The Reality at the Federal Level

If you really want to have some fun with the media biases that are occurring among what has been termed the “Fake News” by President Trump, and his only source of “truthful news,” the Fox News Network, you need to watch both.

For those Fox News groupies, I would like to bring you up to date on some comments made by someone closest to President Trump and which seem to be totally missing from reporting by Fox News.

In 1987 a bestselling book entitled ‘The Art of the Deal’ was written by Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz.  Donald Trump claims he wrote most of the book with assistance from Schwartz.  In the reality world it was the other way around.  However, Donald J. Trump has regularly boasted about ‘The Art of the Deal,’ his best-selling autobiography, as a business bible that demonstrates the sharp negotiating prowess he would bring to the presidency. The book details his rise to the top of New York’s real estate world.  It helped spawn his career as a reality television star and cemented his image as a winner with a golden touch.  It held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times’ nonfiction best-seller list for 51 weeks.  President Trump highly respected Tony Schwartz and claimed that he really “understood him.”

Taking President Trump at his word that Schwartz really “understood him,” I find the following observations by Schwartz about President Trump somewhat alarming.  Warning Alert: You will only find it on the “Fake News” media. 

Schwartz claims that Trump “doesn't feel the ordinary human emotions most of us do," “For example, he's free of shame because he has no conscience, nor any self-awareness.  So while his behavior certainly suggests he feels increasing fear and isolation, he would be the last one to know it.”  He further claims Trump followed the tactics he learned from his late mentor, the hard-knuckled New York lawyer Roy Cohn — "Lie about everything, attack back twice as hard as you've been hit, keep at it relentlessly until people finally give up and (they) stop arguing with your fabricated reality."

He also notes that, “the reckoning Trump (now) faces follows decades of operating under a belief that he was above the law. He got away with so much, for so long, that he came to believe he was untouchable and invincible."

In regards to the hush money payments made to the two women to keep Trump’s alleged adulterous affairs quiet, the knowledge of which was initially denied by Trump, Schwartz points out that “nothing at the Trump Organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump.”

As the economy rages, although the stock market has lost all of the gains it made in 2018, one has to wonder how much lower the moral ethics of the Office of the Commander-in- Chief will go?  Even our congressional representative Senator Bill Cassidy now seems worried when he stated, "Am I concerned that the president might be involved in a crime? Of course."

Leading Us Down the Wrong Path

An avid supporter of President Trump recently espoused a lengthy list of Trump’s economic achievements.   The author mentioned such things as GPD growth, reduced unemployment, more money in people’s pocket, a higher stock market, etc.

   

One can always find statistics to support any notion they desire.  I found some that show just the opposite of the list that was championed.  Fixed investment made a negative contribution (-0.04 percentage points compared to +1.1 percentage points in Q2) and fell 0.3 percent after a 6.4 percent jump in Q2.  Investment in structures slumped 7.9 percent after rising 14.5 percent, the biggest fall since Q4 2015, and residential investment went down for the third straight quarter (-4 percent compared to -1.3 percent).   Also, investment slowed for equipment (0.4 percent compared to 4.6 percent) and intellectual property products (7.9 percent compared to 10.5 percent).  Exports fell 3.5 percent , mainly due to a decline in soybean exports to China after Beijing's tariffs took effect.   Imports rose 9.1 percent, rebounding from a 0.6 percent decline in Q2, before US import tariffs take complete effect.   As a result, the impact from trade was -1.78 percent, compared to +1.22 percent in Q2.

All negative stuff, and pretty confusing, right?   My point is when judging the economic success or failure of measures put into place to aid our economy one needs to move past the short term benefits and look at what will be their long term lasting effects.

What was missing from the economic accolades recently presented was a clear understanding of just how this present rosy picture came about.

The listed economic achievements of President Trump while presently beneficial are predicted by federal and private economists to lead to a major recession by 2020.  The reason for this is Trump’s use of tax cuts and higher spending to create his healthy-looking economic picture.  These are now generating massive trillion dollar budget deficits as far as the eye can see.  In the long run this will hurt growth by crowding out private investment and lead to higher inflation.

Unlike the trillion dollar budget deficits that occurred during the Obama administration that were temporary and largely the result of the Great Recession, the Trump deficits, that will soon exceed $1 trillion, are the result of PERMANENT changes in federal spending and revenue.  These will continue to be in place until some President and Congress decide to reverse them.

 

So those that continue to cite the sterling economic conditions as President Trump’s finest achievements better enjoy them while they can.   Past history has clearly demonstrated that continued escalations of U.S. deficit spending will at some point burst the bubble and lead to a  recession. 

President Trump clearly has the U.S. on such a path.  He is very aware of the fact that people are happy when more money flows into their pockets even if it eventually leads to their fiscal demise.  Louisiana folks should be especially mindful  about the long term effects of rosy short term economic benefits.  Does the name Bobby Jindal ring a bell?

Hopefully,  when  we reap the long term consequences of President Trump’s short term economic achievements, which won’t be pretty, we will remember who to thank.  Now I’m sure most will dismiss all this as pure speculation and more anti-Trumpism, and simply continue to “enjoy the ride” like some gambler at a roulette table, but just don’t forget, you’ve been warned.

