Empire In Retreat: Under Trump, we’re seeing the fall of the empire of America in real time

[EGR one]

Well for a falling empire we aren't doing bad.

There are jobs for anyone who wants one. UE is the lowest its been in decades.

Working people have more money in their pay checks.

The economy is roaring along.

More people are happy with the direction the country is moving in.

Guess you will be disappointed when the empire doesn't fall.

Oh well. Maybe next time. LOL.

Trump gave tax cuts to billionaires. Especially himself
Any meager increase in take home pay for workers had been wiped out by inflation, increased fuel costs and fewer deductions

So did Trump and other billionaires hide their tax cuts under their mattress or bury it in the backyard? I can totally believe you think that right?
What do you think they did with their tax cuts?
Oh wait maybe bought another yacht or two or three!
But to me that was ok back when I helped a yacht manufacturer set up their inventory control systems because they would hire more people who had more money than unemployment benefits and they and their employer paid more in payroll taxes...all because some billionaires bought more yachts.

But I guess that FACT seemingly doesn't fly with people like you who KNOW those evil billionaires hide their tax cuts under the mattress or buried in their backyard.
Yea, that's what they did.

When you can show us that the trickle down theory has ever worked on a large scale, let me know.

Right Dumb Ass….

We all know the poor make it all happen….

If you understood how things really worked, you'd realize just how true that is.

The poor buy stuff. They create demand. No demand no sales. No sales no jobs created.

So you give the rich huge tax cuts, but the demand for their products stay the same. Why should they hire?

But if you give the poor the cuts, they have more money to spend. They buy more stuff. Demand increases. The rich need more people to meet the demand. Jobs are created.

It's that simple. That fish you're holding in the avatar could tell you that.

Your economic theory only applies to a pre-global system. Yes, spending creates demand, but if that demand is filled by China, guess who gets stimulated.

 

[Dschrute3]

isolationism and antiglobalization are symptoms of an EMPIRE IN RETREAT!

It's time for a little 'Isolationism' and 'Retreat.' Empires always fall. We won't be an exception.

 

[Cellblock2429]

Americans, the monsters of imperialism, can no longer denounce Russian atrocities in Crimea or Turkish crimes in Kurdistan!

/—-/ How idiotic

 

[Cellblock2429]

/——/ I don’t have an hour to watch the documentary. What’s the bottom line?

 

[basquebromance]

/——/ I don’t have an hour to watch the documentary. What’s the bottom line?

it is about the disastrous consequences of US military intervention...

 

[Cellblock2429]

/——/ I don’t have an hour to watch the documentary. What’s the bottom line?

it is about the disastrous consequences of US military intervention...

/——/ In some respects I agree but Europe started the last two World Wars and we had to end them. Except for the drugs cartels we get along with South American countries.

 

[healthmyths]

Trump gave tax cuts to billionaires. Especially himself
Any meager increase in take home pay for workers had been wiped out by inflation, increased fuel costs and fewer deductions

So did Trump and other billionaires hide their tax cuts under their mattress or bury it in the backyard? I can totally believe you think that right?
What do you think they did with their tax cuts?
Oh wait maybe bought another yacht or two or three!
But to me that was ok back when I helped a yacht manufacturer set up their inventory control systems because they would hire more people who had more money than unemployment benefits and they and their employer paid more in payroll taxes...all because some billionaires bought more yachts.

But I guess that FACT seemingly doesn't fly with people like you who KNOW those evil billionaires hide their tax cuts under the mattress or buried in their backyard.
Yea, that's what they did.

When you can show us that the trickle down theory has ever worked on a large scale, let me know.

Right Dumb Ass….

We all know the poor make it all happen….

If you understood how things really worked, you'd realize just how true that is.

The poor buy stuff. They create demand. No demand no sales. No sales no jobs created.

So you give the rich huge tax cuts, but the demand for their products stay the same. Why should they hire?

But if you give the poor the cuts, they have more money to spend. They buy more stuff. Demand increases. The rich need more people to meet the demand. Jobs are created.

It's that simple. That fish you're holding in the avatar could tell you that.

Your economic theory only applies to a pre-global system. Yes, spending creates demand, but if that demand is filled by China, guess who gets stimulated.

