***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[gry60]

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-oil-pipeline-spills-secrecy?CMP=share_btn_fb

North Dakota, the nation's No2 oil producer behind Texas, recorded nearly 300 oil pipeline spills in less than two years, state documents show. None was reported to the public, officials said.

300 oil spills in 2 years in a single state works out to an incident every two days.

And some here want to support business self-regulation.

 

[AEA18]

 

[gry60]

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...considering-fast-food-ceo-for-labor-secretary

CEO of CKE Restaurants (Hardee's and Carl's Jr)

 

[essential1]

Just for fact checking of ninjahood. We're not a record low for job participation

That happened in 1954 at 58.2%

We're at 62.7%

Record high was 67.30%

We're right in the middle basically.

And there are many reasons for that. Very little of which has to do with taxes, or unions.

 

[ninjahood]

Until we get to that point, where the knucklehead aren't a tiny cog in the white supremacy machine, and their actions aren't a slap in the face to my community, all these get is my indifference.

There are even more people in the white community that sit back in denial or with indifference to all these things going on.

[emoji]129300[/emoji]

 

[Belgium]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...urt-racial-gerrymandering-20161205-story.html
Might be a small victory on the way against the GOP's gerrymandering

 

[gry60]

Interesting piece on Bush (2004) that highlights a lot of concerns similar to what has been discussed about a Trump presidency in this thread.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/faith-certainty-and-the-presidency-of-george-w-bush.html

 

[storm2006]

Now Trump wants to cancel Air Force One. SMH. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/06/boei...-says-air-force-ones-cost-out-of-control.html

 

[titanium tea]

The recount lady raised 10 million dollars tho

Respect for being a wildly effective crybaby

 

[gry60]

rico x hood You said a few pages ago that the Carrier deal was a good deal. I think the CEO (Greg Hayes) agrees, but for different reasons.

In a wide-ranging interview with CNBC's "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" that aired Monday, Hayes set out the comparative advantages of moving to jobs to Mexico, the motivation behind his decision to keep those jobs in Indiana, and the ultimate outcome of the deal: There will be fewer manufacturing jobs in Indiana.

Before we get to that

First, Hayes was asked what's so good about Mexico. Quite a lot, it turns out. From the transcript (emphasis added):

JIM CRAMER: What's good about Mexico? What's good about going there? And obviously what's good about staying here?

GREG HAYES: So what's good about Mexico? We have a very talented workforce in Mexico. Wages are obviously significantly lower. About 80% lower on average. But absenteeism runs about 1%. Turnover runs about 2%. Very, very dedicated workforce.

JIM CRAMER: Versus America?

GREG HAYES: Much higher.

JIM CRAMER: Much higher.

GREG HAYES: Much higher. And I think that's just part of these — the jobs, again, are not jobs on assembly line that people really find all that attractive over the long term. Now I've got some very long service employees who do a wonderful job for us. And we like the fact that they're dedicated to UTC, but I would tell you the key here, Jim, is not to be trained for the job today. Our focus is how do you train people for the jobs of tomorrow?

So Mexico has cheaper labor with a much more dedicated workforce, and these are the kinds of low-skilled jobs most people don't find that attractive. Elsewhere in the interview, he made clear that United Technologies intended to keep engineering jobs in the US and that these higher-skilled jobs were not at risk of being moved overseas.

"The assembly lines in Indiana — I mean, great people," Hayes said. "Great, great people. But the skill set to do those jobs is very different than what it takes to assemble a jet engine."

Hayes was then asked why he decided to cancel the move to Mexico. From the transcript (emphasis added):

GREG HAYES: So, there was a cost as we thought about keeping the Indiana plant open. At the same time, and I'll tell you this because you and I, we know each other, but I was born at night but not last night. I also know that about 10% of our revenue comes from the US government. And I know that a better regulatory environment, a lower tax rate can eventually help UTC of the long run.

But here's the kicker

The result of keeping the plant in Indiana open is a $16 million investment to drive down the cost of production, so as to reduce the cost gap with operating in Mexico.

What does that mean? Automation. What does that mean? Fewer jobs, Hayes acknowledged.

