I think Trump is probably a huckster, and his so-called good accomplishentys, like the economy, is done by SMOKE-N-MIRRORS.
"We’re Measuring the Economy All Wrong"
The official statistics say that the financial crisis is behind us. It's not.
By David Leonhardt 14 Sep 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/14/opinion/columnists/great-recession-economy-gdp.html
"As a technical matter, the current batch of official numbers are perfectly accurate. They also describe some real and important aspects of the American economy. The trouble is that a handful of statistics dominate the public conversation about the economy despite the fact that they provide a misleading portrait of people’s lives. Even worse, the statistics have become more misleading over time."
"Stocks are way up. For most households, net worth is not."
" . . . wealthy households own the bulk of stocks. Most Americans are much more dependent on their houses. That’s why the net worth of the median household is still about 20 percent lower than it was in early 2007."
"The unemployment rate has also become less meaningful than it once was. In recent decades, the number of idle working-age adults has surged. They are not working, not looking for work, not going to school and not taking care of children. Many of them would like to work, but they can’t find a decent-paying job and have given up looking. They are not counted in the official unemployment rate."
"G.D.P. is way up. For most adults, income is not."
"The notion that our most prominent economic indicators are problematic has been around for a long time. Kuznets himself, the economist who invented G.D.P. as we know it, cautioned people not to confuse it with “economic welfare.” Most famously, Robert F. Kennedy liked to say during his 1968 presidential campaign that G.D.P. measured everything “except that which makes life worthwhile.”"
Another opinion? Here ya go. In studying economic growth, it is not GDP, but rather "wellbeing" that should be measured.
"It's time to give up our blind faith in economic growth"
The harsh realities of global warming and financial meltdown have given us an ideal opportunity to look beyond GDP when it comes to assessing how well we're doing
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/mar/22/gdp-economic-growth-happiness-wellbeing
"For all its prominence, GDP is only one yardstick of economic performance and it is no guide to social progress. It simply indicates the market value of all goods and services produced in an economy. It takes no account of how income is shared out, or of how it is generated. Few would celebrate a boom in costly divorce cases – but it would be great for GDP."
"Why GDP fails as a measure of well-being"
By Mark Thoma MoneyWatch January 27, 2016, 5:30 AM
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-gdp-fails-as-a-measure-of-well-being/
"The textbooks generally point out five problems with using GDP as a measure of well-being:
- GDP counts "bads" as well as "goods." When an earthquake hits and requires rebuilding, GDP increases. When someone gets sick and money is spent on their care, it's counted as part of GDP. But nobody would argue that we're better off because of a destructive earthquake or people getting sick.
[Here is an EXAMPLE of "bad" and "good" at work on statistics:
"Unemployment rate falls to 3.7 percent, lowest since 1969
Hiring was weak in September, likely due to Hurricane Florence, but economists think the job market remains strong.
By Heather Long October 5 at 10:39 AM
"Economists continue to be surprised that wages are not growing faster now that competition for workers is so fierce. Annual pay for the average worker increased only 2.8 percent in the past year."
So not everyone benefits from better unemployment rates.]
- GDP makes no adjustment for leisure time. Imagine two economies with identical standards of living, but in one economy the workday averages 12 hours, while in the other it's only eight. Which country would you rather live in?
- GDP only counts goods that pass through official, organized markets, so it misses home production and black market activity. This is a big omission, particularly in developing countries where much of what's consumed is produced at home (or obtained through barter). This also means if people begin hiring others to clean their homes instead of doing it themselves, or if they go out to dinner instead of cooking at home, GDP will appear to grow even though the total amount produced hasn't changed.
- GDP doesn't adjust for the distribution of goods. Again, imagine two economies, but this time one has a ruler who gets 90 percent of what's produced, and everyone else subsists -- barely -- on what's left over. In the second, the distribution is considerably more equitable. In both cases, GDP per capita will be the same, but it's clear which economy I'd rather live in.
- GDP isn't adjusted for pollution costs. If two economies have the same GDP per capita, but one has polluted air and water while the other doesn't, well-being will be different but GDP per capita won't capture it."
I emphasize inequality of income and the pollution cost points because I see these two a #1 and #2 to stop saying all is well in America if our GDP is going up.
We are a country of blind people following Trump. He has helped the economy by deregulating, cutting taxes, and opening up many markets as he closes other to USA businesses.
Much of what Tweety does is NOT GOOD!
