Trumponomics

Lost in all the howling about DOGE, the rogue judges and the Ukraine happenings is the Trump economic policy that is slowly coming into focus. One of the reasons the administration pushed for the continuing resolution was that they needed time to put together budgets and spending priorities based on the cuts they are now making across all agencies of the government.

It is why they were so mad about the grandstanding of Thomas Massie. He is clearly someone who does not understand what they are doing and too addled by the brain-rot of libertarianism to ever understand it. He wanted to waste time and political capital on a pointless fight over pennies. The administration has bigger plans for reorganizing the government that needs time to develop.

The new economic model will be based on cheap energy, cheap money, low taxes on labor, limited regulation, and tariffs on imports. You can hear all of these when Trump seems to speak off the cuff. His plan to eliminate taxes for those earning under $150,000 per year is a good example. That is not just a tax cut for the wage earner, but also a tax cut for the employer.

The point is to make labor relatively cheaper for domestic employers, while using tariffs to make cheap foreign labor relatively more expensive. This is not a lot different from what Reagan tried to do in the 1980’s with Japan. Instead of being limited to trade issues with specific countries, it is to be the general policy. The goal is to boost domestic production in order to lower imports.

That is the show this week. The first part is a summary of the current economic model which no one discusses anymore. Back when it was coming into focus, people debated it and those opposed turned out to be right. The second part is about the schemes to unwind the old model and create a new one. Trumponomics is Abenomics but for a continent sized country with the global reserve currency.


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This Week’s Show

Contents

  • Intro
  • Post-National Economics
  • Examples
  • Trumponomics
  • Will It Work?

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My Comment
My Comment
1 month ago

Trump is trying to make some crucial changes but they will come to naught unless: 1. He reverses course and doesn’t import infinity Indian H1Bs, increases by at least 10x deportations and manages to end birthright citizenship. As is, our replacements will simply steal a country with a more sound economy thanks to Trump. 2. The Trump administration becomes more than the Trump show and he can pick someone Israel doesn’t like. So far his domestic cabinet is busy fighting anti Semitism and not much else. AG Blondi seems to be auditioning for a host job on Fox with over… Read more »

Steve
Steve
Reply to  My Comment
1 month ago

As is, our replacements will simply steal a country with a more sound economy thanks to Trump.”

Dunno. I figure they won’t have to import a whole lot more before they will have to open a season on the varmints…

A Bad Man
Member
Reply to  My Comment
1 month ago

mmm

Last edited 1 month ago by Jack
A Bad Man
Member
Reply to  My Comment
1 month ago

“RFK Jr has turned anti Semitism into our biggest health crisis.”

Ugh, this. As bad as Trump introducing rat-faced war criminal and veterinarian (overseeing the human sheep) Bourla as a ‘good guy’ the other day.

Let’s see, what is LESS of a ‘health crisis’ than the others:

a) Usury-driven debt serfdom
b) Pornography addiction
c) Opioid addiction
d) Losing your son, father or husband in a war in the Middle East
e) Noticing there might be a common factor among the good people behind a-b-c-d

Special prize for right answers!

My Comment
My Comment
Reply to  A Bad Man
1 month ago

Yes, we live in bizarro world that is the opposite of reality

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  My Comment
1 month ago

Nothing more can be done wrt “birthright” citizenship. It, as planned, is now in the courts and will eventually work its way to the SCOTUS. Exactly as planned.

HeWhoNotices
HeWhoNotices
1 month ago

Thomas Massie is the lone GOP congressman who doesn’t take AIPAC money. This should at least merit mention on a dissident website! Trump singling Massie out with such hostility and threatening to work against his re-election should be considered in light of that fact. Z-Man surely knows this, so I’m unsure why he’s uncritically amplifyng Trump in this instance, and calling Massie playground names like “dickhead.” I agree with Z-Man that libertarianism is a bad philosophy but that’s a far bigger topic.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  HeWhoNotices
1 month ago

Agreed. Not only doesn’t Massie take AIPAC money, but he votes against any and every foreign aid bill – to Israel and everyone else. Because there’s no provision in the magic constitution – nor was there any intent in history – that a people should be taxed to send the money all over the world. As Davy Crocket wisely noted, “Congress has no power to appropriate . . . money . . . as an act of charity.” Being a good and honest financial steward has nothing to do with libertarianism.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  3g4me
1 month ago

Being a good and honest financial steward has nothing to do with libertarianism.”

Nothing to do with any politician, as it turns out. But of those who at least give lip service to being a good and faithful steward, there is a common denominator…

Geoff
Geoff
1 month ago

Trump should have done this stuff in his first term, when there was still some runway left. The fact that rat-faced Chuckie Schumer changed his tune so quickly tells that me as a peasant I can expect to get fucked by this CR.

