Being totally real, tax plan was more or less successful in what it set out to achieve, which basically continues the trend of unemployment dropping but meaningful wage growth stays stagnant

Trade war isn't looking good for us, and I usually like the America first angle when it comes to some of this shit, but I would've preferred that national infrastructure plan he talked up (but that was about as much of a pipe dream as Mexico paying for the wall)

I doubt anything comes of the NK talks, but that's more how I feel about NK than Trump

Without any major achievements to run on other than the tax plan, which probably only shores up his base, you'd think Republicans would lose seats in Congress. but with McConnell extending the legislative term 3 weeks into prime campaigning time, odds are some senate dems lose their reelection bid, meaning come 2020 the republicans need something to show for it or he's a one term president...

Tldr

He's not Ted Cruz or Mike Pence, so I'm cool with losing international karma in exchange for getting very little done

Disrespect my set fool

meh who cares nothings changed

Lmaoo

@uh-oh how do you feel about your boy so far? I wanna wake up with something to channel my hangover rage into

just so we know, he is my boy by default. we don't align 100 percent politically but i thoroughly enjoy him as a human being.

so in that regard, things are going better than i couldve hoped for. the repeal of the obamacare mandate and the failure of the repeal and replace is beautiful. i was in favor of an outright repeal, but this is essentially the same thing. with the premiums set to skyrocket now they will be forced to replace it (i hope they don't) or outright repeal it.

the tax bill is beautiful. i see its benefits on a daily basis. not only from me keeping more of my own money in each check, but at work we've actually hired guys so i don't have to continually carry the place on my back. we've also had a massive uptick in retail sales, in past years the majority of our work was through dealerships and insurance, retail is considered normal people stopping in to have stuff fixed/get painted. this is completely anecdotal and theoretical at this point however, but my theory is people having more money in their pockets now translates to them spending a few bucks to fix up their vehicles. we're basically on target to double our retail sales, if everything continues this way for the rest of the year. this could be a fluke, but i mean i've been here for 5 years now so it is a little strange that the numbers are doubling

but again i could be seeing what i want to in that regard.

also im seeing an uptick in manufacturing, this is the rustbelt after all, timken steel has been getting a steady uptick in hiring, so i'm hoping that trump sticks by his tariffs and such and doesn't just use them as bargaining chips for better deals in general. either way its better than what it was. granted prices will definitely rise in the interim until places like timken steel, republic steel etc all get back going at the capacities they were once running at before the jobs left, but seeing them hiring instead of having mass layoffs is great.

so word im digging the tax bill and the repeal of the obamacare mandate.

my problems with trumps first 500 days are more so problems with our entire system. the military industrial complex and how trump gives them free reign basically. granted i'm somewhat torn on it though. i don't think a president who hasn't served should be hands on in general. but im not with our warmongering in general. how we operate all over the world lining the pockets of corporations that profit off the mass murder of people who pose no threat to us. so i'd like to see us out of everything but understand we're too deep into it at this point.

im not with the omnibus spending bill, at all. its par for the course governmental overspending on nonsense. he could say he moved some money around to fool his base like oh i put 2 billion towards the wall blah blah. its nonsense. it reeks of the continued rot and corruption of our government beyond political parties. just feeding the swamp he campaigned on draining.


so at the moment, the pluses outweigh the minuses

i think its wishful thinking that he is a 1 term president though, he's already done enough to carry his base, and might actually garner more support from what he has actually done. also i see no one from the democratic side who wouldn't be slaughtered by him. i think we're stuck with him. so we should just lean into the buffoonery and enjoy it for what it is.

Yeah there’s good people on both sides

Honestly, George Washtubgton wasn’t that great of s president according to records. Just being a leader in the Revolution made it so he was glorified after his death.

