Response . . .

https://www.theredhandfiles.com/how-much-time-do-you-spend-answering-these-questions-

thinking-of-a-response-researching-for-a-factual-where-necessary-response-writing-e

diting-and-moulding-the-response-the-fluidity-of-your-res/

. . . to a random facebook post (love-letter to the current U.S. president . . .


(from various fact-check and other internet sources)
Booming Economy-
Gross Domestic Product, Third Quarter 2019 (Advance Estimate) Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2019. in 2012, when GDP growth similarly dropped to a revised 1.9 percent in the first quarter of the year. That was under former President Barack Obama, so Trump had another opinion on the matter.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Q1 GDP has just been revised down to 1.9% http://1.usa.gov/3hAL The economy is in deep trouble.

African-Americans Back At Work-
Trump did not inherit a mess. Here’s what history will record: More jobs were created in Obama’s last two years (5.1 million) than in Trump’s first two years (4.9 million). Growth in manufacturing employment began in Obama’s second term, when 386,000 jobs were added, and accelerated under Trump.  Black unemployment did reach a record low during the Trump administration: 5.9 percent in May 2018. It currently stands at 6 percent. But many economists view the continued economic growth since the middle of 2009, when Democratic President Barack Obama was in office, as the primary explanation for hiring. More important, there are multiple signs that the racial wealth gap is now worsening and the administration appears to have done little, if anything, to specifically address this challenge. African Americans also had higher income prior to the Trump administration. A black household earned median income of $40,258 in 2017, the latest data available. That’s below a 2000 peak of $42,348, according to the Census Bureau.

American Companies Returning from Overseas-
A report on NBC’s “Today Show” by correspondent Ari Melber concluded that Trump’s impact on new investments and job creation in the U.S. announced recently by several companies has been “very small or nonexistent.” Several auto industry experts we spoke to said the announcements by GM and Ford were in the works before Trump was elected, and were largely market-driven decisions that fit a years-long trend in the industry. Indeed, car companies have been announcing such deals — many of them bigger — for years. As for Lockheed Martin, the jobs aren’t “coming back,” they are being added as part of a larger contract for more F-35 planes.

China Is Paying Attention-
Threatening to buy Greenland certainly did capture the attention of China. Again, how did that benefit U.S. citizens?

Strengthening Israel-
The U.S. president’s hasty decision to withdraw American troops from northern Syria has consequently left Israel reeling from the implications – all of which could put it (Israel) in increased danger.

Freeing Iran from a Devastating Regime-
It would be easy for Iranian leaders to conclude that the goal of U.S. policy toward Iran has nothing to do with changing its regional behavior or renegotiating the Iran nuclear accord — and everything to do with strangling Iran economically to fracture the regime or provoke a massive public uprising that would ultimately lead to the its collapse. And they’d be right.

Delivering on every promise he made-
The Promise: "I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall." Update: Donald Trump stalls on promise to build a wall, have Mexico pay for it.

A Lover of America-
He grabbed an unassuming Old Glory by its stand like a prom date, and gave it a brief, slightly terrifying, slow-dance to "Proud to be an American." In that moment, in a way, the flag was so many of us -- Americans recoiling at the smothering and unwanted advances of an unstable lech. On behalf of the flag, I wanted to shout: "I beg your pardon, sir! Get your hands off of me!"

You See An American Hero-
Without providing specific instances of heroics, one's perception and designation of "Hero" is strictly and totally subjective.

You See A Lover of America-
Regarding 'love', 'fault', 'expectations' and 'fighting the establishment', you have provided nothing of substance. Regarding 'policies', he clearly, as evidenced by his consistent inconsistencies, (see his exhortations on impeachment, Ukraine, Biden, whistleblowers etc) he has NO policies. This presidency is a disaster.

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Bears . . .

. . . repeating . . .

