American Politics

[Dontrike Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dontrike]

Trump's presidency has been terrible.

-He's spent ~91$ million going golfing this year, even though he said he would have no time to golf, beating past presidents in one year compared to 4/8 years of others.
-He openly supported a pedophile only to get votes. This also meant every republican doing the same thing.
-Tried taking away insurance from millions
-Has tried starting war over Twitter with North Korea
-Didn't know Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were part of the U.S., blames Puerto Rico for not being able to support itself for the hurricane (which still doesn't have full water and power).
-Has not showed his tax returns (even though he said he would after his audit, which is over, and said he won't benefit from this tax cut, which we know he will)
-Has been placed at meetings trying to get info on Hillary, adding to collusion,
-Constantly undermines the FBI and Mueller during investigations (not to mention the rumor that he's thinking of firing Mueller, which would be a nightmare for him),
-His entire recent trip through Asia had every country doing business WITHOUT HIM (showing he isn't the deal master he said he was),
-Has made the Secret Service burn through money faster than ever
-Has gained from his businesses because he's president
-Never put any of his businesses in a blind trust
-Hasn't filled dozens of open spots in the state department leaving many areas understaffed and with little direction or leadership,
-Openly supported Nazis and white supremacists
-Caused deals with other nations to fall through thanks to him being who he is (Canada recently didn't buy planes from us, thanks to Trump, meaning we lost millions on that deal)
-His presidency meant the loss of net neutrality thanks to his pick of Ajit Pai who practically works for Verizon still,
firing Comey,
-Many of his own people are known to be corrupt (look at the Mueller investigation for starters)
-His approval rating is one of, if not the, lowest of other presidents,
-Brought about a world of deflecting and whataboutism,
-Recently had a judicial nominee that knew nothing of justice system,
-Openly mocked the widow of a soldier,
-Needing people in his team to bring him good news every day like a child, Mattis actively needing to keep him under watch so he doesn't tweet like a teenage girl,

I'm still forgetting a couple dozen other issues with his presidency.

He is easily in the top 3 worst presidents of all time, if not the worst. He in no way is doing this for anyone else but himself and his ego. The fact he has to flaunt his "achievements" every chance he gets on Twitter (he has tweeted over 2,500 times this year alone) means we are quite literally paying someone to go on Twitter (and if any of us did that at our jobs that often we'd be fired). He isn't a functioning adult. He is a 70 year old teenage girl that would rather bitch about how others being mean to him than doing anything productive. All his presidency has meant is a further divide in the nation, and especially between the two parties at the top of our government where we had people actively supporting a pedophile just so they can get a vote, rather than someone on the other side.

Trump's presidency isn't the norm and it should never be considered normal by any good measure.

To change things we need to stop letting our leaders be bought like ads on a race car in NASCAR. We have easily seen this with Net Neutrality being gutted and Trump doing everything possible to jerk off his fellow (b/m)-illionaires. We need to stop with this obvious divides and work on compromise rather than trying to gut everything the previous president did. We need to be the example to other countries, but not bow down to their demands and not be pushed around. We need to look through our entire system and find the root causes of the problem that made Trump and many of his kind (both democrat and republic) be brought into power. Most importantly we need people with ideas and not just talking points with no plans. We need leaders, not children flailing about when they don't get their way.

[TheZZMan Moderator Member of the Month Sept 2018PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close TheZZMan]

Further thoughts on Corporate Executive Pay.

These guys have a job of delivering profit for their respective companies. Multi-Million dollar salaries are not a given, if they don't produce, they are shown the door. So the motivation to achieve is not a given. When there is competition, someone can always produce something at a more favorable price so simply raising the price of an item is not the answer. Gaining a loyal following is more complicated than that.

I personally believe that lowering the cost of doing business in the long term will lead to better prices down the road. If the savings from the tax break is instead put into infrastructure and expansion then the benefit is more jobs and better benefits for workers, again, a win-win.

[Dontrike Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dontrike]

Bought the story line - Hook, Line and Sinker.

Explain to me how Corporations, who produce products, and have competitors producing same products are not motivated by reduced costs that they can pass on to consumers to gain market share?

You are fooling yourself if you believe most corporations will be using this tax cut as a way to give to their employees more or to give more to the consumers. The CBPP says it won't mean more job growth. We have video of many CEOs and executives showing they won't be investing with the money they will be receiving, this prompts the one asking the question of why aren't their more hands up, a realization that companies don't give two rat fucks about their employees or consumers.

