Category Archives: business news

business news, national news, political news

Trump is redefining ‘populism’

don-trump

Donald J. Trump ran for president brandishing the label of a “populist” who understands how average Americans think and believe about the state of their country.

Then the president-elect starts his transition. What does he do? He starts enlisting some of the richest cats in the land. As the Washington Post is reporting, he is putting together the wealthiest government in modern history.

This is what Trump’s populism looks like?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-is-assembling-the-richest-administration-in-modern-american-history/ar-AAkYy02?li=BBnb7Kz

According to the Post: “Trump is putting together what will be the wealthiest administration in modern American history. His announced nominees for top positions include several multimillionaires, an heir to a family mega-fortune and two Forbes-certified billionaires, one of whose family is worth as much as industrial tycoon Andrew Mellon was when he served as treasury secretary nearly a century ago. Rumored candidates for other positions suggest Trump could add more ultra-rich appointees soon.

“Many of the Trump appointees were born wealthy, attended elite schools and went on to amass even larger fortunes as adults. As a group, they have much more experience funding political candidates than they do running government agencies.”

So, there you have it. The man who became a champion of the working stiff, the family looking for ways to make it in a tough economic climate, is surrounding himself with fellow rich folks, many of whom parlayed healthy inheritances — as Trump did — into even healthier business empires.

Is this the new definition of populism?

I prefer the historical definition, which means that a populist opposes putting too much power in the hands of the rich.

business news, media news

Words ‘I am retired’ flowing more easily

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This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

You might not think this is a big deal, but it is to me.

The words “I am retired” are flowing more easily out of my pie hole these days.

I get asked frequently by customers at the auto dealership where I work: “Do you do this full time, part time or what? Are you retired?”

My answer: “Oh I’m retired now.”

Actually, my presence at the auto dealership reveals that I am not yet fully retired. I’m getting there, slowly but inexorably.

I’ll admit to being a bit uncomfortable saying “I am retired” when I first started collecting my Social Security income. My discomfort wasn’t anything that I can identify. I didn’t have pangs in my gut. I didn’t stutter when I said it. I didn’t flinch, wince or grimace at the sound of the words.

It was just a strange set of words coming from me, of all people, a guy who had worked pretty damn hard for nearly 40 years in daily journalism. Then it ended. I was sent out to pasture, along with a number of other, um, more mature fellow practitioners of this noble craft.

I have admitted already that I wasn’t ready for the day I tendered my resignation after being told someone else would be doing the job I had been doing at my last newspaper stop here in Amarillo. Instead of seeking another job at the Globe-News, I decided to quit.

Boom, just like that, my career was over.

The onset of retirement is sounding more comfortable to me these days. I’ve still got a couple of part-time jobs that keep me busy. There’s the Street Toyota auto dealership customer service gig; there’s also my freelance writing gig at KFDA NewsChannel 10.

However, I am feeling more retired these days than not.

What’s more, I am quite comfortable saying it out loud.

Ain’t it cool?

business news, International news, national news

Ethics need extra careful scrutiny

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Donald J. Trump’s staff denies it.

Others are saying it happened. What was that? The president-elect took a congratulatory phone call from Argentine President Mauricio Macri and while getting the congrats, Trump reportedly pressed Macri for news about a commercial development Trump has under way in Argentina.

To borrow a word made famous by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry: Oops.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/307050-report-trump-pressed-foreign-building-project-in-congratulatory-phone-call

The Wall Street Journal has called for Trump to divest himself of his vast business interests. Others have said the same thing. There appears to be no end to the potential conflicts of interest that lurk everywhere in Trump World.

These questions are going to dog the new president at every turn as he transitions into the presidency … and later.

A local journalist, Jorge Lanata, noted this about the conversation: “Macri called him. This still hasn’t emerged but Trump asked for them to authorize a building he’s constructing in Buenos Aires, it wasn’t just a geopolitical chat.”

Did he or didn’t he make that request of another head of state?

Heads of state shouldn’t mix their personal business interests while dealing with other heads of state. What part of this isn’t clear to anyone with half a brain?

