"Americans, in large numbers, still do not want atheists teaching their children, or performing marriages. They would, according to surveys, prefer a female, gay, Mormon, or Muslim President to having an atheist in the White House."
"Lack of belief in God is still too often taken to mean the absence of any other meaningful moral beliefs, and that has made atheists an easy minority to revile." "True religious liberty was rare in the colonies: dissenters were fined, flogged, jailed, and sometimes hanged. Yet surprisingly, no atheist was ever executed." "The Godless Constitution, as Moore and Krammick called it in a previous book, was mostly the product of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who fought to keep God out of the document." "Such is the slippery label of atheist in the American context: slapped on those who explicitly reject it, eschewed by unbelievers who wish to avoid the stigma." "Laws against blasphemy, though rarely enforced, still exist in Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wyoming." "Indeed, the charge of atheism became a convenient means of discrediting nontheological beliefs, including anarchism, radicalism, socialism, and feminism."
"The reason that atheists were not allowed to testify in court was the certainty that witnesses who were unwilling to swear an oath to God had no reason to be truthful, since they did not fear divine judgment." [1]
Footnote:
[1] Casey Cap, "Without a Prayer," The New Yorker, October 29, 2018.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Clean Economy Optimism and Environmental Topics
I. Clean Economy Optimism
The Paris accord and the Kigali agreement, the global divestment movement the spread of carbon-pricing mechanism, legal cases trying to hold fossil fuel companies liable for the harm they've caused -- climate policy is at its most fundamental core the question of how much we'll leave in the ground." "When the carbon bubble pops, the ability of fossil fuel industries to set political agendas will be deeply compromised." "The clean economy is getting exponentially more competitive. Clean energy and batteries, in particular, are on steep learning curves. As we build more, the price drops; as the price drops, the number of situations in which wind and solar outcompete coal and gas grows." [1]
II. Clean Energy Pessimism
The other side of the coin on clean energy optimism are cautionary notes about the difficulty of holding global warming below two degrees, as called for in the Paris agreement. Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker magazine throws some cold water on the nations in the Paris agreement "pursing efforts" to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. She cautions that at the current rate of emissions, "the world will have run through the so-called carbon budget for 1.5 degrees within the next decade or so." She worries that "the Supreme Court for its part, appears unlikely to challenge the Administration's baleful reasoning. Last week [in early October], it declined to hear an appeal to a lower court ruling on hydrofluoro- carbons, chemicals that are among the most potent greenhouse gases known. The lower court had struck down an Obama-era rule phasing out HFCs, which are used mostly as refrigerants. The author of the lower-court decision was, by the dystopian logic of our times, Brett Kavanaugh." [2]
"To have a reasonable chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, the I.P.C.C. said, global CO(2) emissions, now running about forty billion tons a year, would need to be halved by 2030 and reduced more or less to zero by 2050." According to the I.P.C.C., between 1.5 and two degrees of warming, the rate of crop loss doubles. So does the decline in marine fisheries, while exposure to extreme heat waves almost triples.
III. The Wilderness and Civilization Debate
[The] divisions over Isle Royale's wolves are emblematic of more-high-stakes debates about how, when, and whether human desires should override the need to keep some places free from civilization." "For some, the wolf is a totem of wildness; for others, it's a menace. Since wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995, these divisions have typically fallen along ideological lines." "Can we resist the temptation to turn every last terrain into a vehicle for human wants?" [3] (Isle Royale is an island in Lake Superior, just off Michigan's Upper Peninsula.)
IV. Protecting Arctic Wildlife
In 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower protected nearly 9 million acres as the Arctic National Wildlife Range, later to be expanded and reamed a national Refuge. "Sure, the idea of keeping one last one was nice, but that was never how America had treated the frontiers of the past; frontiers, by American definition, were for developing." "And then last December, in the midst of a chaotic administration, a historically unpopular president signed a major tax bill with a largely overlooked rider. Just like that, after almost 50 years of passionate debate, U.S. law would require oil leasing on the Arctic prairies." [4]
ADDEDUMS:
*"Across both wind and solar, women make up just under 30 percent of the workforce. The percentage of women in administrative and paralegal roles is around 90 percent, but it's rare to see more than one female wind technician on any given site." [5]
*"The borderlands [between the U.S. and Mexico] are home to more than 1,500 native plants, ocelots, antelope, bisons, and wolves." [6]
Footnotes:
[1] Alex Steffen, "The Last Dinosaur," Mother Jones, November/December 2018.
