Comments About the Torrent of Leaks And Trump's Administration

I get it.  Some people have become unhinged with the idea that Hillary Clinton isn't in the White House.  And, some or many are so unhinged within our government that they would leak information designed to undermine Trump's legitimacy as President and his supporting cast of people in the administration.

But, here's the thing.  Many of these leaks may be false; or as Trump calls it, "Fake News".  The reason being that all the sources are all unnamed and unverifiable.  More importantly, many of these leaks, true or false, are undermining this nation's credibility and its ability to be governed.  Further, some leaks, like those regarding the Manchester attack and laptop bombs/Israel, also hurt our relationship with our allies.

The bottom line is that we have a bunch of people along with a loyal following by liberal media outlets that are so partisan they would put the Democratic Party above our nation and our government.  This is disgusting.  If they wanted Trump to lose, they should have used the ballot box more effectively.  And, don't argue that it was the Russians that gave Trump the win.  On one hand you can't say Hillary got 3 million more votes than Trump, and then somehow the Russian interference was so precise as to specifically target our Electoral College to give Trump the win. That defies logic.

Reference:

List of Leaks:  HERE’S THE COMPLETE AND UPDATED LIST: Deep State ‘Leaks’ to Far Left MSM Outlets – With Analysis: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/05/leaks-still-from-far-left-msm-outlets-only-still-no-sources-and-still-all-out-effort-to-attack-president-trump/

Really? Hillary Claims Trump is an 'Assault on Truth and Reason'

At this year's Wellesley College commencement speech, in a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black, Hillary Clinton said Trump was an 'assault on truth and reason'.



This woman couldn't tell the truth if it was written out for her ahead of time.

In 1996, the then-writer for the New York Times, Pulitzer Prize winner, and frequent guest on Meet the Press, William Safire, wrote an essay titled "A Blizzard of Lies" (referenced below).  In it, he called Hillary a "congenital liar".  In the 20+ years since, she has never proven him wrong.  Comments made during last year's campaign were literally a new blizzard of lies with Politifact detailing two pages of them.

So, in my opinion, the assault on truth and reason would have been just as virulent if Hillary had won the presidency.  Perhaps she should rerun the audio of her speech while taking a good long look in the mirror.

References:

Essay;Blizzard of Lies - The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/08/opinion/essay-blizzard-of-lies.html

Source of Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfnMCxBXcsg

Politifact: All False statements involving Hillary Clinton:http://www.politifact.com/personalities/hillary-clinton/statements/byruling/false/?page=1

The lie that is Hillary: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/19/hillary-clintons-long-list-of-lies/

Hillary's Biggest Lie: Recalling Hillary Clinton's claim of 'landing under sniper fire' in Bosnia: https://www.google.com/search?q=hillary+clinton+lie+about+bosnia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

The Most Ridiculous "Leak" Regarding Trump

Last week the Washington Post trotted out another leak designed to cement the theory that Trump and Putin are BFF's.  This time, it was regarding Democratic House Leader, Kevin McCarthy, who commented to a group of House Republicans that "I think Putin pays" Trump.  Then to add some heft to the story, it was also reported that Speaker of the House, Ryan, told everyone to keep this quiet. "No leaks".

According to the Washington Post article, this exchange took place almost a year ago in June 2016.  Yet, somehow, it wasn't news worthy until a Special Counsel was appointed to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to ensure that Trump won the presidency.

But, here's the stupidity of this whole article by the "Post".  Trump is a billionaire.  According to Forbes magazine, his fortune sits at $3.5 billion.  Why in God's name would Donald Trump see a need to be paid by Putin?  And, to what purpose?  When asked about the comment, Kevin McCarthy responded that it was "a bad attempt at a joke."  And, it's a joke for anyone to think otherwise.

This appeared to be just another attempt to imply that Trump is an illegitimate President. Merely a pawn of Vladimir Putin.  As more and more of these ridiculous stories surface, I pay less and less attention and am only reminded of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".

References:

House Majority Leader McCarthy reportedly said 'I think Putin pays' Trump last year: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/17/kevin-mccarthy-reportedly-said-i-think-putin-pays-trump-last-year.html

President Donald Trump is the nation's first billionaire president -- but he's not as rich as he used to be, according to the Forbes 2017 Billionaires List published Monday: http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/20/news/companies/trump-forbes-net-worth/

CNN Now Uses "Mind Reader" to Blast Trump

According to a recent Harvard study, CNN shares the top spot with NBC for negative reporting regarding President Trump.  Both report negatively, about 93% of the time.

