needs to run more like a business. Putting aside for the moment that that is a truly stupid notion it would be interesting if it were. Presumably the government would seek to maximize taxation and minimize services and benefits provided in order to maximize profits. Those profits would probably be stashed over seas someplace I against the day that the whole enterprise collapses.

But let's think more about this concept. Let's assume that Donnie interviewed with a major business Corporation for the job of CEO. During the process he stated that the corporation was a mess, That he was going to cancel all of its supplier and sales contracts, bring in new executive vice presidents and department heads, reorganize and revitalize the entire enterprise. He stated his intention to do this quickly and named specific actions he was going to take. Then, after taking control and naming his new team, he started changing his mind and/or simply not doing the major changes  promised. He immediately fired one of his top executives for being a liar and we now know he might also be a criminal. As the company has certainly environmentally sensitive Business lines, he names as his environmental executive someone who detests the environment. He names as his head of human resources and training someone who has no experience and believes it should be done somewhere else. He names as his chief legal officer someone who embarks on a campaign to bring legal action against its employees and subsidiaries. He names as one of his closest advisers a person who wants to dismantle the entire corporation and reduce its size. Then he brings it in his children as executives notwithstanding that they have no experience that would qualify them for those posts. One, his son-in-law he puts in charge of nearly every thing, assuming apparently he is a jack of all trades. It becomes clear that he certainly is a master of none.

When he begins to be criticized for nothing positive happening, he points to a series of memos he is sent saying" make something happen". When criticized for not and budget plan, he sends his financial officers to the Board of Directors with a proposal that says" raise profits and decrease expenses". Having done to change the benefit programs of the company, he does nothing but says it will be great. When the criticism gets more vocal, he calls his entire executive headset department heads to the office, tells them nothing new and sends them back after a lot of photo ops.

Now I am pretty sure that if this were a business corporation , Donnie would be out of there. When asked about his performance, the members of the board who voted to hire him say they knew he was and inexperienced jerk so they got what they wanted. If things aren't working out, it must be someone else's fault.

Of course, the government is not a business corporation and there are no quick mechanisms for eliminating an incompetent CEO. As far as the satisfied voters who put him in there, about all you can say about that is that it is a good time to read cognitive science.

It becomes increasingly clear that there is little point and discussing one by one his changes, inconsistencies, lies and stupid actions. He is ignorant and incompetent and that says it all.

The return of voodoo economics

With today's announcement by the Trump administration it has become clear that tax" reform" really means tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations. There are a few crumbs, such as doubling the standard deduction, for those towards the bottom but most of the benefits go to entities and individuals who already have more cash and assets then they need. There seems to be no requirement that the receipt of this largess be accompanied by increased capital expenditures or R&D expenditures. Even the proponents of this knowledge meant this will create massive deficits on a static basis. But guess how they justify this. You've got it, massive growth leading to wildly increasing tax revenues. It's hard to look into the future when you are incapable of looking at the past and that would be these guys.

You may recall when George HW Bush use the term voodoo economics to describe candidate Ronald Reagan's adoption of Arthur Laffer's economics. This was before his epiphany that if he wished to be on the ticket he needed a kind of deepwater economic conversion. It is dollars to donuts  that we will be seeing Arthur Laffer on the TV soon.

For the Republicans it is back to the gospel. Do they really believe that the American voter is gullible enough to believe that the best thing a citizen can do for his country is pay less taxes? And that as a result everyone will have more of everything including benefits supplied by the government without any cost. Yes they do believe that and yes the American voter is gullible enough to swallow that bait.

Caddy shack redux

We now learn that the State Department is using its resources to promote mal de mer, Trumps's Florida golf resort. Even for these guys, by which I mean the Trump administration, this is pretty shabby. The landed gentry around New York used to refer to people like Trump as nouveau riche. This was not a complementary designation. It was used by rather snooty, smug people to refer to those with new money and privilege. If you had not had these things for 100 years or so , you just didn't fit. The term also invoked a rather boorish person, one who practiced conspicuous consumption and flagrant self-aggrandizement. Those of us who were not to the manor born also tended to be rather disparaging about these people. We typically just called them self-important jerks.

