Today’s article is going to be a series of brief comments that when juxtaposed support the assertion in the title that Americans are being robbed, deceived and cheated by the organized criminal enterprise commonly known as the Trump administration. Let’s explore.
Since Donald Trump took office OSHA has lost 40 (about 4%) of its federal workplace safety inspectors to attrition. NBC reports that as of October 2nd it has replaced exactly zero; so much for Trump’s claim that he will look out for the interests of hardworking Americans. This is part of Trump’s multi-faceted approach to placating his financiers and boosting his own bottom line. If you can’t rollback a regulation simply put fewer “cops” on the block to enforce it. If some workers get killed or seriously injured; well there are plenty more people looking for jobs.
Trump recently announced what amounts to a Drill, Baby, Drill policy wherein he declared all coastal water open for oil exploration. There are 17 states in the continental United States that have a shoreline on the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean. With the exceptions of Maine and Georgia the Governors of the rest have expressed objections to this plan. 15 of 17 is an 88% “objection rate” from the people who will have to repair damaged state economies when a disaster happens. (Note: I used the word “when” instead of “if” and that was on purpose because it reflects reality.)
I find it interesting that only days earlier Trump signed the Trump Tower Tax Cut which eliminated a per barrel tax on oil that had been designated for a “disaster fund” to fund the cleanup of oil spills caused by a tanker or off shore well causing a major spill. Privatize the profits and socialize the losses.
Then there is son-in-law Jared Kushner; the young “international diplomacy genius” who makes frequent trips to the Middle East on your dime. I wonder if it was one of his ideas to be the only nation in the world with diplomatic relations with Israel to recognize Jerusalem as its capital. Following the money may help explain it. Kushner’s cash starved and struggling real estate company just received a $30 million investment from Mendora Mivtachim, one of Israel’s largest insurance companies. That is in addition to the four loans he has received from Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest bank. I guess the good news is that Kushner doesn’t have his sister “selling” EB-5 visas in China anymore. I don’t mind Kushner trying to save his family’s failing business from the repercussions of his bad business decisions; I just don’t want to pay for his business trips.
Just to justify my concern with gutting environmental regulations, almost undoubtedly creating the condition for more to occur and not policing the ones we have I offer the following. 2017 was the most costly year on record in terms of the financial losses due to natural disasters. Most of that damage was caused by hurricanes and wildfires which are larger, more severe and more frequent in large part due to climate change which in turn is exacerbated by man’s pollution. The 2017 total was $306 billion. To put that in perspective Katrina, (a category 5 hurricane which scored a direct hit on a major American city), was $215 billion adjusted for inflation. The numbers are all projections and can be a bit inaccurate. The bottom lines are that they are huge numbers and you end up paying for it in donations, taxes and/or insurance premiums. Think about that they next time the polluters get another tax break or a regulation rescinded.
The Trump administration has completely abandoned the working class so that they and their largest financiers can personally profit; often they even expensed off their trip in the process. You are being lied to as your money is being purloined.
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