What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Zanza]

I didn't think we needed it at the time, but The Economist says the tax cut was "well-timed fiscal stimulus."  Also that the reduction in deductability of state tax and mortgage interest is a good thing, which I agreed with at the time.

I predict that the same politicians who voted for this will now revert back to fiscal conservatives and pretend to care about the national debt.

[Admiral Yi]

I didn't think we needed it at the time, but The Economist says the tax cut was "well-timed fiscal stimulus."  Also that the reduction in deductability of state tax and mortgage interest is a good thing, which I agreed with at the time.

I predict that the same politicians who voted for this will now revert back to fiscal conservatives and pretend to care about the national debt.

And that will have no effect on the truth of the statement.

[Tamas]

But you voted for them even when they were spending on loan like there was no tomorrow so what importance you put on this topic then?

[Admiral Yi]

But you voted for them even when they were spending on loan like there was no tomorrow so what importance you put on this topic then?

If I were to flip flop my support based on my sour tribal politics that would not impact the truth of the statement either.

[DGuller]

But you voted for them even when they were spending on loan like there was no tomorrow so what importance you put on this topic then?

If I were to flip flop my support based on my sour tribal politics that would not impact the truth of the statement either.

It would impact the relevance of the truth of the statement, though.

[Admiral Yi]

It would impact the relevance of the truth of the statement, though.

I don't follow.

[DGuller]

It would impact the relevance of the truth of the statement, though.

I don't follow.

If you choose to ignore the truth some times and not others, then clearly you don't use truth as a guide for action, you only use selectively as an after-the-fact rationalization.

[Admiral Yi]

If you choose to ignore the truth some times and not others, then clearly you don't use truth as a guide for action, you only use selectively as an after-the-fact rationalization.

This sounds like a restatement of Zanza's point?

[DGuller]

If you choose to ignore the truth some times and not others, then clearly you don't use truth as a guide for action, you only use selectively as an after-the-fact rationalization.

This sounds like a restatement of Zanza's point?

I don't hold a monopoly on saying smart things.

[grumbler]

Why are we assuming the The Economist's moronic statement is true?  The Trump tax cut was a measure to borrow trillions of dollars to give middle-class people a small tax cut for 5 years (followed by a large tax hike) and give upper-class types a permanent tax break.  Fiscal stimulus is limited, targeted, and finite.  The timing of the tax cut was based purely on how long it took the politicos to get the break through the system, it was not "well-timed" for the economy at all.

Just because some 25-year-old Oxford grad likes Trump doesn't mean that we should also like him.

[viper37]

How would you define accomplish?

One of the first & maybe the only lasting one has to be waking up the western world to the threat that is China.

That was the entire goal of the TPP, economically and politicaly isolate China. Of course, the left was against it

And again, Harper was the first to play tough with China, which gained him criticism from the left and the Liberal Party.  But now, we have a PM who recognizes China's importance and plays nice with them, cozzy up to them.  It serves us well.  Except maybe a couple of guys siting in a chinese prison for a couple of years just for being in China when a corrupt CFO was arrested on canadian soil to be extradited to the US, but really, we're just big friends now and all is good, no more threat from China, our kumbaya PM made sure of that

[viper37]

Question for the smartest group of people I know:

What, objectively, did Trump accomplish during his presidency?

I'm looking for true accomplishments not tainted with the "Trump is an evil dictator" brush. (We all agree that he is, and a whole lot of other things. I'm looking for a dispassionate listing of what he actually accomplished.)

- huge tax break for the very rich (90% of the tax rebates are going to the 10% richer)
- transforming the USCBP into a truly armed militia like the SA, loyal only to the President
- huge tax break for corporations (it did benefit SMBs though, IIRC)- America is no longer the dominant power broker in North Africa, Central Africa and the Middle East, Russia has supplanted the US in NA and ME, China in Africa.- He let the Russians deal with ISIS who are no longer a major threat able to organize themselves large terror attacks, but they remain as a low level threat able to inspire fanatism- He named 3 conservative judges to the USSC and about a hundred in lower courts

Aside from this, I can't really see.

I'm not passing judgement, just enumerating.

[viper37]

Why are we assuming the The Economist's moronic statement is true?  The Trump tax cut was a measure to borrow trillions of dollars to give middle-class people a small tax cut for 5 years (followed by a large tax hike) and give upper-class types a permanent tax break.  Fiscal stimulus is limited, targeted, and finite.  The timing of the tax cut was based purely on how long it took the politicos to get the break through the system, it was not "well-timed" for the economy at all.

Just because some 25-year-old Oxford grad likes Trump doesn't mean that we should also like him.

Yeah, I totally agree with this.  It may have been a stimulus at the right time, but people are gonna have to pay back that money by next year while covid will be far from over.

[Grey Fox]

How would you define accomplish?

One of the first & maybe the only lasting one has to be waking up the western world to the threat that is China.

That was the entire goal of the TPP, economically and politicaly isolate China. Of course, the left was against it

And again, Harper was the first to play tough with China, which gained him criticism from the left and the Liberal Party.  But now, we have a PM who recognizes China's importance and plays nice with them, cozzy up to them.  It serves us well.  Except maybe a couple of guys siting in a chinese prison for a couple of years just for being in China when a corrupt CFO was arrested on canadian soil to be extradited to the US, but really, we're just big friends now and all is good, no more threat from China, our kumbaya PM made sure of that

TPP with the US was a unacceptable threat to our & everyone else sovereignty. Of course the left was against it, it was really bad.

[viper37]

How would you define accomplish?

One of the first & maybe the only lasting one has to be waking up the western world to the threat that is China.

I'm looking at what people will say 100 years from now that he did right.

Duh.
Right is relative to one's point of view.

Packing the courts with conservative judges is right from the pov of the conservative white folks in the US.  Not so from your pov.