The corruption is no longer hidden, the theft of wealth by the Brit leadership class should alrm all citizens of the United Kingdom. With respect to the Brits...........glorious revolution redux?
Any thoughts that China, and others no longer following globalism, are very aware of the economics worldwide and that in the near term, it really is the US that has the expertise and ability to impact economics, and that China and others want the US to do this, sans the old “ethics” and “morality” that has been the baggage that has cone with it?
One can argue that China has recently created their “second opening” following the 1980s when they opened to allow help with their banking system, but this time the opening is regarding tech/AI (and about what to do about nukes), where some now believe that the Chinese have not only caught up but in some cases surpassed what the West has been achieving. Indeed they were the agenda items when Xi and Biden has their last meeting…with the Chinese knowing that they were really talking to the incoming Trump team.
A thought: most of the world is embracing spiritual/religion in ways we have not seen in centuries, and most want “prosperity,” but within their own context, not one imposed by the US/UK, or anyone else. Interesting to think of Israel/Iran/Syria/Turkey/Saudi/Russia/China and India as places where the “fight” over modernity/secularism and spirituality/religion are playing out. Think of spiritual as history and traditions from before the Modern period, but now within the context of economies that will increasingly have “subsidiary” within.
One can think of the US as a place where the larger fight in the election over economics was really about to what extent and how fast subsidiarity will be adopted as a matter of course.
When you steal the IP you can catch up and surpass the leader quite quickly since the money spent is on forward development not on learning how the geniuses started this in the first place. There was a time our entrepreneurial spirit and gift for creating advanced technologies were the envy of the world. The Chinese sent their students here to learn that spirit and know how, but they just didn't have what the naturally spirited Americans had, it couldn't be taught so they stole everything and worked harder and now passing us by.
Certainly. So now what? The West is in a deficit, and not just technological. The world has gone and embraced Digital, and this means living lives with AI and Robots. Billions and billions of them. How are we going to handle this? The Chinese, Indians and others are working on this and adjusting their education, cultures, morality, sciences, governance, etc., in light of a changing world. New paradigm, with an explosion of spirituality and religion while we talk about regulation and…? We are still fighting over modernity: who is to blame for this or that. Or going back to…what? When we trusted government…but what is the plan for dealing with a world we have never experienced?
Part of the response to change/chaos will end up being small/subsidiarity.
Unlike China we are not top/down. How will our “new” politics interact with a culture that is going to change very fast? The initial response appears to be economics, which is really the only area that the feds can have a national and global impact.
Let's briefly examine Houthis Alone And ONE 9 Month MISSION of the Eisenhower
that apparently accomplished little or nothing
Was is a $ 5 or $ 10 billion dollar mission - did it cost less ?
Hard to put a figure on it but for consideration
Operation Prosperity Guardian
On 18 December 2023, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the formation of an international maritime security force
Keeping it short and to the point - let us examine one mission alone
Reported July 2024
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKECSG) has returned to Norfolk, U.S., following a historic nine-month combat deployment, during which it launched 155 standard missiles, 135 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs), and expended 420 air-to-surface weapons, according to a press release from Carrier Strike Group Two (CSG-2). Some 770 missiles fired
many at a cost of $ 1 million USD per
According to available information, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower typically has a crew size of around 3,500 personnel including the ship's company and air wing, with the ship's company itself consisting of around 3,532 people and the air wing around 2,480 people.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) is usually supported by a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) that includes several ships, including:
Aircraft carrier: The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
Guided-missile cruisers: Two cruisers, such as the USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) or USS Monterey (CG 61)
Guided-missile destroyers: Two or three destroyers, such as the USS Gravely (DDG 107), USS Mason (DDG 87), USS Mitscher (DDG 57), USS Laboon (DDG 58), or USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116)
Auxiliary: One auxiliary ship, such as an AE, AOE, or AOR
Fast attack submarine: Sometimes a fast attack submarine (SSN) is included in a support role
The CSG also includes Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3, which is made up of nine squadrons of aircraft.
So personnel - feeding clothing entertaining protecting
fuel oil maintenance Logistics getting it all there and back safely
and the missiles themselves
( take out the production cost of the ships planes and submarine - lets put that aside )
Was this a $ 5 billion dollar mission just to run the Eisenhower there and back ?
