President Donald J. Trump

[PB the Deplorable]

... Although he's obviously wealthy, if we'd had the chance to see his tax returns, I think we'd have found he's not nearly as rich as he claims.

I just hope he doesn't have any CMBS loans maturing soon -- who knows what ill-advised actions he'll take as president if it benefits him financially? Not that we would know about it, since he never showed his tax returns and now he doesn't have to.

Tax returns show current income, not wealth.

The reason we ask politicians to show us their tax returns is to see how much they've grifted while in office (or force them to hide it and not report it).  The Clinton's beat the system by opening a 'Presidential Library' while one of them was still in office, and a ''Charitable Foundation''.  The cash flushing through those two entities is filed on ''non-profit'' corporate tax returns, and doesn't flow through their personal tax returns at all.

Given that Trump hasn't been in office to profit from it, and that his rival for president found a way around the system and legally hid the money she was taking from corporations and foreigners, there was no reason for him to show his tax returns.  It's not a legal requirement, if the voters saw fit, they could have punished him in the voting booth.


As far as enriching himself while in office, that remains to be seen.  I see no reason to expect that, other than people now seem to believe all businesses are corrupt, while government is good.

[PB the Deplorable]

Possibly, although I think it would be extremely disruptive...

What are we going to do when the Fed can no longer hold interest rates to an artificial low, and the debt is rolled over at much higher interest rates as it becomes due?

The alternatives to simply reneging on the debt are:  an inability at some point to service the debt (see:  Greece, et al), an economically devastating tax increase, a steep devaluation in the dollar, a government that can no longer pay it's bills, or debilitating long-term ongoing inflation.  That's it - those are the choices.  At some point one or more of them will be forced on us.

The best solution is to trim down government spending to meet annual tax receipts (including current funding of expenses we're now deferring), and to just renege on the debt - all of it.  We really ought to decide how much of the debt each of the two parties are responsible for, and send each of them a bill, but they don't have enough to cover it.  No one does.

[PB the Deplorable]

Jon Stewart proposed that the most sensible way to distribute the TARP bailout money during the 2008 financial meltdown would be to give it people in debt firstrather than the financial institutions. That way, they could pay off their debt, which in turn would give the financial institutions their bail outs and everyone would win. It sounded like a simple, elegant solution, and it may have even worked. Who knows?

Of course, giving the money to the taxpayers would have been denounced by many as socialism, so it was probably best to just give it directly to the too big to fail banks so they could get on with the business of free market capitalism.

It would have been cheaper, and more beneficial - with the understanding it would be repaid when those homes were sold.  They should have never given a penny to foreign banks or any foreigners.

[Jackstar]

The alternatives to simply reneging on the debt are:

Someone will have to take a haircut, that's all. It isn't "the end of the ec0nomy!!!11!" if the creditors simply agree to write off the unpayable debt.

All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.

[Dr. MD MD]

The Dems are saying to Trump that it's time to get serious. No more Tweeting! Translation: You've already beaten us so badly and this Tweeting thing really seems to be working for you. Please stop. 

[Happier Times are Coming]

Well, technically the biggest "screw you" if the US defaulted would be to domestic investors, banks, institutions, etc since only maybe somewhere in 30's percentage of the US is owned by foreign entities. As I say, I'm not advocating it but in a situation where you own money to, essentially, yourself maybe wiping the slate clean (at least on some debt) and starting over is an option?

what country ?
what bank ?
what person ?
EXACTLY DOES THE USA "OWE" MONEY ?
explain IF you can

[Happier Times are Coming]

is everyone ready to dispense with all the political professionals and their endless stream of bullshit with nobody else deemed worthy to ask any questions (or call them out)
Hildabeast and the "video" that caused our embassy to be attacked ? example

[Jackstar]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/816452807024840704


Okay, so this happened. And this happened. Definitely happened. Or did it?

I suppose everything I read here on the Internet in Cascadia could be a cunning propaganda stunt--but honestly, the "everything-is-a-computer-simulation-on-a-lizard-desktop" meme, while compelling, is not one that I care to investigate.

