Trump wants to create an Anti-Woke University and Freedom Cities supported by tax hikes.
Please consider Trump’s Second-Term Plans as described by the Wall Street Journal.
As he campaigns to retake the White House, Donald Trump has increasingly tossed aside the principles of limited government and local control that have defined the Republican Party for decades.
He has said he would establish a government-backed anti-“woke” university, create a national credentialing body to certify teachers “who embrace patriotic values” and erect “freedom cities” on federal land. He has pledged to marshal the power of the government to investigate and punish his critics.
Trump has rallied his millions of supporters in part by tapping into the cultural and social grievances that animate the conservative base.
As president, Trump presided over four straight years of rising annual deficits, signing bipartisan budget agreements that boosted federal spending. He launched a trade war with China. And earlier this year, he warned his party not to “cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.”
“What do we stand for as Republicans? The orthodoxy is a little bit upside down,” said Margaret Spellings, who led the Education Department and the Domestic Policy Council during the George W. Bush administration.
What the Hell Has Happened?
Republicans once stood for small government and free trade.
Trump was very upset when the Republican House scaled back his Covid stimulus proposal. Trump wanted the amazingly inflationary deal that Biden signed.
It was Trump, not Biden, who started eviction moratoriums. And trump does not want to cut Medicare or Social Security.
If you go back far enough, Republicans were once Mind Your Own Business on Abortion.
When the Republican national convention convened in Kansas City in 1976, the party’s pro-choice majority did not expect a significant challenge to their views on abortion. Public opinion polls showed that Republican voters were, on average, more pro-choice than their Democratic counterparts, a view that the convention delegates shared; fewer than 40 percent of the delegates considered themselves pro-life. The chair of the Republican National Committee, Mary Louise Smith, supported abortion rights, as did First Lady Betty Ford, who declared Roe v. Wade a “great, great decision.” Likewise, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, who had taken a leading role in the fight for abortion rights in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was solidly pro-choice. Even some of the party’s conservatives, such as Senator Barry Goldwater, supported abortion rights. But in spite of the Republican Party’s pro-choice leadership, the GOP adopted a platform in 1976 that promised an antiabortion constitutional amendment.
Trade Wars
Trump is staunchly anti-free trade. He pledged “trade wars are good and easy to win.”
Trump promised to get out of Afghanistan, and didn’t.
Now, Trump wants to erect “freedom cities” on federal land.
Seriously WTF?!
And the Right supports this because …. well, you know the reason … Trump proposed it.
If it was DeSantis who proposed “Freedom Cities on Government Land”, he would have been roundly criticized by everyone and sent to the loony bin for being a RINO.
Returning to the WSJ article, here’s a view I solidly agree with.
Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, a former Republican senator and governor, said Trump’s ideas were “antithetical to conservative thought and conservative history.” The federal government funds only a small portion of elementary and secondary education and yet Trump would use that money to “mandate 100% of the control.”
“That’s not conservative—but that’s the point: Trump is not a conservative,” said Gregg. “He’s an iconoclastic populist, and his views have no relation to any philosophical views. They’re all related to his personal views, which are built on all sorts of different platforms depending on what he sees in the mirror in the morning.”
That no doubt will trigger calls of me having TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) from those who have TDS Type II, Trump can do or say nothing wrong.
Even some of Trump’s allies have privately expressed doubts about several of his proposals. Several former Trump administration officials said they were skeptical of the feasibility of the former president’s plan, announced in a video message on his social-media platform last month, to establish an “American Academy” funded by “taxing, fining and suing” what he calls “excessively large” private university endowments. Trump pitched the government-backed free online school as an alternative to the current higher education system. “There will be no wokeness or jihadism allowed,” Trump said.
“Free Online Government School!”
For the second time, seriously WTF?
Apparently, government indoctrination, is OK, as long as it what Trump wants. He gets to decide the agenda of these “free” schools. And tax hikes are OK as long as they support that indoctrination.
Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought Republicans would propose such a thing as “free federal online schools paid for by tax hikes.”
Then again, Trump is not Republican. He’s the biggest RINO in history.
Oops, here comes another round of TDS charges.
Do You Recall What Was the Deal?
And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
They were singin’, “Bye-bye, My Republican Pie”
Drove my Chevy to The Levee, but The Levee was dry
And Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey in Rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die”
The Devil We Had Is Better Than the Devil We Got
Despite economic madness from Trump, The Devil We Had Is Better Than the Devil We Got
Voters have a choice between the devil they know and the devil they know. Polls show voters don’t like the choice, but if forced to make a choice between the two, Trump would win. That is what happens when the party promises a moderate and delivers a radical Progressive nutcase.
The saving grace in Trump’s proposal is that it is so economically stupid that Republicans would no go for it.
Unfortunately, Democrats who endorse all kinds of “free” stuff supported by tax hikes, might be thrilled with Trump’s plan. They would get the funding now, then when in total control, change the indoctrination to suit their needs. And tax hikes would support it.