There’s still this belief in DC that deficits don’t matter. And to date they haven’t mattered much. Congress and a complicit Trump will not cut any spending and the deficits will continue their inexorable rise.
I think it is pretty safe to say that given the current and future growth of non-discretionary spending (entitlements + state and local funding) plus interest on the debt, even if DOGE is a great success in cutting discretionary spending the deficits will continue to rise:
Politically, with the exception of the bipartisan squashed tea party that resulted in some incumbent losses, there has been no political cost. It's been worthwhile to just keep kicking the can down the road
The Marxists’ plan for bringing down debt, deficits, and inflation is to increase fees and taxes on us mere little people. This leaves little money for us, and more for their favorite government programs and non profit buddies. The added bonus is the infliction of pain and moral lectures about how it’s good for us. The evil bastards actually get a kick out of the infliction of pain they themselves are exempt from. Sick shit, but hopefully there are still more of us than there are of them, and we are finding our voice.
I am optimistic, but we will see. At least Trump seems he will try to turn around the economy, and has a clue. Biden just made the economy much worse.
Milei's success in Argentina provides a useful roadmap economically.
And this time, Trump is not as naive, as he was in his first term. Trump was beautifully hamstrung before he even started by Russiagate, a brilliant political dirty trick by Hillary and the deep state with support from congress. Not to mention how many moles he had that worked internally against his agenda. This time his cabinet is not the normal bunch of eGop boomers (Session) that were ok with the status quo. Plus Vance has a very different outlook than Pence. I wonder how many of the anti Trump moles that were appointed were due to Pence and Christy? Not to mention the treachery of Paul Ryan.
And having the censorship industrial complex exposed (twitter files), including Musk's purchase of Twitter, has changed the media landscape.
On Trump's foreign policy, we will see. I don't think Trump has a lot of area to maneuver. Russia is in the driver's seat, and the West has destroyed its credibility with previous lies. Trump has minimal leverage.
US dollar Reserve Status - Trump again has limited leverage. The best thing he could do is give back Russia's foreign currency exchange to restore credibility in the Western Control of the financial system, but I don't see that happening. Same with restoring Russian energy to Europe to stop the de-industrialization of their economy. The best thing the US can do is fix its economy.
Israel - US again has limited leverage. I don't think there is much the US can do with the Houthi's economic missile blockade, but may be if Biden's ROE's are changed airstrikes may have an impact. I don't know.
China - Biden's administration seems to be deliberately creating a trade war with China and attempted to bully them. What a mess.
Syria - Trump will do as little as possible, and let Turkey and Israel deal with it.
I see Trump's focus on the US economy, and fixing trade deals that are unfair to the US. Sounds like NGO's may be a target. And the entire area of foreign trade.
My gut feeling is there are huge opportunities to unhobble the US economy that big government tentacles everywhere. So many unknowns. Will the deportations work? What will be done with the healthcare mess? Big Pharma? Big Food? Dod? Censorship industrial complex? Oil drilling and pipe lines? Deregulations? Sue and Settle? Universities?
To build on your thoughts on Trump making better picks this go-round, and your reference to Twitter, add my opinion that a lot of our countrymen are more fully aware of the corruption of legacy media. MSNBC and CNN are currently in the toilet, ratings-wise.
We have more sources such as MiH, SONAR21, Coffee and Covid, The Federalist, Charlie Kirk, Joe Rogan, Zero Hedge, Citizen Free Press, etc.
Barron Trump was genius in influencing his father to use young voters preferred methods such as podcasts to get Gen Z's attention.
It's huge among a small set of people largely the hyper ideologues and the mentally ill which are generally the one and the same. In recent years they have been chasing FNC and the Hallmark Channel for ratings. Stable people can tolerate just so much hatred and tire of the same material repeated ad infinitum.
"Americans, hit by inflation, higher interest rates, and supply-chain issues, are buying fewer new vehicles. The four-year average for annual sales is now 15.5 million, down from 17.7 million pre-pandemic, per the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The slowdown in new car sales might seem like good news for auto repair and parts companies, as older vehicles typically need more maintenance. Cars between four and eleven years old are in the "sweet spot" for repairs, yet signs show many Americans are cutting back on maintenance spending, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In May, tire retailer Monro reported a sharp decline in same-store sales, citing low- to middle-income consumers opting for cheaper, off-brand tires due to a glut of imports. Spending on services like brakes and shocks dropped even more."