Interesting viewpoint please expand on it

Lol. Yeah, the whole fighting for independence thing is really overrated

he was a womanizing racist des

how dare you

Yeah but that was pre #metoo

If woman didn’t have vaginas we’d be hunting them for sport

I wouldn't say beautiful unless you hate the blue states in the northeast. The state and local tax deductions being scrapped was pure politics (and normally I'm all for fucking up new jersey) and the rest looks like either a way for the rich to get richer or a distraction for everything else (here's 6 Gs for you and disproportionate relief for the wealthiest) - between the tax rates themselves, corporate tax, and estate tax, the plan itself is projected to add about 1 trillion to the national deficit over time. I'm no deficit hawk, but that should lose some favor in his base. Also, it's pretty easy to see someone using that angle against him, which wouldn't swing votes left but could convince traditional Republicans to stay home

The tariffs could work if we had the existing infrastructure to work with it. Right now, there aren't enough American steel mills to make up the amount that we import, at least, that's how it seems in PA (the most recent case I can think of is the NLMK plant by the Ohio border). It seems like it's done in earnest, but not well thought out - I'm curious to see what changes will take place to compensate, if any.

International trade is looking like it could his undoing though. Since nothing of consequence happened there, I'll wait and see

i probably look at it differently because i don't want anyone giving their money to the government. whether its the little guy or the wealthiest. it is their money. the wealthy still pay more than their fair share, and the same policies that have enabled job growth are being criticized for helping the evil elites. its goofy. the main reason i don't like the omnibus spending bill is because of this though, the deficit is going to continue to grow no matter what when we spend trillions on nonsense. i wouldn't mind our make believe deficit growing if it was going towards infrastructure and things that benefit americans, but our spending largely goes towards benefiting the giant corporations that feed our military industrial complex/big pharma/etc etc everyone that puts that money back into politics through lobbyists etc.

also agreed on the fact that american steel mills can't make up the amount we import, but that is a good thing in the long run. its not because we can't support ourselves, i mean we sell the raw materials to china, and buy back their steel lmao. because it was cheaper than making it ourselves. if tariffs and trade agreements end up making the steel more expensive, that opens up a need for supply to match our demand

i drive by closed down steel plants every day, just collecting dust. its a window for one of those evil elites to come in and open up, and employ americans to produce steel again, you're more toward east PA right? but im sure western PA is the same, failed cities with empty factories in the rust belt

how anyone can be for an estate tax boggles my mind, seeing democrats running on raising taxes like its a good thing baffles me. no one i know wants more of their money taken.

I don't necessarily like taxes (half of my family was born in the soviet union) but things like infrastructure, emergency/municipal services. I'm with you on expanding the deficit if it actually helps most Americans too, but yeah.

Haven't done much research on anything I'm about to say after this, but

You a fan of global trade? I feel like Protectionist tariffs get oddly political but I generally like them. I'm willing to bet some of kind of opening will allow for foreign competitors to get around tariffs (like if you're located in another country but have x number of plants here, you can apply for an exemption) because Trump's turning into a run of the mill Republican, and I'm sure he'll buckle to the same special interests they do.

I'm from the greater Philadelphia area. Life's been relatively untouched by any economic factors in my lifetime since all the big changes happened between 1940s-80s, just the same trend of cost of living rising faster than wages in an area that's more expensive than most. We don't have so many factories in Delco/Montco/Philly since there's counties of open space surrounding us

And isn't the point of the estate tax to compensate for the appreciation of value that never gets taxed otherwise? The only things I remember learning about it were that and Teddy Roosevelt's massive hard on for it

The lack of critical thinking by “educated” people here is astounding. Agenda first facts and reason and logic second.

im too dumb to understand your last sentence, honestly. lol

but basically my point of view is the money you've earned in your life, and all your possessions and properties you've already paid taxes on, to tax them again before giving them to your heirs is nonsense. they are still going to have to pay taxes on any properties/when they spend the money etc. its an extra tax that helps no one and is specifically government greed to help support a bloated government full of useless positions and career politicians that are criminally overpaid

earth will press its reset button soon
wayyy earlier than its supposed to, because of us

fuck politics

I'm with you in that sentiment. I was saying let's say it's 2070 and Diode owns a jerky factory that he bought for 1 mil in 2020. He kicks it and leaves it to his son. His son just got a factory worth about 10 mil in 2070 dollars, so the government is more taxing the appreciation of the factory value in those 50 years than Diode Jr's inheritance... At least... I think that's the point? I've put off forming an opinion on it because it will literally never effect me