It just occurred to me. putin's aim with the donald is to bankrupt the U.S.

[shraby]

Russia went through it when the country broke into pieces and they were begging for help. Now he wants us to come begging. Here are the things that brought me to that conclusion.

The huge tax cut for people who have mega incomes.
The spending bill that actually spends on infrastructure, funds we don't have because of the tax cuts.
The wall trump still wants that will cost what we will now never have because of the tax cuts.
trump calling for a huge military parade which will be costly with funds we no longer have, and will also tear up the highways where they hold it.

The stock market magically going straight up for months. Then dropping precipitously over the last week. (could the Russian oligarchs have anything to do with that?)

This to me looks like a coordinated plan to bankrupt our country.

[shraby]

1. An added thought. The republicans in congress is helping them with their plans.

What else is coming down the pike at us?

Also they have half-assed filled necessary positions in the administration..but no more than they absolutely have to.

[HipChick]

2. Dolt45 expertise is bankrupting things and running them down into the ground...

[dchill]

4. So, Putin hired himself an expert.

[lindysalsagal]

18. No. An asset. Sad to say. GOP is also complicit.

[forgotmylogin]

22. "The Corporate Raider President" (n/t)

[Wounded Bear]

23. Kind of like Romney...

[dchill]

3. Yep. He's collecting on the debts owed by the Donald.

So much winning.

[irisblue]

5. And OBL wanted us to spend our blood & treasure

So thanks GWB & Cheney & trump. Doing the wishes of our enemies. F you all to eternity.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. We have been told it was the

Russian form of Government that failed the old USSR. Only a part of it. Our Government took the Russian form of Government down by destroying their Monetary System namely by wiping out any value of their Bonds and Currency.

Think about this,Sanctions,what do they really entail. We are loaded with Debt Obligations,and if a foreign Government wanted to raise holy hell with us,just cause some type of discourse in the Bond Market.

[mr_lebowski]

26. Makes sense to me ... 'cept the word you're looking for I believe would be 'discord' ;) (nt)

[Wellstone ruled]

27. Discord is right,sorry.

And after the last two weeks,all bets are off.

[jalan48]

7. I think this has been the Republican's (Grover Norquist) idea for awhile now.

A bankrupt government can't afford to give the populace social benefit ponies or regulate polluting corporations.

[askyagerz]

24. It will just make the poor more grateful for their scraps

[mr_lebowski]

30. And more likely to work for cheap. And more likely to hold grudges about 'paying for the lazy ...

blacks/illegals/etc to get free stuff with THEIR hard-earned tax dollars' since it's so hard to make decent money

Thus, a vicious cycle is created ... less safety nets + more economic insecurity = more petty resentments + more people willing to work for less $ = more corporate profits to invest in think tanks that hire lobbyists to drive down costs/wages via legislation + $$$ to pay for campaign ads against Dems (who want to build the social safety nets that would cut into corporate profits).

And that's leaving out of the equation the driving of poor folks into the military to possibly die for 'American Interests' i.e. corporate profits ... and leaves out the Private Prisons that profit off Fed $$$ to lock up the poor when they can't pay.

It's a fairly brilliant scheme when you think about it.

The next egregious affront to Humanity by the Rich (I can almost guarantee it happens, and soon) will be putting 'illegals' (and perhaps even US citizens in regular Pens) to work building/making 'stuff' for free, increasing the profits of the for-profit private prison complex instead of 'sending 'em home'.

Since the politicians will not want to decrease the total number of desirable jobs available TOO much through these actions, I think we can expect to see prisoners mostly put to work in the fields, slaughterhouses, making license plates, and other types of physical 'grunt work' that the US citizenry doesn't generally care to do much, that way the fallout (esp. among GOPpers) for these slavery-like practices will be muted.

Face it, a certain segment of 'society' will celebrate the idea of putting the 'illegals' to work out in the fields, doing the jobs they used to do for minimal pay ... for NOTHING ... but the cost of their jailing (paid for largely by the Feds). After all they broke the law by coming here, might as well enslave them and make 'em work for free ... keeps costs down at the grocery store. The average deplorable will LOVE the practice.

[askyagerz]

32. Yep they still want their slaves

If the country were to go into the toilet tomorrow the ultra rich might lose money with the rest of us but what they will be left holding will seem 1000x more valuable to someone who is starving to death..
"Of course I will mow your yard for $2! My family thanks you so much for the opportunity sir!"

[sarah FAILIN]

8. He wants Alaska back

Look at all the crap he does trying to get his other parts back. Alaska is next and he will pay off our debts to cede it back to him.
He wants a whole USSR.

[Cyrano]

19. Okay. As long as he takes Palin with it.

[Hugin]

9. If Putin had anything to do with installing Trump you can be assured it wasn't because he thought...

Trump would make a great President.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Why not? The military build up bankrupted the USSR. Seems like

what the GOP wants to do here.

[Frustratedlady]

11. What happens to us if China and others who have loaned us money...

call it in? Who do we owe money to? How much? Will people start pulling their money out of the stock market because they are apprehensive over what Trump will do? What then?