I don't think you comprehend what Trump's level playing field (AND NOT ANTI-FREE trade which is the grossly misleading MSM meme!).
China,et.al. have every right as does the USA to FREE TRADE! If China can more competitively beat US MANUFACTURERS simple by having a billion more people that's competitive.
But the USA doesn't have to lay down and allow China to STEAL intellectual property any more than we would allow them to STEAL our raw material. They need to pay just
as our companies "PAID" to develop those intellectual properties.
Case in point if you still don't understand...

The $50 billion figure is based on U.S. estimates of the lost corporate earnings caused by China’s alleged IP theft or forced technology transfers.
U.S. officials were said to find strong evidence that China uses foreign-ownership restrictions to compel American companies to switch technology to local firms and that China supports and conducts cyberattacks on U.S. companies to access trade secrets.
Besides missing out on possible sales to counterfeited goods or to Chinese products using their know-how,
non-Chinese companies also need to lower their prices to compete in China.
They spend billions of dollars to address possible infringements, according to a 2011 report by the U.S. International Trade Commission.
That report said trademark infringement was the most common form of IP violation in China, but copyright infringement was the most damaging.

Now CHINA AGREES!!!

President Xi Jinping highlighted the need to speed up protections in a speech last year, calling for stricter enforcement and for infringers to pay a “heavy price.” Also in 2017, China started a nationwide campaign to protect foreign firms’ international property rights. The Ministry of Commerce says China is a developing country and doesn’t have a perfect system to protect IP, acknowledging that there’s much work to do. Premier Li Keqiang, in a speech in March, promised to protect the rights of foreigners investing in its economy.

What’s Intellectual Property and Does China Steal It?

So here is a simple example. Apple spent billions on developing proprietary, i.e. they own the patents in the USA... China under the current trade laws doesn't have to
pay Apple for using the patents to manufacturer competitive products.
I know this may be hard to comprehend but unless Apple and other US companies get fair trade agreements, they lose and America loses.

 

[Cellblock2429]

So did Trump and other billionaires hide their tax cuts under their mattress or bury it in the backyard? I can totally believe you think that right?
What do you think they did with their tax cuts?
Oh wait maybe bought another yacht or two or three!
But to me that was ok back when I helped a yacht manufacturer set up their inventory control systems because they would hire more people who had more money than unemployment benefits and they and their employer paid more in payroll taxes...all because some billionaires bought more yachts.

But I guess that FACT seemingly doesn't fly with people like you who KNOW those evil billionaires hide their tax cuts under the mattress or buried in their backyard.
Yea, that's what they did.

When you can show us that the trickle down theory has ever worked on a large scale, let me know.

Right Dumb Ass….

We all know the poor make it all happen….

If you understood how things really worked, you'd realize just how true that is.

The poor buy stuff. They create demand. No demand no sales. No sales no jobs created.

So you give the rich huge tax cuts, but the demand for their products stay the same. Why should they hire?

But if you give the poor the cuts, they have more money to spend. They buy more stuff. Demand increases. The rich need more people to meet the demand. Jobs are created.

It's that simple. That fish you're holding in the avatar could tell you that.

Your economic theory only applies to a pre-global system. Yes, spending creates demand, but if that demand is filled by China, guess who gets stimulated.

I don't think you comprehend what Trump's level playing field (AND NOT ANTI-FREE trade which is the grossly misleading MSM meme!).
China,et.al. have every right as does the USA to FREE TRADE! If China can more competitively beat US MANUFACTURERS simple by having a billion more people that's competitive.
But the USA doesn't have to lay down and allow China to STEAL intellectual property any more than we would allow them to STEAL our raw material. They need to pay just
as our companies "PAID" to develop those intellectual properties.
Case in point if you still don't understand...

The $50 billion figure is based on U.S. estimates of the lost corporate earnings caused by China’s alleged IP theft or forced technology transfers.
U.S. officials were said to find strong evidence that China uses foreign-ownership restrictions to compel American companies to switch technology to local firms and that China supports and conducts cyberattacks on U.S. companies to access trade secrets.
Besides missing out on possible sales to counterfeited goods or to Chinese products using their know-how,
non-Chinese companies also need to lower their prices to compete in China.
They spend billions of dollars to address possible infringements, according to a 2011 report by the U.S. International Trade Commission.
That report said trademark infringement was the most common form of IP violation in China, but copyright infringement was the most damaging.