No.	Claim	Fact or Explanation
1	launched an unprecedented economic boom rarely seen before	GDP increased by 4.2% in Q2 of 2018, a high under Trump. Obama surpassed that 4 times during his presidency.
2	created 5.3 million new jobs	Jobs actually increased 4.9 million.
3	added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs	454,000 new manufacturing jobs were added.
4	everyone’ said above would be ‘impossible’ to do	Manufacturing jobs grew at a similar rate under Obama and significantly faster during the 1990s (Clinton and Bush presidencies)
5	nearly 5 million Americans have been ‘lifted off’ food stamps	3.5 million Americans have gotten off food stamps. During Obama’s second term 5 million Americans got off food stamps.
6	passed a massive tax cut for working families	Over 75% of the Trump tax cut went to the wealthy
7	virtually ended the estate tax, or death tax	Only 0.2% of very wealthy Americans pay estate tax
8	U.S. is now the #1 producer of oil and natural gas in the world	This has been true since 2013 during Obama’s second term.
9	our economy is thriving like never before	The economy is not the ‘best’ in history and is currently showing signs of slowing.
10	“I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever”. . . legally	Trump supports a bill which would sharply reduce legal immigration. In 2019 he cut refugee admissions to the lowest level in 49 years.
11	year after year, countless Americans are murdered by criminal illegal aliens	Immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans.
12	San Diego used to have the most illegal border crossings in our country . . . a strong security wall was put in place . . . almost completely ended illegal crossings	The barrier ‘did not have a discernible impact’ on border crossings according to the Congressional Research Service (non-partisan).
13	El Paso used to have extremely high rates of violent crime . . . and considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities	El Paso was never one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S.
14	(after building a barrier) El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country	El Paso had the second-lowest crime rate of cities its size before the barrier.
15	my budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years	Trump’s 2019 budget slashed $123 million from AIDS programs
16	Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments from birth	There is no such thing as abortion ‘moments from birth.’ NY law does not allow abortion after a woman is twenty-four weeks pregnant, unless the mother’s life is in immediate jeopardy.
17	I withdrew the United States from the ‘disastrous’ Iran nuclear deal	The UN’s nuclear watchdog said the Iran deal WAS working and Trump’s intel chief says Iran is still complying without the U.S.

. . . you figure out which high-profile person posited these gems at his 2019 state-of-the-union address.

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Beneficial . . .

(from http://www.globaltrademag.com/in-the-news/nafta-negotiations-restart-today)
". . . A Trade Partnership Worldwide for the Business Roundtable report concludes that a termination of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would have significant negative impacts on the economy and employment in the U.S. High tariffs would be reimposed on U.S. exports and imports, which would reduce competitiveness both domestically and abroad. U.S. exports would drop, to Canada, Mexico and globally, as U.S. output becomes more expensive. Foreign purchasers would shift away from U.S. goods and services in favor of lower-cost goods and services made elsewhere. Lower output will translate to less employment: 1.8 million workers would lose their jobs in the first year. . ."

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Just . . .

. . . sayin'. . .

. . . for those who haven't checked the facts . . .


(from http://www.factcheck.org/2015/01/obamas-numbers-january-2015-update/)
". . . Jobs, paychecks, corporate profits and stock prices have all improved since our last report on the Obama statistical record. . . The economy has now gained nearly five times more jobs under President Barack Obama than it did during the presidency of George W. Bush, and the unemployment rate has dropped to just below the historical average. Real weekly earnings are up 1.7 percent, thanks in part to a plunge in gasoline prices. Corporate profits have nearly tripled, and stock prices have soared. . . "

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Model . . .

. . . boss?

Recently read an article  Adapted from "Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader." Copyright © 2015 by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli. Published by Crown Publishers, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.  The book is purportedly the “only book about Steve recommended by the people who knew him best,” according to Apple. And the article begins with reference to one of Steve Jobs favorite expressions, which was, “that’s shit”, an expression for which Mr. Jobs clearly owned no patent and held no monopoly. Not that the authors implied that he did. But the article goes on to detail how brusque Jobs’ manner was with his employees and how they pretty much had to group together to combat the ‘damage’ that brusqueness could potentially do. And it seems that all involved parties, in retrospect, have no qualms about the way things transpired under the management of Steve Jobs.  Some praise him.  Others rationalize his actions. Certainly the firm fared no worse for his technique.  I certainly understand such personalities.  Many people are drawn towards them in capacities either professional or personal.  They are visionary.  They are exciting.  They are stimulating. The complete experience with them never leaves one unfulfilled or unsatisfied. . . well, at least from my experience.  So while this article and book both appear to praise, or at least not criticize, the extremity of the Steve Jobs-type personality of the short-tempered, boisterous and callous leader/genius, should it encourage the development of like-leaders/geniuses?  The danger in too much admiration is the propagation of short-tempered, boisterous, callous and brusque personality leaders/geniuses who are more short-tempered, boisterous, callous and brusque than actual leader/genius.

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Well Put. . .

(from http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-reich-free-market-20130924,0,4661170.story   Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of "Beyond Outrage," now available in paperback. His new film, "Inequality for All," will be out September 27. He blogs at http://www.robertreich.org)

". . . One of the most deceptive ideas continuously sounded by the right (and its fathomless think tanks and media outlets) is that the "free market" is natural and inevitable, existing outside and beyond government.

So whatever inequality or insecurity it generates is beyond our control. And whatever ways we might seek to reduce inequality or insecurity — to make the economy work for us — are unwarranted constraints on the market's freedom and will inevitably go wrong.

