Trump fans, you got taken

I agree, federal regulations and mandates are way out of hand. They also have served as a legal way to bypass congress in a lot of instances.

 

Lemme see...1950...

No seatbelts. No auto-safety regulations whatsoever! Traffic fatality rate seven times higher than 2015...

No EPA. The Love Canal. The Coyahoga River wouldn't catch fire for another few years...

Workers were free... to work more! "the average American works 1,703.55 annually, which is about 32.76 hours per week. This is significantly less than the peak of about about 1,920 hours annually from the 1950s."

No regulations on smoking.

Air travel has multiplied by thirty... while deaths have remained constant.

Radio emitters have multiplied... a lot... (Your mobile phone is a radio.) FCC regulations have kept order.

And so on...

And so on...



There were even fewer regulations in 1789 than in 1950. Why not make that comparison?

 

Personally... I do not remember any effort at collaboration / improvement by Republicans... but let's not quibble. If Republicans had all sorts of better ideas, then they should have no problem, now, amending Obamacare to make it better.

Right?

That's what they've already done. Oh, wait... No...

They've done nothing... and Mr Trump has discovered that "it's complicated".

Health-care doesn't fit on a bumper-sticker.

 

Glad to help you.

DeLay never was guilty of the charges. But Democrat persisted and engaged in a witch hunt and at the end Tom prevailed.

In the case of Shumer and Pelosi, it is not that they should to on trial, but they are corrupt. Not totally honest in other words. They do not deal straight up. Shumer wants Sessions to quit his office yet Shumer has partied with Putin. Makes no sense to me. Sessions did not party, he simply was in a meeting for the Senate job. Sessions was asked over campaign meetings in that other capacity and he had no actual meetings for the campaign.

I am a professional. I hope I still am eligible to be a normal citizen. I won't show the forum the mail since it has my name on it. But I got contacted late in February to renew my professional license with the feds or else. I did not renew. The fees they want are draconian and annual at that. My state license was obtained by me and it permitted all sales and loan activities. Now the Feds rammed something more draconian down my throat. I resent it and hope you don't mind that.

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Obama spent a long time with the full help of his Democrats. Can Trump at least have the same time period?

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Here is the thing about Obama care. It has left out at least 20 million citizens. I believe the republicans plan to put an end to that problem.

 

I had the research that went back to 1950 is why.

But you did not explain the immense value of thousands of new regulations.

Do you honestly live your life in such fashion you crave more and more of these regulations?

Or do you shrug them off saying it does nothing to you?

You mentioned car safety. Frankly I use my seat belt protection. It is a good idea. Good ideas, nay great ideas are easy to sell to the public. Poor ideas are imposed by law.

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The bureaucrats have taken over is what I think you mean. And that is accurate.

 

This is one area where I support Trump 100%. I wonder how much reg his administration will be able to unwind.

 

If one assumes that voting for a mentally unstable delusional paranoiac (who should be removed from office immediately under the provisions of the 25th Amendment) qualifies as "taken".

Yes, Trump's voters were "taken".

 

A.

They used the Biden Rule where he stipulated in an election year, justices of the SC would not be considered so the incoming president got the choice. Justices were once thought of as very high quality judges. When Biden blocked Bork, he established the current problems. The phrase a justice got Borked now is common. There was no reason why Bork was not a member of the Supreme Court. They even pulled a lousy stunt on Thomas but he managed to overcome Democrats.



B.

Shumer is doing what is called slow walking. He acts as if each appointment just got out of prison and must be clean as the doctors hands. Shumer by painting all of the Trump appointments as terrible people even tries to leave a lousy impression of each of them. Shumer is a jerk. And having a hissy fit.

C.

Betsy could fail of course. A lot of the Obama picks failed so anything can happen. But the woman knows management. And she has a heart for kids and education. She has put in a lot of time on education. She grew up as either poor or middle class yet managed to parlay her talent to the point she is now wealthy. This is a good leader for children. A person who achieves is well suited to lead an organization that is there as bureaucrats and tainted by the former Obama people.

 

I am a person that wanted one of the Governors we have to be president. I had decided on Scott Walker but he quit. Anyway, Trump was not on the list. But he is a smart man. And he worked the system and ended up on top. That gives him thousands of points. The more the Democrats hate the man, it makes me like him a lot more. Democrats are wrong and truly making life harder on themselves and the country. They need to end this hissy fit.

 

What alarms me is it will still get new regulations to dispose of the old. He needs to modify it to cut regulations daily.

 

One would think all we do is hope they keep making more and more laws.

I keep recalling the giant that was laying down and got tied down by small men using many ropes.

Well, the ropes are the economy.

Also look at the election map. Much of America is rural minded folks. They get up and head to work and know that to keep that job, the company has to make money. Democrats so often live in cities. I think them being cramped all together makes them cranky. When one lives in a high rise apartment building, no wonder they crave gun laws.

