OT: Even Fortune Magazine is now prominently doing fact-checks

[-hh]

"Here’s a look at his rhetoric from Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday night:

JOBS

TRUMP: “Almost 160 million people are working. That’s more than ever before.”

THE FACTS: Yes, but that’s not a feather in a president’s cap. More people
are working primarily because there are more people. Population growth
drives this phenomenon.


TRUMP: “Women’s unemployment is now the lowest it’s been in 74 years.”

THE FACTS: The jobless rate for women was 3.1% in April, the lowest in
66 years — not Trump’s 74 years. It ticked up in May to 3.2%.

ECONOMY

TRUMP: “It’s soaring to incredible new heights. Perhaps the greatest
economy we’ve had in the history of our country.”


THE FACTS: The economy is not one of the best in the country’s history.

THE WALL

TRUMP: “We’re going to have over 400 miles of wall built by the end of
next year. It’s moving very rapidly.”

THE FACTS: That’s highly unlikely, and even if so, the great majority
of the wall he’s talking about would be replacement barrier, not new
miles of construction. Trump has added strikingly little length to
barriers along the Mexico border despite his pre-eminent 2016 campaign
promise to get a wall done.

TAXES

TRUMP: “We’ve done so much … with the biggest tax cut in history.”

THE FACTS: His tax cuts are nowhere close to the biggest in U.S. history.


ENVIRONMENT

TRUMP: “Our air and water are the cleanest they’ve ever been by far.”

THE FACTS: Not true about air quality, which hasn’t gotten better under
the Trump administration.

JUDGES

TRUMP on the nomination of federal judges: “President Obama was very nice
to us. He didn’t fill the positions.”

THE FACTS: Trump’s sarcasm aside, he does have a better success rate than
Obama in filling judicial vacancies. The Republican-controlled Senate in
Obama’s last two years avoided taking action on many of his nominees.

TRADE

TRUMP on his tariffs: “We are taking in billions and billions of dollars
into our treasury. … We had never taken 10 cents from China.”

THE FACTS: Tariff money coming into the treasury is mainly from U.S.
businesses and consumers, not from China. Tariffs are primarily if not
entirely a tax paid domestically."

BTW, the Tariff war with China has taken a new twist with China choosing
to take their US tariffs to give the rest of the world a 16% discount:

<https://piie.com/blogs/trade-investment-policy-watch/trump-has-gotten-china-lower-its-tariffs-just-toward-everyone>

Continuing...

"HEALTH CARE

TRUMP: “We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions. Always.”

THE FACTS: He’s not protecting current legal safeguards for patients with
pre-existing medical conditions, which are part of “Obamacare.”

ABORTION

TRUMP: “Leading Democrats have even opposed measures to prevent the
execution of children after birth.”

THE FACTS: Executing children is already a crime.


VETERANS

TRUMP: “We passed VA Choice. …They’ve been trying to get that passed
also for about 44 years.”

THE FACTS: No, Congress approved the private-sector Veterans Choice
health program in 2014 and Obama signed it into law. Trump signed an
expansion of it."


<http://fortune.com/2019/06/18/trump-speech-orlando-rally-fact-check/>



-hh

[B...@onramp.net]

Trump's ignorance is, well, unambiguous. He's not anywhere as smart as
he thinks. Take the Environment for example. He's rolling back
legislation by forty years. Why? Because Obama made decisions that
put us in good shape and Trump just wants to erase his efforts. Even
if one doesn't fully believe the scientist's warnings why not play it
safe? Idiocy!!!

[-hh]

Bobby wrote:

> -hh wrote:
>
> >"Here’s a look at his rhetoric from Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday night:

> > [...]
> >
> ><http://fortune.com/2019/06/18/trump-speech-orlando-rally-fact-check/>
> >
> > [rearrange]

> >
> >BTW, the Tariff war with China has taken a new twist with China choosing
> >to take their US tariffs to give the rest of the world a 16% discount:
> >
> ><https://piie.com/blogs/trade-investment-policy-watch/trump-has-gotten-china-lower-its-tariffs-just-toward-everyone>
> >
>

> Trump's ignorance is, well, unambiguous. He's not anywhere as smart as
> he thinks. Take the Environment for example. He's rolling back
> legislation by forty years. Why? Because Obama made decisions that
> put us in good shape and Trump just wants to erase his efforts. Even
> if one doesn't fully believe the scientist's warnings why not play it
> safe? Idiocy!!!

Its actually a bit smarter than that, because the "why" behind his rollback is
nakedly politically motivation and it doesn't matter if its short term because
the only horizon he cares about today is November 2020.

This action is merely intended to to buy short term political favor largely through
the cash of political contributions made to him by dirty industries. Granted,
what we'll hear claimed instead is that it was for the votes of the WV coal miners
("jobs for the middle class") so that he can use a "Promises Kept!" campaign slogan,
even though any jobs 'win' will be very small and localized. Particularly since coal
has been shutting down more to basic economic factors (Natural Gas & Renewables
have become outright cheaper) than due to not being able to meet pollution stds.

And insofar as 'promises', this won't even change the doldrums of the Rust Belt.

