Monday on the “Sacrificial Horse” – Trumpsteria

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Say what?

First Br?hma?a: The World as a Sacrificial Horse, of course!

We at last arrive this week at the “real” first actions of the Trump administration.

As we’ve been pointing out for weeks, the President doesn’t get to “make up” laws. To be sure, there was a lot of confusion when Trump in recent days decided to swing the pendulum of Executive Interpretation of exiting laws the other direction from where Barrack Obama did. But, in the end with a few minor over-steps, what he did was within the scope of office.

Now, however, we get down to the real core question that goes something like this:

We know that Trump is not a Swamp Creature.

But I have warned you many times that I fear Paul Ryan is.

You can read about how the grand Kabuki of it all is simmering in the story over here.

Unfortunately for Trump, his discussion of tax cuts as a campaign issue was ill-advised.

The reason that Ronald Reagan’s tax-cuts (sort of) worked was Reagan took office just after the all-time peak of interest rates. The Tax Cuts back then actually DID work.

Here’s a summary from an excellent CATO Institute paper here:

  • “Real economic growth averaged 3.2 percent during the Reagan years versus 2.8 percent during the Ford-Carter years and 2.1 percent during the Bush-Clinton years.
  • Real median family income grew by $4,000 during the Reagan period after experiencing no growth in the pre-Reagan years; it experienced a loss of almost $1,500 in the post-Reagan years.
  • Interest rates, inflation, and unemployment fell faster under Reagan than they did immediately before or after his presidency.

The only economic variable that was worse in the Reagan period than in both the pre- and post-Reagan years was the savings rate, which fell rapidly in the 1980s.

The productivity rate was higher in the pre-Reagan years but much lower in the post-Reagan years.”

We can – unfortunately – look at the historical basis of the Reagan “miracle” and see what’s missing from today’s economic equation.

For one, this was the “Halt and Catch Fire” era of computing. The new technology on the block was exploding.

For another, the hijacking of America jobs for parts unknown, though overseas, had not ramped up to the 1990’s frenzied levels.

And at the macro-econ level, rates were turning down from the peak in the 1981 period.

Today, things are just about the inverse.

Tax cuts were popular as a campaign pledge but Trump now has a delivery issue: Without the support of the House and Senate, which I don’t think he’s likely to get, the promise of a tax cut is likely to be falling into one of those “promises made in the heat of the campaign” slogans that will see no real action.

Mind you, the American public will be confused by all this. The left is bound to go on subverting the Trump momentum at every turn. Unlike Obama’s term, Trump supporters don’t have an easily-played card to shut-up oppositions (“racism”). Instead, Trump will have to negotiate with the GOP as it sits on the Hill.

For a long time, I’ve been thinking that the “right” thing for Trump to do would be to set up a Third Party early in his campaign. The goal of such a centrist party would be to take the old Big Middle in America that included people like John Tower of republican Texas on the one hand all the way to the Scoop Jackson / Warren Magnuson left-coast democrats on the other.

Back in the day, leading into Reagan’s term, America was much more “centered” than it is now and thus, negotiation between the two parties was a lot less violent and disparaging.

Today, on the other hand, we have a much broader “spread to the data” and so the standard deviation of consent is MUCH MUCH bigger and hence, negotiation has become far more difficult.

As students of the Economic Long Wave, we have been curious to see how all this change in thre spread of the middle will translate into what should be a “topping process” in mid March, which would be an idealized time for an initial market peak. A pullback going into summer, then a late summer rally would set up a three wave down (collapse dynamic) for October/November.

As in the historical rhyme, the Herbert Hoover presidency, the consensus should hold for a while longer, but within a month or three the lack of agreement between Trump and Ryan factions seems likely to split. Ryan (and the financial overseers) will be pressing for a budget that is “balanced” though that’s not possible. Trump, more likely, will be far less fearful of inflation since a higher inflation rate (6-8% annualized) is something that is the “real estate President’s” best friend.

Which gets us to the fork in the road immediately ahead. The Trump track would be toward higher inflation, a bigger deficit, but at the same time realizing that it might have a moderate stimulative effect. The Ryan track will likely be to hold taxes where they are, including hanging on to Obamacare taxes and then present a budget whichs is only somewhat larger and hence less inflationary.