Yes, some companies will do the right thing, but with billions going into their pocket every year because of this the fact that most won't do it means that I won't jumping for joy any time soon when only a handful do the right thing. Not to mention many that are doing the right thing now, like AT&T's small $1,000 bonus, doesn't mean they will continue to do so with the windfall they are all receiving.

With ISPs no longer being held back by Net Neutrality means them charging more not investing more, even though they claim it stifled investing which is more of a lie than telling me to look at the moon and tell me it's a tree.

The only thing we can expect from companies receiving this windfall is getting butt fucked even more than we already are.

[TheZZMan Moderator Member of the Month Sept 2018PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close TheZZMan]

Trump's presidency has been terrible.

-He's spent ~91$ million going golfing this year, even though he said he would have no time to golf, beating past presidents in one year compared to 4/8 years of others.
-He openly supported a pedophile only to get votes. This also meant every republican doing the same thing.
-Tried taking away insurance from millions
-Has tried starting war over Twitter with North Korea
-Didn't know Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were part of the U.S., blames Puerto Rico for not being able to support itself for the hurricane (which still doesn't have full water and power).
-Has not showed his tax returns (even though he said he would after his audit, which is over, and said he won't benefit from this tax cut, which we know he will)
-Has been placed at meetings trying to get info on Hillary, adding to collusion,
-Constantly undermines the FBI and Mueller during investigations (not to mention the rumor that he's thinking of firing Mueller, which would be a nightmare for him),
-His entire recent trip through Asia had every country doing business WITHOUT HIM (showing he isn't the deal master he said he was),
-Has made the Secret Service burn through money faster than ever
-Has gained from his businesses because he's president
-Never put any of his businesses in a blind trust
-Hasn't filled dozens of open spots in the state department leaving many areas understaffed and with little direction or leadership,
-Openly supported Nazis and white supremacists
-Caused deals with other nations to fall through thanks to him being who he is (Canada recently didn't buy planes from us, thanks to Trump, meaning we lost millions on that deal)
-His presidency meant the loss of net neutrality thanks to his pick of Ajit Pai who practically works for Verizon still,
firing Comey,
-Many of his own people are known to be corrupt (look at the Mueller investigation for starters)
-His approval rating is one of, if not the, lowest of other presidents,
-Brought about a world of deflecting and whataboutism,
-Recently had a judicial nominee that knew nothing of justice system,
-Openly mocked the widow of a soldier,
-Needing people in his team to bring him good news every day like a child, Mattis actively needing to keep him under watch so he doesn't tweet like a teenage girl,

I'm still forgetting a couple dozen other issues with his presidency.

He is easily in the top 3 worst presidents of all time, if not the worst. He in no way is doing this for anyone else but himself and his ego. The fact he has to flaunt his "achievements" every chance he gets on Twitter (he has tweeted over 2,500 times this year alone) means we are quite literally paying someone to go on Twitter (and if any of us did that at our jobs that often we'd be fired). He isn't a functioning adult. He is a 70 year old teenage girl that would rather bitch about how others being mean to him than doing anything productive. All his presidency has meant is a further divide in the nation, and especially between the two parties at the top of our government where we had people actively supporting a pedophile just so they can get a vote, rather than someone on the other side.

Trump's presidency isn't the norm and it should never be considered normal by any good measure.

To change things we need to stop letting our leaders be bought like ads on a race car in NASCAR. We have easily seen this with Net Neutrality being gutted and Trump doing everything possible to jerk off his fellow (b/m)-illionaires. We need to stop with this obvious divides and work on compromise rather than trying to gut everything the previous president did. We need to be the example to other countries, but not bow down to their demands and not be pushed around. We need to look through our entire system and find the root causes of the problem that made Trump and many of his kind (both democrat and republic) be brought into power. Most importantly we need people with ideas and not just talking points with no plans. We need leaders, not children flailing about when they don't get their way.

Hmmm, seems to me that after years of trying, you suddenly have gotten several job offers in the past few months. Is this just a coincidence? or have things improved for the better?

Your talking points tell me what type of news you read. Many of your points are superficial and not a real factor in anything. I Believe that Obama hold the record for number of golf outings at the expense of the taxpayer. BTW, Trump tweets to tell his side of the story as the main stream media is clouding his achievements with erroneous story's that slant the news.

