The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump

[96583UP]

someone could still tack on a rider to that bill: 30 million dollars of taxpayer money to support the perverted arts

[McParadigm]

Daily Beast: Betsy DeVos's husband, his sister, White House counsel McGahn's wife, OMB counsel Carroll's son (former experience: college newspaper editor), and Rudy G's son have all been given administration jobs.

Meanwhile:

"If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the president if it's true,'" said Mark Lee, one of six Trump voters to appear on a CNN panel Monday morning.

[McParadigm]

FORBES: GOP Tax Bill Is The End Of All Economic Sanity In Washington

No doubt many of you read the above headline and immediately started to tweet that the GOP tax bill can't be the end of economic sanity in Washington because there never was any to begin with.

I have two responses.

First...please do tweet that, and link to this post when you do.

Second...you're wrong. If it's enacted, the GOP tax cut now working its way through Congress will be the start of a decades-long economic policy disaster unlike any other that has occurred in American history.

There's no economic justification whatsoever for a tax cut at this time. U.S. GDP is growing, unemployment is close to 4 percent (below what is commonly considered "full employment"), corporate profits are at record levels and stock markets are soaring. It makes no sense to add any federal government-induced stimulus to all this private sector-caused economic activity, let alone a tax cut as big as this one.

But by damning the economic torpedoes and moving full-speed ahead, House and Senate Republicans and the Trump White House are setting up the U.S. for the modern-day analog of the inflation-producing guns-and-butter economic policy of the Vietnam era. The GOP tax bill will increase the federal deficit by $2 trillion or more over the next decade (the official estimates of $1.5 trillion hide the real amount with a witches brew of gimmicks and outright lies) that, unless all the rules have changed, is virtually certain to result in inflation and much higher interest rates than would otherwise occur.

The real economic insanity of the GOP's tax bill will be felt in future years. Consider the following.

The $1 trillion a year budget deficit will not be the result of cyclical changes that will be reversed when the economy improves. These will be permanent structural deficit increases.

The tax hikes that will be needed to resolve the structural imbalance between federal spending and revenues will be impossible for political reasons.

[Biff Pocoroba]

FORBES: GOP Tax Bill Is The End Of All Economic Sanity In Washington

No doubt many of you read the above headline and immediately started to tweet that the GOP tax bill can't be the end of economic sanity in Washington because there never was any to begin with.

I have two responses.

First...please do tweet that, and link to this post when you do.

Second...you're wrong. If it's enacted, the GOP tax cut now working its way through Congress will be the start of a decades-long economic policy disaster unlike any other that has occurred in American history.

There's no economic justification whatsoever for a tax cut at this time. U.S. GDP is growing, unemployment is close to 4 percent (below what is commonly considered "full employment"), corporate profits are at record levels and stock markets are soaring. It makes no sense to add any federal government-induced stimulus to all this private sector-caused economic activity, let alone a tax cut as big as this one.

But by damning the economic torpedoes and moving full-speed ahead, House and Senate Republicans and the Trump White House are setting up the U.S. for the modern-day analog of the inflation-producing guns-and-butter economic policy of the Vietnam era. The GOP tax bill will increase the federal deficit by $2 trillion or more over the next decade (the official estimates of $1.5 trillion hide the real amount with a witches brew of gimmicks and outright lies) that, unless all the rules have changed, is virtually certain to result in inflation and much higher interest rates than would otherwise occur.

The real economic insanity of the GOP's tax bill will be felt in future years. Consider the following.

The $1 trillion a year budget deficit will not be the result of cyclical changes that will be reversed when the economy improves. These will be permanent structural deficit increases.

The tax hikes that will be needed to resolve the structural imbalance between federal spending and revenues will be impossible for political reasons.

I've had similar thoughts, that this is all Econ 101 stuff.
And I guess the debt only matter when it's the other guys in charge. How exactly is a spend & spend Republican worse than a tax & spend Dem?

[E.H. Ruddock]

Daily Beast: Betsy DeVos's husband, his sister, White House counsel McGahn's wife, OMB counsel Carroll's son (former experience: college newspaper editor), and Rudy G's son have all been given administration jobs.

Meanwhile:

"If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the president if it's true,'" said Mark Lee, one of six Trump voters to appear on a CNN panel Monday morning.

[4/5]

Meanwhile:

"If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the president if it's true,'" said Mark Lee, one of six Trump voters to appear on a CNN panel Monday morning.

My contribution is to point out to Mr. Lee that Jesus hasn't been on the cross for nearly 2,000 years and that he's on his throne in heaven.

Son of God > POTUS...or at least that was the conventional wisdom from 2009 through January, 2017.

[McParadigm]

FORBES: GOP Tax Bill Is The End Of All Economic Sanity In Washington

No doubt many of you read the above headline and immediately started to tweet that the GOP tax bill can't be the end of economic sanity in Washington because there never was any to begin with.

I have two responses.

First...please do tweet that, and link to this post when you do.

