metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
I'd be tempted to offer to pay for his one-way ticket.He could join Viktor Orbán in Turkey. ;-)
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I'd be tempted to offer to pay for his one-way ticket.He could join Viktor Orbán in Turkey. ;-)
So, you'd rather support corruption and probably lose our representative democracy if he were to win?I would support Trump, because Trump can't be bought by big money.
Are you kidding me? Did you think at all before you posted this? Most of Trump's wealth appears to be an illusion. If anyone would do anything for big money it would be Trump.I would support Trump, because Trump can't be bought by big money.
Even though he claimed he was worth $10 billon, his state tax returns indicate it was more around $3 & 1/2 billion. He promised to release his tax returns prior to the election in 2016 and yet he still hasn't produced any of them.Are you kidding me? Did you think at all before you posted this? Most of Trump's wealth appears to be an illusion. If anyone would do anything for big money it would be Trump.
As long as it doesn't affect the country in a negative way, I find it tolerable.And what degree of theft, misogyny, toxic xenophobia, and pathological dishonesty will you tolerate if your neofascist narcissist proves victorious?
He is bought by flattering words from world dictators.I would support Trump, because Trump can't be bought by big money.
Except that he's a massive grifter.I would support Trump, because Trump can't be bought by big money.
But it has proven to have a very negative affect.As long as it doesn't affect the country in a negative way, I find it tolerable.
Unprecedented Economic Boom
Before the China Virus invaded our shores, we built the world’s most prosperous economy.
Delivered a future of greater promise and opportunity for citizens of all backgrounds.
- America gained 7 million new jobs – more than three times government experts’ projections.
- Middle-Class family income increased nearly $6,000 – more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.
- The unemployment rate reached 3.5 percent, the lowest in a half-century.
- Achieved 40 months in a row with more job openings than job-hirings.
- More Americans reported being employed than ever before – nearly 160 million.
- Jobless claims hit a nearly 50-year low.
- The number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population hit its lowest on record.
- Incomes rose in every single metro area in the United States for the first time in nearly 3 decades.
Brought jobs, factories, and industries back to the USA.
- Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma all reached record lows.
- Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.
- Lifted nearly 7 million people off of food stamps.
- Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached record lows.
- Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.
- The bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.
- Wages rose fastest for low-income and blue collar workers – a 16 percent pay increase.
- African American homeownership increased from 41.7 percent to 46.4 percent.
Hit record stock market numbers and record 401ks.
- Created more than 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs.
- Put in place policies to bring back supply chains from overseas.
- Small business optimism broke a 35-year old record in 2018.
Rebuilding and investing in rural America.
- The DOW closed above 20,000 for the first time in 2017 and topped 30,000 in 2020.
- The S&P 500 and NASDAQ have repeatedly notched record highs.
Achieved a record-setting economic comeback by rejecting blanket lockdowns.
- Signed an Executive Order on Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products, which is bringing innovative new technologies to market in American farming and agriculture.
- Strengthened America’s rural economy by investing over $1.3 billion through the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect Program to bring high-speed broadband infrastructure to rural America.
- An October 2020 Gallup survey found 56 percent of Americans said they were better off during a pandemic than four years prior.
- During the third quarter of 2020, the economy grew at a rate of 33.1 percent – the most rapid GDP growth ever recorded.
- Since coronavirus lockdowns ended, the economy has added back over 12 million jobs, more than half the jobs lost.
- Jobs have been recovered 23 times faster than the previous administration’s recovery.
- Unemployment fell to 6.7 percent in December, from a pandemic peak of 14.7 percent in April – beating expectations of well over 10 percent unemployment through the end of 2020.
- Under the previous administration, it took 49 months for the unemployment rate to fall from 10 percent to under 7 percent compared to just 3 months for the Trump Administration.
- Since April, the Hispanic unemployment rate has fallen by 9.6 percent, Asian-American unemployment by 8.6 percent, and Black American unemployment by 6.8 percent.
- 80 percent of small businesses are now open, up from just 53 percent in April.
- Small business confidence hit a new high.