Now CHINA AGREES!!!

President Xi Jinping highlighted the need to speed up protections in a speech last year, calling for stricter enforcement and for infringers to pay a “heavy price.” Also in 2017, China started a nationwide campaign to protect foreign firms’ international property rights. The Ministry of Commerce says China is a developing country and doesn’t have a perfect system to protect IP, acknowledging that there’s much work to do. Premier Li Keqiang, in a speech in March, promised to protect the rights of foreigners investing in its economy.

What’s Intellectual Property and Does China Steal It?

So here is a simple example. Apple spent billions on developing proprietary, i.e. they own the patents in the USA... China under the current trade laws doesn't have to
pay Apple for using the patents to manufacturer competitive products.
I know this may be hard to comprehend but unless Apple and other US companies get fair trade agreements, they lose and America loses.

/——/ not only that but China demands access to the proprietary Intellectual Property in exchange for doing business in China.

 

[rightwinger]

folks thinks isolationists are unpatriotic. WRONG!

Mostly I think they are simpletons

 

[boedicca]

things are coming unhinged, socially and culturally

The rise of Trumpism, of tribalism, the celebration of stupidity.

Trump's this vulgar, grotesque dope, everything I hate in people,

I’m ashamed at what we must look like as a culture to the world

It doesn’t feel like we’ve advanced. I think you’re seeing the fall of the empire of America in real time, before your eyes; the internet has eroded the fabric of decency in our civilization,.

Clearly, the solution for you is to move somewhere else. There's lots of room in Venezuela.

 

[rightwinger]

Where’s that $4,000 Raise the GOP Promised Workers?

When Republicans in Congress passed a big, fat tax break bill in December, they insisted it meant American workers would be singing “Happy Days Are Here Again” all the way to the bank.

The payoff from the tax cut would be raises totaling $4,000 to $9,000, the President’s Council of Economic Advisors assured workers.

But something bad happened to workers on their way to the repository. They never got that money.

In fact, their real wages declined because of higher inflation. At the same time, the amount workers had to pay in interest on loans for cars and credit cards increased. And, to top it off, Republicans threatened to make workers pay for the tax break with cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

So now, workers across America are wondering, “Where’s that raise?”

It’s nowhere to be found.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics reported this week that wages for production and nonsupervisory workers decreased by 0.1 percent from May 2017 to May 2018 when inflation is factored in. The compensation for all workers together, including supervisors, rose an underwhelming 0.1 percent from April 2018 to May 2018.

That’s not what Congressional Republicans promised workers. They said corporations, which got the biggest, fattest tax cuts of all, would use that extra money to increase wages.

Some workers got one-time bonuses and an even smaller number received raises. But not many. The group, Americans for Tax Fairness, estimates it’s 4.3 percent of all U.S. workers.

Most of the money went to stock buybacks, which enrich corporate executives and wealthy stock holders because they have the effect of raising stock values. Corporations set an all-time record for buybacks in the first quarter of this year. They bought $178 billion of their own shares, up by more than 42 percent from the first quarter in 2017.

The New York Times story about this record breaker describes the phenomena way: “Companies buy back their shares when they believe they have nothing better to do with their money than to return capital to shareholders.” So despite promises from the GOP and the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, corporations believed further enriching their own executives and shareholders was a much better way to use the money than increasing workers’ wages – wages that have been stagnant for decades.

Form 1945 until 1982, worker pay rose in tandem with productivity. At that time, buybacks were rare, primarily because they were deemed a forbidden manipulation of stock prices. In 1981, S&P 500 companies spent about 2 percent of profits on buybacks.

But after 1982, when the Reagan administration legalized stock buybacks, the connection between wages and productivity broke wide apart as corporate executives focused all of their efforts on increasing share value. Last year, the S&P 500 companies spent 50 percent of profits on buybacks and 41 percent on dividends to stock holders. That left a pittance – 9 percent. Corporations socked away some or all of that in overseas tax havens. Their workers, whose labor produced that profit, got virtually nothing.

CEOs self-centered focus on stock buybacks is a big part of the reason Republicans’ promised raise is illusory. But it’s not just the raise. The tax cut itself is a sham.

Workers can be excused for not noticing that big, fat tax cut in their paychecks. Those who earn less than $25,000 a year, that is those in the lowest fifth of income brackets, will get a tax cut this year totaling $60. That’s just about a dollar a week.

