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Category Archives: My Opinion

Disgrace Is Correct


The Mueller investigation has long drawn Trump’s ire. “I think it’s a disgrace,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. “What’s going on in this country, I think it’s a disgrace.” For a change the Resident is correct: What’s going on in this country is a disgrace. A disgrace accelerated by his election. If his business practices are like his “:governance” , it is surprising that he is still in business. There are signs that all that glitters is not “Trumps Gold” as there appears to be a good amount of “brass” involved. This administration appears to be uncomfortable actually governing and is at odds with it’s own party. The numerous retirements of members of his party in both houses speaks volumes even though one could speculate as to reasons why. Several possibilities could be in the mix, one is disagreement with the administration’s off track betting as it were with Government processes thereby limiting their ability to do their jobs. Another is the prospect of monetary gains from the “tax reform/ cut” now in place (keeping  in mind many members of Congress have become wealthy while in office along with some who were wealthy prior to being elected. This is just my view based on what I have observed and read. There is no 100% sureness in these statements but they are worthy of a thought. It is possible that many more Americans have become decidedly jaded on this administration from top to bottom and are seeking other possibilities when election time arrives this year. The crux of this administration’s activities are tied to the Resident’s self interest based on what the child wants rather than what is needed for the country as a whole. It is upon our shoulders as voters to remember that electing “flawed” candidates for any public office will become more heavy lifting with little to no results. Just observing the ongoing “Jerry Show” of the White House should be a wakeup call for all of us no matter what label you use for yourself. 

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Finance And What You Should Know About Trump’s Nihilist Budget He just doesn’t care.


As I understand the current economical issues(?). The economy has been moving along at a snails pace (according to financial pundits and conservative GOP members). That is probably correct however looking at where it came from after the financial crash due to the mortgage crisis about 10 years ago, it is moving well. We have to remember that it take years for the economy to recover from a crisis like that. WE as people have become so entrenched in a “immediate gratification” mindset that we fall for any information from anyone who states that they can revive the economy and make things happen quick. I say beware of “wolves in sheep’s clothing” . The reality is that the last financial crisis took years to build and while many wealthier folks enjoyed success, many lower wage folks suffered and were devastated in the crash. The upswing or correction after several Government interventions brought us to a path of upwards growth albeit slow (or slower than we wanted -instant grats again). Now the tax reform or cuts have given the appearance that the economical policy of the current administration is producing a booming economy . The tax cuts gave corporations a 14% tax cut  which was used to give bonuses and wage increases, this looked like an improvement in the economy but isn’t. The problem is that these tax cuts/reforms will only work when overall spending is kept at a responsible level. Right now we are on a path of reckless economic responsibility. The recent budget will add Billions more to the 1.5 trillion deficit expected from the tax cut/ reform bill.MA

POLITICS 02/12/2018 06:22 pm ET

By Zach Carter, Arthur Delaney, and Igor Bobic

The budget document President Donald Trump released on Monday doesn’t really matter. It will have no effect on government spending or tax levels. It will not build bridges or defund public housing programs. Congress controls federal spending, not the president, and for the past several years lawmakers have jettisoned the formal budget process in favor of a series of backroom deals.
The president’s budget has thus become an elaborate Washington ritual in which an administration expresses its values and priorities in the technocratic jargon of modern bureaucracy. It’s an administration’s way of telling the public how it would govern if it didn’t have to work with Congress, and of demonstrating how much it cares about these proposals by working out in fine detail how much it all would cost.
Trump’s budget shows he doesn’t care very much about anything. The signature proposal, hyped ahead of the release as a $1.5 trillion program to rebuild America’s infrastructure, turns out to include just $200 billion in new spending ― offset by $240 billion in cuts to existing infrastructure programs, including the Highway Trust Fund, Amtrak and the Army Corps of Engineers’ civil works initiatives.
The infrastructure plan is a good example of how Trump’s supposedly populist campaign has not translated into populist governance. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, is a former member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which rabidly opposes spending on the social safety net.
“As a nation, we face difficult times – challenged by a crumbling infrastructure, growing deficits, rogue nations, and irresponsible Washington spending,” Mulvaney said in a statement on Sunday ― even though the budget doesn’t close deficits or un-crumble infrastructure.
Another budget bullet point ― seemingly making good on Trump’s campaign promise to end the opioid crisis ravaging America ― comes to just $1 billion a year, a pathetically low number for a national public health crisis. Trump’s boost to opioid spending accounts for less than 1.5 percent of the Department of Health and Human Services budget, which Trump would also slash by about 20 percent from last year’s level. By contrast, total defense spending would increase by about 25 percent over the course of the next decade. That’s real money, but it doesn’t tell us anything important about American military objectives in places like Afghanistan, Yemen or Niger.

