In the final days of 2017 some people are noticing that Donald Trump has gotten a lot done in his wild first year in the White House. Tax reform has passed and is signed into law. It has cut corporate and individual taxes. Some people say that the corporations only help the rich, little do they know. Corporations both large and small help us all. They pay taxes and employ people, how does that help the rich? Sure there are a few at the top that get paid big bucks but they keep the company paying taxes and employing people and they are not the super-rich.
Many people have 401k’s which depend on corporation’s profits to help fund their retirement. Some say only fat cats have stock but I’ll bet most of our readers have some or maybe a mutual fund. It may not be much when you’re young but it’s a big thing as you get nearer to retirement. The fat cats are really few, numbering in the thousands out of 330 million and they pay taxes too, a lot of taxes. The people who complain, how many could run a big company successfully?
A couple of other little things were slipped into the tax bill like freeing up oil drilling and completing pipelines. Yes, lots of environmentalists and some groups who were backed by foreign oil companies are the ones who complain and yes, they are not the ones getting the new jobs created. Although not in the tax bill, the Presidents team has rolled back hundreds if not thousands of EPA regulations that were killing jobs. The fact is that the big polluters have already been reeled in and the new regulations were aimed at small businesses and farmers.
Repealing the Obamacare individual mandate itself is a great accomplishment. Think about it, people are required to buy insurance even if they don’t want it. What happened to American freedoms? This was done to force people who don’t need or want insurance to buy it so that others can get it cheaper. Some will say we must help the unfortunate among us. Yes I agree, but some do not agree and we should not force them to pay for others. Is that not what churches and charities do? If you want to support others go ahead and get your check book, but do not force others.
A few other things he has done have gone almost unnoticed, like destroying the ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraqi. He said he would do it and it has been done. Some will say it’s the armed forces that did it and they are right once Trump turned them loose. Remember before this year how they were massacring Christians and others and we drew red lines and did nothing? This time missiles flew. Finally we have a President that just says “Get ‘er Done”, how refreshing.
Then there are the courts that moved to the left in the past and now the tide has turned and the constitution rules, not the progressive agenda. Although still to be decided by the Supreme Court the right of the President to protect our boarders is slowly being re-affirmed.
Yes, there is a litany of complaints against the President yet somehow he is getting things done. The special counsel investigation into the supposed Trump-Russia collusion has gone nowhere except to charge some people on unrelated offences. Despite it all, Trump has racked up an enviable record of first-year accomplishments.
In the coming year Trump will be reminding us all of how much he did in his first year. Maybe that will be enough to keep Republicans in control of the House and Senate; although history indicates it may be close. Trump’s second-year agenda is an infrastructure bill and welfare reform. He did not say Medicare or Social Security reforms which are programs we paid for but still may need some looking at. Welfare is a different bird, these are people who we are helping and they mostly did not paid for anything.
During the campaign, Trump promised he would hire only the “best people” if he were to win the White House. Look at the people who are now on staff, that indicates he is hiring mostly business people who know how to run something not political hanger-on’s. He has recruited first rate people like: John Kelly, Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, James Mattis, H.R. McMaster and more. Yes there has been some firings and that is what a good President should do, fire those who don’t do their job.
For next year he will need more of the best people if he is to make next Christmas as significant as his first. And the problem is in the political charged atmosphere of Washington. Yet all things are possible at Christmas.
Thanks for a great article pointing out all the campaign promises that Trump has actually kept. This is the first time I can remember any politician doing this. Oh wait that’s the difference. President Trump is not a politician, he is a business man with a long history of getting things done at any cost. Thank you Mr. President.
Oh there is so much I could say to all that crap you have written above but all that I will say is you seem to be brainwashed by Trump and all his crap. You obviously don’t care about other people and there medical conditions and that is sad. I don’t think there is a place in Heaven for mean people like you.
Ms. Fletcher,
Why must people not care about other people, or as you put it, give up the promise of heaven, just because we don’t want to be forced to pay for others? I personally have enough to pay for in what I have CHOSEN to have in my life, I can’t afford to pay for everyone else’s health care also. My three children were born, two births were with complications…I didn’t have the entire USA coming to my aid in paying for the healthcare of those children or myself. Why should I, at 54 years old, now start paying for other people’s healthcare? Did you help me pay for mine? No you didn’t, and I didn’t ask you to. I was raised to be independant, stand on my own…after all, isn’t that the American Dream, to be able to make your own life? Well, people don’t make their own lives by taking from others.
If you think for one minute that the mandate for all to be insured helped control costs, you’re sadly mistaken and haven’t done much research on health care/insurance costs lately. Many insurers have raised their premiums well over 100% above that first year of Obamacare, some went as high as 200% or better. Some friends that were taking advantage of the “Affordable Care Act” were paying double what I was paying privately. It was a great way to make the insurance companies a fortune. Now, I bet they get a bit more competitive with thier rates once again, now that insurance is not mandatory.