For those in the middle income quintile earning between $49,000 and $86,000 a year, the average tax cut is $900. That’s $17 a week. The cost of a large pizza and a Coke. Hardly earth shattering.

By contrast, the top 1 percent of taxpayers, those with incomes above $733,000 a year, will get a tax cut averaging $51,000. That’s $980 a week. So every week this year, Uncle Sam will hand the nation’s richest a tax benefit that is $80 more than the entire amount that the middle-income worker will get in a year.

Workers across America are wondering, “Where’s that big, beautiful tax break?”

While they’re searching, workers will have to pay more for cars and homes and credit card debt. That’s because the Federal Reserve increased the cost of borrowing this week for the second time this year and promised two more hikes before year’s end.

Fed officials said they did it because the tax break and additional federal spending have heated up the economy. It’s hot for corporations, alright, but not for workers.

And the real cost to workers hasn’t yet hit. The GOP’s tax cut will add $1 trillion to the national debt. Even before passing the tax cut legislation, Republican leaders like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan began saying that workers would have to pay those costs in the form of cuts to cherished safety net programs, that is Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

And they’re not kidding. They already tried to slash funding for food stamps, the program that feeds the poor.

And now, incredibly, Republicans are planning a second round of tax cuts. They say they want to make that $17-a-week tax break for the middle class permanent. As it is now, that tax cut disappears in 2025, while the massive break Republicans gave corporations is permanent. In addition, Republicans want to slash the capital gains tax. This, again, is a tax cut for the rich.

Now, it’s not as if workers haven’t benefitted at all under the current administration. Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and former chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, estimates that the real hourly pay of middle class workers has risen 0.4 percent over the past 18 months of Republican control of Congress and the White House.

At that rate, Bernstein figures, it will take 28 years for a worker to get that promised $4,000 pay bump.

So before Republicans start trying to reward rich people again for being rich, they need to answer one question:

Where’s that $4,000 pay raise promised to the middle class?

Where’s that $4,000 Raise the GOP Promised Workers?

The bottom 47% workers of this country....GOT NOTHING!!!

When you don't pay income taxes, it is relatively ignorant to expect a tax reduction to benefit you.

Crooked Donnie doesn’t pay income taxes

Freeloader

 

[Deno]

So did Trump and other billionaires hide their tax cuts under their mattress or bury it in the backyard? I can totally believe you think that right?
What do you think they did with their tax cuts?
Oh wait maybe bought another yacht or two or three!
But to me that was ok back when I helped a yacht manufacturer set up their inventory control systems because they would hire more people who had more money than unemployment benefits and they and their employer paid more in payroll taxes...all because some billionaires bought more yachts.

But I guess that FACT seemingly doesn't fly with people like you who KNOW those evil billionaires hide their tax cuts under the mattress or buried in their backyard.
Yea, that's what they did.

When you can show us that the trickle down theory has ever worked on a large scale, let me know.

Right Dumb Ass….

We all know the poor make it all happen….

If you understood how things really worked, you'd realize just how true that is.

The poor buy stuff. They create demand. No demand no sales. No sales no jobs created.

So you give the rich huge tax cuts, but the demand for their products stay the same. Why should they hire?

But if you give the poor the cuts, they have more money to spend. They buy more stuff. Demand increases. The rich need more people to meet the demand. Jobs are created.

It's that simple. That fish you're holding in the avatar could tell you that.

IM2, you are very confused....

Wrong. I helped build a business from the ground up and saw that's how it works.

You are ate up with "wrong"

 

[Deno]

You must have lived outside of the country during Obama.

Dude, I don't know what planet these mindless pea brain fucks was on when Obama was president, but being elected twice, the guy must have done something right....yeah, he was sane!!

obongo got elected because he was Black...

If he were White we wouldn't know his name....

obongo and his supporters were all fools like yourself...…...

The Great Obama was elected because the Bush Presidency was such a disaster

You are a fool.....

It was White Guilt....

Wrong. Obama was a better option than McCain.

They both sucked, but obongo sucked more..

 

[Deno]

Uh, We the People already did. Yesterday's America belonged to Obama & Co, after he fundamentally transformed it...'member? I don't want to go back to that either.

You must have lived outside of the country during Obama.

