Juggling Dynamite

No human can serve two masters equally, and even if they could, to be an effective leader one must steer clear of all appearance of conflicts. Trump is not making the grade, and so far he is saying no one minds; which is wrong. Thinking people must demand higher ethics of our leaders and not keep allowing elites to play those they serve as fools.

The author who wrote a book alleging corruption between the Clintons and their philanthropy now says he sees similar conflicts of interest between Donald Trump and his business now that he’s President-elect.

Peter Schweizer, whose book, “Clinton Cash,” sent the Clinton campaign into damage control as she kicked off her bid in spring 2015, said he foresaw attempts by foreign actors to ingratiate themselves to Trump’s children, who will take over the President-elect’s business empire. That could be an attempt to curry favor with the White House.  Here is a direct video link.

Also see: Trump not doing enough to avoid conflicts of interest

The poll found that 59% of people say Trump’s plan isn’t enough, compared with 39% who say it is.

Trump owns or has a position in more than 500 companies, according to a CNN analysis. That includes about 150 that have done business in at least 25 foreign countries, including Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Ethics experts say no previous president has been so exposed to conflicts and allegations of political corruption because of business interests. They say that remains true even if he hands control to the children.

Unfortunately financial conditions are worse than 2008 today: the world has a lot more debt now than then at every level, the population is older, productivity is weaker, wages are flat, consumption is falling and corporate revenue and profits have been falling since at least 2014. All in all, capital risks have rarely been higher and investment prospects from these levels never worse. And now the index is back at secular resistance once more. But other than that… party on Garth.

Now that would be a bad business decision. The rest of the world already understands this.

The federal Liberal government announced it will be phasing-out coal from electrical generation by the year 2030 —making 90 per cent of Canada’s power generation “clean.”

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said the steps would reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than five megatonnes — “The equivalent of taking 1.3 million cars off the road.”

Four provinces have coal-power plants: Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.Here is a direct video link.

Climate change is not stopping because DT says it’s a hoax. No one has that kinda power. Also see US must transition to a low carbon energy:

What’s also clear is that climate change, together with mega-student debt and the loss of entry-level jobs to robots, will trigger a millennial revolt. Twenty-five-year-olds starting out in the workforce, and 35-year-olds with young children, are not going to settle for a septuagenarian president repeating climate falsehoods and squandering their future.

While the president-elect and a few self-serving coal and oil executives might still pretend that climate change is overblown, the rest of the world knows better. For 120 years, scientists have known that burning fossil fuels adds to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and thereby warms the planet. Last year was the warmest year since record keeping began, in 1880, and 2016 will be warmer than 2015. Around the world, people observe and suffer the consequences.