I’d love to be able to “regulate the content of speech.”  If it wasn’t for that darn Constitution!

The U.S. Representative for California’s 33rd congressional district (in the Los Angeles area), democrat, Ted Lieu, said he would “love to regulate the content of speech,” including that on Fox News, but he can’t do it because of the U.S. Constitution.

That darn old Constitution!

Lieu made the comments during an interview about the testimony of Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a House Judiciary Committee hearing during an interview with CNN host Brianna Keilar.

“… I would love to be able to regulate the content of speech.  The First Amendment prevents me from doing so, and that’s simply a function of the First Amendment, but I think over the long run it’s better the government does not regulate the content of speech,” Congressman Lieu continued.

I’m glad you feel that way congressman; since that is what allows you and your liberal friends to say the stupid things you do, not to mention you took an oath to uphold and protect The Constitution as an elected representative of the people.

Lieu added that, “Private companies should self-regulate their platforms and the government shouldn’t interfere.”

Stop the presses!  This would be the first thing that a democrat felt the government shouldn’t interfere with!  Although this statement does not seem consistent with his prior statements.

I think what he means is private companies, run by liberals, should be able to self-regulate their own platforms, as long as they are attacking conservatives.

Yes…, I’m sure that’s it.

After his remarks aired, Lieu came under fire on social media, prompting him to go on a Twitter spree to clarify his views, including that he would like to regulate Fox News.

One Twitter user had accused him of being “a poster child for tyranny.”

Lieu, of course, then had to tell us what we should have understood him to say, as he insisted that he was actually defending the First Amendment rather than showing his desire to regulate speech.

Oh I get it!  So it was like “opposite day” or something!

Maybe we should have interpreters standing alongside these liberals, translating what they really mean, like we have people translating their words into sign language for those who are hearing impaired!

“My whole point is that government officials always want to regulate speech,” Lieu added.

I really haven’t heard about any government officials wanting to regulate speech other than you, Mr. Lieu, and of course former President Obama regarding Fox News!

According to Lukas Mikelionis of Fox News, “Lieu has become somewhat of a foe of President Trump following his election, often taking to social media to throw jabs at the president.”

“He’s among the Democrats who’s been flirting with the idea of impeaching Trump over the perceived collusion between Russia and the campaign.  He also tried to kick-start earlier this year the impeachment process of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.”

Ok.  Well, that paints a clearer picture of Congressman Lieu now.

So what we have here is your typically confused and inept, liberal politician.

A year and a half ago, Lieu tweeted at President Trump, saying: “President” @realDonaldTrump: You truly are an evil man. Your job is to help Americans. Not intentionally try to destroy their lives. https://t.co/2M94E1g39b — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 25, 2017

This was in response to President Trump’s tweet about Obamacare which said:

ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2017

There we go again.  When liberals can’t win an argument intellectually, they resort to name calling and labeling.  Who the “evil one” is and who was trying to “destroy lives,” is definitely a matter of opinion.

Congressman Lieu then tweeted:

Mr. “President”: Art II of Constitution requires you to faithfully execute laws passed by Congress. Subverting #Obamacare violates your Oath https://t.co/2M94E1g39b — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 25, 2017

Excuse me Congressman Lieu, but wasn’t it President Obama who chose to ignore our immigration laws, and change the Obamacare law as he saw fit on the run?

I don’t recall you pointing out Article II of The Constitution to President Obama, or did I just miss that?

“Even earlier this year, Lieu started printing asterisks next to Trump’s name in his official press releases, leading to a footnote that reminds readers of his failure to capture the popular vote and of allegations of Russian influence,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

Fox News Insider pointed out that, “Lieu also started a “Cloud of Illegitimacy Clock,” which counts the days, hours and minutes that Trump has allegedly been in conflict with a section of the Constitution that governs the likelihood of interference by foreign business interests.”

“Trump is not making America first, he’s making America second,” Lieu said.

It’s not that hard Mr. Lieu.  Really.

Repeat after me, President is “making America great again” by “putting America first.”

I would really like to see a study about the IQ scores for people in your district, Mr. Lieu.  Something tells me the average score would be somewhere south of barely functional.

Is your district anywhere near Maxine Waters’ district?  I’m gonna go way out on a limb here and guess the answer is “yes.”

 

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freedom of speech

 

So the “biased, liberal, fake news media” now feels it is OK to belittle the education level of selected groups of voters? 

The answer to this question is undeniably “yes,” at least as far as Eugene Scott of The Washington Post is concerned.

Mr. Scott chooses to point out that, “Americans are pursuing higher education at growing rates, but those without a college education are increasingly finding a home in the GOP.”

So are you implying that voters without college educations are somehow less informed, Mr. Scott?

Are you implying that voters without college educations are somehow less deserving of the right to vote, Mr. Scott?

During the latest midterm elections in 2018, if I heard it once I heard it a thousand times from the democrats, “Every vote counts!”  “Every vote deserves to be counted!”

I guess that’s only true when you’re “harvesting” what you believe are votes for democrats.  Right Mr. Scott?

Voter demographics should not have a bearing on anything.  Each voter is as important as any other voter.  The important things are that each legal voter have the opportunity to vote, and that they vote only once.

According to new data released by the Pew Research Center, higher educational attainment is increasingly associated with Democratic Party affiliation and leaning:

“In 1994, 39% of those with a four-year college degree identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party and 54% associated with the Republican Party.  In 2017, those figures were exactly reversed.”