- Homebuilder confidence reached an all-time high, and home sales hit their highest reading since December 2006.
- Manufacturing optimism nearly doubled.
- Household net worth rose $7.4 trillion in Q2 2020 to $112 trillion, an all-time high.
- Home prices hit an all-time record high.
- The United States rejected crippling lockdowns that crush the economy and inflict countless public health harms and instead safely reopened its economy.
- Business confidence is higher in America than in any other G7 or European Union country.
- Stabilized America’s financial markets with the establishment of a number of Treasury Department supported facilities at the Federal Reserve.
Tax Relief for the Middle Class
Passed $3.2 trillion in historic tax relief and reformed the tax code.
Jobs and investments are pouring into Opportunity Zones.
- Signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – the largest tax reform package in history.
- More than 6 million American workers received wage increases, bonuses, and increased benefits thanks to the tax cuts.
- A typical family of four earning $75,000 received an income tax cut of more than $2,000 – slashing their tax bill in half.
- Doubled the standard deduction – making the first $24,000 earned by a married couple completely tax-free.
- Doubled the child tax credit.
- Virtually eliminated the unfair Estate Tax, or Death Tax.
- Cut the business tax rate from 35 percent – the highest in the developed world – all the way down to 21 percent.
- Small businesses can now deduct 20 percent of their business income.
- Businesses can now deduct 100 percent of the cost of their capital investments in the year the investment is made.
- Since the passage of tax cuts, the share of total wealth held by the bottom half of households has increased, while the share held by the top 1 percent has decreased.
- Over 400 companies have announced bonuses, wage increases, new hires, or new investments in the United States.
- Over $1.5 trillion was repatriated into the United States from overseas.
- Lower investment cost and higher capital returns led to faster growth in the middle class, real wages, and international competitiveness.
- Created nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones where capital gains on long-term investments are taxed at zero.
- Opportunity Zone designations have increased property values within them by 1.1 percent, creating an estimated $11 billion in wealth for the nearly half of Opportunity Zone residents who own their own home.
- Opportunity Zones have attracted $75 billion in funds and driven $52 billion of new investment in economically distressed communities, creating at least 500,000 new jobs.
- Approximately 1 million Americans will be lifted from poverty as a result of these new investments.
- Private equity investments into businesses in Opportunity Zones were nearly 30 percent higher than investments into businesses in similar areas that were not designated Opportunity Zones.
Massive Deregulation
Ended the regulatory assault on American Businesses and Workers.
Successfully rolled back burdensome regulatory overreach.
- Instead of 2-for-1, we eliminated 8 old regulations for every 1 new regulation adopted.
- Provided the average American household an extra $3,100 every year.
- Reduced the direct cost of regulatory compliance by $50 billion, and will reduce costs by an additional $50 billion in FY 2020 alone.
- Removed nearly 25,000 pages from the Federal Register – more than any other president. The previous administration added over 16,000 pages.
- Established the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation to reduce outdated regulations at the state, local, and tribal levels.
- Signed an executive order to make it easier for businesses to offer retirement plans.
- Signed two executive orders to increase transparency in Federal agencies and protect Americans and their small businesses from administrative abuse.
- Modernized the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the first time in over 40 years.
- Reduced approval times for major infrastructure projects from 10 or more years down to 2 years or less.
- Helped community banks by signing legislation that rolled back costly provisions of Dodd-Frank.
- Established the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing to bring down housing costs.
- Removed regulations that threatened the development of a strong and stable internet.
- Eased and simplified restrictions on rocket launches, helping to spur commercial investment in space projects.
- Published a whole-of-government strategy focused on ensuring American leadership in automated vehicle technology.
- Streamlined energy efficiency regulations for American families and businesses, including preserving affordable lightbulbs, enhancing the utility of showerheads, and enabling greater time savings with dishwashers.
- Removed unnecessary regulations that restrict the seafood industry and impede job creation.
- Modernized the Department of Agriculture’s biotechnology regulations to put America in the lead to develop new technologies.
