3780

It doesn’t even sound reasonable with a moment of thought, though. Taxes are always a percentage of the profit made, so how does it make any sense that a tax break would make hiring someone profitable when it was previously not profitable? The best-case argument there is that there’s a fixed cost to “create a job” and reducing taxes would allow you to recoup that cost faster, so you’d be able to expand faster, but even that argument requires that the company have this massive supply of profitable jobs it could be adding, which are constrained only by the fixed costs. That seems like a far-fetched scenario.

The real case to be made is the one Trump did, at least, make - lowering taxes in the US will attract more companies to the US, and potentially allow them to repatriate cash they have overseas and thus spend it in the US. The problem is, I don’t see how that requires them to actually create jobs in the US, except a few executive and administrative ones, unless the idea is as you say to tie the tax breaks directly to hiring or US workforce size or something. But even that is quite a distortion of the market, whose impacts would be complex. Is it based purely on number of workers? If so, it might as well just be an expansion of the EITC and corresponding lowering of the minimum wage. Is it based on total payroll? If so, what prevents corporations from paying massive salaries to executives again to get the tax break? Anyway, I doubt much of this will get done in any sane way. They will lower taxes across the board, run up the debt, the economy will tank, and people will elect a Democrat in 2020 and then go right back to thinking that tax cuts create jobs because tax cuts and jobs are the things they want, so it is just as tempting as a fad or “new study” saying that ice cream and cookies can help you lose weight (when done correctly, of course).

3781

Lots of people with the Republican Party and Conservative movement are coming to that realization.. I have always been a free trade guy but watching its effect on our country and living through any number of outsourcings (with a variety of names) has changed my perspective considerably.

Trade has always created wealth but we need to do a much better job of ensuring that wealth isn’t concentrated in the hands of a group of folks who don’t care where were the folks who are making money for them live and work, the lower cost labor solution, the better.

3782

In looking at the Secret Service website, they provide security for the candidates and the Presidents. I don’t believe that Trump’s family receives protection until Jan 20.

3783

I’d argue worse cause he is taking the Republican party with him on this crazy ride. If it ends badly Republican/Conservative brands are getting trashed.

3784

Not sure about his family, but Trump himself reportedly “remains most comfortable with Schiller and his team.” Seems pretty likely he’ll be keeping them on in some capacity.

But Trump — who puts a premium on loyalty and has demonstrated great interest in having forceful security at his events — has opted to maintain an aggressive and unprecedented private security force, led by Keith Schiller, a retired New York City cop and Navy veteran who started working for Trump in 1999 as a part-time bodyguard, eventually rising to become his head of security.

Security officials warn that employing private security personnel heightens risks for the president-elect and his team, as well as for protesters, dozens of whom have alleged racial profiling, undue force or aggression at the hands of Trump’s security, with at least 10 joining a trio of lawsuits now pending against Trump, his campaign or its security.

3785

Our fearless leader continues to impress more ex-Republicans.

3786

Maybe this is like Inception and Trump is Cilian Murphy and his father was “disappointed” and now he’s trying to break up the United States of America to make his dream of his father’s ghost proud of him…

3787

Even Conway couldn’t rationalize some of Trump’s recent statements so she had to revert back to 'Trump didn’t intend to be talking about US policy or relations. Rachel Maddow having to explain to Kellyanne Conway that when the President of the United States speaks he creates US policy. Ugh.

3788

Hey, remember when people said they were worried about Trump starting a nuclear war, and other people were like, “Don’t be a dumbass. That’s just scaremongering!” so we all had a good laugh over it?

[quote]
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski spoke with Trump on the phone and asked him to expand on his tweet. She said he responded: “Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.”[/quote]

Good times.

3789

Why? I mean, for what conceivable reason do we need to voluntarily jump into a nuclear arms race when we already have stockpiles capable of eradicating life on the planet?

Trump has said a lot of stuff that is atrocious. He’s said a lot of stuff which is just stupid. I think it’s this one, though, that has left me completely baffled.

3790

So that’s that then. We’re all going to die horribly. Awesome.

3791

I have trust in the international community. Let the US engage in an arms race with itself. That way Trump can claim victory and everybody else can focus on improving their economies.

3792

I find it increasingly difficult to talk about Trump in a civil manner, and not wish catastrophic harm upon him.

Fucker is going to kill us all.

3793

Thank you for reminding me how much I’m looking forward to Christmas dinner with all my extended family on Sunday! Ugh.

3794

Hell I already had mine last Sunday. Dry.

And one uncle who kept stirring the shit in a completely dickish manner. So, yeah. Sunday is only the immediate family.

3795

My crazy Trump family members live in Texas so we won’t have to deal with them in person this year luckily.

3796

His tweet was a response to Putin’s talk about modernizing their nuclear arsenal finding ways to penetrate missile defense systems. The main difference between his response and what a normal president would do is that everyone else would have called Putin and said, “Back off that statement, or the US will have to increase it’s investment in nuclear arms…” Putin did, in fact, back off today. The problem, of course, is when he does the tweet thing once too often and Putin or Xi feels too bullied to back down. Putin, in particular, needs to maintain a strongman front to keep power - if he backs down from The Donald too many times, he will need to flex his muscles somewhere. Xi is more likely to do things like that SCS drone capture.

Let’s hope that Nixon’s madman theory works out and that Trump isn’t actually hothead when it comes to something more than words or lawsuits.

3797

Hope: Trump is full of shit
Doom: He is also an ignorant fool

Seriously we are playing Russian Roulette here.

3798

We’re all libtards in my family so Christmas will be fine. We even have that game, Crimes Against Humanity, with special Trump cards.

As to Trump on this nuclear arms race, the most generous interpretation I can come up with is this just a negotiating ploy, though I have no idea who or what he might be negotiating. He considers himself to be a master negotiator.

3799

Because belligerence and assholeyness are the absolute fundamental core of his appeal. It’s why people love him. All of his ‘policy’ ideas spring from that, or from sops to the multitudes that chant his name at his Nuremburg Rallies.