However, apparently, anonymous sources aren't enough for CNN.  Now, they are employing "mind readers".  In an article dated Saturday May 20th, titled "First on CNN: Comey now believes Trump was trying to influence him, a source says." The network reached that conclusion based on a source who was "a person familiar with his [Comey's] thinking."

Really? A person "familiar with" Comey's "thinking?"   From what carnival tent did CNN dig this joker up?  This network claims journalistic integrity?  Also, think about this.  Comey, as the former head of the FBI, is apparently too stupid to see when someone is trying to sway his investigation?  Then perhaps Trump was right.  Comey "is" a "nut job"!  Of course, Comey didn't think that Hillary's careless handling of classified information rose to the level of criminality, although a helluva lot of other people thought it did.  And, just maybe, Loretta Lynch's meeting with Bill Clinton might have been another form of obstruction of justice.  But, I digress.

References:

Harvard Study Reveals Huge Extent of Anti-Trump Media Bias: https://heatst.com/culture-wars/harvard-study-reveals-huge-extent-of-anti-trump-media-bias/

First on CNN: Comey now believes Trump was trying to influence him, source says: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/james-comey-trump-influence/index.html

Trump Told Russians That Firing 'Nut Job' Comey Eased Pressure: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us/politics/trump-russia-comey.html

Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton's Use of a Personal Email Server: https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system

Comey cites Lynch-Clinton meeting for lost faith in Justice investigation: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/03/politics/comey-loretta-lynch-clinton-tarmac-meeting/

Will Africa Make America's Coal Great Again?

Due to EPA regulations and fracking for natural gas, the coal industry has been greatly hurt.  Donald Trump has eased EPA regs but he can't do anything about coal fired power plants being switched over to cheaper/cleaner natural gas.  This is because many of the states have their own EPA regulations that punish coal.

However, now there may be hope for coal mining from Africa.  As a continent, most of Africa is electricity starved as the demand for what we take for granted increases.  Right now 100 coal power plants are in various stages of planning or development in 11 countries.  According to the Global Warming Policy Forum, those new plants represent 8 times more electricity than those countries now have.

United States coal mining could be in an excellent position to export coal to Africa.  After all, we have 27% of the world's known coal reserves.  The only real supplier of coal on that continent is South Africa.  But, South Africa has only 5.4% of the known reserves; making it difficult for them to supply the rest of Africa.

So, simply, the Trump administration should take the initiative and try to negotiate agreements with those 11 nations planning to build coal plants to buy our coal.  Just a thought.

References:

African Nations To Build More Than 100 New Coal Power Plants: http://www.thegwpf.com/african-nations-plan-more-than-100-new-coal-power-plants/

Coal by Country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_by_country

How much coal does the U.S. export and import? https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/faq/how-much-coal-does-us-export-and-import

Democrats Selective Memory on Comey and Russia/Trump

Recently, in another one of Fox News' Fair and Balanced political food fights, I listened to a Democratic strategist argue that the FBI Director's firing was "unprecedented".  Unfortunately, that comment was never challenged and was a lie.  The fact is that the former Democrat, President Bill Clinton set the precedent when he fired the then-FBI Director William Sessions at the recommendation of his Attorney General Janet Reno.

Then there's this Russian conspiracy theory that Trump colluded with them and Putin to become President.  Democrats seem to forget that in early January, before Trump was even sworn in, the Director of National Intelligence released a co-authored, non-classified report by the FBI, NSA, and CIA titled: “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections”.  The key assessments of that report were as follows:

• "We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency."
• "We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President - elect Trump."

In coming to the first conclusion, the report stated the following:

Putin most likely wanted to discredit Secretary Clinton because he has publicly blamed her since 2011 for inciting mass protests against his regime in late 2011 and early 2012 , and because he holds a grudge for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging him.

So, clearly, Hillary was the target of the hacking, without any specific attempt to put Trump into office.  The fact is, the email dumps by Wikileaks would have happened no matter who ran against Hillary. In the second assessment, the most powerful word in the statement is "developed".   This clearly means that Trump was not "job one" in the hacking of the DNC server and Wikileaks.  It took time for the Russians to decide that Trump was the better candidate from their perspective.