- Took action to suspend regulations that would have slowed our response to COVID-19, including lifting restrictions on manufacturers to more quickly produce ventilators.
Americans now have more money in their pockets.
- Rescinded the previous administration’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which would have abolished zoning for single-family housing to build low-income, federally subsidized apartments.
- Issued a final rule on the Fair Housing Act’s disparate impact standard.
- Eliminated the Waters of the United States Rule and replaced it with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, providing relief and certainty for farmers and property owners.
- Repealed the previous administration’s costly fuel economy regulations by finalizing the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, which will make cars more affordable, and lower the price of new vehicles by an estimated $2,200.
- Deregulation had an especially beneficial impact on low-income Americans who pay a much higher share of their incomes for overregulation.
- Cut red tape in the healthcare industry, providing Americans with more affordable healthcare and saving Americans nearly 10 percent on prescription drugs.
- Deregulatory efforts yielded savings to the medical community an estimated $6.6 billion – with a reduction of 42 million hours of regulatory compliance work through 2021.
- Removed government barriers to personal freedom and consumer choice in healthcare.
- Once fully in effect, 20 major deregulatory actions undertaken by the Trump Administration are expected to save American consumers and businesses over $220 billion per year.
- Signed 16 pieces of deregulatory legislation that will result in a $40 billion increase in annual real incomes.
Fair and Reciprocal Trade
Secured historic trade deals to defend American workers.
- Immediately withdrew from the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
- Ended the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and replaced it with the brand new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
- The USMCA contains powerful new protections for American manufacturers, auto-makers, farmers, dairy producers, and workers.
- The USMCA is expected to generate over $68 billion in economic activity and potentially create over 550,000 new jobs over ten years.
- Signed an executive order making it government policy to Buy American and Hire American, and took action to stop the outsourcing of jobs overseas.
- Negotiated with Japan to slash tariffs and open its market to $7 billion in American agricultural products and ended its ban on potatoes and lamb.
- Over 90 percent of American agricultural exports to Japan now receive preferential treatment, and most are duty-free.
- Negotiated another deal with Japan to boost $40 billion worth of digital trade.
- Renegotiated the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, doubling the cap on imports of American vehicles and extending the American light truck tariff.
- Reached a written, fully-enforceable Phase One trade agreement with China on confronting pirated and counterfeit goods, and the protection of American ideas, trade secrets, patents, and trademarks.
- China agreed to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of United States exports and opened market access for over 4,000 American facilities to exports while all tariffs remained in effect.
- Achieved a mutual agreement with the European Union (EU) that addresses unfair trade practices and increases duty-free exports by 180 percent to $420 million.
- Secured a pledge from the EU to eliminate tariffs on American lobster – the first United States-European Union negotiated tariff reduction in over 20 years.
- Scored a historic victory by overhauling the Universal Postal Union, whose outdated policies were undermining American workers and interests.
- Engaged extensively with trade partners like the EU and Japan to advance reforms to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- Issued a first-ever comprehensive report on the WTO Appellate Body’s failures to comply with WTO rules and interpret WTO agreements as written.
- Blocked nominees to the WTO’s Appellate Body until WTO Members recognize and address longstanding issues with Appellate Body activism.
- Submitted 5 papers to the WTO Committee on Agriculture to improve Members’ understanding of how trade policies are implemented, highlight areas for improved transparency, and encourage members to maintain up-to-date notifications on market access and domestic support.
Top knots on a man are an abomination.
Took strong actions to confront unfair trade practices and put America First.
Historic support for American farmers.
- Imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese goods to protect American jobs and stop China’s abuses under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
- Directed an all-of-government effort to halt and punish efforts by the Communist Party of China to steal and profit from American innovations and intellectual property.
- Imposed tariffs on foreign aluminum and foreign steel to protect our vital industries and support our national security.
- Approved tariffs on $1.8 billion in imports of washing machines and $8.5 billion in imports of solar panels.
- Blocked illegal timber imports from Peru.
- Took action against France for its digital services tax that unfairly targets American technology companies.
