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Trump Proposes Rejoining Trans-Pacific Partnership (nytimes.com)
According to The New York Times, "President Trump told a gathering of farm state lawmakers and governors on Thursday morning that he was directing his advisers to look into rejoining the multicountry trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source)." The TPP was a contentious issue during the 2016 presidential election as both Democrats and Republicans attacked it. After signaling during the election that he would pull out of the trade deal "on day one" of his presidency, Trump followed through with his plans. From the report: Rejoining the 11-country pact could be a significant change in fortune for many American industries that stood to benefit from the trade agreement's favorable terms and Republican lawmakers who supported the pact. The deal, which was negotiated by the Obama administration, was largely viewed as a tool to prod China into making the type of economic reforms that the United States and others have long wanted. Both Democrats and Republicans attacked the deal during the president campaign, but many business leaders were disappointed when Mr. Trump withdrew from the agreement, arguing that the United States would end up with less favorable terms attempting to broker an array of individual trade pacts and that scrapping the deal would empower China.
Mr. Trump's decision to reconsider the deal comes as the White House tries to find ways to protect the agriculture sector, which could be badly damaged by the president's trade approach. The risk of an escalating trade war with China has panicked American farmers and ranchers, who send many of their products abroad. China has responded to Mr. Trump's threat of tariffs on as much as $150 billion worth of Chinese goods by placing its own tariffs on American pork, and threatening taxes on soybeans, sorghum, corn and beef. Many American agriculturalists maintain that the easiest way to help them is to avoid a trade war with China in the first place. And many economists say the best way to combat a rising China and pressure it to open its market is through multilateral trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which create favorable trading terms for participants.
Mr. Trump's decision to reconsider the deal comes as the White House tries to find ways to protect the agriculture sector, which could be badly damaged by the president's trade approach. The risk of an escalating trade war with China has panicked American farmers and ranchers, who send many of their products abroad. China has responded to Mr. Trump's threat of tariffs on as much as $150 billion worth of Chinese goods by placing its own tariffs on American pork, and threatening taxes on soybeans, sorghum, corn and beef. Many American agriculturalists maintain that the easiest way to help them is to avoid a trade war with China in the first place. And many economists say the best way to combat a rising China and pressure it to open its market is through multilateral trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which create favorable trading terms for participants.
The big orange shit gibbon made his choice, and now he can live with it. That idiot thinks the entire world revolves entirely around him.
Here comes waves after waves of pro-Trump and anti-Trump comments.
This is why I don't worry about President Trump if the democrats recover the house (and in in the unlikely event they recover the senate too).
He will immediately throw the republican party under the bus to join the winning side.
He has no principles except, "Make money for Trump", "Avoid russia revealing whatever it is they have on Trump", and "Have affairs with women who look like Ivanka as long as I can get it up."
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
LOL, you voted for this disaster.
Both Democrats and Republicans attacked the deal during the president campaign, but many business leaders were disappointed when Mr. Trump withdrew from agreement
Try English, BeauHD.
for pulling out of it will praise him and if those who praised him will now criticize him.
I'm running out of popcorn.
Probably not.
Whether or not TPP was good for the country no longer matters.
Trying to get back into TPP at this point means we are going to be on the bottom of the barrel and in a worse position than we were to begin with.
The entire purpose of TPP was to create a countervailing economic force against China's influence in Asia and the world economy. That was obvious to anyone who read even a few pages about TPP, but of course that's too much to ask of someone who is unwilling to read even a single page of non-bulleted text:
"Trump said he likes his briefings short, ideally one-page if it's in writing. "I like bullets or I like as little as possible. I don't need, you know, 200-page reports on something that can be handled on a page. That I can tell you."
if all those who criticized him for pulling out of the dealk will now praise him and visa versa.
I'm running out of popcorn.
Ah, no shit. The words that come out of his mouth mean nothing. The important thing is, what else is going on that he doesn't want us to talk about?
...how he thinks the other 11 countries, who went ahead without the US and have completed a deal of their own, are going to suddenly reopen negotiations just because he wants them to.
Trump sure is a great negotiator /s The USA will be asking to join from a clear position of weakness compared to before. Most concession we could have gotten previously are pretty much now off the table.
Trump: I'll Ditch TPP Trade Deal on Day One of My Presidency
You can never predict, from week to week, what his position on something will be. So before we all overreact - either in favor, or against - let's see if this actually is a sign his position is changing, or just another off-the-cuff remark his assistants will be walking back in the next few days.
#DeleteChrome
Before he won the election (which I did not see coming!) I was looking forward to him running for president as a Democrat in 2020. He so utterly embarrassed and humiliated the Republicans by winning their nomination, that I just couldn't wait for him to do the same to America's other enemy. Maybe it can still happen.