It's simply not my area. Meanwhile, over here: "running gun battle" is a phrase that doesn't get enough play in the media, nor is "hapless agent shot in arm." Let's bring those back.

[Kidnostad3]

The Dems are saying to Trump that it's time to get serious. No more Tweeting! Translation: You've already beaten us so badly and this Tweeting thing really seems to be working for you. Please stop. 

A quick terse response gets in the Dem's way because it effectively counters their bullshit in near real time.  What they deem to be disruptive and counter productve tweets impede their ability to carry out their announced agenda of being disruptive and counterproductive. 

[Kidnostad3]

A quick terse response gets in the Dem's way because it effectively counters their bullshit in near real time.  What they deem to be disruptive and counter productve tweets impede their ability to carry out their announced agenda of being disruptive and counterproductive.  Cosmic irony?

[Yorkshire pud]

The Dems are saying to Trump that it's time to get serious. No more Tweeting! Translation: You've already beaten us so badly and this Tweeting thing really seems to be working for you. Please stop. 

Translation: It makes the novelty of using twatter more a compulsion, and therefore, you're not just trying to get down with the kids; but really are immature, and making the USA look like they voted for an adolescent boy.

[SredniVashtar]

Translation: It makes the novelty of using twatter more a compulsion, and therefore, you're not just trying to get down with the kids; but really are immature, and making the USA look like they voted for an adolescent boy.

I came rather late to Twitter but I find it quite useful when it comes to checking news feed and such, and posting random bullshit. The only difference is I'm not leader of the free world (yet) and don't have the ability to light off a few nukes while squeezing one out in the White House shitter. I wonder how long we'll have to wait before reports start to surface about early-onset dementia, because this compulsive Tweet addiction he has isn't consistent with being a fully-functional adult.

[Yorkshire pud]

I came rather late to Twitter but I find it quite useful when it comes to checking news feed and such, and posting random bullshit. The only difference is I'm not leader of the free world (yet)

Yeah, well we're working on that. My people are in talks with your people.

and don't have the ability to light off a few nukes while squeezing one out in the White House shitter. I wonder how long we'll have to wait before reports start to surface about early-onset dementia, because this compulsive Tweet addiction he has isn't consistent with being a fully-functional adult.

What can possibly go wrong?

[SredniVashtar]

Yeah, well we're working on that. My people are in talks with your people.

Since America is now officially in decline, perhaps we can do it the way they handled ancient Rome when the wheels starting falling off and have two separate Americas, you have one and I'll do the other. You can have Martinez as your personal fiefdom, I'll handle the rest.

[Yorkshire pud]

These are very high stakes, and he insists on raising them.  If he is proven wrong, can he extract himself with a complete reversal like he did with Obama's birth certificate?

The birth certificate thing is small change to him having to face the directors and deputy directors of the various agencies. To put intelligence in quotes is mocking them. He may find he isn't the hardest kid on the block afterall, and will sob like a little girl when they give him grown ups news instead of the statistics of a beauty queen he wants to grab the pussy of.

[Yorkshire pud]

Since America is now officially in decline, perhaps we can do it the way they handled ancient Rome when the wheels starting falling off and have two separate Americas, you have one and I'll do the other. You can have Martinez as your personal fiefdom, I'll handle the rest.

If I have Martinez, it won't end well for someone.

[Dr. MD MD]

Get it out of your systems, kids. Let the healing begin! 

[K_Dubb]

The birth certificate thng is small change to him having to face the directors and deputy directors of the various agencies. To put intelligence in quotes is mocking them. He may find he isn't the hardest kid on the block afterall, and will sob like a little girl when they give him grown ups news instead of the statistics of a beauty queen he wants to grab the pussy of.

What about this:  he's making sure everybody knows he's skeptical, making sure everybody knows when the meeting with intelligence is, building tension towards a denouement like a tv script.  If he's force to acknowledge the intelligence, he can just shrug and say "ok guys, I didn't know" -- there really is no downside to doing it this way.  Infinitely more palatable than the usual gradual, grudging position creep with a hungry press looking on.

