Trump's plan: Tariffs on electronics, ban on skilled tech migrants, turn off the internet The United States Presidential Election has been run and at the time of writing looks almost certainly to have been won by Donald Trump. Which means we now have a decent idea of what's in store for the global technology industry in the next four years. And it looks like a wild ride: Trump's policies include a clamp down on H- …
El Presidente Trump is a climate change denier as well.
Farage will be jumping for joy at his mate Donald getting elected where he couldn't.
As for the likes of Apple facing import tariffs then what about Samsung? They will be hit by the same tariff as Apple, Huawei, HTC, Xaomi and the rest. So don't just single out Apple. Anything made in China will get hit and so will anything made in Europe and the rest of the world.
Quel surprise when the rest of the world retaliate with levies on US made goods.
What price those US Manufacturing jobs then?
I read a book recently that made a incredible argument for drug prohibition doing more harm than good to everyone but most of all the people that fall victim to drugs. Its a very good book - great true life detective story first and foremost but also devasting indictment of the way we treat the unfortunate addicts as criminals instead of victims.
Good Cop, Bad War by Neil Woods
A very recommended read. And the main thing I took away is that heroin /crack addicts should be given prescription drugs instead of being forced into crime and prostitution. This would remove the revenue stream for the dealers and ultimately remove the illegal supply and therefore reduce the number of new addicts.
As for marijuana? Less harmful than alcohol in my long and wide ranging experience. Prohibition is ridiculous (and I think that even though it makes me a bit paranoid so I don't touch the stuff).
No sign of that so far. Ironically, USD is seen as a safe haven asset, it tends to rise during "risk off" periods. https://www.fxstreet.com/rates-charts/gbpusd/chart
(Pick "Intraday 1' " from the time period dropdown. Or go "tick by tick" for almost-live market data fun!)
Look on the bright side, the pound may revalue against the dollar as it sinks
Why is that a bright side? The UK has lived beyond its means for decades. We import too much, don't export enough, and we have a balance of payments and a balance of trade problem. If your idea of a good outcome is the UK buying ever more cheap foreign tat on the back of rising indebtedness, then yes.
If you want an economy rebalanced from imports, with some credible balance of payments, a stronger manufacturing sector, and the excess weight of the City of London trimmed back, then you should be delighted that sterling has fallen and stayed down. The price of that is admittedly higher import prices (gas, raw materials, some foods, foreign holidays) so as we see already there will be inflationary pressure and a modest squeeze on living standards, but you'd have to be mad to want to see our macro-economic situation revert to where it has been for the past fifteen or twenty years.
@John Smith 19
As a chemist, It is always a surprise and a source of humour to me when I come across "lead" instead of led. Especially in a periodical that deals (partly) with scientific subjects. I am reminded of my favourite corny joke about the guy who was the lead guitarist in a heavy metal band.
After the whole world has made it abundantly clear, we are not welcome. We threaten to pick up our marbles, come home & rebuild our own country for a change, & everyone freaks out? Yes, we have more than our fair share of ignoramuses. [proof some would argue we need those schools more than Afghanistan] The big secret to our country is no secret, we build it better for our future citizens & kids. & part of the anger domestically is we've dumped all this cash across the planet, for a generation & the thanks we get is 9/11 rather than universal peace. [we've done this play before, Kellogg-Brian Pact, feel free to google it, IF Brussels/Moscow/Beijing lets you] So, by 75k votes in 3 or 4 states, we've decided to clean our own house, 1st. I'm not happy about it, but the "global village" has done this 2 or 3 times since the end of WW2. Now it's our turn, this was what Bush was elected to do before 9/11 [He was against "nation building" during the campaign] If the Republicans blow it again, they're finished as a party. Yeah, we're idiots, for waiting so long.
"The Russians probably thought that about Putin, too."
Putin succeeded Yeltsin just like Blair succeeded Major, except that Yeltsin was an awful lot worse than Major. The situation is very different. Trump may yet prove to the the Yeltsin that the US will want to get away from. (I don't know; perhaps he will be better than expected? Previous presidents didn't have either the same 24 hour scrutiny or the same inability to keep their traps shut. Some of them might actually have been worse people than Trump.)
Putin succeeded Yeltsin just like Blair succeeded Major, except that Yeltsin was an awful lot worse than Major. The situation is very different.
I was referring more to the "time-limited", Putin was supposed to be term-limited as well, but he found a way around that.
ALL U.S. Presidents are a time limited experiment, and we have a Constitution that prevents too much damage by one person. I look at world headlines and wonder if they realize how the U.S. actually works.
The President can't create any laws by himself, can't negotiate/pass any treaties by himself, can't renig on any treaties by himself. The President can sign (or veto) bills into law. He can applie his policies to carrying out the executive branch (example, he can choose to not enforce immigration law or marijuana drug laws), he can appoint ambassadors/judges/ dept heads (including the supreme court justices). He is commander in chief of the armed services, but he cannot declare war. He can create regulations through existing federal government.
Thus, he is not responsible for the economy (though he often gets credit , good or bad), he is not responsible for the price of gas/oil, he is not responsible for the budget (though he can veto it or propose a budget).
He CANNOT build a wall.
He CANNOT deport every illegal immigrant (he can try, but would run out of money).
He CANNOT change the tax code in any way, though he can encourage the IRS to interpret things his way.
... and so on and so forth. So forget the hyperbole. Life will go on.
"Some of us actually respected the UK even more for telling Brussels to piss off."
That's not what happened. UK said "I'll leave now, without a fight. Tail between my legs."
At least Switzerland just ignored the EU rules and did what they felt they had to do. That's a "piss off".
Stupid doesn't have a shelf life, Brexit will be remembered long after a poor leadership decision. A presidential term is four years, brexit will be generational in length before the mistake will be recognized, longer to amend and repair...and by the way this whole article remains as speculation until inauguration
They used the same strategy - it is the Peron playbook (which in turn is an improved "democratic" version of Mussolini/HItler's playbook).
Prior to this USA election only 22% of the white, high school or less demographic voted at all. This election data is not out, but an early estimate was that 90%+ of it will vote. For Trump. This is Peron's playbook as summarized in Evita: "We may lose the big Apple, but we 'll win the country". That happened at BreExit (similar demographics), that happened in USA.
What is really scary is what happens next as well as the long term economic fallout (just look up how many times Argentina defaulted in the 20th century).
Prior to this USA election only 22% of the white, high school or less demographic voted at all. This election data is not out, but an early estimate was that 90%+ of it will vote
So, you're saying that the election actually encouraged democratic participation, and that's a bad thing??
I know, it's a bummer when democracy doesn't give you the result you wanted.
Vimes had once discussed the Ephebian idea of ‘democracy’ with Carrot, and had been rather interested in the idea that everyone had a vote until he found out that while he, Vimes, would have a vote, there was no way in the rules that anyone could prevent Nobby Nobbs from having one as well. Vimes could see the flaw there straight away.
Nobby Nobbs for president! Couldn't be worse than what we have now..
Vimes also recognised that while Nobby had a criminal mind he did not have a criminal soul...
Definitely a lot less worse, with Nobby, it would just mean a number of items would go missing from the Whitehouse, including a lot of it's spoons.
"its a bad thing when the voters buy into lies and fantasy and vote on that basis."
yes. I'm SO glad that "Her Royal Heinous" Mrs. Clinton, Mother of Lies and Empress of Discord, was NOT elected. Her lies about what she planned on doing were both BLATANT and insidious.
Oh, wait... were you talking about Trump? Heh, the only lies on HIS side were what the MEDIA was saying about him.
Oh, wait... were you talking about Trump? Heh, the only lies on HIS side were what the MEDIA was saying about him.
You mean when they were reporting, verbatim, what he said?
Thank God that chump will be assassinated or imprisoned soon. Maybe his own kids will do the world a favour and kill him.
"I know, it's a bummer when democracy doesn't give you the result you wanted."
Actually, DEMOCRACY (according to the counting at this time) apparently would have given us Hillary.
In the U.S., we don't actually vote directly for president; we vote to tell the members of the Electoral College (essentially, our sitting Congress-critters) who to vote for. The argument for this set-up was that, while Representatives are elected proportionately to the population of each state, every state gets exactly two Senators. Since there were/are, more "rural" states than "urban" ones, this was intended to keep less-populous, mostly-rural states from being overpowered by more-populous, highly-urban states. Essentially, one could argue that the makeup of the Senate was DESIGNED to impede unfettered democracy!
What this means in practice is that a candidate can WIN the popular vote by winning the urban states and a few of the rural ones and still lose the Electoral votes because there are a LOT more rural states than urban ones. (And most states are "winner take all" states, meaning that no matter how slim the margin of victory is, the candidate takes all of the Electoral votes.)
And herein ends your American Civics lesson for today.
There'll be a short quiz next period.
It shows the quality of the American Left that the democrat party is now rioting in the streets of Democrat cities to protest the democratic election of President Trump. In the process they are blocking roads and bridges inconveniencing other commuters most of whom voted for Hillary. The Clinton campaign ran a dirty personal vilification campaign against trump branding him racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, Islamophobic and xenophobic: they have brainwashed their zombie supporters and sent them into the street to rage against the will of the people. Democrats against Democracy! I wish these leftie losers could see themselves for the tossers they are, then get over themselves.
"The Clinton campaign ran a dirty personal vilification campaign against trump branding him racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, Islamophobic and xenophobic"
Are you sure he is not most, if not all, of the above? He certainly has done a lot to confirm that he is most of the above.
Perhaps those demonstrating (rioting?) are worried about KKK endorsing Trump?
