The Trump presidency.

[PS_RalphW]

It suddenly struck me which fictional character Trump most reminds me of.

Zaphod Beeblebrox. Without the charisma.

[careful_eugene]

I don't think Putin cares about Obamacare.

Care about it? No. But he is very competitive and anything that weakens the USA is good from his point of view. Having healthcare be 16 percent of the US economy and huge chunks of it financed by tax dollars reduces the funds available for out military.
The national Health service has sunk the British navy and a few more years of Medicare, Medicaid and Obama care or whatever replaces it will have the American Navy tied up as rusting hulks at the docks.

I think I'd rather have the NHS than a US healthcare system even if it means we can't have 10 Nimitz aircraft carriers projecting our power around the world.

[UndercoverElephant]

It suddenly struck me which fictional character Trump most reminds me of.

Zaphod Beeblebrox. Without the charisma.

There are some similarities, yes.

[emordnilap]

I don't think Putin cares about Obamacare.

Care about it? No. But he is very competitive and anything that weakens the USA is good from his point of view. Having healthcare be 16 percent of the US economy and huge chunks of it financed by tax dollars reduces the funds available for out military.
The national Health service has sunk the British navy and a few more years of Medicare, Medicaid and Obama care or whatever replaces it will have the American Navy tied up as rusting hulks at the docks.

I think I'd rather have the NHS than a US healthcare system even if it means we can't have 10 Nimitz aircraft carriers projecting our power around the world.

There's a distinct dearth of empathy in this world, you'll agree.

[vtsnowedin]

I don't think Putin cares about Obamacare.

Care about it? No. But he is very competitive and anything that weakens the USA is good from his point of view. Having healthcare be 16 percent of the US economy and huge chunks of it financed by tax dollars reduces the funds available for out military.
The national Health service has sunk the British navy and a few more years of Medicare, Medicaid and Obama care or whatever replaces it will have the American Navy tied up as rusting hulks at the docks.

I think I'd rather have the NHS than a US healthcare system even if it means we can't have 10 Nimitz aircraft carriers projecting our power around the world.

That depends on how much your life expectancy would decline without NATO and it's aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. Perhaps by far more then losing the entire healthcare system.

[emordnilap]

Here we go again:

Trump moves to dismantle Obama's climate legacy

In a speech before he signed the order, Trump promised “a new era in American energy and production and job creation”. He said: “The action I’m taking today will eliminate federal overreach, restore economic freedom and allow our workers and companies to thrive and compete on a level playing field for the first time in a long time. I’m not just talking eight years.”

"federal overreach" = social and climate protection
"economic freedom" = rape
"level playing field" = fairy story
"new era" = fúck you

And the Heritage Foundation have to have their say: "Wealth is health", a very clear example of an alternative fact.

[johnhemming2]

To be fair to trump this is not in any way surprising. It is exactly what was to be expected.

[careful_eugene]

Care about it? No. But he is very competitive and anything that weakens the USA is good from his point of view. Having healthcare be 16 percent of the US economy and huge chunks of it financed by tax dollars reduces the funds available for out military.
The national Health service has sunk the British navy and a few more years of Medicare, Medicaid and Obama care or whatever replaces it will have the American Navy tied up as rusting hulks at the docks.

I think I'd rather have the NHS than a US healthcare system even if it means we can't have 10 Nimitz aircraft carriers projecting our power around the world.

That depends on how much your life expectancy would decline without NATO and it's aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. Perhaps by far more then losing the entire healthcare system.

We still do have a navy complete with nuclear armed submarines. My point was that the US has a far larger military than it should have and that this is at the expense of it's citizens who live with one of the worst healthcare systems in the developed world.

[johnhemming2]

this is at the expense of it's citizens who live with one of the worst healthcare systems in the developed world.

I think that is untrue. The problem with the US healthcare system is that there are people who are excluded. This was the case with pre-existing conditions and is one of the debates about Obama Care.

Those people covered by either Medicare or private insurance, however, generally have a good quality healthcare system.

Its difficulties are for people who cannot afford it. There can be a debate about the merits of the public having a minimum standard of health care. My view is that this is a good thing to do. However, you cannot say that the health care in the USA is generally bad. It is access that should be criticised and I think Obama made some progress on that.

According to this:
https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics ... rical.html

U.S. health care spending grew 5.8 percent in 2015, reaching $3.2 trillion or $9,990 per person. As a share of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for 17.8 percent.

[careful_eugene]

this is at the expense of it's citizens who live with one of the worst healthcare systems in the developed world.

I think that is untrue. The problem with the US healthcare system is that there are people who are excluded. This was the case with pre-existing conditions and is one of the debates about Obama Care.

Those people covered by either Medicare or private insurance, however, generally have a good quality healthcare system.

Its difficulties are for people who cannot afford it. There can be a debate about the merits of the public having a minimum standard of health care. My view is that this is a good thing to do. However, you cannot say that the health care in the USA is generally bad. It is access that should be criticised and I think Obama made some progress on that.

According to this:
https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics ... rical.html

U.S. health care spending grew 5.8 percent in 2015, reaching $3.2 trillion or $9,990 per person. As a share of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for 17.8 percent.

Like I say, it's the system that's bad, I wasn't criticizing the quality of care that some get.

[johnhemming2]

In which case it is at the expense of "some of" its citizens not all of them. The rest get a very expensive healthcare system.

I agree with you about the principle that people should not be excluded from health care on the basis of income, however.

[emordnilap]

Yes, just as he promised:

[Mark]

At the same time, hysterically attacking everything Trump does, especially when far worse thing happened under both Obama and Bush to little or no criticism. Thats double-standards and hypocritical and negates the critique on the Trump administration.

Trump has only been going for a couple of weeks....
Everything he has done so far looks to be an attack on somebody - the media, the judiciary, China, abortion choice, the security services, climate agreements, Mexico,......
Somebody else has said it's a scattergun approach..., which a polite critique....., I'd say he's like a cowboy shooting from the hip........
I don't see how this can ever be better than what has gone before.....

All previous Presidents have had plenty of criticism....
LB, you've got a very selective memory.....

Day77 of his Presidency - 59 missiles.......
Let's see how it pans out LB....

[Snail]

I think the main positive from a trump presidency will be an electorate of whatever persuasion feeling able to vote for a non-establishment figure or set of ideas. It's up to the 'left' to respond to the challenge and begin to become more active (as in building toward something).

[Little John]

People voted for both Trump and Brexit because they know, in their guts, this whole stinking pile of corruption has to be brought down.

However, Trump looks to have been bought up and bought out pretty early on by the forces that the liberal bourgeoisie were, irony of ironies, only too happy to vote for. And May is equally looking like she is going to sell out the British people as well in terms of not honoring the Brexit result (continued free movement across borders, a massive payoff to the EU and a continuing and growing role in an EU army for the UK).

As a consequence, if the liberal bourgeoisie balked at Trump and Brexit, they are REALLY not going to like what comes next.

This will end with civil insurrection and bloodshed. And it should.

Trump and Brexit were inevitable. And so, it seems, are the far worse successors to them.

Oswald Spenglar was right.

Winter is coming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsaieZt5vjk