COLLECTIVE MADNESS
“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
Some good Constitutional lessons by Levin.
ReplyDeleteYou can't indict a sitting President,he's too busy.
You can impeach a President, and that is the only political solution.
.......................................
I see the lava is beginning to flow over in Doug Land.
Wrong island though.
What our country really has to fear is a natural electromagnetic pulse, a solar event
One happened last century.
We desperately Desperately DESPERATELY need a crash program to harden our electrical grid.
We gotta wait until EVERYTHING is run and steered on the ether:
DeleteCars, boats, planes, medicine, agriculture, power, lives, etc.
THAT will be time for a natural electromagnetic pulse.
...then we just pick up the pieces and start over.
Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus, said the federal judge in the Paul Manafort case has validated his arguments against special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Trump’s campaign.
ReplyDeleteU.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III pressed Justice Department lawyers on Friday to explain how they did not exceed the scope of Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and debated whether their ultimate goal was to get Manafort to turn on Trump.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud ... You really care about getting information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment,” Ellis told the Justice Department lawyers during Manafort’s court appearance in Virginia.
Sometimes prosecutors stretch the law to charge “low hanging fruit” with a technical crime to get them to flip on a bigger target, Dershowitz told “Fox & Friends” on Saturday.
“I’ve been saying it over and over again. People have been calling me a liar, a conspiracy theorist, you name it. Finally, we get a judge who absolutely validates this and blows the whistle on the special counsel,” Dershowitz said.
Dershowitz regularly appears on Fox News to argue against Mueller bringing a possible obstruction of justice charge against Trump.
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DeleteValidated his arguments?
IMO, he supported Dershowitz' arguments but at this point he hasn't validated them. At this point, he hasn't ruled that the indictment of Manafort is illegitimate. At this point, he has merely offered an opinion, a political one and a personal one.
He has asked to see an un-redacted copy of the full mandate given to Mueller to judge if Mueller exceeded that mandate in going after Manafort. Once he views the full mandate, he will judge whether Mueller exceeded the mandate. Or not. If he judges Mueller's actions are within the mandate, he may offer up the opinion that the mandate itself is too broad but he will be on far less legal grounds then.
Currently, all we have is a single judge venting. We will have to wait for the denouement.
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Why All the Secrecy?
DeleteBy ANDREW C. MCCARTHY
It has become ludicrous. The question of whether a prosecutor should be permitted to interview a president hinges on whether the president is a suspect. There is no public evidence that President Trump is. This raises the patent objection that he should not be asked to be interviewed under those circumstances. What we hear in response is, “How do you know he’s not a suspect?” But the reason we don’t know — other than the lack of evidence after two years — is that Mueller won’t deign to tell us, and Rosenstein won’t deign to comply, publicly, with regulations that required him to outline the basis for a criminal investigation.
The president should direct Rosenstein to outline, publicly and in detail, the good-faith basis for a criminal investigation arising out of Russia’s interference in the election — if there is one.
That is not acceptable. In every other independent-prosecutor investigation in modern history — Watergate, Iran-Contra, Whitewater/Lewinsky — the president and the public have known exactly what was alleged. The prosecutor was able to investigate with all the secrecy the law allows, but under circumstances in which we all understood what was being investigated and why the president was suspected of wrongdoing.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/mueller-probe-basis-for-criminal-investigation-should-be-revealed/
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DeleteIt's simple Andy, if you're right, all Trump has to do is refuse to testify and we'll see where it goes from there. Easy peasy, no?
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ReplyDeleteCould Trump Actually be Right on Trade?
Analysis by Susan Housman, economist at the Upjohn Institute, and her team seems to validate part of Trump's argument that the manufacturing industry is in worse shape than the statistics suggest.
The epic mistake about manufacturing that has cost Americans millions of jobs
The article is quite long but it suggests that questionable statistical assumptions about a relatively small sector of the broader manufacturing sector has skewed the data and hid the fact that the manufacturing sector is in much worse shape than has been reported.