The Clinton campaign ran a dirty personal vilification campaign against trump branding him racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, Islamophobic and xenophobic:
Oh? Then who was the actor who spent a few days/week getting coated in orange paint so they could look like the CMIC (child-molestor in chief) to say all those things you claim were faked?
Because our media over here played someone who looked and sounded exactly like CMIC, saying how he hated various groups, would bar them from entry to the US based on religion/beliefs, wanted various people/groups in prison, talking about how bad many women were and how he could get away with sexually assaulting them, how he wanted to screw his own daughter (and probably has - he did say that they have "sex" in common!) etc etc. And there's things like having black/"African American" supporters of his ejected rallies and so on...
So I'd love to know who the actor was who played chump.
Dems didn't need to fake anything. CMIC did enough himself. What the dems needed was a better candidate. Especially at what could well turn out to be the last ever true US election. Diplomatic Republic of North America.. At least it kinda rhymes with Diplomatic Republic of North Korea..
Oh, and as to dirty politics.. See all the lies the refud's produced re Shillary's emails and so on, the whole "Crooked Hillary" stuff and so on. All of which we know to be untrue. All the "I'd [tamper with judicial processes and] lock her up" - or was that an actor pretending to be chump?
@Anonymous Coward
After reading your rather odd comment, I have had another look through the article and could not find any statement or implication by the author that he wanted Clinton to win. What I found was a pretty straight, factual account of the run up to the election and an interesting additional piece of information about one particular group of voters who may have had some significant effect on the outcome of the election. If you read it the way you express in your comment, it seems to me to say more about your attitude than that of the author of the article.
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It's already over 19 Trillion because of socialist ideals from Obama.
heck he gave pallets of cash to IRAN.
The core of America has had enough. Everyone lives in homes with doors and those doors have locks. That's what we intend to do with our country.
You tell me you don't have doors on your house or that you don't ever lock your doors or windows when you leave?
Of course over the decades, it's been the US that has been the worlds leader.
Time someone either put up or shut up IMO.
You tell me you don't have doors on your house or that you don't ever lock your doors or windows when you leave?
I often leave windows open when I leave, as do many of my neighbours. See, we know how to play nice with those around us, and how to be liked by our neighbours. Our neighbours got our backs, and we look out for each other.
Unlike the US. The US likes to bully, likes to have people in their debt.. The rich but nasty person at the end of the street who won't come to street parties (and even may call the cops to bust up a weekend BBQ because someone there once said something they didn't like), and who will find ways to make it seem like they've done a lot for people when really they're the ones who caused problems in the first place.
People hate what the fear. CMIC just means that the rest of the world will hate you more.
No reason to imply lack of intelligence to supporters of Trump where it's apparent is that Clinton has failed to convince majority of smart ones. And after all, what choice did we have? Of lesser evil? The outcome is clear result of inadequacy of electoral college and two (supposedly) party system (that Trump has managed to use to its own gain).
"The US is exporting gas from fracking. It would be more expensive now."
assuming you mean 'if Mrs. Clinton were elected' for the 'expensive'. Yes.
Mrs. Clinton was pretty much "anti-domestic-energy" from coal to fracking. So-called 'renewable' energy is MORE EXPENSIVE, and oil would CONTINUE to be imported from Saudi Arabia and other middle-east nations, causing WORLD WIDE OIL PRICES TO GO UP!
So thank fracking, next time you go fill up your car, or pay your heating bill.
More than half of the world's soy beans is produced in the US.
More than a third of the world's wheat is produces in the US.
90% of the world's almonds are produced in the US.
About 40% of the world's civilian aircraft are produced in the US.
These are just the things of the top of my head.
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@ Symon
Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exports_of_the_United_States
It seems that the value of "Human or Animal Blood" is nearly the same as of computers. Just what do they do there, literally sell the blood of the poor?
Yes. In many poor communities it is easy to find the plasma centers. Just look for the line of people willing to do anything to get paid a couple dollars that isn't selling drugs. Business really picks up at the end of the month when the welfare money has run out.
http://local.survivalinsight.com/Selling_Plasma_and_Finding_a_Paid_Plasma_Donation_Center_Mckeesport_PA-r1299612-Mckeesport_PA.html
So nothing that really matters....
I am sure I can survive without soy products...
I already buy only British wheat and baked goods made with British wheat (except the odd french stick)
I don't eat many almonds..
I generally fly on airbus aircraft with Rolls Royce engines already, I won't miss US aircraft much...
what else is there that matters?
I guess desktop/server computer chips...that is the one thing that is hard to replace from the US, everything else has a drop in replacement available....
Intel has loads of Fab plants outside USA.
Non-US soy is often the main kind in Europe anyway as the USA soy is more likely to be genetically modified.
Is there a list of actually made or grown in USA products with no viable good alternatives? US branded doesn't mean USA made.
> About 40% of the world's civilian aircraft are produced in the US.
90% of the word's general aviation aircraft are produced in the US, as are almost all of the avionics, engines and other hard to manufacture components of the civil aircraft which are produced elsewhere.
I'm afraid your wrong there Tiger. Since ITAR everyone has gone to building offshore - Gulfstream dont build or design their jets in the US anymore, Bombardier is Canda, and Boeing source 90% of their parts from overseas. So the aviation industry outside of the US will be perfectly fine...
Many Ford and Chrysler group cars
BMW X series cars
Lots of Software
Intel CPU's and many other components
Lots of industrial controls (Allen Bradley, Eaton, Foxboro, Honeywell)
Defence products
Guns (not that we want them on the streets)
Films? TV shows? Computers? Phones and tablets? Unpleasant Californian rotgut wine? Trips to Disneyland? Holidays in NY (or anywhere else over there)? Aircraft? Pharmaceuticals?
You're right to think those things will still be available to buy if you have the money. What you seem not to have taken into account is that it will cost MORE money.
Trade is good. The freer, the better.
One amusing side-effect of the Trump win is that the chattering lefty classes over here -- the Polly Toynbee tendency types -- will get to see what an end to NATO and US military support, the end of free trade agreements, and an end to the US playing world policeman actually looks like in practice.
I think they might be in for an unpleasant surprise.
What is wrong with some alternate scenarios?
What is wrong with a chance of peaceful and cooperative relations being established between Russia and the US?
What is wrong with the winding down of US and NATO military expenditure and its never-ending foreign interventions, with all the misery and endless displacement of populations this has guaranteed?
What is wrong with the winding down of faceless, unaccountable, unelected global bodies whose capacity for corruption is beyond a single nationalist dictator's wildest dreams?
What is wrong with a return to a "small is good", "all politics is local" mentality instead of the corrupt, leftist wet dreams that are steadily driving what is left of modern civilisation into the toilet.
What is wrong with a peace dividend after decades of war ?
What is wrong with the promotion of a free, independent, internet press instead of enabling corporate shill, propaganda organs?
And who are you going to believe? Me or your lying, rigged poll results?
Endless war,
Race-to-the-bottom, self destructive, manufacturing and economic policies
Enslavement of national populations to a permanent welfare state with no new job creation.
Making the 0.01% ever richer on a global scale.
We now have a chance to change all this.
Personally, I think the entire world just dodged a bullet. When the rest of the EU comes to its senses, perhaps we can all go back to making the world great again.
And yes, I voted for Trump!
Probably an Intel made in Israel, Ireland, China or USA, packaged somewhere with cheap labour?
Assembly/test sites:
Chandler, Arizona, United States
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Kulim, Malaysia
Penang, Malaysia
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Jerusalem, Israel
See also Intel's own website
Not all design is in USA either.
I lived through the cold war and always felt optimistic about the future, Nixon was a crook but he was not going to do anything really stupid. For the first time in my life I feel really apprehensive about the future.
One thing though I can now appreciate how Hitler and Mussolini were able to win power, are we fated to repeat the same stupidity every 80 years?
what's rather depressing is that the same crude tricks that worked 80 years ago (and 800 years ago, etc.), work very well today. No change. Don't bother with finesse: we're gone be GREAT, do you vote for that?! Yeah! We're gonna get rid of the evil wrongdoing FOREIGNERS and stuff and everything (somehow) will sort itself out! Do you wanna that?! Yeah! We will demand respect from everybody, do you wanna that?! Yeah! We'll bring back the jobs to American soil. Yeah, where do I sign, what evil wrongdoer would NOT want all those things? Jesus...
yeah, we'll bring Jesus back too!
what's rather depressing is that the same crude tricks that worked 80 years ago (and 800 years ago, etc.), work very well today
What's really depressing is that with 240,000,000 Americans to choose from, the Democrats couldn't find anyone better than Clinton to put up against him. The election could have been theirs for the winning...
What's really depressing is that with 240,000,000 Americans to choose from, the Democrats couldn't find anyone better than Clinton to put up against him.
Actually Clinton was probably the best candidate for a long time, 20 years of public service, vast knowledge of national and international politics, respected internationally.
But 30 years of lies and persistent character assassination from the GOP has paid off for them, after the constant drip of innuendo against her even Democrats think she has baggage when it's all rubbish.
respected internationally.
Really? Most of the world probably wouldn't have heard of her if she's not been married to President Bill. She's a terrible public speaker. Her apparent acceptance of her husband's questionable behaviour (only the second US president to be impeached) didn't help. If she's the best the Democrats could dig up the rest must have been truly terrible.
