Let's Hope for a Trend Reversal Over the Next Four Years

The U.S. Interfered in Foreign Presidential Elections "81" Times From 1946-2000

The LA Times, which is no right-wing media outlet, has a very interesting article about our own interference in elections throughout the world.  Eighty-one times from 1946 to 2000, which does not include the number of military coups that the U.S. instigated over that time horizon.  

I thought it was very interesting, no disturbing, that none of the media outlets, including Fox, made mention of our own hacking/influencing foreign elections during our most recent presidential election.  I don't know how many times I heard the Russians did it.  Like this sort of thing is never done, especially by the United States.  If I had to guess, I would say the leaking of emails, etc. was none by someone within our own National Security Agency.  You know that agency that has all of our private emails, phone records, etc.. 

Reality Check

Americans are Paying Companies Millions to Shelter Overseas Profits

Our federal government is totally complicit in allowing corporations to shelter trillions of dollars overseas. What would be the reason? Look no further than Section 956(c)(2) of the IRS tax code which has been in place since 1962. But, why? This code allows corporations to repatriate these overseas funds back to the U.S. tax free if they purchase Treasury securities and/or corporate bonds or stocks. In other words, these overseas funds, $2.6 trillion plus, is and has been an excellent way for our federal government to finance its federal deficits. If a company decides to use these funds for any other purpose, like capital spending, it would be subject to the 35% corporate tax rate. Since 2012, the U.S. Treasury has paid at least $1.4 billion in tax-free interest to corporations utilizing Section 956 of the IRS code. 

President-elect Trump promised to get companies to bring back some of the $2.6 trillion they hold internationally by enacting a one-time tax of 10% from the current 35%. But, if I am a CEO, why would I do that when I can still utilize Section 956 of the IRS code and not pay any taxes. What Trump should do is enact a one-time tax of 0% with the stimulation that those funds have to be used for capital spending projects in America.

For the full Bloomberg article, click-on this link. 

Since 2007 the U.S. Has Added 1.8 Million Waiters and Bartenders and Lost 1.5 Million Manufacturing Workers

Today, the U.S. labor force is 159.5 million. However, 95.1 million individuals are no longer in the labor force, which equate to 59% of our current labor force. Government jobs now exceed manufacturing jobs by approximately 10 million. No wonder Trump won the Presidency. 

A Legacy That I Would Not Want!

Government Workers Now Outnumber Manufacturing Workers by 9,977,000!

The United States lost 9,000 manufacturing jobs in October while gaining 19,000 jobs in government, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS).  Government employment grew from 22,216,000 in September to 22,235,000 in October, according to BLS, while manufacturing jobs dropped from 12,267,000 to 12,258,000.  The 22,235,000 employed by government in the United States now outnumber the 12,258,000 employed in manufacturing by 9,977,000.  The 22,235,000 government employees in October, according to BLS, included 14,297,000 local government, 5,123,000 state government employees, and 2,815,000 federal government employees.  In fact, the 22,235,000, who now work for government in this country, is more than ever worked in manufacturing, according to BLS.

The following chart puts these non-productive economic jobs in perspective to manufacturing that actually do add value to the economy.