More than half of registered voters who identify as Democrat have a bachelor’s degree, while fewer than 4 in 10 registered voters who identify as Republican have a bachelor’s degree.

Those with graduate degrees are even more likely to find their political home in the Democratic Party, according to the survey.

Meanwhile, the GOP has increasingly become more of a political destination to Americans who lack a college degree, according to Pew, “Among those with no more than a high school education, 47% affiliate with the GOP or lean Republican, while 45% identify as Democrats or lean Democratic.”

In Mr. Scott’s estimation, “This may not bode well for the GOP long-term as the American public becomes increasingly educated.”

I think he means, “… as the American public becomes increasingly brain washed by our liberal education systems!”

According to Census Bureau data, “More than a third of American adults have a four-year college degree or higher, the highest level ever measured by the Census Bureau.”

Why Mr. Scott…, I do believe you are “fake news!”

You say, “This may not bode well for the GOP long-term as the American public becomes increasingly educated,” but if “more than a third of American adults have a four-year college degree or higher,” that would mean close to two thirds do not.  How does that “not bode well for the GOP?”

Mr. Scott goes on to say, “As the Republican Party increasingly becomes the party of those without degrees, their leaders may feel pressure to champion policies that benefit working class voters…”

Well, we can’t have that!  Right Mr. Scott?

That damn “working class,” right Mr. Scott?

Those pathetically ignorant “working class” voters who don’t deserve to vote, but pay for all of your liberal “give-away” programs, right Mr. Scott?

Pew data shows that the educational makeup of the two major parties’ electorates also has changed substantially over the past two decades, particularly when factoring in race:

“When race and education are taken into account, white voters who do to not have a college degree make up a diminished share of Democratic registered voters.  White voters who do not have a four-year degree now constitute just a third of Democratic voters, down from 56% two decades ago.  By contrast, non-college white voters continue to make up a majority of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters at 59%.”

Ha!  I knew it wouldn’t take long before race got involved in the issue!

Apparently “non-educated” white voters are less desirable that “non-educated” Black or Latino voters.

Mr. Scott finishes by saying, “Some top GOP officials have attracted attention for their desire to win women and people of color to their party.  Perhaps moving forward we’ll see more emphasis on what can be done to win the highly educated.”

It seems to me, Mr. Scott, that your “highly educated” people are more often than not the people that are more “highly confused.”

Also, why is it that liberals seem to only value education as a result of a college education?

How about educations and training acquired by our “trade” professionals, like electricians, plumbers, welders, carpenters, HVAC technicians, mechanics, licensed practical nurses, construction professionals, et al?  Do these educations, most of which are quite extensive, not count just because they are practical?

How about the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who serve in our military, most of whom do not have college educations?  Do these educations not count because they are practical in nature?

No, these educations don’t “count” in the minds of liberals because these are educations that do not indoctrinate the students into the liberal political ideology.

Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu, also of The Washington Post, have their own take on voter demographics, specifically as they pertain to Donald Trump’s election and support.

Carnes and Lupu say that, “Media coverage of the 2016 election often emphasized Donald Trump’s appeal to ‘the working class.’ The Atlantic said that ‘the billionaire developer is building a blue-collar foundation.’ The Associated Press wondered what ‘Trump’s success in attracting white, working-class voters’ would mean for his general election strategy.  On Nov. 9, the New York Times front-page article about Trump’s victory characterized it as ‘a decisive demonstration of power by a largely overlooked coalition of mostly blue-collar white and working-class voters.’”

“But what about education?” They continued.  “Many pundits noticed early on that Trump’s supporters were mostly people without college degrees.  There were two problems with this line of reasoning, however.”

“First, not having a college degree isn’t a guarantee that someone belongs in the working class, nor should it somehow indicate that these people are not successful (think Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Aretha Franklin, Quentin Tarantino, Ellen DeGeneres, Simon Cowell, Ted Turner, Rachel Ray, Kim Kardasian, Mark Wahlberg, Al Pacino, Seth Rogan, Marshall “Eminem” Mathers, and Robert ‘F-you’ DeNiro, just to name a few).”

“And, second, although more than 70 percent of Trump supporters didn’t have college degrees, when we looked at the NBC polling data, we noticed something the pundits left out: during the primaries, about 70 percent of all Republicans didn’t have college degrees, close to the national average (71 percent according to the 2013 Census).  Far from being a magnet for the less educated, Trump seemed to have about as many people without college degrees in his camp as we would expect any successful Republican candidate to have.”

So Mr. Scott, you have been debunked!

“Observers have often used the education gap to conjure images of poor people flocking to Trump, but the truth is, many of the people without college degrees who voted for Trump were from middle- and high-income households.”

Many, if not most, of these “observers” are quite confused and quite biased as well.  “Poor people” flocking to candidates is, again, only desirable when they are “flocking” to the appropriate liberal candidate.

“In short, the narrative that attributes Trump’s victory to a “coalition of mostly blue-collar white and working-class voters” just doesn’t square with the 2016 election data.  According to the election study, white non-Hispanic voters without college degrees making below the median household income made up only 25 percent of Trump voters.”

In a word, there are “uneducated voters” and then there are “uneducated voters.”