I just wish that the media would be honest and well-versed in the topics they are covering, so that political parties couldn't play these intentional games by hiding known facts and relying heavily on the knowledge that voters have short memories.

References:

An FBI director has been fired only once before — and it was under dramatically different circumstances: http://www.businessinsider.com/last-fbi-director-fired-bill-clinton-william-sessions-2017-5

Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections: https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf

The Politics of Naming a "Special Prosecutor" For Trump/Russia

Over the years, investigations into things like such as Watergate, 911, the JFK Assassination, Clinton/Lewinsky etc., have all been headed by a supposedly independent investigator. The titles of those investigations and others have ranged from Commissions, Independent Counsels, Special Counsels, and Special Prosecutors; all to do essentially the same thing.

It is interesting to me, that Democrats are now calling for a "Special Prosecutor" regarding the investigation of Russian meddling in our presidential election and possible collusion by Trump and/or his surrogates rather than calling for an Independent Counsel or a Special Counsel.  So why the words "Special Prosecutor"?  Well, it implies that a conclusion of wrong-doing has already been reached.  Here's the definition of a prosecutor: "a person, especially a public official, who institutes legal proceedings against someone."  Of course, the firing of Comey only helps solidify Trump's guilt in the minds of the Democrats.  Thus they feel, more than ever, a Special Prosecutor is needed.

It is all about the Democrats making the voting public believe Trump is already guilty by simply choosing the words that imply it.  Once again, its all about politics, since after months of FBI investigations, no Trump-collusion with the Russians has been found, stated or leaked.

References:

Senate Dems: Hey, Maybe We Won't Confirm a New FBI Director Until a Special Prosecutor is Appointed: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/05/15/senate-dems-hey-maybe-we-wont-confirm-a-new-fbi-director-until-a-special-prosecutor-is-appointed-n2326728

Definition: Prosecutor: https://www.google.com/search?q=prosecutor&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

CNN: The public really wants a special prosecutor for Russia investigation: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/donald-trump-russia/

Fake News? Bloomberg News and Trump's Coal Order

Just a little more than a month ago on March 27th, Bloomberg News took Donald Trump to task on his pending "coal" executive order in an opinion piece titled: "Trump’s Executive Order Won’t Save Coal Mining Jobs".  In that article, the writer criticized statements made by Trump at a Kentucky rally where he said "A lot of people are going to be put back to work, a lot of coal miners are going back to work. The miners are coming back.”

Now, fast forward to this article in Bloomberg News on May 2nd: "Coal Country Is Back, Along With Signing Bonuses and Pay Raises".  To be fair, the above article and previous one were written by different people.  But, both represent Bloomberg news.  So, if coal mining is back, then the first article was more Fake News.  Maybe, a little too political, and just another opportunity to take a shot at Trump by the predominately liberal media?

References:

March 27, 2017: Trump’s Executive Order Won’t Save Coal Mining Jobs: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-27/trump-s-order-won-t-resurrect-jobs-of-miners-key-to-his-campaign

May 2, 2017: Coal Country Is Back, Along With Signing Bonuses and Pay Raises: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-02/in-u-s-coal-country-signing-bonuses-and-pay-raises-are-back

What Trump Doesn't Understand About Aluminum

Recently, President Trump signed an executive order to protect the U.S. aluminum industry from cheap imports.  But, what Trump doesn't seem to understand is that while aluminum is the 3rd most prevalent element on earth, it isn't economically extractable unless it is smelted from bauxite ore. And, this is something we have very little of.  In fact, 90% of all U.S. bauxite is found in just one state: Arkansas.  On top of that, most all of the aluminum that is smelted in this country is for non-metallic uses such as abrasives.

So, if we don't have enough bauxite to meet our strategic military metallurgical needs for aircraft, ships, etc., and Trump imposes tariffs against countries like China for cheap imported metals, the U.S. winds up being the big loser.  We'll just start paying even more for aircraft and all other military uses.  You and I will pay more for window frames, aluminum car parts, your can of beer, coke, and  all the other myriad uses of aluminum.

This is sheer stupidity.  He should stick to real estate!

