The Doom of Donald Trump: fleshy man given to vulgarities and gauche behavior, boastful, thin-skinned, politically amoral, vengeful, unforgiving and, most important, considered an illegitimate president

New York Daily News, 16 January 2017:

Whether he knows it or not, the specter of Lyndon Baines Johnson haunts Donald John Trump. There are some jarring similarities -- two big fleshy men given to vulgarities and gauche behavior, boastful, thin-skinned, politically amoral, vengeful, unforgiving and, most important, considered illegitimate presidents. For Johnson that took some time to sink in; Trump is already there.

Johnson ascended to the presidency upon the death of John F. Kennedy and then won election in a landslide over Barry Goldwater. Nevertheless, an air of illegitimacy clung to him like an odor. It thickened as opposition to the Vietnam War became more and more furious and it peaked, in my estimation, with a hoax in 1967 by Paul Krassner in the counterculture magazine The Realist.

Tongue in cheek, it reported that Johnson had climbed into Kennedy's casket and there done unspeakable things. The story was abominable, tasteless and deserved any other insult you could throw at it, but some people believed it. I know. I heard it.

Jump now a half-century to the recent stories relating to Trump and alleged shenanigans in Russia at a time not all that distant. The accounts, unverified and as revolting as any concocted about Johnson, had a currency that can only be explained by Trump's own behavior -- a persona that seems so self-indulgent, so juvenile, that almost any sort of behavior seems credible. Trump called the report fake news and, as always, blamed the messenger (the media, the intelligence community, etc.) but he ought to have looked in the mirror and wondered why he looks so ugly to so many people.

Krassner is an obscure 1960s figure; Rep. John Lewis is not. He said the other day that Trump's presidency was illegitimate and he would not, as an invited member of Congress, attend the inaugural. Trump, of course, tweeted a disparagement. As he did when he belittled John McCain's heroism under torture, Trump said Lewis was "all talk" and "no action."

Lewis is one of the last of the great civil rights era heroes. He marched. He protested. He had his head cracked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. It was 1965 and the Alabama police nearly beat him to death. He is a man of immense courage and morality, so much greater than Trump in those respects.

Yes, Trump won in the Electoral College and that, alas, is all that matters. But on the larger point, Lewis is right. Trump conducted a dirty, dishonest campaign which sullied the very presidency he won. He questioned Barack Obama's legitimacy, trafficked in racism and demagoguery and seems to have had poll workers in far-off Moscow. Still, he'll be the President….

By the end of the week, Donald Trump will be the President. I wish him the best; I wish him the worst. The dilemma is how to separate loathing for him from love of the country. I am leaving it to time to work that out.

In the meantime, Trump will have his moment, that's for sure, but when things go wrong he will be chased from office -- just like Johnson once was. The ancient Greeks knew why: A man's character is his fate. In that case, Trump's presidency is doomed.

How Malcolm Turnbull's approval rating compares with seven other national leaders

OVERVIEW

2017 Edelman Trust Barometer:

The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer finds that two-thirds of the countries we survey are now "distrusters" (under 50 percent trust in the mainstream institutions of business, government, media and NGOs to do what is right), up from just over half in2016. This is a profound crisis in trust that has its origins in the Great Recession of2008. The aftershocks from the stunning meltdown of the global economy are still being felt today, with consequences yet unknown.

Like the second and third waves of a tsunami, ongoing globalization and technological change are now further weakening people's trust in global institutions, which they believe have failed to protect them from the negative effects of these forces. The celebrated benefits of free trade—affordable products for mass consumption and the raising of a billion people out of poverty—have suddenly been supplanted by concerns about the outsourcing of jobs to lower-cost markets. The impact of automation is being felt, especially in lower-skilled jobs, as driverless trucks and retail stores without cashiers become reality.

We have moved beyond the point of trust being simply a key factor in product purchase or selection of employment opportunity; it is now the deciding factor in whether a society can function. As trust in institutions erodes, the basic assumptions of fairness, shared values and equal opportunity traditionally upheld by "the system" are no longer taken for granted. We observe deep disillusion on both the left and the right, who share opposition to globalization, innovation, deregulation, and multinational institutions. There is growing despair about the future, a lack of confidence in the possibility of a better life for one's family. The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer finds that only 15 percent of the general population believe the present system is working, while 53 percent do not and 32 percent are uncertain.

MALCOLM BLIGH TURNBULL (AUSTRALIA)

Essential Report, 17 January 2017:

DONALD JOHN TRUMP (USA)

9 News, 18 January 2017:

President-elect Donald Trump takes office this week with dismal approval and popularity numbers, according to polls out Tuesday, underscoring the deep divisions among Americans as the New York businessman prepares for his inauguration.