[2] Elizabeth Kolbert, "Global Warming," The New Yorker, October 22, 2018.
[3] Jason Mark, "Let It Be," Sierra, November/December 2018.
[4] Brooke Jarnie, "The Last Stand," Sierra, November/December 2018.
[5] Wendy Becktold, "Wind Beneath Her Wings," Sierra, November/December 2018.
[6] Michael Brune, "Mr. Trump, Tear Down This Wall," Sierra, November/December 2018.
The Paris accord and the Kigali agreement, the global divestment movement the spread of carbon-pricing mechanism, legal cases trying to hold fossil fuel companies liable for the harm they've caused -- climate policy is at its most fundamental core the question of how much we'll leave in the ground." "When the carbon bubble pops, the ability of fossil fuel industries to set political agendas will be deeply compromised." "The clean economy is getting exponentially more competitive. Clean energy and batteries, in particular, are on steep learning curves. As we build more, the price drops; as the price drops, the number of situations in which wind and solar outcompete coal and gas grows." [1]
II. Clean Energy Pessimism
The other side of the coin on clean energy optimism are cautionary notes about the difficulty of holding global warming below two degrees, as called for in the Paris agreement. Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker magazine throws some cold water on the nations in the Paris agreement "pursing efforts" to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. She cautions that at the current rate of emissions, "the world will have run through the so-called carbon budget for 1.5 degrees within the next decade or so." She worries that "the Supreme Court for its part, appears unlikely to challenge the Administration's baleful reasoning. Last week [in early October], it declined to hear an appeal to a lower court ruling on hydrofluoro- carbons, chemicals that are among the most potent greenhouse gases known. The lower court had struck down an Obama-era rule phasing out HFCs, which are used mostly as refrigerants. The author of the lower-court decision was, by the dystopian logic of our times, Brett Kavanaugh." [2]
"To have a reasonable chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, the I.P.C.C. said, global CO(2) emissions, now running about forty billion tons a year, would need to be halved by 2030 and reduced more or less to zero by 2050." According to the I.P.C.C., between 1.5 and two degrees of warming, the rate of crop loss doubles. So does the decline in marine fisheries, while exposure to extreme heat waves almost triples.
III. The Wilderness and Civilization Debate
[The] divisions over Isle Royale's wolves are emblematic of more-high-stakes debates about how, when, and whether human desires should override the need to keep some places free from civilization." "For some, the wolf is a totem of wildness; for others, it's a menace. Since wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995, these divisions have typically fallen along ideological lines." "Can we resist the temptation to turn every last terrain into a vehicle for human wants?" [3] (Isle Royale is an island in Lake Superior, just off Michigan's Upper Peninsula.)
IV. Protecting Arctic Wildlife
In 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower protected nearly 9 million acres as the Arctic National Wildlife Range, later to be expanded and reamed a national Refuge. "Sure, the idea of keeping one last one was nice, but that was never how America had treated the frontiers of the past; frontiers, by American definition, were for developing." "And then last December, in the midst of a chaotic administration, a historically unpopular president signed a major tax bill with a largely overlooked rider. Just like that, after almost 50 years of passionate debate, U.S. law would require oil leasing on the Arctic prairies." [4]
ADDEDUMS:
*"Across both wind and solar, women make up just under 30 percent of the workforce. The percentage of women in administrative and paralegal roles is around 90 percent, but it's rare to see more than one female wind technician on any given site." [5]
*"The borderlands [between the U.S. and Mexico] are home to more than 1,500 native plants, ocelots, antelope, bisons, and wolves." [6]
Footnotes:
[1] Alex Steffen, "The Last Dinosaur," Mother Jones, November/December 2018.
[2] Elizabeth Kolbert, "Global Warming," The New Yorker, October 22, 2018.
[3] Jason Mark, "Let It Be," Sierra, November/December 2018.
[4] Brooke Jarnie, "The Last Stand," Sierra, November/December 2018.
[5] Wendy Becktold, "Wind Beneath Her Wings," Sierra, November/December 2018.
[6] Michael Brune, "Mr. Trump, Tear Down This Wall," Sierra, November/December 2018.
