July 4, Independence Day Celebration in the USA

Flags, fireworks, and barbeques are in order.

Happy Canada Day

Democratic Party debate Night 2 – Good-Bye Joe Biden

The stage included the leading candidates in all the national polls with the exception of Senator Elizabeth Warren who had participated in the Night One debate. Joe Biden has clearly led in all the polls. Kamala Harris seemed to be fading after her initial declaration of candidacy. Harris’ poll numbers showed her with about 6% of supporters versus Biden’s 32%.

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Easter Prayer Breakfast in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 4, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Personally I lack enthusiasm for Biden who I view as old and out of touch with today’s Democratic activists. My reasoning: 1) The job of president is difficult and the stress could easily kill him. 2) Without young activists to help in a campaign, Donald Trump will overwhelm a less than enthusiastic Democratic Party challenger. Is it any wonder that Trump is rooting for Biden to win the nomination?

Eric Swalwell’s attack on Biden when he said “Joe Biden was right when he said it was time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans 32 years ago. He’s still right today. If we’re going to solve the issues of automation, pass the torch. If we’re going to solve the issues of climate chaos, pass the torch. If we’re going to solve the issue of student loan debt, pass the torch. If we’re going to end gun violence for families who are fearful of sending their kids to school, pass the torch.”

From the transcript of the debate Kamala Harris said the following.

“Okay. On the issue of race I couldn’t agree more that this is an issue that is still not being talked about truthfully and honestly. There is not a black man I know, be he a relative, a friend, or a coworker who has not been the subject of some form of profiling or discrimination.”

“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris began, turning to face Biden. But, she added, “it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.”

“And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”

Biden, sputtering in response, declared Harris’ accusation “a mischaracterization of my position across the board.” He rattled off civil rights measures he had supported in his long career as a senator and tried to defend his opposition to busing during the 1970s and 1980s.

“I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education,” he said, reprising the states’-rights position that he, as a senator from a border state with a history of segregation, had taken decades earlier.

Harris shot back: “That’s where the federal government must step in, that’s why we have the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act … because there are moments in history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people.”

Joe Biden’s responses were weak throughout the debate. I can imagine Kamala Harris using her prosecutor skills to overwhelm Donald Trump in a debate.

Grandpa it’s over.

Democratic Party Debate does Provide Valuable Information about the Candidates

For me these debates, which are not really debates but are position statements, do help to determine who you would vote for in the primaries. That is the reason to watch them again tonight.

It was the first and perhaps the most contentious issue of the night. Health care. As the assembled Democrats compared the merits of a more comprehensive single-payer plan like Medicare For All, which would completely eliminate private insurance versus a more incremental step of a government-funded public option.

NBC’s Lester Holt asked for a show of hands on the biggest question about Medicare-for-all, a top progressive policy goal: Would you abolish private insurance?

Only two Democratic candidates — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio — put their hands up.

The standout moment came from Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts who gave an impassioned defense of the more expansive position, her first time really doing so.

“Look at the business model of an insurance company. It’s to bring in as many dollars as they can in premiums and to pay out as few dollars as possible for your health care. That leaves families with rising premiums, rising copays, and fighting with insurance companies to try to get the health care that their doctors say that they and their children need. Medicare for all solves that problem.”

“There are a lot of politicians who say it’s just not possible, we just can’t do it, have a lot of political reasons for this,” said Warren of the fight for single payer. “What they’re really telling you is they just won’t fight for it. Well, health care is a basic human right and I will fight for basic human rights.”

“… and that is that the insurance companies last year alone sucked $23 billion in profits out of the health care system, $23 billion. And that doesn’t count the money that was paid to executives, the money that was spent lobbying Washington.”

“We have a giant industry that wants our health care system to stay the way it is, because it’s not working for families, but it’s sure as heck working for them. It’s time for us to make families come first.”

The Trump Method

Donald Trump’s philosophy or perhaps call it style (could it be called a doctrine?) is use threats and insults to obtain results he wants. While his threats against his business adversaries may have worked to his benefit that same methodology has not worked for him as president. Just last month he tweeted about the “official end” of Iran.

Today in the news are two more threats. From the Los Angeles Times: “Trump keeps the threat of ICE raids and restates his demands. The president says the raids will be rescheduled in two weeks if Congress does not change asylum laws.” From Reuters: “Trump: ‘I did not send’ message to Tehran warning of attack but Iranian sources told Reuters that Trump had warned Tehran via Oman that a U.S. attack was imminent, but had said he was against war and wanted talks.”

