Oprah
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Florida
I don't know a lot about Oprah, but I have to think she would be like a leftist Trump. She doesn't have the political background which is a positive. Business wise, I wonder about her background there. That IS Trump's background. Yes she is mega rich, but through the entertainment industry. That industry has proven smarts isn't necessarily needed to succeed. Plus no idea how much HER business acumen was tested. Now Trump has had success in the entertainment industry, but after his business success. He will also have a proven successful political dip in the pool by the end of 2020.
Could be an interesting dust up! Rich, white, racist, loony tune (throw in any leftist adjective you like), vs. a better than God like black woman!
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, Vice President, Secretary of State, treasury, and about two hundred other positions one position for each one of his aliases. LOL
Hypocritical????
The Dems need to run a serious, sincere, experienced, career politician against Trump in 2020. Running a far-left version of Trump himself (Oprah -- TV personality, business woman, billionaire) would be a huge mistake. If Trump is not impeached or deceased by 2020, the Nation will surely have tired of the circus that is Washington DC and the pendulum will swing back the other way.
Was that a documentary about the Obama presidency?
Actually, I was very serious!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLRZ0dIv…
Now that's deplorable!
This week and next week, over 1Million related documents will be provided to Congress. It has already begun. Within 2 months, the entire OIG report will be completed. It will show, in extreme detail, how 20+ high level Obama appointees in the DOJ and FBI first tried to prevent Trump from being elected, then tried to undercut his presidency. All of these actions were illegal and likely treasonous.
Unlike the phony Trump collusion story, this is a massive conspiracy of a scope never before seen in our history. Since those involved were certain Hillary would be elected, they didn’t bother covering their tracks. The email and text evidence is overwhelming.
Most Americans don’t know this is coming since the mainstream media has refused to cover it. However, when the report is released, and indictments stack up, it will be the biggest story of the year.
One problem. The IG can bark, but has no teeth to bite. That will require others. Do they have the courage to help drain the swamp?
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-c…
Does the phrase "The wheels are coming off." come to mind?
Were there any other qualifications that were required that she didn't possess?
Did you not learn this stuff in junior highschool?
???
There aren't many people I dislike more than Hillary Clinton. I was just responding to his request. To be honest, I'm surprised he didn't know that.
The education system in Nevada must not be top notch.
Welcome to Mensa genius LOL
Be my guest! But, I must tell you, you get sloppy seconds. Papi gets first dibs!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdw9Onnn7og/…
You think that is just coincidental? :)
Yes, but Fusion GPS was also originally hired by The Washington Free Beacon to research Trump... and the Washington Free Beacon is a conservative outlet that first broke the story of Hillary Clinton defending a child rapist in 1975. We're through the looking glass here, people! How deep does this conspiracy go? LOL.
On a more serious note... are we really talking about Oprah running for President? Imagine a guy who has been in a coma for 10 years and wakes up to find that A) the last president was a black guy with a Kenyan Muslim/atheist father and a name that sounds somewhat like the name of the terrorist from 9/11, B) the new president is Donald Trump, and C) the next president is Oprah. Amazing stuff.
You're right about most of what you said. There are a few go-along-to-get-along types left in the Democratic Party, such as Deval Patrick and Andrew Cuomo, but I don't see either of them being viable anymore. The only one who might still be viable and electable is Kamala Harris. Kristen Gilibrand paints herself as a noisy disruptor, but it's hard to know how she would actually govern; her House and Senate records are very different from each other.
And you're right that Trump is definitely governing in a conservative way so far. I wouldn't call it hard-right necessarily. He is very anti-trade, for example, as we've discussed, and free-trade has been a policy preference for the Right since at least the days of Reagan.
I like Mike Pence, personally, but I don't think he'll ever be elected president in his own right. I'd be surprised if you like him, though. Don't forget, Pence was one of those House members who championed immigration reform during the Bush administration. Lots of conservatives were against it at the time, but Pence was strongly in favor of it:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pences-lov…
https://fairus.org/legislation/president…
No, I know you didn't say you liked him. I was just saying. Everyone who votes has their favorite issues that determine whether a candidate gets their vote. (Unless they're just straight-ticket party-line voters.) Immigration isn't a priority for me. But I'm guessing it is for you. My priorities are fiscal and economic: free trade, entitlement reform, spending cuts, balanced budgets, overall size of government, etc.
I still don't think Pence ever gets elected, but I would be happy to be proven wrong.
Above you made what I think is a very inaccurate statement. "He is very anti-trade, for example, as we've discussed, and free-trade has been a policy preference for the Right since at least the days of Reagan."
I've never heard President Trump be against trade, just unfair trade where we get hosed! Free trade should not penalize one side over the other. However, that is very difficult to accomplish since so many other countries have labor practices that can undercut us simply because of our values.
