Trump Is Surrounded by Criminals
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-fall-of-donald-trump-final-days.html
“The legal ring surrounding him is collectively producing a historic indictment of his endemic corruption and criminality.” JONATHAN CHAIT
Bankrupting
America
|
Posted: Apr 08, 2020 12:01 AM
Two weeks
ago, President Donald Trump signed the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history:
more than $2 trillion.
For once, both Republicans and Democrats agreed. The Senate
voted 96-0. The House didn't even bother with a formal vote.
At the White House, a reporter asked the president, pointing
out that the bill includes $25 million for the Kennedy Center, "Shouldn't
that money be going to masks?"
"The Kennedy Center has suffered greatly because nobody
can go there," Trump responded. "They do need some funding. And look
-- that was a Democrat request. That was not my request. But you got to give
them something."
"Something" they got. The bill includes $25 million
for Congressional salaries, $50 million for an Institute of Museum and Library
Services and lots of other
wasteful things.
Only a few politicians were wary. Rep. Thomas Massie
complained that he wasn't even allowed to speak against the bill.
Rep. Alex Mooney asked: "How do you pay for it? Borrow
it from China, borrow it from Russia? Are we going to print the money?"
Those are good questions.
Our national debt is already $24 trillion. Now it will jump,
percentage-wise, to where Greece's debt was shortly before unemployment there
hit 27%.
Greece was bailed out by
the European Union. But the United States can't be bailed out by others.
How will
we pay off our debt? That's the topic of my
new video.
There are really three options:
1. Raise taxes.
2. Print money.
3. Default.
Let's consider each:
1. Raising taxes on rich people is popular. Even Michael
Bloomberg wants "higher taxes on billionaires" like him.
But raising taxes on the rich often kills the wealth and jobs
some rich people create. And it won't solve our debt problem. Even if we took
all the billionaires' wealth -- reducing their net worth to zero -- it would
cover only an eighth of our debt.
2. Some on the left now say, "Don't worry about debt, just
print money!"
This belief, called Modern Monetary Theory, destroys lives.
Zimbabwe's dictator tried it. Eager to spend more money on
wars, higher salaries for government officials and luxury for himself, he had
his government print more money. But that meant more money pursued the same
goods. That caused explosive inflation. Soon, a $2 bag of onions cost $30
million Zimbabwean dollars.
The more money the government printed, the more inflation
there was. They eventually even issued 100 trillion dollar bills. Today those
100 trillion bills are worth about 40 cents.
Inflation wrecked lives in 1920s Germany, Argentina and
Russia, and in modern-day Venezuela, too.
3. America could simply refuse to pay our debt. But that
would betray everyone who invested in America, and bankrupt Americans who
bought Treasury Bonds.
Defaulting
on your debt wrecks economies, too. When Argentina defaulted, unemployment rose
to 21%.
Once you're deep in debt, no option is good.
How did we get to this point?
Presidents have talked about the dangers of debt for decades.
But they didn't deal with it; they just talked about it.
"We have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our
future and our children's future," warned Ronald Reagan. "We must act
today to preserve tomorrow."
Bill Clinton said, "We've got to deal with this big long
term debt problem."
Barack Obama called driving up the national debt
"irresponsible" and then proceeded to do exactly that.
Donald Trump complained that Obama "doubled" the
nation's debt. But now, under Trump's presidency and the new CARES Act, our
debt will grow even faster.
This will not end well.
So far, the deficit spending hasn't done enormous harm. But
it will. You can stretch a rubber band only so far, until it breaks.
Our debt will wreck our children's lives.
Yet, today politicians mostly talk about spending more.
John Stossel is author of "Give
Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the
Scourge of the Liberal Media." For other Creators Syndicate writers and
cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.
Trump Is Surrounded by Criminals
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-fall-of-donald-trump-final-days.html
“The legal ring
surrounding him is collectively producing a historic indictment of his endemic
corruption and criminality.” JONATHAN CHAIT
TRUMPERNOMICS FOR THE
RICH…. and his parasitic family!
Report:
Trump Says He Doesn't Care About the National Debt Because the Crisis Will Hit
After He's Gone
"Trump's
alleged comment is maddening and disheartening,
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible
and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in power is going to do a damn thing about it."
TRUMPERNOMICS:
THE SUPER RICH APPLAUD
TWITTER’S TRUMP’S TAX CUTS FOR THE SUPER RICH!
"The tax overhaul would mean an unprecedented windfall for the
super-rich, on top
of the fact that virtually all income gains during the period of
the supposed
recovery from the financial crash of 2008 have gone to the top 1
percent income
bracket."
Why do Republicans want to bail out a
top Democrat funder?
