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Comment by throwawaywd4252 | Hacker News Reader

This comment contains a couple of strong and unsubstantiated assertions.

1. Wealth disparity is an issue -- this needs to be justified beyond an appeal to fairness. Why is this an issue at all? Is the real issue the decline of the middle class? Is that necessarily connected to increasing wealth in the upper class?

2. The election of Donald Trump is a 'lose-lose' scenario. How? What, specifically, about his proposed policies has a demonstrably negative impact on the quality of life for American citizens and the United States' geopolitical influence?

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>2. The election of Donald Trump is a 'lose-lose' scenario. How? What, specifically, about his proposed policies has a demonstrably negative impact on the quality of life for American citizens and the United States' geopolitical influence?

There's more to a president than their proposed policies. Trump's bigoted rhetoric is already having a demonstrably negative impact on the quality of life for many minorities in the USA (and he's not even in office yet)

https://twitter.com/i/moments/796417517157830656?lang=en

1. Wealth disparity is an issue because wealth in America correlates very strongly with political power, which wealthy people in turn use to amass even more wealth and political power.

2. Oh man, where to even begin?

a. Repeal of ACA is the most obvious one. According to the recently released report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office[1], 18 million Americans will lose their health insurance in the first year when ACA is repealed. Over ten years, this number will increase to 32 million. In other words, by 2026, one in ten Americans will be without health insurance.

b. Trump wants to strip FCC of consumer protection laws[2]. It's pretty obvious why this will be horrendous for the average American.

c. He proposed pulling out of NATO. This one should also be pretty obvious: NATO is the major force that is keeping Russia in check. Without America there would be a NATO, and without NATO, Russian geopolitical influence would expand massively, reducing America's influence as a result.

d. His cabinet picks are a major disaster. Department of Labor headed by a guy who has fought against labor protection laws all his life. Department of Education headed by a woman who wants to abolish it. Department of Energy headed by a guy who has a degree in animal science. Department of Housing and Urban development headed by a guy whose only "qualification" for the job is having grown up in a poor neighborhood. Environmental Protection Agency headed by a guy who is a close ally of the fossil fuel industry. It gets worse and worse.

[1]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/17/...

[2]http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/01/trump-team-report...

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