[TheZZMan Moderator Member of the Month Sept 2018PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close TheZZMan]

For the record - I have a bachelors degree in Economics, 20 plus years experience in corporate life before opening a business for myself in 2004 and being self employed. I have had employees and have had to compete in the open market for work. During my corporate years I was on a first name basis with several CEO's who ran world wide organizations and at that time I was the main contact at our company for over 3500 field sales representatives.

This may influence my postings some what.

[not2big Senior Super ModeratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close not2big]

Reduction in corporate tax rate could be good (time will tell). Small reduction for middle income earners with 8 year phase out - not so good. Elimination of inheritance and Major reduction for top earners with no phase out - good for top 2%, bad for other 98%. Elimination of Obamacare individual mandate - could be good for many young, single and healthy (provided they don't incur any health issues)but bad news for families and the elderly (premiums will be going up.)

Elimination/reduction of property tax deduction - not so good for NJ, NY, and CA residents, could be OK for rest of country.

[TheZZMan Moderator Member of the Month Sept 2018PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close TheZZMan]

Any reform will have winners and losers. While I have not studied the new tax plan in full detail, I'm confident there will be several areas that benefit the general population. Your specific area of impact may vary.

[Injoker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Injoker]

We all see the news every day droning on about Mr. Trump. I have no snake in the grass here but what my question is; How do you view the advance of American Politics and what are your views on the President? Which President do you think was the best or worst and why? What could America do better?

If you're from another country than America how has our perception around the world changed?

OOOH. GOOD QUESTIONS. I could write essays on this stuff. I'll try to keep it brief.

How do you view the advance of American Politics and what are your views on the President?

I view Trump as a narcissistic populist moron who only entered politics to stroke his own ego, and as a result he is going to do considerable damage to your nation. In general, I don't like either the Democrats or the Republicans. The political ideology pushed by both parties is, in my perspective, destructive. The free market does not work, it has been proved multiple times, and the nations that have tried to replicate the US's early economic success in the first part of the 20th century have failed miserably. Most of the US's economic success was inherited from the end of the first and second world wars, partially because the US refused to partake until the end of both of those wars when every other nation had exhausted all of their resources, partially because of the invention of the A-bomb.

Which President do you think was the best or worst and why?

Trump is easily the worst president you guys have ever had. He is destroying important sections of the government and blatantly attempting to increase the divide between the poor and the wealthy. He has terrible foreign policy, has almost started nuclear war with North Korea and clearly colluded with the Russians. I actually expect him to either be dead or in prison by the end of the decade.

What could America do better?

Adopt more socialist ideologies. You would look after your family. Well, the poorest Americans are still Americans, and that makes them family. Look after them. And that means providing them with health care, education and basic human rights. Pay for it by taxing the uber wealthy.

If you're from another country than America how has our perception around the world changed?

I'm Australian. In general, most people here seem shocked that you would elect him, are worried for the wellbeing of your nation, and are scared at what the state of the world will look like now that the American empire is in decline and the balance of power is shifting towards Russia and China. Some of the academics at my uni have sufficiently terrified me. The media is constantly pointing out what a moron he is. People are waiting on his impeachment, which he has given ample reason for, however Pence seems worse, so unless the entire administration is getting impeached, I'm still worried.

[master-gauge Senior Member Member of the Month May 2016 Find all posts View Profile Close master-gauge]

Can America afford these tax cuts? $1 trillion added to debt?

They probably could if things there returned to the corporate tax levels of the 70's.. More money to everyday people, the more the economy gets stimulated, it's very simple economics.. In Canada right now.. We suck.. Work has been slow for me, and we have the living sh*t taxed out of us too.. Worse then the USA.. SO, I don't travel much for fear of missing the next project and to make money.. So I stay close to home and horde my money.. But the powers that be don't see that.. They're just trying to break the next quarters profit.. And FYI I'm talking large corporate, not the mom and pop setups that drive the countries economy..



I'm in the Great White North.. And I am so f**king sick and tried of the Trump bashing on the news every freakin' day in the news and on fb!! Even up here, it's all we listen to in the news.. It's not Trump's fault for all the hype, I don't blame him for all the coverage.. It's the idiots that hang on to and report every off word, or comment that is found to be offensive to the lefty's.. They are the problem, I would say enough already, the Demo's lost.. Get over it.. U have another chance to vote for change in 2020.. Sounds like the Rock this trip..

