Winners and Losers

"Even the haters will have to agree with us on one point - statistics and facts don't lie. Our economy is roaring right now, and starting in January, the roar will become even louder."

As the year winds down, it is time once again for my take on who were the winners and who were the losers in 2017. I might as well start at the top. In this most improbable year, we had the first year of the first term of the most improbable President. The man who few gave a snowball's chance of winning, became our 45th President. And in January of this year, he took over the White House from the most pedantic President in history. Yes, Donald J. Trump was the biggest winner of 2017.

Who else won? Anyone who was invested in the stock market. Just like a Saturn Rocket leaving the launch pad, the market started going up right after Trump won the 2016 election, and never looked back. Record after record was broken. Why? Because of one word - hope. After having eight years of meager GDP growth, the MAGA battle cry was starting to resonate from Wall Street down to Main Street. Even though the historic tax bill will not be signed into law until almost New Year's Eve, the hope of this event fueled the market all year long.

One group will receive the hybrid award. That would be Congress. During the summer, trying to fulfill their promise to "repeal and replace" ObamaCare, both chambers looked like a cross between F Troop and the gang who could not shoot straight. Most citizens were ready to fire each and every one of them. However - redemption! How they performed on the tax bill pulled them out of the loser category and into the winner's circle. But victory might be short lived. Why? It is spelled CR, and that for many of us, that is another way to spell failure.

The biggest loser category is really a tie. Mark Dayton and Al Franken. I will address Dayton first. After he and his merry group of DFL henchmen ratcheted our income tax up to be one of the highest in the country, we are about to get our comeuppance. Yes, our very blue state is about to find out how it feels to be on the outside looking in. The new tax bill will fit low SALT states nicely. High SALT states like ours - not so much.

The second reason Dayton won the loser award is how he behaved last legislative session. I would like to say he acted like a spoiled trust fund baby brat, but that is an insult to the other spoiled trust fund baby brats. He is the worst Governor we have ever had - yes, worse than Jesse by a country mile. When he defunded the legislature this past session, he should have been impeached or recalled. Once again, we were the laughing stock of the country.

Al Franken, our Senator who was elected only because of voter fraud, who was the 60th vote on the disastrous ObamaCare, turned out to be as bad of a Senator as he was a comedian. How funny was it to grab a woman by the breasts when she was sleeping? Needing to resign funny. It is times like this, I am almost tempted to believe in Karma. Al is leaving office the same way he came in - on a sour note. He may think he was a "Giant" in the Senate, but he was only a giant disappointment.

Finally, Hollywood was once again a loser. Not only can they not make a good movie anymore, but Harvey Weinstein has shown us why he deserves to be the poster child for a boar. What he did to other people because of his perceived "power" is beyond sinful. Actually, if Hollywood had burned down in the LA fires, and we needed to start all over again, it would have been a blessing.

Going into 2018, haters will continue to hate. Trump will continue to be Trump, and believe it or not, stuff will get done. What is on the road ahead? Infrastructure, entitlement reform, welfare reform, and of course - the budget.

Even the haters will have to agree with us on one point - statistics and facts don't lie. Our economy is roaring right now, and starting in January, the roar will become even louder.