Democrats, if you ever start feeling like running some creep like Clinton again, hold that thought. Don't you want a winner? The country already has a perfectly good creep, who is totally resistant to all criticism. But the Repubs don't want him (he's a complete "RINO" and politically left of most Democrats on most issues) so maybe you can have with winner as your nominee. And like Maxo-Texas says, I'm sure the orange would be happy to go along with it.
What possible leverage could the US possibly have to re-join the TPP after Trump exited it with such fanfare?
Impulsiveness and other factors.
trump is such a putz
He'll be gone before the end of the year.
Pulling out of the TPP was the one thing that i actually agreed with Trump on and that i was happy he followed through on.
However my concern was about the IP chapter of the provisions, which the EFF (among others) took a firm stance against.
However since the US pulled out of the TPP the remaining countries had to negotiate a new treaty, the "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership", or CPTPP.
At first glance it seems like most of the offensive portions on IP law were removed from the CPTPP. (Which isn't that surprising, since most of those items were favored by the large media conglomerates located in the US, and with the US out of the deal they probably no longer had a strong champion.)
_If_ that is indeed true, and _if_ the negotiations necessary for the US to join wouldn't involve reinstating those terms, i would tentatively be in favor of this, but it wouldn't break my heart if Trump flip-flops on the issue again or the other signatories no longer have any interest in letting the US in.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I'm liking the new completely unhinged, pants-shitting crazy Donald Trump. It's like watching John Belushi's last films. You knew he wasn't going to last much longer, and nothing could be done to save him from himself, but it was going to be an entertaining ride down to the end.
For example, yesterday Trump tweeted out this:
"Get ready Russia" is not something you want to hear Trump saying in the context of "nice and new and "smart"" missiles".
So, today, of course, he said:
Wait, what? Dude, you literally said, "the missiles are coming". WTF? And a few hours before that,
So now the President of the United States is cutting promos for Hannity.
This is just the best.
You are welcome on my lawn.
The President's salary is a pittance compared to the wealth that can be generated by virtue of holding the office. That is true even for the most scrupulous office holder.
Putin wears an Ivanka wig and a big black strap on when he drills Trump. There, the secret is out.
Real money isn't made through salaries.
The presidential salary, at over $400,000 a year, is still a pretty healthy salary. Whether he can make more by virtue of holding his office alone is irrelevant... that's still well over one and a half million dollars more that he could have chosen to accept for this term as president, but has chosen not to.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
4 of 6 people in the whole world live in Asia.
You do not want free trade with Asia. It will reduce the value of US labor to zero.
Like how a huge chunk of the manufacturing sector in the US moved to Mexico. Expensive machinery and automobiles and agricultural equipment is built in Mexico and then shipped to the US.
It would be like permanent H1B1 visa abuse on super-steroids and codified into a permanent treaty.
Sure with the TPP and other free trade agreements, the wealthy elite prosper -- but the little guy get squashed.
The TPP would be NAFTA but also affecting the tech sector.
It's worth noting that Trump is has declined to accept a salary while being president.
ROFL. He makes more than his salary would be by renting golf carts to the Secret Service.
Stop being programmable.
Dude, you literally said, "the missiles are coming". WTF?
I wasn't aware of any substantive limits that the English phrase "are coming" places on time frame. The one time limit I can think of is based on when the President would lose authority to act on this threat, namely January 2021. Thus the President was technically correct (the best kind of correct). One might liken the missiles of the US Armed Forces to the unpredictable "thief in the night" that Paul of Tarsus mentioned in his first letter to the congregation at Thessaloniki.
No, it's not worth noting that because the real money is being made by leveraging his position as President to make money for his bus....ahem, I mean his "children's" businesses. The president's salary is peanuts.
Besides, if you believe he gave up the salary then I have some Bitconnect cryptocurrency to sell you.
So.....uhmmmmmm....yes.
What the hell, he can't even live up to his own ambitions! What 180s is he going to pull next?
The presidents salary is chicken feed to the benefits he can gain from the position.
Trump already knows that TPP is a sellout to our own national interest
Trump used to criticize TPP as such
And now Trump wants to sign on to TPP?
Looks like Trump is preparing to sellout our own national interest, just like the D.C. Swamp
oh you are a funny one, it costs $200,000 an hour to fly Air Force One, so Trump spends the equivalent of his entire salary flying one-way to Mar A Lago...
The salary is irrelevant when his policies are leading directly to overspending, under-taxing and trillion dollar annual deficits.
for an industry leader that is not a healthy salary. Sure it looks great to your average worker but for someone in his position it is nothing. Hell even where I work here it is only a mid level manager salary that anyone above would laugh at. He would be getting more than that from the government expenditure everytime he visits one of his properties for a game of golf.
