Presidential First 90 Days Thread

Totentanz said:
As much as I like the idea there's no way career politicians (writ large) are going to pull the e brake on their gravy train. Especially if there's any threat of swift repercussion.
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But with the current mood of the nation, do you think the state governments would vote in a states convention for a term limit amendment? I think if Trump puts it forward and the congress/senate hold it up, sit on it or simply vote it out. All he would have to do, is get on all the cable networks and make the case of how corrupt these career politicians are, and how he is trying to fix it and how they are stonewalling him, and call on the states to move forward with an ammendment. It doesn't have to be drastic, give them 3 terms to a office (i.e. 3 terms as a congressman, 3 terms as a senator, etc).

I also love the 5 year restrictions from working as a lobbyists after leaving government.

I would even say that a term limit for supreme court justices would be a good idea. Say 10 year terms, with a maximum of two terms. That way there is no more freak out about the government going down the shitter due to left/right leaning justices. Take the politics out of the court system.

I'd also like to see the ability given to the the congress to impeach or more or less fire an attorney general, when it's obvious that it needs to happen.
 
RE: NAFTA, both Canada and Mexico are willing to renegotiate. I don't know if it is out of fear/concern or an olive branch to work with Trump, but in any case it is telling that both came out the day after the election to support tweaking it.
 
Devildoc said:
RE: NAFTA, both Canada and Mexico are willing to renegotiate. I don't know if it is out of fear/concern or an olive branch to work with Trump, but in any case it is telling that both came out the day after the election to support tweaking it.
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No matter how much of a dunce Trudeau is, he understands that the US and Canada have the largest trading partnership in the World. And if he's not on board for changes, we'll be left in the dust. Especially since his carbon tax will hurt us, since Trump has no plans for such stupidity.
 
Diamondback 2/2 said:
But with the current mood of the nation, do you think the state governments would vote in a states convention for a term limit amendment? I think if Trump puts it forward and the congress/senate hold it up, sit on it or simply vote it out. All he would have to do, is get on all the cable networks and make the case of how corrupt these career politicians are, and how he is trying to fix it and how they are stonewalling him, and call on the states to move forward with an ammendment. It doesn't have to be drastic, give them 3 terms to a office (i.e. 3 terms as a congressman, 3 terms as a senator, etc).

I also love the 5 year restrictions from working as a lobbyists after leaving government.

I would even say that a term limit for supreme court justices would be a good idea. Say 10 year terms, with a maximum of two terms. That way there is no more freak out about the government going down the shitter due to left/right leaning justices. Take the politics out of the court system.

I'd also like to see the ability given to the the congress to impeach or more or less fire an attorney general, when it's obvious that it needs to happen.
Click to expand...

While I think the "mood of the nation" is heading in the right direction I think it is insufficient to overcome the current politician structure. Both parties are currently built on this system and you would have to fight their combined effort to accomplish this. This is their lifeblood and they will fight with everything they have.

I think Trump would waste all the gas in his tank and wouldn't be able to accomplish anything (and would burn almost all political capital for other issues doing so). That said if the idea were pushed by a more grassroots outside movement (Libertarian party kind of comes to mind... not sure if they would, but someone like that), they could use the momentum to push the issue forward. I doubt you'd see anything during the next administration, but you could put the idea firmly in people's heads, start asking very direct questions, and set the conditions for an actual push for term limits at a later date.

It's like gun control. If the Brady Bunch push for AWB rightfuckingnow, they get thrown out the door. Incremental change is more palatable (on both issues).
 
Diamondback 2/2 said:
I wouldn't be surprised to see Rick Perry in Trump's administration. He is super strong on the getting businesses into the states, getting job growth and huge on the border security and immigration issues.
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But he seems like such a dope. I'm sure he's a clever guy, but to me, he doesn't convey it well.
 