Because the Rust Belt isn't geographically where the new manufacturing jobs
are being made. Instead, its been more so in regional 'tech' incubators, which
(because of Tesla in particular?), now includes Nevada:

<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/business/economy/trump-manufacturing-jobs.html>

And also Florida (in particular, Orlando):

<https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2018/05/23/where-u-s-manufacturing-is-thriving-in-2018/#32bc39f053b3>

This latter link explains why this week's rally took place where it did, and the former
suggests that a future campaign rally will probably be in/near Las Vegas. Overall,
a smart but duplicitous method of messaging..particularly since for his target audience,
they largely apparently believe that they have nothing to lose in 'doubling down',
because their behavior is one of desperation, as is being illustrated in US suicide rates:

<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2207007-us-suicide-rate-at-its-highest-since-the-end-of-the-second-world-war/>

<https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-votes-linked-with-death-rates-2018-9>

<https://www.truthdig.com/articles/a-deadly-epidemic-is-hitting-trump-supporters-the-hardest/>


-hh

[-hh]

On Thursday, June 20, 2019 at 6:42:24 AM UTC-4, -hh wrote:
> Bobby wrote:
> > -hh wrote:
> >
> > >"Here’s a look at his rhetoric from Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday night:
> > > [...]
> > >
> > ><http://fortune.com/2019/06/18/trump-speech-orlando-rally-fact-check/>
> > >
> > > [rearrange]
> > >
> > >BTW, the Tariff war with China has taken a new twist with China choosing
> > >to take their US tariffs to give the rest of the world a 16% discount:
> > >
> > ><https://piie.com/blogs/trade-investment-policy-watch/trump-has-gotten-china-lower-its-tariffs-just-toward-everyone>
> > >
> >
> > Trump's ignorance is, well, unambiguous. He's not anywhere as smart as
> > he thinks. Take the Environment for example. He's rolling back
> > legislation by forty years. Why? Because Obama made decisions that
> > put us in good shape and Trump just wants to erase his efforts. Even
> > if one doesn't fully believe the scientist's warnings why not play it
> > safe? Idiocy!!!
>
> Its actually a bit smarter than that, because the "why" behind his rollback is
> nakedly politically motivation and it doesn't matter if its short term because
> the only horizon he cares about today is November 2020.

Which is also why we're seeing another round of deficit spending, so that
everything will look cheery and wonderful ... and the Republican's contrived
case afterwords to slash social programs "because debts!" will become louder.

In the meantime, some summary numbers are coming out on the 2017 Tax Cut
and the simple bottom line is that individuals paid $90B more while big corporations
paid $90B less:

<https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-taxpayers-paid-nearly-100-billion-more-to-irs-under-trump-tax-law-194900782.html>

BTW, disregard the "analysis" mentioned from the Tax Policy Center, for it was done
back in Spring 2018 and reflects *projections*, not actuals.


-hh

[TomS]

The FACTS are that the economy is at its BEST level in many years and Trump is responsible for it. As James Carville said:

"It's the Economy, STUPID!"

Number of people who care if female unemployment is at its lowest level in 66 years vs 74 years: ZERO!!!
https://www.statista.com/statistics/193944/unemployment-rate-of-women-in-the-us-since-1990/

And, YES, the Dims want to murder aborted babies who survive the abortion:
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-02-25/gop-sensing-campaign-issue-pushes-abortion-vote-in-senate

If the Dims are STUPID ENOUGH to follow your talking points (and I think they are), say "hello" to the 2nd President Trump inauguration.

[-hh]

But Tom ... if the Economy really is so good, then why did Trump sign
a national emergency declaration on 2/8/2019 stating that it isn't?


-hh

[TomS]

Throw out your Xanax - that National Emergency was about the southern border (which has turned out to be VERY REAL), not the economy. Are you REALLY that ignorant?

[-hh]

Incorrect, for there's been more than one 'National Emergency' paper signed by Trump.

And I gave you the exact date of this one, to make it easier for you to go find.

Or do you want to claim that he did no such thing?
Care to make a welch-proof bet for $1000?

-hh

[TomS]

Sorry - you can state exactly what executive order you're talking about of FORGET IT.

[Alan Baker]

Yeah... ...you won't take that bet, will you?

:-)

[TomS]

I don't bet with cheats.

[Alan Baker]

You're a little snowflake who knows he'd lose.

[-hh]

How can it be cheating to propose a welch-proof bet where
the money's held by an independent third party?

> You're a little snowflake who knows he'd lose.

And/or my wager offer was too high, for Tom's part of the
40% of American who can't afford to pay a sudden $400 expense.

In case its the latter and not the former, I'll graciously
agree to lower the offer to $399 ;-)



-hh

[TomS]

You're both a cheat and a liar.

[Alan Baker]

And you're a coward with out the courage of his convictions.

[TomS]

You mean I'm NOT A FOOL for betting with a liar and a cheat.

[Alan Baker]

No, I mean you're a coward and a loser.

:-)

[TomS]

WRONG - you are the COWARD AND LOSER.

[Alan Baker]

LOL!

Capitalizing it won't make your bullshit taste any better.

[-hh]

Which has been quite amply illustrated by how Tom was unable to answer
the simple & direct question of just how there can be cheating (on either side)
when it was proposed as a welch-proof bet utilizing an independent third party.

And the irony is that I actually made a mistake that he could have won the
bet on a technicality: the EO wasn't signed on 8 Feb 19, but on 28 Dec 18:

<https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/29/politics/trump-executive-order-federal-workers-pay-freeze/index.html>

Now the legal details are that the terms of this EO can only be invoked to temporarily
rescind the FEPCA by the POTUS declaring a "national emergency or serious economic
conditions affecting the general welfare."

So....Tommy's not arguing with me: Tommy's arguing against Trump, who *officially*
certified in writing that the economy's bad.


-hh

[TomS]

Hey Hughie, give it a REST! This is the LAST TIME I'm going to tell you that I don't bet with a LIAR and a CHEAT.

[-hh]

Non sequitur.

No, you just don't bet at all. You've made it quite obvious that you can't afford to,
on multiple levels.


-hh