No chance Trump has an ostrich jacket? Good Night.

 

Thank you, Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire for your dedication to the truth. This is a brave thing. Very brave.

He has no respect for this country. He hates the USA. He begrudged the country it's rightful income in taxes. 

$750 in one year. That is amazing. Most Americans pay that and more in mortgages or rent and he actually only paid that in taxes. 

September 27, 2020

Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year (click here) he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.

He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.

As the president wages a re-election campaign that polls say he is in danger of losing, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million....

Why is $100 million such a tragedy for Trump? He claims he is a billionaire, paying $100 million in taxes sounds right. So, what is the issue? He can't afford to pay $100 million in taxes? Why?

How much of the 2017 tax cuts serve Trump's best interests over that of the country?

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), (click here) passed in December 2017, made several significant changes to the individual income tax. These changes include a nearly doubled standard deduction, new limitations on itemized deductions, reduced income tax rates, and reforms to several other provisions. In all, these changes simplify the individual income tax by eliminating the need for millions of households to itemize their deductions.

After December 31, 2025, most of the changes to the individual income tax code revert to pre-TCJA status. If Congress allows these changes to go into effect, most households would experience tax increases beginning in 2026. In the meantime, however, individual income taxes will be substantially lower for households across the income spectrum....

I worry about the country and the assault on it's treasury by Trump and the Republicans. Before the arrival of SARS-CoV-2 Trump was running very large deficits. 

February 1, 2020

By Chuck Jones

The Congressional Budget Office, (click here) or CBO, published its latest “Budget and Economic Outlook” which covers 2020 to 2030 on Wednesday, January 29. The 88 page report projects the Federal government receipts and expenditures to calculate the yearly Federal deficits and total debt, and it forecasts various economic metrics such as the economies growth rate and employment numbers.

President Obama entered office in early 2009 in the teeth of the Great Recession. Not surprisingly, the deficit exploded from $459 billion in calendar 2008 to over $1.4 trillion in calendar 2009. As the economy recovered the deficits shrank to a low of $442 billion in 2015 and was $585 billion his last year in office.

President Trump on the other hand was handed an economy that was growing. In 2017, his first year in office the deficit grew to $666 billion, was $984 billion last year and is projected to be over $1 trillion in 2020 at $1.02 trillion. This would be a 74% increase in just four years and going forward the Federal deficit could escalate to $1.7 trillion in 2030....

How much did he benefit from his years in the White House? A booming economy as he states existed usually brings down the national deficit. I just don't trust him and this information about his taxes only cements that mistrust.

It is going to be difficult while he is in office to ask the IRS for audits that provide for the monies he owes the US Government. He needs to get used to the idea of writing a check to the USA treasury.

...Most of Mr. Trump’s core enterprises — from his constellation of golf courses to his conservative-magnet hotel in Washington — report losing millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars year after year.

His revenue from “The Apprentice” and from licensing deals is drying up, and several years ago he sold nearly all the stocks that now might have helped him plug holes in his struggling properties....

He bases his questionable investments in personal pleasure. Golf courses, hotels, and casinos are very risky businesses. They have high levels of maintenance in order to maintain their image to attract patrons. There is a high level of cash flow and that is a tempting place for corruption all by itself.

It is so laughable that he doesn't pay taxes. I guess this makes him a TAKER and not a MAKER, as the Republicans would say.

...The Times was also able to take the fullest measure to date of the president’s income from overseas, where he holds ultimate sway over American diplomacy. When he took office, Mr. Trump said he would pursue no new foreign deals as president. Even so, in his first two years in the White House, his revenue from abroad totaled $73 million. And while much of that money was from his golf properties in Scotland and Ireland, some came from licensing deals in countries with authoritarian-leaning leaders or thorny geopolitics — for example, $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey....

All of this is supposed be in a blind trust. What a mess. His family has been taking advantage of their influence with Trump as well. 

In balance, business people that are honest and have good business practices pay taxes and a lot of them. They don't begrudge the government it's due. I know personally a very successful uncle, now passed away, that paid considerable taxes. He served in the armed forces. His millions were self-made in the transportation industry. He told a story about how his hand was shaking when signing a check for a million dollars to the USA for taxes on the monies he made that year. He never even tried to hide monies and always was honest about his income. He benefited very well from his income. He lived on a golf course and sent his twelve grandchildren to private religious schools. It is just a shame Trump is this kind of man. Other men and women in business will not appreciate the fact he went out of his way to make poor investments. They don't.