I propose when guns are to be sold, the dealer gets the party affiliation proof and for democrats gives them the full background check, the FBI interviews them and if good of character gets one gun.

Such laws do not apply to we republicans.

 

Obama did not have a "long time". Pelosi revealed her program in July 2009, less than six months after Obama took office. Remember the context: the economy was in melt-down, and health-care had not been in our public conversation during the Bush years.

Obamacare became law a year later (March 2010) and Republicans have been promising to "repeal and replace" ever since. That is to say... they have had seven years to prepare their successor to Obamacare. They have absolute majorities in both Houses of Congress. They can pass any law they wish.

There is no excuse for their not even having introduced a bill. Nothing!

What this situation tells me is that their criticism of Obamacare, for these seven years, had nothing to do with the law, and everything to do with "opposing everything Obama". Now they must explain what was wrong with with the Pelosi/Obama law, and how they are going to improve it. And they they are stuttering in their ignorance, proving that they never really understood the subject.

As Mr Trump seems to have discovered, "It's complicated!"

Gosh! Who would have guessed?


You are absolutely right about part of the population not being covered. I hope you are also right that the Republicans will improve the situation... but so far I have seen no signs....

 

I see we will argue as if what Obama and Nancy did was fine and how lousy the republicans are.

You even explain how long it took Nancy to introduce her version. She blocked republicans at all levels from amendments. I saw no committee that so much as allowed republicans even to sniff amending the work done. Same in the Senate.

You want republicans to have a brand new bill today? I believe Tom Price came up with a bill. When you had Obama rejecting all proposed changes, what bill survived? Paul Ryan has his. I believe other professional doctors in the congress have a bill waiting. Do you honestly see Democrats today allowing such to pass?

Fortunately i see a way. I think this year there will be a law that does not cut out 20 million americans. Does not fine people and delivers lower prices.

As to lower prices, it shocks me my own doctor still serves me. He is a nice doctor since he took it in the shorts due to Obama care. Doctors don't come cheap. But my doctor fees are modest compared to the cardiologists fees and the surgeons fees and hospital costs. That is one reason costs are so high. The double whammy of insurance pockets and government pockets is a mighty attractive source of money. This pool of cash is so attractive it fits the classic economics model of too much money chasing too few goods. That is inflation. Have you asked any doctor if he likes Obamacare? I have asked 3. None of them do.

 

Did the Cuyahoga River catch fire? If yes, then why?

It caught fire because of all the cr*p that was dumped there. Why did that dumping stop? Because of regulations. Every moment of our history demonstrates that companies will do anything to increase profits, without regard for public well-being. Erin Brockovitch isn't really enough to balance the scales.

Tobacco companies paid for fake studies to confuse the public about the danger of smoking.

BP's environmental protection plan for Deep Water Horizon included walruses.

Don't misunderstand: I'm not criticizing these companies. They are doing what they were created to do: maximizing shareholder profit. Companies are not created in the public interest; they are created for private interests.

I am criticizing the people who favorize the companies' abuse of the public. Auto companies resisted the introduction of seat belts, without regard for their customers' safety. That is how it always works... unless the public has an agent working to protect their interests. Everywhere in the world, that agent is the government.

 

Those changes could have been made in a rather small pamphlet. I am not against all regulations. If you think that is true, perish that idea.

But conflating those sort of regulations as agreeing that since 1950 all regulations are excellent won't do. We are over regulated.

City types amuse themselves by making new laws. Tht stuff in that river that was flammable or even trash or garbage or sewage did not belong there. I agree to not polluting water.

Democrats have this habit of painting companies as evil. That only government fixes things. BP suffered enormous losses in the well disaster. Don't you think that in their own self interest a fix was coming? I watched some of those hearings and too much was done in a way to blame. Look at the economic losses of the fire and loss of product on top of enormous fines.

Something in law allowed such draconian measures. They sure were not under regulated. And the distance to the well put it into international waters. I did not understand how the Obama team had jurisdiction.

We can go over millions of issues. Some I am with you on. Tobacco was used by me for many years. I used to smoke pipes and cigars. Even those annoyed those near to me.

Most companies of size have what is known as mission statements. I worked on one for the local real estate board and our mission was to further public service. I think if you examine companies mission statements, they include that. We took that serious. We had it in writing and all directors read it. We lived by ours.

To not have a safety belt is not an abuse. Back in the early days of those seat belts, they were lap belts. That is not the right way. The proper way is to include a restraining belt over your chest. I said include by the way.

Car companies that were smart would include them and praise them for safety. We the public do want safety. But cars also evolved. Not all new features were available on the model T.

We ought to live by the founders ideas of government. And when changes are needed, put them into the constitution. We need to live off the page of laws. But now they try to wrap laws all over the paper so imaginary issues are considered laws.

Frankly the way I see this is the red parts of America, which covers our map almost to the point of solid red agree with me. And your side has the small blue parts. Cities in other words see this different than do the more rural parts of America.

