Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#571

Post by mrschwabe » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:48 AM UTC

Trump should append this contract with "End Internet shills" because it seems there are a lot of them on this thread. Good golly, I thought finally CTR would close up shop after last night.

For the first time in generations the USA finally has a president who isn't a puppet. And this contract allows us to keep said President accountable from day one. Nerds rejoice! Fear not the knee-jerk comments from un/mis-informed trendies and especially ignore the talking-point bots still hating on Trump via whatever is left in the Soros/CF payroll account. After years of trying they ultimately failed and clearly cannot impact the will of the people at the end of the day. MAGA.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#572

Post by meddlepal » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:48 AM UTC

derekdahmer wrote: post #501

toomuchtodo wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put out of work coal miners on social security early at their full benefit and fund it with a carbon tax. This doesn't even need to be a carbon tax; simply a transfer from the general fund. The average coal miner salary is ~$22/hr, or ~$42k/year. 174,000 coal workers in the US @ $31,668k/year (the max SS benefit permitted) = $5.5 billion/year. This is not expensive, nor in perpetuity, only the years from now until th…

This attitude is why democrats have so much trouble understanding why republicans have so much support from working class voters. People don't want to go on welfare, they want a job. It's about identity. Free money can keep you fed but it can't give you a sense of pride and self worth.

Ding ding ding ding. A lot of people don't want to be treated like adult children.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#573

Post by aminok » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:48 AM UTC

davidw wrote: post #500

novia wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, you get child and elder care if you make enough money to owe enough taxes to cover those bills. Poor? Working minimum wage? Sorry, I guess your kid gets to stay at home with gramma to kill two birds with one stone.

I'm kind of realizing that my wife and I are in a decent financial position and have good jobs and that things like * Killing Obamacare and leaving millions without health insurance (but lowering premiums!) * Lowering taxes on high earners * Child care credits for high earners and not for the poor Would all benefit us. The angry cynical part of my brain kind of urges me towards a "you know what, all those white-no-ed…

Counteracting a me me me society with authoritarian mandates forcing people to give to the poor cannot be morally justified in my opinion.

The just use of the law is to punish those who violate the rights of others, not those who don't meet our personal moral standards on acting altruistically. The latter is treading on theocratic ideology.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#574

Post by inimino » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:49 AM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #430

arcticfox wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a little harsh. There's no first principle that the average citizen should know that says "clean coal" isn't possible. In fact, in 5-10 minutes of specifically looking at the topic I still don't see why you're mocking the concept.

I think that's a little harsh. There's no first principle that the average citizen should know that says "clean coal" isn't possible. The average US citizen probably knows that burning carbon-based fuels re-forms molecular bonds, in such a way that the resulting stuff (CO2 and water) embodies much lower energy. Just start applying that concept to the notion of capturing that carbon. The result is that you're going to…

Honestly if there's a clear high-school science argument here that clearly shows why this is commercially impossible, you haven't made it.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#575

Post by jquery » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:50 AM UTC

ocschwar wrote: post #414

owyn wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A sanctuary city is one that obstructs (directly or indirectly) the enforcement of federal immigration laws. http://www.apsanlaw.com/law-246.List-of-Sanctuary-cities.htm... Since this list is most of your bigger more liberal cities (LA, SF, NYC), I do wonder what it means to cut off all federal funding to those cities.

I live by one of those cities, and there are indeed a lot of visa overstayers living there. The prospect of those people being too scared to call 911 if they witness a crime is something I am decidedly NOT looking forward to.

Hopefully we can crack down on employers so that these visa over-stayers don't stay long enough for that to happen.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#576

Post by finid » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:50 AM UTC

btym wrote: post #536

passive wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, prison sentences for illegally entering the country is grade-A nuts. There's other stuff on there that at least sounds good, but this sounds like "we'll solve a $$ problem with $$$".

Yeah, this is just confusing. The supposed economic impact of having illegal immigrants work for less than minimum wage is not going to be worse than the impact of housing, clothing, and feeding them for 2-5 years.

Private prison operators are not worried about that. It's money, your money, in their pocket.

By the way, the scheme is already in place. It's part of the limited immigration "reform" that Obama managed to get from the Republicans. There's a minimum guaranteed prison time before deportation.

So the 2-5 years minimum is just bonanza.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#577

Post by loceng » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:52 AM UTC

theptip wrote: post #462

> FIRST, propose a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress. I've debated this approach with friends in the past. From a game-theory perspective, does this promote or hinder political corruption? I'm inclined to believe that term limits would actually encourage corruption. 1) If senators have to find a job after 8 years, surely that encourages the revolving door between industry and g…

It's scary really. Industry has the profits to pay for the marketing anyone needs to get elected, however it could take a 'lifetime' for someone who's educated and aware enough to be naturally get into power.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#578

Post by akovaski » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:54 AM UTC

ainot wrote: post #245

ixtli wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I'm glad "clear and concise to your eye" is the rubric by which we're grading policy. Or maybe this isn't about the actual policy, you just want complex reality to be boiled down in a way that's easily digestible?

Could you explain Obamacare? That would be cool. Thanks.

There are plenty of digestible summaries of the ACA online[0]. I think it has some things that are very beneficial to the American population, like (trying) to raise Medicaid and offering subsidies for those just above the Medicaid cut-off. Also barring insurers from providing coverage for those with pre-existing conditions[1] and barring lifetime limits.

Not saying the ACA is flawless, but I'm not confident that Trump and the GOP are going to improve the situation in the long-term. ("cutting the red tape at the FDA" might help a bit, though) It's still not clear exactly what actions they will take.

[0]http://kff.org/health-reform/fact-sheet/summary-of-the-affor... [1]http://kff.org/health-reform/fact-sheet/obamacare-and-you-if...

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#579

Post by jaza » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:54 AM UTC

ben174 wrote: post #177

cesarbs wrote: post #95

A lot of what's in there seems pretty reasonable, but: 1) The whole border wall thing is just ridiculous. I thought he had given up on that. Why would Mexico have to pay for that? If the US wants to build a wall, fine, build it and pay for it. It doesn't make sense to demand that Mexico pay for it. It's like building a wall on your property and demanding your neighbors pay for it. 2) The FDA thing is scary. Regulatio…

You can find more detail on how he plans to make Mexico pay for the wall here: https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/Pay_for_the_Wall.pdf Specifically, he will threaten to disallow wire transfer of money from US to Mexico by non-citizens. Since that is a revenue source they greatly depend on, he suggests they'd rather fund the building of the wall. If they agree to fund the wall, then the ban on transfers will go away.

They'll just run their cash over the border to Mexico, instead of sending it via electronic means. This has already been happening for years, although the vast majority of such cash running has consisted of illicit drug money. No reason why it couldn't expand to become the main way for illegal workers to get their cash heading south to their families, if there really were no other option.

Re: Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]

#580

Post by loceng » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 1:55 AM UTC

ianai wrote: post #110

adt2bt wrote: post #3

Does anyone have an idea about the expected global response to the Secretary of the Treasury labeling China a currency manipulator?

If it works out to impeding trade with China in anyway it just acts to slow our economy. We are not going to become more competitive with 1+ billion people who are willing to work without any labor protections by saying we won't do business with them. We're just sanctioning ourselves from essentially the world's manufacturing depot.

It could result in jobs for locals - however then investment needs to be made to support the manufacturing, educating skilled workers, etc.