Thread regarding Chevron Corp. layoffs

I'll concede that one to you, dogk. I too have been to many of those mandatory meetings where we leave the meeting with more confusion and questions that even our supervisors stutter to answer. We are seem to be in Bizarro World.

Yeah, just like the mandatory meetings I had to attend at Chevron. Most people would just look at each other not knowing exactly what was being conveyed.

WTF? @cfwj. Learn to express your thoughts more clearly. I don't understand a damn thing you are trying to convey.

-cisi: or maybe they might think Trump of coarse in some initiatives....hence the checks and balences built into our system from the start!

@caos, you may be right, though I hope not. When the rubber hits the road, often times some politicians get soft and don't want want to make the hard decisions. Their own self-preservation becomes the priority, not the nation. Maybe when these weak and fickle politicians take the middle of the road approach to real change and become obstructionists, the only thing to do is vote them out when they come up for re-election.

Trump is going to have a hard time herding his own party along for many of his initiatives (e.g., TrumpCare and trade), such that it might not be just Democratics obstructing his progress.

@crom, Don't be naive about Democrats grid locking anything. They are in the minority in both chambers of Congress and will definitely have a smaller footprint after the midterm elections in 2018 if 10 or 12 Democrat Senators want to go up against Trump and a pissed off electorate. This is the beginning of 4 years (and hopefully 8) of taking America back. You gotta love it.

For @bpcr, it does comes down to two camps: You are either an Optimist or a Pessimist. Don't give us any of your double speak. You asked to be put in the latter camp.

I am very optimistic that we can grid lock Trump's agenda as effectively as the republicans grid locked Obama over the last eight years to prevent the damage to our country I find likely under his lead. Very optimistic, very top notch obstruction, the tightest gridlock you have ever seen, it will be great (again).

@bcmb, Very well, I'll put you in the Pessimist column.

Optimism or keeper of the gaslight? ... not always obvious in these days of alt talk propaganda double speak, demands that the press "shut up" and "I will not tell you my plan just believe me it will be great". The cool aid just keeps getting thicker. My only question is who going to cry the most by the end of the first 100 days: the middle class (with no health care at any price after the exchanges collapse) or the budget hawks on the middle right....I am betting the latter, but only time will tell. One can be sure the 1 percent will not suffer!

Pessimism is an easy posture to take, while optimism is a more difficult. Funny how pessimists mostly stay silent or say they were misunderstood when things work out successfully. The hard and challenging work are always undertaken by optimists, and when they sometimes fail, the optimist gets up and tries again to succeed. It's easy to be a pessimist with a loser mentality. I've always been an optimist and it's why I've mostly succeeded in my career and social life. I admire Trump's optimism and drive. He may not succeed in everything he wants to do, but I know his heart and mind is in the right place.

After 8 years of obstruction and imposed gridlock (including failure to fill a vacant supreme court seat), it is rather rich to heard now that somehow we should just step aside and accept the election result going forward. Not going to happen!

Trump won. He is the President. Get that through your head. He won because of his message and the promises he made to the People. He is now fulfilling his promises, as any American would expect of the person they elect. A refreshing and welcomed change indeed. God bless Trump and the USA.

"Mexico spends every Dollar of our aid money properly"... what kind of metric is that? The point was that most of that money is paid to Mexico not as charity but rather to support things we want! That and even if we took it all to pay for the wall it would require 75 years! (And that assuming no cost over runs!). Like Trump, I think you could do well to get the services of a rational economist before proposing your alt plans!

-bnvr, why don't you provide a credible source that demonstrates Mexico spends every Dollar of our aid money properly? BTW, I agree with one thing you touched on... Trump is a welcome change.

I give thanks to God and every voter across the land who voted for Trump in November. Thank you.

I like Trump's saber rattling against China, Mexico, the Media, etal. This is a brilliant strategy and takes balls to pull it off. Trump is very capable of shaking everything up and turning the world in its ear. It's exactly what the USA needs. We need to renegotiate all the bad deals prior sellout administrations put us into. Rather than dealing with one thing at a time, wasting time and proceeding with kid gloves, only a personality like Trump can do what it takes... be bold, shake things up, move quickly and get multiple things on the table simultaneously. I have a strong confidence in Trump to deliver big results that keep America's interests first. We've been pushover sissies for far too long. Those days are over at last.

