Donald Trump staked a claim for the mantle of hero by using the “art of the deal” to save 1,000 jobs at the Carrier furnace factory in his running mate Mike Pence’s home state of Indiana from moving to Mexico. The new conservative alt-right movement hailed this as proof that Trump is “already winning for American workers.” (Breitbart.news)
The jobs in this particular “save” were outnumbered by the jobs United Technologies (the parent corporation) still shipped off to Mexico. It is wonderful that 1,000 jobs were protected but the deal was made possible by paying $7 million in incentives, which is no revolutionary method to preserving jobs. Since Indiana was willing to pay, the corporation was willing to keep some of the jobs here in the United States but the taxpayers of Indiana will pay $7,000 per job to keep them here for 10 years.
Financial barometers indicate that America does need additional economic stimulation since there has been steady job growth and improved unemployment numbers during President Obama’s final term. Some of Mr. Trump’s staunchest supporters have panned the Carrier deal. Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter expressed doubts about an economic plan based on government subsidies.
Mr. Trump has promised to fulfill his pledge to lower taxes for the wealthiest Americans and eliminate the estate tax which benefits citizens wealthy enough to have millions of dollars in their estates.
If corporate welfare will be followed by tax reform for the wealthy, then the Fortune 500 should love Mr. Trump. The working people in America who will be poorer, deeper in debt and left with less of a voice in government if he fulfills his pledges should start planning for 2020.
Breitbart is a conservative news, opinion and commentary website founded in 2007 by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart who began his career working for Matt Drudge. Mr. Breitbart reportedly conceived of the site during a visit to Israel and maintained that a website news source “that would be unapologeticlly pro-freedom and pro-Israel” was needed on the Internet.
Mr. Breitbart said that the website would counter the “anti-Israel bias of the mainstream media and J-Street.” Breitbart aligned with populist and alt-right supporters under the management of former Executive Chairperson Steven Bannon who declared Breitbart was “the platform for the alt-right” in 2016.
The New York Times has described Breitbart as a website with “ideologically driven journalists” that provided “material that has been called misogynist, xenophobic and racist” and used by ultra-conservative and hate groups.
The Southern Poverty Law Center contended that Breitbart “has undergone a noticeable shift toward embracing ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right” and used “racist,” “anti-Muslim” and “anti-immigrant” ideas on its website. The center also alleged the website was promoting the beliefs of the alt-right movement.
Ben Shapiro, a former editor-at-large, wrote that under Mr. Bannon, “Breitbart has become the alt-right go-to website… pushing white ethno-nationalism as a legitimate response to political correctness.”
Mr. Bannon has repeatedly denied allegations that he promoted racism or that the owners of Breitbart had connections to the alt-right or white supremacist movements. Yet many big corporations have decided without prompting to separate themselves from the website that Mr. Bannon created.
Breitbart, unlike conventional media companies, announced it would call for a boycott of Kellogg’s products and that the website would go to “war” with Kellogg’s over its decision to stop advertising on the website because Breitbart was not “aligned” with its values.
It is a brave new world. I wonder how Mr. Bannon will advise President Trump if the United States is slighted or provoked on the diplomatic world stage.
May her memory be a blessing 
Has Gowanus Tunnel proposal been shafted – or postponed for years?