The Politics Thread

[Skin]

He stopped Carrier from leaving to Mexico by threatening their Government contract. This is a huge boon for Republicans. Indiana may end up staying red. 

[DRW50]

Other than 2008 Indiana is generally always red. 

[quartermainefan]

If he actually stopped them from relocating then good for him.    

[Vee]

[Juliajms]

And good for the workers who get to keep their job. Hey, I'm not rooting against the man when it comes to economics. I'm not even rooting against his presidency in the way that Rush Limbaugh said "I hope he fails" about President Obama. I hope the dangerous hateful policies he's going to try to enact fail though. I also don't expect many people to be better off in four years.

[DramatistDreamer]

Never have I seen a truer likeness of Ghouliani!

[DRW50]

 

I don't root against him, especially when the "saves" are honest and not sleight of hand like all his claims about keeping Ford around. I mostly just wish it wasn't so hollow, given his history of how workers are treated, and that he supports policies that are very anti-worker. 

 

A lot of these jobs are leaving and won't be back. Effort needs to be made to find new jobs that can take their place. No one really wants to do that. And Democrats by and large still often seem too focused on the feel-good fantasy of globalization to understand the anger and fear - the fear that got Trump the win. I read a bit of a speech John Kerry gave and he clearly just seems frustrated about backlash against free trade. I don't think he, or Hillary, among others, ever got it. I don't know if Obama did either. I feel like the biggest and very possibly the last opportunity to redefine the economy in this country in a way that would be progressive and supportive of the common man (or woman) was in Obama's first year in office. Democrats blinked, thanks to right wing and media hysteria, and it was gone.

[Juliajms]

^ We don't need to waste our energy rooting against him as I see it.

 

I honestly thought we we're heading towards a more European system where we would pay people not to participate in the job market. Isn't that really what the welfare state does after all? It's just in the USA we aren't paying a living wage or being intellectually honest about it.  We allow income disparity to keep growing instead of using a progressive tax system to make sure everyone has a roof over their heads, food and healthcare.  I had really become so encased in my little bubble that I had forgotten how strong the idea that everyone has to work is within American culture.  It's basically work or you deserve to suffer in many people's minds, even though everyone having a decent job is unrealistic.

[DRW50]

 

I think you have people in power who truly hate and resent most of the country and want to punish them, which means taking away most of their jobs while simultaneously doing nothing to help people who no longer have jobs. This is someone like Kevin McCarthy, the rocket scientist who lost out on the Speaker Of the House gig because he bragged about how much Benghazi helped Republicans. He said yesterday that he doesn't want to pass any alternative to Obamacare - he just wants to repeal it. So you essentially kick millions in the teeth with nothing else to help them.

 

Then you have people like Paul Ryan, people I truly believe want to help, but whose idea of helping is a heinous, terrifying worldview that amounts to crushing us all under the bootheel of Ayn Rand because only when everything is taken from us can we truly be happy. He genuinely thinks this is what we all need and must learn to accept. 

 

I don't see anyone in power who actually wants to help and is not dangerously unhinged. 

Edited November 30, 2016 by DRW50

[AdelaideCate007]

Eh, our news here and the BBC are painting it as being a really, really bad and shortsighted move. They're saying the company might have been convinced to keep some of the jobs in America but that those workers might have to leave their union and take a significant pay cut. They were saying that they're making 20 dollars an hour now but might be cut down to around 10 or so dollars (apparently in Mexico the workers for these jobs were going to make 6 dollars an hour). They also just had the union rep on the telly saying they have no idea of the specifics of the deal and that over half the jobs are still being cut and sent to Mexico. The company is also getting a 1 billion dollar tax break that the American tax payers are going to have to pay for.

[DRW50]

 

There's always a catch. But that isn't what gets the easiest press attention. 

[AdelaideCate007]

 

BBC also just mentioned that part of the deal is fewer federal and environmental regulations across the board meaning they'll be allowed to gut things like maternity and holiday pay and will also not have strict rules when it comes to things like pollution caused by their factory.

[quartermainefan]

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[DramatistDreamer]

 

Although on its face, it seemed promising, I knew that it probably wasn't as great as it's being made out to be when even news reporters don't know the precise details of the detail.

 

Also, many companies like to make a big show in the immediate aftermath but the real test is a year from now when no one is looking at what Carrier is doing, will they still funnel jobs away?

 

People should also keep in mind that during President Obama's administration, there was an average of 40K jobs created weekly. Trump should be held to an even higher standard since he made much higher claims of job creation success.

 

On another note,

 

Elizabeth Warren is cautioning everyone about Trump's pick for Treasury but I don't expect much introspection in the way of Trump supporters, who don't question anything he does- coincidentally, they are the same folks who made a stink about HRC's paid speeches for the same Goldman Sachs.

[DRW50]

 

I think many on the right who oppose big business are more confined to Breitbart, which has a lot of sway but doesn't seem to have as much as one might have thought with all these Koch and business-friendly appointments (I guess the reports of the power Rebekah Mercer has over Trump may be true in that respect). Those who were upset about Hillary's speeches were more of those on the left who love to have purity contests. Those on the right would likely be more upset about Mnuchin being Jewish (if he is). 

 

There's hypocrisy all around - attacks on Clinton for business as usual and Washington elites, yet crickets when Trump chose Elaine Chao (perhaps the ultimate Washington insider, and she even *gasp* kept her maiden name). Trump having a fancy meal with Romney (although I still don't believe he'll actually pick him), expensive food and wine galore. Remember when Obama couldn't even go on vacation to Hawaii without being attacked by the press as anti-American? 

 

I wonder if those coal country voters know anything at all about Chao or incoming Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and their record on mines. Anything at all.