ldrews

Recently Trump made the comment: "The US has spent 7 trillion dollars on wars in the Middle East. What a waste! We could have rebuilt the entire infrastructure of the US 3 times over with that money!" Do you agree?

I prefer to pay attention to where the voting happens and laws are passed. Can you point me to any plan that the Democrats in Congress have put forward? As James Carville, a noted Democratic strategist, has said: "It's the economy, stupid!". If 80% of the taxpayers do indeed see more money in their pocket, and if the economy continues to do as well as the last couple of quarters, what is the Democratic counter? "Vote for us so you can have less money and fewer jobs!"? Doesn't sound good to me.

What you say about the House and Senate flipping is true. But if the tax cut/reform bill that was just passed produces the results that Trump thinks it will, the Democrats will have an uphill battle in the mid-term elections. At the moment I don't hear any cohesive program/plan coming from Democrats to address the many problems in US society.

The poll that counts is the next Presidential election, don't you agree? And if I remember correctly, almost all of the polls had Trump losing the last election. And the funny thing is, Hillary's popularity has dropped even more than Trump's. If the election were held again Trump would still defeat her. Isn't that something?

Seems to me that at the moment Trump is winning.

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Let me understand. You think that because corporations get to keep more of their profits instead of paying it in taxes, that the US Taxpayers are paying for the bonuses? What makes you think that the corporations' tax savings belong to the US Taxpayers? Then you must also think that any reduction in taxes for families comes at the expense of the US Taxpayers. Families don't own their earnings, US Taxpayers do and families receive money only through the largesse of the US Taxpayer. Is that right?

Thank you. That is interesting. I wonder if your situation and your friends' situation is common among those people whose income/wealth comes from involvement in the high tech fields. It would be interesting to compare to other sources of income/wealth.

Great! Would you like to share or is under an NDA?

Had you read the article you would have found the following: Since the bulk of stock ownership is in mutual funds, pension funds and insurance holdings, and I doubt that the 1% have much of their money in mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance holdings, then the bulk of the benefits would appear not to go to the 1%. The article does not talk about 401K programs, but I would suspect that another significant portion of stock ownership resides in 401Ks. Again, the wealthy tend not to use 401Ks, they have better, more sophisticated ways of investing. And my understanding is that the 1% tend to have their money in real estate, real estate limited partnerships, etc., not stocks. Do you have credible information to the contrary?

But aren't the rich the 1%? That is 1% of the households? Then the rest of the stock market advances accrue to the benefit of the other 99%.

From Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-stock-market-ownership-2013-3 Something to consider when thinking that the stock market benefits only the rich.

So what does everyone think about the full-scale audit of the Department of Defense? Seems to me to be long overdue and hopefully a step toward reigning in the DOD spending. We didn't see anything like this under previous presidents.

I didn't ask you to prove it in a court of law, I asked if you have any evidence of your assertions. Sounds like you are just engaging in fantasies.

I guess you are right, I should get used to insulting behavior from you since that does seem to be your nature. I will try. I do believe that the situation you describe would be obstruction of justice if proven. However, didn't one of Trump's attorneys take the blame for sending that tweet? If that is indeed the case, then Trump is still off the hook. And there is also the legal theory being asserted by some that the Pressident, as the head of the justice system, cannot obstruct justice to begin with and is probably not indictable. Impeachable yes, indictable no. Did I answer your question?

Can you cite actual evidence to support your assertions? And what prompted the gratuitous insult?

According to Wikipedia The Trump Organization has 500+ subsidiaries. Out of that you have identified 4 that have gone into bankruptcy. You should have such a record. And by the way, taking a company into bankruptcy is often a good business strategy; it is not always a sign that the business has failed. Trump has taken a 1 million dollar loan from his father and turned it into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. He has survived and prospered in the NY real estate market, probably the toughest real estate market in the US. So I would assume that he has some business acumen. Trump would probably never apply for the CEO position of your hypothetical company. If he was interested in that business he would probably just buy it. But yes, as I look into your virtual eyes, I am happy to announce that I would gladly consider Trump for the position of CEO.

You think the Republican party is unified? Gimme a break!

Are you saying that Trump did not nominate Gorsuch?

Well, I think I can articulate my political interests, and I am a US citizen. Maybe there are others as well, perhaps even participants in this forum.

And yet when Trump became president the economy started improving, jobs were created, some companies started returning to the US, unemployment went down, stock market went up (think pension plans and 401Ks), illegal immigration went down, other NATO members started to catch up on their contributions, the US started negotiating better trade deals and avoided some bad international agreements, consumer confidence went to record highs, ISIS was routed/defeated. Probably just a coincidence, right?