[TheZZMan Moderator Member of the Month Sept 2018PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close TheZZMan]

Any one here ever been hired by a poor guy? Anyone ever bought something from a poor guy? Face it those that have money are the ones that employ others, pay their wages, pay their half of taxes (yes look it up) and provide the benefits of health insurance and paid days off. Argue all you want, a poor person hasn't done any of that. People of wealth also don't just park their money in a bank for a rainy day, they either use it to expand their business or invest it in other businesses which gives other the opportunity to expand business. Even if the rich park their money in a bank, it allows common folks like you and me the opportunity to take loans against that money to buy cars, homes and other luxury items.

If you take the simpleton view that most common people take, you are missing the big picture of how money works, the general banking system and how wealthy people treat their money. Without wealth, you would not have a pharmacy in your neighborhood, you would not have a hardware store, you would not have a grocery store or, god forbid a Walmart. No one would spend/invest their money in your neighborhood unless that was a profit involved. More money for the wealthy, be it individuals or corporations, means better opportunities for everyone. It leads to increased selection, increased choice, increased jobs opportunities or what ever. I personally have never been employed by a non-wealthy entity.

[Dontrike Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dontrike]

Hmmm, seems to me that after years of trying, you suddenly have gotten several job offers in the past few months. Is this just a coincidence? or have things improved for the better?

What does that have to do with anything? To answer your question, as incredibly weird it is to ask out of nowhere, I've gotten one job offer. Uno. Un. Ichi. One! Six months and one job offer.

As for your second question, I'm going to mostly ignore outside of simply saying, no, things have not improved and don't you dare assume it has. I'd say more but negativity isn't allowed in this consecrated land.

Your talking points tell me what type of news you read. Many of your points are superficial and not a real factor in anything. I Believe that Obama hold the record for number of golf outings at the expense of the taxpayer. BTW, Trump tweets to tell his side of the story as the main stream media is clouding his achievements with erroneous story's that slant the news.

You're right, Obama does hold the record, but Trump is easily on track to beat him. Looking at the golf link from earlier you'll see Trump went golfing ~80 in one year. Obama went golfing ~330 times in eight years. It took Obama three months to go golfing once while it took Trump one month to start golfing, and in Trump's first three months he went golfing twelve times. If by some satanic miracle that Trump is around a full eight years that means he could potentially golf 640 times. Tell me exactly how it's a good thing for a president to spend $90 MILLION in one year to go play golf, especially when Trump himself said he would be too busy. Don't start with that "the kind of news" crock when math is part of the equation. Math is not a partisan thing, it has NOTHING to do with any one side. Math is math, it's how we understand the universe, and not something that can be refuted because of "type of news I read".

Which points were superficial again, because even the ones on the bottom, which could be thought like that is a big deal. We should never have a president needing to pay someone to bring him good news every day just so he can boost his ego. Even if they are superficial if they impact things for the worse, and most importantly are true, then what does it matter?

Trump's tweets don't tell his side of the story. Oh wait....no you're right....it does tell his story like when he said he didn't support Moore, even though he did, and how the tax cuts would be a boon to the middle class, even though every single review of it showed that at least 80% of the cuts went to the rich and corporations. Or do you mean his side of the story by belittling the FBI and Mueller and constantly deflecting to Hillary whenever something happens to him? You're right though in that it tells his side, his lying egotistical side that can't stand himself being put in negative light, thanks to him being the biggest special snowflake of them all.

Any reform will have winners and losers. While I have not studied the new tax plan in full detail, I'm confident there will be several areas that benefit the general population. Your specific area of impact may vary.

So completely ignore every organization's review of it and how it clearly shows this is heavily skewed to one specific group of people? This isn't winners and losers this is when you see a NASCAR race and someone deliberately tries to take someone out by crashing them into the wall.

Any one here ever been hired by a poor guy?

Yes....I have. I've been bitching about it constantly for the last two years. This was the wrong question to ask with me in the discussion.

Anyone ever bought something from a poor guy?

I'm sure lots of people have. Those tend to be pawn shops, garage/yard sales, and those that have to sell anything they have just to get by for a couple weeks.

Face it those that have money are the ones that employ others, pay their wages, pay their half of taxes (yes look it up) and provide the benefits of health insurance and paid days off. Argue all you want, a poor person hasn't done any of that.

No business pays 50% in taxes. None. I don't know where you're getting this, but no corporation or business pays HALF of what they get in taxes, especially when they use as many loopholes as they can to pay as little as possible or are given tax breaks just for being around. Have you seen the offers Amazon is getting from states and cities just to get them to build something in those places?

Even if the rich park their money in a bank, it allows common folks like you and me the opportunity to take loans against that money to buy cars, homes and other luxury items.

