What has President Trump's time in office done to you, personally?

[Calminian]

Trump has caused my business to boom. 30K more in sales in 2016 and this January has been my best month ever.

It's a no brainer. Once Trump was elected confidence in the market grew. I'm a very small business, but I've always advocated for tax cuts for the "rich." IOWs make business competitive on the world market and everyone benefits. Boom-times!

 

[Vicomte13]

He made me wealthier.

 

[Smylie]

Honestly, it's made me want to move from Canada to the United States of America.

 

[Calminian]

Honestly, it's made me want to move from Canada to the United States of America.

With the good economy, you should have plenty of extra money to buy a ticket. Trump is even helping those who want to leave.

Funny, though, you're not wanting to go to Mexico.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

Personally? I have immensely enjoyed the reaction of career politicians who are upset.

 

[Root of Jesse]

Yep, I work. Nope, my employer doesn't offer health insurance. I'm in the weird predicament where I earn a decent amount more than others in my field - but there's no health insurance along with it. So I bear the cost of it. It then becomes a gamble. Do I take a pay cut to then have the health insurance benefit - or do I just pay my own premiums and hope I don't also get sacked with the copays/deductibles/etc.

Then you get paid enough to pay your premiums. Thank President Obama for raising your premiums.

Nope. Own their own businesses. So no employer to cover the difference and they pay the full premium.

Again, something to thank President Obama for.

 

[Root of Jesse]

dp

 

[Root of Jesse]

You are far more optimistic about that than I am. The truth of the matter is even before this tax break US taxes were at the lowest point they’ve been in probably the past 50 years. We certainly have not seen median wage increasing as a consequence of that.

But, let’s resume this conversation in about a year and See what median wages are them. I predict there will be negligible increases.

Why, then, are companies outsourcing to other countries, if not for tax breaks? And why has the personal rate gone so high? Wage hikes will come. They're already happening as spot bonuses.

 

[Root of Jesse]

I am teaching my children the science about climate change, how it is a significant problem and one that needs our attention. They watch the news and learn that our administration doesn't see it as such. Thus they are more concerned as they are facing a future that include the effects of this delay.

It's one thing to teach kids to conserve resources, pick up their garbage, recycle and stuff. That's called conservation. When it comes to climate change, there is zero evidence that shows that mankind is responsible for it. Climate change is not the same thing as what corporations were doing to lakes and forests and so on. The fact is, the Paris and Kyoto agreements did zero to stop the warming of the planet, they did zero to do anything but force the US into economically untenable positions. The president has not said that we shouldn't explore solar and wind technologies, and if you really want to quit using fossil fuels, let's get busy on nuclear.

As for nuclear war, I've been aware of the varying threats since I watched the duck and cover films as a child in school. I had hoped we had moved a bit past that, but an unstable president that texts schoolyard taunts about the size of his button moves us closer to such threats.

Yeah, so go try to put Humpty Dumpty back together again...

 

[Root of Jesse]

Where has President Trump stayed that he is willing to consider legislation that will meaningfully mitigate climate change?

I believe he's asked for proof. Show real number proof, and the president will consider it. But Paris and Kyoto are not the answer.

I've been an engineering faculty member at a public university for much if my career, and educated at public universities and completely disagree with your assessment of public education.

Based on what?

 

[Root of Jesse]

Ya know if your company says that you need to say happy holidays instead of merry Christmas, that’s a decision your company has made and has nothing to do with the govt, right?

Right, and there is no right to free speech in the work place. Tell that to the NFL Players Association.

 

[Root of Jesse]

Trump has caused my business to boom. 30K more in sales in 2016 and this January has been my best month ever.

It's a no brainer. Once Trump was elected confidence in the market grew. I'm a very small business, but I've always advocated for tax cuts for the "rich." IOWs make business competitive on the world market and everyone benefits. Boom-times!

Did you mean 2016?

 

[Foxfyre]

Nothing yet. It will take time to know the tax cuts will affect me.

