Post by Jaga on Mar 1, 2017 21:21:53 GMT -7
I listened to Mr. Trump's state of the union. It contains lots of generalities, wishful thinking that everything would be just magically better, many complains about the past.... even pro-right wing Fox News is worrying:
www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/01/mr-trumps-very-expensive-address.html
Mr. Trump's very expensive address
On the roster: Mr. Trump’s very expensive address - White House official says travel ban delay is for optics - Trump considering giving Pentagon more authority - Iraq may be exempted from travel ban - Now who wants snakes on a plane?
MR. TRUMP’S VERY EXPENSIVE ADDRESS
President Trump’s maiden address to a joint session of Congress was a lot of things. It was poised, presidential, restorative to his political fortunes, inclusive and maybe even a little visionary.
But it was also something else: very expensive.
Trumpism, which the president stabbed at defining in the campaign and then etched in blood during his convention and inaugural addresses, came into a different relief Tuesday night.
It was the more positive, optimistic telling of his new nationalism. He added grace notes about minority groups, shied away from taunting or tormenting his rivals, and summoned his countrymen to the project of restoring, what else, American greatness. Trump very neatly chose a concrete date for his still somewhat amorphous objectives: the 2026 bisesquicentennial of American independence – which, not coincidentally, would be one year after the end of the second term for which Trump is already running.
Trump is recasting the presidency as something more akin to a big-city mayoralty, and every big-city mayor knows crime – or the fear of it – is always a top issue for citizens.
Trump’s focus on illegal drug trafficking, urban violence, murderous illegal immigrants as well as the very same border security pitch that propelled him through the 2016 campaign, is all part of that. And it’s also the most conservative part of his message, other than Trump’s eliminationist rhetoric on ISIS and his paean to Judge Neil Gorsuch.
While conservatives may disagree amongst themselves about how much legal immigration there ought to be, only a handful of libertarian purists favor unrestricted in-migration to the United States.
...
You could see the fear in Republican eyes when Trump was talking about that budget-busting plan. But they’re not going to say anything just yet. It would be hard to find a Democrat who doesn’t like borrowing money for Keynesian economic intervention.
By putting infrastructure front and center in his address, Trump made it clear that he is going to resist Republican efforts to sidetrack, slim down or ignore the plan. But a trillion dollars in infrastructure may be nothing compared to Trump’s other proposals.
The president is calling for new mothers to get paid for staying home. It’s a move that appeals to both social conservatives and feminists and certainly lets Trump put his best foot forward with female voters in what promises to be an endless election season.
Given the enormous complexity ahead of this Congress and administration, however, that’s still pure pie in the sky. The slice that’s on the table right now, however, is ObamaCare, the national health insurance program currently on life support.
...
Trump and Republicans in Congress have made clear that they do not want anyone to lose their coverage as a result of the repeal of ObamaCare. Without the individual and business mandates that’s sounding like a very expensive proposition. At the very least, it would mean an enormous bailout to the health insurance industry very soon.
The whispered worry in Washington today is that all this breakneck borrowing might coincide with a long-feared hike in inflation and thereby climbing interest rates. The amount of interest taxpayers already covering in the federal budget, something like $225 billion a year, would skyrocket if interest rates were to climb.
Obama’s repeated argument about the immateriality of deficits sounded dicey even with low interest rates. If you see an inflationary curve following the improved growth in recent months, servicing the federal debt could blow out much of the already shrinking part of the federal budget that is discretionary spending.
Like every president arguing in favor of debt, Trump says his plan will produce so much economic growth that federal coffers will overflow. And while Republicans will certainly be more sympathetic to that argument than when Obama made it, there will be many who pause at Trump’s expensive suggestions.
www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/01/mr-trumps-very-expensive-address.html
Mr. Trump's very expensive address
On the roster: Mr. Trump’s very expensive address - White House official says travel ban delay is for optics - Trump considering giving Pentagon more authority - Iraq may be exempted from travel ban - Now who wants snakes on a plane?
MR. TRUMP’S VERY EXPENSIVE ADDRESS
President Trump’s maiden address to a joint session of Congress was a lot of things. It was poised, presidential, restorative to his political fortunes, inclusive and maybe even a little visionary.
But it was also something else: very expensive.
Trumpism, which the president stabbed at defining in the campaign and then etched in blood during his convention and inaugural addresses, came into a different relief Tuesday night.
It was the more positive, optimistic telling of his new nationalism. He added grace notes about minority groups, shied away from taunting or tormenting his rivals, and summoned his countrymen to the project of restoring, what else, American greatness. Trump very neatly chose a concrete date for his still somewhat amorphous objectives: the 2026 bisesquicentennial of American independence – which, not coincidentally, would be one year after the end of the second term for which Trump is already running.
Trump is recasting the presidency as something more akin to a big-city mayoralty, and every big-city mayor knows crime – or the fear of it – is always a top issue for citizens.
Trump’s focus on illegal drug trafficking, urban violence, murderous illegal immigrants as well as the very same border security pitch that propelled him through the 2016 campaign, is all part of that. And it’s also the most conservative part of his message, other than Trump’s eliminationist rhetoric on ISIS and his paean to Judge Neil Gorsuch.
While conservatives may disagree amongst themselves about how much legal immigration there ought to be, only a handful of libertarian purists favor unrestricted in-migration to the United States.
...
You could see the fear in Republican eyes when Trump was talking about that budget-busting plan. But they’re not going to say anything just yet. It would be hard to find a Democrat who doesn’t like borrowing money for Keynesian economic intervention.
By putting infrastructure front and center in his address, Trump made it clear that he is going to resist Republican efforts to sidetrack, slim down or ignore the plan. But a trillion dollars in infrastructure may be nothing compared to Trump’s other proposals.
The president is calling for new mothers to get paid for staying home. It’s a move that appeals to both social conservatives and feminists and certainly lets Trump put his best foot forward with female voters in what promises to be an endless election season.
Given the enormous complexity ahead of this Congress and administration, however, that’s still pure pie in the sky. The slice that’s on the table right now, however, is ObamaCare, the national health insurance program currently on life support.
...
Trump and Republicans in Congress have made clear that they do not want anyone to lose their coverage as a result of the repeal of ObamaCare. Without the individual and business mandates that’s sounding like a very expensive proposition. At the very least, it would mean an enormous bailout to the health insurance industry very soon.
The whispered worry in Washington today is that all this breakneck borrowing might coincide with a long-feared hike in inflation and thereby climbing interest rates. The amount of interest taxpayers already covering in the federal budget, something like $225 billion a year, would skyrocket if interest rates were to climb.
Obama’s repeated argument about the immateriality of deficits sounded dicey even with low interest rates. If you see an inflationary curve following the improved growth in recent months, servicing the federal debt could blow out much of the already shrinking part of the federal budget that is discretionary spending.
Like every president arguing in favor of debt, Trump says his plan will produce so much economic growth that federal coffers will overflow. And while Republicans will certainly be more sympathetic to that argument than when Obama made it, there will be many who pause at Trump’s expensive suggestions.