No, Biden Has Not Been a "Complete Disaster"--He Has Done Some Good Things

[sealybobo]

Clinton perjured himself, and Trump didn't have any classified documents on a unsecured server in a bathroom at home. You have a typical leftist double standard

What did Trump have? Boxes of classified documents in an unsecured location and he was showing them off. And he was spilling the beans on our nuclear subs to a australian billionaire who then told 20 people.

What the fuck are you talking about? Comparing Trump to any past president is a joke. See? This is what you guys are trying to do. If Clinton lied about a bj then Trump can get away with whatever he wants?

Yes Trump did it too.

The Trump Administration’s Questionable Email Practices - American Oversight

The Trump administration supplied numerous examples of officials who seemed to have forgotten that the rules apply to them, too.

www.americanoversight.org

I think the point I was trying to make is that Trump says "i don't recall" when he doesn't want to perjure himself. If not, he has a very bad (old) memory. It's one or the other. Either he's lying or has a bad (old) memory. I think that was the point I was trying to make there.

 

[sealybobo]

Clinton perjured himself, and Trump didn't have any classified documents on a unsecured server in a bathroom at home. You have a typical leftist double standard

Hillary is guilty of taking her work home with her. Just like team Trump was.

The Trump Administration’s Questionable Email Practices - American Oversight

The Trump administration supplied numerous examples of officials who seemed to have forgotten that the rules apply to them, too.

www.americanoversight.org

 

[Frankenstein]

Hillary is guilty of taking her work home with her. Just like team Trump was.

The Trump Administration’s Questionable Email Practices - American Oversight

The Trump administration supplied numerous examples of officials who seemed to have forgotten that the rules apply to them, too.

www.americanoversight.org

She was guilty of taking classified Documents, and storing them on an unsecured server!

 

[sealybobo]

She was guilty of taking classified Documents, and storing them on an unsecured server!

So was team Trump

Did Trump’s White House staff break the law by using private email? I asked 7 legal experts.​

“I think the larger issue here is the administration’s astounding hypocrisy.”

By Sean Illing@seanilling[email protected] Oct 3, 2017, 10:10am EDT

Did Trump’s White House staff break the law by using private email? I asked 7 legal experts.

"I think the larger issue here is the administration’s astounding hypocrisy."

www.vox.com

Also, who's fault it is Trump is being charged with a felony when Hillary wasn't? It's Trump's fault!

In what might be a particularly ironic outcome, one social media commentator claimed that if Trump is charged for mishandling classified documents, it would be under felony legislation that he signed while president.

But he thinks he's above the law because he was president. That's a joke right?

 

[sealybobo]

Clinton perjured himself, and Trump didn't have any classified documents on a unsecured server in a bathroom at home. You have a typical leftist double standard

"The law TRUMP SIGNED upgraded the crime of wrongly moving classified material from a misdemeanor to a felony.

"Trump signed the bill after spending the 2016 presidential campaign accusing Hillary Clinton of improperly handling classified information."

Special Counsel Jack Smith has investigated the president in two probes: for attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and his actions around the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, and the retention of classified documents.

The former president is facing a charge under the Espionage Act, Trump attorney Jim Trusty told CNN on Thursday, in addition to charges of obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy, and false statements.

What this will look like, and which specific legislation all the charges will be filed under, remains to be seen. However, there is a distinct possibility that Trump could be indicted for an offense that he made a felony while president

Trump signed legislation that year that extended section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, part of which included a change to 18 U.S. Code §1924, increasing the penalty for "unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material" from one to five years.

According to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, this upgrades the offense from a misdemeanor to a Class E felony.

Before the legislation was signed, Trump had repeatedly attacked 2016 presidential race rival Hillary Clinton over claims that she had mishandled classified information; she was never charged.

Fact Check: Did Trump sign into law felony for which he's indicted?

Trump announced on Thursday that he was being indicted over an investigation into classified documents.

www.newsweek.com

 

[sealybobo]

She was guilty of taking classified Documents, and storing them on an unsecured server!

