Month: December 2018

Trump brings lies and politics to Iraq

It is good that Trump finally visited American troops in a war zone.  I commend him for this.  However, as usual he told lies and brought politics into what should have been a non-political event.

Trump lied about how long it has been since troops got a pay raise and how much it was.  Does the dotard think they don’t know the truth about their paychecks?  Who is he fooling – I guess it’s his cult.  He has told these lies many times before.

Trump also bashed Democrats.  Totally inappropriate.

He signed MAGA hats.  That is totally inappropriate, too.  I blame Trump and the military for this one.

Sad!

 

More polls – Americans don’t want Trump’s wall

Only Republicans want it but those are the only people Trump cares about – his cult members.  Remember, Trump said Mexico would pay for it and that is not happening.

 

Shutdown update 12/27/18 – Trump says most affected employees are Democrats

I think this shutdown will last a long time.  I don’t see any way for both sides to save face and I don’t think Trump likes to compromise.  I think the end will come when the polls show the public overwhelmingly blames one side.  So far, the public blames the Republicans.

Now Trump says (with no basis) that the employees affected are mostly Democrats.  He earlier said that he would use shutdown money for the wall.  I would not be surprised if he tries to prevent furloughed employees from ultimately being paid.  He is priming his base for this by saying the employees are Democrats anyway.

There Are More Republicans in Federal Government Than You Might Think

Trump tariff update 12/25/18

more bad news

Sure there’s more tax revenue but consumers bear the brunt of the tariff when they pay more for imports.

 

Trump is partly responsible for the stock market crash

One thing the market hates is uncertainty and that is a main feature of the Trump years.  Nobody knows what he will do.  His tax cut temporarily juiced stocks but the effect wore off and now we are stuck with a much bigger deficit.  His tariff has caused problems too.  Trump took credit when the market did well but accepts no blame when it falls.  He is wrong to attack the Federal Reserve – this should not be political.

Mnuchin didn’t help either.  What is going on?

Remember, Trump sold his stocks so he won’t be hurt by this.

 

Shutdown issues

When I was a federal employee, I was part of two major shutdowns.

The first time, I was considered non-essential and only worked the last couple of days before everyone went back to work.  It doesn’t make you feel good about yourself to know that your employer thinks you are not essential.  It wasn’t a vacation in the sense that you couldn’t go anywhere – you may have to go to work the next day.  I am not complaining – I got paid for time I didn’t work and I am sure many private sector workers would not have if their business was shut down temporarily.  I am fortunate that I didn’t live paycheck to paycheck but this was a hardship for some people – rich people in Congress don’t understand this.

The second time, my agency got smart and a much higher percentage of employees was essential.  I worked the whole time and that’s fine.  That’s what I was there to do.

There are some good points below.

  1. Congress is not required to pay employees who were furloughed.  They always have in the past though.  Contractor employees are screwed because they don’t get paid directly by the government.
  2. Trump’s tweet that employees said they wanted the government to stay closed is almost certainly a lie.  We had no way to contact the president.  I guess they can tweet at him which was not an option in the old days.
  3. Is Trump going to stiff the furloughed employees?  Who knows what he will do.

Trump’s tweet about a wall contract is almost certainly a lie

This is nonsense.  As a retired federal employee, I am well aware of the complex government contracting process to make sure bidding is fair.  You don’t just award a contract.  I assume this is all a lie.