Hopefully, it will be for the good but right now nothing

They aren't supposed to kick in until next month. Since the Democrats gave up the shutdown fight and passed the C.R. today--and kudos to Schumer and gang for doing the right thing even though they are now catching hell from the extreme left--everything should be on track for you guys earning taxable income to start seeing more money in your paychecks.

 

[DZoolander]

Then you get paid enough to pay your premiums. Thank President Obama for raising your premiums.
Again, something to thank President Obama for.

Well, while I am no fan of Obamacare, it's a bit more complicated than people want to politically make it out to be.

Why did premiums go up? Because after the ACA they were compelled to offer actual meaningful insurance - without any meaningful cost control measures put into place.

People act like the ACA came out of nowhere...or that the goal was simply to get more people insured. While getting more people insured was definitely a goal, there were a lot of other things going on as well. After the ACA you didn't find insurance companies suddenly rescinding your policies once you got sick (happened quite a bit prior to the ACA), you didn't find insurance companies writing policies that covered everything but what actually ailed you, etc. Insurance companies were forced to actually cover you.

But they did very little to actually control cost. Nothing was done about pharma. Blah blah. So, when insurance companies are left with fewer options to actually deny you coverage and actually pay for things - of course cost will go up.

That being said - no - I don't like the effect it's had on my pocketbook. But, I also recognize the causes so I have mixed feelings on it. And it's certainly not my ideal solution.

 

[DZoolander]

Why, then, are companies outsourcing to other countries, if not for tax breaks? And why has the personal rate gone so high? Wage hikes will come. They're already happening as spot bonuses.

Two parts - to the answer since there are two questions...lol

As for outsourcing...Let's take a look at Apple. Prior to his death, Steve Jobs said Apple would never move it's manufacturing back to the US. Why? Because simply put - compared to China - America's manufacturing infrastructure was third rate. China (with it's government planned and funded infrastructure coincidentally) beats us hands down.

For example the iPhone. The manufacturer of the housing is literally right down the street from the manufacturer of the screen, which is literally right down the street from the manufacturer of the next component, etc. He told a story about how they decided last minute to change the material of one of the device screens. Within the day - a prototype of the screen was able to be had, tested, and decided upon. That type of infrastructure simply doesn't exist here.

He wasn't lamenting over how taxes raped his company dry. When asked if taxes even factored in, he scoffed at the idea. It was purely and simply they were heads and shoulders above us - and at lower cost. Not significantly lower cost (I think most estimates are that manufacturing the iPhone domestically would amount to about a $50 increase on what's an otherwise $800-$1000 device) - but lower nonetheless. Without any sort of serious plan to actually "fix up" our manufacturing capacity and infrastructure - why would they come back? And we have no such plan.

As for the bonuses, etc...that's a hard one to address. I don't know much about them except for a couple of examples. A couple of them look legit. The WalMart one appears to be a sham...lol If you look closely at the details of their $1000 bonus - apparently it's only available to those that have been with the company for 20+ years. I'd be curious to see considering their turnover rate - just how many people actually received it.

Yeah - I'm cynical about things. lol I see THAT one in specific as a PR move.

So, once again, the proof will be in the pudding. Let's come back to this in a year and see how median wages have fared

 

[DZoolander]

Right, and there is no right to free speech in the work place. Tell that to the NFL Players Association.

What's the argument you're making here? lol

 

[DZoolander]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20120123/apples-jobs-to-obama-jobs-arent-coming-back-to-us

 

[Stormy]

I wake up with a smile every morning knowing Trump is president.

 

[Yarddog]

They aren't supposed to kick in until next month. Since the Democrats gave up the shutdown fight and passed the C.R. today--and kudos to Schumer and gang for doing the right thing even though they are now catching hell from the extreme left--everything should be on track for you guys earning taxable income to start seeing more money in your paychecks.

We won't be seeing much more. Not enough to make a difference and may see less. They don't know how certain groups will be affected yet.

 

[Foxfyre]

We won't be seeing much more. Not enough to make a difference and may see less. They don't know how certain groups will be affected yet.

My husband and I won't see any increase as we are now retired and no longer receive wages, but that's okay. Just to see the country be restored to economic stability and more opportunity for everybody will make for a happier society for us too.