Dear President Trump,
On the cusp of Memorial Day weekend I am making a request for myself and (I'm willing to bet) millions of other citizens. We plan on spending our weekend remembering lost loved ones, spending time with family and friends and trying to relax from our everyday lives. Could you please do us all a favor and take a vacation? Normally it bothers me that you are profiting by staying at your properties but I'm willing to overlook that argument this weekend. Your constant news churn has simply worn most of us out. Take a vacation and do some golfing and please ignore twitter for a week. The country will love you for it.
We have reeled from 'gate' to 'gate' these last 18 months. We started with the my-phones-were-tapped-gate and subsequently have been through unmasking-gate, release-the-memo-gate, spy-gate and who can forget the never ending and all encompassing no-collusion (aka) witch-hunt-gate? All of this gate swinging has simply exhausted everyone.
Mr. President, if you're innocent and have done nothing wrong, why all the gates? All of our intelligence agencies have stated that Russia interfered in our elections. Let Mr. Mueller do his job. Don't you want to ensure election integrity going forward? Don't you want to make sure that you were not taken advantage of by someone on your election team?
Do us all a favor and take a vacation. It would be great if you also took Rudy Giuliani and Michael Avenatti with you. Everyone on both sides are sick to death of hearing from both of them as well. Thanks for your help on this matter and enjoy your golf game.
Sincerely,
Midwest Moderate
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Truth and Facts
My Senator from Missouri, Roy Blunt stated that he thinks people care more about jobs and the economy than they do about the lies that President Trump tells. Unbelievable. If this attitude is correct, where is this country headed?
If truth and facts are no longer required from the President of this country, are they no longer matter from everyday citizens?
Does it matter if you ask your doctor how many times he or she has performed a surgery that you need and they lie to you? Does it matter that the truck driver moving a heavy load down a busy interstate lied about his or her heavy equipment work experience? Does it matter than an engineer designing bridges that we all use, tell the truth about his or her skills to his employer? Who wants to buy a house or a building constructed by someone who lies about their knowledge or ability? Does it matter if the inspectors who are supposed to ensure the safety of our food and drug supplies tell the truth? Does it matter if judges in legal cases base ruling on truth?
Where does this end? It's easy to say that lies about things like crowd sizes, or the number of illegal voters or payments to porn stars don't matter and that these are just the presidential equivalent of little white lies. But are they? If truth and facts no longer matter, where is this leading us?
Will we know that our soldiers, our sons and daughters, who give their lives for this country are doing so based on the truth and facts from the commander-in-chief?
Voting for politicians that lie to us is a recipe for disaster. Truth and facts are essential to our very survival.
If truth and facts are no longer required from the President of this country, are they no longer matter from everyday citizens?
Does it matter if you ask your doctor how many times he or she has performed a surgery that you need and they lie to you? Does it matter that the truck driver moving a heavy load down a busy interstate lied about his or her heavy equipment work experience? Does it matter than an engineer designing bridges that we all use, tell the truth about his or her skills to his employer? Who wants to buy a house or a building constructed by someone who lies about their knowledge or ability? Does it matter if the inspectors who are supposed to ensure the safety of our food and drug supplies tell the truth? Does it matter if judges in legal cases base ruling on truth?
Where does this end? It's easy to say that lies about things like crowd sizes, or the number of illegal voters or payments to porn stars don't matter and that these are just the presidential equivalent of little white lies. But are they? If truth and facts no longer matter, where is this leading us?
Will we know that our soldiers, our sons and daughters, who give their lives for this country are doing so based on the truth and facts from the commander-in-chief?
Voting for politicians that lie to us is a recipe for disaster. Truth and facts are essential to our very survival.
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Vote by Number
In my day job, I'm a number cruncher. Here are some recent charts that I picked up off the twitter feed of the economist Steven Rattner. I included his tweet comment with each chart he shared.
(5/8/18):
"A future of debt...not brought on by financial crisis or recession, but by Trump policies."
(5/10/18):
"Evidence that the tax cut is working: Record buybacks."
(5/11/18):
"Wage growth continues to surprise to the downside-a disappointment give the sub-4% u rate." Meaning the sub 4% unemployment rate.
(5/11/18)
"Higher gas prices on track to wipe out half of tax cut benefit; low income hit the hardest."
(5/16/18):
The next tweet was from Tyler Evilsizer that included the chart. Mr. Rattner had re-tweeted Mr. Evilsizer's tweet. "Rattner's testimony at Ways & Means hearing -- most growth estimates for the tax bill are very similar to CBO (and far short of the .4% that supporters said would pay for the bill).
(5/17/18):
"Growth required to balance the budget/10y: 4.8%/yr on avg or 5.9% if tax cuts/spending was extended. CBO is calling for 2% growth."
(5/18/18):
"Equities have added $22tln in value since '09 while workers' share of biz income is still stuck near record lows."
It might be wise for all of us to pay attention to the numbers when making our choices for elected officials this fall.
(5/8/18):
"A future of debt...not brought on by financial crisis or recession, but by Trump policies."
(5/10/18):
"Evidence that the tax cut is working: Record buybacks."
(5/11/18):
"Wage growth continues to surprise to the downside-a disappointment give the sub-4% u rate." Meaning the sub 4% unemployment rate.
(5/11/18)
"Higher gas prices on track to wipe out half of tax cut benefit; low income hit the hardest."
(5/16/18):
The next tweet was from Tyler Evilsizer that included the chart. Mr. Rattner had re-tweeted Mr. Evilsizer's tweet. "Rattner's testimony at Ways & Means hearing -- most growth estimates for the tax bill are very similar to CBO (and far short of the .4% that supporters said would pay for the bill).
(5/17/18):
"Growth required to balance the budget/10y: 4.8%/yr on avg or 5.9% if tax cuts/spending was extended. CBO is calling for 2% growth."
(5/18/18):
"Equities have added $22tln in value since '09 while workers' share of biz income is still stuck near record lows."
It might be wise for all of us to pay attention to the numbers when making our choices for elected officials this fall.
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