Which side is “right?”

Honestly, it can be argued either way, although being a conservative thinker, I would suggest that it’s too early to embrace the higher inflation track because in many ways that’s a “one bullet solution.” In other words, once you fire that round, then it marks the bottom is in.

Instead, the Ryan outcome is more likely. Trump has plausible deniability and the option of evolving a new centrist party. Ryan will keep the “inflation solution” powder dry for when the stock market begins to collapse in earnest (not more than two years out) at which time, the inflation “magic bullet” would be fired big-time in order to reduce the National Debt as a percent of GDP significantly and allowing for a 3 to 10 percent of GDP stimulus as we bottom in the Greater Depression, which is likely going into 2020, or so.

That sets up reindustrialization (which Trump can promote now) and by then due to trade changes, we may start making a lot of things in America so that we will be on a manufacturing footing that will allow us to prevail in the Depression-ending War in the 2022-2025 area.

It’s a complicated mess, but while the mainstream is off vilifying on immigration, remember that’s only a significant sideshow, but it’s not the Ball Game.

Yes, this is a second point of disagreement with Trump on policy, the first being Ajit Pai’s appointment to the FCC Chief role which foreshadows Net content licensing. That’s due in the replay of history within 5-years, or less.

So much for how the Middledom looks on Monday.

“Crisis” Monday and More Trumpsteria

Yep, we’re in a full-blown ‘crisis’ now. And we know this because it’s top middle of the New York Times this morning: “IMMIGRATION BAN PROVOKES CRISIS.”

Then there’s the Washington Post story “Dissent, confusion swirl around refugee ban.”

For those who actually do News Futuring (a science in its infancy) there may be something of a clock ticking on the issue.

Should Trump go silent or Third Party, we would expect him to be ousted by the GOP Swamp creatures on the Hill and/or he simply says “You know what? Screw ya’ll…” and he resigns, puts Pence in charge, and then goes off to play golf.

Not before making a Supreme Court pick, of course.

That would leave America in the hands of vice president Pence and that would lead to a collapse of market confidence and we end up in the Second Depression anyway.

I don’t know why more people don’t pencil out future break points, but they seem not to. Which may be why history repeats. It’s the end of July in 1929, though, if you’re keeping track.

Two Parts Tuesday

Don’t forget tomorrow we have the Case-Shiller Housing data coming out, so tomorrow’s column will be posted as two parts. One part normal, one part breaking with the hot data.\

By my reckoning, Housing will be peaking in the data in the next several reports and it’ll add reason for the markets to come down with a case of Trump skepticism (Trumpticism) in the March-July peaking projected peak.

As always, we “call’s ‘em like we see’s em” and this totally infuriates people who have becomes automaton/parrots of externally-programmed dogma ground into their thinking by media. Not our issue, or yours if you drop by here for regular deprogramming.

With Trump’s clarification of MeshMedia as the new Reality compared to the old Mainstream Media franchise, it’s easier to follow and make sense, this effort at “middledom.”

It’s worth the effort, I believe, since how things work in “middledom” are how things work out in the “endom.”

Today’s Data Burst

Comes from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Press release, please?

“Personal income increased $50.2 billion (0.3 percent) in December according to estimates released today

by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $43.6 billion (0.3 percent)

and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $63.1 billion (0.5 percent).

Real DPI increased 0.1 percent in December and Real PCE increased 0.3 percent. The PCE price index increased 0.2 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.1 percent.

The increase in personal income in December primarily reflected increases in wages and salaries, personal current transfer receipts, and rental income of persons (table 3).

The increase in real PCE in December primarily reflected increases in spending for both durable goods and services (table 7).

Personal outlays increased $66.4 billion in December (table 3).

Personal saving was $768.4 billion in December and the personal saving rate, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, was 5.4 percent (table 1).”

Markets are quite shaken by the headlines, with the futures down 70 on the Dow. Gold is only up a bit and BTCs were fetching about $919.50 pieces of FedPaper each.

Ah, Monday. Don’tcha love ‘em?