This news provoked in me for some reason a memory of the movie Caddy shack which also takes place at a private golf resort or club. More specifically, the character played by Rodney Dangerfield leaped into my mind. Trump, like Dangerfield is often hilarious. When this panjandrum sits with great pomposity and solemnity and describes his nonexisting accomplishments as president, speaks continually of the really really remarkable, very fantastic things he is about to do, and then signs a piece of paper which he holds up demonstrating that he can write in cursive, Rodney comes to mind.

Now that we have a few hundred television channels searching for content, one answer is creating a series based upon a prior successful movie. If Caddy Shack, the Series, comes to be made I know who could play the part formerly played by the dear departed Rodney. It is somebody who really likes being on television and it is not Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So what is your plan ?

Trump has summoned all 100 senators to the White House, apparently to discuss North Korea. Of course, the it is also just to show that can do so. As he will have them there, perhaps he may also discuss the Middle East. So far, he has no ostensible plan for either of these areas other than to send Jared, his favorite mute. In the Middle East, you may recall his statement that he knew more about Isis than the generals and later that these  unknowledgeable generals would present a plan to him to deal with Isis within 30 days of his inauguration. During the campaign, each candidate that expressed any kind of plan for the Middle East, not including Donald who expressed no plan, said basically the same thing and that was the need to form a coalition with our middle east allies to confront control and defeat Isis. As far as North Korea is concerned, either Donnie or Xi are to convince Kim to back off.

Neither of these things has happened. What is clearly needed as somebody who is really good at making deals, really really great, fantastic deals. Such a person could solve these problems quickly. We clearly should have elected as president someone who is really good, really fantastic, at making deals. If only such a person had surfaced during the campaign we wouldn't have these problems. We would have  really, very very remarkable deals. It would be fantastic.

The March for Ignorance

As has been widely stated in the fake news, there are Marches and gatherings for science taking place all over the world. As usual, the fake news media is wildly overstating what will be a few handfuls of Cranks giving deceptive speeches to gullible audiences.

In opposition to this nonsense, the Trump administration and its core supporters are organizing Marches for Ignorance . In charge of organizing these events the administration has chosen EPA secretary Pruitt. As President Trump stated" Pruitt is a widely acquainted with ignorance and is in fact often identified with it". Among the faux sciences to be exposed at these events are all forms of molecular biology, particle physics and cosmology and, of course, the mother of all faux sciences climatology. Those practitioners of these faux sciences will be branded heretics and will lose the right to vote or hold office in the US. The administration is also considering other forms of punishment such as those found in Leviticus. Trump announced that in the next few days he will be signing an executive order rescinding the so-called laws of these sciences." Much of these so-called scientific principles were either created or advanced during the failed Obama administration", Trump stated." In fact by this order I am canceling or rescinding 100 years of so called Scientific advancement in the first 100 days of my administration. This is a very very remarkable, fantastic accomplishment and has never been accomplished by any previous administration during the entire course of those administrations."

Trump and Pruitt jointly announced that the way to see the future is to look deep, deep into the rear view mirror, as far into the past as one is able. If it looks dark, that is probably because you are in one of those wonderful coal mines, hearing the joyful laughter of those 11-year-old boys as they work away with their pick and shovels, rather like the seven dwarfs. We will make America great again, just like it was in 1900. We will get rid of Medicare and social security because hardly anyone will live long enough to need them. Without vaccines, which are a form of poison administered to gullible populations, periodic plagues will create plenty of space and opportunities for those who survive.