Dude, I don't know what planet these mindless pea brain fucks was on when Obama was president, but being elected twice, the guy must have done something right....yeah, he was sane!!

obongo got elected because he was Black...

If he were White we wouldn't know his name....

obongo and his supporters were all fools like yourself...…...

If he had been white he'd be hailed as the greatest president of all time.

History will eventually sort out this mess and Obama will emerge as perhaps the best president this nation has ever had, next to FDR

It took me 5 minutes to quit laughing before I could reply to this…

Then I thought what’s the use?

You are a lost ball in high weeds…

 

[Deno]

Dude, I don't know what planet these mindless pea brain fucks was on when Obama was president, but being elected twice, the guy must have done something right....yeah, he was sane!!

obongo got elected because he was Black...

If he were White we wouldn't know his name....

obongo and his supporters were all fools like yourself...…...

The Great Obama was elected because the Bush Presidency was such a disaster

You are a fool.....

It was White Guilt....

Wrong. Obama was a better option than McCain.

To be honest with you, had McCain stayed true to his convictions and not hired that ignorant mop white head, Palin, I could see people voting for him. I'm glad Obama won, however, he played it safe so often and frustrated the hell out of all of us,

mcstain's ass would have got beat worse without Palin...

I love her...

Sarah Palin is a warrior just like Trump...

 

[tigerred59]

obongo got elected because he was Black...

If he were White we wouldn't know his name....

obongo and his supporters were all fools like yourself...…...

The Great Obama was elected because the Bush Presidency was such a disaster

You are a fool.....

It was White Guilt....

Wrong. Obama was a better option than McCain.

To be honest with you, had McCain stayed true to his convictions and not hired that ignorant mop white head, Palin, I could see people voting for him. I'm glad Obama won, however, he played it safe so often and frustrated the hell out of all of us,

mcstain's ass would have got beat worse without Palin...

I love her...

Sarah Palin is a warrior just like Trump...

A fuckin warrior against what? Latino babies, minorities, clean air and water, decent healthcare, jobs that pay a decent wage, bullshitin their base?

 

[Deno]

The Great Obama was elected because the Bush Presidency was such a disaster

You are a fool.....

It was White Guilt....

Wrong. Obama was a better option than McCain.

To be honest with you, had McCain stayed true to his convictions and not hired that ignorant mop white head, Palin, I could see people voting for him. I'm glad Obama won, however, he played it safe so often and frustrated the hell out of all of us,

mcstain's ass would have got beat worse without Palin...

I love her...

Sarah Palin is a warrior just like Trump...

A fuckin warrior against what? Latino babies, minorities, clean air and water, decent healthcare, jobs that pay a decent wage, bullshitin their base?

Rave on you idiot...

 

[Jantje_Smit]

....It doesn’t feel like we’ve advanced. I think you’re seeing the fall of the empire of America in real time, before your eyes...

You say that like it's a bad thing

It's just another happy consequence of the orange victory over the warmongering psycho princess

 

[frigidweirdo]

things are coming unhinged, socially and culturally

The rise of Trumpism, of tribalism, the celebration of stupidity.

Trump's this vulgar, grotesque dope, everything I hate in people,

I’m ashamed at what we must look like as a culture to the world

It doesn’t feel like we’ve advanced. I think you’re seeing the fall of the empire of America in real time, before your eyes; the internet has eroded the fabric of decency in our civilization,.

Trump is merely a symptom of the problem.

Bush was a similar thing. A guy who couldn't do the job, who was a figurehead who didn't take responsibility for what others were doing in his name.

The whole system is broken. The super rich like it that way. They've shown they can control the Supreme Court, the Presidency and Congress. They have people voting, and yet the votes don't even matter. Their hacks control everything.

 

[easyt65]

'the fall of the empire of America...'

Can butt-hurt, demented snowflakes get anymore over-dramatic?

Bwuhahahaha...

Best economy in decades
More Jobs
Raises
Bonuses
Lowest Unemployment in decades
Lowest # of welfare enrollees in decades
Lowest # of food stamp enrollees in decades
Lowest # of unemployment enrollees in decades
High home values
Record stock market
No wars started
Historic peace talks
Higher approval ratings than Reagan & Obama
Elimination of Un-Constitutional edicts / policy
An end of terrorist pandering / support

....oh, the HORROR!

BWUHAHAHAHAHA.....