SURVEY: USA -- Headed in the right or wrong direction?

[sirineou]

5 hours ago, riclag said:

Not even two years in office,promises made promises kept!. Trump haters are under estimating the strength and determination we patriots have to keep the flag red white and blue and the constitution strict

What promises? are you kidding? 

Where is your wall? when are the money from mexico coming? 

swamp drained? are two year and four year colleges more affordable? did he reduce the tax brackets from seven to three? Did he allow health insurance to be purchased over state lines?

Is health insurance more affordable? are more people covered?did he impose the five year ban for white house officials becoming lobbyists? Where the great infrastructure bill? 

Just off the to of my head. 

 

 

 

[Time Traveller]

5 hours ago, Credo said:

I am pretty liberal, but I don't know anyone who is in favor of open borders.   I understand there are some far-out-there folks that don't believe there should be any geo-political boundaries, but they don't have much traction.   

 

I know a lot of people who believe that countries should follow the laws, in a humane manner.   That means that those who apply for asylum are given the constitutional right to have a hearing.   

 

Please cite who is in favor of open borders.

Let's start with George Soros.  And then there's basically every left wing group in America. Have you not seen the news of protestors angrily protesting against the arrest of illegal immigrants by ICE? 

Try reading up on Sanctuary Cities in the US. They are typically Democrat controlled cities that have laws to hinder the federal government's attempt to arrest illegal immigrants. 

[chicowoodduck]

18 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Trump's in charge so right direction

This has to be fake news at its best......????

[Ahab]

13 hours ago, Brunolem said:

True!

Now, how many of these votes came from California?

More than 4 millions!

Meaning that, California aside, Trump won the popular vote.

Meaning also that without the electoral college, California and a few other states would decide who gets elected and that the country would be indefinitely stuck with a Democrat government!

Which is precisely why the electoral college was a stroke of genius by the founding fathers.

 

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

What promises? are you kidding? 

Where is your wall? when are the money from mexico coming? 

swamp drained? are two year and four year colleges more affordable? did he reduce the tax brackets from seven to three? Did he allow health insurance to be purchased over state lines?

Is health insurance more affordable? are more people covered?did he impose the five year ban for white house officials becoming lobbyists? Where the great infrastructure bill? 

Just off the to of my head. 

 

 

 

Remember the 1 trillion dollar infrastructure plan promise?

[mcambl61]

9 hours ago, Lacessit said:

As distinct from the homeless in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh. Republican strongholds. Yeah right.

You need to put down your Donald Trump doll.

hmmm, those are democratic strongholds too, so uh...what?

[billsmart]

9 hours ago, riclag said:

There you go "White, male, straight, Christian Taliban, English-speaking, etc".Nationalism to me has no colors or creeds or race! It's about country sovereignty,freedom, family values and adherence to the law of the land 

Here is the online dictionary definition of "nationalism". Please notice the list of synonyms...

"noun

1. patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts.

   synonyms:

   patriotism, patriotic sentiment, flag-waving, xenophobia, chauvinism, jingoism "their extreme nationalism was frightening"

   • an extreme form of this, especially marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries."

      

[neeray]

11 hours ago, ballpoint said:

The USA is headed in the right direction.  The far right direction, and it's the wrong one.

The USA is burning. And I don't mean the economy (that is thriving from Obama policies).

Anti-Semitism, mass shootings, domestic terrorism, political divide ........ all are on the rise thanks to Trumps spoken words. He speaks, his little sleeper cells take action. Hate breeds hate.

What we saw in the last week is probably just the smoke before the fire.

America is burning and Trump owns it.

[mcambl61]

21 hours ago, neeray said:

It's quite amusing (maybe more like disgusting) to observe those alt-right supporters at the Trump rallies, you know, the 35% group. It always makes me think of The Pied Piper.

What a sad bunch of delusional little followers they are.

can you back up the "alt-right" and 35 % assumptions at all or is this just an

opinion without any factual references?

[Brunolem]

9 hours ago, riclag said:

Are you saying thats PT fault?

PT?

Do you mean PT Barnum?

[neeray]

17 minutes ago, mcambl61 said:

can you back up the "alt-right" and 35 % assumptions at all or is this just an

opinion without any factual references?

The 35% was stated by a previous poster to whom I was commenting on.

[mcambl61]

9 minutes ago, neeray said:

The USA is burning. And I don't mean the economy (that is thriving from Obama policies).

Anti-Semitism, mass shootings, domestic terrorism, political divide ........ all are on the rise thanks to Trumps spoken words. He speaks, his little sleeper cells take action. Hate breeds hate.

What we saw in the last week is probably just the smoke before the fire.

America is burning and Trump owns it.