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ReplyDeleteExcellent article. The Chinese are never going to change willingly. They so outsmarted the dopes that ruled us and will never willingly give up that advantage. We need to have free trade with countries that practice fair trade. I would recommend a five star rating system on foreign content for products:
★ ★★★★ - Products from domestic companies that are made in US or foreign countries that are rated as fair traders, Canada, Australia, France, most EU countries - components of products would need to be 85% origin of free trading countries: 0% tariff
★ ★★★ 75% origin 5% tariff
★ ★★ 50% origin 10% tariff
★ ★ 25% origin 15% tariff
★ under 25% origin 25% tariff
I would also incentivize the distribution and retail trade network by eliminating sales tax on all four star and above products.
Man mauled to death by bear while taking selfie with it
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2018/05/04/man-mauled-to-death-by-bear-while-taking-selfie/
Teen killed seconds after taking off seatbelt to take a selfie
https://nypost.com/2018/05/04/teen-killed-seconds-after-taking-off-seatbelt-to-take-a-selfie/
It's time to put Mueller out of business. All he is doing is wasting everyone's time.
ReplyDeleteFold it up, and go home.
He and his 10 or 12 democratic party goons haven't come up with anything meaningful.
At this part it qualifies as an 'absurdity' - far past time for the whole gang to get out of Dodge.
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DeleteIf they have nothing, what are you worried about?
Heck, Scott Pruitt's security cost, hotel bills, and transportation and per diems cost more than the entire investigation.
As for the argument that it is taking up too much of the president's time, if he either skipped a round of golf or skipped one of his morning tweet fests he would have plenty of time to sit down with Mueller.
:o)
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Maybe justice could be served on Obama, Hillary, and Company.
Delete...apparently equal justice for all means nothing to you, Mueller, "Justice" FBI, and etc.
260 unmaskings, no big thing.
...for a police state.
Mueller and Quirk observing innocents dying in prison: :o)
Delete.
DeleteEvidently, you missed my post to you from the other day, Douglissa, and we can't have that...
QuirkFri May 04, 04:36:00 PM EDT
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Tells the truth about Quirk's Hero Herr Mueller.
I know I risk charges of redundancy by saying this, Douglissa, but you are truly an idiot.
You and your bros are a bunch of nut jobs who went off the deep end long, long ago. You and Bozo spent a couple hours and 3 feet of comments putting this same shit up the other night. All bullshit of course, but at least it did keep you occupied for a couple hours and off the streets where you could wander into traffic.
I often put up comments here and get responses like this from you 'Link Please'. I give you a link and you slink away only to surface later asking for the same thing on another comment.
Here's what we'll do. The next time you say 'Link Please', I'll respond with 'Link Please'. How many times do I have to ask you dolts to back up your bullshit with evidence only to have you ignore the request and continue with your idiocy?
Quirk loves Clinton.
Link please. I don't recall ever saying anything positive about Clinton. If I ever did it would have had to have been of the nature of 'for a fat lady she doesn't sweat much'. On important stuff, as far as I can remember, I have been against her policies across the board. If I'm wrong on this, please correct me (link please).
The other day you asked if it doesn't bother me that she hasn't been charged with a crime and Trump is being subjected to a witch hunt or something to that effect. No, you dumb shit it doesn't bother me. She wasn't charged with a crime? Neither has Trump been. Trump is under investigation? So is Hillary. So is the FBI. So are key people in the FBI. What the hell don't you get about that? You get upset because I choose to wait for the results instead of spending all day here speculating and whining and making up fake news.
Am I concerned about Hillary? Not much. I criticized her when she had the power to affect things that affected me. Now she doesn't. Now, she is simply an old lady, an ex-pol with no power and no influence mocked even by the party she once led. If she eventually gets prosecuted for crimes or if she doesn't, it won't affect me. If she's convicted of any crimes she should suffer the consequences; however, I will get no catharsis from it. We are a country of laws and the guilty should be punished, but I stopped taking joy in people going to jail a long time ago.