Really? Most of the world probably wouldn't have heard of her if she's not been married to President Bill. She's a terrible public speaker. Her apparent acceptance of her husband's questionable behaviour (only the second US president to be impeached) didn't help. If she's the best the Democrats could dig up the rest must have been truly terrible
No, there were credible alternatives, but the established Democrats were either bought off or warned off, and the very credible Senator Bernie Sanders was scuttled by a Democratic National Committee that had a heavy thumb on the scale. The Dems thought that they were invincible, and they were not listening to their own base on this one. I was involved with local Democratic party organizations where the rush to do "something historic" outweighed the sense of actually field-testing their candidate to all likely voters, not just the party elites. I voted, most unenthusiastically, for Clinton, but wound up with the worst President I could ever imagine. His main historic achievement may be to make Bush the second look decent.....
She was not even in the top ten. But her machine prevailed on the DNC and they anointed her, and did everything to nominate her. Sanders, Biden would have been far better. Good news is we will never hear from hear again. Maybe they get rid of the super delegates and clean out the party!
[Disclaimer: I was a Clinton voter, albeit reluctantly.]
Actually Clinton was probably the best candidate for a long time
In terms of resume, perhaps. In terms of electability, not so much (obviously). She played right into her own stereotypes, which galvanized the opposition and stifled enthusiasm among many Democrats. Almost every Dem I spoke with would have preferred someone else, and was voting against Trump rather than for Hillary.
The private email server was an own-goal -- a transparent attempt to control which of her official comms entered the public record. The secret meeting on the tarmac between BillC and Loretta Lynch was clearly not about swapping stories of the grandkids, and explaining it thus was arrogant, condescending, and insulting. Both Clintons have a long history of splitting hairs and gaming the system, and these (and other) incidents were vivid reminders of the slime trail that they both leave.
There was more. The Podesta leaks laid out how she packed the DNC to ensure her own inevitability, which made other potential candidates decide to pass. Bernie didn't get that memo, though, so her DNC allies torpedoed him. Thus, there was no chance to field a viable candidate other than Hillary, whose entire pitch was basically "it's my turn." Not exactly inspiring, that.
I could go on, but there's no point. Bottom line is, she was a terrible candidate, both in general and for this specific cycle. There's some question as to whether any scion of the establishment could have succeeded this time; but Hillary's entire career has been as an uber-establishment insider, so she was completely unable to position herself as anything else. The sliminess and behind the scenes machinations just served to remind people of that even more.
All of this would just be poly sci, except that it ended with electing Der Trumpenfuhrer. Hillary's personal ambition is what put the US on this course. I held my nose, swallowed the bit of vomit that came up, and voted for her. I'm sure many Trump voters did something similar. That's no way to run a country.
The cloud of scandal surrounding the Clintons was just too enormous. For once, independent reporting ensured enough people would come out and vote against them thus preventing the Clintons from pulling off the biggest scam ever. And it helped people realize that CNN and the NYT (and the rest of the crony media) are not the bastions of objective and unbiased journalism we thought they were. Truth was the real winner of this election.
I now see two outcomes for these sweet, wonderful losers:
1) Prison or serious legal problems for their entire enterprise and cronies
2) A rapid descent into political irrelevance,
2) is the best option for them. The Clintons can then quietly enjoy the quarter of a billion dollars they somehow amassed during their decades of selfless public service. Hillary can discreetly return the china and curtains she took from the White House. Or maybe give a little money back to the Haitian people. We can hope but don't bet on it.
2016 was the year of good riddance to some bad trailer trash. Americans should never, ever take their right to vote for granted again. Nor should you.
Always follow the car crash US presidential elections
Got friends in Florida & Texas and family in Idaho
If you read any of the meat in the Podesta hack
& previous to that some story's in the American press
Hilary stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders, because she basically controlled the party's super delegate vote via her inner circle of cronies & that won her the Democrat nomination
She's scripted, horrid nasal has questionable integrity, screwed up in Benghazi + email server scandal - Clinton foundation scandal et al
People wanted somebody outside the established political elite & they got Trump
What comes next is interesting, if he puts his foot down in January over trade, I'm watching Sturgeon implode here in Scotland and Theresa May stomping Brussels in well May !
"the Democrats couldn't find anyone better than Clinton to put up against him"
They could have; they chose not to. They are currently in the position of the Labour Party when it chose Miliband - and they risked removing Corbyn and choosing yet another apparatchik. Perhaps they will learn to promote rather than try to destroy the anti-establishment candidate. They will still probably lose the next election, but the path back to electability will be a long one regardless of candidate.
True,
Having recently spent some time in the US (back 2 days before the election) it is apparent that Hillary is reviled by pretty much everybody who's not a hard core democrat believer. They've even coined a term for it - Clintonopathy.
Clinton represents a business as usual, political elite at a time when many Americans who feel forgotten have had enough. On any other day the result might have been different but this was perhaps a perfect storm for Trump:
- Clinton reviled
- A lacklustre bunch of Republican contenders who Trump defeated early
- A general feeling of revolt against the status quo (so ably represented by Hillary)
- Overconfidence by the Democrats that women and Latinos in particular would only be concerned with Trumps (undeniable) flaws and that this would carry their votes for the Democrats
- A bunch of pollsters who will probably be looking for jobs next week
The world will not end - what happens remains to be seen but Trump actually delivered a victory speech which, if it represents his real path, should be a sign of confidence. Of course it's not all a bed of roses:
- Bad luck if you want an abortion
- Bad luck if your neighbour's unhinged and likes his large magazine assault rifles
- Maybe bad luck if your LGBTQI (or however may letters we're up to now) but I don't think Trump will actually bow too much to the religious loonies. They didn't seem too front and centre leading up to the election and that was even while watching FOX news. At least consider yourself lucky you didn't get Ted Cruz.
- Bad luck if you rely on free trade but once again this is complex and there's a lot of water to go under the bridge on this one.
His VP choice is one of the Christian Taliban.. and Trump has said the VP would be in charge mostly of domestic policy, at least that is what he told told Governor Kasich when he offered him the job.
So not only did he bow to the loonies, he put one of therm in place to do great harm to people who believe in the separation of church and state.
Where there's smoke there's fire. But all I find are a bunch of partisan republicans blowing smoke out their asses while yelling FIRE! FIRE! and pointing at the Clintons. The Clintons may be despicable people, but if that were a crime Trump would be in a maximum security prison by now.
I lived through the cold war and always felt optimistic about the future, Nixon was a crook but he was not going to do anything really stupid
"One thing though I can now appreciate how Hitler and Mussolini were able to win power, are we fated to repeat the same stupidity every 80 years?"
Saw words to this effect elsewhere earlier:
Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it - while those who do study history are doomed to stand by and watch in horror while history is repeated by those who don't.
What? You mean you didn't see all the "Hillary for Prison 2016" bumper stickers?
Change we can believe in.
Seriously, I suspect legal action is imminent. She and the Clinton foundation are still being investigated by the FBI. Many of her Stronger Together team mates were granted immunity against prosecution over the emails.
Also, the estranged husband of her closest aide, Huma Abedin, is still being investigated for soliciting minors. Probably just the tip of the iceberg. For people who don't read actual news, this is probably not even real.
However, a special prosecutor, FBI and a Department of Justice no longer staffed with political lackeys could change that very quickly. A very angry, YUUGE, orange-colored man has just been elected President, along with a Republican Senate and Congress.
But don't worry, Saint Hillary will be fine. Legal fees might mount up though, so it is a good job they have all that Clinton Foundation money stashed away. They will need it.
And that is the crux of this, at the time they were perceived to be leaders for change. It is only later that things got out of hand. The plus is that unless there is huge constitutional change, it is only for 4 years. We may get another 4 if the popularist vote is maintained and the Democrats put up another useless candidate.
Reading many of his lower level statements and the views of the potential VP, what is even more scary is the way religion is being rolled into the top of politics. Pence is born-again Christian, often these are the worst for extreme views. Both are Pro-Life and Trump is clearly going to take a very large hammer to the abortion issue. The view expressed the a woman's role is in the home is also archaic, although if he does what he says and improves the support for maternity leave and payments, at least that is positive.
Both Blair and Cameron thought that religion played a part in the governance and ultimately it is religion and those fundamentalist views that use religion as an excuse for extremism resulting in conflict, Muslim, Christian or otherwise, that are going to cause a major catastrophe.
"Quel surprise when the rest of the world retaliate with levies on US made goods."
I upvoted you but please in the future please dont say "quel surprise" it makes you sound like Garth Marenghi. Famed horror writer from the late 70s.
Qu'est ce le diff you ask? Well, a lot of people try and use arbitrary French interwoven with English but almost all of them get the spelling wrong.
"Quelle Surprise" I believe is the correct spelling. Also I think its an exclamation not a statement.
"El Presidente Trump is a climate change denier as well."
Good. It's all pseudo-science. Man-made global warming/cooling/whatever is easily disproved with a short discussion involving a can of Pepsi. Details OT in this discussion. DENYING the pseudo-science is a GOOD thing.
And also, the gummint does NOT need to prop up a particular technology. As Trump would likely do, DE-REGULATION to GET OUT OF THE WAY is what gummint can "do" to help technology.
" It's all pseudo-science. Man-made global warming/cooling/whatever is easily disproved with a short discussion involving a can of Pepsi. Details OT in this discussion."
Please. I'm sure most commentards here are extremely eager to hear you explain the science behind your proof. I certainly am.
"I'm sure most commentards here are extremely eager to hear you explain the science behind your proof. I certainly am."
[OT warning, but by request - sorry if it might not fit house rules, but I hope it does]
OK - by request:
When soda gets warm, it goes flat. All of the dissolved CO2 comes out of solution and goes into the air. In a closed system you would observe the relative concentration of CO2 going UP. This would be due to the soda warming, and would NOT be causing the soda to warm.
