The Daily Couch Potatriot

SOCIAL CAPITALISM VS SOCIALISM PART 1 Political socialistic capitalism I write this as a lifelong registered Republican that is fiscally conservative and socially liberal.  The capitalists have wrangled tax breaks, to the extent they currently pay little or no taxes.  Trump’s tax bill allowed the tax rate for corporations to reduce from 35 to 21%.  This is the stated rate before deductions.  The actual tax rate is closer to 10% for corporations. Take Amazon, a company worth $900 billion and…

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MANUFACTURING AND UNEMPLOYMENT The current pandemic will have a lasting effect on all manufacturing and will be exacerbated by the lack of testing.  Without testing, no venue that cannot insure social distancing will be reopened.  This includes most factories, all sporting events, and many of the services this service economy employs.  Most developed countries with a manufacturing base, has a service sector of about 25% of the employed.  The United States has shed manufacturing to offshore countries and as a…

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WHEN CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST Today’s two stories are adapted from real events.  These stories show the true nature of the king of the stable, one would say the stable genius.  One day the flock of sheep ostracized the only black sheep for killing an innocent piglet in cold blood.  There was video evidence of the horrific events.  The flock held a court-martial and found him guilty and a disgrace to the elite flock. He was sentenced, perhaps to…

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POTUS VIRUS INACTION All presidents since Clinton have taken the threat of a pandemic seriously, to the extent they all had a task force looking into the possibilities it could hit the US.  Last year, Trump did 2 things that has slowed the pandemic’s response.  First, Trump disbanded the White House Pandemic response effort reporting to John Bolton.  The second was the ending of a $200 million project where the U.S. scientists and doctors were working with labs worldwide including…

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LEADERSHIP The Donald declared war on the Coronavirus and declared he was a wartime President.  Leadership requires skills that are easily recognized.  They are similar to the Boy Scouts Laws.  The specific traits are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.  Let us look into why his style does not lend itself to any of the qualities necessary for leadership.  His style is that of a bully who covers his ignorance with arrogance.  He projects his…

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TARIFFS AND BAILOUTS The painful reality of tariffs is its harmful effects.  If a country puts a tariff on your goods you are selling and you are in a global market its effect is a tax on the buyer. What transpires is retaliation.  China trades with the world. The Trump Tariffs on China’s electronic goods created reciprocal tariffs on U.S. produced Soybeans and Kentucky whiskey. China then went to the world market and has developed alternate sources for soybeans –…

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FOREIGN AID-RATIONALE AND DISTRIBUTION I am writing these thoughts as someone with a degree in Economics, with the intent to look at rationale and criteria for distribution of foreign aid.  The definition given to me by one of my college professors, that inspired me to enter the field was “Economics deals with the allocation of scarce resources over competing ends”.  These criteria are not meant to be all-inclusive, however, other considerations such as a security of an ally must also…

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TRUMP’S STATED GOAL OF DECONSTRUCTION            The admirable goal of the Trump administration was to deconstruct the administrative state.  I understand the impetus behind the goal.  During the Kennedy administration there were many fewer layers of government.  Trump, however, has politicized every aspect of government to the extent that if you are a member of the administration and if you are a civil servant that disagrees with him on policy he calls them the “deep state”, or “Trump haters”.  These civil…

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AFGHANISTAN            My view of Afghanistan is based on my understanding of Islam, living 4 years in Iran and Saudi Arabia and is coupled with the history of occupation.  Afghanistan is a closed tribal Islamic society.  Invaders thought history have failed to motivate a change to the basic tribal influence outside the urban centers.  The country has always been the land crossroad from the Middle East to the Far East.  Columbus was sent out to find an alternate overland route to…

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