The Chinese gambit

The following remarks by Pres. Trump we're relayed by an undisclosed and unverified source who knows a guy. Trump was meeting yesterday with his inner circle- Jared, Ivanka and Sean the cleanup man (for fans of paranoid). Trump said as follows:

"As you know I had a very very fantastic, truly unbelievable and remarkable meeting with President Xiof China. We really bonded and I could tell that he was impressed with my knowledge and opinions, really overwhelmed ,by the startled expression on his face when I talked to him. Subsequently, I have made him an offer he can't refuse that will take care of these so-called North Korea problem. As you know, Kim, the leader of North Korea is a really bad dude, I mean really really bad. But I proposed a really fantastic deal with President Xi. We will open a chain of Chinese restaurants in the United States called Donnie and Xi's House of Chinese delights. The Trump Corporation will sell franchises and will basically own the operation but Xi will get points in the deal. I will of course have nothing to do with this business other than owning it and getting monthly checks. This will be highly beneficial to the country of China as it will increase awareness of the Chinese brand and stimulate trade. In order to sweeten the deal, I am asking Ivanka and Jared to work with rabbis around the country to allow pork dishes to be eaten at these restaurants by Jewish customers. I know some of these rabbis and they are really really great, tremendous people, even the ones that wear those cute little caps that look like half of one of Melani's bras. A specialty item at these restaurants will be chocolate cake because Xi really loves chocolate cake even though he found it hard to eat with a chopstick. We are going to manufacture an item to be called 'Trump sticks'which will be little chopsticks with a fork on the end.

In return Xi will require Kim to give up and turnover for inspection all of his missiles and bombs and other artillery weapons. I could make this deal quickly but I don't want to eclipse Xi's role in the far east as he is an unusually prideful person, unlike me. It should be easy to convince a paranoid dictator whom we are threatening to attack to give up his weapons. We would of course let Kim keep a cache of small arms in case he needs to bump off one of his relatives."

Holy shit! We lost the Armada.

You really couldn't make this stuff up. In the greatest disappearance of a naval Armada since Nelson's victory at Gibraltar, the administration Brain trust apparently lost knowledge of where one of our armadas was headed. Now in all fairness, it's not as though we have satellites or GPS abilities to track small objects like aircraft carriers. That's a big ocean out there and armadas are easily misplaced.

Mortimer Snerd, AKA Mike Pence, continues to prattle about Trammps nonexistent strategy vis-à-vis North Korea. When asked about Trump's strategy, mortimer stated that Barack Obama did everything wrong and that Trump is committed to bringing North Korea under control. When asked what specific tactics Trump might employ mortimer responded to that Barack Obama was not a good president and that pres. Trump was committed to solving all of the worlds problems. When asked if Trump might negotiate with North Korea mortimer stated that Trump was committed to solving all far east problems and that Barack Obama was not a good president. When asked if the fleet has been found, mortimer responded that Trump was committed to finding the fleet, or the armada as Trump preferred to call it and that Barack Obama had lost a lot of fleets.

Now I for one I'm happy to see Trump committed, but I would like to see him committed to the psychiatric ward at Bellevue Hospital.

 It is of course laudable that the Trump administration wants to decrease the potential for nuclear warfare. That's why it seems somewhat odd that Rex Tillerson announce that although Iran was living up to its agreement to scale back its nuclear program under the the Agreement negotiated by the Obama administration in conjunction with other European countries, the US might renounce the agreement anyway because we don't like Iran. There can be no question that the road to peace in the Middle East will be well served by tearing up agreements with often hostile nations. I for one am quite sure that the response of Iran to such an action would be highly favorable to our plans, unless of course our plan is to seek less nuclear development.

A Change of pace

Donny was in Wisconsin today giving one of his fatuous and fundamentally dishonest speeches. As one would expect, he talked about his election victory. As it is the only thing he is accomplished that's understandable. Nonetheless it is dismal to watch, listen and think about this Congress and administration. There is also no small measure of redundancy as what passes by are variations on the same tired theme. So, as they used to say on Monty Python, "Time for something different" and I hope better.