- Launched investigations into digital services taxes that have been proposed or adopted by 10 other countries.
- Successfully negotiated more than 50 agreements with countries around the world to increase foreign market access and boost exports of American agriculture products, supporting more than 1 million American jobs.
- Authorized $28 billion in aid for farmers who have been subjected to unfair trade practices – fully funded by the tariffs paid by China.
- China lifted its ban on poultry, opened its market to beef, and agreed to purchase at least $80 billion of American agricultural products in the next two years.
- The European Union agreed to increase beef imports by 180 percent and opened up its market to more imports of soybeans.
- South Korea lifted its ban on American poultry and eggs, and agreed to provide market access for record exports of American rice.
- Argentina lifted its ban on American pork.
- Brazil agreed to increase wheat imports by $180 million a year and raised its quotas for purchases of United States ethanol.
- Guatemala and Tunisia opened up their markets to American eggs.
- Won tariff exemptions in Ecuador for wheat and soybeans.
- Suspended $817 million in trade preferences for Thailand under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program due to its failure to adequately provide reasonable market access for American pork products.
- The amount of food stamps redeemed at farmers markets increased from $1.4 million in May 2020 to $1.75 million in September 2020 – a 50 percent increase over last year.
- Rapidly deployed the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which provided $30 billion in support to farmers and ranchers facing decreased prices and market disruption when COVID-19 impacted the food supply chain.
- Authorized more than $6 billion for the Farmers to Families Food Box program, which delivered over 128 million boxes of locally sourced, produce, meat, and dairy products to charity and faith-based organizations nationwide.
- Delegated authorities via the Defense Production Act to protect breaks in the American food supply chain as a result of COVID-19.
American Energy Independence
Unleashed America’s oil and natural gas potential.
Increased access to our country’s abundant natural resources in order to achieve energy independence.
- For the first time in nearly 70 years, the United States has become a net energy exporter.
- The United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.
- Natural gas production reached a record-high of 34.9 quads in 2019, following record high production in 2018 and in 2017.
- The United States has been a net natural gas exporter for three consecutive years and has an export capacity of nearly 10 billion cubic feet per day.
- Withdrew from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Agreement.
- Canceled the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan, and replaced it with the new Affordable Clean Energy rule.
- Approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
- Opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to oil and gas leasing.
- Repealed the last administration’s Federal Coal Leasing Moratorium, which prohibited coal leasing on Federal lands.
- Reformed permitting rules to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and speed approval for mines.
- Fixed the New Source Review permitting program, which punished companies for upgrading or repairing coal power plants.
- Fixed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) steam electric and coal ash rules.
- The average American family saved $2,500 a year in lower electric bills and lower prices at the gas pump.
- Signed legislation repealing the harmful Stream Protection Rule.
- Reduced the time to approve drilling permits on public lands by half, increasing permit applications to drill on public lands by 300 percent.
- Expedited approval of the NuStar’s New Burgos pipeline to export American gasoline to Mexico.
- Streamlined Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal permitting and allowed long-term LNG export authorizations to be extended through 2050.
- The United States is now among the top three LNG exporters in the world.
- Increased LNG exports five-fold since January 2017, reaching an all-time high in January 2020.
- LNG exports are expected to reduce the American trade deficit by over $10 billion.
- Granted more than 20 new long-term approvals for LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries.
- The development of natural gas and LNG infrastructure in the United States is providing tens of thousands of jobs, and has led to the investment of tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure.
- There are now 6 LNG export facilities operating in the United States, with 2 additional export projects under construction.
- The amount of nuclear energy production in 2019 was the highest on record, through a combination of increased capacity from power plant upgrades and shorter refueling and maintenance cycles.
- Prevented Russian energy coercion across Europe through various lines of effort, including the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation, civil nuclear deals with Romania and Poland, and opposition to Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
- Issued the Presidential Permit for the A2A railroad between Canada and Alaska, providing energy resources to emerging markets.
- Renewable energy production and consumption both reached record highs in 2019.