Well, at least it has you fooled.
They should say that the US can come back into the TPP but only into the deal as it currently stands (i.e. the one that everyone else agreed to after removing a bunch of stuff that only really benefited a bunch of big US corporations)
That cost wouldn't come out of the presidential salary, so again... it's still money he's chosen to not get.
How much disregard he has for other people's money is beside the point... if all he really cared about was money, he'd still be drawing the president's salary in addition to all of the other benefits he receives as president.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I'm not suggesting that Trump needs the salary in any way, or that it even represents a significant sacrifice on his part to give it up.... I'm saying that if all he actually care about was getting money for himself, then he clearly would not have declined to accept a salary, however small it might be compared to other revenue streams.
He doesn''t stand to make any *more* money than he already would have by refusing a salary, so the accusation that he's only doing this for the money doesn't make any sense.
The fact that he's otherwise a complete asshat whose arrogance and stupidity is unmatched by any president that I can ever recall seeing in my lifetime is beside the point.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I'm not disputing that... but that's still "chicken feed" he chose to not accept... in truth, if he were really only interested in getting as much money for trump as he could, he wouldn't have turned the salary down, because he'd still be getting all of those other benefits anyways, *PLUS* getting a salary on the side.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Um, no... he would only refuse his salary if he was looking to impress some dumb-ass who calls himself Conservative, but has no idea what fiscal conservatism is.
'Giving his salary back' is just an empty gesture that matches the rest of the political kabuki that this administration engages in.
A guy who has not relinquished control of his billion dollar business (for fear of conflict of interest) giving up 400k/year in income is something other than publicity stunt to you?
The only way he'd rejoin is if his name was on it.
Are you really that gullible? The US Government is paying around $130,000 per month (It's an 18mo lease) to rent a 4000ft^2 spot in Trump Tower, and that's about 2x what everyone else is paying for a similar spot.
So you're right. He gave up $1.5 million over 4 years for $1.5 million per year. Now let's talk about how much it costs for him to live at one of his country clubs on weekends and holidays? Do you think he's giving the US Government a deal there, too?
Of course he might be doing it to impress certain people, but that means that impressing those people is more important to him than that money.
Which is my point... he clearly cares about other things than just making money for himself, even if the other things he cares about are no less self-serving.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Pulling out of the TPP was the one thing that i actually agreed with Trump on and that i was happy he followed through on.
Indeed, though something told me it wasn't going to last. Australian Liberals are to blame, they started pushing the TPP with Japan and it gained momentum from there.
This is the play, say it's dead so everyone lets their guard down and then push it through while the politicians high five each other about how skillfully they deceived the electorate. It's difficult to believe that any of them read all 6000 pages of the TPP. As for public debate - hahahahha, what's that?
As for the IP provisions of the TPP, I wrote an analysis of that in the 1000 pages I got through for the concerned politicians who initiated a joint standing committee. I only had time to delve into the things that would affect me, I suspect they will affect most people here the same way, keeping in mind that if you think the TPP was secrective, TISA that draws up laws affecting the banking sector is even worse.
The TPP and TISA are possibly the worst agreements I've ever seen and while I read it I couldn't help thinking how bad it would be for people of any country that has to comply with its provisions. People should read as much of the TPP that they can stomach and draw their own conclusions so I'll post sections after this thread so people can jump to those sections and see for themselves. I welcome people to copy my analysis if they wish and refer it to whichever of their representatives they deem fit.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Of course not.
But if he were actually out to make money for himself, he would still take the salary, because he'd still have all of the other benefits anyways.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Perhaps it's escaped your attention that those costs of a million and a half per year would have existed if he taken a salary anyways... so in the end, he's still giving up that salary.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Trump kills the TPP which would have placed restrictions on Chinese stealing US company's intellectual property, then bitches about the evil Chinese stealing US company's intellectual property? Which is it, Spanky? Or should we just rename the White House to the "Waffle House"?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Not knowing the specifics of US disclosure requirements, I would suspect that receiving a government salary would require more disclosure of other income and assets.
A game has objectives and is competitive, anything else is just play
s/our country/your country/g
Honourable Members of the Committee,
There is no more appropriate framing for context for the TPP than an anonymous poem from the 1700's:
They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common
But let the greater villain loose
That steal the common from the goose
This surprising wisdom from our past innocently unveils the nature of the TPP which, disguised as a trade agreement, contains a scaffolding for laws that converts the rights of ordinary citizens to capital. Indeed, optimal implementation of the TPP and it's associated agreement TISA seek the right for Limited Liability Companies, Incorporated businesses and Corporations to convert "The Common" into capital.