51 thoughts on “Monday on the “Sacrificial Horse” – Trumpsteria”

  1. On Reagan success, I believe it comes down to this. Interest rates + oil embargo + Carter’s liberal fiscal policy = HUGE supply shortage. In the face of a supply shortage, of course supply side economics worked like magic. After 30+ years of more or less supply side economics, it’s probably safe to say we no longer have a supply shortage. Which is why I don’t under how fiscal conservatives think more supply side stimulus is always the answer. I guess if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

    • “I guess if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”
      Great image! I now have a new pearl of wisdom to use when needed. Thank you.

  2. If Trump exits by whatever means, I shudder to think of a Pence Presidency. A theocratic fruitcake armed with a Republican congress and a conservative court could have huge implications for society.

    I don’t think young people have any idea what life was like for women in the “good old days”. Without going into a lot of old news, things could change dramatically with a few strokes of the pen with half of the country slipping back to being dependent child-bearers while the other half slides back to being raging a**holes able to “knock some sense” into the old lady and/or keep her bare-foot and pregnant until she shuts up.

    I can’t even explain to young women today what life was like without birth control, women were denied credit, decent jobs – things we take for granted today – based on their fertility. They could be pushed into marriages by unwanted pregnancies and an inability to survive without a male sponsor. Those were not good times, and Pence is all about getting us back there. I sometimes wonder if all this Muslim immigration and so many of our “world leaders” acknowledging Islam is not a wish to bring that same sort of tyranny back to the US.

    • Now you sound like a feminist or one of the snowflakes for I’m pushing 80 and never saw any of that growing up, in fact I grew up in the best of time when girls and women for the most part were ladies, and conducted themselves in that manner wow birth control how did we ever have our fun without that little pill I suppose it was called responsibility something that people have no grasp of today, that’s why you can go down to the local watering hole on a Friday nite and find it packed young women with two or three kids just waiting to find someone to call daddy while welfare picks up the tab,damn but I WOULD LIKE TO GO BACK TO THOSE GOOD OLD DAYS.

      • You must have had a very sheltered life. My dad was a cop for 43 years, so maybe I knew a lot more about the seamy side of life than those who were able to stay above it. I’m 73, so our experiences must have been very different.

        I heard about the prostitutes during WWII my dad had to keep track of downtown, checking their health card and trying to keep them from being beaten up or killed by customers, I heard about the women he took to the hospital because the old man came home drunk and beat the crap out of them. I knew plenty of girls my age who were held down and raped and kept quite, because it was their reputation that would suffer. I knew plenty of other girls who ended up marrying guys who had forced themselves on them and they got pregnant. I knew a mentally limited girl at school who got pregnant by a family member and had the shame of carrying the child at school until she dropped out, her family raised her little boy as her brother, he probably was.

        I remember vividly being shoved aside on “career day” at my school when I approached the “men” only be to be told I was too cute and would only get married and have a family so they wouldn’t waste their time on me.

        I placed in the top 2% on the SAT’s and every other test I took, I scored 99% on Accounting, Engineering, etc – but wiping baby butts was what I should aspire to.

        In 1962, that was about all one could aspire to other than nursing or teaching. Accounting, Engineering, etc were all male-dominated fields, even if you got a degree, you would need a leg-up from someone to get a job. My boyfriend at the time was in engineering at the U of W, I helped him with his homework. When I asked how many women were in the college of 5K, he said two.

        Many women are perfectly content marrying, having kids, marching off into the sunset with Mr. Right, several of my relatives have done just that it would seem. The prospects for young women today are nil.

        Many women aspire to more than being the lesser half of some cosmic whole.

        Not every woman has those same ambitions or finds “Mr. Right”. A lot a women find Mr. Wrong and in those days, that was a fatal mistake. Many women stayed in unhappy marriages because they didn’t have a choice.

        The pill gave women the power to control their own fertility. I knew plenty of women in their early twenties who had 4 or 5 kids and walked around like they had been hit by a truck trying to manage a household with that many kids and not much money coming in and a husband who got drunk every payday and blamed his wife for all the GD kids! Brilliant.

        I, too, have gone to a watering hole occasionally with one of my sons to see women who have lost all sense of responsibility for themselves and slam drinks and act abnoxiously because they have been programmed by media to believe that what they are doing is acceptable or even desirable.

        I don’t care to go back to the “good old days” you describe because, for most women, that world really didn’t exist. Ask Princess Diana about marrying her prince – oh, right didn’t turn out so well.

