Musk's return on investment in Trump has just begun

This is about as self-serving as a billionaire can get. Musk plans to abuse his newfound power as Trump's DOGE to protect plans for a new financial service from consumers and to remove safety requirements for Tesla.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/elon-musk-put-277-million-into-the-election-now-he-s-200-billion-richer.  That is a return on investment of the century.  Musk is planning to turn his X (formerly Twitter) into a financial services platform similar to Venmo, but offering far more  serivces.. https://www.pymnts.com/financial-apps/2023/musk-x-will-encompass-users-entire-financial-life-by-2024Eliminating guardrails, allowing Musk to abuse customers as he sees fit in providing financial services is in his best interest, but not in consumer or public interests.Musk sees the Consumer Financial Protection  Bureau as redundant and unnecessary. I see it as the only viable guardrail to keep consumers from being victims of illegal and unfair treatment by powerful banks. “When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life,” Musk said during a company all-hands call last week, per a report by the Verge.“If it involves money, it’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever. So, it’s not just like send $20 to my friend. I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.” Imagine a power like the one he represents trying to sell consumers on "efficiency" and DOGE that eliminates consumer protections from financial service providers while he is planning to launch a financial services project as far-reaching as this.  This is beyond corrupt,  using his relationship with Pres. Elect Trump to get it done using the cover of eliminating duplicative agencies to save taxpayer money. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/06/doges-musk-ramaswamy-try-to-sell-congress-on-huge-spending-cuts.html 

Update: 12/21/24   This is what the CFPB is doing, for example, that local and state consumer regulators do not have the ability and resources to do. CFPB sues JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo over Zelle payment fraud

Another Musk self-serving plan: Musk is unsafe at any speed. Musk plans to use his power to remove safety regulations that damage Tesla's interest. Trump team set to end key vehicle safety rule opposed by Elon Musk's Tesla: report

Add this to the already extensive stranglehold billionaires have in media and what we can hear and see to get our news. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Democracy has an oligarch problem. Musk is a player.

More on CFPB:

This, from   https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/resistance-is-not-enough-democrats-have.html   .....                billionaire Elon Musk in charge of Trump's current thinking about cutting "duplicative and unnecessary agencies" has just targeted the recently instituted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . (CFPB)Unnecessary for whom? Certainly not necessary for a billionaire. Duplicative of what agency? It was set up to do what other agencies had failed to do or had the power to do. Per Google AI, The FTC's Bureau of Productions for Consumer Protection ICFstops unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices by collecting complaints and conducting investigations, suing companies and people that break the law. developing rules to maintain a fair marketplace. I spent over 20 years as an executive with consumer protection agencies, one similar to the CFPB on the local level, and a credit counseling agency (non-profit) , dealing with debt, foreclosure, and local, public, and private agencies attempting to help consumers deal with these kinds of financial problems. However, when we attempted to alert the Federal Trade Commission about a pattern of civil fraud, there was no easy way to do it nor was there a focus at the FTC to deal with consumer complaints.  Musk does not have a clue of how important the Bureau is. Per the bureau:

• 4 million+ consumer complaints received responses
• $20.7 billion+ in financial relief as a result of CFPB actions
• 205 million+ people eligible for financial relief and their current target: credit card and bank junk fees.

 

That is a good reason why billionaires should not be making such policies.https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-calls-abolishing-consumer-finance-watchdog-targeted-by-republicans-2024-11-27

Alarm bells are ringing as Trump has indicated a potential desire to turn the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, into a political weapon and to set interest rates per political considerations.  If the Fed begins to raise interest rates as inflation raises its ugly head again, Trump may try to replace the members with loyalists so he could control interest rates to make his regime look good politically. That move would be fought tooth and nail by business interests. The Federal Reserve has the only tool available to fight inflation. They control an overheated economy using interest rates. While high interest rates post-COVID were politically painful, in the long run they have brought inflation down to nearly 2%, an annual rate economists consider healthy.

