Who Are the Most Powerful People in America?

@Witch Doctor 01 "think trucking Unions, stevedore's unions... either one of them could pretty much shut down the economy in three to four days..."

Strange, I was just thinking about this recently. I was pissed off at the Pharmaceutical companies and how they are screwing Americans in the biggest legal blackmail scheme ever invented - yet - they keep pushing the medicine costs higher and higher and I thought to myself what other industry could do this - meaning - legally blackmail you, you have to pay because there is nothing else you can do because you must have the goods and/or services. I came up with Farmers and the Trucking Unions. It would probably make a good book. LOL! I can see the title now, the Farmers revolt and decide to stick it to the country, "Give Us Today Our Daily Bread." LOL!

@Grandpa Patch "I appreciate the non-political correctness and 'here it is' approach..."
Ain't that the truth, its refreshing. But, I do wish he would keep his mouth close because no matter what he says or does they will hate him anyway so better to keep his mouth shut and just get things done. The hell with the media.

 

@chelloveck Actually, 'Donald the Magnificent' (I like that title. LOL!) has done quite a bit if you look into it. A lot of regulations has gotten trashed, NAFTA finally is getting corrected, hell, he even found a way to kill ObamaCare when the political hacks in Congress refused to do it even though they said would just to get elected. I hope he will do more but there is only so much a President can do by himself yet he still has 2 years so...

Where we agree is "until mid term elections a majority in both houses and achieved very little." True but this had nothing to do with the President. This is because the Congress don't want to do anything about the real problems in this country because if they did they might not get reelected. It's what you get when one has professional politicians...

As far as the EOs...all Presidents do them but the difference is this President actually is trying to keep the promises he made and actually trying to get something done and in order to do both he must resort to EOs because the Congress sure as hell isn't going to do anything. Frankly, I think we would be better off without them.

 

I'm convinced your computer does this when you shut it down at night.

 

That will never happen there are really three groups/types of farms.

The giant decades of consolidation Corporate Farms and Yes most of those giants are very much Family Farms in that the various family members own the shares of the Corporation. They are the big winners in the various USDA Grants and Farm Payments. You won't see much revolting there as the Government is their bread and butter.

The majority of farms are the 500-2000 acre mid size farms and the majority of those are land and equipment rich and in a constant cycle of debt. It would take one season of no production to bankrupt most of these farms and the creditors to start repo of those big payment items.

In third place and second most numerous are the Small, Very Small, Micro, and hobby farms. We range in size from 1/2 acre to a couple hundred acres in production. (Personally I fall in between small and very small.) Like the mid size farms the cast majority of these are ate up with every kind of debt imaginable and have a HUGE turn over and failure rate. About 2/3s of these exist on the various USDA, FSA, NCRS, and Department of Education Grants and when the grants run out so do the Farmers In Name Only and the next crop of farmers files in to run the next cycle of Grants and low or no interest FSA Guaranteed loans (Secured by the land that the Farmers in name only never had any intention of keeping to start with. They are also the activist leftist people that get a lot of press time in their 2-3 year run on the federal and State funding.) About 10% of us exist that have or will be around 10+ years with our operations being our primary or only income and do not use the farm subsidies or grants. Most of the farms in this group can't produce enough food to feed their own family let alone anyone else.

Either way those of us in the 3rd group are not going to revolt either. Those of us that are successful and been around 10+ year are just not going to stop producing and tell our customers that are our friends and neighbors "Tough Luck Guys find yer food some where else." My little farm provides a significant amount of 600 peoples Pork, Poultry and Vegetables. Two things would happen if I shut down sales. I would have more pigs and chickens than I could feed in less than a year and those 600 Customers I turned away would go some place else and never look back. That is a customer base that took 20 years to develop that would be gone in the blink of and eye. I can't think of any of my peers in the 10% that would shut down in revolt and we are the ones that have the savings and resources to be able to shut down for a extended period. Sure I have reached a point in life where I could close the whole thing down and only produce at a sustenance level and be financially fine........ most have not. Plus I just spent $200,000 cash on a commercial kitchen and food truck last spring, that has already sat idle most of the 2018 season because I was sick. LOL I would really like to recover that 200k and put it back in my retirement funds

Same with Trucking, the teamsters are a shadow of what they once were and getting even weaker by the day. 2% of all Truck drivers OTR, LOCAL and LTL are union the teamsters are not going to shut anything down now days. Owner Operators are not going to shut down because the Repo man will not be far behind them. And the Trucking companies are not going to shut down...... because there is too much gravy in Government and the Repo man will be happy to liquidate their entire financed fleets. Back when I drove OTR there was endless talk on the CB of a nationwide shut down for 3 days........ It never happened. Because most know that "If the Freight is Late there will be new meat in the seat." and as a bonus it does not take much for a driver to get black balled from any COmpany that uses DAQ.

Truth is the BIG wheels and gears are moving very smoothly and profitably and the producers and transporters for one reason or another are trapped by design or our own choices to keep the food growing and the wheels rolling.