As for whether Trump asked the question, we need to hear from the principals — the U.S. president-elect and the current president of Argentina — about whether such an exchange ever took place.

business news, national news

Once more about those tax returns

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Donald J. Trump says he’s going to pocket a dollar a year while serving as president of the United States.

How will we know that? I guess we’ll just have to take him at his word.

The public hasn’t seen his income tax returns, after all. Trump said on “60 Minutes” Sunday night that a “routine audit” precludes him from releasing those returns, which he said he’ll do at the appropriate time.

I am sick and tired of hearing this refrain from the president-elect.

A routine audit doesn’t prevent the release of those returns. Moreover, the public still has no demonstrable proof that Trump is actually even being audited in the first place; the Internal Revenue Service does not comment on such matters.

This is one of the many — likely countless — baffling elements of the election that we’ve just endured.

Trump says he’ll forgo virtually all of the $400,000 annual salary the president earns. Perhaps we can take the $399,999 he won’t accept to the bottom line each year.

At one level, I applaud his pledge to skip the salary.

At another level, I just wish I could take him at his word completely that he’ll do what he says he’ll do.

business news, national news, political news

Business and politics … do they mix?

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Let’s see how this works.

Donald J. Trump has announced that his eldest children — Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric — are going to run his business empire. They also are going to become major advisers in the president-elect’s transition from private citizen to holder of the world’s most powerful public office.

Is there a serious conflict of interest building that’s been lost on the president-elect?

Others who have been elected to this particular office have placed their business interests into what’s called “blind trusts.” I think of former President Jimmy Carter, who ran his family’s peanut business in Georgia before he was elected president in 1976. President Carter let go of all interest in the business while he served for four years as the leader of the Free World.

Trump has said he would put his business interests into a blind trust if he were elected. That’s fine. Then how does he divorce himself completely from those interests when his children play this precarious dual role: business administrators while taking part in the formation of a new government apparatus?

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/305647-trump-business-to-be-turned-over-to-eldest-kids

Trump isn’t putting that kind of distance, it appears, between himself and his myriad business interests.

The notion that his kids will have a say in selecting Dad’s administrative team as well also seems to cross the line that’s supposed to separate the head of government from his massive business.

What am I not getting here?

business news, national news, political news

Elections have consequences

donald

I’ll be brief, as I’m feeling as though there’ll be a lot more to say in the days and weeks to come.

Do elections have consequences? You bet they do.

Look at what the Dow Jones futures market is doing at this very moment. It is plunging more than 600 points. Why is that? It’s the prospect of a Donald J. Trump presidency.

Therein lies the first consequence of this election, no matter how it turns out.

The very notion that someone such as the 2016 GOP nominee can be this close to becoming the Leader of the Free World is going to cost a lot of us a lot of money.

 

business news, local news

MPEV takes another step forward

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They’re starting to knock down a vacant building in downtown Amarillo.

What will take its place? City officials want the new occupant on the property next City Hall to be a ballpark where a minor-league team will play some hardball.

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/33652423/demolition-begins-on-coca-cola-building-to-make-way-for-mpev

It’s called for the moment a multipurpose event venue. There will be other activities taking place at this venue than just baseball. But the city is in the midst of negotiating for a relocation of the San Antonio Missions to Amarillo, where they would play ball in the $45 million venue.

It’s not a done deal just yet.

San Antonio is trying to lure a Class AAA team to replace the AA team that wants to relocate. In order for the Missions to head north, someone will have to take the field in the Alamo City.

Meanwhile, the now-vacant Coca-Cola distribution center is being knocked down in Amarillo. They’ll clear the lot of debris in short order.

Then it gets serious. The city needs a design. It needs a firm cost for the venue. It needs a team to suit up and take the field.

I will admit to skepticism that the current City Council would be able to move this project as far along as it has. It has proven me wrong — which at some level is no great shakes, given that I’m wrong more than I am right. I believe I had reason to be skeptical, given that the new council members had expressed some doubt about the wisdom of the entire project.

The demolition of the Coke center, though, does give me renewed hope that Amarillo’s downtown revival is proceeding more or less as projected.

We’ve got that hotel going up across Buchanan Street next to the parking garage. Voters will decide several propositions on their municipal ballot; one of them includes a proposed renovation and expansion of the Civic Center.