References:

Trump moves to protect US industry from cheap aluminum imports: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-moves-to-protect-us-industry-from-cheap-aluminum-imports/article/2621504

Bauxite mining in the United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauxite_mining_in_the_United_States

Bauxite: Almost all of the aluminum that has ever been produced has been made from bauxite: http://geology.com/minerals/bauxite.shtml

Yes, we have no aluminum (ore): http://richardgibsonwriter.blogspot.com/2010/01/yes-we-have-no-aluminum-ore.html 

List of countries by bauxite production: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_bauxite_production 

Bauxite Dependency: Roots of Crisis: https://nacla.org/article/bauxite-dependency-roots-crisis 

Our "Jobs President" Can't Seem To Fill His Own Jobs

As I write this, Trump is one day away from his 100th day in office.  While many are assessing his first 100 Days performance, one negative thing that sticks out is the fact that he still hasn't filled hundreds of critical jobs in his administration.

While he and others might try to blame the Senate Democrats for not quickly confirming his nominees, the real truth is that he has not yet named 470 nominees of 556 critical jobs; making his slowness in this area, the worst when compared to the 6 prior administrations.  Of the remaining "named" nominees, half are in limbo and haven't even been submitted to the Senate because they are awaiting the results of FBI background checks and ethics investigations.

It's hard to believe that the Trump agenda can be fulfilled while so many critical positions remain vacant.

References:

Help wanted: Trump administration still has hundreds of jobs to fill: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/24/help-wanted-trump-administration-still-has-hundreds-of-jobs-to-fill.html

Trump's biggest unfilled jobs: http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/04/25/top-unfilled-jobs-trump-administration-000426

Where Is Trumps Budget Cutting 'Penny Plan'?

Back in the fall and before the election, Trump was talking about implementing a spending cutting plan called the "Penny Plan".  If implemented, it would, year after year, cut one penny out the budget for every dollar of spending.  An analysis by the Washington Post showed that after a decade of applying this technique, spending would be reduced by 23%.  And, it could either be applied across the board or targeted to specific areas such as the EPA.  The cuts would be gradual and not immediately earth-shattering.

However, after Trump took office, his budget cuts started to appear earth-shattering by aggressively targeting  programs that political conservatives have never really like.  It would immediately cut the EPA by 31%.  The Department of Health and Human Services by 16.2%.  He also would eliminate all spending for things like Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment of the Arts.  It is these program eliminations that have the political left, and some on the right, in an uproar.

Trump is not going to get all the cuts he wants, and, quite frankly, I don't think most Americans will agree with the major changes and program eliminations he has proposed.  The final budget has to be approved by May 15th, and I strongly suspect that the Republican controlled Congress will cave and only moderate reductions will be made.  They want to keep their jobs after the 2018 election.  Congress is always good at creating spending, but never really willing to make cuts because of political consequences.

References:

This chart shows how Trump’s ‘penny plan’ would add up to huge budget cuts: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/16/this-chart-shows-how-trumps-penny-plan-would-add-up-to-huge-budget-cuts/?utm_term=.511c1525d4c5

CNN: Trump's budget would cut off funding entirely for several agencies, including arts, public broadcasting and development groups, and also proposes steep cuts to agencies like the State Department and Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/16/politics/trump-budget-cuts/

Interersting Facts From Latest WaPo/ABC Trump Poll

With only a week left before Donald Trump completes his "First 100 Days", the Washington Post/ABC News teams released the results of their last polling on Trump (and, also Hillary).  The lead story appears to be that Trump has the lowest `100-day approval' of any President in modern history.  While the average approval of those "modern" Presidents is 69%, Trump's number is just 42%. Of course, the biggest dig on Trump from these two liberal-leaning news agencies is the fact that Obama had a 69% approval as most of his predecessors did.  I guess, from this, we are supposed to regret that Obama isn't still President.

What isn't talked about in the Washington Post polling story is the fact that if the election was rerun today, Hillary would still lose to Trump: 43% to 40%. Another buried but interesting tidbit is the fact that only 4% of Trump voters regret voting for him, while 15% of Hillary voters regret voting for her. As a result, if the election was rerun, Trump would have won the popular vote.

And, guess what?  The Russians had nothing to do with these polling results!

References:

Nearing 100 days, Trump’s approval at record lows but his base is holding: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nearing-100-days-trumps-approval-at-record-lows-but-his-base-is-holding/2017/04/22/a513a466-26b4-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305_story.html?utm_term=.0b34eccf70dd

ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-trump-100-days-honeymoon-regrets-poll/story?id=46943338

Wash Post poll hides: Trump still beats Clinton, 43%-40%: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wash-post-poll-hides-trump-still-beats-clinton-43-40/article/2621016

Could Dems Hang A Recession Around Trump's Neck by 2018?