From the transcript (emphasis added):

GREG HAYES: Right. Well, and again, if you think about what we talked about last week, we're going to make a $16 million investment in that factory in Indianapolis to automate to drive the cost down so that we can continue to be competitive. Now is it as cheap as moving to Mexico with lower cost of labor? No. But we will make that plant competitive just because we'll make the capital investments there.

JIM CRAMER: Right.

GREG HAYES: But what that ultimately means is there will be fewer jobs.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ceo-united-technologies-just-let-231538059.html

So the state of Indiana will be missing out on $7 million to keep the jobs here temporarily, instead of negotiating for retraining dollars and other assistance packages to invest in the workforce that will be cut.

In addition, Carrier gets to invest $16 million in outfitting their factories with robots.

Let's not even account for the incoming tax rate reductions that will deplete the coffers of state and federal treasuries and force them to cut services for people displaced by either foreign labor or automation (aka CHEAPER labor).

Like I said, let's just put a "For Sale" sign in the hand of the Statue of Liberty.

 

[EddieDoyers]

^LMAO this CEO is a genius
Trump...not so much

 

[everysingletime]

Lol, so basically there is this group of electors that is trying to mount a coup.

Hamilton electors, they call them...tryna get Republican and Democrat electors to defect and vote for John Kasich.

The soap opera continues

 

[rico x hood]

^^I said this like 30 pages back. Dems are delusional. They think that because the Hillary campaign isn't fully onboard they can attract republican electors that don't want Trump so they can defect and nominate Kasich. A fools errand.

 

[rico x hood]

^LMAO this CEO is a genius
Trump...not so much

So a CEO pretty much ***** on US workers. And you call him a genius because in your eyes it makes Trump look bad. This will be duly noted.

I can put money these comments will be walked back. And at the end of the day THE JOBS ARE STILL HERE. It's the holiday season. Families will have money for travel, gifts, food, bills. Etc

You're looking at a goddamn tree and missing the forest because you want Trump to look bad. Disgusting.

 

[RustyShackleford]

^LMAO this CEO is a genius
Trump...not so much

So a CEO pretty much ***** on US workers. And you call him a genius because in your eyes it makes Trump look bad. This will be duly noted.

I can put money these comments will be walked back. And at the end of the day THE JOBS ARE STILL HERE. It's the holiday season. Families will have money for travel, gifts, food, bills. Etc

You're looking at a goddamn tree and missing the forest because you want Trump to look bad. Disgusting.

And you completely ignore that this type of crony capitalism is unsustainable because of economic forces, just to pass judgment on liberals. Disgusting

 

[EddieDoyers]

^LMAO this CEO is a genius
Trump...not so much

So a CEO pretty much ***** on US workers. And you call him a genius because in your eyes it makes Trump look bad. This will be duly noted.

I can put money these comments will be walked back. And at the end of the day THE JOBS ARE STILL HERE. It's the holiday season. Families will have money for travel, gifts, food, bills. Etc

You're looking at a goddamn tree and missing the forest because you want Trump to look bad. Disgusting.

I think you missed the point that the CEO said the jobs that were "saved" aka the remaining blue collar jobs were going to be erased by automation in the next 5 years since the company was given money by the government to invest in that technology
So for someone who claims to be "conservative", you sure are contradicting yourself with your approval of this deal. Sarah Palin would be shaking her head at you.

 

[rico x hood]

Wait wait wait. When a story of racial injustice reaches the national news like the football team at Mizzou, it is cheapening the word "racism"? I'll refrain from saying anything racist because I'm not a racist, but I better not catch you commenting on any topics regarding black people.

Yes exactly. Every little slight does NOT deserve a national uproar. Because when cops kill an unarmed black man in my hometown of Staten Island for selling cigs and the same backlash comes. It takes the power out of the word. And feel free to come at me in posts about black topics, because more than not I'll be preaching my personal gospel. But I'll reiterate once again you Mamba and AEA better not slip. Since you all feel emboldened to cast stones.

 

[EddieDoyers]

^LMAO this CEO is a genius
Trump...not so much

So a CEO pretty much ***** on US workers. And you call him a genius because in your eyes it makes Trump look bad. This will be duly noted.