Playing His Supporters Like a Fine Violin

While talking with a friend of mine the other day he related how he was happy that President Trump was doing something about the reported “migrant caravan invasion“ heading for the U.S. border by deploying 5200 plus troops.  I just smiled because my friend still didn’t get it.  The troop deployment is just another Trump orchestrated P.R. stunt to promote his image and rally his supporters for the mid-term elections.  It has little to do with solving the immediate problem.

Sadly, if he stopped believing Trump’s “fantasy news” and researched the facts, he would discover that those 5200 plus active troops are barred by federal law from engaging in any type of law enforcement activity.  The troops cannot detain the immigrants, seize drugs from the so called drug smugglers that Trump claims populate the caravan, or have any direct involvement in stopping the migrant caravan.

What can they do?  They can provide supportive labor such as help install concrete barriers, barbed wire set up medical tents, provide medical assistance, and repair and maintain vehicles.  They can also provide helicopter support equipped with advanced technology to locate migrant treks at night.

So when Trump tweeted, “Our military is waiting for you,” he plays this country once again like a fine violin, for the implications of that phrase is hardly what will really occur.   Then again maybe he isn’t playing us at all, but instead, as is so often the case, he just truly doesn’t comprehend the federal restrictions and “is above” seeking any advice on the matter.

Hopefully, saner heads will prevail at the border, and no one gets trigger happy so we don’t end up with some type of Waco Siege massacre.

Additionally, if you believe President Trump can undo birthright citizenship with a stroke of his pen, I have some swampland in Florida to sell you.  You second amendment advocates should know better.  It’s a right given in the U.S. Constitution just like your right to own a gun.

Patrick Taylor's Legacy - A Two Edged Sword

While Louisiana taxpayers continue to fund TOPS which was set up to honor the legacy of oil tycoon Patrick Taylor for his generosity in starting a college tuition funding program for high achieving inner city kids, we need not forget his other not so generous legacy.  His company Taylor Energy has given Louisiana one of the worse offshore oil spills in U.S. history.

This oil spill disaster which has been kept quiet by Louisiana officials since 2004 has been dumping between 300 to 700 barrels of oil daily into the Gulf just 12 miles from the Louisiana coast.  That year an oil production platform owned by Taylor Energy sank in a mudslide triggered by Hurricane Ivan.  Many of the wells have never been capped and soon the continuing leaks from the wells will surpass the BP’s Deep Horizon Disaster as the largest ever.

From 2004 to 2010 the spill, with the aid of our state, was successfully kept secret because of the company’s desire to protect Mr. Taylor’s reputation and his company’s proprietary information about its operations.   Apparently state officials were content to let it remain a secret for Louisiana never even filled suit against Taylor Energy for the continuing damage.

However, much to their dismay, it was accidentally discovered by environmental watchdog groups when they stumbled on Taylor Energy wells’ oil slicks while monitoring the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster.

Even though the company is no longer in business they are obligated by law to plug the leaks.  Taylor Energy’s latest approach to the problem is simply to walk away from it, for the leaks continue with no planned end in sight. 

The company was ordered by the Feds to set up a $450 million dollar trust fund to fix the problem.

However, they are presently suing to get the money back claiming it’s no big deal because, according to their estimates, it’s only leaking 1 to 55 barrels a day.   A figure no one else can support by data.

Maybe a better use of all that tax payers’ money for TOPS would be to direct it towards plugging those leaks.

But then again who cares if the Gulf and Louisiana’s coastline gets more polluted as long as we can send our kids to college, tuition free.  Thanks Taylor Energy.

He Said, She Said

Without the desire of prolonging any more discussion of the deplorable actions that occurred by both political parties regarding the recent approval of the latest Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh,  I must take exception to one categorization of the entire debacle, namely, the defensive  rallying cry “that there were no collaborating witnesses.”  Why would you expect any?

What idiot would sexually assault somebody with witnesses present?  Unless you are participating in some sort of gang rape, I doubt that anyone would want numerous witnesses around to view your actions.  Now if by chance your best bud was present, I’m sure he would have your back because by his very presence he pretty much has the same predetermined mind set as the perpetrator.

One should also recall the time frame in which the allegations occurred.   Teenage women, and women in general, were ashamed and afraid to report sexual assaults for fear of the “she asked for it” or “she got what she deserved” syndrome.

You know what I mean.  If a young woman got drunk and ventured into a man’s bedroom she “got what she deserved.” The prevalent thought was, and among many today, still is, she is just a “bad girl” and the man gets a pass to do whatever he wants because in her inebriated state she should have known better.

In fact, it was totally inappropriate to be an inebriated underage female teen at all.  Big trouble if your parents found out.  Again, during those times, unless you were a fool, you kept those incidents quiet.  I’m sure you get the point.

So adopt whatever rationale suits you to legitimately accept our new Supreme Court justice, but please don’t hang it on the “there were no collaborating witnesses” paradigm.    Once again unless you’re a buffoon, they don’t exist.  It is simply a matter of “he said, she said.”  That’s all you are going to get.