Even though I agree with what Trump is trying to do in principle, it seems way too late to avoid the iceberg. Let’s just hope that the ideas being pushed don’t get tarred along with Trump when the economy blows up late 25/early 26.

Last edited 1 month ago by Geoff
Lakelander
Lakelander
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

As I understand it, the CR keeps spending at Biden’s level until they work out the 2026 budget this fall. That explains why Chuck-You was so quick to turn tale and support it (why wouldn’t he, it’s mostly his doing). I’m unsure why Trump would want to be saddled with these commitments, especially considering how limited he is with time before midterms.

Xman
Xman
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

Massie is not a dickhead. On principle, he is right about a LOT of things, especially the Israeli stranglehold on Congress.

The problem is that the Jeffersonian-libertarian, small-government, America-First country in which the Constitution actually matters is dead and gone and it isn’t coming back. It’s a global imperial Leviathan $36 trillion in debt.

Massie is useful, if for nothing else, as a Socratic gadfly reminding the citizens of Athens how far they have actually strayed from the principles they claim to believe in.

The fact that there is only one Massie in Congress instead of 300 says a lot.

Dutchboy
Dutchboy
Reply to  Xman
1 month ago

Hard to get much of a hate for a guy who is the only person in Congress willing to give AIPAC the finger. Considering the abject nature of the typical GOP Congressperson, I’ll reserve my hate for them.

TempoNick
TempoNick
Reply to  Dutchboy
1 month ago

I have to agree with you there. Not only that, but he helped educate everybody about AIPAC’S shenanigans.

AnotherAnon
AnotherAnon
Reply to  Xman
1 month ago

Even accounting for Congress’s 11% approval rating, we’re a little short.

mikew
mikew
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

Why such hate for Massie? His standing up against AIPAC alone is enough to give him plenty of good will. I suspect some of Trump’s distaste for him is also from small hat influencers. The tribe has vowed he will never get the Kentucky Senate nomination to replace Mitch.

WCiv911
WCiv911
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

Massie is not a Dickhead.

Robbo
Robbo
Reply to  WCiv911
1 month ago

On the contrary, he is one of the few people in DC with a mind of his own and courage to match. The way in which Trump threatened him reminded me of the worst of the bullying during Covid.

Robbo
Robbo
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

Wow, a politician who doesn’t follow the party line. Whatever next!

Geoff
Geoff
Reply to  Lakelander
1 month ago

That’s my take on it also. Some of the less retarded Democrats got out their box of crayons and drew big block letters for Chuckie explaining how it is way better for the depths of the recession to be happening in the middle of next year, vs late 2025.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

Between the damage to people’s investment accounts, random tariffs flip flops, spat over Greenland, and spat over Greenland Trunp has probably already lost the House next year.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 month ago

I think that is spot on. What he’s selling as tariffs should have been explained as “tools of foreign policy” to force other countries to drop their barriers. Then it makes sense to flip flop on them. If you present them as an unalloyed good, you should not be dropping them just because foreign countries dropped theirs.

Robbo
Robbo
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 month ago

Yep. And now the guy who wants to stop the Forever Wars is back to bombing the Houthis. Biden would be proud.

A Bad Man
Member
Reply to  Lakelander
1 month ago

All I can infer is that the devious representative from Tel Aviv is working against us.

One of my regrets in life is that I was at a college graduation where this slimy creature blurted out his anodyne ‘commencement speech’ and I did not heckle him.

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

The fact that rat-faced Chuckie Schumer changed his tune so quickly tells that me as a peasant I can expect to get fucked by this CR”

Oh for sure, it tells me they’re so desperate to keep .gov money flowing or the entire economy will tank because its all fake

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

My take: The economy was tanking late 2019, the west needed to go 0% bound and print again. The Russians and the Chinese said fuck off, we aren’t going to continue to let you print and dictate to us. So instead we got covid, but and its a big but, we also got a shit ton of inflation from the printing this time since those two refused to absorb it for us like in 08. Trump wants to get rates lower, but he needs an excuse, a way to drive people into US debt because they’re so frightened it will… Read more »

Geoff
Geoff
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

I don’t understand why Trump 2.0 would delay things if they want lower rates. The inflation from last year’s spending bill is now starting to show up in PPI, so if they wait, they will be trying to force the Fed to lower rates into an inflationary environment.

Why wait and waste political capital on a second Trump vs JP showdown? Push for it now if lower rates are desired.

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

I have no idea. All i know for sure is that no one is telling me the truth. Sometimes when everyone is lying to you, you need to listen to what you enemies are stating for more information:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/03/call-your-senators-this-morning-to-object-to-the-continuing-resolution-that-will-enable-cuts-to-social-security-medicare-medicaid-veterans-programs-and-more.html

They seem to believe that this will gut SS and medicare medicaid. I don’t think they’ll touch SS, but i’m all for gutting medicare and medicaid. They spend almost a trillion annually and only something like 19 or 20% of that is via taxes.