[Yorkshire pud]

Back in 2010, with the Wikileaks, Chelsea Manning thing; the Republicans wanted the arrest and imprisonment of Assange. (Presumably in the USA). Now that Donny is effectively favouring what Assange says over the intelligence services (because Assange is saying what Trump wants to hear), does ths cause potential conflict with the Republicans who still want Assange arrested, convicted and imprisoned?

[Yorkshire pud]

What about this:  he's making sure everybody knows he's skeptical, making sure everybody knows when the meeting with intelligence is, building tension towards a denouement like a tv script.  If he's force to acknowledge the intelligence, he can just shrug and say "ok guys, I didn't know" -- there really is no downside to doing it this way.  Infinitely more palatable than the usual gradual, grudging position creep with a hungry press looking on.

Which would be fine if his 'scepticism' was voiced behind closed doors with those who are giving the information. That he twatters every fleeting thought he comes across, and ridiculing the very people who he'll be going to later, demonstrates his immaturity. He can't use the excuse he didn't know, when he's already mocked the CIA several times in public.

[K_Dubb]

Which would be fine if his 'scepticism' was voiced behind closed doors with those who are giving the information. That he twatters every fleeting thought he comes across, and ridiculing the very people who he'll be going to later, demonstrates his immaturity. He can't use the excuse he didn't know, when he's already mocked the CIA several times in public.

Well his problem is that he already has a very public position that (we assume) contravenes provable facts.  If he has to shift, better to make a big show, and force the other guy show his hand, than the usual political instinct, which is to stop talking about it and hope it goes away -- which it won't.

I hate to say it, but he's acting like a CEO who can afford to abuse his underlings as he is the sole source of largesse, not a politician whose success depends on getting along with the most people.  I don't think the president should live in fear of entrenched interests in his own bureaucracy.  It's vulgar but damn if it isn't entertaining.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

What about this:  he's making sure everybody knows he's skeptical, making sure everybody knows when the meeting with intelligence is, building tension towards a denouement like a tv script.  If he's force to acknowledge the intelligence, he can just shrug and say "ok guys, I didn't know" -- there really is no downside to doing it this way.  Infinitely more palatable than the usual gradual, grudging position creep with a hungry press looking on.
He's a petulant, vindictive, narcissistic, arrested adolescent with the attention span of a drunk hamster with ADD, who hides his ignorance of the Constitution and the world behind bluster and swagger. What you see is what he is, and that's a dog who finally caught a car and has no idea what to do with it. If anyone ever wondered what an Eric Cartman presidency would look like, we're going to find out in a couple of weeks.

Sorry, K! Nothing personal. I wasn't fixing your post so much as using it as a handy template. 

[SredniVashtar]

Sorry, K! Nothing personal. I wasn't fixing your post so much as using it as a handy template. 

He's making Merriker great again, you Commie swine! STFU!!

[Jackstar]

A pair of hapless agents.

[K_Dubb]

Sorry, K! Nothing personal. I wasn't fixing your post so much as using it as a handy template. 

Hahaha I don't disagree, but suspend my own judgment until a few biographies come out in twenty or thirty years.  Present-day is just a show I'm enjoying immensely.

[Yorkshire pud]

Sorry, K! Nothing personal. I wasn't fixing your post so much as using it as a handy template. 

And still you ask why should anyone adore you. Be bold like this more often, and SV and I will introduce you to the 'Dunking Hobnob' club.

[Yorkshire pud]

A pair of hapless agents.

Okay, (sigh), left to right on the diagram again...

Fan blades, compressor blades (14 sets), diffuser, cumbustion chamber, low pressure and high pressure turbine blades, exhaust. Its a smple thing really. Squeeze, push, bang/burn, blow.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

He's making Merriker great again, you Commie swine! STFU!!

If nothing else, he can't build that wall across the Atlantic soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

[Yorkshire pud]

If nothing else, he can't build that wall across the Atlantic soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

Employ all those lazy deadbeat muricans and cut yourself off from intelligent life at the same time! What is there to lose?

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Be bold like this more often, and SV and I will introduce you to the 'Dunking Hobnob' club.

Trust me, K. That's one invitation you definitely should politely, but firmly decline. The Hellfire Club at its most depraved was more wholesome than a toddler's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese by comparison.