The Reign of Trump

[pErvinalia]

Someone made the point to you earlier. Short term stocks are rising as the short term stock market is just a gambling market. Long term prospects are showing a big negative with bond rates rising. There's a chance we'll see "GFC The Sequel: D'oh!" at some point in the near future.

[Tero]

just print more $$$$$$. Nobody will notice till 4 years from now. Then you can blame it on the next president. Trump will have just one term.

[Brian Peacock]

Fuck science, it's all about the Constitution, states and their "way of life" that was threatened by lefties.

Mr. Pruitt’s first job will be restoring respect for the Constitution and cooperative federalism in EPA rule-making. He knows how to do this because he led the legal charge by the states against EPA abuses, including the victory of a Supreme Court stay on the Clean Power Plan as it moves through the appellate courts. If he is confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Pruitt could order the EPA’s lawyers to inform the courts that the agency no longer stands by the legal interpretation behind the Clean Power Plan.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-lawyer-fo ... 1481155238

Pruitt has the whiff of a fossil fuel shill about him.

[Hermit]

US Steel looks to accelerate investments, hire back 10000 laid off workers thanks to trump.

Might hire up to 10,000 workers. There's a difference between hyperbolic predictions and what may (or may not) actually eventuate.

The fact that the steel industry is very happy should surprise nobody, considering that it is one of the most intensive polluters and the man who is about to be appointed to head the EPA is a lifelong enemy of the EPA. Steel, along with mining and fossil sourced energy companies are ecstatic about a future where they are no longer required to minimise the environmental damage caused by their activities, which is an expensive undertaking, and where the cost of environmental damage that does occur is no longer borne by the companies responsible for it, but by the public purse or who the fuck ever is not them.

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!

NOT

[Forty Two]

It's not really about shutting plants down in China and reopening them here. It's about expanding industry and industrial growth here in the States.

As long as wage is 2 dollars an hour in Bangla Desh, you are not going to make clothing and shoes here.

Even a slightly more complicated thing, like binoculars, wages are still low. Leupold makes binoculars and rifle scopes here by just assembling the Chinese parts here. Stick on made in USA label. Lots of hunters fall for that.

Set import tariff in part based on equalized labor wages.
So if china pays $2 an hour in wages and item takes 1 labor hour to make, tariff is $13.

Good way to tank your economy as fast as possible.

You're such an economic conservative.

[Forty Two]

The US could not create the infrastructure or provide the people with the relevant skill sets to move the means of production from China to the US. One contractor alone, manufacturing the hardware for Apple, employs 150,000 people in China for the contracts. One of its factories has a workforce of 60,000. Where in the US would you locate it? 60,000 is more than Detroit employs in what is left of the local car industry.

It's not about moving factories from China to the US. It's about building business and industry here. We don't have to manufacture party hats and plastic whistles here in the US to have a strong manufacturing sector.

[Forty Two]

Boeing shit storm
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/06/ ... power.html

I was just going to say.. isn't aerospace a very American industry? So much for encouraging industrial growth.

Being pro-industry doesn't mean tolerating excessive costs. We need to drill down costs across the board to run efficiently. The Pentagon is full of waste. Patriotism doesn't mean military contractors get a blank check.

[Tero]

The plane does not make as much money to Boeing as regular planes as there are only two to be made. Sure, get some bids from Socialist Europe. President to fly Airbus? That would look good. Maybe you can order one from your pal Putin?

[Brian Peacock]

The US could not create the infrastructure or provide the people with the relevant skill sets to move the means of production from China to the US. One contractor alone, manufacturing the hardware for Apple, employs 150,000 people in China for the contracts. One of its factories has a workforce of 60,000. Where in the US would you locate it? 60,000 is more than Detroit employs in what is left of the local car industry.

It's not about moving factories from China to the US. It's about building business and industry here. We don't have to manufacture party hats and plastic whistles here in the US to have a strong manufacturing sector.

Who are America going to sell their manufactured goods to when the greater inherent productivity costs are going to be passed to the consumer - or do you think the government can subsidise the manufacturing sector while wages and resource costs level out in the rest of the world?

I can't see many Western leaders initiating, let alone successfully implementing, the kind of long-term economic plan you're suggesting at the moment. Shareholders want to see an increase in their dividend payments by the end of the financial year, and voters want to see an increase in their wages and/or prospects before the next campaign season starts. Did Trumpeteers really think they were voting for a 20-year+ restructuring of their economy? Does Trump really think that 10 years of hardship and insecurity and 10 years of rebuilding is a price US citizens are going to pay to make America great again? Seems to me that voters mostly believed that a little business-friendly remedial tinkering with the tax code, regulation, and labour laws, and sending all the foreigners home of course, would surely salve all ills almost instantly.

[Forty Two]

The plane does not make as much money to Boeing as regular planes as there are only two to be made. Sure, get some bids from Socialist Europe. President to fly Airbus? That would look good. Maybe you can order one from your pal Putin?