It would appear that it is the democrats who are a party of extremes.  They seem to be comprised mostly of college eggheads, highly paid entertainers, extreme social and environmental interest groups, high school drop-outs, high school graduates who haven’t furthered their education, and all of those who live off of the government and have no intent to better themselves.

In a recent National Review article (The National Review is recognized as a leading conservative magazine, but was exposed during the election as just another “swampy,” establishment, media outlet) about Trump’s alleged support among the working class bordered on a call to arms against the less fortunate, saying that, “The white American underclass is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles.  Donald Trump’s speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin,” and that “the truth about these dysfunctional downscale communities is that they deserve to die.”

According to Carnes and Lupu, “This kind of stereotyping and scapegoating is a dismaying consequence of the narrative that working-class Americans swept Trump into the White House.  What deserves to die isn’t America’s working-class communities.  It’s the myth that they’re the reason Trump was elected.”

Shame on you National Review, and shame on you Eugene Scott.

And thank you to Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu for reporting the facts and not twisting the facts to fit the liberal narrative.

 

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It’s not nice to speak ill of the dead, but former Senator John McCain was a vindictive, back stabbing, lying, establishment RINO weasel!   

Well, I think the title just about sums it up!

But how do I really feel?

Please refer to two of my previous blogs on John McCain from May 18, 2018: “Who was John McCain?  Who is John McCain?”  And “John McCain and James Comey are two ‘swampy’ peas in a ‘swampy’ pod!”

Many of the more recent developments surrounding the “fraudulent and libelous Steele dossier” continue to support my initial beliefs (Please see again the title of this blog).

Fox News’ Gregg Re reported that, “An associate of the late Arizona Republican, Sen. John McCain, shared with ‘Buzzfeed News’ a copy of the unverified, salacious opposition research dossier alleging that Russians had compromising material on President Trump, according to a bombshell federal court filing Wednesday [12/19/18].”

McCain, of course, has strongly denied that he was the source for “Buzzfeed” after it published the dossier, which was funded by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

I guess technically, McCain didn’t actually personally hand the dossier over to “Buzzfeed,” his “associate,” or “gofer,” or “flunky” did.  This is a typical weasel move, and it’s called plausible deniability, at least until your “associate” or other evidence hold your feet to the fire.

Gregg Re adds that, “In recent days, the dossier’s credibility has increasingly come under question, as the Yahoo News investigative reporter who broke news of its existence said many of its claims were “likely false,” and an adviser to ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said Cohen never went to Prague to pay off Russian hackers, as alleged in the dossier.”

The “dossier’s credibility” has actually been in question for quite some time by many observers, not just in “recent days.”

Earlier this year, Fox News reported that a top McCain associate, David Kramer, had been briefed on the dossier written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele in late November 2016 in Surrey, England.  Kramer “took the fifth,” invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying before House Republicans about his handling of the dossier.

So let’s take an appraisal of the situation at this point.

This is all happening AFTER Donald Trump has been elected president.  Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration, the FBI and the DOJ have already used the bogus dossier to get their FISA warrants and spy on the Trump campaign.  The only problem is it didn’t do any good and Donald Trump still won!  Now the FBI and the DOJ are into their fall back plan of trying to discredit the newly elected President Trump while covering their backsides along with the backsides of their other partners in crime, Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration.

So they (the FBI and the DOJ) came up with this plan to get their old “swampy” friend McCain, who doesn’t like Donald Trump and who is half a democrat anyway, to think he has discovered all of this juicy info on Donald Trump, which he passes on to the FBI (who have already had the dossier and used it for months already) and then leaks it to the press in an attempt to embarrass newly elected President Trump, thus doing all of the dirty work for the FBI and the DOJ.

You’re so gullible McFly…, I mean McCain!

I’m sure McCain had visions of grandeur, with himself being called a “hero” for exposing these vile deeds (even though they were all made up) by his friends in the “biased, liberal, fake news media,” all of the enemies of Trump, which included most politicians, republican and democrat, while at the same time taking an ounce of flesh from Donald Trump, who McCain hated with a passion.

So, the FBI and the DOJ now use the bogus dossier…, again, as a basis for launching the Special Counsel (the Mueller investigation).

You’ve got to hand it to them in one regard; you just couldn’t make this stuff up if it wasn’t true.

The only problem now is that McCain’s “associate” and “go-between” is singing like a bird.

I wonder if he uses Twitter!

Sorry about that one.  It was just too easy.

Anyway, according to Catherine Herridge, Pamela K. Browne and Cyd Upson of Fox News, “The man who says he acted as a “go-between” last year to inform Sen. John McCain about the controversial “dossier” containing salacious allegations about then-candidate Donald Trump is speaking out, revealing how the ex-British spy who researched the document helped coordinate its release to the FBI, the media and Capitol Hill.

“My mission was essentially to be a go-between and a messenger, to tell the senator and assistants that such a dossier existed,” Sir Andrew Wood told Fox News in an exclusive interview with senior executive producer Pamela K. Browne.

Just after the U.S. presidential election in November of 2016, Arizona Sen. McCain spoke at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada.  Wood says he was instructed, by former British spy Christopher Steele, to reach out to the senior Republican, whom Wood called “a good man,” about the unverified document.

“Wood insists that he’s never read the dossier that his good friend and longtime colleague prepared.  It was commissioned by opposition research firm Fusion GPS and funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.”