The Trump political phenomenon is truly fascinating and from a behavioral point of view it will be studied for 100s of years just like Goebbels and Nazi Germany. How do you get an educated population to set aside its morals and sense of right and wrong? You identify a large segment of the population that in one way or another feels aggrieved, scared, or on the outside looking in. You confirm those feelings, you tell them who or what is to blame and you passionately promise to fight for them. In a democracy political parties, are built to attract majorities through their platform and policy positions. When this happens Parties seek out candidates who broadly support the party’s positions and can effectively communicate a vision. This happens orderly and incrementally. The Republican Party tried this after Romney’s loss in 2012. It decided that that it needed to move its positions to attract more Hispanic voters and younger voters to compete with the Democratic Party which had proved that it was more aligned with the majority of Americans. Trump came along with a “get rich quick” message to Republican voters who did not want to see their party try to appeal to people not like themselves and wanted results right away, not over several electoral cycles. The price that Trump imposed for this “get rich quick” scheme was to eschew most traditional conservative beliefs and political norms. As I said in an earlier post, he asked them to set all norms, ethics, and morals aside to hire him as their political mercenary.
When a guy with no ethics or morals runs against another guy with no ethics or morals in a country that has abandoned the ethics and morals the country was built on, who do you vote for? One party hopes its leaders will continue to debase the ethics and morals so that literally anything goes, while the other party talks a good ethics and morals game, but doesn’t do anything to stop the slide. For me, I assume that Biden would either die or have to step down due to dementia in his second term, which would mean Kamala as President. So, I’m voting for the Republican VP nominee.
Trump and Biden ! Is that ALL you got in the US ? PATHETIC! Not that it really matters, powers behind the scene are calling the shots. Democracy is a goner ! Look at the EU, none of these worthless, corrupt idiots at the top have been democratically elected. The same on a national scale, our belgian Prime Minister’s center right party got 9% of the votes 3 years ago, the real, far right winner being ostracized again. Makes me wonder what will happen next year , with far righters getting even more votes ….
“Are they even Republican?” I cannot believe that you even had to pose this question in your title. Trump has never been a Republican, let alone a Conservative. Donald Trump is a mercenary and those who vote for him are willingly hiring a mercenary who has no morals nor any particular code of conduct. He is hired (elected) to rid society and the halls of political power of those who are truly conservative and especially those who share a contrary political philosophy. Why are those who voted for Trump as their mercenary willing to set aside their values and former political views? It is simple, they see no other choice. The country has largely moved past the time when classic conservatism could be a majority view. Classic conservatives, whom I admire, can no longer be elected nationally, Romney proved that in 2012. After that loss, many Republicans turned away from classical conservatism and embraced a much more confrontational “ends justify the means: type of politics. Donald Trump curated this with his Obama conspiracy theories in 2009-2012 and then capitalized on the total collapse of conservatism and desperate turn to desperation politics.
I believe Trump’s latest message is moderating on abortion. His polling shows the folly of a strict anti-abortion stance.
Well we definitely need a shake-up in education. I think the best approach is to decouple from the unions and centralized accreditation. More competition and less regulation is good.
“Are They Even Republican?”
If “Republican” refers to the status quo, let’s hope not.
Once a con man always a con man. Trump will say whatever he thinks the rubes want – as long as he can sell them his snake oil. Regardless he’s going to be spending the next few years in litigation/bankruptcy court/prison.
season 2024 in pax dumbfuckistan is gonna be riveting with great ratings, girls.
you got it all backwards old sport. the Repugs haven’t been conservative in over 2 generations. being a conservative is the actual RINO. exhibits, ron paul, mark sanford, jeff flake…………
YOU NEED AN IGNORE OPTION TO MAKE THIS A BETTER EXPERIENCE AS A TOWN SQUARE. IN REAL LIFE WE IGNORE FOLKS WE DON’T CARE FOR. I’D HOPE TO BE IGNORED BY MANY.
Biggest RINO in history?
That depends
Well, how far back do you want to go? Republicans were the party historically in favor of tariffs, actually. Until the late-1970s, that is.
I very strongly think we need to re-industrialize the USA. But broad-based tariffs are not really a useful tool for re-balancing trade. The only exception would be a case where revenues generated by tariffs are used to build actually-useful infrastructure that manufacturers could leverage. That’s wishful thinking.
But any notion that libertarian economics are going to somehow bring manufacturing back to our shores are similarly fanciful.
Trump is in the desperation phase. He knows his chance of being convicted and going to jail for multiple crimes are higher than his chances of becoming president again.
Mish suffering another bad bout of TDS. Jeez!
President Trump always puts forward a lot of fresh and different ideas. Probably most will either come to nothing or be modified and improved and appear in some better form. That is how government is supposed to work.
