[Hindsite]

That is absolute nonsense. When President Putin became Russia's President in 1999, the Previous President Boris Yeltsin had enabled the Oligarchs to control the entire country and just take whatever they wanted. There was mass unemployment and even starvation, an epidemic of suicides and drug addiction. The republic of Chechnya was at war with the rest of the country. Regional governors basically ignored the Federal government, and the military was disintegrating and selling off their equipment to feed themselves and their families. The threat of Revolution and Civil War was in the air. The Russian people were confused, angry, and in despair, as a tidal wave of filth and vice filled every media outlet, school, institution and entertainment industry. Corruption was rampant and nobody trusted anyone, as there were open gun battles between local gangsters in every Russian city for power. Russia wason the very edge of total destruction as a nation.

It has taken over twenty years for President Putin, who is not at all a dictator as the Western media paints him, to put an end to all that nonsense. And in all that time, Putin has also worked to try to keep America's Deep State from plunging the world into World War Three.

And you have the gall to compare what President Putin has done with what President Trump is doing or plans to do. President Trump has more in common with Boris Yeltsin than President Putin, frankly, although at least he's sober and doesn't drink, a trait Trump does share with Putin but about the only one.

I admit that I only know what the western media tells me about Putin, since I have never been to Russia. I do know of a guy that I used to work with that went to Russia a couple times and brought a wife back with him. So I hope you and Trump are right about Putin.

As far as President Trump is concerned, I like what he has been doing. I want him to keep up the good work. Therefore, I will vote for him again, partly because I do not want America to become a socialist nation like Germany that was easily turned into a dictatorship under Hitler. I prefer a democratic republic with free market capitalism when possible.
HalleluYah

[jimjam]

The most recent analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows U.S. borrowing has ballooned under Trump, and the resulting consecutive, huge annual deficits (more than $1 trillion this year, 4.6 percent of GDP) are something that has never been seen before except in war-time. Normally, when the economy is as strong as now, deficits average 1.5 percent of GDP. (EU budget rules limit national deficits to 3 percent, and some EU countries run surpluses).

[fokker]

The most recent analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows U.S. borrowing has ballooned under Trump, and the resulting consecutive, huge annual deficits (more than $1 trillion this year, 4.6 percent of GDP) are something that has never been seen before except in war-time. Normally, when the economy is as strong as now, deficits average 1.5 percent of GDP. (EU budget rules limit national deficits to 3 percent, and some EU countries run surpluses).

I believe the goal of tax cuts was not only bolster US economy, but also:
1.) prevent Bernie Sanders from having funds for his socialist agenda. Raising tax rates can be very problematic in globalized world. With 21% corporate tax rate US matched tax rate that some EU countries had for some time.
2.) try to force some EU countries that still have abundant social systems to lower their taxes as well and thus have less money for welfare

In combination with encouraging EU countries to spend more on defense this leads to less money being available for welfare, as Europe has been able to fund it by neglecting its armed forces for decades.

The goal is to bring EU closer to US. If it's not done, then Bernie Sanders and his supporters will keep demanding European social democracy model to be implemented in US as well and perhaps ultimately succeed. If it is deconstructed in EU, then they have no example to follow and use for propaganda.

[jimjam]

There is a real threat posed by a ballooning deficit, although perhaps not the threat that's generally cited. And the threat comes from the Republicans.

Ever since they were made law, both Social Security and Medicare -- for which Republican propagandists have coined the subtly pejorative term "entitlements" -- have been targeted for destruction by right-wing elitists; i.e., the Republicans.

I believe the massive tax cuts issued by the Trump Administration weren't just aimed at widening the wealth gap to the advantage of the elitists. I think the Republicans have an abiding covert strategy to grow the deficit to the point that they can claim that fiscal responsibility demands the elimination of those hated entitlements once and for all.

[jimjam]

Even today, with low interest rates, the fastest-growing spending item for the federal government is interest on the national debt. Over the next 10 years, we are projected to move from spending about $400 billion in interest a year to about $1 trillion. That could amount to over $7 trillion in interest payments.

We should also worry that foreign ownership of our debt has risen to 40 percent. If foreign ownership of one’s debt were the road to military or economic strength, then Zimbabwe and Argentina would be world powers.

[fokker]

Ever since they were made law, both Social Security and Medicare -- for which Republican propagandists have coined the subtly pejorative term "entitlements" -- have been targeted for destruction by right-wing elitists; i.e., the Republicans.