I can put money these comments will be walked back. And at the end of the day THE JOBS ARE STILL HERE. It's the holiday season. Families will have money for travel, gifts, food, bills. Etc

You're looking at a goddamn tree and missing the forest because you want Trump to look bad. Disgusting.

And you completely ignore that this type of crony capitalism is unsustainable because of economic forces, just to pass judgment on liberals. Disgusting

A lot of ironies in what Rico just posted too
Majority of the American blue collar workers that just got axed for Carrier won't be having a happy Christmas. The remaining ones probably are going to search for a job right now before they get replaced by robots in the next coming years.
Perhaps Rico has been blowing the Trump tree too much
Trump may be a 4D chess master at PR, but for someone aspiring to be a "blue collar champion", he's playing checkers with these chessmaster CEOs

 

[Belgium]

Yes exactly. Every little slight does NOT deserve a national uproar. Because when cops kill an unarmed black man in my hometown of Staten Island for selling cigs and the same backlash comes. It takes the power out of the word. And feel free to come at me in posts about black topics, because more than not I'll be preaching my personal gospel. But I'll reiterate once again you Mamba and AEA better not slip. Since you all feel emboldened to cast stones.

Then why do you never condemn Ninja's constant downplaying or denial of race issues, particularly involving black people?

The problem of unarmed black men being executed by excessive force from police officers and the complete lack of accountability would fall under systemic racism. These are not isolated cases. The FBI issued a warning about white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement back in 2006. It is a systematic problem with both law enforcement and the criminal justice system that is supposed to hold these officers accountable. The Walter Scott trial ended up in a mistrial yesterday. The officer is on camera unloading his gun in the back of an unarmed black man running away.

Not even that manages to hold a homicidal police officer accountable. At this point police officers would have to be wearing a Klan hood and screaming racial slurs on video to be held accountable in the current system.

And Ninja is always out here talking about systemic racism being no more than some leftist fable with zero basis in reality.

I'm not sure if he even thinks police brutality exists.

 

[sfc415]

What's with the threats towards NTers and telling them they better not say or do something racist? I don't understand. Is this supposed to be something difficult to do? Is making racist comments and putting on blackface supposed to be normal?

 

[whywesteppin]

"So a CEO pretty much ***** on US workers. And you call him a genius because in your eyes it makes Trump look bad. This will be duly noted."

Umm, yes, the CEO ***** on US workers. So does Trump. So does everybody in charge. No ****, Sherlock.

But conservatives are fans of this free market capitalism. Right? Because it expands wealth more rapidly, which will theoretically trickle down to everyone.

Now you're saying that these CEOs are not looking out for US workers (duh) and neither is Trump (duh) or any other CEO or business leader (duh), but now you want the government to step in on behalf of US workers?

Does this extend to labor unions, regulations on businesses that pollute, etc.?

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around this. It sure smells of hypocrisy.

 

[MVP]

Drumpf loves US workers so much that he has his products made here...oh wait.

 

[RIP sleazyy]

"So a CEO pretty much ***** on US workers. And you call him a genius because in your eyes it makes Trump look bad. This will be duly noted."

Umm, yes, the CEO ***** on US workers. So does Trump. So does everybody in charge. No ****, Sherlock.

But conservatives are fans of this free market capitalism. Right? Because it expands wealth more rapidly, which will theoretically trickle down to everyone.

Now you're saying that these CEOs are not looking out for US workers (duh) and neither is Trump (duh) or any other CEO or business leader (duh), but now you want the government to step in on behalf of US workers?

Does this extend to labor unions, regulations on businesses that pollute, etc.?

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around this. It sure smells of hypocrisy.

I like dis post

 

[EddieDoyers]

Looks like Trump lied in his tweet....again

 

[rico x hood]

I think you missed the point that the CEO said the jobs that were "saved" aka the remaining blue collar jobs were going to be erased by automation in the next 5 years since the company was given money by the government to invest in that technology
So for someone who claims to be "conservative", you sure are contradicting yourself with your approval of this deal. Sarah Palin would be shaking her head at you.

I. Am. Not. A. Conservative. I'm an Independent. And you missed my point. The jobs are still here! There are Americans now that cab truly say thank you to Trump because they won't have to go on Indeed right anytime soon and look for work. Slice and dice out how you want but that's a win.