 Elon Musk's current relationship will likely run into conflict with Trump over tariffs and the environment (Tesla and batteries are important to him, and they depend on environmentally sensitive customers)  Musk also understands science and its value to Space X.  Cuts of government service runs counter to his business tech orientation which is highly dependent on science and data collecting. How that plays out will be a fascinating drama to watch. V Conflict with Trump's team members have already begun. Musk, top Trump adviser clash over Cabinet picks

Possibly an area of conflict between Musk and Pres. Trump is if Project 2025 is implemented. Eliminated as unnecessary are whole agencies at the EPA. . ‘Agencies To Be Deleted’: Vivek Ramaswamy Says DOGE Will Pursue ‘Mass Reductions,’ Fight Bureaucratic ‘Pushback’  In MAGA'S mind, environmental and climate research is unnecessary. Global warming is a hoax, per Project 2025 and Donald Trump. They must think if it is not collecting data that is reported in the media, global warming will go away. Besides, these regulatory agencies cut into corporate profits, and those agency cuts are needed to offset the tax breaks to the rich that will bloat the debt and deficits.  Project 2025 proposes to eliminate any reference to man-caused global warming in government agencies including eliminating agencies who keep track of such unnecessary stuff since there is no global warming man causes.  Among those on the cutting block are possibly  Boulder's National Atmospheric Research labs, and NOAA's chief research facility also located in Boulder, Colorado. . https://www.noaa.gov/about-our-agency  

Interesting, however, is that Trump's pick for energy czar is from Denver, who believes there is climate change, but it is not a crisis. https://www.denverpost.com/2024/11/19/chris-wright-colorado-energy-secretary-nominee

 On the other hand, Elon Musk may see a business opportunity. He already has billions worth of government contracts, especially in space travel, exploration, and rockets. That is his business model. It is taking over stodgy government agencies and replacing them with money-saving contracts under his control and for profit. Running science agencies would more than benefit his bottom line and the automotive and space agencies that already make him the richest man in the world. Trump's victory brought Tesla and Musk 70 billion dollars. It also means that those agencies would serve him, but not the public interest. and competitors.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/11/elon-musk-is-70-billion-richer-since-trump-victory-due-to-tesla-surge.html 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/16/elon-musk-trump-treasury-tariffs/

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/climate/trump-noaa-climate-data-weather.html

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/research/other-research-initiatives/environmental-guid

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/07/what-project-2025-would-do-to-climate-policy-in-the-us/

 

Storm clouds on the horizon for Trump, business and consumer interests, and Elon Musk update 12/14/2024

 Trump faces storm clouds on the horizon as he faces pressure from business interests and Elon Musk. Business interests may be the only guardrails Trump will face challenging his priorities. To Trump, what matters to him is what the stock market is doing.  If that begins to tank due to inflation rising again, maybe he might begin to see the folly of high tariffs and immigration policies causing a labor shortage as he tries to live up to his campaign policies to mess with both. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/19/business/guardrails-trump-economy-stock-market-bonds     He is already fudging on his promises to lower grocery prices. 

An excellent  article on Trump's threatened tariffs on Chinese imports, from the business/investor viewpoint. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/china-has-been-stockpiling-a-key-us-crop-before-trump-takes-office

Update 12/14/2024 .If there was one issue that tipped the election to Trump, it was his promise to lower grocery prices. He made a big deal of it in his campaign, he promised he would, polls confirmed that was the reason he won, and now he is already admitting he will have a hard time rolling back grocery prices. In fact, the likelihood that grocery prices will inflate will be due to his tariffs on imports from Mexico and a labor shortage from farm to processing caused by mass deportations. https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-already-walked-back-221600205.html

Trump says it will be 'hard' to bring grocery prices down. Here's why. Already, Trump is blaming Biden, not COVID-19, not supply chain mess-ups, empty shelves, or stimulus checks causing more demand than supply. As Biden leaves office, grocery price inflation had been near zero for the past year. However, if grocery prices go south, tariffs and immigration will be to blame,. The message must be more than "we told you so," but to tie it to Trump's own actions and deserved blame for whatever happened on his watch. 

The other issue that motivated some to vote for Trump was the price of gas at the pump and his promise to make that cheaper.  That one will not happen either. Drill baby drill might make oil patch oligarchs righer, but not the rest of us:

 Another reason why drill baby drill will not reduce prices at the pump. Gist of the article: supply and demand are set internationally so that even producing more oil will not affect prices at American pumps..  The US does not control oil supply and demand and any extra oil we produce may be offset by less drilling in another country. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/why-trump-s-plan-to-drill-baby-drill-is-unlikely-to-cut-gas-prices-and-fix-inflation/ar-AA1vTbWR?