I have a 15-year-old granddaughter who is delightful. She has Down's syndrome and a kind of autism that makes her often rather obstreperous. But this is not really about her. She is mainstreamed and now in high school. Obviously she gets treated a little differently and is in a group of special needs children within the larger school population. What this is about is her fellow students. These kids are wonderful. They open their hearts and lives to her. On Valentines day, in her last year of junior high school one of the really bright stars of the class brought her a half dozen roses. She was an adjunct member of the cheerleading squad, uniform and all, and performed lip syncs to great applause at school performance shows.

This year in high school she was invited to a school prom by a very popular boy, a member of the basketball team. A girl who was a friend of his invited a special needs boy and the four them went to dinner and the prom. My granddaughter loves to dress up and loves to dance and had a wonderful evening. These are things that when she was born we never expected would happen. They happened not because of anything her family did but because of the wonderful teachers and schoolmates she has.

There are many more people like her schoolmates than there are those like Donald Trump. Ourjob is to help kids like this grow up and retain the promise they show. It is to somehow convince the young that he who dies with the most toys doesn't win. He wins who lives a happy and rewarding life. That is not easy. It is particularly difficult now that we have a President whose primary compulsions are selfishness and egomania. We have to try. It is easy to criticize and ridicule Trump; it is a lot more difficult to teach and demonstrate the better path.

il Penseroso

Vice Pres. Mike Pence , or as he is known in the UK, half Penny, is visiting South Korea. He is there to warn the North Koreans that under pres. Donnie, there will be" no more nice guy." The Trump Brain trust has determined that the best way to deal with a paranoid totalitarian dictator is to threaten him with military action. This of course will allow him to continue justifying his abysmal treatment of the citizens of North Korea on the basis that North Korea must be prepared to defend itself. Pence is meeting with the acting president of South Korea, probably to give him condolences because if the US takes military action against North Korea, it is pretty much a cinch that Seoul will be bombed out of existence. Now, of course, for the US this is definitely a win win proposition. Not only will the US get to flex its military muscles, but a lot of those pesky South Korean companies like Samsung, Hyundai and the South Korean steel industry that have been maliciously taking American jobs will no longer exist.

Meanwhile, back at the White House it is Easter egg day. A new and exciting addition to the normal White House Easter festivities will be the first mad Hatter's tea party. It will feature not only Donnie but his secretaries of education , Commerce, EPA, housing and of course the redoubtable Jeff Sessions. Donnie is going to be the red Queen but he insists being White. And consistent with that message, there will only be White marshmallow bunnies, no brown chocolate ones. Melania  gave a short speech at the beginning of the ceremonies. It is probably unfair to criticize her or comment on her as she came to this position totally unprepared by knowledge or experience, rather like her husband, but every time I hear her talk she reminds me of Natasha of Bullwinkle fame. I wonder if she is sad that Boris, AKA Steve Bannon is no longer around the White House as much.

Our fearless leader

Well, he is off to Florida for the 17th time to play golf. He is being criticized for these junkets and the cost to the taxpayers of them. But, think about it. Would you rather have him playing golf or playing president?

Before he left, this master of pomposity took time to apprise us of his incredible military accomplishments. You may recall during the campaign his statements that he knew more about Iraq than the generals and that our military had been devastated and was practically useless. Yesterday he praised our great great military for their fantastic accomplishments in the last eight weeks. It's the same military with the same equipment as during the campaign. And what where these great accomplishments? A bombing of an air Field in Syria that did minimal damage and dropping a bomb in Afghanistan that killed 36 Isis militants. He still has no apparent middle East, far East or Russia strategies nor has he done anything to create an effective coalition among our allies in the Middle East. In other words, he has done practically nothing except praise himself for his nonexistent accomplishments. It is difficult to watch him speak. Is this rambling self-centered incompetent really our president?

On the domestic front, his latest outrage is to threaten that he will cause the government to default on its obligations to provide federal funding necessary so that our citizens will continue to have Health care under the affordable care act. He characterizes this as some sort of a clever let's make a deal ploy to cause Democrats to vote for some undefined health care plan he is conjuring up. You will recall that his campaign promise was less expensive and better health care for everyone. Apparently his new plan is healthcare for those who get it as part of their employment compensation and those who are independently wealthy and too bad for the rest of you. He needs to be relentlessly bombarded with criticism including making him an object of ridicule. In other words, CNN, MSNBC and the  rest need to be replaced with 24 hour a day Saturday Night Live.