1. The economy did not thrive on Obama policies:

The Obama recovery of the last seven years remains the worst in postwar American history. Average gross domestic product (GDP) growth since the bottom of the recession in 2009 was barely above 2.1% per year. The average since 1949 is well above 4% per year during the previous 10 expansions.

Post-WWII Period

Source: CRS calculations based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

 

Looking at the full picture, the economy has experienced historically weak growth under Obama. Even after the recession ended in 2009, average real GDP growth has been 35% below the average from 1960–2009, a period that includes eight recessions. Annual GDP data, which removes the noise from quarterly fluctuations, shows substandard growth over the entirety of Obama’s presidency:

 

2. Anti-Semitism, mass shootings, domestic terrorism, political divide ........ all are on the rise thanks to Trumps spoken words.

 

How so, exactly? Anti-semitism when his daughter has converted and he has adopted the most pro israel policies ever?

Mass shootings are his fault how exactly? I thought the left ignorantly blamed the NRA for those?

"domestic" terrorism? you mean like Antifa?

 

explain the factual evidence for your claims please, unless they are opinions

[mcambl61]

2 minutes ago, neeray said:

The 35% was stated by a previous poster to whom I was commenting on.

so no actual factual references

[bristolboy]

I am still waiting for the day

 

21 hours ago, rskdev said:

 

 

By the way, I trade on the Forex Market. Very profitable.

I am still waiting for the day someone posts on thaivisa.com telling us that he or she has lost money in trading.

[Ahab]

9 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I am still waiting for the day

 

I am still waiting for the day someone posts on thaivisa.com telling us that he or she has lost money in trading.

I lost money on a gold mining stock (HMY). So now you cannot say you have never seen some one post on TV that he lost money in trading.

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Ahab

[bristolboy]

10 minutes ago, Ahab said:

I lost money on a gold mining stock (HMY). So now you cannot say you have never seen some one post on TV that he lost money in trading.

 

What I should have written was I am waiting for the day that someone tells us that he or she are not losers at investing. For example, anyone who invests in Forex is going to show plenty of losses on individual trades even if they are on balance successful.

[Brunolem]

11 hours ago, riclag said:

Disagree MAGA is symbolic to the Industrial revolution ! It's energized and stimulated trilions of overseas monies coming back to the country. Record low unemployment! More jobs than ever .Consumer confidence has a positive effect.America is doing better than ever economically, I can't see why independent's  would change that!

My my my...

Jobs jobs jobs...

 

And yet 38% of Americans make less than 20,000 dollar a year, and 50% make less than 30,000 (Social Security stats)!

Where do you go with that kind of money in the US?

 

Record low unemployment...

 

Sure, but what about the 96 million working age citizens out of the workforce (thus not counted as not employed), and what about the millions holding a part time job with no benefits, flipping burgers in some greasy joint?

 

Best economy ever...

 

Why is it that such a strong economy can't cope with 2% interest rates, when the historical rates are more than double that?

Why is this economy unable to decently reward savings, and instead encourage debt?

 

Debt...let's talk about debt...

 

National debt: running toward a record 22 trillion dollars, at about 105% of GDP!

 

Corporate debt: at record level at about 8 trillion dollars, most of it not spent on investments mind you, but in the financial casino to buyback stocks and increase the top executives' bonuses!

 

Private debt: credit card debt at record level over 1 trillion dollars, student debt at record level over 1.5 trillion dollars, and car purchase debt at record level with increasing delinquencies!

 

Easy to sell 16 million cars a year with zero down payment, zero interest rate and 7 year monthly payments...but that's over and that's gonna be painful!

 

And with all these mountains of debt that threaten to collapse at any moment, what is Trump doing: slashing the income (tax cuts) and increasing the spending!

 

In supposed times of booming economy, America is running trillion dollar deficits, which is the same amount of deficit it was running at the deepest of the last financial crisis...how come?

 

There is a quote from the economist Ludwig Von Mises which is very appropriate for the American economy today:

 

There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.

[bristolboy]

7 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

My my my...

Jobs jobs jobs...

 

And yet 38% of Americans make less than 20,000 dollar a year, and 50% make less than 30,000 (Social Security stats)!

Where do you go with that kind of money in the US?

 

Record low unemployment...

 

Sure, but what about the 96 million working age citizens out of the workforce (thus not counted as not employed), and what about the millions holding a part time job with no benefits, flipping burgers in some greasy joint?

 

Best economy ever...

 

Why is it that such a strong economy can't cope with 2% interest rates, when the historical rates are more than double that?

Why is this economy unable to decently reward savings, and instead encourage debt?

 

Debt...let's talk about debt...

 

National debt: running toward a record 22 trillion dollars, at about 105% of GDP!

 

Corporate debt: at record level at about 8 trillion dollars, most of it not spent on investments mind you, but in the financial casino to buyback stocks and increase the top executives' bonuses!