Yea it wasn't a felony until Trump made it one. Then Trump broke his own law.

Fact Check: Did Trump sign into law felony for which he's indicted?

Trump announced on Thursday that he was being indicted over an investigation into classified documents.

www.newsweek.com

 

[Cellblock2429]

I did not vote for Biden in 2020 and will not vote for him in the next election, but his presidency has not been all bad. He has done a number of good things. For example:

-- Biden backed and implemented the Pentagon’s Replicator program proposal to counter China’s lead in military AI-enabled drones. The Replicator program is building thousands of relatively cheap and quickly replaceable drones that can work together to attack, swarm, and defeat enemy defenses. Once all the drones are built, the U.S. will at least have achieved parity with China in AI-enabled drones, if not modest superiority.

-- Biden pushed for and signed the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill, which has sparked a huge increase in infrastructure improvement. The bill has also sparked a huge jump in the construction industry. Nearly 700,000 new construction jobs have been created since the bill’s passage. This construction boom, in turn, has fueled a sharp rise in orders for construction materials.

Let’s keep in mind that even conservative Republicans have long argued that infrastructure spending is one of the best investments that the government can make with taxpayer dollars.

-- Much to the consternation of radical green energy advocates, in late 2021, Biden “quietly” began to promote expanded U.S. oil production. As a result, U.S. oil production is now at record levels, and is expected to go even higher next year. U.S. oil production is now over 13 million barrels per day (13.3 million), the highest production rate ever (barrels per day under Trump ranged from 9.9 million to 12.9 million barrels).

As one liberal commentator has noted, “Demanding an ‘all of the above’ policy that includes all forms of energy has become cliche among lawmakers. Under Biden, that may have become a reality few politicians will want to publicly discuss. Democrats don’t want to alienate their green backers on the left who’ve accused the administration of abandoning its climate focus, while Republicans are loath to admit that Biden’s oil boom is bigger than Trump’s.”

-- Biden has requested the largest increase in defense spending allowed under the 2023 Biden-McCarthy budget deal’s spending limits. When Biden took office in January 2021, defense spending stood at $806 billion. It was $816 billion in 2023. This year’s defense budget is $842 billion. Biden has asked Congress for an increase to $895 billion for Fiscal Year 2025.

-- Although Biden admittedly failed to act decisively when he learned that Russia was going to invade Ukraine, after Putin invaded, Biden exerted great effort to send massive amounts of weapons and supplies to prevent Ukraine from collapsing. He has approved the sending of increasingly lethal weapons to Ukraine. Yes, he could and should have done more, but he has definitely done more than Bernie Sanders or Liz Warren would have done.

-- Biden has moved aggressively to increase microchip production in the U.S. to reduce our dependency on foreign-produced microchips. During the pandemic, Americans discovered that we were too dependent on microchips produced overseas (mainly in China and Taiwan). When factories shut down in Asia and supply chains bottled up during the pandemic, U.S. automakers and other manufacturers could not get the chips they needed, idling their plants and spiking prices for cars and other goods.

Biden worked with Congress to pass the CHIPS and Science Act, which offered more than $50 billion to subsidize the construction of new microchip facilities in the U.S. and boost research and development across a series of national research facilities. The bill passed in July 2022 with solid bipartisan majorities.

As a result, major chipmakers have announced plans for new semiconductor plants in the U.S, including an Intel campus near Columbus, Ohio, and a facility from Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC in Arizona. More than a dozen new tech research hubs are also planned based on the CHIPS Act’s funding. And the Biden administration recently announced its first actual CHIPS Act grant : a $35 million grant to defense contractor BAE to expand a facility that supplies Air Force fighter jets.

-- Biden inherited senseless interagency squabbling over 5G wireless technology, which reduced the government’s ability to auction off valuable spectrum ranges used for commercial wireless technology. For years agencies had been feuding over how to use different chunks of these airwaves, often pitting the Federal Communications Commission against the Pentagon, the Transportation Department, and other departments that have their own increasing demands for spectrum to operate military radars, aviation equipment, and other systems. These turf wars fueled anxiety over our ability to compete against global rivals like China, which is seeking to dominate the wireless ecosystem and subsidizing telecom giants like Huawei.