Public education advocates are understandably angered by Trump’s call to cut overall federal education funding by $7.1 billion, while spending $1.1 billion on vouchers that families can use to pay for private school. But even this is a half-hearted measure. Trump has said he wants to spend $20 billion a year on the vouchers.
One area where the Trump administration showed some enthusiasm for policy innovation is in cracking down on food stamp recipients and their supposedly lavish and unhealthy diets. The budget would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ― the official program name for food stamps ― by about 25 percent, replacing a portion of beneficiaries’ monthly stipend with canned goods and other healthy food chosen by the government. The idea is almost unheard-of on Capitol Hill and has little chance of being taken seriously by the committee that oversees the program.
Trump would also eliminate all funding for public housing repairs ― a move that reflects general meanness about the lives of the poor, but only costs about $2 billion ― and eliminate $1 billion in Section 8 vouchers to help poor families pay rent.
About 40 million Americans live in poverty each year, according to U.S. census data, including about 3.2 million who live on less than $1.90 a day, every day, according to The World Bank.
Taken together, Trump’s budget reflects a strange bureaucratic nihilism. His budget proposal doesn’t balance ― not next year, or even over the traditional 10-year window, which would have allowed Trump to gimmick up the final years with spending cuts and various administrative fees that he had no intention of actually following through on. He’s accepting $900 billion-plus deficits every year until 2023, and substantial deficits through 2028. It’s not like he’s holding back from a big idea because he’s worried about the price tag. He just doesn’t care.

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Trump’s $4 trillion budget helps move deficit sharply higher


Apparently the Resident has no idea of the future effects of poor fiscal policy in spite of the campaign rhetoric in 2015 & 2016 but given this past years activities, we should not be surprised. This administration is very much like the weather vane on top of a barn-subject to wind direction. MA.