Similarly, when ocean temperatures rise, due to currents, thermal effects, solar radiation, and whatnot, CO2 levels rise. If CO2 levels are measured in the vicinity of the ocean during a warm period, you will measure HIGHER EQUILIBRIUM LEVELS of CO2. [this is all chemistry 101 stuff]
Next, take a look at the infrared absorption spectrum of CO2. When you notice the absorption lines, they're all significantly low, like -40F [I forget the exact details; they're VERY cold], or at levels WAY above the temperatures found on Earth. In short, if CO2 were a greenhouse gas, you'd see absorption in the normal range of temperatures found on Earth, and NOT the edge conditions. Since the energy being released by earth being trapped by the atmosphere is how the 'greenhouse effect' works, having an increase in a gas that's in very LOW concentration, and that has very LITTLE infrared absorption, is going to have very LITTLE effect on global temperatures.
So what you see here is that CO2 concentrations go up when TEMPERATURE goes up, but the CO2 level increase is NOT CAUSING the temperature increase. If that WERE the case, you'd have "thermal runaway", which is a highly unstable condition. Unstable systems quickly degrade. But the earth is VERY stable. So it's NOT CO2 causing any warming. And it's not human activity that DOES generate the CO2 causing any warming. Or cooling. Or change. Or anything.
Besides, if you run the numbers [including infrared absorption spectrum] you'll see that WATER has as much as 100 times the effect on temperature than does CO2. As evidence, consider how COLD it gets on a clear night, or how warm on an overcast night, and the opposite during the day. Water in the atmosphere plays a HUGE part in temperatures and climate. But you don't see anyone trying to blame humans for THAT, now do you? That's because the earth is LITERALLY flooded! Even the dumbest of the "dumb as a post" would see through THAT...
"As evidence, consider how COLD it gets on a clear night, or how warm on an overcast night, and the opposite during the day. Water in the atmosphere plays a HUGE part in temperatures and climate. But you don't see anyone trying to blame humans for THAT, now do you? "
Let's not call casual observation "evidence"..
If we were to dig up new water and introduce it to the atmosphere it may well be cause for concern. I believe the contrails from aviation are being investigated as possible issues, for example.
I think the scientists have a handle on these things, and I don't think you have mentioned any astonishing new facts. Only, they haven't draw the same sweeping conclusions.
When soda gets warm, it goes flat. All of the dissolved CO2 comes out of solution and goes into the air.
I'm afraid it's your argument that's fallen flat. When a liquid gets warm it can hold more dissolved gas, not less. Chilling a liquid releases dissolved gases, as you'll see if you drop your can of Pepsi in the freezer for a while before opening it.
The reason that Pepsi goes flat if you leave it out at room temperature is just a question of the pressure difference at the air/pepsi boundary, it's unrelated to temperature.
"El Presidente Trump is a climate change denier as well."Good. It's all pseudo-science. Man-made global warming/cooling/whatever is easily disproved with a short discussion involving a can of Pepsi. Details OT in this discussion. DENYING the pseudo-science is a GOOD thing.
Oh hell.. Can things get any worse for me at the moment? First, the CMIC (child-molester-in-chief) gets elected, then I find out that scumbag chump is one who agrees with me around at least a large part of the whole "climate change" fiasco. And now I find out that B.B also agrees. Just how messed up can one's weekend get? (El Reg, we need a more extreme sad face icon. Much more extreme. Like, you just watched your family die and then find out your favourite Linux computer auto-updated to Win10!).
(FTR I don't deny that the climate changes, just the nature, cause etc of the change. I also believe highly in energy conservation, use of renewables (ie NOT wind which is about as wasteful and "greenhouse-gas" emitting as you can get with a carbon footprint the size of chump's ego), prevention of pollution and so on - in short waste-not, pollute-not, and the climate's gonna change despite us, not because of us...)
This election has seen a large amount of BS, rhetoric, and anything to get a voter's attention. Trump pulled it off. Now the real question is what will he actually try to change and what will get changed?
Remember, Congress has to get involved and there's a helluva lot of lawyers in the US who'd love to take a case to the Supreme Court, He just can pull a law out of his ass and make it so.
I've heard a lot of BS over the years from politicians wanting to get elected and making a lot of promises and statements. Very little ever seems to happen. We'll see. Luckily, we can toss his ass out in 4 years if he gets too extreme or gets things too screwed up.
As for manufacturing jobs.. they won't come back. That's a pipe dream. No one can force a company to manufacture anything in a place not of the company's choosing. Trump's tariffs... require Congress (and their corporate lobbyist masters) to approve.
Who thought BREXIT was bad?
Not the majority of the country who voted for it.
You speak with the voice of 1.
Same about Trump.
Worry about your own back yard.
I have a feeling every leader around the globe, just gulped, because they will NOT be dealing with an apologetic child, but a proud american who IS looking for a fair deal.
Americans are TIRED of their money being given away....In pallets even recently.
It is simple Economics 101, that productivity increases come at the expense of jobs. So the obvious way to improve employment in a country is to slow down increases in productivity and make trade and markets less efficient. That is what Trump promised - roll back some of the trade deals and bring back jobs to America. That is also what the UK is doing with Brexit.
Before the CAP began to bite, Britain was producing 60% more food than it needed, hence the butter mountains and milk lakes.
In theory, if the current government or whoever is in charge come Art 50 time, thright encouragement should get British farming back on track so that it can feed itself and could even have a surplus to sell.
It is simple Economics 101, that productivity increases come at the expense of jobs.
That is overly simplistic and only tells half the story. Productivity increases only come at the expense of jobs if consumption remains the same. If those productivity increases result in wage increases and more disposable income then consumption will increase, and result in job creation in other areas.
The net result is likely to be an overall increase in jobs.
But new jobs come along all the time.
For example, mobile phones were tools for yuppies thirty years ago, now they are integrated parts of our lives. Behind those phones are whole swathes of infrastructure and jobs. Meanwhile landlines are increasingly for broadband only.
The obligation on governments (and I'd argue companies too) is to support their citizens in ensuring they have access to get the skills needed to do the new jobs and that they have access to the jobs themselves.
If output is constant then yes employment would go down but it is absolutely clear that this does not happen.
The world economy for decade after decade after decade stretching out to centuries since the industrial revolution has demonstrated that this idea is completely false. There is little in economics that is more convincingly disproved than this idea. New jobs expand as productivity increases the wealth and prosperity of society as a whole. We have record high levels of paid employment at the moment and as productivity more or less increases monotonically record high productivity at the same time.
The world economy for decade after decade after decade stretching out to centuries since the industrial revolution has demonstrated that this idea is completely false. There is little in economics that is more convincingly disproved than this idea. New jobs expand as productivity increases the wealth and prosperity of society as a whole.
Oh? What's the unemployment rate like in your country atm? What was it like 30 years ago? Hundred years ago?
We have record high levels of paid employment at the moment and as productivity more or less increases monotonically record high productivity at the same time.
Yet most countries have near-record levels of unemployment. Where are all those new jobs? In some foreign country perhaps?
If you voted once in your life, sorry, yes you did. History is merely a prologue to future, if we have one. When the president of the Philippines decides to ally his country with China and Russia on the *possible* basis of a Trump win, a country that's been a solid supporter of the US practically since people noticed it was there (the US not the Philippines), you know there'll be trouble. My grandfather was at the battle of Cable Street amongst other things and he always had a saying "if you don't like saying sorry, don't do it in the first place...". There is not enough sorry in the galaxy to make up for it if Trump wins.
I've been to the US, I know how far down the racism goes, but even I thought the average American might listen to THE ENTIRE REST OF THE WORLD SAYING "HELL NO!".
I would personally like to thank all the Trump voters on behalf of my nieces, I'm sure the eldest will be ecstatic when it sinks in that she probably won't see her 16th birthday.
As to the founding fathers I would hope they're spinning in their graves fast enough to light Texas, but I doubt it.
I'm feeling a Red Dwarf quote coming on...
"Everybody is dead Dave, dead Dave everybody is... "
I think in the circumstances, barring a miracle of epic proportions, that it's pretty apt - don't you?
It's called reality unfortunately.
Spain allies with the USA - Madrid gets bombed
The UK allies with USA over GW2 - London gets bombed. Twice.
I seem to remember an American general coined an aphorism "once is happenstance, twice coincidence, but three times is enemy action"...
On top of all that..
We have Putin on one side, who got kicked out of the International Society of Psychopaths for "conduct extreme and unbecoming" and makes Machiavelli look like a rank amateur. Oh yeah, and the nukes, chemical weapons & bioweapons
Vs
Trump, a throwbacks throwback, that would embarrass a tribe of homo habilis with his antics, who probably thinks the big red button is cool cos it looks like a woman's nipple.. A man who probably thinks a Sarin is a new Dodge midliner..
Do you see any reason to be hopeful in this scenario?
This post has been deleted by its author
>Trump's intellect is barely above room temperature, and he has some deep psychological issues to boot.
>> A man who probably thinks a Sarin is a new Dodge midliner..
Here's the thing: Trump evidently spotted something that was overlooked or underestimated by the political theorists, statisticians, mainstream Republicans and much of US press. The editor of the New York Times said as much last week in an interview with the BBC's Media Show - that he, the news editor, and his counterparts in other big city ( New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago) newspapers, were very slow to pick up on a sense of dissatisfaction in many parts of the US.
So, whilst I'm suggesting Trump is shrewd, it does not follow that the simple solutions he has proposed will be the best for anyone once he is in power. Let us just hope that the things he said to get elected were, well, things he just said to get elected. Let us hope, because historically, the people promising simple solutions to complex problems can be dangerous.
Trump's intellect is barely above room temperature
Given where he's got to in life, that simply can't be true; that sort of lazy thinking played a big part in all this.
...and he has some deep psychological issues to boot.