Deathy McDeath said:
This is a good point that I hadn't considered. Palin could conceivably do well in a non-public cabinet position. I'd prefer a conservationist, but as the former governor of a state like Alaska, she might just be fit for the Interior position. Agree on Gingrich for CoS as well.
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Most of us from Alaska are not impressed with the leadership qualities of Sarah "quitter" Palin.
Reed
 
Etype said:
I'd like to see the rebuilding of the military NOT center around increasing manpower.

eta- and not involve a new camouflage pattern.
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Or new Gee-Wiz billion dollar toys. How about properly funded and prioritized training? My impression of Trump is that we are getting lots of expensive toys however.
 
SpitfireV said:
No one is in TPP at the moment it didn't pass Congress IIRC. So there's nothing to withdraw from.
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TPP hasn't been voted on yet. TPA passed, giving the President the right to force a straight up/down vote without amendments on trade related agreements. TPP and TTIP are still on the table.

No, Mr. Trump, NAFTA Was Not a 'Bad Deal'
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http://www.nationalreview.com/article/435009/donald-trump-nafta-free-trade-wrong

Yes, (IMO) it is... Let me tell you why... NAFTA allows trade between Canada, Mexico and the US without import/export tariffs. It also increased the number of work visas allocated to each of the countries. That move enables a company to move its operations (and the associated jobs) to the country with the lowest taxes. The US has a 38.9% corporate tax rate, Mexico has a 30% rate and Canada has a 26.5% rate. While Canada has the lowest corporate tax rate, it also has the second highest currency value behind the US. So where do you think the big corporations are moving their plants and other non-HQ operations? They're creating subsidiary companies and doing 95% of the manufacturing under the non-US company. Then the final manufacturing plant (actually an assembly plant) buys the parts from the non-US company at a rate that allows them to shift most of their profits out of the country tax-free in the US.

What does that really mean? Let's think about Ford's new plant in Mexico. They buy the raw materials from suppliers at a greatly reduced rate due to their volume and favorable currency exchange rates. Then they use their plants in Mexico to do the assembly, meaning that any related manufacturing jobs are now Mexican workers rather than US workers (Nationality, not ethnicity). So the Mexican government collects all of the income tax from those workers rather than the US. All of the money spent by those workers into the economy goes into the Mexican economy rather than the US economy including any associated sales taxes. Meanwhile the marketing organization already exists in the US and other countries. Ignore the other countries and let's focus on the US. The headquarters is 'technically' making the sales so all the REVENUE exists in the US, but then they turn around, skim the cost of global and headquarters operations off the top and use the rest to buy the cars from the Mexican subsidiary, leaving them with only cash that they keep for future projects and reserves as taxable corporate income.

Because the market (and output) is gauged on revenue, it shows a strong manufacturing sector when the reality is that all of the profits are residing in another country, all of the workers contributions to the economy go to the other countries and all of the corporate tax is paid to the country with the best exchange/tax rate ratio, which is NOT the US. We're the highest tax rate in the world and one of the strongest currencies (thanks to our reserve currency status). Who would ever manufacture here when these types of trade agreements exist? Hell, I'm sitting here looking at my Green Beret Foundation ball cap and it was made in Viet Nam...

This is the scenario for almost all of the major manufacturers in the US. There's another leg that we could get into that is available to global companies until 2020 with the "Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich" dodge that has been used for a long time. That one gets a bit complicated, so if you want to read about it: The 'Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich' Corporate Tax-Dodge Crisis | The Huffington Post But right now we're talking about NAFTA.

Yes, NAFTA increased the REVENUE to the US bolstering the manufacturing numbers, but it is a false economy because the profits, jobs and taxes all go to Mexico.
 
reed11b said:
Or new Gee-Wiz billion dollar toys. How about properly funded and prioritized training? My impression of Trump is that we are getting lots of expensive toys however.
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Unfortunately, I think most civilian leadership thinks greater manpower and wiz-bang toys are what the military needs.
 
SpongeBob*24 said:
Here's a start....:thumbsup:
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Where do you get these wonderful cartoons!?

Last couple of days has been pretty normal for any other presidential election winner- walking back his more aggressive promises, deleting them from his website, softening on Obamacare and prosecuting Hillary.

Maybe he didn't mean drain the swamp, maybe Pres Elect Trump meant replace some of the water in the swamp?

ETA- You drain a swamp, not a swam.
 
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