There are other reasons drill baby drill will not reduce prices at the pump:  We do not have a shortage of crude oil, but oil patch already has leases with oil for the next 40 years. What they really want is to remove environmental restraints so they can increase their profit margins, but that will not20 affect gas at the pump either.  MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: The BS of "drill baby drill"; makes unnecessary

Update 12/20/2024:  Wonder why the EU was left out of the Trump threat to raise tariffs on imports? It was rumored the EU threatened to block energy/gas imports from the US as a retaliation to tariffs on their exports to the US, setting off the US gas industry. Trump listened.  This is how Trump couched it in terms of a trade-off to bring down the trade imbalance and make him look like the ultimatum was his ultimatum tat is as advantage to the US.. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/20/trump-says-european-union-must-buy-us-oil-and-gas-in-trade-ultimatum.html     Here is how the spin is being positionedby Trump for the benefit of his MAGA's ears . Donald Trump Threatens Europe With Tariffs - Newsweek    Unknown if there will be any impact on the US consumer in righting a trade imbalance, but they will avoid having high tariffs passed on to them for European imports.  Medicinal and pharmaceutical products, motor cars and motor vehicles are the major items US imports from Europe.  

EU-US trade - Consilium.europa.eu

Consilium.europa.eu

This section regarding billionaires and oligarchs is moved to a separate posting: MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Musk's return on investment in Trump has just begun

Victims of a Trump v 2 would be us, consumers, and the environment: The winners, the powerful bootlickers.

From a Facebook posting 1/22/2024

I just heard CNBC Squawk Box's Andrew Ross Sorkin on Morning Joe this AM opining on the recent CEO of Wells Fargo and attendees at Davos representing world CEOs opine that Trump would win in November, so in public, they said that was the good and bad news or something wishy-washy like that. Behind the Davos scenes, Sorkin e heard some of these CEOs say off-stage that they were afraid of Trump's retribution if they supported Biden. I see that as instructive to the rest of us that if Trump got elected, we could expect the most corrupt anti-consumer and anti-environment administration in the history of the US.

It is not only fear of retribution that drives the DAVOS CEO.. Trump's promise to make all appointees to regulatory agencies loyal to him instead of the laws they are charged to enforce, and if the business needed a favor, they had better start licking his boots now or just shut up.

How could that impact us, the non-CEOs of the world? We consumers will be the victims and so will the environment. I see regulatory decisions to favor the interests of banking, the environment, and consumer protections to favor the political bootlickers with the money and the power. It certainly is not the rest of us.

Including those issues in the public interest that would be at risk in a Trump presidency but fulfilling the corporate dreams would be ignoring environmental objections to pipelines and drilling of fossil fuels, of removing safety requirements on vehicles we drive, and removing the Biden administration initiative to remove junk fees on our overdrafts, to be specific.

More forgiveness of student loans? Forget it. Instead of stopping mergers of airlines and supermarkets whose antitrust action's purpose would be to eliminate competition so they can raise prices on consumers without impunity? Forget that.

That greedflation is not subject to excess profit taxes, as Biden proposes? Forget that, too.

The media that reports the bad news and the good news, would have licensing problems for reporting any bad news coming out of the White House if Trump disapproves of them. He has already threatened that. Most disturbing Trump'plan is the replacement with MAGA appointments to the Federal Reserve instead of those who govern interest charges with skill. He would force them to lower interest rates because it is good politics. So what if it eventually wrecks the economy. So, those whose eyes gloss over when it comes to economics, with a Trump administration both consumers and their pocketbooks, health, and safety are casualties as the favors go to the powerful bootlickers. It is exactly how Viktor Orban became dictator of Hungary, pursuing policies that favored big business donors as democracy died in that country.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: How Trump election would create chaos in our economy on day one

Additional note: already at risk of destroying the power of regulatory agencies, and leaving the details to non qualified experts, courts and lawmakers, is a case now before the Supreme Court; regarding the long standing Chevron Dictrine. Supreme Court hears arguments in a case that could weaken federal rulemaking : NPR  https://www.npr.org/2024/01/17/1224939610/supreme-court-chevron-doctrine.

.

