GDP Hits 4.1 %! In Second Quarter

Corporations are out to make profits, as close to maximum as possible.

When I say the true middle class I mean those in the middle of the middle class, with a family income of up to $75k. Average family income in the U.S. in 2017 was $59k.

Your statement:

"Please vote Democratic, change Congress to the Democrats, spend a year or so trying to impeach Trump, repeal the tax bill, reduce military spending, open the borders to anyone, and let China and Russia finish what they've started in the World (again!). Regain "Utopia"!"



....when a family earning $75k sees their net income increase by something like 1.6% and a family earning $250k sees their net income increase by something like 4.3%, I cry foul.

So please don't put words in my mouth that I've never said or even come close to implying. Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX

As for the last pathetic remark ... you will be challenged to find me claiming you "said" or came "close to implying" any of what I posted!

"Please vote Democratic, change Congress to the Democrats, spend a year or so trying to impeach Trump, repeal the tax bill, reduce military spending, open the borders to anyone, and let China and Russia finish what they've started in the World (again!). Regain "Utopia"!"

I believe you used the word "peanuts"! Pelosi said "crumbs"!

I don't really care what your assessments are or are not. Why?

I've read them before:

10-20-2016, 08:03 AM #21
SpeedRacerXXX


This election is OVER. Republicans should start focusing on 2020. Unless a bomb hits between now and November 8th there is no way Trump can overcome the lead that Clinton has in the polls. For those of you who are still not believing the polls . . . we'll see in a handful of days how accurate they are.

It sounds like you were a Hillary-Democrat. Are you still?

As for the last pathetic remark ... you will be challenged to find me claiming you "said" or came "close to implying" any of what I posted!


I believe you used the word "peanuts"! Pelosi said "crumbs"!

I don't really care what your assessments are or are not. Why?

I've read them before:

It sounds like you were a Hillary-Democrat. Are you still? Originally Posted by LexusLover

Here is your statement from your earlier post:

Is your opinion the "collective group thinking" in the Austin metro?

Please vote Democratic, change Congress to the Democrats, spend a year or so trying to impeach Trump, repeal the tax bill, reduce military spending, open the borders to anyone, and let China and Russia finish what they've started in the World (again!)


So my assumption was that your paragraph making various statements about certain viewpoints was aimed at me by the inclusion of the word "your".

So you've read my opinions before. You obviously can't remember them.

I was never a Hillary-Democrat. Since your memory is obviously so poor I'll point out a few FACTS that you have forgotten. I voted for a Republican for POTUS/Senator/House in every election from 1968 through 2004. I could never vote for a ticket with Sarah Palin on it. I am still a registered Republican although I consider myself to be an Independent at this point in time. I voted against Trump rather than for Clinton, just as many people on this forum voted against Clinton rather than for Trump.

Yes, like many others I predicted a Clinton victory in 2016. I got over it. Ready yet to make a prediction on the upcoming 2018 elections? I doubt it. No balls.

Maybe on your next post you'll actually quote me correctly on something.

That's why LLiarMan was selected DOTY 2017! No contest! #Fuckhimtoo

That's why LLiarMan was selected DOTY 2017! No contest! #Fuckhimtoo Originally Posted by Yssup Rider

isn't an "election" where the winner is determined without voting by a single person a dictatorship?

hahahahaaa

we all know who really won the dipshit vote. PERIOD!

So you were wrong. Thanks for being "coherent" and admitting what I posted was not "nonsense"! Originally Posted by LexusLover

Listen asshole, if you want to fuck with me on economics you will lose. Nothing I said was wrong. And yes, it is nonsense for you to suggest GDP is not computed in the exact same way using the exact same methodology under Democrats and Republicans, Obama and Trump alike. If you want to make a coherent point about how the QUALITY of economic growth differs between the last two Presidents because Trump is relying more on the private sector rather than on wasteful and inefficient federal spending, I'll cut you some slack. But I can't put the words in your mouth. I tried to be diplomatic and leave the door open for you to acquit yourself, but evidently you prefer to react like a petulant 12-year-old girl to the slightest hint of criticism.

Wages are still stagnant. Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX

And CNBC says .... you're wrong, speedy!

Pay gains during Trump's first year in office best since the Great Recession

Workers looking for fatter paychecks had their best year in 2017 since before the financial crisis, according to a government report Wednesday.