I’m so tired of being called selfish, mean and hateful or told that I don’t care.
You’re quickly making me not care if that’s your opinion of all of us who support our current president. That certainly isn’t my opinion of all of you who don’t.You might want to ponder that…and then tell me again who the “mean” ones are. I don’t think its mean or heartless just because I don’t want to be forced to pay for something or someone that I don’t even know. Shouldn’t “CHARITY” be optional? That is what everyone is asking for, money from others to subsidize their own…that’s charity.
Why should we care for those who want to take from us then call us mean, stupid, mental, ignorant and hateful when we just don’t want or have it to give? Why should what I work for and earn be taken away by you or anyone else and GIVEN to those who choose not to work as hard or not at all? That’s not the American dream.
The United States Government is a Business and should be run as such. Politicians do nothing for us, they do for themselves, they do for thier largest campaign supporters but not for us. Businessmen take care of business and our president is taking care of business.
When you’re not being forced to pay $800-$1000 per month for your insurance premiums, remember it’s the ‘mean, ignorant, careless ones, like me and Mike, who voted for a businessman, who made that possible.
We all pay for people who show up at emergency rooms without health insurance or the means to pay for their treatment. Health care in the US is a joke as it costs at least twice what other countries pay for their health care. We get nothing for the exorbitant price we pay as our life expectancy is way down the list of developed countries. For all the faults of Obamacare, it was an honest attempt to solve our health care crisis. Doing away with it and we go back to the old system where no one could afford insurance unless you got insurance at work. It is easy to ge rid of something but it takes someone with brains to come up with a better plan. Trump has no clue on how to make our health care more affordable.
Just a few more comments. Our government is not a business and was never intended to be a business. As for Trump, he cares only for his own selfish interests. He criticized Obama for playing golf yet he has played triple the numbe of days that Obama did. If you think that Trump cares about your life, I have several bridges I want to sell you. By the way, how many days has Trump stayed at one of his properties this year? More money in his pocket is his only interest.
Well your long article just proved my point. The meanness you have in your heart. It will bite you in the a–.
Beth – what are you calling meanness? Is it that we will no longer force to people to buy something they don’t want or is forcing people to pay for other people insurance? As Dave points out above, emergence care is always there with or without Obamacare. Putting aside health insurance, do you think giving a tax break to low income families will hurt them? Some rich people may get some tax reductions but they are paying far more then you or I of the cost of government. Stopping the slaughter of Christians by ISIS was not cruel in fact kind of good don’t you think?. The final question, could you support Trump in anything he has done, just one little thing or is it all bad?
Our President only takes credit for anything that is good. ISIS was on the road to defeat long before Trump took over. The economy is going better but it has little to do with Trump. There have been far more negatives associated with Trump. We are no longer the leader of the free world. We are withdrawing from the global economy. Our reputation abroad is at an all time low. (In all my foreign travels this year, I never talked to anyone who likes our President. They all think we were crazy to elect such a moron) Trump promised he would get our military out of foreign countries, which I would applaud, but he now threatens a catastrophic war with North Korea. Our environment is going back to the 1950’s when you could not drink the water or breath the air. God is not impressed with our President. We have lost the moral high ground by aligning ourselves with Putin. Wait until 2018 when he goes after Social Security and Medicare. I guess you Alt Right types will not rest until women are back in the kitchen, gays are back in the closet, and blacks are back riding in the back of busses. Having a bigot in the White House is a step in that direction.
Meaness is very subjective. If you read this as mean it was because you wanted to…it wasn’t written with those feelings in my heart…you won’t find much of meaness you speak of there.
If you think it is not mean when you don’t want to help people that are less fortunate than you than what would you call it? Unh? Give me an answer of what you would call that?
Dave above has it right. A person will not be turned away in emergency even if they don’t have insurance and we will still have to pay that cause hospitals raise their prices. Now I guess you are saying the people who don’t have insurance should be turned away even if they have an emergency. Now that is what I am saying is MEAN.
Excuse me Beth but I NEVER said I wouldn’t help, I said I didn’t want to be FORCED to help. You said I and others wouldn’t help…it’s not the same thing and you’re putting words into my mouth. In your answer you stated, “Now I guess what you are saying the people that don’t have insurance should be turned away….”
I didn’t say that at all, anywhere, you did. Now, that’s mean, putting YOUR words and thoughts into the mix. Words that AREN’T THERE BY MY HAND OR MOUTH and then judging me by them. I NEVER SAID THOSE THINGS. Read my statement and then yours…I said I would give of my free will, not be forced…two entirely different things, neither of which say I won’t help others. I help lots of people and animals, I do it because I want to. I have 13 rescues I care for, feed and provide medical care for. I am generous with my children and friends and ALWAYS come to their aid. I’m currently cleaning out my mother’s 50 year old home so she can come live with my family and never have to go into a nursing home…I worked for 17 years caring for the sick, mostly MS and Parkinsons patients, and elderly as a Medical Assistant. One woman named Christine was 41, alone and confined to a wheel chair…I was with her for 7 years, nearly 7 days a week to insure her health and safety when they couldn’t get others to commit to her care which was extensive and difficult. I’ve walked pigeons miles across campus at Ohio State when kids were intentionally torturing them, not only chasing off the kids but walking the birds to the Vet school so they could be saved. I’ve got a dog who would have otherwise been put down because of the extensive and expensive treatment the Mesquite Animal Shelter couldn’t justify for one dog…He’s 6 now. I have no hate in my heart Beth.