Wildfires heat up partisan politics and the global warming debate

(This replaces a prior version first published on 8/8/18)
A version of this was published in the Sky Hi News August 14-15, 2018
https://www.skyhinews.com/news/opinion/muftic-wildfires-heat-up-partisan-politics-and-the-global-warming-debate/

Here I am sitting in my living room above Fraser, Colorado with my view of Byer’s Peak some 10 miles away across the Fraser River Valley disappearing  in a smoky haze and watching television reports of the devastating record breaking Carr /Mendocino Complex fire in northern California.  Colorado wildfires' smoke plumes blowing my way are fueled by beetle killed  trees the like of which I have never seen in my fifty years of full and part time living in the valley. Does it have anything to do with global warming or climate change?  Yes. There is a relationship, but politics color our opinions and actions and it depends upon whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or a Green. Partisan views get in the way of believing scientific evidence and shaping effective and rational policies. The Trump administration is the leader in denying the science.  A March 2018 Gallup poll found that Democrats take global warming seriously, Republicans are skeptical with 69% of Republicans say global warming is exaggerated.

With a warming globe, whether wildfires are caused by lightening  as two near my home were, or were started by human activity, the problem is the increase in fuel . If you ever tried to get a campfire or a fireplace logs catching fire, you know dry fuel ignites easier, burns hotter, spreads faster.  Global warming temperatures cause early snow melt and ground and foliage to dry out in California .   In Colorado, beetle killed gray ghosts of lodgepole pines occupy much of the mountain landscape and fuel many wildfires.  Per   the US Department of Agriculture,  warming winters have not killed off the beetles  as they once did and dense growth makes it easy for insects to infect the next tree. World meteorologists  agree that rates of wildfires burning forests have not been seen for at least the last 10,000 years. 

In recent years, producers of coal, oil, and gas (fossil fuels) have poured massive amounts of money into GOP candidates and elections. To promote an anti-climate change mantra. the Trump administration not only pulled out of the Paris Climate accord, it has purged any White House reference to global warming/climate change.  August 5, Donald Trump ignorantly tried to claim California wildfires were caused by a environmental policy engineered  water shortage, but reservoirs were full. In addition, the Trump administration has filled policy making bodies with fossil fuel executives who either deny global warming is occurring or contend that fossil fuels are not the cause.  His pro fossil fuel appointees have been taking taking steps  to weaken rules regarding coal powered plant  and future automobile emissions standards.

 Some believe global warming  is  just a natural cycle. No.  It is the speed and extremes that are unnatural. It is a data proven fact that the globe has rapidly  heated up by two degrees since the industrial revolution began 150 years ago and predictions are the earth will heat up two degrees more by the end of this century.  Per NASA, 97% of scientists agree it is"" extremely likely" the warming is caused by emissions by humans. Gases act like a greenhouse roof  and keep heat from released to space ,so the earth warms. Per the Environmental Protection Agency,  the gases released by burning fossil fuels are the "largest source "of these greenhouse  gases (carbon dioxide). There are those who call this "fake science", but  Kate Marvel, writing for the magazine Scientific American’s blog   summed up the scientific community rebuttal to the science deniers ” ....overturning that understanding would take a radical paradigm shift that would call into question much of what we know about physics and chemistry."


This is only a summary of the issues,  but for those who want to know what  the main sources that influenced me  are
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/climate-change-make-wildfires-spread-factor/ 
https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/bark-beetles-and-climate-change-united-states 
https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/30/how-climate-change-is-making-disasters-like-the-carr-fire-more-likely/?utm_term=.00af8f63ad54
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/07/trump-climate-change-deniers-443533
 ttps://blogs.scientificamerican.com/hot-planet/open-and-shut-case/

https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/drought-and-heat-exacerbate-wildfires

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epa-to-roll-back-car-emissions-standards/2018/04/02/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/us/politics/republican-leaders-climate-change.html?
https://news.gallup.com/poll/231530/global-warming-concern-steady-despite-partisan-shifts.aspx
http://time.com/5358661/donald-trump-california-wildfires-water/
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-cabinet-climate-deniers-2ff87aba57ec/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ryan-zinke-tells-california-how-to-stop-wildfires-cut-down-trees_us_5b712e75e4b0ae32af996079
https://www.skyhinews.com/news/colorado-scientists-warn-of-links-between-climate-change-and-worsening-wildfires/

“Noah Deffenbaugh researches the connection between climate and extreme weather as a professor of Earth System Science at Stanford University. He said the longer fire season in California is related to climate change because global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions has increased the average temperature by almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