Additionally, he claims to be somehow cleverly foisting the job of  solving the North Korea problem on China, in lieu of some undefined trade deal. This guy's delusions never cease.

Donnie and the muddle east

As everyone is aware, Donnie had sort of and Epiphany last week. He's suddenly and mysteriously became aware that Asaad was a really bad dude and was killing innocent people including very very little babies. In response, he ordered the military to make a limited strike on one of Assad's airbases. This method with mixed reaction from all elements of our body politic. Many of his core supporters we're terribly upset that he was abandoning his "American only" policy. Both Democrats and Republicans had members criticizing him for not seeking congressional approval prior to this strike. Some thought the strike was too small. Some nonpartisans we're just made simply on the grounds that they wanted no more foreign incursions. On the other hand, he had quite a lot of positive reaction friendly cross-section of US citizens. It was pretty easy to see that what Donnie took from the experience was that it showed him as a swift decisive tough leader. And thereby lies the problem. There have been hilarious roundtable discussions among the TV pundits about whether Donnie has a new comprehensive strategy for the Middle East or whether it was just an impulsive act. Are you kidding? Donnie could have a well thought out coherent strategy? The one thing that is apparent is that Donnie really likes how he now thinks about himself and believes others do too. He is even more dangerous now. He can swiftly and decisively do something really stupid.

On the bright side, in today's New York Times opinion section Thomas Friedman was the first  as far as I know to question the incessant babbling about how our most important concern is to defeat Isis in Syria. His central point is that for the US, the major concern about Isis is not Isis in Syria but the virtual Isis worldwide. Let Asaad and Russia and Iran lead the attack on Isis in Syria. What we should be doing is establishing a no fly zone over the moderate insurgents, the refugees the Kurdish forces etc. If the US spends time and resources fighting Isis in Syria, we are primarily helping Asaad maintain control of Syria. Defeating Isis in Syria is not a big concern of the US and does very little to protect the US from the world wide salafist network. Our goal should be to support those moderates contesting against Assad and work towards forcing Asaad himself but not necessarily the government infrastructure out. If our putative allies in the region–Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt–with the Kurds and the moderate Syrian insurgents work together, Asaad and Isis will eventually fall, notwithstanding support from Iran and Russia. Meanwhile, the US needs to concentrate its concern on the global, salafist terror network as well as worry about our biggest problem, North Korea.

Donnie's little light bulb

Those of us who read comic books and watch cartoons know that we all have a little lightbulb that is suspended over our heads. When we have a moment of sudden clarity or understanding, it clicks on and shines brightly. So I was wondering whether Donnie Down at mal de mer this weekend will have such a moment. What I was imagining is Donnie gathered with his trusted advisors Jared and Ivanka, and maybe the two boys Sonny and Fredo, discussing Syria and Russia endlessly stating that they had nothing to do with either enabling or accomplishing a chemical warfare attack in Syria. Perhaps he would say something like" Why do they keep lying, everybody knows that they are lying". It is at that point that the little light might go  on and Donnie might think" Oh my God, is that how people have been reacting to me?" Who knows.

In the aftermath of the US attack on the Syrian Air Force Base, the blabbering and posturing has been incessant. Was it constitutional; was it the right sort of attack; what message did it send; what did it say to China; how will Russia react ; what comes next? My own opinion was that it wasn't enough. They should have totally destroyed the base , its runways and infrastructure. You only get one chance for a total surprise move like that one and it should've been more robust. Rex Tillotson has said that movement is under way already to oust  Asaad. That being the case, there was no reason not to cripple his ability to strike through the air.

