President Trump

The U.S. government had a $182 billion budget surplus in April, confounding market expectations for a deficit, according to Treasury Department data released on Wednesday.

The budget surplus was $106 billion in April 2016, according to Treasury's monthly budget statement.

The fiscal 2017 year-to-date deficit was $344 billion compared with $353 billion in the same period of fiscal 2016.

When accounting for calendar adjustments, the surplus last month was $145 billion compared with an adjusted surplus of $146 billion the prior year. The adjusted deficit for the fiscal year to date was $373 billion compared with $314 billion the prior fiscal year period.

Receipts last month totaled $456 billion, up 4 percent from April 2016, while outlays stood at $273 billion, a decrease of 18 percent from the same month a year earlier.


Far cry from the days when Obama was overspending by a trillion a year.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-government-posts-182-billion-surplus-april-180943488--business.html

 

I don't think it's derailing, I'm just missing the part where it's unprecedented or even unexpected at this point. I've had this debate with a few people who think I'm being crass or difficult, but I'm just past the "shock" part of this. I'm not surprised by any of this sort of thing anymore because I don't trust our government. We have no real evidence to say that our elections haven't been covertly influenced before anyway. I just think it's more logical to assume that there have been covert attempts at our elections than to assume nobody has ever tried this before. If we're capable of openly influencing government powers, why wouldn't other countries be covertly influencing ours? Why wouldn't we be covertly influencing others? Don't you think the US looked at France's recent election and thought about which candidate best suited their needs? Don't you think private donations from corporations are foreign influences into our own elections and that's been going on for decades now. I don't know. I'm just jaded I guess.

How can we know that? The internet has brought about unprecedented knowledge. I believe wholeheartedly that all of this has been happening for a long, long time, but it's only now we're seeing it for what it is.

This logic is inherently flawed though. Presidents put into place "their" judges on the Supreme Court who lean the way of their political party lines. That's inherently prejudicing the system. I also think it's not right that we have separate expectations for any branch of government compared to the other.

What I expect from my government and what we have in place now are so diametrically different that it might as well be a different country. I don't believe the Executive and Legislative branches should be held to any different standard than the Supreme Court just because "that's the way it is" or anything like that. We should hold those two entities to the same ethical and moral codes that we do any other public servants because that's what they're supposed to be: people who serve us and the nation instead of themselves.

I come very close and I will be in that bracket starting next year. My wife makes a good living and I do too, but living in California that bracket is pretty necessary to live just a comfortable life compared to the rest of the nation. It's why we're getting out eventually.

I'm in favor of whatever lowers taxes for everybody. People should be responsible to spend money as they see fit, not as the government does. There are rare instances when people cannot work for a living in which the government should find ways to help them contribute to society, but other than that? No thanks. Government should help keep roads paved, parks and recreation areas upheld, and a military to protect us. Everything else regarding money? No. That's mine (and yours!) and you should have it to spend or to save or to invest as you see fit. Now is Trump's tax plan the greatest? No, but if it lowers our taxes then it's better than the plan before it.

What'd benefit us more is a stricter military budget, large pay decreases for government officials, less government jobs (and thus less government pensions), and more investment in schools, actual education, and research and development. We should be reinvest in trying to become the world's greatest hub of science, education, and innovation.

I mean look at Medicare. That entire system is going to be useless by the time most of us can collect. We want more government programs like that? Do you trust the government that much?

 

I don't mean to come off as rationalizing. I think it's immoral and awful.

I'm just not surprised by it anymore.

I want a complete government teardown. I wanted that before the election.

 

I disagree. It has everything to do with the Democrats losing. When they and the media stop crying they can stop all this resistance nonsense and start helping to find solutions. Solutions to problems that were here long before Trump showed up. In fact, I'd say those problems are THE reason Trump got elected.

I watch TV or look at news articles and they are so negative. But no mention of the debt decrease or that unemployment has decreased or the S&P being at all time record highs. Gotta ask why.

 

I agree with this.

That "black cloud" existed for years, decades even, and it's only a problem now because Trump was elected. All of these problems have been there! It's only now that we have such a historically unlikable President that some mainstream populace has opened their eyes to political issues.