We can't control what China and India and the rest of the world do. But if China puts tariffs on American goods and Trump's response is to put tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation, then he's not in favor of free trade. Period. The goal is for Americans to be able to BUY anything from whatever country they want. Not sell. Buy. Imports are much more important than exports. When we buy imports, foreigners send us stuff, and we send them nothing but pieces of paper. That's a win for America.
This whole notion that trade is only good when we sell more and buy less is stupid and economically illiterate. At this stage of development, we shouldn't be manufacturing trinkets and denim pants anymore. Leave that to the "shithole" countries LOL.
There are very few protectionist economists remaining. Even some left-wing economists are in favor of unilateral free trade nowadays. Economists assert that if all nations had free trade and free immigration, global GDP would nearly double. The concept is mostly based on mainstream economic concepts, such as the Theory of Comparative Advantage. This theory states that all countries should specialize in whatever they do best, even if some countries are better at everything. The end result would be a big increase in the supply of goods and services at lower prices, globally.
As for how we get more little pieces of paper, the idea is that unrestricted imports would bring down domestic prices. This means that American consumers would have more money left to spend on other things. This is especially good for American workers because we aren't a manufacturing based country anymore. Relatively few workers as a percentage of the population still work at manufacturing jobs. Countries eventually leave that stage of development behind. We are better at producing advanced services: legal, financial, technical, scientific, etc. We still manufacture tons of stuff in America, we just use fewer and fewer people to do it. In fact, our inflation-adjusted manufacturing output is greater than it's ever been in history. If you don't believe any of this, visit a local college and ask an economist.
It's sad watching the American people turn against free trade over the last decade or so. The change has been most dramatic in the GOP, the formerly free-trade party. Much of the ideas I hear from leading republicans nowadays sound more like Dick Gephardt and the Democrats from when I was a kid.
You're bringing other issues into the discussion. NATO, defense, Russia, intellectual property, etc., are all separate issues. Just briefly, since you mentioned them: I think we should withdraw completely from NATO; I don't think we should be defending anyone except our own country; and I don't really believe in intellectual property other than brand names (after all, no one can really *own* an idea).
But to get back to the issue of free trade, other countries aren't "robbing us blind," they are robbing their own citizens to subsidize our citizens. That's what China does when it purposely weakens its currency: it harms its own people by debasing its currency in order to make products artificially cheaper for American consumers.
And as for pushing paper back and forth, that's a childish view of the service economy. Think about all the people you know. Now count how many of them work on an assembly line in a factory. I'll bet you couldn't think of many factory workers in your circle of friends and acquaintances. So are you really saying that every person you know is a useless leech because he doesn't work on an assembly line? Of course not. That's ridiculous. People create value in millions of ways that do not involve assembling raw materials.
Withdrawal from NATO would be fool hardy especially while Russia is in an expansionist mode That would give the Russians carte blanche to co-opt our trade partners and put us on our back foot better to have strong alliances and demand our allies foot their fair share of costs.
Intellectual property is the product of someone or some groups endeavors think of movies when a movie is made usually from a book the author gets paid for his idea the actors and director get paid for their efforts to bring the story to the screen the studio is entitled to make a profit for their role in bringing all of these folks together, yet the Chinese allow bootlegging with impunity while profiting from the intellectual properties that they have no right to.
Currency manipulator is too long to get into here let’s just say that the manipulation of currency is really a problem for the simple reason that if we cannot agree on what a true value consists of there would be no trade rather than more trade.
And your final point pushing paper back and forth is not an unrealistic view of much of the service industry most folks involved are there to preserve wealth not create new wealth think simply of those at the top of the service industry food chain lawyers accountants bankers their main goal is to take a fee from wealth that has been created by others I never called them useless leeches I simply pointed out that at some point new wealth needs to be created or their fees will destroy the wealth that others worked so hard to achieve.
Simplest example is the lawyer creating a will or a pass thru like a trust or an accountant saving you money exploiting tax loopholes. If new wealth is not created those guys will be out of work as soon as the finish their chores.
I never said that assembling raw materials was the only way to create wealth I simply stated the obvious that service industry is not sustainable without the creative class.
Fini.
Adams proposes that a more accurate predictor is the small business optimism index, which is at a historic high. Adam’s theory explains the disconnect between overall optimism among the population and the dismal poll results for the president whose actions are driving this optimism.
The only way we’ll know for sure is an actual election in November. Until then, I offer this as an explanation should Republican congressional candidates “unexpectedly” do well in spite of what the experts tell us.