You can get cost reductions just by threatening to cancel the project. Politifact gave him a "half true" http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter ... ce-one-bo/ Because he's technically accurate, but leaves out explanatory details which Politifact felt was important.

The reality is, that he's not tweeting about the Air Force One deal because that particular contract, in and of itself, makes a huge difference. Over the period of time the approximately $4 billion is expected to be paid out, it's a tiny fraction of the overall budget. Rather, he is metaphorically banging pots and pans as he's walking into the room. He's saying, "wake up fucknuts! We're going to be looking at all this shit now! So, get busy cleaning shit up!" That's what he's doing and anyone who doesn't see that doesn't understand how asshole autocratic managers operate.

Did you ever work for a company and have a new manager come in and he's just a fucking tyrant - picking at seemingly small irrelevancies and enforcing seemingly arbitrary and minor rules (like dress codes, or keeping lids on coffee cups, or accuracy of sign-in sheets, or minor infractions of parking rules or "break room" etiquette)? These guys use a sledge hammer approach, especially at the outset -- it's kind of a wake up call to get everyone toeing the line, and paying attention. It gets a certain degree of results because people start "hopping to" and figuring out on their own how to make management happy.

[pErvinalia]

Just what a democracy needs, an asshole autocratic manager...

[Forty Two]

The US could not create the infrastructure or provide the people with the relevant skill sets to move the means of production from China to the US. One contractor alone, manufacturing the hardware for Apple, employs 150,000 people in China for the contracts. One of its factories has a workforce of 60,000. Where in the US would you locate it? 60,000 is more than Detroit employs in what is left of the local car industry.

It's not about moving factories from China to the US. It's about building business and industry here. We don't have to manufacture party hats and plastic whistles here in the US to have a strong manufacturing sector.

Who are America going to sell their manufactured goods to when the greater inherent productivity costs are going to be passed to the consumer - or do you think the government can subsidise the manufacturing sector while wages and resource costs level out in the rest of the world?

LOL - how quickly the leftists become economic conservatives. That's the exact argument conservatives make against "fair trade" leftist activists, who want higher tariffs and taxes.

If we expand into industries that are of the first world variety, then the US can compete just fine. And, we can also compete in the raw materials industries - power, lumber, mining and minerals -- we can also refine the shit out of petroleum (just need to let the oil companies build some new refineries) - that kind of stuff. And, we should be huge into aerospace, and space travel, and nuclear power plants and the like.

I can't see many Western leaders initiating, let alone successfully implementing, the kind of long-term economic plan you're suggesting at the moment. Shareholders want to see an increase in their dividend payments by the end of the financial year, and voters want to see an increase in their wages and/or prospects before the next campaign season starts. Did Trumpeteers really think they were voting for a 20-year+ restructuring of their economy? Does Trump really think that 10 years of hardship and insecurity and 10 years of rebuilding is a price US citizens are going to pay to make America great again? Seems to me that voters mostly believed that a little business-friendly remedial tinkering with the tax code, regulation, and labour laws, and sending all the foreigners home of course, would surely salve all ills almost instantly.

I don't care what Trumpeteers thought they were voting for. I've been consistent about what I thought we needed, and I've said it many times. The US is on the cusp of forever losing manufacturing and heavy industry, and that is a death knell for a first world power. We may have passed the tipping point already. It is dangerous for the US and the world to have our only major industries be oil, coal and the military, and the rest be service and food and paper-shuffling. That's actually a recipe for massive military conflicts around the world, as our main bargaining chip is "we will kill you if you don't give us what you want."

[Forty Two]

Just what a democracy needs, an asshole autocratic manager...

To some degree, yes - within limits of authority. A President is like a governor. He's "Chief Executive" -- meaning "top manager" of the government. He's supposed to get the machine to run right. To paraphrase Moe Green from the Godfather, sometimes you gotta kick some ass to make it run right. It won't run right if folks are banging cocktail waitresses two at a time.

[Brian Peacock]

Just what a democracy needs, an asshole autocratic manager...

I got a verbal warning for dirty shoes one day, after trudging to work in thawing sludge. Apparently I should have had the foresight to bring a spare pair with me because the company had high standards even for its non-public-facing workers - and temps like me. Actually, I think popping my soaking shoes on the radiator in an enclosed office with poor ventilation didn't go down well with the regular staff, but nobody in the room had the bottle to tell me they didn't like the smell of my feet. I also got a rollocking for 'creeping round the office' and for 'stomping about'. If they could've issued a warning for breathing wrong I'm sure I would have got one. I was only there for two weeks. Sometimes managers aren't working to a plan of 'shaking things up' and keeping everyone on their toes - they're just arseholes.

Employees can be arseholes too - including temps.

[Tero]

Boeing can just tell Trump go fuck yourself. You can fly the old plane and hand it to the next president. It can fly fine the 4 years Trump is running things. President Al Franken can sign the deal Jan 1 of 2021.