A CNN/ORC poll showed 40 percent of respondents approved of the way Trump has been handling the transition period heading into Friday's inauguration, a figure that's sharply lower than any incoming US president in recent history.

Trump will enter the Oval Office as the least popular incoming president in at least four decades, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll…….

The CNN poll showed Trump lagging more than 20 points behind the approval ratings of his three most recent predecessors and 44 points below that of President Barack Obama as he prepared to enter the Oval Office in 2009.

Obama had an 84 percent approval rating ahead of his inauguration, Bill Clinton scored 67 percent approval in late December 1992 and 61 percent approved of George W. Bush's transition in poll figures from January 2001, CNN said.

Forty percent of respondents told the Washington Post-ABC survey they have a favorable impression of the incoming president, compared with 54 percent who said they have an unfavorable impression.

That makes Trump the most unpopular incoming president since at least Jimmy Carter in 1977, the Washington Post said.

Forty-four percent said Trump is qualified to serve as president, as opposed to 52 percent who said he's not qualified, the Washington Post-ABC poll said.

When asked how much confidence they have that Trump will make the right decisions for the country's future, 38 percent said they had a great deal or a good amount of confidence. Sixty-one percent said they had just some or no confidence.

The CNN/ORC poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. The Washington Post-ABC poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

JUSTIN PIERRE JAMES TRUDEAU (CANADA)

CBC News, 16 January 2017:

Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government continue to enjoy strong support as the prime minister makes stops in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on his cross-country tour Monday and Tuesday.

A poll released Monday by Corporate Research Associates of Halifax suggests 73 per cent of residents in Atlantic Canada are satisfied with the performance of the federal government, which is one percentage point lower than in August 2016.

The proportion of those polled who were dissatisfied with the performance of Trudeau's government was unchanged at 20 per cent. Six per cent of those questioned did not offer an opinion and one per cent said it is too soon to decide how the government is performing.

Trudeau's personal popularity stood at 62 per cent, which is down three percentage points from August.

THERESA MARY MAY (UNITED KINGDOM)

Sky News, 13 January 2017:

Theresa May has enjoyed the longest opinion poll 'honeymoon' of any Conservative prime minister since the 1950s.

May's premiership reaches the six-month mark on Friday, during which time her party has opened up an average poll lead over Labour of 14 points.

No Tory government in modern times has been in such a commanding position at this stage of a prime minister's time in office.

But pollsters have warned that the party's performance is more a reflection of Labour weakness than Tory strength, and could crumble if Brexit negotiations run into difficulty.

The Press Association has analysed the poll ratings for every government of the past 60 years precisely six months into the term of a new prime minister.

Only one government of any political colour has beaten May's current rating: the Labour administration led by Tony Blair, which had a colossal 29-point lead in the polls six months after Mr Blair took office in 1997.

By contrast, Margaret Thatcher's government was an average of five points behind in the polls, while John Major was six points down.

The Tories were one point ahead of Labour when David Cameron reached the six- month mark.

VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH PUTIN (RUSSIA)

Sputnik News, 22 December 2016:

More than 60 percent of Russians trust President Putin, with the level of confidence in the president increasing over the last months, a trust rating published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) showed on Thursday.
According to the poll, Putin's actions as the Russian president are supported by 85.8 percent of Russians…

The all-Russian opinion poll was conducted by VCIOM on December 17-18, 2016, in 130 cities around the country among 1600 people. The maximum margin of error is no higher than 3.5 percent.

SIMON WILLIAM "BILL" ENGLISH (NEW ZEALAND)

TVNZ News Now, 21 December 2016:

Support for National fell to 45 per cent at the start of December, but it's not clear if the party's leadership change had anything to do with the latest poll.

The Roy Morgan poll shows support for a Labour/Green alliance is up to 43 per cent and an election held now would have a close result, as a result of National's 4.5 per cent fall.

The poll was carried out between November 28 and December 11, covering the week before former Prime Minister John Key's shock resignation and the following week which saw Jonathan Coleman and Judith Collins contest Mr Key's eventual successor Bill English for the leadership.

SHINZO ABE (JAPAN)

The Japan Times, 18 December 2016:

The support rate for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet has tumbled to 54.8 percent from the previous month, according to a two-day nationwide poll, with over half of the respondents viewing the outcome of last week's Japan-Russia summit negatively, along with the unpopular legalization of casinos.

The Cabinet's approval rating compared with 60.7 percent in November, while its disapproval rating rose to 34.1 percent, up 3.7 points.