Along with the senator, Wood and McCain Institute for International Leadership staffer David J. Kramer attended the Canadian conference.

In January of 2017, McCain officially gave the dossier to the FBI, which already had its own copy from Steele.

The obvious question now is: What is the status of the Mueller investigation then?

Since the investigation was initiated based on the now debunked, “fraudulent and libelous Steele dossier,” should the investigation be terminated since it was obviously started under false pretenses?

I believe the answer is obviously “yes.”

As a matter of fact, I believe the whole situation warrants another Special Counsel to investigate those who actually committed the crimes here: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and various members of his administration, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Rod Rosenstein, and other upper level employees of the FBI and the DOJ.

Stay thirsty my friends!

 

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mccain dirtbag

 

WINNING!  President Trump does it again!

President Trump, with Dr. Martin Luther King’s niece, Alveda King, by his side, and surrounded by a diverse and bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives, signed a BIPARTISAN criminal justice overhaul bill in the Oval Office on Friday, December 21, 2018.

Did I just say “bipartisan?”

Yes I did, and President Trump just continues to WIN for the Black community and some of the less fortunate communities and citizens in our country.

First it, in the recent tax cut bill, which supposedly “helped only our billionaire friends,” money was set aside for an extensive community development program which established “opportunity zones” where investment is encouraged and rewarded in these economically distressed areas.  (Please see my prior blog on President Trump’s executive order regarding these “opportunity zones.”)

And now an overhauling of the criminal justice system, called “The First Step Act.”

Can you imagine what President Trump could accomplish if he wasn’t such a “racist and a culturally insensitive monster” according to the “biased, liberal, fake news media?”

The House overwhelmingly passed the bill Thursday night, 358 to 36.  Two days earlier, The Senate voted in favor of the Bill 87-12.

Those votes represent a level of bipartisanship that isn’t seen very often, especially these days.

President Trump and his son-in-law, senior adviser Jared Kushner, along with his daughter Ivanka, lobbied hard for the bill, named the “First Step Act.”

“America is the greatest Country in the world and my job is to fight for ALL citizens, even those who have made mistakes,” The President tweeted moments after the vote.

“This will keep our communities safer, and provide hope and a second chance, to those who earn it.  In addition to everything else, billions of dollars will be saved.  I look forward to signing this into law!” President Trump added.

CNN reported that, “The legislation is aimed at easing sentences for nonviolent offenders, reducing the number of repeat offenders and increasing prisoner rehabilitation efforts.”

President Trump called the passage of the bill “an incredible success for our country.”

“Criminal justice reform; everybody said it couldn’t be done,” President Trump said. “They said the conservatives won’t approve it. They said the liberals won’t approve it. They said, ‘Nobody’s going to approve it. Everybody’s going to be against it.’”

And they were “all” against it [the bill] to begin with.  At least each other’s version of it.  But President Trump isn’t your average “cookie cutter” conservative.  He isn’t your average “republican” either.  He’s an American first, and he wants what’s best for Americans, and he doesn’t care which party gets behind and supports his efforts, as long as they are supported and acted on.

The vote, in fact, was also hailed by Democrats.  Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said, “The nation’s prisons are full of Americans who are struggling with mental illness and addiction, and who are overwhelmingly poor.  “The nation’s criminal justice system feeds on certain communities and not on others,” and said “the bill represents a step toward healing for those communities.”

“Let’s make no mistake, this legislation, which is one small step, will affect thousands and thousands of lives,” Senator Booker said.

The bill makes the process of getting a job and re-entering society again fairer and easier, for people who have done their time.

CNN added that, “The passage of the bill culminates years of negotiations and gives President Trump a signature policy victory, with the outcome hailed by scores of conservative and liberal advocacy groups alike.”

During the signing ceremony, President Trump actually thanked Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, as well, for their support.  I think this goes to show that President Trump doesn’t take a lot of these things that are thrown at him personally.  It’s just business to him, and getting results is all that matters.

 

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trump winning and cant believe

 

When money talks, media bias walks!

Yes, when it comes to the stock market, investing and business in general, money still rules over political agendas and media bias.

Greed may not be a virtue, and in fact it’s one of the “7 deadly sins,” but at least it doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.

“Money” will always react in its own best interest, regardless of who or what is responsible.

“Business is business…, it’s nothing personal.”

The “biased, liberal, fake news media” and the democrats can try and spin words, events and policies any which way want, and millions of gullible Americans may buy what they’re selling, but money cuts through all of that and focuses on reality, not propaganda.

market prediction if trump wins

On the eve of the presidential election, in November of 2016, when all of the “biased, liberal, fake news media” pundits, experts and talking heads predicted a stock market collapse, and basically the end of the world should Donald Trump win the election, “money” was prepared with the appropriate reaction.

krugman-economist-nyt-stock-market-willneverrecover-from-trump-ty-stock-30222340

Even Matt Egan, of CNN Business News had to admit that, “Wall Street welcomes Trump with a bang” the day after the election.

“That didn’t take long,” Egan declared.  “An overnight panic in global markets evaporated as Wall Street gave an emphatic welcome to President-elect Donald Trump.”