Probably true. But probably true of 99% of 'winners', including the entire Clinton family.
Anyway, I'm heading back the The Guardian to read how their tender self-righteous journalists got it so wrong again, are now all 'crying from their eyes' and feel 'like, totally betrayed again' for the second time this year. Should be good for a laugh or two.
I see why you're anonymous - your posts are so psychologically revealing you need a mask.
How about, for once, just taking stock of things as they are and not having to derail it into mocking others?
Trust me - I claim to be a doctor on the internet. Beats the shit out of "anonymous coward".
I see why you're anonymous - your posts are so psychologically revealing you need a mask.
I presume you did pick up that multiple people could be behind Anonymous Coward? If you try to profile those I suspect you end up with a case of multiple personality disorder by default - because they are different people. Duh.
Trust me - I claim to be a doctor on the internet. Beats the shit out of "anonymous coward".
So you have a neurotic need to be recognised under a fake identity rather than just offer your opinion without any baggage? And why do you feel the need to pretend to be a doctor? Lack of confidence?
Who is "psychologically revealing" now?
I meant that one post. I'm disregarding everything you said as it doesn't apply. I saw it all on one post.
My second comment was a joke as I anticipated someone would point to my username. I think that proves I'm right. I apologise, I used it as a red herring to trick you.
So basically you reply with ad hominem, behind AC, putting words in my mouth?
Here's a Trump line for you. I WIN
Amazing. I literally post 'stay on topic and judge something for what it is' and the presumably Trump fans down vote me.
That absolutely screams to me that on some level you're aware of wearing blinkers.
I see the truth, and while it's ugly, it gives me nothing to worry about. Well, in a certain sense.
Do you see any reason to be hopeful in this scenario?
Only if we replace the red button.
Vic.
You're being a touch melodramatic and narcissistic here don't you think?
Let's revisit that in 2 years from now. Trump is only in it for the money, there isn't a bone in his body not focused on self enrichment which means he will be easily manipulated into decisions that generate money for the happy few (because he is one) - the exact thing that everyone thought they were voting against. If you want to know what the quickest way is to empty the nation's coffers into your own pockets, look at the UK.
Post Iraq, Tony Blair has to set up his own private bank to keep track of all the loot, so I reckon you will see a sharp ramp up of military spend, possibly escalating into war when the US deems it more profitable to kill people and take their resources than to trade with them.
The main difference with the UK is that Tony Blair does at least have a brain. Possibly a manipulative, evil one, but he does have it. Trump's intellect is barely above room temperature, and he has some deep psychological issues to boot.
I don't expect the next coming years to be much fun for anyone who doesn't already have a boatload of money to ride it out.
Trump is only in it for the money
That's why he admires Putin, Putin was a KGB operative, basically a civil servant - well paid but not massively so, he is now one of the richest men in the world with an estimated $100 billion to his name and somehow I don't think that was earned 100% honestly. If Putin can bleed that much cash out of Russia, how much can Trump get from the USA?
He'll probably end up richer because whilst he is being the President, he will have to leave running his business empire to someone who knows what they are doing.
Provided someone tells him what a blind trust actually is - I suspect he's just going to pretend he's not involved in his own business and use the taxpayer's money to sue anyone into the ground who proves otherwise. He is already well versed in using other people's money, during his election campaign he already started to fill his own pockets. I can't see that change - by now it's a habit, an uncontrollable reflex.
Either way is probably better than religous motives.
So you're prefer "I'd bomb the [beep] out of them" over "Love your neighbour, help widows and orphans in their distress, help the oppressed, feed and support the poor, don't charge usury" etc etc? (which is the true Christian way, not like many who claim the name but don't live the life - and yes I know I am far from a shining example!)
I am also an American, and I'd like to apologise in advance to the rest of the world, for the next four years. Our election system doesn't go by the popular vote, which looks to be for Hillary. So the majority of voters did not want this.
The next four years won't be pleasant, but we'll all get through it.
But at least he is not a career criminal.
Uhm, Google? Ever heard of it?
Trump has been found liable from numerous lawsuits. Hillary has been convicted, er, how many times?
And DO NOT hand us that bullshit that lawsuits do not mean guilt. They do indeed mean someone did wrong and was punished for it.
Yes I have heard of Google. Here is some random reading for you.
http://observer.com/2015/08/the-countless-crimes-of-hillary-clinton-special-prosecutor-needed-now/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riley-waggaman/hillary-clinton-is-living_b_10862558.html
Not all career criminals are caught and convicted for their crimes. Al Capone was brought down on Tax charges. And yet he murdered and rackateered unpunished for decades. Good lawyers and stuff.
Trump's business lawsuit liabilities are par for the course in many countries, particularly America.
But I won't wake you up from your MSM slumber. Wait until she, her husband and other cronies are all in jail or being sued to their eyeballs.
The complex checks and balances originally built into the US political system (executive, legislative, judiciary) are meant to keep the system from being easily subverted by any one branch.
I would say that, after today, the intent of this system to minimize damage will get thoroughly tested! I wonder if the Founding Fathers had in mind the kind of buffoon that just got elected.
I don't see anything about subverting the "checks & balances" (at least whatever remains of those as the uniparty establishment has played around and dismantled them as needed either in the name of "progressivism" or to "protect us from the terrorists".
Maybe you are watching news from Turkey?
"I don't see anything about subverting the "checks & balances" [...]"
With the Senate and House of Representatives both controlled by Republicans - then that check and balance is reduced for many areas of change.
Pork Barrel deals will remain the currency of electoral favours - possibly more than ever given the electorate's raised expectations.
The Supreme Court of the US will now get the tie-breaking missing member. Any candidate proposed by Trump will be conservative. The Republican majority had already said they would block ratification of any liberal candidate proposed by a Democrat president.
The head of the FBI has been accused of political interference in favour of Trump. Even if he is dismissed for perceived wavering in the final stage - his appointed successor is guaranteed to be of the same mould.
The checks and balances will now depend on those in public office who can stand aside from party ideology - and they have been rare in recent years.
partly true AC. You did not mention the long term bureaucracies. As the Poms had it a century or so ago, Sea Lords come, Sea Lords go, the Civil Service goes on forever. Huge amount of inertia there. I suspect very little will change in long term, simply because in the absence of real ideas, the ancient statement that "without vision, the people perish" seems to be true. The USA will merely join its twin, the USSR in list of failed empires eventually.
>watching news from Turkey?
I didn't say the checks and balances were in danger of being subverted - that would be all alarmist at this point. Instead, I said that the system is intended to resist subversion, precisely due to the presence of those checks and balances.
To put it in plainer words: if, assuming the worse, Trump goes all looney and decides to do something really unpleasant to Mexicans, Muslims, <insert other group>, then the Supreme Court has the authority to declare such actions invalid. And even before then, his marge of action is limited by what Congress would approve - including when it comes to foreign treaties - and I am not assuming all Rep congress critters are unreasonable.
The one silver lining is that the election was decisive. A cliffhanger a la Florida 2000, Bush vs Gore, would end up with Trump still in office, but a sizeable portion of the electorate claiming he did not have a mandate. No substantial difference, but even more bitterness. He did get that mandate, let's see what he does with it. Best of wishes to US citizens that all your foreign critics were wrong and that you have turned out to make the right choice - the man is not stupid, though I will stick to 'buffoon' until, hopefully, proven wrong.
Here's hoping President Trump will be more constructive than Candidate Trump. Coulda been worse, coulda been President Ted Cruz ;-)
Forget the buffoon -- what we're facing is a Republican controlled Administration with Republican majorities in both House and Senate. Add to that the outstanding Supreme Court vacancy and we're in deep crap.
Presidents don't rule alone. Unfortunately this one's attracting the worst sorts. It should be an interesting ride.
I wonder if the Founding Fathers had in mind the kind of buffoon that just got elected.
Something about blood being used to "water the tree of liberty" from time to time??
Hope it doesn't come to this. But people can get desperate, and do violent things when they're scared for their lives.
"Assuming Trump does continue to behave like a thin-skinned 5 year old - then he isn't exactly going to be pleasant to any country or leader who ever criticised his election campaign."
This is what makes Trump- a thin-skinned narcissist- so dangerous.
His attitude towards anyone is dictated by what they can do for him and how much they flatter his ego. Criticise or antagonise him, even if it's justified? Out comes the archetypal spoilt bully, no jibe too low or too cheap.
Play to his ego? He'll roll over and let you tickle his belly.
Putin- the one guy America should be standing up to- just had to utter some flattering comments, and they were best buds. Ironically for someone who was projecting his own paranoid insecurity when he said that everyone was laughing at him^w America, I'm pretty sure that Putin and his aides are laughing up their sleeves at how easily they're able to manipulate Trump.
I'm also inclined to agree with the person who suggested that Trump and Putin got on because Trump could relate to how Putin became stinking rich from nothing; the fact that this was down to Russia being fundamentally corrupt and Putin stealing from his own people rather than business skill is of no relevance.
He managed to screw over his own people and get filthy rich in the process. Smart!
(Trump, of course, is no self-made man, but inherited vast wealth from his father, with many speculating he could have earned more on that by leaving it in a bank account. Oddly, Trump, despite his boastfulness, has never taken the opportunity to prove how good he is- i.e. much he's *actually* worth. Funny that.)
The entire world is in the middle of a major WTF! moment right now.
But, just as Obama's "Hope" pledge never came to pass, I imagine in the next short while, Trump will be led into a room where he will meet a bunch of people he's never seen in his life, and be told who actually runs the joint, and given a list of what he'll be allowed to do and what he won't.
I hope.
is the GOP Congress critters.
