Thread In Which We Discuss Trump Admin Policy & Give Trump Props

  • Thread starter Thread starter CFordUNC
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 286
  • Views: 6K
  • Politics 
nycfan said:
Inflation in December ticked up. No fair way to hang that on Trump.
Click to expand...
With all due respect, nyc, this is wrong. There's no fair way NOT to hang that inflation tick on Trump.

Of all macroeconomic indicators, inflation is the one most influenced by expectations. In fact, there are macroeconomic models that attribute inflation to nothing BUT expectations. Moreover, some models -- I think they no longer have any currency, but circulated in the 1980s -- indicated such an important role for market psychology that the prescription was for the Fed basically to lie about what it was doing. That has never been fed policy and the relative success of the "radical transparency" policies of the Fed in the 1990s and later (the one good thing Greenspan did) has shut the door on the "fool the people" concept. But the point is: economists think that inflation is about expectations.

And that's why central banks are so, so, so protective of their "credibility." And we've seen how that works in the immaculate disinflation of the past two years. Some observers*** were predicting that disinflation would require economic disruption and a substantial drop in growth. But it didn't, right? And that's largely because the interest rates weren't necessarily working through channels like consumer debt, reduced economic activity. It's because the rate increases were working through the channels of expectations. Those other channels have to be there for the expectations channel to function, but once the expectation channel functions, that's the main vehicle for price stability or instability.

So when Trump comes along and babbles about tariffs, it caused the fed to be like, "eh, we maybe can't cut rates as we had hoped." Doing so would have been a loss of credibility. In other words, Trump's tariff talk took us to a different set of expectations, one that is inherently inflationary.

*** We had that exchange a bit ago when you said that economists projected a recession with 100% confidence, and I said that I don't recall economists saying that, and you came back with a news article about 100% of economists, etc. It was a funny exchange. But Krugman is a prominent economist and he NEVER predicted a recession. I think the mixup was that the articles you were citing were talking about economic forecasters, whereas I took the statement about economists to include academics like Krugman, Chetty, Zucman or Acemoglu.

Anyway the forecasters are using empirically tuned models and aren't really relevant to a basic theoretical discussion.
 
CFordUNC said:
Completely agree with you. Deport any illegal immigrants who commit crimes, post haste. No argument from me whatsoever there. I'm almost certain that the Biden administration did just that, as well. I just wish we'd leave the folks alone who are here to work hard, who pay taxes (and receive virtually no benefit from paying taxes by virtue of being non-citizens), and who comprise the backbone of our economy by doing a whole lot of important jobs that most of the rest of us don't want to do.
Click to expand...
yes.

been thinking about this lately, there have been crews laying fiber optic cable all throughout my neighborhood for the last few days and at least 2/3 of the guys have been latino. i don't know anything about their immigration statuses but they're doing important work, i hope they don't get kicked out of the country.
 
Ramrouser said:
You would too if faced with a conviction rate of 97.3% in the DC circuit for J6 defendants and face the possibility of even greater prison sentences.

You guys have a bind spot for a number of the J6ers who literally walked into the Capital for a few minutes; destroyed nothing; and then left. Regular folks who faced the substantial weight of the FBI and DOJ in pursing felony charges - and improper charges in the case of 8 USC 1512. You only focus on the cop beaters which virtually no one defends.
Click to expand...
Nobody was charged with a felony for walking into the Capitol, lingering, and then leaving. They were charged with misdemeanor offenses. In fact the majority of J6 prosecutions -- 68% -- were misdemeanors. Of the 327 people who pled guilty to felonies, more than 300 were charged with assault on an officer or impeding an officer. I'm guessing the remaining pled guilty to conspiracy charges.

www.lawfaremedia.org

The High-Water Mark of the Jan. 6 Prosecutions

On the fourth anniversary of the attack, 1,583 have been arrested and 1,270 convicted. Now how many will be pardoned?
www.lawfaremedia.org www.lawfaremedia.org

It's hilarious when you accuse others of being "bind" given that you haven't the faintest idea about what actually happened and are forming your views based on misinformation.
 
ZenMode said:
In all honesty, those people are lucky. I know off multiple companies that are requiring at least partial return to work and they aren't offering crap if the employee doesn't want to return.

If my employer offered me 8 months pay to quit, I'd have a hard time not taking it.
Click to expand...
You don’t seem to understand the offer
 
Ramrouser said:
We need to get to the bottom of why we are woefully short of qualified traffic controllers. This is a life and death issue.
Click to expand...
When was the last time there was a commercial airline crash that could be blamed on air traffic controller error? i'd say those guys have a pretty good record. Stellar, in fact. Not sure where you're getting woefully short from, but based on the results, i.e., no midair collisions or other mishaps attributable to the controllers, there's no question that they've been qualified...
 