Monday, November 26, 2018
Trump Watch: Spanked in Court
#President Trump attempts to rollback the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. The EPA admits that the move will increase air pollution and kill 1,400 people each year.
#The EPA proposes weakening federal standards for cars and trucks, and taking away California's ability to enforce its own, stricter rules.
#The Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program and allied groups achieve a raft of legal victories. These include beating back approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, ending the EPA's delay of safety regulations at dangerous chemical plants, stopping the delay of the Clean Power Rule, and requiring safeguards for coal-ash dumps.
#A federal judge orders the EPA to ban the heavily used farm chemical chlorpyrifos and reprimands the agency for not doing so sooner.
#The EPA will allow the use of asbestos in U.S. manufacturing. The Russian company Uralasbest puts Trump's face on bags of its product: "Donald is on our side!" says a company Facebook post.
#Despite earlier assurances from acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler that he didn't "think it was appropriate" to meet with clients on whose behalf he had lobbied, he has done so on at least three occasions.
#The Bureau of Land Management will no longer require oil and gas companies, and other industries to pay compensation for the damage their activities do to public lands.
A Carbon Tax at Last?
With Initiative 1631, a loose coalition of some 200 groups known as the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy in the state of Washington, spent years crafting a compromise among labor, social justice, and environmental advocates. The tax level would start at $15 per metric ton in 2020, with $2 increases every year until the state met its 2035 goal: reducing carbon emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels. Most of the $1 billion raised would go to carbon reduction programs and clean air investment, rather than tax breaks, while a portion would be directed to low-income communities. Electric vehicle fleets and public transit have been floated as options.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans (and 69 percent of people in the state of Washington) believe fossil fuel companies should pay a carbon tax. (Source: Mother Jones, November/December 2018.)
ADDENDUMS:
*"Our journalism comes from somewhere. It comes from a passion for justice, fairness, and a democracy where facts matter and all can participate." "The truth is, the press is the enemy -- of secrecy, corruption, and manipulation." (Source: Monika Bauerlein, "Stand for Something," Mother Jones, November/December 2018.)
*"It wasn't until 1924 that all Native Americans gained citizenship, 1948 that they could vote in Arizona, and 1972 that the state abolished literacy tests. In 1975, the Voting Rights Act was amended to mandate that translators be made available to assist indigenous voters." "But in the half-decade since the Supreme Court's ruling in Shelby County v. Holder struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act, 212 polling locations have closed in Arizona." (Source: Tim Murphy, "Nation Building," Mother Jones, November/December 2018.)
#The EPA proposes weakening federal standards for cars and trucks, and taking away California's ability to enforce its own, stricter rules.
#The Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program and allied groups achieve a raft of legal victories. These include beating back approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, ending the EPA's delay of safety regulations at dangerous chemical plants, stopping the delay of the Clean Power Rule, and requiring safeguards for coal-ash dumps.
#A federal judge orders the EPA to ban the heavily used farm chemical chlorpyrifos and reprimands the agency for not doing so sooner.
#The EPA will allow the use of asbestos in U.S. manufacturing. The Russian company Uralasbest puts Trump's face on bags of its product: "Donald is on our side!" says a company Facebook post.
#Despite earlier assurances from acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler that he didn't "think it was appropriate" to meet with clients on whose behalf he had lobbied, he has done so on at least three occasions.
#The Bureau of Land Management will no longer require oil and gas companies, and other industries to pay compensation for the damage their activities do to public lands.
A Carbon Tax at Last?
With Initiative 1631, a loose coalition of some 200 groups known as the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy in the state of Washington, spent years crafting a compromise among labor, social justice, and environmental advocates. The tax level would start at $15 per metric ton in 2020, with $2 increases every year until the state met its 2035 goal: reducing carbon emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels. Most of the $1 billion raised would go to carbon reduction programs and clean air investment, rather than tax breaks, while a portion would be directed to low-income communities. Electric vehicle fleets and public transit have been floated as options.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans (and 69 percent of people in the state of Washington) believe fossil fuel companies should pay a carbon tax. (Source: Mother Jones, November/December 2018.)
ADDENDUMS:
*"Our journalism comes from somewhere. It comes from a passion for justice, fairness, and a democracy where facts matter and all can participate." "The truth is, the press is the enemy -- of secrecy, corruption, and manipulation." (Source: Monika Bauerlein, "Stand for Something," Mother Jones, November/December 2018.)
