Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : A Real American President: Donald Trump -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: locogringo who wrote (177699)	12/31/2019 7:54:17 AM
From: FJB	4 Recommendations Recommended By Honey_Bee locogringo Stock Puppy Thehammer Respond to of 457955

Trump's Top 10 Achievements for 2019 \| RealClearPolitics By Steve Cortes www.realclearpolitics.com /articles/2019/12/31/trumps_top_10_achievements_for_2019_142047.html America stands on the cusp of a new decade that promises to unfold as the new “Roaring Twenties.” A review of President Trump’s 2019 achievements, building on the successes of 2017 and 2018, provides context for the year and decade ahead, and reasons to expect a resounding Trump reelection next November. Here are my top 10: Jobs – The stunning recent news on employment proves, more than any other metric, the efficacy of President Trump’s growth doctrine of economic nationalism and the diffusion of power. Defying globalist skeptics from Wall Street, academia, and the corporate media, payrolls surged in America in 2019. The most recent jobs report revealed a plethora of records and extended the wage-growth winning streak to 16 straight months above a 3% pace, a mark seen only three months total during the sluggish Obama years. In addition, the fastest wage gains now flow to those groups that formerly lagged badly in the slow-growth recovery following the Great Recession. For example, the lowest 10% of earners saw income grow at an astounding 7% rate over the last year. Similarly, those without a high school diploma welcomed 9% wage acceleration in 2019. Broadening the Movement – 2019 represented a seminal breakout year for the America First movement as the Republican Party changes to a workers’ party. This new focus translates, already, into significant signs of ethnic, racial, and geographic diversity for the GOP. For example, a recent CNN poll in deeply blue California reported 32% support for Trump vs. current Democratic front-runner Joe Biden. Similarly, recent polls by The Hill and Emerson show Latino approval for the president at nearly 40%. It is difficult to overstate the importance of this kind of minority support, both for politics and, more importantly, for the overall cohesion of our society. Confronting China – Though a near-term détente in trade tensions was reached, Trump proved to the world in 2019 that tariffs can be effectively deployed to force the Chinese Communist Party into a bargaining posture. The soaring economy in America demonstrated that tough trade policy can indeed coincide with growth. Trade Deals With Allies – In contrast to the mostly contentious trade chess match with Beijing, Trump proved that America First hardly means America alone. The USMCA was finally ratified by the House of Representatives this year and points to a new era of prosperity with our neighbors as the global supply chain reorients from the Far East back to the Americas. Similarly, a breakthrough agreement was signed with Japan and the new U.S.-Korea trade pact took effect in early 2019. Judges – While Nancy Pelosi dithers and corporate media obsess over the sham impeachment inquest, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mitchell quietly pile up a historic pace of judicial confirmations. Trump in 2019 secured his 50th federal appeals court judge in only three years, compared to just 55 for President Obama over eight years. Over the long term, remaking the federal judiciary into an originalist, constitutionalist branch of government may create Trump’s most enduring legacy. Remain-in-Mexico Policy – Our country still needs to drastically reform its inane asylum laws and provide vastly more border wall funding, but nonetheless President Trump found a fair and effective near-term solution for border control by requiring asylum seekers to apply from Mexico rather than trespassing across our sovereign border. Not surprisingly, according to NPR, less than 1% of the economic migrants who apply actually qualify as refugees. Trump’s 2019 move, therefore, provides a deterrent and averted a full-scale crisis at our border. Mueller Exoneration – Though admittedly not an active achievement, nevertheless the long-awaited Mueller report validated the president on two key topics. First, that no one in the 2016 Trump campaign actively cooperated with Russia or with any other foreign power. Secondly, Democratic Party chieftains such as Rep. Adam Schiff, along with a complicit media, repeatedly fed the public demonstrable lies for years about supposed “proof” of conspiracy. Al-Baghdadi Killing – The October special forces raid that eliminated the terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proved that America can aggressively hunt down terrorists and dispense with enemies without nation-building and concomitant large-scale troop commitments. Some brave U.S. fighters, along with a terrific dog, highlighted that surgical strikes can protect our homeland without the massive outlays of blood and treasure employed by Trump’s predecessors. Natural Gas Exports Soar – Early in the Trump presidency, America became a net natural gas exporter for the first time since the Eisenhower administration. In 2019, this trend expanded in earnest, with an astonishing 60% growth rate of liquefied natural gas exports for the year. Establishing America as an energy superpower drives domestic prosperity, particularly in heartland energy regions, and facilitates affordable energy to power the on-shoring manufacturing renaissance that has produced 500,000 new factory jobs under Trump. In addition, American energy dominance benefits the geopolitical security of the entire globe. Space Force – Establishing the sixth military service branch in 2019 was pure Trump: imaginative, bold, forward-looking, and – predictably – roundly derided by establishment critics. In alignment with his outsider perspective, Trump correctly ascertains the potential of space as a warfighting domain, and that America must dominate there. As satellites increasingly guide the behaviors of our everyday lives, the U.S. Space Force will protect our security and economy far into the future, forming a lasting legacy for this most unorthodox president. These 10 achievements build a foundation for our nation to flourish in the New Year. In addition, these accomplishments exhibit his leadership skills, in spite of a near-totally obstructionist House of Representatives and a consistently biased media establishment. Such accomplishments make the president the prohibitive favorite to win reelection over an unimpressive Democratic presidential stable of candidates. Looking bigger picture, the first three years of the Trump presidency have established the policy framework and upward momentum for a truly amazing decade ahead – the new Roaring Twenties. Steve Cortes is a contributor to RealClearPolitics and a CNN political commentator. His Twitter handle is @CortesSteve.