Given a choice, 95% of the population would prefer a Norwegian immigrant engineer as their next door neighbor rather than an uneducated Somali refugee. But, of course, political correctness prevents us from saying this in polite company.
Democrats like Dick Durbin think they have a winning issue when they collapse on their fainting couches, disgusted that the racist, crude president used a bad word. Every time they use the word shithole, they believe Americans are reminded of what a pig Trump is. In reality, most people’s first thought is “ you know, those places really are shitholes”. It’s like repeating the word shithole is a free campaign ad for Trump. He knows that. That’s why he didn’t immediately walk back that comment.
"Fair" trade can have different meanings, equitable, honest, honorable, just, trustworthy, upright, to name some. I believe President Trump was referring to equitable.
I recall reading many many years ago that of all the countries in the world, if they were the only country as the world, only the US could survive, for the most part, as it is. Seems plausible to me. So I would say, that any inequity should flow our way. Just my opinion, and yes, leave the "shithole" countries to fend for themselves. :)
I thought it was great that Trump called them shithole countries, because that's exactly what they are. They are shitholes. But the people who live there aren't bad people. Some of them (the hardest workers) are actually trying to escape from the shitholes that their neighbors and their governments have created, and we should let them. They want to come to America and make something of themselves in a free country where they can be 100 times more productive.
Personally, I would prefer to live next door to a rich person rather than a poor person, regardless of ethnic background. The ethnic group with the highest average income in this country is now Indian-Americans (from a shithole country), so letting them come to America was a win-win. It should also be noted that African immigrants are among the most educated group of immigrants coming to this country, being highly likely to hold at least one degree.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the Diversity Visa Lottery program was created in the 80s to increase the number of white European immigrants (whose numbers had fallen off sharply after the 1965 immigration reform). I don't believe in "diversity visas." I would just let anyone in who can pass a health screening and a background check. Mike Pence's old idea of corporate-run immigrant processing centers sounded pretty good to me.
If you don't believe in free trade it's ok to admit it. You don't have to use words like "fair trade" or "equitable" to conceal your real feelings just because you think your opinions aren't popular. That would be a form of political correctness, and I think we both agree that PC is ridiculous. It's not illegitimate to be against free trade. Free trade just means that any two people should be allowed to decide whether to exchange money and goods. And that those two people should be the buyer and the seller - not the president of one country and the dictator of another country!
Still, you're entitled to believe whatever you want. I just disagree. To me, when Trump talks about using trade as a bargaining chip with other countries, that's the equivalent of holding a gun to your own head and threatening to kill yourself unless your opponent does what you want him to do. It doesn't make sense. Yes, we should let the shithole countries fend for themselves, absolutely. But there is a way that we can help ourselves and them, too, for no cost at all - and that is through free trade.
You're still conflating political ideas with economic ideas. NATO has little to do with trade. But I'll respond anyway. NATO is a military alliance. We are allied with countries that can't defend us. But we can defend them. So why should we help defend countries that can't defend us? Even if they pay us to do it, what's the point? We don't need an overseas empire. And the American military is not for sale or for rent to the highest bidder. Regardless, even if Russia literally took over every single country on earth except for America, and then they all waged war on us, we would still win. America is so wealthy and has such a powerful military that we could literally defeat a coalition of the entire world. Our nuclear stockpile alone is sufficient to destroy the whole world several times over. So what's the point of NATO?
Second, intellectual property is the product of someone's mind, and once an idea is out there in the world, you can't own it. You can't reach into someone's mind and control it. People will always make art and express ideas, with or without a copyright. Artists paint public murals, people post videos on YouTube for pennies, and you and I are expressing ideas publicly right now for free. I'm not worried about Hollywood stopping all movie production just because of a few bootleggers in China.
As for currency manipulation causing world trade to stop, I had a good belly laugh over that one. We've been manipulating our own currency for decades. What did you think quantitative easing was? I'm totally against it, but if China wants to drive its own currency to zero in pursuit of a mercantilist fantasy, why should I complain? It just makes their products cheaper for me.
But as for the topic of trade in general, I should clarify: when I said "service economy," I meant all jobs that aren't manufacturing export-related jobs. Butchers, bakers, carpenters, electricians, actors, writers, retail clerks, managers, doctors, engineers, architects, customer service reps, teachers, construction workers, realtors, pilots, mechanics, researchers, etc., all these jobs do not involve working on an assembly line, manufacturing products. All of these jobs would still be here even if America stopped manufacturing anything at all. Which of course is a ridiculous hypothetical: we manufacture more than any country on earth except for China. We make turbines, fuselages, cranes, trucks, tanks, satellites, medications, etc. It's not the kind of stuff that you see stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart, but we still make tons of things.