Imagine – a president with new ideas! Far better than Biden, who’s never had an idea in his life and is still reliving his glorious Corn Pop days over and over…
It is good to see you finally step away from criticizing Biden and examining Trump and other “Republican” proposals. Both sides are stupid in different ways. The biggest difference for me is that if Biden and/or some other Democrat wins in 2024 I will most likely be able to vote them out in 2028 but if Trump wins I have my doubts. He has been talking so much about rigged elections and denying election reality that I don’t see any commitment to democracy. He even denied swearing to support the Constitution.
The old Republican Party always felt that no company or business could do wrong while the old (and current) Democratic Party felt that no person could do wrong and they both changed laws and policies to benefit their constituencies to the harm of the economy and country overall. The two parties are like “Dumb and Dumber” and it has been in a downward race to the bottom. This is because politics has become a war to destroy the opposition instead of a battle to make the country better. Any compromise that reduces the more extreme views of each side is considered treason to the majority of each party.
And while I have been extremely disappointed in many of the policies of the Biden Administration I expect even worse from a Trump Administration in 2024, just worse in a different way. From what I can see there may be four or five sane Republicans in Congress and maybe double that number of sane Democrats.
Judd Gregg is 100% correct. trump’s position on any topic is whatever he feels benefits him, thats the extent of his political philosophy. Now that he’s facing 91 criminal counts his desire for the safety and power of the presidency is unbridled.
trump and his family were mostly Democratic until he saw a window of opportunity by flipping to a populist GOP know-nothindism which was embraced by his trailer park legions. Country Club GOPers saw trumpism as a path to power for the minority party and realized too late that they were riding a tiger. The tiger is devouring the GOP in it’s frenzy to avoid deserved jail time, He’s becoming more irrational day by day,
Yeah, the Wall Street Journal, whose editorial page is just another mouthpiece for the Uniparty, is such a great source for truth regarding what they consider the “Orange Boogyman” .
The limited government ship sailed two generations ago. You get elected in the post Christian America by catering to the Free Shit Army, and promising abortion and drugs.
We are at the “looting the treasury” late stage of Empire Decline – all that running on a limited government platform does is ensure you lose.
What you might be suggesting is a NO ONE wins proposition because with both of these nincompoops we get MORE MORE MORE Government, a NANNY STATE in effect and that is the last thing we SHOULD WANT. I just have NO HOPE any more so I do not vote.
Voting for one evil over another gets you what?
EVIL. It is true. I said that one time in Europe and I thought that my friends would vomit that fine wine, at a Dine-out experience with people from Sweden, Germany, Portugal, Spain, UK, etc.
They asked me: Who would you vote for, Clinton or Trump.
My answer: “It is a choice between a Turd (Clinton) and a lump of Dog shit (Trump).”
I saw one person (Brit, wealthy), who has since passed away, look at me like I was a two-headed Dragon – – spewing fire.
The conversation switched very quickly to “What’s for dessert?”
BINGO. A THINKER
Federal deficit to the moon! I promise!
Trump identified as a Democrat (of the Blue Dog variety by my estimation) before running for President. He’s clearly still of that ideology, although he’s becoming increasingly unhinged with his wacky ideas. One has to wonder what he’s actually serious about compared to his classic empty promises to gin up support from his base.
Small government politicians simply do not exist in numbers large enough to make difference anymore.
He’s the Idiot Whisperer, and damn good at it.
Very disturbing. Thank you for posting this.
Trump was never a Conservative or a small government guy. He’s a 1980s big city liberal Democrat. According to Ann Coulter he read her book Adios America and called on her for advice during the 2016 campaign. That is when Trump was at his best. Once elected he went his own way and let Ivanka and Jared run the White House while throwing General Flynn under the bus.
The most important thing a President does is appoints good people. Yet Trump continuously placed neocons and swamp creatures in charge. His instinct to be friendly with Russia was good but the whole stupid Russiagate thing made him into an idiot on Ukraine. The Dems played him like a fiddle. The brash ballsy Trump of the campaign became a feckless idiot that was rolled by Rinos and Democrats alike.
It’s a little discouraging that this is the choice that we have. Two highly defective candidates who should both be in a retirement home. Trump is infinitely better than FJB but that isn’t saying much. At least Trump is antiwar and would hopefully stop the madness. Yet he is really bad on Israel. The US needs a Presedient that has the balls to stand up to AIPAC and all its butt kissing congressmen and tell Israel that its not ok to murder kids and you better get in line for a two state solution or no more aid for you Aholes.
A little discouraging? Its horrific! Still, its not about the candidates. Its all about the sickness of the system. These guys are just symptoms of the cancer eating this country to the bone.
You’re correct. Guess I’ve been desensitized by the continuous parade of clowns that audition for the oval office.
I sooo agree and “our” (that is we plebs) are “given the extraordinary privilege of voting.”
