American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS (Archive)

[Fozzie_DeBear]

An interesting (and cynical) thought about the long-game the administration might be playing

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

not democrats or republicans... people.
Everyone lives in their little bubble and either on the left or the right, one issue can sway them.
I think being called stupid played a role.

who called them stupid?
aside from
"how stupid are the people of Iowa?" - Trump

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by wittynickname

Frankly? Too bad. What happened to the guys making wagons for horses when the car came around?

It's one thing to lose your jobs by progress but in a lot of cases, it's jobs that are being moved to other countries with cheaper labor and weaker labor and environmental protection and standards, or to countries who protect them more with higher tariffs or currency manipulation.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Here's a new angle to keep you up at night.

This is blatant fear-mongering.

[Izzle]

http://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump...ocial_facebook

Might as well be clear about it: Bannon is de-facto president.

[Senator Clay Davis]

When you try to be a coward, but fate says "#### that ####".....

John Bresnahan ‏@BresPolitico 34m34 minutes ago
Tom Price was trying to avoid press, ran to Senate subway. But then subway BROKE DOWN & he was stuck facing reporter questions

https://twitter.com/BresPolitico/sta...50050654404610

[Drak]

Originally Posted by Izzle

http://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump...ocial_facebook

Might as well be clear about it: Bannon is de-facto president.

And if it picks up more steam calling him such, Trump should have a typical meltdown.

[photon]

Not sure how it's (changing # on supreme court) fear mongering, Arizona and Georgia did it last year. Other states have tried to or completed increasing or decreasing the number of judges in their supreme courts over the past decade.

[Drak]

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by accord1999

It's one thing to lose your jobs by progress but in a lot of cases, it's jobs that are being moved to other countries with cheaper labor and weaker labor and environmental protection and standards, or to countries who protect them more with higher tariffs or currency manipulation.

It's another thing to lose your job because declining taxation has made infrastructure spending prohibitively expensive, eliminating your role as labourer or specialized trade or civil professional.

The Budget Control Act of 2011 for example cost the country millions of jobs and not just in the defense sector but across other programs like medicaid as well.

The US is built as a corporate welfare state with massive, economy driving subsidies to various industries.

America saw two great booms in infrastructure spending in the past century, the first during the Great Depression, when the Pulaski skyway was built, and the second in the 1950s and 60s, when most of the interstate highway system was. Since then, public infrastructure spending as a share of GDP has declined to about half the European level. America is one of the most car-dependent nations on earth, yet it spends about as large a share of GDP on roads as Sweden, where public transport is pretty good (see chart). The federal government scrimps on airports and sewage pipes so it can pay for pensions and health care.


Something similar is unfolding at the state and local level, where three quarters of all spending on infrastructure occurs. States cut their budgets by 3.8% in 2009 and 5.7% in 2010—and have not made up the lost ground. Meanwhile bills for repairs are coming due. Much of what was built after the war was only designed to last for 50 years and now needs replacing. That includes almost half the country’s bridges.

Signs of the shortfall are everywhere. Airports are funded by passenger fees and another trust fund. Neither has kept up with the increase in air traffic. The last big new airport was opened almost 20 years ago, in Denver. Everything about America’s major airports is too small, starting with the gates for parking planes. Last year Boeing began offering aircraft with folding wing-tips because so many are damaged while trying to squeeze in. At the busiest international airports, clearing customs can take hours. At New York’s JFK the average wait is about 30 minutes, but some poor souls wait four hours.

This is relatively efficient compared with what is going on in the sky. Most air- traffic control systems are less advanced than the technology found in smartphones. Alaska’s Juneau airport, which is smothered by low-lying cloud, is an exception. Its airport introduced GPS navigation after there were threats to move the state capital to Anchorage because it was so hard to land. The result has been 2,000 fewer flights cancelled each year. Other airports still treat planes as if they were galleons crossing an ocean, travelling between fixed points on a two-dimensional map.

With interest rates low and companies sitting on $2 trillion in cash, this should be a good time to bring in private money to make up for the lack of public investment. That cause has not been helped by some high-profile flops: the consortium that took over a stretch of road in 2006 that runs from Chicago to the Ohio turnpike and is operated by Ferrovial of Spain and Macquarie of Australia is near bankruptcy. The involvement of two foreign infrastructure finance companies is telling: because America has been slow to adopt public-private partnerships its companies have little experience of them. The Port of Miami tunnel, a billion-dollar project which is due to open shortly, was financed by Europeans and used a boring machine built in Germany and shipped across the Atlantic in pieces to dig the tunnel.

