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.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
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.
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.
Saturday, April 8, 2017
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.
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.
Friday, April 7, 2017
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
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.
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.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
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".
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".
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