        What I would like to see is a situation that would encourage women and men to be what they want to be, not try to fit them into some preordained life style. To encourage them to take total responsibility for their lives. It has suited the political system to break up families and to encourage promiscuity since the sixties. All that Hippie free love and drugs was a creation of the CIA that has profited handsomely from drugs. Our biggest “drug” was booze when I was a teenager, now kids have to contend with opioids that hook them almost immediately. Many of our children are drugged from the time they hit kindergarten, how can you expect those same kids to act responsibly when they can’t distinguish between reality and some bazaar fantasy? Many children today are labelled as ADHD or some other made-up psychobabble label and put on drugs rather than trying to deal with whatever is really going on – like a lack of healthy food or exercise. France doesn’t recognize ADHD as a diagnosis, they feed their kids real food.

        It’s easy to sit back and criticize this generation when we haven’t had to walk a mile in their moccasins. I have a 13-year-old granddaughter and hear what her reality is in middle school. I think it is smug to judge these kids who are afloat in a sea of idiocracy. They are trying to make sense of their lives, but their lives are dominated by iphones and youtube, rather than any reality. They live in an alternative-universe.

        I’m rambling, but I really dislike the smugness of people who somehow hit the jackpot in their lives and look down on anyone who didn’t make the grade – or pretend that their lives are aces, when in fact, they may be lying to themselves.

        • Ida, thank you for such a fine and heart-felt post. Elaine – coming from a similar period and in a rural/farming background is among the women who ended up being used almost precisely as you describe. I have huge admiration for the women who not only survived, but lived to thrive a bit. Thank you for sharing…

    • There is one constant between then and now:Sportsbetting-the only sure way to riches-is still illegal outside of Las Vegas.When NJ attempted to legalize it,they brought out the goon squad.Draw your own conclusions.

    • I do believe that Pence is a poison pill for the left, as well as perhaps the swamp’s requirement to deliver the presidency to Trump.

      I grew up to be an ideal husband for a 1950’s wife, yet by the time I was an adult all wives were moving “on” into a new world that I didn’t understand. I missed the best of the “free love” pseudosexual availability. I was never abusive and perhaps that was seen as weak. Regardless of that, I did succeed in finding a worthy mother of my children and did my best for everyone until the kids were of majority, and as I looked forward to the two of us, the wife left, supposedly because I was “no fun”. I’m not sure there’s a way through this life with a good woman and sex partner, unless you have a very specific type of personality that makes you “fun”. Money, kindness and resourcefulness seem to no longer matter.

      • They do matter, yet to a mature woman. At 44, I finally found my husband, kindness is what did it for me. When you like each other, the fun just comes as well as other things.

    • Yeah, sorry, I don’t remember your model of womanhood or victim hood or femininity and it wasn’t something I saw in my neighborhood either. WOMEN have always been LOVED by men, and MOST men in the good old days loved their wives and the children they created together. Funny, how millions and millions and millions of married couples managed just fine without birth control. Get out a little talk to the older generation before they are gone; I can name THREE older women right now in their mid to late 80’s and mid 90’s and NONE of them experienced the life you just wrote about. ONE came through the hell in WWII as an innocent German citizen, immigrated to America and married an American and had two children, ONE immigrated from Mexico marrying an American and had TWO children, another one married and had ONE child only, these happily married women managed to control their bodies and so did the men manage to control themselves, like grown ups! That is the problem in America, NO ONE WANTS TO GROW UP ANYMORE!!!

      A few strokes of the pen to take us back where? Amazing! Did a President stroke abortion? Did a President stroke gay marriage? Did a President stroke the last several wars?

      You sure have mixed up your post, the only women being pushed into unwanted marriages at a very young age, are Muslim women! Obama acknowledged ISLAM! He said America was NO longer just a Christian nation! Come on now, if you are going to troll this site, you gotta do a better job of keeping your facts straight!