From noted communist rag, The Economist

The US economy lives and dies on public dollars.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

The US economy lives and dies on public dollars.

At least its not socialist

[DuffMan]

I seriously still cannot believe this guy is POTUS.

talking to cybersecurity experts.

“Despite having spent hundreds and hundreds more millions of dollars more money than we did, the Democratic National Committee was hacked successfully, very successfully, and terribly, frankly, and the Republican National Committee was not hacked, meaning it was hacked but they failed,” Trump said.
“It was reported, I believe by Reince and other people, that it was hacked, but we had a very strong defense system against hacking,” Trump continued, before addressing the experts and going on an election-related tangent.
“So despite spending a lot less money than the Democrats — and in all fairness winning, people don't say that, we spent a lot less money, admiral, and we won. That's good, right? Isn’t that a good thing, when you can spend less and win?”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...nc-hack-234446

[RougeUnderoos]

I sort of missed the whole circling back to the "you can't call these people stupid! Your elitism got him elected" conversation, but it got me to thinking..

His supporters in the midwest/rust belt/bible belt, the south/flyover areas, we've been told over and over they don't like coastal elites. They don't like Hollywood. They don't like Washington insiders.

Seems to me that they have a President who is a New York billionaire, his right-hand man made his fortune in Hollywood, his other right hand man is another New York billionaire, and he's surrounded by a bunch of Washington insiders.

They elected the people they claim to hate, and the whole goddamn place is going to pay the price for it. At what point in this disaster will we be able to call a spade a spade?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I sort of missed the whole circling back to the "you can't call these people stupid! Your elitism got him elected" conversation, but it got me to thinking..

His supporters in the midwest/rust belt/bible belt, the south/flyover areas, we've been told over and over they don't like coastal elites. They don't like Hollywood. They don't like Washington insiders.

Seems to me that they have a President who is a New York billionaire, his right-hand man made his fortune in Hollywood, his other right hand man is another New York billionaire, and he's surrounded by a bunch of Washington insiders.

They elected the people they claim to hate, and the whole goddamn place is going to pay the price for it. At what point in this disaster will we be able to call a spade a spade?

I just love the cognitive dissonance employed by a group of people who call their opponents "snowflakes" for their supposed sensitivity and political correctness, but then complain that said opponents should be nicer to them and not call them stupid or they'll elect a fascist.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I sort of missed the whole circling back to the "you can't call these people stupid! Your elitism got him elected" conversation, but it got me to thinking..

His supporters in the midwest/rust belt/bible belt, the south/flyover areas, we've been told over and over they don't like coastal elites. They don't like Hollywood. They don't like Washington insiders.

Seems to me that they have a President who is a New York billionaire, his right-hand man made his fortune in Hollywood, his other right hand man is another New York billionaire, and he's surrounded by a bunch of Washington insiders.

They elected the people they claim to hate, and the whole goddamn place is going to pay the price for it. At what point in this disaster will we be able to call a spade a spade?

Seems to go both ways - so lets call it human nature

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I just love the cognitive dissonance employed by a group of people who call their opponents "snowflakes" for their supposed sensitivity and political correctness, but then complain that said opponents should be nicer to them and not call them stupid or they'll elect a fascist.

That pivot from "Don't call me Racist" to....

NSFW!

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Seems to go both ways - so lets call it human nature

I'm human. Its not in my nature and I doubt it's in yours.

This is obviously a simplification, but it looks like this to me:

I don't believe in climate change, or evolution. I don't like public broadcasting. I don't like academics in their ivory towers telling me what to do. I don't like rich guys with big fancy houses and limousines telling me to turn down my heat and drive less.

Therefore, I support David Suzuki for Prime Minister.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I'm human. Its not in my nature and I doubt it's in yours.

This is obviously a simplification, but it looks like this to me:

I don't believe in climate change, or evolution. I don't like public broadcasting. I don't like academics in their ivory towers telling me what to do. I don't like rich guys with big fancy houses and limousines telling me to turn down my heat and drive less.

Therefore, I support David Suzuki for Prime Minister.

I am just saying everyone does it - there is no perfect candidate - people vote for a variety of reasons even if they don't agree with everything - and usually excuse those things - I mean if Bernie Sanders can write about women fantasizing about being raped and gather the support he did from the further left....who for the most part seem very obsessed with past transgressions..

Also my impression was a Trump vote to a lot of people was a vote against the so called "establishment" ...

[troutman]

Gorsuch is the appointee for the Supreme Court. Incredible resume.

Trump not wearing a wedding ring - is that usual?

[Hockeyguy15]

I can't look away from Trumps neck, it looks slightly like a vagina.