Geoff
Geoff
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

Gutting CMS would do a lot. Karl Denninger has been ranting about that for decades now.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

Something Denninger always leaves out is the fact that a lot of people will be “left behind” when the government can only spend what they have on medical services. Yeah, the services would be cheaper, but not *that* cheap. Now to me that’s just an “is” (we don’t have money for it) but he’s being somewhat dishonest in marketing it as pain-free.

Geoff
Geoff
Reply to  Evil Sandmich
1 month ago

I agree, he undersells the amount of pain that would come from the end of CMS, but it’s likely to happen whether chosen or not. It’s not like the system as constituted will be able to absorb the costs of end of life healthcare for millions of Boomers getting there each year for another decade at least.

Hopefully someday there can be a public discussion about what it says about a society when it spends 20% of its economy on sick care, or the way for-profit medicine warps the incentives in treating people, as seen in 2020/21.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

Hopefully, we can someday have a discussion about why in the ’70s, the commies got us to switch from “sick care” where a doctor visit might be $25, to “health care” where they grew to a grand or more.

Last edited 1 month ago by Steve
steveaz
steveaz
Reply to  Steve
1 month ago

Here’re some facts that might help to explain why the Progressives love them some “health care,” and think we all should line up sheep-like, ass-up and mouths open, in their clinics. The word “Health” cannot really be defined. It is always relative to some ideal, which is never firmly defined. Even a new born infant isn’t necessarily ‘healthy.’ And even when we imagine we are at our prime in our late teens or twenties, any clever clinician could find something wrong that requires a jab, a prod or a prescription. The latin root of the word “medical,” “med-,” means to… Read more »

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

Karl has not factored in EMTALA. Granted, Medicare and Medicaid patients have been accustomed to the care they get, but if they have to get their primary care at vastly higher cost at emergency rooms, they will.

My Comment
My Comment
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

Domestic wise Trump is an old fashioned Kennedy liberal. He won’t cut social security or Medicare, just the waste. What the Democratic commenters can’t see is that without cutting waste there will need to be major cut backs to benefits. Even though depriving seniors of medical care and shelter is a RW and libertarian wet dream, I don’t see Trump going along with it. However, the left thinks he is Hitler so they are convinced the CR will be the first step to death camps

Last edited 1 month ago by My Comment
Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  My Comment
1 month ago

The one constant of the last 40 years is democrat shaming. They shame you fund their industries just like they shamed you to run their scam in 2020. People need to start believing in tough love. No more of this “compassionate” conservatism.

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

Its not very different from the position the west and ukraine are taking with all this cease fire talk. You give us everything we want and we give you nothing! I mean who couldn’t accept a deal like that? 😉

A Bad Man
Member
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

Not to mention that the harridan Bohemian Grove camper, aka former Stasi nudist blurted out they ‘never had any intention’ of honoring the Minsk Accords.

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

Could also explain why Unke Warren Buffet is sitting on a mountain of cash for the last few quarters.

Geoff
Geoff
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

Yea, I’ve been watching that too. Whatever you may think of old Buffett personally, he’s one of the best investors humanity has ever produced, so if he is betting cash in the numbers he is, it’s worth paying attention to.

As you said above, the entire thing has been fake since at least 2008, and that can’t go on forever, he seems to be thinking there will be a fire sale soon.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

Whatever you may think of old Buffett personally, he’s one of the best investors humanity has ever produced,”

Meh. Compared to Pelosi, he’s a piker.

A Bad Man
Member
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

Agree, that odd old man, insider that likely knows where all the bodies are buried … is one to watch. None of my holdings are in equities. Hey, when I saw what the government to the north did to the truckers, anyone that donated .. I promptly yanked six figures OUT of TD (Toronto Dominion), had others in my family pull every cent out of TD, Canada related investments and banking. Total divestment of all things Canada. Our tiny, tiny group of people un-Canada’d almost a cool million. A drop in the massive sea? Yes. But let’s try a million… Read more »

Last edited 1 month ago by Jack
Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  A Bad Man
1 month ago

The “Biden” admin directed Castreau to freeze the accounts, and it was done with US technical assistance. What I’m saying is, getting out of Canadian banks probably isn’t much of a defense.