      I want FAMILIES to come back in style; I am waiting for TRUMP to REVITALIZE FAMILIES AND MAKE FAMILIES OF MEN AND WOMEN AND CHILDREN GREAT AGAIN!!! ENCOURAGE MEN TO MARRY THE WOMEN WHO BIRTH THEIR BABIES AND ENCOURAGE WOMEN TO SLEEP WITH MEN WHO THEY WANT TO MARRY! There are TOO many women having babies with numerous men! Yes, I know, for some women and men this is ‘sexual’ and ‘reproductive’ freedom! This should not be a shocking thing to say, but that is NOT good for the woman OR THE CHILDREN!!!! BRING BACK MORALITY! YEAH!

      • I’ve mixed up my post? I don’t think so. I’m 73, my mother and father were born at the turn of the last century – along with both their large families. I had plenty of time to talk to them – they’d be about 120, now. They all had small families for a variety of reasons, some of it fertility and other by choice.

        I also talked to my cousins – good catholic girls all, who had 5 – 8 children each. One confessed to me that when she miscarried her 6th child she was relieved. They were not allowed to try to control their fertility, they were supposed to take whatever God sent them. Like the couple across the street who had 9 kids. We used to take bets on what the next one would be – boy or girl to keep the numbers even. We thought it was funny that one boy our age ate dirt, found out later he had rickets because the family couldn’t afford food. Fertility can be a curse, not a gift from God.

        My dad owned a 1/4 city block of apartment buildings in downtown Seattle when I was growing up. Many of the people living there were refugees from WWII. I remember the Norwegian lady who never spoke, my dad knew her story but wouldn’t tell me. The doctor who’s whole family was killed, he was able to save his son and his mother, I saw a lot of people with numbers on their arms. I saw the look in their faces, so don’t BS me about a couple people you know who “made it”. None of them got over what they had been through.

        The Donald has had three families, each new wife auditioned for the job before the previous one had left the premises. I don’t think he is the poster boy for family solidarity. I will say that all his children seem to have turned out very well, and he and his three wives (to date) can take credit for that.

        I think it would be great if people actually found each other and married BEFORE they start a family. That would be a refreshing change from the tabloid headlines blaring that yet another celebrity is knocked up and thinking about marrying the father – gag!

        With all the religious overtones of the political debate today, you would think that there was some moral compass we could hang our hats on, but there is no such compass. We glorify people who cheat and steal, people with no class and no morals. We put up with lying from our elected officials and shrug it off, we don’t put criminals in jail – not if their rich bankers.

        Morality begins at home. You are either a moral, ethical person or you’re not. We send that message to our children every day in the way we conduct ourselves, in the way we elect our leaders, in the way we treat our leaders after they are elected. What used to be the Republican playbook is now the Democratic playbook – or rather the corporate playbook. Divide, divide, divide.

        We have been forced to choose some of the worst candidates for president and every other office over the past several elections. The facade that any of these people have any moral compass has crumbled. We elect celebrities, we elect fools, we elect anyone who can get our attention.

        The problem is that none of them care about this country or the voters, they all have their own agenda and we are not on it. Like they say: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu” I like a lot of what President Trump has done in the last week. Some of it only for shock value! He has certainly shaken up the status quo. I’m interested to see where he goes from here and hope he stays alive for the reasons mentioned earlier.

    • Ida, I agree entirely. pence is a true-believer (of whatever he believes in, probably includes a lot of big money going his way), thus he is much more dangerous *to everyone*, but particularly women.

  3. Reagan’s success was all for the rich and corporate. He threw the gauntlet down on unions and working people. Wages have been stagnant for 40 years! He pulled the ladder out from under the working class that allowed them to succeed. He doubled the SS contribution in a ploy to fund the Boomers, then cut taxes and used the ss funding to plug the holes. We turned from a creditor nation to a debtor nation by cutting taxes on the rich and corporate. $20 trillion in debt = about $20 trillion to the already rich. He paved the way for the excesses of Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama. I don’t even think Ronnie knew what he had wrought.

    If cutting taxes on the rich and corporate were a way to a prosperous nation, we would be the poster boy for it. I never hear the pundits talk about the nation or it’s people when they talk about prosperity, because it doesn’t exist. What another round of tax cuts will do is put more money in the pockets of the uber wealthy and continue the downward slide of the country and it’s people.