Biden created a system that enables the Commerce Department and, when necessary, the White House to settle interagency disputes over 5G spectrum usage and allocation. This move has put the U.S. on firmer global standing and has helped to streamline government policy and usage of the 5G spectrum.

-- Thanks to Biden’s vast increase in the federal investment in renewable energy, renewable energy is now the second largest source of electric power, whereas just a few years ago it ranked fourth.

-- Biden has cracked down on junk fees charged by airlines, cable companies, concert ticket-sellers, and hotels, saving Americans at least $2 billion per year and rising.

-- Biden has cracked down on China-based companies operating in the U.S. who were refusing to disclose their audits. Ever since the Enron and WorldCom scandals, the U.S. has allowed companies to publicly list their stocks only if they agree to let federal watchdogs review their auditors’ work. However, until 2022, Chinese authorities, citing national security concerns, refused to allow American inspectors to examine the books of China-based companies.

Biden secured a landmark deal in August 2022 that gives American inspectors at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the top American accounting watchdog, unprecedented access to the audits of Chinese and Hong Kong-based firms trading on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.

I should add that this deal was made possible by the 2020 bill that Trump signed that empowered the government to expel companies that did not allow their audits to be inspected.

-- Biden is in the process of raising the threshold for receiving overtime pay to $55,000, a long-overdue increase. Under current law, only employees who earn less than $36,000 can receive overtime pay for overtime hours. Thus, if you earn $37,000 per year, your employer can require that you work overtime hours without getting overtime pay for those hours. My oldest son was the general manager of a large restaurant and had to work 60-70 hours per week, but he received no overtime pay for the extra hours because his salary was $60K per year.

Again, I did not and will not vote for Biden, but he has done many good things, and his reelection would not necessarily mean the end of the world.

/---/ And don't forget, Mussolini got the trains to run on time.

 

[sealybobo]

/---/ And don't forget, Mussolini got the trains to run on time.

Starting with the Reagan/Bush, in 1983, corporate taxes revenues were slashed to a low not seen since 1929. Once the rich and powerful gain control of the government, they turn it upon itself, usually first eliminating its taxation process as it applies to themselves.

"General Electric Co., for example, reported paying an effective tax rate of 19% in 2004 on world-wide income, compared with 26% in 2003." AND IT’S ZERO NOW!!!!

Corporations make use of a work force educated in public schools paid for with tax dollars. They use roads and highways paid for with tax dollars. They use water, sewer, and power and communications rights-of-way paid for with taxes. They demand the same protection from fire and police departments as everybody else, and enjoy the benefits of national sovereignty and the stability provided by the military and institutions like NATO and the United Nations, the same as all residents of democratic nations.

In fact, corporations are heavier users of taxpayer-provided services and institutions than are average citizens. Taxes pay for our court systems, which are most heavily used by corporations to enforce contracts. Taxes pay for our Treasury Department and other governmental institutions which maintain a stable currency essential to corporate activity. Taxes pay for our regulation of corporate activity, from assuring safety in the workplace to a pure food and drug supply to limiting toxic emissions.

Because it's well understood that corporations use our tax-funded institutions at least as heavily as do citizens, but in 2001 Bush administration Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill suggested there should be no corporate income tax whatsoever.

A cornerstone of the conservative movement to consolidate power in the hands of a wealthy corporate elite, the campaign to end corporate income taxes altogether - and leave the rest of us to pick up the entire tab for corporate use first picked up steam when Reagan came to power in 1980.



Nobles Need Not Pay Taxes

 

[JWBooth]

No, Biden Has Not Been a "Complete Disaster"--He Has Done Some Good Things

 

[Cellblock2429]

Starting with the Reagan/Bush, in 1983, corporate taxes revenues were slashed to a low not seen since 1929. Once the rich and powerful gain control of the government, they turn it upon itself, usually first eliminating its taxation process as it applies to themselves.