A Bad Man
Member
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 month ago

Hmm. Well, considering that, at the time TD had a direct hand, in real time, in freezing funds without recourse, I am all ears for you to suggest a better course of action at that time. Action also had a better effect on me and mine in terms of, say, compared to inaction. Say the difference between Doom Pill: “We’re all doomed, do nothing.” To Red: “Make sure to turn all the lights off when you leave the room, the skels from the electric company are going to raise rates through the roof.” To Blue: “Those truckers deserved what came… Read more »

Last edited 1 month ago by Jack
The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

Yeah, I’m regretting not taking Warren’s hint and moving to a mix of cash, UST, and CDs.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Geoff
1 month ago

I’m not as worried about that. Go ahead and pass the CR, and have DOGE audit the spending. Anyone who is defrauding the system, while knowing that he will get caught, deserves whatever he gets. Which, hopefully, is something like being fed live to feral swine.

RealityRules
RealityRules
1 month ago

I don’t think the tariffs will apply to software. It is astonishing how quickly huge numbers of software jobs are in places everywhere but America. You can go day-to-day and see entire listings move to Hyderabad or Sofia. Uber seems to be entirely an off-shore development shop now. I am not sure how they will make foreign labor expensive in the software industry – one of the few that provides upper middle class jobs. My hope in the bigger picture is that the government’s radical downsizing will provide the labor needed for all of the jobs that Americans didn’t have… Read more »

Dutchboy
Dutchboy
Reply to  RealityRules
1 month ago

The University of California campuses look like the University of Peking!

RealityRules
RealityRules
Reply to  Dutchboy
1 month ago

Colorado universities look like University of Mumbai. Ethnic conquest via ethnic forfeiture and betrayal.

Pozymandias
Reply to  RealityRules
1 month ago

America the free-for-all office park and shopping mall has radicalized its own people because of its disgusting and severe abuses It certainly has for me. As a GenX software guy I’m absolutely furious about the Indian invasion and all the fags and purple-hair-and-tats wymmyn they’ve been hiring instead of us. On top of that my neighborhood in a “techie” area has turned from mostly White to about 80% Pajeet over the last few years. Usually the first language I hear spoken when I go out on the street is not English or even Spanish. I could rant about the terrible… Read more »

Bloated Boomer
Bloated Boomer
Reply to  Pozymandias
1 month ago

Jeets give the chosen a run for their money.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  RealityRules
1 month ago

build a massive castle of young, chad white men who are enlisted to deport the 50 million people”

Your wonderful vision took my breath away. It would provide many jobs and a sense of nationhood and belonging.

Imagine granting young white men the permission to put their strength and smarts towards reclaiming our country. And providing them with respectable middle class jobs.

RealityRules
RealityRules
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 month ago

It would be a re-founding event. New statues for new heroes. A cross generational castle forged by the crucible of service. It would be a monumental moment on the timeline: Mayflower; Jamestown; Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, Boston … establishment; French-Indian Wars; Revolutionary War; … Frontier Settlement; … American Reconquista. In New York there is the Worth Monument that these days every wild from the wilds of Africa lounges around as they await the next electric scooter delivery to some alien occupied penthouse. That monument commemerates the day the last redcoat was sent packing and left Our shores. The men who… Read more »

Trump-he'll Boldly Go
Trump-he'll Boldly Go
Reply to  RealityRules
1 month ago

“and how we burned in the camps later”… talkin’ ain’t doin’..

Filthie
Filthie
Member
1 month ago

Spectacular. I am probably going to have to listen to this one twice. Some points of order, though: Canada is one of America’s largest trading partners. Trust me – if we “went away” – you guys in America would notice the same way any business would if they lost one of their major key clients. You Yanks would undoubtedly fare much better than we would… but if we go back to the Dirty 30’s, a LOT of you Yanks will go with us. The same danger confronts yourselves and Europe as well. The problem is that unlike Trump – most… Read more »

Mow Noname
Mow Noname
Reply to  Filthie
1 month ago

Hey Filthie,

There is a lot of good will in the US for Canada. I wish you well.

Heck, after Minnesota, it is one of my favorite states.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Mow Noname
1 month ago

hehe nice left handed compliment

Filthie
Filthie
Member
Reply to  Mow Noname
1 month ago

I’m from Alberta. I’d rather see Trump annex Alberta and Saskatchewan… maybe Manitoba… but the rest of the country is a write off.

Horace
Horace
Reply to  Filthie
1 month ago

We want Yukon, too. 🙂

choreboy
choreboy
Reply to  Filthie
1 month ago

Hi Filthie, I’m becoming more and more embarrassed by the day to have to live with demented people here in Canada. I’m in Colorado for hols shortly; if asked I’ll say I’m from north Montana.

Filthie
Filthie
Member
Reply to  choreboy
1 month ago

A lot of us are fed up with it. This country isn’t divided, it’s broken.

Gespenst
Gespenst
Reply to  Filthie
1 month ago

“Morontario”. Thanks. I will remember that.