Tweety blasted international cooperation at the UN saying our sovereignty will not be impinges, but that is for his Base, ignoring we are a LESS secure nation if we do not work with other countries to fight terrorism, climate "disruption}" [cute new word to replace "change"], and the flow of refugees [refugees are not the same as illegal immigrants - take note!], and trade!
Rich Americans, especially the top 1% are getting more money in their bank accounts because of Trump, many Americans are getting more money in their bank accounts, Trump and the Trump family are benefitting from Trump's work in the White House.
HOWEVER, the American middle class, and most Trump supporters, are acting like frogs waiting for the benefits to come that Tweety promises, and soon the boiling water will "inform" these sad Trump supporters that they are boiling to death.
Most Trump supporters are not benefitting from Tweety's "accomplishments," and they will "inherit the wind" of Trump's bad deeds.
"The Ongoing, Avoidable Horror of the Trump Administration’s Texas Tent Camp for Migrant Kids
By Eric Lach October 2nd, 1:40 PM
"President Trump put a halt to family separations in June, in response to the enormous public outcry and the humanitarian disaster that the policy produced. Yet, while public attention moved on, the number of kids in government custody has only gone up. "
"Trump’s Mocking of Christine Blasey Ford and the Dark Laughter of His Audience"
By Eric Lach 2 Oct 2018
"During the 2016 campaign, Trump famously said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and his supporters would stick with him. What would he have had to say on Tuesday to make them hold back their laughter? The press has mostly fallen out of the campaign habit of enumerating Trump’s ugliest outbursts: his attack on the Khan family, or Judge Gonzalo Curiel, or Megyn Kelly. The people standing behind the President at the rally on Tuesday—smiling, clapping, elbowing one another in the ribs—surely remembered those moments, and had their chance to react to this moment. They chose to laugh. "
Ignore the Trump Administration crimes against humanity, it's about illegal immigrants, and those kids deserve to be held hostage. They are future gang members, all bad, anyway!
"Brett Kavanaugh Is Lying. So Are You."
Whether it's 2018 or 1998, in American politics, truth is inseparable from politics.
By JOHN F. HARRIS October 02, 2018
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/02/brett-kavanaugh-lying-politics-220812
One side says the other side is deceitful! Tribal, culture war, divided nation!
"Kavanaugh’s defenders answer with an incredulous question of their own: Can his Democratic pursuers really think it is OK to take the fragmentary and disjointed memories of adolescents and young adults from 36 years ago to destroy the reputation of an accomplished public servant now in middle age?
The mutual incomprehension shines a light on what has been one of the recurring themes of American politics for journalists of my generation: the human capacity to tolerate and even embrace small lies if they are in service of someone’s larger truth.
If you insist this phenomenon does not apply to you, the chances are you are lying—at least to yourself."
We accept lies on every side, and it hurts all of us.
"The question of truth and lies in politics is further clouded by the reality that public debate, in my experience, often touches only glancingly at the kind of things people really think and argue in private."
While there are two sides to the Kavenaugh and Ford story today, the need for a thorough investigation to find our best truth should be clear to both sides as we approach putting a Supreme Court Justice on the bench for the rest of his life.
"Surely there are some people who are immune to the phenomenon—people whose notions of truth and virtue are so fixed that they hew to these values even when they lead to a destination they don’t prefer. But not too many, in my experience."
I feel I am a person who is NOT fixed on any particular conclusion despite facts and truth. If Kavenaugh is the BEST candidate for the Supreme Court, put him on the bench.
"Several friends and colleagues have a hunch about what happened in 1982, and a fantasy about what they wish he would say now: “We drank a lot—way too much—in those days. I am not a sexual predator and I have no memory of an incident like Christine Blasey Ford describes. But the evidence suggests I was involved in some type of reckless behavior that caused her deep pain. If so, I am sorry and ask for forgiveness.”
Some might have found that credible. But, after a generation of remorseless Washington scandals—from Clinton’s to President Donald Trump’s—it’s not obvious this approach would have been shrewd from the narrow perspective of maximizing Kavanaugh’s chances of victory."
I would have accepted the I was a kid who got drunk answer. I would have accepted Kavenaugh if he had not acted like an entitled elitist bully in his response to Ford.
Today, the FBI is "investigating" some of the background they overlooked in Kavenaugh's past. Why the FBI missed Kavenaugh's teenage debauchery seems shady or negligent to me.