Huh?  So what happened to all of that “end of the world” propaganda talk from these so called “experts” that we were hearing less than 24 hours earlier?  Well, these “experts” had moved on from that “hit job,” and they were already doing their “swampy” best to downplay The Market’s reaction to Trump’s election, putting the whole thing in the proper perspective for all of the rest of us, and attempting to dampen any and all positive reactions to it.

The facts are that, The Dow soared 257 points and brushed up against lifetime highs already on Wednesday, the day after the election, defying those who predicted Trump’s election would bring about a plunge in the stock market.

Peter Kenny, an independent market strategist, admitted that the market, “Greeted Trump with a far more positive footing than I expected.  He’s receiving a very warm welcome.”

So, if you ever want to get an honest reaction to any events or policies, just watch how “money” reacts to it.

It’s a safe bet every time.

“For the love of money is the root of all evil…” – 1 Timothy 6:10

“The lack of money is the root of all evil.” – Mark Twain

“We live by the Golden Rule.  Those who have the gold make the rules.” – Buzzy Bavasi, Major League baseball executive

 

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Up and up The Fed’s interest rate goes, where it’ll stop nobody knows!

The Federal Reserve raised the nation’s borrowing rate by 0.25% for the fourth time this year, despite months of objections from President Trump.

According to Lucy Bayly, the business editor for NBC News, “President Trump fears higher interest rates will take the steam out of the nation’s booming economy.”

She continues by saying, “As head of the Federal Reserve, [Jay] Powell has found himself uncharacteristically singled out for criticism over the central bank’s handling of interest rates, with Trump saying he ‘maybe regretted nominating Powell to the position.’”

“I have a hot economy going,” President Trump said in October, and “every time we do something great, he raises the interest rates.”

Ms. Bayly feel sthat, “Powell’s challenge at this juncture has been to make it clear that the Fed’s decision was data driven and not due to any deference to the political establishment, which would have risked the central bank’s credibility as an independent agency.”

That’s kind of funny.  Why does it seem that “The Fed,” the central bank, only seems concerned about its credibility when there is a Republican president?

During an interview with “Yahoo Finance,” Edward Stringham, an economist, Professor of Economic Innovation at Trinity College and the president of the American Institute of Economic Research, said, “We’ve had artificially low interest rates for years.”  The Fed has apparently admitted to this because Mr. Stringham goes on to say that, “The Fed has said that they want to get away from that [artificially low interest rates].”

What does “artificially low interest rates” mean?  Why would The Fed be dealing with anything that is “artificial?” I take it to mean that The Fed had lowered the rates, or kept them low, for reasons other than financial and/or economic merit.

In other words, it sounds kind of “swampy” and politically motivated to me.

Well, let’s take a look at the recent history of The Federal Reserve Bank, how they’ve handled the rates, and you decide.

When George W. Bush took office in 2001, the interest rate was at 6%.

By June of 2003 the rate was down to 1% due to a recession, the 9/11 attacks, and a war in The Middle East.

The rate was then back up to 5.25% by June of 2006.

It then was down to 1% again by the end of Bush’s term, mostly due to another recession, the housing crisis, bank failures and the bank bailout.

On December 11, 2007, the rate dropped from 4.5% to 4.25%

January 22, 2008, the rate then plummeted to 3.5%

Only eight day later, on January 30, 2008, the rate went down to 3%

On March 18, 2008, the rate dropped to 2.25%

On April 30, 2008, the rate fell to 2%

On October 8, 2008, it fell to 1.5%

Twenty-one days later, on October 29, 2008, the rate dropped to 1%

After Barack Obama was elected president, on December 16, 2008, the rate went to .25%

Note: .25% is the lowest funds rate possible.

Then, for the following 7 YEARS, or basically most of the “Obama years,” the federal interest rate sat there at .25%!  For 7 YEARS!!!

It wasn’t until December of 2015 that they managed to raise the rate to .5%.

The rate stayed at .5% all of 2016 until Donald Trump won the election, at which time the rate immediately went up to .75%.

So, even though all of the “biased, liberal, fake news media” financial “experts” were predicting a stock market crash if Donald Trump won, and all kinds of other economic misfortune, The Federal Reserve felt it was a good time to raise the federal interest rate.

Interesting.  Ponder that for a moment.

Then over the next two years of the Trump Presidency, The Fed chooses to raise the rate 6 more times, all the way back to 2.25%!

On March 16, 2017, the rate goes to 1%

On June 15, 2017, we’re up to 1.25%

On December 14, 2017, the rate goes up to 1.5%

On March 22, 2018, it climbs to 1.75

On Jun 14, 2018, 2%

On September 27, 2018, 2.25%

And on December 19, 2018, The Fed raised it another .25 to 2.5%

 

“The economy continues to punch well above its weight,” said Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group. “Although trade tensions and tariffs continue to present uncertainty, the economy has been running red-hot for a long time…”

Is that what you call “a long time” Mr. Rick, a little over a year?

It seems these economists and know-it-all eggheads are in quite a hurry to slow our economy down.

Why?

Why was it OK for Americans to sit through all of these down times for close to two decades, but then when we finally turn it around they want to throw down all of these speed bumps?

What do you think?  Is it a case of “the swamp’s” willingness to sabotage the country for the sake of their own survival and desire for power?

I’m thinking that is the case, but then again, I’m becoming more and more cynical by the day.

 

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federal interest rates

 

I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I do know the name of our next president won’t be “Beto!”