In the survey, conducted through Sunday by Kyodo News, 54.3 percent had a negative view of the summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin held Thursday and Friday in Japan.

Questioned about the Diet's legalization of casinos the same week, 69.6 percent opposed the law and 24.6 percent supported it.

The same survey, meanwhile, showed 75.3 percent said they would not want a so-called integrated casino resort to be built in their neighborhood and 21.9 percent said they would support one.

Kyodo conducted the poll on 1,456 randomly selected households and received 1,018 valid responses.

JOKO WIDODO (INDONESIA)

The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 November 2016:

In contrast, Jokowi engineered a comeback. His approval rating stands at between 60 and 70 per cent in the various polls, close to his honeymoon highs.

And he has transformed a feeble grip on the parliament into a dominant one. His ruling coalition now enjoys 70 per cent of the seats in parliament.

The Australian Government doesn't only wreck asylum seeker lives on Manus and Nauru - it tosses away billions of taxpayer dollars in the process

The Turnbull Government (like the Abbott government before it) once again demonstrates why it is unfit to govern……

ABC News, 17 January 2017:

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has been accused of mismanaging offshore detention centre contracts, with an independent audit alleging more than $1 billion was spent over the last four years without proper authorisation.

A report from Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) detailed "significant shortcomings" in the management of contracts for security and welfare services on Manus Island and Nauru.

It cited $2.3 billion in payments made between September 2012 and April 2016, which it stated were not authorised or recorded correctly.

"$1.1 billion was approved by DIBP officers who did not have the required authorisation and for the remaining $1.1 billion there was no departmental record of who authorised the payments," it stated.

The report further stated that contract variations totalling more than $1 billion were made without a documented assessment of value for money.

The Immigration Department disagreed with the claim that some payments were not appropriately authorised.

However, a response from Jenet Connell, the department's chief operating officer, acknowledged the lack of documentary evidence around the payments and cited plans to "further embed improvements".

"It is important to recognise the complex environment in which these contracts were established and continue to operate," she said.

"The garrison support and welfare services contracts were originally established during great uncertainty and over the last four years, the department has worked very hard to establish sustainable contract arrangements."

The report comes four months after an earlier audit that stated that the department was unable to demonstrate it had secured valued for money in three of the four hiring processes for centres on Nauru and Manus Island.

Australian National Audit Office, excerpt from Audit Report No. 32 2016-17:

Conclusion

8. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s management of the garrison support and welfare services contracts at the offshore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea (Manus Island) has fallen well short of effective contract management practice.

9. The garrison support and welfare contracts were established in circumstances of great haste to give effect to government policy decisions and the department did not have a detailed view of what it wanted to purchase or the standards to apply. These are key considerations in achieving value for money. While the department took between 20 to 43 weeks (depending on the contract) to enter into final 2013 contracts, there remained significant shortcomings in the contractual framework. Many of the shortcomings persisted in the 2014 contracts, indicating that the 2014 contract consolidation process was not informed by lessons learned from the department’s management and operation of the 2013 contracts.

10. The department did not put in place effective mechanisms to manage the contracts. Other than the contracts, there was no documentation of the means by which the contract objectives would be achieved. In the absence of a plan, assurance processes such as the inspection and audit of services delivered, has not occurred in a systematic way and risks were not effectively managed. In addition, the department has not maintained appropriate records of decisions and actions taken in the course of its contract management. As a consequence, the department has not been well placed to assess whether its service strategies were adequate or fully met government objectives.

11. The department developed a comprehensive and risk based performance framework for the contracts to help it assess provider performance. However, development of the framework was delayed and in applying the framework the department was not consistent in its treatment of different providers. Performance measurement under the framework relied heavily on self-assessments by providers and the department performed limited independent checks. Delays in the department’s review of self-assessments and the provision of feedback on contractor performance eroded the link between actual performance and contract payments. Risk assessment was a key component of the performance reporting processes and while risk assessments were conducted, DIBP did not review risk ratings or determine if controls and mitigations were in place and working. Risks materialised in both the 2013 and 2014 contracts.

12. An appropriate framework of controls was in place for payments under the contracts, including the authorisation of actual payments by a delegate. This control was intended to provide additional assurance over payments under the contracts but did not always operate as intended. In respect to $2.3 billion in payments made between September 2012 and April 2016, delegate authorisations were not always secured or recorded: an appropriate delegate provided an authorisation for payments totalling $80 million; $1.1 billion was approved by DIBP officers who did not have the required authorisation; and for the remaining $1.1 billion there was no departmental record of who authorised the payments.

