I've had a few frustrating conversations with people on this. "just wait", "4d chess", "he's a genius"... yeah, well no one is able to articulate a way this is going to work out for most of the US. Honestly it seems like he's hoping for some level of societal collapse so that he can divy up the remains between his pals. I still don't see how that is a net positive for them though. There is plenty of room for graft and outright theft in the current system. I don't see how they think it's better if you make it half the size and then split it 6 ways
Part of my thinks he's going to cancel everything....and tip that information to his friends and family plan members a day or two before the swing back. It's obviously traceable... but who cares when you can pardon anyone you'd like, and punish those who get in the way.
Law and order. They'll show those DEI and BLM warriors how real weaponization of the justice system works.
I'm trying, really trying to see if there is any silver lining in all this...J curve?...but it all just seems like an effort to create as much chaos as possible over the next 18 months before midterms.
I've had a few frustrating conversations with people on this. "just wait", "4d chess", "he's a genius"... yeah, well no one is able to articulate a way this is going to work out for most of the US. Honestly it seems like he's hoping for some level of societal collapse so that he can divy up the remains between his pals. I still don't see how that is a net positive for them though. There is plenty of room for graft and outright theft in the current system. I don't see how they think it's better if you make it half the size and then split it 6 ways
Hat tip to Lazy putting me onto the guy a couple of years ago. He's got some great turns of phrase, describing Trump's tariffs as akin to operating on a brain tumour with a brick.
I'm trying, really trying to see if there is any silver lining in all this...J curve?...but it all just seems like an effort to create as much chaos as possible over the next 18 months before midterms.
Hat tip to Lazy putting me onto the guy a couple of years ago. He's got some great turns of phrase, describing Trump's tariffs as akin to operating on a brain tumour with a brick.
Ironically, Haverford is now foundational for right wing insanity, after a solid run of far left craziness. The school is literally run by the students in the best traditions of Quakerism... but something got lost along the way and "consensus" became synonymous with woke principles.
It was a fantastic experience for our daughter, and she enjoyed her time in Howard's Library. For all of the noise at the extremes, the vast majority were incredibly nice, normal, very bright people.
"but something got lost along the way and "consensus" became synonymous with woke principles"
My take is that these kinds of group PC thinking are subject to pendulum swings. I heard from longtime professors that classes in the 70s were far more intellectually engaged and challenged conventional instruction compared to classes in my times during the 80s. Students by then were far quieter and accepting of instruction. There wasn't a lot of social consciousness.
How was Haverford's social life? When my girlfriend was at Bryn Mawr, Haverford had only recently gone fully co-ed. As a result, there were more women students in the area than before and a lot of women at Bryn Mawr felt like they couldn't buy a date. Visiting there was strange: I either got hostile looks or would met very enthusiastic women eager to talk to me even though my girlfriend was right there and these women ignored my g/f when I wasn't there. Very bright, academically committed women but often socially resigned.
I came across some Substack or Reddit page about the absurdity of putting tariffs on places which are not sovereign nations, do not trade with the U.S., or are uninhabited (and don't trade with anyone). The comments had a hare-brained assertion from some MAGA stooge that those tariffs were put onto Norfolk Island, Heard Island, and McDonald Islands to prevent Australia from using a loophole to avoid tariffs, even though Norfolk Island was slapped with a tariff 19 points higher than the general one for all of Australia.
Necessary Illusions Kicking Away the Ladder: The âRealâ History of Free Trade Debunking the myth of free trade from the historical perspective demonstrates that there is an urgent need for thoroughly re-thinking some key conventional wisdom in the debate on trade policy, and more broadly on globalization.
Now that we know airports are designed as swastika and the Nordic countries don't count when discussing socialism... Any thoughts you'd like to share of the financial destruction of our country by a guy who's delivered more bankruptcies than Elon's had wives?
I know you've got a lot to remember, so here are some of the "promises made" that you so happily like to share about other topics....
