Bill Black says what if…
(Dan here… Via Real News Network, Bill Black discusses the what-ifs of President Trump’s policies in a spectacular contrast to current expectations…providing. a jumping off point from what we expect from the way it is framed now. I assume the complex interalationships of the wealthy elites (let us see how the Epstein case unwinds for another aspect) plays an important but not so well known role in this drama. I find his thought his conclusions dismaying if even somewhat accurate.)
BILL BLACK: Sure. The question I ask in the article is why did Trump choose to be so spectacularly unpopular? Because had he done what he promised and had a true middle class tax cut that gave, for example, $5,000 a year to the typical middle class household, he would be spectacularly popular. And almost certainly they would have–the Republicans would have retained control of the House, and quite possibly they would have gained seats in the House. And of course they would have gained seats in the Senate. And Trump would be well positioned for re-election. He would have greatly expanded his base, and he would have paid off to his base, as well. And you know, convinced them that backing him was exactly the right thing.
And that’s the biggest thing. But also, if Trump had done what he promised and had a true infrastructure bill, where he spent $2 trillion on infrastructure, he would have divided the Democratic Party.
Much of the Democratic Party in the Congress would have signed on to him. He could have given the money to counties, cities, and states. So all these heads of governmental units would be eager to say nice things about Trump to get money, and we know how much Trump likes having people say nice things about him. You know, there would be this competition in flattery. It would be incredibly nauseating, but it would be incredibly successful for Trump.
And what would have happened to the economy? If he’d had a real middle class tax cut, if he’d had real infrastructure, the economy would be booming. And there wouldn’t be significant inflation, because you get significant inflation when you are at capacity. It’s when you’re bidding for really scarce real resources that are in significant shortage that you get that kind of inflation. Well, because of the Great Recession, tens of millions of people have withdrawn–over 10 million people–had withdrawn from the labor markets. So we had this unusual capacity, plus the economists saw overwhelmingly that growth was down considerably because of the effects of the recession. So this stimulus had lots of extra capacity that it could have affected, get people back into the workforce, increased productivity, increased middle class wages, increased working class wages. It would have been a win-win-win-win-win-win.
What if he had also been a true champion of lower middle class entitlements. Social Security, medicare and medicaid? All of white America would be willing to turn a blind eye to his racism and xenophobia. The kids in cages would be a minor dust up on The NYT editorial page. His mistake was throwing his lot in with traditional Republican economic orthodoxy.
People are still being played by trump.
There is no chance in the world trump would have done any of these things. And that is without even mentioning that the Rep Seante would never, ever have passed any of these things.
He is lying, racist con man. Has been one his entire life. I just find it depressing that some people are still being played.
Above all, Trump is a narcissist. If he were popular, there would be little reason for the media to talk about him every day.
Arne
i don’t follow the connection between your two thoughts.
i am not sure what a narcissist is… i think it’s a word feminist therapists like to use for the husbands of their female clients.
But it is probably fortunate for us that Trump is what he is or he would have done the things Black suggests and be completely popular and get away with anything he wants. Which seems to be what he wants.. in the way a two year old wants.
On the other hand he may just be the clown distracting us while the R’s go about doing what they want, which might be worse for us.
and after all this time i am pretty sure no one would give a damn about the kids in jail on the border. they don’t seem to be doing anything about it now. or maybe we are just learning there is no longer anything we can do about anything in this democracy.
trump may be a racist, i don’t know. but racism is not the core to his actions. he would do the same if his victims were white. if i remember irish and even german immigrants were not treated so well when they came to this country. he is playing to a base that keeps him (and the R’s) in power. and he is popular enough.
in conflict (Napoleon said war) the moral is to the material as three is to one………….
ilsm
he also said God is on the side with the heaviest artillery.
The Trump Organization runs services such as money laundering and human trafficking. That is what they have done since the 90’s after Trump split from his first wife(who had the business sense) and growth in his businesses collapsed.
Much of Trump’s immigration strategy is based around increasing illegal immigration so bodies for sex trafficking and human trafficking to the global rich are provided. Selling children to childless parents and evangelicals are the heartbeat of this movement down in the pits. Progtards don’t get it and want to mutter dialectics instead. That is huge problem with candidates such as Warren, who rambles dialectics to the nadir. That turns people off.
The obama administration had the foundation of eliminating illegal immigration:
1.increase of deporting immigrants with criminal records
2.Proceed with prosecutions against businesses, eliminating demand
3.Work with countries where migrations are coming from
4.LImit religious missionary trips
In the end, the Obama administration did give serious leeway, but followed this “law” and definitely worked on preventive measures. This is why deportations are higher under Obama and more people are coming here under Trump. Its all planned. Pure and simple. They are getting what they paid for. The lame useless “wall” is cover for the fact Trump Organization would get millions trafficking them through the economic border and satisfy demand as trafficking would go from a billion dollar business to a trillion dollar business over night. Businesses are being ignored and instead it is just those awful people…………….when the Guardian brought up the Evangelicals role in this, they were attacked.
Instead of strengthening the Obama doctrine on immigration and turning it up, we backslid into human trafficking and a bigger body counts. They whine about Venezuela who in contrast has 75% of the world against them, making them almost impossible to sell the only asset they got for food, for a bunch of central american states crooked, providers to the global elite. Governments that need overthrown. Much like with the Middle East, the US needs a complete overhaul in foreign policy.
Bert
Since I agree with you about much of this I have to ask, what evidence do you have about the trafficking? might be dangerous for you to tell me. but stories like this are easy to make up and not easy to get believed.
Some of your sentences are a little hard to follow. give yourself a few minutes to read over them before you send them, thinking about the reader. you will get better. it’s what writers have to do.
words like “progtards” don’t help you sell your case. i am a bit of a progtard myself, but when i try to tell them something they are saying is stupid they throw their used bananas at me. that’s something else writers have to learn.
when i type progtard my computer wants to change it to “prorated” even if i object. beginning to suspect my worst typos are not mine but my computers. i don’t think letting them take over the world is such a good idea.
The answer is obvious. It was never about anyone but him. He has no grasp of policy, no understanding of macro economics, no competence in any subject matter at all but selling himself. Everything he does is instinctual, it is self-preservational, it is acting without any thought at all. In essence, he is a reactionary leader. He is like the salesman who is giving a call and response pitch. That is all he is, a salesman selling himself, nothing else and no one else matters to him.
bert
i know some people who undertake religious missionary trips. i can guarantee they don’t do sex trafficking.
when you start to act as though “some” meant “all” you are starting to be just iike “them.”
Trump does not want to be president so he can govern govern. He just wants to see himself in the news every day. If he did things that made sense, he would not be in the news every day.
If Trump had done all the things he said he would do, he would not be Trump. If the tax cut had been aimed at the middle class, he would not be a Republican. if his most important ‘promises’ were lower taxes and more infrastructure, he would not have been elected.
AS
Is this going to be your new name on Angry Bear?