13. In addition, this audit highlighted further weaknesses in the department’s management of procurement. Substantial contract variations totalling over $1 billion were made without a documented assessment of value for money.

14. Contract management is core business for Australian Government entities, and the department has managed detention contracts since 1997. Previous ANAO audits of the department’s contract management have found that: its contracting framework had not established clear expectations of the level and quality of services to be delivered; and its ability to monitor the performance of contractors was compromised by a lack of clarity in standards and performance measures and reliance on incident reporting to determine when standards were not being met. This audit has identified a recurrence of these (and other) deficiencies, which have resulted in higher than necessary expense for taxpayers and significant reputational risks for the Australian Government and the department. The audit recommendations are intended to address the significant weaknesses observed in DIBP’s contract management practices.

Australian Dept. Immigration and Border Protection - Auditor General's Report No. 32 2016-17 by clarencegirl on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/336776634/Australian-Dept-Immigration-and-Border-Protection-Auditor-General-s-Report-No-32-2016-17

Lessons That The NSW Government Never Learns: these marine deaths were entirely predictable and avoidable

Green Sea Turtle

ABC News, 17 January 2017:

The latest report on the New South Wales shark netting program revealed 133 target sharks [27 found dead] were caught along with 615 non-target marine animals off beaches between Wollongong and Newcastle.

Almost half of the animals caught perished in the netting.

The report revealed 90 threatened or protected species were caught in the nets during the 2015-16 season.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 January 2017:

The Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program Annual Performance Report, covering 51 beaches off Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, says there were 748 "marine life interactions" with the nets during the period.

This is significantly higher than the 189 recorded during the 2014-15 season.

Echo NetDaily, 17 January 2017:

A Bottlenose Dolphin and a Green Sea Turtle were among 12 animals killed by newly installed shark nets along the north coast in the first month of their operation.

Of the 43 animals caught in the nets, just one white shark and a bull shark were caught, with the bull shark among 12 animals that died.

The net at Lennox Head killed a Australian Cownose Ray, a Longtail Tuna, two Hammerhead Sharks and a Bottlenose Dolphin.

No deaths were recorded at Sharpes and Shelley beaches in Ballina, although Lighthouse Beach accounted for two dead Hammerhead sharks, an Australian Cownose Ray and a Bull Shark.

At Evans Head the net killed two Australian Cownose Rays and a Green Turtle.

The North Coast Shark Net Trial report covers the period 8 December 2016 to 7 January 2017

NSW Dept. of Primary Industries, NSW North Coast Shark Meshing Trial Report: 8 Dec2016 – 7 Jan 2017

The basic relationship between wealth, power, economic growth - globally and in Australia

It is no secret that the world is an unequal place when it comes to the distribution of wealth and the free exercise of political power.

This month Oxfam International released its Oxfam Briefing Paper January 2017, AN ECONOMY FOR THE 99%: It‟s time to build a human economy that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few.

This paper pointed out that new estimates show that just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world.

That’s eight men in a global population of over 7 billion people.

The briefing paper went on to say:

By any measure, we are living in the age of the super-rich, a second "gilded age" in which a glittering surface masks social problems and corruption. Oxfam's analysis of the super-rich includes all those individuals with a net worth of at least $1bn. The 1,810 dollar billionaires on the 2016 Forbes list, 89% of whom are men, own $6.5 trillion – as much wealth as the bottom 70% of humanity. While some billionaires owe their fortunes predominantly to hard work and talent, Oxfam's analysis of this group finds that one-third of the world’s billionaire wealth is derived from inherited wealth, while 43% can be linked to cronyism.

On 16 January 2017 BizNews reported that:

The world’s 8 richest people are, in order of net worth:

1.    Bill Gates: America founder of Microsoft (net worth $75 billion)

2.    Amancio Ortega: Spanish founder of Inditex which owns the Zara fashion chain (net worth $67 billion)

3.    Warren Buffett: American CEO and largest shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway (net worth $60.8 billion)

4.    Carlos Slim Helu: Mexican owner of Grupo Carso (net worth: $50 billion)

5.    Jeff Bezos: American founder, chairman and chief executive of Amazon (net worth: $45.2 billion)

6.    Mark Zuckerberg: American chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Facebook (net worth $44.6 billion)

7.    Larry Ellison: American co-founder and CEO of Oracle  (net worth $43.6 billion)

8.    Michael Bloomberg: American founder, owner and CEO of Bloomberg LP (net worth: $40 billion)

Oxfam’s calculations are based on global wealth distribution data provided by the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Data book 2016.

The wealth of the world’s richest people was calculated using Forbes’ billionaires list last published in March 2016.