@akwc, that's a reasonable perspective. I do think that Trump's saber rattling toward Mexico, China and Europe could cause conflict and trade wars, thus depressing demand for oil & gas, and making it more difficult for American companies to due business.

Trump, but I did not vote for him in the primaries. My top two issues are Supreme Court and taxes. I honestly do not want a far right court, maybe a smidgen right of center, it would be too divisive for the country. And I do not believe this country can afford higher taxes, the middle class and small businesses have suffered for a long time.

Back on topic, protectionism has many colors. If it means Americans are better than everyone else, that's wrong. If it means all things being equal, America needs to take care of herself first, I think that's right. And I think a strong, healthy America can help the world lift itself out of the current global economic malaise it's been in. That will fuel enough growth to draw down hydrocarbon supplies and benefit all the super majors.

Just my opinions. I can respect some disagreements. Just not the ones that quote CNN or Huffington Post.

@acvs, would you have voted for Bernie Sanders if he ran instead of Hillary? Or would you have still voted for Trump?

"You're going to take Mexico government's word for how aid money is spent"....no, but I will take my governments word on how much it given the justification for it....mostly to support our drug enforcement priorities one way or another.

avdq - Really, that's your rebuttal? You're going to take Mexico government's word for how aid money is spent. I'm sure those are honest numbers. And I thought just about all the people who are supposed to know something about this say it's a demand issue, not supply. But of course that "war" hasn't done much either. So let's just keep spending money that doesn't work, complain about infrastructure and education, then go borrow.

I'm not drinking Trump's, or anyones, koolaid. I've been watching politics for 30+ years, and living with negative results from decisions made in DC for twenty years. The status quo is broken and a lot of us are convinced Hillary would have been a continuation.

I'm far from believing Trump is going to fix all of this nation's ills in four years, or even many. But maybe some RINOs come around. Maybe some Dem senators looking at reelection come around. Maybe some hardcore conservative Reps in congress will learn to compromise for the good of everyone. Of course there's no chance the hardcore liberal Dems in congress will grow up, they're a lost cause.

@ambn, where is the evidence that economic indicators are usually revised downward later? And is this supposedly worse under Obama than Bush? I've never heard of that concern before. The important difference now is that Trump and his press secretary are outright lying about very simple which can be disproven by numerous sources in minutes. Examples include wide-scale voter fraud, inauguration crowd sizes, crime rates in major cities, existence/causes of climate change etc. These are preposterous claims that may fly on Breitbart and Alex Jones Info Wars, but they don't pass a sanity check. That's very dangerous territory to be in, where people are entitled to their own 'alternative facts.'

Unemployment numbers wrong (because I guess they do not include the long-term unemployed).... ok, sure but that is a consistent error that does not invalidate relative comparisons over time (bushy boy clocked out at about 12%, Obama at 5%, Trump, we will see - but my guess is it will not be an improvement). This is because governments do not create jobs (the unemployment number just reflects of the overall economy). Clinton ... gets a pass, really? I seem to remember an impeachment in there somewhere. The Alt-facts just keep on coming!

Alternate facts like the unemployment numbers for the Obama and earlier years were absolutely honest. Or economic numbers that later get revised, usually down. Or alternate reality like Trump saying something vulgar on tape and women everywhere are shocked, but Clinton actually doing vulgarities to women gets a pass.

As for the wall, subtract costs estimates from this year's Mexico foreign aid spend and in essence Mexican money is being used. When there's costs overruns, subtract from next year's spend.

Trump has theories? ... I was under the impression he just acted on impulse moment to moment. A problem when brain RAM tops out at 140 characters.

Trade wars with Mexico? I really wonder if Trump's team consulted any economist on this (not only is it the consumers who will pay in the end, but reciprocal tarifs will hurt us more). Did he think of discussing with any historians....we have been here before! Why do I feel like I am on a rollercoster with no brakes?