How exactly does a rich person squirreling their money away in some offshore account allow anyone else to make loans? You know, I put $50 in the bank, with that a homeless man can use a $1 to buy a sandwich.

If you take the simpleton view that most common people take, you are missing the big picture of how money works, the general banking system and how wealthy people treat their money. Without wealth, you would not have a pharmacy in your neighborhood, you would not have a hardware store, you would not have a grocery store or, god forbid a Walmart. No one would spend/invest their money in your neighborhood unless that was a profit involved. More money for the wealthy, be it individuals or corporations, means better opportunities for everyone. It leads to increased selection, increased choice, increased jobs opportunities or what ever. I personally have never been employed by a non-wealthy entity.

No one is saying businesses shouldn't make money, and they should, but why exactly should the "common people", as you put it (I guess we're commoners to you and your economics degree), be raked over the coals so Coca Cola can get billions more when they already make billions a year? Toys 'R' Us is failing, but do you think they'd help their employees in any way? FUCK NO! No, they'd rather give their CEO a raise, because I guess when you run a business into the ground you deserve the reward of millions of dollars. Businesses can make money all they want, but fucking over the people that give them that money is burning the candle at all sides.

Hell, give me the reigns of some multi billion dollar company, I'd love a fat paycheck just because I ruined a business and the livelihood of thousands of employees. I have the perfect experience of not running a company, just like some CEOs.

[theGOAT Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close theGOAT]

No matter who is the president, it wont make change to any of you or me.Your life, its up to you.Besides, there are other people who dictate what will happen and what not, not the presidents.

[Theaceus07 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Theaceus07]

The great thing about this site is, we can return here in another 3 years and we will have proof of how things have changed. Then we can ask ourselves the old famous quote from President Ronald Reagan - "Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?" If so, vote the texting billionaire back in. If not - vote elsewhere...

Best President ever - Ronald Reagan - A Republican. I have never been affiliated with any party - but don't trust the government to do anything properly quite frankly.

I wasn't alive then but I would like to think I would have voted for President Kennedy - a Democrat.

My ONLY concerns from a President are:
Economy
My Personal financial well-being
Security/Safety
Positive/Strong Leader

I can give to whatever charity I would like and feel much better than giving it to our government - so less money to Uncle Sam equals happier "Ace".

Reagan and Kennedy both led the charge with large tax cuts - so in that part I agree with our orange-faced president.


The rest in 3 years will be history... Talk to you then about the items on MY LIST...

[theGOAT Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close theGOAT]

Also to the people who are so against Trump.Dont you view his politics about securing the border and fighting against illigal immigration a positive thing?

[master-gauge Senior Member Member of the Month May 2016 Find all posts View Profile Close master-gauge]

Any one here ever been hired by a poor guy? Anyone ever bought something from a poor guy? Face it those that have money are the ones that employ others, pay their wages, pay their half of taxes (yes look it up) and provide the benefits of health insurance and paid days off. Argue all you want, a poor person hasn't done any of that. People of wealth also don't just park their money in a bank for a rainy day, they either use it to expand their business or invest it in other businesses which gives other the opportunity to expand business. Even if the rich park their money in a bank, it allows common folks like you and me the opportunity to take loans against that money to buy cars, homes and other luxury items.

If you take the simpleton view that most common people take, you are missing the big picture of how money works, the general banking system and how wealthy people treat their money. Without wealth, you would not have a pharmacy in your neighborhood, you would not have a hardware store, you would not have a grocery store or, god forbid a Walmart. No one would spend/invest their money in your neighborhood unless that was a profit involved. More money for the wealthy, be it individuals or corporations, means better opportunities for everyone. It leads to increased selection, increased choice, increased jobs opportunities or what ever. I personally have never been employed by a non-wealthy entity.

I would disagree there.. Vast amounts of rich people's money are not even in our banking system.. Did u recently hear about the "paradise papers"?? They were released here in Canada a few weeks ago, naming all the, we'll call super rich people and families that have broken tax laws by harboring their money off shore.. Our own Prime Minister (current, Trudeau Jr.), Brian Mulroney, his family-friends, Old Trudeau, his family-friends, it's a very long list.. And many others, have their money hid off shore away from this country where it would be taxed.. It goes to those levels in the Gov.. That is what I was saying earlier.. The system has been tweaked and manipulated by the super rich for years to their benefit.. Even the smaller shop owners can't compete with that level of skulduggery.. Our 2 countries are only seeing a trickle of what could be if this hadn't been allowed to happen..