AnotherAnon
AnotherAnon
1 month ago

I heard the Admin didn’t want the extra sideshow of a shutdown and all the hysterical theatrics that would ensue. Too bad, as every shutdown results in people realizing most of the government is a big Jobs Program. (Maybe he could have kept the parks going somehow, just to make the medicine go down better.). And, bring on the theatrics, as it only reminds people why they voted for Trump to begin with.

My Comment
My Comment
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

They had the kooks on their heels but the kooks are regrouping and counterattacking. The Democrats have a lot more judges to undermine Trump. Most Republicans don’t want major changes they just want to pretend they are Maga so it is business as usual with the budgets. Time will tell if Trump administration can successfully counterattack the counterattack.

Dutchboy
Dutchboy
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

My understanding is that Massie was opposed because he regards a CR as nothing but a bait-and-switch. Vote for this CR now and next year we’ll implement all these cuts recommended by DOGE. Based on history, he believes there will be no such cuts. In any case, it’s hard to regard CRs as anything but the crappiest form of legislation, bundling everything together to avoid making tough, unpopular decisions about specific programs.

Mycale
Mycale
1 month ago

The current survey, that came out today, is that we have 53 million foreign born people in the USA which is an increase of 8.3 million since 2020. That is almost as many people as live in Virginia. Needless to say, we can’t have a functioning America First economy under any set of policies until the vast majority of these people are gone. Luckily for anyone who does want to get rid of these people, the vast majority of them have no loyalty to the USA and just see it as an economic zone and looting source like a World… Read more »

iForgotmyPen
iForgotmyPen
Reply to  Mycale
1 month ago

This has been interesting to see how immigration and kicking them out has completely gone out of the admin’s priorities. Remember when we were going to deport them all? Yeah, good times, good times.

Tom K
Tom K
Reply to  iForgotmyPen
1 month ago

My hope is that they’ll make it so hard for them here that they’ll mostly deport themselves.

Bloated Boomer
Bloated Boomer
Reply to  Tom K
1 month ago

Boomer Cope.

Anne Arkie
Anne Arkie
Reply to  Tom K
1 month ago

Some must already be self deporting because even though its early sowing season in our agricultural area and the area should be teeming with them, the local thrift stores reported groups of Latinos “buying out the stores” and then leaving with all the bedding, children’s clothes, dishes, cookware etc, presumably going back to their squatamalan villages..

Ted X
Ted X
1 month ago

I agree that Trumps grand plan is necessary but we are starting to see the whores in Congress are working behind the scenes to dilute, modify and block the really transformative stuff. Trump will hit a wall by summer where the impact of EOs dissipates and he switches to fighting the swamp for every inch of progress. The GOP of course will stab Trump in the back like last time. Im thinking the best Trump can do is to crash the stock and real estate markets then withhold the inevitable trillions in bailouts.

Sir John Glubb was right !
https://notesfromthepast.substack.com/p/the-disintegration-of-civilizations

AnotherAnon
AnotherAnon
1 month ago

Rough week. Full of stepping on rakes, as Zman put it. He can probably work the kinks out of 2 booboos (Massie and the 1A case at Columbia). But the 3rd booboo has the potential to do him in if he buys that stinking war and makes it his own. The Europeans (esp UK) are doing their damndest to rope him in. Don’t do it Donald! The European blob wants nothing more than saving their own useless eater seats at the trough, just as our blob does here, and they’ve joined forces. Also, taking Trump down is of utmost urgency… Read more »

Thomas Mcleod
Thomas Mcleod
1 month ago

My understanding is that Trump didn’t want to waste his, only requires 51 Senators, once a year budget reconciliation on this continuing resolution. He wanted to keep his powder dry for a real budget in the Fall.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

what is massie’s play here?

Tarl Cabot
Tarl Cabot
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

Massie probably has the highest IQ in Congress (which isn’t saying much), but he also seems to be autistically focused on his own inner paradigms, and likes being right rather than getting things done. Naturally he doesn’t play well with others.

He should get out of Congress and run for governor of Kentucky. More personal impact, and a better platform to run for President.

God, I would love to see a primary debate between him and Vance. We all might actually learn something.

BigJimSportCamper
BigJimSportCamper
Reply to  Tarl Cabot
1 month ago

He’d give Bowman a wedgie.

Dutchboy
Dutchboy
Reply to  Tarl Cabot
1 month ago

He has two degrees from MIT. Lack of brains is not one of his problems.