    • Selective memory here.
      Carter ‘saved’ SSI by doubling the contribution, and cutting the benefit to 1/3 for people retiring after the top of the baby boom (1954). But the REAL clincher was Carter and Congressman Al Gore Breaking the Lock Box and commingling the SSI Trust funds with the general budget.
      Reagan’s tax cuts were phased in over three years and the third year finally offset the Carter increases in SSI in paychecks. Surprise! That coincided with the end of the recession.

      • PLEASE do NOT confuse SSI (Supplemental Security Income) with SS (SOCIAL Security)! They are NOT one and the same!

        Robert

  4. Well never was any fan of Reagans his twice tax cuts were on the top percentage and added to the bottom, leveling the playing field so he said, he cut the funds going to the states and the few pennies the worker took home in his paycheck failed to make up for the dollars added to peoples land taxes,then of course he started the outsourcing of jobs, “come to Washington and let us show you how to move your jobs out of the country and make more profit” and the rush was on then of course you had the Unemployment Act which gave companies and corporations the right to steal their employees pension plan and they had a field day, and we won’t go into the guns for drugs,no Reagan wasen’t just a wet dream he was a nightmare for the working class, and the 100,000,000 laid off Americans and its debt which runs into the trillions upon trillions can be laid right to the doorstep of the Reagan corporate administration.,

    • What I remember and I can be wrong of course is that Reagan went to Tip O’Neil with the plan to bankrupt Russia through defense spending increases and once it was accomplished to pull back the reins. Reagan left office and O’Neil continued to increase spending going against his word. The inflection point for outsourcing of jobs actually occurred in 2000 under Clinton who also overturned Glass-Steagall which created turned the banking industry into gambling houses…… could be wrong here but I don’t think so.

      • Don – you may be correct that it’s always the democrats and somehow the republicans are never to blame. Or perhaps you may be biased.

  5. I read a lot of complaining and not one solution.go back to social media and let the adults take charge.

  6. I joined Texas State Employees Union in 1991 because as a state worker from 1979 we either got no raises or saw our raises cancelled out by higher health insurance costs for years. My dad was very anti-union and believed unions were a prime cause of inflation but made an exception for my union activities at the time. Unions weren’t very popular in Texas at the time and one of my coworkers actually thought I was a communist! We managed to get some small raises and slow the rise in health care premiums until 1999, at which point my daughter and I moved to California.

  7. Arguably T. Roosevelt was our last true populist president. His third party try (Bull Moose) was a disaster. If Trump tries it let’s hope he is more proactive and successful.

  8. Ryan is a bought and paid scumbag traitor, i guess that is clear enough!! Trump is making great strides to save this country, and he is SCARING the scumbags to death!! they in turn are trying EVERY dirty trick in the book including using the STUPES (brainwashed libtards) along with the MSM making all the headline news to rty to show public opinion is against Trump, which is a LIE, most of us see what is happening!! and just more reason to DRAIN THE SWAMP!!

    • mmnm, I observe that your angst has not subsided in this AM.
      Ever want to just Chill? I suspect your constant state of anxiety must take a terrible toll on your well-being?
      Perhaps a quote from the philosopher Kierkegaard, may give you cause for thought:

      “The unhappy person is one who has his ideal, the content of his life, the fullness of his consciousness, the essence of his being, in some manner outside of himself.
      The unhappy man is always absent from himself, never present to himself.
      But one can be absent, obviously, either in the past or in the future. This adequately circumscribes the entire territory of the unhappy consciousness.”

      • IF that comment was to me about axiety, you could not be further from the truth, I AM jumping up and down for joy at what Trump is doing!!LOL and i am in extremely good condition,sorry if i did not meet your low expectations!! LOL

    • Mountainman, looks like you have hit a nerve. While we enjoy the ride, the lefties are flaming like a Roman candle.

      • mmnm, Does it really seem rational to ” jump up/down” for a media generated sensory input that primes your “pump of false expectations” needed to fill your “very low level to where even the craw-daddies
        are dying”, River of Self-Fullfillment?

        troln’, As a particular account of any battle varies amongst the Victor and the Defeated, so have the opinions as to who has the right to form the “rules of engagement”!

        oX, the nerves of senseical people can only be hit, if the projectical has the consistency to inflict pain. Your enjoyment of “your ride” is so far from what I ascribe to as a projectile with enough mass capable of inflicting nerve damage– Well do you get my gist??