It's very construction has sought to avoid any public scrutiny and has been carried out in secret for years. It's product is a monolithic 6000 page agreement presented to the Parliament in a manner, rushed if possible, that has sought to avoid the scrutiny of Government bodies whose purpose is to analyse if it is in the Public good. With impunity the purveyors of the TPP have desperately sought to avoid the scrutiny of the general public and many organisations committed to maintaining many public interests.
How can any reasonable person conclude that such an agreement has been constructed with good will towards the very communities it seeks to interact with, the populous of our country and indeed the populous of every country that is a signatory.
It is disappointing that our elected representatives have passed this treaty without allowing the public more time to absorb it's ramifications. This entire treaty should be rejected and removed from further consideration as a treaty that our country has to abide by.
Our Constitution says that we are to be governed by the principles of 'Responsible Government'. How can ratifying a treaty into law that allows for profit entities to bypass the community standards be 'Responsible Government'? Indeed, from that perspective how is implementing the TPP compatible with the principles of our Constitution? Is it responsible to pass a treaty that has avoided the scrutiny of the many competent organisations that have the capability to asses it? How can it be Constitutional to allow corporate members of the community to bypass the Judicature of our country in a manner that effectively abdicates our sovereignty? The TPP seeks to do this by introducing articles that seek to control the behaviour of our nation's government via mechanisms that punish the taxpayer for passing law made for the good of the community.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
There is only tacit recognition of the public domain and it's importance to commerce and the global economy. In fact it is public domain software, known as "Open Source" software (Source code being a concept mentioned in the Electronic Commerce section) that is responsible for the existence of the modern Internet and both major phone platforms.
Some licences are permissive and others are not. These licences exist for a reason selected by the creators of software so that the software created is only used in certain ways intended by the authors of the software.
A confident Open Source sector is the basis of many success stories such as Google, Apple and Atlassian. Protection of Open Source licences fosters innovation in a country and generates economic activity. This type of software can also be prior art in the construction of new types of invention. Modern industry is built on Open Source software, considering its criticality, it should enjoy the same protections afforded to performing artists as set out in the same Chapter 18.69 because, in essence, it is exactly the same thing.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Investor State Dispute Mechanisms facilitate means for corporations to bypass the laws of the communities they operate in. The TPP seeks to place these entities beyond the reach of the law in a manner that threatens the very structure of our democracy. This is by far the most troubling article amongst so many other troubling things that the TPP seeks to achieve.
How is it responsible government to even entertain the possibility of the taxpayer compensating for profit entities for having to comply with community standards that have been expressed in the very laws the people of our country have asked our representatives to create? our country is not only liable for a complaining parties profit, but also has to provide them with a plan of how our country intends to modify it's legal system to favour the complainers profit margins and compensate them until it is done.
In the contexts of ISDS law is reduced to nonconformity, nullification and impairment to be removed holding our entire legal system in disdain.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Small Business do not have access to the ISDS process to settle disputes with larger business. Small business is not excluded from participating in the TPP's benefits however it is specifically excluded from dispute settlement mechanisms. The possibility of larger businesses enforcing monopolistic practices has to be considered as a consequence of this lack of access.
Transparency and AntiCorruption Chapter 26 It is guiling that the TPP forces our country to provide advance notice and a reasonable opportunity for interested parties to comment on any matter of law covered by the agreement when the public was denied this very opportunity with the implementation of the TPP.
Under the TPP interested parties have 60 advance notice on a proposed act of law introduced to the parliament, an additional period for analysis and parliament must explain the purpose of the law.
The public was granted 30 days to review the 6000 pages of the TPP, no period for analysis and offered no explanation of how the Chapters, articles and clauses would affect them.
Other articles offer the pursuit of public officials but not their private counterparts.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
He'd be making that anyways, even if he took a salary.... you can't argue that he's actually making any *MORE* money by not taking a salary.
He's making less. Not much less perhaps, looking at it in comparison to other money which may be involved... but still less.
Which is my entire point.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
TPP with the USA in it was an awful agreement that had all kinds of harsh copyright nonsense. Most of it got scrapped when the USA pulled out. There is no way in hell it will go back in and that's good for Canadians and Americans. His trade war threats have forced us to seriously consider diversifying our exports and his general demeanor has led to an influx of talent into Canadian companies. I'm hoping his lack of focus on anything has meant that other countries in the Americas can adopt more sane drug laws. Despite all his chest beating he actually hasn't gotten America involved in any new wars. That's thousands of young men and women that can vacation in Canada and buy our goods.
I don't think it matters if he can't get it up. He'll just yell at them.. "It's not my fault, you're only a 7!! What about Hillary's emails!!!"
See here. This in turn makes it easier to outsource. The reason TPP was and is so unpopular is that it's designed to make it easier to outsource jobs. Especially tech jobs, like the ones people here on /. have.