The Employment Cost Index, a measure of salary and benefit costs, registered a 2.6 percent gain for the full year, tied for the best since 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

President Donald Trump's first full year in office saw gains that easily outdistanced any year for his predecessor, Odumbo, whose best showing was the 2.2 percent increases in 2016 and 2014. Six of Odumbo's eight years in office saw gains of 2 percent or less.

(CNBC)

Here is your statement from your earlier post:

Is your opinion the "collective group thinking" in the Austin metro?

Please vote Democratic, change Congress to the Democrats, spend a year or so trying to impeach Trump, repeal the tax bill, reduce military spending, open the borders to anyone, and let China and Russia finish what they've started in the World (again!)


So my assumption was that your paragraph making various statements about certain viewpoints was aimed at me by the inclusion of the word "your".

So you've read my opinions before. You obviously can't remember them.

I was never a Hillary-Democrat. Since your memory is obviously so poor I'll point out a few FACTS that you have forgotten. I voted for a Republican for POTUS/Senator/House in every election from 1968 through 2004. I could never vote for a ticket with Sarah Palin on it. I am still a registered Republican although I consider myself to be an Independent at this point in time. I voted against Trump rather than for Clinton, just as many people on this forum voted against Clinton rather than for Trump.

Yes, like many others I predicted a Clinton victory in 2016. I got over it. Ready yet to make a prediction on the upcoming 2018 elections? I doubt it. No balls.

Maybe on your next post you'll actually quote me correctly on something. Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX

You should be a regular on Morning Joe show with all the other Hillhoggers...

Twit head is riding the Obama economy and taking all the credit. Remember the greatest recession since the depression that Obama inherited? Twit head will soon fuck that up. Spend spend spend and give the wealthy more tax breaks. Don't worry though ignorant rednecks...it will trickle down to your dumb asses lol. Oh yeah I forgot Obama took all your guns away smh at stupidity

Twit head is riding the Obama economy and taking all the credit. Remember the greatest recession since the depression that Obama inherited? Twit head will soon fuck that up. Spend spend spend and give the wealthy more tax breaks. Don't worry though ignorant rednecks...it will trickle down to your dumb asses lol. Oh yeah I forgot Obama took all your guns away smh at stupidity Originally Posted by Tsmokies

You're sucking shit-stained dick, dick smoker. Your miserable ilk predicted Trump's economy would tank the day he took office, dick smoker. It didn't tank, dick smoker, but your miserable ilk already conceded it was Trump's economy, dick smoker.

^^^^say what^^^^ I don't speak ignorant racist backwoods redneck.

SpeedRacer, First, thanks for the kind words in the other thread. Like you I used to be a Republican. Trump drove me away. My friends believe he's brilliant and say give him time. We can hope, against a lot of the evidence, that they're right.

Interesting post below. I agree 100% with half and disagree strongly with the rest,

Yes, when Trump was elected corporations were VERY happy because they knew a windfall was coming their way. Originally Posted by Doctor Jekyll

Dr. SpeedRacer, the cut in the corporate tax rate was absolutely necessary. The 35% federal rate, plus the state income tax rate of up to 10%, meant the U.S. corporate rate was the highest in the developed world, except for the United Arab Emirates. The problem is that when the politicians brought the tax rate down, they also should have also eliminated special subsidies and tax breaks for corporations, and treated them all equally. They did not do this, because subsidies and tax breaks are politicians' bread and butter. It's how they pay for their campaigns and retirement.

The tax reform package has been a boon for corporations and the wealthy. The true middle class got peanuts.

So far, my net monthly income has increased a whopping $20.

I did very well financially during the Obama administration. How about you? Originally Posted by Doctor Jekyll

I did very poorly after Obama started raising tax rates in 2013. In fact, I paid more tax in 2012 than I did in 2013 to 2017 combined. Why? Because if government is going to take 40% of what I make, as it did after 1/1/2013, I'm going to quit working, or to be more accurate cut back. In 2016 I lost money and still paid 6 figures in federal income tax, which makes me wonder why in hell I should risk money and bust my ass.

This is an unintended consequence. Obama raised tax rates so he could collect more money from people like me. Instead, he raised less, from me at least.

Trump said taxes would go up for those who were well off, and indeed mine will. Before I could deduct about half my expenses required to realize investment income, and half of the state income taxes associated with my business. Now I can deduct none of that. Obama put a gun to my head and ass fucked me. Trump was kinder and gentler. He stuck a gun to my head and just made me suck his dick.