"We're getting warmer and warmer conditions around the globe but certainly here in California and in the western United States we're getting earlier melting of snowpack," Diffenbaugh told ABC News' Brad Mielke on the "Start Here" podcast. "That means that when those warm conditions happen in the summer and fall all the vegetation is even more dried out and that means that when lightning strikes when a spark from a from a car or a campfire hits the ground that the vegetation is more dried out there's more fuel available."https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/climate-change-make-wildfires-spread-factor/

Observers believe the Green vote in 2016 helped the GOP win by contributing to Democratic party losses in at least three key rust belt states and the recent indictments of Russian’s manipulation of US social media showed they supported the Greens to divert votes from Democrats.  In the August 5 Ohio District 12 Congressional special election, Greens garnered 1% of the vote, enough to harm the Democratic candidates’ margin in a razor thin result. The Greens’ own intentions are inadvertently helping “the other side’.  

http://theweek.com/speedreads/789179/meet-spacey-green-party-candidate-who-may-cost-democrats-win-ohios-special-election 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/17/indictment-russians-also-tried-help-bernie-sanders-jill-stein-presidential-campaigns/348051002/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/green-party-votes-made-the-difference-in-the-presidential-election/2016/12/05/68899908-ba38-11e6-ae79-bec72d34f8c9_story.ht

The chemical industry's influence on EPA is deja vu all over again

Update: June 8, 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/politics/epa-toxic-chemicals.html

This reminds me so much of the Reagan administration. Reagan appointed Ann Gorsuch (yes, part of that Colorado clan including the new Supreme Court justice) to head the EPA. I was active in Colorado politics then and a friend of mine with a major Chicago law firm was tasked with vetting her.on behalf of a chemical industry client Knowing her anti environmental record in the State Legislature and the controversy about super fund sites, I remember telling my lawyer friend.."Your client will love her". I was right and she became the first cabinet head in history who was cited for contempt of Congress and she was forced to resign for her bungling of superfund money and cleanup of toxic chemicals.

Why Has the E.P.A. Shifted on Toxic Chemicals? An Industry Insider Helps Call the Shots

A scientist who worked for the chemical industry now shapes policy on hazardous chemicals. Within the E.P.A., there is fear that public health is at risk. (At right, a…

NYTIMES.COM

How Trump plans to reboot coal jobs will have little effect

A version of this was published in the Sky Hi News, 10/24/17    http://www.skyhinews.com/news/muftic-why-trumps-coal-fired-plans-wont-create-many-jobs/

Donald Trump is trying to make good on a campaign promise: to reboot  coal mining jobs by rolling back  the EPA regulations  that favor other fuel sources for  power plant electrical generation.. Does that mean back to dirty air and dirty coal? Not as much as Trump would hope  for jobs  or many  fear for the environment. The horse is mostly  out of the barn. Coal mining technology advancement uses fewer miners.  Market forces are a driver since the cost of natural gas has fallen.  States have their own regulations, such as Colorado, that favor converting plants to gas and increasing wind, thermal, and solar alternatives. Nationally nuclear is nearly 20% of generation. Gas is  already generating more electrical energy (34%) than coal. (30%) That is good news for the environment since natural gas emits 50 to 60% less carbon into the atmosphere than does coal. 1400 local and state government entities, including Colorado,  are pledged to uphold the Paris environment agreements so  policy goals for clean air will continue regardless in parts of the US.

 States such as Colorado,  with a 2010 plan  and regulations that favor  converting plants from coal  to gas, are already  well on their way to completing their plans. Whether  the lifting of regulations  on coal to bring down the cost  will be significant enough to make much of a difference is the question, given the investments already made in the  switch  to gas and alternatives.  Switching back is an expense in itself.  Colorado is unique since it produces both coal and natural gas. within the state,  which reduces transportation costs  of both, unlike other areas of the country .  60& of Colorado's electricity is generated by coal and a quarter is natural gas.   Front range mega cities such as Denver  fueled by Public Service  have already switched  their plants to natural gas.  

The human cost  of loss of coal jobs is not minor,  but it can be  mitigated by retraining skills  for  employment in manufacturing, truck driving, and alternative energy. Coal jobs in Colorado are already down 36% in three years and the state has launched retraining programs for jobs in alternative energy, though such  jobs pay much  less than coal miners once earned. In Appalachia and the west,  mechanized strip mining is replacing labor intensive deep mining. Job retraining may be the key to families at least earning a living wage, if not returning to the glory days of deep coal mining.