TPP is no friend of the American worker. Which is why I'm not at all surprised a wealthy plutocrat like Trump would favor it. What I am surprised is how much the Trump presidency is beginning to look like the Hilary presidency. If you'll recall she was in favor of TPP until pressure from the Bernie wing made her drop it.
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It's worth noting that Trump is has declined to accept a salary while being president.
That's only because he would have had to pay taxes on it.
for outsourcers. There are provisions designed to protect their investments. The lack of those protections is one of the main things keeping jobs here in the states. TPP is no friend of me, or anyone else who works in tech. And this being /. that should be most of us.
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it was bad for workers, and Trump ran on a pro worker campaign. It'll lead to more outsourcing, which was his #1 issue.
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It looks a lot better if he doesn't take his salary though. There will always be a bunch of republicans screaming how generous he is by not even accepting it and that will reinforce the beliefs of many others who will think he is some super philanthropist... because of course Obama took a salary.
Nobody "makes money from the Presidency" from the salary. The salary is smaller than some programmers earn around Silicon Valley.
Trump has, from day one, refused to separate himself from his businesses. The Secret Service, for example, has paid several million dollars to Mar a Lago, and he's also earned tens (maybe hundreds) of millions from people paying (now higher) membership fees to Mar a Lago so they can get access to him.
That's just one of his businesses, and he's making the money not from his name or reputation, but directly from abusing his power as President.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
"are" != "will be". The word "are" is used in the present tense here.
So? "Simple Present for Future Events" and "Present Continuous for Future Arrangements" give examples of English present acting as future, such as "We are having a staff meeting next Monday." Thus in this context, the English tense distinction is more one of past as opposed to non-past.
Lovely. Next he is requesting to join the EU partnership program next to tunesia, turkey and south africa. Why work out a mutual trade agreement when you can also join an established one?
"Life is short and in most cases it ends with death." Sir Sinclair
Nobody "makes money from the Presidency" from the salary. The salary is smaller than some programmers earn around Silicon Valley.
Um, no The POTUS salary is $400k/year. That's well over half the top salary for a Silicon Valley programmer.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Fuck the ranchers. I can't afford the price of their beef ... say $9.00/lb and mostly grown on federal lands ... so better they go broke than export it to chi.com mandarins.
if he took a salary, hew would be admitting that he is employed (by the people of the United States) to do a job. That implies some sort of obligation, and the idea of being obliged is inimicable to him. He sees himself as having 'done a deal' with the people of the united states, and that deal does not include him being personally obliged to act on their behalf. He agreed to do certain things, they agreed to vote for him, that's the deal. He didn't make mention of the other things, such as using the presidency to his own fiduciary benefit and enrich himself and his family, how is that YOUR business?
Getting out of the crapfest of anti-people IP / copyright bullcrap that the TPP was laden with was the one thing that the orange one did right.
In the end, The Deep State will always win, one way or another. Just in case it wasn't clear to you, if the TPP goes back in Trump stays in office.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
MADD | Mothers Against Drunk Driving may take issue with the law as some big bar chain can say the 21 and up rule hurts our sales and sue the usa under the investor–state dispute court.
I would be fun to see Trump put a 50% tariff on electronic devices from China
It would force all the "designed in USA, made in China" companies to move manufacturing back to USA
Except that Trump hasn't really even given his salary up. He donates the salary periodically to a government fund. Trump then turns around and takes full advantage of the tax deduction that comes from having made that charitable donation. In exchange for not taking the salary, he gets a hefty tax deduction, along with the "good will" he generates among those Trump supporters who are impressed by this empty gesture. That's in addition to all the other profits he managers to generate from accepting "emoluments" and any other graft he can get by with.
Thank you, President Trump.
There's the Justice Democrats. There's Bernie. There's Liz Warren. We had Alan Grayson until the 1%ers burried him because he was a credible threat that didn't back down (and had a few minor skeletons). There was Al Franklin until the right wing of the party ate him alive for a few dirty jokes (mostly so they could eliminate him from competition for the presidency).
The left wing is trying to take the party back from the Clintonians. Show up to your primary and help them do it.
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So, you are impressed because you don't understand math? He saved ~$15 million by passing tax cuts for himself. That alone will cover more than his salary. He's a con man, and an essential component of any con is misdirection.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Lol! The irony of this comment could collapse the Earth into a black hole. If we're not careful we could easily hit hypocritical mass.
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
Yeah, you keep saying that over and over, but it's still just as nonsensical as the first time. The whole reason he turned down the salary is exactly so people like you would be gullible to believe that he doesn't care about money.
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
with the fact that voting does nothing. Delegated authority was a mistake.
You seem to believe you've contradicted the previous post, whereas you've actually confirmed it. Logic fail.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Hashahahahhahha.
