US Politics Mega-thread - Page 6347

On December 01 2016 07:12 oBlade wrote:

This is what "drain the swamp" means:

It doesn't mean never hire someone with any experience, it doesn't mean to turn the whole government into Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. It's so often people who would have never, ever voted for him that have these cartoon interpretations. That's not a coincidence, alright? It's people who already don't like him, or probably any Republican at all (which is a fair enough position), reverse engineering reasons to fit. People who didn't vote for him specifically because of what he said, now criticizing him for not doing what he said, usually what they didn't want him to do (for example, following through on prosecuting HRC). You used the term "establishment politician" - is that any different than "politician" for you, I wonder.

On December 01 2016 07:29 TheTenthDoc wrote:
If you're going to ban White House and Congressional officials from becoming lobbyists for five years, wouldn't it make sense not to put lobbyists directly in the White House as officials?

(perhaps he simply meant "lobbyists that don't lobby for Republican agendas")

He’ll probably get confirmed. But first, Steve Mnuchin, Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, will have some explaining to do.

Mnuchin is a Goldman Sachs alumnus and lifelong financier who mostly has a strong track record of earning millions of dollars for clients and himself. But he became a lightning rod after assembling a group of investors to buy the insolvent bank IndyMac in 2009. Mnuchin et al. renamed the bank OneWest and successfully turned it around, but in the process foreclosed on thousands of irate homeowners while also drawing criticism for exploiting corporate welfare.

...

When it filed for bankruptcy on August 1, 2008, IndyMac was one of the biggest bank failures of all time.

With the whole financial system teetering on the edge of collapse, the FDIC, which took over IndyMac, struggled to find a buyer. Mnuchin, who was operating a hedge fund at the time, thought he saw an opportunity. He assembled a group of investors who bought IndyMac for $1.55 billion in early 2009. To facilitate the deal, the FDIC agreed to a “shared loss agreement” under which the agency’s deposit-insurance fund would bear the cost of bad IndyMac loans above a certain threshold, to assure the new buyers they weren’t investing in a bottomless sinkhole.

Like most banks during the housing bust, the newly named lender, OneWest, began to foreclose on borrowers who couldn’t make their mortgage payments as the housing crisis intensified and a brutal recession left millions unemployed.

On December 01 2016 07:12 oBlade wrote:

This is what "drain the swamp" means:

It doesn't mean never hire someone with any experience, it doesn't mean to turn the whole government into Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. It's so often people who would have never, ever voted for him that have these cartoon interpretations. That's not a coincidence, alright? It's people who already don't like him, or probably any Republican at all (which is a fair enough position), reverse engineering reasons to fit. People who didn't vote for him specifically because of what he said, now criticizing him for not doing what he said, usually what they didn't want him to do (for example, following through on prosecuting HRC). You used the term "establishment politician" - is that any different than "politician" for you, I wonder.

On December 01 2016 07:26 Doodsmack wrote:
That is only what you've decided "drain the swamp" means. In reality it's just a vague slogan, but you might think that with the prominence of the slogan, positions as important as the cabinet would be free of swamp monsters.

On December 01 2016 08:27 oBlade wrote:

Yes, you're starting to see it,, an actual supporter, me, seems to have different expectations about how big a deal it is that Trump, after campaigning with 3 word slogans, is hiring people with resumes. A slogan which, while it could mean anything as you say, I believe to be closely related to things he's actually said (and can cite because I followed the campaign closely), and which you lean more towards meaning things you've invented yourself that he's never said, and then getting astounded that the reality of his administration doesn't match what you built up and finding fault at every single turn turn, with Trump apparently failing to get anything right even by accident. Some food for thought on perpetuating campaign-mode perspectives after the election.

The deal that President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence brokered to keep Carrier jobs in Indiana likely hinges on its parent company's fear about losing business with the federal government, said an official who will play a critical role in approving the agreement.

Trump and Pence will visit Indiana on Thursday to announce they’ve delivered on a campaign promise to keep about 1,000 factory jobs from moving to Monterrey, Mexico. The agreement reportedly includes $700,000 in state tax breaks offered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, a quasi-public entity that doesn't require legislative approval for its deals.

But John Mutz, a former Indiana lieutenant governor who sits on the agency’s 12-member board, told POLITICO that Carrier turned down a previous offer from IEDC before the election. He said he thinks the choice is driven by concerns from Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, that it could lose a portion of its roughly $6.7 billion in federal contracts.