Do you think small business growth contributes anything significant to the economy, or does it all trickle down from government and big corporations? By the way, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 1 to 4 5 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 49 50 to 99 100 to 249 250 to 499 500 to 999 1,000 or more employees employees employees employees employees employees employees employees employees First Quarter Levels (in thousands) 1993 4,960 5,994 7,169 10,043 7,523 9,256 6,222 5,806 31,628 1994 5,024 6,092 7,335 10,379 7,741 9,652 6,509 6,021 32,592 1995 5,097 6,180 7,505 10,681 8,076 10,059 6,809 6,291 33,957 1996 5,136 6,225 7,578 10,857 8,246 10,310 7,013 6,561 34,689 1997 5,218 6,302 7,715 11,117 8,412 10,593 7,247 6,886 36,007 1998 5,241 6,315 7,780 11,230 8,541 10,838 7,464 7,134 37,783 1999 5,311 6,413 7,902 11,427 8,702 11,016 7,585 7,324 39,132 2000 5,324 6,468 8,061 11,682 8,936 11,263 7,922 7,559 40,583 2001 5,346 6,450 8,069 11,698 8,922 11,398 7,907 7,620 41,246 2002 5,381 6,473 8,039 11,597 8,678 11,035 7,577 7,252 39,919 2003 5,464 6,510 8,058 11,522 8,613 10,940 7,504 7,118 39,529 2004 5,534 6,595 8,142 11,661 8,723 11,028 7,605 7,204 39,662 2005 5,613 6,619 8,212 11,804 8,872 11,315 7,811 7,350 40,562 2006 5,744 6,693 8,349 12,069 9,106 11,568 7,953 7,564 41,714 2007 5,787 6,708 8,381 12,168 9,217 11,716 8,026 7,628 42,642 2008 5,765 6,620 8,274 12,048 9,155 11,708 8,060 7,643 43,110 2009 5,618 6,361 7,904 11,356 8,526 10,872 7,583 7,249 41,093 2010 5,527 6,221 7,688 10,990 8,252 10,664 7,340 7,126 40,072 2011 5,549 6,216 7,719 11,124 8,414 10,901 7,520 7,353 40,992 2012 5,564 6,298 7,859 11,404 8,635 11,204 7,741 7,585 42,167 2013 5,592 6,323 7,949 11,627 8,780 11,355 7,897 7,833 43,222 2014 5,628 6,374 8,100 11,912 8,884 11,612 8,063 7,995 44,283 2015 5,666 6,410 8,231 12,226 9,099 11,848 8,314 8,087 45,689 2016 5,722 6,476 8,385 12,521 9,270 12,023 8,451 8,266 46,968 2017 5,772 6,501 8,489 12,702 9,413 12,201 8,645 8,405 48,007 Shares (percent) 1993 5.59 6.76 8.09 11.33 8.49 10.44 7.02 6.55 35.69 1994 5.50 6.66 8.03 11.36 8.47 10.56 7.12 6.59 35.68 1995 5.38 6.52 7.92 11.28 8.53 10.62 7.19 6.64 35.87 1996 5.31 6.44 7.84 11.23 8.53 10.67 7.25 6.79 35.90 1997 5.24 6.33 7.75 11.17 8.45 10.64 7.28 6.92 36.18 1998 5.12 6.17 7.60 10.97 8.34 10.59 7.29 6.97 36.92 1999 5.06 6.11 7.53 10.90 8.30 10.51 7.23 6.98 37.33 2000 4.93 6.00 7.47 10.83 8.29 10.44 7.34 7.01 37.64 2001 4.92 5.93 7.42 10.76 8.21 10.49 7.27 7.01 37.96 2002 5.07 6.10 7.58 10.94 8.19 10.41 7.15 6.84 37.67 2003 5.19 6.18 7.65 10.94 8.18 10.39 7.12 6.76 37.55 2004 5.21 6.21 7.67 10.98 8.21 10.38 7.16 6.78 37.36 2005 5.19 6.12 7.59 10.91 8.20 10.46 7.22 6.79 37.50 2006 5.18 6.04 7.53 10.89 8.22 10.44 7.18 6.82 37.66 2007 5.15 5.97 7.46 10.83 8.20 10.43 7.14 6.79 37.98 2008 5.13 5.89 7.36 10.72 8.14 10.41 7.17 6.80 38.36 2009 5.27 5.96 7.41 10.65 8.00 10.20 7.11 6.80 38.56 2010 5.32 5.98 7.40 10.58 7.94 10.26 7.06 6.86 38.57 2011 5.24 5.87 7.29 10.51 7.95 10.30 7.10 6.95 38.74 2012 5.13 5.80 7.24 10.51 7.96 10.33 7.13 6.99 38.87 2013 5.05 5.71 7.18 10.51 7.94 10.26 7.14 7.08 39.08 2014 4.98 5.64 7.17 10.55 7.87 10.29 7.14 7.08 39.24 2015 4.90 5.54 7.12 10.57 7.87 10.25 7.19 6.99 39.53 2016 4.84 5.48 7.10 10.60 7.85 10.18 7.15 7.00 39.77 2017 4.80 5.41 7.06 10.57 7.83 10.15 7.19 6.99 39.96 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Apparently the US has spent >6 trillion dollars on wars in the Middle East. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/27/donald-trump/did-us-spend-6-trillion-middle-east-wars/ Just think what the US could have done for social programs and infrastructure with that money. Thank you Clinton, Bush, Obama, and now Trump.

Wow! The first ever audit of the Department of Defense. I bet Obama planned this and Trump is just the errand boy. https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1391471/officials-announce-first-dod-wide-audit-call-for-budget-certainty/

Want to lay on a bet?