Andrew Taylor, Associated Press

Associated Press 5 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is proposing a $4 trillion-plus budget for next year that projects a $1 trillion or so federal deficit and — unlike the plan he released last year — never comes close to promising a balanced federal ledger even after 10 years.
And that’s before last week’s $300 billion budget pact is added this year and next, showering both the Pentagon and domestic agencies with big increases.
The spending spree, along with last year’s tax cuts, has the deficit moving sharply higher with Republicans in control of Washington.
The original plan was for Trump’s new budget to slash domestic agencies even further than last year’s proposal, but instead it will land in Congress three days after he signed a two-year spending agreement that wholly rewrites both last year’s budget and the one to be released Monday.
The 2019 budget was originally designed to double down on last year’s proposals to slash foreign aid, the Environmental Protection Agency, home heating assistance and other nondefense programs funded by Congress each year.
“A lot of presidents’ budgets are ignored. But I would expect this one to be completely irrelevant and totally ignored,” said Jason Furman, a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama. “In fact, Congress passed a law week that basically undid the budget before it was even submitted.”
In a preview of the 2019 budget, the White House on Sunday focused on Trump’s $1.5 trillion plan for the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. He also will ask for a $13 billion increase over two years for opioid prevention, treatment and long-term recovery. A request of $23 billion for border security, including $18 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and money for more detention beds for detained immigrants, is part of the budget, too.
Trump would again spare Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare as he promised during the 2016 campaign. And while his plan would reprise last year’s attempt to scuttle the “Obamacare” health law and sharply cut back the Medicaid program for the elderly, poor and disabled, Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill have signaled there’s no interest in tackling hot-button health issues during an election year.
Instead, the new budget deal and last year’s tax cuts herald the return of trillion dollar-plus deficits. Last year, Trump’s budget predicted a $526 billion budget deficit for the 2019 fiscal year starting Oct. 1; instead, it’s set to easily exceed $1 trillion once the cost of the new spending pact and the tax cuts are added to Congressional Budget Office projections.
Mick Mulvaney, the former tea party congressman who runs the White House budget office, said Sunday that Trump’s new budget, if implemented, would tame the deficit over time.
“The budget does bend the trajectory down, it does move us back towards balance. It does get us away from trillion-dollar deficits,” Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Just because this deal was signed does not mean the future is written in stone. We do have a chance still to change the trajectory. And that is what the budget will show tomorrow,” he said.
Last year, Trump’s budget projected a slight surplus after a decade, but critics said it relied on an enormous accounting gimmick — double counting a 10-year, $2 trillion surge in revenues from the economic benefits of “tax reform.” Now that tax reform has passed, the math trick can’t be used, and the Trump plan doesn’t come close to balancing.
But critics are likely to say this year’s Trump plan, which promises 3 percent growth, continuing low inflation, and low interest yields on U.S. Treasury bills despite a flood of new borrowing, underestimates the mounting cost of financing the government’s $20 trillion-plus debt.
The White House is putting focus this year on Trump’s long-overdue plan to boost spending on the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. The plan would put up $200 billion in federal money over the next 10 years to leverage $1.5 trillion in infrastructure spending, relying on state and local governments and the private sector to contribute the bulk of the funding.
Critics contend the infrastructure plan will fail to reach its goals without more federal support. Proposals to streamline the permitting process as a way to reduce the cost of projects have already generated opposition from environmental groups.
Presidential budgets tend to reprise many of the same elements year after year. While details aren’t out yet, Trump’s budget is likely to curb crop insurance costs, cut student loan subsidies, reduce pension benefits for federal workers and cut food stamps, among other proposals.

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Fiscal Illinois


Listening to the Governor of Illinois in a newscast today, It appears that many members of the GOP nationwide use the same message of fiscal, national and security  responsibility. It seems to me that these folks are in the wrong decade, we have had too many distractive issues that take focus from the real problems. Our Governor has railed against Mike Madigan for four years and got nothing else done, he has provided no guidance and attempted to veto the only budget passed in four years. It is widely known that the State is in a budget crisis due to earlier fiscal mistakes however it would seem to me that a reasonable effort to bring both sides and the major unions to the table and work out what needs to be done to make the State fiscally stable. Part of the fiscal issue is the failure of the legislature to correct pension problems from prior administrations. Correcting this will not make the State fiscally stable but it will be a solid first step. If there are no rational conversations then there can be no fix. It is unfortunate that not enough voters realize the fiscal problem stems from “kicking the can” down the road thereby making it a political “football”. In a practical sense, our Legislators need to meet and resolve it without political rhetoric. Leave your party lines at the door!

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Trump’s State if The Union Address


This address was disingenuous, pandering and fake! He is taking credit for events that he had nothing to do with and possibly panned. The results of his policies will show by years end.