*"It wasn't until 1924 that all Native Americans gained citizenship, 1948 that they could vote in Arizona, and 1972 that the state abolished literacy tests. In 1975, the Voting Rights Act was amended to mandate that translators be made available to assist indigenous voters." "But in the half-decade since the Supreme Court's ruling in Shelby County v. Holder struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act, 212 polling locations have closed in Arizona." (Source: Tim Murphy, "Nation Building," Mother Jones, November/December 2018.)
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Numbers on the Financial Industry and More
I. The Revolving Financial Industry Door
60% - Percentage of retired senators from the 2008 Senate Banking Committee who went to work for the financial industry.
40% - Percentage of congressional senior staff involved in the response to the 2008 crash who have gone to work for the financial industry.
1,447 - Number of former federal employees hired to lobby for financial firms from 2009 to June 2010, including 73 members of Congress.
88% - Percentage of Goldman Sachs lobbyists in 2016 who at one point worked for the federal government.
$1M - Amount made by former congressman Barney Frank, co-sponsor of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, on the board of directors of Signature Bank since 2015. (Source: The Nation, October 8/15, 2018.)
II. World Bank Misadventures
1.3M - Estimated number of people displaced by World Bank-funded projects in Vietnam.
$10M - Minimum amount of World Bank funding used in 2015 for the violent eviction of a minority farming community in Ethiopia.
25M - Metric tons of CO(2) released per year by a World Bank-funded power plant in South Africa -- more than the total emissions of many nations.
1,000 - Number of people who reported symptoms of mercury poisoning following an accident at a goldmine in Peru funded by the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation.
133 - Number of deaths in a land dispute between peasant collectives and a World Bank-funded palm-oil corporation in Honduras. Source: The Nation, October 22, 2018.)
III. Unionizing Bank Workers
A. The financial industry has a massive number of workers: 8.6 million, or 5.7% of all U.S. employment.
B. The vast majority are low-level bank workers who need higher pay: $13.52 an hour is the median wage for the 502,700 bank tellers in the U.S.
C. They could be a fraud solution: Organized, empowered workers could help regulate the industry from below. $12 billion is the amount the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau returned to 29 million defrauded customers between 2010 and 2017. Wells Fargo workers were pressured into opening 3.5 million fake accounts. Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics; author's calculations; Financial Services Committee. The author is Mike Konczal of The Nation.)
IV. All Work and No Play
A. You're Probably Working Too Much - One-third of Americans work 45 hours or more a week, and 9.7 million work more than 60. Americans work 7.8% more hours a year than they did in 1979. The average workday in Europe is about one hour less than in the U.S.
B. Long Hours Are Making Us Sick - Americans sleep just 6.5 hours a night, a drop from the 1940s. In one recent experiment in Goteborg, Sweden, workers who put in just six hours a day were more productive than those working regular eight-hour shifts. Germans clock the fewest hours each year among developed countries. In a 2013 poll about sleep, the United States came in fifth of six developed countries.
C. The so-called Save American Workers Act considered in the House of Representatives would have put at risk nearly 66 million people who work 40 hours a week, because losing a single hour deducted from their schedules could have brought about legally denied employer-paid health insurance. 20 million people who work 30-39 hours a week could lose benefits under the GOP plan if they don't work more. (Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Economic Policy Institute; IZA National Sleep Institute; Gallup.)
60% - Percentage of retired senators from the 2008 Senate Banking Committee who went to work for the financial industry.
40% - Percentage of congressional senior staff involved in the response to the 2008 crash who have gone to work for the financial industry.
1,447 - Number of former federal employees hired to lobby for financial firms from 2009 to June 2010, including 73 members of Congress.
88% - Percentage of Goldman Sachs lobbyists in 2016 who at one point worked for the federal government.
$1M - Amount made by former congressman Barney Frank, co-sponsor of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, on the board of directors of Signature Bank since 2015. (Source: The Nation, October 8/15, 2018.)
II. World Bank Misadventures
1.3M - Estimated number of people displaced by World Bank-funded projects in Vietnam.
$10M - Minimum amount of World Bank funding used in 2015 for the violent eviction of a minority farming community in Ethiopia.