Apparently Hillary Clinton agrees with me. She really needs to go away and quit talking. All she will do is allow more blabbering about what did or did not occur when she was Secretary of State and Obama was president and what Trump said then and now. Totally useless. By running a breathlessly inept campaign and bequeathing us Pres. Trump , she has done  enough. She should go do something useful like helping Jimmy Carter build habitat for humanity.

Meanwhile, we all wonder whether Trump and his advisers have a Mideast and a Far East strategy in mind. Rasputin says he is not going and that he and Jared and rhinoceros proboscis can get along nicely. All I can say is in this case I'm all for nepotism.

Big pow wow in Mal de Mer

The big sit down between Trump and Xi is proceeding at Trump's summer cabin in Florida. One hopes that some sort of entente cordiale could result. TrUMP should have learned from yesterday that backing off some of his truly stupid ideas can actually gain him political capital. Certainly today he is getting more positive response across the board than from any thing he has previously done.

As far as foreign military affairs, and particularly North Korea, is concerned we can expect a lot of tiptoeing around the issues, sort of like boxers circling around the ring in the first round and throwing a few jabs. Trump is in a better position than he was early yesterday but he still has no discernible Far Eastern policy .

Turning to trade issues, even if Trump remains obsessed with the dumb advice he gets from Peter Navarro about  trade deficits, he ought to consider that trade deficits can be reduced in two ways. The US can either buy less from China or sell more. We don't need to adopt the border strategy that is fraught with the potential for unexpected adverse consequences. The goods we buy from China in large part are either supply chain items or the sort of things sold in Walmart stores at low prices for the people trump claims to want to help. So, how about attempting to convince China to to buy more US produced products. China still has a lot of dollars. One thing that's suggests itself it is to sell China food, grains and meats. At present our agricultural industry is down with prices of foodstuffs as well as the price of farmland diminished. Meanwhile, China has more people moving from the country to the cities and has way over 1 billion people to feed. All of the States with large agricultural segments to their economies should press through their senators for this sort of result. It is time to get rid of these supply-side/ tax cut economic miracle fantasies and try something simple that might actually work.

In Foreign territory

Having proved himself hey lying incompetent in domestic affairs, Trump now finds himself, Like it or not with situations in Syria and North Korea that he can't avoid. With respect to Syria, his approach until today has been to say that Asaad does not necessarily have to go and that anyway it's all Obama's fault. It is accurate that Obama said some dumb things, the red line remark and that Assad had to go but that is not to say that Assad would've acted any differently. By that time, the Assad was facing being tried as a war criminal and executed unless you maintain control or found sanctuary. It is also worth remembering that Obama ran on the platform of no more incursions into the middle east a military nature and that Congress refused to authorize military action in Syria, obviously because they knew it was a problem and did not want their fingerprints on it.

There were two promising developments today. First Nikki Haley's speech at the UN and second deposing Rasputin as a member of the principals committee of NASA. Assuming Russia continues to block the Security Council, what should the US do outside of United Nations action? Unless a Asaad voluntarily leaves for sanctuary in Russia or Iran, I am regretfully of the opinion that military action is necessary. The action I would propose is a massive bomb strike eliminating Syria's air Force, both planes and infrastructure. It should be coordinated and actively assisted by Saudi Arabia and others of our so-called allies in the Middle East. There is a mechanism for informing the Russians about actions that could jeopardize their troops and that would need to be triggered in a timely fashion but with a short fuse.

Trumps first move should be to ask Congress for authority to engage in military action in Syria. That might well prompt to diplomatic responses from among others Russia and Syria and Iran. The only diplomatic solution acceptable would have to be Asaad leaving Syria for sanctuary. Otherwise, bombs away. That would not mean that the US has to be heavily engaged in a ground war. Its role could continue to be much like it is.

For me, the downside of this in addition to a distate for initiating military escalation is that it would probably be to the political advantage of our head twit. He ran on a strongman platform and has been unmasked as a bumbling fool. Such an action would cause him to appear to be the strong, affective leader his misguided supporters thought he was. It would also present the US as a Country willing to put it's might and prestige behind what is obviously right, the elimination of Asaad. This would also be helpful to him in negotiations on trade relationships, because of increased respect for the role of the US internationally.