Since I do not vote for Evil ones, I can at LEAST say honestly, “NO, I DID NOT VOTE FOR BIDEN OR TRUMP OR CLINTON OR BUSH OR ….”
Which one kept a promise? Bill Clinton was getting blown in the Halls leading to the Refrig off of the Oval Office.
My nephew’s Best friend was in the Secret Service when Bush and Company claimed that he did not DRINK. He reported otherwise and said that they had a “happy 10 hours.”
NOT A HAPPY HOUR. ALL DAY LONG, blasted.
The best booze on earth. ON US.
W the dumber was like Hunter Biden for 40 years. daddy used the moron for the MIC war machine………
“Trump is infinitely better than FJB”
Infinitely better than zero is still mathematically zero.
Brilliant.
I guess you failed math
It is so easy for ANYONE to beat Biden, but we are not seeing “him” run, are we? He is barely HERE.
There is not “there, there.” He is blank, useless and simply a Motor Mouth, and good enough to convey a message modeled by his handlers.
Financial collapse will ‘trump’ anything and everything before the election date. Compound interest, exponents, hockey sticks, parabolas – right out an elementary school arithmetic book.
I’m afraid you are right. The die has been cast. However, it would really be nice to have a competent person in there to guide the ship through the storm. Trump is not that guy. Perhaps Vivek if he really wants to gut the swamp. But he’s an unknown entity…
He’s trump without dementia.
Let’s not forget his plans to arrest MSNBC, ny times, Washington Post, and Facebook. Also arrest people who have criticized him such as bill Barr and so on. Clinton’s, Bidens, whoever he wants. Then there is the plan to send the military into the country and round up “immigrants” and stash them in concentration camps on a fast track for deportations. Oh the good times that will be.
Where are you getting this stuff? You watch too much Rachel Mad Cow.
Do you read Trumps truth social feed?
No and you shouldn’t either.
Where does all this power come from? Because he certainly did not have it in his first term.
We’ve seen the Ego in Chief before. Congress won’t rubber stamp his agenda. Checks and balances will be in effect. And maybe doing fewer wrong things is better than continuing to do really bad wrong things. Voters want the right things, but only if someone else has to make the sacrifices.
Please name a President that doesn’t have an ego. It’s required for the job. Some are just better at hiding it than others.
He was supposed to drain the swamp. He failed. A vote for trump is a vote for more fail.
Trump raided republican bank accounts and transferred wealth to Shingle mums,
small businesses, restaurant owners, blue collar workers, the elderly… a tsunami
of money. Trump is a landlord who signed a moratorium on student loans and rent.
Trump brought to the republican party the abandoned flyover country. He is against
“build a bridge”, “Put this wall down”. Ronna isn’t Ronnie. She might lose her grip again.
Mish. I can only address a small portion of your post. That is Trumps trade wars. His policy of declaring the lack of select domestic industries a threat to national security was spot on and caused a huge wave of investment by US companies. Specifically Steel. That was a good thing. US industrial policy, since China entered the WTO, that encouraged other industries vital to national security like drugs and semis to be outsourced to the lowest cost producer has backfired on us IMO. Trump deserves credit for that.
Among many of his well supported policy ambitions, I’d love to see him get re-elected to jump start onshoring / friendly shoring all of our pharma needs. This is truly a national security issue and would send a very strong message to China. This would take years to implement, but it needs to be done ASAP. And this is the perfect example of something Biden could pursue but won’t, because he’s OWNED by Xi.
FJB! He’s THE national security risk to America right now. Trump may be unlikeable in several ways, but he’s pro-America which is what we need right now.
I agree with your post, Joe. There’s been a wave on onshoring that started by Trump’s policies.
And as usual, Mish wants to lambast tariffs & sanctions but NEVER gives a comprehensive set of policies to cut US imports from China in national security areas of our economy. Tariffs & Sanctions, alone, aren’t a panacea, but they have to be part of the equation for strengthening our economic position relative to China.
Tariffs have led to increased Pharma costs= WE PAY MORE.
If I were Pres, I would NEVER tax the plebs MORE. COME ON, wake the hell up.
Right, those imported washing machines were a serious threat to America’s national security. And the washing machine tariffs were also largely costless for American consumers: $800K cost to the consumer per job saved is clearly a bargain.
Trump is flawed but he is not insane. The Democratic establishment is. Thus, the choice is clear. Just wish we had a better choice.
You have to be insane to want to work in the Liar’s Nest.
Why would ANYONE want that job. POWER, LUST, getting laid, Entourage Camera Work, cool cars, free food, Secret Service making you feel important (he is impotent, not important). YET, if it were a choice, I can imagine people wanting that fat FOK in.
I am a moderate conservative nonpartisan and used to be republican leaning, but no more. I did not vote for trump and will not. The republicans need to find a way to get rid of him for the good of their party and for the country.
