Bill Owens

Inflation for consumers increased 2.7% over the prior year, and July showed prices increasing at the fastest annual pace in five months which is indicative of the fact that businesses are passing along the increased costs of tariffs which Mr. Trump said would never happen. More importantly, wholesale prices surged by 9/10ths of 1%, which is an advanced indicator of what customers will feel down the road.

Mr. Trump has reneged on another promise – that is to promote IVF. He has now said he will take no steps to support that program which is invaluable to many families.

Mr. Trump has successfully secured a deal with the EU and assuming it holds as they work out the details, it is, in fact, significant. How will this deal impact foreign policy?

Congresswoman Stefanik has ignored her constituents’ needs by being silent on the tariffs that are hurting her District, on Mr. Trump’s stated desire to annex Canada, both of which has caused a 30% decline in tourism in her District, on the impact of Medicaid cuts on her constituents and healthcare providers in her District, and fails to produce any evidence of waste, fraud or abuse in the healthcare industry.

It has been reported by ProPublica that the IRS is building a huge database of ALL taxpayers to share with DHS for immigration enforcement purposes. This begins to sound like J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon and others who have abused government data, and given the proclivities of the Trump administration, there is great likelihood that data will be abused and used for other than immigration enforcement.

It has been reported that there are currently 400,000 factory jobs that are going unfilled because employers cannot recruit qualified and reliable employees. It does not appear that this issue has been considered by the Trump administration as it touts the idea of reshoring.

Jordan Klepper called out President Trump for his Irish Exit on the Daily Show. As an Irishman, I am offended that Mr. Trump would be given credit for doing anything Irish.

China and the US apparently have reached a deal although it is short-term and without much in the way of specifics other than addressing the US need for rare earth minerals and establishing a 50% Chinese tariff. It is clear that what the Chinese have done is “string it out” as they make piece meal deals and essentially slow roll it.