Ramrouser said:
Responding to the OP:

1. Like most Republicans, I applaud most of the pardons for the peaceful J6ers and the pro life protestors. I believe pardoning the violent protestors who attacked police officers was a mistake. It appears Trump grew impatient in looking at the cases on an individual basis.

2. I agree with Trump's larger point that we need to remove DEI from the hiring of traffic controllers. An investigation will likely determine that for years the FAA has resisted hiring white controllers in order to promote DEI. We need to get to the bottom of why we are woefully short of qualified traffic controllers. This is a life and death issue. I strongly disagree with the President in bringing up this issue in the initial press conference.

3. I'm opposed to tariffs and believe all countries benefit from free trade. On the other hand, Trump is correct in that other countries impose tariffs on the US protecting foreign interests. I don't mind if he uses the threat of tariffs as a leverage for better deals or temporarily impose tariffs on other nations for the same reason. I oppose permanent, long term tariffs as i will damage the economy.

4. I disagree with the statement that Trump panders to Putin. While he speaks favorably of Putin on occasion, in practice he's been rather tough on Russia. It remains to be seen if he can broker a peace plan in Ukraine with his negotiating style but I'm willing to give him some space to do so. He is tough on our European allies in his never ending goal of forcing them to contribute more to NATO and to provide a greater share of the aid to Ukraine for their own defense. I don't care if he hurts their feelings employing a bit of "tough love" on them. No Western European country is going to going to break from being an ally of the US and we're never going to withdraw from NATO.
Click to expand...
As a point to number 2, why does that come across as to say that if white people are not the focus then there is an issue?

Diversity doesn't leave out white people, neither does inclusion. The point of diversity and inclusion is to include all cultures and to understand and appreciate what different cultures bring to society and business.

Maybe it's the equity part that there is an issue with. So many seem to see this as a zero sum game, where if another group rises then the current top group must fall. That not true. We can raise standards and opportunities for everyone, there isn't some imaginary cap.

I will say that if an individual DEI program is set up wrong or functioning more as a quota system, then that one can be addressed. But I hate the way trump lumps them all together as bad. His rhetoric pumps up and emboldenes the racist. If he were to be tactful and also admit there is a spectrum and that some programs are very good, then it would be much more acceptable. But he doesn't. He divides and takes the "I'm right about everything" approach.
 
Okay, a big L for the tariff talk is now a massive L.

Is now the time the “yall are idiots for not knowing this is just a negotiation tactic!” eat crow, or do they pretend this is what they wanted all along?

This by itself should make any true conservative regret voting for Trump.
 
Does anyone know what he hopes to accomplish with these tariffs beyond dangerous posturing? What is the goal?
 
UNCatTech said:
As a point to number 2, why does that come across as to say that if white people are not the focus then there is an issue?

Diversity doesn't leave out white people, neither does inclusion. The point of diversity and inclusion is to include all cultures and to understand and appreciate what different cultures bring to society and business.

Maybe it's the equity part that there is an issue with. So many seem to see this as a zero sum game, where if another group rises then the current top group must fall. That not true. We can raise standards and opportunities for everyone, there isn't some imaginary cap.

I will say that if an individual DEI program is set up wrong or functioning more as a quota system, then that one can be addressed. But I hate the way trump lumps them all together as bad. His rhetoric pumps up and emboldenes the racist. If he were to be tactful and also admit there is a spectrum and that some programs are very good, then it would be much more acceptable. But he doesn't. He divides and takes the "I'm right about everything" approach.
Click to expand...
Look, I just want the most qualified individuals hired to be ATC and they need to be fully staffed. Why limit or restrict any quantity of any race or sex from consideration.
 
farce© said:
Does anyone know what he hopes to accomplish with these tariffs beyond dangerous posturing? What is the goal?
Click to expand...
Well, if we take him literally, it's to replace the IRS with the ERS, thus enabling us to end the income tax completely.

I'm also holding out a sliver of hope Trump is a plant from an ultra-liberal Mars colony intended to destroy the Republican Party forever.
 
hedge said:
When was the last time there was a commercial airline crash that could be blamed on air traffic controller error? i'd say those guys have a pretty good record. Stellar, in fact. Not sure where you're getting woefully short from, but based on the results, i.e., no midair collisions or other mishaps attributable to the controllers, there's no question that they've been qualified...
Click to expand...
They've done a tremendous job, particularly if they've been understaffed. Apparently, there have been a lot of near misses at Reagan so it may be that they've been lucky.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top