Year: 2017

Most Say Trump Shouldn’t Sell His Business

Buck Banks

52%

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that 52% of those surveyed say Donald Trump’s decision to hand over control of his businesses to his adult sons and another executive “is enough” to separate his business interests from his obligations as president. A somewhat smaller share, 42%, say Trump should sell his businesses outright. However, Trump’s continued refusal to release his tax returns continues to be an unpopular decision, with 74% of Americans saying he should make the documents public, including 53% of Republicans.

Wait for the Three Ds when Trump Can’t Deliver

Buck Banks

The new U.S. president will be operating on a very weak political foundation, is very unlikely to be able to deliver the results he has promised to key constituencies, and seems likely to take dangerous gambles in the international arena. This makes it probable that a cycle of growing disillusion, disappointment and disapproval will set in within a year.

— Larry Summers

Journalism Facing a ‘Hellscape of Lies and Distorted Reality’

Buck Banks

Journalists are in for the fight of their lives. And they are going to have to be better than ever before, just to do their jobs. They will need to work together, be prepared for legal persecution, toughen up for punishing attacks and figure out new ways to uncover and present the truth. Even so — if the past really is prologue — that may not be enough.

— Margaret Sullivan

Eight White Guys Own as Much Wealth as the Bottom Half of the World’s Population

Buck Banks

8

Number of white men who own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population,“Inequality is so stark that a small group of men own the same wealth as half the world, say campaigners ahead of the high-profile World Economic Forum in Davos,” Sky News reports. “According to research by Oxfam, the eight billionaires, including Bill Gates who tops the list, have riches equivalent to the wealth of the world’s 3.6 billion poorest people.”

In America, Conservaives Outnumber Liberals by a Narrowing Margin

Buck Banks

11 points

Gallup: “Many more Americans have considered themselves politically conservative than liberal since the early 1990s. That remained the case in 2016, when an average of 36% of U.S. adults throughout the year identified themselves as conservative and 25% as liberal. Yet that 11-percentage-point margin is half of what it was at its peak in 1996 and is down from 14 points only two years ago.”

This Congress Has Little Institutional Memory

Buck Banks

72%

Of Republicans and 52% of Democrats now in Congress have never served under a GOP administration, according to an analysis by Bruce Mehlman. To put that in context, just 44% of the House and 63% of the Senate were in office when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama. And just 22% of the House and 39% of the Senate was in office when the Patriot Act was passed.