The threat methodology has been used repeatedly. Has it worked? It certainly has frightened many people and has impacted the stock market.

Tariffs on all goods from Mexico
Tariffs on all steel and aluminum from Mexico and Canada
Tariffs on all imports from China
Auto tariffs on European cars
Tariffs on all European Union products
Withdraw from NATO
Demand South Korea pay for US Troops based in their country
“Fire and fury” use of military against North Korea
Cut off aid to Central American countries over a migrant caravans

Congress hasn’t caved in (no money for a wall) and neither have the North Koreans who have resumed testing missiles.

Five Days in Canada

Yes it is very cold in most of Canada in the winter. The exception is Vancouver, British Columbia on the Pacific coast where it rains in buckets. So weather is not Canada’s best feature. However, the people are super friendly, helpful, and caring. Over 20% of the population are immigrants and while the population is majority White the country has open to immigrants from everywhere. Just half of Vancouver’s population is European White.

Toronto Raptors are 2019 NBA Champions

Welfare for Business is Good but Welfare for Families is Bad

In the U.S., it is rather commonplace to see welfare recipients demonized, people on food stamps ostracized, and anyone on any form of public assistance made to feel guilty that they need help. They are called lazy and incompetent, with little regard for circumstance or economic hardship. Sure, there are some people who take advantage of the system. But there are millions that desperately need help, and social welfare programs are the only thing standing between them and poverty.

However subsides to corporations are not deemed to be welfare.

The Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn announced a plan in 2017 to develop a factory hub south of Milwaukee, it’s promised to take a “Wisconsin First” approach to hiring local suppliers. While that phrase didn’t make it into the final contract, that’s how state officials and Foxconn have touted the deal, which involves about $4 billion in potential subsidies.

Foxconn is not alone in receiving government subsidies. Those subsidies are in the billions of dollars. According to The Cato Institute, corporate welfare handouts shot all the way up to $92 billion as of 2002.

Amazon recently conducted a contest to determine where they will open a second “headquarters.” NYC and Arlington, VA won the contest for Amazon’s split East Coast headquarters. Arlington lured in Amazon with promises of a helipad and a cash grant of up to $550 million. The NYC total amount in tax incentives and grants amounted to $3.4 Billion.

Then there are the subsidies for the movie industry called “tax incentives”. The California Film Commission administers the Film & Television Tax Credit Program 2.0 which provides tax credits based on qualified expenditures for eligible productions that are produced in California. The $1.55 billion program runs for 5 years, with a sunset date of June 30, 2020. Georgia allows for a 20 percent tax credit for companies that spend $500,000 or more on production or post production in Georgia, either in a single production or on multiple projects. The Georgia program has resulted in more film produced there than in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, individuals and families, you should be ashamed apply for any welfare help.

The 27 most dubious lines from Donald Trump’s CNBC phone interview

You can’t make this stuff up. Chris Cillizza of CNN summarized the Trump telephone interview Donald Trump gave to CNBC this morning.

1. “Well, I guess he’s not so brilliant. Look, without tariffs, we would be captive to every country, and we have been for many years.”

Trump directly followed Myron Brilliant, the head of international affairs at the Chamber of Commerce, on the show. Brilliant bashed Trump’s “weaponization of tariffs.” And so Trump, the President of the United States, bashed him. See, the guy’s last name is “Brilliant” and Trump said he’s not so brilliant … and away we go!

2. “I’m a member of the US Chamber — maybe I’ll have to rethink that, because when you look at it, the chamber is probably more for the companies and the people that are members than they are for our country.”

The President disagrees with the Chamber on the impact of tariffs so he publicly threatens to leave the group and then suggests they are only looking out for big companies rather than the broader country. Sure! Normal stuff!

3. “Because without tariffs, we would be absolutely, outside of something that I won’t even mention, we would be absolutely in a competitive disadvantage, the likes of which you’ve never seen.”

Wait, what is the “something” Trump won’t even mention? Is this like saying Voldemort’s name?

4. “Now, people haven’t used tariffs, but tariffs are a beautiful thing when you’re the piggy bank, when you have all the money.”

In sum: Tariffs are beautiful. But only when you are a piggy bank. And have “all the money.”

5. “And China will, in my opinion, based on a lot of facts and a lot of knowledge, China’s going to make a deal because they’re going to have to make a deal.”

Facts and knowledge, man. Facts and knowledge.

6. “I’m going to tell you that most people understand that the people having to do with borders and illegal immigration and immigration of any kind, they understand exactly what that is.”

