Friday, 22 January 2016

Quote of the Day: On Donald Trump


“Donald Trump: The empty vessel that
everyone thinks they'll be the one to fill.”

~ Amy Peikoff


  • “Authoritarianism is the easy way out. It’s a short-cut to solutions. Instead of defining your ideas and why you hold them, you look to a particular person to ‘get in there and shake everything up.’ By what methods and based on which ideas?”
    Are Trump Supporters Authoritarian? - Michael J. Hurd, LIVING RESOURCES CENTER
  • ‘“A question for Trump supporters: is “’straight talk” really admirable when what a candidate has to say is scary?”
    Donald Trump & the Anatomy of Cronyism – Steve Simpson, VOICES FOR REASON
  • “Because it’s not safe just to laugh at him.”
    Trumpism: The Ideology – Jeffrey Tucker, NOT PC


  1. 5% income tax rate, 15% corporate tax rate; support for the 2nd amendment; cuts in wasteful spending; an end to corporate welfare; climate scepticism; tough line against terrorists.

    These are the Trump policies they don't want you to know about (who can argue with such low taxes?).

    The only authoritarianism under President Trump will be against the taxman, against special interests, against mass murderers, and against those who hate America - well Boo hoo hoo!

  2. And even if the above doesn't come to pass Trump will have frightened the crap out of the existing elites and given a bit of hope to, for want of a better term, the moral majority who know they don't need a big government. For that alone I would be grateful.


  3. Yes Anonymous; the Republican ruling cabal don't want Trump because they know the crony capitalism gravy train would end fairly smartly.

    By getting the gullible to oppose Trump, and get the 'establishment' another candidate in order to perpetuate the status quo, would have the ironic result of having people like Peter Cresswell and Amy Peikoff bitterly complaining about the Obama-esque policies of President [Bush, Rubio, Carson, Cruz] in 2017!

    Within 18 months from now we would be reading yet another blog post on about "the new boss, same as the old boss". Well duh!

    The sole - SOLE - reason for the Republican establishment opposing Donald Trump is fear of ending pork barrel spending, government contracts to election donors, and an era of fiscal responsibility.

    Or to put it another way, does it really seem likely the average Republican in Washington opposes Trump's policies of tax cuts, ending Obamacare, supporting 2nd Amendment rights, supporting the energy sector, supporting the military, declaring war on terrorists?

    Of course not - they fully support all of that and more; but when they want to slip a new road, or new dam for 'the folks back home' into that bill and President Trump threatens a veto.....

  4. I tried to verify Mr Lineberry's comments, but all I got was " If you are a visitor, please check back soon." for each of his policies. Interesting if true.

    (I hope mayoral candidate Stephen Berry is not the same person as Mr Lineberry)

  5. You could always try,_2016#Political_positions

    And no, I am not Stephen Berry; although he is by all accounts a good man and I hope he wins the Mayoralty.

  6. Thank you Mr Lineberry, I was able to read Trump's policies at your provided link. I couldn't work out how he was going to afford such large tax cuts, for there is no mention what he is going to cut, plus ways the $19 trillion federal debt is to be paid down. I did note - " Further, his plan would eliminate the inheritance tax, lower the capital gains tax, and instead apply a 20% import tariff and a 15% tax on outsourcing to foreign countries.[188] Trump favors stronger trade negotiations with nations such as China, with a more level playing field on trade, to restore American jobs applying tariffs when necessary". The land of the free being opposed to free trade is nothing new.
    Unconstitutional things like the Patriot Act, I presume still stay.

  7. Tax cuts 'afforded'? it is taxpayer's money to begin with!

    In my opinion even 5% is far far far too high considering it is theft and all the money is wasted by Government.

    Trump's policy on tariffs has been widely misreported and distorted; his policy is simple - either China allows its currency to freely float and find its true value on currency markets (which means it would rise in value considerably), or he will apply a tariff on Chinese imports into America.

    A rise in the value of China's currency, from an artificially low level today, would harm their exporters by making the goods more expensive when sold in America; a tariff would also harm Chinese exporters by making their goods more expensive - basically amounting to the same thing.

    Trump will let the Chinese decide which option they prefer, but they will no longer be able to rip off America as they have been doing for years. It is not Trump who is against free trade, but China.

    The Chinese will have no option but to let their currency freely float, but in any event it is possible to take that out of the hands of the Chinese.

    Wall Street could simply start trading the Yuan on currency markets - a sort of "Yuan in America" - as a free flowing currency, and Trump could direct that all trade between China and the US is settled in "American Yuan" not Chinese Yuan. Sounds a bit odd but actually very easy to do.

    A precedent for this is the Euro which was traded on currency markets a couple of years before it actually existed. Sounds weird but very easy to start doing.

    The Chinese would never allow themselves to be humiliated in that way - to have the Americans basically 'ignoring' their official currency and creating a new one, so will agree to let the Yuan float. Trump knows exactly what he is doing; knows how easy it would be to take the decision out of the hands of the Chinese.

    What China is doing with its artificial and ridiculous currency is akin to New Zealand saying the Kiwi dollar is now worth 10 cents (instead of 65 cents) and so exporters get bumper returns by magic - and deceit.

  8. Mr Lineberry, protectionism is false.

    No matter what gibberish is spouted, there is no rational justification for it.

    Trump is a thinly disguised Democrat.

  9. Protectionism is bad explained in this short video (extracted from UtopiaYouAreStandingInIt). Not only does it raise your prices, but it cost jobs. So Trump is wrong on two counts.
    Tariffs Damaging


1. Comments are welcome and encouraged.