2016/09/28 Commentary: Advantage Clinton
© 2016 ROHR International, Inc. All International rights reserved.
Extended Trend Assessments reserved for Gold and Platinum Subscribers
COMMENTARY: Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Advantage Clinton
As articulated in Tuesday morning’s brief email note, the verdict of neutral observers after Monday evening’s US Presidential debate seems to be ‘Advantage Clinton’. And we grudgingly agree, even if our bottom line is that neither of these folks is qualified to be President. While we are not at all convinced that Secretary Clinton’s proposals on various fronts are the best way forward for the US and global economy, she won on points. That is due to sticking with the aggressive presentation of her program while she managed to accomplish her team’s goal of baiting Donald Trump into being reactive to criticism rather than pushing his vision after the first 20 minutes. The picture is indicative of a lot of what transpired. Mr. Trump actively either reverted to his jester role in response to various Clinton statements, or interrupted both her and talented, very balanced moderator Lester Holt to counter anything he felt was less than accurate (in his humble opinion.)
The second problem for Mr. Trump was his seeming inability to pounce on multiple openings where Clinton was vulnerable when the debate came around to topics like cyber security, nuclear proliferation, and so on. Obamacare’s burgeoning failure was never mentioned regarding the economic plight of the middle class. For anyone less than the most ardent Trump supporters this raised questions over whether he is able to keep in mind a full range of knowledge on key topics.
That would be a daunting weakness for any US presidential candidate; it is especially troubling for Trump in light of his claim that he understands more than almost anyone about all of the major issues facing the United States. If he has trouble connecting the dots for more effective responses on a limited number of topics in Monday evening’s debate, how much can the critical undecided US voters trust he will perform well in negotiations with other countries he has highlighted as essential?
Just to be clear, this is not an endorsement of the far more well-prepared Mrs. Clinton. Being somewhat conservative we would have preferred that Mr. Trump would have done better. Yet unless he can move beyond the rote talking points that serve him so well with his base, we are not at all convinced he should indeed be the next President.
Authorized Silver and Sterling Subscribers click ‘Read more…’ (below) to access the balance of the opening discussion. Non-subscribers click the top menu Subscription Echelons & Fees tab to review your options. Authorized Gold and Platinum Subscribers click ‘Read more…’ (below) to also access the Extended Trend Assessment as well.
2016/10/01 Commentary: Dual Dystopia?
2016/10/01 Commentary: Dual Dystopia?
© 2016 ROHR International, Inc. All International rights reserved.
Extended Trend Assessments reserved for Gold and Platinum Subscribers
COMMENTARY: Saturday, October 1, 2016
Dual Dystopia?
This is a politico-economic assessment, as politics are coming ever closer to upsetting economic performance necessary to maintain faith in free market institutions. Addressing the political side first, the ‘informed citizens’ envisioned by the United States founding fathers as necessary to maintain the democratic process have mostly vanished into the digital age vortex. This is neither a surprise any more than it was avoidable.
In the mid-1960’s a Canadian media genius actually saw the prominence of digital media coming prior to most others. Marshal McLuhan asserted that new electronic visual media would destroy existing social structures. (We remain big fans.) He died in 1980. That is interesting in light of the World Wide Web not officially coming into existence until 1989. In fact, McLuhan was using his very advanced scholastic and artistic awareness of the nature of media (going all the way back to the invention of the phonetic alphabet) to anticipate extended impact of the still fledgling US cable television system.
Why is all of this important to the now dystopian (at least in the negative proclamations of the leading US presidential candidates) sense of American society? It is due to McLuhan’s prediction that the ability of different people in the same geographic area to select only the content which agreed with their views would destroy the sense of community which used to unite neighbors. One can only imagine what he would have thought about handheld devices that constantly bombarded people with only the content they preferred from the sources they considered credible. Goodbye social structure. Hello dystopian soundbite electioneering and tabloid-style quasi-news. And there’s more…
Authorized Silver and Sterling Subscribers click ‘Read more…’ (below) to access the balance of the opening discussion. Non-subscribers click the top menu Subscription Echelons & Fees tab to review your options. Authorized Gold and Platinum Subscribers click ‘Read more…’ (below) to also access the Extended Trend Assessment as well.
Read more...