FYI: In 2016, the US electricity generation was 4079 TWh (billion kWh) net, 1380 TWh (34%) of it from gas, 1240 TWh (30%) from coal-fired plant, 805 TWh (19.7%)nuclear, 266 TWh from hydro, 226 TWh from wind, and 117 TWh from other renewables (EIA data).

Nuclear Power in the USA - World Nuclear Association

www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/.../usa-nuclear-power.aspx

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/14/work-program-trains-unemployed-oil-and-gas-workers-in-solar-technology/

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/articles/2017-03-09/abundant-cheap-natural-gas-is-the-real-reason-for-the-demise-of-coal

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2017/03/29/mass-employment-in-coal-mining-is-never-coming-back-no-matter-trumps-promises-or-regulations/#7a487eb171e8


 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/6/epa-poised-formally-repeal-clean-power-plan-major

 http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Cheap-Natural-Gas-To-Spark-Another-Wave-Of-Coal-Plant-Retirements.html 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2016/10/31/coal-to-natural-gas-switching-in-the-u-s-electricity-system/#661ca4b1e34c

https://www.cpr.org/2021/02/26/some-colorado-oil-workers-can-see-the-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels-coming-and-they-say-they-need-help-navigating-it/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=lookout&utm_campaign=lookout20210226

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/coal-and-other-fossil-fuels/environmental-impacts-of-natural-gas

https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2016/10/31/coal-to-natural-gas-switching-in-the-u-s-electricity-system/#4226d7311e34


https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2017-05-22/paris-isnt-burning

http://www.summitdaily.com/news/coal-reigns-as-king-in-colorado-but-solar-is-gaining-steam/

http://www.denverpost.com/2010/08/13/xcel-lays-out-natural-gas-conversion-plan-for-metro-area/

http://www.dw.com/en/us-states-form-climate-alliance-vow-to-uphold-paris-agreement/a-39123223

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-generate-29a01a73-4996-4882-a98d-13e20f878473.html

The death of populism by its own hands

The populists may have killed off populism with their  own votes in November.
Wonder if those blue collar, struggling middle class voters who voted for Trump realize the Congressional agenda flies
in the face of most Trump promises to replace Obamacare with something better, lower their taxes, and create jobs with infrastructure investment. None of that will happen if Congress gets its way. Both Medicaid and Medicare will be in jeopardy, as Trump promised not to touch Medicare and Social Security.  Millions may lose affordable health insurance. Remember?  While Trump will struggle to make good on campaign promises, he not only will run up against Congress, his own choices for cabinet, a team of billionaires,  will  be a problem for him, too.  Or will Trump just roll over to Congress' will and heed the pressure from his own cabinet members?

There seems to be general consensus by political observers that this was a change election. It was loudly  amplified by Donald Trump’s call  to drain the  Washington swamp. (He has repudiated that phrase since the election). The platform he ran on has been described as pragmatic populism. What has happened since the  election is that he has  introduced an invasive species to the Washington swamp and his cabinet, the  billionaires. Where the rub comes is if the solution to everyday health, safety, and pocket book problems of the struggling middle class conflict with the solutions offered by the business oriented billionaires .

These billionaires anti-populists if there ever were.   They come with preset notions that what is good for their business  is therefore good for all ,  with agendas that are contrary to the mission of the departments they are going to lead ,and histories  of supporting  ideologically based crusades. Neither is Donald Trump, when he declared his goal to eliminate 75% of laws and rules constraining business from it appears practices harmful to consumers and the environment.. They have no record of caring for the public interest as a whole, but their care has been for the bottom lines of the business or medical sectors they have served. Where the rub comes is if the solution to everyday health, safety, and pocket book problems of the struggling middle class conflict with the solutions offered by the business oriented billionaires .

The Trump theory of economics is to free  business  from government regulation and the economy will soar, lifting all boats of  the rich and blue collar workers alike. This theory has never worked, but if it does, and creates some jobs, there are some unintended harmful consequences for the middle class.   Scrapping regulations that are considered unnecessary or burdensome  to a business’  bottom line can also be painful to  families where pennies count. Many of those regulations which billionaires consider anti business were once carefully crafted in response to some  public outcry. How rules are enforced, the kinds of legislation advocated to Congress, the kind of appointments  to boards and commissions ,and how  budgets can be revised  all can be used to subvert environmental and consumer protections.

