TRUMP VS THE WORKING MAN

Trump talks a lot about abundant, good paying jobs for the working man.   This played a major role in his getting elected, but, at least twice, Trump has said the American worker is overpaid.  And his actions are where his mouth is.

Mar-a-Lago  Just take Mar-A-Lago, Trumps pricey club in Florida.  The working man can't be a member what with a $200,000 entry fee, probably at least 4X his yearly salary.  And he can't work there either because the club is nearly totally staffed by foreigners (granted the work contracts are for 8 mo. because it is closed for 4 mo. in the summer):  But at his private club in south Florida, he has filled his staff almost exclusively with imported foreign workers. And he has been doing it for years.  The U.S. Department of Labor has confirmed to CNN that between 2013 and fall 2015, Trump's Mar-a-Lago club posted 250 seasonal job openings and filled just 4 of those jobs with American workers. The club requested the rest of the staff be temporarily imported through the Federal government's H-2B visa process. Basically, Mar-a-Lago brings in its seasonal staff from overseas.*

Chinese Steel And Aluminum  At the second presidential debate, Donald Trump asked the American public to "look at what’s happening to steel and the cost of steel, and China dumping vast amounts of steel all over the United States, which essentially is killing our steelworkers and our steel companies." We did and so did Newsweek. The report, published last week, showed us yet again that all Trump does is run his mouth and pad his pockets. The Newsweek report found Trump used cheap Chinese steel and aluminum in two of his recent construction projects and went to great lengths to cover his tracks. Donald Trump turned his back on the U.S. steel and aluminum industries but, somehow, is claiming to be its savior.**

Health Care  The item on health care is a bit different, but it does involve throwing Trump's core "under the bus."  The original Trump-Ryan health care bill was going to take away the Medicaid expansion in the ACA m a decrease in Medicare that would fall mainly on Trump's supporters.  I don't claim to fully understand the revised plan called the MacArthur Amendment, said to maybe be able to pass the House.***  No mention in the summaries talk about the decrease in Medicaid.  Perhaps the item is covered by the "limited waver option?"  Can states keep their expanded Medicaid if they apply for a waver?  I guess we'll have to wait to see about Medicaid.  As it was the key to pulling the original ACHA Plan,  I'm surprised that no mention is made of it in the MacArthur Amendment.  Note added April 21: Morning Joe this morning sated that the decrease in Medicaid is still in the revised bill.   If so, I doubt it will pass.

Cement  But how about the Great Wall Of Trump, surely that will be built of U.S. cement?  Well, if the wall is built, there is a significant chance that it will be built with Mexican concrete: Cemex Is Best Positioned To Benefit From The Wall, And Does Not Have A Major Competitor In The United States

According to information published by the Global Cement Directory, Cemex is the largest producer of cement in North American and does not have any American competitors of equal size. It has been described in a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks as being one of "Mexico's monopolists" with a market share of 87.6%. Data collected using the installed capacity of companies’ integrated cement plants shows that the US does not even break the top ten list of cement producers globally. Cemex, however, ranks fifth, far ahead of their only Western competitor in Brazil.****

* http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/18/news/economy/trump-maralago/
** https://aflcio.org/2016/10/12/six-facts-donald-trumps-use-chinese-steel\*** http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-31/art-new-deal-how-trump-using-mexican-company-cemexs-concrete-build-wall-and-profit-b
*** http://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015b-8ab0-df96-a9db-dff115c30001
****  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-31/art-new-deal-how-trump-using-mexican-company-cemexs-concrete-build-wall-and-profit-b
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/25/donald-trump-border-wall-mexican-construction-firms-workers-biggest-winners

TRUMP'S BASE ESCAPES SILVER BULLET

Who would ever have thunk it.  Obamacare was saved by the hard right (Freedom Caucus) of the Republican Party, a group that probably doesn't like any type of healthcare.  By turning down the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the ACA  (Obamacare) lives!

Why was Trump's base saved?  It turns out that counties that favored Trump have a high percentage of people on Medicaid.  Medicaid was cut back to pre-Obama days and the savings would have been given to the wealthiest who now pay a surtax of 3.8 percent on capital gains:  Quotes follow:*

Among those hit the hardest under the current House bill are 60-year-olds with annual incomes of $30,000, particularly in rural areas where healthcare costs are higher and Obamacare subsidies are greater.
In nearly 1,500 counties nationwide, such a person stands to lose more than $6,000 a year in federal insurance subsidies. Ninety percent of those counties backed Trump, the analysis shows.

And 68 of the 70 counties where these consumers would suffer the largest losses supported Trump in November.*

(Click on figure to enlarge)

And the wealthiest would benefit the most from tax cuts:**

The single biggest tax cut included in the bill is the repeal of the 3.8 percent tax the Affordable Care Act applied to capital gains, dividend, and interest income for families with $250,000 or more in income ($125,000 for singles).

Repealing that tax is a change that, by definition, only helps the rich, or at least the affluent. If you’re part of a married couple and, like the vast majority of Americans, make less than $250,000 a year, or earn more than that but have little investment income, it doesn’t affect you at all.
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By contrast, members of the top 0.1 percent, who each on average make more than $3.75 million annually, would get an average tax cut of $165,090. 
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Then there’s the 0.9 percent Medicare surtax, a hike on wage income in excess of $250,000 a year ($200,000 for unmarried people). The Republican bill would repeal this surtax and, in so doing, give everyone in the bottom 90 percent an average tax cut of $0, per the Tax Policy Center.  The richest of the rich, the top 0.1 percent, would get an average cut of $30,520.**

* http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-obamacare-trump-supporters-20170312-story.html
** http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/7/14844362/ahca-ryancare-trumpcare-tax-cut-rich