25M - Metric tons of CO(2) released per year by a World Bank-funded power plant in South Africa -- more than the total emissions of many nations.
1,000 - Number of people who reported symptoms of mercury poisoning following an accident at a goldmine in Peru funded by the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation.
133 - Number of deaths in a land dispute between peasant collectives and a World Bank-funded palm-oil corporation in Honduras. Source: The Nation, October 22, 2018.)
III. Unionizing Bank Workers
A. The financial industry has a massive number of workers: 8.6 million, or 5.7% of all U.S. employment.
B. The vast majority are low-level bank workers who need higher pay: $13.52 an hour is the median wage for the 502,700 bank tellers in the U.S.
C. They could be a fraud solution: Organized, empowered workers could help regulate the industry from below. $12 billion is the amount the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau returned to 29 million defrauded customers between 2010 and 2017. Wells Fargo workers were pressured into opening 3.5 million fake accounts. Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics; author's calculations; Financial Services Committee. The author is Mike Konczal of The Nation.)
IV. All Work and No Play
A. You're Probably Working Too Much - One-third of Americans work 45 hours or more a week, and 9.7 million work more than 60. Americans work 7.8% more hours a year than they did in 1979. The average workday in Europe is about one hour less than in the U.S.
B. Long Hours Are Making Us Sick - Americans sleep just 6.5 hours a night, a drop from the 1940s. In one recent experiment in Goteborg, Sweden, workers who put in just six hours a day were more productive than those working regular eight-hour shifts. Germans clock the fewest hours each year among developed countries. In a 2013 poll about sleep, the United States came in fifth of six developed countries.
C. The so-called Save American Workers Act considered in the House of Representatives would have put at risk nearly 66 million people who work 40 hours a week, because losing a single hour deducted from their schedules could have brought about legally denied employer-paid health insurance. 20 million people who work 30-39 hours a week could lose benefits under the GOP plan if they don't work more. (Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Economic Policy Institute; IZA National Sleep Institute; Gallup.)
Friday, November 23, 2018
President Trump's Exaggerated Election Role
A closer look at President Trump's impact on the 2018 election reveals that his claims are exaggerated. He may have been instrumental in pushing Ron Desantis to a narrow victory in the Florida governor's race, and perhaps he made the difference in defeating Joe Donnally in Indiana. Aside from that, he experienced mostly defeat, or did not play a decisive role. Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota had long been considered to be the most endangered Democratic U.S. Senator; also, Claire McCaskill had been put in much the same category as Heitkamp. They may have both lost if Trump had taken no role in their campaigns. Rick Scott in Florida distanced himself from Trump, and his victory by some 10,000+ votes out of a total of about 8 million cast may have been reversed if he had more closely embraced Trump.
President Trump put a lot of effort into defeating Jon Tester in Montana: Trump's anger was stoked because he blamed Tester for the defeat of Trump's personal physician in becoming the head of the Veteran's Administration. Joe Manchin won a comfortable victory in his re-election bid in West Virginia, despite the rallies that Trump held to support his opponent. Trump-supported Republican candidates for the U.S.Senate from Arizona and Nevada both lost to Democratic candidates, who both entered the campaign without having a high political profile.
Looking at the state races for legislative and executive seats, the Democrats gained seven governorships, and a total of about 370 legislative seats. Some legislative chambers switched from Republican to Democratic control, and the Democrats increased their numbers in other legislative chambers. Although those who have tried to diminish the scope of the Democratic gains have pointed out that the Democrats lost over 900 state legislative seats during the two terms of Barack Obama, to reduce that advantage by well over one third in one election is a significant victory.
In my home state of New Mexico, all five of our representatives in Congress are now Democrats; Democratic majorities in the New Mexico House and Senate were strengthened; and New Mexico now has a Democratic governor.
To cap everything off, President Trump endorsed 75 Republican candidates, and only 28 percent won. Barack Obama had a significantly higher percentage of his endorsed candidates winning.
Although Democratic candidates received 8.68 million more votes than their Republican counterparts to this point -- close to the record 8.7 million partisan advantage in the past -- this advantage was not reflected in commensurate seats gained in Congress, largely due to Republican gerrymandering. The advantage due to gerrymandering was more clearly seen in the contests for state legislative seats. In Wisconsin, although Democratic candidates received 200,000 more votes than Republican candidates, the Democrats gained only one House seat. In Pennsylvania, Democratic candidates received 52 percent of the total votes, but less than 50 percent of the seats.