I will not vote for Trump or Biden. Both are obscene.
How principled, defaulting to chance.
John, it IS principled.
Imagine you have a DAUGHTER or SISTER and she says:
“Biden and Trump are courting me and want to fok me! Brother, Who would you choose?”
WHAT WOULD YOUR ANSWER BE and be honest with us, please.
FJB is a criminal and is owned by Xi.
Trump has served this purpose: expose how corrupt the left is.
Have fun voting for a nothingburger, Mish!
I am in Mish’s camp. EVIL TWINS on ballot. Maybe Trump should RUN with BIDEN as his VP or CO-PRES?
i have not voted for R or D at national level in ages. it is obscene. i value my mind body and soul too highly. it is just a uniparty of imperial fascists. taleb suggests thinking like a libertarian at national level, republican (old style) at state level, democratic (old style) at local county/city level and marxist communist with family and friends. i’ve been thus for decades as i vote here and also in italia.
They get rid of him by supporting his re-election and then give him 4 years to accomplish these three things:
1) Build a F’ing wall
2) Dismantle the deep state
3) Start the deportation of the 14M illegals FJB has let walk across the border.
Good discussion! 2024 prez election is gonna be like what spacex calls a starship launch “excitement guaranteed”. A old man who is a fall risk and starting to lose some mental acuity against another old man who is more concerned about his ego than doing right by the people. RFK jr is steadily gaining support but might not be able to win any states but will have an impact. I’ve noticed Biden has been borrowing some of RFK’s election rhetoric about reducing divisiveness..
It’s sad when you see the roster of presidential candidates and also the condition of our current president. I have a feeling that if Trump is nominated and happens to win, he will be hell-bent on revenge. Can’t say that I blame him, but we need somebody to lead this country, not spending time avenging past wrongs.
Whether the TDS crowd labels it revenge or not is a media spin question. Major media outlets are stoking controversy and TDS because they are closer to collapse than the government (which IMHO still has a little time to make some admittedly tough choices). Existing media will be gone either way. Click bait masquerading as TDS won’t save the TV networks or newspapers.
Significant government downsizing **needs** to happen regardless of how one justifies it.
The only reason I liked Trump is his NAME CALLING. HE IS FUNNY!
that would make the season 2024 a spell binding twist for all the volks in pax dumbfuckistan. pop corn time…….girls and boys.
Well said. “Trump is not a conservative,” said Gregg. “He’s an iconoclastic populist, and his views have no relation to any philosophical views. They’re all related to his personal views, which are built on all sorts of different platforms depending on what he sees in the mirror in the morning.” I cannot believe there are people in America who supports this man.
Trump won’t be president anyway. If lightning strikes and I’m wrong, his grandiose plans will not come to fruition.
He is not a Republican. The Republican party itself is no longer Republican. It’s all about winning. I’d have to look at this the way I look at my mom wanting to vote for Trump. Is she a MAGA loser who lost their jobs, their houses, had pensions ended, didnt save enough, stuck with SS at 62, and in general are mad that their white supremacy didnt enrich them? No, she’s well off, a homemaker, never had a job, has three MARVELOUS kids, a husband that will never leave … what does she have to be mad about? Why would she vote for Trump? I can only come back to the same point … the older whites who believed this country was theirs forever see these brown people and think: maybe Hitler had a point …
Both Trump and Biden implemented trade wars against China (and other countries). Supposedly Trump and Biden hate each other? Supposedly they stand for completely different political goals?
What they have in common is a very bloated Commerce Department, Treasury Department, Defense industry bureaucrats… just an infestation of bureaucrats generally who’s career depends on monitoring and regulating trade.
Imagine someone has an actual solution for international trade… what use would there be for the thousands of regulators? Regulators who are paid (salary plus benefits plus short hours plus job security) far far far more than what they could hope to get in the private sector.
Millions of Washington DC bureaucrats are heavily leveraged to maintaining the status quo, no matter how many Ukranian or American lives it costs.
Worst Hitler / Nazi comparison of this century. Go home and apologize to your mom, Scott. You’re a family embarrassment, and a racists assigner to your mom of all people.
Adolph and company had a playbook. And while the media will never compare the two (why?) or even compare him to Nixon, Trump is following the Adolph playbook: find a minority and blame them for everything, appoint horrible people as palace chiefs (including horrible lawyers), borrow lots of money (stolen gold/jewelry) to go on a infrastructure spending spree, push obvious lies instead of some truth, take over the government and never leave .. sound like anyone you know?
Does your mom know you think she’s a racist? Oh, my guess is you haven’t spoken with her for 25 years.
No, I don’t understand anything you’re babbling typing is trying to accomplish.
And you’re definitely wrong on one point. She only has two great kids.
Aw, Tom, this is not personal. I see the parents every two weeks (including today). And yes, she has her views on non-white people (including Jews). And you arent the only one who doesnt compare Trump to the bad dreams (Nixon/Adolf — excuse me) of the past. The media doesnt either.