Running errands today, I was reflecting on the sad fact of Cash for Clunkers destroying perfectly useful cars. The calculation was made that new cars arrive on the dealer's lot without any environmental impact. The immaculate construction.
Egads, cash for clunkers was a terrible idea and a misallocation of usable resources, the only winners were the junk yards. I was recently involved in a hit and run accident and the offending vehicle drove away, mine was totaled and was fully paid off the month of the accident. I was surprised with my insurance payout, but when I calculated all the usable parts that remained the insurance company did well with the value of the piece parts likely exceeded what the insurance paid me. Great tag line, Tamsin, coffee through the nose funny....immaculate construction, well done!
At the time of cash for clunkers, we had a couple of neighbors turn in cars that met the fuel inefficiency standard and were traded in for 1) a fuel-efficient F150 and 2) a fuel-efficient SUV (forget make/model). Nobody leaves money on the table.
Dollar stores, which cater to the lower middle class and the lower class are hurting. Spokesmen for the stores report those consumers run out of funds in the early to middle part of the month.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/outgoing-treasury-sec-yellen-sorry-we-havent-made-more-progress-believes-deficit-must-decreased
The corruption is no longer hidden, the theft of wealth by the Brit leadership class should alrm all citizens of the United Kingdom. With respect to the Brits...........glorious revolution redux?
Regarding the etymology of Trussed, https://www.postliberalorder.com/p/the-zero-sovereignty-system.
Good post Mark.
Any thoughts that China, and others no longer following globalism, are very aware of the economics worldwide and that in the near term, it really is the US that has the expertise and ability to impact economics, and that China and others want the US to do this, sans the old “ethics” and “morality” that has been the baggage that has cone with it?
One can argue that China has recently created their “second opening” following the 1980s when they opened to allow help with their banking system, but this time the opening is regarding tech/AI (and about what to do about nukes), where some now believe that the Chinese have not only caught up but in some cases surpassed what the West has been achieving. Indeed they were the agenda items when Xi and Biden has their last meeting…with the Chinese knowing that they were really talking to the incoming Trump team.
A thought: most of the world is embracing spiritual/religion in ways we have not seen in centuries, and most want “prosperity,” but within their own context, not one imposed by the US/UK, or anyone else. Interesting to think of Israel/Iran/Syria/Turkey/Saudi/Russia/China and India as places where the “fight” over modernity/secularism and spirituality/religion are playing out. Think of spiritual as history and traditions from before the Modern period, but now within the context of economies that will increasingly have “subsidiary” within.
One can think of the US as a place where the larger fight in the election over economics was really about to what extent and how fast subsidiarity will be adopted as a matter of course.
When you steal the IP you can catch up and surpass the leader quite quickly since the money spent is on forward development not on learning how the geniuses started this in the first place. There was a time our entrepreneurial spirit and gift for creating advanced technologies were the envy of the world. The Chinese sent their students here to learn that spirit and know how, but they just didn't have what the naturally spirited Americans had, it couldn't be taught so they stole everything and worked harder and now passing us by.
Certainly. So now what? The West is in a deficit, and not just technological. The world has gone and embraced Digital, and this means living lives with AI and Robots. Billions and billions of them. How are we going to handle this? The Chinese, Indians and others are working on this and adjusting their education, cultures, morality, sciences, governance, etc., in light of a changing world. New paradigm, with an explosion of spirituality and religion while we talk about regulation and…? We are still fighting over modernity: who is to blame for this or that. Or going back to…what? When we trusted government…but what is the plan for dealing with a world we have never experienced?
Part of the response to change/chaos will end up being small/subsidiarity.
Unlike China we are not top/down. How will our “new” politics interact with a culture that is going to change very fast? The initial response appears to be economics, which is really the only area that the feds can have a national and global impact.
The United States has to be spending a fortune
an amazing amount of monies
and they all appear hidden from the public
Let's briefly examine Houthis Alone And ONE 9 Month MISSION of the Eisenhower
that apparently accomplished little or nothing
Was is a $ 5 or $ 10 billion dollar mission - did it cost less ?