Yes the same party but most of them loathe him.
They will just carry on and do business as usual. viz, block whatever the president wants to do.
That's what Obama has faced these past 8 years. IMHO, it will be no different for Trump.
His economics policy is daft. It will see the USA go into default. Who will take over? The Chinese who have been buying whole rafts of the US Business world these past 10 years.
I fear that the next 4 (or god forbid 8) years will be hard on us all.
The mattress filled with gold is looking pretty good at the moment.
Unless the rest of the world says 'fuck you' to the US and gets on without them. Let him build a wall. It will only harm his voters in the long run.
It's not a matter of what he manages to do, that is supremely unimportant.
It's what he says he is going to do, how he acts, what he says and the image he presents of the country that just elected him.
And let's put it this way...
Yesterday America was a (somewhat declining) world superpower with real power and influence..
Today America is a utter worldwide laughing stock that people in general think is under the influence, that will haemorrhage allies as soon as everyone has suspended their disbelief.
But the fun part - we're your allies (please Theresa, do something about that ASAP btw) and we'll be the ones suffering the terrorist bombs because of it, thanks for that!
Handing Trump the presidency is like putting Dr Mengele in charge of the NHS - there is no upside.
Bill Hicks had it right YEARS ago:
"I have this feeling man, 'cause you know, it's just a handful of people who run everything, you know … that's true, it's provable. It's not … I'm not a fucking conspiracy nut, it's provable. A handful, a very small elite, run and own these corporations, which include the mainstream media. I have this feeling that whoever is elected president, like Clinton was, no matter what you promise on the campaign trail – blah, blah, blah – when you win, you go into this smoke-filled room with the twelve industrialist capitalist scum-fucks who got you in there. And you're in this smoky room, and this little film screen comes down … and a big guy with a cigar goes, "Roll the film." And it's a shot of the Kennedy assassination from an angle you've never seen before … that looks suspiciously like it's from the grassy knoll. And then the screen goes up and the lights come up, and they go to the new president, "Any questions?" "Er, just what my agenda is." "First we bomb Baghdad." "You got it …"
"Handing Trump the presidency is like putting Dr Mengele in charge of the NHS - there is no upside."
I'm sure there would have been some upside to handling the NHS to Dr Mengele. Things happening on time, etc. Probably no queues either. Good documentation.
Trump will go ahead with his huge bollocks and as soon (very soon) as his politics starts to burn enough silicon valley and other valley money, he and his huge bollocks will be removed. Worry not.
I sort of agree but the worry is more about how much hurt will happen before he gets his huge bollocks removed.
This is a man with a disturbing level of angry-public support so its going to take a lot of system-pain before other politicians stand up to him. He also has a history of massive commercial failures but has managed to cajole/bully his way out of any real problems.
I am not worried as such, but its not going to be a pleasant 8 years.
The USA looks like it will go into an isolationist mode, Did Trump say he effectively would not support Europe against Russia? Putin will be chalking up the plans to annex the Baltic states and any other bordering counties which have a significant "Russian" population from the days of the USSR's colonisation.
It brings to mind the Lowe cartoon "Rendezvous" of 1939.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Low_(cartoonist)#/media/File:Davidlowrendezvous.png
Yes, let's try those recipes from the 1930ies again. They worked so well then, didn't they? They did, didn't they? (BTW, I'm looking at you too, Great Britain.)
I'm kinda hoping that he will either quit because he'll actually have to work for a change - 'being Prez' is 24/7/365, sitting at the desk where the buck stops, without a second of true privacy due to protection he can't send away. Definitely not the lifestyle he is used to.
Or possibly a Albino Luciani* scenario who basically was hit with a massive DDoS by his own staff.
* aka Pope John Paul
"That's what Mike Pence is for (check out his resume)."
The man who is one heartbeat away from being the president.
Some of Trump's speeches appeared to give licence to anyone wanting to effect a presidential change by force. When he fails to deliver his land of milk and honey for the Rust Belt - then there is the danger of a disaffected supporter taking him at his word.
Yes, that's my fear - Trump thinks he can hunker behind his Mexican wall, Putin thinks he is being given a green light and rolls the tanks into the Baltic state. Some countries (maybe even us?) have the balls to say 'Niet!', and the shooting starts. The USA will no doubt turn up for WW3 a few years (or 4 minutes) too late.
I'd not seen that cartoon for 20 years...
The next question is, if history is repeating itself, are we post 1929 or not?
Is there a crash approaching before the wars start, or do we head straight on to trade tarrifs, jackboots, decadent westerners etc?
I've been humming 'tomorrow belongs to me' all bloody day now
Like BREXIT this will encourage the xenophobia and hatred of other groups to come into the open. The schism of the Civil War has probably never properly healed.
The Supreme Court of the US will now have its missing tie-breaking member installed by Trump and ratified by both Republican dominated houses. The KKK endorsed Trump as did the NRA.
Expect conservative states to re-table legislation to remove assistance for the poor and to follow a proscriptive religious line on sexual matters.
Those who are currently suffering deprivation may think they have voted for a return to a land of milk and honey. They are probably in for a shock.
The US seems on an unavoidable course to become a theocratic "republic" in the same manner Iran is.
To be fair, I suspect 51% of Americans actually love the way Iran is run, just dont like the fact they worship a different book. If you could change that one thing, they'd be best buddies for life.
Perhaps this will turn out to be a very useful lesson for the US electorate. Long-term I mean. Letting Trump screw up might be a way of showing the hard-of-understanding that all these "easy solutions" are a fantasy. A useful lesson, as long as it doesn't lead us to a nuclear war that is...
"European countries had the same thing in the thirties and the lesson is wearing off here."
It is not surprising. Very few people who were adults then are still alive. The post-war Baby-boomers grew up in an era when parents didn't say much about those times - it was still too raw. It was only recently that I realised we had lived only a few doors away from the house from where Oswald Mosley made major rally speeches. The neighbour was a staunch Mosley supporter for the rest of his life.
Documentaries concerned themselves more with the war itself - rather than the longer build-up. Our school history lessons covered only before 1914. Many people now regard history as only a subject for romanticised TV/film dramas.
I have often wondered how my parents perceived the events unfolding in the UK and Europe in their early adult years. As I approach my span of threescore and ten - this year has finally given me a visceral handle on that.
"The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s" by Piers Brendon gives a good hindsight view of what was happening round the world.
A complement is the "Inside ..." series of books published between 1936 and 1939 by the journalist John Gunther. Those editions published before WW2 are the better for having no foresight of what was the outcome in all the countries he analysed. "Inside Europe" (Munich revised edition) is very informative.
A lesson for the US electorate?
Hah!
These people are "the common clay of the new west", as the late Gene Wilder so eloquently put it.
They will suffer, forget and the do it again.
Remember Nixon's landslide victory? They don't. Heck, they don't even remember Bush II, and that was only 8 years ago.
Perhaps this will turn out to be a very useful lesson for the US electorate. Long-term I mean. Letting Trump screw up might be a way of showing the hard-of-understanding that all these "easy solutions" are a fantasy. A useful lesson, as long as it doesn't lead us to a nuclear war that is...
That didn't work with Reagan, Bush 1 and 2, deregulation, tax breaks for offshoring jobs and destruction of workers rights and Big Recession. Why would it work now?
"Few let it interfere with their lives."
Most religious organisations want control of their congregations' lives. Any society that allows undue influence on civil policies from religious groups is effectively using it for social control.
In order to make that control absolute it is necessary to make everyone police their neighbour. So everyone learns to pay lip service to their childhood indoctrination - otherwise the essentials for life and work can effectively be reduced.
The Churches in England and Wales have finally started to realise that they no longer have a divine right to have their dogma enshrined in civil law. Even the Lords Spiritual have found themselves having to question their voting positions on social issues. The mandatory "Thirty Nine Articles of Faith" controlling access to education and power was removed in the 19th century - as was the Churches' monopoly on marriages. The religions now rely on a few MPs to be their Trojan Horses - either by their faith or to gain political favours.
The USA has elected a black president, and a female contender - but a declared atheist never gets past the primaries.
To be an atheist in Europe is now unremarkable. In most of the USA it still appears to be unwise if you want a quiet life - that is similar to the situation for Iran's population.
The average pollie doesn't get to be the most powerful man on Earth for at least 4 years.
I'd bet, if he were to try to actually use that assumed power, all those who claim "POTUS is the most powerful" would be in for a very rude awakening.
Sadly, those who would be around afterwards to say "told you so" would probably have to spit out the ashes first.
I moved here (to the U.S.) in Feb, and witnessing this election has been bizarre, disturbing and worrying on many levels. That it's resolved to Trump actually winning seems unreal. You know I think the Chinese are right: Democracy is broken. Conceptually it's right and it's proper, but in practice, all it takes is a good con man and a little manipulation of peoples' emotions to turn it into a farce.
I was struck by a panel on Fox News (which I didn't put on) where Varney (an english fella who you probably wouldn't like) was venting that only well-off people should go to college - the essence of the reasoning being not everyone needs an education. It was weird as hell, surely everyone deserves an education? Then it hit me. Uneducated voters are easier to manage. Keep them down and malleable. Makes sense after all.
This is the America I've seen so far. I really hope it gets better choices in 4 years time, because this is a dangerous time for progression. He even has a climate change skeptic as his science advisor... He may was we'll be a creationist for all that says. Not good.
"Uneducated voters are easier to manage."
Until they get out of control. Mussolini was strung up on a lamppost after people realised what he had led them into.
The British reluctance to stage coups against the rule of law acknowledges that once you establish that as a principle for regime change - then it is likely to keep recurring.