I believe the massive tax cuts issued by the Trump Administration weren't just aimed at widening the wealth gap to the advantage of the elitists. I think the Republicans have an abiding covert strategy to grow the deficit to the point that they can claim that fiscal responsibility demands the elimination of those hated entitlements once and for all.

In my opinion the reasoning behind this goal is they want to ensure "successful" people have more children than "unsuccessful" ones. You can't achieve that with social security, free healthcare, public schools. So it is a form of modern eugenics. It would help preserve the current racial make-up of US without addressing it in racist ways.

[jimjam]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. farm bankruptcy rates jumped 20% in 2019 - to an eight-year high - as financial woes in the U.S. agricultural economy continued in spite of massive federal bail-out funding, according to federal court data.

I thought trade wars were easy to win …..

[jimjam]

In my opinion the reasoning behind this goal is they want to ensure "successful" people have more children than "unsuccessful" ones. You can't achieve that with social security, free healthcare, public schools. So it is a form of modern eugenics. It would help preserve the current racial make-up of US without addressing it in racist ways.

Kinda like a final solution with "successful" being measured by money?

[Rancid]

I think poor people should be lined up and shot.

[annatar1914]

In my opinion the reasoning behind this goal is they want to ensure "successful" people have more children than "unsuccessful" ones. You can't achieve that with social security, free healthcare, public schools. So it is a form of modern eugenics. It would help preserve the current racial make-up of US without addressing it in racist ways.

I have told people here and elsewhere from the very start that President Trump is an ''Objectivist'' to a degree, and frames his own political struggles in terms of not letting America become ''Socialist''.

Well, here we are now in 2020, and people still dismiss the man because they do not know what he is or what he is really about.

[Rancid]

I have told people here and elsewhere from the very start that President Trump is an ''Objectivist'' to a degree, and frames his own political struggles in terms of not letting America become ''Socialist''.

Well, here we are now in 2020, and people still dismiss the man because they do not know what he is or what he is really about.

LOL Whut?

[annatar1914]

LOL Whut?

You read me right. The guy thinks he's 'John Galt', elected President. Maybe i'm exaggerating a little, but not much, I know Trump was an avid Ayn Rand reader at one time.

[fokker]

Kinda like a final solution with "successful" being measured by money?

That's what I think. It fits into right wing ideology.

There is also the official narrative that America was built by settlers without support from state and came there to live free from state oppression. This requires the sort of system that exists in US, unlike what we have in Europe. But it can be used as a convenient excuse for the darker motive I outlined above.

[Wulfschilde]

i hate rich people unless its me or beyonce or someone else i like, although i work hard for my money.

[Politics_Observer]

Well, I'll tell you what, according to non-partisan, reliable and reputable sources, Obama's economic numbers beat out Trump's economic numbers and really, Trump is benefitting from the policies of Obama and his policies (his meaning Trump's) actually harm the economy (like the China trade war for example and tariff battles which harm trade with other countries). Yet, we are still doing well despite Trump's harmful economic policies because of the success of Obama's economic policies previously. This Trump advisor didn't like having to face the undeniable facts:

[Stormsmith]

That's what I think. It fits into right wing ideology.

There is also the official narrative that America was built by settlers without support from state and came there to live free from state oppression. This requires the sort of system that exists in US, unlike what we have in Europe. But it can be used as a convenient excuse for the darker motive I outlined above.

Don't forget about slavery. Slaves built America too.

[Hindsite]

Well, I'll tell you what, according to non-partisan, reliable and reputable sources, Obama's economic numbers beat out Trump's economic numbers and really, Trump is benefitting from the policies of Obama and his policies (his meaning Trump's) actually harm the economy (like the China trade war for example and tariff battles which harm trade with other countries). Yet, we are still doing well despite Trump's harmful economic policies because of the success of Obama's economic policies previously. This Trump advisor didn't like having to face the undeniable facts:

More fake news from CNN.

[Godstud]

You are Fake News, @Hindsite.


Everything you don't like is fake news. It's gotten old and fucking stupid to think like that.

[Hindsite]

You are Fake News, @Hindsite.


Everything you don't like is fake news. It's gotten old and fucking stupid to think like that.

It is stupid and getting old that a person like you living in Thailand thinks he knows what is true and fake in United States politics.

[Godstud]

I know more about American politics than some old man in Georgia who can't even tell reality from fiction. That says more about your ignorance of your own politics, than anything else.

If your only argument is, "You don't live here, so you don't know!", well then, it appears as you can't fight your way out of a wet paper bag, when it comes to arguments and political discourse.