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.

 

Trump talks about Comey and the wall in Christmas calls with soldiers

This is so inappropriate!

 

Trump had his chance to get his stupid wall

Trump had his chance but the right wing extremists did not want to do anything about undocumented immigrants.  See the sad history of immigration reform below.  I really think Trump does not want immigration reform to be accomplished – it would take away his biggest political issue.  At any rate, he has shown that he is incompetent at making deals.  One of the biggest problems is that nobody knows what he would accept.

 

Trump investigations playlist

These songs were selected primarily for their titles.  Sometimes the chorus applies too.  The verses rarely do.

“I Fought the Law” – The Bobby Fuller Four or the Clash

“A Legal Matter” – The Who

“In the Jailhouse Now” – Jimmie Rodgers or Steve Earle

“Life in Prison” – Merle Haggard or the Byrds

“Stormy” – Classics IV

Another corrupt Trump employee

This is a scam – sounds like they’ll make him work now.