  9. Hey George, love ya, but not get you. At all. Your Team has complete control. Why are you whining about how the Lefties are going to block this or do that?

    And weren’t you the one whining about the deficits and national debt? And about the Imperial despotic use of Executive Orders?

    Singing a whole different tune now. Ha, ha.

    And when the same tired Righty economic policies crater the economy again, are you going to claim it was the inevitable cycle? You know, the Depression you’ve been predicting for the past 6 years that Obama miraculously dodged? Maybe we can just blame the Liberal Media. You know, the one that was actually corrupt enough to use actual measurements on actual crowd numbers. Still love you, Michael.

    • No other word for you, except troll. I just want you to tell us the truth, who do you work for and how much do they pay you? Come on sing, you jailbird!

    • Obama didn’t “dodge” anything. The Federal reserve did and they only postponed the inevitable at that. Trump has been chosen to take the fall. We will see if he’s smarter than they are by what economy boosting programs he is able to get through the House and the Senate and judge what effects they have on the finances of Joe Average. Obama had no programs except taxing programs and part time and low wage job creation to boost the employment numbers.

    • Your post was filled with contempt, not love so quit lying, we get enough of that from the MSM.

  10. It is day what?? 6? Second week of his Presidency and now we are putting together how he is not going to follow throuh on taxes? Did anyone see the weekend we just went through and what he was willing to do with immigration??
    First, everyone including you George, didn’t have a clue about Trump as a candidate. Not in the primary and not in the general election. No one, including George thought he would win. Everyone has been shocked he has done what he has done so far. Lets give him…..oh another month or two and see how he does on taxes. There is more to this than just supply side. There is more to his tax cuts than just cut and slash. He has a plan and a way to bring $ into the system. Everyone has tried to sell Trump short. They have been shown to misjudge him totally….Oh and he is the President because he WON!!!!!! and he is not a quitter, he is a fighter. He owns Ryan and he will run ramshod over him and the congress. How? he will sick the people on them that voted for him and they will cave. They will do what he wants!!! Hows that for “futuring news”?

    • My Husband and I picked Trump from the beginning, many millions of people did. IF anyone cared to listen to him on C-Span in very early January 2016, you would have heard him speak (not trash talked about on MSM or snippets crafted to make him look ignorant, racist, yeah, you know the brainwashing trashing points) anyway, one only had to LISTEN to him and you realized this was a MAN who LOVES his COUNTRY AND SAW what was happening to it! I hope EVERYONE can see that in a few short days, he has managed to accomplish and try to undo the globalist’s attack on America (the selling out, and invading that has been going on non stop), that’s right: Bush 1 (the NWO speech) -4 years, Clinton (NAFTA and bank deregulation) 8 years, Bush 2 (several illegal wars and open borders as both a Governor before and while President)- 8 years, and Obama (TOTALLY open borders, 3 illegal wars, much more)- 8 years = 28 TOTAL years of our own Presidents’ killing America as a sovereign nation AND NOT PROTECTING THE AMERICAN CITIZEN AT ALL! What part of this can the people not see?

      My futuring is too stark and shocking to type, but I am doing all of the things you have recommended for all of the almost 10 years I have been reading your column. I encourage others to continue to be vigilant and take steps for themselves and family members include others in your plan as you can.

      Dannion Brinkley saw a THIRD PARTY rise in the US in his near-death experience in 1975.

      Wonderful reading all your columns, George, and reading the intelligent commentators from all regions and walks of life.

  11. G, if you find the time, you might want to visit Scott Adams blog, http://blog.dilbert.com/ Particularly the entry called The Persuasion Filter and Immigration. So far, Adams has been dead on with his assessment of Trump.

    http://blog.dilbert.com/post/156532225711/the-persuasion-filter-and-immigration

    Speaking of Trump, did you know calling him The Trumpster was considered derogatory? I had no idea until today. Sheez… People will make anything a person say out to be a bad thing, won’t they?

  12. George your machinations and guesses on the market direction have been noted. Listening to the Merlin project the other night, had Trump activity go to a minimum later this year. Might that align with any of your forecasts?

    • The Merlin Project guy had Trump fading off last December too. I think they’re biased on this issue. Just saying.