âI will end inflation and make America affordable again on Day One.â
âWe will deliver the best jobs, the biggest paychecks, and the brightest economic future the world has ever seen.â
âMy tax cuts will put more money in your pocket immediatelyâno more federal taxes on tips, overtime pay, or Social Security benefits.â
âUnder my leadership, we will see an economic boom like never before, starting right away.â
Prices are going up on EVERYTHING soon. If you couldn't afford Biden...you're about to become homeless under Trump.
Looking forward to your rebuttal... but not expecting one. You've got bigger fish to fry, like defeating the Squad before they ruin America.
This is the astonishing part. They just made up some numbers and threw out a policy. Now that policy is going to impact millions of people's lives - almost exclusively negatively. Is it worth mentioning that inflation and high costs were a cornerstone of the campaign? He alone can fix it? Day one?
"Howard Lutnick, whose name is on the library at my kids college after giving them over $65M"
Haverford's shame is no doubt profound. I dated a woman who transferred from Carnegie-Mellon to Bryn Mawr (which she hated) and we spent a fair amount of time on Haverford's beautiful campus. Seemed like a nice, happy place.
Ironically, Haverford is now foundational for right wing insanity, after a solid run of far left craziness. The school is literally run by the students in the best traditions of Quakerism... but something got lost along the way and "consensus" became synonymous with woke principles.
It was a fantastic experience for our daughter, and she enjoyed her time in Howard's Library. For all of the noise at the extremes, the vast majority were incredibly nice, normal, very bright people.
Sheesh. I was looking at that chart last night going "WTF?" I couldn't even come up with a method, but it was pretty obvious those weren't tariff numbers. Good news though, the BRICS side of the portfolio is doing just fine and will probably get a nice bump here.
Under prior administrations we had the a type corporatist system, where the big companies got bigger and the peons were kept happy with their growing 401k balances. This system favored developed nations, strong markets, low costs, efficiencies...stability.
The new admin seems more inclined to that of an oligarchy. This system favors control not by board rooms but the oligarchs. Chaos is the best tool to allow for consolidation, political and economical. eg, even trump knows tariffs wont balance the budget, bring manufacturing back...but his voters will believe this. At the same time, he disrupts systems, prices plummet, individuals panic, which allows those with real capital to buy at low prices.
Problems is (for them, not us) they only have maybe two years to implement their plan.
Howard Lutnick, whose name is on the library at my kids college after giving them over $65M, has single-handedly raised the average IQ of both Wall Street and the White House by taking his position as Sec. of Commerce.
CEOs will walk back DEI to avoid the Trump SS attacking their brands, but they aren't going to invest in US manufacturing. He'll be gone before any of it comes online, and then they'll be noncompetitive when the Democrat opens the door to free trade again after the Republicans get crushed in '26 and '28. I re-read that to confirm that indeed the world is upside down. Republicans are anti-free trade.
Trump is a plumber attempting to tell people who get paid in stock how to make money.
"Howard Lutnick, whose name is on the library at my kids college after giving them over $65M"
Haverford's shame is no doubt profound. I dated a woman who transferred from Carnegie-Mellon to Bryn Mawr (which she hated) and we spent a fair amount of time on Haverford's beautiful campus. Seemed like a nice, happy place.
Howard Lutnick, whose name is on the library at my kids college after giving them over $65M, has single-handedly raised the average IQ of both Wall Street and the White House by taking his position as Sec. of Commerce.
CEOs will walk back DEI to avoid the Trump SS attacking their brands, but they aren't going to invest in US manufacturing. He'll be gone before any of it comes online, and then they'll be noncompetitive when the Democrat opens the door to free trade again after the Republicans get crushed in '26 and '28. I re-read that to confirm that indeed the world is upside down. Republicans are anti-free trade.
Trump is a plumber attempting to tell people who get paid in stock how to make money.
Jon Steward had Oren Cass on the other day. Seeing him try to defend the new position was interesting. Several points you could see he was uncomfortable with his own position - "No protectionism is fine, blah, blah, blah, ".