Here are a few of some worrisome possibilities: Will families be able to afford health insurance without the subsidies Obamacare once provided and will they once again have to choose between losing their homes or bankruptcy to get the health care they need? Will caps on the amount of benefits  once again result in  bankruptcy and foreclosure for  even those who get employer health insurance?    Will the  cost of annual physicals and cancer screenings come out of the pocket of  those who get any health insurance now from either employers or Obamacare? Will the donut hole emerge to cost seniors more for drugs?

Will we have more Flints and Love Canals due to business people/now regulators who sympathize with the polluters.? Will we drive more cars unsafe at any speed or will reducing time and need of testing drugs result in ineffective treatment or fatal and debilitating side effects? Will students graduating from college or trade school have any relief from tuition debt? Will future seniors have their social security be at the mercy of the financial markets?  Will Medicare be replaced with vouchers which may or may not keep up with insurance costs and  make life of seniors more risky and complicated?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/presidents-backers-want-action-on-jobs-taxes-immigration-1485945003 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/trump-cabinet-tracker/510527/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-is-enlisting-the-rich-to-help-the-downtrodden-183942038.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/16/planning/tom-price-trump-health-and-human-services/
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/donald-trumps-14-billion-cabinet/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/2017-gop-congress-sees-mandate-undo-obamas-agenda-163447989.html

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/his-very-first-hour-office-trump-moved-screw-low-income-homeowners

Closing arguments: Beware the Ides of October and what is at stake

Ancient Romans had a superstition that on a certain  date, something bad would happen and they expressed it with  “beware the Ides of March”.  We should rephrase that as the “beware the Ides (or near Ides) of October”, since that is when political dirty tricks and surprises seem to come out of the blue.  The FBI dropped a potential game changer eleven days before Nov 8 when they wrote  a letter to Congressional leadership saying they found more emails that pertained to Hillary Clinton’s email server.

Timing is everything .  The surprises coming so late in the game give the targets no time to defend themselves, especially when reports are the FBI investigators sat on this information for weeks, waiting until October 27 to tell Director Comey, putting him in an untenable situation , danged if he did and did if he did not.  

 It is even more of a surprise when the surprise is unprecedented, with its director violating his own FBI department and Department of Justice rules not to spring findings related to a candidate within the 60 day pre election day period or that they  violated their  own FBI  rules not to discuss if and what was being investigated until the investigation was completed.  How did it happen that the FBI  announced they were undertaking more investigations of Hillary Clinton’s emails without having even reviewed the material that appeared to be “pertinent” and were not sent by her?   

Another surprise was sudden attention on the long predicted increase in Obamacare premiums. If you get your insurance from an exchange and you get a subsidy  or you get your insurance from your employer, or military related provider,  or   are on Medicare and Medicaid, you will not see an increase due to Obamacare.premiums because they do not get insurance through the Obamacare system,. That is due to a general increase in health care costs which would have risen anyway and will be worse even if Obamacare goes away.Those who earn too much money to be qualified  for subsidies.who do  get insurance from the state Obamacare exchanges will see the hike. Congress can fix that if it wants to.

Who occupies  the  White House will have the power to influence our lives by  interpreting legislation broadly, appointing  agreeing cabinet officials, and nominating candidates to fill Supreme Court and lower court vacancies.Whether you still have to vote, know that whatever your motivation, love, hate, protest, your vote for a candidate or non vote or a third party vote is then all that really counts to determine who will occupy the White House and run the Senate. Recent Colorado polls: Clinton and Tump are tied in the state.

Here is what at stake : If Donald Trump and the GOP continue to be the majority in both houses of Congress and control the White House and Supreme Court appointee process, women’s control of their reproductive lives is in danger as Roe v Wade could be overturned. Obamacare will be repealed with no effective and comparable replacement for the 20 million losing insurance. The GOP still beats its drums for repeal of Obamacare, but after years of trying, they have found no replacement to cover similar numbers with similar consumer protections. Donald Trump proposes enormous tax cuts for the rich depending on old failed trickle down theories, and will increase the gap between the rich and the middle class. Fossil fuels will get preferential treatment .  

What is even more critical are the issues of war and peace:  Donald Trump’s stream of conscious  uncontrolled  demagogic mouth vs. skilled diplomatic experience of Hillary Clinton is the choice we must make  in a dangerous world where one word or phrase could harm American national security,  and provoke  a needless war  or a frightening incident that leads us to the brink.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/12/news/economy/health-care-costs/index.htm