Is the WSJ is now a substitute for Twitter, publishing every Trump soundbite as future policy?
Seriously, the only threat so far coming out from Trump, he mooted the idea of lowering interest rates, and since he views himself as benevolent ruler, he will get them from Jerome or whoever.
There is no need for un-woke universities. Just limit student loans to STEM degrees, and the universities will self-cleanse of useless social studies dead-weight.
There is a revolving door between the NY Times, WSJ, and Bloomberg News. Wall Street is paying for Bloomberg terminals, which is what is floating all three dead media outlets.
Amazon profits are keeping Washington Post alive… for now. On its own merit, WashPost was near bankruptcy when Bezos bailed them out.
Who knows what part, if any, of the WSJ story is accurate? How much of it is a political activist wearing a “PRESS” t-shirt?
It doesn’t matter. Whomever takes office in 2024 will have to make very difficult, very severe cuts to government size and scope… or else creditors will do it for them
@MaxMin — “There is no need for un-woke universities. Just limit student loans to STEM degrees, and the universities will self-cleanse of useless social studies dead-weight.”
Yes!
Go ahead and bring Reagan or JFK or George Washington back from the dead, doesn’t matter which. Focusing on Trump is just stupid.
The only relevant question for the US government for the next decade, and probably 2-3 decades, is whether it will go the way of IBM (heavy downsizing) or Bethlehem Steel (procrastination followed by collapse). Will the next few idiots in the Oval Office effect heavy downsizing, or will the unlucky fool in 2033ish have to turn out the lights for good?
Fantasies about spending money on new programs is just day dreaming.
Go ahead Mish. Tell us how the Fed can print new currency like every other global power in history! That has been tried many times, and it doesn’t work.
There will be loss of purchasing power. There will be promises defaulted on. There will be government layoffs. The only question is how much of each.
Rome fell, but Italy is still there. The Spanish empire, the French empire, the British empire — all gone, but the countries are still there. The US government will collapse on its current trajectory, no matter how much TDS Mish exhibits… but the country will (probably) still be here under new management.
Instead of obsessing over 77 year old Trump, how about an blog post about actual economic choices facing the country regardless of the nameplate in the oval office?
“Go ahead Mish. Tell us how the Fed can print new currency like every other global power in history! That has been tried many times, and it doesn’t work.”
What kind of bullshit is that?
Like I support Fed printing etc.
I don’t. No one has blasted these hypocrites more than me. I would cut military and non-military spending. Entitlements would be on the block. I would even support tax hikes for something in return, namely the end of collective bargaining of public unions.
I have written about this before.
Mish, I thought I remembered you writing (this is paraphrase, not a quote) that any government issuing debt in its own currency cannot go bankrupt?
I don’t remember if this was in a post or comment, and I’m not sure which post, but I thought it was your writing?
Did I confuse you with another author? Did I misunderstand what you were trying to say?
Lots of empires have issued debt in their own currency, and every one of them went bankrupt. As many a King / emperor has learned, the King can issue new currency, but he cannot force creditors to accept it.
a rare deep thinker on mish town hall. yes Bobba all empires crumble. and underneath them are many nations and states that do much better usually. the examples are endless. ussr the most obvious. recently.
I’m 100% with you Mish. So many people just don’t understand what limited (seriously limited) government is and why it’s best for our country. They don’t understand or comprehend the budget problems. You can’t discuss social security or Medicare or a host of other government give away and welfare programs that are NOT Constitutional. Plenty more to say, but you are spot on .. a lot of Populist RINO’s, not many real conservatives.
Correct.
If the answer to any given question is ‘Government provided’ then the question needs to be re-framed entirely.
Social Security Trustees have already stated (in a very obtuse way) that Social Security benefits will be cut about 30% in 2033 (they only have enough money to pay 70% of promised benefits). Raising taxes to get the same benefits, or keeping taxes and taking the 30% cut are just two ways to default on the original promise. This is now baked in, regardless of which idiot is sitting in the oval office holding the grenade come 2033.
Whether one uses the label “inflation” or “loss of purchasing power” or whatever economic gibberish… bankrupt governments have been devaluing their currencies to weasel out of debt obligations for thousands of years. That is already happening in the US, and given debt levels it will continue. CPI doesn’t matter, your savings will not go as far.
Instead of parroting this democrat vs republican garbage sprinkled with TDS, the real question is how to avoid collapse, and does the US have the backbone to make tough changes?
There is at least one good thing about an open border: the fact that we have more participants in the SS & Medicare Schemes. We’re running outta Natives to support it.