Pozymandias
Reply to  Tarl Cabot
1 month ago

The problem with Massie (and all libertarians) is the same one, ironically, that you have with the extreme Marxist Left in Europe. Their “program” is so far out in the Oort Cloud that they have no practical agenda to negotiate for. This turns them into tools of the mainstream Left and Right which benefits them because they can sell their tiny amount of power to the highest bidder of the moment. This is why the libertarians have turned to mostly voting with Democrats. They saw that the wind was blowing that way due to demographics and White wymyn becoming (even… Read more »

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
1 month ago

Trump is attempting to do more than reorganize the US economy, he’s trying to remake the global trade and finance system. What I can’t figure out is how he’s going to deal with the dollar. People argue that the global trade system is out of balance because the US runs a huge trade deficit, but that’s not true. Our chief export is the dollar. It’s a commodity, indeed, a desperately needed commodity used for trade, debt servicing and collateral. If the US reduces its trade deficit, it will reduce its export of dollars, which will cause all kinds of trouble,… Read more »

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 month ago

“Trump and his Treasury Secretary Bessent seem to be cooking up some type of Plaza Accord or Bretton Woods to deal with this problem. That would be huge.” Perhaps, but relations with the Europeans do not seem as congenial as they were back in the 80’s. Plus you need to be able to trade actual products, which both blocks had a lot of back then, not so much now. Trading pieces of paper back in forth lacks the same weight. The Europeans need to be brought to heel if you are going to try and replay the cold war with… Read more »

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

I could see that as how the Trump faction views it. And if that were to occur it would be a very soft landing. And the Euros and Democrats still think they can have their WEF ideals. Do you think it will be that unmessy in practice?

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

Agree. This idea of de-dollarization is off the mark. There’s no alternative nor does China want the job of being a reserve currency, even a regional one, as that would require running deficits like the US. No thanks. But I’m still confused as to how the US can reduce its trade deficit without squeezing the dollar higher – too high for the system to handle. The demand for dollars isn’t going to change anytime soon so a reduction in dollars exported would starve the Eurodollar system. How do you maintain or reduce the price of something when the supply gets… Read more »

Tom K
Tom K
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 month ago

Maybe there are too many spinning plates here for my brain to handle but I have three questions: 1) why should the demand remain the same if Trump/Bessent are looking to reorder the global economic system and are willing to weather a global recession to do it? and 2) since dollars are also created offshore, wouldn’t large international financial players pick up some of the slack? and 3) in relation to question 1, in the longer term as part of their reordering of global trade and finance, does there have to be one reserve currency? IOW, does Trump/Bessent really care… Read more »

Dutchboy
Dutchboy
1 month ago

The outsourcing of production and the insourcing of cheap labor was a bonanza for the economic elite and they know it. Some of them have seen that the system is unsustainable and support Trump but most have not, as evidenced by the large advantage Harris had in campaign contributions from billionaires. Wall Street reflects the interests of the billionaire class and had the vapors as soon as Trump announced his tariff policy. It is a threat to their gravy train and they will go out to defeat Trump’s attempts to return production to the USA and deport the cheap laborers.… Read more »

Dutchboy
Dutchboy
1 month ago

Paul Craig Roberts points out that tariffs are a tax on consumption rather than a tax on labor or capital, which is sound policy from an economic point of view. Conventional economists are too tied to the “free trade” ideology to recognize this. Trump’s political success will be tied to the success of his economic policy, which is always the main motivation for voters. Trump’s critics on the right have pointed out that part of the reason for his 2020 loss (besides the fraud) was that his economic policy did not deliver enough benefit to the working class to motivate… Read more »

Jeffrey Zoar
Jeffrey Zoar
Reply to  Dutchboy
1 month ago

Trump got a lot more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016. And there weren’t any complaints about the economy up til about March 2020.

BigJimSportCamper
BigJimSportCamper
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 month ago

Hmmm, I wonder what happened in March of 2020 that changed all that?

Pozymandias
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 month ago

It’s funny what destroying a million small businesses and preventing people from working can do to the economy.

Tom K
Tom K
Reply to  Jeffrey Zoar
1 month ago

Biolab release 1.0

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  Dutchboy
1 month ago

Not just sound but moral. If you have to punish people for something, do you really want it to be for working and saving— effectively encouraging them to be animals? Turns out, or seems like, that’s the endgame of all the material advances, what everybody was working so hard for lol. I mean, people seem to have no higher ambition than being pampered tourists.

Occurs to me it’s the snake eating its own tail.

Last edited 1 month ago by Paintersforms
Dutchboy
Dutchboy
Reply to  Paintersforms
1 month ago

Linking economics and morality? Obviously, you are not a professional economist (fortunately for you!).

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Dutchboy
1 month ago

Problem is imports are not all that much — $400 bn or so. Even the 25% tariff that Trump proposed, levied on fricken everything, would only pull in $100 bn. So what’s that, 9 days of spending?

If you want to tax consumption, tax consumption. Tell the states they have to start collecting a 5% sales tax and forward it on to the Feds, in exchange for elimination of Federal Income Tax for the residents of that state. That would pull in about $1 tn, about what income tax pulls in.

