Vivek 2024!

I have zero desire to have Trump as our president again.  We need a unifier who will speak truth to power.  

For anyone still deciding between Vivek and Trump, here's my analysis:

Vivek has a strong understanding of the constitution and laws. Trump failed his first term because he got duped by the "experts," and he is yet to acknowledge his shortcomings.

Vivek has a better connection with the younger generation. As a self-made entrepreneur and author of multiple books, Vivek can inspire more young people as a role model. Most of the younger generation tends to vote Democratic, proving that Trump has failed in bringing the youth so far.

Vivek is more well-read, well-spoken, and intelligent. His approach is more unifying and relatable to both sides, as seen in his podcasts and conflicts with protesters. Trump's approach is cruder and more divisive, which is not good when we are this close to a civil war.

Vivek is self-funded, allowing him to speak on issues like eminent domain and removing affirmative action. Trump is beholden to his donor class (Super PACs), who have invested a lot of money in Trump's legal cases and campaign, demanding a "return" later.  

Vivek is promising to shut down government agencies, while Trump is advocating for a new building for the FBI.

Vivek will start each year's budget starting at zero.  It will not depend on the previous year's budget.  We have been budget deficits for decades now, with total deficit completely unmanageable, and Vivek will get us closer to a balanced budget.

Vivek is more energetic, with almost 350 events last year, including hundreds of virtual summits and podcasts. Trump, on the other hand, is very old, managing only 30 events last year, and the legal fights have further drained him.

Vivek does not like playing the victim; his campaign is based on gratitude. In contrast, Trump's campaign (and his supporters) seek vengeance, forming their entire strategy around playing the victim.  Why should we have someone in office who is looking for vengeance against others?

~40% of Vivek’s donors have NEVER donated to a Republican or made a political donation before. The first-time donor % to most politicians is 2%. This is unheard of. That’s a movement.

There is a chance that Trump will go to jail before the elections. If that happens, it would not just embarrass Republicans; the entire country would be subject to ridicule. Vivek will face attacks as well, but he has a stronger background to fight back and leaves less room for mistakes.

 Vivek will shock the world in the primaries.  

 

A few thoughts

There was a huge surge of money creation during the COVID crisis. The money supply grew by 40% in the U.S., 22% in the U.K. and 20% in the eurozone. The inflationary environment that followed should come as little surprise.

Fast forward a few years. Interest rates have spiked to combat the inflation. Governments continue to run budget deficits as they have for decades, meaning national debts continue to increase. Higher interest rates mean higher costs to service government debt. This means the cost to pay for the mounting national debt is soaring higher. This puts pressure on inflation increasing.

When will nations begin electing fiscally responsible leadership who will put a lid on this?

2020 Police

Police 2020: We will arrest you if you leave your house because Covid.
Also Police 2020: We won't prevent from leaving your house during a curfew, annihilating private property, and taking whatever you can find inside.

Harry Logan

LARRY HOGAN: The thousands gathered together in mass protesting in huge crowds all together are doing excellent work.

ALSO LARRY HOGAN: No, you cannot eat at indoor restaurants.

Thoughts on the Killing of George Floyd and thoughts about Covid-19:

1.      The underlying issue with the killing of George Floyd is police brutality.  Police need to be held more accountable for their actions.  The law should not “protect” the law.  If the law kills someone with malintent, they should be punished and put in jail.  They should not be the exception.  They should be subject to the rule. 

All lives matter.  The way cops treat all people matter. 

2.      Cops do not treat black folks the same.  My former coworker was a young, black, and always getting harassed by cops for no reason.  He has driven around with his friends and been pulled over and forced to sit on the curb and answer questions with no probable cause.  This needs to be rectified.

3.      The destruction of private property by rioters in the aftermath of G. Floyd’s killing does not help address the underlying issues of police brutality.  These private property owners who have already been devasted by more then two months of forced government shutdown have now had their businesses decimated by looters and rioters. 

Although, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise for some.  The economic conditions after Covid were so poor anyhow that they may recoup more in insurance money versus business.

4.      Peaceful protest should be the means to an end.  Not destruction of private property.

5.      The man who killed George Floyd is being charged with 3^rd degree murder.  There has already been a precedent set which does not bode favorably for getting the justice deserved for the man that was slaughtered by the cop.

From Vox: “As Paul Butler, a Georgetown law professor and former prosecutor specializing in cases involving corrupt law enforcement officers, explains, homicide charges against police are very rare. Only about 100 officers have faced such charges for their on-duty conduct since 2005, and only 35 of those were convicted as of 2019. None of the officers charged in Freddie Gray’s death were convicted.” 

This needs to change.  I hope this is something that will change based on the latest police brutality.

6.      The rioting and looting has arguably been exacerbated by the forced government shutdown of the past two+ months.  This has caused businesses to shut down, and left many people unemployed and/or homeless.  The actual unemployment by many sources is above 25%.  That’s 1 in every 4 people without a job now DIRECTLY due to our government’s decision to shut down the entire economy instead of providing guidelines for how people should act and allowing people the freedom to act as they please and at their own risk.  So now people who have nowhere to work or nothing to do are joining the movement as it spreads. 