According to Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News, “An early straw poll of members of the progressive group MoveOn.org shows a wide-open competition for liberal voters in the 2020 Democratic presidential contest, with Rep. Beto O’Rourke narrowly beating out former Vice President Joe Biden.”

First of all, calling the group MoveOn.org “progressive” is like calling the Flat Earth Society “progressive.”

MoveOn.org is a group of liberals who haven’t had a politically “progressive” thought in their lives.

Second of all, the number one vote getter was actually Mr./Mrs./Ms./Mx./M?. “I don’t know yet” or Mr./Mrs./Ms./Mx./M?. “Someone not listed here as an option.”  This was represented by 28.8% of their vote.

Other than that, out of the 30 potential candidates listed, the results were:

Beto O’Rourke: 15.6 percent

Joe Biden: 14.9 percent

Bernie Sanders: 13.1 percent

Kamala Harris: 10 percent

Elizabeth Warren: 6.4 percent

Sherrod Brown: 2.9 percent

Amy Klobuchar: 2.8 percent

Michael Bloomberg: 2.7 percent

Cory Booker: 2.6 percent

Didn’t understand the question: .2 percent

It’s another sign of O’Rourke’s surprising popularity among national Democrats.

It makes perfect “liberal sense.”  The person can’t even beat Ted Cruz in Texas for a Senate seat, but he’d be a good choice for the democrat candidate for president though.

It’s still early yet, but MoveOn endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary. That year, 78 percent of MoveOn members voted to back Sanders over Hillary Clinton.

I have to give MoveOn credit for not supporting Mrs. Clinton (Satan’s grandmother), but on the other hand, I have to question their support for Bernie’s overtly socialist agenda.

“While the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president remains wide open and MoveOn’s endorsement is up for grabs, MoveOn members and progressives across the country are clear: They’re looking for candidates who will rally voters around a progressive vision of building a country where every American can thrive, whether we’re white, black, or brown, rich or poor,” said Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn Political Action.

Translation: They’re looking for candidates who can get enough votes to win.  They would prefer a candidate with a socialist agenda, who will punish those who are successful, while redistributing the wealth so that everyone can enjoy a standard of living barely above the poverty level.

“We’ll be challenging prospective candidates to inspire us with big ideas in the months to come, including at a series of events in early voting states in early 2019,” Sheyman added.

Translation: They’ll be challenging prospective candidates to inspire them with outrageously stupid ideas that Kool-Aide drinking liberals across the country will happily gulp down.

Alex Seitz-Wald adds that, “MoveOn, which was founded back during Bill Clinton’s presidency, is one of the largest progressive online organizing groups with millions of members across the country, so its endorsement has been coveted in the past.”

Let the race begin to see who can be the wackiest lefty liberal who could still get elected.

 

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President Trump is providing positive action, not just more “hot air.”

If you weren’t watching Fox News at some point this last week, you probably missed it when President Trump announced a bold and historic plan to change the lives in America of some of our poorest citizens, those who live in the most distressed, and sometimes the most dangerous, neighborhoods.

With South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and Black Entertainment Television (BET) founder Bob Johnson flanking him, and CNN host Van Jones looking on, The President signed an executive order creating something called the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council along with additional directives for that council.

So what, you may ask?  We’ve all seen this kind of thing before, right?

All show, no go.

Well, this may be different.

Led by The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson, it will coordinate efforts across the entire federal government to deliver jobs, investment, and growth in underprivileged areas.  This includes rural areas, too.  This means more private-sector money will flow into some of these high-risk or low development areas.

And what will this do?

It’s kind of like affirmative action, but on a larger socio-economic and community level, and for some reason I don’t have a problem with this at all.  I actually think this a great way to spread the wealth and lift people and communities up.

I believe a program like this is right up Secretary Carson’s alley.  I would expect him to do a great job with this.

Oddly enough, there were only a few reporters at the announcement, and they weren’t even interested in the announcement.  All they were interested in was shouting questions at The President about Michael Cohen.  That’s because Michael Cohen and the Mueller witch hunt fits the “biased, liberal, fake news media’s” narrative and President Trump delivering results to low income Americans doesn’t.

This White House event wasn’t broadcast on cable or on C-SPAN or any of the networks.  Why was that?

It’s called commission by omission.  If we don’t report it, then it didn’t really happen.  The “biased, liberal, fake news media” just refuses to give President Trump credit for anything that could be perceived as positive.

Also, it’s because President Trump is delivering some actual results for those people who the Democrats thought that they had in their back pocket, politically.  It all goes against the “biased, liberal, fake news media’s” never ending narrative about how the president is racist and how he just doesn’t care about minority citizens or low income citizens.

Bob Johnson, one of the most prominent and most successful African-Americans on the planet, would disagree with that sentiment.  He was on hand at Wednesday’s event to recognize the Trump administration’s drive and commitment to help low income Americans.

“Just recently, your Department of Labor signed a historic document that created something called “auto portability.”  Auto portability is designed to reduce retirement leakage among low income 401(k) account holders who tend to cash out,” he said. “And Mr. President, you should know this, 60 percent of African-American and Hispanic-Americans cash out of their 401(k) accounts.  This program will put close to $800 billion back in the retirement pockets of minority Americans.  So I just want to applaud you for that.”

Former President Barack Obama was good at offering up words that made it seem like he cared.  He was good at offering up words that made the intended audiences feel good and hopeful.  He, nor the democrats, were good at doing anything that actually helped the situation.

