American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

How does withdrawing from a plan based on emissions targets effect the USA's competitiveness in the clean tech sector? Doesn't seem to make sense

Because early on, emerging technology companies tend to be dependent on domestic markets; you can't exist as a strictly export company in a competitive environment. Take solar, for example; the US did have major solar farm projects that were driving their domestic industries. So did Europe and China. But regulatory uncertainty has largely put on-hold the US market for utility-scale solar projects, and the US solar manufacturers have been forced to switch to residential. Without a regulatory push toward clean energy, there's a weak and uncertain domestic market, and the industry fails to keep up with their international rivals.
Meanwhile, with Europe and China pushing ahead with utility-scale solar, solar manufacturers there are growing significantly, bringing their prices down as they increase efficiency (especially in China). US solar producers may eventually find themselves unable to compete... stocks of US solar manufacturers are already in the toilet compared to a decade ago. It's a similar story with wind, albeit with Europe taking a more significant role in manufacturing than in solar. It could be that by the time the US decides to get serious about utility-scale solar, they have no choice but to import most of their panels.

Right now, building utility-scale solar is mostly a first-world concern, but there is going to be a developing-world market as well. North Africa should be a massive solar market in the coming years, both for their own power sources as well as exporting to Europe. The US is currently positioned to be a non-factor in those markets.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by octothorp

US solar producers may eventually find themselves unable to compete... stocks of US solar manufacturers are already in the toilet compared to a decade ago.

Virtually all of them, regardless of home country, are in the tank, many are bankrupt or on the verge of going bankrupt.

Meanwhile, with Europe and China pushing ahead with utility-scale solar

Most of the Europe has already plateaued, as Europe's less than ideal location makes it hard to add much solar. The poster child of European solar, Germany is barely adding any more capacity even though solar still only accounts for 7% of electricity generation. China is a building a lot of everything and even the widely published accounts of how China is turning away from coal is probably wrong as 2016 saw an increase in electricity generation from coal and Q1 2017 set a new record.

Right now, building utility-scale solar is mostly a first-world concern, but there is going to be a developing-world market as well. North Africa should be a massive solar market in the coming years, both for their own power sources as well as exporting to Europe. The US is currently positioned to be a non-factor in those markets.

I doubt it, North African countries may build some solar especially if foreigners pay for it but no country that wants to be developed can run on electricity that only works part of the day.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by GGG

The fourth circuit ruling seems suspect though. Part of the basis for saying the law targets religion were Trumps campaign speeches. I don't think campaign speeches should be admissible as the intent of a law passed later. Campaigns are designed to get rubes to vote for you and inherently not a reliable source of fact.

Anything said during the administration would be reasonable to consider

Giuliani said Trump tasked him with banning Muslims after he was elected

[Snuffleupagus]

How on earth did this man not lose every dime his dad gave him let alone build an empire worth billions? It's really beyond comprehension!

I read somewhere he has an IQ of 160, yeah no, that's obviously real fake news

[FlameOn]

More insanity from the White House today. The WH has ordered all federal agencies to not comply with Democratic lawmakers oversight requests.

The White House is telling federal agencies to blow off Democratic lawmakers' oversight requests, as Republicans fear the information could be weaponized against President Donald Trump.

At meetings with top officials for various government departments this spring, Uttam Dhillon, a White House lawyer, told agencies not to cooperate with such requests from Democrats, according to Republican sources inside and outside the administration.

It appears to be a formalization of a practice that had already taken hold, as Democrats have complained that their oversight letters requesting information from agencies have gone unanswered since January, and the Trump administration has not yet explained the rationale.

The declaration amounts to a new level of partisanship in Washington, where the president and his administration already feels besieged by media reports and attacks from Democrats. The idea, Republicans said, is to choke off the Democratic congressional minorities from gaining new information that could be used to attack the president.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...e-house-239034

[Lanny_McDonald]

^^^^ This has Bannon's hand all over it. In the battle between the (white) nationalists and the globalists in the White House, it is obvious who is winning out. This move is burning the oversight system to the ground and is as unconstitutional as any move can be.

[DuffMan]

At this point I am convinced that Trump is too dumb to understand his job, and things like Health Care, Climate change, coal jawbs, tax reform etc. etc.
He only does things that get the loudest applause from his base, and that's how he makes decisions. It's unbelievable really. Uniting America, and draining the swamp indeed.
Mike Pence is an incredibly good bootlicker and that's why he's in the job, as are most of Trumps appointees, Devos, etc. on one side and then he has filled the rest of the positions via nepotism.
So, some small part of not so bright crazies in America are getting what they want, because they cheer the loudest.
It's going to take a long time for America to recover from this, all because the President needs his ego stroked.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Still think the West Coast and Northeast should secede and either form their own country, or join Canada as a special territory. They make the majority of Murica's GDP, and leaving should be easy since middle America and the Trump cult absolutely hates them. Now they aren't very smart so they probably don't realize losing the West and NE would quickly make them the poorest country on the continent, but at least manufacturing jobs would come back since minimum wage would be eliminated and they'd be no regulations at all. So they can enjoy making $2.30 a day for 14 hours of hard labour, but hey no liberals and coastal elites or Hollywood or fake news, and smog and poisoned water for everyone!

hasn't the northwest coast of the USA been breeding grounds for white supremacist groups for many years?
I don't think we want them.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

but at least manufacturing jobs would come back since minimum wage would be eliminated and they'd be no regulations at all. So they can enjoy making $2.30 a day for 14 hours of hard labour, but hey no liberals and coastal elites or Hollywood or fake news, and smog and poisoned water for everyone!

those already exist, they're called "right to work" states,

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Giuliani said Trump tasked him with banning Muslims after he was elected

I don't disagree with you but if you read the ruling it references the campaign comments so in my Internet lawyer opinion it is vulnerable.

