So what do you Brits make of Trump ?

[broncofan]

The fact that we are arguing over Democrat vs Republican, and not the 99% vs the 01% just proves how much power they have.

I understand the sentiment but I'm going to disagree with this part. There are plenty of people in the top 1% of wealth who do not vote based on the narrow economic interests of their class. It is a battle over fairness and principle, against rigging rather than good outcomes.

I never understood this 1%, 99% dichotomy, as though ill-gotten wealth is somehow perfectly stratified within the top percent and everyone else is perfectly pure. This is one of the reasons I did not like Bernie; this sort of populism is often divorced from how the world works and does not provide a very good guide to implementing effective policies. If we are not going to punish wealth or discourage it, then there's no reason to demonize those who possess it. I would encourage wealthy people to vote against Trump.

[broncofan]

That last post may seem unnecessarily argumentative (it would not be the first time) but it just seems that the problem in this country is that leaders do not have any faith in the public's ability to evaluate a policy so they instead propose new bogeymen. If someone is not bad because of their race then they're bad because of their wealth or their profession or where they live.

What if politicians instead said, we propose this regulation because it prevents a business from engaging in anti-competitive practices, or a bank from taking on too much risk, or a wealthy individual from buying elections? What if they said, there is nothing intrinsically bad with this group of people but we have not done enough to disincentivize bad behavior and they are uniquely placed to take advantage of poorly written laws? Naïve I know. We won't have banksters, evil 1 percenters, rootless cosmopolitans, godless liberals, or the biased media to talk about.

[trish]

I hear that (to use one of Donald’s favorite phrases) the richest 20 Americans own more wealth than the bottom fifty percent. CNN reports the richest 1% own more than the remaining 99% of us.

I agree that Bernie is kind of a one-note-charlie on this issue and I also agree that one shouldn’t demonize the wealthy as a group. But one has to admit that the wealthy, by the nature of wealth, wield is disproportionate amount of power. Having such a lopsided distribution of wealth makes it difficult for a democracy to sustain itself. This is still one of the wealthiest nations on Earth with some of the most productive workers; and yet we can’t get successful businesses to pay their laborers a living wage. To say the wealthy should share their good fortune makes it sound like we’re asking them to be charitable and generous, whereas in fact they (and all of us who have benefited from a successful stock market) owe a good portion of their wealth to the workers who have been stiffed for over a decade.

I would like to see some substantial tax reform, including higher rates on capital gains and a tax on every transaction. Trump wants to go back to the fifties when America was ‘great.’ Let’s go back to the progressive tax rates we had in 1955 when the rate was 91% on the highest bracket.

It’s difficult to talk about this subject without sounding like you’re demonizing the wealthy. But if even one assumes no one in the top 1% intentionally stepped on the backs of others and only ever had the most innocent of intentions and that the economy is not a zero sum game, one cannot get around the fact that current distribution of wealth is divisive, contributes to a lopsided distribution of political, social and economic power and hampers the functioning of our democracy.

[buttslinger]

The ONE PERCENTERS have this thing figured out, and you can't fault them for that, but it would be nice if the 99% figured things out and played this game like the 1% do.
I don't think the USA would fall apart if 50% of the Country had 50% of the wealth.
Dwight D Eisenhower would not have let Trump get 100 yards from Government, when he said beware the Military Industrial complex, who do you think he was talking about?
Bush was not a President who was a businessman, he was a businessman who was President. Somewhere in that statement is a distinction that's going to have to be addressed and figured out.
If you cut Wall Street out of the relationship between the American Producer and the American Consumer you could buy a gallon of milk for 2 bucks. That's not Communism, that's good business.
But yeah, it's a complex problem that is no wheres as easy as I'm painting it. When you try to take people's money they fight back. Liking trying to sink Obamacare for the last 7 years.
Man, those Republicans really bristle when it comes to health care for the poor.......

[broncofan]

Good posts. I want to point out that I'm not equating economic and geographic discrimination with racial discrimination. All things equal, it is at least logical to have a common ground economically and completely irrational to be politically motivated by ethnic differences and similarities. I just think one common denominator in modern politics is the desire to segment the voting public ; this is probably the basis for electoral strategy....these guys will vote for us, these won't, and these guys will only vote for us if we pander to their antagonism towards this other group.

I also wonder if on the high end, some of the growth in the number of super wealthy is based on the fact that companies depend more on intellectual property than human labor. I'm sure this is not a new point, but if someone can get rich off of building a network with proprietary software or creating a marketplace for people to buy and sell goods, they will be transmitting much less of their wealth to employees (there goes the idea of "job creators"). On the lower end our protections still need to be better corporate governance to protect investors, better labor and work safety laws, and an educational system that is more responsive to the marketplace, even if that means that 18-22 year olds are learning practical skills in addition to liberal arts curriculum. A more progressive tax is also necessary to provide services that enable socioeconomic mobility...as for buying political influence, we're still waiting on the Supreme Court.

[fred41]

-... as a desperate attempt to get past the row over the 'Gold Star' parents Mr and Mrs Khan, not to mention his inept remarks about Vladimir Putin and Russian involvement in Ukraine. The problem is the language and tone matter, just as a 'Gold Star' mother was booed at a Pence rally, ...

This one definitely hurt him a bit. Your typical conservative poster on social media throws the following things at people (often daring you to 'share')..God,.. the flag... and the belief that only they respect law enforcement and....veterans. Especially if they served overseas.
When Trump ridiculed McCain's service, his followers were able to overlook that (but some didn't). ...but once that immature, thin skinned moron went after the Khan's, who's child gave the ultimate sacrifice, in his usual tone deaf way...I believe he may have lost some followers. At the very least it silenced some of them for awhile.

even if it didn't lose him massive numbers (his core support is too entrenched at this point)

I continue to marvel at a presidential contender having the self control of a two year old.

[Stavros]

The papers here report that Donald Trump has declined to endorse either Paul Ryan or John McCain in their respective primaries for their seats in Congress, one wonders if these two masochists which just lap up the insults or at some point say enough is enough? Just out of interest, does the Republican Party have a recognised leader? Is it the Presidential candidate? The leading Senator or Representative? Whoever heads the RNC? There doesn't seem to be anyone in control of this party or one person with an authoritative voice, whereas here in the UK the leaders are clearly identifiable.

[flabbybody]

stavros I might have caught your sarcasm there.
regardless, Trump's attack against the Khan parents might finally be his undoing. Even some of my asshole pro-Trump friends are aghast.
Hillary has opened a 10 point lead in some of the polls. America is on the verge of regaining sanity

[trish]

It might interest HA members to know that Trump signed an anti-pornography pledge. So much for the party that wants to keep government out of private business.
http://theslot.jezebel.com/donald-tr...dge-1784643504

[fred41]

It might interest HA members to know that Trump signed an anti-pornography pledge. So much for the party that wants to keep government out of private business.
http://theslot.jezebel.com/donald-tr...dge-1784643504

Trish, if you haven't yet, read the comments under that article...some of them are very good (some are funny too. there's one that comments on the bewildered look on the babies faces...and mentions his pucker looking like a prolapsed anus with a great GIF included )