The Politics Thread

[GregNYC]

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Wall St. hits record high on Trump tax talk

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-idUSKBN15P1GJ

 

U.S. stocks hit record highs shortly after the open on Friday, a day after President Donald Trump said he would release a major tax reform plan in the coming weeks.

Trump's promise of a "phenomenal" tax plan helped reignite a post-election rally, which had stalled in recent weeks on concerns over his protectionist stand and the lack of clarity on his policies.

The biggest theme for investors is that Trump's tax plan will move quickly and he has always maintained that it is going to be very aggressive, said Uriel Cohen, founder of Alpine Global in New York.

[MissLlanviewPA]

 

James Carville on behalf of Bill Clinton, but close.

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I have a LOT I have to say about what the Democrats need to do in these next few years, and at some point when I can sit down and at least somewhat articulately express it, I will, but part of what they need to do is study what James Carville, Paul Begala, and George Stephanopoulos did for Bill's race in 1992 and go from there. (Have them watch the documentary The War Room again, for one! It's all about their work on that race!)

 

There's plenty that they did back then that could work today (with some necessary adjustments and updates, of course).

 

One thing I WILL say right now is this:

 

2018 and 2020 aren't the only years the Dems need to consider. There are races going on RIGHT NOW, THIS YEAR. Virginia and New Jersey have their Governor's races this year (and lord knows that they both matter--Virginia is a firm swing state now--not to mention that Governors there are not allowed to run for consecutive terms--and New Jersey will finally be rid of Chris Christie), and in 2019, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi will be having theirs (and while I realize the latter 3 are in no way close to being considered viable for 2020, their Governors races SHOULD NOT be ignored--we need to start somewhere down ticket to become competitive again). And that's not mentioning all of the State House/State Senate races that will be going on both this year and in 2019 as well. A lot of these states--certainly Virginia--have no off year when it comes to elections, and more need to remember or realize that.

 

I just had to bring this up, because it seems like nobody is mentioning this in the media and/or the Democratic Party so far this year. That may change as the year goes on, but we can't just focus on 2018 and 2020 without remembering the races in between them, too.

Edited February 10, 2017 by MissLlanviewPA

[DramatistDreamer]

The Orange Menace has reversed himself regarding his previous statements on the "One China" policy, which will undoubtedly be chalked up as Trump bowing to Xi on this one since it's well known that Xi has not engaged with the Trump administration in any way since Trump made those statements concerning the policy.  

 

Trump Tells Xi Jinping U.S. Will Honor ‘One China’ Policy

 

This wasn't the first time, so I'm sure this won't be the last time Trump reverses himself, or is forced to do so.

Edited February 10, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[MissLlanviewPA]

Did anybody see this Tweet on Wednesday? She thinks she's so precious saying it too. [!@#$%^&*] her.

 

 

[marceline]

That's fine with me. My GOP friends (yes, I still have some) are incensed by her confirmation. I'm perfectly happy for her to stay in the spotlight because she's an excellent organizing tool.

 

 

Preach. I'm laser focused on working on Sherrod Brown's re-election campaign. His last race was the most expensive one in the country because the Kochs dumped a fortune into it. Now the same weasel that ran against him last time is doing it again but now he's a Trump mini-me, talking about a rigged system and backing a heinously racist piece of anti-immigrant legislation. Part of me is hoping that will backfire on him as the wheels keep coming off the Trump administration. Kasich is term limited out so the Governors race is still forming because everyone is "considering" throwing their hat into the ring.

Edited February 10, 2017 by marceline

[MissLlanviewPA]

 

Me too.

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[Wales2004]

My early Friday thoughts (because gee why not share them?):

 

So the stock market is based on what Trump says and not what he actually does? They do know that he's never run a publicly owned company and yet....

 

I don't get why he and his mouthpieces constantly used China to shield him from questions about Russia.  It's not a smart move but then....

 

The Democrats should have attacking gerrymandering and getting some sort of voter id drive going.  As a party they seem to take a lot of things for granted and they need to be more proactive and less presumptuous.

[Vee]

We already predicted all this, but it's official: Trump hates being President.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

There's an old phrase that Caribbean people say (and I am frequently fond of saying, myself) that suits just what you've just described:  'A promise is a comfort to a fool'.  Some people fall for the words rather than the deeds.

 

As I said in another post, when the stock market goes up, it very rarely benefits average people. When it plummets, however, we all get burned.

 

@Vee I planned to read that article soon, it's been open in my browser tab (one of them, anyway). 

All I have to say so far is, why would anyone be dumb enough to think government can be run like a business? Remember how W was supposed to exemplify the CEO-in-Chief? Look how that turned out for the country. 

Even Bloomberg as NYC mayor was soon disabused of his assumptions that NYC could somehow be run as a Fortune 500 company.

As much good as Bloomberg did philanthropically, the homeless population exploded during his tenure (an aspect that DeBlasio continues to struggle with) and NYC lost large numbers of its population, particularly artists and People of Color to other parts of the country.

 

I thought that anyone with a brain and a memory would have known that one cannot run a government that has the responsibility to see to its peoples needs as a corporate brand.

What a dodo!

[JaneAusten]

Gerrymandering is the project Eric Holder and President Obama are going to be working on. Jason Kander the "nobody" from Missouri who might have actually beat Roy Blunt had the democrats invested some money there, has a new organization called Let America Vote that is focused on fighting voter suppression. Tom Perez who is running for DNC chair said initially voter suppression was going to be his champion cause but he seems to have flip flopped due to the insufferable Bernie wing. So there is stuff going on. But I am sure the Bernie people don't think gerrymandering or voter suppression is a big deal. They are only concerned about the WWC.

 

Obama Holder Gerrymanding

 

The stock market will continue to rise due to re-regulation but at some point as it has with every other GOP presidency it will tank. I have memories of Harding/Hoover and 1929. Those of us who have some money invested for retirement are scared as my own  retirement 401k just recovered to 2007 levels last year. My elderly mom has a ton of money invested that supports her, so at some point we will be looking at ways to protect our retirement from the whims.

Edited February 10, 2017 by JaneAusten

[Fevuh]

Protesters in DC just blocked DeVos from getting into a public school where she was going for a meeting with administrators.  They apparently weren't with the teacher's union, because they were also there for the meeting - and were also protesting with signs but the other group who blocked her entrance weren't part of their group.  She eventually got in through another door.  I'm sure it will be viral because someone got it....

[Juliajms]

I feel bad for people who have to retire soon or are already retired, especially if they don't know enough to get out.  For people who are going to retire in 20 years this could be more of an opportunity, as the 2008 crisis was. I'm not sure what I plan to do yet. Probably double down on my son's college fund once there is a downturn, expecting that there will be a recovery sometime in the next 16 years. All I know is I'm grateful to have many years before retirement.

[JaneAusten]

The problem is it just doesn't impact those who have directly self invested,it also impacts municipal and state retirement plans politicians have allowed to be borrowed against. And people want Social Security privatized? In Illinois one of the reasons the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund is broke is because our politicians(both parties) were allowed to borrow from it and 2008 hit and the money was basically lost. Now they want to penalize workers who contributed to it by cutting back what their benefits would be because it wasn't protected(these people collect from the IMRT versus Social Security). Fortunately the Illinois Constitution protects the retirement fund and the cutbacks were ruled unconstitutional by the REPUBLICAN head of the Illinois Supreme Court, who surprisingly chastised politicians for not leaving a temporary state income tax increase in place until the deficit was resolved.

[Vee]

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I remember reading about this. Didn't something similar happen in Rhode Island? I think their former governor was swept out because of this.