"General Electric Co., for example, reported paying an effective tax rate of 19% in 2004 on world-wide income, compared with 26% in 2003." AND IT’S ZERO NOW!!!!

Corporations make use of a work force educated in public schools paid for with tax dollars. They use roads and highways paid for with tax dollars. They use water, sewer, and power and communications rights-of-way paid for with taxes. They demand the same protection from fire and police departments as everybody else, and enjoy the benefits of national sovereignty and the stability provided by the military and institutions like NATO and the United Nations, the same as all residents of democratic nations.

In fact, corporations are heavier users of taxpayer-provided services and institutions than are average citizens. Taxes pay for our court systems, which are most heavily used by corporations to enforce contracts. Taxes pay for our Treasury Department and other governmental institutions which maintain a stable currency essential to corporate activity. Taxes pay for our regulation of corporate activity, from assuring safety in the workplace to a pure food and drug supply to limiting toxic emissions.

Because it's well understood that corporations use our tax-funded institutions at least as heavily as do citizens, but in 2001 Bush administration Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill suggested there should be no corporate income tax whatsoever.

A cornerstone of the conservative movement to consolidate power in the hands of a wealthy corporate elite, the campaign to end corporate income taxes altogether - and leave the rest of us to pick up the entire tab for corporate use first picked up steam when Reagan came to power in 1980.



Nobles Need Not Pay Taxes

/----/ "in 1983, corporate taxes revenues were slashed to a low not seen since 1929. "
I stopped reading at your first uneducated, ill-informed talking point.
Fun facts for you:
1. Corporations treat taxes as overhead and pass them on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. How much more do you want to pay for the stuff you need to survive? And before you say that would make a company uncompetitive, ALL CORPORTATIONS along the supply chain get the same tax hikes.
2. democRATs voted for those tax cuts too.
3. Lower corporate taxes makes the US more competitive in the world market. Why do you think cheap Chinese crap floods our country, putting US companies out of business? High taxes for one. Labor and environmental laws are another.

 

[sealybobo]

/----/ "in 1983, corporate taxes revenues were slashed to a low not seen since 1929. "
I stopped reading at your first uneducated, ill-informed talking point.
Fun facts for you:
1. Corporations treat taxes as overhead and pass them on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. How much more do you want to pay for the stuff you need to survive? And before you say that would make a company uncompetitive, ALL CORPORTATIONS along the supply chain get the same tax hikes.
2. democRATs voted for those tax cuts too.
3. Lower corporate taxes makes the US more competitive in the world market. Why do you think cheap Chinese crap floods our country, putting US companies out of business? High taxes for one. Labor and environmental laws are another.

Perhaps it was wise to pass half those tax breaks.

But also try to take in some of the points my article made. Those corporations use the government more than we do. But they are passing the taxes on to us if they are getting breaks. And if you dare suggest taxing them they threaten to raise the prices? If you say the CEO pays himself too much and the employees too little, you say a pay raise will mean higher prices?

How we gonna fix this?

Because according to this we're doing great

Household wealth swelled at a record pace during the pandemic. From 2019 to 2022, the median net worth of American families jumped 37% to $192,900, after adjusting for inflation. It’s the largest increase ever recorded by the federal Survey of Consumer Finances, released last fall. Surging home values and rising stock ownership fed the surge.

You keep arguing that the rich and corporations pay too much in taxes. If we tax them they'll leave. But didn't Trump just say he'd tariff them if they do?

 

[Cellblock2429]

Perhaps it was wise to pass half those tax breaks.

But also try to take in some of the points my article made. Those corporations use the government more than we do. But they are passing the taxes on to us if they are getting breaks. And if you dare suggest taxing them they threaten to raise the prices? If you say the CEO pays himself too much and the employees too little, you say a pay raise will mean higher prices?

How we gonna fix this?

Because according to this we're doing great

Household wealth swelled at a record pace during the pandemic. From 2019 to 2022, the median net worth of American families jumped 37% to $192,900, after adjusting for inflation. It’s the largest increase ever recorded by the federal Survey of Consumer Finances, released last fall. Surging home values and rising stock ownership fed the surge.