Last edited 1 month ago by Steve
steveaz
steveaz
1 month ago

Also, when the 200% tariffs get slapped on French wines, he expects the Canadians to resort to smuggling their Mother Country’s goods across our northern border to escape the duties.

I think this explains his initial focus in interdicting fentanyl. The narcotic is a convenient proxy for any controlled substance, be it French brie or Chinese meth.

houska
houska
1 month ago

You have to take the poem too!!
US must return Statue of Liberty to France – MEP

https://www.rt.com/news/614326-us-statue-of-liberty-france/

Natureboi
Natureboi
1 month ago

That’s really stupid. The CR prevents Trump from making necessary changes because it codifies BIDEN’s budget. This was Massie’s argument all along. You’re a fucking retard who doesn’t read, and Trump is still stupid about how politics actually works.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
1 month ago

OT: trump should move the palis to yemen. seems like a win-win for almost everyone :P. don’t announce it, just start bussing them in

Dutchboy
Dutchboy
1 month ago

If it’s up to the GOP Congress, the $1 trillion will go to tax cuts and increased military spending.

Krustykurmudgeon
Krustykurmudgeon
1 month ago

I was thinking the other day – what happens when the left gains the self confidence to when asked why they called you a racist say “because i said so” and “it’s not up for you to decide”.

What happens when trials in democratic party jurisdictions are basically like “this guy is a fascist, therefore he’s guilty, regardless of any facts”

Abelard Lindsey
Abelard Lindsey
1 month ago

I disagree. This is the real problem that Team Trump must tackle:
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=252960

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

That is a bit disingenuous zman. He is much less a “doomer” then quite a few others you might read. The math says collapse, but faith can keep you running in mid air for quite some time ;). In fact i’d argue we are already collapsing, its just a very long and slow process. Karl was 100% correct about covid too by the way.

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

The appetite for government debt is seemingly limitless because treasuries are the global store of value.”

Then why QE and force rates to 0%? I think its because it isn’t limitless. When you have to do things like that, its because the market will not accept the rates you want.



Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

Think of the dollar as a commodity on par in importance to oil. Oil is the backbone to everything in the modern world. Well, the dollar is the backbone to global financial and trade system. Without the dollar – or even enough dollars – that system grinds to a halt. But unlike oil, which is produced by many countries, the dollar has one source, the US. Everyone thinks that we run a trade deficit, but we don’t. We export dollars and treasuries (which are a store of dollars), which the world desperately needs. In fact, you can tell that we… Read more »

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 month ago

Sure, i get how the reserve currency role works. And i believe other countries do also and how they lose out because of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Munich_speech_of_Vladimir_Putin

I think they’ve been planning and working since then or longer on how to get out from under that yoke. The world works how you state, but my question is, for how much longer?

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

Actually, Americans – at least some Americans – suffer from the dollar being the GFC just as much as the rest of the world. We have to run trade deficit with manufacturing economies which means that our manufacturing sector is much smaller than it should be, which hurt blue collar workers. The problem for Russia, China, India, etc., is that there is no alternative to the dollar. What’s more, the Eurodollar system is a voluntary system. We don’t force the countless private businesses and banks to trade and lend in dollars. They do it because it’s what’s best for them.… Read more »

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 month ago

I just saw an excellent chart that showed which groups of Americans are helped and harmed by the Cantillon Effect.

Unsurprisingly, Cloud People are helped the most and Dirt People are harmed the most.

Hemid
Hemid
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
1 month ago

Inflation is when poor people get money, all respectable economists assure us, so the system rightly takes it away from them.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Hemid
1 month ago

A bit cynical. Inflation is when poor people spend money. Which they will, and which is largely why they are poor.

You can give 2 people the same pay, and one will have Rent-to-own furniture and be forever poor, the other will live below his means, and eventually have nice furniture which he owns in a house in which he has some equity.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 month ago

Lutnick and Fink are talking up “tokenization” (collateralization of all assets, rather than a gold standard) because they lust after grabbing 1% of it for themselves.

Last edited 1 month ago by Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 month ago

Citizen, “all that money printing and new debt wasn’t enough to satisfy the global demand for dollars and treasuries.”

It would seem that other countries, quarantining, restricting, and shutting down their businesses had as much or more a recession as did we. Their currencies were made shaky as well.

Last edited 1 month ago by Alzaebo
Steve
Steve
Reply to  Mr. House
1 month ago

Then why QE and force rates to 0%?”

Because 2% is not creating dollars fast enough for the seemingly limitless appetite. Higher rates slows the money printer go brrrr.

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Steve
1 month ago

Ha i agree steve!