  13. Sorry for the long post, but once again George you’ve triggered quite a few thoughts today…

    I suspect Trump has already thought hard about a 3rd party and has a plan just as a contingency. That’s just a guess though. At this point, remaining with the GOP makes sense, but Trump is a “do-er” and will be miserable once all he sets out to accomplish is done. Then what? At that point he’s free to explore even more ways to raise up the nation and that’s where he MAY get into some serious squabbling with the GOPs on the Hill – or get their complete support as well as the full support from the other side of the aisle. The Dems’ support of course originating from a desire to NOT get voted out of office.

    Prez Trump needs to be working on tough things and to have immediate, medium range, and long-term goals. That’s just how his mind works. As I read someplace over the weekend, others play checkers while he plays 3 dimensional chess.

    Once he’s successfully achieved his immediate goals, then what? My guess is that he’ll institute some JFK-esque national goals like a man on Mars, permanent base on the moon, bi-lateral acceptance of US annexation of the northern Mexican states, or most likely something that none of us expect at the moment and no other president would ever attempt – but something wildly wonderful for the country.

    I read recently that he could take many things from DARPA and other federal research orgs and give them to the public for wide adoption. That alone could be beyond the establishment’s wildest dreams (or nightmares). It would also keep him and his cabinet busy for a while. So I envision a series of incredible leaps for the nation over the next 8 years, and truly feel a bit sorry for whomever runs in 2024. Can you imagine running for the oval office in that election (regardless of party) should this administration be able to accomplish all it has committed to and then succeeds at a number of additional things that inspire and motivate the country?

    My final thought is more about a 3rd party. Trump is a
    ‘brand” guy. He knows how to build and improve upon his brand. As POTUS that means promoting and getting benefits from the brand – in this case the nation. Now that he’s POTUS, the USA is his brand. All politics aside, Trump (assuming he succeeds with most of what is needed to rectify the last 30 or so years) will have a chance to consider what our current political parties truly desire as a party, and if those desires run counter to the USA brand, then he may very well come up with a new 3rd party that I suspect will by then pull members from both current major parties, thereby making the GOP and Dems completely irrelevant.

    Lots to look forward to, and quite a bit of money to be thrown away (paid rioters, lobbyists, payoffs, etc) by both leftist and right leaning donors (and orgs) that will simply never appreciate or understand the positive changes that could be headed our way. That said, I will still and always watch this administration (or any admin) for signs that they’re backing away from promises for no good reason, or start to seriously over-reach their Constitutional authority – as will most of us here.

  14. I think trump is doing just fine.. the worst years of my life and the deepest struggles happened during the reagan years.. carter was tossed under the bus along with the middle class by the congress with the millianaire relief act of 78.. I think it was the kemp ross bill
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNA0-GBuunc

  16. and with the production of the cell strengthening fountain of youth age reversing pills and life span unlimited ness,a fair devision of Mars and the moon still only leave a miserly 9 acres per person to spend their multiple lifespans upon and feed themselves

  17. Sadly, it has never been just the women who were subjected to rape, enslavement and abuse…children appeal to the weak of heart, mind and soul as useful to satisfy their sick obsession.

  18. Hi George,

    In the past, I sent you an email about the errors and typos contained in your writing. It did not stop me from continuing to read and enjoy your column. I was on vacation for awhile and have been extremely busy so I am not up-to-date in my readings. I started with today’s post and I am reading them in reverse order as per my usual custom. Before I even completed reading today’s column, something jumped out at me: the errors are gone!

    In the past, I attributed your mistakes to getting up so early to type it as well as attempting to type too fast and the rest just the typical mistakes all of us make. Something is different, maybe new software. The writing just continues to flow error-free although I did find one error (space between words missing). I realize you are very bright and knowledgeable in many subjects so I knew the errors were not a result of a lack of proficiency. Something seems to have changed, maybe new software or an app like Grammarly. I use Grammarly’s free version so things should be spelled correctly in my email. However, I have 6 additional errors not revealed to me because I failed to purchase that piece of Grammarly. I know they are related to compound sentences and wordiness!

    • I promise more errors!
      (I do have the professional paid version of grammerly but don’t use it. M ainly I have been smell checking before posting, lol

  19. I find political incorrectness seizes up my phone or computer at an average of 7 minuits,will try for 6…..

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