Laura Ingraham of Fox News commented, “Who cares more about America, particularly the working poor? The guy who delivers results, record low unemployment, opportunity zones and a decent chance for criminal justice reform?  Or a party that is all talk and no action?  I will take the former any day.”

“…talking about hope is beautiful, but it won’t bring business into your community.  People who can get jobs tend to have more hope.  Despair and crime in places like Chicago and Baltimore spiraled out of control during much of Obama’s eight years.”

With all of the potential positive outcomes as a result of the Opportunity and Revitalization Council and The President’s executive order, the “biased, liberal, fake news media” did manage to find one aspect they thought was worth mentioning.  They reported that President Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are only pushing these inner-city investment incentives because they will make money off their own real estate holdings.

President Trump is completely correct and justified when he calls out the “fake news.”

It’s sad that there isn’t even an inkling of an effort by the “fake news” to report the news fairly and honestly anymore.  It has become an all-out propaganda war now, and fair minded people just have to be aware of it and treat it as such.

 

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opp and revitalize council signing

I’m calling out some of these business “experts” and their “trumped-up” (no pun intended) predictions of “doom and gloom” for 2019. 

I’ve been seeing more and more of these “doom and gloom” business “experts,” financial “experts,” and economic “experts” calling for an economic slowdown in 2019, and even a recession in some cases!

The backgrounds of these “doom and gloomers” is across the board, so their motivations for these predictions are all different as well.

“Experts” from the “biased, liberal, fake news media” are of course trying to set-up a self-fulfilling prophecy for their own political benefit; the country be damned.

Some “experts” are just trying to be contrarian in order to stand out.

Some “experts” are just plain confused, and they are over-analyzing the economy in general.

And some “experts” really aren’t experts at all, and they’re just wrong.

Just to name a few, we’ve got Henry Fernandez of Fox Business News claiming, “The US economy will likely fall into a recession next year.”

We’ve got, Charles Schwab’s, Liz Ann Sonders, claiming, “The U.S. economy will likely fall into a recession next year.”

Kevin Kelleher of FORTUNE reminds us that, “2018 has been a banner year for economic growth,” (thank you for stating the obvious Kevin) but that “according to many economists,” “2019 will bring an economic slowdown with a recession possible in 2020.”

Benjamin Fearnow (aptly named) of Newsweek (“Weak News”) says, “CFOs predict 2019 recession, majority expect pre-2020 market crash!”  Mr. Fearnow goes on to say that, “An overwhelming majority of U.S. chief financial officers say the economy will sink into a recession by the end of President Donald Trump’s first term in 2020, and about half say it will happen next year.”

Wow!  So in this case, we’ve doubled down and are going “all in” on an actual “market collapse!” I’d like to see a list of these CFOs that gave their input on this.  I’m not so sure that CFOs (Chief Financial Officers) are the right ones to be getting this information from in the first place.  CFOs typically don’t make company policy, they bookkeep it.

“The end is near for the near-decade-long burst of global economic growth,” said John Graham, a finance professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and director of the survey, in a statement. “The U.S. outlook has declined; moreover, the outlook is even worse in many other parts of the world, which will lead to softer demand for U.S. goods.”

The “decade-long burst of global economic growth” referred to here was at the expense of The United States I’m afraid, Mr. Graham, and we weren’t an economic recipient of “that” growth, we subsidized it.

Economist Peter Schiff said that “We won’t be able to call it a recession, it’s going to be worse than the Great Depression…, the U.S. economy is in so much worse shape than it was a decade ago.”

“Worse than the Great Depression?!”  Really Mr. Schiff?  You aren’t any relation to democrat congressman Adam Schiff are you?  Because if you were, that would explain your propensity for the absurd.

“Bloomberg” economics writer, Jeanna Smialek’s chose to go with the headline, “JPMorgan, Bank of America Detect Hints of a U.S. Recession Looming in 2019,” even though her article points out, “Wall Street’s biggest banks are scouring U.S. data for signals of an impending recession.  On balance, they’ve been finding that a 2019 downturn still isn’t likely…”

Ms. Smialek would seem fall into the “Experts from the “biased, liberal, fake news media,” who are trying to set-up a self-fulfilling prophecy for their own political agenda; the country be damned” group.

The resident “experts” on CNN, CNBC, and MSNBC have all, of course, chimed in with their predictions of demise regarding anything Trump related.

This list could go on, but you get the idea I’m sure.

Now, I, admittedly am no economics expert, but I have two eyes, a relatively functional brain, and some common sense.

Here is my take on the U.S.’s economy for 2019 and into 2020.

But first, a little historical perspective.

The economy started to improve immediately in December of 2016 and into 2017 after President Trump was elected, and that was just based on the expectations of the impact of his actions.

The President’s only real actions in 2017 had to do with the reduction of regulations and the signing into law of The Trump tax cut and tax reform plan.  The new law would not begin to offer any real benefits to people or to companies until 2018.

In 2018 individuals were able to keep a little more of their own money due to tax cuts, and business were more easily able to invest their own money in improvements and expansion with drastically reduced capital gains tax penalties.

So in all reality, the United States economy is really only showing the benefits of the new tax laws and some reworked trade policies for about the last six months.

That bring us to 2019.

