Three "Deal Breakers" with Donald Trump's Positions

Donald Trump was interviewed extensively on Meet the Press this morning.  If it were a term paper on America’s problem I’d give him a polite C minus.  He’s got the trade thing correctly, and he has a point that these sanctuary cities for aliens have spawned a certain amount of crime.   My worries about excessive immigration center on the depressed wage base- - and NOT on this so called “cultural contamination” Pat Buchannon talks endlessly about.  And as to his idea of “just taking the oil away from ISIS so they can’t make money on it”, I’d do that too, if there were a way to do it.  His point is well taken that we have sunk an awful lot of money into making Iraq “whole” and haven’t seen any political dividends.  As President I’d consider it.  And I am in agreement with him about abortion.  I think we as a society need those three exceptions of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.  Many people across party lines admire a rich person who isn’t politically tied to a donor and can say anything he likes.  He’s his own man.  He’s fearless.  This is a good thing.  But there are three “deal breakers” with Trump.   The first is changing the fourteenth amendment so that people born in the US can no longer for this reason alone be regarded as American citizens.  This opens up a whole constitutional can of worms.  And I strongly disagree with him on saying that he would not raise the minimum wage above the national current rate of $7.50 or wherever it is.  This is not a “living wage”.  And third he says with Iran, even if Iran did everything we could conceivably ask of them in terms of concessions and even gave back the four hostages, Trump said he would NEVER pay Iran the money that this deal will give them.  Trump added that if the US and the five nations are bound in a contract with Iran, that “He knows how to break a bad contract”.  I’d be interested to know how.

Lindsey Graham is the man you want if you want to go the military security rout.  He sounds good on a number of issues in the sense of being articulate.   John Kasech repeated the Gingrich lie in saying that Clinton CUT taxes and eliminated the deficit.  In truth those brave democrats who voted FOR a major tax hike- - walked the plank for the President.  And in November they were turned out of office, but we as a society reaped the benefits of their courage.  TV news outlets have gone down the horrific list of deductions and things that would “go away” if we didn’t extend the Bush tax cuts.  We as a people paid more taxes under Clinton than under either of the Bushes.    O’ Malley wants to curb the excesses of Wall Street and reinstate glass Stiegel that President Clinton abolished. 

On the Today show they talked how President Warren G Harding had an out of wedlock daughter and they proved it with DNA testing.  During his Presidency he was writing multiple page poetry- - some of it quite steamy- - to one woman he was carrying around with, but then fathered a daughter by another woman, who was scorned after the President’s death.  The public didn’t believe her.  Then there was Grover Cleveland.  The saying in 1884 was “Ma, ma, where’s my pa?  Gone to the White house, ha ha.  I thought that George Washington didn’t father any children because he had the mumps.

It was breakfast with the Beatles at nine.  They played improved quality tapes of the concert at Shea Stadium, because some new tapes just cropped up.  They interviewed two people connected with the Shea Stadium concert.  They said it was Sunday night.  I had always had the impression it was Sunday afternoon because I thought some D J was giving a running commentary on just which Beatles song they were playing at the moment.  Perhaps I misunderstood.  John Lennon said the control room of Ed Sullivan looked like the inside of a German Meserschmidt.  John and Paul wanted to hear how the sound had been mixed.  But as I recall John’s microphone wasn’t working for song songs and the vocal on certain songs sounded unbalanced.   My vote for number one song of the day was “What’s New, Pussy Cat?” by Thom Jones, but even then I knew my odds of getting the right answer were slim.  It was “I Got You, Babe”.  Actually, I would have supposed that the number one song would be “Help”.   The Single was at its peak of radio air-play.

PHONEY ECONOMIC RECOVERY:  The government issued their monthly retail sales this past week and four of the biggest department store chains in the country announced their quarterly results. The year over year retail sales increase of 2.4% is pitifully low in an economy that is supposedly in its sixth year of economic growth with a reported unemployment rate of only 5.3%. If all of these jobs have been created, why aren’t retail sales booming?  The year to date numbers are even worse than the year over year numbers. With consumer spending accounting for 70% of our GDP and real inflation running north of 5%, it’s pretty clear most Americans are experiencing a recession, despite the propaganda data circulated by the government and Fed.  If inflation is indeed double the amount of cash sales it would suggest that retail outlets are actually selling LESS.   The chart provided actually indicates that retail sales gains have been steadily declining since 2011.  The only people not experiencing a recession are corporate executives enriching themselves through stock buybacks, Wall Street bankers using free Fed Bucks while rigging the the markets in their favor, politicians and government bureaucrats reaping their bribes from billionaire oligarchs, and the media toadies who dispense the Deep State approved propaganda to keep the ignorant masses dazed, confused, and endlessly distracted by Cecil the Lion, Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, Ferguson, and blood coming out of whatever.   You won’t hear CNBC, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal or any corporate mainstream media outlet reference the fact retail sales growth is at the exact same levels as when recession hit in 2008 and 2001. Their job is to regurgitate the message of economic recovery and confidence in the future, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Retail sales are actually far worse than the 2.4% reported number. Excluding the subprime debt fueled auto sales, retail sales only grew by 1.3% in the last year. The automakers are practically giving vehicles away as their lots are stuffed with inventory. The length of auto loans and the average amount of auto loans are now at all-time highs. The percentage of subprime auto loans is surging to record levels, as defaults begin to rise. The percentage of vehicles being leased is also at an all-time high. To call these “auto sales” strains credibility. These people are either perpetually renting their vehicles or just driving them until the repo man shows up.