rats19 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2019 6:52 am
ukcanuck wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2019 12:54 am
This article reminds me of the expression pigeon shitting all over the board and claiming it won the game of chess.
None of those claims are substantiated, most are outright bullshit and all of it should be referred to as republican porn.
Sorry Rats I can’t buy in.
Fortunately you believing or not believing doesn’t matter one iota
It is a spin piece worthy of Goebbels's admiration...
It's not all lies; the economy has been doing fairly well under Trump.
Especially the first two years, when he could still ride on Obama's coat tails.
Now that his policies are starting to kick in, the economy is losing speed somewhat, but still not catastrophic.
And a lot of what it says is a mixture of stuff he is planning to do, but already claims as achievements, and terrible things he has done but
they claim are good.
A few things from that list:
President Trump is establishing a new trade relationship with the European Union (EU), working toward the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to transatlantic trade.
Uhm... He has basically started a trade war, raising random tariffs and threatening raising others. The EU has been pro lowering tariffs all along, but has countered every new tariff from Trump with a retalitory one, as they have no intention of just bending over and taking it. The two sides are still talking at least, but there is no actual deal in sight within the near future.
President Trump has established a Trade and Investment Working Group to lay the groundwork for post-Brexit trade with the United Kingdom (UK) and has notified Congress of his intent to negotiate a free trade agreement with the UK.
So, basically all talk and no action. Brexit has been postponed yet again, and there is no way of knowing if it will occur while Trump is still in the White House, or at all. Furthermore, those negotiations will be tough and probably stall for years. I'm pretty sure Trump will demand free access for US agricultural products, and there is no way the UK public will welcome hormone-laden beef or chlorinated chicken. Those practices are banned in the EU as well as in the UK, and accepting imported products violating domestic legislation will be a very hard sell at home for the UK negotiating team.
This year, President Trump filed a withdrawal notification with the Universal Postal Union, launching a one-year negotiation to secure fair international postal rates for American mailers.
So basically, what they are saying is, there is no guarantee Americans will be able to send or receive overseas mail as of next year....
The Administration authorized $12 billion to aid farmers affected by unfair retaliatory tariffs.
Unfair? The USA targetted Chinese products, so the Chinese stopped buying American soy beans and corn. I call it quid pro quo.
And is it really a good thing to add USD 12 billion to the budget deficit over something that was completely preventable?
One of the President’s first actions after taking office was withdrawing the United States from the terrible Trans-Pacific Partnership, which incentivized outsourcing.
I've addressed this before. The clear outspoken purpose of the TPP agreement was to strengthen US influence in Asia. Notice that it included the USA as well as every major player in Asia - except China! I predicted that pulling out of the TPP meant ceding Asia to China, and the recent signing of a revised free trade agreement between China and the ASEAN nations proves me right.
https://www.china-briefing.com/news/ase ... et-access/
President Trump announced U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, which would have harmed America’s economy and cost American workers millions of jobs.
The first part is true. The part in italics is bullshit. The truth is that those that refrain from moving towards green energy are being left behind and will have to spend fortunes to catch up in the future. Just like the US steel and aluminium production isn't competitive because they have not kept up with energy saving technology that has been implemented elsewhere.
(Not even getting into the environmental costs and possibly lives lost as a result of dragging your feet and not addressing climate change... - that's for another thread)
President Trump negotiated a new trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico to replace the disastrous and outdated North American Free Trade Agreement.
... which has yet not been adopted as the Democrats who control the House require stronger enforcement for labor and environmental standards, and changes in patent protections for drug companies before they will agree to let it go to a vote.
American steel and aluminum jobs are coming back following President Trump’s tariffs to protect domestic industries that are vital to national security.
...while American companies
using steel and/or aluminium in their products are losing money and market share as their products no longer can compete in the global market due to higher manufacturing costs as a direct result of President Trump's tariffs.
And seriously - importing steel and aluminium from
Canada is a threat to US national security?
American coal exports increased by more than 60 percent in 2017.
Dead cat bounce. Coal is no longer a marketable product, and as more and more countries shut down production, the few that still waste money investing in this doomed and health hazardous product see an increase in market share. Smart people have already left the industry. Of the 36,000 jobs that disappeared from the US coal industry under Obama, only some 2,000 have returned, and the industry is basically dependent on subsidies to survive. as it is now far cheaper to use gas or solar to produce electricity.
The President has ended the war on coal, cutting Obama-era regulations such as the “Stream Protection Rule” which was estimated to cost industries $81 million a year.
Trump signed a law removing an Obama-era rule
restricting coal mining companies from dumping waste into streams and waterways.
Seriously... does anyone with an IQ to shoe size ratio higher than 1 think this is
a good thing (TM)?????
But anyway, here is a more honest appraisal of his achievements, listing both achievements and shortcomings in a balanced manner:
https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/trump ... 19-update/
On the plus side:
The economy added 6 million jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level in nearly 50 years.
Median household income rose 2.3%.
Average weekly paychecks rose 2.8%.
The poverty rate and food stamp rolls declined.
Stock prices rose: The S&P 500 index was up 29.8%.
Single-family home prices rose nearly 23%, hitting a record level in June.
The number of murders dropped 6.9%.
On the minus side:
Economic growth fell far short of the annual 4% to 6% Trump promised. The most recent rate is 2.0%.
The federal debt went up more than $2.4 trillion.
The annual deficit hit nearly $1 trillion in fiscal year 2019 – the highest since 2012.
The trade deficit — which Trump promised to reduce — went up 30%.
The number of Americans lacking health insurance rose nearly 2 million.
The number of rapes went up 4.2%.
Illegal border crossings nearly doubled, as of the most recent 12 months on record.