All we need now is an affiliated baseball team to sign on the dotted line. Then we need them ready to play ball.

My optimism is strong.

business news, media news, national news, political news

Right-wrong track polls tell only part of story

thbigcx2wm

One of my social media friends thinks I spend too much time blogging about Donald J. Trump.

I heard him. So I think I’ll shift gears for a moment or two.

Those polls that measure whether Americans think we’re heading on the right or wrong track puzzle me. Take a look at the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls on that subject.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/direction_of_country-902.html

What these averages don’t necessarily say up front is whether Americans want the nation’s directly to veer sharply to the right or sharply to the left.

I generally pay little attention to these polls.

The RCP average says there’s a 30-plus percentage variance, meaning that about one-third more Americans think the country is heading on the “wrong track.”

No one has ever polled me on the subject. If one were to ask me, I’d say we’re doing just fine. I heard the U.S. Labor Department jobs report this morning and learned we added 161,000 non-farm jobs in October; the jobless rate declined to 4.9 percent; wages went up.

Is that a wrong track indicator regarding the economy?

I don’t think so.

Foreign policy issues? Well, we haven’t been hit by a major terror attack since 9/11. We keep killing terrorists around the world. Our alliances seem solid.

Federal budget policy? The deficit has been cut by one-third during the past eight years. Is it still too great? Yes. It’s heading in the “right direction.”

I’m digressing.

Right track-wrong track polls tell only part of the story.

business news, entertainment news, local news, Sports news

AirHogs take wing … they’re out of here

MPEV

Well, that’s a surprise … not!

The Texas AirHogs, a baseball outfit that this past season split its home schedule between Amarillo and Grand Prairie, has decided to take its game solely to the Metroplex.

The AirHogs aren’t going to play in that rat-trap of a so-called ballpark called Potter County Memorial Stadium.

The reason reportedly is that visiting teams coming here were too repulsed by the lousy condition of the stadium and of the field on which they had to play hardball.

Hmmm. Do you suppose that maybe, perhaps, possibly that Amarillo would be served better by having a shiny new ballpark in, say, its downtown district?

Oh, wait! That’s coming along, yes?

The multipurpose event venue, a $45 million ballpark to be built next to City Hall, received voters’ endorsement a year ago. The City Council has proceeded with efforts to lure a Class AA baseball franchise to the city. They have a franchise in mind, the San Antonio Missions, which is looking for a new place to play ball once the Alamo City secures a Class AAA franchise to take its place.

I remain cautiously optimistic that the city can pull this deal together.

As for the AirHogs, good riddance.

That cockamamie notion of splitting its home games between two communities didn’t serve anyone in Amarillo worth a damn.

There might be an interim period where minor league baseball fans will have do without some ball while the MPEV gets built and the city works out the details of landing a legitimate minor-league franchise.

My optimism is still springing eternal that it will come to pass.

business news, national news, political news

Trade policy: the great unspoken at VP debate

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Is it me or did one of Donald J. Trump’s signature issues in this presidential campaign go unnoticed?

I refer to the issue of trade policy.

The Republican presidential nominee has declared ad nauseam that the North American Free Trade Agreement is one of the “worst trade deals in history.” He has opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He has vowed to renegotiate NAFTA immediately upon taking office next January.

Neither of the two men who are running for vice president, Mike Pence and Tim Kaine, talked about trade policy.

In fairness to the candidates, moderator Elaine Quijano of CBS News didn’t ask either of them about trade policy.

The question I would have wanted her to pose would have been to Pence. It would go something like this:

“Gov. Pence, you are a traditional Republican. You served in Congress as a traditional Republican lawmaker and your party has been a free-trade party. Why have you changed your mind on NAFTA and why do you oppose TPP?”

She could have asked Pence that question, but she didn’t.

Pence has a long career as a traditional Republican conservative as a lawmaker and as a governor. Trump has no public service career and he has sounded as populist on trade as, say, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

This debate between Kaine and Pence could have helped clear up some of the confusion on trade that Trump has created with his ferocious opposition to trade policy that many within his party have supported.