Make the US Politics Thread Great Again

Do you have the figures for how much money Obama spent pumping up the economy and the credit business after the GFC? That’s not having a go at him, I am just curious (and I have to say this or some on here will jump down my throat about being negative about Dems).

It’s a fair question, and I honestly don’t know the answer.

The big difference of course is that Obama’s GFC stimulus/rescue package was a once-off spend, while Trump’s tax cuts are a structural reduction in the amount of revenue the govt can pull in, which are permanent (until/unless someone repeals them).

Obama and quant easy was in the paper every second week.

The fact is if you go to the states, from flipping burgers up, the wages and purchasing power is greater than it is say here for example.

And for many professionals where there are skill shortages? It’s going bananas.

Re: manufacturing and trump. Here is some macro commentary.

As for his trade war on China.? Might not be good for Australia, but if I was American? Big fan. The Chinese don’t care for IP. They copy and crush.

Hate on Trump for many reasons. On the economy though? No prob what soever.

Yep totally different, just made me think of that issue.

Wait what? :joy::rofl:

America ■■■■■ on its people. How does the richest country on Earth by far end up in a situation where almost two thirds of its population (63%) can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.

Their system is broken. It’s a system run by oligarchs for oligarchs. They’ve spent something like 14 TRILLION dollars on war - a small % of that would eliminate poverty, get them single payer healthcare, get them free tuition.

Utterly ■■■■■■ up country.

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Any economist worth their salt is saying that the tax cuts will have a negligible impact on wages. There is some preliminary data already out there which corroborates these views.

We’re talking about a country where Amazon workers require food stamps to survive, where their truck drivers wear adult diapers to make their runs.

Working class wages in the U.S are ■■■■■■.

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It was about 800 million. Which was nowhere near enough. The economy was stagnant and despite the banks being saved employment was terrible, spending low and people losing their houses left and right.

However, the Republicans wouldn’t accept a larger package. They cited things such as the deficit, it would cause inflation and later that the economy was at full employment.

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Looking at it from another angle, let’s say you don’t need a workforce of billions of people to make stuff for the US. It can largely be automated and reside within the US (or Europe) and so closer to markets and quicker/cheaper to reach them. How does that change geopolitics? What happens if economic globalisation fails?

Nice play on words

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Not “if”, “when”.

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Sounds good. That’s what we should do.

Maybe bit less war, way more tax avoidance.

Think you mean 800 billion

What’s a million vs a billion between friends…

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There are questions being asked of the third complained against Kavanaugh. Has she told the truth because she has been proven to make false claims previously? Not saying it isn’t, just saying there are questions being asked about her testimony and honesty.

WebTrends voluntarily dismissed its suit after one month. Avenatti told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the case was ended because it was “completely bogus.”

Swetnick’s alleged conduct took place in June 2000, just three weeks after she started working at WebTrends, the complaint shows. WebTrends conducted an investigation that found both male employees gave similar accounts of Swetnick engaging in “unwelcome sexual innuendo and inappropriate conduct” toward them during a business lunch in front of customers, the complaint said.

Swetnick denied the allegations and, WebTrends alleged, “in a transparent effort to divert attention from her own inappropriate behavior … [made] false and retaliatory allegations” of sexual harassment against two other male co-workers.

“Based on its investigations, WebTrends determined that Swetnick had engaged in inappropriate conduct, but that no corroborating evidence existed to support Swetnick’s allegations against her coworkers,” the complaint said.

After a WebTrends human resources director informed Swetnick that the company was unable to corroborate the sexual harassment allegations she had made, she “remarkably” walked back the allegations, according to the complaint.

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The photo above looks like he’s ordering a pizza. The biggest pizza. The best pizza. SAD!

“Mr President. We have a number of top chefs who could easily make you a gourmet pizza…”

“Shut up and get me Dominos on the line”

The chosen one? The new film that claims Trump’s election was an act of God

Harriet Sherwood

It was, everyone agreed, a miracle. The unexpected election of Donald Trump in 2016 was an act of God, who chose the philandering billionaire and reality TV star to restore America’s moral values.

This is the theme of The Trump Prophecy, a movie telling the story of Mark Taylor, a former fireman from Orlando forced to retire after suffering from PTSD, which premiered on Tuesday.