 

Private debt: credit card debt at record level over 1 trillion dollars, student debt at record level over 1.5 trillion dollars, and car purchase debt at record level with increasing delinquencies!

 

Easy to sell 16 million cars a year with zero down payment, zero interest rate and 7 year monthly payments...but that's over and that's gonna be painful!

 

And with all these mountains of debt that threaten to collapse at any moment, what is Trump doing: slashing the income (tax cuts) and increasing the spending!

 

In supposed times of booming economy, America is running trillion dollar deficits, which is the same amount of deficit it was running at the deepest of the last financial crisis...how come?

 

There is a quote from the economist Ludwig Von Mises which is very appropriate for the American economy today:

 

There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.

That 96 million worker figure includes just about everyone over the age of 16  except those who are physically disabled or institutionalezed such as prisoners. So a healthy 85 year old would be amongst that number.

[bristolboy]

5 hours ago, Patriot1066 said:

Yes that is correct the private pension system is largely supported by company stocks and property values. Pretty much throughout the world. So really what is happening is Trump is increasing wealth redistribution for those that worked hard all their lives and did without other things to pay into pensions,of any colour or creed so true wealth redistribution and trickle down?

This suggests that America is going in the right direction as sharing wealth and re distributing it to hard working people (now retired)?

Anyone who knows anything about the private pension system knows that it's been in a massive and continuing decline for years thanks to such stellar Republican successes as the Reagan tax cuts and their successful program to decimate unions via legislation and Supreme court appointments.

[scorecard]

5 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

That 96 million worker figure includes just about everyone over the age of 16  except those who are physically disabled or institutionalezed such as prisoners. So a healthy 85 year old would be amongst that number.

Also, can the USA ever totally cancel all that debt or even reduce it to a number acceptable in proper economic policies / formulas?

 

 

[bristolboy]

Just now, scorecard said:

Also, can the USA ever totally cancel all that debt or even reduce it to a number acceptable in proper economic policies / formulas?

 

 

Sure it could, Put taxes back where they were before the Reagan tax cuts. Remove the cap on income subject to social security tax. Adequately fund the IRS.  And generally, put an end to the myriad of dodgy tax shelters which have only increased in potency thanks to the latest tax bill.

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, mcambl61 said:

hmmm, those are democratic strongholds too, so uh...what?

Rubbish. They all voted for Trump.

[mcambl61]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

Rubbish. They all voted for Trump.

what evidence do you have of that? urban centers largely went to Hillary

as they usually are full of left leaning democrats

[Brunolem]

1 hour ago, bristolboy said:

That 96 million worker figure includes just about everyone over the age of 16  except those who are physically disabled or institutionalezed such as prisoners. So a healthy 85 year old would be amongst that number.

Wrong!

It is the working age population, going from 16 to 65, not 85!

 

Of course, that includes millions of students, disabled and other people not able to work.

 

Yet...what really matters is the employment participation rate, that is the number of people included in the working age population and actually working...a rate which has declined from over 67% in 2007 to about 62%!

 

To make a fair comparison, based on the 2007 participation rate, today's unemployment rate would stand in the double digits...

[mcambl61]

2 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

To make a fair comparison, based on the 2007 participation rate, today's unemployment rate would stand in the double digits...

yes, but the opportunities for employment has increased, especially in the consrtuction industry, those higher paying jobs

 

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t14.htm

[mcambl61]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Also, can the USA ever totally cancel all that debt or even reduce it to a number acceptable in proper economic policies / formulas?

 

 

only if we can get the govt to be accountable for the money they waste and be able to fire govt union employees

[CptnAhab]

8 minutes ago, mcambl61 said:

only if we can get the govt to be accountable for the money they waste and be able to fire govt union employees

or reduce the not necessary amount of money wasted on military equipement and adventures?

[mcambl61]

4 minutes ago, CptnAhab said:

or reduce the not necessary amount of money wasted on military equipement and adventures?

absolutely, every dept should have independent auditors and assessmnts of what is spent, what should be eliminated and how the purchasing is done and where money can be saved, it should be mandatory for every dept and agency and reports issued so the public can see it. That includes the employees and a justification of what everyone does and cut the redundancy and incompetence. an end to baseline budgeting immediately

[Becker]

3 hours ago, mcambl61 said:

can you back up the "alt-right" and 35 % assumptions at all or is this just an

opinion without any factual references?

What???? A man-child supporter requesting actual (as opposed to alternative) facts?

 

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Becker

[Thakkar]

 

I follow historians on twitter, mainly to get good book recommendations. In recent times, they’ve been doing a great public service of educating us with short twitter threads to help us understand current events in context and to debunk false, ignorant and deliberate  misreadings of history.

 

The above twitter link will hopefully help members see things clearer.