Friday, February 10, 2017

Credit where credit is due




In the three weeks since President Donald (Donnie John) Trump was inaugurated it seems his administration has been plagued with the "Ready, Fire, Aim" syndrome.  His Executive Orders have almost become comical in how half-baked they come out.  Not surprisingly, all Democrats, many Independents, and even a growing number of Republicans are shaking in their boots, wondering what's going to hit the fan next.  


The good news in all this is that Saturday Night Live has no shortage of material to run with.  There's no such thing as "bad" publicity, right?  Right?

But to be fair, I can think of one thing that Prez Donnie John has done that he should be commended for.  On a regular basis (so far) he has held meetings with business leaders as diverse as Intel, Ford, GM, and all the airlines, small business groups, labor groups, and even special interest groups, supposedly to find out what's on their minds and what he can do to get them to ramp up hiring.  

Some of it has been for show no doubt, as when the CEO of Intel announced that they were spending $7Billion on a new facility in Arizona that will all total add 10,000 new jobs.  Donnie John of course took credit, even though it later turned out that Intel had been planning this for several years.  Still, momentum being what it is, expect others to jump on the bandwagon, too. From his perspective it might be an "ugly win", but it's still a win.  Kudos.


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Yesterday all the stock markets shot through the roof on the news from the Oval Office that we could expect a major announcement in a couple of weeks on tax reform.  "It's tremendous, just incredible.  You'll love it!  Really, you will."

This could be trickier to get through than you might think.  A big tax cut sounds great, until you realize that it will swell the Federal deficit even more, something the hard-core GOP deficit hawks are going to balk at.  The sales pitch will be that the deficit will be offset by more tax revenue due to increased business activity / lower unemployment.  

The Democrats will throw right back Kansas Governor Sam Brownback's failed attempt to do this very thing, leaving his state with a terrible budget mess.   

What do I think?  I think it will be interesting.  *wink*

S


9 comments:

  1. Even more interesting was a recent late-night call Trump made to one of his military advisors (?) asking which was better for a strong economy, a strong dollar or a weak one. This master of business doesn't know, and that's scary since he's determined to tinker with everything.

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    1. Why would he ask his MILITARY advisor about an economic matter? And the answer depend on whether one is an importer or exporter. By all accounts the US dollar is too high, while the Chinese yuan is too low.

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  2. The man(?) has no clue.

    Remember his jab at SNL, saying it was a dying show? Their ratings are higher than they've been in 20 years!

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    1. The man....you talkin' 'bout Trump or Rasputin...er...Bannon?

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  3. A major announcement on taxes? I'm still waiting for him to release his.

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  4. Of course any tax cut will benefit Wall Street far more than Main Street.

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  5. Is that the tax reform that will save the billionaires hundreds of thousands of dollars and cost the low-earning single parent families several hundred dollars per year?

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  6. Increasing hiring is a good idea. I wish our PM would think about stuff like that instead of trying to instal herself as Dictator for Life. (Even so, I would not exchange her for DT, though not by much of a big margin)

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