The National Debt

[DMX7]

This should be fun. We just put in a man in charge with no military or political experience whatsoever, and his only business experience consists of 4 bankruptcies...

He, himself, would have also gone personally bankrupt if it weren't for the banks that intentionally prevented this from happening in order to protect the value of his brand associated with assets they took over from him.

So what does this mean for out national debt? He wants to cut taxes for the rich and go on a massive infrastructure and military spending spree. That should end well.

[DMX7]

.

[Winehole23]

deficits don't matter when a Republican is in charge.

another round of tax cuts, on the house!

[Winehole23]

Here’s a surprising conclusion you reach when you start to game out what economic policy will look like in Donald J. Trump (http://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/donald-trump?inline=nyt-per)’s administration: While many details of his policy agenda are likely to be staunchly opposed by the left, Mr. Trump appears likely to enact a fun-house mirror version of what many liberal economists have advocated for years: Keynesian fiscal stimulus.http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/the-trump-administration-could-test-whether-deficits-help-the-economy.html?_r=0

[Winehole23]

deficit spending and tax cuts: two Santa Claus theory

[Winehole23]

three Santa Clauses if you count extra entitlement spending: free child care and job training!

[Nbadan]

Ironically, the best way to stimulate the economy is through infrastructure spending, something Trump and the GOP have come out against

[Winehole23]

actually, Trump has been for that.

you don't have to trust the New York Times, it's been a consistent theme.

[Winehole23]

Trump will lose the love of the people if he doesn't deliver the goodies and pronto, deficits and bootstrap theory be damned.

Expect more government activism than you thought.

[Winehole23]

Think Huey Long. We've seen this type before.

[Chris]

Ironically, the best way to stimulate the economy is through infrastructure spending, something Trump and the GOP have come out against

???

Trump said in his speech after he won that he wanted to rebuild the bridges,highways,tunnels,airports,hospitals,etc... He literally said "We're gonna rebuild our infrastructure which will become second to none."

[Winehole23]

Dan's out to lunch on this one...

[Nbadan]

Trump has been for private-public partnerships paid with repatriated money and tax incentives...all one has to do is look at the boondoggle toll way between Austin-San Antonio to see that private money grabs are not always in the public best interest..

[DMC]

Ironically, the best way to stimulate the economy is through infrastructure spending, something Trump and the GOP have come out against

Obviously you never heard anything Trump said and read some columnist and believed it. He talked about building roads, hospitals, fixing inner cities, all that. Even a "wall" would be infrastructure.

[DMC]

Trump has been for private-public partnerships paid with repatriated money and tax incentives...all one has to do is look at the boondoggle toll way between Austin-San Antonio to see that private money grabs are not always in the public best interest..

What's wrong with the toll? I take it all the time. I think it's great.

[Nbadan]

What's wrong with the toll? I take it all the time. I think it's great.

It's not generating $$$ so it's gonna crumbling in neglect, also, ask the residents of Lockhart how they like the toll...

[Chris]

Trump has been for private-public partnerships paid with repatriated money and tax incentives...all one has to do is look at the boondoggle toll way between Austin-San Antonio to see that private money grabs are not always in the public best interest..

I agree that our toll roads should not be funded and owned by foreign countries if that's what you mean. Depending on the length of the contracts, I'm not sure what Trump can do to fix that atm.

[Nbadan]

all that. Even a "wall" would be infrastructure.

That's like believing that private security gates actually keep you safe....

[Chris]

TEXAS: On June 29 (2006?), The Texas Transportation Commission approved a deal in which Cintra and San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Co. agreed to pay $1.3 billion to build 40 miles of state toll road from Austin to Seguin in exchange for the right to collect tolls for 50 years. The state will receive a share of the toll revenue. It's expected to open to traffic in 2012.nIn March 2005, the state entered into a $7.2 billion deal with Spanish-American consortium Cintra-Zachry to develop a 600-mile toll road from Oklahoma to Mexico and the Gulf Coast parallel to the existing Interstate 35.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-15-u.s.-highways_x.htm

[DMC]

That's like believing that private security gates actually keep you safe....

Seems to work for military installations.

[DMC]

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-15-u.s.-highways_x.htm

And? No one has to use it. If you live in SA you paid for the Alamo Dome, but you still have to pay to get in.

[Nbadan]

I agree that our toll roads should not be funded and owned by foreign countries if that's what you mean. Depending on the length of the contracts, I'm not sure what Trump can do to fix that atm.

That's not the point....the point is that according to Trumps own plans, all this spending is supposed to be revenue neutral, but if you look around these public-private partnerships have been a disaster and not just here in Texas....fixing infrastructure is not always profitable for the fixer....

[Nbadan]

Seems to work for military installations.

I don't want to share military installation security precautions but I wonder how successful security would be with tons of goods flowing through it's security checkpoints..

[TeyshaBlue]

That's not the point....the point is that according to Trumps own plans, all this spending is supposed to be revenue neutral, but if you look around these public-private partnerships have been a disaster and not just here in Texas....fixing infrastructure is not always profitable for the fixer....

If you get enough projects, it becomes profitable. *Cough* NTTA*Cough*

[boutons_deux]

actually, Trump has been for that.

you don't have to trust the New York Times, it's been a consistent theme.

Trash want infrastructure spending but not with govt spending, exposing his disconnection from real world

[Winehole23]

the deficits will be real. Keynesian stimulus plus tax cuts is expensive.

[Winehole23]

one party rule makes robust stimulus and effective government activism possible. if Trump and the GOP don't deliver it'll be a long time before we have a government that can.