Also, at least most of these Immigrants are from a Judeo/Christian Cultural Background and are assimilable. We need to have a National Culture again. This has zero to do with race.
bingo. mish erroneously has stated we can’t go teats up with issuing our own currency……….it’s garbage analysis. best book on this subject is “this time it’s different”. pax dumbfuckistan is crumbling like all evil empires do…………..good riddance. the people here suck. they keep voting for war mongering and monsters to rule us…………
Social Security and Medicare actually are not “government give away and welfare programs.” Social Security and Medicare reimburse, or repay, the money people were forced to pay into the programs, which already has been subtracted from their lifetime earnings. Defense spending is a truer and better example of a “government give away and welfare program.”
That is the media sound bite, that you think you are getting “your” SS contributions back. The so-called “Trust Fund” is a fraud, that money was spent decades ago.
Both the Social Security Administration and the US Supreme Court (decades ago) already stated you are wrong. You are “entitled” to get whatever Congress decides you are entitled to, if Congress can find a way to pay for it.
Please stop parroting nonsense. Do some research. You obviously don’t know what you are talking about with regards to Soc Sec.
Bobba Fett, you seem nice, please don’t mistake me for an ignorant knucklehead who gives a sh*t about twaddle written by the ‘Supreme Court’ or ‘Social Security Administration.’ I only need to look at my last monthly Form 941 and my bank statement to see that myself and those who work for me were forced to pay a lot of money into the fund, and we will get it back through the benefits earned.
Defense spending, on the other hand, is bankrupt and unfunded and Congress does not have a way to pay for more, except fraud.
You should abandon the parallel fantasy universe you inhabit – where apparently true believers think ‘savings’ can be stolen and debt is ‘funding’.
You were forced to pay into “the fund” – its a tax, not a deposit.
You are not entitled to get anything back. Its a tax and always was
BTW — all the “investors” in Bernie Madoff’s fund had proof of deposit and they all had monthly statements / Form 941s suggesting they were good. Lots of people warned that Madoff’s fund was fraud, some even sent boxes of evidence to the SEC years before the collapse. It was too good to be true.
The Social Security **TAX** you paid was spent decades ago. It was never “savings”. You neglected to read the fine print, they called it a TAX, not a deposit.
Go ahead and act like a surprised Madoff “victim” / Soc Sec “victim”. Like Madoff’s customers, you have been warned and you chose to ignore what is in front of your face.
Fett is correct.
There is no social Security trust fund. It’s a mirage. Logically there can be no fund for anything when you have debt to the tune of $34 billion.
And yet there is decades after 1983, the last time Congress made major changes. Granted, it’s THE hot potato, but sometime in the next 8 years, Congress will be forced to take action. There are all sorts of things they can do with the most obvious raising the max income limit and then reducing the payout / bend curve.
FUD spreading! The rising debt is a similar but separate issue.
Please excuse me for attempting irony. U.S.debt is 33 trillion. Agreed, ‘logically there can be no fund for anything when you have (astronomical debt).’
Fett’s analogy to Madoff’s ponzi scheme as model for Social Security fund is appreciated. My original reply to top-Gun was intended to address the habit, possibly mistaken, of branding Social Security and Medicare ‘government give away and welfare programs’. If the benefits are eventually reduced or eliminated from the Social Security contributors, or ‘taxpayers,’ then the programs will become elaborate government sponsored swindles, still not ‘give aways or welfare.’ Social Security continues to be represented in politics as a government obligation back to the participants, or taxpayers.
Mish readers mostly agree that debt is better reduced than expanded. Everyone may not agree, but Guest would have been more comforted if Janet Yellen had recently opined that there would be enough money to pay for the future modest living and health care expenses of U.S. seniors instead of declaring that there was plenty of money to further fund Israel and Ukraine wars.
Ultimately shared values will determine whether a modicum of civilization can be preserved through a political and/or economic disaster that might be experienced in the future.
The US fiscal house is in a total mess, but the relevant net debt figure is not 34 billion; and you know it.
If it wasn’t for SS & Medicare most Retirees would be fucked. It’s a good Annuity that ‘s inflation adjusted (at least somewhat).
I challenge anyone to go out and find an equivalent annuity on the private market that’s even equivalent, much less, superior to SS. It’s a program that is worth saving.
How about we cut the the MIC by about 75% and stop giving money to the Ukro & Zio Nazis and maybe start taking care of our own Domestic Interests for once. How about that shit.
rubbish. ss and medicare funds are titled in USG. not the peoples names.
Good piece. It vividly illustrates that the radical right and the radical left agree on much more than is conventionally assumed. They don’t like a deliberative democracy that forces compromises, they hate free trade and markets, and they want control of the education system and the media. If the political center doesn’t hold (and it doesn’t look very robust in the US right now), we will get a rerun of Weimar Germany on the Potomac.
“It vividly illustrates that the radical right and the radical left agree on much more than is conventionally assumed.”
As does the radical center. Only possible exception being: They may just about like a “democracy” where they get to “deliberate” what others can and should be forced to do and pay for. But certainly hate free both press and markets and anything else, and want just as much to control “education” (which is simple newspeak for indoctrination) as the rest of them.