What finally triggered the Depression?

[ProudLib72]

12. Sure, that's part of it

I think the plan was to remove the US as a global leader, thus eliminating our influence. Get rid of the other major players like Britain, France, and Germany, and he can do whatever he wants.

[lunatica]

13. Putin is succeeding

I wonder how much time we have before we can’t reverse it.

[0rganism]

14. i'd say it goes a lot further than that

most of us thought the "Cold War" was over in 1992 or so. well, apparently it wasn't over for the Russians, and Putin just led his army of internet trolls to a glorious victory over the USA.

yes, he will bankrupt the fuck out of us, but that's just a start. i think his aim is to Balkanize the United States so we split apart like the USSR did in the '90s, with a fair number of those states quite loyal to the Trumptraitor and his Russian handlers. along the way, we will dump all our intelligence secrets to the Russian apparatus and dishonor ourselves in the most egregious and obvious ways possible. Putin will not stop until America is destroyed as a credible superpower and becomes essentially a group of feuding pariah states with what's left of our military indirectly under his control.

i don't think Putin expected his election-disruption strategy to work nearly as well as it did, but he'd be a fool not to press an advantage that hops into his lap wagging its tail.

[Jim Lane]

15. Your suspicion fails Occam's Razor.

The Republicans have been shilling for their corporate paymasters since before Putin was born. Whine about deficits, cut taxes for the rich, discover that the deficit has increased, call for cuts in programs that benefit the 99% -- this has been the playbook for a long time.

The wall is a recent addition, but it's just an extension of the racism/xenophobia theme that has also been part of the playbook.

In the larger fiscal context, a military parade wouldn't be a significant deficit factor. That's just Trump's personality showing itself.

As for the stock market, no, I don't think Russian oligarchs can induce these short-term swings in the broad market. Through pump and dump, insider trading, and the like, they could probably make illegal profits on a few specific stocks, but that's it.

[shraby]

16. The military parade is meant to demean the country. An embarrassment, nothing more.

I disagree that the oligarchs can't disrupt our stock/bond market. They have enough money to do immense damage. If they can now disrupt it long enough by taking out their gains, other investors will get spooked and start wholesale dumping before they lose everything.

The stock market has never before gone upward on a straight shot without backing off from time to time in small corrections and only one country has amassed enough wealth to make a concerted effort to knock the pins out from under it. Russia. I say hang on to your hats, it's going to be a wild ride down.

[mr_lebowski]

31. I believe GYNA is significantly wealthier in terms of state-held funds than Russia ...

Russia has a bunch of fabulously wealthy oligarchs but the overall nat'l wealth is pretty low ... the oligarchs, should they act in concert, could likely do some damage to the US Market but China has REAL power due to how much of our debt they own + our trade deficit with them.

That said, however, I'd bet they are also likely much less inclined to see the US fail given how much of their money is here (and much more is here 'legally' i.e. not just through massive money laundering like the oligarchs money), plus how much trade they do with us. Russia's trade w/the USA is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller.

Also, Putin likely harbors much more of a grudge than China does as well due to the fact that we actively sought to 'take them down' whereas that's less true re: China.

[Initech]

17. That's also the Koch Bros.' aim.

The Kochs and Putin have a very similar goal. I would really be willing to bet good money that they're the missing link in this whole Russia investigation.

[blm]

20. Putin and GOP share the same goals - bankrupt our nation so the corporate elite become the new royals.

Kochs want to be Kings.

[GoCubsGo]

21. No. He just wants to destroy our democracy, along with that of every other one the world.

He has also been trying to pull the same shit in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and elsewhere What he really wants is complete power. He can't get that without the Russian people backing him, and most of them don't. They see how much better life is in democracies like the various countries in Western Europe than it is in Russia and all of its satellite states. The want a more democratic government, as Putin and his toadies have turned Russia into a third world country. Putin is trying to make all those democracies fail. That way he can tell the Russian people, "Look how badly they suck. Look at the moron that democracy gave the United States. He's a complete idiot, who destroyed them. My way is better. Get behind me." He doesn't want us to come begging to him. He wants his own people begging to him.

[askyagerz]

25. Putin knows Capitalism without regulation is an eventual dead end cliff

What better man to put in the car to hit the nitro then Donald Trump?

[Initech]

28. Fuck that, they're driving off the cliff Thelma and Louise style,

[askyagerz]

33. Tweeting to the very end...

Gravity is fake news created by liberal scientists looking for a payout! That wimpy rock thinks it can smash the donald! Not true sooooo sad! I will crush it with my giant hands!
Hillary and Obam..... SPLAT!

[Initech]

35. ...

[japple]

29. I always thought this was the aim of the GOP. Bankrupt the country (drown it in a bathtub?)

and then they could say "see, US government does work." Then they would force some unworldly theocracy on the US.

[Skittles]

34. that's a GOP goal

so they can whack SS and Medicare

[lostnfound]

36. Cheapen the value of residential real estate in major cities of Northeast and california

Changes in the tax plan may produce a decline in residential prooerty values, which in turn will lower revenues to states