7.      The idea for the government to completely shut down the economy because of Covid was asinine.  Our hospitals were largely empty all over the country during Covid.  The government has now done much more economic and social damage to the country versus the toll on people’s health.  Economists now say many of the jobs lost during Covid (and the forced government shutdown) will not come back.  This article suggests it’s possible 2 out of every 5 may not come back.  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/42-of-jobs-lost-during-covid-19-may-not-come-back/  When our country was faced with a bad virus back in the late 60’s, this was not the response.  The response to Covid / a bad virus was unprecedented and was a completely poor response. 

8.      The fact that Congress had to send everyone stimulus money goes to show our ecnomony’s health was poor prior to Covid.  And Covid was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Not enough people in our country had or have savings for a rainy day.  Not enough people had two months worth of savings to “weather the storm”.  Therefore this is what caused Congress and the Central Banks to raise the deficit another $6 Trillion+ as of April 15^th.  And since then even more has been spent.  This rate of spending cannot be sustained indefinitely.   The news is barely even mentioning this.  

Trump's First Day in Office

*Trump's first day at the Oval Office after being elected President.*
First briefing by the CIA, Pentagon, FBI:

Trump: We must destroy ISIS immediately. No delays.

CIA: We cannot do that, sir. We created them along with Turkey, Saudi, Qatar and others.

Trump: The Democrats created them.

CIA: We created ISIS, sir. You need them or else you would lose funding from the natural gas lobby.

Trump: Stop funding Pakistan. Let India deal with them.

CIA: We can't do that.

Trump: Why is that?

CIA: India will cut Balochistan out of Pak.

Trump: I don't care.

CIA: India will have peace in Kashmir. They will stop buying our weapons. They will become a superpower. We have to fund Pakistan to keep India busy in Kashmir.

Trump: But you have to destroy the Taliban.

CIA: Sir, we can't do that. We created the Taliban to keep Russia in check during the 80s. Now they are keeping Pakistan busy and away from their nukes.

Trump: We have to destroy terror sponsoring regimes in the Middle East. Let us start with the Saudis.

Pentagon: Sir, we can't do that. We created those regimes because we wanted their oil. We can't have democracy there, otherwise their people will get that oil - and we cannot let their people own it.

Trump: Then, let us invade Iran.

Pentagon: We cannot do that either, sir.

Trump: Why not?

CIA: We are talking to them, sir.

Trump: What? Why?

CIA: We want our Stealth Drones back. If we attack them, Russia will obliterate us as they did to our buddy ISIS in Syria. Besides we need Iran to keep Israel in check.

Trump: Then let us invade Iraq again.

CIA: Sir, our friends (ISIS) are already occupying 1/3rd of Iraq.

Trump: Why not the whole of Iraq?

CIA: We need the Shi'ite govt of Iraq to keep ISIS in check.

Trump: I am banning Muslims from entering US.

FBI: We can't do that.

Trump: Why not?

FBI: Then our own population will become fearless.

Trump: I am deporting all illegal immigrants to south of the border.

Border patrol: You can't do that, sir.

Trump: Why not?

Border patrol: If they're gone, who will build the wall?

Trump: I am banning H1B visas.

USCIS: You cannot do that.

Trump: Why?

Chief of Staff: If you do so, we'll have to outsource White House operations to Bangalore. Which is in India.

Trump (sweating profusely by now): What the hell should I do as President???

CIA: Enjoy the White House, sir! We will take care of the rest!

Thoughts After Trump's Win

Trump: "Obama isn't enforcing laws for deportation..."
Truth: That's bullsh*t.  Obama has deported more illegal immigrants in his eight years than in Bush's first six.  So where Obama has set the bar high for illegal immigrant deportations, if anything Trump will have to hurdle over it  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obama-deported-record-number-immigrants-trump-claim-article-1.2774180

I think Trump's wall idea is completely asinine.  Stupid idea and a yuge waste of money.  Build a wall and bordering countries will just find ladders tall enough to climb over.  On top of this, Mexico's economy is booming and Mexican's are even leaving the United States to go back to Mexico as they cannot find jobs in the United States.

Regarding our national debt.  This is a yuge issue.  I wouldn't be surprised if Trump's rate of spending was worse than Bush or Obama, reading several articles like this article plus the fact he wants to perform wasteful projects like building a wall: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/07/28/Trump-Fumes-Over-19-Trillion-National-Debt-His-Plan-Would-Double-It

Obama was involved in six wars – most of which we didn’t hear about through the mainstream media – but under Trump if those wars continue (likely) you can bet your ass that a.) democrats will come out of the woodwork all of a sudden as “anti-war” and b. the mainstream news will make Trump’s wars a focal point (for the record: I’m personally against all our foreign, unprovoked wars).

Trump has written about and said he wants to cut or eliminate the Department of Education.  I personally think this would be a great move.  Will he actually do this, or will he do what Reagan did in the 1980's where he promised to end Department of Education but got nothing done?

Trump says he will deliver the "largest tax-cuts since Reagan".  I'm not holding my breath here but probably something he can achieve.  Would be welcome for everyone.

Trumps says he wants to reform Obamacare.  I guess there's good and bad in this.  Personally I think even before Obamacare the government was already too heavily involved in health insurance and needed to get completely out of it.  But in its current state Obamacare stinks.  I personally know people who are paying DOUBLE - that's two times - as much for health insurance as they were just two years ago.  They were paying ~$1000 a month for a family of four two years ago, now they are paying close to $2000 a month for a family of three (one child moved out).  So if Trump is going to reform OK, but since the government makes worse everything that it tries to improve, I'm not holding my breath.