Oh man, yer killing me.
He turned down a tiny salary well under a million dollars and is directly transferring millions of dollars from the government to his own pockets every time he goes golfing. I think the total is over 20 million dollars now.
Wait... I'll look up what he "turned down"...
$400,000
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-...
in december it was already at least 6.6 million.
plus he doubled cost of membership, raised the cost per night for rooms, and foreign countries have lined up to book lodging at his hotels.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I worked for a CEO that was dyslexic and hated dealing with information through email, he was a face to face guy with short attention span. I see many similarities here. I learned with people like this, you really need to get stuff in writing because they fuck you verbally and blame memory later when they're caught. I think Comey learned that as well.
Yeah. He sacrifices $400k so that people like you will keep parroting for him, meanwhile he blows something like $13m/year of taxpayer money just on trips to his golf courses. Never mind the $11m he gets from the estate tax changes, and who knows how many tens or hundreds of millions he gains thanks to the rest of the disaster they called a tax bill.
I'm not disputing that... but that's still "chicken feed" he chose to not accept...
No, it's chicken feed he said he wouldn't accept. Of course he'll take it, dummy.
Maybe. #PresidentTweety is rejecting his salary as president and he isn't working for the voters, especially the majority who voted against him, but not even for the voters who were suckered and conned into voting for him. In that sense, rejecting the salary is more than an advertising gimmick, but an actual last gasp of honesty. However, if I had to bet on it, I'd bet that he changed his mind and kept the money after all. It's all there in those tax returns that he wants us to never see.
Actually, I think the real reason he loves Putin is because of the divide and conquer thing, though Putin doesn't use it so much within his own country. No need.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Obama and Hillary sucked Putin's cock pretty good with that Uranium One deal.... but now it's all pointing at Trump and "RUSSIANS RUSSIANS RUSSIANS!!!!!"
You should go punch a Nazi. Be careful, he might punch back.
"Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
The thing is, from the point of view of some countries (mostly European)...
1. They need environmental standards. No more maxing out pollution to be competitive.
2. Labor standards. No more practical slaves to be more competitive.
...that's exactly how the US looks to us.
(And you could add "health-safety" as an laternative sub-point to number 1.
"No more mixing hazardous substance to keep competitive prices".
From the US perspective : see all the shit that can be mixed into Chinese plastics
From the EU perspective : see US attempting to reverse some bans against tobacco products).
And that's where your number 3 kicks in :
3. Investor-state dispute. People (especially hard-liberals) see companies-able-to-sue-governments and turn on their "burrrr corporations baddd!" brain. But this is exactly what would've been needed in all the cases where China stole US company IP. Or required joint-ventures. Or subsidized and/or spied for their own domestic companies.
To the US, this looks like an useful tool to sue whole countries like China that don't give a fuck about pollution/health safety/legal quasi-slavery.
(yeah, and also the bits about patents).
To the EU, this looks like an open door for corporations to sue European countries which have much higher standards regarding pollution/health safety/legal quasi-slavery. (Again, see precedent of US companies acting against tobacco bans).
And would also give a way to US companies to complain about controversial IP laws (like software patent. US companies having a way to sue country on IP grounds would open a way to bring more (the non hardware parts) of the H265/HEVC patent madness to Europe).
1. People who just think globalization is bad because reasons.
Above are a few example of the reasons.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I bet he heard on Fox News that someone said TPP had benefits and swoosh...one tweet later this is the new policy. It is utterly frustrating that a nation like the US votes such a dimbulb into the WH and then fails to get him out.
Oops, you're right. Proof-reading fail, actually. I meant to say 'well over double.' And that is consistent with the link I gave.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
He has no other principles, but he does have other *needs*. And one of those needs is adulation. The value of adulation from his base in not accepting his salary is less than the value of the salary for Trump. Especially as he can make orders of magnitude more money out of the presidency through other methods, such as officials of other nations and of companies staying at his properties to curry favour.
More than, not less than. Whoops
Trump Eunuch, stfu.
He passed a tax cut which covers half of my new car payments. Who the fuck cares what he gets?
So he gives away a dollar to save 38 cents in taxes?
I always wonder why people think donations save a person money.
Loool that must be a lot of mentally deficient butthurt if thatâ(TM)s all you can come back with
Democrats supported TPP because it pushed environmental and labor protections into countries not otherwise interested in them. It did some (not enough - but then we are dealing from a position of weakness so some was all we could hope for) to contain China and quite a bit to protect IP. Trump was against it because the Dems were for it. The only constant in todays GOP is "if Dems are for it we are against it!" they have no other postion on anything they will actually keep. The morons who voted for hair furor knew nothing of the agreement, only that they had been feed a line of shit by radio & TV talkers spewing the Republican line. They got suckered but we knew that was going to happen. Now that it is too late, now that TPP is fucked up Dump wants to come crawling back to it. And those same talkers will tell the morons this reversal is all Obama's fault & they will eat it up because apparently they love to eat shit
You need medical help. Iâ(TM)m a dem and I hate coming to slash nowadays (and Ars) because of the type of purile, child like nonsense that idiots like you spout.