For the same reason, I don't want Trump prosecuted or even impeached. I just look forward to the day he is not the president and his policies no longer effect me.
You guys use Hillary as a straw man anyway, the fact that she wasn't prosecuted as an excuse for why Trump shouldn't be. You and the rest of the Trumpkins are his enablers and I find it distasteful.
{...}
Delete{...}
Mueller's Quirk's hero.
Link please. I have never praised Mueller personally. What I have said is that he seems to be running an efficient and effective investigation and that I can wait until its complete before judging the results. You disagree but you offer up no evidence to contradict what I've said. Oh, you offer up meaningless dumb ass opinions, suppositions, assumptions but zero evidence, zero congressional actions, zero court rulings to prove them.
Again, link please. Give me something that shows anything Mueller has done has been illegal or that it doesn't fall within the broad mandate he has been given. And no, the insane judgements of Sean Hannity or Ms. Pirro don't qualify.
Quirk loves Comey.
Link please. As far as I can recall, I have never said anything positive about Comey. In fact, when I did comment on him most of the time it has been in negative terms. Now, I have corrected your bumbling buddy at times when he put up misleading data, for instance, when he commented about polls that stated Comey was not popular or especially trusted but failed to point out the same polls indicated that on the same subjects Comey was still doing much better than Trump. You may count that as supporting Comey. I don't. It's just one more attempt to keep the fake news you guys spread in check.
The Mueller investigation is corrupted because of the people he hired.
Link Please. Show me one piece of evidence that shows someone on Mueller's team actually 'did something' associated with their job that was illegitimate.
Quirk loves Rosenstein
Link Please. I've had little to say about Rosenstein. Let the chips fall where they may but spare me your usual bullshit and whining.
Storm Troopers, Nazis, oh my
I would cite the Godwin Rule but that really would be redundant. I would only remind what the rule says...
"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1";[2]
more important is the corollary to the Godwin Rule often called the Godwin Law...
There is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that, when a Hitler comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever made the comparison loses whatever debate is in progress.[7]
Certainly, applicable here.
=====================================
You are a whiny little shit, Doug. I don't care when you and your buddy put up all your speculating and assuming and opinions. However, a little evidence would be nice. Maybe an actual legal opinion, from a judge not from some hack ex-lawyer or prosecutor who has now turned to reality tv star or 'writer'. Maybe an indictment for all of these charges you cite. Perhaps a referral from congress or maybe an impeachment of some of these villains you are talking about. But do you throw us a bone? Of course not. You've got nothing, zip, nada so like a five year old you stamp your little foot and pull more fake news out of your ass.
Cute, Douglissa, real cute.
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DeleteBy the way, that last line involves something called sarcasm. You'll learn more about it when you grow up.
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Taxing Remittances Can Build the Wall
ReplyDeleteDaniel John Sobieski
President Trump has floated the idea of a tax on remittances as a way of getting Mexico and others to pay for the wall. More
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/05/tax_remittances_can_build_the_wall.htm
John Kerry ‘colluding’ with Iranians to foil Trump on Iran deal - 5/5/18
Remember the Logan Act? More
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/05/john_kerry_colluding_with_iranians_to_foil_trump_on_iran_deal.htm
Kerry's a Democrat, moron!
Delete:o)
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DeleteWhy not, a number of other third world countries do it.
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"You guys use Hillary as a straw man anyway, the fact that she wasn't prosecuted as an excuse for why Trump shouldn't be. You and the rest of the Trumpkins are his enablers and I find it distasteful"
ReplyDelete===
In YOUR mind.
What I'm concerned about is the manifest corruption in these institutions demonstrated by the burying of multiple serious crimes of Obama/Clinton et-al by these "law" men.
...as they ruin the lives of innocents in their pursuit of Trump.
There's also the chilling effect on freedom of expression in politics.
Delete.
DeleteLink please.
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Former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo talked to FOX News' Sean Hannity about the death threats his family has received and how legal fees have impacted his life -- he had to sell his house -- since he was pulled into the Mueller probe and various Congressional investigations. Caputo said the Mueller team aren't investigating, they are asking questions they already know the answer to. He said they are trying to intimidate you and "put you in a situation where you make a mistake."