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State Of Disunion


The Resident will be touting his accomplishments this past year in the most glowing terms, this glow will be more like the glow from a fire rather than natural glow from good things happening. We have the dishonorable Devin Nunes pushing a “secret document” showing the FBI and Justice department’s mishandling of the Clinton E mails (again?) and the Russian interference. Mr. Nunes appears to be a pawn of the Resident rather than a legislator. These alleged secret memos are not secret but more  closed  information pending examination by a larger body of Congress. It seems that the Trump administration is attempting to derail the Mueller investigation rather than allow the investigation to proceed and come to a conclusion. Again we see the swirl of disinformation, alternate facts and misdirection. This apparently is the core of this administration which is also the traceable road map of the personal dealings of this Resident. This speech will be no more than disingenuous hyperboles designed to appease his base who for the most part are so desperate for relief  that they will clutch any straw in the wind. Many who approve of the Resident’s actions fail to realize the abject depravity of this administration and its long range effect on all of us. In the end the voters of this country will have to step up and replace the neer do wells who talk a good game, THEN GAME US WHEN ELECTED!

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Saber Rattling with A Dagger?


Apparently the Resident is a master of hype and hyperbole with a smattering of facts. The ongoing push for reversing executive orders from the previous administration which will affect many Americans for many years. This roll back under the guise of “Making America Great Again” will unless changed or modified will put us on a path of second class in the world order. The supposed and assumed injustices done to us by other countries and the previous administration are couched in terms designed to panic us into believing the barely believable. First  climate change is real (it has happened before but over a much longer time span (thousands or millions of years). The prime movers on these changes are folks who have their own personal interest in mind. These personal pushes are embraced by our Resident primarily because he is un or under informed and these providers of information hold him up as smarter and better than he is (or maybe not). There is no end to the blanket of falsehood pouring out this White House on the promise to “Make America Great Again”. Look at the results: Coal mine are still closing due to cheap natural gas, Immigrants are leaving on their own due to uninformed policies and perceived  sins and our allies are looking in wonder at the attacks on collective agreements that insure security and prosperity for all. Government works when there is integrity in it and right now the “Baby Boss” has missed too many naps to make rational decisions. This spoon feeding of misinformation is leading to possible series of  political missteps which will hurt us for a long time. We can only hope with a different  and saner Captain we can right the ship but only if we pay attention to who we vote for beginning with a non partisan look at who is seeking office and not be persuaded by campaign slogans and semi truths.

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The Usual Suspects


The current Congress is at a (hopefully) temporary impasse. After meetings with the Resident a bipartisan committee brought a proposal to fund the Government and take care of immigration. The Resident stated “He would sign whatever you guys bring me whether I like it all or not”, this is not the exact wording but it covers the essence. The next AM via tweet the Resident reneged on his words, this has been his way of doing things since his inauguration. Allowing for the yoyo effect of the aides and advisors  who have left, been sidelined or used sparingly, this administration has made no significant forward progress that benefitted the entire country. The meager benefits that has delighted his supporters will be at best short-lived and possible dangerous. The Resident has spent more time campaigning than governing as evidenced by the showy signing of executive orders that roll back protections that will affect all Americans. The majority in Congress has stood back and allowed things to happen while pushing their own agenda and hoping to get the signature of the Resident who by his actions will not read it or understand what he has signed until some one tells him what it is he as signed. The advisors around him tell him what he should do because he apparently has no clue. We essentially have a puppet surrounded by puppet masters who all have different agendas that do not bode well for America. The worst of this is the people in charge of press releases and press briefings (or the nose growing department) consistently relay hardly true and totally untrue statements with aplomb. This pattern of misinformation and outright lies has followed the Resident and his cabinet selections for years. Under the guise of being Conservatives has and will create more dissidence in the US than any administration over the past 10 to 15 years. Our credibility in the world has plummeted to a dangerous level and the Resident seems to take no notice. There appears to be no long range or strategic thinking in this administration beyond a biased and jaundiced view aimed at political theater which has no merit beyond exciting their base (such as it is). It is really unfortunate that there has to be a Government shutdown to get ordinary work done in this Misadministration since the purpose of getting elected is to move the country forward in a manner that benefits ALL Americans no matter if they are naturalized or natural born. It is wise to remember, the only true Americans are the Native Americans who were driven from their territories for the benefit of the newcomers (Europeans, et al). We must remember this quote:” If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything “ALEX HAMILTON (not Alexander Hamilton) British Author

 