Thanks to the work of Ben Carlson in 2015 at "A Wealth of Common Sense" (referenced below) we have this extremely interesting graphic:

As you can see, the median time between recessions since 1929 is 4 years and 2 months.  The longest time between recessions is 10 years from 1990 to 1991.

By June, this country will have gone 8 years without a recession. The primary reason for this is that the Federal Reserve has treated those 8 years as if we were in a recession by keeping Fed Funds Rates at historically low levels.  But, in December 2015 the Federal Reserve began raising rates and there is no indication that they won't continue to do so because they're now responding to the growing inflation they're seeing in the economy.

Raising the Fed Funds Rate will have a negative impact by making it more expensive to borrow money.  Credit card debt, car loans, and mortgages will all become more expensive.  The problem  is that the economy isn't that strong and might not be able to support higher interest rates.  The Atlanta Federal Reserve is with the GDPNow estimates that the economy will grow at a meager 0.6% in the first quarter.  Well below consensus estimates, as you can see from this graphic:

What this all means is that we could see another recession before or during the 2018 elections and the Democrats are sure to pounce on this and blame Trump and the Republicans; arguing that Obama never had a recession during both terms;  something that uniformed voters are sure to swallow hook, line, and sinker.

References:

Source of 1st Graphic: http://awealthofcommonsense.com/2015/02/when-will-the-u-s-have-its-next-recession/

Fed Funds Rate History: Highs, Lows and Chart With Major Events: https://www.thebalance.com/fed-funds-rate-history-highs-lows-3306135

GDPNow: https://www.frbatlanta.org/cqer/research/gdpnow.aspx?panel=1

.European Union Official Threatens to Break Up the United States

Sometimes there are stories that are just completely laughable.

One such story is that the President of European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, says that if Trump continues to urge the break up of the European Union, he will back the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas.  Really?  Ohio, a state, and Austin, a city will secede from the United States?  Obviously, we need to send him a map.

Trump's comments are not going to break up the European Union.  The "Union" has been in serious trouble for years and the exit of the United Kingdom was only the beginning.  I think Jean-Claude Juncker should focus in on why this is happening and what is needed to keep his European Union together.

References:

I'll back Texas independence, EU's Juncker warns Trump: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/world/juncker-warns-trump-brexit/

Trump: Other countries will follow 'smart' UK out of EU: https://euobserver.com/foreign/136540

These countries could be next now that Britain has left the E.U.: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/23/these-countries-could-be-next-if-britain-leaves-the-e-u/?utm_term=.bf46a9069df1

History and Why TrumpCare Failed

I hope Donald Trump learned a valuable lesson about Washington politics with his failure to pass the American Health Care Act (now forevermore known as TrumpCare).

One of the hardest things to do in Washington D.C. is to build a consensus; even among your own party members. This is one of the reasons why, in 1993, HillaryCare failed.  Too many Democrats had conflictingideas on how it should be done. Just like today. But, it was that lesson learned from the 1993 failure that allowed a consensus to form among Democrats leading to ObamaCare pasing into law in 2010.  Of course, some of that consensus was bought with things like the "Louisiana Purchase" and the "Corn-husker Kickback".

Everyone in the media knew there were too many defections from the GOP plan.  Yet, Trump and Ryan pushed it anyway.  I guess they were thinking it would happen simply because Trump promised it would.  Trump just may want to do a rewrite of his bestseller and rename it the "Art of the No Deal".

References:

Uh Oh: At Least 36 Republicans Plan To Vote Against GOP Health Care Bill: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/03/24/uh-oh-at-least-36-republicans-plan-to-vote-against-gop-health-care-bill-n2303816

GOP cave on Obamacare repeal is the biggest broken promise in political history: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/gop-cave-on-obamacare-repeal-is-the-biggest-broken-promise-in-political-history/article/2618413

Clinton Health Care Plan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_health_care_plan_of_1993

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act#Healthcare_debate.2C_2008.E2.80.9310

EDITORIAL: The $300 million Louisiana purchase - Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/30/the-300-million-louisiana-purchase/

Trump's Tax Return: Who Is Mailbox-Man?

Rachel Maddow has deservedly taken a lot of heat since over-hyping the release of two summary pages from Donald Trump's 2005 tax return.  Some say the release actually benefited Trump by showing that he paid $38 million in taxes that year.  Because of this, some have even concluded that Trump himself, released the information.

