Saturday, April 29, 2017

Businesses that are living past their usefulness. The Trump economy is about dinosaurs, not the future.

April 28, 2017
By Matthew Yglesias

Donald Trump (click here) attracted a reputation over the years as a ruthless and unscrupulous businessman. He said on the campaign trail that having been “greedy all my life,” he now wanted to be greedy on behalf of the American people — but nobody seriously believed him. Marco Rubio warned that Trump was a “con artist,” and Ted Cruz labeled him “completely amoral.” Liberals, needless to say, were not kinder in their judgments.

From the day Trump announced his candidacy until the day he took the Oval Office, the smart take on him was that he was running on a lark, as a publicity stunt, or to lay the groundwork for some business endeavor....

President Trump is unscrupulous. No doubt about it, but, it wasn't his negative characteristics that bothered the electorate. The Donald Trump electorate, for the most part, are moral to their god, but, unscrupulous and borderline impoverished. Basically, they are desperate people and Trump was there last hope. They are not finding a savior, although many will attempt to be Trump wannabees PLUS. The PLUS is the promises of their new Neocon god.


I was especially impressed with his extra long ties. They are expensive (Nortstrom click here) But, it is one aspect of his appearance that no one can miss and he sells ties. I am fairly sure he wears his own ties. 

...But Trump isn’t failing (his own wealth). He and his family appear to be making money hand over fist. It's a spectacle the likes of which we've never seen in the United States, and while it may end in disaster for the Trumps someday, for now it shows no real sign of failure....

...The day-to-day management of the companies is in the hands of his two oldest sons, while his oldest daughter and her husband (both of whom run substantial businesses in their own right) serve as high-ranking officials in the White House....

  • ...the terms of the trust in which the Trump Organization is held allow the president to pull money out of the company at any time.
  • Eric Trump says he is giving his father regular updates on the state of the Trump Organization, on a “probably quarterly” timeline but with no specific commitments.
  • Donald Trump Jr. is not only a top executive at the Trump Organization but also does surrogate interviews on behalf of the president.
Like Trump said on the campaign trail, "...I could shoot someone and not lose voters." He is getting away with fraud and corruption because it is in the open. 
So, what are Americans and Wall Street learning?

That a man who was CEO, then became USA President that didn't know much about the job, can get away with anything. Billionaires in the USA can get away with anything, including keeping their personal taxes out of the reach of the media.

And Wall Street is learning. There are issues with cheating the customers if they can get away with it escalating. There are plans, as with Marriott (click here), to expand hotels and go into real debt. There may have been plans on the CEO desk for years, but, shortly after the inauguration Marriott announced it's ambitions. And why shouldn't it be ambitious? The Trump Las Vegas Golden Hotel put his organization into the red. Trump received a moratorium on taxes for 18 years. Wall Street is learning PLENTY.

That brings me to the real reason his taxes are kept behind locked doors, it would give his competition ideas. Who wants that?

There is also a political theory rarely looked at because of it's inclusion of criminals, etc. The idea is that if a real revolution is to take place it will probably be scoundrels that are elected.

Scoundrels. People that have cheated, might have a legal record and are thought of as very unlikely political icons. 

The THEORY is that anyone pleasing to the politics of the day that appear to be upright citizens are more likely to be corrupt and crony puppets. That is true in many instances, isn't it? We have seen decades of corruption with the petroleum industry, while it and the coal industry were propagandized as hero to American power and national defense.

The oil imports never stopped. This is what made the economy run? No, energy made the USA economy run, not petroleum, but, the American people taking the climate crisis seriously were attempting in every way to reduce their carbon footprint. They probably don't have to reduce it at all if one takes Scotland as an example.

April 27, 2017
By Gregory B. Poindexter

Wave Energy Scotland (WES) (click here) is awarding a total of £2.84 million (US$3.7 million) to four wave energy technology developers that have been selected to stage No. 2 of WES’s Novel Wave Energy Converter (NWEC) program, according to a press release today from WES.

The NWEC program focuses on solutions to capture wave movement, which will help in the ultimate goal of commercializing marine energy production.

Stage No. 2 is expected to run until autumn 2018 and after its conclusion, WES said teams may apply for stage No. 3 funding to develop a scaled-prototype device for in-sea testing at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney.

This latest announcement from WES brings the total investment by the organization in wave energy technology development to £24.6 million (US$31.7 million) across 56 projects in just over two years....

Scotland didn't wait for Earth's rebellion against carbon to become so severe it barely supports life, it dove right in without concern for profit margins or motives. In my book that defines bravery and morality.


Scotland's energy diversity (click here)

Scotland (click here) is in the enviable position of having fantastic renewable energy potential. Successfully unlocking this will not only secure our climate goals but provide the means to deliver economic opportunities across Scotland, bring social benefits and improve public health. Much has been achieved already. At last count Scotland generated the equivalent of 57% of its electricity consumption from renewables and had reduced climate emissions by 39.5% since 1990....

Little Scotland. Little Scotland has more guts and glory than anyone else. Little Scotland with it's wind energy alone may be able to power the entire of Europe if it's ambitions heads in that direction. Scotland, the country with guts and wanted to become their own sovereign.

Can the USA claim any of the accomplishments of Scotland, heck, no. The USA has the largest historical carbon dioxide deposit in Earth's troposphere and it points a finger at emerging countries.

If Scotland can do this so can the USA.

What do the immoral business dealings of people like Trump do? They seek to destroy the EPA and remove all carbon emissions control programs. They are cowards and have been since the 1960s where political money has been buying the petroleum industry and their refineries a continued life past their "Peak Oil" or USEFULNESS.

Greed. Donald Trump, in the Oval Office, is the icon to greed.