Top Trump: A Poem

[MyNameIsTerry]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/us/he...cid=spartanntp

Nice to see this continuing. Leaders are so remote to most of us. Getting a response helps you to feel there is some people out there working for us.

[mezzaninedoor]

hanshan,
"Capitalize your profits and socialize your losses" is a scary thing because it ensures that the rich are rarely subjected to the actual losses of the Businesses they run.
The amount of company owners who have a Business fail and yet are back in charge of another Business incredibly quickly astounds me.
In 2009 Wall Street was back on the bonus bubble within a year of the GFC where the argument was though they took Government funds they had to compensate highly as performance went up again after the GFC

We are currently seeing a wobble in the stock markets ......... hopefully just a wobble though

[MyNameIsTerry]

hanshan,
"Capitalize your profits and socialize your losses" is a scary thing because it ensures that the rich are rarely subjected to the actual losses of the Businesses they run.
The amount of company owners who have a Business fail and yet are back in charge of another Business incredibly quickly astounds me.
In 2009 Wall Street was back on the bonus bubble within a year of the GFC where the argument was though they took Government funds they had to compensate highly as performance went up again after the GFC

We are currently seeing a wobble in the stock markets ......... hopefully just a wobble though

I bet you are as astounded by the likes of Carillion as I am, Tony? Virgin too after bailouts.

All the while directors & investors escape unscathed to head to their next venture leaving those underneath them to suffer and public to pay for what is the right thing to do.

Sir Phillip Green. Another one.

[hanshan]

Hi Mezzaninedoor (is that like the Tardis? Harry Potter?)

Despite all the anti-Trump hoopla, I think this is just a normal correction, unlike the carnage in 2008, which was based on very real fundamentals.

Nevertheless, one problem is that Trump has personally and publicly around one hundred times claimed credit for the rising US stock market since taking office. Suddenly he goes quiet, when everyone is actually expecting him to make a comment.

This does not bode well for one of the world's leading economies. Even if Trump didn't own the US economy up to now, he definitely does from now on. Can he pivot to being an astute economic manager? Could he pivot before?

[mezzaninedoor]

I bet you are as astounded by the likes of Carillion as I am, Tony? Virgin too after bailouts.

All the while directors & investors escape unscathed to head to their next venture leaving those underneath them to suffer and public to pay for what is the right thing to do.

Sir Phillip Green. Another one.

Yes and there are plenty more as well
There are few consequences for mismanagement at the high end of the food chain

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes and there are plenty more as well
There are few consequences for mismanagement at the high end of the food chain

This mismanagement of pension contributions is very worrying. I thought those loop holes were closed years ago when companies were forced to underwrite but it seems it's possible to delay contributions in favour of paying out to investors and I think that should be subject to a public enquiry now.

Pension contributions should surely be considered a debt to pay like any other? Wasn't it 990 it was up to at the last report? I feel sorry for the people plunged into this mess by their board. If you did this with people's money outside of big business I would be surprised if it weren't a matter for the police.

[hanshan]

Australia's superannuation system means that all employees -- even the guy delivering pizzas -- own their own compulsory contributary retirement lump sum benefit, which is independent of both government and employers. Australian superannuation has tax benefits, and the employee can choose how the money is invested, although most stay in the "balanced" option, which is a mix of local and international shares, property, bonds and cash. This superannuation system was commenced in the early 1990s by the then Labor government -- it won't come to full fruition until the 2030s, but it will then mean most people in employment will be fully or largely self-funded in retirement.

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A great benefit of the Trump presidency... His leadership is so erratic, it has restored a modicum of bipartisanship to Congress that has been missing since the Tea Party era. I hope Congress has realized that it is one full arm of US government, and it can do better together by uniting different parties, ignoring this current hot-air balloon of a president.

[Hollow]

U.S.- led satanic forces kill an estimated 100 Syrian regime troops

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...strikes-329658

Just when the Wahabbist pet terrorists of US-NATO were about to be wiped out, their masters again intervened to save them. The headquarters of ISIS is not in Syria or Iraq but in Tel Aviv, Washington and London.

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[hanshan]

These guys (SDF) were fighting ISIS! It's basically a power grab between the SDF and Assad regime for oilfields/territory that ISIS controlled, now that ISIS is gone.

I suppose you could say that the SDF should yield territory to the Assad government - there's a case for that. However, Assad carried on the family tradition of tyranny and genocide against his own people, so loses his legitimacy as a ruler. He's basically in power now with Russian support.

My support is for some kind of stalemate position in Syria, where people are no longer being killed. Maybe way down the track a power-sharing government could be formed. We live in hope.

[Hollow]

These guys (SDF) were fighting ISIS! It's basically a power grab between the SDF and Assad regime for oilfields/territory that ISIS controlled, now that ISIS is gone.

I suppose you could say that the SDF should yield territory to the Assad government - there's a case for that. However, Assad carried on the family tradition of tyranny and genocide against his own people, so loses his legitimacy as a ruler. He's basically in power now with Russian support.

My support is for some kind of stalemate position in Syria, where people are no longer being killed. Maybe way down the track a power-sharing government could be formed. We live in hope.

They are ISIS! Anyone who fights against Assad in Syria is a terrorist, it's as simple as that. They're being trained and backed by the usual suspects. How is it a power grab to try to secure territory in your own country?

Where's your evidence that Assad has committed genocide against his people? The opposite is true, he prevented Syria from being raped by US backed Wahabbist terrorists. Assad was democratically elected by the Syrian people so he hasn't lost any legitimacy.

The only good outcome in Syria is Assad achieving total victory against the foreign backed terrorists, otherwise it gets destroyed like Iraq and Libya.