By this view, if some people aren't paid enough to live on, the market has determined they aren't worth enough. If others rake in billions, they must be worth it. If millions of Americans remain unemployed or their paychecks are shrinking or they work two or three part-time jobs with no idea what they'll earn next month or next week, that's too bad; it's just the outcome of the market.

According to this logic, government shouldn't intrude through minimum wages, high taxes on top earners, public spending to get people back to work, regulations on business, or anything else, because the "free market" knows best.

In reality, the "free market" is a bunch of rules about (1) what can be owned and traded (the genome? slaves? nuclear materials? babies? votes?); (2) on what terms (equal access to the Internet? the right to organize unions? corporate monopolies? the length of patent protections?); (3) under what conditions (poisonous drugs? unsafe foods? deceptive Ponzi schemes? uninsured derivatives? dangerous workplaces?); (4) what's private and what's public (police? roads? clean air and water? health care? good schools? parks and playgrounds?); (5) how to pay for what (taxes? user fees? individual pricing?). And so on.

These rules don't exist in nature; they are human creations. Governments don't "intrude" on free markets; governments organize and maintain them. Markets aren't "free" of rules; the rules define them. Without such rules, we're back to social Darwinism, where only the toughest and biggest survive.

The interesting question is what the rules should aim to achieve. They can be designed to maximize efficiency (given the current distribution of resources), or growth (depending on what we're willing to sacrifice to obtain that growth), or fairness (depending on our ideas about a decent society). Or some combination of all three — which aren't necessarily in competition with one another. Evidence suggests, for example, that if prosperity were more widely shared, we'd have faster growth.

The rules might even be designed to entrench and enhance the wealth of a few at the top, and keep almost everyone else comparatively poor and economically insecure.

Which brings us to the central political question: Who should decide on the rules and their major purpose? If our democracy were working as it should, presumably our elected representatives, agency heads and courts would be making the rules roughly according to what most of us want the rules to be. The economy would be working for us.

Instead, the rules are now made mostly by those with the power and resources to buy the politicians, regulatory heads and even the courts (and the lawyers who appear before them). As income and wealth have concentrated at the top, so has political clout. And the most important clout is determining the rules of the game.

Not incidentally, these are the same people who want you and most others to believe in the fiction of an immutable "free market."

As I emphasize in "Inequality for All" — a new film out this week in which I explain the savage inequalities and insecurities now undermining our economy and democracy — we can make the economy work for us rather than for only a few at the top. But in order to change the rules, we must exert the power that is supposed to be ours. . . "

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Scary. . .

. . .  you say?  And it's not even Halloween yet (let alone election day). . .

(By Martha C. White, http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/15/14454865-koch-brothers-to-workers-vote-for-romney-or-suffer-the-consequences?lite)
". . . As a contentious election season enters its final weeks, a flurry of communication from corporate leaders to rank-and-file workers strongly implies that voting for Obama could imperil their jobs and their financial stability.

Employees of a paper company owned by the outspoken billionaire Koch brothers received a mailing warning that they could “suffer the consequences, including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills" if they voted for candidates not supported by Koch-owned companies or its political fund-raising arm.

The company also provided workers with a list of those candidates it supports. At the top: Mitt Romney, according to media outlet In These Times, which broke the story. “The packet also included an anti-Obama editorial by Charles Koch and a pro-Romney editorial by David Koch,” it said.

“This is in no way an attempt to ‘intimidate’ employees,” Greg Guest, senior director of corporate communications at Georgia-Pacific, said in a statement on the site kochfacts.com.

"It's free speech. On the other hand, while it's maybe not directly intended to be intimidating, it can be intimidating," said Izzy Kushner, president of consulting firm HR Impact and president of the Human Resources Association of New York.

Although the Koch brothers are known for their outspoken support of the GOP, “Our support is not based on party affiliation, and we support both Republicans and Democrats who support market-based policies and solutions,” Guest’s statement said. . ."

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Read. . .

. . . and think [Note to Mitt and friends, you may continue talking amongst yourselves]

 (from NBCNews.com by Jim Maceda, an NBC News foreign correspondent based in London and currently on assignment in Cairo. He has covered the Middle East since the 1970s.)

 ". . . This paroxysm of protest – and violence – had begun in Cairo. But what, really, began there?

Much of the mainstream media has played it as a spontaneous reaction to a disgusting film clip which denigrated Muslims and happened to be made and promoted in the USA.

But New York Times editorialist Ross Douthat argued it had nothing to do with a "genuine popular backlash," but everything to do with old-style power politics. For Jim Clifton, chairman of the pollster Gallup, it wasn't about religion or politics, but rather the desperate expression of young Arab males, deeply humiliated because they couldn't find jobs.

'Political manipulation'
Egyptian analysts seem to be more in agreement: Many protesters outside the U.S. Embassy were genuinely offended by the film. But the real driving force behind the protest – in Cairo and Benghazi – were radical Islamist groups who know how to exploit rage for political gain.

