Sunday, October 9, 2016

The Second Presidential Debate

The lead up was all about some 11 year old secret taping of Trump talking about how he tried to get some lady in Florida to go to bed with him. The media wanted to talk about the words he used, if he was a misogynist (technically Webster' defines it as a hatred of women) and how this "scandal" was going to play out in the debate. The pundits also discussed how this was do or die for Trump and such things.

Well, the debate is over and if I had to pick a winner I would say it was Trump. I also don't think it matters or swayed any votes. Media talking points made by the media to draw viewers just don't matter that much. The fact is that Hillary and many in the media, such as the Huffington Post, have been claiming this for a year and a half plus. Accusing Trump of having slept around is also pointless and he was in the newspapers and magazines when he was a young playboy in New York. He used to hand out at Studio 54 with his dates (sorry if you are too young to remember the late 70s and early 80s) and he was far from alone in doing that. In fact, the Prime Minister of Canada's, at that time, wife used to also attend those parties at that club.

While many politicians are faking a sort of prudish shock, the reality is that millennials do not care one bit about who or how many women Trump slept with. Now, just prior to the debate Trump had the media in a room with four of the women who had slept with Bill Clinton while he was married including one who he settled out of court with.

With all this pre-debate drama, the debate itself was pretty much the same answers we have heard before from both sides. In truth, I don't think any of the debates have changed people's opinions on who they are going to vote for.

The one thing that did disappoint was the moderators failure to get any answers out of Hillary about her call for a North American Union with open borders and open trade. That is a real discussion that should be had, not just in this race; but, in this country because that was the purpose behind the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

For too many years the left and right have divided over social issues while both sides have been hammered by the economic reality of outsourcing jobs and the failure of the political forces to prosecute criminal financial activity by the biggest banks and brokerage firms. I do not care who Hillary slept with or sleeps with, I do not care who Bill slept with or sleeps with and I do not care who Trump slept with or sleeps with. These issues will not effect the lives of my children or grandchildren; but, a North American political, trade and immigration union would.

UPDATE:

As expected the media and the candidates surrogates have traveled to spin town and foolishness prevails. People on the left have said that Trump may have done well at the debate; but, not well enough that he will not still lose. People on the right have said Trump won the debate and has moved the momentum back to him. I didn't think the first debate changed anyone's vote and believe Hillary did better, I didn't think the Vice Presidential changed anyone's vote and thought Pence did better and I don't think the second Presidential debate has changed anyone's vote and believe Trump did better. Here is my question, did any of the debates matter? If none of the debates changed people's votes than why does the media make noise as if it did when they are just taking sides with their preferred candidate, why should we even listen to their stories? My answer is for the amusement factor and so that people can see better how they are lied to and manipulated by the media.

If someone does not know who Trump or Clinton is than they are not going to vote. That is the truth, people who don't know who the candidates are is so removed from politics that they are not voters. Nobody who wants open borders and free trade is going to vote for Trump and George Bush has proven that along with others in the Republican Party that have promoted either Hillary or Johnson. Nobody who is against open borders and the trade agreements is going to vote for Hillary. This is why the battleground is over millennials. Hillary is betting that they are more concerned about social issues so she focuses on Trump not being in line with their views on multiculturalism. Trump believes they are more concerned about jobs and opportunity so that is what he is selling.

Iceland, Dishonest Banks and Debt.

Someone posted a comment on the last post asking what I thought about what happened in Iceland with the banks. Basically, the banks made lots of crazy loans and focused on foreign citizens to move their money to Iceland. That is a really general comment on what happened. This all went on at the same time that our banks were getting into derivatives and other risky investment. For my readers who are not familiar with what happened in Iceland, here is a link.

Wikipedia - 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests

The people of Iceland were asked to bail out the banks that defaulted and they said no. Their economy recovered and they are now fine. We could have done the same and did not. To be specific, President Bush bailed out the banks with tax dollars from you and me.

I was being asked what I would have done. I would have nationalized any bank that the government had to bail out and taken it's assets just like they do when you don't pay your mortgage. Almost all home loans are now owned by the United States government (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and if you cannot pay your mortgage the repossess the property. I would also recommend nationalizing companies that do not pay their taxes and instead hide their money overseas. If you don't pay your taxes they can take your property. Why do the rich get treated differently? That is my response to the comment that was left in a little greater detail.

Now, I am going to write about the newest presidential debate for my next post.

How They Try to Avoid Your Choices Mattering

Open Society Foundations - Get the Politics Out of Policing.  The article basically promotes having local police placed under national oversight. Hmmm. I am against militarizing the police and nationalizing them. I like the idea of local control, at least that way we can vote on who the Mayor is and let him know how we want the police to be managed. The bigger trend and the reason behind the weakening of rules on the police is so they will need to be nationalized. In the end, you get to choose whether or not you want all power centralized.

The Daily Caller - Leaked Emails Show Clinton Campaign Coordinating With Soros Organization.  Just so you know, Hillary was working with the Open Society Foundation according to the e-mails released by WikiLeaks.

Bloomberg - This Was the Week the World Got Really Anxious About Globalization's Future.  This is the real issue that is at stake. Just to be clear, the world did not get really anxious, the wealthy did because they are afraid that people might put an end to trade agreements that only hurt the United States and the west.

MSN - Reuters - Sanders supporters seethe over Clinton's leaked remarks to Wall St.  The title is true, here is what the writers say about millennials, "I’d like to meet the Bernie Sanders supporter who is going to say, 'Well I’m a little worried about her on international trade, so I’m going to vote for Donald Trump'," he said."  The truth came out that Hillary is pro open borders, pro free trade agreement and wants a North American Union similar to the European Union. These are not the things she says to millennials, only what she says to wealthy donors.