The Trolls all left OT to infest other threads.
Even the Players League thread is not immune to the Juvenile Cult with their obnoxious animated signatures!

What is OT?

The "off topic" forum section.

Seems kinda obvious in retrospect, doesn't it? But don't feel bad; I had the same initial reaction.

My initial reaction was we were going to talk about Overtime in American Football. Then I saw the section it was posted.

Why not go back to politics?

I remember a big thread here in the forum about the last us election. There where a lot of people they speak for Mr. Trump. So what did they say now, round about two years later? Are they pleased with him - will they vote him again?

The economy was already doing fine. We won't know how the economy is doing under him for a year or two yet. Remember Bushes free rein on the banking system didn't cause an economic collapse until his last days in office, before the deregulation that allowed sub-prime lending caught up with the market.

It was low before Trump took office, other than the chronically unemployed who had no skills, no desire to work and usually don't last if they do take a job because they don't want to work.

Of course, Pete, the raw unemployment rate numbers during most of the eight years of the Obama Administration masked the lowest labor force participation rate in 35+ years (since women entered the labor force in a big way in the early 1970s). The raw unemployment numbers do not tell the whole story, but, yes, in answer to Duck's question, the unemployment rate is down since Trump took office. Unemployment stood at 4.9% in October 2016 (the last full month before the 2016 presidential election), and it was 4.1% in December 2016 (last full month for which data is available). The labor force participation rate has remained more or less constant the past year at 62.7 to 62.9% and minor fluctuations could easily be attributed to new graduates entering the labor market and known seasonal variances. The big hit to the labor force participation rate occurred as a result of the 2008-09 recession, when it dropped from 66.4% (January 2007) to a low of 62.3% (September 2015). Since then the LFPR has risen slightly and maintained as previously described.

With a growing population of 320+ million, the U.S. economy must grow at or above the rate of population increase in order to offer jobs to those newly added adults who have reached working age. The U.S. gross domestic product grew at an anemic rate of 1.6% in 2016, and a significantly better 2.3% rate in 2017 -- although the 2017 numbers are not yet the final revised numbers. Most importantly, we are seeing evidence of major capital investments by American business as we begin to see the repatriation of over $1 trillion held abroad by U.S. multi-national corporations, which had previously kept overseas profits outside of the jurisdiction of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service because U.S. corporate income tax rates were higher than Ireland, the UK, and most of the industrialized world. The recent tax bill enacted by the U.S. Congress has apparently corrected that problem.

Let me know if any of the jargon used above is unclear. My education and previous work career were heavy on the economics and finance, and I have been known to descend into econ-speak.


Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000

So what do you think will happen with the tax windfall? I am of the opinion that corporations will 1) purchase share buy backs, 2) Increase dividends to stockholders and 3) invest in efficiency improvements to further reduce their workforce, which of course is one of the largest drains on capital. I do not think they will hire thousands of workers as the President would lead us to believe will happen.

There was a report on NPR a week or two ago, that coal production is up some due to releasing of environmental regulations. However the cheap cost of natural gas is another driver for the slow growth.

Remains one of the stumbling blocks in getting a budget passed by both houses of congress. It seems that we as the American tax payer will have to pay for it though as the Mexicans said no, so that is a definite break on a campaign promise. There are other stumbling blocks in the budget process as well.

So how is this different than any other politician?

I believe in terms of keeping promises he's done better than recent Presidents.

He passed tax reform. He didn't get everything he wanted but the big thing in my view is the drop in the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%.

He promised to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and did so.

He promised to institute a travel ban on certain countries that harbor terrorism. He has done this. This will go to the Supreme Court and they will uphold it because he can in fact do this.

He promised to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord and did it. He approved the Keystone XL pipeline as promised, and lifted regulations on coal. The bounce back for that will take time.

He's moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. That is something just about every President has promised.

Yes he made a lot of the things that he has promised, but i my mind as a European in the beginning of the 21 century, he makes a old school politic only for the next two or three years. Egoistic and non working for the future.

To cancel global contracts to save the environment and to say that the global warming is a "fake news" is insane. If we had more international politician like him the life on earth is obsolete. If we not stay all together a "yes we can" and take the last grasp at straws we have no future, I believe.

We need more a global Apollo program, not to fly to the Moon - but to save our life on Earth.

How about the most famous promise kept to voters? How did it go..?

"If you like your provider, you can keep your provider. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."