It’s the folks like you who put those words into our mouths, judge us and call us hateful that are the true mean ones. I’m not putting words into your mouth and judging you on things that aren’t true about you.
Tell me Beth, how much charity work do you do? How many lives have you saved? What do you do that is so good and wonderful, on a daily basis, that gives you the right to judge me without knowing me and call me mean and hateful?
Just because I’m glad that more of my hard earned dollars aren’t taken away from those I choose to help and given to nameless, faceless entities that I don’t know doesn’t add up to mean and hateful…it’s more practical(ahh…there’s your answer) nobody in my tax bracket is capable of helping everybody but I do EVERYTHING I can. I can give you quite the list of people who would beg to differ with you on the mean and heartless judgement. There also may be a few who agree but it wouldn’t be true, I’m am capable of ACTING mean when I feel it’s necessary but it’s rare and I usually feel really bad about it afterward, nobody’s perfect. I’m sure you’re a good person, the fact that you WANT to help the world substantiates that but it’s really not fair of you to judge us when you don’t know us.
The whole ACA mess has cause a huge problem with the premiums skyrocketing and people not being able to afford it after the first year or so…some still couldn’t afford it the first year, many opted to pay the penalty rather than buy into the plan. Insurance companies couldn’t keep up with having to pay out all those claims when EVERYONE then began getting expensive treatments that they couldn’t previously afford and insurers were going broke. Insurance companies began pulling out of the ACA…once again, healthcare is limited for those who can still afford the plan. There aren’t many companies in Nevada that are still with the ACA and some states that didn’t buy into it from the get-go. It just isn’t practical.
I do not think you or Mike are mean. Misinformed is probably the right word. One key ingredient in all of Mike’s columns is that we have millions of people who do not work yet live like kings on their welfare benefits. Even your comment above complains about these people. Therefore, I challenge you and Mike to go out into our community and actually interview one able bodied person who has gone their entire life without working and has collected huge welfare payments over those same years. I dare you. Good luck.
Dave,
While I agree that it would be difficult to fine that type of person in Mesquite, we’re not talking about just Mesquite. There are able bodies all over the country. In Cleveland, there are many subsidized apartment complexes that you can drive through the parking lots and see more lexus, cadillacs and lincolns parked there than in most car lots. Many able bodies on the street corners selling dope…they could get jobs like the rest of us. When we’re forced to pay for other people’s health care, it’s these people, around me all my life, that I think of…not the folks I know in Mesquite. One reason I love Mesquite is because you DON’T see that sort of ugliness but I’ve lived many places and I’ve seen it in every one of them…it exists and those are the people my tax help could do without helping. Unfortunately for us, we don’t get to pick and choose in that case. I don’t know about you but I like to choose what I do with MY money, I would think that you’re pretty much the same in that respect, most people are. If my dollars stayed in Mesquite, you’d never hear another word against it, sadly they don’t but that’s why Mesquite and places like the Mesquite Cancer Help Society are so important to people like me. We get to choose who our dollars help, we don’t mind helping but I WANT to know my money is actually helping someone, not just giving those others, who exist all over the country, a free ride.
IF I were the type of person who has EVER fallen for that “I dare you” stuff, I might take you up on that but I’m just not that person. Most people who are in that position would never admit it, especially publicly, mostly because it’s a crime and they’d be tried for fraud… but I’m quite positive that they wouldn’t be quite as hard to find in Mesquite as either you or I would like to think.
I sure do agree with you on our sorry state of healthcare costs to begin with. Something needs to be done about that first…before we can even begin to try to fix the rest. Healtcare costs are complete and utter B.S. I worked in it for 17 years, you don’t come away from that without seeing most of the B.S. they try to bill you for. If a doctor so much as sticks his head into your doorway…you’ll get a bill because he looked at you, and the pharmaceutical companies are worse than the cartel, it’s just all so… well, I can’t say that word here, but it is.
It’s going to take a genius to figure this out, as much as I do support our President, he’s not one of those but neither has anyone been. Nobody else has come up with a plan that worked but, like Obama, he’s trying. That’s all anyone can do, it’s a crap shoot on how you’re going to fix something so broken.
So far, I just don’t see that we, the little guys, are going to suffer for his decisions. Now, the people who STILL can’t afford to pay the high premiums won’t, at least, have to pay a penalty for something they can’t afford to begin with. That rule was pretty messed up, don’t you think?