You keep arguing that the rich and corporations pay too much in taxes. If we tax them they'll leave. But didn't Trump just say he'd tariff them if they do?

/-----/
But they are passing the taxes on to us if they are getting breaks. I don't think that is what you meant to say. Companies do different things with the tax breaks, some reduce prices to be competitive, others invest the money in R&D and capital equipment, others expand, and any number of combinations of the above.

And if you dare suggest taxing them they threaten to raise the prices? It's not a threat, it's reality. It's what happens.
Fixed overheads are costs that remain constant every month and do not change with changes in business activity levels. Examples of fixed overheads include salaries, rent, property taxes, corporate taxes, depreciation of assets, and government licenses.

If you say the CEO pays himself too much and the employees too little, you say a pay raise will mean higher prices? I never said that. What a private company pays its CEO and workers is none of your business. Labor costs are a company's biggest expense. You earn what the market bears. An unskilled worker makes less than employees with highly demanded skills and experience. Should a high school drop out janitor make the same as a chief financial officer with a CPA?

How we gonna fix this?
I'm not going to fix anything. Let the market pressure and forces determine wages.

"Employers cannot have their labor costs increase by up to 100 percent without significant disruptions to their operations," said Rachel Greszler, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. "Responses to a $15 federal minimum wage will vary depending on their industries and unique circumstances, but their options include eliminating positions, cutting employee hours, reducing benefits, automating or outsourcing jobs, or closing down."

Greszler added that even employers of middle-wage workers may be subject to wage pressure. "In order to attract and retain the workers they need, employers have to maintain a hierarchy of wages based on experience and productivity. They cannot pay shift managers the same rate as entry-level workers."

Will a $15 Minimum Wage Hurt Small Businesses?

Small businesses have been especially hard-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. That's why some believe this is an inopportune time to pursue raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, as Democrats in Congress have proposed.

www.shrm.org

 

[sealybobo]

/-----/
But they are passing the taxes on to us if they are getting breaks. I don't think that is what you meant to say. Companies do different things with the tax breaks, some reduce prices to be competitive, others invest the money in R&D and capital equipment, others expand, and any number of combinations of the above.

And if you dare suggest taxing them they threaten to raise the prices? It's not a threat, it's reality. It's what happens.
Fixed overheads are costs that remain constant every month and do not change with changes in business activity levels. Examples of fixed overheads include salaries, rent, property taxes, corporate taxes, depreciation of assets, and government licenses.

If you say the CEO pays himself too much and the employees too little, you say a pay raise will mean higher prices? I never said that. What a private company pays its CEO and workers is none of your business. Labor costs are a company's biggest expense. You earn what the market bears. An unskilled worker makes less than employees with highly demanded skills and experience. Should a high school drop out janitor make the same as a chief financial officer with a CPA?

How we gonna fix this?
I'm not going to fix anything. Let the market pressure and forces determine wages.

"Employers cannot have their labor costs increase by up to 100 percent without significant disruptions to their operations," said Rachel Greszler, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. "Responses to a $15 federal minimum wage will vary depending on their industries and unique circumstances, but their options include eliminating positions, cutting employee hours, reducing benefits, automating or outsourcing jobs, or closing down."

Greszler added that even employers of middle-wage workers may be subject to wage pressure. "In order to attract and retain the workers they need, employers have to maintain a hierarchy of wages based on experience and productivity. They cannot pay shift managers the same rate as entry-level workers."

Will a $15 Minimum Wage Hurt Small Businesses?

Small businesses have been especially hard-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. That's why some believe this is an inopportune time to pursue raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, as Democrats in Congress have proposed.

www.shrm.org

Well right now workers aren't making enough and CEO's and their VP's are making too much. Perhaps then the workers need to organize and get a seat at the table so when CEO's give top execs raises, they also have to give the workers raises too.

That's up to the CEO if he wants to raise prices so he can give himself a bigger raise. But he has to share the profits with the workers.