What I find more interesting however, is why a relatively unknown economics/business writer by the name of David Cay Johnston would wind up with these copies that were supposedly and conveniently, slipped into his "mailbox".  Thus, the unknown delivery man can't be prosecuted for illegally obtaining and distributing Trump's tax return. Still, why Johnston; when there are so many other better-known media types, better able to make the contents of Trump's return known publicly?  Well, the answer to that question is that Johnston is essentially a Trump and rich people hater.

In 2016, Johnston published a book titled "The Making of Donald Trump".  A book reviewer at the Boston Globe said it was: "a chronicle of mobsters and mistresses, shady construction deals and financial shenanigans, monumental projects and miserable (and possibly illegal) business practices".   In fact, when Johnston first met Trump in 1988, he negatively referred to him as "P.T. Barnum"; the man most associated with the phrase: "There is a sucker is born every minute."  However, a better insight as to why Trump's return would be so relevant to Johnston comes from two other books he authored:

• "Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill"
• "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich—and Cheat Everybody Else"

So, when you look at the numbers in that return, they perfectly fit the type of individual that Johnston portrays in those two books.  Trump actually made a quarter of a billion dollars in 2005, but only paid taxes on $153 million of it because of deductions that favored himself and his business. Deductions that, in Johnston's eyes, are only available to a very rich person.  That's the real story behind the release of Trump's tax return and why Johnston had access to it.  But, understand, those deductions were all legal.  Things that the political left constantly and falsely claims as being loopholes.

Johnston's "paper trail" of writings convinces me that, perhaps he had something to do with the illegal acquisition of those two-pages.  I have no proof of that, and conveniently, Johnston's claim that he found them in his mailbox lets him off the hook legally.  Still, something doesn't smell right about it.

References:

Trump DID pay tax: White House fury as Donald Trump's tax returns are leaked showing that President made $150million and paid $38million to the government in 2005: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4314620/Maddow-reveals-Trump-s-tax-returns-White-House-furious.html

Rachel Maddow’s Trump ‘bombshell’ completely backfired: http://nypost.com/2017/03/16/rachel-maddows-trump-bombshell-completely-backfired/

Trump: It's 'fake news' that a reporter just opened his mailbox and found my tax returns: https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/15/trump-its-fake-news-that-a-reporter-just-opened-his-mailbox/21894402/

David Cay Johnston: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cay_Johnston

The Making of Donald Trump: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Making_of_Donald_Trump

A sucker is born every minute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_sucker_born_every_minute

Here's one curious thing about the Donald Trump tax leak: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/14/trump-may-have-leaked-his-own-tax-return-award-winning-journalist-says.html

Is it illegal for the media to publish Donald Trump’s leaked tax return? http://www.today.com/video/is-it-illegal-for-the-media-to-publish-donald-trump-s-leaked-tax-return-898310723900

Trump's Mexico Wall in a World Divided by Walls

Starting in the 1950's, after World War II, and then following 9/11 and the rise of terrorism, the building of border walls has surged, as noted by the following graph from the Migration Policy Institute:

Currently, Saudi Arabia is building a 600-mile wall along its border with Iraq to keep ISIS out.  Another nearly 600-mile wall is being built by Turkey to keep Syrian refugees from overrunning its border.  Spain has an expansive wall to stop Moroccans from entering.  Walls also exist between India and Pakistan; South and North Korea; India and Bangladesh; and the list goes on.

Decades ago, the poet Robert Frost wrote 'Mending Wall'.  The poem opened with the line "Something there is that doesn’t love a wall" and also contained these words: "Good fences make good neighbors". Many falsely believed that Frost was arguing for the building of walls.  However, 'Mending Walls' was actually an anti-wall literary work.  Take this line as an example: "Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what hat I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense".

Those last words could be no truer then now.  Trump's wall with Mexico is obviously being built with the intent of  "walling out" illegals, drugs, and gangs coming in via Mexico.  But, there is a cost in that -- like the poem states -- the wall "was like to give offense" to our neighboring country, Mexico.

To me, walls are ugly divisions among societies.  A major 1800 mile wall on our southern border would be just that. I would prefer to use existing laws to crack down on employers who attract illegal aliens into the country for employment.  We should also change our immigration laws, so that legal, migrant workers can enter.  These two changes would greatly reduce work for illegals, and, as we saw during the Great Recession, many returned home due to the lack of jobs.  Also, by this point, we should be able to use technology in order to avoid the building of an actual physical wall.  Just my opinion.