[Nods head uncertainly]

7. “But this is something the US has been trying to get for over 20 years with Mexico. They’ve never been able to do it. As soon as I put tariffs on the table, it was done. It took two days.”

“The deal to avert tariffs that President Trump announced with great fanfare on Friday night consists largely of actions that Mexico had already promised to take in prior discussions with the United States over the past several months, according to officials from both countries who are familiar with the negotiations.” — The New York Times

8. “You know, we’ve picked up trillions of dollars in worth since I’ve been elected.”

This is true! But it lacks lots of context. Here’s that context via CNN’s business team:

“It’s true the nation’s net worth has grown by about that amount, according to the Federal Reserve. It rose to $101 trillion in the first quarter, up from $94 trillion in the same period a year earlier, when Trump took office. (The gain shrinks to just under $5 trillion if you adjust the figures for inflation.)

“However, the country was getting wealthier long before Trump’s presidency. After taking a beating during the Great Recession, net worth rocketed back. It rose by nearly $40 trillion during the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency, or $31 trillion when adjusted for inflation.”

9. “Had a Democrat gotten in, namely, the one we’re talking about, China would have caught us by the end of her term.”

Wait, so Hillary Clinton is Voldemort here?

10. “They’ll never catch us. Not with what I’m doing. They’ll never catch us.”

“Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!” — The Gingerbread Man

11. “He put some of it on, but they didn’t put it on the way that they should have. So, you know, that was a little bit of the media.”

I think Trump is talking here about quotes his economic adviser Larry Kudlow gave in which he acknowledged that American importers, not the Chinese, will pay Trump’s tariffs. So, look, Kudlow “put some of it on but they didn’t put it on the way they should have.” Uh, OK?

12. “We have a Fed that raises interest rates the day before a bond issue goes out, so we have to pay more money. You tell me about that thinking, OK.”

“I am confident that with Jay as a wise steward of the Federal Reserve, it will have the leadership it needs in the years to come,” said Donald Trump, nominating Jerome Powell as the Chairman of the Fed in November 2017.

13. “We should be entitled to have a fair playing field, but even without a fair playing field — because our Fed is very, very destructive to us.”

Again: Trump hand-picked the current head of the Fed.

14. “I’m winning, but I’m not winning on a level table. If I had a table — don’t forget, the head of the Fed in China is President Xi.”

My kingdom for a level table! (Side note: There is NOTHING worse that sitting down at an uneven table at a restaurant. Maddening.)

15. “We’re doing — but I just want to say to the United States Chamber of Commerce, if we didn’t have tariffs, we wouldn’t have made a deal with Mexico.”

16. “Nobody’s going to be able to get through. And then they’re also going to protect our southern border.”

Trump is arguing here that with Mexico sending troops to stop people entering from Central America that “nobody’s going to be able to get through.” But I thought only the border wall could fix that problem…

17. “It’s a very simple — it is a simple stat. [President Xi is] for China, I am for the US, so we are going to have our differences.”

[Narrator voice] This isn’t a “stat.”

18. “I can tell you they discriminate against me.”

The President of the United States, without citing any evidence, claiming that the big technology companies are biased against him. Sure!

19. “You know, people talk about collusion. The real conclusion is between the Democrats and these companies.”

Wait, wait. I thought the real collusion was between Democrats and the Russians? Is this collusion even more real?

20. “We are not fools anymore. We are not the foolish country that does so badly.”

Trump 2020 slogan: Won’t get fooled again!

21. “I’m a budget cutter and I have cut the budget.”

Trump’s proposed budget this year — $4.75 trillion — was the largest in American history. So….

22.'”I am very much of a cost cutter. I want to have a great budget.”

See No. 21.

23. “I got the plane cost down a lot.”

“The plane.”

24. “Well, there’s something going on.”

This conspiratorial answer from Trump is in response to this question: “Mr. President, the treatment of you, set aside with Google and Facebook, just in terms of market size and market dominance, do you think that there is a monopoly antitrust problems with those big companies?” What, specifically, is Trump talking about “going on?” Does he even know?

25. “This country is allowing this French wine which is great, we have great wine, too, allowing it to come in for nothing. It is not fair. And you know what, it’s not fair. We’ll do something about it.”

French wine is great.

26. “We are leading in everything.”

[Does quick check of leaderboard for “everything”] Yeah, this checks out.

27. “We are — if you look at China, China, as great as they are and they are great, they are near the capability of our geniuses in Silicon Valley that walk around in undershirts and they were not $2 billion a piece.”

Wait, people walk around in $2 billion undershirts? Or they don’t? Either way — our geniuses are better than China’s geniuses. This feels like a good place to end.