Perhaps unions are the only solution.

 

[GMCGeneral]

/----/ "in 1983, corporate taxes revenues were slashed to a low not seen since 1929. "
I stopped reading at your first uneducated, ill-informed talking point.
Fun facts for you:
1. Corporations treat taxes as overhead and pass them on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. How much more do you want to pay for the stuff you need to survive? And before you say that would make a company uncompetitive, ALL CORPORTATIONS along the supply chain get the same tax hikes.
2. democRATs voted for those tax cuts too.
3. Lower corporate taxes makes the US more competitive in the world market. Why do you think cheap Chinese crap floods our country, putting US companies out of business? High taxes for one. Labor and environmental laws are another.

And something else economically illiterate Leftists like sealybobo forget that labor is THE single largest expense in any private sector business, who's one and only objective is, and should be, profit!

 

[Frankenstein]

"The law TRUMP SIGNED upgraded the crime of wrongly moving classified material from a misdemeanor to a felony.

"Trump signed the bill after spending the 2016 presidential campaign accusing Hillary Clinton of improperly handling classified information."

Special Counsel Jack Smith has investigated the president in two probes: for attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and his actions around the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, and the retention of classified documents.

The former president is facing a charge under the Espionage Act, Trump attorney Jim Trusty told CNN on Thursday, in addition to charges of obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy, and false statements.

What this will look like, and which specific legislation all the charges will be filed under, remains to be seen. However, there is a distinct possibility that Trump could be indicted for an offense that he made a felony while president

Trump signed legislation that year that extended section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, part of which included a change to 18 U.S. Code §1924, increasing the penalty for "unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material" from one to five years.

According to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, this upgrades the offense from a misdemeanor to a Class E felony.

Before the legislation was signed, Trump had repeatedly attacked 2016 presidential race rival Hillary Clinton over claims that she had mishandled classified information; she was never charged.

Fact Check: Did Trump sign into law felony for which he's indicted?

Trump announced on Thursday that he was being indicted over an investigation into classified documents.

www.newsweek.com

Key word is wrongly, He never tried to overturn the election, retaining Documents as President is legal. Here is the kicker Biden retained classified documents that he had no tight having as Vice President and they are charging him! Trumps where secured Bidens were certainly not. Biden shared classified material Trump has not

 

[Frankenstein]

Yea it wasn't a felony until Trump made it one. Then Trump broke his own law.

Fact Check: Did Trump sign into law felony for which he's indicted?

Trump announced on Thursday that he was being indicted over an investigation into classified documents.

www.newsweek.com

She had no business having let alone sharing them

 

[Couchpotato]

Him doing student loan forgiveness for example. That's something that ONLY middle class people benefit from. No rich people taking advantage of that program.

ROFLMAO... Seriously that's a great bit.

 

[sealybobo]

Key word is wrongly, He never tried to overturn the election, retaining Documents as President is legal. Here is the kicker Biden retained classified documents that he had no tight having as Vice President and they are charging him! Trumps where secured Bidens were certainly not. Biden shared classified material Trump has not

Are you kidding? Obama waved his magic wand and declassified those documents. Biden falls under Obama's king protection.

 

[sealybobo]

ROFLMAO... Seriously that's a great bit.

You have to make under $75K to take advantage of the program. What's so funny? No rich people can take advantage of this. Any policies Republicans pass heavily favor the rich. You know it. This program only helps middle class people.

Hey, I can bash the people who benefit just like I can bash unions but are you for a healthy strong middle class or not? Seems like you argue for the corporations every time never the workers.

 

[Couchpotato]

You have to make under $75K to take advantage of the program. What's so funny? No rich people can take advantage of this. Any policies Republicans pass heavily favor the rich. You know it. This program only helps middle class people.

Hey, I can bash the people who benefit just like I can bash unions but are you for a healthy strong middle class or not? Seems like you argue for the corporations every time never the workers.

As the middle class has gotten smaller, has the lower class gotten bigger, smaller or stayed the same as a percentage of the population?