Delete"I walked right into that same situation Wednesday with the Mueller team. I was in there three hours, which was I think kind of remarkably short considering how long people have been in there. But they aren't nice. They're in their directed. And they didn't ask me one question that they didn't already know the answer to," Caputo said about his experience.
Hannity:
"Look at the revelation we had Catherine Herridge tonight and the unredacted portion of the House Intel report where literally nobody thought Michael Flynn was lying, nobody, including Comey, who lied about it."
===
Mr. Caputo is feeling better now thanks to Go Fund Me/Legal Defense Fund
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/05/05/caputo_mueller_team_can_go_to_hell_im_proof_positive_people_are_sick_of_this.html
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAACAO_enUS720US720&ei=8Z3uWvuqFo6UjwPTu49A&q=Michael+Caputo&oq=Michael+Caputo&gs_l=psy-ab.12..35i39k1j0i67k1j0i20i264k1j0l7.25791.31105.0.34355.4.4.0.0.0.0.214.786.0j3j1.4.0....0...1c.1j2.64.psy-ab..0.4.783...0i22i30k1j0i7i30k1j0i8i7i30k1.0.xbsToPB4gsk
ANOTHER JUDGE REJECTS MUELLER MOVE>>>>DEUSGE
ReplyDeletegood
McGain on his death bed, rejects Sarah Palin, Wished he'e never picker her.
ReplyDeleteWhen she was the only one that gave that campaign any energy or life.....
Can't say I'm glad he is going, but glad I don't have to listen to him any longer.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
DeleteWorst death bed words ever spoken.
Without Sarah his campaign would have be an empty airless balloon.
DeleteMcCain lived his life as a graceless asshole. I don't expect a deathbed conversion, Hw will be missed like a rash.
DeleteRED WAVE COMING To The Senate-
ReplyDeleteMay 5, 2018
And now for our latest 'blue wave report'>/B>
By Silvio Canto, Jr.
Between a new unemployment rate (3.9%, the lowest since December 2000) and the latest Stormy Daniels payment story, we get two interesting stories:
1. President Trump's approval is 51%. To be honest, I don't jump up and down over polls. However, it's clear that the polls are trending Trump's way. How long will that trend continue? I can't answer that, but they are trending his way right now.
2. There is good news from the U.S. Senate front, according to Morning Consult via Ben Shapiro:
According to new Morning Consult polls, the Democrats are in serious trouble in Senate races across the country.
Republicans have serious leads in West Virginia, where incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin trails by 14 points; North Dakota, where incumbent Democrat Heidi Heitkamp trails by 8; Indiana, where incumbent Democrat Joe Donnelly trails by 5; Missouri, where incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill trails by 5; Montana, where incumbent Democrat Jon Tester trails by 5; Florida, where incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson is locked in a near-deadlock with Rick Scott; and Pennsylvania and Ohio, where incumbent Democrats Bill Casey and Sherrod Brown are leading by less than two points each, plus Virginia, where Tim Kaine leads by just 3 on the generic ballot. In the best-case scenario for Republicans, then, they could win up to nine additional Senate seats.
Again, I am not going to tell to go out and schedule an Election Night GOP Victory Party, unless you live in Texas, where I am confident that Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz will be re-elected.
Beyond polls and numbers, it's clear that there is a disconnect between media and the larger circle that lives between the coasts. In other words, some in the media are determined to get Trump, but most of us are prepared to give the GOP a larger majority in the U.S. Senate.
PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/05/and_now_for_our_latest_blue_wave_report.html#ixzz5EhIK3TFB
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMay 5, 2018
DeleteBy Silvio Canto, Jr.
Between a new unemployment rate (3.9%, the lowest since December 2000) and the latest Stormy Daniels payment story, we get two interesting stories:
1. President Trump's approval is 51%. To be honest, I don't jump up and down over polls. However, it's clear that the polls are trending Trump's way. How long will that trend continue? I can't answer that, but they are trending his way right now.
