Bannon talks to The American Prospect

[ryoder 1,590]

Couldn't quite believe what I heard on an NPR interview with the author this morning, but here it is:

http://prospect.org/article/steve-bannon-unrepentant

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Phil1111 1,176]

He relegates the "He dismissed the far right as irrelevant and sidestepped his own role in cultivating it: “Ethno-nationalism—it's losers. It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more.”

“These guys are a collection of clowns,” he added."

but his personal policies are one and the same. Thats a smart way to dismiss the attacks.

"Under Bannon's tenure, Breitbart has become reliably and openly anti-women, anti-semetic, anti-progress, anti-immigrant, and anti-nonwhites. Some of Breitbart's most controversial stories in recent years featured headlines such as: "There's No Hiring Bias Against Women In Tech, They Just Suck At Interviews," "Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive And Crazy," "Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism Or Cancer?" and "Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement's Human Shield." In July 2015, just two weeks after nine people were shot to death while praying in an African-American Charleston church by a confederate flag-loving white supremacist, Breitbart published a story with the headline, "Hoist It High And Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims A Glorious Heritage." Breitbart employs Milo Yiannopaulos, a flagrantly racist, misogynist commentator who was banned by Twitter this year after inciting violent, racially-fueled cyberbullying of Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones. This summer at the Republican National Convention, Bannon proudly told a reporter that Breitbart is a "platform for the alt-right." And it's also a potential platform for a Trump White House that could present an obstacle for news outlets without such privileged connections."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenkilloran/2016/11/14/steve-bannon-and-breitbart-news-why-everyone-but-the-alt-right-fears-trumps-top-adviser-pick/#79ccb3b139c0

He is right about China's unfair trading practices. Dumping, technology transfers, etc. But aluminum and steel dumping is driving the Chinese economy further and further into debt each year. Its been estimated China's GDP is financed to the tune of 2% a year by debt and another 1% is wasted by corruption.

Bannon seems obsessed by China's GDP when the measure of a country should be the health, welfare and growth of purchasing power of equal citizens.

China's foreign reserves and total domestic savings is fully matched dollar to dollar by debt.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-01/can-xi-jinping-defuse-china-s-debt-bomb

According to the United Nations, China is ageing more rapidly than almost any country in recent history. China’s dependency ratio for retirees could rise as high as 44% by 2050
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/02/21/chinas-aging-population-becoming-more-of-a-problem/#a9b458b140f3

But the US has issues to deal with as well as total govt and personal debt is $41 trillion. More than 25% of which was added since 2008.
http://www.investopedia.com/insights/how-will-fed-reduce-balance-sheet/
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-debt-to-gdp

[tkhayes 348]

Bannon is certainly not stupid, he just has a twisted ideology that he hopes to experiment with for America. Given so few in the world share his views, he is unlikely to succeed at even trying it, but that doesn't mean that he will not be successful in doing a lot of damage along the way. And his other anti-global views may very well get his ass thrown out, he is certainly part of the reason Trump ends up being more and more isolated.

Everyone wants to protect the economy, American jobs etc., and everyone thinks they know the solution. I wish I understood more about the global economy and understood what are the positive things about shipping jobs and technology overseas - it is hard to see the positive things. But I am equally sure that Americans are not willing to pay $1200 for a smartphone that was built in the USA either.

[Phil1111 1,176]

tkhayes

Bannon is certainly not stupid, he just has a twisted ideology that he hopes to experiment with for America. Given so few in the world share his views, he is unlikely to succeed at even trying it, but that doesn't mean that he will not be successful in doing a lot of damage along the way. And his other anti-global views may very well get his ass thrown out, he is certainly part of the reason Trump ends up being more and more isolated.

Everyone wants to protect the economy, American jobs etc., and everyone thinks they know the solution. I wish I understood more about the global economy and understood what are the positive things about shipping jobs and technology overseas - it is hard to see the positive things. But I am equally sure that Americans are not willing to pay $1200 for a smartphone that was built in the USA either.

American jobs, good ones, arise from some of the things trump has done. Keystone XL,
"Donald Trump signed an executive order to substantially increase the number of U.S. apprenticeships from the current 500,000 (minuscule for the size of the economy) by doubling the amount the government spends on apprenticeship programs."
http://fortune.com/2017/06/18/donald-trump-apprenticeships-programs-executive-order-millennials-news/
he is right to go after China for its trade policies.

But he has an inherent need to distract attention be it from the Russia investigation, the failures of ACA, etc. Where are the speeches and tweets on specifics of tax reform, a infrastructure bill, etc. They will have to wait until trump reads the talking points from Breitbart. And the scores are settled with Ryan, Graham, etc. who have called trump out in the last couple days.

Meanwhile protectionism, trade walls and physical walls. Are dead end dollar wasters. Where trump,Bannon and their believers. Walk down the same road of wasted resources.