President Trump put a lot of effort into defeating Jon Tester in Montana: Trump's anger was stoked because he blamed Tester for the defeat of Trump's personal physician in becoming the head of the Veteran's Administration. Joe Manchin won a comfortable victory in his re-election bid in West Virginia, despite the rallies that Trump held to support his opponent. Trump-supported Republican candidates for the U.S.Senate from Arizona and Nevada both lost to Democratic candidates, who both entered the campaign without having a high political profile.
Looking at the state races for legislative and executive seats, the Democrats gained seven governorships, and a total of about 370 legislative seats. Some legislative chambers switched from Republican to Democratic control, and the Democrats increased their numbers in other legislative chambers. Although those who have tried to diminish the scope of the Democratic gains have pointed out that the Democrats lost over 900 state legislative seats during the two terms of Barack Obama, to reduce that advantage by well over one third in one election is a significant victory.
In my home state of New Mexico, all five of our representatives in Congress are now Democrats; Democratic majorities in the New Mexico House and Senate were strengthened; and New Mexico now has a Democratic governor.
To cap everything off, President Trump endorsed 75 Republican candidates, and only 28 percent won. Barack Obama had a significantly higher percentage of his endorsed candidates winning.
Although Democratic candidates received 8.68 million more votes than their Republican counterparts to this point -- close to the record 8.7 million partisan advantage in the past -- this advantage was not reflected in commensurate seats gained in Congress, largely due to Republican gerrymandering. The advantage due to gerrymandering was more clearly seen in the contests for state legislative seats. In Wisconsin, although Democratic candidates received 200,000 more votes than Republican candidates, the Democrats gained only one House seat. In Pennsylvania, Democratic candidates received 52 percent of the total votes, but less than 50 percent of the seats.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
President Trump: Toxic to the Nation and the World
Rick Wilson, Never-Trumpster and once a Republican pollster, has written a book in which he identifies Trump as the focal point where good ideas go to die. Recent developments show how toxic Trump is proving to be to the nation and the world.
I. Deficit Creator
The U.S. Treasury Department found that the budgetary deficit widened in FY 2018 to $779 billion, from $666 billion in FY 2017, or a 17 percent increase from year-to-year. The budgetary deficit is on pace to top $1 trillion a year before the next presidential election. The deficit for FY 2018 is the largest since 2012, when the economy and federal revenues were still recovering from the depths of the recession. Falling revenues were a far larger contributor to the rising deficit than higher spending. Corporate tax revenues fell more than a third from a comparable period a year before -- from $297 billion to $205 billion.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytic, has said: "There is noting to suggest the tax law is lifting investment in any substantive way, at least so far." Zandi says that a big chunk of the tax windfall has gone to shareholders in the form of fatter dividends and bigger share buybacks. According to Marketwatch, stock buybacks are up 22 percent this year. Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, says business debt as a percentage of GDP is at the highest level ever in an expansion.
The bottom line is that businesses only expand when there is demand. Since wage growth has been stagnant for many years, and since wage growth in the past year has been equaled by the percentage increase in inflation, there is insufficient demand to spur business growth.
II. Birthright Under Attack
The 14th Amendment reads on citizenship, as follows: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside." Donald Trump has wanted to strike birth in the United States as a condition for citizenship. He now contends that he can strike it through an executive order. His argument hinges on the phrase: "subject to the jurisdiction thereof," which he apparently believes illegal aliens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. If an illegal alien commits a crime, he/she is subject to being prosecuted for that crime. The word "born" is not followed by any qualifier, such as "unless" and then given a condition in which being born would not be sufficient.
President Trump believes that he can do almost anything by executive order, citing a national security rational when pressed on his authority. Thus, he cites national security as the authority for imposing tariffs on imported automobiles. There is a high bar for amending the Constitution. Other presidents have not tried to challenge that high bar through specious reasoning.
III. Reneging on the INF Treaty
President Trump is proposing to pull the U.S. out of the INF Treaty, which prohibits the development and deployment of nuclear missiles in the intermediate range. Trump is a ferocious foe of international treaties, and he has pulled the nation out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris agreement on global warming.