Anyway, you should try what I suggested: go to a local university and ask an economist what he or she thinks of unilateral free trade. In other words, ask what he thinks about America completely tearing down trade barriers even if other countries don't follow suit. You can even print out a copy of this conversation and show it to him. (Maybe cross out our screennames so that he won't know which website this came from LOL.) I don't have an abundance of formal education, so perhaps they could explain these concepts to you better than I can. Let me know what they say. Your ideas and Trump's ideas on trade are very old fashioned, and they were quite common in the 17th century. But at some point, the ideas of mercantilism were replaced by economic liberalism, and the ideas of Adam Smith, John Locke, and the enlightenment came to dominate economics. One of those ideas was free trade. Sadly, the ideas of Karl Marx and, later on, John Maynard Keynes also emerged, but free trade remains a standard theme of modern economics and hasn't been challenged.
You're certainly right about that: None of these ideas are in any danger of becoming law. Just a quick question for you, though: since you basically seem to agree with Trump on this and several other things, what exactly is your objection to him anyway? Personally, I have serious policy disagreements with Trump, both when he was a liberal technocrat and now that he's a nativist conservative. But you don't seem to. So why don't you support him? If it's just because he's rude and inarticulate and inconsistent, those seem like shallow reasons to me. Just my opinion.
It's just an act. My uncle worked for Trump once and he said he was such a nice guy in private. In fact he said he saw Trump one time at a social function sitting off on the side and talking to a bunch of waiters when he could have been socializing with other rich famous people. My uncle said he found it notable because the waiters were all Hispanic immigrants (and probably illegals, according to my uncle's story). Anyway you're saying that if Trump didn't act this way you would then support him?
Even in private he is a braggart that I know firsthand.
Yeah, my uncle is a loud-mouth bragged, too, so take his stories with a grain of salt I guess. I agree Trump is not an honorable man. I have met a business owner who was screwed over by Trump, too. And I think the way he conducted himself during the campaign was absolutely disgraceful, namely when he wouldn't admit to things that we all knew to be true and repeatedly dodged the issues and shouted his opponents down. But I would still have voted for him if his policy positions were in line with mine. I guess everyone has their own standards when they step into a voting booth.
US: Few barriers to imports/ low tariff
Competitors: Barriers to imports/ Tariffs
Free Trade ( fairy land / nonexistent in real world )
US: no barriers
Cpompetitors: no barriers
Trumps goal
US and competitors: Equal barriers, ideally limited
We can't control what other countries do, only what our country does. So why should we punish our own consumers with trade barriers? Are you telling me that, as a self-described libertarian, you believe America should erect trade barriers just because other countries do? Other countries do lots of stupid things, that doesn't mean we should imitate them. And I would never say that America has few barriers to imports. What I would say is that, historically, developed countries like the USA have fewer barriers to imports than developing countries (like China, India, etc.). This is a long-term pattern in economic history.
Yes, I know the theory that we should have no barriers to benefit our consumers. But, if other countries prevent us from selling to them, we’ll shed jobs and have no money to spend on goods. There have to be low barriers in both directions for healthy international trade. One way trade doesn’t work.
I already responded to a similar comment from twentyfive about how one-way trade would ruin the country. I don't have the energy to do it all over again LOL. Ideally, I would want no barriers to trade in any country on earth. But if we can't have that, I wouldn't want to cut my nose to spite my face by preventing foreign businesses from selling to us, too.
But you're flat out wrong if you believe that America has few or no barriers to trade; we only have few barriers when compared to developing countries (we also have better sanitation and lower infant mortality, too; these are primitive countries and I wouldn't want to imitate them). For example, Congress has passed laws that drastically limit the number of cars that can be imported each year, resulting in car makers being forced to manufacture their products here, which results in much higher prices for Americans. One of George W. Bush's first actions as president was to apply a tariff to Chinese steel imports. One of Obama's first actions as president was to apply a tariff to Chinese tire imports (in fact, I was reminded of Black Jesus last year when I needed a new set of tires and they cost me a small fortune). We have special quotas restricting the imports of sugar and other agricultural products (combined with agricultural subsidies which are designed to drive overseas farmers out of business). And there are various Buy America provisions peppered throughout Federal contracts. What I'm saying is we do not have one-way free trade. Not even close. We've been doing it your way since before we were both born.
"You don't have to use words like "fair trade" or "equitable" to conceal your real feelings just because you think your opinions aren't popular."
That statement says you don't know s%$# about me. At nearly 69 years old, I don't give a damn what others think of my opinions, especially some egotistical horndog on TUSCL. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. One opinion I have is that it is important to know when to stop arguing with people and simply let them be wrong. You have a nice life!
Yes, you've said that before. I will have a nice life. Until the next time you and I have another debate ;) Talk to you soon.