Democracy isn't broken. But what Americans have is not democracy. It looks nothing like a true democracy. Look to places like Germany, Australia and New Zealand if you want to see effective democracy.
The problem is people see America as a democracy (no doubt the people of the Deomcratic People's Republic of Korea (I.e. North Korea) do as well, since it's in the name after all), and if you looked at that, then yes you would probably agree democracy is broken. But it isn't, you're looking at something completely different - I prefer to think of it as a Corprotocracy - Government for the Corporations, and the Corporations to control the Government...
Look to places like Germany, Australia and New Zealand if you want to see effective democracy.
You're kidding right? Have you not seen the shon key fuckwit we have as PM right now? How the hell could you use us as an example of "effective democracy" or even "intelligent". Look at who our PM is!
People have forgotten two of the critical pillars of Democracy:
1. An informed, educated and skeptical electorate
2. A free, objective and inquisitive press
I've recently heard it said that the election is both an indictment and an indicator of the sad decline of the US public education system. Perhaps this is true. But even more true is the total collapse of the old newspaper and television press (think, "All the President's Men" and Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner and the rest of the old school journalists) in favor of Fox "News" and CNN. Round-the-clock video tragedy and rabble-rousing are no substitute for clear, objective journalism and journalistic integrity.
the essence of the reasoning being not everyone needs an education.
You've got to be of a certain age to fully appreciate this, but one of the most unsettling experiences of my life was attending one of the original Pink Floyd "Wall" concerts. It was the sight and sound of the many thousands at Earls Court singing along with "Another Brick...", i.e. "We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control..." Coupled with all the neo-Nazi imagery, it was scary. I was sure that Roger Waters, who by then was clearly and publicly a control freak, was pissing himself laughing on stage.
"I was struck by a panel on Fox News (which I didn't put on) where Varney (an english fella who you probably wouldn't like) was venting that only well-off people should go to college - the essence of the reasoning being not everyone needs an education. "
That's how it is in England right now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuition_fees_in_the_United_Kingdom
"In England, tuition fees are capped at £9,000 a year, with around 76% of all institutions charging the full amount in 2015-16. The average fee for a three year course is currently £26,000 in total."
Add cost of living on top of that, and clearly higher studies are not for poor people.
"Add cost of living on top of that, and clearly higher studies are not for poor people."
And remember how we got here. Blair's idea that half the population should be educated to degree level. That's what happens when you have politicians who can't see beyond their next sound-bite so they never get as far as even back-of-an-envelope costing. (Or, in the case of Team Leave, as far as the first line of Article 50.)
Add cost of living on top of that, and clearly higher studies are not for poor people.
Which is ironic since the reason we have tuition fees is Tony Blair's insistence that everyone should have a university education, which he couldn't then pay for. The old system of giving everyone who wanted it the opportunity to get a university education, with grants for the less-well-off, was far better.
"You know I think the Chinese are right: Democracy is broken."
Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something.
Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Let's play that over again, too. Who decides?
"Intermission: Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long", p. 246
"This is the America I've seen so far. I really hope it gets better choices in 4 years time..."
With any luck, things might have a chance of changing in two. The members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms, so they are all up for reelection in 2018. and the Senators serve six, so 1/3 will be at risk. Congress often changes hands during the midterm elections. You may recall that, as the minority party, hard-line Republican Senators filibustered virtually EVERYTHING that the Democrats tried to do from 2008 - 2010. After Congress changed hands in 2010 they didn't need the filibuster to be obstructionist; they could do it by sheer numbers.
Over the past eight years, they have demonstrated how they think a responsible party should act, both as the minority party and as the majority.
"They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind"
This is the America I've seen so far. I really hope it gets better choices in 4 years time, because this is a dangerous time for progression. He even has a climate change skeptic as his science advisor... He may was we'll be a creationist for all that says. Not good.
The trend has been getting worse for the last 35 years. Forget about it getting better anytime soon.
Will be repealing the constitution.
Second will be forming a new political alliance with Putin and Erdogan.
I for one, look forwards to the next free and fair elections in the USA (due 2100AD - after Trumps worshippers are finally overthrown in the battle of New Jerusalem)
RH joins the Founding Fathers in spinning, possibly enough to flip the planet out of orbit.
NOT a joke.
"I for one, look forwards to the next free and fair elections in the USA (due 2100AD - after Trumps worshippers are finally overthrown in the battle of New Jerusalem)"
Yes, I too am closely watching for his "religious advisers" to appear from behind the curtain. Especially one Nehemier Scudder.
The US is chronically short of engineering talent but not that short of IT talent. Instead of H1B visas bringing in much needed engineering staff they've been monopolized by a relative handful of Indian IT contracting companies who use them to import cheap IT labor into the US, putting a lot of IT professionals out of a job. This is an abuse of this program -- imported labor is not supposed to displace or undercut local talent (BTW -- I first came to the US on an H1 over thirty years ago, I know the rules and I know when they're being openly flouted).
Reversing globalization is going to be interesting. We've steadily outsourced manufacturing jobs to save money which has left us with a bit of a skill and experience hole in factory work. We've still got plenty of manufacturing, though, but I just don't see how we're going to switch to local made displays (for example) overnight. Maybe we're going to go the North Korea route?
Yesterday I see that Farage wants a job in the Arsehole's administration.
https://www.rt.com/uk/365827-farage-job-trump-president/
To celebrate Arsehole's win I have ordered a 112lb gold plated anvil from Acme, that well know Usian manufacturer. I have specified that it must be delivered to Mr. Arsehole by drone. They are doing a special deal if any one else wants to buy one :)
" Pick the right dialect "
My Hong Kong Chinese friends once demonstrated the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese. It was like English RP compared to Scouse or Geordie dialects. Cantonese called a spade a spade - Mandarin was almost purple prose.
My friends' Anglo-Chinese child was sent to a Mandarin kindergarten in Hong Kong - as his parents saw the advantage it would give him in a career. He now has "A" Levels in Mandarin and Russian - and an engineering degree.
No one can speak Chinese.
There is no such spoken language.
Now if you want to learn to read and write Chinese, that is fine.
I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords, and have already burnt all the green hats in the household. My Red Book marriage licence is ready to be inspected, and a supply of chicken feet and boiled Labrador puppies laid in
So a sizable number of adult American whites, more males but surprisingly lots of females, are so joyless, selfish and have no more brains for comprehension and analysis than a six-year old, believing in fairy tales and putting trust in a real estate hustler, no more than timeshare salesman. No wonder they adore a smiting god and have such a flag and anthem fetish. Hope this puts end to the holy Americans castigating the world for choosing the Hitlers, Mussolinis, Berlusconis, Mugabes et al.
But then they are the spiritual descendants of the Pilgrims, the Puritans despised even by the tolerant Dutch of those days and with guns went on to massacre the natives. So they really haven't changed much since then. Now back to their good old days to show who's the master.
Yes they deserve whatever they get.
Quite despairing isn't it.
"Kids are out of coal mines also in case you missed that too."
People's health in US coal mining areas is seriously affected by pollution - even if they don't work in the mines. Trump does not appear to aim to improve the environment or provide affordable health care.
https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/coal-miners-slaughter
I'm not sure whether to upvote you or downvote you. Yes, the "adults" (both sexes) are rapidly becoming un- or under- educated by the system. Civics and Social Studies as well as in depth History are subjects of the past. They get no broad education in the sense of art, science, or even music. Just pablum and "oh.. you tried so hard, here's a good grade". They live and die by the tweet, the FB post, the Snapchat. They weren't taught to think but to memorize. Critical thinking is a thing of the past.
As for the Pilgrims.. most haven't a clue other than once a year they get a big dinner of turkey, assorted veggies, and football (American).
They only know what they've been told over the years that there's someone to blame for everything and it's not them. They don't know how to think of a solution nor do they want one except in the myth of the American Dream as hard work, thinking, planning and trying new things is foreign as is getting up everyday and going to work.... and being there on-time, and doing a good day's work.
Life is supposed to be on a silver platter because.... they deserve it.
Will it put an end to "holy Americans"? Nope. Will this election change their thinking? Nope.
I do believe that the same type of people who voted "Trump" here in the States, voted for Brexit in the UK. It's not just a US thing....
I've worked as employee for two Silicon Valley companies in my time, from right here in Devon. Not to mention the US companies I've done contract work for! Who needs a visa?
Let's see if he can do the world a favour. He's sent out a signal about not wanting to fight foreign wars: that could lead to relative peace in Syria within a few months!
Are you being ironic? 'Relative peace' in Syria'?
This election result will mean thousands more civilians will die.
'Relative peace'? - no - it means more gas attacks, more shelling, more cruise missiles, generally more hell on earth for those poor sods as Putin has nobody that will stop him now. Next stop Estonia / Latvia / Lithunia. The NATO house of cards collapses.
Meanwhile intermational organisations are ignored and conventions are put to one side because the world's policeman is on a 4 or 8 year doughnut break.
Why? Because Trump is piloting a very large ship with a very small rudder. Still tech-wise here's hoping Google loses the access it had to the White House. Here's hoping too that the lawless world of Google / Facebook / Microsoft / Uber's meets regulation. But that's a stretch as the reds won and they're pro Big-Biz.
Presumably the FBI and/or CIA has enough on him to control him like a marionette.
So the question would be what the powers behind, the real powers in the US, want him to do?
I can't see how limiting cheap, rights-deprived labour from Mexico can be at the top of the agenda.
But then again, I don't know what the real powers ultimately are trying to do.
Protectionist antics like this were one of the contributors to the great depression.
One question is how much the US can really do about duties on imported electronics, a lot of them are subject to ITA (information technology equipment) agreements of the WTO. I don't think Commander Drumpf will dare to leave the WTO.