[TeyshaBlue]

I keep waiting, amongst all the economic sturm und drang, for some front loaded QE to pop out of the mix.
Not gonna happen, but I really want a new bike. :lol

[DMC]

I don't want to share military installation security precautions but I wonder how successful security would be with tons of goods flowing through it's security checkpoints..

They have tons of goods flowing through their checkpoints.

Besides, safety and security aren't necessarily the same things.

You can be secure but still not be safe.

[hater]

Ya libertards have nary room.

Your candidate just blew a billion dollars in the worst run campaign and biggest failure in the history of politics :lol

[DMX7]

Ya libertards have nary room.

Your candidate just blew a billion dollars in the worst run campaign and biggest failure in the history of politics :lol

Even many democrats will say she wasn't a great candidate but she was better than Trump to anyone paying attention and with the enough care and reason to assess the candidates honestly. Even then, she got the plurality of total votes cast but our broken election system doesn't reward that on the presidential level.

[TeyshaBlue]

"Broken" by design.

[DMX7]

I think the founding fathers would have been appalled by what happened this week.

[TeyshaBlue]

On what do you base that opinion?

[Will Hunting]

the popular vote argument is weak and intellectually dishonest. Trump wasn't campaigning to win the popular vote, he was campaigning to win 270 electoral colleges. He didn't spend any money in high population states like NY and CA because there was no reason to, but if he had spent money, popular vote is a different story.

[DMC]

Also in states swing so heavily in favor of one party historically, more voters would turn out if popular vote was relevant. A candidate only needs 270 votes. That's by design.

[TeyshaBlue]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/there-is-no-blue-wall/

[DMX7]

Trump wasn't campaigning to win the popular vote, he was campaigning to win 270 electoral colleges. He didn't spend any money in high population states like NY and CA because there was no reason to, but if he had spent money, popular vote is a different story.

There are also fewer swing voters (i.e., voters open to hearing Trump's message in-person and changing their vote to him) in densely populated cities in NY and CA. Do you really think a true national campaign with higher voter turnout would favor Trump? But we can argue that till the cows come home.

Tocqueville's Democracy in America actually made me think the electoral college made sense for a while (because in short it emphasizes the importance of states) but I don't think that anymore. It simply makes no sense that a candidate who gets more votes loses. That's not to say Trump shouldn't be president-elect right now since those are the known rules both candidates played by, but it's a ridiculous system. It can't be good for democracy for a candidate without even a plurality of votes to regularly win if this becomes a trend.

[TeyshaBlue]

Every heard the term "Fly over States"?
The sentiment behind that nonsense is the basis for the EC.

[DMX7]

Every heard the term "Fly over States"?
The sentiment behind that nonsense is the basis for the EC.

Except maybe Iowa, they are still fly over states in this system. Was HRC campaigning in Kansas?

[Clipper Nation]

Cankles "won" the popular vote by running up the score in the type of states that would vote for Hitler if he was a Democrat and kept the handouts coming in on time. And the margin of victory is so close that it's practically a statistical tie. So what if she put up more yards? Trump got into the end zone more often and that's all that matters.

New York City alone has as many people in it as all of Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, and Iowa combined. Nebraska produces more wheat than any other state. Montana has three heads of cattle per person and is a major contributor to the beef industry. Idaho produces more potatoes than any other state. Iowa is the second most agriculturally productive state in the nation. New York City produces... lawyers and degenerates. Why should the consumers in this country get all the power to choose our president just because they physically outnumber the producers? This is just another example of why we need the Electoral College to keep the system more fair and equitable.

[baseline bum]

I think the founding fathers would have been appalled by what happened this week.

Some would also be appalled at black people being able to vote this week.

[spurraider21]

the type of states that would vote for Hitler if he was a Democratlol when morally bankrupt trump won the "morals matter" evangelical votes just because he was running as a republican

[AFBlue]

A repeal of the ACA should help to reduce entitlements spending. I like the infrastructure spending proposal if it's offset with entitlement reform or reduction in military spending. Unfortunately I expect neither. It was apparent to me from the outset that neither of the candidates were going to bring a balanced budget approach or fiscally conservative policies to the office.

[spurraider21]

people only complain about the national debt when the other party is in power

[AFBlue]

people only complain about the national debt when the other party is in power

That's a broad, general statement that I can specifically disprove with one fact. I care about it all the time, and I'm a person.

[boutons_deux]

I care about it all the time

why? because Pete Peterson told you to care? Because Repugs care about it, at certain times?

[DMX7]

WaPo: Trump just laid out a pretty radical student debt plan


We would cap repayment for an affordable portion of the borrower’s income, 12.5 percent, we’d cap it. That gives you a lot to play with and a lot to do,” Trump said at a rally in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday. “And if borrowers work hard and make their full payments for 15 years, we’ll let them get on with their lives. They just go ahead and they get on with their lives.”

The terms proposed by the Republican nominee are more generous than all of the existing government programs that let borrowers cap their monthly student loan payments to a percentage of their earnings. Even the latest income-driven plan, known as Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE), forgives remaining debt after 20 years of payment, though it caps borrowers’ monthly bills to 10 percent of their income.




“They are way off on their numbers,” said Jason Delisle, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. “If you were going to give loan forgiveness in 15 years, you’re going to forgive a lot more debt than you’re going to make up for in the form of the higher payments they’re proposing, by a lot. I don’t even need to run the numbers. It’s so obvious.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/10/13/trump-just-laid-out-a-pretty-radical-student-debt-plan/?wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

Even I am against this... student loans need to be judiciously given out and need to have reasonable interest rates, but people who accept them should be responsible for them. I'm not for massive loan forgiveness programs. This is easy for me to say given that I got through college without any student debt, but this is too costly a program and not really a solution.