- Enacted policies that helped double the amount of electricity generated by solar and helped increase the amount of wind generation by 32 percent from 2016 through 2019.
- Accelerated construction of energy infrastructure to ensure American energy producers can deliver their products to the market.
- Cut red tape holding back the construction of new energy infrastructure.
- Authorized ethanol producers to sell E15 year-round and allowed higher-ethanol gasoline to be distributed from existing pumps at filling stations.
- Ensured greater transparency and certainty in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.
- Negotiated leasing capacity in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Australia, providing American taxpayers a return on this infrastructure investment.
- Signed an executive order directing Federal agencies to work together to diminish the capability of foreign adversaries to target our critical electric infrastructure.
- Reformed Section 401 of the Clean Water Act regulation to allow for the curation of interstate infrastructure.
- Resolved the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil crisis during COVID-19 by getting OPEC, Russia, and others to cut nearly 10 million barrels of production a day, stabilizing world oil prices.
- Directed the Department of Energy to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to mitigate market volatility caused by COVID-19.
Investing in America’s Workers and Families
Affordable and high-quality Child Care for American workers and their families.
Advanced apprenticeship career pathways to good-paying jobs.
- Doubled the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $2,000 per child and expanded the eligibility for receiving the credit.
- Nearly 40 million families benefitted from the child tax credit (CTC), receiving an average benefit of $2,200 – totaling credits of approximately $88 billion.
- Signed the largest-ever increase in Child Care and Development Block Grants – expanding access to quality, affordable child care for more than 800,000 low-income families.
- Secured an additional $3.5 billion in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help families and first responders with child care needs.
- Created the first-ever paid family leave tax credit for employees earning $72,000 or less.
- Signed into law 12-weeks of paid parental leave for Federal workers.
- Signed into law a provision that enables new parents to withdraw up to $5,000 from their retirement accounts without penalty when they give birth to or adopt a child.
Advanced women’s economic empowerment.
- Expanded apprenticeships to more than 850,000 and established the new Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship programs in new and emerging fields.
- Established the National Council for the American Worker and the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board.
- Over 460 companies have signed the Pledge to America’s Workers, committing to provide more than 16 million job and training opportunities.
- Signed an executive order that directs the Federal government to replace outdated degree-based hiring with skills-based hiring.
- Included women’s empowerment for the first time in the President’s 2017 National Security Strategy.
- Signed into law key pieces of legislation, including the Women, Peace, and Security Act and the Women Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act.
- Launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative – the first-ever whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment that has reached 24 million women worldwide.
- Established an innovative new W-GDP Fund at USAID.
- Launched the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) with 13 other nations.
- Announced a $50 million donation on behalf of the United States to We-Fi providing more capital to women-owned businesses around the world.
- Released the first-ever Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security, which focused on increasing women’s participation to prevent and resolve conflicts.
- Launched the W-GDP 2x Global Women’s Initiative with the Development Finance Corporation, which has mobilized more than $3 billion in private sector investments over three years.
Can you give examples? The 4 listed were theft, misogyny, xenophobia, and dishonesty.But it has proven to have a very negative affect.
1) TraitorDo you support Donald Trump for president in 2024? Why, or why not?
I've watched it. The man is revealed as the absolute filth he is. Although I already knew that!I’m just going to put this here.
I know it is long, and the very people who need to watch it are the people least likely to. But there it is.
Leaving aside the "Art of the Steal" fraud pending the trial outcome, and his attempt to steal the election (which you no doubt applaud), two that come to mind would be*Theft- I’m not aware of any stealing he did while president that affected the country in a negative way, perhaps you know of something?
And how did the charity issue hurt the country? BTW Biden and many other politicians mishandled classified documents as wellLeaving aside the "Art of the Steal" fraud pending the trial outcome, and his attempt to steal the election (which you no doubt applaud), two that come to mind would be
If I was caught stealing from a charity, whether it directly effects my employer or not, would be irrelevant, I would be instantly asked to hand in my notice or be sacked for conduct which could reflect poorly on the company.And how did the charity issue hurt the country?