One quarter of solid GDP growth is meaningless in the long run. And the government is already borrowing billions to cover the deficit, which is now predicted to be much more than the previously estimated $1 trillion over the next 10 years.


If the tariffs proposed by Trump come to fruition and a trade war ensues, we are in deep trouble. The authors mentioned that. Originally Posted by Mister Hyde

Mr. SpeedRacer, I absolutely agree with all of that. Federal budget deficits and the potential for a trade war scare the crap out of me. I've droned on about that endlessly here so won't post more.

Excellent question. And yes, you hinted at the answer. GDP counts actual spending on goods and services. Government transfer payments are therefore deducted from government spending to avoid double counting. Here is a link that explains it:

"Government spending on goods and services averages about 20 percent, or one fifth, of total GDP. The government takes in an amount equal to more than one fifth of GDP in taxes, but a portion of that money, equal to about 10 percent of GDP, goes to transfer payments rather than expenditures on goods and services. Transfer payments include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, welfare programs, and subsidies. These are not included in GDP because they are not payments for goods or services, but rather means of allocating money to achieve social ends."

https://www.infoplease.com/homework-...ther-now-c-i-g Originally Posted by lustylad

LustyLad, Something that's intrigued me is the relationship between per capita GDP, adjusted for purchasing power, and government spending as % GDP. When you kick out very tiny countries and petro states (Kuwait, Norway, etc.), the most prosperous countries out of what’s left left don’t spend as much on government as other developed countries. The two places that kind of blew my theory were Luxembourg and Ireland, rich countries and their government expenditures are high.

Anyway, your post above got me thinking. What if you were to knock the transfer payments out of government expenditures? What would the correlation with per capita GDP adjusted for PPP look like? I started looking, and ran across a statistic, government final consumption expenditure (GFCE) as % GDP. GFCE is defined as the amount “representing government expenditure on goods and services that are used for the direct satisfaction of individual needs (individual consumption) or collective needs of members of the community.” I'm sure this number does not include transfer payments. However, I suspect it also may not include certain other categories of government expenditure, one of the reasons being that GFCE for the USA in 2016 was 14.2% of GDP, lower than "G" in your equation (20% of GDP). I'll probably need to read a good bit to figure out exactly what GFCE is.

Anyway, if you use GFCE, my theory appears to be spot on. Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ireland and the United States, the wealthiest countries in the world (again, throwing out tiny places and petro states), all spend less on “government final consumption” as % GDP than other developed countries, like Sweden, France, Japan, etc.

My question, do you know if there's another name for "G"? If this is a statistic that's compiled for many countries, it would be interesting to me to see the correlation with per capita GDP.

^^^^say what^^^^ I don't speak ignorant racist backwoods redneck. Originally Posted by Tsmokies

So you're admitting they didn't teach you English where you went to school, dick smoker?

isn't an "election" where the winner is determined without voting by a single person a dictatorship?

hahahahaaa

we all know who really won the dipshit vote. PERIOD! Originally Posted by The_Waco_Kid

And it was his 5th TIME ! to win that coveted crown ( coveted only by the LYING LIBERALS that are all about puffing up their C.V.s and PETERS !!!)

Jackie,
I agree with you: I could care less about who sucked Trump's dick ten years ago.
But it does concern me that there are allegations that he paid for the silence of the dick sucker in the weeks before the last election. There are also allegations that he paid other "dick suckers" in the weeks before the last election. We will learn about where the hush funds came from, how -if at all- they were reported, and why did Trump the candidate feel he had to make these payments, if there were such payments made, and that is looming as a very likely scenario.
More concerning to me is the FACT that our president constantly resorts to ongoing deceit and hyperbole regarding his record as president. Why does he think he has to make up his own facts all the time? Why does he carelessly run at the mouth? I agree that the economy is moving ahead at a good pace, and that is welcome. But is it, as the president says, unprecedented? Hardly. Even the Democrat who came before Trump had at least four quarters of 4 plus growth. But Trump makes these claims, and not only about the economy, but about all sorts of things. It's like a daily occurrence. His announcements have no discipline. He just says what he wants to say. When someone plays fast and loose with the truth you must begin second-guessing much of what he says. For example, he denies having anything to do with any of the "dick suckers"... you've got to wonder whether this statement reflects genuine factual reality or does it reflect his ongoing self-serving version of reality. Originally Posted by Muy Largo

What does all of this dick sucking have to do with what he is doing for America and the economy?