A while back Trump was praising himself for the increased spending by NATO countries that has happened during and after his time in office. Just to make sure he got a lot of air time, he threw in a gratuitous comment about how he would not defend and in fact encourage Russia to attack NATO countries that did not pay their fair sure. Predictably, this worked like a charm and all the shrieking Karens went around talking about what a bad man he was and how horribly irresponsible he was.
All they accomplished by all this caterwauling was to further convince the poorer economic classes that Trump was their man. All your working class people heard in all that screeching was a defense of NATO free riding on the poor working class taxpayer. And why should they pay for the defense of those effete snobs when the border is wide open and food prices are sky high?
Contrary to Trump, I think the improvement on this front (slight as it has been) has more to do with Putin then Trump. But this quibbling about small details is not a productive way to counter Trump. Especially when any fair-minded review of recent history will show that while serving as president Trump brought more attention and pressure to bear on this issue than any other President in the post cold-war era. I think he did this mostly because his strategy is the find the weak points in the ruling classes that shun him and hammer them for all they are worth then him having an particular strategic concerns. Nonetheless, the fact remains that he did more on the issue then his contemporaries.
The below video gives a pretty fair overview of the situation including quoting Trump in all his glory….
Regardless of what you think about the above facts, those running around outraged by what Trump has said are doing nothing to improve the national discourse. But those running around being outraged by the ruling class are not doing any better either. All too often their arguments boil down to simply repeating that the ruling class is stupid and corrupt and trying to imply that all the problems with the world would be so much better as long as their messiah was made president. What is missing is people trying to explain the issues and facts involved. What is missing is people arguing about an issue instead of personalities. And that is where Republican Representative Mike Turner has taken steps to improve the situation. Continue reading →
A lot of people like to make the argument that America pays the most for health care and gets the least benefit. And while there is lot to be critical of in the US system, the worst outcomes are almost entirely due to the lifestyles of Americans. The flip side is that our supper expensive and maddening system is still often more responsive then what you will find elsewhere. That said, I think we are following the rest of the world on the downhill slope. US Military Personnel ‘Routinely Denied Access’ to Emergency Care in Japan
I would normally say things like “keep in mind it is not adjusted for inflation” but even allowing for that fact that chart still looks pretty bad. About the best I can say is that we not given much historical context but a more then doubling in price in one year’s time still looks pretty bad.Cocoa prices surge to all-time highs as bad weather hurts West Africa crop yield