References:

Source of Graph: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/borders-and-walls-do-barriers-deter-unauthorized-migration

Saudi Arabia Constructing 600-Mile Wall To Keep Out ISIS: http://www.newsweek.com/saudi-arabia-constructing-600-mile-long-wall-keep-isis-out-299664

These 14 walls continue to separate the world: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/11/11/these-14-walls-continue-to-separate-the-world/?utm_term=.52efeff1681d

Turkey-Syria border wall completed by half: https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror/2017/02/26/turkey-syria-border-wall-completed-by-half

Robert Frost's 'Mending Wall': https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/mending-wall

More Mexicans Leaving Than Coming to the U.S. | Pew Research: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/11/19/more-mexicans-leaving-than-coming-to-the-u-s/

Can Trump Make Wages Great Again?

Using average wage growth data from the Social Security Administration since 1973, I put together these statistics on wages for primarily eight-year Presidential terms:

Now,  the purpose here is not to disparage any particular President, but to show that all the successive terms of presidents since 1973 have seen a decline in wage growth.  Also understand, that wage growth (or the lack thereof) is a complex issue based on several factors that may or may not be controlled by Presidential actions:

• Quantity and quality of job availability
• Quality of the labor force in terms of education, experience, and skills
• Amount and quality of jobs outsourced overseas
• Government Regulation forcing companies to use outside, contract labor

From my perspective, all of these factors have contributed to slow wage growth over the years.  Most recently, ObamaCare has contributed to the problem because, when a company is forced to provide health insurance to its employees at a cost of no more than 9.5% of their incomes, the funding for that insurance by the employer depletes the available funds for wage increases.  For many workers, ObamaCare is their raise.  Also, companies are avoiding the high cost of providing health insurance by converting jobs to contract labor.  Labor, who then must buy their own insurance in compliance with the law.  This law has also produced high levels of part time labor.

But one of the biggest problems in wage advancement is a workforce that continues to be less educated. Today's best jobs are in high tech.  Yet America's students lag in the areas of math and science and those are the prerequisite for the college programs, that will ultimately fill those high tech jobs.  Without a quality workforce, employers are forced to look outside the United States for the kind of labor we need.

So, this brings us to President Trump.

Can he, as the title of the blog asks, make wages great again?  The answer is probably not.   He may keep some quality jobs from leaving our shores.  He may also reduce regulations and their negative impact on business and wage growth.  But, his biggest obstacle, will be the creation of a quality work force that meshes together with higher quality jobs.  To me, this is a nearly impossible task with the current structure of education in the country.  Simply speaking, Obama's own Education Department announced last fall that 60% of high school seniors were not prepared for either college, or worse yet, a career.  To use one of Trump's favorite expressions: "Sad!'.

References:

1984 to 2015 Average Wage Data: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/awidevelop.html

1973 to 1983 Average Wage Data: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/oldawidata.html

Behind shrinking middle-class jobs: A surge in outsourcing: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-outsourcing-middle-class-jobs-20160630-snap-story.html

Temp staffing jobs hit record as firms dodge ObamaCare costs: http://www.investors.com/politics/andrew-malcolm/temp-staffing-jobs-hit-record-as-firms-dodge-obamacare-costs/

People Joining The U.S. Workforce Today Are Less Educated Than Those Leaving It: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/us-workforce-education_n_3459726.html

The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/09/the-american-middle-class-is-losing-ground/

National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education: INCOME OF U.S. WORKFORCE PROJECTED TO DECLINE IF EDUCATION DOESN'T IMPROVE: http://www.highereducation.org/reports/pa_decline/

Most High School Seniors Aren't College Or Career Ready, Says 'Nation's Report Card': http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/04/27/475628214/most-high-school-seniors-arent-college-or-career-ready-says-nations-report-card

Study: Employers Hiring Freelancers To Avoid Obamacare: http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/03/study-finds-employers-are-hiring-more-freelancers-to-avoid-obamacare/

What Trump Doesn't Understand About Job Creation

Last Fall, presidential candidate Donald Trump said "I’ll be the greatest president for jobs that God ever created."  Then, at his inauguration, he said he would create 25 million jobs over the next decade.  "The most of any President." 