The Democrats had the plan for the minority communities before Trump mimicked it.

July 16, 2020

Senate Democrats (click here) say they want $350 billion for minority communities in the next stimulus bill to address needs ranging from child care to infrastructure, adding a new demand as lawmakers prepare to start crafting another massive virus relief package.

That would add to the $3.5 trillion plan recently passed by the Democrat-led House and endorsed by party lawmakers in both chambers. The Senate Democrats’ propose getting $200 billion of the amount by tapping unspent money from a fund set up in the massive stimulus measure approved in March that facilitates corporate lending by the Treasury Department....

The African American community will never see a dime of the Trump "Platinum Plan." Why? Because he could have already issued at least $350 billion in aid to these communities that the Democrats proposed months ago. Trump never saw the importance of the second relief bill. The US Senate is now out on vacation without plans to return before the election.

So, if Trump was actually going to spend $500 billion to the minority communities it could have already begun and the Democrats would be delighted to increase the investment monies. If Trump wanted to spend $500 billion rather than $350 billion it would be done. Trump is never going to provide such a package to the minority communities. He lies and lying about promises of money is among his favorite lies. 

September 26, 2020

President Donald Trump (click here) on Friday announced a new $500 billion plan promising "opportunity," "security," "prosperity," and "fairness" for black Americans if he is reelected in November.

The president's campaign is calling this the "Platinum Plan," Fox News reported. Trump's plan calls for $500 billion of capital investment into black communities, tax cuts and opportunity zones to support black-owned businesses, continued criminal justice reform, increased support for police, making lynching a federal hate crime, and the prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan and Antifa as terrorist organizations.

"For decades, Democrat politicians like Joe Biden have taken Black voters for granted. They made you big promises before every election — and then the moment they got to Washington, they abandoned you and sold you out," the president said in remarks obtained by Fox News. "The Democrats will always take Black voters for granted until large numbers of Black Americans vote Republican."...

No one can trust him. Look, he tried to stop USA funding to another country to protect their sovereignty. He doesn't care about people. He only cares about his own interests. People have to ask what danger now exists in their lives that should have been averted by sincere leadership with the country at heart.

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 could have absolutely been stopped and Trump's inability to protect the people is exposed by this virus. Why would anyone consider statements by Trump as true when all he has done is lie to the American people? Stop being the foolish people he is hoping for to stay in the White House. With Trump it won't get better from here, it will get worse. The peril of the country has increased year after year with him in the White House. Stop playing the fool.

The states with high rates of infection and sustained infection rates are all Red States. Are they just not that bright?

 Latest Map and Case Count (click here)

With the exception of Puerto Rico, Minnesota, and Illinois, the Red States are exhibiting a real lack of plans to end the virus infection rate. This is astoundingly ridiculous. The Governors can't get it right? There aren't that many equations for success.

The death rates are increasing in states where the cases of the virus are not increasing. This very well may be the aftermath of the virus. These deaths occurring in states where the virus is mostly contained is most probably due to the long-lasting effects of the infection.

South Dakota has at least two large hot spots within their Native American Reservations. In particular, Pine Ridge (Lakota) and Sisseton Wahpeton (click here) tribes. They need help. There may be more problems in the Lower Brule (Lakota) as well. The rest of the increase in South Dakota appears to be in larger population areas. This is all about masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene. Close the bars and there will be an improvement.

There have to be non-profits working with areas of the country to supply food and medicine. They need to help the Native American tribes become a far more stable community in relation to the spread of the virus. They may need airlifts to bring seriously ill members of the tribe to hospitals with ventilators.

The Tribal Affairs Bureau (click here) is within HHS. It is important that the arm of HHS be in touch with all the tribal areas and have plans to assist. They need funding and they may not know there are monies, supplies, and help available.

Debate masks, social distancing and hand hygiene.

I am disappointed the presidential debates are not virtual. I think Trump is unreliable when it comes to standing at six feet from Joe Biden on a debate stage. If the candidates are to shake hands, there needs to be hand sanitizer available after the handshake. They must mask if they going to shake hands because it is closer than the six-foot standard.

Joe Biden has been exceptional in his caution of SARS-CoV-2. He wears masks and obeys the six-foot rule. Goodwill needs to be set aside in recognition of the danger Americans face today.