There is a reason that Trump is getting more popular and we are getting less popular with the public and that reason is that most people, even dems, are just sick of this nonsense. You are an idiot child and you are not even self aware enough to realise it
Yeah - people still don't understand that Trump does actually negotiate. He just forces us to start from a position of strength.
It use to annoy me that the reblicans would open with compromises already in place and the democrats would ask for exactly what they wanted - if not more. This gave the democrats room to compromise without looking too weak and the reblicans no room to compromise without totally selling out.
Trump starts on the extreme (deport everyone here illegally!) then works his way to a middle ground (even if that middle ground is more "extreme" than what we are use to. He even offer a pathway to citizenship last time around but the democrats are used to getting so much more of what they want (or crushing a bill, getting nothing but blaming republicans) that they have no idea how to deal with this new tactic.
Which is my point... he clearly cares about other things than just making money for himself, even if the other things he cares about are no less self-serving.
I, for one, agree with you. If Trump's goal was simply to make money, he would probably be better at it. And it is true that Trump has donated his Salary from his first 15 months in office to various government organizations. In fact there is a ceremony (that likely costs far more than $100k to organize) every 3 months for him to unveil his magnanimous gifts, which are sometimes made to the very same departments he's attempting to cut funding for in his budget recommendations...
Fanatically anti-fanatical
To read how the Trump cult would defend this because I didn't see an article on faux news about it and I already finished reading the insane stories about the April 23rd Nibiru rapture.
What can I say? I get my kicks from reading nonsense.
He passed a tax cut which covers half of my new car payments. Who the fuck cares what he gets?
Bread and circuses in action.
Hand out lots of free money and goods to people so they stop asking questions about where you took the money to pay them or why you're even doing it in the first place. Welcome to the fall of the new Rome.
Just to be factual, Trump has publicly donated his salary from his first 15 months back to various government departments. I would strongly suspect it's because $100k is a pretty cheap price for Trump to gather a crowed of people to coo and ahh over his "generosity" and to praise him. You see, Trump is not all about the money, he's actually not very good a making money compared to other business people (Paris Hilton and the Olson Twins seem to be quite a bit better at it, for example), Trump is all about his ego.
It seems Trump doesn't actually want to make money, he wants to win. Sometimes that means making money, sometimes that means screwing other people over to make himself feel better, sometimes that means giving generously (or at least promising to give generously) to some group that he's sure will say nice things about him in response. It certainly seems like it's all about Trump, in his world no one else seems to matter except as props to make him feel good.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
I got mine so fuck you
FTFY.
So, you are impressed because you don't understand math? He saved ~$15 million by passing tax cuts for himself. That alone will cover more than his salary. He's a con man, and an essential component of any con is misdirection.
And gullible fools to con
So, you are impressed because you don't understand math? He saved ~$15 million by passing tax cuts for himself. That alone will cover more than his salary. He's a con man, and an essential component of any con is misdirection.
Misdirection is an essential component of any con? How about the fact that you are misdirecting towards $15 million in savings while ignoring the fact that Trump personally spent over $17 million on his primary campaign alone. Now we all know Trumps not the brightest but I think that's math even he can understand is not in his favor unlike you. This isn't even counting all the money he lost from NBC/all the other butt hurt companies that severed their relationship with him. Maybe he is getting other benefits that make it worth it to him but $15 million in tax cuts wouldn't make it a good investment.
https://sunlightfoundation.com/2016/02/24/is-donald-trump-really-self-financing-his-presidential-campaign/
Because you live in an alternate universe? In the real world, Trump has a 53% disapproval rating.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
People discussing whether or not Trump's goal as President is to make himself rich.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
"For any senator who wants to study the draft TPP language, it has been made available in the basement of the Capitol, inside a secure, soundproof room. There, lawmakers surrender their cellphones and other mobile devices. Any notes taken inside the room must be left in the room.
Only aides with high-level security clearances can accompany lawmakers. Members of Congress can't ask outside industry experts or lawyers to analyze the language. They can't talk to the public about what they read. And Brown says there's no computer inside the secret room to look something up when there's confusion. You just consult the USTR official."
A Trade Deal Read In Secret By Only A Few (Or Maybe None)
... but I'll be looking to the UK-and-EU BrExit situation over the coming months for potential analogies.
Where you took the money to pay them?