Mr. House
Mr. House
Reply to  Steve
1 month ago

I also think that if they’d let the market do what it wanted in 08 rates would have done the exact opposite. They said it was a liquidity crisis. If banks want to attract liquidity then they’d have to offer higher rates, but that would have tanked the stock market even more. So they had to QE and 0%. banks get free liquidity and the stock market booms, rewarding lemmings.

Pozymandias
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

It seems like rebuilding domestic manufacturing and protecting the dollar are rather contradictory goals though. A strong dollar makes our own products more expensive relative to foreign equivalents. I get that that is the purpose of the tariffs but can they really be high enough to truly level the field? It’s difficult to see how any nation can produce the global reserve currency without ending up the US – a kind of consumerist, phony service economy where we all sell real estate to each other for a living. What would be ideal is a global economy where a sort of… Read more »

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Pozymandias
1 month ago

“A strong dollar makes our own products more expensive relative to foreign equivalents.” Although he said so in his columns, in his academic publishing not even Krugman believes that. Protecting the pound is where Soros made his billions. There is a very short term effect, true, but arbitrage is now being done within milliseconds. It takes no longer than that for HFTs to wipe out the differences in currencies. Heck, someone, Ken Griffin, maybe, front-ran the Chicago Mercantile by installing a receiver on top of a nearer building, and even though the data was broadcast at the speed of light,… Read more »

Pozymandias
Reply to  Steve
1 month ago

It takes no longer than that for HFTs to wipe out the differences in currencies I tend to like your posts Steve but In this case, I think HFT is a red herring. As I understand HFT arbitrage, it takes advantage of very small fluctuations in relative values, essentially statistical noise, and uses some small advantage in timing to make money like the example you gave. I’ve actually looked at software jobs in that field. They all emphasize being very good at writing tight C++ or now, Rust, code to get that edge. The thing I was talking about has… Read more »

Last edited 1 month ago by Pozymandias
Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Pozymandias
1 month ago

Yes, Soros naked shorted the pound, just as he did the Thai baht later to bring down the Asian tigers. (I spoke to the son of the Cambodian minister of finance by sheer chance.)

Perhaps by “protecting”, Steve meant Soros made it more affordable, or more available for whales to gobble up?

Soros, like Hillary, is almost certainly an Intelligence Community front or middleman. That’s why he and she have immunity despite their numerous crimes.

Last edited 1 month ago by Alzaebo
Steve
Steve
Reply to  Alzaebo
1 month ago

Fair, @Pozy. We are talking at least a couple of distinct ideas here. The main reason the US PTB don’t care about remittances is that when Juan sends dollars to Juan, Sr., those dollars go into a coffee can under the floorboards for a rainy day. Since his pesos or reals or whatever are going to be worth less tomorrow, Gresham’s Law says he spends his native currency first and hoards his dollars. Until Juan, Sr., decides his mujer needs a washing machine, those dollars are essentially an interest free loan to the US. So the US’ interest is in… Read more »

Pozymandias
Reply to  Steve
1 month ago

Well ok, I hadn’t given any thought to the effect of remittances on the economy but, like the HFTs, I think it’s not likely to be a significant counter to the overall macro picture – dollars as reserve currency means dollars in high global demand and thus dollar denominated goods and services become uncompetitive with goods you can buy with Yuan, Pesos, etc… I hope that Trump’s tariffs and threats of tariffs will at least bring the Europeans, Canadians, and others to the table to negotiate lowering their own (usually crippling) tariffs against us. I think that’s what Trump-the-businessman is… Read more »

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Steve
1 month ago

Yes, I remember when they spent millions to grab the Lehman Brothers relay that shaved a second and a half off transmissions. (Think tens of thousands of transmissions per day and you get the idea.)

Last edited 1 month ago by Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

That means the dollar itself is an emergent system, on its own already a global financial reset.

As Citizen says above, the Eurodollar is its own exported commodity, and if this were commonly understood by the institutions (or at least the economists), perhaps our policies would (rationally) change to reflect this.

Last edited 1 month ago by Alzaebo
David Wright
Member
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

that link looks like some sort of html time portal.

RealityRules
RealityRules
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

While he has never once updated his website.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  thezman
1 month ago

karl is good on the vaxx, but tiresome else wise.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 month ago

He’s pretty good on seed oils too.

Otherwise, his lurid tough guy descriptions of violence and insistence people should carry those acts out are what tire me.

Last edited 1 month ago by The Wild Geese Howard
Steve
Steve
Reply to  Abelard Lindsey
1 month ago

What creeps me out the most about Karl is his ‘casts with his daughter. I have a good relationship with my daughter, too, but sexual innuendo is right out.

Krustykurmudgeon
Krustykurmudgeon
1 month ago

Did you hear the Simpson in Simpson mazzoli bill died? Hopefully he had some regrets about that