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The Trump Induced Standoff


After watching several Sunday News and panel shows today, it has been made even clearer that our Congress is broken and made even more so by the ascension of the current Resident of the White House. Almost to a person all of the administration officials blame the Scamocrats in spite the known facts that the Resident made a statement that he would sign what was brought before even he was not completely happy with it. A bipartisan proposal was brought to him and he refused it( so he lied in the previous statement). Each of these Resident defenders did exactly what their boss did-Lie! It is my opinion that we will never have decent and functioning government under this Resident and the current leaders of the Senate and the House are backing these poor decisions by blaming the other party. This is not governing , this just ducking the responsibility of their office and lying to their constituents as they have apparently been doing for a long time since they appear to do it so well. These folks pass bad legislation  with ease and point at it with pride while saying how good it will be for us much like Adolph did in the 30’s.MA

First day of government shutdown ends in standoff
By Richard Cowan and Ginger Gibson

Reuters 9 hours ago

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Getty Images)
By Richard Cowan and Ginger Gibson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers were locked in a standoff with Democrats on Saturday over the U.S. government shutdown, with Republicans saying they would not negotiate on immigration until the government is reopened.
Funding for federal agencies ran out at midnight with no agreement in Congress, meaning the second year of Trump’s presidency began without a fully functioning government.
Democrats stuck to demands that any short-term spending legislation must include protections for young undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers.” Republicans in turn said they would not negotiate on immigration until Democrats gave them the votes needed to reopen the government.
U.S. government workers were told to stay home or, in some cases, work without pay until new funding is approved in the first federal government shutdown since a 16-day funding lapse in October 2013.
The Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives held rare weekend sessions on Saturday, facing a political crisis that could affect November congressional elections. By about 7 p.m. both chambers resigned themselves to failure and agreed to resume work on Sunday.
Both Republicans and Democrats had dug in during the day, each side blaming the other.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote at 0100 EST (0600 GMT) Monday on a bill to fund the government through Feb. 8, unless Democrats agree to hold it sooner.
“We’ll be right back at this tomorrow and for as long as it takes” for Democrats to vote for legislation that would reopen the government, McConnell said.
Outside the U.S. Capitol, parks, open-air monuments and Smithsonian museums were open as a second annual women’s rights march took place on the National Mall. But visitors were turned away from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
A scheduled trip by Trump and some Cabinet members to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was being assessed on a day-to-day basis, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said.
Republicans said they would refuse to negotiate on immigration until Democrats provide the votes to re-open the government. Democrats insisted they have been willing to compromise but Republicans backed out of deals.
“The president will not negotiate on immigration reform until Democrats stop playing games and reopen the government,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.
Marc Short, the White House’s legislative affairs director, said Trump had been in contact with Republican leaders in Congress during the day, but had not reached out to Democrats.
Short said the president likely would be most effective making the case for ending the shutdown directly to the American people, and he did not rule out Trump addressing the nation in the coming days.
The tough message from the White House and Republicans in Congress led to speculation that Washington could be in for a prolonged political battle.
At the U.S. Capitol, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a stinging portrayal of Trump as an unreliable negotiating partner, saying the two sides came close to an agreement several times only to have Trump back out at the urging of anti-immigration conservatives.
“Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O,” said Schumer, who met Trump at the White House on Friday for a 90-minute meeting that had briefly raised hopes. “It’s impossible to negotiate with a constantly moving target.”
‘INCHES AWAY’
The federal government had been running on three consecutive temporary funding bills since the new fiscal year began in October.
Democrats had sought to secure permanent legal protections for 700,000 young undocumented immigrants as a condition for new government funding after their attempts to push through the protections in stand-alone bills were rebuffed. Trump ordered the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program to expire in March, requiring Congress to act.
Earlier, McConnell said a solution to the crisis was “just inches away” but he blamed Democrats for blocking legislation to pass the fourth stopgap funding measure.
One idea floated by Republicans was to renew government funding through Feb. 8 to end the shutdown, while working to resolve other issues, including immigration, military and non-military spending, disaster relief and some healthcare matters.
U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat whose northern Virginia district has one of the highest concentrations of federal government employees, said there was no sign that serious bipartisan negotiations were taking place and he would be surprised if Congress reached a resolution before Monday.
“You can hear the crickets chirping in the hallway,” Connolly said on Saturday evening. He said if there were negotiations, “it would have to be really deep back channels.”
He attributed the lack of talks to “raw feelings” and that Trump had walked away on Friday from a deal on immigration.
A video ad released on Saturday by Trump’s presidential campaign that says Democrats will be “complicit” in murders by illegal immigrants could inflame tensions.
Trump had portrayed himself as the ultimate dealmaker, but his inability to cut a deal despite having a Republican majority in both houses of Congress marked arguably the most debilitating setback for his administration.
“This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present,” he said on Twitter.
The immediate impact of the government shutdown was eased somewhat by it beginning on a weekend.
The Defense Department said combat operations in Afghanistan and other military activities would continue, while federal law enforcement officers also would remain on duty.
Talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement will continue, as will major cybersecurity functions, and most of the Environmental Protection Agency will remain open, budget director Mulvaney said.
But without a quick deal, hundreds of thousands of government employees will be put on temporary unpaid leave.
“It’s ironic that they get paid – meaning Congress – and the rest of the government doesn’t,” said Dawn Gaither, 57, a Washington teacher. “That’s what we need to do, kick these guys in the tail and get them to work.”
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Ginger Gibson, James Oliphant, Ian Simpson, and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Richard Cowan and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott and Daniel Wallis)
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Republican senator blames possible shutdown on Trump listening to Tom Cotton, Stephen Miller


