Tag: Trump

Outdoor Recreation Beats Big Oil in Growing the U.S. Economy

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❝ Spending on outdoor recreation outpaced Big Oil’s contribution to the U.S. economy according to federal statistics released Thursday, prompting critics to renew their attacks on Trump administration policies of ramping up oil and gas leases on or near public lands.

Outdoor recreation economy accounted for 2.2 percent of GDP at $412 billion in 2016, statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Activity indicate. The oil and gas industry meanwhile accounted for $162 billion in economic activity the same year, or 0.9 percent of GDP.

❝ The data – representing the first time the bureau has compiled detailed economic information on outdoor recreation – give ammunition to critics of the Trump administration’s industry-friendly approach to public lands.

Real economic growth doesn’t matter a jot to our Fake President. What is accomplished on behalf of the brokers who own the Republican Party decides the policies of someone who is consistently bought-and-sold to the highest bidder this side of the Moscow Exchange.

Our Fake President is Playing Scrooge Just in Time for Xmas

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❝ ’Tis the quarter before holiday shopping season, and the president just announced tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, in addition to the $50 billion in products he imposed duties on over the summer.

The new tariffs could jack up prices on all sorts of standard Christmas purchases, including televisions, computers, mittens and knit hats…

More to the point, Trump’s tariffs could make Black Friday truly bleak.

❝ That’s true for the consumers whose wages are barely keeping up with inflation, and who don’t have the spare change lying around to cover a 10- or 25 percent price hike if Trump’s tariffs get tacked on to the cost of presents they plan to stash under the tree.

But it’s also true for U.S. companies, including major American success stories such as Apple. The consumer products giant counts on holiday retail sales for about a third of its annual revenue. It has already warned investors that its watch, wireless headphones and Mac mini computer, among other products, might take a hit.

Unless you are the sort of Republican Party donor who loves truly grotesque indulgences like, say, ostrich jackets or Gucci golf bags, the average wealthy American doesn’t spend a whole helluva lot more geedus on family presents than an upper middle class family. There are limits to consumerism before you reach neurosis.

The Fake President and his Congressional flunkies consider saddling future generations with a quick Trillion$ addition to the national debt just part of the election game. The part of this nation defined by the words “working families” has to guide their economic lives with some form of budget. And, now, the Washington Clown Show is making it even harder.

Trump’s “Great” Cleanup is Years Behind Puerto Rico’s Needs

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A year after Hurricane Maria

❝ A year ago, shortly after Hurricane Maria tore its way across Puerto Rico and upended Ana Rodriguez’s small mountain town, all she wanted was reliable electricity and safe drinking water in her home. She still doesn’t have either.

❝ Her water is bottled and her electricity — which flutters off and on and can’t even power her vacuum cleaner — is something her neighbors in Cidra jerry-rigged after getting tutorials from YouTube videos. (They also snatched abandoned transformers from other towns for their setup.) Rodriguez isn’t expecting the Puerto Rican government or the Federal Emergency Management Agency to come to the rescue.

“People here feel so bad about the government and FEMA,” says the self-employed mother of two. “You can’t say which one is better or worse — they are equally bad.”

If you can’t promise a winning number of votes to the Republican Party and their Fake President – this is the kind of “service” to citizens in need you can expect.

Trump’s trade war cancels Alibaba’s promise of 1 million U.S. jobs

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Mercury News

❝ Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma said the company can no longer meet its promise to create 1 million jobs in the United States due to U.S.-China trade tensions, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

❝ Ma has already warned that the trade war between the world’s two largest economies could last decades and that China should focus exports on the “Silk Road” trade route, citing Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe.

❝ Ma met U.S. President Donald Trump two years ago and laid out the Chinese e-commerce giant’s plan to bring one million small U.S. businesses onto its platform to sell to Chinese consumers over the next five years.

“This commitment is based on friendly China-U.S. cooperation and the rational and objective premise of bilateral trade,” Ma told Xinhua…The current situation has already destroyed the original premise. There is no way to deliver the promise.”

Understand thoroughly, Trump is an ignoranus incapable of leading trade or cultural relationships with another nation to progress and parity. He relies on reactionary advisors like Lighthizer and Navarro who wish to halt any and all mutual trade relations with China.

Expect a Text from the Fake President Declaring Himself Emperor

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❝ …Next week, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be testing the Emergency Alert System, which gives the President the ability to “address Americans via text message in the event of a national emergency.” What exactly will constitute a “national emergency” to a man who is pretending that nearly 3,000 people did not die in Hurricane Maria is unclear.

❝ As Talking Points Memo reports, the test alert is slated go out at 2:18 p.m. ET on September 20…The message will reach any cell phone that’s within the range of a cell tower.

Yes, of course, there are “controls” and “safety systems”. There are also supposed to be checks and balances built into the operation of Congress based upon our Constitution. When you have a party in power like today’s craven version of the Republican Party – that’s meaningless. When you have a third of the electorate convinced Trump is a messenger from God – there is no reason for confidence in civil liberties.

So, get ready for the world’s Number One Fake President to Declare a state of emergency, martial law and place himself in charge of the military, all police.

I’m only joking, right now. Do you believe the thug in the White House isn’t thinking of every possible way to save his incompetent butt?