Actors and the assistant director of the film "Innocence of Muslims" told NBC News that the original spoken lines in the screenplay were dubbed over without their knowledge. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.

"There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered," said Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian journalist. "For instance, why after two months of being on YouTube did this film suddenly explode on the anniversary of 9/11? That is political manipulation and manufactured outrage that the right wing is all too happy to use.''

Egypt issues arrest warrants for Terry Jones, Coptic Christians over anti-Islam video

By "right-wing" Eltahawy means ultra conservatives – often called Salafists – who practice a strict, puritanical form of Islam and make up the fastest-growing Islamic political and social movement in the world. On the night of the Cairo embassy attacks, the Salafists saw an opportunity to flex their muscles.

"A lot of people went to the U.S. Embassy not just because of the film, and after the film died down, it wasn't about the film anymore," Eltahawy explained. "They went because of anti-U.S. sentiment, because they know in this region how easy it is to fan the flames of anger.". . . "

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Many of the . . .

. . . Forces. . . 

(from http://economywatch.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13728411-weak-jobs-growth-beyond-governments-control?lite By John W. Schoen, NBC News)

". . . No matter who ends up occupying the White House in January, many of the forces that have kept unemployment high and jobs growth slow will be beyond his control.

With employment growth stuck at a slower pace than in any recovery in the past half-century, the presidential campaign now turns on which candidate -- President Barack Obama or former Gov. Mitt Romney -- has the better plan to boost employment. The latest jobs data will do little to change the debate.

The economy added just 96,000 new jobs in August, well below the roughly 130,000 economists had been expecting. Gains in the prior two months were revised down by a combined 41,000. Manufacturers cut 15,000 jobs last month, while another 7,000 government jobs were lost. Temporary employment fell by almost 5,000 workers.

Other recent reports had painted a somewhat brighter picture. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, and a private survey by payroll processor ADP found that companies created some 200,000 new jobs in August. Another private report showed that service sector companies, such as hotels, retailers, and financial services firms, expanded at a faster rate last month. . .

. . . That uncertainty – and reluctance to hire – will be stoked by a series of other forces holding back the four-year-old recovery:

    While subpar economic growth feels like a recession to many Americans, Europeans are coping with the real thing. The economic contraction that began in troubled economies of Greece and Spain is now spreading to Germany, the flywheel of Europe’s economy, the largest in the world. China, along with the developing economies that feed its massive manufacturing machine, is in an economic slowdown that Beijing has so far been unable to reverse.
  
 The budget impasse in the U.S. is due largely to huge, and rising, cost of providing health care and retirement income to an aging population. The dearth of private retirement savings will bring a slowdown in consumer spending as baby boomers continue to tighten their belts. Those trends are irreversible.
  
 With wage growth stagnant, growth in spending remains weak for consumers in every age group. The boom in borrowing during the 2000s helped offset sluggish wage growth. The resulting housing bust destroyed trillions of dollars in household wealth. Though the housing market is beginning to recover, it will take at least a decade for prices to recover to the 2006 peak.
  
 As private employers have slowed the pace of new hires, state and local governments are still shedding workers. The Obama administration’s massive federal stimulus program – now criticized by Republicans for failing to produce the number of jobs originally projected – helped blunt those layoffs. As those funds have dried up, local governments have been hit with lower sales and property tax receipts, cuts in state aid and, in some cases, mandated tax caps.

Even the Federal Reserve – the economic fire brigade of last resort – seems to have run out of tools to fight the fire. Friday's weak jobs report give the central bank more reason for another big money drop known as quantitative easing or QE. But after two rounds of more than $1 trillion in pump-priming, and short-term interest rates already at zero, most economists see diminishing returns from another effort to stimulate growth by pumping more money into the system.

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A view . . .

. . . from the bottom. . . 

The richest 400 Americans own as much as the bottom 150 million put together. And these multimillionaires and billionaires are now actively buying the 2012 election—and with it, American democracy.

750 people at GS Technologies lost their jobs thanks to a bad deal engineered by Bain Capital. 15 million lost jobs after the cumulative deal-making 
of the entire financial sector pushed the whole economy off a cliff. Comparatively, Solyndra was a rounding error.

In 2011, America's top fifty financial CEOs got a 20.4 percent pay hike, even as the wages of most Americans continued to drop.

Welcome to the new Gilded Age, where buoyant rich men with flashy white teeth, raging wealth and a measured disdain for anyone lacking those attributes and challenge their own primary opponent to a $10,000 bet and referring to their wives'' several Cadillacs.

Something much like the robber barons of the Gilded Age complete with political power has now returned with a vengeance.

(based upon the writings of Robert Reich)

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