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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sdgla who wrote (1048900)	1/16/2018 11:35:12 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 1578556

"While recommendations were beyond the scope of this study, here are three:" Here's a 4th... LYAO, and pay no never-mind to unfunded liabilities, cuz they'll be paid by the uncounted revenues.

To: Sdgla who wrote (1048900)	1/16/2018 11:48:15 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1578556

Wealthy investors and experts at Davos voiced fear of the revolution he appeared to symbolize. "I want to be loud and clear: Populism scares me," billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio told a panel. "The No. 1 issue economically as a market participant is how populism manifests itself over the next year or two." Now Dalio has his answer. In the U.S., Trump has achieved little of lasting significance -- and nothing as a populist. The only important piece of legislation he has signed has a been a tax reform that benefits the wealthiest Americans, not a populist measure by any standard. Steve Bannon, the ideologist who helped push Trump into the unlikely role of working-class advocate -- and who wrote the inaugural address -- is out of the Trump administration and the target of some of the president's most vicious tweets: "Sloppy Steve," Trump labeled him memorably. Trump has failed to start building a border wall. Undocumented immigrant detentions on the U.S. southwestern border dropped by more than a quarter in 2017 compared with the previous year -- perhaps because fewer immigrants are coming, but still a clear sign that no massive Trump crackdown is underway. Jobs creation slowed down slightly. The international image of the U.S. has taken a hit. Trump's presence this year is the ideal backdrop for leaders such as Macron and Merkel. Not only did they win elections in 2017, thwarting populist challenges -- they've actually achieved something since doing so. Macron, in his first months as president, worked effectively with labor unions and the employers' lobby to push through a business-friendly reform of France's convoluted labor code, and has moved toward fixing the professional education and pension systems. Merkel, who was forced by the September election results to engage in complex coalition-building, has just struck a deal with the German Social Democrats that will likely allow her to form a stable government. If that doesn't sound like much of an achievement, consider the 28-page preliminary coalition agreement, which spells out specific policies the two parties will get through parliament in the next four years and even lays down spending numbers on particular measures -- a level of detail, and of government predictability, that Americans can only envy. Compared with erratic, beleaguered Trump, with his uncertain grasp of specifics and dubious role in steering the U.S., Macron and Merkel are paragons of skill, confidence and responsibility. They don't even have to say anything to drive home their message of centrism and competence. Trump doesn't come to Davos as a fearsome figure. He comes as a symbol of failure and a living reason why the policy and business elite he campaigned against doesn't deserve the guillotine. #MEGA indeed.