Hard to put a figure on it but for consideration
Operation Prosperity Guardian
On 18 December 2023, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the formation of an international maritime security force
Keeping it short and to the point - let us examine one mission alone
Reported July 2024
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKECSG) has returned to Norfolk, U.S., following a historic nine-month combat deployment, during which it launched 155 standard missiles, 135 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs), and expended 420 air-to-surface weapons, according to a press release from Carrier Strike Group Two (CSG-2). Some 770 missiles fired
many at a cost of $ 1 million USD per
According to available information, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower typically has a crew size of around 3,500 personnel including the ship's company and air wing, with the ship's company itself consisting of around 3,532 people and the air wing around 2,480 people.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) is usually supported by a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) that includes several ships, including:
Aircraft carrier: The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
Guided-missile cruisers: Two cruisers, such as the USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) or USS Monterey (CG 61)
Guided-missile destroyers: Two or three destroyers, such as the USS Gravely (DDG 107), USS Mason (DDG 87), USS Mitscher (DDG 57), USS Laboon (DDG 58), or USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116)
Auxiliary: One auxiliary ship, such as an AE, AOE, or AOR
Fast attack submarine: Sometimes a fast attack submarine (SSN) is included in a support role
The CSG also includes Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3, which is made up of nine squadrons of aircraft.
So personnel - feeding clothing entertaining protecting
fuel oil maintenance Logistics getting it all there and back safely
and the missiles themselves
( take out the production cost of the ships planes and submarine - lets put that aside )
Was this a $ 5 billion dollar mission just to run the Eisenhower there and back ?
There’s still this belief in DC that deficits don’t matter. And to date they haven’t mattered much. Congress and a complicit Trump will not cut any spending and the deficits will continue their inexorable rise.
I think it is pretty safe to say that given the current and future growth of non-discretionary spending (entitlements + state and local funding) plus interest on the debt, even if DOGE is a great success in cutting discretionary spending the deficits will continue to rise:
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/government-spending-shock-us-budget-deficit-worst-start-year-record
Politically, with the exception of the bipartisan squashed tea party that resulted in some incumbent losses, there has been no political cost. It's been worthwhile to just keep kicking the can down the road
As evidence. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/30/schumer-sets-timeline-for-debt-ceiling-showdown-as-lawmakers-scramble-to-avert-economic-catastrophe/
“Irreparable harm”. - Senator Schumer. 2021
The Marxists’ plan for bringing down debt, deficits, and inflation is to increase fees and taxes on us mere little people. This leaves little money for us, and more for their favorite government programs and non profit buddies. The added bonus is the infliction of pain and moral lectures about how it’s good for us. The evil bastards actually get a kick out of the infliction of pain they themselves are exempt from. Sick shit, but hopefully there are still more of us than there are of them, and we are finding our voice.
But what about giving the poor Afghan women $75M to learn about farming?
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mast-blasts-blinken-over-tens-billions-us-taxpayer-dollars-sent-taliban-post-afghanistan-withdrawal
WSJ Film on Truss's 44 days - free:
https://www.wsj.com/video/wsj-opinion-the-prime-minister-vs-the-blob-liz-trusss-44-days-in-office/8FCADD90-7A85-4A70-88ED-EBC354D80CAD
I am optimistic, but we will see. At least Trump seems he will try to turn around the economy, and has a clue. Biden just made the economy much worse.
Milei's success in Argentina provides a useful roadmap economically.
And this time, Trump is not as naive, as he was in his first term. Trump was beautifully hamstrung before he even started by Russiagate, a brilliant political dirty trick by Hillary and the deep state with support from congress. Not to mention how many moles he had that worked internally against his agenda. This time his cabinet is not the normal bunch of eGop boomers (Session) that were ok with the status quo. Plus Vance has a very different outlook than Pence. I wonder how many of the anti Trump moles that were appointed were due to Pence and Christy? Not to mention the treachery of Paul Ryan.
And having the censorship industrial complex exposed (twitter files), including Musk's purchase of Twitter, has changed the media landscape.
