A lesson in US Civics:

What happens when the losing candidate gets most votes?  Well, Trump is not president until December 19^th and any time up to and including that date the Electoral College can change their minds but; you can be sure they won’t.   

This is the 5^th time in US history that this has happened.

Proposals are out to do away with the Electoral College which is a group of people bound by the Federal Law (Judges, Generals, Fire Chiefs, Mayors) or by the state, by pledges or law, to vote for a specific candidate chosen by the people. (Popular vote 26 states out of 50 have such laws in place) You can see the excitement over these states during the election.

These states are:

Electors in these States are bound by State Law or by pledges to cast their vote for a specific candidate:

ALABAMA – Party Pledge / State Law – § 17-19-2
ALASKA – Party Pledge / State Law – § 15.30.040; 15.30.070
CALIFORNIA – State Law – Elections Code § 6906
COLORADO – State Law – § 1-4-304
CONNECTICUT – State Law – § 9-175
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA – DC Pledge / DC Law – § 1-1001.08(g)
FLORIDA – Party Pledge / State Law – § 103.021(1)
HAWAII – State Law – §§ 14-26 to 14-28
MAINE – State Law – § 805
MARYLAND – State Law – § 8-505
MASSACHUSETTS – Party Pledge / State Law – Ch. 53, § 8, Supp.
MICHIGAN – State Law – § 168.47 (Violation cancels vote and Elector is replaced.)
MISSISSIPPI – Party Pledge / State Law – § 23-15-785(3)
MONTANA – State Law – § 13-25-304
NEBRASKA – State Law – § 32-714
NEW MEXICO – State Law – § 1-15-5 to 1-15-9 (Violation is a fourth degree felony.)
NORTH CAROLINA – State Law – § 163-212 (Violation cancels vote; elector is replaced and is subject to $500 fine.)
OHIO – State Law – § 3505.40
OKLAHOMA – State Pledge / State Law – 26, §§ 10-102; 10-109 (Violation of oath is a misdemeanor, carrying a fine of up to $1000.)
OREGON – State Pledge / State Law – § 248.355
SOUTH CAROLINA – State Pledge / State Law – § 7-19-80 (Replacement and criminal sanctions for violation.)
VERMONT – State Law – title 17, § 2732
VIRGINIA – State Law – § 24.2-202
WASHINGTON – Party Pledge / State Law – §§ 29.71.020, 29.71.040, Supp. ($1000 fine.)
WISCONSIN – State Law – § 7.75
WYOMING – State Law – §§ 22-19-106; 22-19-108

This proposal has been put forward over 700 times!   However, it takes a @constitutional change to enact a law to remove the College.

#To change the US constitution, requires the house and senate to both approve the change with 2/3 majority plus the change, if it gets that far it must be ratified ¾ of the states.  Canada is much more straight forward but the Wild Rose Party would like to take us in the US direction.

 

The Electoral College was put into the Constitution to protect the voting public (can you believe?) from demigods or very corrupt presidential candidates.

Speaking of demigods.  @Trump has ripped up all the US environmental agreements even though the Arctic Tundra is melting and earth’s elliptical orbit is on track and; we are still heating up!

During the election, Trump told the U S that #global warming was a farce dreamed up by the Chinese to injure US economy. Now he is saber rattling about the South China sea pointedly taking US attention off the middle east.  It is easy to see why his comradeship with Mr. @Putin was so easily formed.

His policies are the epidemy of protectionism complete with walls and fences.  Wait until he goes to work on the rest of his rhetoric.  @Saudi’s will have to dig in.  Perhaps the US will be an unwelcome guest on their middle east airports and military bases?  New middle east alliances?  @Turkey

How I see the results?

China can put more onto Trump’s plate than the US is capable of handling.  Starting with pulling or selling off their US dollars.  A crippling move!

I must explain the US has a half dozen ways of measuring unemployment but you really have to dig for the totals.  Their popular figure is 2% where in fact that is just one iconic measurement. There is a large segment that have used up their equivalent of EI so are not counted as unemployed.

Trump took office with 8 million Americans unemployed.  Perhaps he’s ready for war?  I don’t know.  But, he may see a robust military build up and engagement as being a way  out of recession which, has been proven so many times, not to work at all.

If he follows up in his present course, it will leave Russia to get rid of ISIS and anyone not friendly with Assad and firmly install the old regime (Assad) who Russia backs and it will be left to Israel to clean up a mess.

The next 4 years are going to be hell on earth!

Carbon Tax vis Cap and Trade and Trumps position on it.

 A carbon tax is mostly recoverable if people change their living habits.  Turn down the heat in your home; don't idle your vehicle so long. Or more extreme shut your vehicle off on long traffic waits.
Get used to wearing a sweater around the house.  Turn down your hot water tank.  If possible invest in new technology in a vast number of areas.

If you get into a real self program of turning off the heat, you will break even probably under a carbon tax.

Conservatives prefer the cap and trade vision on a world wide scale.  That is because true to Conservative form it is basically a scam.   It allows business to transfer money across borders with no tax penalty.

An example.  A US parent company declares they have reduced their carbon footprint by X number of tonnes per year.   If the price on cap and trade is set at 20.00 per ton (it will be a higher number than the carbon tax for PR purpose. And, frankly it doesn't matter what number they put on it as its meaningless.  

To continue; a Canadian company, a subsidiary of the mentioned  US parent company, Comes close to showing a profit.  This company takes real cash 20.00 times X tonnes and transfers it to the US parent.

In Canada this company cries "we are close to broke"  "no raises possible because of our carbon penalty" etc.  Canadian profit shipped to US parent company giving the Canadian company a tax deduction and the  US parent avoids taxes on this amount as that is what cap and trade is about.   And it does nothing for our huge problems in the environment.

And to compound this we  have an insidious complication in Trump's election.

The world's financial state now, is very similar if not the same as the disastrous financial situation of the world  prior to World War 2.   And, then we throw in a wild card, a man who demonstrated his own ignorance on an unprecedented level, could easily step into the role of Hitler if just a little of what he said during the election is to be believed.