Second...you're wrong. If it's enacted, the GOP tax cut now working its way through Congress will be the start of a decades-long economic policy disaster unlike any other that has occurred in American history.

There's no economic justification whatsoever for a tax cut at this time. U.S. GDP is growing, unemployment is close to 4 percent (below what is commonly considered "full employment"), corporate profits are at record levels and stock markets are soaring. It makes no sense to add any federal government-induced stimulus to all this private sector-caused economic activity, let alone a tax cut as big as this one.

But by damning the economic torpedoes and moving full-speed ahead, House and Senate Republicans and the Trump White House are setting up the U.S. for the modern-day analog of the inflation-producing guns-and-butter economic policy of the Vietnam era. The GOP tax bill will increase the federal deficit by $2 trillion or more over the next decade (the official estimates of $1.5 trillion hide the real amount with a witches brew of gimmicks and outright lies) that, unless all the rules have changed, is virtually certain to result in inflation and much higher interest rates than would otherwise occur.

The real economic insanity of the GOP's tax bill will be felt in future years. Consider the following.

The $1 trillion a year budget deficit will not be the result of cyclical changes that will be reversed when the economy improves. These will be permanent structural deficit increases.

The tax hikes that will be needed to resolve the structural imbalance between federal spending and revenues will be impossible for political reasons.

I've had similar thoughts, that this is all Econ 101 stuff.
And I guess the debt only matter when it's the other guys in charge. How exactly is a spend & spend Republican worse than a tax & spend Dem?

[bune]

Forgot something...

[wease]

Daily Beast: Betsy DeVos's husband, his sister, White House counsel McGahn's wife, OMB counsel Carroll's son (former experience: college newspaper editor), and Rudy G's son have all been given administration jobs.

Meanwhile:

"If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the president if it's true,'" said Mark Lee, one of six Trump voters to appear on a CNN panel Monday morning.

Let’s hope that fucker owns about 12 assault rifles.

[wease]

Daily Beast: Betsy DeVos's husband, his sister, White House counsel McGahn's wife, OMB counsel Carroll's son (former experience: college newspaper editor), and Rudy G's son have all been given administration jobs.

Meanwhile:

"If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the president if it's true,'" said Mark Lee, one of six Trump voters to appear on a CNN panel Monday morning.

Is this putz angling for a cabinet position? Seriously, the only reason to make a comment like that is to stroke Trump’s ego. With Trump, flattery can get you everywhere.

[McParadigm]

Preparing for the end of net neutrality.

Watching the Justice Department flex might in an attempt to put CNN in Rupert Murdoch's hands.

Not remotely counting on the US to save anybody in Yemen, nor any Rohingya.

Tired.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Not remotely counting on the US to save anybody in Yemen, nor any Rohingya.

This is sad.

[Bi_3]

Not remotely counting on the US to save anybody in Yemen, nor any Rohingya.

This is sad.

You want US soldiers in another proxy war with Iran? Because that worked out so well in Syria?

[McParadigm]

Not remotely counting on the US to save anybody in Yemen, nor any Rohingya.

This is sad.

You want US soldiers in another proxy war with Iran? Because that worked out so well in Syria?

Literally anything other than tacit approval would be great. Anything other than that. Whatever turns out to be more than zero. That. Immediately. Cease weapons sales? That's a thing. Economic consequences? That is too. UN-backed avenues? Aid drops? Strongly worded complaints? Have you heard of this new thing they have now called anything? I'd like to try that.

[Bi_3]

Not remotely counting on the US to save anybody in Yemen, nor any Rohingya.

This is sad.

You want US soldiers in another proxy war with Iran? Because that worked out so well in Syria?

Literally anything other than tacit approval would be great. Anything other than that. Whatever turns out to be more than zero. That. Immediately. Cease weapons sales? That's a thing. Economic consequences? That is too. UN-backed avenues? Aid drops? Strongly worded complaints? Have you heard of this new thing they have now called anything? I'd like to try that.

Economic consequences against the Saudis?

[McParadigm]

Not remotely counting on the US to save anybody in Yemen, nor any Rohingya.

This is sad.

You want US soldiers in another proxy war with Iran? Because that worked out so well in Syria?

Literally anything other than tacit approval would be great. Anything other than that. Whatever turns out to be more than zero. That. Immediately. Cease weapons sales? That's a thing. Economic consequences? That is too. UN-backed avenues? Aid drops? Strongly worded complaints? Have you heard of this new thing they have now called anything? I'd like to try that.

Economic consequences against the Saudis?

Pressure to permit humanitarian aid can be exerted without escalating precariously, or upending our own interests regarding Iran. Cease the $10,000 in IMET assistance funding, which is tiny but makes the country eligible for millions in discounts in purchased military training. Republicans and Democrats alike used to scream that we should do this.

[McParadigm]

[McParadigm]

At some point it's just too late, America.

[Norah]

So how long before Comcast blocks PS Vue and SlingTV?

[Monkey_Driven]

So how long before Comcast blocks PS Vue and SlingTV?

2 seconds.