Impeachment: The Democrats Lost the Argument a Long Time Ago.

I rarely comment on US politics, as I don't have the in-depth knowledge or contacts over the pond that allow me too much insight.

But the current impeachment inquiry looks like a busted flush. It looked doomed to fail before Congress decided to embark on the hearsay-laden witchhunt.

Had they quietly ditched the "Russiagate" thing back in 2017 and regrouped to then a couple of years later bring up Ukraine and start impeachment, then they may have had a chance to sway the people. Had they had real, tangible proof.

But three years the Russian thing went on for. Three years and millions of dollars spent, for what? A couple of minor scalps and nothing of substance.

So "Russiagate" fails, and unable to pull Trump down with the economy (up) or jobs (also up) or security (no illegal wars), within months the Ukraine thing emerges. The Democrats hoping above hope that the people would think that "Actually, maybe the Democrats were right, they just got the country wrong". I'm not sure what warped mentality stands in for sense in the Democrat party, but this ain't it.

The people of the US seem to be able to see a party sliding down a cliff clutching at tufts of grass as they slide ever closer to the edge and the inevitable fall.

In the UK, we've have the same with remainers. Unable to comprehend that the people would want something so antithetical to their beliefs, remain MPs and millionaires have attempted to thwart Brexit. Luckily we had an election that knocked the final nail in the coffin. As a people we declared our will and politically punished those that actively worked against us.

In the US, the Democrats are hoping that throwing muddy sod after muddy sod would cling to Trump. But the people are set in their thinking. They like Trump, they can feel the benefits of a better economy, the working class are benefiting from an increased job market. And the people like the fact Trump is attempting to deal with the Chinese issue.

Hopefully 2020 will allow the US people to do as we did in December last year and finally nail the lid of the dissenter's coffin closed. Finally, maybe, the US can move forward.

All I can see until then is the political stagnation and pain that the UK had to endure in the Autumn. We cleaned house. I hope that in November the US can too.

As an addendum, if the Democrats had any sense (which it appears they don't) they would make Tulsi Gabbard their Presidential candidate. She's been clever enough to rise above the cesspit of the "get Trump" mob in the Democrat party and strong enough not get dragged into the mire. She essentially abstained on the impeachment vote and she's strong on defence for defence's sake, not the politicking grandstanding faux defence of the Clintons. Gabbard has shown true leadership when the rest of the Democrat party race to the bottom, with the vote-winning formula of denigrating the President, denigrating the people and denigrating the USA

More Jobs, But Are They Worth It?

I went up to Bicester yesterday to help my son move from hid flat. It's been a good few years since I went up there and had the time to look around.

The town was targeted as a new "Garden City" where the majority of new Homes on the Oxford-Cambridge belt will be built.

Bicester has gone through substantial changes in the 10 years since I left and none more so than the last five years. From a huge new housing estate, to massive retail parks springing up. The extension of Bicester Village, the posh retail park has effectively reached it's limit and now there is a further retail park being built across the road.

What struck me is all of this expansion in jobs is in retail. I've blogged in the past how retail jobs aren't sustainable. The problem is with retail jobs that people work in retail, get paid, then spend their money in retail. It's just a circular path for the money with big corporations syphoning off their profit and paying very little tax. The money ends up offshore, so we're bleeding money away.

The only way of propping this model up is by increasing the money supply. Pumping fake money into the economy so that we can buy more stuff.  It's not a sustainable model. The country cannot keep inflating the economy forever. In the end it all collapses. As it has several times in the past.

The country has to move away from the unsustainable retail model and start to move towards a more sustainable economy, where the majority of money is not inflated, but instead earned.

We have to start making money, real money by making a profit - as a country. We have to start making things within our borders to sell outside the UK.