According to the Credit Suisse Research Institute in November 2016:

For financial wealth at least, direct estimates for the first quarter of 2016 were available for 27 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries account for 76% of global wealth in 2016.

Australia’s percentage share of global wealth was 2.5% in First quarter 2016, with 1.06 million individuals in a population of almost 23 million holding most of that wealth.

The wealth spread in Australia last year was calculated as:

§  20 individuals holding over US$1 billion each

§  39 individuals holding US$500 million-1 billion each

§  685 individuals holding US$100-500 million each

§  1,476 individuals holding US$50-100 million each

§  25,924 individuals holding US$10-50 million each

§  55,812 individuals holding US$5-10 million each

§  976,193 individuals holding US$1-5 million each

In Australia household gross wealth was estimated to be composed of 60.6% non-financial wealth and 39.4% financial wealth.

Forbes Media listed Australia's top eight richest people in 2016 as:

Blair Parry-Oakden - heiress to Cox Enterprises fortune ($8.8 billion)
Gina Rinehart - mining magnate ($8.5 billion)
Harry Triguboff - property developer ($6.9 billion)
Frank Lowy - co-founder Westfield Group ($5 billion)
Anthony Pratt - CEO Pratt Industries & global chair Visy Industries ($3.6 billion)
James Packer - media mogul ($3.5 billion)
John Gandel - property developer ($3.2 billion)
Lindsay Fox - trucking magnate ($2.8 billion)

On 20 August 2015 The Washington Post reported a new study (based on Does Wealth Inequality Matter for Growth? The Effect of Billionaire Wealth, Income Distribution, and Poverty, IZA DP No. 7733 November 2013 and later reworked as Billionaires and Growth by Sutirtha Bagchi and Jan Svejnar).

This study reportedly found that 65% of all billionaire wealth in Australia is based on political connections rather than on business innovation and, In sum, wealth inequality that comes from political connections is responsible for nearly all the negative effect on economic growth that we had observed from wealth inequality overall.

Or to put it another way, wealth amassed by certain billionaires world-wide, through the giving of political donations, public and private lobbying of politicians and/or the exchange of political favours, was responsible for nearly all declining economic growth this century. 

The Twilight Zone 2017

sunday herald‏ @newsundayherald

The hypocrisy of Australian politicians is mind boggling

In March 2016, in the wake of a string of abuse of parliamentary entitlement scandals during the mercifully short Abbott Government term in office, the Turnbull Government was handed An Independent Parliamentary Entitlements System Review (February 2016) by a government appointed, five-member committee.

The review made thirty-six recommendations of which three were reportedly implemented, including recommendations that members of parliament in physically large electorates be allowed a third electorate office at Commonwealth expense, the $10 additional travelling allowance payment for travelling Ministers and office holders accompanied by their spouses be abolished.

Since then the federal government appears to have conveniently forgotten the other thirty-three recommendations – although the fact that a handful of these may not have been implemented might in part be due to decision making processes of the Remuneration Tribunal.

Although cynical voters could take the view that the lack of timely implementation is more likely due to the fact that these recommendations included clearly separating parliamentary entitlements into “remuneration” (salary package) and “work expenses” such as “travel expenses, travel allowances, vehicle allowances and electorate allowances”, as well as MP expenditure reporting to be changed to every 30 days and a clearer definition of “parliamentary business” applied.

Now in light of further alleged rorting of the entitlement system by his ministers, Malcolm Turnbull has announced the government will implement the remaining review recommendations by the end of June 2017.

Given there have been two previous reviews of parliamentary entitlements - in 2009 and 2011 - which have not even made a dent in the sense of personal entitlement which exists within the corridors of the Australian Parliament, I won’t be holding my breath in anticipation.

Especially as the Prime Minister in his press conference on 13 January 2017 was careful not to mention establishing stiff financial penalties for such blatant rorting but did mention creating an independent parliamentary expenses authority which would in effect distance government and parliament from any poor decisions made concerning implementation of the 'new' rules.

The thought of the type of person who is likely to end up on the board of this authority makes one shudder - political cronies of the government in power, MPs & senators who lost their seats or were forced by scandal to resign, former political staffers in need of an income and the worthless scions of big political donors .

The hypocrisy of Coalition Government MPs and senators (who since 2013 have consistently signed off on budget measures and legislative/regulation rule changes which border on thinly disguised class warfare) continuing to line up at the overflowing entitlement trough is quite frankly mind blowing.

While the thought of these same politicians attempting what may possibly end up being a legislative change charade, leaving them still able to use taxpayers as personal cash cows, is more than a little depressing.

* Image found on Twitter