Apparently there are still some statesmen in the Congress.MA

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) dispelled his party’s talking points.
Josh Israel

Jan 19, 2018, 1:21 pm

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on MSNBC on Friday. CREDIT: MSNBC screenshot
The White House and many Congressional Republicans attempted Friday to pin the potential government shutdown on Senate Democrats, trying to name it the “Schumer Shutdown” after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). But their strategy was undermined by a prominent member of the president’s own party.
Lindsey Graham, the senior senator from South Carolina, told MSNBC that he is still a “no” on the legislation passed by the House on Thursday that would keep the government open for 30 days but do nothing to protect beneficiaries of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA provided protection to more than 750,000 people who were brought as undocumented immigrants to the United States as children, but President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to end the protections starting in March.
“I’m not going to continue this game with DACA recipients’ lives,” Graham explained. “A lot of people on my side say ‘What’s the urgency?’ Well, put yourself in their shoes. You’re a teacher somewhere, you don’t know if March the 5th you’ll be kicked out of the country you call home. This idea that we’ve got plenty of time — I don’t like that. If you’re one these recipients you feel like we should have done this yesterday. And 80 percent of the American people are actually with us.”
Trump earlier this week rejected a bipartisan deal that would have protected DACA beneficiaries and cleared the way for a funding bill, after initially expressing a willingness to sign such a deal. Graham laid the blame for the impasse on Trump’s flip-flop and his listening to bad advice from two people: White House aide Stephen Miller and freshman Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).
“I think the change comes about from people like Mr. Miller,” Graham said. “Mr. Miller is well-known in the Senate for having views that are outside the mainstream.” Graham observed that the “Steven Miller approach to immigration has no viability.”
He expressed openness to solutions, but said the Trump White House is taking a “a hard-edged approach” that would not fly even in the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate. “The Tom Cotton approach has no viability here. He’s become sort of the Steve King of the Senate. I like Tom but on immigration, he’s putting something on the table that there’s just no market for in phase one.” (Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is an immigration hardliner with a long history of racist comments.)

Graham is not the only Congressional Republican who feels this way. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) tweeted on Friday morning that she opposes her party’s continuing resolution bill “because #Dreamers cannot wait for the promise of ‘tomorrow.’”