The only problem with those statements is: Who will fill all these jobs?

According to the latest employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of underutilized workers stands at 10.1 or roughly 16 million.  These are people that are unemployed and looking for work.  Those, who in frustration of not being able to find work, have just given up looking.  In addition, it includes people forced to work part time in lieu of finding a full time job.  It also includes people working in jobs below their skill, experience, or education levels.

Yet despite the 16 million workers needing to improve their current situation in the labor force, more than 5.5 million positions remain unfilled each month.  This according to the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). These are record levels since the BLS has been tracking this data in 2000 as noted by the following chart:

Click on Graphic to Enlarge

It's easy to see, that as jobs have been created since the end of the recession, the number of job openings left on the table keeps increasing.  The reason for this is something called the "skills gap", where employers are unable to match their job openings with the available skills in the under-employed labor force in their local areas. It's the same reason that, in Silicon Valley, 37 percent of all  high tech workers are not U.S. born, with the problem getting worse by the year, as noted by the fact that 74 percent of younger workers are foreign born.

The skills gap isn't just about high tech jobs.  In a survey of General Contractors last year, two-thirds said they were struggling to find "craft" workers.  Those in skilled labor jobs such as roofing, dry wall, heating and air conditioning, plumbers, electricians, etc.

The thing that Trump should seriously focus in on is the pool of workers in this country.  We need people with college degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) so that foreign-born workers don't keep taking these jobs in places like Silicon Valley.  We also need to promote trade schools, so we have an adequate number of plumbers and other skilled workers.  Jobs that may not be as "sexy" as some job-seekers may want, but that would be good paying and far better than being unemployed.

What's the good of creating high paying jobs if there is no one to fill them?  I simply don't see a formula for success in what Trump is trying to sell the country so far.  Perhaps we should subsidize STEM college education as a means of increasing the pool of high-tech workers?  The same would be true for trade schools.  The return in increased income tax revenues from higher paying jobs would greatly offset the cost of subsidizing education in these key fields.


References:

Donald Trump: 'I’ll be the greatest president for jobs that God ever created': http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/28/donald-trump-ill-be-greatest-president-jobs-god-ev/

Trump vows 25 million jobs, most of any president: http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/20/news/economy/donald-trump-jobs-wages/

Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

Source of Graph: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JTSJOL

37 percent of Silicon Valley foreign-born: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/37-percent-of-silicon-valley-foreign-born/article/2583195

Two-Thirds of Contractors Have a Hard Time Finding Qualified Craft Workers to Hire Amid Growing Construction Demand, National Survey Finds: https://www.agc.org/news/2016/08/31/two-thirds-contractors-have-hard-time-finding-qualified-craft-workers-hire-amid

Harvard Business Review: Employers Aren’t Just Whining – the “Skills Gap” Is Real: https://hbr.org/2014/08/employers-arent-just-whining-the-skills-gap-is-real

America's persistent problem: Not enough skilled workers - Aug. 7, 2015: http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/07/news/economy/us-economy-job-skills-gap/?iid=EL

Is Anti-Trump Sentiment Causing New Found Support for ObamaCare?

For the first time in any Pew Research Polling since 2010, the February approval rate of ObamaCare has scored higher than 50%:

Click on Image to Enlarge or See Reference Below

This is odd since not much news regarding ObamaCare has been positive.  Fewer people have signed up this year than last. Insurers are quitting the exchanges in droves.  One-third of the 3000 counties in the U.S. have only a single insurer to choose from.  Premiums went up an average of 23% this year.  So, what is driving this new support for a law that few liked until this year?

There is one big difference for ObamaCare in 2017 that may be helping push its popularity up in the polls.  Donald Trump.  It appears as if the continual promises to repeal and replace it is having the opposite effect on what has always been negative support for the Obama healthcare law.   I also believe that the delay in presenting a logical and useful alternative is also taking its toll. This same phenomenon is appearing in various other polls as well. See PollingReport.com reference, below.  Go figure.

References:

PolingReport.com: Health Policy Polling: http://www.pollingreport.com/health.htm

11 Biggest Problems With Obamacare | Daily Wire: http://www.dailywire.com/news/12146/11-biggest-problems-obamacare-aaron-bandler

Year Six of the Affordable Care Act: Obamacare's Mounting Problems: http://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/year-six-the-affordable-care-act-obamacares-mounting-problems