“This deal is no different than other deals that we put together at the IEDC to retain jobs, but the fact is that the difference is that United Technologies depends on the federal government for lots of business,” Mutz said.

“The major factor that’s changed is we had an election,” Mutz said.

Even before Trump and Pence can take their victory lap, the deal -- the first major test of the anti-trade stance that helped them win the Rust Belt and the election -- is already coming under fire. Economists are pointing out that saving 1,000 positions with state tax credits does nothing to stem the global economic forces that are moving an estimated 300,000 U.S. factory jobs abroad annually. And Indiana lawmakers and union officials are bristling at being kept in the dark.

Carrier issued a statement Wednesday crediting the state aid package and the Trump administration's support for business.

"Today's announcement is possible because the incoming Trump-Pence administration has emphasized to us its commitment to support the business community and create an improved, more competitive U.S. business climate," the statement said. "The incentives offered by the state were an important consideration."

Carrier added: "This agreement in no way diminishes our belief in the benefits of free trade and that the forces of globalization will continue to require solutions for the long-term competitiveness of the U.S. and of American workers moving forward."

United Technologies, which also manufactures aerospace and defense products, received the seventh-highest level of federal funding among private companies in fiscal 2015.

Mutz said he has not reviewed the specifics of the deal, but was briefed on it Tuesday afternoon.

On December 01 2016 03:25 ticklishmusic wrote:




Someone needs to do their homework.

Also Price is a leading Obamacare critic. He has a couple of the more detailed (but still incredibly boneheaded) replacement ideas. The best description I read was that "it's a wet sloppy blowjob for the insurance industry".

Firefighters have quelled all but one structural fire after a devastating wildfire ripped through eastern Tennessee earlier this week, killing seven people, hospitalizing at least 53 others and damaging more than 700 homes and businesses.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash said Wednesday, but noted it is “likely to be human-caused.” Severe drought conditions and high winds helped spread the flames. Nearly 15,000 acres have been burned, Cash said.

The wildfire, which Gov. Bill Haslam (R) called “the largest fire in the last 100 years in the state of Tennessee,” started Monday night in Great Smoky Mountains National Park outside of Gatlinburg.

Three people were confirmed dead on Tuesday, and four more fatalities were reported Wednesday. Although only one structure is still on fire, Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller warned that current weather conditions could lead some areas to reignite.

More than 14,000 people from Gatlinburg and surrounding areas have been evacuated. At least 200 firefighters continue to put out flames and lead search and rescue efforts.

The city issued a mandatory curfew Tuesday night so rescue workers could clear debris and perform wellness checks on residents. The curfew will remain in effect through at least Thursday morning.

Severe storms also wreaked havoc in parts of eastern Tennessee on Tuesday night and into early Wednesday morning, killing two people and sending at least 20 to area hospitals, according to local NBC affiliate WBIR. The storms are predicted to continue into Wednesday night.

Significant rains would benefit firefighting efforts, but high winds could spread the fire.

“Rain is going to help with the suppression of some of the active fires,” Miller said. “But unless that rain penetrates deep enough into that leaf clutter, then those hotspots can still arise.”

Mudslides and rockslides created by the fire and storm pose additional challenges to rescue workers, forcing them to revisit areas they had previously cleared of debris.

On December 01 2016 11:17 Danglars wrote:

I could've added "despite her public statements" for clarity. It was in private conversation with another that got a transition team series of phone calls confirming interest. And you should also do you homework: politician types frequently say one thing and do another. Prior work and prior panel conversations tell a different story, such that it legitimately is Trump siding with common core but delivering on school choice promises.

Did you read the budget committee document from Price? When it came to formulating the opposition, he promised much and wrote little. Read some criticism for starters. I don't want to sound overly dour; it would be perfectly logical for Trump to push him to make an Obamacare repeal more painless. He could still do that job well. It's not as objectionable as Goldman Sachs & Reince Priebus.

More importantly, even though the Republican budget document said it “gets rid of all of Obamacare,” that’s not what it did.

On December 01 2016 12:49 Nyxisto wrote:
I have never really followed the common core debate closely, it's essentially about creating national education standards in secondary education right? Why is this bad?