 

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/15/us-markets.html

The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 100 points on Monday as Cisco Systems' stock popped on the back of a massive cyberattack. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite also rose and hit record highs.

"Everything seems to slide off this market," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank. "Other than a potentially cataclysmic event in Washington, ... I think the slowdown in economic data" could threaten the market in the next 3-to-6 months. "In the meantime, the market continues to hold up with its Teflon curtain."

In economic news, the National Association of Home Builders survey showed sentiment among home builders came in at 70 for May. Anything above 50 is considered positive sentiment. The index was at 58 in May of last year.




http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate

US unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent in April 2017 from 4.5 percent in the previous month, better than market expectations of 4.6 percent. It was the lowest jobless rate since May 2007, as the number of unemployed persons declined by 146 thousand to 7.1 million and the labor force participation rate edged down to 62.9 percent from an 11-month high of 63 percent in March. Unemployment Rate in the United States averaged 5.80 percent from 1948 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 10.80 percent in November of 1982 and a record low of 2.50 percent in May of 1953.

 

Lots of reports that Trump asked Comey to end the Flynn investigation.

I'm not sure what can happen to him for this, but I don't doubt it's true. In fact, I'd bet good money it happened.

 

I don't really care if Trump is impeached. In fact, it'd probably be a good thing. The problem I have though is it seems like the media is forcing this issue to the point where they actually seem like they might pull it off. The media is there to inform, not to interfere in the political process. Like it or not, he was elected. Maybe he does do something that is impeachable, but where was the fervor with Obama when he did shady things? Where was the fervor when Hillary and the DNC rigged the primaries? Are we looking at a country where if a non-Democrat is elected president, the supposed "news" organizations will run them out?

 

I've been beating that media is corrupt drum for awhile. CNN has been reporting that Trump had 2 scoops of icecream. It was like The Onion, but it was really CNN. The media has been throwing everything against the wall and hoping something will stick. And I don't see them stopping any time soon.

What's funny to me (in my demented humor) is that they'll get President Pence. He's not gonna put his foot in his mouth like Trump, but he is NOT who they want.

 

Chelsea Manning can release classified documents (on purpose) and it's okay? But if Trump shares classified info with a diplomat in the war against ISIS, it's wrong?



Not saying either are right or wrong, but again, pointing out the hypocrisy.

 

I'm not even a Trump supporter and I know that most are probably not racist.

 

I agree with that, but I think the same is also true in reverse. A Trump supporter at a liberal rally would be treated similarly. I'm just of the mind that tensions are high and people who have spent much of their lives mouthing off on the internet feel like it's okay now to try it in public.

 

Don't use rallies as an example of a typical liberal or typical Trump supporter. Those people are DEEP into their beliefs. Those rallies attract a lot of the "extremists" of those respective sides. I also disagree with the first assertion that a Muslim wearing a Make America Great Again hat would be attacked. A Muslim in plain clothes might be, but not wearing that hat. He'd probably be paraded around to show their "tolerance."

 

I'm saying someone who shows up at an anti-Trump rally dressed as a Muslim (as is their right) would get treated similarly to how a person wearing a "Make America Great" hat would get treated at a Clinton rally. That's what the environment is these days and everyone says that, but then they do nothing to help stop it.

I've been profiled before. I know what racism feels like even if I don't face it every single day. I am a colored person living in a predominantly white area, I know what it feels like to be an "outsider". I was always brought up to never pay attention to it though and to never assume anything based on my race. My father told me it'll never be an anchor and it'll never be a crutch. The way I see it, I'll never kill racism in my lifetime because some people won't change. What I can do is take racism's power away from affecting me by living above my race. If that makes sense. I know not everyone wants to or can do that, but it's just the way I was raised.

My opinion is as long as someone is pointing a finger, we're all going to get some blame. If we all stopped, listened, and tried to empathize with people, maybe especially, the people we disagree with, then we'd see more progress. Right now everyone is quick to anger and quick to blame when there's so much that can be changed. Trump doesn't help matters no, but neither does anything else right now. It's a defeatist attitude in some ways, but I'm just not willing to throw any one side under the buss any more. Everyone needs to take a step back and realize what's happening out here and how we can stop it.