A city is a place where a safety belt is least likely to save your life since those are slow speed crashes. It is on the high speed areas those really help the most. I personally enjoy the safety belt. In fact as a pilot I even enjoy them in the airplanes.

 

Say WHAT???

Is this what Kellyanne Conway calls an "alternative fact"?

I have eliminated the IndyPost from my list of credible sources. I suggest that you eliminate whatever source told you that Betsy DeVos is anything other than a member of "one of the richest families in Michigan".

 

Could you cite a few examples of companies spontaneously undertaking actions that are in the public interest but detrimental to their bottom line? I don't think that unicorn exists. Meanwhile, we can both cite endless examples of worker-safety risks, environmental risks, and customer-safety risks that have been ignored in favor of a better bottom line.

This is not a random result. Avoiding those risks costs money, diminishing the bottom line. The CEO is paid to maximize the bottom line. It would be absurd to expect the CEO to behave in any way that might reduce shareholder profits.

This is not a "business is evil" screed. It is simply recognizing the facts.

Businesses will, naturally, do anything to increase their profits. Regardless of the incidence on others.

 

I sincerely hope that you are right!

Rehashing the past is of no great interest. I gave you the Obamacare time-line because it appeared to me that it might be useful to you. Particularly, as I said, the fact that the Republicans, after seven years of shouting "Repeal and replace!" do not have a replacement immediately available... leaves me very skeptical about their true knowledge and their true intentions.

We shall see...

 

I said she is wealthy.

I heard her speak of how the family made money. She said her father invented the lighted windshield visor. I assumed she meant prior to that, they were not wealthy. I am not clear what is true on Wikipedia once I heard her speak.

I remind you too that this nation still lauds George Washington who was one of the super rich. Washington today would rank in the top 100 richest Americans. (When I was at Mt. Vernon one of the guides told us he ranked 52 richest today. Back then he had immense wealth). Looking at the holdings of Thomas Jefferson, clearly he had a lot of wealth for years. I know when he died he was pretty deep in debt. But his land and home are today invaluable.

 

It is my understanding that this coming week, the plan that took a lot of effort to hash out shall be explained to the public. I remind you the ACA is still the law of the land. I do not see it repealed.

 

Anybody can make a mistake. DeVos is part of the 0.1%. Her brother Erik Prince is the founder of the paramilitary services company formerly known as Blackwater.

These people are about as deep into the ultra-rich far-right as one can go without being one of the Koch brothers.

 

I think I can. Safety glass i believe and the modern headlamps. It is well known the automakers for a very long time crashed cars to study them to improve them. It costs a lot of money in lost autos and to pay workers to do all of that.

I once worked as a pilebutt. I worked around dangerous equipment. Do we blame the union i was in for unsafe conditions? Do we blame the company?

I got injured while up high in the leads (piledrivers can have leads to guide the hammer) and it finished me off for about a week. I was allowed to keep tabs on the blows the hammer hit and report to the inspectors the true count. Normally that would not be a job I would have done. The injury was not the companies fault. I was hurt due to how I put my knee against the wood piliing and the chain holding the wood piling crushed part of my left leg. The injury to that leg still shows where it happened. That was around 1960. Point being, not all accidents are the companies fault. Today I believe guys doing what i used to do climb up with safety harness they connect to the pile driver. In my day, that was not even thought of. I got nothing for doctor bills but did not go to the doctor anyway. The skin was bruised but not broken. The company paid me top wages only allowed me light duty and for that I was grateful.

 

Frankly that means she has the time to be a full time functioning leader of the department of education.

Being rich ought not to disqualify her. This country has done a lot of great things when the leaders are wealthy.

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I have something for you now on this issue.

http://dailysignal.com/2017/03/01/l...LOHZjZEI2N0ZvKzhxb0NzUUxuK0JSMUJHcVJ0dWVnTyJ9

 

Safety glass for windshields did not become universal until 1937... when it was mandated. US headlight technology fell far behind European for a few years because US manufacturers did not want to change their styling, largely imposed by round headlights.

Worker safety does gradually improve. I was involved in drill-site safety for several years. The company's management took safety very seriously because the workers were very highly skilled and losing one to an accident was a preventable cost... But in another company I knew intimately, worker safety only improved because of close scrutiny from government safety inspectors.

How could unions be responsible for worker safety? Worker safety is a cost, and costs are exclusively controlled by management. I don't understand you on this.

 

Being rich doesn't disqualify her. Not knowing anything about education should disqualify her (she did not understand the very basic questions Al Franken asked her during her hearings) but apparently Senate Republicans do not consider ignorance to be a problem. So she was approved.

I do not consider the Heritage Foundation to be a credible actor in this play. It is a dogma mill,

Your link is interesting all the same, because it underscores the deep divisions among Republicans, now that they must actually do something. For these seven years, they have been chanting "Repeal and replace!" but in fact they don't know what to do.