2. There is good news from the U.S. Senate front, according to Morning Consult via Ben Shapiro:
According to new Morning Consult polls, the Democrats are in serious trouble in Senate races across the country.
Republicans have serious leads in West Virginia, where incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin trails by 14 points; North Dakota, where incumbent Democrat Heidi Heitkamp trails by 8; Indiana, where incumbent Democrat Joe Donnelly trails by 5; Missouri, where incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill trails by 5; Montana, where incumbent Democrat Jon Tester trails by 5; Florida, where incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson is locked in a near-deadlock with Rick Scott; and Pennsylvania and Ohio, where incumbent Democrats Bill Casey and Sherrod Brown are leading by less than two points each, plus Virginia, where Tim Kaine leads by just 3 on the generic ballot. In the best-case scenario for Republicans, then, they could win up to nine additional Senate seats.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/05/and_now_for_our_latest_blue_wave_report.html#ixzz5Ehj1cQcG
Republicans are going to pick up nine Senate seats.
ReplyDeleteYou heard it here first.
And keep the House too.
ReplyDeleteYou guys use Hillary as a straw man anyway, the fact that she wasn't prosecuted as an excuse for why Trump shouldn't be. You and the rest of the Trumpkins are his enablers and I find it distasteful.
Equal justice under law engraved on the front of the United States Supreme Court building in D.C.
Is that meant to be ironic or Orwellian doublespeak?
Or is it Platonic "justice", “the interest of the stronger”?
Delete.
DeleteYou guys act as if they weren't ALL dicks.
Has Trump been charged with a crime? No.
Has Hillary? No.
Are they both being investigated? Yes. Trump by Mueller and Hillary by the IG. As are the FBI and key players there, McCabe, Comey et al.
One of you put up a comment saying shut down the Mueller investigation as there was nothing ever there and there was no justification for it to start; yet, 13 Russian people and companies have been indicted and the reason it was started in the first place was Russian meddling in our elections as judged by the key intelligence agencies.
IMO one of the reasons this thing continues is because Trump can't or won't just shut the fuck up. Every time he opens his mouth he feeds another angle to investigate. That whole fiasco with Trump and Giuliani and Daniels this week was a farce and a perfect example. What kind of moron would have created that? The whole 'Stormy' affair could have been a one day wonder had it not been for Trump's manipulations. Your 'slut' defense of Trump is just weird. IMHO.
I'd to think you guys are as high minded as you purport to be but I just can't believe it. Perhaps, I am too cynical, but my opinion is that you are too wrapped up in the politics at this point. Some of the articles you offer up here as evidence or to your point instead make one wince. Some of it is just obviously objectively wrong. When Hannity and Pirro and Levin are your go-to sources, I have to question the objectivity.
The comment you quoted above is my opinion. I admit to that. I've never shied away from admitting what I have actually said. What I don't like is the two little weasels putting up lies about my positions and substituting what they think I said or worse just offering up bullshit lies because that is all they've got.
As for my opinion, you've got it. I gave it to you in the quote above. Bottom line, I find your umbrage to be very selective.
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Name the crime.
ReplyDelete.
Deleteinvestigation
[in-ves-ti-gey-shuh n]
noun
1. the act or process of investigating or the condition of being investigated.
2. a searching inquiry for ascertaining facts; detailed or careful examination.
There is already one 'crime' identified, the Russian attempts to influence the US elections, as indicated by testimony and the indictment of 13 people and entities. The 'investigation' is to identify anyone involved in advancing that crime.
I feel sympathy for the people caught up in this thing, guys like Cavuto who seems like a pretty good guy and even guys like Cohen who loved the title of 'fixer' but now finds himself between a rock and a hard place. However, I still believe the only reason they end up on these pages is because they advance the meme of poor Trump everyone is out to get him.