I do think Gorsuch likely goes against Trump here as this is trying to extend executive reach on protecting the US from an undefined threat and therefore if you want to ban Muslims you need congress to do it.

[FlameOn]

CNN is reporting right now that the White House is going to block the Comey's testimony to the intelligence committees next week.

Wtf? How are there even legal grounds for this? Why would anyone even obey the White House orders to do so given that they are the ones under investigation?

[photon]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

CNN is reporting right now that the White House is going to block the Comey's testimony to the intelligence committees next week.

Wtf? How are there even legal grounds for this? Why would anyone even obey the White House orders to do so given that they are the ones under investigation?

Trump would probably do it on the basis of executive privilege.

Though ultimately I think that would fail as preventing Comey's testimony isn't in the public's interest but only in Trump's interest.

It also makes him look guilty, but Trump's irrational need to fight against any criticism prevents him from considering a larger picture.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by photon

Trump would probably do it on the basis of executive privilege.

Though ultimately I think that would fail as preventing Comey's testimony isn't in the public's interest but only in Trump's interest.

It also makes him look guilty, but Trump's irrational need to fight against any criticism prevents him from considering a larger picture.

I don't know American political procedure as well. But failing this, the government could also demand that the testimony take place without cameras and all of the transcripts be classified if it can be proved that exposing the testimony could harm the United States.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by accord1999

Virtually all of them, regardless of home country, are in the tank, many are bankrupt or on the verge of going bankrupt.

Many companies are doing terrible because the price of solar is plummeting and most companies can't keep up with the price competition, but overall the business of building solar seems to be booming.

For example, India just canceled it's previous plans to build ~14 gigawatts worth of new coal plants because the price of solar electricity is now about 30 percent below coal there. Of course this has to do with the local issue of India needing to import coal, but it's still a sign of just how fast the price of solar is coming down. This is murder for some solar companies.

The market speculation isn't saying that solar in general is in trouble. It's saying that as solar seems to be going from a niche to bulk product, we'll see a typical 'survival of the fittest' competition where a few major companies will eventually take over most of the markets.

The price of solar is now so low in Asia that the value of existing coal plants is becoming a point of discussion. There's sure to be some demand for coal for a long time, but if it goes from main power source to mostly backup power, that's going to shut down a lot of coal plants and cut down production in the ones that survive. (That's purely speculative right now, but investors are sure to be following things closely for signs of trouble.)

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Seriously why does anyone even trust sports casters for sciences related information or opinions of any kind. It's like asking your plumber to do your taxes. Stupid.

That's never stopped Hollywood. Not sure why you guys are so hard on Roger. He's entitled to his opinion.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

That's never stopped Hollywood. Not sure why you guys are so hard on Roger. He's entitled to his opinion.

And when he shares his opinions with other persons, those persons are entitled to disagree or to point out the flaws in his opinion. That is the key element of expression which gives it democratic value (and likely justifies its constitutional protection).

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Makarov

And when he shares his opinions with other persons, those persons are entitled to disagree or to point out the flaws in his opinion. That is the key element of expression which gives it democratic value (and likely justifies its constitutional protection).

I don't see any of that. All I see is ridicule here. I don't share his belief but on one hand you have people saying "he's a sportscaster, his opinion doesn't matter" and yet he's being vilified because his opinion differs from most here. The fact his name was even brought out in this thread was solely to throw stones at him.

[burn_this_city]

US unemployment clocked in at 4.3%, expect Trump to take all credit and assume he was lying when he claimed the real unemployment was 20-30%.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

US unemployment clocked in at 4.3%, expect Trump to take all credit and assume he was lying when he claimed the real unemployment was 20-30%.

Not to give Trump credit because it was on it's way down long before he took over but that's pretty a pretty impressive figure.

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Because early on, emerging technology companies tend to be dependent on domestic markets; you can't exist as a strictly export company in a competitive environment. Take solar, for example; the US did have major solar farm projects that were driving their domestic industries. So did Europe and China. But regulatory uncertainty has largely put on-hold the US market for utility-scale solar projects, and the US solar manufacturers have been forced to switch to residential. Without a regulatory push toward clean energy, there's a weak and uncertain domestic market, and the industry fails to keep up with their international rivals.
Meanwhile, with Europe and China pushing ahead with utility-scale solar, solar manufacturers there are growing significantly, bringing their prices down as they increase efficiency (especially in China). US solar producers may eventually find themselves unable to compete... stocks of US solar manufacturers are already in the toilet compared to a decade ago. It's a similar story with wind, albeit with Europe taking a more significant role in manufacturing than in solar. It could be that by the time the US decides to get serious about utility-scale solar, they have no choice but to import most of their panels.

Right now, building utility-scale solar is mostly a first-world concern, but there is going to be a developing-world market as well. North Africa should be a massive solar market in the coming years, both for their own power sources as well as exporting to Europe. The US is currently positioned to be a non-factor in those markets.

I don't disagree with you on this, but it does run counter to another thing that Obama mentioned in that quote about clean tech being widely embraced by the private sector. Basically I'm skeptical of how clean tech can survive on its own without massive government subsidies and incentives, which runs counter to the narrative that they're becoming widely embraced and profitable.