As far as North Korea is concerned, Trump should begin by asking XI a question. What will you do to help us control North Korea? He will be in dangerous waters dealing with XI because Xi is much better prepared by knowledge and experience than Trump. Better start slowly.

Death and Taxes

First to the death part. Republicans have been saying for seven years that they were going to " Repeal and replace Obamacare. "What we suspected and now know was that they were only stating a part of their full plan. Their full plan was to "Repeal and replace Obamacare with something far worse." It was reported today that the White House has sent to the Republicans in the House of Representatives a new proposed plan. Obviously, there has been no time for any serious changes so we can expect pretty much the same plan. I can't wait to hear the head twit describe it. You may recall that the last time he was promoting the republican plan it was a" very very remarkable, fantastic plan." At the same time it was widely reported that he was asking his White House staff "Is this a good plan?" Assuming it is what is logical to expect and assuming that it passes, it will mean death for many of our citizens.

And now to taxes. It is widely expected that whatever else is in the plan, there will be a reduction in the tax rate for Business companies. You'll hear them say as they always say that the top nominal rate of 39% is the highest in the world. In fact the OECD average as reported by the economist is 25%. However what the Republicans do not report is that this nominal rate does not remotely reflect what the American companies end up paying in federal income tax. Between 2008 and 2012, according to the GAO large companies that were profitable paid a federal tax of 14% on their net income, a rate that rose to 22% once state and local taxes were included. This again as reported in the Economist.

The Republicans will also claim that all tax reductions, no matter what the circumstances and who receives them always result in economic growth for all. As the heritage foundation is among those advising Trump, he will probably claim as Ryan does when he uses the heritage foundation economists ,that there will be multipliers of as much as 5 to 7 times, as when Ryan made these claims circa 2009. Trumps other principal economic adviser, Peter Navarro remains obsessed with the trade deficit with China. He believes that eliminating that will solve all economic problems. He and Rasputin, a.k.a. Steve Bannon, also think that economic isolationism is ultimately the solution. Oddly enough, they never discuss the Washington consensus that allows capital to freely roam the world. And perhaps even more oddly, they never confront historical information that demonstrates they are wrong.

Trump was on TV today talking to his CEO roundtable. Shakespeare was right," Life is a tale told by an idiot", at least in this country.

Trumps infrastructure program

And unconfirmed rumor from an undisclosed source stated that the Trump meister Will introduce legislation to create a massive infrastructure building program. The program will cause a huge, really remarkable change of hotels and golf resorts to be built initially stretching from Kentucky through the Rust Belt, that the Obama administration is single-handedly created. The project will be a public-private partnership with the Government providing seed money followed by loans from the treasury department headed by Steve the munchkin. Government oversight will be provided by Ivanka and Jared who are World Class really fantastic hotel and resort builders and managers. The hotel and resorts, Including golf courses, will be built by the Trump companies, of which Pres. Trump has no connection other than that he owns them. The treasury department loans will be backed by Trump company IOUs, which everybody knows are the gold standard of IOUs.

In order to provide access and to create more jobs, a massive highway building project, financed by the federal highway trust unless the Obama administration has bankrupted it, will be created. The slogan will be" all roads lead to Trump". The project will be built buy a new arm of the Trump companies, with which President Trump is no longer associated except that he owns them. Trump stated" as I said in my campaign, only I can make America great again."

Trump also is reported to have been planning that the Trump companies, with which he is no longer associated, will be creating a military arm far greater than Blackwater ever thought of being. It will be huge. Rumor has it that Gen. Flynn will head up the organization, as soon as the fake news witch hunt into his past is over. Trump explain that Flynn had lied when he said he had lied to Congress and pants as part of his constructing a history that will allow him to go deep, deep undercover. Sean Spicer was heard to say" Please make Kellyanne  explain all this, I can't stand it anymore".