One practical reason for the mostly duty free status of electronics is the global nature of the electronics supply chain, it can be hard work to determine the origin of a given piece of equipment. IC designed in the US, diffused in Taiwan or US or Germany, packaged in China or the Philippines or wherever...
America First ? It takes two parties to forge a "free trade" agreement. The other side can also say no, and default to WTO terms.
If he wants to institute tariffs on China, for instance, he needs Congress. While he ran as a republican and the republicans will control both houses of congress, republicans will NOT vote to institute trade tariffs just because Trump wants them. They are unlikely to vote to limit H1Bs. Both are totally against the republican party's long time free trade ethos. Trump being elected isn't going to change that overnight.
Trump is going to be fighting his own party on a lot of these anti-trade policies which are totally against the policies of most republicans. Possibly he could get enough votes between liberal democrats who are anti-trade and republicans from "angry white man" districts where anti-trade sentiment carried the day for Trump and they see the writing on the wall for their 2018 election prospects if they don't follow their orange master. We'll have to see. But it won't be an easy path for him.
It will be much easier for him to do traditional republican stuff, like lowering tax rates or repealing Obamacare, which the rest of the world doesn't care about. There are already bills the republicans have ready to do those things, they'll probably pass and sign them in the first couple months. The effect on the rest of the world isn't likely to be in stuff like tariffs or breaking trade deals like NAFTA, but more likely him believing you can treat foreign policy like a real estate deal and make something happen in an afternoon. Once he realizes it takes months of careful negotiation to make anything happen, hopefully he outsource the process to whoever he chooses for secretary of state and just occasionally tweet mean things about world leaders not named Putin.
Maybe it will be "better" (for a limited sense of better) if he is a puppet.
My experience with the East Indian Server Sys Admins I've encountered thus far, is a lack of technical skills, barely speaking Enlish (necessary when talking on the phone to English Speaking American Customers), and always wanting a Tech to come out and figure out what they misconfigured. While the American companies who hire them are paying them less, that is what they are getting from them (less). Not really cost saving. Is it?
Your comapny must have hired the cheapest company.
I can say the same about Americans who think they are engineers without formal technical education and cheted in exams to get a MS, Cisco or some other vendor certifacte to call them enigeers.
I have worked for 30 years in the technology field, have interviewed and employed many and have found many Americans to lack fundamentals and are unable to solve real problems.
Configuring a server is about the lowest technical skill set. It is nothing more than getting a Laptop or desktop to work.
It has been said that you can form a better judgement of a person's truthfulness if you only listen to their voice and do not see them. People in power nowadays are coached how to use their body language to influence the audience.
I can't pin down what it is about Trump's vocal delivery - but it screams "conman" every time I hear him delivering a speech.
"Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm -- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves." T.S.Eliot
"Because he IS a conman. Do you not know his history?"
Yes - but I did wonder if that was causing confirmation bias. I think it's the way he repeats a sentence at a slightly slower tempo - in a "come closer buddy, l'm your pal, let me tell you a secret" style - followed by a pause.
"Surely the date on either side of the pond is 2016-11-09?"
I currently analyse web page text extracts for dates and times of events embedded in unpredictable narratives. The process has a dozen parallel functions trying different likely format templates - with each then looking for variations on their particular theme.
Well I voted for Brexit and change and so has America.......Will the world now burn even worse than with Brexit and President Trump...The leftie luvvies still cry and *itch about Brexit, fighting tooth and nail to stay in their beloved EU in a Titanic mania as it tilts further down the deep blue with an attitude of I shall take you down with me as punishment.
It is funny to watch people throw a tantrum as they don`t get what they want.......and this is the next generation.
The papers were more interested in Hillarious Clinton as the main story, nothing like being forcefed bias from the media moguls who sold their souls.
I somehow doubt the world will end in flames but if it does i`ve got my popcorn ready one way or the other.
I look forward to the future even if it is with flames and perhaps a better world awaits.
What the ratio of (for example: embedded in an iPhone) Apple's profit vice touch labour?
I assume that the gross profit is hundreds of dollars per phone, while the touch labour is probably well under an hour and thus significantly less.
If one is following the money, then follow the untaxed profit.
And Donald, if you come anywhere near me with those wandering hands I'll knee you in the goolies.
I hope you have an LTD (Laser Target Designator) because what we have seen from the size of the hands, you are going to have a tiny target to knee. (Oh look, I turned a noun into a verb)
Hello,
I want to tell you all how appalled and disappointed I am that other people living in the country I live in have decided that electing a giant orange as-hole for leader was a good idea. I also realize that his plans and actions are likely to cause great economic destruction and social distress throughout the world. This may lead many of you to want to kick us in the butt. Knowing that it will be impossible for you to separate those who supported from those of use who opposed, fell free to kick anyway. I only ask that you kick repeatedly and with great force, in the hope that those responsible for this disaster will not be inclined to act so mindlessly in the future.
Neither Trump or anyone else will be able set back history. His understanding of modern manufacturing is based on building expereince. While some aspects of building has low level technological improvements, mostly in controls and lighting: the industry still dpends heavily on manual labor to erect a building. Hence, his understanding of modern manfacturing is "zilch".
If he tries to implement tarrifs and curtail high-skilled workers, the only country suffering greatly is going to be the US. Communications technology allows companies to conduct business from anywhere in the world. Hurting US innovation and competitiveness will be end result.
With his myopic nationalist view, he may very well impose tarrifs, but it is not going to take some time to build those archaic manufacturing facilities let's say 12 to 24 months ebfore coming online which will give his uneducated supporters the prospertiy he promised. In the meantime, his supporters fond of low cost goods will find a 35% increase in costs and won't able to buy a pair of shoes, plastic containers, toys for their 1/2 dozen kids, big screen TV or cheap mobile phone. Neither does he understand markets will develop elsewhere and other nations will forge alliances and partnerships on their own and the US will loose out in the short and long term.
Like Dump, his supporters doesn't understand dependence, correlations between macro economics, and public policy.
Hold on to whatever you have for wild ride.
I do hope someone, somewhere will be able to beat some sense into his brain.
"Like Dump, his supporters doesn't understand dependence, correlations between macro economics, and public policy."
Trump was just perfect with his speeches -sticking to simple words that both he and his voters can understand, and, of course, using threatening language about various opponents (individuals as well as groups).
Who knew that there were such a vast number of rednecks over there?
You should just load up a few million of them and send them off to fight ISIS. A win-win.
I see he wants to reduce Tax on company reserves ( corporation tax?) from 35% to 10% to encourage companies to re-patriate all those $billions held abroad and, hopefully, create jobs in the us. There is, obviously, no self interest in this due to his many factories stationed abroad. I hope he gets on with the job of putting all his business affairs into a blind trust, or rather he lets his kids run them and then gets caught discussing the businesses with them.
Clamping down on H-1B and L-1 visas are an area I agree with him on. It's a large part of why wages have been stagnant for decades, along with offshoring of manufacturing. They artificially deprive US workers of jobs and stifle wages by artificially inflating our labor supply who then compete for the remaining jobs. Any argument that there's a scarcity is pure baloney; the way a labor market works is that wages rise for those in-demand fields and others see the demand and train into those areas. Stacking the deck in favor of employers by allowing them to import what amounts to indentured servants isn't the answer - just let the market work. And nobody is going to convince me that workers from developing nations with poor university systems and standards are that competitive with US workers. We already have 15 million STEM degree holders in the USA and only 5 million STEM-related jobs, so we already have more than enough job candidates. Employers wanting to pay less is no reason to undermine the investment of years/decades/money done by US workers who played by the rules and should benefit from that investment in the form of good pay and secure work.
Hiring under the H1B Visa program, at least in Silicon Valley, has never been about hiring skilled labor. Yeah, yeah, that is what it's supposed to be, and on the forms you have to make up some BS about how you cannot find that skill within the local labor pool. But the reality is it is a way to keep labor costs low, bringing in semi-skilled, young workers from Third World countries. Occasionally it is used to bring in highly skilled workers - friends and family who want to emigrate to California - but the vast majority have very few skills and are willing to work for peanuts compared to their expensive Valley-resident-counterparts. Clamping down would be a good thing for the U.S. economy but the H1B oversight program itself needs to be revamped to fulfill its original intent.
Yes, I was going to say, you can replace "skilled" with "cheap", and a lot of the decision-making on bringing the bodies in is greased by corruption and routine bribing to middle managers anyway, not rational business analysis.
The good ones will come in individually under their own steam anyway, not with the outsourcers.
Donald Trump is President NOT Dictator. He most certainly is not going to get everything he wanted or promised. The opposition still can block things in the Senate and believe me the Democratic party is going to do their best to do so. To be honest watching the election Wednesday morning the hate/scare campaign opposing Trump was started within 30 minutes of the election being called. Things will be a little different but not a lot different.
Take a deep breath.
I just briefly read this but one glaring correction needs to be made: Trump NEVER asked Russia to hack into Clinton's emails. The facts were that the emails were supposedly deleted thus the call wasn't to hack into anything, but that IF they had the deleted emails to release them to the FBI. Now it's been learned that her computer had been hacked at least 5 times so perhaps Wikileaks will one day expose what was in them if one of those 5 hackers would be so nice to share.
The biggest joke here is "skilled" immigrant labour.
Companies have been using this excuse for years not to invest in training for their own staff and instead being in people on visas who in my hiring experience are typically under qualified and way too generous with their evaluation of their own skill sets.
The problem is the people at management level don't want to know this they only care about profit margins and so the grads who could start a job, learn skills and go places are continuing to lose out to people who are in my opinion, less deserving.
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