Line them all up next to eachother; left, center and right; and you have what’s referred to as the indoctrinati: An unbroken, undifferentiated mass of thouroughly indoctrinated and uncritical government apologists. Each and every one of them clueless and illiterate enough to fall for the trivially obvious nonsense that government can somehow be some sort of useful entity, if only this-and-this self promoting monkey become Dear Leader, instead of that-and-that self promoting monkey.
Without government we would still live in caves trying to figure out what to eat over the next 12 hours while risk being eaten by the animals higher in the food chain. It’s not a life style I would like to go back to whatever failures our politicians have.
Thank goodness for Trump! And Kim! And the rest of them. Without those two, we would all be living in caves. The Thin Orange Line between poor little us, and inevitable destruction!
I suppose it’s not referred to as “the indoctrinsti” for nothing…..
We’re not going to go Weimar Germany here my friend. It would be incredibly hard for a Reserve Currency to actually hyper inflate.
That being said, we need to quit weaponizing the USD & confiscating Russia’s and now Iran’s Holdings. That’s exactly the playbook for how to kill a Reserve Currency Status. Led by dumb asses. Yellen et al.
Some have TDS; others have TWS (Worship).
I don’t worship the guy in anyway, but I sure as hell will vote for him over FJB! I’d much rather see DeSantis climbing in the polls, but he certainly misread when his time was to come. Not happy with Nikki because she’s a warmongering neo-con.
They are ALL warmongering neocons.
Trump, Haley, DeSantis, have all said they would bomb Mexico.
Did Trump get us out of Afghanistan? No
Threaten Iran? Yes
Trump correctly punted it to a 2nd term, and we all know what FJB did. Trump would have gotten us out in a much stronger position and without the deaths & the lost AFB / equipment.
And if you haven’t noticed, FJB is doing a bang-up job creating the right circumstances that pits America against the cartels. The difference between Iraq, Afghanistan & Mexico is about 5,000 miles.
The cartels are a direct threat to the US homeland, in case you haven’t noticed. And if we built a F’ing wall and deport the 20M illegals running around in the US, then we wouldn’t have to bomb Mexico.
By the time FJB’s disastrous term ends, we’re going to be spending $500B a year on all of these illegals. The speed and magnitude at which this situation can go sideways & then south is just jaw dropping.
By the way, who are you going to VOTE FOR MISH?
On this point, Mish, we agree.
It’s extraordinarily-disheartening that we constantly trust the persons who set the fires to put them out.
With the rise of populism in every country, I doubt whether you can predict anything anymore. Except that it’s not gonna be good.
I agree with you and Tucker: “Like nothing we’ve ever seen”.
That sums it up. Can you imagine how sideways things will go if either of these come to pass:
1) Trump is assassinated
2) Trump actually squares off against FJB, has enormous support, leads in the polls, makes it past all of the bogus legal challenges and then losses “miraculously”
Trump is a born loser. At the very end, as Churchill said, Americans are not completely stupid.
He’s a loser in the way he carries himself that’s for sure, especially on X formally called Twitter, but it’s a stretch to completely nullify him with such a description. He’s not the most standup guy, but he wouldn’t be nearly as hated if this were the 1960’s when the MSM did real journalism. When there’s nothing but vilification of him from the left & big tech while they look past all of the bad things Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, AOC et al on the left stand for & have done, then Trump becomes the sole target of their entire media / tech empire. NOBODY can withstand all of that.
I’d like to see DeSantis get elected, but he jumped in 4 years too early and passed a 6-week abortion ban which IMHO is a little too restrictive. But, he’s just the next Trump to the MSM & big tech, despite being a real politician with morals & ethics.
DeSantis literally threw his name in the hat at the wrong time. He jumped in right as Roe v Wade was struck down & became the poster child for being THE anti-abortion target. Had he waited until ’28, the abortion backlash will have subsided.
No worries. There will be lots to argue about over the next 11 months.
if trump is assasinated nothing much will happen. hell JFK and MLK were much more loved……..and the country held……….let’s not even discuss Lincoln. modern amerikan men are such drama queens.
I’m not saying a civil war is going to erupt “immediately” but things are very different today. The conservative half of the population knows we’re going in the wrong direction and knows the Dems have leveraged eihter outright illegal tactics or will continue to use mail-in ballot curing as the means to win elections. They also was amnesty & a fast path to citizenship for the DACA kids. Both of these would tilt the political landscape hard left.
And these people are well armed by and large. I do think certain politicians on the left would become targets. I’m not advocating violence, but I do think there are elements out there that would take Trump’s assassination as a rallying cry for Antifa like violence or worse. We’re slowly moving towards civil war. If something happens to Trump, it would be like the nuclear Armageddon clock moving to 11:58 pm, a big leap towards the inevitable.