MrEricksonRules is predicting that 2019 will be an excellent year, economically, for The United States!

2019 will be the year that people see the real benefit of the new tax cuts law.  Families across the country will pay thousands less in taxes and/or get thousands more back.  This can only help stimulate the economy even more in the second and third quarters of 2019.

Although many of these “experts” see President Trumps “tariff wars” as economic negatives, I can only see them being a positive thing for our economy.  I see businesses across the board beginning to reap the benefits of the new USAMC trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, and the same goes especially for the new agreements with China.

Also, as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and a recent directing Executive Order, President Trump is encouraging long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. The Opportunity Zones program provides a tax incentive for investors, which should also help to stimulate the economy in whole new areas.  It also directs government entities to prioritize these zones for expenditures as well.

2019 will also see record revenues for the federal government, due to the booming economy and the increase in the number of taxpayers overall.  These revenues may help us to avoid increasing the federal deficit and possibly even work on bringing the deficit down.  At this point I would settle for just a slowing of the amount we owe.

So, based on my “expertise,” I would tend to disagree with most of these so-called “experts.”

I would go as far to say that 2020 will just build off of 2019, and that President Trump will be running for re-election having orchestrated the most impressive economic turn around and economic run since Ronald Reagan in the early 80’s.

Larry Kudlow, who is serving as president of the National Economic Council under President Trump, seems to agree with me, when he says,  “In my personal view, our administration’s view, recession is so far in the distance I can’t see it,” Kudlow said. “The basic economy has reawakened and it’s gonna stay there…, I mean, I’m reading some of the weirdest stuff, how a recession is around the corner.  It’s nonsense.”

I think The President would second that notion as well.

Regarding the Stock Market, I believe there is still a lot of value to be had there.  I feel the Market remains undervalued at this point.

Paul Dietrich of FOX Business feels the same way I do.  He goes on to say, “There seems to be a new “fear of the day” knocking down the stock market.  Chinese trade talks, Brexit, government shutdowns, Fed rate hikes, inverted yield curves or Trump’s tweets all seem to be culprits in this conspiracy to drive down the stock market.  None of these issues have any significant impact on the underlying U.S. economy.”

Overall, The Market will continue to bounce up and down, but also maintain its positive general momentum.

Remember, however, that what’s good for Wall Street is not necessarily what’s good for Main Street.

In 2019 and 2020, we’ll take a look back and see how I did versus “the experts.”

If any of the media outlets want to contact me at some point regarding business and economic prospectives, you can do so via the “contact” feature on my blog website.

 

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“It’s tough to make predictions…, especially about the future.” – New York Yankee great, Yogi Berra

Ha!  That’s right, Yogi!  But I’m going to take a crack at it anyway.

Here a few of my latest political predictions about the next couple of years!

Despite the best efforts of the democrats, their “vision quest” and dream scenario of impeaching President Trump will not be realized.  No matter how much the democrats want this to happen, the fact of the matter is there is no “there” there.  The democrats actually end up hurting themselves as they trigger what an abuse of most Americans’ sense of fair play.

Robert Mueller’s “investigation” will still be going on up to the 2020 election, because unless he can come up with some charges against President Trump, which he won’t, the “investigation/witch hunt” is valuable as a distraction and as a talking point against the Trump Presidency.  In “the swamp’s” eyes, it’s better to have The President under investigation than not.

I predict the democrats’ candidate for president will have to have the backing of former President Obama, so that means Joe Biden, because Obama is really only interested in promoting his legacy.  Biden’s running mate will probably be Senator Corey Booker.  Although Bernie Sanders will have quite a bit of carry-over support from 2016, and the support of all of the unapologetic socialists, he will not have the support of “the democrat establishment,” otherwise known as “the swamp.”  Once again, Bernie will bow to his masters and accept his fate.  What about Hillary?  Hillary would only be a back-up plan should Biden not be able to run or decides not to for some reason.  In this case, Bernie’s odds would go way up.

President Trump’s re-election in 2020, along with the Republicans taking back control of The House, and expanding their control in The Senate, will put an end to the Mueller “investigation.” The election will be considered a referendum on the “investigation,” and Mueller and his efforts will be terminated by the Attorney General, whoever that may be at the time.

The democrat’s level of cheating during the 2020 election will reach epic proportions.  It will shake the foundations of our country.  It will be all hands on deck for the democrats and anything goes to defeat President Trump.  Despite up to 10% of the democrat vote being fraudulent, President Trump will still prevail.  This election will usher in dramatic voting reforms.  Please refer to my blog from November 15, 2018, titled, “If the American people lose confidence in the integrity of our election system, we are one big step closer to our republic dissolving right before our eyes.”

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign spent a record $1.2 billion dollars!  We now know that approximately 20-25% of this money came from foreign governments and foreign entities.  Please refer to my blog from October 27, 2017, titled, “Bill & Hillary’s amazing money machine!”  The amount of foreign money pouring into the 2020 election on the Democrats behalf will eclipse the figures of 2016 and the amounts will be unprecedented.  There are many, many countries that stand to benefit economically and monetarily if some of President Trump’s economic and trade policies can be reversed or manipulated in their favor.  This too will actually end up hurting the democrats, as this will also trigger an additional abuse of what most Americans’ see as fair play.

Well, there you have it!

Let the games begin!

And remember you heard it here first!

 

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