The Special Counsel process is being questioned in the courts at the moment. I suspect that if it is rebuked it will only be on the basis that the original mandate provided by Rosenstein is judged too broad. In that case, the process may be forced to change. Or, it may not. There are numerous jurisdictions involved. It's an ugly process. No doubt about it. But it always has been.
The process hasn't approached the average time for these types of investigations (about 2 1/2 years); however, if it has reached the point where they are seeking to interview the president, I suspect it is about over. If it continues much longer I'll begin to agree with you that it needs to be closed out.
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inquisition
Delete[inkwiˈziSH(ə)n]
1. a period of prolonged and intensive questioning or investigation.
2. an ecclesiastical tribunal established by Pope Gregory IX c. 1232 for the suppression of heresy. It was active chiefly in northern Italy and southern France, becoming notorious for the use of torture. In 1542 the papal Inquisition was re-established to combat Protestantism, eventually becoming an organ of papal government.
There is zero evidence that Russia interfered with the US election. There is evidence that Hillary Clinton was embarrassed by Comey and the coverup of the FBI investigation of Clinton use of personal email servers and that which was exposed in the press.
The only election crime is that a career criminal, war monger and disaster of a candidate lost an election that was supposed to have been fixed for a win. The criminals are those that were in on the fix.
Get Kenyatta.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteThe Trump Tax Cuts
Trump continues to promote his tax cuts as life changing events for most Americans. Others disagree.
The tax cuts were being sold on the supply-side theory that by giving tax cuts to corporations and other businesses it would result in more investment, more jobs, more wage growth and faster economic growth. Those who disagree point out that we have seen this show before and it didn't pan out that way, that the economy was already chugging along fine, that the markets were up, that unemployment had been steadily dropping for years and we were already at or near full employment, that business were complaining of a lack of workers and that historically that situation had led to wage growth, that overall GDP growth was modest but steady, that corporations were already flush with cash and making record profits yet wage growth remained flat, and that we couldn't afford the $1.5 trillion in debt the cuts would cost. Trump and Ryan said just trust us.
The tax cuts were pushed through despite widespread objections to them...
GOP leaders are making the tax cuts the centerpiece of the fall midterm campaign and credit the tax cuts for boosting the economy. But the tax cuts have been underperforming in opinion polls, such as a Gallup survey earlier this month that found 39 percent of respondents approved of the GOP tax measure, with 52 percent disapproving.
I had to laugh when Trump yesterday asked a GOP senate candidate what he thought of the tax cuts and the guy said in effect 'My proudest moments come when a voter comes up to me in a restaurant and they thank me for the extra few hundred bucks they get from the tax cuts, money they can put towards paying down their car loans and their credit card bills'. Trinkets for the natives, folks, trinkets for the natives.
But back to the companies and people who got the $ billions rather than the $ hundreds,
Even little Marco Rubio recognizes them for what they are...
"There is still a lot of thinking on the right that if big corporations are happy, they're going to take the money they're saving and reinvest it in American workers," Rubio, R-Fla., told The Economist in a story release Monday. "In fact they bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there's no evidence whatsoever that the money's been massively poured back into the American worker."
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/business/national-business/article210159039.html
And it won't be, Marco. Supply-side theory was discredited long ago. The only way these guys are going to invest is if demand rises and the best way to do that is to give the money to the people who will actually spend it.
Unemployment is down to 3.9% as 164,000 jobs were created. Sounds great.
On the other hand, 250,000 left the work force.
Companies complain they can't get the workers they need a recipe for wage growth in the past; yet, wage growth remains flat.
We've seen this play out before.
There is talk of our culture changing. One area where it has changed is in the relationship between employer and employee. In the past, the last thing to be cut when the economy turned south was people. That started to change a few decades ago and exploded after the 2008 financial crisis when people became simply one more cost factor and the first thing to be cut. Companies found it was profitable and loyalty be damned.
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Too early to tell. 250,000 people left the work force - 3,500,000 Americans retire annually: therefore 3,500,000/12 = 291,000
Delete
ReplyDelete.
No evidence yet of corruption in Federal Law Enforcement.
Have Faith!
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