On Trump's foreign policy, we will see. I don't think Trump has a lot of area to maneuver. Russia is in the driver's seat, and the West has destroyed its credibility with previous lies. Trump has minimal leverage.
US dollar Reserve Status - Trump again has limited leverage. The best thing he could do is give back Russia's foreign currency exchange to restore credibility in the Western Control of the financial system, but I don't see that happening. Same with restoring Russian energy to Europe to stop the de-industrialization of their economy. The best thing the US can do is fix its economy.
Israel - US again has limited leverage. I don't think there is much the US can do with the Houthi's economic missile blockade, but may be if Biden's ROE's are changed airstrikes may have an impact. I don't know.
China - Biden's administration seems to be deliberately creating a trade war with China and attempted to bully them. What a mess.
Syria - Trump will do as little as possible, and let Turkey and Israel deal with it.
I see Trump's focus on the US economy, and fixing trade deals that are unfair to the US. Sounds like NGO's may be a target. And the entire area of foreign trade.
My gut feeling is there are huge opportunities to unhobble the US economy that big government tentacles everywhere. So many unknowns. Will the deportations work? What will be done with the healthcare mess? Big Pharma? Big Food? Dod? Censorship industrial complex? Oil drilling and pipe lines? Deregulations? Sue and Settle? Universities?
Ray, good comments, as always.
To build on your thoughts on Trump making better picks this go-round, and your reference to Twitter, add my opinion that a lot of our countrymen are more fully aware of the corruption of legacy media. MSNBC and CNN are currently in the toilet, ratings-wise.
We have more sources such as MiH, SONAR21, Coffee and Covid, The Federalist, Charlie Kirk, Joe Rogan, Zero Hedge, Citizen Free Press, etc.
Barron Trump was genius in influencing his father to use young voters preferred methods such as podcasts to get Gen Z's attention.
Yeah Jeff Childers is pretty good too (C&C).
Thanks!
I don’t understand the ratings fall of msnbc and cnn. Trump hatred is still huge.
It's huge among a small set of people largely the hyper ideologues and the mentally ill which are generally the one and the same. In recent years they have been chasing FNC and the Hallmark Channel for ratings. Stable people can tolerate just so much hatred and tire of the same material repeated ad infinitum.
Optimism is great but you still have to have Income to buy stuff.
Yes. To that point, I offer from Zero Hedge,
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/americans-are-driving-their-older-cars-ground
Excerpt:
"Americans, hit by inflation, higher interest rates, and supply-chain issues, are buying fewer new vehicles. The four-year average for annual sales is now 15.5 million, down from 17.7 million pre-pandemic, per the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The slowdown in new car sales might seem like good news for auto repair and parts companies, as older vehicles typically need more maintenance. Cars between four and eleven years old are in the "sweet spot" for repairs, yet signs show many Americans are cutting back on maintenance spending, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In May, tire retailer Monro reported a sharp decline in same-store sales, citing low- to middle-income consumers opting for cheaper, off-brand tires due to a glut of imports. Spending on services like brakes and shocks dropped even more."
Yep, I'm one of those driving my vehicle into the ground. Almost 310,000 miles and I haven't yet had to replace the shocks, struts or muffler!
Running errands today, I was reflecting on the sad fact of Cash for Clunkers destroying perfectly useful cars. The calculation was made that new cars arrive on the dealer's lot without any environmental impact. The immaculate construction.
Egads, cash for clunkers was a terrible idea and a misallocation of usable resources, the only winners were the junk yards. I was recently involved in a hit and run accident and the offending vehicle drove away, mine was totaled and was fully paid off the month of the accident. I was surprised with my insurance payout, but when I calculated all the usable parts that remained the insurance company did well with the value of the piece parts likely exceeded what the insurance paid me. Great tag line, Tamsin, coffee through the nose funny....immaculate construction, well done!
At the time of cash for clunkers, we had a couple of neighbors turn in cars that met the fuel inefficiency standard and were traded in for 1) a fuel-efficient F150 and 2) a fuel-efficient SUV (forget make/model). Nobody leaves money on the table.
Yes.
I found that article very striking, too.
Dollar stores, which cater to the lower middle class and the lower class are hurting. Spokesmen for the stores report those consumers run out of funds in the early to middle part of the month.