BECAUSE BILLIONAIRES AND BANKSTERS
ARE ALL
DEMOCRAT BRIBESTERS!
A $50 Billion Airline Bailout for Warren Buffett
Why do Republicans want to bail out a top Democrat funder?
March 23, 2020
Daniel
Greenfield
In March, as the Wuhan Flu was
taking off in America, the Oracle of Omaha began buying airline stocks.
Specifically, one of the wealthiest men in the country increased his stake in
Delta Airlines to 11%.
Warren Buffett wasn’t oblivious
to the coronavirus. The University of Nebraska Medical Center, not far from the
black gated mansion of the billionaire, was on the front lines of fighting the
outbreak. Passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship were being treated 5
minutes from his house.
What was Warren Buffett
thinking when he shoved $45 million more in good money after bad?
Berkshire Hathaway now owns 11%
of Delta Airlines, and between 8% and 10% of United Airlines, Southwest
Airlines, and American Airlines. When you’re squeezed into a 17-inch airline
seat, it’s because a major funder of Democrat political causes is extracting
maximum value from his investment.
And now Airlines for America,
whose major members include American, Delta, United, and Southwest, along with
lesser airlines, want a $50 billion bailout. That includes $25 billion in
grants and $25 billion in loans and tax relief. While the airlines warn about
an economic catastrophe, Buffett isn’t worried.
Warren Buffett is no stranger
to bailouts. In 2010, he penned a fake folksy New York Times op-ed thanking “Uncle
Sam” from his nephew “Warren”. Later that year, he became a key propaganda
figure in Obama’s push to raise taxes. By the winter of the year, Obama had
placed the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the neck of the man who had
fundraised for him and acted as his financial adviser.
As Peter Schweitzer noted, “It was only
on September 23 that he became a highly visible player in the drama, investing
$5 billion in Goldman Sachs, which was overleveraged and short on cash…
Berkshire Hathaway received preferred stock with a 10 percent dividend yield
and an attractive option to buy another $5 billion in stock at $115 a share… As
he admitted on CNBC at the time, ‘If I didn't think the government was going to
act, I wouldn't be doing anything this week.’”
Buffett seems to think that the
government will act and bail out the airlines. Again. And this time for a lot more than the $15 billion
price tag of the airline bailout that passed after September 11.
By 2009, Berkshire Hathaway had invested $26 billion in eight
financial companies, including Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America,
which benefited from around $100 billion in TARP money.
There’s no question that the
Democrat billionaire is a very sharp investor. But there’s no reason for
taxpayers to keep subsidizing his investments. As small businesses are forced
to shut down and millions of people are put out of work, should they really be
helping Warren Buffett get even richer?
Just as during the bailout,
Buffett is betting that the government is going to back his investment.
If the major airlines were
really about to go down, Buffett would be trying to get everything out, instead
of getting in deeper. The billionaire is betting that Berkshire Hathaway will
emerge in a stronger position after the bailouts and the surge of optimism that
will follow the lifting of the coronavirus curfews.
He’s almost certainly right.
But if he wants to profit from
the turnaround and the potential takeover of an airline, he should do the heavy
lifting on his own. Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on $125 billion in cash.
But why cash out his treasury bills when the D.C. swamp will be happy enough to
do most of the heavy lifting for him.
Where will those
taxpayer-funded profits go?
In 2014, the Oracle of Omaha
predicted that Hillary Clinton will win. “I will bet money on it, and I don’t
do that easily,” he boasted.
Republicans lobbying for an
airline bailout are literally fighting to secure taxpayer money that will then
be used to fund their political opponents. It’s an insane act of fiscal
political suicide.
Beyond political donations,
Buffett has spent millions covertly funding abortion activism. Due to his
obsessive secrecy, the full scope of his abortion funding is unknown, but the
Buffett Foundation donated almost $4 billion to abortion causes,
including $674.5 million to
Planned Parenthood.
It’s a revelation that clashes
with his folksy image and invocation of small-town values. But behind the
Garrison Keillor routine, Buffett is just another version of George Soros with
an American accent.
That’s not just rhetoric.
At the heart of Soros' power
over American politics is the Democracy Alliance, a club of powerful
organizations funneling money into transforming this country. The Democracy
Alliance's core partners include the NoVo Foundation, run
by Buffett’s son and daughter-in-law, and funded by $150 million from the
Oracle of Omaha.
NoVo funds hate groups like Van
Jones' Color of Change, which plotted to defund the David Horowitz Freedom
Center, along with the Rockefeller Family Fund, the Tides Foundation, and the
National People’s Action.
That last donation is especially interesting considering
NPA’s role in creating the Community Reinvestment Act which forced banks
to dispense mortgages to insolvent borrowers. This, as the Freedom Center’s
Discover the Networks notes, “ranks high among the primary causes of the 2008
financial crisis.” That’s both fascinating and disturbing considering Buffett’s
links to that crisis.