To: locogringo who wrote (177699)	12/31/2019 7:58:32 AM
From: FJB	2 Recommendations Recommended By Honey_Bee locogringo Respond to of 457955

Energy dominance is leverage for US foreign relations thehill.com /opinion/energy-environment/475854-energy-dominance-is-leverage-for-us-foreign-relations The United States now is the largest producer of oil in the world, by far. In fact, the U.S. is actually producing more oil each day — 12.8 million barrels — than the kingdom of Saudi Arabia says it is even capable of producing. The U.S. also is producing so much natural gas that we don’t know what to do with it. In 2020, we need to understand the strength of our position vis-à-vis energy and employ it to our benefit, especially in foreign policy. From the 1970s until about 15 years ago, U.S. oil production was not a significant force in the global economy. Old reserves had dwindled and suffered from depletion or lack of maintenance. Other oil opportunities waited for the application of new technologies to release their potential. In this century, we have seen the shale revolution and, most recently, the relaxation of permitting and leasing. We are producing more oil than any country has ever produced before, and we have the potential to produce even more with offshore wells, improvements in fracking, infrastructure improvement and from unexploited reserves. With this energy bounty, we get more than just lower gas prices. Ten years ago, the U.S. was still dependent on imported crude oil, and the high cost of energy limited our economic development. Ten years ago, America was building liquified natural gas (LNG) regasification ports to prepare to import natural gas from Qatar and Russia to supply our power plants with cleaner-burning fossil fuels. Much has changed. As we enter 2020, America is a net exporter of petroleum — combined crude oil and products — and some of those regasification ports have been converted to liquefaction ports that are starting to export American natural gas instead of importing it. We should now be talking about how we can use our energy strength to protect American interests and reorient our foreign relations. Here are three examples: Saudi Arabia: Despite Saudi Arabia’s much-publicized attempts to wean its economy off the oil industry, the Saudi economy is still dependent on oil. Sixty percent of Saudi government revenue still comes from the oil and gas industry each year, and now even more Saudis have tied their financial futures to oil and gas by investing in Aramco’s IPO. In short, Saudi Arabia desperately needs its oil business to continue to succeed. Although Saudi Arabia remains reliant on selling oil, the United States no longer relies on Saudi oil imports. In fact, the U.S. imports half as much oil from Saudi Arabia today as it did 10 years ago. America no longer is beholden to Saudi oil the way it once was and, thanks to America’s robust oil industry, Saudi Arabia no longer has control over global oil prices the way it did a decade ago. They need us more than we need them. Perhaps it is time to rethink or reorient America’s commitment to Saudi Arabia’s military defense, or the U.S. could use its new leverage to push Saudi Arabia for greater concessions on human rights abuses and diplomatic assistance in improving Arab-Israeli relations. Russia: Russia is currently the world’s second-largest oil producer and its economy depends on energy sales. The Russian energy sector accounts for at least 60 percent of the country’s GDP and at least 68 percent of the country’s exports. The prevailing view in Congress today is that Russia has great influence over Europe because it of all of the natural gas it supplies. Congress has unsuccessfully attempted to stall the construction of a natural gas pipeline between Russia and Europe with sanctions legislation. However, with our own great energy production success, we need to use our cheap, plentiful natural gas resources to entice European buyers to wean themselves from Russia. Our natural gas strength could and should be our greatest asset in combating Russia’s expanding power over Europe. We have an extraordinary opportunity to help Europe diversify its sources of energy so that it can’t be held hostage to Russia in the future. China: China is the world’s largest importer of oil and gas. Its manufacturing industry and growing consumer economy depend on foreign energy. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the largest producer of oil. Although China buys most of its fuel from Saudi Arabia and Russia, our control of more than 10 percent of the global supply should be a more important bargaining chip as the White House continues to the next stage of trade negotiations and pushes China on human rights concerns. In 2020, we need to realize that our energy dominance gives us an upper hand — and not just in the energy sector. Ellen R. Wald, Ph.D., is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and the president of Transversal Consulting, a global energy and geopolitics consultancy. She is the author of “ Saudi, Inc.,” a history of Aramco and how the Saudi royal family controls this multitrillion-dollar enterprise. Follow her on Twitter @EnergzdEconomy.

To: locogringo who wrote (177699)	12/31/2019 9:40:35 AM
From: Thehammer	8 Recommendations Recommended By ByGoneYrs DinoNavarre Honey_Bee isopatch locogringo and 3 more members Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 457955

Former Vice President Joe Biden suggested Monday that displaced coal miners should learn to code. How well did that work out for Hillary? Plus he would consider a Republican for VP? I think he's trying to lose...or prove that Democrat voters are really brain dead and stupid. You know - that "learn to code" advice sounds like those back of the magazine ads for selling shoes or Christmas cards in your spare time. For a politician to repeat it, shows a remarkable degree of ignorance and lack of empathy. Out of touch with the real world. Bunch of policy wonks sat around asked "how do we replace these jobs (coal)?" Someone says that "coding" is a growing area so it becomes the rote response. How about we have the out of work coal miners perform brain surgery on the politicians?