 

@Thunder5Ranch Thanks, T5R! I found that very interesting. Like most, I haven't a clue about Farming nor its organization. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. It truly is too bad because the power they hold is tremendous but, as they say, "Reality bites!" Still...it would make a hell'va story, fiction, of course! LOL!

 

Anyone else remember the trucking strikes of 1973 and 1979... over fuel prices?

History of the trucking industry in the United States - Wikipedia
or something a little more current....
Exclusive: California truck drivers go on strike
A truckers view...
Long Term Trucking Strike Would Devastate U.S. - Ask The Trucker

 

@Witch Doctor 01 I actually think that if Truckers could get nationally organized they truly be the spark that ignites the fire for change because I think it wouldn't take much for the rest of the nation to support them, they just need a conduit, a focus...but as T5R pointed out, there are too many variables against this happening. Nevertheless, with Will and organization it could become a possibility, but I won't hold my breath.

 

In spite of all the democrat cheating the people of America voted for Trump.
respect that.

 

Trump somehow got elected....largely on the back of the electoral college....and although extravagant allegations of Democrat 'cheating' have been made...to what extent have those allegations been substantiated beyond Trump's self serving complaints that he wuz robbed of the sweet smell of victory via the popular vote? All This Talk of Voter Fraud? Across U.S., Officials Found Next to None https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ction-were-fraudulent/?utm_term=.f1f769938236 TRump wound up his own GOP dominated 'Voter Fraud Commission' aka Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, lamely complaining that litigation and lack of cooperation from the States prevented the Commission from completing it mission, which evidently was to prove that which had been assumed by iDJT. (yep States rights don't count for much when the White House is on a wild goose chase).

That TRump got elected, that's a fact, but it doesn't mean that he gets carte-blanche to do whatever he wants, particularly when what he wants to do that is contrary to the the laws of the land, and particularly the Constitution. Both the legislative and judicial arms of government get to exercise their checks and balances roles, in ensuring that the executive does not overreach its authority. One may respect the office of POTUS, but automatically respecting the occupant of that office? That's for sheeple:...be they 'liberal' or 'conservative', particularly if the occupant is a clown.


The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity was a GOP dog and pony show that failed to reveal any evidence of voter fraud on the scale that His TRumpesty was claiming (some millions of alleged fraudsters), yet found time to explore the possibilities of promoting an apparently very unreliable tool for uncovering voter fraud, but a splendid tool for achieving voter suppression i.e. The Interstate Crosscheck Program. I'm fascinated by the Commission's Vice Chairman, Chris Kobach's enthusiasm for the 'Interstate Crosscheck Program' https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...to-take-it-nationwide/?utm_term=.c97630ec3caf

 

The Teamster Union has not been relevant since the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. (Deregulation of Trucking)

So the system worked as intended, preventing a couple of high population states from dominating the Many lower population States.

 

"That TRump got elected, that's a fact, but it doesn't mean that he gets carte-blanche to do whatever he wants, particularly when what he wants to do that is contrary to the the laws of the land, and particularly the Constitution."

Ahhh! There's the rub! First, in Trump's case, it is quite obvious that 'he doesn't gets carte-blanche to do whatever he wants' because what he wants to do is what the majority of the people want. You seem to forget that he won the election because he agreed to do what 'we the people' want. You are blaming him and you should be blaming us.

Second, strange how it is always contrary to the Constitution when it is something the people want and/or the country needs especially when political hacks or parties have their own agenda that differs.

Lastly, you can continue to hate/dislike the President for statements concerning 'voter fraud' but those words coming from his mouth are exactly what his base is saying - meaning - us, all of us, the people of this country. So, your hate/dislike should be aimed at the American people not the President because this is the first 'representative' that truly, at least, tries to represent 'we the people' in at least 50-75 years. In short, he is simply our mouthpiece, saying what we all are thinking.

You still don't get it, do you. The people of this country has changed. The old ways are going and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps you have noticed changes in our UN policies such as Bolton announcing "the U.S. would no longer support “unproductive” United Nations peacekeeping missions, and promising to advance U.S. interests on the continent" or Haley announcement pulling the USA out of the UN Human Rights Council. You might think it is Trump but 'America First' is what most in the country are thinking even if they don't realize it; furthermore, it is what they want done. You should expect more of this in the future and, yes, that means big changes world wide. And, whether you or the rest of the world do or don't like -well - it truly isn't relevant is it. You're an ally, a friend, but you're not family, so you will always want what's best for you and yours not us and that is where we differ.

 

Nicely said Bandit.
I do hope this America 1st agenda keeps going. Even the ones complaining about our President , are benefitting. And yes , he is pushing the things we Americans have wanted for a long time. We have long been tired of watching our country being given away to other countries. We have long been tired of illegal invaders coming in and fleecing our welfare services. So yes , build that wall , and blame it on me , I can take it.