Re: POTUS
Posted: November 15th, 2016, 6:46 am[quote="Regulus"]For some reason, MLK has always been my favorite place to discuss politics and other serious issues. It seems so weird--why go to a (usually inactive) Lion King forum to discuss this stuff? I have no idea.
Even after years of it, I don't understand.
[/quote]
I know. It's bizarre, I'm the same way.
Yeah, crazy election. Not the outcome me or really anyone close to me wanted, but that's democracy. Some worries--
Healthcare: Holding a degree in US healthcare policy, believe me when I say I don't have time to explain all the reasons that Trump's 'repeal the ACA but keep the bits I like' will not work, and Paul Ryan's plan is a pretty big mess too (make Medicare a voucher program? Ryan man I thought you were smart). Everyone likes to dump on the ACA, but I would wager that very few people have any real idea of what's in it other than a vague understanding of the mandate, exchanges, and other insurance clauses that make up <10% of the bill.
There are legitimate, pressing problems, especially with insurers dropping out of the marketplaces (although this is in part driven by Republican refusal to fund parts of them in an intentional attempt to sabotage the bill), and regardless of innovation programs and new payment schemes, costs are rising (as they were before the ACA, we might recall). Maybe someday we'll realize that the private insurance model will never work, which is why no other successful health systems use it. Unfortunately, Republicans are the champions of private healthcare insurance as part of the 'free' market. In any event, talk to the tens of millions of Americans who have insurance now about whether the ACA is a 'failure'.
Immigration: Not worried about the wall goofiness, but the millions of 'dreamers', illegal immigrants brought when they were children, will now fear deportation. These are not criminals, they are children in our schools and colleges working to achieve the American dream.
Foreign policy: Who knows. The middle east is a total powder keg and someone who didn't know what the nuclear triad was a few months ago has nearly unilateral power over the most powerful military in the world. Yikes. And hate that he, like everyone else, is spewing this "rebuild the military" crap. First of all, our military is ridiculously, absurdly, impossibly expensive and overpowered. Secondly, if you want NATO to take more responsibility for security, wouldn't we scale DOWN spending, since we don't want to pay trillions and trillions of dollars to be the world's sketchy private security force?
Trade: Withdrawing from the global economy probably won't be fantastic in the long run. Trade is pretty empirically good for economies, even though it has growing pains associated with it. Tired of that NAFTA talking point; c'mon everyone, do thirty seconds of research. NAFTA's been a pretty tame beast.
LGBTQ: Pence is an unadulterated, indefensible bigot. Prepare for him to do all he can to scale back federal protections for our homosexual and transgender citizens. Track record speaks for itself on that one.
Energy: Yeah, you made a good point on this one, but as clean gets more affordable, I actually think Trump might 180 on the coal. I do think he's a businessman at the end of the day. That also gives me hope that he'll back off of the "FREE TRADE IS EVIL" thing once he begins getting more familiar with global macroeconomics, which shockingly probably isn't his strong suit as a (primarily) NY real estate broker.
In any event, it will be interesting to see how the Republican party behaves now that it has full accountability. Whatever side you're on (I like to consider myself pretty central, but I guess I drift now and again), you cannot deny that the Republican party (as has the Democrats on occasion, certainly) been the party of "no" over the course of the last eight years. No is no longer an option, and I look forward with hope that perhaps they will create some positive, productive change.
Even after years of it, I don't understand.
[/quote]
I know. It's bizarre, I'm the same way.
Yeah, crazy election. Not the outcome me or really anyone close to me wanted, but that's democracy. Some worries--
Healthcare: Holding a degree in US healthcare policy, believe me when I say I don't have time to explain all the reasons that Trump's 'repeal the ACA but keep the bits I like' will not work, and Paul Ryan's plan is a pretty big mess too (make Medicare a voucher program? Ryan man I thought you were smart). Everyone likes to dump on the ACA, but I would wager that very few people have any real idea of what's in it other than a vague understanding of the mandate, exchanges, and other insurance clauses that make up <10% of the bill.
There are legitimate, pressing problems, especially with insurers dropping out of the marketplaces (although this is in part driven by Republican refusal to fund parts of them in an intentional attempt to sabotage the bill), and regardless of innovation programs and new payment schemes, costs are rising (as they were before the ACA, we might recall). Maybe someday we'll realize that the private insurance model will never work, which is why no other successful health systems use it. Unfortunately, Republicans are the champions of private healthcare insurance as part of the 'free' market. In any event, talk to the tens of millions of Americans who have insurance now about whether the ACA is a 'failure'.
Immigration: Not worried about the wall goofiness, but the millions of 'dreamers', illegal immigrants brought when they were children, will now fear deportation. These are not criminals, they are children in our schools and colleges working to achieve the American dream.
Foreign policy: Who knows. The middle east is a total powder keg and someone who didn't know what the nuclear triad was a few months ago has nearly unilateral power over the most powerful military in the world. Yikes. And hate that he, like everyone else, is spewing this "rebuild the military" crap. First of all, our military is ridiculously, absurdly, impossibly expensive and overpowered. Secondly, if you want NATO to take more responsibility for security, wouldn't we scale DOWN spending, since we don't want to pay trillions and trillions of dollars to be the world's sketchy private security force?
Trade: Withdrawing from the global economy probably won't be fantastic in the long run. Trade is pretty empirically good for economies, even though it has growing pains associated with it. Tired of that NAFTA talking point; c'mon everyone, do thirty seconds of research. NAFTA's been a pretty tame beast.
LGBTQ: Pence is an unadulterated, indefensible bigot. Prepare for him to do all he can to scale back federal protections for our homosexual and transgender citizens. Track record speaks for itself on that one.
Energy: Yeah, you made a good point on this one, but as clean gets more affordable, I actually think Trump might 180 on the coal. I do think he's a businessman at the end of the day. That also gives me hope that he'll back off of the "FREE TRADE IS EVIL" thing once he begins getting more familiar with global macroeconomics, which shockingly probably isn't his strong suit as a (primarily) NY real estate broker.
In any event, it will be interesting to see how the Republican party behaves now that it has full accountability. Whatever side you're on (I like to consider myself pretty central, but I guess I drift now and again), you cannot deny that the Republican party (as has the Democrats on occasion, certainly) been the party of "no" over the course of the last eight years. No is no longer an option, and I look forward with hope that perhaps they will create some positive, productive change.