Buffett avoided the subprime
crisis while profiting massively from the resulting disaster.
Putting money in Buffett’s
pocket will mean more cash for Biden, it will mean more Democrats in the House
and the Senate, more abortions, and more power for George Soros’ Democracy
Alliance.
So why are Republicans ready to
make concessions to Democrats in exchange for the privilege of electing more
Democrats with a Buffett bailout? Even if one were to argue that a bailout of
the airline industry may be necessary, why would Republicans lobby to cut their
own throats?
When the wall isn’t funded, how
can the GOP justify a second billion-dollar bailout of an industry that will
then just turn around and cut another 2 inches from the cramped seats of the
taxpayers who bailed them out?
CCP Virus Exploding Federal
Deficit Even as Comptroller General Warns of ‘Urgent’ Need for Debt Reduction
March 20, 2020 Updated: March 22, 2020
WASHINGTON—There were only rumors of a
possible $1 trillion economic stimulus package on March 12 when U.S.
Comptroller General Gene Dodaro urgently warned the Senate Budget Committee
that federal spending and debt are on
an “unsustainable” path.
“I am concerned because our debt-to-gross
domestic product (GDP) ratio as of the end of the last fiscal year was 79
percent. That’s the highest it’s been since World War II, when we hit the
historic high of 106 percent,” Dodaro said.
“So we are very heavily leveraged in debt
at a time when we are going to be facing a steady annual deficit of a trillion
dollars a year for as far as the eye can see.”
He was referring to the fact the national
debt now exceeds $23 trillion ($122 trillion if unfunded obligations such as
those of Social Security and Medicare are included).
That $23 trillion currently equals 109
percent of the 2019 GDP of $21.4 trillion. But interest costs more each year as
the national debt goes up and the Government Accountability Office
projects those costs to exceed total non-defense discretionary federal spending
by 2024, go beyond defense spending the next year, and blow past Medicare in
2042 and Social Security in 2046.
“This is why we believe the current path is
unsustainable,” Dodaro said.
Five days later, amid an intensifying
worldwide crisis occasioned by the CCP virus, Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that President Donald Trump wants Congress to pass an economic
stimulus package that will cost at least $1 trillion.
“It is a big number. This is a very unique
situation in this economy,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “We put a
proposal on the table that would inject $1 trillion into the economy. That is
on top of the $300 billion from the IRS deferrals.
“Now let me just say, this is a combination
of loans, this a combination of direct checks to individuals, this is a
combination of creating liquidity for small businesses.
“You can think of this as business
interruption money. The president is determined to put money back into this
economy to protect hard-working Americans and small businesses.”
About half of the funds will go to
individuals and families based on reported income from 2018, with most of the
other half being loans made available to corporations and small businesses
primarily for the purpose of keeping payrolls as intact as possible during the
crisis.
Details are still being worked out in
negotiations between the Trump White House and congressional leaders from both
parties.
Asked by a reporter if Congress should be
concerned about rising deficits, Mnuchin demurred, saying: “I think Congress
right now should be concerned about American workers and small businesses. You
know interest rates are incredibly low right now, so there’s very little cost
of borrowing this money, and, as I’ve said, in different times, we’ll fix the
deficit, but this is not the time to worry about it.”
Even so, the $1 trillion stimulus package
raised eyebrows, especially as more details became known. The budget committee
has asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for an assessment of the
package’s impact on the government’s financial health, according to a senior
Senate aide who asked not to be identified.
The conservative Heritage Foundation
released an analysis warning that “any action that Congress takes should be targeted,
temporary, and linked directly to the coronavirus epidemic in order to address
the source of the economic shock, while limiting any political abuse that can
develop in a moment of crisis.”
“Unfortunately, the Senate’s coronavirus
bill, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, misses this mark
by including special benefits to specific industries that will exceed $200
billion,” it said.
Truth in Accounting President Sheila Weinberg told The
Epoch Times that it appears “the federal government is going to
cover trillions of dollars of other losses and costs, including those for
business interruption, personal income loss, and health care costs.”
“This type of coverage is what insurance
companies do, but not at this scale,” Weinberg said.
“The federal government requires insurance
companies to have reserves to meet their customers’ benefits. Since the federal
government has become a multitrillion-dollar insurance company, it should have
reserves to cover the costs of crisis. Instead, the government is $23 trillion
in debt (plus another $100 trillion for unfunded Social Security and Medicare
benefits).”
The Epoch Times refers to the novel
coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the
Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread
throughout China and create a global pandemic.
Contact Mark Tapscott at
Mark.Tapscott@epochtimes.nyc
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