Yes, Thank God for Trump and the critical thinking and wisdom of the electorate who voted for him. Thank God for our US Constitution and the critical thinking and wisdom of our Founding Fathers.

My consolation is knowing that such a large portion of the populace is so stupid makes it easier for me to get ahead. Just the least bit of critical thinking ability and now you are a superstar.

Thanks Trump.

Get over it. Trump is President. He became President saying everything he wanted to, and he won despite any advise from the party establishment. I don't care what he says about the 3-4 million illegal votes. He's the President and he's kicking A$$ and fulfilling his promises. That's what matters to all us Trumpions.

Do his claims of 3-5 million fraudulent votes on this Presidential election cause concern? Lindsey Graham said yesterday "I would urge the President to knock this off; this is the greatest democracy on Earth, we're the leader of the free world, and people are going to start doubting you as a person if you keep making accusations against our electoral system without justification. This is going to erode his ability to govern this country if he does not stop it."

We've never seen something like this before.

So, any Trump supporters having second thoughts about voting for him?

My opinion on "Diversity" is that the former liberal left government (and other leftist groups) use it was a wedge to divide and segregate people into groups and to pit one against the other. This is the "divide and conquer" Marxist model that the New World Order types implement.

There are no shortages of historical examples where a society decides it would be better off to get rid of "them" so as to purify the population to align the "us" in greater cohesion and harmony. The problem is when "them" are depleted the definition of "us" just becomes more restricted....and on it goes. I for one hope the USA under Trump does not descend on the path toward evil.

7qbg: I do too, but unfortunately most of humanity still seems tied to its tribal instincts.

There's yet another person here who would like to see evidence, a study, survey or census that people of any specific ethnicity, race or immigration status are , for instance committing more crime, or receiving more government benefits than others in the United States whom are true citizens. I certainly would too. It would be easy to do, but may take a little effort and would be only published on the so-called darker sites of the internet if at all. However, don't hold your breath. Also don't hold your breath waiting for a member of the media, Television, Online, or Printed newspaper to use the term "illegal Immigrant" in the description of the perpetrator or suspect of a crime or, for instance, abuse of the legal system, or being a burden on benefits programs. It happened once in Hawaii, from what I read, before they got the memo.......... I do not consider the results of anchor babies and family reunification programs ala Ted Kennedy true citizens, but that's just me. Yet Trump has already used the term "Radical Islamic Terrorism" in a speech. We're making progress. Just think, one day Americans may even have freedom of speech!

The argument against diversity is one of social cohesion. The average Scandinavian pays a ~50% tax rate as he feels a social bond with another citizen.

With increased diversity and the rise in the "fruit salad" society there is no identification with the other ("the black inner city welfare mom", "unlicensed Mexican plumber")

-7oyd: Always hard to falsify broad generalities. What you evidence that un-diverse nations do better? Compare Japan with the USA for example...not a lot of support for your case.

The Ryan plan (the only Republican plan currently on the table) would provide a tax credit which you would be required to spend on health care. So the distinction is not clear to me between 1) taking my money as a tax, returning that to me as a credit, and then requiring me to spend that on health care, and 2) just requiring me to go buy health care. I would prefer the later, as I expect the gov will take a bigger slice off the top with the former. I guess I am just missing the key underpinning of alt-logic.

There has never been any evidence presented in any study, at any time, in any case, in any country, which illustrates, much less proves that "diversity" whether it be cultural or racial, has ever made any nation "Great" especially America. In fact there is more evidence which points to it making conditions worse on all accounts.

Why would anyone again incorrectly make the comparison of auto-insurance to the ACA mandate? You are not required to drive a car, own a car, etc. to survive, as in healthcare, in many instances. It is simply not a necessity and no comparison. In fact. many in big cities never drive and never even get a drivers license. Sources of transportation are abundant without driving yourself personally. The insurance is only applicable to those who decide to personally control 3000+ lbs pieces of steel machinery on highways at deadly speeds around other humans, many without proper skills, abilities, or sensibilities.