Between graphic nightmares featuring demonic monsters and hellish flames, Taylor received a message from God in April 2011, while he was surfing television channels.

As he clicked to an interview with Trump, Taylor heard God say: “You are hearing the voice of the next president.”

And so it came to pass, although it took another five years and a national prayer campaign. Taylor duly wrote a book, The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story of the Man Who Saw Tomorrow … and What He Says Is Coming Next, on which the movie is based.

The belief that Trump’s election was God’s divine will is shared by others. Franklin Graham, the prominent conservative evangelical, said last year that Trump’s victory was the result of divine intervention. “I could sense going across the country that God was going to do something this year. And I believe that at this election, God showed up,” he told the Washington Post.

Taylor has made other claims, which he calls “prophetic words”, including that Trump will serve two terms, the landmark supreme court ruling on abortion in the Roe v Wade case will be overturned, and that next month’s midterm elections will result in a “red tsunami”, strengthening Republican control of both houses of Congress.

Barack Obama will be charged with treason and Trump will authorise the arrest of “thousands of corrupt officials, many of whom are part of a massive satanic paedophile ring”. Trump will also force the release of cures for cancer and Alzheimer’s that are currently being withheld by the pharmaceutical industry.

About 1,200 cinemas across the US were screening The Trump Prophecy on Tuesday and Thursday this week. There may be repeat showings if there is demand. Given several rows of empty seats in the Regal River Ridge Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia – a conservative evangelical heartland – that may prove unnecessary.

Trump is God’s will, there’s no other way to explain it. I know in my heart that God raised him up for this time

Jayne Gillikan

But there were plenty in the audience that heaped praise on the movie and its lengthy coda of talking heads hailing America’s leadership in the world, strong economy, military prowess, defence of Israel and general godliness.

“God is definitely using Trump to restore America and bring revival to our land,” said cinemagoer Kathy Robinson. “He stands for the common man and protects our freedoms. And he’s a good man himself – not perfect, but none of us are.”

Doug Barringer was impressed with the movie. He was sceptical of Trump “right up until election night. But what I’ve seen him doing since has led me to believe that maybe he is an instrument of God.”

There was no doubt in Jayne Gillikan’s mind. “Trump is God’s will, there’s no other way to explain it. I prayed for him through the [2016 election] campaign. I know in my heart that God raised him up for this time in our country.”

The £2m movie was a collaboration between ReelWorks Studios and the film school at Liberty University, an evangelical Christian institution in Lynchburg. More than 50 students and nine members of faculty were involved in the production.

But some students objected to the movie on theological grounds. They launched an online petition calling for the project to be cancelled.

“This movie could reflect very poorly on all Liberty students and Liberty University as a whole,” the petition said. “Mark Taylor claims to have received prophecies directly from God that do not align with the Bible’s message.”

It added: “Some cinematic arts students have expressed that they are disheartened by being forced to be a part of promoting a man that they don’t agree with. Many do not want this movie on their résumé.”


Liberty University students in 2016. A petition said the movie could reflect ‘very poorly’ on the university.

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Liberty University students in 2016. A petition said the movie could reflect ‘very poorly’ on the university. Photograph: Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock

Liberty was already ranked the most conservative college in America. “Further actions such as this will only hurt students’ chances of finding jobs in more liberal work environments,” it said.

By the time of Tuesday’s premiere, it had been signed by 2,286 people.

Stephan Schultze, Liberty’s professor of cinematic arts and the movie’s director, dismissed the petition. “We had one student in our cohort who asked to be transferred to an alternative project. Most students were very positive,” he said.

The film was “a very pivotal, significant moment” for Liberty’s cinematic arts department. It was only the second time that a US film school had been involved in a feature film scheduled for theatrical release, he said.

Sean Barlow, a Liberty cinematic arts student who was a camera operator on the movie, said it had been a “great experience” while acknowledging that “a lot of people weren’t happy”. But, he added: “The message of unity is something this country really needs right now.”

Social media companies were also reluctant to be associated with the movie, according to the producers.

Facebook deemed adverts for the film to be political, according to a report by Fox News.

Rick Eldridge, CEO of ReelWorks and the film’s producer, told the Guardian it was targeted at “a conservative audience, a faith community, but every American who loves his country should appreciate the movie and be inspired by it”.