Ratification of a treaty requires a 2/3's vote in the U.S. Senate. The ratified treaty becomes part of the "supreme law of the land," and can only be done by the Congress and the president, or at least by a vote of the Senate -- at least based on pre-Trump thinking. Thomas Jefferson said: "Treaties being declared, equally with the laws of the United States, to be the supreme law of the land, it is understood that an act of the legislature alone can declare them infringed and rescinded." If Trump can unilaterally withdraw from the INF, could he also withdraw from NATO, the NEW START Treaty, and the United Nations?
There are reasons other than legal ones not to kill the INF Treaty. U.S. withdrawal opens the door for Russia to deploy more missiles of concern. The U.S.does not need new and costly INF Treaty-noncompliant missiles. NATO does not support a new INF Treaty-range missile in Europe. U.S. withdrawal does not bring Russia back into compliance. Withdrawal would not counter China, which is not a party to the Treaty. The NEW START Treaty will expire in 2021 if not extended, and killing INF would make it harder to extend it.
The U.S. does not have clean hands in this matter, as its nuclear defense missiles could be used offensively.
I. Deficit Creator
The U.S. Treasury Department found that the budgetary deficit widened in FY 2018 to $779 billion, from $666 billion in FY 2017, or a 17 percent increase from year-to-year. The budgetary deficit is on pace to top $1 trillion a year before the next presidential election. The deficit for FY 2018 is the largest since 2012, when the economy and federal revenues were still recovering from the depths of the recession. Falling revenues were a far larger contributor to the rising deficit than higher spending. Corporate tax revenues fell more than a third from a comparable period a year before -- from $297 billion to $205 billion.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytic, has said: "There is noting to suggest the tax law is lifting investment in any substantive way, at least so far." Zandi says that a big chunk of the tax windfall has gone to shareholders in the form of fatter dividends and bigger share buybacks. According to Marketwatch, stock buybacks are up 22 percent this year. Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, says business debt as a percentage of GDP is at the highest level ever in an expansion.
The bottom line is that businesses only expand when there is demand. Since wage growth has been stagnant for many years, and since wage growth in the past year has been equaled by the percentage increase in inflation, there is insufficient demand to spur business growth.
II. Birthright Under Attack
The 14th Amendment reads on citizenship, as follows: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside." Donald Trump has wanted to strike birth in the United States as a condition for citizenship. He now contends that he can strike it through an executive order. His argument hinges on the phrase: "subject to the jurisdiction thereof," which he apparently believes illegal aliens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. If an illegal alien commits a crime, he/she is subject to being prosecuted for that crime. The word "born" is not followed by any qualifier, such as "unless" and then given a condition in which being born would not be sufficient.
President Trump believes that he can do almost anything by executive order, citing a national security rational when pressed on his authority. Thus, he cites national security as the authority for imposing tariffs on imported automobiles. There is a high bar for amending the Constitution. Other presidents have not tried to challenge that high bar through specious reasoning.
III. Reneging on the INF Treaty
President Trump is proposing to pull the U.S. out of the INF Treaty, which prohibits the development and deployment of nuclear missiles in the intermediate range. Trump is a ferocious foe of international treaties, and he has pulled the nation out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris agreement on global warming.
Ratification of a treaty requires a 2/3's vote in the U.S. Senate. The ratified treaty becomes part of the "supreme law of the land," and can only be done by the Congress and the president, or at least by a vote of the Senate -- at least based on pre-Trump thinking. Thomas Jefferson said: "Treaties being declared, equally with the laws of the United States, to be the supreme law of the land, it is understood that an act of the legislature alone can declare them infringed and rescinded." If Trump can unilaterally withdraw from the INF, could he also withdraw from NATO, the NEW START Treaty, and the United Nations?
There are reasons other than legal ones not to kill the INF Treaty. U.S. withdrawal opens the door for Russia to deploy more missiles of concern. The U.S.does not need new and costly INF Treaty-noncompliant missiles. NATO does not support a new INF Treaty-range missile in Europe. U.S. withdrawal does not bring Russia back into compliance. Withdrawal would not counter China, which is not a party to the Treaty. The NEW START Treaty will expire in 2021 if not extended, and killing INF would make it harder to extend it.
The U.S. does not have clean hands in this matter, as its nuclear defense missiles could be used offensively.
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