It's our money to begin with, not the government's. If you worried about 150B a year not going into the federal coffers, what do you think of the 1T+ per year of the past 8 years? BTW, payroll (not income) taxes are up which supports the theory that the tax cuts would help increase employment.
I would love to starve the government, too.
Did you know you can donate to the U.S Treasury? If you think the cuts are taking away from the government, you can always donate what the cuts let you keep of your own money. Hell, donate an extra couple of thousand.
Are you using PPP numbers because in PPP terms China is growing even faster.
Please say you're not, because in nominal terms China's currency has increased over 10% since Trump. So that's already catching up another 10% in $US terms in just 1 year.
The American economy actually went backwards in 2017 in constant dollars when you factor in the 7% depreciation of the $US.
Or an attitude, or an initiative, that Big Giant Orange Head hasn't reversed course on?
Just off the top of my head:
1). For abortion. Against abortion; ...
2). Loves women. Sexually assaults women;
3). Will punish the Saudis for being involved in the 9-11 attacks. Now loves the Saudis (after they let him fondle their glowing balls);
4). Will absolutely never, no how, no way, get involved in Syria. Bombs Syria, puts advisors and troops in Syria, drone strikes, will probably bomb Syria again;
5). Hates the TPP, worst deal ever! Wants into the TPP;
6). Hates NAFTA, worst deal ever! Ready to approve NAFTA with tiny modifications;
7). Will Build A Wall That Mexico Will Pay For! Seeks funding for a fence;
8).
If he get's impeached in 2018 or does not get elected in 2020 he loses the opportunity to continue milking the larger income source.
If he is concerned that people might take exception to his actions, and wants to be seen as altruistic to increase his chances of re-election and decrease his chances of impeachment, that may still be simple profit maximization if he estimates the reduction in risk of prematurely losing the presidency is large enough to overcome the value of the salary over the shorter period.
This is sufficiently basic economics that you can learn it from TV so it's pretty likely Trump who can at least play a business man on TV is capable of it. So turning down the salary does not prove a motive otehr than maximizing personal financial gain.
... that 40% or more Americans believe he is doing a great job as president. I really cannot wrap my head around that.
Would a Republican please explain what it is that you all love so much about him? Seriously, I want to try to understand.
I think you meant to respond to the parent?
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
Again, it's not about impressing certain people (although that is a nice added benefit I'm sure); he makes MORE money by not accepting a taxable salary. This is quite obvious to those of us who make high incomes. The less you claim in taxes and receive under the table, the more money you actually make. It is crystal clear that this is exactly what he is doing.
Very often, the money donated results in influence, power, cronyism, or nepotism, and is then discounted via tax breaks. A lot of charities wrote in favor of Comcast consuming everything on Earth because they wrote them a check. Yes, mindlessly donating money doesn't save you money, but charity is very much exploitable through various tricks.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
There is a reason that Trump is getting more popular
There is a reason that Trump is getting more popular
There is a reason that Trump is getting more popular
LOL
Yes.
Obviously you do not care. But also obviously a lot of other people do. So you asking 'who?' obviously reveal you to be a complete idiot unable to think logic.
Just to be factual, Trump has publicly donated his salary from his first 15 months back to various government departments. I would strongly suspect it's because $100k is a pretty cheap price for Trump to gather a crowed of people to coo and ahh over his "generosity" and to praise him. You see, Trump is not all about the money, he's actually not very good a making money compared to other business people (Paris Hilton and the Olson Twins seem to be quite a bit better at it, for example), Trump is all about his ego.
Is this the same Trump that has the Secret Service pay for the golf carts the agents use while they protect Trump at his own golf courses? That alone resulted to more than $135k in the first 9 months of his presidency. And that went into Trump*s pockets.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Is this the same Trump that has the Secret Service pay for the golf carts the agents use while they protect Trump at his own golf courses? That alone resulted to more than $135k in the first 9 months of his presidency. And that went into Trump*s pockets.
Yes. I think we are actually in agreement. I'm not saying Trump is good for giving away his salary, I'm saying he's making the government pay more money than it gets to praise him for giving up a relatively minor salary*. So by giving up the salary, Trump is winning, which is what's really important to him.
* While $400K is a large amount of money to normal people, compared to the money that Trump is making from his position, for example by charging his own security protect him, it's much less than the actual amount of money he will be making (stealing for tax payers) each year.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
* While $400K is a large amount of money to normal people, compared to the money that Trump is making from his position, for example by charging his own security protect him, it's much less than the actual amount of money he will be making (stealing for tax payers) each year.
The point was more that these $400K are exactly the (base) salary he's "refusing" - in less time. Unless of course he made a deal he would get paid better (and then not) than other presidents.
By charging the tax payer extra money so the people whose job it is to give their life for him are able to follow his lazy ass around.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.